Lookism (manhwa)

Lookism is a South Korean webtoon written and illustrated by Park Tae-joon. It was first published online weekly on Naver WEBTOON since November 2014. The story revolves around a high school student who can switch between two bodies—one that is fat and ugly, and the other that is fit and handsome.
Synopsis.
Daniel Park, or Park Hyung Suk is an unpopular, fat, ugly, and bullied high school student who is looked down upon by the entire student body. Being constantly bullied and harassed every day by Logan Lee, he often takes out his anger verbally on his mother and soon asks for a school transfer. Resolving to run away from his current problems and to start fresh, he moves to Seoul alone and plans to attend a new high school. However, a few nights before he goes to school, he obtains a new body which is tall, muscular, and extremely handsome. When one body is in use, the other falls asleep, and he is able to switch between the bodies by waking the sleeping body.
His days are always split between the two bodies, his handsome form for the daytime and the original for the night. As Daniel lives his life with his two bodies, he begins to see just how much the world discriminates against people for being simply unattractive or different. Hence the titular name of "Lookism."
Through his original body, he experiences the world's discrimination and hate, while also seeing the kindness and special treatment through the other. His new body takes him through numerous life experiences from becoming a miniature celebrity, a trainee for an entertainment company, and model for clothes. Once the day turns to night, however, this rosy dream turns back into a harsh reality of what the world really is after Daniel switches back to his original body.
Significant Arcs and Side Stories.
The arcs put in order:
Johan Seong and Zack Lee once again met and fought each other, while the former Hostel A members who run a food stand was watching.
In the meanwhile, the masked member of ONE MCN's Kwitch 5 was streaming while smoking. Afterwards, the streamer removed the mask, revealing that the streamer is Yui, while she talks with Crystal, owner of the CrystalTV MCN. And also revealing that another MCN was under Crystal's name, CrystalTV. Then, Tom Lee beats up his underlings while Johan was on his office. Tom fought him, the old man stripped his clothes. He beats Johan, with a couch which his hand stuck.
Also, the "Burn Knuckles" were busy fighting with another gang after seeing Vasco with too many wounds and blood. Vin was seen with Mary while the former was pulling a stone marker. Logan was on his classroom, later on going with Goo Kim.
Then, Daniel and Samuel has both graphs of 4 major crew leaders, with Johan, Eli, Olly and Jake's pictures in a graph. Daniel using the images he got on Samuel's room, while wondering how to deal with them.
In the epilogue, Jake Kim was released from juvie, and welcomed by his gang members.
Now Jake was released, he plans to take revenge on Jong Gun. And Jake Kim's past was revealed, having fought Samuel to a standstill, and their trying to mess up Black Bear Clan ends up in near-death experience, until Big Deal's leader took them. Then, after many months of running the gang, they were threatened once again, this time from the hands of Goo Kim and Jong Gun. In the aftermath of the duel between Goo Kim and Sinu Han, which the former won, Jong Gun called James Lee.
After that, the Black Bear Gang tries to fight the duo as a test, but they lost. And much later, Jake and Samuel were treading different paths, Jake quits Big Deal, Samuel became the new head of Big Deal, while using Old Face as front. Goo Kim then meets with James Lee and his group.
Days after taking over, Samuel tries to be radical in enforcing his will upon the salesgirls, but Jake appears, with Gapryong Kim's clothes. The duel between them was interwoven with his story of Samuel trying to claim Gapryong as his father and his denial of his true father, a technician and repairman. After Jake beats Samuel, Sinu appears. He tries to duel with Jong Gun but loses. Jake tries to raise money for Jong as a part of Big Deal. But unknown to the Big Deal, Sinu Han sold himself for 1.2 billion Won, which the group used to give to Jong's demand for a year. Then he made an excuse for selling the group to Workers, and beats Jake for his alibi.
Samuel has also fought his way to Jong, but lost too. Then, days later Jake and Samuel meets Johan and Olly respectively. A free-for-all was happening while Jong and Goo were playing cards. Goo won the cards, and went to the area where the free-for-all happened, and saw Jake and Johan knocked out by Samuel. Despite Olly being persistent, he was garroted by Samuel.
Back at the present, Jake and his group meet up with Samuel, now a new member of the Workers. The latter left after a short scuffle.
Meanwhile, Chairman Hong is with his bodyguards, including a muscular Russian woman named Sofia, who raids Daniel's house. The man tries to pay off the damages to the owner, but Daniel is assaulted by Sofia.
At another location, Alexander is bowing to the Number 3 of the Workers, which oversees a nightclub named ViVi.
Jake Kim prepares to infiltrate the Workers. Johan is interviewing for his new job as a bouncer at the club.
Meanwhile, Daniel is interrogated by Chairman Hong, even offering him food and money to give him info about the 4 major crews. One night, he tries to enter Club ViVi with his original body, feeling that he can get in without relying on the slim version of himself, but fails. He contents in loitering outside, when a group arrived with a handicapped Chinese speaking woman with a pacifier in her mouth, they were obviously Workers members, with the men having the engraved Gold Badge and the woman in engraved White Badge. He then meets with Mr. Hong once again, and Sofia roughs him up. Meanwhile, a cleanup crew cleans up a scene where an overdosed woman was seen laying on the toilet, high.
