“My ID is Gangnam Beauty” (2018), also called “Gangnam Beauty”, was a hit, with many overseas viewers falling in love with the K-Drama. Based on the webtoon of the same name by Gi MaengGi, it tells the story of MiRae who was bullied for her looks at school, leading her to get plastic surgery. She now enters her "new life" with a whole new face at university. While everyone is focused on what people look like, KyungSuk, MiRae’s fellow classmate, thinks differently, and MiRae learns what real “beauty” is.

While it is a rom-com, the story also touches on many deep topics such as lookism, sexism, the societal pressure to meet beauty standards, and the importance of realizing one’s inner beauty. The drama received a lot of positive reviews because of its various messages.

However, did you know that there is a Thai adaptation of the same webtoon and that with top Thai actors? Named "Beauty Newbie" (2024), the Thai drama is based on the same webtoon as the Korean drama. The airing just ended on April 2nd. Although the story largely remains the same, it focuses more on the female lead making her first-ever friend in her new life at university than the Korean show.

Let us introduce the cast to you:

MiRae (Im SooHyang) becomes Liu (Baifern), KyungSuk (ASTRO's Cha EunWoo) becomes Guy (Win), SooAh (Jo WooRi) becomes Faye (Jane), and WooYoung (Kwak DongYeon) becomes Saint (Great).

ChanWoo (Oh HeeJoon) becomes Mac (Mike), WonHo (Kim DoYeon) becomes Mok (Drake), and Eun (Park YooNa) becomes Ann (Emi).

Important Note: To avoid too many spoilers we will cover until episode 5 of the Thai drama. We can't cover all the points. Also, the comparison is done with the Korean drama and not the original webtoon. 

Here are a few differences we could notice between the Korean drama "My ID is Gangnam Beauty" (2018) and the Thai drama "Beauty Newbie" (2024) both based on the same webtoon.

 

Overall Differences

1. It's faster

The Korean drama consists of sixteen 60-minute episodes while the Thai drama only has fourteen 44-minute episodes, making it 344 minutes (or approximately 6 hours) shorter.

Since the Thai version is shorter, the drama starts way faster than the Korean drama, and all the main elements are quickly settled within the first minutes of the show. However, the Thai production still kept some key scenes, such as the face grading scenes (scenes where the female lead grades women's faces).

 

2. Its use of social media & cyberbullying

Like in some other GMMTV dramas such as “F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers”, the characters of “Beauty Newbie” are frequent users of social media. This leads to many cases of cyberbullying which were not present in the Korean drama.

The use of Instagram, X (Twitter), online messengers, online communities, and more are shown on screen and play an important role in the story and heavily impact the characters.

While both MiRae and Liu were victims of bullying in the past, Liu continues to struggle against online bullying at her university. Everywhere she turns, there are people talking behind her back or on the internet, not only in her department, but across the entire school

 

3. The fighting is more violent

Compared to the Korean drama, the Thai drama has more severe violence. The fight scenes are longer and taken to a higher level. If you don't like violence, don’t worry as it shouldn’t be anything that will stop you from watching.

KyungSuk does get into a few fights but the intensity of the fights is different from the ones Guy takes part in. We noticed more kicks, punches, and blood shown to viewers.

It might be a cultural difference or solely a choice to show that Guy is ready to be hurt for Liu.

 

Differences in the characters

4. Liu/MiRae: from a smart to a naive female lead

From the start, MiRae is quite smart and relatively quick-witted while Liu is much more naive. Their mental maturity seems different.

When Liu faces all the red flags of Faye, she still does not realize that she is being used and wronged. What is more, Liu does not side with Guy who is trying to help her. She keeps people who use her by her side and keeps the good ones far.

It seems that the Thai production wanted to make the growth of her character more significant and make her character more dependent on the two lead characters for their romantic interest.

 

5. Faye/SooAh: from a villain with flaws to a self-centered vicious lady

This character is one of the most striking differences between the two dramas, in its nature but also in screen time.

The Korean drama villain is SooAh even if some events later on seem to redeem her. SooAh is a liar, has ill feelings for MiRae, and manipulates guys for her gains.

However, in the Thai drama, Faye is more evil and vicious. You might wonder, "how is that even possible?".

Faye's mentality and behavior possess a darker edge, as she's prepared to go to any lengths to uphold her façade of the 'beautiful angel.' Despite her charming exterior, her actions are fueled by self-serving motives, leveraging her beauty and influence to manipulate situations in her favor, all while making any of her rivals hit low.

