Breaking Down the Devastating Ending of Weak Hero Class 1

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Weak Hero Class 1 and the Weak Hero Class webtoon

When Weak Hero Class 1 was originally released in late 2022, the violent, coming-of-age series about a group of classmates banding together against their bullies became a word-of-mouth hit among K-drama fans. Originally released on Waave in Korea and on platforms like iQiyi, Kocowa, and Viki internationally, the show was popular among viewers who were able to access it, and found organic growth thanks to their raves on social media.

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Still, because Weak Hero Class 1 was not available on streaming behemoth Netflix—which is as close to mainstream TV as we get in today’s fractured media environment—its success was limited. While Netflix has over 300 million global subscribers, Asian content-centric streamers like Rakuten Viki or the Chinese-based iQiyi, both of which offered Weak Hero Class 1 to U.S. viewers prior to its Netflix release, have roughly 95 million subscribers and 101 million subscribers, respectively. While Viki and iQiyi’s global presence is notable, currently, each streamer pulls in only a third of Netflix’s total subscribers. A Netflix success has limits too, but, as Squid Game has proven, those limits can be quite broad. 

Now, Weak Hero Class 1 is available to stream on Netflix, with a second season, Weak Hero Class 2, set to premiere on the streamer later this year. We’re taking the time to break down the heartbreaking, emotionally exhausting conclusion of the first eight episodes for those who have only recently found the series. What happens to high school boys Yeon Si-eun (Wanna One’s Park Ji-hoon), Ahn Suho (Twinkling Watermelon’s Choi Hyun-wook), and Oh Beom-seok (Revenant’s Hong Kyung)? How do things go so wrong for this friend group? And who ultimately survives? For those who have been waiting for Weak Hero Class 2 since 2022, we’ll also discuss what to expect from the sequel season.

Is Weak Hero Class 1 based on a webtoon, anime, or manhwa?

Weak Hero Class 1 is adapted from a Korean webtoon called Weak Hero, known as 약한영웅 in Korean. The comic, or manhwa in Korean, is written by Seopass, with illustrations by Razen. It was first available on Naver Webtoon in 2018, and was also picked up by Line Webtoon in 2019, where it was later translated into English. The webtoon is ongoing, and has released 199 episodes, at the time of this writing. It has also been published in volumed book format in Korea. 

How is the Weak Hero Class 1 TV show different from the webtoon?

The Weak Hero webtoon starts where Weak Hero Class 1 ends: with SI-eun as a newly arrived student at Eunjang High School. All of what happens in Weak Hero Class 1 is told in flashback in the Weak Hero webtoon, as part of Si-eun’s grisly backstory. While the series follows the basic plot of those flashbacks, they are understandably much more fleshed out in the show. The series changes some details, and also adds characters. For example, Yeong-i (D.P.’s Lee Yeon), the teen girl who helps Si-eun take down gang leader Gil-su, is not a character in the webtoon. 

In the webtoon, Su-ho is not a skilled fighter, but rather good at tests. Rather than getting beat by MMA fighter Woo-young (Melo Movie’s Cha Woo-min), Su-ho is accidentally pushed off of a school building by Beom-seok and Jeong Yeong-bin (Kim Su-gyeom). In the English-language webtoon translation, the main character of Yeon Si-eun is called Gray Yeon. Su-ho is Stephen, and Beom-seok is Bryce. 

Is Weak Hero Class 1 a BL drama?

BL, or boys’ love dramas, are a popular TV format. While Thailand has become known as a global exporter of BL dramas, Korea has also released a few, including Semantic Error and To My Star. However, Weak Hero Class 1 is not a BL drama. The central relationships in the series are of friendship.

Why does Beom-seok turn on his friends?

The first half of Weak Hero Class 1 is about the burgeoning friendship between study fiend Si-eun, street smart Su-ho, and timid rich kid Beom-seok. The three unlikely friends bond when they are unwillingly pulled into the systemic violence of their school and neighborhood.

While interspersed with some brutal fight scenes that don’t always go in our protagonists’ favor, the occasional feel-good friendship moments of the series’ first half make the show’s devastating second half—which sees a traumatized and self-destructive Beom-seok turn on his friends—that much more painful. “I actually think this series can be separated in half from [episodes] one to four, and then from [episodes] five to eight,” Hong, who plays Beom-seok, said at the show’s Busan International Film Festival premiere in 2022. “I think, personally, it’s like adding up two different films together.”

The drama takes a heartbreaking turn at the end of episode 4. After Si-eun, Su-ho, and Beom-seok successfully take down local gangster Gil-su, Beom-seok’s politician father, Oh Jin-won (Love Next Door’s Jo Han-chul), gets involved. He covers up the circumstances of Gil-su’s arrest to keep his son’s name out of the press. Additionally, he has his men present Gil-su to Beom-seok. They tell Beom-seok that his father has requested the teenager beat Gil-su up. Beom-seok, who as we’ve seen in the first half of the series is not a naturally violent person, refuses. When he returns home, his father beats him with a golf club. It’s implied that this is common behaviour for the parent, and that Beom-seok is regularly abused both physically and emotionally.

