Why Si-eun Clicked with Su-ho Instantly

⚠️ Content Warning: This post contains in-depth discussion about adolescent psychology and mental health. There may be triggering elements, so please feel empowered to skip this one if needed.

On my first watch through what struck me about Sieun and Suho's friendship was the way their dynamic reminded me so much of the autistic-adhd friendship bond.

It's very common for neurodivergent kids to like/befriend one another with unusual ease. Sieun's immediate (and likely for him, very surprising) comfort around Suho would probably have felt like a warm embrace in the form of a human.

Viewed through this lens, it never surprised me that he so instantly felt attached to Suho. Or that Suho enjoyed Sieun for the weirdo that he is rather than finding him 'offputting' like most of their other classmates.

(from @skgm7420)

📢 Quick Note: Everything here is fan interpretation and speculation, not professional diagnosis. This is written from a perspective of love for the work, purely for educational and discussion purposes.

At first, I said it jokingly. But honestly? Deep down I was getting worried. Wasn't I spending way too much time on a TV show? Maybe I was wasting those precious few minutes on the train when I could actually decompress from work?

Then something unexpected happened when I started having these deep conversations with international fans about the drama.

A close friend who does adolescent counseling had recommended Weak Hero Class 1 when it dropped three years ago, but I'd completely forgotten about it. Teen action, really? Didn't exactly grab me.

When season 2 hit Netflix, fan creation shorts and old drama reviews started getting pushed back up in my YouTube feed. Is this the power of Netflix money? Eventually, the bombardment worked - I found myself clicking on season 1 out of habit.

That simple little "accident" was the beginning. I stayed up all night binge-watching all 8 episodes, and I had this immediate gut feeling: "What the hell did I just watch...? If I'm hooked, I'm properly hooked."

Around this time, I was suffering from work burnout. Without any real plan, I was commuting every day fantasizing about submitting my resignation letter, thinking "wouldn't it be better to just get fired?"

Then, in the middle of all this, I got hit by what we call a "fandom accident" with Weak Hero.

You know how when you're in an accident, you desperately look around to see if there are other victims whose lives have been equally destroyed by the same crash? YouTube was perfect for that. I started exchanging comments with fans who'd been willing hostages to this drama for as long as me... maybe even longer, seeing Su-ho through Si-eun's eyes, and trying to better understand Beom-seok on that "ring" who left me with what I can only call "cinematic trauma."

I even bought the official script book and started reading it on my commute home.

Discussing and debating the deeper meanings woven between the lines of the direction with countless fans – strangely enough, my burnout started to ease. It was a surprising experience that I couldn't quite understand myself.

I used to always doze off on the train home from work, but when I'd pull out my tablet to make videos and exchange comments back and forth with commenters, oddly enough, I didn't feel tired at all. So I could clearly sense that the passion I was pouring into this drama was coming back to me as this strange kind of happiness.

To put it Su-ho's way, "do these discussions put food on the table?" And in Seong-je's terms, it's stupidly "romantic" nonsense - but while it doesn't feed me, I'd say "the romance passes with flying colors."

I wonder if the production team intentionally released Class 2 around late May to early June, when Si-eun, Su-ho, and Beom-seok first met. But anyway, mid-July when Su-ho falls into a coma in the Class 1 timeline is steadily approaching.

I'm frantically working on wrapping things up because if I don't organize all these deep discussions and reflections I've shared with fans about this masterpiece by then, I feel like I'll never be discharged from the ward (?), just like countless other "patients" who've confessed they've been unable to let go for a whole "3 years" now.

Since accidentally getting hit by this fandom crash with this drama - it was like catching a fever, a cold that struck in early summer when I was completely defenseless. But it was a welcome visitor. I think it was two months that were stupidly, ridiculously romantic.

I interpreted the work from multiple angles, analyzed the characters, and reinterpreted angles I couldn't see through the eyes of commenters. I wanted to pour out the emotions I felt watching this masterpiece somewhere online, and now I want to carefully preserve the discussions I've shared with commenters.