From the first episodes, she gets a lot of screen time and we know what she planning early while we know later for SooAh.

Liu is also much more under her manipulation, a real puppet. The first episodes portray how Faye is using Liu to give herself a better image. For example, after making sure everyone knows that Liu had plastic surgery and making people make negative comments about it, she would defend Liu. This whole plan makes her look like a "nice" person defending the weak, when really, she had planned it all.

Also, another difference is while SooAh hates being taken in pictures because of her trauma, Faye enjoys it and enjoys having her 'fanclub'/'followers' like Mok taking pictures of her, secretly or not.

The Thai production takes this character further to add more drama (read fun) and makes viewers even more engaged in hating Faye and hoping for Liu to listen to Guy. Also, the summary of the Thai drama mentions that Faye is Liu’s “first friend” ever, making her even more important to the story.

 

6. Saint/WooYoung: from a quick story use to a real second lead for a love triangle

In "My ID is Gangnam Beauty", WooYoung is a TA for the chemistry department and a neighbor of MiRae. He has a crush on her but this was mostly used to just move the plot forward and make MiRae date KyungSuk. He was not ever taken seriously as a potential boyfriend so there was never any real love triangle in the drama.

However, in "Beauty Newbie", Saint is much more than just "a oppa with a crush". He creates a love triangle, and makes some viewers feel the second lead syndrome. Furthermore, not only does he live in Liu’s neighborhood, he also lives next door. Living in the same building and floor, he always appears in her sphere.

Saint is also much more sweet and kind to the female lead than WooYoung. He also got the support of Liu's parents from the very first episode, while this happens later for WooYoung. Saint is one step ahead of Guy and a strong contestant for Liu's heart. He also has his own perfume lab on the rooftop of the building, which only makes Liu like him more and spend more time with him.

Saint is even on the main poster of the drama while WooYoung is not. The Thai drama has four characters while the Korean one has three.

The Thai production decided to make Saint a more important character to add more romance and make viewers invested in the love triangle. Also, Liu needed a real friend to help her mature and Saint gives her a lot of help on finding solutions and building self-esteem. The character of Saint is very much popular among the viewers.

 

7. Not as many friends for the female lead

MiRae makes a few close friends at school, adding on her already close friend and roommate HyunJung (Min DoHee). However, Liu is friends with Faye and her two friends and that is all. In the drama, she is mostly surrounded by men and them. Liu does not have a roommate/friend like HyunJung either.

We can guess that since the drama is shorter, the production decided to make Faye and Saint more present in the story. They had to make some choices on who to put the spotlight on in Liu's life.

 

8. Ann/Eun: quite similar but Ann is not Liu's friend but Guy's

Ann and (Yoo) Eun are quite similar. They are blunt and quick-witted. They are both quick to notice Faye/SooAh's true nature. Eun is the first one to know that SooAh was lying about living in Gangnam.

But we noticed that Ann is not as close to Liu than Eun is to MiRae. Also, unlike Ann, Eun is the representative of the department and much interest in what is happening among the students and doesn't hesitate to stand out.

Furthermore, Ann is a very close friend of Guy’s, whereas in the Korean drama, the characters of Eun and KyungSuk are not as close. The reason for this might be that there are no other students that match her mindset. This little twist is quite interesting. It seems that Ann is filling the void left by the character of Seo YooJin (Lee TaeSun), the male lead’s best friend, who is nowhere to be found in the Thai drama.

 

9. The "sunbae" vs Mac

You will mostly remember the "sunbae" named ChanWoo that annoys everyone and that includes Mirae. The Thai drama kept the character but changed a few things.

While in the Korean drama, ChanWoo grosses out everyone in the department with his actions and is not particularly attractive, Mac is just a senior who is physically attractive but has difficulties with dating.

Mac becomes interested in both Liu and Faye, and Faye, who he prefers, manipulates him by confessing to him. Eventually, he turns violent towards Liu, but luckily, she is saved by Guy. This is exactly like in the Korean drama. The cafeteria scene and the kick-out scene were both kept with each their own twists.

However, there are quite a few differences from the Korean drama. MiRae was never really interested in ChanWoo, who didn't quite have the charm – mentally or physically – and even showed some borderline aggression in the first episodes. On the other hand, Mac seemed like a much better fit from the start, which is why Liu decided to give him a chance.

We can't be sure of the reason for these changes, but we can guess that the impact on Liu's mental would be bigger if she was interested in this character but then threatened by him.

