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1A list of characters appearing in ''Webcomic/GetSchooled''.
2
3'''Note: Spoilers ahead.'''
4----
5[[foldercontrol]]
6
7!Teacher's Rights Protection Agency ([=TRPA=])
8[[folder: As a whole]]
9An organization founded by the minister of education with the goal of defending both teacher's right to teach and students' rights to learn.
10----
11* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: The TRPA's M.O. is usually this, aiming to have the bullies suffer the same mistreatment they inflicted on their victims, often in the hopes of inducing a HeelRealization that this was what ''they'' have been putting their own victims through this whole time. Since most usually use physical violence as a basic means to oppress, the TRPA commonly uses CorporalPunishment to inflict the same violence back onto them.
12* BadassTeacher: Downplayed, as the wardens don't actually have teaching qualifications, but they take teaching roles in whatever school they're assigned to and view their job as a different sort of education.
13* BullyHunter: What the organization's cause boils down to. The wardens' main job at their assigned schools is to single out troublemakers and make sure to put a stop to them.
14* CoolTeacher: Again, downplayed, see BadassTeacher above. But to the bullies' victims in the student body the wardens generally tend to be this, often helping them stand up to their tormentors and defending them when situations get rough, as well as imparting valuable life lessons onto them through their unconventional teaching methods.
15* CorporalPunishment: The [=TRPA=] is a very strong advocate for this, at least in cases where nothing else worked to discipline a problem student.
16* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: The wardens are firm believers in this trope. Each of them frequently runs into a bully who justifies their cruel actions because of their DarkAndTroubledPast, but the wardens always point out that it’s no excuse to take out their trauma onto the innocents.
17* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Something that the wardens are fond of when punishing the bullies. They will always remind the bullies of what [[TeensAreMonsters horrible monsters]] they are and call them out on their treatment of their victims, [[ATasteofTheirOwnMedicine often while delivering a]] NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. When they refuse to get the message and karma ends up biting them in the ass, the wardens point out what their horrible actions led to and tell them that they have only themselves to blame.
18** Not even adult bullies are immune to this. Whether they be dealing with a SadistTeacher or AbusiveParent, the wardens will always tell them off over the treatment of their victims, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown while at the same time dishing out]] ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine.
19* UnderestimatingBadassery: The delinquents at the assigned schools frequently underestimate just how powerful the wardens are on putting them on their proper place and just how far they're willing to see their mission through.
20* WouldHurtAChild: A rare justified example. The TRPA's job is to sort out and punish any schoolyard bully that they see fit, often through delivering a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. Given the sheer brutality that these bullies will inflict on their own classmates without a shred of remorse, some even taking it out on the teachers, [[AssholeVictim they had it coming.]]
21
22[[/folder]]
23[[folder: Hwajin Na]]
24!!Captain Hwajin Na/Mr. Na
25[[quoteright:269:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/886d6097_900f_4e3c_81a8_ad41a4eba6d5.jpeg]]
26 [[caption-width-right:269:]]
27-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/JunichiSuwabe (PV)
28
29The first warden in the [=TRPA=]. An ex-soldier and an expert in hand-to-hand combat, as well as psychological warfare, he'll do anything he can to bring bullies to justice and teach them a lesson they'll not forget so soon. He has some sort of connection to Gayoon Choi, the teacher who was beaten to death by one of her own students and whose passing was the direct reason for the founding of the [=TRPA=].
30----
31* TheAce: He’s an unstoppable combatant, extremely well-read, knows some basic medicine and can read most people like a book.
32* AmbiguouslyAbsentParent:
33** In the past, he had to put up with his AlcoholicDad, but he doesn’t show up in the present day. As of now, it’s unknown if his father is still alive or [[YoureNotMyFather they’d both cut off contact from each other.]]
34** [[MissingMom His mother is left unaccounted for.]] Hwajin does mention that he doesn’t resent '' both'' of his parents over his harsh upbringing, but it’s left uncertain if [[DeceasedParentsAreTheBest his mother is still alive]], [[UselessBystanderParent stayed but did nothing to protect him]] [[AbusiveParents from his father’s drunken outbursts]], or [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned him at some point of his life.]]
35* BarbarianLonghair: His black hair is rather long and unkept. He does occasionally tie his hair back into a ponytail, but it doesn’t stop him from kicking ass. A lot of fans also view him as a MrFanservice, especially whenever he gets a ShirtlessScene. Chapter 48 is the best example.
36* BeardOfSorrow: He snaps back at Hanrim when she pokes fun at his long and shaggy hair, proclaiming he’s in mourning.
37* BerserkButton:
38** [[PapaWolf He does not take kindly]] [[BullyHunter to anyone]] that bullies and/or takes advantage of the weak.
39** Do ''not'' insult his choice of hairstyle. He justifies it because he’s in mourning and refuses to cut it.
40** He goes '''''apeshit''''' the second he discovers that Gayoon,[[spoiler: his dead fiancée]], is used as a mascot by the G.Y gang, which her killer is the leader of, while he’s still behind bars. He beats Jung-Hyuk into a bloody pulp when he sees the gang’s tattoo-symbols on his hand, which is of Gayoon’s initials but Jung-Hyuk went as far as to have a tattoo of Gayoon’s silhouette.
41* CrusadingWidow: [[spoiler: In his grief over his dead fiancée, Gayoon, he joined the TRPA, founded by her father, so he can put bullies in their proper place and protect other students and teachers from their brutality. What ultimately drives his commitment to the TRPA is because Gayoon herself was murdered by her own delinquent of a student.]]
42* DarkIsNotEvil: He prefers to dress all in black and has long and unkempt dark hair, but he’s firmly a good guy and loves to fight back against any bully that crosses his path.
43* DeadpanSnarker: Mr. Na is often delivering sarcastic comments and snide comments to his targets.
44* ImpliedLoveInterest:
45** While it has yet to be stated directly, there's some evidence that he and Gayoon might have been couple.
46*** He did call her father, President Choi, “dad”, which is common in many Asian cultures to refer to your spouses parents not by their given name but as if they were your own parent. [[BerserkButton Him getting kicked]] by President Choi as a result makes this it look like [[BoyfriendBlockingDad any other doting yet protective father who hates any boy dating his daughter.]]
47*** Hwajin also calls him out for not remembering Gayoon's favorite treats as they’re visiting her grave.
48*** [[spoiler: In chapters 34 and 35 Hwajin confronts Gayoon's killer in prison, under the guise of a regular counselor, and [[TranquilFury can barely keep it together]] when the guy starts gloating about how good it felt to beat her to death.]]
49*** [[spoiler: It’s confirmed in chapter 111 that Gayoon was his fiancée before her murder.]]
50* LimitedWardrobe: His main outfit consists of a solid black suit. It’s implied that it’s because he’s in mourning, given his claims that he refused to cut his hair for that very reason when Hanrim teases him about how messy it is.
51* MysteriousPast: Very little is known of his past, the extent of his whole military career, or the identity his family. Particularly of what the exact relationship he had with Gayoon.
52** [[spoiler: The season 1 finale officially states that he was engaged to Gayoon before her passing, but how they met or known each other for how long is still unknown.]]
53** In one flashback, it’s shown he did not have an easy upbringing. [[MissingMom His mother is not around]] and had an AlcoholicDad who orders him to not study, instead to go out and make money just so he can waste it on beer, [[AbusiveParents even threatening him by throwing a beer bottle at him.]] He shrugs off his father’s tirade by pointing out that he’s studying to enlist by applying to the military academy, not just because of the free dorm and tuition, but because he firmly believes he has no future but within the military due to their poor background. In the present, he doesn’t resent either of his parents due to the circumstances because he accepted it and did his best to turn his life around.
54* PapaWolf: He tends to be really protective of underaged bully victims and gets especially brutal and nasty when dealing with adults who harm minors. Heck, he’s even brutal towards minors harming other minors.
55* PlatonicLifePartners: His relationship with Hanrim. They both enjoy sparring in Hanrim’s boxing gym, team up in assignments, and frequently tease one another.
56* TranquilFury:
57** He “calmly” listens to Gyucheol as he joyfully brags about [[spoiler: [[WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied beating Gayoon to death]], [[NeverMyFault blaming HER for her own murder, as well as the school staff for not turning on the A.C]], while [[PlayingTheVictimCard playing the victim]] at the same time.]] All the while Hwajin is keeping his mouth shut and [[DeathGlare giving the look of a thousand deaths]].
58** Then he leaves without throwing a single punch and [[MustHaveNicotine struggles to light his cigarette]], until President Choi’s suddenly appears and lights it for him. He was clenching his fist so hard during the meeting, his fingernails dug into his palm and drew blood. President Choi even admits that he was sure Hwajin would end up getting arrested for murdering Gyucheol on the spot.
59** [[spoiler: Quite the nerves of steel he has there, since chapter 111 finally confirms what his true relationship to Gayoon was; she was his fiancée and he confronted her killer without revealing who he really was.]]
60** Until chapter 100 where he [[RageBreakingPoint finally lets go of all his repressed fury]] from Gyucheol’s taunts and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown unleashes it onto Jung-Hyuk.]]
61* TheUglyGuysHotDaughter: Gender inverted. Hwajin is quite handsome, whether he had a clean shave and short neat hair, or sporting a BarbarianLonghair kind of a {{Hunk}} appearance. His father… isn’t.
62* VitriolicBestBuds: He’s easily frighten whenever Gangseok gets angry at him, especially since he has no qualms of insulting and hurting Hwajin, but a lot of the time he greatly appreciates Gangseok as a friend.
63[[/folder]]
64
65[[folder: Hanrim Lim]]
66!!Sergeant Hanrim Im/Ms. Lim
67[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gs_hanrim_lim.PNG]]
68-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AtsumiTanezaki (PV)
69The second warden to be recruited by the [=TRPA=]. Ex-military like Hwajin who even served under him for a time when he was a captain, she is a very brutal and talented fighter and often takes a more confrontational approach in delivering the [=TRPA=]'s lessons.
70----
71* ActionGirl: She's perhaps one of the few characters in the comic who's fighting skills are as good as Hwajin The fact that she runs her own martial arts gym is very telling.
72* DCupDistress: Hinted at when she mentioned she had gone for a ''breast reduction'' surgery. ''Hanlim Gym'' actually depicts her chest to be ''much'' bigger as a teenager than it is presently.
73* FieryRedhead: Downplayed, since she isn't a natural redhead, but she definitely has the temper.
74* HairTriggerTemper: Downplayed. It doesn't take much to set her off, but she usually has enough of a grip on her temper to only throw [[DeathGlare Death Glares]] in situations where violence wouldn't be ideal.
75* HeroOfAnotherStory: She’s one of the main characters in another Webtoon, ''[[SpellMyNameWithAnS Hanlim]] Gym''. According to WordOfGod, both stories are set in the same universe, as a part of the YLAB Comics called ''Blue String'' or ''Super String''.
76* ItsPersonal: Implied. On her first assignment in Soyeon Girl's School, she repeatedly mentions that she used to attend an all-girls school herself and that it's part of the reason she picked the assignment. She also seems to take a special interest in Yeri's relentless cruelty and shows some inside knowledge on common bullying tactics, implying she was a victim of bullying herself when she was a student.
77* PlatonicLifePartners: Her relationship with Hwajin. They both enjoy sparring in her boxing gym, team up in assignments, and frequently tease one another.
78* MuggingTheMonster: Most bullies see her as a helpless woman and try to intimidate her. It '''never''' ends well on their favor.
79* OldMaid: At 26 years old, she’s upset that Hwajin hired 20-year old Sera because her youthful appearance makes it easier for her on undercover missions as a student.
80* RedBaron: Back in the army she was known as "Baba Yaga".
81* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Translations vary between spelling her name as either Ha''lim'' or Ha''rim''.
82[[/folder]]
83
84[[folder: Gu Sera]]
85
86[[quoteright:290:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_4008.jpeg]]
87 [[caption-width-right:290:]]
88A young woman recruited for the TRPA in Season 2.
89----
90* ActionGirl: She’s the second woman to join the TRPA after Hanrim, and like her colleague, she can hold her own in a fight, and enjoys every second of it.
91* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: This is her method: according to her, the best way to beat a psychopath is to prove you're stronger than them until others realize they're not invincible after all and willing to speak up against their crimes.
92* BloodKnight: She makes it clear in the recruitment interview that she wants to join so she can fight off any delinquent. Hwajin hires her for this.
93* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: Harim is skeptical of why Na could recruit a HotBlooded and hyperactive young woman to the TRPA, but she quickly proves herself on their first case together when she realizes the victims are lying about not knowing anything about the culprit due to fear. As Sera points out, a majority of cases go unnoticed because there are some victims that are too scared to report anything, and Na realized that they need someone like another youngster that can infiltrate on the kids' level and be willing to talk to.
94* CuteLittleFangs: Has a pair of these.
95* ExperiencedProtagonist: Her skills and smarts comes from being the top student at Gangsan High, which is said the worst out of the three most out of control schools in Korea.
96* OlderThanTheyLook: She’s only 20 years old and easily passes herself off as a high school student when she has to go undercover. Hwajin points out to Hanrim he hired her for this, [[OldMaid much to Hanrim’s displeasure]].
97* PintSizedPowerhouse: Given her young and rather short stature, Hanrim was horrified to sees through security of Chiho landing a brass-knuckled punch to her face. By the time she gets to class, Sera has beaten him into coughing up blood, much to Hanrim’s shock.
98* RedOniBlueOni:
99** Between her and Daniel, the newest recruits to TRPA, they definitely contrast to one another. [[GenkiGirl She’s a hyperactive]] ActionGirl who made it clear on the interview she wanted to join solely so she can fight off any bully. Daniel is TheStoic who calmly stated on his interview he’d work very hard on the group. Once Hwajin welcomes them in, Daniel is put off by her hot-blooded energy and [[DeadpanSnarker snarks over it]].
100** Ironically, [[FieryRedhead Hanrim]] is also annoyed by her hot blooded attitude and makes her look calm in comparison.
101* StreetSmart: She has a remarkable view on how bullies seem to work and reasons to Hanrim that Jinho will only back down if he's beaten by someone on the same level as him.
102[[/folder]]
103
104[[folder: Daniel Hyun]]
105
106[[quoteright:230:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_4047_9.jpeg]]
107 [[caption-width-right:230:]]
108
109Another new recruit for the TRPA in season 2.
110----
111* BadassPacifist: He bluntly admits he’s an advocate for non-violence, but is still okay with joining the TRPA while understanding the group’s acceptance of CorporalPunishment.
112* ButNotTooForeign: His character bio only states his name and his New York origins. Being half-Korean, his first and last names combines both cultures. Not to mention his blue eyes and light colored hair.
113* DeadpanSnarker: Once he’s recruited with Sera, he sarcastically points out her HotBlooded personality.
114* IcyBlueEyes: His pale blue eyes reflect his stoic demeanor.
115* DoNotCallMePaul: He made it clear to Hwajin that he doesn’t like English names, so he prefers to go by his surname instead of his first name.
116* FreudianExcuse: Hyun's non violent approach comes from his estranged relationship with his mother due to shooting his father in self defense. While he makes it clear he doesn't regret it, he still wonders if there was away that wouldn't end with his mother refusing to speak to him again.
117* {{Megane}}: He’s very handsome and wears a pair of glasses.
118* OlderThanTheyLook: He’s 22 years old and looks like he’s in his teens.
119* TheStoic: Doesn’t often show his emotions.
120* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Let’s see… he’s a {{Megane}}, frowns upon violence, joins the TRPA anyway but wants to work around the CorporalPunishment with non-violence options, and is TheStoic member. Too soon, Lee Junbin?
121* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: [[https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/FvvZv033fm68Ay67dSkqUzUlDB0UiCdCnhXKTKRUy9uAAJKTWwF1j4eweAy6jXWuwRW2g31j2CmjALZxYue-c3unhdhBGzAhxAinWXXLDutjlg=w1200-rj-l80-nu-e365 See here]].
122* RedOniBlueOni: Between himself and Sera. He calmly stated on his interview that he’d work hard for the group while Sera just wants fight any bully in her path. Once introduced by Hwajin as TRPA’s newest recruits, he further established himself as TheStoic while Sera energetically introduces herself.
123** It also extends to their way of handling other troublemakers. Sera prefers to beat bullies down with violence, while Daniel prefers to be non-violent and play mind games with them.
124* {{Retcon}}: After the controversy of the racist themes of an arc centered around him, the official chapter of 118 leaves out his presence and recruitment in the TRPA. He comes back in chapter 130.
125[[/folder]]
126
127[[folder: President Gangseok Choi]]
128[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gs_ganseok_choi.PNG]]
129-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/HirokiYasumoto (PV)
130The prime minister of education, president of the TRPA, [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking and the bane of every reporter’s existence.]] He founded the TRPA after the death of his daughter Gayoon, the teacher that was killed by one of her own students and who has some sort of connection to Hwajin.
131----
132* BadBoss: Downplayed, but he's very quick to use violence on his employees (mainly Hwajin) and regularly dismisses the interview guides his secretary makes up for him because he's too proud to rely on prepared answers. That said, he also provides the wardens with everything they need to get their assignments done, no questions asked and he does care for them in his own abrasive way.
133* BerserkButton:
134** Don’t ever call him ‘dad’ or else he’ll give you one mean kick. Hwajin learned this the hard way.
135** If you’re a reporter or parent and question the TRPA’s methods on dealing with students but are only concerned about protecting the bullies instead of their victims, [[PunctuatedForEmphasis HE.]] [[PapaWolf WILL.]] [[CoolOldGuy DESTROY.]] [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech YOU.]]
136** Heck, if you’re a parent, don’t raise your kids into becoming bullies. Or don’t be an AbusiveParent. Just ask Congressman Ryu, who ended up having his corruption exposed by Gangseok because of how [[AbusiveParents he made his son]], [[TeensAreMonsters Junhyeok]], [[FreudianExcuse into the way he was]]. Justified, because his daughter was killed by a delinquent, which is the reason he founded the TRPA in the first place.
137* BoyfriendBlockingDad: He really loved his daughter, Gayoon, and during her meeting with Hwajin in a flashback of chapter 100, Hwajin mentioned he hated him, as he was wondering how he should greet Gangseok. Not to mention his BerserkButton as seen above. [[spoiler: Chapter 111 confirms that Hwajin and Gayoon were engaged before Gayoon was murdered in cold blood by her own student. But Gangseok and Hwajin work together in founding TRPA to prevent other tragedies like theirs, [[VitriolicBestBuds and are somewhat on friendly terms in their own way.]] What ultimately holds them together is their grief over Gayoon]].
138* CoolOldGuy: And how! He may be pushing 70, but he gives a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech brutal reality check]] to the reporters in a televised interview, shaming them for solely focusing on one side of the story and only caring about protecting the bullies instead of their victims. He also tells the parents if they’re watching said interview to back off with their demands about shutting down the TRPA. He also scares the crap out of Hwajin and kicks him around with ease. Keep in mind that Hwajin is usually presented as an InvincibleHero, making it even more impressive that Gangseok is able to manhandle him so easily.
139* TheDreaded: To all of the politicians and journalists, he’s feared for his strong arm in the government and quick temper.
140* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: A flashback shows him confronting Hwajin as he’s [[DrowningMySorrows wasted himself]] [[DullEyesOfUnhappiness over the loss of]] [[TheLostLenore Gayoon]]. He reprimands Hwajin over his ExcessiveMourning and asks him how long is he’s planning to mope. Gangseok proclaims his plans to start the TRPA, so there will be no more people mourning their loved ones like they do with Gayoon.
141* OutlivingOnesOffspring: His daughter was brutally murdered by her own student, in turn spurring him into kickstarting the TRPA in her honor.
142* PapaWolf: He founded the TRPA in memory of his late daughter, who was killed by her own student, so nobody would have to go through the same pain he did.
143** He refuses to accept Hwajin’s resignation letter when he succumbed to his rage and almost killed a dangerous gangster, because he understands his fury since said gangster is part of a illegal gambling circle that uses Gayoon as a mascot. And is even more furious that his daughter’s killer is the leader even though he’s still incarcerated.
144* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: He has no problem swearing, kicking around Hwajin, and chewing out anyone that dares to challenge his authority as minister of education and president of TRPA.
145* VitriolicBestBuds:
146** Throughout the story, Gangseok acts like a BadBoss to Hwajin, will psychically hit and curse him out, but deep down they do care for each other like any other friends.
147*** Gangseok’s first scene alone is him kicking Hwajin away [[BerserkButton for daring to address him as “dad”.]] But they later have a calm talk about the TRPA walking on thin ice while mourning over Gangseok’s daughter, Gayoon. Both he and Hwajin enjoy smoking, but Gangseok is an avid CigarChomper while Hwajin prefers cigarettes, but he has no problem liting one for Hwajin.
148*** Gangseok rejects Hwajin’s resignation letter because he firmly believes there will be no TRPA without him. Another reason is because Hwajin had a RageBreakingPoint and NoHoldsBarredBeatdown towards a gangster using Gayoon as a mascot. Hwajin felt great despair at what he had done and gave the resignation letter in case he ever defaulted to murder in protect the TRPA, but Gangseok responds by tearing up the letter.
149[[/folder]]
150
151!Introduction Arc
152
153[[folder: Daeseok Park]]
154
155[[quoteright:188:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bb4b18de_4fa4_41c3_a942_03983429350a.jpeg]]
156 [[caption-width-right:188:]]
157
158A student who recently committed suicide due to the relentless bullying he suffered from Junhyeok and his cronies.
159----
160* BrokenAce: Before Junhyeok began to target him, he was one of the most popular students, had prety good grades and a stable homelife. After becoming Junhyeok's favorite victim, no one would speak to him, he was beaten up frequently and Junhyeok drove his family into financial ruin.
161* DrivenToSuicide: He eventually kills himself by jumping off the school's roof.
162* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: He punches Junyeok and tells him off when he’s about to bully and frame a teacher. The result? He's ostracized by the entire school and bullied into committing suicide.
163* SmallRoleBigImpact: It’s his death that leads Hwajin to investigate the corruption of his school and, to a lesser point, kickstarts the entire plot.
164
165[[/folder]]
166
167[[folder: Kyeongmin Kim]]
168
169[[quoteright:178:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3665d939_ede3_4687_afb3_4a4c9a7fc4f4.jpeg]]
170 [[caption-width-right:178:]]
171
172A student at the trial run school and a frequent victim of Junhyeok's gang.
173----
174* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: He’s heavily bullied by the school thugs [[ForTheEvulz just for the heck of it.]] It's gotten so bad that he almost throws himself off the roof when the police drops the investigation of Danseok’s suicide. [[InterruptedSuicide Good thing Hwajin steps in just in time.]]
175* DespairEventHorizon: He crosses it after realizing that none of the adults, neither the teachers nor the police, have any intention of stopping Junhyeok.
176* WhenHeSmiles: We see him smile genuinely once the [=TRPA=]'s intervention puts a stop to the bullying.
177[[/folder]]
178
179[[folder: Junhyeok Ryu]]
180
181[[quoteright:172:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e5175d27_e3c5_45f7_b31e_5c832a5085ee.jpeg]]
182 [[caption-width-right:172:]]
183
184The son of a congressman. uses his connections to do pretty much whatever he wants.
