Webcomic / Lookism

In a society where looks mean everything, Daniel Park (Park Hyung Suk in the original version), short, overweight and unattractive, is viciously bullied and abused on a daily basis, but never tells his overworked mother about it. One day, when his mother witnesses this abuse, she sends him to a better school. But unfortunately, he finds that this new school is just as cruel as the other.

One night, he wakes up to discover that he is suddenly tall, fit, and incredibly handsome. He returns to the bedroom to find his other unattractive body sleeping. He now has one mind, and two bodies. Whenever one falls asleep, the other is awakened, and whenever one is woken up, the other falls asleep. Afraid to show up at school for fear of being bullied again, he decides to use his new body for school. But how will it go? Will he finally be accepted?

Lookism is a Korean Fighting, gag, Psychological Horror, Romantic Comedy, webtoon series, that started in 2014 and is drawn and written by Park Tae Joon. Can be read in Korean here, and in English here.

Lookism would later become part of a larger universe through Park Taejun's manhwa company, with works written by Park Taejun and drawn by other artists or simply under Taejun's supervision. These spinoff manhwas include:

• ''Viral Hit', starring Yoo Hobin, tying into Manager Kim through Song Taehoon's father, Song Hansoo.
• "Manager Kim", starring White Tiger Job Center Manager Kim in a prequel to the current events of Lookism, and which has some of the most prominent ties to the other spinoffs through Song Hansoo and Park Jincheol, as well as direct references to Lookism with the cameos of Goo, Sophia, and others.
• "My Life As A Loser," starring Jang Anchul and Kim Jinwoo, tying into Manager Kim and Viral Hit through Park Jincheol's daughter and a flashback involving The Fighting Chicken during wartime.
• "Questism", starring Kim Suhyeon, and his efforts to unite all of Gangbuk following Johan Seong's disbanding of God Dog. As such, it mainly ties into Lookism through cameos from Haru Seong's cousin Johan Seong and apparently Gukja's bloodline as one of the Yamazaki Clan members.

An anime adaptation by Studio Mir would premiere on Netflix on December 8, 2022. Teaser trailer.

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Shows examples of:

• Acrofatic: Hyung Suk is pretty strong even in his original body, but due to lack of confidence, coordination and stamina, he doesn't reach his full potential.
• Action Fashionista: Lee Jin Sung and Jae Yeol. Hyung Suk can be seen as one but he would fit better into the vocal/dance department.
• Adult Child: Vasco is this of sorts, seeing him as this massive tattooed scary dude acting kind is quite endearing, until it's revealed why (a lack of a peaceful childhood because of bullying) which makes it sad.
• Adults Are Useless: At least the teachers are. Bullying can happen on an open parking lot with nothing to hide it and they chose to ignore it.
  • Zigzagged when it comes to the police. Some arcs have them refusing to believe the main characters or be somehow unavailable, but in some arcs, like when Jiho pushed Daniel and James Gong from a fifth story window, the detectives are smartly able to deduce the culprit
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Ha Neul fell in love with Hyung Suk even more after he swore when waking up.
• Ambiguously Bi:
  • Hyung Suk gushes just as much about cool guys as he does with pretty girls.
  • Lee Jin Sung is a little bit too into Hyung Suk when drunk, to the point of almost kissing him.
• Ambiguously Gay: Jae Yeol towards Hyung Suk. He gives Hyung Suk many bags filled with brand clothes so the kids at school would not view him as poor and make fun of him, tries to save him from being bought by a crazy girl at a 'slave auction', follows him to his hometown when he learns he was heading there, volunteers to take care of four puppies despite being afraid of dogs simply because it was Hyung Suk who asked, has a picture of them together stuck to the back of his phone and often is seen looking worried when his sister thirsts over Hyung Suk.
  • No longer ambiguous as of the chapter where, when told that one should stop smoking to get "a lover", immediately stamps out his cigarette. Smash Cut to Hyungseok.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Park Hyung Suk has been beaten so many times that he is capable of seeing others fighting as if in slow motion. He becomes capable of analyzing people as they fight.
• As Himself: And how! Most of the main cast are named and depicted after people the author knows in real life, with even a character named and depicted as a caricature of himself◊.
