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He's Dedicated To Roses is a Manhwa by Mi-Ri Hwang (also the author of Cutie Boy and Hot Blooded Woman), published in 2007 by Samyang. It has 42 chapters, gathered in 11 volumes.

The higschool student Choi I-Da has had a pretty rough life, being forced since a young age to be a slave to the daughter of her parent's boss, Shin Mi-Mi. So in order to relieve stress, she dresses up as a boy and calls herself Choi Yo-Dah, then goes around calling up gangs so she can beat the shit out of them. Along the way she makes two friends, two boys named Park Ju-Nah and Jang Shi-Nah, neither of whom mind keeping her background secret, especially since they've got a few secrets of their own.

One day, she gets kissed by a complete stranger as I-Da, in order to fool said stranger's clingy girlfriend. When she later pays the stranger back, as Yo-Dah, he mistakes her for his dead little brother Gang Mi-Ru. The next day, the boy - whose name is Gang Na-Ru- starts showing up at her school looking for Choi Yo-Dah, and so a complicated drama commences. . .

Tropes used in He's Dedicated to Roses include:


  • Aborted Arc: It seemed like Nu-Na was going to play a bigger role, but Ju-Nah very quickly takes care of her and she's hardly heard of again.
  • Alpha Bitch: Mi-Mi, while the trio reoccur as minor villians.
  • Asshole Victim: Anybody Yo-Dah goes after. Also, Mi-Mi.
    • Subverted later: when the now outed I-Da talks to Shih-Nah about her past deeds, she wonders if she beat up at least some people who didn't truly deserve it.
  • Attempted Rape: Early on, several thugs try this on Mi-Mi, but quit after their boss Shin Hak-Yoon falls in love with her. near the end, Mi-Mi has those same thugs, with her new boyfriend's help, do the same thing to I-Da. They almost succeed, and were only stopped by the untimely intervention of Na-Ru.
  • Batman Gambit: Na-Ru's grandfather pulls one to try and keep Na-Ru and I-Da apart, via faking the boy's death after he's severely wounded to protect I-Da. It ends up falling through thanks to his secretary, and he accepts the situation very quickly.
  • Bifauxnen: I-Da makes an effeminate but effective boy.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Mi-Mi, holy shit.
  • Bully Hunter: Yo-Dah. Shi-Nah even lampshades it after Yo-Dah threatens to beat him up after catching Shi-Nah stalking "him".
  • The Casanova: Ju-Nah.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Mi-Mi, who goes to insane lengths to get her revenge on Na-Ru for dumping her. Also Nu-Na and an unnamed girlfriend of Na-Ru, but they aren't as bad because they have much, much less screentime.
  • Childhood Friend Romance: Nu-na and Ju-Nah.
  • Creepy Child: Mi-Mi was a Manipulative Bitch while already in third grade, so her antics back then come up as this.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: The finale shows that I-Da and the trio have become good friends.
  • Defiled Forever: One of Mi-Mi's reasons to arrange the ultimately failed gangrape of I-Da is this, betting on how not only she'll be all broken by the rape but Shih-Nah (who is Mi-Mi's cousin) and Ju-Nah will also leave her. (Shih-nah straight up says that he will NOT desert I-Da, however)
  • Despair Event Horizon: Mi-Mi pretty much breaks after she comes home after being humiliated by her boyfriend, classmates, and maid to see her father being arrested for his shady deals and realizing that Shi-Nah's finally gone through with what he's been threating to do half the series and turned her father in. Which means that essentially, she will have the same fate as I-Da: going from having everything to having nothing. She ends up becoming a shut-in in her uncle's house, refusing to see or talking to anyone. Few feel sorry for her, though. (Though I-Da herself does express some sympathy for her.)
  • Dissonant Serenity: Shin Hak-Yoon hardly even stops smiling, not even when he realizes that Mi-Mi had been using him all along.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: I-Da has to go through a whole lot in order to get to the finale.
  • Easy Sex Change: Averted. I-Da briefly but seriously contemplates getting a sex change operation seeing how her crush is in love with her crossdressing alter-ego and she doesn't want to hurt him by letting him know she's actually a girl. Of course, since I-Da is not Transgender this idea is quickly shot down and isn't brought up again.
  • Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Mi-Mi and I-Da/Yo-Dah
  • Fallen Princess - Riches to Rags: The Choi family had a fairly good life standard when I-Da was a little girl, as Mr. Choi owned a small but rather prosperous company... which went bankrupt all of a sudden. A friend of Mr. Choi, who's also Shin Mi-Mi's father, paid for their debts and lent the family a house next to his own, but in exchange Choi was stuck as the man's his chauffeur and Mrs. Choi became the family maid, whereas the now poor I-Da was forced to become Mi-Mi's "maid".
  • Forced to Watch: Hak-Yoon has Shih-Nah and Ju-Nah captured, tied up and brought to a warehouse so they can witness how he and his "friends" will gangrape I-Da. Then, he commits the huge mistake of contacting Na-Ru to challenge him to go there. . ..
  • Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Shi-Nah, at first.
  • Hero Stole My Bike: Naru takes a random boy's motorbike to go rescue I-Da. His grandpa's secretary tells the boy to call "this number" (probably a higher-up in the grandpa's business) to pay him back for it.
  • Humiliation Conga: In the finale, Mi-Mi gets one so bad that she ends up becoming a shut-in, refusing to interact with anyone. Still can't feel sorry for her, though.
