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Main Characters (Group A)
Suchan Jang
Complex: Dragonfly Spoilers
Blackout Mastery: Amazonian Giant Centipede (Scolopendra Gigantea)
The Hero of the story. A college student at the top of the social hierarchy, Suchan's world his turned upside down when his biggest secret, his dragonfly wings, is revealed to the world. But after discovering Nest, he fights to become the valedictorian in order to cure himself of his condition and return to a normal life.
- The Ace: In his old life, Suchan was at the top of the social food chain. He's good-looking, his grades were just about perfect, and he was incredibly popular among his classmates and online. It all comes tumbling down once his dragonfly wings are revealed to the world, but he starts picking himself up again once he transfers to Nest, as his compassion and smarts quickly win him new friends in his current environment. He's also naturally talented at using the powers he hates so much, quickly learning to fly and chase prey as well as figuring out how to use his abilities to fight with only a small amount of instruction from Professor Ji.
- All of the Other Reindeer: His childhood was spent being mocked by the other kids for being an orphan, leaving him horribly lonely all the way through high school. It's only when he reaches college that he decides to reinvent himself as a suave Bishōnen to alleviate that loneliness, but even then he's paralyzed by the Freakiness Shame of his wings to fully express himself until he joins Nest.
- Animal-Themed Superbeing: His DNA is fused with a dragonfly's, granting him its powerful wings, Super-Speed, and incredible compound vision that grants him a level of Combat Clairvoyance and Super-Reflexes.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Suchan must put on glasses or goggles to keep debris and wind out of his eyes in order to allow himself to use his top speed. The lenses greatly resemble the large, bulbous eyes of the dragonfly. Additionally, he often flies with one leg fully extended (and the other tucked in), making it look like he has a dragonfly tail.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: For Group A, Suchan is the skill, being at one of the extreme ends of the stat-scale. He's the fastest person in a team where everyone has some super speed, but he also has the lowest toughness. Although as an insect human, Suchan's still much tougher than a regular person.
- Bandage Mummy: As Suchan's involvement with both his Combat Classes and Pet Shop goes on, he finds himself in this state increasingly often.Medical Staff: You're back again.Suchan Jang: Yup. Feels like home now.
- Beneath the Mask: Suchan projects a front of confidence and sociability during his time in college to hide his insecurities over his past as an orphan as well as his dragonfly wings. He's horribly distraught once his perfect image is destroyed, becoming the object of jeering and fear and is Driven to Suicide over it.
- The Berserker: He and Gayeon Sin are two known insect humans who are known to lose themselves to their Complex, becoming naught more than raging beasts. Their insect features glow brightly during this time as their overall strength skyrockets.
- Bungled Suicide: After losing everything from having his wings seen, Suchan tries to commit suicide by throwing himself off building, only for said wings to leave him hovering in mid-air instead.
- Catch a Falling Star: Saves Mihui this way, with his wings unfolding just in time.
- Chick Magnet: Was this in his old college life thanks to his good looks, popularity, and expressed confidence, and quickly becomes one at Nest as well despite his unfamiliarity with the place, thanks to the viral video of him saving Mihui like some kind of a superhero.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Although he'd much rather get one step closer to becoming valedictorian, Suchan's better nature wins out every time, diving straight into trouble to help others at his own expense.
- Color-Coded Characters: Green
- Conveniently Orphaned: His parents died when he was young and he was then taken in by his grandmother. Given that he lives alone in the present, it's implied that she too passed away at some point.
- Criss-Cross Attack: With Hare Coursing, Suchan's speed and mobility in the air increases to such an extent that he lands several hits coming from multiple different angles in an instant.
- Door Fu: Intercepts an attack from one of the Predators with a metal door; presumably the one he took off its hinges upon flying into the scene. Quickly Subverted in that the Predator- a Mantis even stronger than the first one he fought- cuts through it like its paper.
- Dreadful Dragonfly: The process of being swallowed by his Complex mentally looks like a giant version of the dragonfly he fused with literally swallowing him whole.
- Driven to Suicide: After losing his social standing and becoming a freak to all of his former friends and classmates, Suchan tries to jump off a building to end it all, only for his wings to stop him in mid-air.
- Foe-Tossing Charge: His strongest attack, "Hunting Rifle" is basically weaponizing his Super-Speed by charging straight at his opponent with his full body weight behind it. The resulting impact can shatter concrete and send anyone lighter than him flying.
- Fragile Speedster: Suchan's top speed makes him nigh-untouchable once he's moving and in-flight, but he can't do a thing if his wings are bound and he's not nearly as tough as he is fast. In fact, he injures his hands multiple times while punching much tougher insect humans.
- Frame-Up: He gets framed for the murder of a member of Propolis after being broken out of prison, leading to NEST wanting to imprison him for good. Notably, this wasn't intentional as the murder was done to conceal their location by another enemy faction, but it had the same effectiveness.
- Freakiness Shame: Insect humans are often conscious about their insect parts because of how it makes them freaks to be jeered at to regular humans. Suchan in particular has lasting trauma from being called a monster and abandoned by everyone he knows after having his wings seen. He flinches away when people try to touch them and is conscious about people seeing them until he comes to Nest. He instinctively tries to run away when Yerin, the orphan girl he saved when she sees his wings, only for her to admire him as a superhero and thanking "Mr. Dragonfly" for rescuing her.
- The Glasses Come Off: Inverted. He has to put his glasses on in order to use his top speed, lest his eyes burn from all the debris he flies through. So seeing him put on glasses or goggles is a sign that he's getting fully serious and ready to fight.
- Goggles Do Something Unusual: Suchan eventually gets specially-made goggles to use in battle. While their most basic function is to keep dust and debris out of his eyes so he can utilize their top speed, they also possess a setting that enhances his compound vision to its limits, letting him fight even in complete darkness. The downside is that this setting is incredibly disorienting and nauseating to use.
- Healing Factor: Obtains a conditional version, under Blackout by replicating Gigantea's ability to shed its skin. Its potent enough that using it allowed him to regrow his wings after they were ripped off his back by the White Witch.
- Hide Your Otherness: He kept his wings literally under wraps for years to try and live an normal life, but he suffers from intense pain should he not unfurl them periodically. He instinctively hides them even after joining Nest, but becomes far more comfortable with using them the longer he stays there.
- Horror Hunger: After being force-fed a small piece of Gigantea, everyone else around him suddenly smells indescribably delicious, and Suchan is overcome with cravings for the meat of other insect-humans. Professor Ma using a sensory suppressor drug called "Pumpkin Carriage" has weakened the effect, but the urge still surfaces every now and again.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Despite having the amazing powers of a dragonfly and being a natural when it comes to using them, Suchan with still prefer be rid of them to go back to his old human life.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: He was desperately lonely as a child due to losing both parents at an early age and being so poor that he became the routine subject of mockery. He completely reinvents himself in college to garner a social circle and soothe that loneliness, but he was always kept apart by his desire to hide his wings.
- Man Bites Man: While he's going berserk on the earwig and his Complex is going out of control, Suchan unlocks the dragonfly's pulverizing teeth and stops an attack from the guy by biting the claw, and then tearing his arm off shortly after. Biting his opponents becomes a regular thing while he's going berserk, as he tries to take the Antlion's ear off on Black Island, and tears off the Mantis's prosthetic arm with his teeth during his midterm.
- Later he sinks his teeth into Huijin's neck while losing control after being force-fed insect human meat, and then gnaws on Huijin's arm after she stops Ms. Moon from attacking him (because he was eating someone), as Huijin can heal, so no real damage was actually being done to her.
- New Transfer Student: He transfers to Nest at the start of the second semester, right on time for registration, and as such as little time to prepare for what environment he has just gotten himself into.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Suchan repeatedly helps others despite the consequences it would have for himself because of his better nature. He saves his girlfriend Mihui even though it would expose his wings to the world and rescues the honeybee student who scammed and poisoned him because he believes it's inhumane to let him die from a fall. In both cases, he's punished for it: becoming a social pariah in the former case and losing the USB drive that would let him register in Ma's class in the latter case.
- Now That's Using Your Teeth!: In order to break himself out of Breeder's web, he cuts it using his teeth. He also attempts to break Huijin out of Hyeona's silk this way, but gets stopped by Daun before he gets close enough.
- Official Couple: All but confirmed with Huijin, as they embrace each other at the end of Season 1. Confirmed further when he and Huijin go on an outing on Christmas, and them admitting that this was a date.
- "Open!" Says Me: Kicks an insect-human working for Pet Shop from behind an armored door, knocking it out of its frame in the process.
- Power Fist: Gains a pair of armored gauntlets after mastering his blackout in Chapter 104, formed of the carapace of Gigantea.
- Power Glows: Suchan's eyes and wings glow when he's tapping into the full power of his Complex, letting him use his maximum speed and power while honing his sight to the limit. This also develops into Glowing Eyes of Doom when he loses himself to his rage over Huijin's death.
- Power Tattoo: He later gained a Complex Tattoo in Chapter 89, showing he gained mastery over his Blackout state.