  • Here◊are ◊some ◊examples, ◊along with the official music video paralleling a key moment in the story with both real-life character counterparts singing their respective parts.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: The nude scenes are this.
• Beautiful All Along: Park Ji Ho is implied to be this without his glasses.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Intentionally averted. The good-looking popular kids are horribly cruel to the outcasts.
• Big Beautiful Man: Hyung Suk in his real body and Duk Hwa changes between this and gonk to reflect their self-esteem and how people view them at any given moment.
• Big Brother Mentor: Lee Jin Sung teaches Hyung Suk some boxing moves while he's in the fat body.
• Big Fun: Hyung Suk and Duk Hwa are chubby but are good people who are pretty funny if they dare to be.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: Duk Hwa and Hyung Suk in his original body, Hyung Suk in the Bishōnen body is the thin (although more buff), and Ji Ho is the short...
• Bland-Name Product:
  • Biscovery Channel is one.
  • ñILA is another.
• Bully Hunter:
  • He doesn't always fight the bullies, but Daniel/Park Hyung Suk befriends the bullied ones.
  • Jay, however, beats the crap out of anyone who threatens to beat up Daniel/Park Hyung Suk .
  • Vasco is famous for this, but one can wonder why he didn't do anything earlier to help Jiho and Duke. Then again, he's an idiot.
  • After being beat up by a gang alone, Lee Jin Sung distances himself from bullying.
• Based on a True Story: The author himself has mentioned in a talk show that the overall story is based on his own past experience.
• Break the Cutie: Mi Jin, the first stranger to respect Daniel/Park Hyung Suk despite his looks, has many awful things happen to her.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: Daniel/Park Hyung Suk easily gets drunk in his Bishōnen body, and when he's drunk he often becomes a confident and cynical young man.
• Character Development: Daniel/Park Hyung Suk grows from not doing anything to prevent bullying to fighting back. He also stops relying on the second body and tries to get stronger on his own.
  • Lee Jin Sung goes from Jerk Jock to a Lovable Dumb Jock (even though he's not in the sports department).
• Chick Magnet: Hair-dresser student Jang Hyun is always surrounded by rabid fan girls.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Mi Jin and Lee Jin Sung, with him as the Insecure Love Interest.
• Chubby Chaser: Choi Soo Jeong, who's only into Hyung Suk when he is in his original body, which she obviously tries to hide.
• Creepy Children: The children at the orphanhage. They try force feeding Mi Jin beetles.
• Custom Uniform: The fashion class are allowed to have this.
• Cute Mute: Jae Yeol looks pretty good, but never says a word so he might be a mute or, more likely, Elective Mute as he sometimes seems like he is going to talk at times only to hesitate and not do it after all.
• Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!: Most of the students at certainly thinks so and, because of that, most of them are members of a gang.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Hyung Suk due to all the bullying, Jae Yeol is strongly implied to have this, and Vasco had it rough as well. He's found naked in a bed after being severely bullied and having profane words cut into his skin all around his body.
• Darker and Edgier: The Cult Arc and the Juvenile Prison Arc are easily the two darkest story arcs so far.
• A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 15 and 16 are this for Lee Jin Sung.
• The Dog Bites Back: Duk Hwa stops taking crap in chapter 92 and starts fighting back.
• Dub Name Change: A majority of the Korean names were changed in the English, Chinese and Japanese translations.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Hyung Suk looks slightly more feminine in his already pretty Bishōnen body when talking to Jae Yeol.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Duke/Duk Hwa is really good at rapping, but due to his looks, he is never given the chance to show it. Although later chapters reveal that he's become one of the school's top three celebrities on Paprika, a social networking-ish site.
  • Even later, he manages to overcome the ire of his teachers and classmates at JTF training school and makes it up to Class B without Park Hyung Suk/Daniel's help.
• Dumb Muscle: Vasco is famous for this as he protects the weak and tends to presume the good-looking guys are bad. He's known as... "The Strong Idiot".
  • Jin Sung as well.
• Dysfunctional Family: The baking department acts like this with the 2nd year Kim Hwan Joon acting like a Korean Mother with yandere tendencies and the shy first year Jeong Yang Ho being confused as to why he's acting that way.