I felt this personal sense of duty to leave behind somewhere a tribute from an individual fan to this masterpiece that came to me after such a long time - almost like a savior-level destroyer (?) of my daily routine.

The passionate commenters who helped create this channel together, especially 'Elaine' - like the final passage of her recent long comment, this syndrome that came like an early summer cold 'strangely' made me happy, and maybe I really did experience a bit of a mental syndrome because of Weak Hero.

Elaine's touching comment, especially the last line, will probably hang in my heart like some thread-thin string for a long time.

Particularly when she said in that final line that the conclusion I eventually reached about Si-eun as a character made her strangely but happily moved - I felt like I could understand what she was trying to say and where that emotion was coming from.

Considering that she's a native English speaker, there's this conciseness and directness that the language offers, yet it feels almost curated. When I read comments from Elaine that feel like 'poetry' to me, with depth that touches differently through her curation of sometimes critical-level commentary and sometimes expressions made of only concise, core words.

The gratitude I expressed in my reply to her… compared to Weak Hero content appearing on YouTube feeds, my voice-centered analysis is relatively 'old-fashioned'. In a world of fast-flowing shorts, there aren't many viewers who will patiently 'endure' long-form content.

So perhaps, in Seong-je's way, I really did create a stupidly romantic channel. (As long as the romance passes, that's all that matters!)

On the other hand, creating scripts in English, which isn't my native language but a communication tool, takes considerable time. If I wanted profit proportional to this time, a more 'less' 'romantic' method - stimulating curiosity with clickbait thumbnails or creating shorts focused on action scenes - would be faster.

I'm not trying to judge other YouTube creators' content, but quite a lot of content seems to use Weak Hero images or videos provocatively. There was even a level that would be hard for someone who truly cherishes this work as a fan to create.

Anyway, I can earn pocket money at my job, so I'll continue in my 'old-fashioned' way, in a stupidly romantic method of rambling monologues closer to a 'tribute'. (And as a result, since my burnout eased, the romance really did pass with flying colors..)

So commenters who leave old-fashioned tributes as much as mine discovering the channel and pouring their time into it - that couldn't be anything but a 'miracle'.

And my coping mechanism for work burnout - this fever I 'strangely', 'happily' experienced continued for almost two months. Deep analysis of characters and contexts missed through translations - as international fans started catching these, the depth of shared impressions through comments only deepened.

While I'm grateful for all comments, comments that threw various questions at me were particularly about the character, especially 'Si-eun's' mental state. What Director Yoo Su-min wanted to say about the character called 'Yeon Si-eun' using the beautiful face of actor 'Park Ji-hoon'.

Meanings hidden between the lines - sometimes transparent enough to recognize as 'It's a cautionary tale' as Elaine's opinion suggested. One of them might be about 'mental illness' that teenage adolescents experience.

Beyond just Si-eun losing Su-ho and being prescribed 'sleeping pills'.

A somewhat heavy subject - but for reasons like most people finding it boring, not being interested, wanting to look away, or lacking practical rewards worth spending time on - I seem to have run all the way here wanting to talk about mental issues that people don't touch.

Of course, the work would have needed a kind of cushion - a neutralizing device - in dealing with boy characters who have extraordinary temperaments and very heavy narratives. Boy characters who experience trials too big for their age to the point of leaving cinematic trauma or meeting tragic endings.

So they borrowed the beautiful face that actor Park Ji-hoon has, the face of the innocent Choi Hyun-wook who was at the boundary between boy and young man at that time.

I guessed that the director took great courage to reveal themes we try to avoid touching as much as possible. Especially in Korean society - themes more avoided - broadly speaking, social pain.

When intense growing pains preceded but finally Si-eun stood at the threshold of adulthood. Like Su-ho's greeting 'It looks good' when he woke up at that moment... I think perhaps they wanted to convey through Si-eun a small hope that healing and continuation are possible even within pain.