- Pretty Boy: Suchan is considered good-looking by his classmates, he's always wearing trendy clothes, and his hair is always well-styled. This is all a conscious decision on his part to shed the terrible loneliness he felt when he was younger, as he was ostracized for not having any parents by all the other kids he grew up with.
- Punny Name: A Lost in Translation case, but several shots of the dragonfly imagery accompanying Suchan shows that he's specifically an Anotogaster sieboldii, or a Golden Ringed/Jumbo Dragonfly. Its Korean name is (roughly) the "General/Admiral Dragonfly", which- in Korean- is where most of Suchan's name can be found.note
- Purely Aesthetic Glasses: Inverted. Suchan wears glasses when it's time to read, study, or use a computer, but he takes them off to enhance his Bishōnen image. He later uses them as makeshift goggles to keep dust and debris out of his eyes when he's flying, allowing him to exhibit his top speed without fear of hurting his eyes.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes become completely bloodshot as he loses control of himself after being fed insect human meat.
- Required Secondary Powers: Suchan's dragonfly powers come with a dragonfly's incredible compound vision to grant a degree of Super-Reflexes to better handle his speed and dodge attacks. His wings are also able to let him turn on a dime, letting him outspeed and outmanuever his opponents without losing control once he learns to stick his landings.
- School Forced Us Together: Being in Group A means having to do work with the two students whom he saw fighting on campus- one of whom is his new roommate, and the girl who first brought him to Nest and turns out to be the class president. Suchan actually thinks it's great given how they're all good at fighting and he ended up in a combat course.
- Secretly Selfish: Inverted. His efforts and focus are entirely on bumping his grades up to become valedictorian, but his better nature and actions tend to make him help others anyways. He's anxious when the time comes to select who will invade Breeder's base via mock battles, which Huijin mistakes for concern for the kidnapped children. In reality, Suchan is entirely focused on the extra credit he'd get for succeeding in that mission.
- Skewed Priorities: Played for Laughs. Suchan's first concern when he and Dohwa are kidnapped is how they're breaking curfew and forced to miss classes. He then bemoans his grades and angrily accuses Junhyeong of being after his valedictorian position. He's also less concerned that someone broke into his old apartment than he is that because they stole his Jungle Juice, he won't get an A+.
- Super-Speed: Dragonflies are able to fly at up to 64 miles per hour. Suchan's proportionally-sized wings are even stronger, allowing him to move faster than the human eye can track at his top speed with near complete maneuverability in the air. He also has the dragonfly's compound eyes to give him the Super-Reflexes and tracking ability needed to make full use of it.
- Super Mode: Suchan has one of sorts if he's taken out of his Superpowered Evil Side (see below), but still left conscious. The result is that he still retains the state's power for some time, but his mind is back in control. This is first called "Unidentified Defense Mechanism" when Hyeseong manages to bring him back to his senses, and is properly named "Hunter's Force" once Suchan manages to regain control of himself without external help.
- He later gains control over his Blackout after being forced to digest Insect Human meat.
- Superpowered Evil Side: Technically not evil, just animalistic. If Suchan is put in a life or death situation, he may slip into a state where he is swallowed by his Complex, gaining an immense amount of power at the cost of losing his ability to reason, not distinguishing friend or foe, and having zero problems with killing and then eating his opponents (which would effectively trap him in that state). This is because his Complex has fused with, among other parts, his limbic system, meaning that the core of his mind is basically run by an angry dragonfly.
- Warm Bloodbags Are Everywhere: Despite how the Pumpkin Carriage calmed him down and stopped his cravings, Suchan can still catch a hint of the intensely appetizing smell of other insect humans. He ends up leaving a pub with Huijin, where the rest of their friends were celebrating the start of Winter break, because it was crowded enough that he was afraid he could lose control again. This also leads him to wonder whether or not he could continue staying at Nest.
- Winged Humanoid: Dragonfly wings, obviously.
Huijin Park
Complex: Cockroach Even More Spoilers
The freshman class president of Practical Entomology. Reliable, friendly, and outgoing, she serves as the core of her class, looking after other freshmen and transfers like Suchan.
- Action Girl: One of the first things she does when she's back on campus is break up a fight between two students by jumping between them and tossing them both aside. She's also the most experienced combatant of the main quartet and is more than capable of handling herself in most occasions.
- Adaptive Ability: By Chapter 126 she eventually evolves her Complex to the point she can grant herself a higher resistance, if not immunity, to poisons as soon as they enter her system.
- Animal-Themed Superbeing: Her Complex is a cockroach, granting her a Healing Factor and even the ability to come Back from the Dead thanks to the bug's legendary survivability.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Her long hair flares out before narrowing again as it's tied near the bottom, foreshadowing her complex as a cockroach, as her hair imitates the shape of a cockroach's thorax, abdomen, and wings.
- Furthermore, after Chapter 126, her hair actually becomes a carapace that resembles a roach's wings as her complex evolves.
- Back from the Dead: Huijin's Metamorphosis saves her after she takes a lethal hit for Suchan, reviving her even after her heart stops.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: For Group A, Huijin is the gimmick, possessing the most unorthodox abilities with an otherwise balanced stat-spread. She's able to stick to walls, heal quickly, and even come back to life.
- Badass in Distress: Despite being #1 combat in practical combat, she falls for an obvious trap in episode 6 because of her concern for her classmates' ID cards and would have drowned if it wasn't for Suchan.
- Chainsaw Good: Brings out Jun Ji's chainsaw against the Exploding Ant Predator, taking his detonator arm off, effectively disarming him of his explosive abilities.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Due to growing up in awful circumstances, Huijin is devoted to ensuring that others won't have suffer like she has. This leads to her taking up the position of class president as well as constantly throwing herself in harms way for the sake of others. This is frequently exploited by enemies who know her, luring her into obvious traps or creating a Taking the Bullet situation to take her out of the fight.
- Class Representative: Huijin is the reliable class president of the Practical Entomology course. She's constantly looking out for her fellow students, breaking up fights, and going after bullies trying to haze and exploit her classmates.
- Clingy Jealous Girl:
- Because of her growing feelings for Suchan, she grows irate when she learns that he allegedly slept with Dohwa (only literally, due to being incapacitated and kidnapped), demanding an explanation from. She's immediately embarrassed by her behavior when she gets the full story, apologizing for it and settling down immediately.
- Except that she must've never fully let go of it, as she drops this line while under the effect of an aphrodisiac-
Huijin:I gotta get Suchan before Dohwa does...- Taken to scary levels later on, when Suchan getting pulled into a group blind date, and after he and Bidan Lee both leave, the other girls in the group seem to imply that Bidan's going to have sex with Suchan.
Ladybug student: Looks like our plan worked! (Kyaah!)Butterfly student: I bet Bidan wants to go all the way tonight! (He was so cute)Huijin: Excuse me?[Oh, Crap! expressions from everyone at the table]Huijin: If you don't mind, I'd love to hear what's going on here. Why don't we start with this plan of yours?- In general, she takes notice of whenever another girl (or girls) gets chatty with Suchan. Like when Dohwa and Suchan briefly exchanged banter at Black Island, Hyeona and Daun clinging to his arms during the hang out, or when they expressed to him their support when coming along on the Pet Shop raid. Most upset she's gotten was after seeing Bidan's interactions with Suchan, although that one's a bit more justified considering the girl's notable lack of subtlety.
Bidan: [winking] I'd love to find out more about just what the famous transfer student can do. - Color-Coded Characters: Pink
- Cursed with Awesome: To her, becoming an insect human and joining Nest was the best thing that ever happened to her, and she has no intention of going back to live among normal humans.
- Distinction Without a Difference: Denies that she was going on a date with Suchan for Christmas, and that they just had plans to eat and then look at the decorations together. Or as Hyeona and Daun put it, basically a date.
- Enter Stage Window: After hearing about Suchan sleeping with Dohwa, she immediately heads to Suchan's room for an explanation by going out her dorm's window and through his.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Seeing Suchan so anxious about entering and succeeding in the mock battles makes Huijin think that he's worried about the kidnapped children. In truth, he's entirely focused on the extra credit he'd get from succeeding on the mission.
- Establishing Character Moment: Properly introduced with her full name and status as Class President after casually breaking up Dohwa and Hyeseong's fight on the courtyard, before turning around to greet Suchan. This demonstrates her sense of responsibility, goodwill, and how she's really strong.
- Hair Antennae: A variant, as those are actual antennae that are just the same color as her hair.
- Healing Factor: Part of her complex is being able to heal fast, fitting the roach's hardiness. It gets taken to the next level when she accesses the full vitality of her complex, which is actually a swarm of around one thousand cockroaches. As a result, she goes from healing deep wounds in minutes, to having limbs cut off barely slow her down.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Receives this taking a hit for Suchan, and unlike Professor Ji she doesn't survive.
- Locked into Strangeness: Huijin's hair is black on the outside and pink on the inside. Flashback to before her transformation show that it was entirely black then, implying it changed color when she became an insect-human.
- Longing Look: At the group hangout, when Suchan says that it's nice to relax and be around everyone even if they had other plans, and that they can get drinks by themselves later. With a very longing look, she agrees.
