#Killstagram
is a two-season Korean Webtoon by Ryoung.
The first season, subtitled "Serial Killing by Hashtag", follows the story of Remi Do, a young influencer who is being stalked by a serial killer. It was first released in English on April 3, 2020.
The second season, subtitled "Ghost Killing Game", is about a Deadly Game in which thirteen people have to figure out the phantom assassin's identity while trying not to be killed by it. While it has been fully released in other languages, it has not been translated to English.
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#Killstagram provides examples of:
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Season 1: Serial Killing by Hashtag
- Bowdlerize: The English translation cuts out most of Doyeon's transition to Doha, including the hormone therapy and the slip of paper indicating a sex reassignment. Only the part about the makeup remains.
- Bungled Suicide: Doyeon survives her family's Suicide Pact and decides to get revenge on Remi instead.
- Dark and Troubled Past:
- Remi was abandoned as a child and sexually abused by her classmates and gym coach in high school. She dropped out as a result of the trauma.
- Doyeon was mocked for her looks, and a botched plastic surgery made the bullying worse. Her mother and sister's livelihoods were also affected, so they made a Suicide Pact to make the pain stop. Doyeon survived and turned into Doha to get revenge on Remi.
- Downer Ending: Remi slits her wrist in the hospital after seeing that all her fans turned against her for sympathizing with Doha.
- Driven to Suicide:
- Doyeon's family has a Suicide Pact by pill overdose, but she survives.
- Remi slits her wrist in the hospital at the end of the story.
- Dub-Induced Plot Hole: The English translation cuts out most of Doyeon's transition to Doha, making it look like she became a man by putting on makeup.
- Easy Sex Change: Doyeon's transition to Doha doesn't seem too difficult given that she had nothing to her name.
- Karma Houdini: The doctor never faces comeuppance for botching Doyeon's surgery and pinning the blame on Remi.
- Metaphorically True: Doha blames Remi for killing his sister. While he's talking about his past self, Doyeon, he did have a sister, Dohee, who was bullied to the point of committing a Suicide Pact with the family.
- Serial Killer: Someone is going around killing social media personalities. It turns out to be Doha.
- Social Media Before Reason: Remi tends to share every bit of her life on Nstagram, including her location. This makes her an easy target for stalkers.
- Stockholm Syndrome: Remi comes to sympathize with Doha after learning about his tragic past.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: Tay Choi straps Remi's ankles to an operating table, but she gets out of it by stabbing him with a scalpel.
- Suicide Dare: Remi's fans turn on her after she cries out for Doha, going so far as to dare her to kill herself. She follows through with it.
- Suicide Pact: Doyeon's family chooses to overdose on pills, but Doyeon survives.
- Too Dumb to Live: Remi always posts her location on social media, and stalkers tend to show up wherever she's at.
Season 2: Ghost Killing Game
- As Long as There Is Evil: The phantom game will never end as long as child abusers exist.
- Attempted Rape: Two people attempt to rape Sarang during the course of the game.
- Back from the Dead: The deceased participants come back to life to attack the remaining participants late in the game.
- Because You Can Cope: Subverted; Bin's mother neglected him in favor of his older brother. When he called her out on it, she doubles down on her abuse.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Hé-ri was touched when Tae-hyuk defended her when her own employers were against her, so she stalked him.
- Bittersweet Ending: Sarang brings justice to the phantom killer and does her time for killing her daughter, but she finds out that the phantom games are still going on. As long as people abuse children, the games will never end.
- Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: Tae-hyuk puts Sarang in a wedding dress and ties her up in a coffin with razor wires, causing her to bleed onto the dress. The dress only gets bloodier as the game continues.
- Cain and Abel: Bin was neglected in favor of his disabled older brother, so he set the house on fire and left him to die.
- Contrasting Sequel Setting: This season is more confined than the first,
- Dead All Along: Jia turns out to have been killed by Sarang's own hands. This act of homicide is the reason Sarang was pulled into the game.
- Deadly Game: 13 people are forced to hide from the phantom assassin and vote to kill who they think is the assassin.
- Dirty Coward: "Petit Prince" shoves "Duconne" in front of a monster to save his own skin, killing her.
- Enfant Terrible: "Gamine" was six when she started killing other children.
- Formerly Fat: Hé-ri used to be fat until Tae-hyuk defended her at a retail store, hence her nickname "Cochonne". She then put in all her effort into becoming thin to look good for him.
- Locked Up and Left Behind: Hwa-yeon was locked up in a room, and her captors did not come back for her when the place caught fire.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Hé-ri wants Sarang dead for stealing Tae-hyuk's love.
- New Season, New Name: The second season is titled Killstagram 2: The Phantom Assassin Game.
- Offing the Offspring: Sarang kills her daughter Jia by strangling her in a fit of rage.
- Off with His Head!: The victims of the phantom assassin tend to get decapitated and dismembered.
- Stalker with a Crush: Hé-ri fell for Tae-hyuk because he defended her when her own manager wouldn't. She then stalked him and had his child.
- Teen Pregnancy: Sarang was fifteen when she gave birth to Jia, which forced her to drop out of school.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Sarang forgot that she killed Jia, so she doesn't realize why she's playing a game with violent people.
- Vengeful Ghost: The phantom wants revenge on people who hurt children, since she herself was abused and left to die.
- Would Hurt a Child: Every participant in the phantom game has committed some sort of crime against children.
