| “ | If ten times don't work, then I do it a hundred times. If a hundred times don't work, then I do it a thousand times. And if a thousand times don't work, I do it ten thousand times. I just keep hitting until it works.
— Ben Park, Episode 246
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Ben Park (박후민, Park Humin; "Hoo-min Park"), also known by his epithet "Big Ben" (바쿠; Baku), is the deuteragonist of Weak Hero. Currently a first year at Eunjang High School, he is in Class 1-8 and is considered by many to be the strongest in the school. A talented and powerful fighter, Ben Park is infamous for his physical strength, currently ranked 2nd on the Shuttle Patch website.
Appearance
Ben Park is above-average height, with a rather muscular frame. He has reddish-brown hair, which initially goes down to his chin but is later cut to reach his ears. Ben has a notably darker skin tone than most of the other characters in the series.
Ben usually wears the Eunjang High uniform, although he usually leaves his shirt unbuttoned and neglects the tie, giving him a somewhat casual, unkempt appearance.
Ben has a scar on his left upper forearm as a result of shielding Alex from the pile of wooden beams with nails. In its first appearance, it went down his arm vertically and had what appeared to be pins or staples. In its next appearance, the design of the scar has changed to a typical horizontal scar partially wrapped around his bicep.
Personality
Ben’s personality resembles that of the typical shounen protagonist: a sporadic and outgoing person who never backs down from a good fight. However, he has also shown a more thoughtful and analytical side in contrast to his regular happy-go-lucky attitude. Ben is deeply compassionate, caring greatly for his friends and often becomes angry or worried on their behalf. He never hesitates to help them, and tries to relieve them of their stress and troubles by lending an ear to listen and offer advice. Ben is also shown to try his best to accommodate his friends, such as when he decides finds their group a new hangout spot after learning about Gray's trauma associated with rooftops.
When away from conflict, Ben is otherwise shown to hold a very relaxed and carefree attitude, opting to hang out with his friends instead of focusing on studies. His carefree attitude extends to his leadership of his class, which is indisputably the leader of. Unlike other classes of Eunjang, Ben's class has a relaxed atmosphere, with the classmates demonstrating friendliness and loyalty towards each other. In the background, they can be seen playing sports together and goofing off. He has also been shown in the past to have a love for pranking his friends with some harmless tricks, such as attaching a large paper ‘N’ to the back of Gerard Jin’s head to make it resemble the icon of Naver.
Ben also shows immense commitment and regard to a physical routine, as shown when he performs 50 pull-ups in a row as part of his gym workout and Alex's frequent comments on his fixation with working out.
When fighting, while Ben is usually shown not holding back, he is not overtly cruel or ruthless like other characters within the series. However, when enraged, Ben’s personality changes drastically, showing little to no mercy and inflicting immense damage upon his opponents, such as when he pummeled Forrest Lee until his entire face was swollen and bruised.
History
Ben met Alex when they were young very early in life. Throughout elementary school to their second year of middle school, they were always in the same homeroom class. It wasn't until their third year of middle school that he and Alex were finally in separate classes.
When Ben was still in Eunjang Middle School, he fought Jimmy Bae in a skirmish involving his best friend Alex Go. While it seemed they were evenly matched, Ben started to gain the upper hand in their fight until Donald Na arrived and interrupted their fight. When Ben challenged Donald, the head of the Yeongdeungpo Union easily pummeled Ben until he was barely conscious, and Ben survived only by coincidence when Donald received a phone call at the last minute. After the fight with Donald, Ben severely injured his arm; because of that, he required extensive treatment as well as physical therapy to make a full recovery. As a result, he spent a majority of his time after the fight and before the beginning of the series avoiding conflict and pursuing a peaceful lifestyle.
Plot
Yoosun Arc
Ben Park first appears telling his best friend Alex Go that the original leader of Class 1-5 Colton Choi was defeated by a transfer student Gray Yeon. The two go down to Class 1-5 to see who was responsible for defeating Colton Choi where they stare in disbelief along with a crowd of other students, including Gerard Jin, who heard of Gray Yeon's fight that Colton was defeated by someone as scrawny as Gray. Gerard comments how Ben and Alex are inseparable which annoys Alex.
