'True Beauty' Episode 5 Spoilers: Su-ho and Seo-jun fight for Ju-kyung, but will she make same choice as in comics?
Spoilers for 'True Beauty' Episode 5 if you haven't read the webcomic
'True Beauty' as we know by now is based on the webcomic of the same name, however, the plot line of the show is vastly different from what we have so far seen in the comics. From the first time that Su-ho (Cha Eun-woo) met Ju-kyung (Moon Ga-young) as an adult to her how her mother turned out to be friends with Seo-jun (Hwang In-yeop), the story veers away from the comic and we wonder if they will end up portraying the show as a high-school drama alone. You see, in the comics, we see Su-ho having to leave Korea to return to Osaka to care for his father who injures himself.
He doesn't return for three years and in these three years, Ju-kyung and Seo-jun end up becoming thick friends and at one point as Ju-kyung is a senior college student, the two of them start dating. Also, by this point, the conflict between Seo-jun and Su-ho is also resolved. However, the webcomic has not ended and it is still unclear who Ju-kyung will finally be with. In the show, however, it seems that Su-ho's father may have a more active role in Su-ho and Seo-jun's friend's death so, it is not a conflict that can be resolved easily. Also, between Seo-jun and Su-ho, the two have already begun fighting for Ju-kyung's affection. In the show, however, Seo-jun had developed feelings for Ju-kyung while they were in school but he had never expressed the same because he had known how she had felt romantically about Su-ho.
At the end of Episode 4, we saw how Su-ho confronted Seo-jun on why he would drop Ju-kyung in his bike. Then the next morning we saw Seo-jun hand the keys to his bike to Ju-kyung and tell her that he will no longer ride his bike just as he had promised his mother and she will be witness to it. It is a confession of sorts, believe their classmates and so does Su-ho so when Ju-kyung attempts to follow Seo-jun to give the keys back to him, Su-ho stops her. So will he confess his feelings to her instead of feeling jealous of her blind dates and her bond with Seo-jun? Then there is Seo-jun's connection with Ju-kyung as well and we wonder if he is still thinking about using her to get his revenge and maybe teach a lesson to Su-ho or if he is really smitten by her. The conflicts that had unraveled over very many chapters in the comics are already out in the show and with the difference in the plotline, this show is engrossing even for those of us who follow the comics.
'True Beauty' episodes will air on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10.30 pm on tvN in Seoul, and can be streamed on Viki in the US.