185----
186* ArcVillain: Of the first arc.
187* DisproportionateRetribution: Bullied Danseok and forced the whole school to ostracize and bully him as well and eventually drove him to suicide. The reason? Danseok stopped him from bullying a teacher and punched him because of it.
188* DrunkWithPower: Due to his father’s political influence, he’s been showered with special treatment by every adult in his life and gained a lot of followers due to his connections. As a result, he becomes a real prick and bullies anyone that gets in his way.
189* FreudianExcuse: His dad abused him a lot, sometimes even beating him with a golf club for minor things. Not to mention every adult in his life gave him special treatment in fear of his dad’s retaliation, which gave him a feel of power he hadn’t felt at home so he milked it for all it was worth.
190* LaserGuidedKarma: After bullying everyone around him for who knows how long, he’s finally knocked down a peg after his father’s corruption hits the news and he becomes the new target for the bullies. But it’s only after Hwajin catches him almost burning down the school and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech tells him off for all of his crimes]] when it finally sinks in to him of what a horrible human being he is. We last see him as he and his underlings are escorted away by the police for bullying and driving Daeseok to suicide.
191* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: At first subverted, but played straight later on. He was horrified when Daesok killed himself, [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk but only because he thought he would actually have to face consequences for his actions this time.]] As soon as the police make it clear they aren't even suspecting him (and would probably not do anything even if they did) he seemingly forgets all about it. Once Mr. Na puts an end to his reign of terror over his school and he himself becomes a frequent victim of bullying, he slowly starts to realize what he made Daesok go through, until he decides to burn the school down as payback. When Mr. Na stops him and ends his subsequent TheReasonYouSuckSpeech by coldly telling him that even if he came to regret his actions now, it won't bring Daesok back, his reaction implies he finally realized that he is responsible for the death of another person.
192* TeensAreMonsters: In case the above tropes haven't clued you in at this point.
193
194[[/folder]]
195
196[[folder: Congressman Ryu]]
197Junhyeok's father.
198----
199* AbusiveParents: Regularly beats his son with a golf club.
200* CorruptPolitician: He’s guilty of sexual harassment and bribery, which President Choi is more than happy to expose.
201* GreaterScopeVillain: His treatment of Junhyeok shaped him into the monster he was. As Choi puts it, both of their downfalls could've been avoided if he had just raised his son better.
202* {{Hypocrite}}: Pissed that his son ruled his school via corruption due to his father’s big name in politics, while he’s as guilty with bribery and sexual harassment.
203* NeverMyFault: He’s furious that his son used his name to get away with the bullying, but he’s at fault for not raising him from right and wrong, something President Choi rightfully points out.
204* WeUsedToBeFriends: With President Choi, and he's shocked at his own ally ruining him.
205[[/folder]]
206
207! Gu-Un High Tech High School Arc
208
209[[folder: Hongki Cho]]
210
211[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/37a80922_c56b_4ffe_81ab_bf61afdca7c6.jpeg]]
212 [[caption-width-right:350:]]
213The leader of the Electrical Department faction.
214----
215* HiddenDepths: At first glance he's just a dumb brute like Hongseong, but in the GPA for the new rankings he manages to get enough points for Knight rank, while Hongseong only makes Pawn.
216[[/folder]]
217
218[[folder: Hongseong Lee]]
219[[quoteright:188:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d0a71a34_daee_410f_8966_a612c3c3d3da.jpeg]]
220 [[caption-width-right:188:]]
221The leader of the Auto Department faction.
222----
223* BadBoss: He leads the auto department in the mob war against the electrical department. Not only does he force the auto-members into the war, even those that are obviously not build for fighting like Hyeongju, he brutalizes anyone who doesn't meet the "quota" of one knocked-out electrical department member.
224* BaitAndSwitch: During his beating of the auto department members who didn't meet their "qoutas", he suddenly recognizes Hyeongju, pulls him up and advises everyone present to show him respect because as a third year, he's a "veteran". Then he viciously kicks Hyeongju down again and calls him an embarssment for not being able to win a fight for three years.
225* DumbMuscle: He randomly punches Hyeongju and asks him why he would attend a “historic fighting school” if he couldn’t throw a punch, much to the the poor kid’s bewilderment, since he came to study in order to fulfill his dream to become an auto engineer and had no clue about the mob war their school was going through. Hwajin calls him out on this, reminding him that school is a place of learning, not a boxing ring.
226* LockedOutOfTheLoop: He doesn't keep up with the news, so when Mr. Na tells him he's from the [=TRPA=], Hongseong has no idea what that means.
227[[/folder]]
228
229[[folder: Hyeongju Kim]]
230
231[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2c6f6986_ddf7_498d_9b4f_7ee10b8e9d11.jpeg]]
232 [[caption-width-right:250:]]
233
234A third year in the Auto Department. Unlike most of the other students, he actually came to G-Un to study and abhors the ongoing mob war.
235----
236* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: He wanted to be an auto engineer ever since he was little and signed up to Gu-Un tech high school because it had an automotive engineering department. Unluckily for him, Gu-Un is right in the middle of a mob war and he gets forcefully drafted the second he enrolls.
237* CowardlyLion: Despite being scared shitless of the mobsters and hating being beat up, he nonetheless throws himself in harms way over and over to protect Gwonhyeok from getting maimed.
238* DespairEventHorizon: He's close to giving up on everything by the time Mr. Na enters the picture, as he sees no way he'd survive the current war.
239[[/folder]]
240
241[[folder: Gwonhyeok Jang]]
242[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0a2f54cd_9b52_4d20_8373_e9d7a1a09412.jpeg]]
243 [[caption-width-right:250:]]
244
245A third year in electrical engineering department and their number one fighter.
246----
247* ArmorPiercingResponse: Stops Mr. Na's rampage against Jung-Hyuk by saying he did save someone "beyond redemption": Gwonhyeok himself.
248* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: He starts to respect Hyeongju and becomes a true friend to him after Hyeongju protects him from Sorok High's hired gangsters.
249* TheBusCameBack: Returns to being an important character during the Gambler arc.
250* BreakTheHaughty: Goes from the top dog at his school to just as humiliated and a pawn to Hyeongju. To top it all off, he almost gets his hand broken by mobsters. And the one who does it to him used to be the former top dog of his high school.
251* FreudianExcuse: As a child he was regularly bullied by other kids because his family was poor. When he realized he was good at fighting, he used that to get back at his bullies and everyone else he believed was looking down on him.
252* HeelFaceTurn: Hyeongju standing up for him and Mr. Na's lessons make him turn for the better, and he and Hyeongju become legitimate friends.
253* NormalFishInATinyPond: Being the best brawler at your school doesn't mean much when your opponents are adult ex-soldiers and actual mobsters.
254* SmugSnake: Waltzes into Mr. Na's class like he owns the place, behaves disrespectfully towards the warden and seems honestly convinced he's won when Mr. Na actually goes down in their fight. Only to be proven wrong and put in his place seconds later.
255[[/folder]]
256
257! Soyeon Highschool Arc
258
259[[folder: Yeri Han]]
260
261[[quoteright:174:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5440263a_9dab_49d5_b508_12ead0c0edd4.jpeg]]
262 [[caption-width-right:174:]]
263
264
265The main antagonist of the Soyeon arc.
266----
267* AlphaBitch: She’s the ringleader of the school bullies and even has the teachers cowering in fear. It’s even implied that she even drove a teacher to suicide after falsely accusing him of molestation.
268* BigEater: She enjoys good food such as pizza and chicken legs.
269* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler: Reappears in chapter 63 asking for help with a imprisoned girl whose sister had fallen into trouble.]]
270* CrocodileTears: Yeri's specialty. Whenever she gets in trouble she presses out a few tears and pretends to be just a poor misunderstood highschool girl. [[spoiler: This ends up biting her in the ass, as Miss Jung almost dying after Yeri tries this on her to get into her apartment, leads to Yeri losing her last remaining ally and finally being held accountable for her crimes.]]
271* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: She was bullied by her classmates who were encouraged by a teacher, who made her life a living hell. Said teacher did this because he was taking bribes from her bullies' parents to raise their grades and lowered hers as a result. This led her to develop a deep hatred towards all teachers.]]
272* HeelRealization: [[spoiler: When Na reintroduces Yeri to Mr. Cheon, she goes on a rampage and prepares to kill him, claiming he ruined her entire life. Na points out though she did that too: to the family of the teacher she drove to suicide.]]
273* HeelFaceTurn: After her HeelRealization, [[spoiler: she writes to the bereaved family of the teacher she drove to suicide, clearly remorseful over her actions upon realizing she wronged them the same way Sangyeol Cheon wronged her. In chapters 63 to 71, she is sincerely helping the [=TRPA=] and shows a better side of herself.]]
274* KidHasAPoint: [[spoiler: In Chapter 65, when Hanrim scolds Yeri for stopping her from calling the police and allowing the runaway girl to get away, Yeri points out that doing so wouldn't solve anything and she's right. The police would simply contact the parents of the runaway girl and send her back to an abusive household, the same people/place she ran away from in the first place.]]
275* SlasherSmile: Shows this a good few times.
276* TearsOfRemorse: [[spoiler: When the wife of the teacher she killed finally replied to her letter, telling her that her sincere reflections no doubt gives her husband's spirit solace and encouraging her to live a better righteous life, Yeri cries this.]]
277* WoundedGazelleGambit: After jumping off a roof and trying to attack Hanrim, they run into a couple of police officers. She immediately makes it look like she’s the victim and Hanrim was the one who came after her first, and runs away while the cops question Hanrim. [[spoiler: She tries it again after trying to attack her with a brick, until Miss Jung steps forward and explains to the cops what REALLY happened.]]
278[[/folder]]
279
280
281[[folder: Miss Jung]]
282
283[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/df3bf652_1d8d_4e12_b650_a7a48e632553.jpeg]]
284 [[caption-width-right:350:]]
285
286Yeri's Homeroom teacher.
287----
288* BrokenBird: The psychological torment Yeri and her group puts her through reduces her to this.
289* TheDogBitesBack: After finally accepting that Yeri is BeyondRedemption, she decides to stop protecting her and reports all of Yeri's crimes to the police, including her role in Mr. Go's firing and subsequent death.
290* ExhaustedEyeBags: Considering her job, the work environment, and [[AlphaBitch WHO her]] [[TeensAreMonsters students are]], it's a given.
291
292[[/folder]]
293
294!CM High School Arc
295
296[[folder: Sangyeol Cheon]]
297A teacher at CM High School who is infamous for tormenting students from poor families.
298----
299* ForWantOfANail: [[spoiler: Yeri was one of his victims. The torment he put her through broke her, leaving her resentful and disillusioned with teachers. He's the reason why she turned into the monster she is in the present.]]
300* HateSink: A {{Jerkass}} and a SadistTeacher with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
301* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: He’s put through “student exams” by Hwajin as punishment for all the shit he’s put through the many students, but the only thing that keeping him from getting fired is to ask for forgiveness from every student he’s tormented. [[TheDogBitesBack Naturally no one budges, especially Hyun-Woong,]] but Sangyeol tries to get payback at him by arranging the bullies to attack his grandfather and forcing him to get his forgiveness on paper. Fortunately Hwajin stops him and releases Yeri on him. He tries to apologize but she’s not having it and attacks him. It’s only thanks to Hwajin’s intervention that keeps her from killing her former teacher but he [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech tells him off over all of his crimes]]. He’s last seen being arrested at school when it’s brought to light of all of his corruption and bribes]].