After hearing that Gray Yeon managed to beat up Colton Choi a second time along with Colton's friends Royce Na and Eddie Moore, Ben decides to pay a visit to Gray again where he witnesses Phillip Kim attempting to intimidate Gray only to laugh at Phillip when he sees Gray is unfazed by him. Ben breaks up their little skirmish and threatens Phillip not to act like he is the toughest in Eunjang, while squeezing Phillip's shoulder. Ben apologizes to Gray for interrupting his class and leaves, taking Phillip Kim with him.
The next day, Ben and Alex decide to skip school early so they could meet the new attractive employee at the pool hall "Billiards" they frequent., unaware that Phillip Kim had arranged for Ben Park to get jumped by Jimmy Bae and his gang from Yoosun High. While Ben and Alex are playing pool and ogling at the new employee they notice a commotion outside by the under pass. They quickly run outside to find Gray Yeon and Gerard Jin being harassed by Yoosun students. Noticing that one of the students is Jack Kang, Jimmy Bae's right hand man, Ben deduces that they are after him to settle their original score. Seeing it as an opportunity to let loose, Ben and Alex quickly team up with Gerard and Gray against the students from Yoosun. As the students fought Gray Yeon managed to stop the fight by defeating one of their toughest members there, Harper Ha (aka Helmet). Seeing the strength of their group, the Yoosun students retrieve for the time being. Ben invites Gray to play pool with them but Gray declines, while Gerard joins in. As the three play pool, Ben can't help but wonder what kind of person Gray really is as his appearance does not fight with his persona while Alex wonders if they will hear from Jimmy Bae and Yoosun again but Ben is not fazed as he is not intimidated by Jimmy Bae.
After this incident, Ben notices that Alex had been skipping school for some time, unaware that he was attacked by Jimmy Bae and was choosing to hide himself so Ben would not over react. This does not last however as Ben quickly learned from the employee at Gilliard what happened. Ben, having had enough of Jimmy Bae, as well as the Yeongdeungpo Union, decides to take matters into his own hands and confront Jimmy Bae personally. While with Alex after school, Ben is lured to the school's incinerator behind where he finds Jimmy Bae and more students from Yoosun High fighting Gerard Jin. Gray Yeon and Eugene Gale arrive searching for Gray's stolen bag. A rumble breaks out between everyone present, with Ben personally fighting against Jimmy Bae. Jimmy ferociously attacked Ben with consecutive punches, leaving Ben no time to counter. Just as Jimmy lets his guard down, believing he has subdued Ben, Ben surprised Jimmy by knocking him down with one uppercut. The remainder of their fight became a battle of endurance as the two landed blow after blow on each other. While Jimmy and Ben Park seem to be evenly matched, as Jimmy had improved drastically since their last fight and Ben had gone through physical therapy to recover since their last fight, Jimmy Bae became exhausted from wasting too much energy and was no match for Ben's superior physical strength. With one final punch, Ben knocked Jimmy unconscious and demanded the remaining Yoosun students to take Jimmy and leave. Despite their victory, Ben does not believe it will be the last they hear of Jimmy Bae or the Union.
Hyeongshin Arc
Following their altercation, Ben Park decides to form a group with Alex Go, Gerard Jin, Gray Yeon, and Eugene Gale. Ben asks everyone to meet at Billiard so they can discuss their next move should Yoosun or the Union decide to make another attack on Eunjang. During their meeting, Alex reveals that he saw Donald Na, leader of the Union on his way to the Billiard. Ben believes he has arrived in their neighborhood because of the incident with Jimmy Bae, but Eugene recalls that Donald comes to each school at the end of the month for an accounting conference and that the closet school in their neighborhood would be Hyeongshin High.
Not long after, students from Eunjang High were being targeted by Forrest Lee and Hyeongshin High, on orders from Donald Na in response to the Yoosun Showdown, in an attempt to draw him out. When Ben Park learns of this he believes the best course of action would be to attack Hyeongshin High like they did to Yoosun, but Alex believes that they need to strategize first before they make their move. Alex calls up Eugene and Gray to formulate a plan but Gray does not come. Eugene reveals that he himself was attacked by Hyeongshin students but was saved thanks to Teddy Jin.
