Fake Scar, Real Jerk, True Regret
pending
The gap between who she is and who he thinks she is is the whole engine, and the show keeps widening it.
The setup (no spoilers)
A secret-identity campus romance where the lie is self-inflicted: she chooses the scar, he chooses the betrayal. The runway is long, so the payoff depends on how the reveal lands.
What works, what doesn't
WORTH IT
- The disguise is a real choice, not a coincidence — it gives the humiliation weight
- Campus setting keeps the power gap intimate instead of corporate
WATCH OUT
- Still airing — no score until the arc closes
Who it's for
If the heiress-in-disguise trope is your thing, this one commits hard to the double-life premise. It is still dropping, so we have not scored it — we only rate a show once the arc closes.
TL;DR — Fake Scar, Real Jerk, True Regret (ReelShort, 52 episodes, still airing) is a hidden-identity campus drama where the richest man’s daughter hides behind a fake scar and watches the boyfriend she saved turn on her. We’re not scoring it yet — an ongoing show gets a verdict only after the arc closes, so this is a watch-notice, not a rating.
The premise, without the spoilers
The hook is a double life the lead builds on purpose. She’s the daughter of the world’s richest man, but she walks through college as an ordinary student — and after a fire where she saves her boyfriend, she covers the mark with a fake scar sticker rather than reveal herself. The tension arrives at graduation, when the boyfriend mistakes someone else for the heiress and humiliates the one person who actually loves him. That’s the whole machine: a lie she chose, a betrayal he chose, and a long runway before either comes due.
We’re keeping the ending out of this write-up on purpose. If you’re watching week to week, the fun is the gap between what she knows and what he thinks he knows — so we won’t close it for you.
Story
The structure leans on contrast: private devotion versus public humiliation. Because the disguise is her decision, the shame he piles on her lands with more weight than it would in a simple mistaken-identity setup — she could end it and doesn’t. That restraint is what makes the eventual reveal matter, whenever it comes.
Binge-ability
Fifty-two short episodes is a lot of runway for a single premise, which is the usual risk with these drops: the middle can stretch. The daily-release format rewards a little-and-often habit more than a one-sitting crush. If you like the trope, treat it as a serial, not a sprint.
Value
As a free-to-watch hidden-identity entry on ReelShort, the cost of trying it is zero beyond your time. The question is whether the writing earns the episode count — and that’s exactly why we hold the score until the arc lands. A show that spends fifty episodes setting up a reveal and sticks it gets a very different number than one that sprawls.
Who it’s for
Watch this if you love the heiress-in-disguise setup and don’t mind waiting for the payoff. Skip it if you need a completed arc to judge a drama — this one is explicitly a work in progress, and we’d be lying if we scored it mid-air.
Keep watching
- The Last 30 Days — a completed Hidden ID drama we did score.
- The Double Contract — another identity-and-secret-deal premise, finished and rated.
Source: official platform listing on ReelShort. We track episode counts and status from the publisher; scores are withheld until a show completes.