302* SadistTeacher: Picks on students with poor backgrounds and good grades and encourages other school bullies to join in, [[ForTheEvulz and enjoys every second of it]]. But he believes with the TRPA in power, he can get away with it and punish any student he sees fit.[[spoiler: It’s later revealed that he even takes bribes from the bullies parents to raise their test scores.]]
303
304
305[[/folder]]
306[[folder: Hyun-Woong Choi]]
307
308[[quoteright:195:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/de81fc24_8f86_4364_9fc8_99192db068c8.jpeg]]
309 [[caption-width-right:195:]]
310
311A promising, but poor student at [=CM=] High School.
312----
313
314* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: He’s bullied heavily by his teacher Sangyeol and others because of his poor background and good grades.
315* TheDogBitesBack: When Sangyeol begs him on his knees to forgive him for all he’s done, he refuses to buy it. He knows Sangyeol is only doing this in order to keep his job, so the kid tells him where to stick it and to get out of his face.
316* OneSteveLimit: Played with. He has the same surname as the President of TRPA but has no relation to him. Justified as Choi is a common Korean surname.
317* RaisedByGrandparents: He lives with his grandfather who makes a living by collecting garbage cans.
318
319[[/folder]]
320! Hyeonjin Middle School Arc
321
322
323[[folder: Jiwoong Min]]
324[[quoteright:240:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_4049.jpeg]]
325 [[caption-width-right:240:]]
326An underaged troublemaker.
327----
328* AssholeVictim: See TeensAreMonsters. No one feels sorry for him when he's given a [[ScareEmStraight much-needed dose of reality.]]
329* BreakTheHaughty: He believed himself to be untouchable due to the law that forbids minors under 14 facing any serious repercussions. However, the inmates at the juvenile prison Hwajin sends him to wastes no time showing him the brutal reality that awaits him, age be damned.
330* OhCrap:
331** [[TooDumbToLive He tries to intimidate his older cellmates, believing juvie is no big deal]], until he realizes they’re no joke and won’t hesitate to break him.
332** Naturally, he freaks out while in the showers as he notices [[PrisonRape an inmate winking at him.]] Fortunately for him, no harm comes out of this. Doesn’t save him from continually getting beaten up by his older cellmates.
333* DidntThinkThisThrough: He takes advantage of the laws not prosecuting minors under 14. It never crosses his mind that the law won’t shield him forever since, ya know, he’ll wake up one day and be old enough to land in an actual prison befitting his crimes. Hwajin points this out by forcing him to attend juvie as a means to show him what his future will look like if he continues being a gangster. One year later, he refuses to change his ways and lands in the same juvie Hwajin forced him into.
334* ScareEmStraight: Hwajin forces him, along with his buddies, to attend a much more harsher juvie as a means to scare them out of the gangster lifestyle. By the end of season 1, he’s learned nothing of this and lands in the same juvie AND with the same cell mates that bullied him from his last encounter.
335* TeensAreMonsters: He’s a nasty bully, doesn’t hesitate to commit robbery and tries to kill Hwajin at one point. But he doesn’t believe he will ever get taken accountable for his crimes due to the laws that forbids minors under 14 can get arrested with serious jail time.
336
337[[/folder]]
338[[folder: Gyucheol Cho]]
339An inmate at the juvie that Hwajin visits with a group of delinquents in order to ScareEmStraight, he’s also the student that’s responsible for [[spoiler: Gayoon's death.]]
340----
341* AxeCrazy: He’s charged with a lot of hefty crimes and he’s quite proud of it. [[spoiler: Flashbacks reveal that he once went into an office holding of a group of dangerous gangsters… [[CurbStompBattle and he mopped the floor]] [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown with their own blood.]] This whole event is what kickstarted his own gang. There’s also his evil joy in relishing at murdering Gayoon, his homeroom teacher, just cause she tried to stop him from ditching class. Even after all that, he’s still not satisfied at stopping just there and wants to target her fiancé.]]
342* DisproportionateRetribution: [[spoiler: He killed Gayoon because she tried to stop him from ditching school, all because it was a hot day and the air conditioner would not turn on before June.]]
343* NeverMyFault:[[spoiler: Rather than take responsibility for his murderer of Gayoon, he blames her, a teacher, for trying to stop him, a student, from leaving school and relishes in his sick joy for killing her. He even goes as far as to pin the blame on his school for driving him to kill because it was a hot day and the staff refused to turn on the air conditioner.]]
344* PlayingTheVictimCard: His half-ass excuse over why he refuses to even acknowledge any guilt in his crimes is firmly believing that he’s a victim and the ''only'' victim out of this whole ordeal.
345* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Amongst his many crimes that’s he’s in for, he’s charged with gang rape.
346* SlasherSmile: He’s constantly sporting a nasty smile. [[spoiler: Especially when he relishes in his pride in beating Gayoon to death.]]
347* SpeakIllOfTheDead: [[spoiler: He does not think highly of his teacher, Gayoon, who he killed, and repeatedly calls her a “bitch” to Hwajin’s face as he’s posing as a counselor. He’s also the leader of a powerful illegal gambling circle, the G.Y gang, and reaches new levels of depravity by using Gayoon as a mascot. A lot of the members uses her initials as the sigil for their tattoos, but he goes as far as to have a large tattoo of Gayoon herself on his back.]]
348* TheSociopath: Lack of remorse? Check. Takes great pleasure in his crimes? Check. Refuses to take responsibility and blame others? Big check. [[spoiler: Has a great sense of pride in beating Gayoon to death [[SlasherSmile while sporting a demotic smile?]] HUGE CHECK!]]
349* TargetedToHurtTheHero: Zig Zagged. [[spoiler: Even though he’s already killed Gayoon, it’s revealed that for whatever reason, he’s targeting her fiancé as well. He’s surprised that Jung-Hyuk eventually found out the identity of Gayoon’s fiancé… who turns out to none other be Hwajin Na.]]
350* VillainHasAPoint: [[spoiler: [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse While his murder of Gayoon is inexcusable]], he’s not entirely wrong over criticizing the school’s decision to not allow air conditioning to operate before June. ''Anyone'' can easily succumb to heat strokes, so he’s right to prefer to leave school than stay in an enclosed environment in the middle of summer with no cool air.]]
351* WalkingSpoiler: Hard to talk much about him without revealing [[WhatAreYouInFor “what” he’s really in for.]]
352* WhatAreYouInFor: Asked this when interviewed by Hwajin as he’s posing as a counselor. He’s charged with assault, robbery, gang rape, involvement with illegal gangs, [[spoiler: and he’s Gayoon killer.]]
353* WhamLine: [[spoiler: “Do you Remember [[TheLostLenore Gayoon Choi?]] [[EvilLaugh HAHAHA!]] Oh right, there was that bitch too. '''''I BEAT HER TO DEATH. '''''”]]
354* WouldHitAGirl: [[spoiler: He didn’t hesitate with murdering his homeroom teacher, Gayoon, just because she tried to stop him from ditching school.]]
355* WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied:
356** [[spoiler: He joyfully brags to Hwajin about his murder of Gayoon, recalling the sound of her smashing bones, and going so far as to call the body punch he killed her with as "the best punch in his life" [[SlasherSmile while smiling]] [[NightmareFace like a lunatic.]] Downplayed, since he’s completely unaware of Hwajin's relation to Gayoon and just believes him to be a regular counselor.]]
357** [[spoiler: Until chapter 111 when he discovers that Hwajin was her fiancé, who he has been trying to track down, and [[EvilLaugh laughs hysterically]] over the realization.]]
358* YoungerThanTheyLook: He’s only 20 years old, yet vaguely looks like’s he’s in his late 30’s to mid 40’s.
359
360[[/folder]]
361
362! Basketball Arc
363
364[[folder: Eunha Park]]
365
366[[quoteright:188:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/476d998f_50f8_445b_b999_f1e1970d919a.jpeg]]
367 [[caption-width-right:188:]]
368
369A talented basketball player who becomes the Kang sisters' main victim when she tries to rebel against them.
370----
371* TheAce: She’s quite skilled at basketball. [[BlessedWithSuck A talent that results in her getting bullied by her jealous teammates.]]
372* BrokenPedestal: She discovered her passion for basketball after watching Sooyeon play and was initially overjoyed to be in the same team as her. Needless to say she doesn't feel that way anymore after getting a taste of the ''real'' Sooyeon.
373* TheDogBitesBack: She judo throws Sooyeon onto the floor ''hard'', stomps on her arm, threatens to break it and gives her a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.
374* EarnYourHappyEnding: Thanks to Hanrim’s help, she gets back at the Kang sisters and scouts are now looking to recruit her.
375[[/folder]]
376
377[[folder: Sooyeon Kang]]
378
379[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e4e8202f_8301_4522_a4c2_1840f47f4982.jpeg]]
380 [[caption-width-right:350: ]]
381
382The star and captain of her school's girls' basketball team. Also a relentless bully and tyrant.
383----
384* DrivenByEnvy: She’s so jealous of Eunha’s basketball skills that she cruelly bullies her and almost breaks her arm when she refuses to give up on the sport.
385* [[KnightTemplarBigBrother Knight Templar Big Sister]]: What immediately gets Eunha on her shit-list is manhandling her little sister Jayeon. Subverted later on when their bullying scandal breaks the news and threatens Jayeon to claim sole responsibility. She doesn’t even hesitate to violently pull her younger sister’s hair to get her to comply.
386* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: After tormenting Eunha relentlessly to get her to give up on her basketball career (and to prevent her from stealing Sooyeon's spotlight), in the end, her own reputation as a basketball player is down the drain once her awful bullying is exposed and she lost her place in the national's team.]]
387* StatuesqueStunner: A tall, very attractive basketball player.
388[[/folder]]
389
390[[folder: Jayeon Kang]]
391
392[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e1692f93_9345_43b3_8685_95e969fdf9bf.jpeg]]
393 [[caption-width-right:350: ]]
394
395Sooyeon's little sister, who plays on the girls' basketball team with her.
396----
397* DisproportionateRetribution: Threatens Eunha with a knife because she refused to go out and buy her ice cream. When Eunha fights back and gains the upper hand, she leads all the other teammates to bully her to the point of almost driving Eunha to hang herself.
398* MoodSwinger: She can go from happily asking for ice cream to frothing at the mouth and threatening someone with a switch blade in under a second.
399* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: She gets out of the usual first-years hazing thanks to Sooyeon and when Eunha fights back against her, she immediately runs to her sister to ruin her chances on the team. It's also heavily implied that she actually sucks at basketball, having very little stamina, and is only still on the team due to Sooyeon carrying her in matches.
400* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: When Hanrim exposes her bullying, her sister throws her under the bus.
401[[/folder]]
402
403!Shilla Byul Elementary School Arc
404
405[[folder: Ms. Sanghee]]
406!!Yang Sanghee
407A teacher at Shilla Byul Elementary School Arc, who teaches very one-sided lessons about discrimination and gender equality.
408----
409* AntiVillain: There is no denying that she went way too far with it, but she truly wanted to create a world free of discrimination and she is willing to admit she was wrong in the end. Which is more than can be said for the last teacher-antagonist.
410* DoesNotLikeMen: Heavily implied. Her lessons on gender discrimination focus solely on discrimination towards women done by men, when an enraged father barges into her class she cruelly mocks him and one of her "teaching methods" has a bunch of young boys apologize to a group of girls for being "discriminators". Though she also has no trouble using similar methods against the girls in her class if they disagree with her.
411* EasilyForgiven: [[spoiler: Downplayed. When she resigns, her students write her a letter in which they express sadness that she's leaving and encourage her to come back after a break, despite everything she put them through. Except for Chansu, who writes in that he's glad she's leaving.]]
412* FourEyesZeroSoul: Wears quadrangular glasses and encourages the bullying of students who disagree with her or her methods.
413* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: After being shown that her teaching methods were wrong and messed up, she at first tries to share her newly gained insight with the online organization she works for. When they just boot her from the group, she uses her knowledge to out them and resign from her teaching job, as a way to atone for what she's done.]]
414* {{Hypocrite}}: Constantly preaches against discrimination, but has no interest in listening to both female and male students who disagree with her and puts them through humiliating punishments if they go against her too much, while favoring those students who just parrot everything she says.
415* JerkassHasAPoint:
416** While she mostly said it to distract from herself, Ms. Sanghee isn't entirely wrong when she points out that Somi's dad going through her diary is a serious invasion of privacy.
417** She's also not entirely wrong when she points out that, despite men often having a physical advantage over women, women are still very much capable of doing the same jobs as men regardless.
418* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
419** She honestly thought she was fighting against discrimination with her methods. But seeing that, if anything, she has been encouraging it, shocks her to her core, to the point she resigns from her post.
420** She looks sincerely remorseful when Somi reveals that her parents really did get a divorce, after Ms. Sanghee had previously assumed just that to mock Mr. Shin.
421* OhCrap:
422** She freezes when Hwajin and Hanrim introduce themselves as wardens from the [=TRPA=].
423** When she realizes her continued provoking of conflict has now truly divided her class, she looks honestly horrified.
424* StrawFeminist: She's a bespectacled middle-aged woman who DoesNotLikeMen, thinks everyone who disagrees with her is a discriminator and dogmatically advocates against beauty standards and stereotypes in a very black and white manner.
425* WouldHurtAChild: Not personally, but she won't do anything if a student she doesn't like gets verbally or physically bullied and even covers for the perpetrators.
426[[/folder]]
427
428[[folder: Somi Shin]]
429[[quoteright:196:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ce00f44a_e902_45c3_b63b_f5632748c58e.jpeg]]
430One of Ms. Sanghee's students and often a target of her teacher's draconic punishments.
431----
432* AllLovingHero: Despite everything Ms. Sanghee did to her, [[spoiler: Somi writes in the classes' goodbye letter to her teacher that she's ultimately grateful, as what happened gave her a chance to think critically about discrimination.]]
433* BrokenBird: Is this at the start of the arc, due to the constant bullying done to her by her classmates and her teacher.
434* DaddysGirl: Seems very close with her father, as he burst into her classroom upon seeing her humiliated by her teacher and she in turn looked heartbroken when Ms. Sanghee started mocking him about being a single dad.
435[[/folder]]
436
437! Child Abuse Arc
438
439[[folder: Go Dong-Cheol]]
440[[quoteright:190:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3df55e23_54c0_44c3_858d_8a1f3b70b133.jpeg]]
441 [[caption-width-right:190:]]
442A man abusing his son.
443----
444* AbusiveParents: He regularly beats his son.
445* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: Had a son as a teenager, thus had to watch his peers enjoy the rest of their youth and freedom while he was forced to grow up in an instant and be a parent. But as [[PapaWolf Hwajin]] points out, that doesn’t give him a free pass to take out his frustrations on his little boy.
446* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Thanks to Hwajin, he has realized the error of his ways and is working his way to becoming a better parent.]]
447* InsaneTrollLogic: He justifies his cruel treatment of his son this manner, and Hwajin is NOT pleased one bit. [[spoiler: Seo-Yeon is also just as abusive to Mien-so, but to the point of trying to outright kill him. So if he forces her to back off by doing the majority of the abuse himself, then Seo-Yeon won’t kill Mien-so. Except it still didn’t stop her from continuing her abuse.]]
448[[/folder]]
449
450[[folder: Go Mien-so]]
451[[quoteright:185:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/19dd814a_5d30_4d15_9f6f_510abb713303.jpeg]]
452 [[caption-width-right:185:]]
453A little boy that’s severely abused by his father.
454----
455* BreakTheCutie: As if the shit his father gives him isn’t bad enough [[spoiler: his mother is just as bad, if not worse.]]
456* ChildrenAreInnocent: Despite everything his father [[spoiler: and mother]] put him through, he still loves them and hoped everything will work out.
457[[/folder]]
458
459[[folder: Seo-Yeon]]
460[[quoteright:207:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5238a81d_66e4_4c5c_ac87_3db1f7886b81.jpeg]]
461 [[caption-width-right:207:]]
462Mien-So's mother.
463----
464* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler: And even worse than Dong-Cheol. She regularly waterboards her son for little to no reason. And unlike, Dong-Cheol, she doesn’t restrain herself in her abuse, coming very dangerously close to actually killing her son, all while feeling no remorse whatsoever for her actions.]]
465* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: She had an abusive father who threw her out when she got pregnant.]]
466* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: [[spoiler: While yes, her being abused by her father is tragic, it is not an acceptable reason for her to waterboard her son on the regular for annoying her and not behaving as she wants. Even worse, she has no restraint on her actions, so every time she drowns her son, she comes very dangerously close to killing him.]]
467* WalkingSpoiler: The reveal that [[spoiler: she's even more abusive than Dong-Cheo]] serves as a major twist in their arc.
468[[/folder]]
469
470! Gyeonggi-Do School Arc
471[[folder: Hong Seong-Hak]]
472A local bully that is able get away with it due to faking atonement to his school's higher ups.
473----
474* BitchInSheepsClothing: He acts as though he’s remorseful for bullying Sang-wook after writing him an apology, but he continues to target him to the point of driving the poor kid to nearly kill himself.
475* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: After he gets transferred, the news of his run-in with TRPA comes to public light, marking him forever as a terrible bully.]]
476* NeverMyFault: He blames his favorite punching bag for getting the TRPA on his back, which would have never happened if he had stopped bullying him in the first place.
477[[/folder]]
478
479[[folder: Lee Sang-Wook]]
480
481[[quoteright:188:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6b80b746_8e6b_4b8c_bc97_83b174ae7d2f.jpeg]]
482 [[caption-width-right:188:]]
483A student being harassed by Seong-Hak.
484----
485* BrokenTears: He cries twice like this: once when he learns the TRPA are taking his case, and again [[spoiler: when he learns Seong-Hak's being transferred.]]
486* BungledSuicide: Tried to kill himself so he wouldn't have to endure Seong-Hak's bullying again, but he cut his wrists the wrong way.
487[[/folder]]
488
489[[folder: Lee Junbin]]
490[[quoteright:290:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_4269.jpeg]]
491
492A youth human rights attorney working the retrial of Sang-Wook's case.
493----
494* TenMinuteRetirement: He resigns as a TRPA trainee as he’s decided the group is not worth keeping around and still holds his belief against CorporalPunishment. Yet he does come back later for Yojung’s apology to Euhnjin, only to witness her go back on her word and continue to be a ManipulativeBitch. [[spoiler: And this becomes his final straw to fully embrace the TRPA’s acceptance of CorporalPunishment by choking Yojung while reciting legal articles that make it okay for the TRPA to get away with CorporalPunishment.]]
495* AmoralAttorney:
496** It’s one thing to believe [[TeensAreMonsters Seong-Hak]] is in the right, but to degrade Seong-Wook after everything he’s been put through is too far, even after the poor kid showed him his slit wrists! When he’s shown overwhelming evidence that Seong-Hak never intended to follow through on his word, he still continues to deny the severity of the situation, to the point of driving Sang-Wook to nearly kill himself. But to Junbin, it’s only fair punishment that Seong-Hak only give a written apology, since he’s still a minor, and nothing will convince him otherwise. [[SarcasmMode Human rights lawyer here, people]]!
497** He’s not above creating a fake photo supporting Euhjin’s claims of Yojung’s torments as well as threatening one of Yojung’s underlings into admitting she took the fall for her boss. In all fairness, [[AlphaBitch Yojung is a horrible bully]], but thanks to her pop idol status, [[VillainWithGoodPublicity she’s seen as miss perfect and her many fans are willing to believe anything she says against her victims.]] But once he quits as a TRPA trainee, he shames Hwajin over everything the group stands for. Hwajin calls him out on this, [[{{Hypocrite}} since he was okay with using the TRPA’s legal loopholes as a means to fabricate evidence despite his job as a humans rights lawyer.]] Hwajin even [[ArmorPiercingQuestion asks Junbin point blank if all his past actions were actually meant to expose the TRPA or to go against everything he stands for unless it’s convenient.]]
498* BeautyIsBad: He may be handsome, but he’s an extremely loathsome asshole. Tones down in season 2.
499* TheBusCameBack: Returns for the opening arc of Season 2, joining the TRPA to see if their methods are really necessary to keep order in schools.
500* EstablishingCharacterMoment: In his debut chapter, he rejects Hanrim’s handshake by slapping her hand away when she tries to greet him and lets it be known how much he loathes the TRPA.
501* HateSink: He’s an AmoralAttorney who wants to get the TRPA out of the picture while preferring to take the bullies' side and shame their victims. He starts to tone it down in season 2 once he becomes a TRPA trainee and finally sees things from a bully victim’s viewpoint.
502* HeelRealization: He goes through this during his time as a TRPA trainee. At first he shames Euhjin over her lack of evidence and reveals Yojung’s plans to counter-sue for slander. This breaks Euhjin even further and causes her to run away. Junbin tries to stop her, only to witness Euhjin nearly jumping in front of a moving truck, then getting saved by Yojung herself, just so Yojung can look good in front of her fans and torment her punching bag some more. He calls out Yojung for following Euhjin when she denied bullying her, but Yojung taunts him to figure it out himself, ''if'' he can. He starts to rethink his harsh stance against school violence while realizing how unfair he’s acted towards bully victims. It's implied the situation reminds him of Lee Sang-Wook.
503* {{Hypocrite}}:
504** He accuses the [=TRPA=] of following a simplified black-and-white world view that sees juveniles as either bullies or victims with no nuance whatsoever. This from the guy who believes every bully the [=TRPA=] dealt with is merely a poor victim of society while the [=TRPA=] are thugs who just enjoy beating on kids and refuses to acknowledge any and all evidence to the contrary as well as any shades of grey present.
505** For all his devotion to his job as a human rights lawyer and hatred against CorporalPunishment and TRPA, he still joins as a TRPA trainee [[spoiler: and dishes out CorporalPunishment against the bullies he usually defends. Hwajin calls him out on his so called hatred against CorporalPunishment since he benefited a lot from it while using legal articles to back him up, despite his desire to end the TRPA.]]
506* HypocriteHasAPoint: Pulls out this trope a lot of times during the review. While he's right that CorporalPunishment is barbaric and no one can fault him for trying to fight for human rights, he fails to see the nuances of the whole [=TRPA=] situation. And the one he chooses to defend is Seong-Hak, a bully who is himself guilty of several human rights violations.
507* KickTheDog: As shown above, he has no issue with putting down Sang-Wook in favor of Seong-Hak, because he sees the latter as the only victim.
508* RageBreakingPoint: [[spoiler: Puts [[AlphaBitch Yojung]] in a choke hold after he realizes that violence is necessary with her.]]
509* WouldHitAGirl: [[spoiler: When he finally accepts that Min Yojung is BeyondRedemtion, he slams her against the wall and puts her in a choke hold.]]
510* YouAreWhatYouHate: He joins the TRPA to see if they deserve to stick around, even though he hates the group’s stance on CorporalPunishment. By the end of the arc, [[spoiler: he dishes out the very CorporalPunishment he loathes upon an AlphaBitch because he couldn’t stand her LackOfRemorse and finally accepts her as BeyondRedemption, even justifying his wrath by quoting the TRPA’s legal articles. He resigns as the TRPA’s trainee while still holding his views against CorporalPunishment and desires to end the group. Hwajin calls him out on this and [[ArmorPiercingQuestion asks him if he truly means it]] since he benefited a lot from the TRPA’s legal loopholes and also partook in CorporalPunishment. Junbin is at a loss for words]].
