Cynical Orange is a manhwa by Ji Un Yun about the So Beautiful, It's a Curse high school girl Hye-Min Hwang, who is loved by boys and hated by girls. Enter playboy Ma-Ha Jang, who finds Hye-Min irresistible in that he can't win her over. After failing to get rid of Ma-Ha, Hye-Min drags him over to her cousin Shin-Bi Oh's café. Ma-Ha takes up a job there in order to try to woo Hye-Min, but quickly discovers that her world, her cousin and his girlfriend, is a bit more sinister than meets the eye.
Originally published in English in 2002 by iceKunion, until Yen Press took over.
This manhwa provides examples of:
- Bishōnen: Ma-Ha, Jung-Yun, and Shin-Bi.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Bora.
- Broken Bird: Hye-Min.
- Can't Live with Them, Can't Live without Them: Bora is this to Jung-Yun. He calls off their friendship after she steals Hye-Min's couple's ring in jealousy.
- The Charmer: Ma-Ha.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Bora.
- Cool Big Sis: So-Ryu is this to Hye-Min. She's only doing it because Shin-Bi would be her boyfriend if she did. She hates Hye-Min.
- Cute Bruiser: So-Ryu.
- Double Standard: The girls universally blame Hye-Min for allegedly "stealing" boys from them without placing any blame on the boys who go after her to begin with... and that's just the surface.
- Gangsta Style: Hye-Min and Shin-Bi play first-person shooter games like this.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: So-Ryu.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Shin-Bi. He let Ma-Ha be Hye-Min's boyfriend because he figured that Ma-Ha would fulfill the role of dumping Hye-Min in a way that would force Hye-Min to stay with Shin-Bi forever. He didn't expect for Ma-Ha to get serious first, or for Hye-Min to fall for Ma-Ha.
- Innocently Insensitive: Hye-Min was this in her childhood, and it bit her in the ass.
- Just Friends: Hye-Min tells Shin-Bi that they need to be this. He doesn't take it well.
- Lonely Together: Hye-Min and Shin-Bi.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Hye-Min, to the point where she averts Girls Are Really Scared of Horror Movies.
- Not Blood Siblings: In the case of Hye-Min and Shin-Bi, it's more like not blood cousins.
- Ojou: Hye-Min.
- Rich Bitch: Hye-Min's mother.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Hye-Min
- Tsundere: So-Ryu, to an extent.