• Dye Hard: In-Universe, the Hair and Beauty department students do this a lot, more than a few of them have multicolored hair because of it.
• Embarrassing Slide: The school starts off Hyung Suk's second year by showing a slideshow, Kouji hacks it to show porn that the teachers desperately tries to shut it off.
• Epic Fail: Jang Hun, the hairdresser, is horrible at his job. One can wonder how he passed.
• Expy:
  • Park Hyung Suk/Daniel's Bishōnen body looks strangely similar to Yu Narukami's, only more Korean looking.
  • Ha Neul is really similar to both April May and Ini Miney.
  • Jang Hun looks similar to Shu Tsukiyama.
• Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting: Pretty much every male is a martial artist.
  • Jay uses Systema, a Russian martial arts which is a martial art practiced by the Russian Spetsnaz.
  • Lee Jin Sung is a boxer he even trained to become one in junior high.
• The Fashionista: It's the fashion department after all.
• Fat and Skinny: Park Hyung Suk/Daniel and Duke are both the fats to Jiho's skinny.
• Fat Bastard: Lala, a girl from another school who doubles as a Rich Bitch.
• Fat Best Friend: Both Park Hyung Suk/Daniel (type b) and Duke (mix of type a and b) are this to Jiho.
  • Park Hyung Suk/Daniel also eventually becomes this to Jay.
• Feel No Pain: Throughout the Hostel arc, Olly Wang is shown taking incredible amounts of damage from things like being hit with a jeep and a bus head on and getting up without looking worse for wear. We learn that this is because Olly has analgesia. All the abuse his body went through cannot be felt by Olly but has started to take a toll on him and he is close to dying by the time he commits suicide
• Friendless Background: Park Hyung Suk/Daniel had no friends prior to starting at the new school. Because he starts gaining confidence, he also manages to make friends and get people to respect him even when he's fat.
• Freudian Excuse: Kim Hyi Min abuses women because they love him and has let him get away with anything in the past because he is handsome. So he became a rapist because he thinks the girls "like it".
• From Nobody to Nightmare: "Gangnam Land Lord", Ha Neul's stalker. After being sent to prison for almost killing Hyung Suk, even the gangsters there are terrified of him. This was shown when he heard Kim Hyi Min admit that he is a rapist.
  • Jiho becomes this after the events of the Juvenile Prison Arc.
• Gag Haircut/Traumatic Haircut: A hairdresser cut small Park Hyung Suk/Daniel's hair to look like Kim Jong Un's.
• Gay Best Friend: Jae Yeol becomes this for Hyung Suk who in turn becomes his Fat Best Friend.
• Gay Option: Jae Yeol is seemingly this for Hyung Suk.
• Gentle Giant: Vasco is a big burly guy who is strong as a bull but actually a big softy and Manchild. He for one wanted a picnic birthday, even though it was freezing outside. It has its darker side to it.
• The Glasses Gotta Go: Hyung Suk doesn't need them in the Bishōnen body. Truth in Television, as you can see in The Biggest Loser that they don't need their glasses anymore after much exercise so they've gone down in weight.
• Gonk: Some of the "cool kids" are this.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: Jiho, after spending a month in solitary confinement.
• Good Parents: Park Hyung Suk/Daniel's mother is a honest mother who does her best to make her son live a good life.
• Heroic Build: Park Hyung Suk/Daniel when he's in the thin body.
• High School: The main setting and each class has their specialty.
  • Fashion Department where Custom Uniforms are allowed.
  • Beauty Department where students are allowed to Dye Hard.
  • Vocal/Dance Department where Hip Hop rules.
  • Confectionery/Bakery Department where they bake whenever they want.
  • Utility Music Department where they have various instruments.
  • Sports Department where sports is more than Serious Business.
  • Building/Architecture/Interior Design Department where they are as strong as carpenters.
  • And the department so pathetic and inconsequential it was previously never even mentioned, the Animation Department.
• Hired for Their Looks: Park Hyung Suk /Daniel got the job at the convenience store just because he came with the Bishōnen body first. The wage was lowered after he came back with his real body.
