📍 This post has been sitting in my drafts forever, because honestly, where do I even start with these two? My dear, thoughtful novelist-poets and critics in the comments have been asking about Baek-jin and Baku nonstop, and after diving deep into all your analyses plus that recent commentary drop, I finally feel ready to unpack this whole mess 😂
(This pic of Bae Nara (Baek-jin) and Ryeowook (Baku) is literally my fave ever 💗)
📢 Fair Use Notice
This post contains copyrighted material from “Weak Hero” (© Wavve/Netflix) used for educational analysis, criticism, and commentary purposes under fair use doctrine. All rights belong to original creators.
The Cross-Cultural Scrapbook We’re Filling Together
Before I settle into this long contemplation with my coffee and try to untangle these thoughts on paper, I have to share something that one of my subscribers, who consistently leaves critic-level analyses, wrote that perfectly captures what we’re doing here. She said:
It’s fun, good mental exercise and like you say, it’s a cross-cultural learning thing as well. It’s nice to be surprised by people’s different insights, especially if they’re very different from your own. Things we couldn’t figure out by ourselves.
This hits at something really special about our little community. We’re not just analysing characters – we’re filling one thick album of these boys’ stories, layer by layer, each bringing our cultural lens and personal experience to illuminate corners of these stories that others might walk past in darkness. What one person sees as pure villainy, another recognises as trauma response. What feels like simple jealousy to some unfolds like origami in someone else’s hands to reveal complex attachment theory.
The way you all stack discoveries upon discoveries creates these towers of understanding that none of us could build alone. It’s like we’re cartographers mapping the emotional territories these characters inhabit, and every comment adds new topography to the landscape.
First off, my amazing subscribers continue to weave insights that reshape how I see these characters entirely. Like seriously, you guys are building cathedrals of understanding in my comment sections, brick by brick, and I’m here for every single architectural detail.
Decoding Baek-jin
So let me share the comments that opened new windows I hadn’t even thought to look through. adrianna**** dropped this theory that got me thinking in completely new directions:
What if they were the ones who killed him? Maybe Baek-jin isn’t a bad guy; he never fought anyone unless they fought him. When Si-eun broke his promise, Baek-jin never touched Su-ho.
Hmm… I hadn’t given Baek-jin’s character the same multi-layered treatment as other characters because I felt like the direction made his emotions pretty explicit and clear-cut – his obsession with Baku was right there on the surface. I’d been focusing on his lack of moral boundaries rather than digging into what deficits might have created that emptiness in the first place. But this subscriber opened a window I hadn’t considered – what if we’ve been reading the whole dynamic wrong?
Then Shagun**** came through with the psychological deep dive:
Baek-jin definitely wasn’t a bad guy. As much as it was shown in the drama, I am 100% sure he was an orphan kid who understood that without power, one is nothing in this cruel world – even if the power is bad – which is why he got involved with Chang-hui, which led to all that happened, you know, Baku hating him and all that. It was a doomed friendship. I think those two guys in the back were ordered by Chang-hui to kill Baek-jin, or they know how he was killed, or… he is alive and that’s why they are smiling – because Baek-jin is fooling everyone. You never know, maybe they are loyal to Baek-jin. Or worse, Baek-jin is held captive somewhere and is being tortured by Chang-hui since he lost the match with Eunjang. It could be anything.
(Wow… 🙌 if all these theories turn out to be true, from this point on we’d be leaving the “high school action genre” territory and entering straight noir alley, absolutely chilling!)
But my thoughtful analyst Margaret & Elaine, really got me thinking… 💭
I think he was afraid to completely lose a friend that he really loved and owed a lot to. He genuinely wanted to give him a job and put money in his hands, and he genuinely had visions of making the business legit after graduation. And he needed to have a person he could really count on next to him. Someone honest and loyal. Everyone else in the Union is just a greedy snake and, or unpredictably dangerous. So, Baek-jin needed Baku to be in his corner… still as a real partner and maybe still as someone who would and could protect him from bigger threats and bullies. Baku is, after all, Baek-jin’s Su-ho. Baek-jin has Si-eun elements in him but he also has some of Beom-seok’s desperation as well.
This observation about Baek-jin having elements of both Si-eun and Beom-seok really tied into what I’d been mulling over, and it brought back a comment I’d written to another subscriber who had asked about Baek-jin’s excessive obsession with Baku. I remembered diving deep into this exact point, though I can’t seem to find that original reply anywhere now.
What I’d written then was something along the lines of how Baek-jin embodied all the qualities of both Si-eun and Beom-seok combined, but unlike Season 1, Season 2 was much more – how should I put it – explicit about showing Baek-jin’s possessiveness toward Baku and his jealousy of the people around him, even going so far as to hurt them. The direction was really upfront about it.
Here’s where things get really interesting, and this ties back to that commentary audio I covered where the Class 2 director and cast broke down their characters.