- Losing Your Head: Gets decapitated twice in her fight with Maehwa, and both times she just sticks it back on her neck, much to her opponent's confusion.
- Lovely Angels: With Dohwa while fighting off against numerous feed-trained insect humans on Black Island. Huijin gets around their size and power by using twisting and choking moves, while Dohwa punches them harder.
- Ms. Exposition: Being the person who's showing newcomer Suchan around Nest, she's naturally responsible for explaining many of the going-ons in the college town.
- Murderous Thighs: Chokes a large feed-trained insect human with her thighs in one panel while fighting on Black Island.
- Negate Your Own Sacrifice: When the Exploding Ant Predator takes Suchan hostage and tells the rest of the students present to line up and be killed, as they can't fight back, Huijin naturally volunteers to be first. Cue several failed attempts by the Predator at actually killing Huijin, as she keeps healing before the smoke even finishes clearing. He manages to achieve partial success by hitting her with a chain of explosions after the first, damaging her while she's healing to interrupt her regeneration, but even this just delays her recovery.
- Official Couple: All but confirmed with Suchan, as they embrace each other at the end of Season 1. Confirmed further when she and Suchan go on an outing on Christmas, and them admitting that this was a date.
- Power Fist: Had lab gear made giving her spiked brass-knuckles modeled after the thorns on her insect's legs, letting her bust apart Daun's mace with a single hit. She later gains the ability to create one of her own when assuming her Valkyrie form in Chapter 126.
- Punny Name: A Lost in Translation case, but if "Park Hui-jin" is written in Korean the way it's pronounced, then her name becomes Roach-jin.note
- Rescue Romance: Huijin goes from being merely friendly with Suchan to having budding feelings for him after he saves her life from the giant water bug bully's gang. These feelings grow even stronger after he clutches her hand and sobs after her apparent death, as his compassion and constant concern for her remind her of her brother.
- Romance-Inducing Smudge: Cleans Suchan's face on Black Island after Dohwa "accidentally" knocks his drink out of his hands.
- School Forced Us Together: Being in Group A means having to do work with the two students who are always fighting on campus- one of whom is her roommate, and the new transfer student she was told to look after.
- Sexy Santa Dress: Receives one made by Hyeona and Daun, for her to wear in front of Suchan. Unfortunately, Suchan didn't think that he was supposed to show up alone.
- Sleep Cute: Falls asleep on Suchan's shoulder on the boat back to Nest, as they had spent the entire night fighting on Black Island. Suchan is still awake however, and is quite flustered.
- Superpower Lottery: Double Subverted- Despite how useful her moderate degree of super strength and speed, as well as limited healing would seem, Jun Ji explains that that's as far as it goes for her Complex, which is why he decides to teach her martial arts. Indeed, Huijin is the only one in Group A who can't use any Defense Mechanisms at will, and has only ever done it in general once. However, after lab results show that her Complex is really a thousand cockroaches, Jun Ji tells her that if she manages to get properly access that power, Cinderella would not be hard to achieve. Additionally, Jun Ji says she could survive a nuclear explosion, making her the biggest lottery winner of the series by far if he was being literal.
- Super-Speed: As part of being a cockroach, Huijin is very quick and agile, being incredibly hard to hit for the larger earwig human.
- Threatening Mediator: Often puts a stop to Dohwa's harassing of Hyeseong by intimidating Dohwa.
- Voluntary Vampire Victim: She let's Suchan eat her while he's lost control due to being force-fed insect human meat, and even defends him while Ms. Moon is about to put a blade to his throat due to him trying to eat other people, as Huijin heals fast, so no damage was done. Later when Suchan reveals to her that he still feels the effects of feeding, she sticks her finger in his mouth, and says that he can bite down if it ever gets too much for him to bare.
- Wall Run: Her Complex also let's her stick to surfaces, even if she's standing still.
- Worf Effect: Season 2 hits her with this. She's too weak to stop Bom from taking Suchan, and the Dean manages to effectively damage her so severely with a single slash of his sword that she spends the entire day hospitalized despite her healing factor.
- Your Head A-Splode: Has her head and neck splattered like an egg on panel, while deliberately taking a point blank attack from the Exploding Ant Predator. She recovers within seconds.
Hyeseong Cha
Complex: Hexacentrus Katydid
A Practical Entomology student who was second in class after Huijin. He worked with her to sweep up the mess Suchan's stunt caused online. He's also Dohwa's friend, for lack of a better word, as well as Suchan's new roommate.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Even before becoming an insect human, Hyeseong was ostracized by his teammates on the soccer team after his failed to kick a winning goal in a major tournament and injured himself trying. After that, he was cast aside and declared useless, resulting in his severe inferiority complex.
- Armed Legs: As seen in the image, Hyeseong's legs are blackened and have a line of serrations down the sides. Following his Complex's evolution, he gained the ability to enlarge the spikes on his legs to the length and sharpness of a sword, greatly increasing his offensive capability to the point of slicing through the carapace of a stag beetle human who had undergone feed training.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: For Group A, Hyeseong is the balance, possessing high speed and power, but not to the extent of either Suchan or Dohwa. Technically, he's usually more speed oriented, meaning that he's not quite balanced, but his defense mechanism improves his offensive ability enough that Hyeseong still qualifies.
- Bandage Mummy: He already had a bandage on his nose from it being broken by Jangjun Kim, but following the incident with the Mantis, he's shown at the hospital with Suchan covered with them from his face to his arms.
- Blade Brake: Invoked during the Pet Shop Raid. Hyeseong jumps off of a cliffside and then uses a variant on Scythe Kick to cleave through it in the process, braking his fall while also sectioning off an area for Dohwa to dislodge in the process.
- Catapult Nightmare: When Hyeseong has a bad dream about Group A ditching him because he's not up to their level, he wakes up with a jolt forward.
- Color-Coded Characters: Green and Orange
- Dream-Crushing Handicap: He's incapable of chasing his dreams as a soccer star due to becoming an insect human. Unlike Suchan, Hyeseong's mutation is impossible to hide under his soccer clothes due to his enlarged, spiky legs. The reason why Hyeseong is aiming for Cinderella is to be able to make his dream possible again.
- Eye Scream: His eyes are doused with formic acid during the mock battles, resulting in him going blind until Professor Yu uses her complex to restore his sight.
- Extremity Extremist: In a fight he's only used his arms for blocking, and usually his hands are tucked into his pockets; his legs are for everything else. Justified as one- that's what part of his body fused with his Complex and two- he was a soccer player before becoming an insect human, and is used to only using his legs anyway.
- Fiery Redhead: Quite intense, with bright orange hair to boot.
- In a Single Bound: As a grasshopper (actually a katydid), he naturally possesses a mix of this and standard Super-Speed.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: He suffers from a severe inferiority complex due to lasting emotional and mental trauma from being cast out from his soccer team. He initially looks down on Suchan for being a transfer student, but quickly finds himself envious of Suchan's rapid growth and mastery of his Complex when Hyeseong is always left in the dust. It's only after Professor Ji confronts him about this and Hyeseong is put in a life-or-death situation that he must evolve in to survive that he starts channeling his self-hatred and self-pity into motivation to become stronger.
- Made of Iron: While he should be much more durable than a normal person as an insect human, being body-slammed into a crater by a Stag Beetle several times times his size and then getting stabbed in the shoulder with one of its enormous pincers should have left him unable to fight at least, if it didn't just kill him. He's fine after being wrapped in bandages.
- Male Might, Female Finesse: Inverted case with him and Dohwa- Hyeseong fights with his high speed and precise jumps, while Dohwa uses brute force to get the job done.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Highlighted during the Group Tournament arc- Changhun notes him as the "weak link" of Group A, while earlier during the faculty meeting, the images accompanying Professor Ma talking about notable freshmen in Ji's class include every member of Group A except for Hyeseong.
- Real Men Take It Black: Played for Laughs- Says that he's gonna get black coffee when Huijin tells Suchan they're getting drinks, only for Dohwa to state that she knows he's getting hot chocolate.
- Reverse Grip: Odd non-sword variant; with Scythe Kick- Liner, the enlarged thorn extending from his leg has the blade on the opposite side of what it normally is, facing towards him rather than away. Fortunately he's got the skill and weird flips to actually use it like that, thanks to his midterm challenge.
- School Forced Us Together: Being in Group A means having to do work with the girl he constantly fights with, the class president who is also one of the few people who can stop him fighting with said girl, and the new transfer student who is also his new roommate.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Although his eyes can look more cyan on occasion. Interestingly, his eyes were originally brown before he became an insect-human.
- Super-Speed: His katydid legs allow him to run at superhuman speeds even through thick brush. While his running speed doesn't match Suchan's top flight speed, it's more than enough to run circles around tougher but slower insect humans like stag beetles.
- With Friends Like These...: With Dohwa: despite how violence-prone she is, he puts up with it because he knows that she isn't good with social skills and has a hard time being close with other people. With that said, he also doesn't just take it without fighting back, so the result is a duo who can be seen clashing in the back of most shots that include them both.
- The Worf Barrage:
- Lands a direct hit on the Armored Ground Cricket Predator with his Scythe Kick- the same move that cut through the Stag Beetle and Antlion no problem... and it does nothing.