• Humiliation Conga: What Park Hyung Suk/Daniel went through every day until he suddenly gained the other body.
• Impossible Hourglass Figure: Ha Neul in chapter 90.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: Ha Neul loves coming with those in her attempt of flirting. They can't be translated well, and... nobody is impressed by them.
• Insecure Love Interest: Lee Jin Sung for Mi Jin to the point of being a Crazy Jealous Guy.
• Inseries Nickname: Lee Eun Tae AKA 'Hercules Vasco'.
  • Kim Hyi Min AKA 'Zeus'.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Tragically averted with Jiho. His constant scheming and inability to admit fault gets him in progressively bigger trouble, culminating in being arrested on attempted murder charges. Even worse, trying to intimidate others with his fearsome reputation gets him beaten and put in solitary confinement where he goes made from the isolation.
• The Lad-ette: Ha Neul was apparently this prior meeting Hyung Suk.
• Like Reality, Unless Noted: Aside from Park Hyung Suk/Daniel and Crystal having two bodies, almost everything else in the series follows a fairly realistic plot line with perfectly normal everyday problems and characters having believable reactions to the situations they find themselves in, and many of this situations are easy to relate to for several readers. The author himself has mentioned on a talkshow that he interviews people in order to better to understand and depict the scenarios and stories with a more reality-grounded basis.
• Limited Wardrobe: Park Hyung Suk/Daniel has only his school uniform and big clothes, so because of that, he mainly wears his school uniform when in the Bishōnen body even on days without school. This is later averted by Jay giving him 10 bags of clothes that "he was going to throw away".
• Loser Protagonist: Hyung Suk was this big time before he 'split'. His original body is still seen as this by many of the others.
• Loves My Alter Ego: Most characters find Park Hyung Suk/Daniel's original body gross but adores the Bishōnen body over anything. A select few go the other way, discriminating in reverse.
• Lust Object: Mi Jin has many admirers, and so far 2 men she thought she could trust have tried raping her.
• Manchild: Vasco, who has his reasons.
• Manipulative Editing: Duke started rapping when Park Hyung Suk/Daniel had problems starting to sing due to Performance Anxiety. Even though everyone thought both were really good, Duke was edited out of the performance posted online because people didn't like his looks.
• Manly Tears: Vasco cries a lot and often, but he's also one of the strongest.
• Misery Builds Character: Park Hyung Suk/Daniel could easily have let the status of beauty go to his head and start bullying people himself. Instead, he befriends those who are in need of a friend in both his bodies.
• Mr. Fanservice: There's many nude men in this webtoon.
• Ms. Fanservice: Most of the women are good looking.
• Narm: In-Universe reaction to Vasco looking badass in an inflatable ridin' dinosaur◊ costume.
• Nerd Glasses:
  • Hyung Suk has these when chubby.
  • Ji Ho also wears glasses and you can't see through them.
• Never My Fault: Gangnam Land Lord refuses to see anything wrong with stalking and almost stabbing Ha Neul as he constantly blames his predicament on society and the government for discriminating against ugly people like himself. Vasco calls him out on this, pointing out that living a hard life doesn’t excuse his evil behavior since he refuses to move past his trauma and use it as an excuse to sit back and whine instead of moving past it.
• Nice Girl: Mi Jin to the point of being too nice.
• "Not So Different" Remark: When Hyung Suk visits Duk Hwa for the first time, he notices how similar they are. Both chubby, have a loving mother (or grandmother in Duk Hwa's case), absent fathers, being poor, being bullied, and not getting respect from their peers.
• Official Couple: Mi Jin and Lee Jin Sung.
• The One Guy: Jang Hun is the only male in the beauty department
• One of the Boys: Ha Neul manages somehow to be respected by the boys and hangs out with them despite her beauty.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. Let's see, there's 3 Parks (one of which is the main character and his family), 2 Kims (which ironically is the most common family name in Korea), and 3 Lees among the major characters. Justified as Korean family names comes from clans their ancestors were part of.
• Out of Focus: Hyung Suk isn't much in focus in many chapters and only kinda is there observing the world around him, it might be a allusion to him not daring to take control of his own life yet.
• Perma-Stubble: Vasco, who is ironically a Manchild.