Jin-won is a cutthroat politician who adopted Beom-seok because he thought it would help his campaign, and he uses fear, intimidation, and violence to control his son. Because this is what Beom-seok has learned, he begins to emulate the behavior himself. Insecure and hurting, Beom-seok begins to fear that Si-eun and Su-ho only hang out with him because he bankrolls their excursions. His resentment builds, and he falls in with some of the bullies in their class. When Su-ho, who has never stood idly by when fellow teens abuse their power, calls Beom-seok and his new “friends” out for cutting the school lunch line, Beom-seok decides to use his money to take Su-ho down a peg. He sabotages the motorbike Su-ho uses for his part-time job as a food delivery worker, and hires Woo-young to beat Su-ho up. 

After Su-ho almost dies, Jin-won sends his son to a new school in the Philippines. Jin-won tells Beom-seok that if he doesn’t go, he will have Su-ho killed.

Does Suho die in Weak Hero Class 1?

The season ends with Suho in a coma, as a result of the injuries he sustained when he was beaten and kicked by Woo-young, and then by Beom-seok and his lackeys. Though Beom-seok instigated and carried out the brutal attack, he becomes distraught when he realizes Su-ho may be dying. He tries to stay by Su-ho’s side, but is dragged away by his father’s hired men. 

Later, Su-ho is brought to the hospital, where he is watched over by his grandmother and friends like Si-eun and Yeong-i. Su-ho’s sorry state prompts Si-eun to go on a vengeful rampage to exact violence on anyone involved with the attack. When Si-eun returns to Su-ho’s bedside, emotionally and physically exhausted, he imagines Su-ho waking up and teasing him. However, it is all in Si-eun’s imagination. Su-ho remains in a coma.

Why does Si-eun spare Beom-seok?

Before Beom-seok leaves the country, his father makes him visit his old school to say goodbye. It is an opportunity for Jin-won to gain political capital as a good father. When Si-eun comes into the school, looking to pummel anyone who played a hand in Su-ho’s injuries, Beom-seok is the final target on his vengeance list. But, when push comes to shove, Si-eun can’t hurt the person he once thought of as a friend. Perhaps he sees the defeated agony in Beom-seok’s eyes. Perhaps he is just tired. Whatever the motivation, Si-eun spares Beom-seok, though it may not feel like mercy to Beom-seok.

What happens in the mid-credits scene?

While Beom-seok goes to a new, presumably fancy school in the Philippines, Si-eun begins student life again at Eunjang School. It is the only school that will take him after he is thrown out of his former school for beating up his fellow students and after Jin-won makes sure he is blacklisted at other schools. Eunjang is much rougher than Si-eun’s previous school. Because of Si-eun’s delicate appearance, he is once again targeted as a potential victim by a class bully. In this case, the bully is Choi Hyo-man (Crash Landing on You’s Yoo Su-bin). Si-eun grips his pen, his weapon of choice, and stares Hyo-man down. Here we go again. 

In a mid-credits scene, we hear the voice of a man with a tattooed hand. He is looking at a photo of Si-eun on his phone, identifying him as the kid who beat up MMA figher Woo-young, and who recently transferred to Eunjang. Apparently, “the alliance” was considering recruiting Woo-young for their group. “What should we do now?” the man asks ominously before the scene fades to black and the credits continue rolling. This is most likely teasing the appearance of webtoon character Na Baekjin, or Donald in the English-language translation, the leader of The Alliance and the story’s main antagonist.

In the webtoon, The Alliance, also known as the Yeongdeungpo Union, are a gang made up of students from five different schools, including Si-eun’s new one. Each school, other than Baek-jin’s Yeo-il High School, has a leader who reports to Baek-jin.

Will Suho and Beom-seok be in Weak Hero Class 2?

As Su-ho does not appear for most of the Weak Hero webtoon, other than in flashbacks, it is unlikely he will play a major role in Weak Hero Class 2. There’s always a chance for a surprise cameo that deviates from the source material, but Choi Hyun-wook is not currently listed as a Season 2 cast member.

Similarly, if Weak Hero Class 2 follows the webtoon, Beom-seok will not be in Season 2. Hong Kyung is not currently listed as one of the cast members.

Park Ji-hoon and the Weak Hero Class 2 cast

While Choi and Hong may not be returning for Season 2, Park Ji-hoon will be reprising his central role as Si-eun (aka Gray). Joining him in the cast include Twinkling Watermelon’s Ryeoun as Park Hoo-min (aka Ben Park), Uprising’s Lee Min-jae as Go Hyun-tak (aka Alex Go), and XO Kitty’s Choi Min-yeong as Seo Jun-tae (aka Eugene Gale). 

On the antagonist side, Melo Movie’s Lee Jun-young stars as Geum Sung-jae (aka Wolf Keum) and D.P. Season 2’s Bae Na-ra stars as big bad Na Baek-jin (aka Donald Na). Choi will continue his Weak Hero Class 1 final scene performance as Choi Hyo-man (aka Colton Choi).

When will Weak Hero Class 2 be released?

While Netflix has not yet given a specific release date for Weak Hero Class 2, they have announced that the series will be out sometime in Q2.

When asked about how the series’ new platform will impact the story, Weak Hero Class 1 creative director Han Jun-hee told Korean media: “Weak Hero is still the same work. The only change is the platform. There are no other changes,” said Han. “There are concerns about the different mediums and running times, but we don’t approach it differently just because the platform is different.”

source https://time.com/7271539/weak-hero-class-1-netflix-k-drama/