As the days went by, and more students from Eunjang were being attacked, Forrest Lee manages to track down Ben Park's gang. Believing it to be too dangerous to fight them all at once, Forrest has his gang attack all of Ben Park's gang whilst split up. Forrest assigns Robin Ha to take down Ben Park as Robin has been interested in fighting Ben Park.
While walking home from school, Ben is ambushed by Robin Ha and his gang. Ben demands to know where Forrest Lee is which Robin Ha taunts Ben that Forrest decided to go after Alex to make Ben come for Forrest. This only infuriates Ben who swiftly defeats all of Robin Ha's minions in one hit each. Robin Ha tries to deal with Ben directly but is also easily defeated by Ben Park. Despite Ben being the clear victor, Robin continued to taunt Ben by revealing that they weren't just going after Ben but all of his friends, and that Ben had no way of saving all of them. However Gerard Jin, surviving his encounter with Scorpion and the students from Hyeongshin High and learning about their plan from them, arrives on the scene and deals a kick straight to Robin Ha's face, knocking him out. Gerard informs Ben that Alex was at Singil as he runs to save Gray Yeon.
Without hesitating, Ben quickly ran to find Alex who along with Teddy Jin were being ambushed by Forrest Lee and his gang from Hyeongshin. Ben, having arrived at Singil just in time, finds Alex and Teddy beaten severely by the group with Alex completely unconscious. Ben grabs Forrest by his ear and demands Forrest tell him if he was responsible for Alex. As the students from Hyeongshin attempt to help Forrest they are stopped by Teddy. Forrest manages to land a sneak attack on Ben while he was distracted and grips Ben by his throat, trying to strangle him. Ben is unfazed by Forrest Lee's inferior strength and proceeds to lift his entire body and slam it into the nearby fence. Ben Park, blinded by rage, began to beat Forrest senselessly while everyone watched, too scared to interfere. Alex, full conscious again calmly asks Ben to stop punching Forrest as he was already knocked out from the beating. Ben, thankful that his friend is okay, regains his senses and leaves with Alex and Teddy to meet up with Gerard Jin, Gray Yeon, and Eugene Gale. With their victory, and new allies made (including Teddy Jin and a childhood friend of Eugene, Rowan Im), the group celebrated with a toast just outside of a convenient store.
Ganghak Arc
Following Hyeongshin's assault on Eunjang High as well as Ben Park's gang surviving Forrest Lee's ambush, student's of Eunjang High were free to continue their everyday lives, with Gray Yeon even managing to take revenge on Phillip Kim as he was responsible for organizing all of the attacks on Gray and Ben. When Ben gains word of this, he congratulates Gray and wants to go on the roof to talk more about it but Gray declines. Noticing Gray's sadness, Eugene reveals that Gray told him that Gray doesn't like going on rooftops. Alex advises Ben to talk to Gray.
Ben meets up with Gray at an arcade where Ben plays a game of Tekken. Gray shows off to Ben his gaming skills and admits he can strike up to five combos. Ben, blown away by Gray's mastery of the game begs Gray to take him on as his apprentice so that he may defeat Alex and his King Man. The two boys share lunch together where Ben admits that he wants Gray to know that they are friends and that he doesn't have to be afraid of opening up to them. Gray opens up to Ben about his tragic past involving his best friend falling off a roof and how he ended up attending Eunjang High despite his outstanding grades and intellect. Ben out of sympathy and respect does not reveal Gray's past to the others, but instead decides to find a new hideout for their gang in an abandoned basement of their school.
Days later, while on his way to grab lunch, he finds that the chicken restaurant he frequents was shutdown for under age drinking. Ben overheard the son of the owner Toby Kim talk about how his bully Jared Sun, a student of Ganghak High, was responsible for the restaurant's suspension of business. Toby Kim talked about how he would get revenge on Jared after he was done dealing with Eunjang's "White Mamba" (Gray Yeon's epithet). Hearing about his friend, Ben asked Toby where Gray was at.
