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 and phonetically pronounced "me {as in the 'mi' sound in the syllables do re mi } -ay {as in the 'ay' sound in pl ay }" in English) 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 finds fun hobbies for herself, like reading romance manga and comic books. Mi-ae loves to wish on airplanes late at night too. Sometimes she holds up two fingers in the air to make 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 quite 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.

However, on school campus Mi-ae is never taken seriously; her short height causes her peers to talk down to her. Fuel is added to the fire when Cheol Kim transfers to her class and ends up becoming Mi-ae's desk mate. Since Cheol and Mi-ae share the same names with the popular K-pop duo, several teachers began bombarding the two with jokes and pinning the spotlight on them during lessons. 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, Mi-ae, with her stubborn and aggressive nature, isn't afraid to bite back. To accommodate the unfairness, she uses her own tactics; she reflects everything she hears. She will question and argue until they understand that she's going to defend herself no matter what.

Appearance
Mi-ae Hwang is a sixteen year old who stands around 5'1 or 154 cm, finally climbing over 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's black hair short, ending 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 the raw episodes 68, 71 and 73, Mi-ae is shown to be of an average build, but more slender with a bit of muscle.

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, usually with one on side of her head but sometimes she put up two. In episode 1, Mi-ae's hair is parted straight in the middle so that the sides tend to 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 very long, straight 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. She's notably a terrible liar and always 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 fights back in order to not be the pipsqueak who gets picked on. 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 an individual’s more emotional problems is when she tries to make an effort to get to know them better.

Summary
Cheol Kim (first name spelled "김 철" in Korean and phonetically pronounced "ch {as in the 'ch' sound in ch oose} - ol {as in the 'ol' sound in ol d}" in English) is a transfer student who attends Baekje Middle School. Nicknamed "Lucifer," due to his resemblance to a fictional character from a popular manga series, he is feared amongst his peers. From the scar underneath his right eye to his looming height, Cheol is plagued with an infamous reputation. Yet he is far from the violent, murderous gangster his classmates and teachers make him out to be; in reality, he is only a kid who fought with the wrong person, creating a domino effect of unfortunate events for himself and his family. Leaving his previous school, Goguryeo Middle School, Cheol grits his teeth and bears with people's perception of him. 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. His one goal is to go back home to the countryside at the end of the year. In opposition to his negative image at school, Cheol spends his days as an average, diligent student. Between finding time to play soccer at night with his old middle school friends, going to an academy to better his grades, and studying any chance he gets, Cheol is determined to push through. His life is flipped upside down when his childhood friend and neighbor, Mi-ae Hwang, catches him crying while he was moving out his old belongings. Since that day, Mi-ae coincidentally appears before him, much to his annoyance. She starts as his neighbor, then desk mate, then cram school classmate.

He reluctantly reunites with his childhood friend Mi-ae after her various attempts to become friends after the two become desk mates.

Navigation
세기말 풋사과 보습학원