After School Lessons for Unripe Apples

 (세기말 풋사과 보습학원, 世紀末풋沙果補習學院, 世紀末풋砂果補習學院, Segimal putsagwa boseupagwon) is a Drama Webtoon Original created by Soonkki; it updates every Sunday. The original Korean Webtoon premiered on Naver.

Synopsis
''Mi-ae is just a normal middle school girl trying to survive school. She likes reading comics, the pop group “The Fire Boys”, and karaoke. One day, a boy she used to know transfers to her school and begins to stir up trouble. No matter what she does, it seems he just doesn’t appreciate her efforts to get to know him. What’s up with that?''

Summary
Mi-ae Hwang (first name spelled "황미애" in Korean) is a student who attends Baekje Middle School. Most days, she juggles her strict home life studying as a busy examinee and ignoring school bullies who pick on her. In her spare time she enjoys hobbies like reading romance manga, comic books, and wishing on airplanes. If she manages to count up to 100 airplanes, without messing up, she gets to make her wish come true. An iconic habit she does is holding up two fingers like a peace sign before snapping a shot of aircrafts high in the sky. If she's in her bedroom, she watches airplanes fly by through her binoculars instead. When her friend group isn't busy, Mi-ae joins them in singing karaoke, playing at the arcade or watching videos of their favorite pop group, "The Fire Boys." Mi-ae is also athletic; in school, she wins the short-distance run for the track meet and at home, she jogs with her father as well as jump ropes to relieve stress.

On school campus however, Mi-ae is never taken seriously. Her short height causes both her peers and instructors to talk down to her. Fuel is added to the fire when Cheol Kim transfers to her class and becomes her desk mate. Since Cheol and Mi-ae share the same names with a popular K-pop duo, several teachers and students begin bombarding the two with jokes. Cheol may have scared his class into staying quiet and not bothering him, other than spreading rumors, but for Mi-ae, she ended up with the short end of the stick. Fortunately for her, she isn't afraid to bite back. To accommodate the unfairness, she uses her own tactics against people who pick on her, such as reflecting every rude remark aimed at her right back at her harasser.

Appearance
Mi-ae Hwang is a sixteen year old girl who stands around 5'1" or 155 cm [All character heights are debatable. The official Korean version of the Special Episode on Naver states that Mi-ae's height is 150.1 cm while the English translated Special Episode on Webtoon says her height is 4'11".] She finally achieved her goal of beating the 5 ft mark. She has big round eyes that are a pale shade of olive green, white pupils (most likely a stylistic choice), and has small eyelashes on her lower eyelids. She also has set of iconic bushy black eyebrows. Her middle school is strict with hair length, so Mi-ae has short black hair that ends just below her ears. The highlights on her hair are a similar shade of green to her eyes. Mi-ae also has fair skin, like most of the characters in the story. Her build isn't quite clear due to her clothing style consisting of big, baggy shirts and shorts but in Episode 44, Mi-ae is depicted doing a stretching test but she can't, "reach it at all," showing how her arms and legs are shorter than average. In Episodes 68, 71 and 73, Mi-ae is shown to be of a slender build with a bit of muscle. Using this information, along with her height measurement in Episode 44, Mi-ae has a petite body that leans on the smaller side of the scale.

Hair Styles
Mi-ae goes through several hair styles during the course of the story. Starting from her childhood and in flashbacks to her time in the countryside, Mi-ae typically put her hair in high pigtails. In Episode 1, Mi-ae's hair is parted straight in the middle so that the sides obscure her vision. Once her third year of middle school starts, she decides to cut her own bangs, causing them to be very uneven and stick up. Later on, her bangs begin growing from a few strands of hair until the strands even out, resembling a bowl cut until she trims her bangs slightly. She also wears hats, hair clips, and headbands throughout the story. The creator, Soonki, did make art of what Cheol and Mi-ae might look like in high school; Mi-ae is depicted to have bangs and straight, arm-pit length hair.

Personality
Ever since her childhood, Mi-ae grew up a social butterfly. She's able to become friends with her peers quite easily, even with kids she didn't know that well. Mi-ae's overall personality is very social, naturally outgoing, compassionate, and determined. When it comes to her flaws, she can be oblivious, stubborn, highly energetic, noisy, childish and occasionally misses social cues. This is due to Mi-ae’s EQ being lower than average, with her IQ being higher. Even so, the times where she doesn't understand more emotional problems, she tries to make efforts to get to know them better. She's notably easily distracted, can be a terrible liar, and often wears her heart on her sleeve. She is also quite confrontational when dealing with certain situations. Mi-ae has experienced several unfair scenarios throughout her life, so she's learned how to deal with people who harass, bully, or make assumptions about her. With her short stature being a trigger for insults, Mi-ae's quick temper allows her to fight back.

Summary
Cheol Kim (first name spelled "김 철" in Korean) is a transfer student who attends Baekje Middle School. He is nicknamed "Lucifer" because of his striking resemblance to the fictional character due to a scar underneath his right eye and his towering height. Cheol is plagued with an infamous reputation after rumors spread that he beat up a kid at his old school. Counter to the scarier expectations his peers expect, all he ever does is study. This causes students to add "Repentant Lucifer" to his title. Initially, he doesn't care if he comes across as rude, and in some cases choosing to be threatening so people can stop bothering him. Yet he is far from the violent gangster his classmates and teachers make him out to be; in reality, he is simply a teenager who, due to pent up social stress, fought with the wrong person that resulted in problems for himself and his family.

In opposition to his negative image at school, Cheol spends his days as a diligent kid. He runs errands, hangs out with his little sister, plays soccer at night with his friends from Goguryeo Middle School, goes to a cram academy to better his grades, and studies any chance he gets. Cheol is determined to push through his 3rd year of middle school in the hopes of moving back to the countryside at the end of the year. In order to do that, he needs to improve his grades and avoid any "distractions" that may get in his way. Unexpectedly, his life is flipped upside down when his childhood friend and neighbor, Mi-ae Hwang, catches him crying one night. Since then, Mi-ae coincidentally appears before him, much to Cheol's annoyance. In a bizarre turn of events, she starts off as his neighbor, ends up in the same class as him, becomes his desk mate, and then attends the same academy class as him. After acknowledging the fact that the two can't avoid each other forever, Cheol reluctantly accepts to become Mi-ae's friend after her various attempts to befriend him. This friendship, in turn, allows him to open up more to his classmates, especially the boys who play soccer matches during break, and his reputation begins shifting into a more positive light.

Appearance
Cheol Kim is a sixteen year old boy who stands around 6'1" or 185 cm [All character heights are debatable. The official Korean version of the Special Episode on Naver states that Cheol's height is 18X.X while the English translated Special Episode on Webtoon says his height is 5'10".] His size is extremely large compared to Mi-ae's small statue; the most prominent differences between the two can be seen in Episodes 33, 55, 59, 62, 88, 89, and 90. Cheol is also taller than several lofty reoccurring characters, like Jinseop and Jisoo, along with most male background students. Adults are also taken aback by his towering height and intense features, such as when two men mistook him for a gangster in Episode 26. Speaking of which, Cheol appears to have a stern resting face, and so Mi-ae reminds him to loosen up his furrowed eyebrows to appear less intimidating. He also has a scar underneath his right eye that draws unwanted attention. His aggressive appearance causes students to mistake him to be almost always upset; instances of these misunderstandings include his entire class being terrified of him (Episode 3); Seonghan Gu, a student in class 3-12, becomes increasingly afraid of Cheol in one scene (Episode 58); a gym teacher falsely accusing Cheol of hitting Mi-ae (Episode 58); a perverted flasher scared off campus with one look at Cheol (Episode 60); Cheol steering another student, Changyeon Shim, away from Mi-ae's uniform situation (Episode 74); and a rude arcade customer being prompted to pass Cheol (Episode 77).

Contrary to his scary demeanor, there have been numerous mentions of Cheol's attractiveness near the end of Season 1 (Episodes 1 - 65) and throughout Season 2 (Episode 66 - TBC). He has fair skin, and is usually drawn having black eyes with small white highlights on the bottom; but his actual eye color is a noticeably pale shade of purple, which can be spotted in Episodes 12, 14, 17, 56, 69, 72, and 78. His black hair is cut in a way to match the school's dress code, with buzzed ends around his ears and on the nape of his neck. Strands of hair stick up like sharp edges on the top of his head, and his has four distinct bangs that fall over his forehead. He has large hands, almost like an adult's (Episode 50); large feet indicated by his lost shoe (Episode 3); and a slightly lean, muscular build (Episode 70 and 71). Cheol's physique has been caught by Mi-ae on several awkward occasions, such as in Episode 71 when Cheol had his curtains open while he undressed. His active body type may be due to the soccer games he goes to, biking home from his cram academy, and walking to and from school everyday. Along with his great shape, several people comment on Cheol's features. Mi-ae's parents mention that Cheol is good-looking, very handsome, and says he has sharp eyes and a nice nose (Episode 56); Mi-ae's friend Jiseon Gong offhandedly comments that Cheol is 'not bad' (Episode 56); Yonghui Cha, a Goguryeo Middle School student who goes to the same cram academy as Cheol, states that he is more sexy than good-looking (Episode 57); and a girl who's interested in Cheol tries to flirt with him and become friends (Episode 78).

Personality
During his childhood, Cheol's first interaction with Mi-ae (Episode 4 and Episode 66) showcased his aggressive attitude. During her stat a Cheol's home, he is disinterested and annoyed by Mi-ae, often avoiding her as much as he could. However, on two occasions - one when Mi-ae trips and another when she falls into a stream - Cheol displays his attentive and caring side. Later on in his life, Cheol ends up moving from the countryside to an urban town where he transfers to several schools. Between transfers he was harassed by other students and couldn't make any solid connections with his peers, due to his family relocating for work (Episode 59). After the events that transpired at Goguryeo Middle School, Cheol becomes more diligent, observant, logical, mature, protective and parental. However, he can also be very reclusive, emotional, childish, jealous, and easily agitated. In the beginning of Season 1, Cheol opted to focus solely on studying and uses his intimidating appearance and the many rumors that have followed him to get people to leave him alone; even being rude to Mi-ae and telling her to stop acting like his friend (Episode 6). But Cheol, underneath all his gruffness, is sensitive. His nurturing nature results in him being watchful over people he's close to - whether he realizes it or not. For instance, this can be seen when he helps his little sister Hwani with roller-skating (Episode 79), and getting defensive on the topic of his older sister Sunjeong (Episode 89). His protectiveness is very apparent whenever it comes to Mi-ae as well.

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세기말 풋사과 보습학원