The drama stars Shim DalGi (who plays Koo AeJin), Golden Child’s BoMin (who plays Kim HoIn), PENTAGON’s HongSeok (who plays Lee JinSeong), fromis_9’s Lee NaGyung (who plays Genie), and Heo JeongHee (who plays Yang HaNeul). It is originally based on a webtoon of the same name “Shadow Beauty (그림자 미녀)”. You can read the webtoon in Korean here. Although the webtoon and K-Drama are not exactly the same, none of the differences drastically change the story. However, you might find some of the differences interesting. So, here is a randomly ordered list of 6 differences between the “Shadow Beauty” K-Drama and the webtoon. WARNING: This article contains [BIG SPOILERS] for episodes 1-5 of the webtoon and 1-6 of the web drama. It might also potentially spoil the remainder of the drama as the webtoon is faster-paced. Read at your own risk!!!
1. The extent of Yang HaNeul’s bullying
Yang HaNeul is a bully in both stories but the extent of her bullying is different in each one. If you have watched the drama until episode 6, you would be familiar with the scene where Yang HaNeul got angry at Koo AeJin and stepped on her whilst pushing up her skirt and revealing her underwear. In the webtoon, this scene happens a lot earlier and she only does that to Koo Aejin because she wants to hear Koo AeJin tell her how pretty she is. Although her actions are not justifiable in both cases, it shows that her character in the webtoon is willing to be a lot meaner with less reason.
2. Koo AeJin’s opinion of Yang HaNeul
In the webtoon, Koo AeJin’s opinion of Yang HaNeul is significantly low. She explicitly mentions that she thinks Genie is better than Yang HaNeul in terms of appearance. She says that Yang HaNeul is just a neighborhood beauty that can’t compare to Genie’s level. She also mentions that Lee JinSeong would never think that Yang HaNeul is pretty because of the level of beauty he’s seen amongst the other idol trainees at his company. Whereas in the web drama, she just seems afraid of Yang HaNeul and doesn’t seem to think the worst of her because they are secretly friends.
3. Lee JinSeong’s status in the entertainment industry
In the webtoon, Lee JinSeong left his entertainment company after being eliminated from a survival program as a trainee. In the web drama, he is still a trainee and later has to change schools because of his debut date being decided.
4. Koo AeJin’s reasoning behind giving Yang HaNeul her sponsored products
In the drama, Koo AeJin gives Yang HaNeul her sponsored products (that she received as Genie) because she wants Yang HaNeul to leave her alone and not bully her. However, in the webtoon, she purposefully gives Yang HaNeul products that are of bad quality to sabotage her. For example, she gifts her a skincare product in hopes that it will make her skin become bad. It works and she has a pimple breakout on her face. In the drama, Yang HaNeul got a rash from a bracelet that Koo AeJin gave her but it didn’t seem intentional on Koo AeJin’s part.
5. The actress Lee JinSeong thinks Koo AeJin resembles
In the webtoon, Lee JinSeong tells Koo AeJin that she resembles actress Kim AhJoong from the movie “200 Pounds Beauty”. At first, Koo AeJin thinks that he means Kim AhJoong’s character when she plays the supposedly ‘ugly’ version of herself, but he is actually referring to the actress when she plays herself/a conventionally beautiful star. Whereas, in the web drama, he said that she looks like Kim GoEun.
6. The source of Koo AeJin’s nightmares and her bad relationship with her mother
In the “Shadow Beauty” web drama, the scene where she is about to leave home to go and have a lunch date with Lee JinSeong but gets stopped by her mother is a lot more simplified. The scene holds a lot of tension and implies that their mother-daughter relationship is not on the best terms. However, we don’t know the reason why yet. In the webtoon, that all gets revealed immediately. It is made clear that she dislikes her mom and she tells her mom to stop pretending to care about her because she knows that if she dies, her mother will just pretend like Koo AeJin never existed. It is also made clear that there is a secret that her stepfather doesn’t know. In the next episode of the webtoon, it is revealed that Koo AeJin had an older sister who passed away. Koo AeJin described her sister as someone who was born beautiful and lived whilst basking in the sun, whereas she had always been stuck in the shadows. She still gets nightmares about her. These are only a few of the differences that we’ve spotted. Have you spotted any other differences between the drama and the webtoon for “Shadow Beauty”? What do you think of the differences? Let us know in the comments below! If you would like to read about more K-Dramas that are different from their webtoons, check out this article.
Here are some other webtoons that are different to their K-Drama: 15 K-Dramas That Are Different To Their Webtoons KDRAMA STORIES|Sep 15, 2021
4 Differences Between The “Work Later, Drink Now” Web Drama And Webtoon KDRAMA STORIES|Nov 25, 2021 5 Differences Between The “Hellbound” Netflix Original K-Drama And Webtoon KDRAMA STORIES|Nov 22, 2021 6 Differences Between “The King’s Affection” K-Drama And Webtoon KDRAMA STORIES|Nov 11, 2021 5 Differences Between The “Yumi’s Cells” Drama And Webtoon KDRAMA STORIES|Oct 14, 2021 You can also read about Golden Child BoMin’s most chilling moments in the drama so far (until episode 11) here:
4 Moments From “Shadow Beauty” When Golden Child BoMin’s Convincing Acting Gave Us Chills KDRAMA STORIES|Dec 23, 2021