511
512[[/folder]]
513
514! Runaway Arc
515
516[[folder: Oh Yoon-Jung]]
517[[quoteright:188:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cabee3bc_97e0_49ab_9f0d_f7380d4247fc.jpeg]]
518 [[caption-width-right:188:]]
519
520A girl who ran away from her abusive father.
521----
522* BrokenBird: Her sister is incarcerated, she ran away from home to escape her abusive father, and is usually exploited by adults around her. [[spoiler: By the end of the arc, her life turns out for the better.]]
523* CallingTheOldManOut: Once her father tracks her down and tries to force her to come back home, she refuses and calls him out on his abusive behavior while lying over his wrongdoings.
524* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: At the end of the arc, she's finally free of her father and allowed to attend school again.]]
525* MissingMom: Her mother is left unaccounted for.
526[[/folder]]
527
528[[folder: Yeo Hyang-Mi]]
529A so called helper that takes in runaway kids only to abuse them.
530----
531* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler: She may abuse the kids, but she hates the parents who drove them to be runaways in the first place even more.]]
532* {{Gonk}}: A LOT of the readers easily [[LadyLooksLikeADude mistaken her for a man]] because of her ugly appearance.
533* OhCrap: [[spoiler: Has a massive one when she realizes she's stuck in prison with Han Yeri AND the sister of one of the girls she abused.]]
534* WouldHurtAChild: She has no qualms with forcing runaway teens into prostitution and abusing them into complying.
535* VillainHasAPoint: [[spoiler: As much as she pimps out kids, she hates how the parents have no remorse of their actions and threw a ReasonYouSuckSpeech at them.]]
536[[/folder]]
537
538! Island Village Arc
539
540[[folder: Suncheol “Whale” Kim]]
541[[quoteright:195:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ab6c3fec_1e2b_44da_9fca_c9fe843fd027.jpeg]]
542 [[caption-width-right:195:]]
543
544A village local also looking for missing teacher Ms. Suhoon.
545----
546* TheDogBitesBack: After being treated like an attack dog by Mr. Gu and severely beaten on a regular basis, [[spoiler: he finally reaches his breaking point after Mr. Na reveals to him that his beloved father died years ago, and Mr. Gu lied to him about sending the money Suncheol earned to the mainland, so said father could afford medical treatment. He retaliates HARD with a vicious beat down.]]
547* IChooseToStay: [[spoiler: Decides to stay on the island to help reform the people there.]]
548* LoveRedeems: The reason he turned on Mr. Gu? He had fallen for Ms. Suhoon. [[spoiler: Along with Mr. Gu lying about covering his father’s hospital bills only for it to be revealed that said father had died a year after his son’s disappearance.]]
549[[/folder]]
550
551[[folder: Ms. Suhoon]]
552
553[[quoteright:195:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/636fb09e_8c6d_4170_adc3_ce485105355b.jpeg]]
554 [[caption-width-right:195:]]
555A teacher who has gone missing.
556----
557* BreakTheCutie: Poor thing.
558
559[[/folder]]
560
561[[folder: Mr. Gu]]
562The head of the island village.
563----
564* DirtyOldMan: He is a {{Jerkass}} who sexually harasses women. And he intended to rape Miss Suhoon if Whale didn't help her.
565* EntitledBastard:
566** He thinks just because he’s the village leader, he can treat everyone like his slaves and abuse the women for his own perverted means. Let’s not get started on his treatment of Suncheol, while manipulating him by claiming to be covering his father’s hospital bills.
567** [[spoiler: Even after the truth is revealed that his father has been dead for years, (no thanks to Mr. Gu’s lies) he still thinks he’s entitled to Suncheol’s loyalty and demands he protect him from the TRPA. This only earns him a well deserved beating from Suncheol himself.]]
568* HateSink: He is a cruel EntitledBastard who has no redeeming features, has been committing crimes for years, harassing women, trying to rape Ms. Suhoon, and trying to kill her when she tries to expose him. Not to mention the torment it inflicts on Whale.
569* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: He’s beaten brutally by Whale, one of the villagers he manipulated and physically tortured.]]
570[[/folder]]
571
572! Hyujing Elementary School Arc
573[[folder: Mrs. Lee]]
574The Mother of Lee Woo-Jin who's harassing a teacher.
575----
576* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler: Threatens to beat her own son when he refuses to act out in class and goad his teacher into getting physically abusive, thus get her fired.]]
577* HeelRealization: [[spoiler: Finally realizes her bad behavior after her son disowns her because of her extremely rude and entitled behavior that made him the target of humiliation in school.]]
578* {{Hypocrite}}: She has the nerve to call Hanrim a bitch and belittle her for being younger than she is, so she needs to learn some manners and not talk back to her since she’s older while complaining over how people in their 20’s are incredibly rude to their elders. This coming from the same woman who harasses her son’s teacher for long hours of the night because she didn’t side with her son over a petty fight with his classmate. To the point of reporting her to TRPA hoping this will get her fired while playing innocent (and exaggerating details of what’s “really” going on) to an online mothers support group. Yet she snaps when Hanrim calls her out on her behavior and demands respect when she won’t respect anyone that refuses to side with her.
579* ItsAllAboutMe: She’s believes that as a parent, she deserves respect and the whole world should revolve around her. For that everyone should side with her, so it gives her the right to treat anyone, especially teachers, like her own servants and bully everyone that gets on her bad side.
580* ObnoxiousEntitledHousewife: Her behavior definitely fits this to a T. From bullying teachers to treating cafe employees like shit because she wanted a refill for a drink she ordered that wasn’t allowed because of the brand. To the point of expecting that everyone take her side, and her side only if something doesn’t go her way. And she expects Hanrim to not leave because she didn’t give her permission [[MuggingTheMonster but boy does she regrets this.]] It's even mentioned that she has done this in her last town. Hanrim sets the record straight with her on their first meeting.
581-->'''Hanrim:''' [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech I have news for you, lady. Being a parent doesn’t mean you get to order teachers around like they’re your servants.]]
582[[/folder]]
583
584[[folder: Lee Woo-Jin]]
585A student in Ji-sun's Class.
586----
587* CallingTheOldManOut: [[spoiler: Snaps at his mother for her behavior, stating she's embarrassing and all she's doing is getting him bullied.]]
588* SinsOfOurFathers: [[spoiler: He was bullied by other children because his mother harassed teachers into quitting.]]
589[[/folder]]
590
591[[folder: Choi Ji-sun]]
592
593[[quoteright:188:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ec36b9b7_e897_4e9e_9bd0_c9d14012b732.jpeg]]
594 [[caption-width-right:188:]]
595A teacher being harassed by Lee Woo-Jin's mother.
596----
597* ButtMonkey: One of her student’s mother refuses to let her life a peaceful life just because of her kid’s petty fight with a classmate, and would have succeeded if not for the TRPA’s interference.
598* EveryoneHasStandards: [[spoiler: Despite being harassed, she begs the TRPA not to take away Woo-Jin's mother since it would tear his family apart.]]
599[[/folder]]
600
601! Gambling App Arc
602[[folder: Jung-Hyuk Lee]]
603[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c9f46d61_0252_4936_821a_4649948d0d4b.jpeg]]
604 [[caption-width-right:214:]]
605The branch manager of the G.Y gang, which runs as an illegal gambling circle targeting teens and robbing adults.
606----
607* AxCrazy: Well, let’s see…
608** Oversees waterboarding on gamblers indebted to G.Y gang who didn’t pay them back.
609** Takes a pen and carves into Gwonhyeok’s hand G.Y’s symbols..
610** He’s extremely sadistic when it comes to street fights.
611** Constantly wears a SlasherSmile.
612* TheDragon: What his real position is to the G.Y gang. While everyone else in the circle answers to him, he in turns answers to [[spoiler: Gyucheol Cho since he’s incarcerated. Then he gets put in juvie with his boss and reveals he has fulfilled his task of finding who’s the fiancé of Gayoon. And it’s Hwajin himself.]]
613* OhCrap: At first he’s surprised that Hwajin knows the real meaning of what G.Y initials stands for (it’s Gayoon) because only few members in the gang know this. He gets prideful of his tattoos and taunts Hwajin; his response is to beat him into a HUGE bloody mess, and into making him see his life flash before him. Another major driving force for Hwajin’s rage is remembering [[spoiler: Gyucheol bragging to his face of how much fun he had killing his fiancée back when he visited a juvie and secretly posed as a counselor.]] Jung-Hyuk is of course extremely terrified that he’s about to die at that very moment, but passes out.
614* MyLifeFlashedBeforeMyEyes: As Hwajin is beating him up BADLY, Jung-Hyuk looks back at his time in school playing baseball, lamenting his corrupted principal, and joy in beating up his coach with a bat for not being able to advance because his parents didn’t pay for bribes. And freaks out in the present because doesn’t want to die, but Gwonhyeok manages to save him from Hwajin’s wrath.
615* WeCanRuleTogether: He tries to recruit Gwonhyeok into the G.Y gang twice; both times he refused and in his final offer, responded by flipping the bird.
616[[/folder]]
617
618! Cult Arc
619[[folder: Lee Junhee]]
620[[quoteright:218:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/78885f72_e039_4fb6_b881_ca4e6184a80b.jpeg]]
621 [[caption-width-right:218:]]
622A young girl who was forced out of school so her family can join a cult that doesn't believe in education.
623----
624* CallingTheOldManOut: Stands up to her parents and calls them dirty cowards. Her dad tries to attack her, but she punches him instead.
625* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: At the arc's end, she and the other kids in the cult are back in school.]]
626* IHaveYourWife: As much as she wants to confess to Hanrim about her situation, she's worried about her little brother who is also in the cult.
627* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Gives a nasty one to the adults in the cult [[spoiler: after attacking Pastor Kim because they refused to accept his decision to end the cult]], saying they're nothing but cowards who don't believe in religion and would rather run away from their problems.
628[[/folder]]
629
630[[folder: Pastor Kim]]
631The leader of the cult.
632----
633* AGodAmI: What else do you expect from a cult leader?
634* {{Greed}}: While his followers sold everything they owned to become part of his congregation, Kim himself basked in the Earthly wealth, showing that he's nothing more than a con-artist.
635* LaserGuidedKarma: After getting his ass kicked by Hwajin and Hanrim, they threaten him into shutting down his cult. Then his followers beat him up when they refuse to accept his decision to put an end to the cult. He’s finally arrested and after being put on trial, lands in prison.
636[[/folder]]
637
638! Idol Arc
639
640[[folder: Min Yojung]]
641[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_4014.jpeg]]
642 [[caption-width-right:250:]]
643A popular idol star. And an extremely loathsome and cruel bitch of a bully who hides her true colors behind her celebrity status.
644----
645* AlphaBitch: She’s extremely popular, both in school and out since she’s a rising pop idol, and a cruel bully who acts super sweet once she’s in the public view.
646* BeautyIsBad: She’s popular due to her beauty, which certainly helps in her rising stardom. And she’s one remorseless bitch towards anyone that gets on her bad side.
647* BitchInSheepsClothing: Behind that idol smile is a sadistic woman.
648* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: The only reason she saved Euhjin from her attempted suicide is to make herself look good in front of onlookers and torment her punching bag even further with the knowledge that it was her own bully that saved her and will continue to suffer under her thumb.
649* CrazyPrepared: She stole Euhjin’s phone while swapping with hers so she can cyperbully her for long hours of the night, but couldn’t she done it without the stealing? Nope, because when Euhjin wanted payback and tried to screenshot the cyperbullying evidence, the new phone would block it.
