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Fear the White Mamba.

"That was Gray Yeon's debut fight as a freshman at Eunjang High. I'd never seen anyone as cunning as him before that day, and never saw anyone as cunning as him ever again."
Eugene Gale

Weak Hero is an action webcomic written by Seopass and drawn by Razen. It's hosted on Naver, with the translated version available on Webtoons here.

Eunjang High School is ruled by tyrants: the delinquents at the top of the hierarchy prey on the weak as their favourite form of entertainment. The Union, a collection of vicious fighters, rules the Yeongdeungpo area with an iron fist. The adults are oblivious, and other students turn a blind eye out of fear that they may be next. For those without the strength to protect themselves, high school is a living hell.

Enter Gray Yeon, an exemplary student who ended up in Eunjang after a traumatic incident during middle school. Though weak in stature, Gray is a cunning fighter, employing brutal and calculative tactics to surprise and overwhelm his opponents. Along with Ben Park, one of the school's strongest fighters, and a slowly growing camaraderie of friends, Gray must fight his way up the rankings as the Union scramble to take him down.

While fighting is core to the series, equal focus is given to the developing friendship between Gray and the group of delinquents he finds himself in. Many of them have had a rough past, and it's through their trust in each other that they're able to overcome their trauma and develop into better people.

The webcomic was adapted into a Mini Series of 8 episodes on November 18, 2022, under the name Weak Hero Class 1. All of the episodes came out on the same day.

Warning: the series is complete, thus, spoilers will not be hidden.


Weak Hero contains examples of the following tropes:

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    A-M 
  • Accidental Misnaming: Ben isn't quite able to peg Rowan's name down after he first joins the group.
    Ben: Yo! Norman, how are ya?
    Rowan: It's Rowan, not Norman.
    Ben: Yeah, Mowan.
  • Acting Unnatural: When ordered by Ben to "naturally" invite Gray to the annex building, Eugene asks him while stuttering and shaking. Gray immediately calls him out on it.
  • After-Action Healing Drama: Happens after the middle school fight with Donald Na. Ben, who was only keeping himself conscious through pure instinct, collapses after Donald leaves. His arm's bleeding severely, so Alex has to give him an impromptu tourniquet and then carry him all the way to the hospital.
  • Ambiguous Situation: Though it's undeniable that Oswald's gang is responsible for Stephen falling off the school roof, it's left ambiguous as to whether they physically pushed him off, whether Stephen was forced past the Despair Event Horizon and fell off himself, or whether it was a genuine accident that none of them predicted. The gang's complete lack of remorse over what happened makes it a moot point though, and their subsequent beating at Gray's hands is well-deserved.
  • And Your Little Dog, Too!: Forrest Lee's method of taking down Ben, after Jimmy failed to do so, is to target random students at Ben's school and put the blame at Ben's feet, pressuring him into seeking out a fight with Hyeongshin so that the attacks will stop.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: Gray is his usual unflappable self when Jake confronts him, right up until Jake pinpoints the strange, unsettling rush that Gray has been experiencing recently in battles:
    Jake: But now... you're enjoying it, aren't you?
  • Art Evolution:
    • The first episodes are grungier and the characters look like the edgier versions of their current selves. For some characters, entirely different skin tones were used and features, such as their lips, were drawn with more detail than later on.
    • Along the way, several characters, such as Ben Park and Phillip Kim, gain unexplained (and much improved) haircuts.
    • Season three introduces smoother color mixing of the character's skin and clothing not present in past seasons.
  • Bad People Abuse Animals: The trio of bullies that held down Eugene and Rowan in the fight against Wolf are cemented as evil pricks when they're shown throwing rocks at a tied-up kitten. When Teddy finds them, he beats the ever-loving hell out of them. When Teddy tells Rowan what happened, he almost runs off to give them another beating.
  • Bait-and-Switch: Eugene realises that someone is stalking him when he first enters cram school. A shadowy figure approaches and Eugene prepares for danger, only for the figure to reveal himself as Rowan, Eugene's childhood friend freshly returned from Australia.
  • Bash Brothers: Despite never having fought together before, Gray and Rowan prove to be quite a team when their backs are to the wall, with Gray surprising opponents with his underhanded tactics while Rowan follows up to knock them out.
  • Being Watched: Timothy spies on the Eunjang kids to get information for Jake, but Gray and Alex are smart enough to notice that they're being watched. Ben, meanwhile, didn't notice a thing.
  • Best Served Cold: Unlike the bullies that came before, Gray spends days putting up with Teddy's abuse. When Eugene asks him why he doesn't fight back, he simply responds that he "hasn't finished studying ahead". When he does eventually fight back, he does so with his usual aplomb.
  • Big Damn Heroes:
    • When Gray is ganged up on by five students- a number even he is hesitant to face- he's saved from a beatdown by Gerard, Ben, and Alex joining the fun.
    • Eugene, of all people, gets his moment of heroism after the fight with Jimmy Bae. When one of his goons tries to sneak up on Gray with a wooden board, Eugene leaps out of hiding and tackles him before he can hurt Gray.
    • In the fight against Hyeongshin, Alex is ganged up on by six students. He's saved from a thorough beating by Teddy, who had noticed the gang following him beforehand. He fights back the aggressors and then they both make a run for it.
    • As revealed in a flashback, Alex was about to lose consciousness after being beaten by Jimmy when Ben arrived at the last moment, fighting both Jimmy and Donald to protect Alex from further harm.
  • Bit Part Bad Guys: The trio of Sir Lee, Professor Park, and Professor Kim, minor bullies who show up to fill the void that Phillip Kim leaves after he's humbled. They prove their cowardice when they hold down Rowan and Eugene in the fight against Wolf, and their cruelty when they throw rocks at a kitten.
  • Bland-Name Product: Any references to real-life products or people are obscured with a few switched-out letters. For example, Phillip Kim buying a 'Yaxaha' motorbike, or Ben referring to the famous football player 'Benaldo'.
  • Blank White Eyes: The go-to shorthand for when a character is well and truly pissed is when their eyes go completely white. Used most prominently with Ben, as the blank white contrasts strongly with his dark skin.
  • Blind Alley: Alex and Teddy manage to shake off a group of pursuing Hyeongshin students by dipping into an alley after they turn a corner. It works until Teddy's phone goes off and exposes their location.
  • Blocking Stops All Damage:
    • Averted in the first fight between Alex and Jack. Alex crosses his arms to take a blow meant for his chest, but the fist still leaves a nasty bruise on his arm.
    • When facing off against Jimmy, Gerard lets loose with a fierce kick to his head. He blocks it effortlessly with his hand and lets loose with a vicious punch back. When Ben goes against him next, Jimmy is able to safely block an elbow jab that disrupted the air with its ferocity.
    • Donald taunts Wolf into trying to fight him, then effortlessly blocks the fist directed at his face. At the same time, he ducks his other fist down to hit Wolf in the neck, incapacitating him for the rest of the battle.
  • Bloody Horror: Wolf is established as being even more vicious than the bullies who came before him. However, even in those fights, people were being beaten so severely that it's amazing they didn't need a hospital visit. So in order to establish Wolf's brutality as being on a whole other level, there's a much higher emphasis on the amount of blood that's spilt by his hand. One of the most striking shots is Wolf aiming a fierce kick at Eugene's head, which then cuts to an aerial shot of Eugene's glasses flying through the air and a large spurt of blood following them.
  • Bob Ross Rib: A bearded teacher with a distinctive afro and positive attitude is seen tutoring the class that Eugene signs up for in cram school. It's then revealed in separate instances that his name is Mr. Ross and Bob.
  • Boxing Lesson: Season 3 starts with Alex taking boxing lessons to toughen him up so he'll no longer be a hindrance to Ben. He offers the same lessons to his nerdy friend Eugene, but Eugene is content with being the Non-Action Guy.
  • Broken-Window Warning: Jake performs a variant after defeating Juwon, the strongest of Cheongang's members. When one of the other members steps forward to retaliate, Jake raises a fist and smashes the giant window behind him, scaring the guy into submission.
  • Bystander Syndrome: A prevalent theme throughout the comic is the reluctance of bystanders to get involved in any of the conflicts, too scared of being hurt themselves. This is a particularly sore point for Gray, whose best friend was hospitalised due to extensive bullying that their schoolmates turned a blind eye to. Eugene, who suffered at the hands of bullies before, gradually gains the courage to step in and stand up for the victims who can't fight back, which is one of the main reasons Gray accepts him as a friend.
  • By the Hair: A common tactic when the gangs fight, and a showing of how brutal and lawless said fights are.
    • When Helmet grabs Gray from behind, Gray reprimands him for not immediately throwing a punch or instead grabbing him by the hair. He then demonstrates the effectiveness of it by grabbing Helmet's hair and smashing him into the nearby wall.
    • When Alex tries to avoid a fight with Jimmy Bae, Jimmy leaps forward to drag him into the room by his hair and then beat him down brutally while continuing to hold him in place.
    • To show his superiority to the previous Arc Villain, Wolf grabs Forrest by the hair and pulls him close for a verbal beatdown. Donald does the same when it's Wolf's turn to be taken down a peg.
    • When Alex offers himself up to be beaten in Ben's place, Donald grabs him by the hair to assert his authority. Fortunately, he's called away before either of them is hurt.
    • Eunchan taunts Teddy into fighting, but the latter is stopped when Grape grabs him by his ponytail and yanks him back into a Bitch Slap.
    • Gray completely wrecks Dongha in this manner. Not only does he grab his hair to smash his head into the wall and pavement, Gray even goes further by trapping Dongha's hair in a door crack to keep him in place while he beats him down.
  • Cassandra Truth:
    • A pretty girl at the cram school ripped up Rowan's bag and then promised to get him a new one on the condition that he hold onto hers. When he tries to explain this to Eugene, the other boy (rather understandably) doesn't believe a word of it, particularly since it's Rowan talking.
    • In middle school, Alex's friends start messing around with a student from another school. Said student gives them some cryptic advice about laying off him, but Alex is the only one who takes him seriously. Even though he warns his friends multiple times to leave the guy alone, they ignore him and instead beat the kid up for ten minutes straight, leading to the arrival of Jimmy Bae.
  • Challenging the Bully: Once it becomes clear that Phillip is full of hot air, Teddy challenges him to a fight in the middle of the classroom. As expected, when Teddy throws the first punch, Phillip flinches away and proves that he doesn't have anything beyond his bravado.
  • Chance Meeting Between Antagonists: Gray's first meeting with Donald, all the way in Episode 163, is pure coincidence, as he leaves a hospital (where he was looking for volunteer work) at the same time as Donald enters (for unnamed medical reasons). Gray is fully aware of who Donald is and feels his heart thumping as they pass, whereas Donald doesn't seem aware of Gray and silently goes his way.
  • Chekhov's Gag:
    • Jake, an avid fan of Two Piece, is shown wondering which character would win in a fight, with Dean griping at him for it. A few chapters later, it's revealed that Jake became friends with Timothy partly because Timothy's algorithms could help him figure out his Two Piece dilemma.
    • Episode 131 has Alex win a friendly tussle with Rowan by using a triangle choke, with a joke being made that he used to use it all the time in elementary school before Ben completely no selled it and left to get food. In 151 it resurges in a dramatic fashion when, with his arm dislocated, Alex instead puts Dongha in a choke so he can beat down on him. Ben's disregard for the move also takes on a dramatic meaning when it's shown how badly Alex puts down his own fighting skills because Ben always beats him anyway.
  • Chekhov's Gun:
    • As he's been established to use anything on hand as a weapon, the soda can gifted to Gray by Rowan was inevitably going to see use. Sure enough, seven chapters later, he pulls it out of his bag and wraps it up in cloth to use as a bludgeon.
    • Jared wins a test in Episode 75, with second place bemoaning that, no matter what he does, there's one question that he can't answer in the same way that Jared did. This offhand comment becomes relevant in Episode 88, where it's revealed that said question was printed wrong. This means that only people with the answer key would answer it the 'right' way, exposing Jared as a cheat.
    • In Episode 101, there's a brief panel of Timothy ditching Jake to instead tail Gerard for information. A few chapters later this is resolved when Alex and Gray spot the tail, confront Timothy, and Jake defuses the situation. However, Jake knowing Gerard's workplace becomes relevant again later when he goes there to beat up Gerard and provoke Ben into their big showdown.
    • A background detail throughout Season 2 was Donald submitting a custom-made equation to a math book contest, followed by Gray providing the solution to said problem. This only becomes relevant at the end of the season, when Donald learns that the Gray Yeon from the textbook and the White Mamba are one and the same.
  • Chiaroscuro: The scene where Donald confronts Wolf about trying to leave is lit much more dramatically than the rest of the comic, with their faces cast in harsh shadows that highlight the tension of the moment.