• Performance Anxiety: Hyung Suk is afraid to fight, sing, stand out, etc. Understandable due to his treatment in the past and fear of being bullied because of it.
• The Quiet One: Jay
  • Beware the Quiet Ones: He's one of the strongest characters.
• Real Men Wear Pink: There's many manly men in the fashion department.
• Rescue Romance: Ha Neul starts falling for Hyung Suk in his original body after he saves her from the creepy stalker.
• Revenge Before Reason: Averted. Hyung Suk doesn't use his new-found strength to beat up the people who bullied him and has never fought with any of his bullies with the exception of his original bully, Lee Tae Sung, because he stole the money Hyung Suk's mother gave him.
• Rule of Seven: 7 school departments.
• Running Gag: Vasco crying and the others begging him to stop as it looks pitiful.
• School Festival: The 10th Jae Won Festival takes place from chapter 23 (although preparations are made already from the 20th) to chapter 27.
• Shared Family Quirks: Everyone in Jiho's family wears squared glasses.
• Shout-Out: Vasco's training regimen (which someone told him to do as a joke, and he took seriously) is a reference to One-Punch Man's "100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats and running 10 km every single day." Bum Jae explicitly references it when he says that sticking to that schedule is going to make his hair fall out soon.
• The Silent Bob: Jae Yeol. He even manages to help Hyung Suk with studying without saying a word as the latter seems capable of understanding him without speech.
• Shown Their Work: The author himself has mentioned on a talkshow that he interviews people in order to better to understand and depict the scenarios and stories with a more reality-grounded basis.
  • In the arc about identity theft, the computer expert tracks down the culprit using real-world social engineering techniques, such as checking various social media websites for accounts with the same name.
• Singing Voice Dissonance: Hyung Suk is excellent at singing, even in his real body, but is really afraid to show it.
• Smarter Than You Look: Ha Neul is the best in class at maths.
• Smoking Is Cool: Many students are seen smoking, usually while bullying someone.
• Stalker with a Crush: Ha Neul was this in the beginning, but stopped after a while. That doesn't mean she has given up however.
  • She later gets one herself. This time it's not Played for Laughs.
• Supreme Chef: Both Hyung Suk's mother and Duk Hwa's grandmother are excellent at making food, but it isn't very healthy so both boys gain loads of weight because of it.
• Team Pet: Inu is a dog who was abandoned by her original owner because she was an ugly mongrel. She later gets puppies who gets adopted by Jae Yeol who wants Hyung Suk to visit his house to see the puppies.
• Teen Genius: Duke is excellent at making music, but due to his looks nobody listens to his creations.
• Totally 18: Many students drink, smoke, and goes to adult-only bars.
• Trauma Button: Vasco starts shivering if he sees a pen or needle due to abuse. He gets over it by getting tattoos in the span of about 3 years.
  • Park Hyung Suk/Daniel still responds to the cues he was conditioned for during years of bullying in middle school. He also folds like paper when in Logan Lee's presence, even in his handsome body.
• Troubled, but Cute: The girls' reaction to Hyung Suk being poor.
• True Companions: Park Hyung Suk/Daniel, Duke and Jiho — the unpopular kids. Also Hyung Suk and Jae Yeol. And there's no truer companionship than that of Jace's and Vasco's.
• Unwanted Harem: Park Hyung Suk/Daniel doesn't like that there's so many clingy girls, wondering what they want from him...
• Wham Episode: Some arcs drop quite a few bombshells.
  • The Stalker Arc results in Crystal suspecting Park Hyung Suk/Daniel to have two bodies, just like herself.
  • The Picnic arc kick starts the Four Schools Saga and reveals Jay's real identity.
  • The biggest Wham has got to be when Jiho tries to outright murder two people and winds up in prison for it.
• What Did I Do Last Night?: Being drunk makes Park Hyung Suk/Daniel change completely to a Casanova boosting with confidence. He is however very ashamed of this.
• Working for a Body Upgrade: Park Hyung Suk/Daniel becomes motivated to become better rather than rely on his new body, so he begins working out with Vasco's help.
• Your Size May Vary: How short the bullied teens are depends on panel. Justified as they feel really tiny.