Directors Yoo Su-min and Han Jun-hee are both artists who know that truth cannot be brought to the surface without touching society's pain. I think they succeeded in delivering a hopeful message elegantly without forcing it through excellent direction and equally well-refined scripts.

Whether it's my friend who's an adolescent counselor who recommended this drama early, passionate commenters, me - none of us have any intention to attach any diagnostic label to Si-eun or specify exactly what's happening to the boy.

This work gave many hints about various external factors that affected or could affect Si-eun. But I think it was carefully directed not to put the boy in a box through a specific label. So fans are just speculating and 'dealing with' Si-eun's mental state from various angles. And we don't really see 'definition' itself as important.

Not just Elaine but many commenters have consistently mentioned that Si-eun's obsessive immersion in math problems is a coping mechanism the child found. A 'source of comfort through predictable control, and a way to cope with an unstable or unpredictable world'.

So when young Si-eun overheard his parents' fight - indirect but clear regret about raising the child. The child returns to his room, locks the door, and instead of lying in bed crying his eyes out, starts obsessively solving math problems.

What I completely agree on were Si-eun's characteristics mentioned in various comments:

These patterns have been frequently pointed out as Si-eun's characteristics suggesting he processes the world differently from relatively typical kids. And I completely agree.

Like Elaine's message, the reason I completely agreed with the definition of 'Weak Hero' as 'It's a cautionary tale'. This drama had to summarize the vast webtoon content in just an 8-episode chapter. That is, the realistic need and obligation to fit the drama into the OTT platform structure.

From the perspective that every scene in Class 1, maybe every 1-second cut, had to carry symbolic meaning. The director responsible for the script would have had the obligation to do very meticulous and careful curation of the original content. (And it would have caused extremely intense stress for the creator..)

So practically no scene in the drama could be wasted and symbolic meaning had to be assigned to every direction, sequence, and scene.

So Si-eun adapted accordingly. He became an isolated, ascetic, academic automaton, living in an extremely rigid world. A world where he denies himself basic needs for food, sleep, and human relationships.

So I too... thought at the moment Si-eun breaks the glass window, 'Ah, Si-eun could have harmed himself in the most harmful way...' Because I had that thought, the scene where he completely destroys the kids who put Su-ho into a coma didn't feel unrealistic at all..

Obsessively intense focus on academics, childhood episodes of suddenly losing consciousness and collapsing. The way he socially isolates himself or becomes isolated. Especially having difficulty regulating emotions when anger builds up. And the extreme stress experienced when his own routine is disrupted.

I said these patterns could suggest Si-eun processes the world differently from typical kids, and I completely agree. And there are many real kids like Si-eun who seem fine on the outside but need help from trusted adults or professional care.

After binge-watching this drama several times, I came to view it through a personal lens that directionally hints at Si-eun's neurodivergence. In some ways, I came to interpret the drama around the possibility that Si-eun might be on the high-functioning autism spectrum. (Personal interpretation varies through the viewer's lens..)

Then, through this lens as frequently mentioned in various comments, the commenter's impression that Si-eun and Su-ho remind them of the autistic-ADHD friendship bond is fully relatable. The point that it's very common for neurodivergent kids to feel very comfortable with each other and become friends quickly.

That Si-eun immediately felt comfortable around Su-ho and instantly felt attached to Su-ho. And the direction that Su-ho, unlike classmates who find Si-eun offputting, finds Si-eun's quirky side interesting and likes him from the start - this all naturally touches the heart.

I'm not labeling these two characters as autistic-ADHD respectively. I wanted to talk about the immediately formed friendship and deep attachment between these two characters.

If I had to mention something, I wanted to point out that Si-eun is more likely to be a neurodivergent child than Su-ho. And when his parents or surrounding adults noticed this, did immediate response and attention, more broadly appropriate care, take place? I wanted to throw that question.