  • Chromosome Casting: Every character of importance is male, and most of the supporting cast is too. 150 episodes in and the number of female characters can be counted on one hand- of those, only Julia and (debatably) Lily have had relevance to the plot.
  • Comfort Food: This is the first step of Ben's counselling technique: feeding his 'client' to help them feel better first. An aside notes that it's proven to be effective in real life.
  • Commonality Connection:
    • Previously being bully and victim, Eugene and Teddy slowly start to become friends when they separately find a stray kitten and go out of their way to help it. It's because of this that Teddy also starts interacting with the rest of the main group, and eventually ends up becoming one of them.
    • Even though Naksung is drunk, Hwangmo thinks it'll take a long time to curry up to him since they're completely different people. They quickly discover that there is one thing they have in common: a mutual hatred towards Ben for kicking their asses. Once they've trash-talked him a little, they start acting like good friends.
  • Compromising Call: Alex and Teddy manage to shake off a group of pursuers by hiding down an alleyway. Just as they think they're safe, Teddy's cell phone loudly goes off, to their blank-eyed horror.
  • Conveniently Placed Sharp Thing: Gray restrains Wolf by pulling his sleeves over his hands and then tying them behind his back. Wolf is eventually able to escape from it thanks to a nail sticking out of a nearby structure.
  • Cool Teacher: Mrs. Lee from Byuksun Middle School. Whereas the homeroom teacher was a curmudgeon with a personal grudge against Gray and Stephen for making him look bad, Lee was always shown to support the boys and was vocally against the school's decision to cover up the circumstances behind Stephen's hospitalisation.
  • Cross Counter:
    • In the fight between Ben and Jimmy, Jimmy throws a punch that Ben decides to take head-on, retaliating with his own punch that hits at the same time. Both come out of it standing, and it devolves into a fearsome flurry of blows.
    • Another cross counter happens between Ben and Jimmy when the comic flashes back to their fight in middle school. The difference in power between their punches makes Jimmy realise that he can't win the fight.
    • The showdown between Jake and Ben starts with a bang as they both let loose a fist at the same time, both of them being blocked with equal speed.
  • Daydream Surprise:
    • When he comes face to face with Teddy, Gray loses his temper, rushes up the stairs towards him, and ends up getting kicked back down... or that's how it plays out in his imagination. Gray realises that he has to contain his temper, and leaves Teddy alone until he has a better opportunity to fight back.
    • The battle between Wolf and Jimmy ends with Wolf permanently putting Jimmy down with a chokeslam. Or so it seems, but then Jimmy snaps out of his daydream and realises that he has to call off the fight before that happens.
  • Deep Breath Reveals Tension: Ben rushes all the way to the construction site where Jimmy is beating down his friend Alex. Upon arriving, there's a long shot of him taking a calming breath before he approaches the two of them.
  • Delayed Reaction: Ben asks Gray if he wants to hang out at the pool hall, but fully expects Gray to refute him like he'd done before. So when Gray agrees to it, it takes Ben a second to stop saying he understands to brighten up.
  • Delinquents: The focus of the story is on the various delinquent hierarchies that exist between the various schools of Yeongdeungpo. When Gray arrives at Eunjang and starts to take down the bullies there, it threatens the entire delinquent standing, and so they all start to converge on him.
  • The Dog Bites Back: Jared forces Toby to host him and his friends at the chicken shop that Toby's father runs. He also forces Toby to serve him alcohol and then gets the shop suspended for serving alcohol to minors. Toby doesn't feel like he can do anything to retaliate until Jared's gang is taken down by the Eunjang students; once that's done, Toby readily gets back at Jared by exposing his evil deeds online.
  • Double-Meaning Title: Weak Hero refers to Gray Yeon, the protagonist who, in spite of his frail body, is able to beat down any bully who stands in his way via Combat Pragmatism. However, there are multiple other characters in the story who the moniker of "weak hero" could be applied to, the two most notable being Eugene (Gray's first ally who can't fight at all but nevertheless heroically supports him) and Stephen (who defies his bullies for the sole purpose of protecting his friend, a scene the author has admitted was inspiration for the webtoon's title).
  • Double Take: Wolf tells his subordinate Hwangmo to ask a favour from Naksung. Hwangmo agrees instinctively, then recoils with a "Wait, huh?" as he actually realises that Wolf wants him to go curry favours from a guy he has beef with.
  • Draw Aggro: While hiding from Hyeongshin students, Teddy's cell goes off and accidentally exposes his and Alex's location. Since the students believe that the two split up, Alex runs out of the hiding place and draws their attention so that Teddy will be safe. It seems to work until Teddy tries to leave and runs into the group's leader.
  • Dynamic Entry: Lampshaded when Gray arrives at the Eunjan vs. Yoosun fight by violently headbutting one of the guards, causing him to stumble into the middle of the field.
    Jimmy: Did some hero make his entrance or something?
  • Ear Ache: Ben performs a dramatic version of the otherwise comedic 'ear yank' version of this trope: when he finds Alex beaten down by Forrest, he grabs Forrest by the ear with a grip like a vice and demands to know if he was responsible for the beating.
  • Enemy Civil War: Though they're both under the Union, Jimmy and Wolf's brash personalities eventually cause them to clash and break out into a fight. Interestingly, their boss Donald intentionally set things up so that they would fight, under the reasoning that having them at each other's throats stops them from entertaining thoughts of teaming up to overthrow him.
  • Enemy Mine: Episode 159 has Wolf and Jake teaming up together to take down a group of Cheongang thugs. Though Wolf has beef with Jake for taking something that Wolf believes is his, the two of them would still rather work together than be shown up by Cheongang.
  • Entertainingly Wrong: Eugene and Rowan are both surprised when the usually standoffish Gray shows an interest in the latter. Rowan assumes it's because Gray was impressed with his strength- in actuality, Gray noticed that Rowan can speak English well and wants to learn how to do so himself.
  • Eye Poke: In the battle between Doyun and Jimmy, Doyun manages to come back from being cornered by gouging Jimmy in the eye, giving him the opportunity to finish Jimmy off with a final punch.
  • Face Doodling: Teddy torments a nameless student by doodling sideburns onto their face, then forces them to draw a large 'X' on Gray's shirt with the same marker.
  • Face Framed in Shadow: After being beaten down by Donald, Ben is on the verge of unconsciousness and operating purely on instinct. This is visualised as his face being entirely in shadow except for his Blank White Eyes.
  • False Flag Operation: Jared, an underling of Ganghak's Wolf Keum, gets two lackeys to steal Wolf's prized bag containing important business files. He also orders them to steal it while wearing Eunjang uniforms and then sets things up so that the Eunjang student Rowan ends up toting the empty bag. This is all to direct Wolf's attention to Eunjang High in the hopes that he'll conquer it.
  • Fanservice:
    • The flashback to Gray's middle school years has a sequence where the beautiful Stephen showers at Gray's house, with his wet back and chest on full display.
    • At one point Ben is seen doing pull-ups in the schoolyard, with his rippling back muscles rendered in full detail.
  • Feud Episode: The flashback to Ben and Alex's middle school days shows the period of time when they drifted apart due to being put in different classrooms, with Alex getting embroiled in the wrong crowd and snapping at Ben when he raises concerns over it. Of course, when said crowd ditches Alex when he's attacked by Jimmy Bae, Ben is the one to arrive at his side and protect him.
  • Fireball Eyeballs: When he realises that he missed out on a pizza, Gerard grabs Rowan by the shoulder and compels him silently with fire in his eyes to be invited next time. Particularly humorous since Gerard's eyes are always covered by his hair.
  • Fisticuff-Provoking Comment:
    • When Gray faces off against Jimmy's gang in the underpass, Ben tries to defuse the situation by threatening them enough with his words to get them to back down. However, Jack bites back with a threat to break Ben's arm, which triggers Alex into pummelling him and sparking a full fight.
    • Alex is sensitive to people talking shit about Ben, and this was doubly true in middle school. When he overhears a fellow student claiming that Ben's strength isn't real and he's just a "bluffing bastard", Alex belts across the school desks to deck him in the face.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • Episode 29 shows Stephen wearing a shirt with COMA printed on it, a subtle but dire hint to what awaits him in the future.
    • At the end of Season 2, Alex randomly messes up a standard pool shot. The start of the next season would reveal that Alex is left-handed, and has been incorrectly using his non-dominant hand for the whole series.
    • Gerard's boss offers him the business card to a casting agency, which he declines with the reasoning that not only has he just restarted singing, but that not all employees are as kind as his boss. Later on it's revealed that Gerard stopped singing in part because his band's agency scammed them, leading them to disband.
    • On the rare occasions that Gerard's hair doesn't get in the way of his eyes, only his right eye is shown. His backstory flashback reveals that he has scarring over his left eye as a result of being caught in an explosion. There's one exception to this, at the end of Episode 20. His scarring can just be seen on the sliver of skin above his eye.
  • A Friend in Need: In the middle school fight against Jimmy Bae, Alex is abandoned by his new friends when they're given the option to run instead of taking the beating alongside him. Just when he's resigned to be beaten into unconsciousness, who should arrive but his childhood friend Ben, who takes on both Jimmy and Donald Na to protect Alex.
  • Gilligan Cut:
    • When Gerard's band Slam first started out, the concert-goers scoffed and claimed they wouldn't last long. The story then cuts to three weeks later, where the hall is packed full of Slam fans.
    • Hwangmo manages to catch Naksung while he's drunk and jovial, but is still certain it'll take a long time before he's able to get the guy over to his side. Cut to a couple of drinks later where the two are acting like best friends after discovering their mutual anger towards Ben.
  • A Glass in the Hand: After confirming that Alex was beaten up by Jimmy, Ben effortlessly crushes his can of soda as he becomes resolved to take down Jimmy and the Union.
  • Good Colors, Evil Colors: In the flashback explaining the history of Daehyeon Middle School, the pacifistic Jake is showing wearing a white hoodie as he faces off against the ambitious Naksung Fam, all of whom are wearing shades of black.
  • Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: If a character smokes then high chances are that they're one of the antagonistic, crude delinquents that are opposed to Ben's gang. The only good character who smokes is Gerard, and he regrets how expensive and unhealthy it is for him.
  • Good-Times Montage: When Alex starts to drift apart from Ben in middle school, Ben flashes back to sweet memories of them growing up together as best friends, and wonders what's going on with Alex that's pulling them apart.
  • Go Through Me: After Ben is taken down by Donald, Alex forces himself between the two and begs Donald not to hurt Ben any further. Donald scoffs at him and kicks him away, which causes the nearby woodwork to lose balance and Ben to hurt his arm protecting Alex from them.
  • Hand Gagging: Ben tries to call Gray a nerd after he rebuffs a food run with the excuse that he needs to study, but Alex is a little more thoughtful and clamps his hand over Ben's mouth to shut him up.
  • Happy Rain: After the brutally long and harrowing fight between Jake and Ben, the clouds break and rain starts to pour down to celebrate the end of it.
    Jake: You know what? Even though I just got my ass kicked and I'm soaked to the bone from walking in this rain... I'm actually feeling pretty good.
  • Heroic Resolve: Subverted when Eugene, seeing Gray getting beaten by Wolf, escapes from the boy holding him down and tries to stop Wolf. He's easily grabbed by another mook who mocks him for thinking that his anger would give him newfound strength.
  • Heroic Second Wind: Wolf beats down Gray, triggers his Berserk Button, but beats him down again in the ensuing fight. The onlooking Eugene and Rowan are convinced that not even Gray can recover from it. Then Gray leaps out of the dust with a container he uses to hit the pressure point in Wolf's foot.
  • Hey, Catch!: Before fighting with Ben, Jimmy throws him a pack of wipes to help clean up his bloodied friend. It's a ruse, however, as Jimmy punches him the second that Ben is distracted with his catch.
  • Homage: As revealed on Seopass's blog, the shot of Ben carrying an unconscious Gray pieta-style is an homage to Great Mazinger carrying off the broken Mazinger Z at the start of his series.
  • Hypothetical Fight Debate: Once it becomes clear that a showdown between Jake and Ben is inevitable, members of the Shuttle Patch online forum take a poll as to who they'd think would win. Jake takes the poll with an easy 67%, though it's Ben that comes out victorious in the fight proper.
  • I Am Your Opponent: Not wanting the innocent Gray to get pulled into a fight, Ben shouts at Jimmy Bae that he is Jimmy's opponent, and to keep his attention on him.
  • I Have Your Wife: Jared convinces Gray to come to Wolf's location by showing him a picture of Eugene and Rowan after they were violently beaten by Wolf, implying that worse would happen to them if Gray didn't come along.
  • Impossibly Delicious Food: The chicken served at Ttosikki, which is Ben's go-to Comfort Food. The Stoic Gray sparkles when he tries it for the first time.
  • Improvised Weapon: If it's on hand, then Gray can and will use it as a weapon: school bags, pens, books, chalkboard dusters, soda cans, bins, curtains, dirt, his phone, his belt, anything.
  • Inciting Incident: Stephen Ahn's hospitalisation is what kickstarts the plot, as Gray takes revenge on his bullies, gets transferred to Eunjang as a result, and from there becomes determined to take down all the bullies that get in his way.
  • Ironic Echo: Ben carries Gray to the hospital after the fight with Wolf. When Gerard questions why he took Gray to a hospital that was so far away, Alex flashbacks to the time in his past when he was the one carrying Ben to the same hospital.
  • Ironic Juxtaposition: In Episode 40, there's a shot of a banner promoting safe streets protected from school violence while Eugene is getting beat up by students from another school.
  • I Shall Taunt You: After Wolf expresses his intention to quit the Union, Donald taunts him into a fight by calling him a dog and then effortlessly beats him down, putting him back in his place.
  • I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: To stop Alex from getting away, Forrest grabs his new acquaintance Teddy and threatens to pummel him if Alex runs. He reluctantly allows himself to get captured, and then the two of them get beaten up anyway.
  • Just in Time:
    • A conveniently timed phone call by Donald Na is all that stops Alex from getting his face pounded into paste by Jimmy Bae.
    • Happens with Alex again, this time saving him from a beating by Donald himself when he's interrupted by a business call.
  • Knockback Slide: In the middle school brawl between Ben and Jimmy, the first hit of Ben's that connects sends Jimmy skidding across the construction site, only kept upright by blocking the attack with his arms.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Gray's a fan of taking down his opponents in ways that are based on their own bullying techniques:
    • Teddy starts off his bullying of Gray by dumping cola on him, dunking his schoolbag into water, and marking his back with a giant black X. When Gray retaliates, he does so by soaking Teddy's prized backpack in the rain, knocking him out with a cola can, and then topping off with the X across his back.
    • When taking down Oswald's gang after they hospitalise Stephen, Gray makes use of the safety pin Stephen gifted him to restrain Oswald and then wraps them all up in the tape that Stephen used to use, which got him made fun of by the gang.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: After a lengthy flashback sequence to Gray's middle school days, Alex comments that it feels like it's been a while since the gang has been at high school.
  • Lens Flare Censor: Many of the delinquents in the series smoke, but showing underage characters smoking doesn't sit well with Korean censorship laws. This is mostly worked around by having the characters hold their lit cigarettes and nothing more, but on the rare instance that they have a cigarette in their mouth then it'll be obscured by a ball of light.
  • Loophole Abuse: In the middle school flashback, Jimmy Bae would've gotten in trouble if he instigated a fight against Eunjang. Instead, he orders one of his lackeys to annoy the Eunjang students into punching him first, allowing Jimmy the opportunity to fight them without technically being the instigator.
  • Losing the Team Spirit: Donald announces the would-be temporary disbandment of the Union after winning the fight against Eunjang at the river. However, once he passes away, the Union no longer has a leader and Jake reminds Kingsley that disbanding the Union was Donald's last wish. The Union was his dream and his absence means there's no longer any reason for any of them to keep fighting.
  • Made of Iron: Some of the fights can get extremely brutal, with characters being pummeled so intensely that a visit to the hospital would be required at the very least. However, for the most part, they'll show up the next day looking right as rain aside from a smattering of band-aids.
  • Madness Mantra: Gray tells Eugene that he doesn't do rooftops. When Wolf forcibly brings him to one, Gray falls into a Tranquil Fury and starts beating Wolf relentlessly, repeating to himself "I told you. I told you. I told you."
  • Make an Example of Them: Donald sets out to put Cheongang in their place after they attempt to steal documents from the Union. He specifically brings only a small entourage so that he can demonstrate the Union's strength to any who would oppose them.
  • Make Way for the New Villains: Inverted with the introduction of the Cheongang, a rival gang from across the river. Though set up as a formidable threat, most of them end up getting their asses handed to them by the Yeongdeungpo Union, and it becomes clear that their main purpose is to establish that the Union are still badasses in their own right even after losing to Gray and/or Ben.
  • Malicious Misnaming:
    • Jimmy towards Gerard, after learning of his "Hot-Foot Jin" moniker and managing to knock him to the ground after blocking one of his famed kicks:
      "As for our friend here, Hot Pot or Hot Sauce or whatever he's called."
  • Meaningful Funeral: Donald's ceremony is attended by all the major players in the Union, and their respective teams. They all solemnly reflect on who Donald was to them, favorably or not, and pay their respects in their own way. Ben also attends, uninvited, to symbolically seal the fight between Eunjang and the Union.
  • Melting-Pot Nomenclature: In the English translation. The first two seasons give characters a Westernised first name but the third season stops with this practice, leading to characters with the names Jimmy, Donald, Wolf, Seongmok, and Dongha running under the same banner.
  • Men Act, Women Are: Though the cast is overflowing with young men who are constantly throwing themselves into battle, the sparse amount of women in comparison mostly stick to the sidelines and bemoan the inability for anyone to step in and stop them. The idea that a woman could step up and try to end a fight is never even presented as a possibility.
  • Mistaken for Gay: Played for Drama when, as part of their ongoing bullying campaign against Stephen, the students of Eunjang Middle School make disparaging comments about the nature of his relationship with his best friend Gray. Gray, usually The Stoic, is visibly rattled when he comes across their mockery.
  • Mob War: Because of Gray stirring the waters, the existing gang hierarchy of Yeongdeungpo ends up in a long, drawn-out war with him and Ben's gang.

    N-Z 
  • Noodle Incident:
    • According to Jimmy, Phillip has a grudge against Ben because Ben got him kicked out of the Union. How that happened has yet to be shown.
    • Before the battle with Hyeongshin, Alex is hanging out separately from Ben. When asked why, he only says that Ben is a "traitor" without ever elaborating.
    • Whatever Myles Joo did to get excommunicated from the Union. It involved crossing Donald in some way, but the details have yet to be elaborated on.
  • Nothing Is the Same Anymore: For the first two seasons, Eunjang's rising prominence is seen more as a thorn in the side of the Yeongdeungpo Union rather than a legitimate threat. Then, at the end of Season 2, against everyone's expectations, Big Ben defeats Jake Ji. The Shuttle Patch rankings change when they were once thought permanent, and suddenly Donald Na has a good reason to start paying attention to Eunjang.
  • Now It's My Turn: In the fight between Jimmy and Wolf, Jimmy has a surprising turn-out when he's able to beat Wolf into a bloody paste. Except then Wolf asks with a smile if he's done, declares it "his turn", and beats Jimmy into the tarmac.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • After saying that he's sick of his work and sick of Donald Na, a distinctively tattooed hand reaches out from the darkness and taps Wolf on his shoulder. Wolf's wide-eyed fear says it all.
    • In their first fight, Donald offers Ben a free hit. He takes it and Donald reflects it with such force that it immediately throws Ben into a panic.
    • Jaeryeong is initially dismissive when some Cheongang mooks report that they can't get in touch with the rest of the gang. He tries to call up Giju, one of the leaders, only for the phone to ring and ring... and then he remembers with sudden dread the two Union members who had beaten the crap out of him the other day...
  • Once More, with Clarity:
    • Rowan's claim that a pretty girl tore up his backpack for no reason seems ludicrous at first. The next chapter flashbacks to the event in question to provide some context. Later on, the scene is flashed back to again to elaborate more on the girl's motivation, and how it ties into the main plot.
    • Ben and Alex narrowly avoid death at Donald's hands when he's distracted at the last moment by a phone call. A dozen episodes later, it's shown that Donald was called away by Jake's arrival at his office, and goes on to show what happened after the phone call ended.
  • Parallel Conflict Sequence:
    • In the Hyeongshin arc, Forrest deliberately splits up the main party and forces them into a series of smaller conflicts: Gerard versus a group of Hyeongshin mooks, Ben versus Robin, Alex and Teddy versus Forrest, and Gray, Rowan, and Eugene squaring off against Grape and his troops. Gerard eventually reconvenes with Gray's group while Ben defeats Robin and rushes off to help Alex, leading to two climactic fights against the split Hyeongshin faction.
    • Donald and the other Union heads position their guys to intercept Cheongang members while they head off to the Octagon where the heads of Cheongang await. This leads to two separate, parallel battles: the large, messy scuffle on the streets, and then the personal beatdowns between the gang leaders.
  • Party Scattering: This is Forrest's strategy to take down the Eunjang gang- since Ben, Alex, Gerard, and Gray are far too powerful to take as a group, Forrest instead waits for the perfect opportunity to ambush them while they're all separated. It might've worked too, except he underestimated Ben and Gerard and didn't account for the surprise intrusions of Teddy and Rowan.
  • Peer Pressure Makes You Evil: Alex got involved with the wrong crowd in middle school after they appealed to his pent-up anger and pride. Even though Ben pointed out that they're a bad influence on him, Alex ignored him and continued to get into fights. It's because of this that he ended up going against Jimmy Bae, which in turn led to Ben's severe arm injury. Even in the present day, Alex still hasn't forgiven himself for what happened.
  • Pet the Dog: Teddy is initially introduced as a bully who torments the weak and antagonizes Gray for days until Gray publicly defeats him. Later on, he is reintroduced as having been abandoned by his friends and Philip. He goes on to save Eugene from delinquents after remembering Eugene's loyalty to Gray compared to that of his ex-friends. And to further cement his Heel-Face turn, he is shown adopting a kitten that was under a cardboard box in the pouring rain.
  • The Pen Is Mightier: When it comes to a five-on-one fight against Jimmy Bae's gang, Gray starts it off with a bang by plucking the pen out of his pocket and stabbing Helmet through the hand with it. It traumatised Helmet so much that Gray clicking a pen later on causes him to freeze on the spot.
  • Pietà Plagiarism: After gaining his Heroic Second Wind and beating down Wolf, Gray succumbs to his injuries and collapses. Ben catches him before he falls, cradling him in the pieta position. Then he picks him up and carries him away in the same manner with the sun setting behind them.
  • Poor Communication Kills:
    • Happens between Ben and Alex in their middle school days. Alex constantly gets in fights to defend Ben's honour but deflects Ben's questions about it since he doesn't want Ben blaming himself for it. However, at the same time, he expects Ben to understand him even though he doesn't speak up and resents him for not doing anything about the situation. Had the two boys communicated better, then they might not have run afoul of Donald Na.
    • Ben's gang nearly gets into a fight with Dean when the latter mistakenly believes that they're picking on his friend Timothy. In actuality, they were just demanding a reason for why Timothy had been following them. However, Alex and Dean are too hot-headed to properly explain themselves, and instead quickly resort to violence. It's only Jake's timely arrival that stops things from getting any worse.
  • The Power of Friendship: One of the comic's major themes is Gray slowly befriending Ben and his gang, and coming to realise that he's more powerful with them at his side rather than without. Gray withdrew into himself after his first friend was hospitalised by bullies, but the constant show of camaraderie and loyalty by the gang is able to draw him back out of his shell.
  • The Psycho Rangers: The Yeongdeungpo Union, who are villains themselves, end up coming to blows with the Cheongang gang from across the river, whose members' personalities all mirror those of the Union; Donald and Changhui as the imposing leaders, Jake and Juwon as their calm second-in-command, Wolf and Giju as the resident psychos, and Jimmy and Doyun as the hot-tempered brutes.
  • Punched Across the Room: Jimmy has a fierce right hook. In the pool hall, he hits a student hard enough to send them rocketing into one of the pool tables. When he fights Gerard he punches him hard enough that the air around him spins as he falls to the ground.
  • Punctuated Pounding: Middle school Gerard, already dealing with a lot of shit, gets sick of being hounded by a bully, grabs him by the hair, and starts really laying into him.
    Gerard: Tell me! [SMASH] Right now! [POW] Why! [POW] You! [POW] Keep! [WHAM] Bothering! [WHAM] Me!
  • Random Power Ranking: The Shuttle Patch rankings, an online list of all delinquents in Yeongdeungpo that are ranked by complex algorithms created by Timothy Park. Said rankings aren't the be-all end-all of a character's strength or success, as demonstrated in such instances as the Rank 15 Gray taking out Rank 5 Wolf- while this boosts Gray up to Rank 8, Wolf remains at Rank 5 since his win record otherwise is strong. Ultimately the ranking exists as a general shorthand for what you can expect from a character, and for characters in-universe to get hyped about potential showdowns.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
    • Teddy ropes a hapless student into tormenting Gray in his steed. Gray has no sympathy for the student when he says he had no choice and lays into him:
      Gray: So, that lets you do despicable things to a stranger's back? In a pathetic attempt to preserve your body from pain? You fucking lowlife. If you're gonna run away, carry that weight yourself. Don't rope other people into your shit.
    • Once Gray takes down the bullies that hospitalised Stephen, he lays into the teachers who were complicit in letting the bullies get away with it, all because their parents were influential figures.
      Gray: That city representative Oscar Yang's second son, Oswald Yang. His repeated offenses of school violence were all minimized and covered up by the higher-ups, out of fear that the school's image might be tainted. Principal, Daryl Bae. Received a massive donation for the school from the chairman through Oscar Yang. And still unsatisfied, pocketed additional money from him personally. Vice-Principal, Gilbert Gu. Partnered with the principal to continuously monitor and keep students and teachers from leaking information. Teacher, Jerry Bang. Offered a deal by the other men, and falsified a report on the incident in favour of Oswald Yang and Bryce Oh. Such shallow-minded people you are... Running around trying to silence something that everyone and their mother knows. You'd have better luck trying to cover the sky with your hands.
    • Gerard got a nice one in middle school after taking down one of the two residential bullies:
      Gerard: Wow, are you serious? When I was looking for my next opponent, you hid away in the corner, but now that I have a broken finger, you come running to pick a fight... just to cry after getting hit a few times? You're so pathetic that I'm lost for words.
  • Resignations Not Accepted: When Wolf declares that he's leaving the Union, Donald emerges from the shadows behind him, taunts him into a fight that Donald wins effortlessly, and then tells Wolf that he has another job for him when he calms down.
  • Retcon:
    • In the early chapters, Jack states that he's the one responsible for messing up Ben's arm. When the actual event is shown, about ninety chapters later, this isn't the case at all- Ben's injury was caused by protecting Alex from collapsing debris as a result of Donald Na.
    • When Teddy is first introduced, Eugene reveals that he beat up a teacher back in middle school. Later on, this is tweaked slightly in order to portray the now-reformed Teddy as less unhinged; Teddy beat up a student who acted like a teacher and had Professor as a nickname. Justified, in that the event is played as an exaggeration created through the rumor mill.
  • Running Over the Plot: The story comes to a very sudden conclusion after Donald Na is hit and killed by an oncoming truck he failed to see.
  • Sadistic Choice: Upon being defeated by Ben, Robin reveals that he was just bait, and now Ben has to choose whether to go save Alex, Gerard, or Gray. He's saved from the decision by Gerard's timely intervention, having already taken down the gang that had ambushed him. Gerard heads off to support Gray while Ben is able to go save Alex.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: The bullies in Gray's middle school got away with hospitalising Stephen because one of them had a city representative as a parent. At least, they got away with it until Gray took matters into his own hands.
  • Sickening "Crunch!": The cliffhanger of Episode 149 is Dongha threatening to break Alex's arm, followed by Alex screaming and a CRACK! sound effect. While Alex does manage to escape, it's with a dislocated shoulder that prevents him from using his arm.
  • Slipknot Ponytail: Invoked by Teddy, who lets his hair loose to make himself look more unhinged before he confronts Phillip Kim.
  • Sneaky Departure: When Gray gets a lead as to where his previously comatose best friend may be, Ben offers to go along with him. Gray, while appreciating the offer, doesn't want to burden him and so arrives at the train station early. Subverted in that Ben thought Gray would do that, arrives at the same time as him, and tags along anyway.
  • Soda Can Shakeup: To torment Gray, Teddie shakes up his soda and spills it all on the poor kid from a few stories up. Gray later returns the favor after bludgeoning Teddy with an unopened soda.
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: The antagonists of the webcomic form a hierarchy that are steadily taken down from the weakest to the strongest. First is Jimmy Bae, a low-ranked thug with a personal grudge against Ben and Alex. After him is Forrest, who proves a bigger threat due to his divide-and-conquer strategy. Next is Wolf, who's the first fighter to give Gray a serious run for his money. After all of them is Jake Ji, the second strongest fighter in the series behind the leader of the Union, Donald Na himself, who's so powerful that he beat down Big Ben without taking a single hit.
  • Stating the Simple Solution: Once he joins the fray, Bongha wonders why the Union doesn't gather together its greatest fighters and take down Eunjang in one fell swoop. While this may have been a valid argument any other time, Donald has good reason to keep their attack on Eunjang as low profile as possible (the area is part of a redevelopment project that would attract opportunists from the rivalling area like bloodhounds if too much of a ruckus was raised).
  • Stunned Silence: Gray's turnaround and brutal beatdown of Wolf is so shocking that no one in the vicinity speaks for a long while afterwards, the silence only broken by Ben arriving on the scene.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The series thrives on the underdog heroes never losing and overcoming all injuries and trials to take down their opponents. So after Alex spends all of Season 3 angsting over his need to power-up, removing a Power Limiter he didn't know he had, and acknowledging the mental blocks that he still needs to overcome, it only makes sense that he can take down Dongha Baek in a fight, right? Nope; Dongha mocks him for thinking his willpower will allow him to win, dislocates his arm- the most brutal injury to be inflicted on one of the protagonists- and Alex doesn't stand a chance until Gerard arrives to save him.
  • Talk to the Fist:
    • In the cafeteria, Philip Kim tries to intimidate Gray with his usual bluffing, only for Gray to cut him off with a sudden elbow hook to his face followed by a kick to the head before he hits the floor.
    • A kid from Alex's past makes his reintroduction by mocking Alex's new friends, prompting Alex, with a deadpan expression, to sock him in the face while he's still in the middle of talking.
    • Alex manages to interrupt Dongha mid-sentence by surprising him with a one-two combo punch.
      Donga: Whoa! Shit, that caught me by surprise! You almost hit— WHAM!
    • The fight between Juwon and Jake seems to end as Jake is hit and slumps to the floor. Juwon is in the middle of complimenting his strength and potential when Jake's fist suddenly hits him square in the face.
    • Gray kicks Jeongmu in the face while he was smearing Gerard to him and Eugene, saying his ranting is just plain annoying to hear.
  • Tarot Troubles: When Gerard uses a personalized tarot deck to read for Rowan, the result reads that Rowan is going to have a tumultuous life at Eunjang High.
  • Tempting Fate: After Dongha gets his ass beaten by Gray in the first few minutes of their fight, he taunts Gray that he'll have to catch him when he plans to run. Gray complies and throws an empty beer bottle at Dongha, making him dodge where Gray predicted. He grabs Dongha's hair and shuts it into a door crack, trapping him in place. Gray flatly states "caught you" before resuming to brutally beat the shit out of Dongha.
  • There Are No Adults: Despite the central conflict being between high school kids, there's next to no intervention by their teachers- especially jarring since half of their fights take place in the classroom. And forget about their parents getting involved; they're lucky if they even get shown on-screen at all.
  • This Is Reality: Dongha mocks Alex for believing that raw willpower is enough to scale the difference in skill between the two of them, and tells him that those sorts of ideas don't work in real life. Unfortunately for Alex, he ends up being right, as he would've beaten him if Gerard hadn't come in at the last minute to save Alex.
  • Trash Talk: A staple of every fight in the series. Normally by the bullies, but the protagonists have been known to insult and goad their opponents when they get wrapped up in the heat of things.
  • Two-Faced Aside: A double version happens in a conversation between Phillip and Jimmy, the two of them secretly insulting the other in their head.
    Jimmy: Yo Phillip- if we finish this up properly today, don't forget to pay up the remainder-
    Jimmy, thinking: Walking wallet...
    Phillip: Don't worry, I got you.
    Phillip, thinking: Teenage beggar...
  • Unconscious Objector: In the flashback to Ben's fight with Donald Na, it's revealed that when Ben got back up to face Donald- after having a bunch of construction materials fall on him- he was standing in a fighting stance on instinct and wasn't consciously aware of his surroundings. Luckily Don got a phone call and had to call the fight off before he could learn of and take advantage of the fact.
  • Underdogs Never Lose: A poll is taken by Yeongdeungpo students as to who would win in a fight against Jake and Ben. The loser of the poll (Ben) ends up being the winner of the fight.
  • Unknown Rival: When the gang is split up by Forrest Lee, Gerard is approached by a thug who proclaims himself to be "Hyeongshin's Scorpion". Gerard is offput by him- not because the Scorpion is intimidating, but because he has no idea who the Scorpion is.
  • Use Your Head:
    • A tall Mook mocks Gray's height by jabbing him in the head with his jaw. Gray responds by slamming his head up, knocking the dude flat on his back.
    • When Jack taunts Alex for his inability to throw anything besides mindless haymakers, Alex's response is a surprise headbutt.
      Alex: My whole body... is a weapon!
    • Robin tries to get the upper hand against Ben by having a mook knock him off balance and then smashing his face in while he falls. He's in for a nasty surprise when Ben ducks his head down so that Robin punches his cranium instead, fracturing a good amount of his finger bones.
    • Gray analyses Dean during their tussle and realises that Dean doesn't have a weakness for him to exploit. So he makes one by using his head to slam into Dean's jaw, weakening it for Gray to follow up with a nasty palm strike.
  • Victory by Endurance:
    • Ben's victory against Jimmy Bae is won by outpacing him, enduring his hits until Jimmy's muscles are so exhausted that his punches do nothing.
    • Jake and Ben prove to be equals when it comes to physical strength, so their fight eventually devolves into which one of them can stay standing the longest. Ben, with his previous experience of facing an insurmountable opponent, has the slight edge he needs to win.
  • Villainous Face Hold: Wolf's Berserk Button is people staring into his eyes for longer than three seconds. When Gray does so, and then shows up to a battle days later too dazed to look Wolf in the eye (due to the fight being on a rooftop, which Gray has traumatic memories associated with) Wolf grabs him by the chin and demands that he stare at Wolf like he did the first time.
  • Villainous Rescue: When Eugene gets ganged up on by Hyeongshin students, it's not one of his friends who rescues him but Teddy Jin, slowly turning over a new leaf since he was humiliated by Gray.
  • War Arc: Season 3 steps away from the battle between Eunjang vs. the Yeongdeungpo Union and instead focuses on the larger war happening in Seoul between its two halves, Yeongdeungpo and Mapo. What starts as a Mapo construction company trying to muscle into Yeongdeungpo turf ends in the Union crossing the river and taking the fight to Cheongang, Mapo's most prominent gang.
  • Wham Line: Episode 111 reminds readers of Jake's vicious side after he's spent most of his time acting affably both to his own friends and to Ben's group:
    Jake: Oh, right. Now I remember what I wanted to tell you. You see, I really want Ben Park to take me seriously. So, you know that really tall friend of yours? I just beat him up. That's what I came here to tell you.
  • Wham Shot: The cliffhanger of Episode 174 has the Union members and Giju arriving to the aftermath of the fight between Donald and Changhui. They all look on in shock as the reader only gets to see the most drastic part of the scene: a bloodied knife stabbed into the table between the two.
  • Whole Episode Flashback:
    • Episodes 26-37 are one long flashback to Gray's experience in middle school, finally elaborating on the tragedies of his past and the identity of Stephen Ahn.
    • Episodes 93-99 elaborate on Ben and Alex's past, showing how they came to be friends and the incident with Donald Na that led to Ben's arm injury.
    • Episodes 136-143 round out the foursome by delving into Gerard's past, finally explaining his proficiency with a guitar, his strange choice of hairstyle, and his history as the Mad Hound.
    • Episodes 102 and 103 delve into Jake Ji's backstory, explaining how he ended up in the Union and also the general history of the Daehyeon schools.
  • The Worf Effect: Season 3 starts with the Hyeongshin trio of Forrest, Grape, and Robin getting their asses handed to them off-screen to make the surprise return of Myles Joo hit with even more impact.
  • Wrong-Name Outburst: Gray falls into a Tranquil Fury when reminded of Stephen's hospitalisation, and beats down Wolf even though he's barely able to stand himself. When Ben arrives on the scene and hurries over to help Gray, the semi-delirious Gray sees his silhouette, calls out Stephen's name, and then falls unconscious in Ben's arms.
  • You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: After Alex is beaten up and has his arm dislocated by Dongha, the group is all worried about how his best friend Ben is going to react- after all, Ben always flies into a rage whenever Alex is hurt. They're all surprised when he doesn't seem that bothered, merely wishing Alex a speedy recovery before he heads home. Alex, however, notices that Ben called him "Alex" instead of his nickname "Gogo", and knows that he's actually extremely angry.
  • You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With:
    • Rowan tries to instill fear in a possible opponent by asking them "Do you know who I am?" Rowan isn't actually anyone of note, but he does excel at bullshitting his way out of his problems.
    • When Forrest tries to intimidate Wolf, Wolf grabs him by the hair and reminds him none-too-politely that he's fucking Wolf Keum. Unlike Rowan above, the name is very much one to be scared of.
  • You Remind Me of X: This is how Phillip realises that Rowan is bluffing about his fighting prowess; it reminds Phillip of himself, and all the bluffing he did to get into his current position.

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