650* CrocodileTears: Pulls this trick out A LOT, especially whenever she tries to make “amends” towards her so called friends, i.e, punching bags.
651* {{Cyberbullying}}: Her specialty, but she goes above and beyond just in case her victims ever planned to expose her by stealing their phones and swapping it with another phone that cannot allow screenshots.
652* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Once Lee Junbin hits the final nail in her coffin over all her bullying, along with bringing in more victims willing to come forward and expose her, she does on an inner monologue over her beliefs that she did nothing wrong. She even goes on to believe that it’s completely normal with how she treated her victims. Why? She firmly thinks that practically everyone has been a bully at some point of their life. By the end of the arc, she continues to swear up and down that she’s done nothing wrong, even after she’s been arrested and public scrutiny builds up against her!
653* ForTheEvulz: She loves every second of the ruthless torment she puts on anyone within her path. To her, it’s nothing more than a stress reliever over her agency’s criticism.
654 * KickTheDog: She’s a ruthless bully while making it look like she’s friends with her victims during school, only to torture them once out of the public view.
655* ISurrenderSuckers: Once she’s confronted by Hwajin and Junbin over her company dropping her, she lets out a VillainousBreakdown until they bring up that she still has to apologize to Euhjin and face her crimes. She admits she’ll do just that but not without pulling a SlasherSmile. But once she meets up with Euhjin, she goes back on her word and states she’ll clear all of the “misunderstanding” of their “friendship” and asks if she’s ever done anything wrong. But Hanrim is quick to notice that she has a recording pen and correctly deduces that she’s using it to make it look like Euhjin is the bad guy.
656* LaserGuidedKarma: By the end of the arc, her company drops her, TRPA collects enough evidence of her bullying, and [[NotAfraidOfYouAnyMore more victims come forward]]. She’s arrested while the majority of the public turn on her.
657* MyGodYouAreSerious: Once Junbin slams her to the wall while reciting legal articles making it okay for the TRPA to get away with CorporalPunishment and murder, she thinks he wouldn’t have the balls to outright kill her. She practically [[OhCrap scares herself shitless]] once seeing Junbpin’s [[NightmareFace horrifying]] [[DeathGlare facial expression]], combined with RedEyesTakeWarning. This causes her to FaintInShock.
658* NeverMyFault: She refuses to take responsibility for all of her cruel misdeeds. Instead, she’ll vocally proclaim that she’s done no wrong while blaming everyone else for her rightfully earned karma.
659* SelfServingMemory: In her final meeting, she implores Euhjin over what “misunderstanding” she may have caused to her “dear friend” by pointing out all the good times they had together, like the fun they had at karaoke, doing her diy makeup, and texted through the night. This horrifies Euhjin even more since she’s been beaten to a pulp while at karaoke, said makeup diy was her bully gleefully licking off the tears of her blood-soaked face, and could hardly sleep because of she cyberbullied her for long hours of the night.
660* TeensAreMonsters: She’s a pop idol beloved by the general public, and a cruel bully behind closed doors.
661* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Her popular image is what allows her to get away with her actions. When Euhjin tried to post an online article about her true colors, she only gets backlash and even more bullied since she has no evidence, until TRPA comes into the picture.
662* WoundedGazelleGambit: Whenever Euhjin tries to expose her, she turns it around and makes it look like she’s the victim of her jealous friend bullying her.
663[[/folder]]
664
665[[folder: Euhjin Kim]]
666[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_4012.jpeg]]
667 [[caption-width-right:250:]]
668A girl being harassed by Yojung.
669----
670* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Yojung hated her because she witness her bullying, [[FromBadToWorse then Yojung enrolled into her school and they became classmates.]] During school Yojung would act like she’s a kind friend but would torture her behind closed doors. When she had enough, she exposed the bullying online. At first she had some support, only for the general public to turn on her when Yojung made it look like she’s innocent while her “jealous friend” slandered her without proof.
671* DrivenToSuicide: Tried to jump in front of a truck after the bullying gets worse, but to her horror, she’s saved by Yojung. Her tormenter made it perfectly clear she’s only saved just so the fans will relish in her popularity, as well as the knowledge that it was her own bully that saved her just so she’ll continue to suffer.
672* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: She stops Junpin from strangling Yojung to death, but only so that she’ll call him out for thinking she would accept Yojung’s fake abology, and points out any bully victim like herself would never wholeheartedly accepted apologies from their aggressors. She all but states she only wants her revenge, not any apologies based on empty promises.
673[[/folder]]
674
675! New Blood Arc
676[[folder:Chiho Lee]]
677[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_4011.jpeg]]
678 [[caption-width-right:300:]]
679Second year high schooler and one heck of a vicious gangster, he’s the first assignment of TRPA’s newest recruit, Sera.
680----
681* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: [[spoiler: Sera's punishment for him is to be transferred to her old school, where she orders the students to beat him until he never dreams of being a thug again.]]
682* HairTriggerTemper: What doesn’t piss him off? Don’t give him money for his gambling app? Trying to push him back in line or defend a new transfer classmate? All of the above will just earn you a bloody beat down.
683* HeldBackInSchool: At 18, he would have already be in his final year in high school, but because he recently finished his time in juvie, he’s held back by a year.
684* IWasBeatenByAGirl: Harim watches how he terrorizes his classmates through a laptop, and it doesn’t take long for him to target Sera. By the time Hanrim arrives to the class, Sera has beating him so badly, he’s coughing up blood.
685* NormalFishInATinyPond: [[spoiler: He may be tough at his old school, but at Gangsan High, the worst school in the country? He's small fry.]]
686* OlderThanTheyLook: 18 years old and held back by only a year because of his constant trips to juvie, yet he looks like he’s aged to his 30’s.
687* PowerFist: His favorite weapon of choice are brass knuckles.
688* PsychopathicManchild: He’s pleased to find out a doctor diagnosed him as a psychopath since to him, it helped him understand why he couldn’t feel remorseful of all the horrible things he did.
689* TeensAreMonsters:
690** Throughout his junior high years, he constantly landed in juvie for a short period of time for the following crimes-
691*** Stole a car and severely injuring a passenger, resulting in a four month hospitalization.
692*** Assaulted a student a year above him with a bike chain, just because the guy was trying to discipline him.
693*** He got drunk and committed a series of robberies with his friends; extorting 8 million won from his victims.
694** Then come to the present day in high school and he still hasn’t changed his lifestyle.
695*** He becomes a strong member of local gangbangers exploiting runaway teenagers. He’s sent to juvie for 2 year because of this. Once back, goes back to school just so he can terrorize everyone within his path and forces all of his classmates to text him money for his gambling app. Those that don’t pay up get beaten up while he wears brass knuckles. That or if you swear off at him, trying to calm him down, or for nothing at all. He’d just beat you bloody regardless of reasons.
696* WouldHitAGirl:
697** He has zero qualms on literally beating girls into a hospital.
698** Once Sera mouths off to him, Seun tries to to defend her as he ferociously approaches them, and lands a heavy blow to the latter’s stomach. Once Sera dives in to attack him, he pulls out the brass knuckles and punches her in the jaw. [[IWasBeatenByAGirl Sera pays him back for this.]]
699[[/folder]]
700
701! Foreigner Arc
702[[folder: Lee Mukhyun]]
703An Ethopian-Korean raised teenager torturing Koreans, he's the first assignment of Daniel.
704----
705* BoomerangBigot: He hates Koreans while he himself is half Korean.
706* FieryRedhead: He is of East African descent and has short red hair styled in a bowl cut.
707* {{Foil}}: To Daniel. Both are mixed-race Koreans, except Daniel is white/Korean while Mukhyun is black/Korean.
708* {{Jerkass}}: Towards his classmates and Daniel, who he calls a racial slur upon their first meeting.
709 -->'''Mukhyun:''' Mr. Hyun, you have green eyes. Are you half, too?
710 -->'''Daniel:''' Yes. My mother is Korean and my father is American.
711 -->'''Mukhyun:''' Have you ever heard anyone call you a yellow m*nkey?
712* MoralMyopia: He’s a racist {{Jerkass}} who targets Koreans, even though he’s half Korean on his father’s side. He constantly uses racial slurs against everyone, but once Daniel calls ''him'' by a racial slur, he’s horrified and offended.
713* {{Retcon}}: Due to the heavy controversy surrounding his story, his arc is completely written out, and his first appearance at the end of chapter 124 is completely cut out, [[AmbiguousSituation leaving his ultimate fate ambiguous]].
714[[/folder]]
715
716! Mock Exam Arc
717[[folder: Jeong Hyumin]]
718[[quoteright:199:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_4263_8.jpeg]] [[caption-width-right:199:]]
719A boy trying to get into medical school for his mother's sake.
720----
721* BungledSuicide: Combining the drug's effects and the stress from his mother's abuse, Jeong had slammed his head on the desk to kill himself. Thankfully, Hwajin prevented that from happening.
722* DrugsAreBad: No thanks to his mother sneaking him illegal medications to supposedly help him stay more focused on his studies. [[{{Understatement}} They did not.]]
723* WellDoneSonGuy: He’s strongly driven to please his mother by fulfilling her dream to make it to medical school.
724[[/folder]]
725
726[[folder: Ms. Jeong]]
727Hyumin's mother who is trying to make him become a doctor. To that end, she’s order her son to take unprescribed medications to help him stay more focused, to dire consequences. It’s gonna take some serious dedication from the TRPA to save her son before it’s too late.
728----
729* AbusiveParents: Where do we even start…
730** She’s such an extreme [[EducationMama tiger mom]], to the point of getting her son, Hyunmin, hooked on over the counter medicine. Hyunmin eventually got addicted, and she refuses to see anything wrong while not caring of the side effects.
731** Once called to his school due to collapsing from the drug’s side effects and extreme fatigue, she refuses to take Hyunmin to a hospital, screams at him for ditching the last mock exam and tries to forcibly drags him out of the nurse’s office to finish his class. It’s a good thing Hwajin and Hanrim stop her and have paramedics take Hyunmin to the hospital.
732** She secretly gets Hyunmin out of the hospital and back home to give him to drugs again and makes him study more. Once Hwajin breaks in, they discover Hyunmin having another relapse and doing a very bloody HeadDesk. It seems like she’s finally showing concern for her son’s wellbeing… not! She continues to berate for choosing not to study and that they should both die together! Hwajin refuses to let this slide, so he hands Hyunmin over to Hanrim. He asks this piece of shit mother if college entrance exams are more important than her son’s life, and she doesn’t hesitate to believe that the former is more important.
733** When Hwajin has a his own mock exam for Hyunmin, he points out that the drugs are not the solution to help since he still failed the exam. She proceeds to hit more onto Hyunmin while chewing him out for wasting away her money on the drugs. This is the final straw for Hwajin, who proceeds to make her [[ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine go through the same education she’s forced on her son]].
734*** Even when she has a mental breakdown, almost stabs Hwajin, and sees a video of her son’s withdrawal breakdown, she still continues to believe she’s done no wrong and nothing is bad with planning out his future with the same education she’s forced on her kid. It takes one more ReasonYouSuckSpeech from Hwajin to finally hit her thick skin in order to force her to accept her breakdown from her cruel parenting is no different from what her son suffered through.
735* DidntThinkThisThrough: She believed in an online’s mother’s support group that taking [=ADHD=] medicine not prescribed by her or her child’s doctor would help her child do better in school. It doesn’t even cross her mind that her son could drop dead at any moment due to the drug’s reputation of being very dangerous when used repeatedly. Once her son’s drug addiction comes to light, TRPA and doctors reprimand her due to the medications being banned in South Korea due to its severe side effect.
736* BlatantLies: Her son’s doctors reprimand her for making her son addicted to unprescribed drugs and order her stop forcing the drugs down her kid’s throat. It doesn’t take long for her to secretly take her son out and give him back the drugs, “claiming” the doctor said something along the lines of taking only a little.