As we already confirmed in the drama, the answer is 'no'. They probably guessed there's nothing particularly to worry about with a model student who's first in the whole school. Or even if at some point in childhood they noticed their child's mental issues, there's a high possibility they deliberately denied and passed it over.

Especially even if some traits indicating Si-eun might be on the autism spectrum were discovered, they might have passed it over thinking 'that can't be...' using his excellent academic performance shown since childhood as an excuse..

And Su-ho cuts through Si-eun's wall like a knife through butter. Through a wrongly delivered meal, he suddenly throws open the door to Si-eun's world.

Su-ho mistakenly delivers and opens Si-eun's tightly closed front door. Because of this, Si-eun experiences like a tsunami in a short period the deep attachment, laughter, stability, love - all these emotions he should have naturally received from his parents.

If Su-ho hadn't mistakenly found Si-eun's door, Si-eun couldn't have broken out of his shell.

To quote my friend's comment a bit more, while it was good that Si-eun received help from Su-ho to get out of his hard shell. The range of emotions Si-eun felt toward Su-ho was overwhelmingly intense and wave-like. So if these two boys existed in reality, there might have come a point where Si-eun became emotionally overly dependent on Su-ho.

This is nothing more than speculation through a completely personal lens about hints between the directional lines. But Beom-seok greatly admires and idealizes Su-ho, constantly being 'conscious' of Su-ho's presence. While Si-eun is depicted in multiple cuts putting Su-ho's back view in his eyes.

The slightly obsessive yet intense focus he shows when handling things precious to him like 'studying' overlaps when he looks at Su-ho.

The point I completely empathized with was the opinion that just as Si-eun regarded the perfect circle on the exam paper as a lifeline. The same perfectionist tendency and intense focus he developed toward everything he started to cherish likely transferred to his friend Su-ho, his other lifeline.

Even getting blood on his own hands for his friend or taking beatings in his place could be called almost desperate actions. A child who had rarely experienced stability and attachment seemed to sense in advance that the uncontrollable mental collapse that would hit him if the person who became precious suddenly disappeared would be far more unbearable than the physical pain he chose.

Huh?

In other words, Si-eun's coping mechanisms - whether the perfect circle on exam papers or sacrificing himself to this extent for his friend - are most unhealthy for Si-eun himself.

In this context, I think it was excellent direction that Si-eun had to experience the trauma of losing Su-ho. Because for Si-eun to sustain his life, he can't keep self-harming. Perhaps painful but another growth pain was inevitable.

So putting Su-ho into a coma - sorry to Su-ho who spent more than half of his high school years in a hospital bed. But dramatically, I think it was a very excellent directorial choice.

Coming down to this point, the question that still remains is this. God sent Su-ho to Si-eun as a gift in the name of friend. But do real Si-euns in our society, in reality, have trusted adults or guardian angels who will appropriately intervene?

Some kids silently collapse internally, cultivating depression, anxiety disorders, and suicidal thoughts. Or like Si-eun, some kids 'explode' when crisis situations hit, acting violently or collapsing completely emotionally.

I saw these silently internally collapsing real kids in Season 2's Si-eun. Si-eun's insomnia was already spoilered in the last episode of Season 1.

Since Su-ho fell into a coma, Si-eun has been spending hellish sleepless nights. Si-eun's room that had at least been lit yellow has sunken cold like the feeble blue light coming from the stand hanging over the table. Even taking sleeping pills, the boy can't fall asleep until 3 AM.

While the scene of him taking prescribed sleeping pills is very clearly depicted in the direction. There are many interpretations that Si-eun's awkward gait indirectly portrays how the boy is consumed by deep depression, and I agree as well.

In Season 2, there are exceptionally many cuts capturing Si-eun from behind. And you can easily notice that when the boy walks, he barely moves his arms in sync with his steps, and his form is awkward.