  • Important Haircut: I-Da lets her hair down after the Jerkass Has a Point moment, showing everybody that she isn't going to take their crap anymore.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: An unintentional example. After Mi-Mi outs I-Da to the whole class, the leader of the trio crushes I-Da's glasses, saying she doesn't need them. I-Da takes the advice to heart, just not how the girl expects: she decides to be herself and, to do so, she beats up the classmates who were teasing her, lets down her hair, tells everyone that she's not going to pretend to be somebody she isn't anymore, and that she'll beat the ever-loving crap out of anybody who tries to make her be anything else.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Shi-Nah.
  • Kick the Dog; While Na-Ru is a nice guy, he does some pretty ass-holish things, like abandoning Mi-Mi to be raped by a gang and dumping I-Da and trying to leave the country after he finds out about her true identity.
  • Kick the Son of a Bitch: ... Let's just say Mi-Mi did everything she could to deserve her fate in the finale and leave it at that.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Works for both sides: Mi-Mi ends up getting all the crap she inflicted on I-Da and then some, and it's implied that it will just get worse; I-Da becomes completely free of debt, her parents are also free and they love her again, she doesn't have to deal with any bullies anymore, and gets the guy in the end.
  • Loves My Alter Ego: Pretty much the premise of the entire series is I-Da worrying that Na-Ru will hate her if he finds out she's a girl. Also, the leader of the trio falls for Yo-Dah, and is understandably miffed when he: 1. dumps her for Na-Ru, and 2. turns out to be a girl.
  • Manipulative Bitch: Mi-Mi, due to her use of the Wounded Gazelle Gambit, is an even worse bully than Sae.
  • Made a Slave - Work Off the Debt: A little Mi-Mi uses two Wounded Gazelle Gambits to make I-Da look like she's bullying her, which brings lots of trouble to I-Da's parents since they work for her family. Mi-Mi then tells I-Da to never stand up to her and be her maid, in exchange for her "forgiving" I-Da's supposed transggressions towards her; I-Da is so desperate to save her parents that she accepts, and from then on is all but a slave to he since she thinks via doing this, she's protecting her parents from being targeted by Mi-Mi.
    • As said above, I-Da's parents are this to Mi-Mi's. If they ever try to leave their works as their chaffeur and maid, respectively, Mr. Shin will demand for them to pay him back the massive sum of money he used to pay off their debts. Once Mr. Shin is ousted for corruption (almost surely thanks to Shih-Nah's dad ratting him out), Mr. Choi is almost immediately hired as a chaffeur for a Samsung top executive (implied to be thanks to Naru's grandpa's secretary).
  • The Matchmaker - Shipper with an Agenda: Mr. Gang's secretary ships I-Da and Na-Ru, but tries to get Shi-Nah and I-Da together. But after Shi-Nah refuses to go through with her plan, she decides to defy her boss and get I-Da and Na-Ru together.
  • Meganekko: I-Da.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The leader of the Girl Posse breaks I-Da's glasses, intending to break her - instead, I-Da listens to her advice and takes it to heart, and decides not to put up with everybody's crap anymore.
  • Official Couple: Na-Ru/I-Da
  • Parents as People: I-Da's parents, due to their horrifying situation: if Mr. Choi ever loses Mr. Shin's favor, he WILL demand for Choi to actually pay him back all the millions he owes him after paying his debts, and that would completely wreck their dream to give I-Da the best life they can and ensure her happiness.
  • Race For Your Love: Inverted: Na-Ru gets off the plane he's supposed to take to the USA after he's told that Hak-Yoon and his goons will rape I-Da
  • Rich Bitch: Every rich woman in the series, but Mi-Mi takes the cake.
  • Burn Scars Are Forever: Hak-Yoon's revenge includes burning Mi-Mi on the forehead so that he'll be able to find her once he's out of juvenile hall. Everybody says afterward that you can't get rid of burns like that.
  • Secret Keeper: Ju-Nah and Shih-Nah. The latter already suspected it from before, tho.
  • Spanner in the Works: Na-Ru's grandfather's secretary (via undoing the grandpa's plan to keep the two apart) and Na-Ru himself (via actually showing up to rescue I-Da from Ha-Yoon and his rapist gang, which triggers many of the events that ruin Mi-Mi).
    • Also the leader of Mi-Mi's Girl Posse via breaking I-da's glasses and saying that she doesn't them anymore... thus triggering her decision to not be a victim anymore.
    • And finally, Shi-Nah and especially his father, who decides to actually tell the police that Mi-Mi's father is a Corrupt Corporate Executive
  • Stalker with a Crush: Ho-Sup Jung.
  • Sweet on Polly Oliver: Pretty much the entire series' premise.
  • Sweet Polly Oliver: Yo-Dah, minus the "sweet" part.
  • The Glasses Come Off: When I-Da is Yo-Dah. After she's outed, she takes the glasses off permanently.
  • Trauma Conga Line: I-Da through most of the series. Until she decides "I Will Not Be a Victim!"
  • Unwitting Pawn: Hak-Yoon. Once he figures this part out, he's pretty pissed, although you couldn't tell from looking at his face.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: Yo-Dah/I-Da.
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Mi-Mi to poor, poor I-Da.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Almost everybody except I-Da has technicolor hair.