- Happens again with a starving Gigantea. But unlike with the Predator, Hyeseong hits an unarmored part, and it still does nothing, despite Gigantea being weakened.
- The Worf Effect: Gets beaten by Jihwan Eom offscreen during the Group Tournament, which doesn't do great things for his confidence.
Dohwa Cheon
Complex: Emperor Scorpion
A punkish, Hard-Drinking Party Girl in Practical Entomology. She's unusual in that she was merged with a scorpion, an arachnid, rather than an insect and was subject to numerous tests and studies before being allowed to join the class.
- The Alcoholic: While alcohol consumption in general is pretty commonplace at Nest, Dohwa gets blackout-drunk almost every single time booze is present.
- Acquired Poison Immunity: While she was already tolerant of Junhyeong's barbed hairs, her poison immunity vastly expands in scope after her midterms, which had her ingesting the toxins of numerous other insect humans.
- Action Girl: As an emperor scorpion, Dohwa is a bruiser who specializes in overpowering her opponents through her superior strength and durability.
- Beware My Stinger Tail: Dohwa's midterm challenge consisted of her downing the toxins of various other insect-humans, culminating in her being able to produce potent venom in her tail, despite how Emperor Scorpion venom is usually mild.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: For Group A, Dohwa is the power, being at the other extreme end of the stat-scale from Suchan. She's physically the toughest member, but is also the slowest. Although it's worth noting that Dohwa is only slow relative to the rest of her group, as the other members specifically have speed as part of their Complex in some way.
- Childhood Friends: With Junhyeong Lee.
- Color-Coded Characters: Blue
- Combat Stilettos: Almost always wearing heels, even when in combat or while stopping a speeding minivan.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Blatantly stares Hyeseong while everyone's in swimwear on Black Island beach.
- French Maid Outfit: Gets forced into one (which Hyeona made) after making the mistake of laughing at Huijin wearing a Sexy Santa Dress (which Hyeona also made, see above). Dohwa is not amused.
- I'm Not Hungry: Said word for word while held captive by Breeder; a fair response given that her meal was made out of another insect-human.
- Kissing Under the Influence: While under the effect of an aphrodisiac thanks to Group D's tampering during the Team Tournament, she only narrowly averts this with Hyeseong- who was still sober and barely managed to push her away. Would have doubled as a Forceful Kiss if she had succeeded, given how she also wrapped her tail around Hyeseong, effectively trapping the poor guy.
- Lightning Bruiser: She's fast enough to cut through a forest to catch up to a car while also being far stronger and tougher than the average insect human, to the point that Junhyeong's hairs and Hwang Rida's scales have no effect on her because of her natural Super-Toughness.
- Locked into Strangeness: Dohwa's hair is sky blue on the inside and white on the outside. Like Huijin, a flashback reveals that her hair was originally a normal color; in this case brown, but it became white after she became an insect human. Although unlike Huijin, the inside of her hair was always blue.
- Lovely Angels: With Huijin while fighting off against numerous feed-trained insect humans on Black Island. Huijin gets around their size and power by using twisting and choking moves, while Dohwa punches them harder.
- Male Might, Female Finesse: Inverted case with her and Hyeseong- Hyeseong fights with his high speed and precise jumps, while Dohwa uses brute force to get the job done.
- No Social Skills: Her Hard-Drinking Party Girl and Blood Knight exterior belies the fact that she rarely manages to make long-term relationships. As a result, she's socially awkward and drownings her sorrows with alcohol so she doesn't have to think about her past.
- "Open!" Says Me: Punches Junhyeong Lee through a door, and out the window of the orphanage they were at.
- Power Fist: Her Defense Mechanism is "The Gauntlet", which takes the form of this at 20% Hardness, and becomes more like pincers at higher levels.
- Punny Name: A Lost in Translation case, but "Cheon" sounds like a word for "Emperor" in Korean, and she's an Emperor Scorpion.note
- School Forced Us Together: Being in Group A means having to do work with the guy she constantly fights with, her roommate who is also one of the few people who can stop her fighting with said guy and the class president, and the new transfer student.
- Scorpion People: Has a scorpion tail, as well as pincers when using her Defensive Mechanism past a certain level.
- Sensor Character: Can sense vibrations thanks to being a scorpion. (They have this to make up for their poor eyesight)
- Superpower Lottery: Her Complex is considered an "apex predator" among arthropods for its large size, durable exoskeleton, and incredible strength. This grants her enough strength and durability to stop a car in its tracks as well as chase it by cutting through a forest. She's even stronger while under the effects of Gayeon Sin's mind control, gaining armor plates and batting Junhyeong aside while his fangs break against her exoskeleton.
- When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Dohwa herself states that her solution to defeating opponents she can't beat with power is to use even more power. How successful this "strategy" is depends on how much her opponent also uses brute strength. She eventually is forced to use her less-punchy abilities fighting the Armored Ground Cricket Predator.
- The Worf Barrage: Immediately uses The Gauntlet at the highest level she's shown engaging with the Armored Ground Cricket Predator, only for her punches to be immediately caught, and the rest of her initial attacks on don't even scratch her opponent.
- The Worf Effect: Has been on both sides of this, but usually its the receiving end-
- Comes back to protect Group A's flag with a bear she killed around her shoulders, presumably just because she could.
- She's beaten by the Antlion Agent offscreen, with Huijin encountering the massive sand holes from the fight and wondering who or what could've done this.
- Briefly manages to stop a starving Gigantea, but quickly gets lifted into the air and then sent into the ground by him, knocking her out.
- Is overpowered by Woogun Oh, demonstrating the strength of a member of Propolis. Also Lampshaded-
Hyeseong: Someone beat Dohwa by sheer force alone?
Other Nest Students
Hanbyeol Lee
Complex: Honeybee
A student looking to attend Nest. He explains how course enrollment works to Suchan while also vying for a seat himself.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He first presents himself to Suchan as a kind, helpful person looking to help a transfer student. This is all to buy Suchan's trust so he could steal Professor Ma's USB drive from him later, calling Suchan a moron for trusting a rival.
- Blush Sticker: He seems to have perpetually blushing cheeks, adding to his cuteness factor to make his Bitch in Sheep's Clothing reveal all the more shocking.
- Mr. Exposition: He's the one to explain to Suchan how course enrollment works at Nest. He also underscores how competitive it is when he fools Suchan into trusting him before poisoning him to steal his USB.
- Older Than They Look: His minimal height, round, babyish face and Blush Sticker belie how he's a college-aged student.
- Punny Name: A case that is barely Lost in Translation, as Han-byeol is a bee.
- Poisonous Person: He's able to inject others with honeybee venom to paralyze them by poking them with one of his fingers. Even if the victim is able to fight the poison enough to remove the stinger, they'll feels sluggish and slow for a while afterward and may even fall unconscious.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Gayeon Sin feeds him to the praying mantis murderer to give the latter a powerup in time for his rematch with Suchan.
- Winged Humanoid: Bee wings, in this case.
Jangjun Kim
Complex: Giant Water Bug
A student at Nest University early on who steals the rest of the class's student IDs in order to lure Huijin into a trap. Tried to obtain a Cinderella using underhanded methods.
- The Bully: Somewhere between this and straight up villain- when you're trying to kill the Class President in order to increase your chances of becoming Valediction, you've got issues.
- Gang of Bullies: Naturally has one of these; Huijin and Hyeseong both make quick work of them.
- The Mole: Turns out to have been one of the two insect humans Breeder had planted at Nest, although this was revealed well after his death.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Has two extra limbs (arms?) coming out of his back that are the sharp forelimbs of a Giant Water Bug.
- Terrain Bonus: Gets an advantage while fighting in the water thanks to having the Complex of an aquatic insect, while his opponents have to worry about not drowning.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Gayeon Sin kills him later on after he fails to kill Huijin.
Junhyeong Lee
Complex: Goliath Birdeater
A student in Understanding Nest Protection whom Dohwa is uncharacteristically friendly with. Confronted by Suchan during student orientation when it seems like he's trying to kidnap her.
- Ambiguously Brown: His skin was distinctly lighter when he was a kid, meaning he could just be tanned.
- Big Damn Heroes: Shows up with Suchan just in time to stop Dohwa from being forced to consume insect-meat.
- Childhood Friends: With Dohwa Cheon.
- Curtains Match the Window: Black-purple hair with black-purple eyes.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Grew up poor, with his mother in debt to thugs who would eventually rape her as part of paying back her debt. Transfers to an orphanage after his mother takes a blow to the head protecting him from said thugs which ends up killing her. He would later go on to hate how helpless he was then, wishing that he had the ability to stop them, and believing that people become miserable when they're too weak to have power. Even after Suchan defeats him, he states that his beliefs are still the same.
- Enemy Mine: Teams up with Suchan in order to save Dohwa from Breeder, on account of being well aware that he's in no shape to do it on his own. He later provides Nest with what information he knows about Pet Shop even after he's been imprisoned.