737* EducationMama:
738** Very much so. She’s gotten so fixated on her son’s education that she’s forced him to repeatedly use drugs to help him stay more focus.
739** She’s enforced into Hyunmin that he must grow up either as a webtoon artist or programmer when he was an elementary or middle schooler. Until she’s settled on forcing him to go to medical school. She’s has no problem with beating it into him, to the point of forcing him, who has just awoken from a drug collapse, to go back to class to finish his last mock exam instead of taking him to a hospital.
740** Hwajin has enough of her stance and [[ArmourPiercingQuestion asks her point blank if it’s her son’s dream or HER dream to get into medical school.]]
741** Once her son is forced to be admitted into the hospital, she’s ordered to stop giving him the drugs, but it doesn’t stop her from giving him a huge pile of textbooks, just so that he’ll study even more for college admission. But he refuses to study unless she gives him more drugs, and she complies with his demand!
742* {{Gonk}}: Compared to most people in this setting, she’s drawn so ugly, to the point of legitimately resembling an alien.
743* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: By the end of the arc, she’s acknowledged her parenting was truly horrific and feels ashamed [[OutlivingOnesOffspring of what could have happened]] if she’d continue to put education first before her son’s happiness.]]
744* SkewedPriorities: She reprimands her son for not working on the last mock exam, right after he collapsed from his drug addiction. Rather than get him help, she refuses to take him to a hospital and tries to force him to finish his tests. Hanrim and Hwajin calls her out on this, pointing out that Hyunmin is in no condition to so much as study, but she tells them to mind their own business.
745* SurprisinglyNormalBackstory: Once we look into her backstory, it turns out what drove her to be an EducationMama is because growing up, she’s never stood out in grades or appearances, attended an average university, got an average job, and married at an appropriate age with a simple proposal. Because her life was so boring and uneventful, it drove her to make her son have a very successful life.
746[[/folder]]
747
748[[folder: Mr. Na]]
749[[quoteright:190:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_4265_0.jpeg]]
750Hwajin’s father. He was a drunk who pushed his son around in order to make money for him. He does not appear in the present day.
751----
752* AbusiveParents: He almost injured his son, Hwajin, by throwing a full beer bottle right above his head, just because he wouldn’t make money for him. All the while berating his son for studying due to thinking it’s a waste of time, but mostly because he refuses to pay for Hwajin’s college admission.
753* AlcoholicDad: He’s a heavy drinker and not an ideal parent.
754* DisappearedDad: He’s not a part of present day Hwajin’s life, but it’s left uncertain if he’s still alive.
755* EasilyForgiven: Hwajin doesn’t hold anything against him for being a terrible father, because they both lived in poverty and tried to cope with it in their own way.
756* FoodSlap: He throws a full beer bottle at his son because he dared to ignore his demands to make money so that he can sponge off the earnings.
757* FreudianExcuse: Hwajin firmly believes this is the case, due to both of them being dirt poor and his father coping with it by [[DrowningMySorrows drinking a lot of booze]] and taking out his frustrations of their terrible living situation onto him.
758* LackOfEmpathy: He’s content by Hwajin believing he has no hope at applying to any other university except for the military academy. All the while praising Hwajin for choosing to join the military academy instead of a regular college since it would’ve cost them big bucks. This was after cursing out Hwajin for daring to expect a free ride to college and reprimand his son for merely studying, only to back off once he finds out that the dorm and tuition to military academies are free.
759* LazyBum: He expects Hwajin to be the breadwinner instead of him and feels entitled to mooch off his son’s paycheck.
760* ParentalNeglect: Refuses to get a job, tries to force Hwajin to make money and give the earnings to him, and couldn’t care less of his education.
761[[/folder]]
762! Dowon Gyeongdang Arc
763
764[[folder: Suchan Lee]]
765
766A student of the unregistered alternative school who meets Daniel on his first assignment.
767----
768* BitchInSheepsClothing: Acted like a nice kid towards Daniel, up until he’s caught torturing another kid does he drop the act.
769* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: At the end, Suchan is arrested and put in criminal court for his misdeeds. While it was fully expected he'll be facing extreme punishment for his crimes, Daniel's own input acknowledges he was still a kid who had no one else to turn to. As such, Suchan is transferred to juvenile court for a much lighter punisment.]]
770* TheDogBitesBack: Deconstructed with Suchan on both hands. Encouraged by Daniel, Suchan leads the other kids to beat the principal as revenge for his brutal techniques. Due to his provokes, though, Suchan's former bully victims promptly bite back at him and start beating him up as well. Daniel ends up disappointed at all this: in the end, people will always see themselves as victims and refuse their acknowledge their own sins. As such, the cycle of violence will continue on until someone stops it.
771* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: He used to be routinely bullied by the older kids, but because he had nowhere else to stay, he remained at the alternative school, eventually becoming the new head bully. Daniel reprimands him for becoming just as bad as his former bullies.
772* {{Hypocrite}}: Daniel calls him out on bemoaning his past as a bullied victim, only to become a bully himself.
773* NightmareFace: His face contorts into a horrifying expression when he almost punish a boy for the mere crime of forgetting to brush his teeth.
774* IWillOnlySlowYouDown: When the principal and his underlings were catching onto him and other girl trying to escape, he insisted that she go onto the side road and escape onto a passing car while he goes back to the alternative school because there’s nowhere else to live in.
775* WhamShot: When Daniel comes over and asks to see the principal, he keeps the door halfway open, but is holding onto a bloody baseball bat behind his back while a another heavily wounded boy is laying on the ground.
776
777[[/folder]]
778
779
780[[folder:The Principal]]
781
782[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin He’s the principal]] of an unregistered alternative school in the middle of the mountains. He seems like an understanding caregiver, but he’s looking the other way of his pupils ruthlessly bullying on another. By all accounts, he’s enjoying the tortures inflicted on the children.
783----
784* AdultsAreUseless: He refuses to help any of the kids getting tortured by the GangOfBullies, even as he walks in on it. Daniel calls him out on it, but is bluntly told to drop it. Downplayed when it was revealed he encouraged that violence.
785* IAmTheNoun: He flat out tells Daniel once he voices his concerns after witnessing the bullying, “Here, I am both the law and the scripture.”
786* BitchInSheepsClothing: On the surface, he appears as a well-meaning principal wanting to help parents improve their kid’s behavior. To the kids, he looks like a NiceGuy who cares a lot for their safety. He quickly drops the mask to the kids whenever they’re being tortured by the bullies. He still fools the parents into thinking he’s a good guy while manipulating into making it seem like the kids are the problem.
787* NightmareFace: Drops a lot of demon-like expressions, often with a mixture of RedEyesTakeWarning.
788* WouldHurtAChild: When a Minhye came forward with all the vicious bullying she’s been going through and pleaded to go home, his immediate response is to beat the kid into unconsciousness and lock her up in a storeroom without food or water. The kicker? He’s the one that is encouraging the bullying.
789
790[[/folder]]
791
792
793[[folder:Minhye Seo]]
794
795A former student of the unregistered alternative school and a former friend of Suchan. She’s the one who reported all the abuse that’s going on to the TRPA in the hopes she could save her friend from the program.
796----
797* BreakTheCutie: Poor kid is sent to a alternative school in the middle of the mountains under the assumption it’s a nice place to learn etiquette, only to spend every waking moment tortured by a GangOfBullies. When she reveals what she’s been going through to the principal, he has her locked up without any food or water. Her only friend at the place was Suchan, who narrowly escapes with her, only to insist that she go on without him. Once she makes it make home and tells her parents of everything that happened at the alternative school, they considered her a liar. Three years later, she’s horrified to discover that the alternative school is still operating and Suchan is still living there. It’s at that moment she calls the TRPA of everything she went through and pleaded to have them shut it down and save Suchan.
798* CassandraTruth: When she escapes the alternative school and tells her parents of all the abuse she went through, they assume she only ran away because the experience was only “a little tough”. So her parents call the principal and apologize to him.
799
800[[/folder]]
801
802! Gangster Arc
803
804[[folder: Choi Hee Chang]]
805[[/folder]]
806
807! Other Characters
808
809[[folder: Gayoon Choi]]
810
811[[quoteright:159:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ec5b0277_44e3_49f4_953e_2c287d835617.jpeg]]
812 [[caption-width-right:159:]]
813
814The daughter of TRPA president Gangseok Choi. She was the teacher that was killed by a student which in turn drove her father to start TRPA in her honor. She has some sort of connection to Hwajin.
815 ----
816* BerserkButton: She’s a firm believer of the HeelFaceTurn, and she’ll give you a karate chop to the head if you think otherwise. She even hits Hwajin by surprise and chews him out when he tells her that a delinquent in her class can’t be reformed.
817* TheFaceless: So far only mentioned, the most we get to see her is in a flashback in chapter 35, yet it hardly even shows a glimpse at her face. But it’s implied she was a very beautiful young woman. The latter is confirmed when we finally get to see her real face in a flashback of chapter 100.
818* HotTeacher: She was an high school teacher, yet even before we could see her real face until chapter 100, it’s obvious that she was really beautiful. [[spoiler: Enough for Hwajin to want to marry her. Unfortunately, it made her killer desire to turn her into a mascot for his own gang.]]
819* ImpliedLoveInterest: It’s been strongly hinted since chapter 7 that she and Hwajin were in a romantic relationship before her death. The season 1 finale finally clears it up. [[spoiler: [[StarCrossedLovers She was Hwajin’s fiancée]]]].
820* LongHairIsFeminine: A flashback in chapter 35 shows her with long tannish-brown hair.
821* TheLostLenore: Both Hwajin and her father gravely miss her. It’s strongly implied that she and Hwajin might have been a couple, although this has yet to be confirmed.[[spoiler: Chapter 111 makes it official; they were engaged.]]
822* MissingMom: Her mother hasn’t been brought up. So far only her father is known, but it’s not clarified if he’s divorced or widowed.
823* NiceGirl: She was the type of person who believed that anyone can have a HeelFaceTurn and saw the good in everyone. Even after she gave [[spoiler:her own fiancé]], Hwajin, a karate chop to the head and chewed him out when he disagreed, she gave him a heartfelt pep talk on her beliefs. Even Hwajin was in awe of her words.
824* SharedFamilyQuirks: Gayoon and her father definitely have a habit of hitting Hwajin whenever he triggers their respective BerserkButton. Poor guy.
825* SmallRoleBigImpact: She died before the start of the story, but it drove her father into starting TRPA, with Hwajin at the forefront, so no one would have to suffer like they did.
826* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: From what little we know of her, it seems she was a very dedicated teacher. Confirmed in flashbacks of chapter 98 and 100 during her meeting with Hwajin, as she talked about a intimidating delinquent in her class but wanted to help him turn out for the better. Not to mention her heart-felt speech on the good in people and helping anyone that is considered “beyond redemption”. [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished All said dedication got her was a brutal death.]]
827* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Hwajin criticizes her father when they visit her grave because he complained over how sweet and expensive the macarons they placed on her grave. Hwajin states they were her favorite, and points out as a father he should know such details.
828* {{Tsundere}}: [[spoiler: At one minute she’ll hit her fiancé and verbally lash out at him over triggering her BerserkButton. Yet in the next second she calms down and awes him with a pep talk on the good in everyone. Since her passing, any slight mention of her will trigger Hwajin into a VERY depressing mood]].
829* TheUglyGuysHotDaughter: She was a HotTeacher NiceGirl with [[LonghairIsFeminine gorgeous long hair]], while her dad, Gangseok, is a frightening and intimidating old man with a temper you don’t want to cross.
830[[/folder]]

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