In Mask Girl, Kim Mo-mi is a regular girl who becomes a masked internet personality and then a wanted murderer. Kim Mo-mi is played by Lee Han-byeol, NANA, and Ko Hyun-jung.
Kim Mo-mi always wanted to be a celebrity and hear people applauding and cheering for her. However, her dream never comes true because of her looks. Everyone around her, including her mother, never failed to point out that she is unattractive.
Eventually, Kim Mo-mi gets an office job. However, after work, she dons a mask and live streams her dance performances. She has many fans, and they all know her as Mask Girl. Her secret does not remain a secret for long, and when it is revealed, her life turns upside down.
The beginning of the end
Mo-mi is in love with her married boss, Mr. Park, who is cheating on his wife with a colleague. Mo-mi finds out about this and is heartbroken. She gets drunk and takes off her clothes while performing for her fans, which results in her account getting suspended.
Mo-mi then decides to meet with one of her fans, Handsome Monk, in person. She is reluctant to reveal her face to him, but she reveals it eventually when he insists. What she does not know is that Handsome Monk intends to get her drunk, take pictures with her, and post them online.
Another colleague of Mo-mi’s, Ju Oh-nam, figured out that Mo-mi was Mask Girl and fell in love with her. He is one of Mask Girl’s fans, and he discovers Handsome Monk’s intentions. He tries to warn her, but Mo-mi does not answer his calls.
Handsome Monk takes Mo-mi to a motel and forces himself on her. When Mo-mi defends herself and fights him, he ends up getting a head injury, and Mo-mi thinks that he is dead. She then realizes that Ju Oh-nam knows her secret and calls him to the motel.
Ju Oh-nam sends her home and takes care of the body, only to realize that Handsome Monk is alive. Ju Oh-nam is the one who kills him, but Mo-mi is led to believe that she killed him. Mo-mi decides to forget what happened and start her life afresh.
She gets plastic surgery, which changes her face completely. When Ju Oh-nam comes to know that Mo-mi has quit her job and is leaving, he comes to her house and rapes her. This leads to Mo-mi stabbing him to death.
She dismembers his body, throws it away, and moves to a different city. Later, when Handsome Monk and Ju Oh-nam’s bodies are found, Mo-mi becomes a murder suspect. The public now sees Mask Girl as a serial killer.
The dream of a new life
After moving to a different city, Mo-mi starts performing in nightclubs and comes to be known by her stage name, A-reum. While she manages to impress the clients with her talent, she is still hiding from the police.
Eventually, her past catches up with her. Ju Oh-nam’s mother, Kyung-ja, comes looking for her son’s killer. Furthermore, to save her best friend, Chun-ae, Mo-mi ends up killing Chun-ae’s boyfriend with her.
Kyung-ja finds the two women before they could leave town and kills Chun-ae, who bashes Kyung-ja with a roch before dying. Mo-mi loses her friend, but she believes that she has finally gotten rid of Kyung-ja, not knowing that the woman is still alive.
Mo-mi is also pregnant with Ju Oh-nam’s child and decides to raise the child on her own. She gives birth to her daughter, Mi-mo, and leaves her with her mother for a while to make arrangements to leave the country.
However, she gets arrested and is sentenced to life in prison. She never returns for her daughter, leaving her mother to raise her. Mo-mi’s mother wants her to stay away from Mi-mo, so Mo-mi never contacts her daughter.
The life of a prisoner
After everything that Mo-mi has been through, she does not let anyone control her. In prison, she refuses to bow down to An Eun-suk, the prisoner everyone fears. Instead, she does whatever she wants.
An Eun-suk sends her cronies to teach Mo-mi a lesson, but Mo-mi stands her ground. She gets sent to solitary confinement several times, but she keeps attacking the woman who came to beat her up until An Eun-suk is forced to call a truce.
No one bothers Mo-mi after that. Years later, she gets sent to solitary confinement once again when she tries to break out of prison after receiving a letter threatening her daughter’s life.
Mo-mi is given a Bible when she is in solitary confinement. She is kept there for longer than the legally permitted duration and is let out only when Mo-mi convinces everyone that she has turned into a devout Christian.
Soon, Mo-mi is visited by Kyung-ja in prison. Kyung-ja tells her that she is going to kill Mi-mo, and a desperate Mo-mi finally manages to escape when she is taken to a prison to donate her kidney to An Eun-suk’s daughter.
Mo-mi leaves no stone unturned to get to Mi-mo before it is too late. Eventually, she dies protecting her daughter from Kyung-ja. Mo-mi could never become the person who is loved by everyone, but she won her daughter’s love before her death.
Also Read: Mask Girl summary and ending explained