- Friendless Background: After being infected with Power Killer, he frequently found himself avoided by the other children on account of the constant bandages he wore on his face that he used to hide his fangs. He says that had it not been for Dohwa, he would've grown up entirely alone.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: His eyes glow purple every time he uses Black Mamba, as well as any time he moves fast, which is frequently.
- Hide Your Otherness: Normally has his fangs mostly retracted into his mouth, and wears bandages over where the ends poke out.
- The Mole: The other student that Breeder had planted at Nest.
- Not What I Signed on For: Wanted the kids at the orphanage who were infected with Power Killer to now have the power to fend for themselves, unaware that Breeder was then putting those children through literal Pavlovian training to turn them into obedient attack dogs. (Technically, Breeder never "harmed" them)Junhyeong Lee: Don't give me that shit. You gave me your word that people from the orphanage wouldn't be harmed.
- Power Floats: Despite how spiders can't fly, he appears to be levitating in the air while using The Hydra, possibly propelled by the sheer amount of projectiles he's firing off.
- Put on a Prison Bus: Last seen in-person being locked up by Nest for the whole "kidnapping two students and being a mole" thing, although he does appear on video giving info about Breeder the next chapter.
- The Bus Came Back: Shows up just in time to save Dohwa and Hyeseong from the Ground Cricket Predator, and turns out to have been granted civilian-ship by the Dean for taking care of all the other prisoners that got loose while Nest was being attacked.
- Shaping Your Attacks: His Defense Mechanism, The Hydra, fires off an insane amount of hairs that take the shape of several snake heads... somehow.
- Spike Shooter: Capable of firing off large amounts of barbed hair as part of his Defense Mechanism Sting Sling. There's also The Hydra as mentioned above, which is this but taken up a notch.
- Super-Speed: He's capable of giving Suchan several Flash Steps in their first fight, and is even faster while using his Defense Mechanism Black Mamba, with Suchan not even seeing him attack. Even after Suchan puts on goggles and accesses his full speed, Junhyeong still almost gets Suchan with it.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Junhyeong desires a world of nothing but insect humans where abusive situations like the ones he and Dohwa endured will never happen again. To this end, he's willing to kidnap her to bring her "home" as well as kill others who oppose his plans, but is horrified when he learns that the children he's brought to the orphanage have undergone "feed training" to turn them into carnivorous monsters desiring nothing but the flesh of other insect humans.
Bidan Lee (Spoilers)
Complex: Jewel Beetle Spoilers
A sophomore student at the top of Professor Yu's class, Study of Genetically Modified Insects. She's the one who designed Suchan's goggles, and properly meets him in person during a "blind date" of her own setup. Her actual goal for the night was to get Suchan drunk, take him to a secluded lab, pull his shirt off, and take a blood test
- Book Smart: She's the current sophomore valedictorian candidate while being enrolled in a science-heavy course. Additionally, she explains to Suchan how to train himself to get used to his modified goggles, which she designed.
- Coy, Girlish Flirt Pose: Pulls this on two occasions- the first while telling Suchan she'd share what she knew about his Complex if he came with her somewhere, and the second while calling Suchan "your lover-boy" while talking to Huijin.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Takes blood tests in an incredibly suggestive manner, which can be seen with Suchan, Suchan again, and a scorpionfly feed-trained specimen, the latter of whom she practically straddles.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Her name and Complex can be seen on the projector with Jangjun Kim and Dohwa Cheon in Ch 18, nearly thirty chapters before she was introduced in person.
- Hair Antennae: Actual beetle antennae in this case, Bidan's true form has the wasp antennae.
- Imposter Forgot One Detail: Bidan tried to distract Huijin by shapeshifting into Jun Ji to talk her down long enough to kill her with the seed she created. It failed to fool her because Bidan mentioned sacrificing Hansung for NEST's safety when the real Jun would never sacrifice others to protect NEST.
- Limited Wardrobe: In a webcomic where characters frequently change clothes, she's worn the same black dress in all of her appearances, save for one scene during the bonus chapter.
- Master of Disguise: Using the Cuckoo Wasp's pheromone to supress reconginiton from other Insect Humans, Bidan can shapeshift into any Insect Humans, this allowed her to infiltrate NEST by taking the identity of the Jewel Beetle student.
- Ms. Fanservice: Between the camera angles when she appears to her frequent... enthusiastic facial expressions, Bidan manages to be this in a cast full of hot characters.
- The Mole: Bidan is Pet Shop's third spy planted in Nest. Having been the one who allowed Gayeon Sin and the Predators in NEST despite its heavy security, and she was also the one who killed Woobin Dan and framed Suchan for it.
- Mood-Swinger: Downplayed, but her cheery demeanor is occasionally interrupted by abrupt warnings about the future in a completely serious tone, before going right back to her previous level of cheer.
- Punny Name: A Lost in Translation case, but "Bidan" is the word for "silk" in Korean, where Jewel Beetles are referred to as "silkworms."note
- Say It with Hearts: To a feed-trained scorpionfly-Bidan: Won't you be my test subject? I'll give you a special treat in return...♥
- Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Upon discovering that Bidan was Pet Shop's secret spy and was the one who framed Suchan, Huijin tried to attack Bidan only for Bidan to shapeshift into her older brother Jeongjin, making her hesitate long enough for San to attack her.
- Walking Spoiler: It's difficult to talk about Bidan without revealing that she's the third Pet Shop spy.
Daun Jeong
Complex: Bolas Spider
A student in Group B of Professor's Ji's class frequently seen with Hyeona Bang. She and Hyeona get bailed out by Suchan during Professor Ji's first test, and they pay the favor back during the fight with Breeder. After that, she and Hyeona face Suchan and Huijin during the first round of the group tournament.
- Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: Parodied; she tries to cover Hyeona's eyes- who's also a college student- while Huijin nearly takes her bra off thanks to the effect of Group D's aphrodisiac. Also, Hyeona pushes Daun's arms off in order to get a look.
- Played straight in serious, very bloody situations later on, like Suchan nearly getting eaten by the mantis, the Guardians getting cut apart by Maehwa, or Huijin being decapitated.
- Crisis Catch And Carry: Runs away carrying Hyeona on a couple occasions; the first time during the Gigantea's entrance, the second during Maehwa's assault in the lecture building, and the third during Gigantea's reappearance.
- Epic Flail: Naturally, given that she's a Bolas Spider.
- Glass Cannon: Can swing her mace hard enough to potentially take out Suchan or Huijin in one hit during the Group Tournament, but is just as susceptible to being one shot by either of them, as spiders have very weak bodies.
- Horned Humanoid: Has two large spikes jutting out of her head, as well as two smaller ones in the back, due to her Complex. Since Daun's hair is wrapped around them, they almost look like ears.
- Improvised Weapon: Uses a fire extinguisher tied to her web as a mace against one of the Predators; and while it's immediately destroyed, all the foam inside being let out makes for a convenient smokescreen.
- Long-Range Fighter: Her mace makes her a dangerous opponent from a far, but is much less effective once the distance between it and her opponent is closed. According to Huijin, being weak at close range is a flaw that spiders in general have.
- Makes Us Even: After she and Hyeona assist Suchan during the fight with Gayeon Sin and Breeder, she says that they've repaid their debt now.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted- shares the same surname as Yunji. They're not related, South Korea just doesn't have a lot of surnames.
- Security Cling: While Hyeona's latched on to her arm a lot of the time even during normal circumstances, it's a guarantee when there's danger.
- Those Two Girls: With Hyeona; they've been together since the previous semester, they appear as a pair more often then not when one gets focus, and their first appearance was during Class Registration with her trying to get Hyeona to stop eating her sleeve. Daun outright states that she doesn't like doing individual assignments when Jun Ji's explaining the Weakness Strengthening challenges.
- Variable-Length Chain: Justified- the rope that the mace-head is attached to is actually her web, like actual bolas spiders, so its length can be changed.
Hyeona Bang
Complex: Silkworm Moth
A student in Group B of Professor's Ji's class frequently seen with Daun Jeong. Sprains her ankle during Professor Ji's first test and nearly fails as a result, and then gets injured by Gayeon Sin. In a later fight she manages to restrain Gayeon, but the woman breaks out quickly. After that, she and Daun face Suchan and Huijin during the first round of the group tournament.
- Color-Coded Characters: Amber
- Curtains Match the Window: Orange-yellow eyes with amber hair.
- Decoy Damsel: At one point in Group A and B's match, Hyeona intentionally trips herself near a ledge, knowing that Huijin would try an save her, which she then used as a chance to eliminate her from the round.
- "I Can't Look!" Gesture: When Suchan starts eating Huijin after losing himself after being fed insect human meat- as Daun's not present, Hyeona covers her eyes herself.
- Little Bit Beastly: Possibly the subtlest case so far- has the comb antenna of a silk moth embedded into two parts of her hair, while the two buns on her head vaguely mimic the eyes.
- Master of Threads: As a silk moth she's capable of producing and manipulating silk thread quite quickly, even to the point of creating a cocoon mid-fall, although there is a bit of a cool-down.
- Mundane Utility: While being able to create and manipulate fabric does have its applications in a fight, it's especially useful for making clothes.
