"What is this feeling? I'm getting goosebumps. What's your deal? You're being so soft right now. I mean the way you are looking at me, your behavior, the way you talk, your facial expression... It's making me feel gross."
— Soo-Ho to Shi-Eun
Weak Hero Class 1 (약한영웅 Class 1; Yakhanyoungwoong Class 1) is an action Mini Series based on the prologue part of the webcomic Weak Hero. All eight episodes aired on November 18, 2022, on Wavve.
The story revolves around the straight-A student Yoon Shi-Eun who despite appearing weak utilizes his wits and tools to win against his opponents inside and outside of school. He slowly warms up to Ahn Soo-ho, the school's strongest fighter, and Oh Beom-Seuk, the New Transfer Student. They become friends and come to each other's aid whenever they run into trouble.
Preview: Trailer 1
and Trailer 2.
Weak Hero contains examples of the following tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Beom-Seok's adoptive father strikes him whenever he gets into trouble and has to clean up his mess so it doesn't tarnish his reputation as a congressman. He even threatens him that he'll hire a killer and kill him when he goes to study in the Philipines.
- Adults Are Useless: The teachers at their school barely intervene to stop the brawls and hush up the bullying brutality as accidents so it won't affect the school's reputation.
- Ambiguous Situation: It isn't exactly clear what happens to Soo-ho at the end. He's definitely alive but he hasn't gained consciousness since the beatdown he got. His fate afterward is left unclear.
- Badass Biker: Soo-Ho rides a motorbike since he works as a deliveryman and can kick major ass. He's the strongest student at Byeoksan high school.
- Badass Bookworm: Shi-Eun is intelligent and brainy and he employs that to achieve victory against those who provoke him. He manages to break Young-Bin's nose and would've done more if Soo-ho didn't stop him.
- Bad Boss: Gil-Soo treats the kids and others working under him like complete shit. He breaks Seok-Dae's arm so he can blame Shi-Eun and his friends for it and force them to pay him money or he'll sue them. When Young-Yi rebels against him and tells him to stop he tries to choke her.
- Bad Guys Play Pool: Inverted. The main trio is on the good side and they are shown playing billiards in episode 3.
- Bash Brothers: Soo-ho and Shi-Eun have fought once or twice together, one time being against Gil-Soo. Though the former is better at it than the latter.
- Barbell Beating: The protagonist uses a dumbbell to hit the dude whom Soo-Ho did sparring with on his feet when he came to him at the gym. He crushes his feet with it.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Shi-Eun is a boy of few words but has great wits and is capable of fighting others. Gil-Soo even admits that he underestimated him a bit too much.
- Big Eater: Soo-ho eats big amounts of the school cafeteria's food and is always talking about eating which is something Shi-Eun points out.
- Bitch Slap: Seok-Dae slaps Shi-Eun the second time he meets him as Young-Bin paid him to attack him. He even tells Shi-Eun that this is just business.
- Blackmail:
- Young-Bin threatens to expose Beom-Seok's past as a victim of bullying if he doesn't do as he tells him and put a narcotic skin patch on Shi-Eun's neck during a test.
- Gil-Soo blackmails Soo-Ho, Shi-Eun, and Beom-Seok into giving him 15,000$ as settlement money for the physical damage they - supposedly - caused to Seok-Dae (whom Gil-Soo beat up in reality so he can blackmail them). Beom-Seok provides the money, but he gets arrested anyway.
- Blocking Stops All Damage: Played straight as many characters attempt this to stop the hits from hurting them.
- Book Smart: Yoon Shi-Eun is a studious guy; he spends all of his time studying in school, at home, and in the academy after school. He's announced as the first place winner of the math competition at the beginning of the show.
- The Bully: Young-Bin is a jerkass who harasses Shi-Eun for no apparent reason. When he chokes Shi-Eun he forces him to tell the teacher that it's just a joke between "friends."
- Boxing Lesson: Soo-Ho gives Shi-Eun a brief one on how to fight in episode 5 but humorously concludes the lesson with "...Don't beat him but run for it. Don't even look back." This comes back later when he goes to exact revenge on the guy who does UFC who (partially) knocked Soo-Ho out.
