18-year-old high school student Hong Il-tak's career as a delinquent was cut short by puberty giving him a bum hand: instead of growing tall, he grew soft. Now a social outcast, Il-tak finds himself subject to sexual harassment from the other delinquents at the Daemun Boys' High School, who in another life might have been his buddies, or even been their leader, like Kim Hyung-joo. But the tough, sullen senior Lee Hyun-woo reluctantly finds himself drawn to Il-tak, who soon starts clinging to him for protection and what he sees as an opportunity to advance on the social pyramid. Meanwhile, both circumstances and the people they know seem to be conspiring to bring them together.
Written and illustrated by Suicide Boy creator Park Gee, High School Boy can be found on the Lezhin Comics website
. Previously in 2022, Park Gee had posted preview chapters on the Korean forum DC Inside.
This work contains examples of:
- Academic Athlete: I-yeon, Il-tak's sister. She's ranked first in her entire class and excels at sports.
- Appearance Angst: Il-tak's endocrine system refuses to catch up with the size of his ego.
- Armoured Closet Gay: Hyung-joo, the lead delinquent who bullies Il-tak the most. .
- Awkwardly Gay Dream: Il-tak and Hyun-woo, both thinking themselves straight before, have erotic dreams about each other. Hyun-woo dreams about Il-tak trying to unzip his pants with his teeth, and Il-tak has a dream about switching sizes with Hyun-woo and treating him as his personal servant and plaything.
- Big Little Sister: I-yeon, only two years Il-tak's junior but more physically mature as a young woman than he is as a young man. She even calls him "little brother".
- Book Dumb: Hyun-woo, who is replete in common sense compared to Il-tak, but they are still both the lowest-ranked in their class. Both are forced to attend night school to salvage their academic standing.
- Defrosting Ice King: Hyun-woo.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Il-tak is short and slender, has gynecomastic breasts, wide hips, and accumulates fat in places that make him look more feminine.
- Expy: The series takes the premise of Suicide Boy and flips it on its head, so that a bully now finds himself the victim. Il-tak is reminiscent of Hooni (with a subtle Red Oni, Blue Oni distinction between the coloration around their eyes), and Hyun-woo is a dead ringer for Jaehoon (albeit without the academic cred). Averted for I-yeon, who bore a strong resemblance to Harim in the beta chapters, but whose appearance changed in her official debut.
- Foregone Conclusion: The
Word of God is that Il-tak and Hyun-woo will fall in love. What remains to be seen is what it will take to get them to open up to each other. - Gang of Bullies: Il-tak is too small and girly to earn the respect of the other delinquents at school, who now bully and sexually harass him. They're not afraid to rough him up if he fights back too hard, either.
- Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Il-tak brings a dirty magazine to school to try to convince Hyun-woo and his classmates that he is straight.
- He Is Not My Boyfriend: Il-tak to his sister about Hyun-woo.
- Homophobic Hate Crime: In middle school, Il-tak violently assaulted and outed a friend who had confessed to him, and who eventually had to transfer schools because of it. In the present, after his class is given a bullying survey that asks about their attitude towards homosexuality and to name someone they suspect of being gay, Il-tak is finally stung by guilt over his actions when he realizes everyone is going to put down his name. Even worse for him (in his mind), he imagines Hyun-woo rejecting his friendship for the same reason, even using the same insult he used.
- Indirect Kiss: Defied when Il-tak asks for a light off of Hyun-woo's cigarette, only for the latter to think about the implications and discard the smoke in a panic.
- Lactating Male: Il-tak suffers hyperprolactinemia from a medication he was taking (which happened to Parkgee himself after a surgery), and has to use a pump to relieve himself while he weans off of it, as his flow is so prolific.
- Meaningful Name: The name Hong Il-tak (홍일탁) is a play on the metaphorical idiom "hongiljeom" (홍일점), literally "one red dot [within the vast forest of green]",note used to describe the only girl in a group of boys.note
- Mister Seahorse: Invoked and Played for Laughs as Il-tak's brain breaks when his doctor innocently explains how hyperprolactinemia typically happens during pregnancy. Even his poor mother who's there with him is so unsure of what's happening to her son that she asks tearfully if she's going to become a grandmother. I-yeon, who slipped him a condom to use with with Hyun-woo when he visited their home to work on an assignment, chides him for not using the protection she offered.
- Never Be Hurt Again: Hyun-woo enrolled in Daemun High after a breakup to avoid getting his heart broken by another girl—just his luck that he'd catch feelings for another boy, instead.
- Nonconformist Dyed Hair: Il-tak is not a natural blonde, he dyes it as part of his delinquent aesthetic.
- Shipper on Deck: I-yeon immediately catches on to her brother's feelings for Hyun-woo and is really, really intent on doing whatever she can to push them together. It's not entirely out of the goodness of her heart, though: it's mostly because she thinks she's the only girl who's right for him.
- Sleep Cute: On the bus ride home after their first evening at night school, Il-tak nods off and leans against Hyun-woo, who can't bring himself to push him off. It's distracting enough that they miss their stop.
- Smells Sexy: Il-tak to the general student body; him and Hyun-woo to each other.
- Stupid Sexy Flanders: Basically for everyone at school, especially whenever Il-tak really leans into his feminine side. For Hyun-woo, it's for nearly every little thing Il-tak does.