In a bar, Tom Lee is seen with another VVIP Worker. Brekdak sets up a stall in front of the club. Vasco joins him as an employee, their customers are bouncers, Jake Kim, and even the woman, who nearly collapsed, but was then held by her bodyguard. Jake easily enters the club, where Old Face was. He wants info on the area but is disturbed by Vasco forcefully entering the bar after the woman didn't pay 500 won.
The story is to be continued…
The story is to be continued…
Characters.
Main Characters.
Daniel Park/Park Hyung Suk: Daniel Park, from the Fashion Department, is a naïve high school student who was bullied by Logan Lee at the start of the series. Just before transferring to Jae Won High to run away from his bullies, he wakes up one day with a slimmer and more attractive body next to his chubby one. With his new ability, he makes new friends and learns about the world and himself through two perspectives. The slimmer body was based on Park Hyung Suk, a fit model.
Vasco/Lee Eun Tae: Vasco, from the Architecture Department, has the reputation of being a "Robin Hood" like figure, as he stands up for the weak and bullied. He is one of the strongest characters in the series and is the leader of the loyal gang, "Burn Knuckles", who "punish bullies" and "bad guys." His tough exterior is misleading as he is very sweet and seeks the friendship of those he deems as good people. He is also the childhood friend of Jace Park. The character Vasco is inspired by real-life K-rapper with the same name.
Jay Hong/Hong Jae Yeol: Jay Hong, from the Fashion Department, is a quiet and mysterious character. He is rich, fights using systema and kali martial arts, and helps those that he likes. Though not directly stated, many readers speculate that throughout the series Jay has "romantic feelings" towards Daniel Park. Some reasons can be seen through his actions such as keeping a coupon with Daniel's face on it in his wallet (the coupon is from "Gian Shop"; see "Fitting Model"), adopting Inu's puppies despite his fear of dogs (see "Abandoned Dog Inu" & "Jay Hong and Inu's Pups"), and Jay's habit of giving Daniel his clothing (Chapters 20 & 162).
Zack Lee/Lee Jin Sung: Zack Lee, from the Fashion Department, is a boxer and very aggressive, with the exception to his childhood friend, Mira Kim, who he is in love with. He wants to become her boyfriend, but she dislikes violence, so Zack often attempts to change himself for her. With Mira's influence, Zack stops bullying others, diminishes the number of times he gets into fights, becomes more patient, and overall matures. He was once friends with Johan Seong, though Johan disappeared after the God Dog cult story arc (chapters 132 - 138). When Johan resurfaces, Zack tries to befriend him again and even promises to help Johan take revenge on Jong Gun, who severely beat up Johan for not taking proper control of his crew "God Dog."
Mira Kim/Kim Mi Jin: Mira Kim, from the Fashion Department, is a compassionate, caring, and patient person. She is very observant when it comes to human emotions and sees the good in everyone. She dislikes fighting and believes there are better ways to solve problems, which is why she gets upset when Zack gets into fights. She is the childhood friend of Johan Seong and Zack Lee. They both were in love with her, but she never exactly reciprocated to either them. She is very attractive and beautiful, which put her at the risk of rape multiple times.
Zoe Park/Park Ha Neul: Zoe Park, from the Fashion Department, is a beautiful girl who, in the beginning, tries to use her charm to get what she wants. However, after Daniel's original body saves her from a stalker, she develops feelings for his original body, proving that she doesn't care about appearances as much as before.
Crystal Choi/Choi Soo Jung: Crystal Choi, the daughter of the HNH Company Chairman, is the second character that is discovered to have two bodies. She first appears as an obese student that transfers to the Fashion Department in Daniel's school. Yet, unlike Daniel Park, Crystal Choi chooses to live in her original body during the daytime. This shows that she feels a hint of pride in her first body. The different treatment to both of her bodies leads her to strongly believe that "all men are the same" and that the world judges those with different appearances without reason. This explains her initial dislike towards Daniel in his handsome form, though her treatment of Daniel shows her hypocrisy as she treats him badly and looks at him as an egotistical bully. She is shown to like Daniel's old body more due to his personality.
Theme.
The title is self-explanatory of the theme; lookism, or bias due to a person's physical appearance. The main character is a fat, unattractive student who is bullied by those stronger than him. The story also has themes including (but not limited to) gangs, extortion, animal hoarding, cults, stalking, rape, and attempted murder.
Character designs.
Daniel Park's design was inspired by a model named Park Hyung-seok, Jay Hong's design was inspired by a model named Hong Jae-yeol, DG was inspired by G-Dragon, Oliver Jang's design was inspired by Jang Dongwoo, ARU's design was inspired by IU (singer), Vasco/Euntae Lee was inspired by a rapper whose former stage name was Vasco. The creator of the manhwa is Park Tae-joon, another model.
Adaptations.
In 2019, Tencent produced the 38 episode chinese television series 外貌至上主义 (Wàimào zhìshàng zhǔyì)"," based on the manhwa Lookism, starring Park Solomon, Wayne Zhang, Wang Zi Xuan and Dino Lee as the main characters.