- Brains and Brawn: Shi-Eun is the smart, bookish one while Soo-Ho is the athletic, trained Mixed Martial Arts fighter.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Soo-Ho is athletic and strong but he spends most of his time at school sleeping and doesn't want to go to college after graduation because it'd be suffocating.
- Broken Tears: Shi-Eun breaks down in tears for the first time when his first best friend ever Soo-Ho gets hospitalized and yells out "fuck you all!" after breaking the school's windows.
- Bystander Syndrome: Faithful to the webcomic, the students witnessing any sort of violence or bullying refuse to involve themselves or call the teachers lest they get in trouble.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Everyone curses like a trooper in this drama. An entire scene can have a dialogue consisting of only "asshole", "motherfucker", "fuck", and "damn."
- Cut Himself Shaving: When Shi-Eun's father asks him about his injuries when they are in the hospital Shi-Eun tells him the obvious lie that he fell down the stairs. The truth is that he fought with Young-Bin's gang. His father doesn't buy it anyway.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Beom-Seok was a target of bullying at his old school which affected him so much that he needed to get therapy.
- Defrosting Ice King: Shi-Eun rarely wore any expressions other than stoicism and death glares, but after he grows closer to Soo-Ho he defrosts and even brings food for Soo-Ho and Young-Yi when they were staying in a hospital. Soo-Hoo, humorously disgusted, lampshades his change in demeanor.
- Delinquents: Byeoksan high school has Young-Bin's group who smoke, drink alcohol, and take drugs outside of school. Outside of Byeoksan high, there are Young-Bin's acquaints who involuntarily work for an old guy called Gil-Soo.
- Extreme Mêlée Revenge: Happens more than twice.
- After suffering from Young-Bin's constant bullying, Shi-Eun's patience wears thin and he covers his head with a curtain and hits him multiple times with a book on the face til there's a blood stain on the curtain. He almost steps on his face before Soo-Ho pushes him away.
- Shi-Eun smashes Young-Bin's face on the desk and stabs him through the shoulder with a pen when he discovers he's (kinda) behind what happened to Soo-Ho.
- Face–Heel Turn: Oh Beom-Seok is nice and reserved at first but quickly betrays his friends and becomes buddies with their enemies and even causes them to get attacked and, in Soo-ho's case, hospitalized.
- Flashback: Shi-Eun recalls the time Soo-Ho taught him how to defend himself from bullies and follows his instructions from the flashback as he defeats the guy who does UFC.
- Friendless Background:
- Shi-Eun starts off as a total loner who always has his earbuds in his ears while studying in class. He has no interest in anything that isn't studying. He slowly finds friendship with Soo-Ho and Beom-Seok, and the three become best friends.
- Beom-Seok starts the show as someone without friends before befriending Shi-Eun and Soo-Ho.
- Gang of Bullies:
- Young-Bin's group of friends he hangs out with are all vicious bullies like him.
- Beom-Seok's old school bullies also count as there are three of them.
- Good Is Not Nice: Shi-Eun might be on the good side, but he doesn't like interacting with people, wears a glare on his face most of the time, and uses his wits and improvised weapons to solve his problems. He can be violent and cunning when he wants.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: All characters who smoke (who tend to be underage) are bad, evil guys. The good guys are never shown smoking.
- Golf Clubbing: Beom-Seok's father strikes him with a golf club while he's wearing nothing but his underwear after the whole getting abducted fiasco took place for getting himself in this mess.
- Guile Hero: The focal point of the drama. What the titular weak hero lacks in strength he makes up for by using his brain and smarts to win his fights. He uses physics laws like Isaac Newton's second law of motion and other similar things in battles.
- Hands-Off Parenting: Shi-Eun's father admits to not having a clue about how to raise a child and that he thought they raised themselves which is why he's not that involved in taking care of Shi-Eun. The same goes for Shi-Eun's mother who believes that her son can take care of all his matters and doesn't need her help.
- Has a Type: Young-Yi claims she likes rude arrogant people similar to Shi-Eun. She even saves his name as "jerk."