This is interpreted as signs of depression and anxiety. And pointed out as indirectly directing a signal that he's disconnected from reality, as if his mind and body aren't synchronized.

Even though the depth and scope may differ - Si-eun's mental issues have been a topic frequently discussed with commenters. So Elaine's comment can be said to be a grateful opinion that summarizes all the discussions we've had so far.

After Si-eun completely fell apart in Class 1, with nowhere willing to take him in, he barely dodged juvenile detention and got shipped off to Eunjang High.

But thanks to that, Si-eun, who'd been living like an emotional zombie, ended up meeting Ba-ku, Go-tak, and Jun-tae. And his friendship with these guys – not too close, not too distant – gave him a much more sustainable friendship pattern to look up to.

His decision to let go of Beom-seok's hand on that ring – the one that had been putting him through hellish sleepless nights. Symbolized his determination to free himself from the guilt he'd been holding onto and his choice to heal and grow despite his losses.

And while the drama didn't spell it out explicitly, anyone who really gets this show could feel the hope. That Si-eun was slowly breaking free from the shadows of the deep psychological struggles that had been weighing him down.

We can see his depression starting to lift when he's able to build meaningful relationships with people who accept him for who he is without expecting perfection. And if he can keep those kinds of relationships going… with people who'll actually stick around… then maybe he gets closer to just being a regular introvert. Who knows how much he can recover?

The massive psychological breakdown Si-eun went through as the price for losing Su-ho wasn't simply tragedy. But the psychological growth he had to go through.

It's like a bird breaking out of its shell – you can't survive just by breaking out. Si-eun had to learn to live without his coping mechanisms – perfect grades and Su-ho as his lifelines – to truly grow into an adult.

If he had kept trying to protect those lifelines by scarring his own body and shedding blood, he never could have grown up properly. And the people who care about Si-eun wouldn't want him to keep hurting himself either.

So when Su-ho woke up from his long sleep and saw Si-eun running over with his friends. The fact that he said "It looks good" out of all things he could have said carries real weight.

He was genuinely proud of and celebrating Si-eun's growth into a bird that could fly on its own. Apparently, Su-ho's original line was supposed to be "Our Si-eun has really grown up."

Well… We see that Si-eun has grown enough to convince himself that he can build a sustainable life with his new friends. However, the question still remains: do the real Si-euns in reality have Su-ho-like figures who will watch over them, saying

If we've reached the stage of raising such questions, then this work has succeeded in conveying meaningful social implications beyond the school action genre. Thanks to the refined script and meticulous curation of the original adaptation. As well as the sophisticated and precise direction that must have caused tremendous stress for the creators.

Of course, this also includes Park Ji-hoon's outstanding performance. Who externally embodied the remnants of internal struggle through his expressionless face, monotone speech, swollen face from insomnia, and awkward gait.

(To the point where it wouldn't be surprising if I got fired...) It's no exaggeration to say I spent these months caught in a fever like an early summer cold because of Weak Hero.

Knowing that there won't be another work that will make me experience such a syndrome for a long time to come. I don't regret a single moment of the two months I poured into this. And I was so happy to be able to freely enjoy high-level discussions with fans from various cultures who discovered my channel.

In Seong-je's way, it was stupidly romantic enough to stay up all night reviewing and discussing, but I was strangely, deeply happy.

So why am I telling you all this? Because I think Weak Hero did something extraordinary. It took a "teen action drama" and turned it into a mirror that reflects back the silent struggles of so many real kids.

Kids who are brilliant but breaking. Kids who cope by perfecting the controllable while everything else crumbles. Kids who need someone—anyone—to notice before it's too late.

The conversations I've had with subscribers from around the world about this show have been some of the most meaningful exchanges I've ever had online. We're not just analyzing a TV show. We're recognizing something in these characters that we've either experienced ourselves, seen in people we love, or know exists but don't talk about enough.

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