If I Had Your Face

Kyuri is a deeply complex character who struggles to come to terms with her position in life and how to move on from it. Kyuri works at a “10 percent” room salon, a business in which only the women considered to be in the “top 10%” are hired to entertain and drink with high profile clients. In the past, she worked at a lower profile room salon in the red-light district and often found herself having sex with clients so they would spend more money at the room salon. Kyuri’s sense of self-worth is deeply interwoven with her physical appearance. She has had several cosmetic surgeries to alter her physical appearance, and she constantly partakes in intense and time-consuming skin and hair care routines. Kyuri often finds herself jealous of other women who are considered more naturally beautiful, believing that they see themselves as superior to her.

Kyuri, despite her competitive attitude, does not blame other women for the judgment she faces as a room salon girl. She believes women are forced to be competitive and judgmental due to the gender inequality and intense Beauty Standards that women face within society. She blames wealthy men for the position she finds herself in, stuck in a cycle of debt and unable to leave the room salon. However, Kyuri also is a kind and filial daughter. She has a deep desire to care and provide for her sickly mother but does not have the courage to tell her mother the truth about her profession. Kyuri also lies to save the feelings of others twice within the novel. First, she lies to the elderly man who had paid off her debts to her first madam in the red-light district, telling him that she is becoming a teacher because she knows he loves to believe that he saved her. She also lies to Miho for a while, choosing to hide the truth about Nami and Hanbin’s relationship from her to spare her feelings.

By the end of the novel, Sujin has convinced Kyuri to try to leave her nightclub Ajax and work for the Cinderella Clinic. Kyuri seems to be more optimistic about the future after meeting with Dr. Shim. When she returns home at the end of the novel, she treats the other girls fondly, accepting that she cares for them deeply and fully allowing herself to be with them in solidarity. She thinks about tomorrow for the first time in the novel, rather than simply focusing on today.

Miho is an artist who has recently moved back to Seoul after graduating from an art university in New York. Miho is the naivest of the five main protagonists, focusing on the beauty of things and seeing things closer to the surface than the others. Miho does not believe herself to be naive, but it is clear that she does not have the same cynicism formed by the other women that they’d gained through their life experiences. Miho’s main conflict throughout the novel comes from her relationship with her boyfriend Hanbin who is the heir to a large company in South Korea. Hanbin and Miho both struggle with the loss of their friend, and Hanbin’s former girlfriend, Ruby, who died by suicide during their time in New York. Miho becomes obsessed with Ruby, feeling guilty about dating Hanbin after her death and creating an art series dedicated to her as a way to prove that Ruby still haunts her. Although she is aware that Hanbin is not going to be her salvation from this guilt, she is deeply hurt when she discovers he has been cheating on her with Kyuri’s friend Nami and is going to be engaged to another woman of his same social class later that year. Miho vows to take advantage of Hanbin’s wealth and connections for the remainder of their relationship, deciding to use him to her advantage to elevate her social standing.

Miho’s main conflict revolves around wealth and the social hierarchy formed around it. Miho, who was orphaned and attended university on a scholarship, is thrown into the social sphere of the wealthy as she befriends Hanbin and Ruby. Miho struggles to come to terms with their frivolous spending and the feelings of inferiority that they foster. By the end of the novel, Miho decides to take advantage of the social and monetary opportunities that her connection to Hanbin offers her after she discovers his infidelity. She reverses their roles, vowing to take advantage of Hanbin just as he has taken advantage of her.

Wonna is a young, recently married woman who is in a marriage of convenience. Wonna, in an attempt to avoid the complicated relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, marries her husband because his mother is deceased. Wonna’s mental health is impacted again as she realizes that she is pregnant for the fourth time, having had miscarriages in her other three pregnancies. She obsesses over ensuring that her unborn child survives, belittling her husband for speaking about their child and giving up things she enjoys, like cigarettes and diet pills, in return for the safety of her child.

Wonna faces several external conflicts in addition to her internal anxiety about her pregnancy. First, Wonna is denied full maternity leave by her manager, and she is threatened with losing her job if she requests more than three months of leave. This conflict shows the gender inequities and social pressures that women face within the society painted by the novel, as after her husband loses his job she must provide for the family while maintaining the strict social role of a mother. Wonna’s husband’s lying to her and his inability to provide for the family, in addition to her own boss’s harsh treatment of her, cause Wonna severe distress and pain. She meets Miho and Ara after they come to investigate the sounds of her screaming in the middle of the night. Wonna feels a sense of solidarity with the other women in her building, and she is able to accept her pregnancy through their support and bond.