That’s why when Bae Na-ra, who played Baek-jin, was doing commentary with the director and cast, he interpreted his character by saying ‘Baek-jin seemed to want to own Baku and was jealous of his friends, especially Go-tak’ – I mean that pretty much says it all.
Baek-jin seemed to want to own Baku and was jealous of his friends, especially Go-tak…
Actually – and I think this was kind of misleading in terms of direction – it wasn’t Seong-je who messed up Go-tak’s knee, it was Baek-jin. And explicitly in the show, Baek-jin literally calls Go-tak, Jun-tae, and Si-eun ‘variables’ like from math equations and talks about ‘eliminating variables.’ I’ve always thought Class 2 dealt with characters’ emotions toward each other way more openly and explicitly than Class 1.
This is what I mean when I say Class 2 didn’t pull any punches. Where Class 1 was subtle about the psychological complexity, Class 2 just laid it all out there – possessiveness, manipulation, the works.
More About Baek-jin and Baku
So, here’s what I wrote to that subscriber, and I think it really captures the core of Baek-jin’s character:
And like what Elaine mentioned above, Baek-jin was genuinely serious about building up that Union business, which is where he’s totally different from Si-eun, in my opinion. Si-eun sometimes crosses lines too, but he’s got Su-ho there to pull him back from going too far. Baek-jin didn’t have anyone like that, so he could rationalise illegal stuff without batting an eye.
This is where the real difference lies. Si-eun has that same strategic intelligence, that same edge of violence that I’ve written about in many posts – I personally see Si-eun’s violent tendencies as a mirror reflecting his deeper psychological complexities, something that borders on a kind of madness…
But here’s the thing: he’s got Su-ho as both his moral anchor and his guardian (and it’s no coincidence that “Su-ho” literally means “guardian” in Korean). When Si-eun’s intelligence starts veering toward that darker territory he can’t quite control himself, Su-ho is there to gently pull him back from the brink.
“Hey, don’t cross that line – keep it reasonable, yeah?”
Baek-jin has no such safety net. His intelligence becomes genuinely dangerous when it combines with his emotional desperation, because there’s no one standing guard over his moral boundaries.
The tragic irony is that Baek-jin desperately tried to tie down the one person he saw as truly understanding him completely, but there were also practical reasons he needed Baku – as the action leader for his Union business. However, Baku and Baek-jin could never line up, not just personality-wise but in their emotional makeup and life values. As Baku himself put it so bluntly, “You and I really don’t fucking match”
And like Director Yoo pointed out, while Su-ho moves only for Si-eun’s sake, Baek-jin couldn’t lock down Baku in all the ways he wanted because Baku is fundamentally a leader who shows up for everyone’s benefit. I remember one of my subscribers once described Baku as “the heart of Eunjang,” and that really captures it – you can’t pin down someone’s heart when it beats for an entire community.
The heart of Eunjang…
Speaking of Baku, let me take a brief detour here because one of my thoughtful critics wrote something that perfectly captures his appeal:
Park Hu-min, the sun of Eunjang, is the justice-filled leader of Eunjang High School as basketball team captain and the person who maintains order at Eunjang. He’s famous for his strength but absolutely can’t stand injustice.
What’s interesting is how different he is from Su-ho in Class 1: Su-ho only moves for Si-eun, so he’s not really a leader in the traditional sense, but Baku is a true group leader who acts for everyone’s benefit.
The director specifically cast Ryeoun because of his ‘righteous eyes.’ How perfect is that for a character defined by his moral compass?… And the dedication Ryeoun showed was incredible: he gained over ten kilograms eating malatang to build the sturdy physique needed for the role, explaining that “each character has their own unique action style, and Baku is a character with strong power. Each hit needs to be powerful.” This physical and emotional commitment to embodying someone who could be everyone’s protector really shows in every scene.
One of the thrills of Class 2 is definitely those adrenaline-pumping action scenes, and I personally loved how the direction maximized the action by having Go-tak and Baku – who are best friends (I think I mentioned in one of my audios that you can call them “buralchingu” in Korean, which is hilarious slang for super tight friends lol) – complement each other perfectly in fights, with Go-tak focusing on lower body attacks while Baku dominated with upper body power. I must have replayed those sequences like ten times because the choreography was absolutely brilliant.
The Narrative of Two Friends Bound by Go-tak
Understanding the psychology behind Baek-jin’s obsession with Baku becomes clearer when we trace back to their childhood dynamic and how Go-tak became a thorn in Baek-jin’s side.
One subscriber really hit the nail on the head when they analyzed:
The reason Baek-jin is obsessed with Baku is because Baku, ‘the only person’ who understood his complete self in the past, is the only person who could accept him ‘now’ even though he’s changed.
This insight captures something crucial about Baek-jin’s psychology – he’s caught between two versions of himself: the weak kid who used to get beaten up, and the powerful Union leader he’s become. Baku represents the only bridge between these identities, which makes him uniquely irreplaceable in Baek-jin’s sense of self.