- Older Than They Look: Much like Hanbyeol Lee, her rounded facial features and short stature (she's a head shorter than Daun even while wearing heels) makes her appear younger than the rest of her peers. (It is worth noting that Hyeona is 19
, while all of the main characters are 20, but she still looks young for a 19 year-old) - Security Cling: While she's latched on to Daun's arm a lot of the time even during normal circumstances, it's a guarantee whenever there's danger.
- Those Two Girls: With Daun; they've been together since the previous semester, they appear as a pair more often then not when one gets focus, and their first appearance was during Class Registration with her chewing on Daun's sleeve.
- Twisted Ankle: Sprains her ankle one on the first day of class while Professor Ji's chasing them with a chainsaw horror-movie style.
Jihwan Eom
Complex: Rhinoceros Beetle
A student in Group B of Professor Ji's class, making background appearances before Class Registration, before being properly introduced and named during the Group Tournament. Beats Hyeseong offscreen and gives Dohwa trouble, before getting overpowered.
- Can't Hold His Liquor: Despite being twice the size of some other students, he passes out on his first bottle on two separate occasions.
- Gentle Giant: Specifically noted in Professor Ji's notebook as timid and kindhearted, and has quite a cute design too despite being over a head taller than said Professor, who easily clears six feet.
- Japanese Beetle Brothers: Coincidental type- while his Complex is likely a Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle, he has nothing to do with the Stag Beetle that Hyeseong fights on Black Island, apart from how they both fight Hyeseong.
- Mighty Glacier: Very strong, but noted to be lacking speed and coordination. His mid term challenge is to finish a 100-meter dash in 13 seconds, while carrying several weights.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Gains a significant amount of detail while managing to stalemate Dohwa, revealing that his eyes are actually white and red, which is biologically accurate of certain rhinoceros beetles. Aside from that one scene however...
- Shadowed Face, Glowing Eyes: When less detailed, which is most of the time, his eyes are white dots contrasting his dark exoskeleton.
- Top-Heavy Guy: Possibly a side effect of having a beetle-esq body; most of his height comes from his torso.
- The Worf Effect: The strong reputation of rhinoceros beetles is specifically mentioned while he's managing to beat Dohwa with force, making Dohwa's Defense Mechanism activating, and her hurling him back several meters all the more impressive.
Rida Hwang
Complex: Tussock Moth
The other student in Group B of Professor Ji's class with a background appearance before Class Registration, and is properly introduced and named during the Group Tournament. One of the students in class with the most visible insect traits; possessing six limbs, massive wings, and large comb antennae.
- Instantly Proven Wrong:Rida Hwang: Yes! Crush her! No one's got brawn like a rhinoceros beetle!(five seconds later after Dohwa activates The Gauntlet)Rida Hwang: Wha...? She beat him by force...
- Long Pants: More like long outfit- her pant legs connect to stockings which have shoe soles(?) built into them. Either that or those are her actual legs, and her feet are just shaped that way. Similar goes for the maybe-gloves around her arms.
- Perpetual Molt: Insect variant; has scales that flake off while she's flying, which induce itching.
- Poisonous Person: Her body is covered in a toxic irritant powder, which can have its uses in combat (see above), but it also means that she can't enter a pool with her classmates, as she would contaminate the water.
- Punny Name: A Lost in Translation case, but Rida Hwang is some the syllables from the Korean word for her kind of moth rearranged.note
- Shadowed Face, Glowing Eyes: Had her face concealed entirely within her hoodie before the tournament, with only two dots showing where her eyes were.
- Winged Humanoid: Large moth wings, which seem to blend into her clothes.
Changhun Yu
Complex: Formica Ant
A student in Group D of Professor Ji's class who's introduced before the last round of the Group Tournament, talking to Group A and telling them to not go too hard on them. In reality he was exposing half of them to Hana Seon's poison, resulting in half the Group being incapacitated before the final match even started.
- Acid Attack: As a formic ant, Changhun is capable of spraying formic acid at his opponents. On skin it only induces mild burning, but it's a different story when sprayed on someone's eyes...
- A Handful for an Eye: Flings dirt in Hyeseong's eyes while he's still recovering from being pulled underground in order to temporarily blind him, before almost permanently blinding him when he tries to attack after.
- Combat Pragmatist: Changhun outright states after cheating, exploiting the flag rules, and lot's of foul play, that it was really the only way they were gonna be able to beat Group A.
- Innate Night Vision: Possessing an ant's antennae, Changhun has no problems with fighting underground in pitch-black conditions.
Hana Seon
Complex: Spotted Lanternfly
A student in Group D of Professor Ji's class who makes appearances as early as before Class Registration, and is properly introduced during the Group Tournament. Hana's Complex is a spotted lanternfly, allowing her to produce the substance cantharidin. (Or at least what's supposed to be cantharidin.)
- Hair Antennae / Hair Wings: Possesses the wings of a spotted lanternfly as her hair, along with its antennae.
- Living Aphrodisiac: The poison that Hana Seon emits is, among other things, a potent aphrodisiac when inhaled.
- Technicolor Toxin: Cantharidin is odorless and colorless in real life, while Hana's is pink, for obvious reasons.
Yunji Jeong
Complex: Mole Cricket
A student in Group D of Professor Ji's class who can be seen hanging out with Hana Seon during Student Orientation, and has her name given during the Group Tournament. Yunji's Complex is a mole cricket, transforming her arms into very large forelimbs specialized for digging with.
- Fast Tunneling: Excavates a very large cavity in the earth by the time it takes Hyeseong to reach their base.
- Innate Night Vision: Doesn't actually need the helmet-light turned on in order to see what she's doing, as just like Changhun, her insect lives underground naturally, and so she's just fine operating in the dark.
- Mole Miner: Has this motif complete with a helmet-light, although being an insect human she's a mole-cricket miner, but Tropes Are Flexible.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted- shares the same surname as Daun. They're not related, South Korea just doesn't have a lot of surnames.
Mogin Ju
Complex: Cicada
A student in Group D of Professor Ji's class, who's properly introduced attempting to ambush Hyeseong during the Group Tournament. Relegated to background appearances otherwise, Mogin's Complex is a cicada, letting him produce very loud noise, which is ironic considering his lack of lines.
- Hair Wings: Has small cicada wings sticking out the back of his head.
Nest Teachers
Dohyeon Ma
Complex: [Unrevealed]
A professor at the Nest who explains to Suchan how he can get rid of his wings. He teaches "Understanding Nest Protection", which is the most popular course on account of it being the easiest.
- Artifact of Attraction: The "Famous Ma USB", which is needed to register for his course, has a significant student-base brawling for a chance to get it during registration. Downplayed case since registration is like that for any professor's USB, it's just exaggerated in the case of Ma's.
- Cool Teacher: Aside from generally being a nice older man, over half of his class got A's the previous semester in a Darwinian University where your hope hinges on your grades. He also doesn't make anyone do group assignments, which is a plus.
- Finger-Tenting: Odd non-villainous example; he does this often, such as in Chapter 29 while explaining the Dean's unorthodox orders.
Jun Ji
Complex: Bombardier Beetle
A professor at the Nest known for being a very hard grader. He's the first teacher at the Nest to meet Suchan, and isn't very impressed from his first meeting with Suchan.
- Badass Teacher: A given, as his course is "Practical Combat for Insects."
- Big Damn Heroes: Shows up in the nick of time to save his students on three separate occasions.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Comes with the Cool Old Guy package.
- Chainsaw Good: It's for "self defense."
- Convection, Schmonvection: Averted. Professor Ji is explicitly burned when he uses his Complex's explosive power and can't keep it up forever because of the injuries he accrues from this. He also ends up starting a fire in one instance.
- Elemental Punch: Jun Ji has a bombardier beetle Complex, allowing him to excrete chemicals from his hands that ignite on contact with the air, allowing him to deliver powerful explosions with every punch.
- Game-Breaking Injury: Got one overtaxing his Complex stopping Gayeon Sin's rampage five years ago. That combined with how he had previously been wrapping up his arm rejecting his Complex, caused irreparable damage to it that gets a bit worse each time he uses his insect abilities.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Courtesy of the Mantis-human while caught off guard; he gets better. Happens again with a different Mantis, and he's not as lucky.
- Power Tattoo: Has a tattoo of a skull crossed with the end of a bombardier beetle right over the openings in his arm that he punches explosions out of, which makes the tattoo's eyes and mouth light up every time he uses his powers.
- Shirtless Scene: Introduced this way in the park... while covered in honey and eating bugs off of himself like he's "Bear Grylls."
- Silver Fox: He may be a senior citizen, but he's also well over six-feet-tall, ripped to kingdom come, and has a huge beard on top of a full head of hair.
- Stern Teacher: Exaggerated- goes from chasing around the rest of his class with a chainsaw and automatically failing those (for the whole course!) who get caught on the first day of class, to later one-shotting the intruding Mantis-human, and in the process saving two of his students right as they were in actual mortal danger; all within the same lesson.
- The Worf Barrage: Shortly after confronting Breeder, he immediately activates his Complex and unleashes his maximum firepower with a move called [Bunker Buster], creating a massive explosion which pushes everyone else back from the air pressure while the smoke clears... to reveal it was completely blocked by the carapace of a giant thing coiled around Breeder, and neither is no worse for wear. Subverted in that it's later shown while the force of the attack didn't do anything, the heat of it left the giant centipede badly burned.
- Workout Fanservice: Can be seen working out in his office, which happens to be filled with gym equipment, if he's not doing anything else.
Hwanyeong Yu
Complex: Firefly/Cordyceps
A professor who's also a medic at the Nest, she teaches "Study of Genetically Modified Humans". Her Complex is that of a firefly infected with the caterpillar fungus, a kind of cordyceps prized for its regenerative properties.
- Bioluminescence Is Cool: Comes with being part firefly, although the fungus she makes glows as well.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: A rare electronic case; she can be seen holding what's either a vape-pen or a marijuana/dab-pen on more than one occasion.
- Healing Hands: Can produce caterpillar fungi from the back of her hands capable of healing wounds almost instantly.
- Heinz Hybrid: Part human, part firefly, and part... fungus?
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Visually striking, and possesses the rarest Complex in Nest.
Stray Dogs
Carly Davidson
Complex: Tiger Beetle
Blackout Mastery: ????
The leader of Stray Dogs, he was once the lead researcher in a project to uncover secrets of Jungle Juice. He was exposed to a prototype version of the serum and eventually created Cinderella.
- The Atoner: For his part in the initial experiments with Jungle Juice, mutating people as part of the research project. He didn't particularly care until his daughter became one of the victims from being exposed to it by accident and died.
- Bullet Catch: Manages to catch a bullet fired at him between his fingers and then threw it back into the air when it exploded.
- Cane Fu: Due to the prototype Jungle Juice he's reliant on a cane to help him move, but he can also use it as a weapon.
- The Leader: Of Stray Dogs, having founded the group.
- Super-Speed: He has a degree of super speed when relying on his right leg, which has been mutated.
- Stern Teacher: Takes up the role of teaching Suchan to control his Blackout personally after Pumpkin is stolen.
- Super-Speed: He manages to catch up to Suchan with ease during their training.
- Training from Hell: Puts Suchan through this in order to help him master his blackout faster.
Bom Baek
Complex: Earthworm
Blackout Mastery: Dragon Millipede
The first member of the Stray Dogs introduced during Chapter 84, she assists Suchan in escape from prison and offers to help him train to control his Blackout in Season 2 as a member of the Stray Dogs.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Revealed in Chapter 125. She was a member of NEST four years ago, where one of her seniors happened to have been rescued from Pet Shop but subjected to the consumption. They were best friends until she relapsed and NEST put her down, at which point Bom left and was captured by Pet Shop as well. They subjected her to being Feed Trained as well, but she had been rescued by Carly and learned to control her blackout.
- Dishing Out Dirt: She's capable of softening the ground around her to the point of nearly liquifying it into something akin to quicksand.
- Fast Tunneling: She managed to tunnel through the prison holding Suchan from below after he is arrested for murder in Season 2.
- Horror Hunger: She has the same instincts as any feed-trained Insect Human, but can stem it by eating insects instead.
- Poison Is Corrosive: While in her Blackout, she gains access to the poison of the Dragon Millipede, which is highly corrosive.
- Power Tattoo: She has a prominent tattoo on her leg. It's a Complex Tattoo, showing that she has gained control over her Blackout.
- Stern Teacher: She takes over training Suchan to control his Blackout and his Complex once he becomes a member of Stray Dogs.
- Super Sliding: She can generate some kind of slime or mucus that makes her body slippery.
- Turns Red: While in Blackout, the horns that she grows become redder as time goes in and increases her strength.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Jaeseong Hyeok.
Hansung Lee
Complex: Honey Bee
Blackout Mastery: Potter Wasp
A member of the Stray Dogs introduced during Chapter 84, he assists Suchan in escaping from prison. He is the oldest member of Stray Dogs aside from the leader.
- Barrier Warrior: He can generate wax strong enough to form a shield as needed from his wrists.
- Buried Alive: When he wants to get rid of someone, he'll use his wax to do this by suffocating them within the pot.
- It's Personal: Towards Pet Shop. His younger brother was Hanbyeol, who was killed when Gayeon mind-controlled him and then fed him to the praying mantis.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: NEST actually does this to him when they capture him in Chapter 118. They give him an antidote so he doesn't die while they cover him with toxic bubbles that cause an immense amount of pain, trying to get information from him about the Stray Dogs.
- Power Tattoo: He has a tattoo on his neck of a bee. It's his Complex Tattoo, showing that he gained control over his Blackout.
- Rage Breaking Point: Endures torture from NEST but doesn't fight back until his brother gets mocked by the one who did the autopsy, at which point he breaks the Power Nullifier he's under and goes into Blackout.
- Same Surname Means Related: He's seen looking at the picture of Hanbyeol Lee, whom he shares a Complex and surname with, revealing later that he's the older brother.
- Spontaneous Weapon Creation: He has a technique consists of shaping his wax into a sword to stab an enemy with it.
- Sticky Situation: He can generate honey in order to ensnare his opponents.
- The Worf Effect: He gets on the receiving end a lot.
- Gets beaten rather easily by being pitted against a woman with a Asian Hornet Complex that was a natural enemy of his own, allowing her to break his honey constructs and inject him with venom before he can use Blackout.
- The next time he pre-emptively uses his Blackout to avoid a repeat, but she injects a drug that enhances her abilities and beats him again, leaving him captured by NEST.
- NEST tortures him and even though he breaks out of the restraints, he's been drugged to the point he can't even fight effectively, leaving him at the mercy of a sadistic Propolis member who takes pleasure in torturing him.
Woochang Kang
Complex: Five-Horned Rhinoceros Beetle
Blackout Mastery: Huntsman Spider
A member of the Stray Dogs who acts as their muscle, he's the strongest in terms of pure strength but has only recently gained full control over his Blackout.
- Dark and Troubled Past: His past is horrific. He was sold to the same orphanage that Dohwa was sent to by his parents, turned into an Insect Human, and then forced to eat the remains of his best friend under threat of being sent into the grinder next. He was then forced to run and was rescued by the Stray Dogs.
- The Big Guy: For the Stray Dogs.
- Dual Age Modes: Surprisingly, he has this. His Huntsman Spider form shrinks his size to that of a child but with additional legs on his back, giving him more speed than before.
- Formerly Fat: Prior to joining the Stray Dogs, he used to be a chubby child.
- Horned Humanoid: He possesses three horns that are naturally visible, but can grow an additional two in battle. They can also be fired out like lances.
- Mighty Glacier: He's something of a bruiser, but his base speed is relatively low. His ability to emulate a Huntsman Spider in Blackout swaps it to make him a Lightning Bruiser.
- Power Tattoo: He has a tattoo on his back. It's his Complex Tattoo, showing that he gained control over his Blackout.
- Spider Limbs: While in Blackout,he can emulate a Huntsman Spider to gain a pair spider legs from his back.
- Super-Strength: Due to being a beetle, he has more strength than other members of the Stray Dogs.
- Super Mode: His Blackout mode, which grants him a thicker exoskeleton and carapace, while bolstering his strength even further.
Haemin Kwon
Complex: Nairobi Fly (Paederus Fuscipes Curtis)
Blackout Mastery: Devil Mantis
A member of the Stray Dogs and a chain smoker, he has a past with Pet Shop and holds a grudge. He possess an Complex that generates intense flames.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Like the others, he suffered in the past thanks to Pet Shop. He was captured as a child by Breeder flooding his hometown, and then he was experimented on by Pet Shop to enhance his Complex, causing it to burn him as he uses it.
- Elemental Punch: His arms seem to automatically ignite when he uses his Complex, allowing him to do this if needed.
- Playing with Fire: He can cause flames to emerge through his Complex. It isn't natural, but a side-effect of the modifications Pet Shop did to him before he was rescued. It results in him even scorching his arms as a result and causes him pain.
- Poisonous Person: His Complex generates a poison that causes burns. Pet Shop enhanced it to actually create fire.
- Power Tattoo: Has a tattoo of a flaming skull on his right arm, hidden normally by bandages. When he uses his flames the scorch marks cover it up.
- Scissors Cuts Rock: When confronted by an opponent who uses a large amount of water, he can turn up the heat to simply evaporate all of it.
- The Worf Effect: His first fight has him going against a Water Scorpion (Rantara) inside of a lake, leading to him being pulled down and outmatched. The next time they fight, he's more prepared since the body of water they're fighting in is much smaller.
Nami Na
Complex: Gossamer-Winged Butterfly
Blackout Mastery: ???
A member of the Stray Dogs, she happens to constantly be in the company of four feed-trained Insect Humans who act as her bodyguards.
- Hive Queen: She serves as one to anyone who falls under her control.
- Pheromones: Her complex allows her to brainwash Insect Human with an Ant Complex to become he bodyguard, protecting her no matter what. It's strong enough that even Feed-Trained Insect Humans are driven to serve her.
- If the target has no nose, then she can also deliver a kiss to the same effect.
- Pretty Butterflies: She has a Butterfly Complex in addition to wearing hair ornaments.
- Pet the Dog: She goes out for a drink with the NEST Employee she brainwashed who was desperate to go on a date.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Her powers only work on Ant Complex Insect Humans and only if they aren't too hostile towards her to begin with, which limits who she can target, and she can't fight for herself. That makes her more of a liability than anything most times. But NEST's primary security forces are all Ants, meaning she basically subverts half of their forces with next to no trouble at all.
Pet Shop
Gayeon Sin
Complex: Cockroach Wasp
A mysterious woman who infiltrates Nest on the first day of Jun Ji's class, killing several guards and releasing the mantis man whom had been locked up previously. Was later revealed to be a former student of Professor Ji, until a certain incident five years ago. Working for/with someone she calls the boss.
- All Webbed Up / Bound and Gagged: Happens to her twice; the first time by Hyeona Bang where she broke out of it after a few seconds, and the second time by Breeder himself, which completely immobilizes her.
- A Pupil of Mine Until She Turned to Evil: Her complex went out of control while she was a student five years ago, and she ended up killing all of her classmates.
- The Berserker: She and Suchan Jang are two known insect humans who are known to lose themselves to their Complex, becoming naught more than raging beasts. Their insect features glow brightly during this time as their overall strength skyrockets.
- Beware My Stinger Tail: Aside from being a sharp edge, Gayeon's stinger is capable of injecting certain toxins and giving her fine control over her victim's nervous system. Even physically stronger opponents need to be careful, as one proper hit from it could end the fight.
- Dark Action Girl: Again, she's capable of fighting Jun Ji, with Professor Ma even saying that he shouldn't have risked fighting her alone when he was injured.
- Evil Wears Black: Wears a form fitting black dress of sorts in almost every scene she's in, contrasting her much lighter outfit she wore five years ago when she was a student and less murder-y.
- Femme Fatalons: Literally in this case, as she can definitely use them as claws and would've gouged out Hyeseong's throat with them had Jun Ji not intervened.
- The Paralyzer: One basic application of her complex is being able to paralyze people.
- Puppeteer Parasite: Her complex, being a parasitic wasp, is somewhere between this and People Puppets. Whether or not the stung persons remain even a little conscious seems to vary.
- Scars Are Forever: The red mark around her left eye is a burn scar she got from fighting Professor Ji five years ago. In the present, it still hurts.
- Wicked Wasps: Is a cockroach wasp, and is also evil.
"Breeder"
Complex: Diving Bell Spider
The head of Pet Shop, and the man Gayeon Sin refers to as the boss. Wishes to create a world free of humans, with only the most remarkable of insect humans remaining above a massive fight for survival.
- Arachnid Appearance and Attire: Although he doesn't wear much black, he does have a spider earring, as well as a web-shaped series of holes on his shirt.
- The Beastmaster: He's feed trained numerous insect-humans to the point that they're basically wild animals underneath his control.
- Elemental Baggage: Averted- before he's uses any water manipulation in his fight with Suchan, Breeder turns on the sprinklers via a button in his earring.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": His real name hasn't been given yet, with everyone addressing him either by "Boss" or "Breeder."
- Light Is Not Good: Contrasting both Gayeon Sin and Junhyeong Lee, Breeder dresses in lighter colors with a cheery demeanor while also being the most morally bankrupt villain introduced so far; an impressive feat considering that there are others who literally eat people.
- Making a Splash: Breeder's Complex is a diving-bell spider, allowing him to produce and manipulate silk and water at will. He uses this to create traps for his opponents and potentially drown them as well as defend himself from attacks. This is especially dangerous to Suchan, who can't fly until he shakes off the water.
- Older Than They Look: Despite looking just a bit older than Dohwa, who's 20, he's apparently had tabs on her since she was a young child.
- Pest Controller: While the insect-humans under his command are technically part human, they've lost so much of their humanity (both internally and externally) that they might as well just be animals.
- Slasher Smile: Sports one while drowning Suchan, and cheerfully talking about how he'll lose all of his humanity once he's done training him.
- Spider Limbs: While Breeder does have eight limbs like a spider, it's because he's got two arms and two legs like a normal person, plus four vestigial spider legs jutting out the back of his head.
- Spider People: A Little Bit Beastly variant; see Spider Limbs above. Specifically he's a Diving Bell Spider.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: How Breeder manages to breath while his head is encase in a globe of water isn't really explained. Also Lampshaded in his proper introduction-Assistant: The way you manage to breathe in that thing never ceases to amaze me.Breeder: Me too, haha.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Breeder doesn't put much value in humanity, if his operations of abducting orphans, turning them into insect-humans, and then making them cannibals hooked on the meat of other insect humans in order to make them into obedient dogs, didn't already give that away.
Myeonghoon Kang
Complex: Antlion
A member of Pet Shop whose role is to destroy abandoned Pet Shop's lab and evidence. He joined Pet Shop only to follow Gayeon Sin.
- Amazon Chaser: Myeonghoon has a thing for strong women, that's why he became Gayeon's henchman because she was the first person to defeat him.
- Blood Knight: Myeonghoon likes to fight strong opponents.
- Enemy Mine: He's still in Pet Shop only for Gayeon, but he gave Junhyeong Lee information about one of Breeder's base and his third spy in Nest because Myeonghoon never liked Breeder for being too bossy.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Myeonghoon wasn't interested in Breeder's plan to change the human world into one where only Insect Humans thrive, as mentioned above, he only joined Pet Shop to follow Gayeon.
"Armored Ground Cricket"
Complex: Armored Ground Cricket
Origin of Species: Katydid Chassis - The Amazon
A member of the Predators that work for Breeder, she is a woman who attended Angel Orphanage similar to Dohwa and Junheyong and was feed-trained. She attacks the campus in order to act as a diversion, bringing her into conflict with Dohwa and Hyeseong.
- Action Girl: Her introductory fight has her going against Dohwa, who is NEST's own Action Girl.
- Bloody Murder: Due to her complex, she can spray her blood out against an enemy that manages to get past her exoskeleton. It's mildly acidic and can temporarily blind an enemy.
- Evil Counterpart: Serves as one to Dohwa, given they came from the same place, specialize in the same form of combat, and both have complex feelings towards Junheyong.
- Genius Bruiser: Despite her appearance, she's actually intelligent enough when it comes to Insectia Complexes to puzzle out how Dohwa's vibration sensor worked when she was blinded and was aware of the toxicity level of Emperor Scorpions. It just so happens she was unaware that Dohwa had improved upon it.
- Lightning Bruiser: Once she activates her Katydid Chassis, she becomes much faster.
- Mighty Glacier: She's noted to be big and strong, but rather slow in comparison to other members of the Tettigoniidae family. Her origin of the species fixes this.
- Instant Armor: She gains a set when activating her Katydid Chassis.
- Shoulders of Doom: She has a set of spiked shoulder pauldrons as part of her Complex, which is stronger than most kinds steel. She makes use of them to ram into enemies for massive damage.
Maehwa
Complex: Orchid Mantis
Origin of Species: The Roach's Form - Homunculus
A member of the Predators that work for Breeder, she is a young woman who plays part in the attack on NEST in order to kill Professor Ji and steal the Cinderella production supply.
- Absurdly Sharp Claws: Her claws can cut through solid steel.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Her forearms were replaced by that of a Mantis' claws, giving her permanent ones.
- Dance Battler: Her movements are akin to a ballerina, with lots of circular motions that allow her to attack multiple people.
- Healing Factor: Her Origin of Species grants her a roach's regenerative properties. However, there's a hard limit and if she goes over it she can die from exhaustion.
- Lightning Bruiser: By default, thanks to her natural speed and cutting power.
"Old Man"
Complex: Colony of Exploding Ants
Origin of Species: Hymenopteran Lance - The Stinger
A member of the Predators that work for Breeder, he is an older man who acts as one of the members that plays part in the attack on NEST in order to kill Professor Ji and steal the Cinderella production supply. He is later confronted by the students and defeated.
- An Arm and a Leg: Gets his arm cut off in order to prevent him from triggering any more explosives.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: He sprouts a massive stinger using his Origin of Species.
- Explosive Punch: He can detonate his Complex as he hits someone, creating this effect.
- Having a Blast: His Complex creates explosive "troopers" that he can detonate from his left arm. He uses them in a variety of ways, such as planting them onto enemies on in the ground.
- Rocket-Powered Weapon: Using his Origin of Species he sprouts a stinger and then launches himself forward like a rocket to impale his enemies.
- Scars Are Forever: Receives painful burns from fighting Professor Ji that won't heal.
"Leader"
Complex: ???
Origin of Species: ???
A member of the Predators that work for Breeder, he is the one in charge of the group that orchestrated the attack on NEST in order to kill Professor Ji and steal the Cinderella production supply.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: He can also sprout a blade from his wrist
- Know When to Fold 'Em: He has his group withdraw after noticing the Dean managed to cut the clouds behind him. They'd already accomplished their mission after all.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: He gets straight to the point, remains on mission, and retreats once the job is done.
- Super-Speed: He's as fast, if not faster than Suchan.