- Hate Sink: Gil-Soo is a Bad Boss who mistreats his workers and solely exists to be despised with no redeeming qualities. He threatens teenagers, robs them of their money through a fake gambling website he created, abducts Beom-Seok and Soo-Ho, and has admitted to killing people before, and tries to kill Shi-Eun and Soo-Ho with a knife.
- The Hermit: Shi-Eun prefers to be alone and doesn't interact with anyone in school at the beginning, always keeping to himself and being reserved. He slowly comes out of his shell and befriends Beom-Seok and Soo-Hoo.
- How We Got Here: The first episode begins with Shi-Eun's class checking the correct answers for their mock exam and Shi-Eun gripping his pen tightly then snapping and hitting someone with a book. It then goes back 13 days earlier to show the events that led to Shi-Eun's reaction.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Indicated to be the reason behind Oh Beom-Seok hanging out with Young-Bin's clique even though they tried to threaten him at the beginning.
- Improvised Weapon: Shi-Eun frequently uses pens as a weapon; it's his schtick. He also used a book, a curtain, a dumbbell, and a shoelace once.
- In-Universe Catharsis: Shi-Eun, who has been tolerating Young-Bin's bullying, finally retaliates against him and hits him more than a couple of times.
- Jerkass: Young-Bin is an asshole who only cares about tormenting Shi-Eun and his friends and getting revenge on him. He pays Jeon Seok-Dae and his group to attack Shi-Eun after school.
- Karaoke Box: The main trio plus Young-Yi go to one in episode 5. Young-Yi and Soo-Ho are the ones singing while Beom-Seok and Shi-Eun just watch them. It ends with Beom-Seok and Young-Yi arguing and Beom-Seok's previous school bullies finding him, which he dreaded the most.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Oh Beom-Seok comes from a well-off family (although not his real one) and he feels a sense of loneliness which is what drives him to turn his back on his friends and become close with Young-Bin's Gang of Bullies instead who hurt his friends. At least according to Shi-Eun's interpretation.
- Meaningful Name: When Shi-Eun asks Soo-Ho who he is to interfere with the unfinished business he has with Young-Bin and his buddies, he says, "think of me as a guardian angel." Soo-Ho's name means guardian/protector.
- My God, What Have I Done?: It's heavily implied that Oh Beom-Seok feels bad about what he has done to Soo-Ho. After knocking Soo-Ho up from how much he beat him up, he immediately feels guilty when he doesn't respond to his name being called and desperately tries to bring him back to consciousness but to no avail.
- New Transfer Student: Beom-Seok. He transfers to Byeoksan high school at the start of the series after he was bullied at his old school.
- Nice Guy: Downplayed. Soo-Ho is a friendly guy who doesn't like harming others unless it's necessary. He stops Shi-Eun from smashing Young-Bin's face since that would be too much unnecessary violence.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown:
- Tired of all the bullying he received, the protagonist delivers one to Young-Bin in the first episode who isn't able to fight back.
- He gives Young-Bin another one-sided beating in the last episode after he learns he has a hand in what happened to Ahn Soo-Ho.
- Not So Stoic: Shi-Eun has rare moments where he smiles and breaks down.
- He smiles for the first time when Soo-ho mentions how softhearted he became and how disgusting it makes him feel.
- He also weeps for the first time ever at school when Ahn Soo-ho ends up badly hurt and hospitalized. He never cried no matter what severe beating he has taken before this moment.
- Only One Name:
- Young-Yi only goes by her given name.
- Same goes for Gil-Soo, whose last name isn't known.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Shi-Eun brings food to a hospitalized Soo-ho (and Young-Yi who tags along), Soo-Ho points out how strangely nice Shi-Eun is being and how he even looks at them softly which grosses Soo-Ho out. When Shi-Eun smiles at his remarks, Soo-Ho mocks his smile.
- Parental Neglect: Both of Shi-Eun's parents are busy all the time and they are rarely at home to look after him. He is seen heating up convenience store food multiple times rather than eating warm homecooked meals at home.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: All of the guys Shi-Eun beats up are bullies and terrible people. Especially Young-Bin who made Shi-Eun get dizzy on his test day and tried to strangle him.
- The Pen Is Mightier: The protagonist uses a pen on different occasions as his weapon of choice. It has become his trademark.