 

10. Guy's sister is free to do her broadcast

In "My ID Gangnam Beauty", KyungSuk's sister hides from her family to do her broadcast and covers her face with masks to keep secret her identity. But in "Beauty Newbie", Guy's sister is openly doing her broadcasts, face fully shown on camera, and is supported by both her father and brother. They even help her fix some of her props, something we would never see with KyungSuk’s family. Also in the Thai drama, the sister is a bit older.

We guess that since the Thai production had to shorten the story, they removed this element of the story that required more scenes in the Korean drama.

 

11. Professors are involved in the school tensions

In the Thai drama, professors (administrative professors) are involved in the trouble students are facing. If students fight, they are called and receive a punishment. The characters are more responsible for their actions and they are asked about it and face punishment for it. In the Korean drama, WooYoung is the TA and takes care of these.

As seen earlier, WooYoung and Saint are different in both dramas, so we can guess the Thai production did not want to give him this role at school in the drama. Saint is here to support Liu emotionally and as a man and not as a school authority. He also makes his stands clear in front of the professors when she is facing difficulties.

 

Differences in the story

12. A different level of the "bathroom kick-out" scene ft. kendo

One of the most famous scenes of "My ID is Gangnam Beauty" is KyungSuk kicking ChanWoo (or "the sunbae") in the bathroom to save MiRae. In this scene, everyone is scared to stop ChanWoo from screaming and threatening MiRae. KyungSuk jumps in and fights the sunbae putting him K.O. on the toilet seat.

Are you not curious how the Thai version portrayed this scene?

The fight scene was a bit different. Mac threatens Liu that he will reveal to everyone her pre-surgery picture by clicking on the remote if she does not agree with what he wants. Guy jumps in the room and intervenes. Since Guy does Kendo, he takes the broom from Mac's hands and makes a few moves. He ends up hurting his hand and bleeding but Mac is defeated.

While the two dramas use a broom, the result is different. Also, students were not helping Liu because they were curious about the picture while students were not helping MiRae because they were scared of the sunbae. The Thai version went for a longer scene for more impact and painted Guy as Liu's savior.

 

13. MiRae & KyungSuk vs Liu & Guy

In the first episodes of "My ID is Gangnam Beauty", MiRae and KyungSuk are not close but MiRae has no hatred towards him, whereas Liu as a deep resentment of Guy. Their relationships have different starting points. Even if Guy helps Liu at various times, she always has a reason to hate him even more and does not let him explain himself.

The Thai drama production team decided to put one more obstacle for Guy and Liu to get closer. It has a small taste of a "from enemies to lovers" trope.

 

14. Liu's dad is aware of her plastic surgery

In the Korean version, only MiRae's mom knows about her plastic surgery (and was the only one who agreed on it!). It's a big secret to her dad, who only finds out later on and is greatly impacted by it.

However, in the Thai drama, the dad knows about her plastic surgery just like the mom and is just as supportive from the start, which makes for quite a big difference in the story.

Just like KyungSuk's sister, this aspect of the drama has been omitted.

 

15. The whole school accessed Liu's pre-surgery picture

In “My ID is Gangnam Beauty,” MiRae’s department does know that she had plastic surgery but they don’t have access to her pre-surgery picture. However, in "Beauty Newbie", the whole school accessed it as it was spread through social media. The trauma for Liu and the hardships to overcome seem much bigger than MiRae with this element.

 

Bonus: Liu/MiRae pre-surgery face stay not shown to drama viewers

We were happy to see that the Thai production also chose to not reveal on screen the pre-surgery face of the lead character. She is seen with a blur or a mask.

The Korean drama never revealed her face, showing only her eyes or her back, because the production team did not want to create a standard for what is ‘ugly’ or not. The Korean director Choi SungBum talked about it before and highlighted that "it is unethical to create a fixed definition of ugliness in a drama that strives to find the real meaning of beauty" as translated by The Korea Herald (here). They left it up to the viewers' imagination to represent the "ugly"/"unattractive" face.

 

Bonus: The outfits for the school festival stay similar

Do you remember the scene when the girls of the department were forced to wear these revealing outfits to sell drinks at the uni festival? It stayed the same in the Thai drama.

To give you a bit of a spoiler, Liu is the victim of sexual harassment but the men in her department do not take her side because "it is her job to make customers satisfied".

Let us share one shocking line. Faye has customers staring at her chest and taking illegal pictures so she goes to ask for help from one of the men of the department. He then decides to send Liu to that table and says to Faye: "It's okay. She's all plastic. A bit of staring and touching wouldn't tarnish her, unlike a natural beauty like you."

 

You can watch the drama for free and officially with subs on GMMTV YouTube below: