Tag: #KDramaAnalysis

📍 Why can these beloved characters only stay together in our imagination?

⚠️ Disclaimer: This post represents my personal analysis as a fan, synthesizing various discussions and interpretations from the Weak Hero community. All views are my own fan perspective.

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Late-night Twitter conversations have a way of revealing truths about storytelling that daylight discussions might miss. Over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself in deep exchanges with followers about Weak Hero, and these conversations keep circling back to the same question: what happens when the world we love in fiction collides with the world we actually live in?

The answer, I think, lies in understanding why certain stories need fan creation to survive—and why that’s not just okay, but essential.

The Metaphor of First Love

A follower recently asked about the throuple possibilities among Su-ho, Si-eun, and Beom-seok, which led me down a path I hadn’t expected to explore. After reading through Director Yoo’s interviews, I noticed something interesting about his openly queer-friendly stance and his willingness to publicly call Su-ho Si-eun’s “first love.”

For a stoic, self-isolated boy like Si-eun, if he had to define all those emotions he felt for Su-ho with just one word, “first love” would probably be the only one that fits. But here’s what I think:

Neither Si-eun nor Beom-seok could define their feelings for Su-ho as “love” because teenagers struggle to organise their emotions, and defining such complex feelings with just one word is nearly impossible at that age.

In the same way, I believe Beom-seok was also Si-eun’s first love. Si-eun wanted to protect Beom-seok as much as he wanted to protect Su-ho. He knew Beom-seok’s inner self, loneliness, and pain more than anyone else in the world. Si-eun comforted him, wanted to protect him, and couldn’t bring himself to hit Beom-seok until the very end.

If you have to define the feelings of teenage boys that can’t be summed up in a single word, “first love” becomes a metaphor for all the beautiful emotions in the world: love, the first friendship you ever wanted to protect, the very first person you were truly open to.

The Social Barriers We Pretend Don’t Exist

When that same follower asked about the throuple possibility, I had to be what I called “a total buzzkill.” While a relationship like Su-ho-Si-eun-Beom-seok might be possible in fan imagination, the reality is more complicated.

Byeok-san High School is an elite institution in Gangnam, Seoul’s wealthiest and most education-focused district. The reason these three boys from different social circles can attend the same school is because Su-ho also lives in that district—in Korea, schools are assigned based on your address. But given Su-ho’s background, it’s more likely he’s renting a place with his grandmother rather than owning property in that wealthy area.

Then there’s Eunjang High, where Si-eun was transferred—almost like he was exiled. Eunjang is in a district where, while not every part is dilapidated, there are significant areas that can be described as neglected. This represents a stark contrast to Si-eun’s previous environment and symbolises his social displacement.

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🔗 This show deals with far more social issues and youth mental health problems than we initially see. If it weren’t for this depth, I would have let this drama pass by like any other action series.

When these three become adults, their possibility of mixing socially drops to nearly zero. Beom-seok’s a politician’s son, Si-eun will likely become a professional, like a doctor or prosecutor, and Su-ho is working class. That’s why I don’t want to see them as adults—the magic breaks when reality sets in.

Reading Characters Through Personal Lens

This led to another conversation about how we interpret these characters’ inner lives. In my headcanon, Su-ho is straight, Si-eun will probably lean towards being straight, and Beom-seok is the one I read as gay. I think Su-ho and Yeong-i could have slept together, and if anyone was masturbating while thinking about Su-ho, it would have been Beom-seok.

The chance of Su-ho and Si-eun becoming a couple seems extremely low because Su-ho has too many straight elements. But here’s what’s interesting:

Su-ho would have been the one to teach Si-eun everything. How to play games, eat tteokbokki, make ssam, drink beer, match his clothes—even how to watch porn. After Su-ho’s coma, Baku and Go-tak would have taken over that role.

A follower pointed out something I’d been thinking about Si-eun’s extreme isolation. Before he met Su-ho, Beom-seok, and Yeong-i in Season 1, Si-eun had never had a friend. I felt like he had never even learned basic social experiences from his peers. He’s so sensitive that he probably only used his AirPods for the noise-canceling function, not even for music.

Before he met his friends, Si-eun definitely had no personal tastes. He didn’t like anything, didn’t have friends to talk about interests with, and lived in complete social isolation. That’s what made his relationships so precious—and so dangerous for him.

The Reality Check That Hurts

One follower suggested that maybe the three could end up living together, with Beom-seok having escaped his father, all of them working at Su-ho’s restaurant, loving each other in a way that’s neither completely romantic nor platonic but something uniquely their own.

I had to point out that while this might be possible in fandom subtext, in real life, Beom-seok, Si-eun, and Su-ho will all mature into adults with very different social realities. That’s why I don’t want to see them as adults.

Realistically, while Si-eun and Su-ho might stay in touch, Si-eun will become someone who can live independently, making it hard to maintain their intense teenage bond. Su-ho’s and Si-eun’s social circles will be completely different, and if Beom-seok follows his stepfather’s path, there’s zero chance his and Su-ho’s social circles will ever mix in Korea.

This isn’t to diminish the relationship—Si-eun having such deep feelings for Su-ho was actually dangerous for him. All of Si-eun’s ways of protecting Su-ho involved him self-harming. He became one of the most shocking characters in K-drama history, which is actually a positive thing for the storytelling.

When Si-eun hardens into an adult who can move forward without Su-ho, it would be difficult for him to realistically maintain social interaction with Su-ho due to their vastly different social classes. However, in fandom fiction, they can still remain each other’s most intimate connection, sharing sublime emotions that run deeper than love.

Why Fandom Fills the Gaps

But here’s where fan creation becomes essential. A follower told me something that stuck: “Once you’re into WHC, there’s no going back.” She mentioned making her first fan account in her twenties and starting to write fanfiction in her second language—all because of this story.

There’s nothing better than getting inspired by a work and having it lead to creative results. I got video-making skills thanks to Weak Hero.

Stories with strong narratives, well-written scripts, and compelling characters always develop powerful subcultures and fandoms that love exploring relationship dynamics.

The creators probably know that as long as you respect their work, fan creation serves as a promotional tool that keeps their stories alive. This is especially true for stories about teenagers, where the intensity of emotion and the shortness of time create a natural urgency that adult life can’t replicate.

The Comfort We Create

Multiple followers have mentioned that Weak Hero has become their “comfort movie,” with some saying they watched it three years ago and are still rewatching it. That warm look in Si-eun’s eyes, always so relaxed in front of Su-ho, creates a feeling that many of us want to preserve.

But preserving it requires accepting that the version we love most might only exist in our imagination. In our fandom space, the three of them can always be together. Si-eun can develop tastes and preferences guided by Su-ho’s influence. Beom-seok can find peace away from his father’s control. The social barriers that would separate them in real Korea don’t have to exist in fan creation.

This isn’t about denying reality—it’s about understanding what fiction can do that reality cannot. Fiction gives us permission to explore the emotional truth of relationships without the practical limitations that adult life imposes.

It lets us ask:

📍 What if love could transcend social class? What if friendship could survive any trauma? What if the people who understand each other most deeply could actually stay together?

The answer isn’t found in what will realistically happen to these characters as they age. The answer is found in the stories we tell ourselves about what their connection meant, and what it continues to mean in the space where fiction lives.

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Join the Ongoing Discussion

I’ve been archiving these conversations on my Twitter account @jennieleepod because they deserve to be preserved. These discussions about headcanons, character interpretation, and the role of fan creation in storytelling are exactly what make fandom communities so valuable.

Beyond Subtitles: Master Korean Drama Nuances

Want to catch the cultural and linguistic subtext that shapes these social dynamics? I post weekly about Korean cultural details that completely change how you understand K-dramas, including the class systems and social barriers that these characters navigate.

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