- Episode 1 ends with him stabbing Young-Bin's buddy's hand who calls him a psycho.
- He tries to attack Seok-Dae with a pen in episode two.
- He stabs Young-Bin himself through his shoulder in the final episode.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Seok-Dae isn't inherently evil; he's just following orders from Gil-Soo to terrorize teenagers and rob them of money and beat them up, including the main trio, just for money. When he goes to put an end to Gil-Soo's evil deeds, he prioritizes Young-Yi's safety over his and doesn't want her to get involved. After he gets captured by the police along with Gil-Soo and his minions, he tells Shi-Eun they should eat a meal together one day, indicating he never hated him and his friends.
- Rage Breaking Point:
- Shi-Eun cares a lot about his grades and studies. When Young-Bin and his friends torment Shi-Eun and go as far as choking him he bears with it at first, but he finally snaps after Young-Bin sabotages his mock exam by putting a drug patch on his neck through Beom-Seok. Shi-Eun wraps a curtain around Young-Bin, smashes his face with a book, smacks another bully with a book, and stabs the third through their hand with a pen.
- The one time where Soo-Ho ends up bedridden at the hands of Beom-Seok and the UFC guy Shi-Eun goes on a revenge spree and begins taking them down one by one without mercy. He then breaks the school's windows and cries for the first time over his friend.
- Self-Proclaimed Love Interest: Young-Yi claims that she's "with Shi-Eun" while clinging to him when she teasingly asks Soo-Ho if he likes her and of course, Shi-Eun denies this.
- Sleepyhead: Soo-Ho is always found sleeping in class and when Shi-Eun goes to school earlier than everyone he comes to his class just to find Soo-Ho sleeping on two desks with his favorite bunny pillow that he always sleeps with.
- The Smurfette Principle: The only significant female character who appears consistently is Young-Yi in a cast full of male characters. She is the girl that helps them get the location of Gil-Soo's whereabouts and put him in jail. She then becomes friends with the main trio and the Love Interest of Shi-Eun.
- The Stoic: Shi-Eun barely shows any expression outside of complete indifference. It means a lot when he gets mad and breaks down for the first time after Soo-Ho gets hospitalized.
- A Taste of Their Own Medicine: All the people Shi-Eun brawls with are bullies who have harmed him or his friends. He gives them the same treatment they gave him and his True Companions.
- Teens Are Monsters: For a series about bullying and school violence this is a given. Young-Bin's Gang of Bullies are an example who have no problem threatening and choking Shi-Eun for no reason. There are also Beom-Seok's previous school bullies who used to hit him in the stomach and continue to harass him even after he went to a different school.
- There Are No Therapists: Averted as Beom-Seok mentions visiting one due to past school bullying issues.
- Throw the Book at Them: The hero uses a book to whack a student who bullied him across the face and then whacks Young-Bin with the edge of the book several times until his nose bleeds.
- Troubled Teen: Most of them qualify.
- Beom-Seok's adoptive father is abusive and only cares about his public image. He used to be a bully victim and went to therapy because of it.
- Shi-Eun's parents are neglectful and aren't present in his life; they aren't aware of the bullying and abduction he goes through.
- Young-Bin and his group do drugs and drink without their parents' knowledge. Young-Bin is also involved in a gang who do evil work.
- True Companions: Young-Yi, Soo-Ho, Shi-Eun, and Beom-Seok before his Face–Heel Turn are real friends who have each other's backs.
- Weak, but Skilled: The show's entire premise is that even though the hero isn't physically strong and doesn't have much stamina he's still capable of using his wits and tools to kick the shit out of his foes.
- He manages to fight and hold his own against the UFC fighter who knocked Soo-Ho out, which is noteworthy since Soo-Ho is one of the strongest MMA fighters at their school and he lost against him.
- We Used to Be Friends: Shi-Eun says this to Oh Beom-Seok after the two drifted apart and became on opposite sides.Shi-Eun: We used to be close...
* Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Gil-Soo hits Seok-Dae so he can blackmail Shi-Eun and his friends into giving him money for the damage they - supposedly - caused to Seok-Dae or he'll sue them.