But here’s where it gets interesting – tons of my subscribers have been curious about Baku and Go-tak’s intimacy too, and some were literally asking “How the hell did Go-tak recognize Baku’s tiger boxers hanging at Daesung Bikes?! What’s their deal?!” (I cracked up at this question and even ended up posting an audio explanation 🤣)
The thing is, Baku and Go-tak are kinda like celebrities at Eunjang High – everyone knows who they are, and they’re the guys leading the basketball team. What I love about these two pure knuckleheads (that’s Korean slang, by the way – through talking with subscribers, I learned that in some cultures, childhood friends who grew up together are called “underwear friends,” which really broadened my perspective on how different cultures view these relationships) is that their friendship is such a healthy example of male bonding. I personally found it adorable that neither of them even smokes – they blow off steam through sports instead.
They’re just your typical teenage guys who aren’t particularly interested in academics and don’t have any hang-ups about not being great students. (Lee Min-jae, who plays Go-tak, really nailed that high school boy vibe perfectly..) From a viewer’s perspective, their friendship is genuinely enviable – and if we as viewers feel that way, imagine how much more irritating it must have been for Baek-jin, who desperately wants to keep Baku all to himself.
That’s why he went as far as messing up Go-tak’s knee, and narratively, this incident becomes the turning point that makes Baku turn his back on Baek-jin. Even after that, Baek-jin keeps sending Seong-je to target Go-tak – Baku’s soft spot – basically using him as leverage to pull Baku’s strings.
AngelMegha**** laid out the timeline perfectly:
When Baku saved Baek-jin from getting bullied in childhood then they became best friends even Baku taught Baek-jin how to fight to protect himself but Baek-jin become the bully himself. When Go-tak become friend with Baku then Baek-jin was feeling that his best friend was taken away by another person so he becomes obsessed with Baku because he doesn’t want to lose his only friend. In this jealousy he took many wrong decisions. They went on to say they wanted Baek-jin alive for Season 3 just to see his over-obsessed and over-possessive nature towards Baku and what dangerous decisions he will take to possess Baku.
But alisha**** offered a different perspective on where their story should go:
Yeah, but they already showed that overly possessive nature. Forcing friends away from him, isolating him, beating them up, and making him feel guilty. Even messing with his dad, the possessiveness has already been shown. Now in season 3, hopefully they can see each other on good terms and see how far the other person has gone to change and become better and get that closure and maybe closeness again, hugs and apologies and all that good stuff.
I found myself agreeing with her take:
I agree with your opinion. Baek-jin planted too much guilt in Baku. Su-ho woke up and relieved Si-eun of his guilt, but for Baku, it seems like too heavy an emotional burden remains. I hope everyone can be happier in Season 3! Because the truth is, Baku carries this crushing weight of feeling responsible for how Baek-jin turned out, and unlike Si-eun, who got that healing moment with Su-ho’s recovery, Baku’s guilt just keeps piling up with no resolution in sight.
The Rest of Baek-jin and Baku’s Story
It’s amusing how particular subscriber comments linger in your mind and completely alter your perspective. Someone pointed out that and left comments like:
“Baek-jin just needs Baku to topple Choi, the big boss, together. I’d been so focused on the emotional manipulation aspect that I’d overlooked how genuinely invested Baek-jin was in his Union vision. He wasn’t just dangling empty promises to control Baku. In his mind, he was offering real partnership, real security, a legitimate future. The gap is that he couldn’t grasp why Baku would turn down what seemed like such a solid opportunity just because it came with some moral grey areas…”
(Honestly, I’d always seen Baek-jin as someone completely lacking moral boundaries when it came to his business methods – extorting high schoolers’ phones, stealing motorcycles, that whole operation. But when I saw him donating money he’d gathered through those means to the orphanage where he grew up, it hit me how deep his own sense of lack and deprivation really runs…💔)
What really gets me about this community is how people engage with the content even when they know it’s far from perfect. I had one subscriber who took the time to transcribe an entire video because they wanted to go back and review the analysis without having to scrub through audio. They said “I wrote up a transcript as best as I could so I could go back and review your points without having to jump around in the video: I think it might help other watchers as well…” When I thanked them, they just replied “Thank you for the transcript! I totally understand you’re doing this on your commute and hugely appreciate you taking the time!”
Moments like that remind me why I keep doing this. It’s not just about analyzing characters anymore – it feels like we’re all building something together, piecing together these stories through different lenses and perspectives that none of us could reach alone 🫶
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🥊 Su-ho (수호) Analysis
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📊 Quick Navigation by Interest
⚡ Character Dynamics:
- Su-ho and Si-eun’s Relationship
- Beom-seok’s Obsession with Su-ho
- When International Fans Decode Korean Bromance
🧠 Psychology Deep Dives:
- When Subscribers Become Psychology Experts
- Si-eun’s Episode 8 Revenge
- Why Si-eun is a Character Magnet
🎬 Behind-the-Scenes Content:
🌐 Translation & Cultural Context:
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