With Toby Kim's help, Ben managed to track down Gray, as well as Eugene and Rowan where he witnessed Gray defeat the head of Ganghak High Wolf Keum. As Gray passed out calling out to Ben, mistaking him for his former friend Stephen, Gray passes out in Ben's arms as Ben carries Gray to a nearby hospital. After seeing what Gray was reduced to because of the Union, Ben Park realized that in order to keep his friends safe, he would have to dismantle the Union, and put an end to their tyranny. Ben Park as well as the rest of their gang would frequently visit Gray while he was hospitalized, with Ben even checking up with his doctor regarding his recovery since his physical therapy sessions.
Daehyeon Arc
While on their way to use Ben Park's coupon at the reopened chicken restaurant, Ben, Alex and Gray notice Timothy Park, a friend of Jake Ji, was following them. When confronting Timothy they are interrupted by the arrival of another friend of Jake Ji, Dean Kwon, who comes to defend Timothy. Before a fight can break out, Jake Ji arrives and deescalates the situation by apologizing for his friends transgressions and leaves with them. While Ben is still angry about what had happened, Jake Ji formally introduces himself as the head of Daehyeon High and the second rank in the shuttle patch rankings. Jake promises Ben that they would see each other again.
As the only school left who has not faced Eunjang High, Donald Na assigns Jake Ji, the head of Daehyeon High to crush Eunjang. Jake Ji however wanted to provoke Ben Park into accepting his duel and so went to beat up Gerard Jin as a message to Ben Park, that he is serious. Jake Ji, seeing it as the only way to officially defeat Eunjang and have it be under the Union's control, challenges Ben Park to a fight in front of Eunjang High.
Ben Park, while on his school roof with his friends, heard Jake Ji call out for him and challenge him to a fight, Ben accepted the challenge but ordered his friends not to interfere regardless of what happens. With students of Eunjang, Jake Ji's gang, and Naksung Yoon's gang (as back up under Donald Na's orders) bearing witness to their fight, the two wasted no time in starting their duel, dodging and blocking each others attacks without effort at first, however Jake gets the first hit, knocking Ben back. The two exchange blows one after the other, but Jake has the upper hand and catches Ben with his feint attack. Ben gets caught defending at the wrong time and Jake continues to attack Ben, knocking him further back. The longer they fought, the more Ben was reminded of his fear that he repressed from his fight with Donald Na. To everyone's surprise however, Ben would not stay down, despite the consecutive blows Ben received. Jake commends Ben for his resilience but assures Ben that the outcome would be that Jake would come out on top. After striking Ben with his shoulder repeatedly, Ben finally lets go of his emotions and puts all of his focus on defeating Jake Ji. Noticing that Jake had worn himself out after striking Ben with so many attacks, Ben took advantage of Jake's weakened state and fight back against Jake Ji. With both men depleted of stamina, they threw one final punch at each other with Jake Ji, his vision blurred from exhaustion, missing Ben while Ben lands a critical blow on Jake Ji, winning the fight.
Before anyone could say a word, Naksung attacked Ben from behind, knocking him out. Outraged by this action, Ben Park's gang came to his defense against Naksung's gang, demanding they take Jake and leave their school. Dean Kwon reminds them that Jake still out ranked Naksung, so Jake was a bigger priority. Naksung ignored Dean's warnings as he reminded them that they follow Donald Na's orders. Naksung, as revenge for breaking his nose, smacked Alex Go with a piece of wood, knocking him out. Ben Park regained consciousness however and proceeded to beat Naksung repeatedly, blinded by his rage, and pleas from his friends falling on deaf ears, only stopping when Jake also regained consciousness and prevented Ben from killing Naksung. Jake acknowledges his defeat and retreated with the rest of his gangs. With his victory over Jake Ji, Ben Park had moved up in the Shuttle Patch Ranks as the second toughest delinquent in all of Yeongdeungpo, just beneath Donald Na, who Ben vows to defeats. Ben is later seen celebrating his victory with the rest of his friends.
Mok-Ha Duo Introduction Arc
Wild Goose Chase Arc
Ben is playing Takken at Master Arcade, but he hasn't improved at all despite Gray teaching him. Gray meets Ben at the arcade. Later, Gray receives a text from an unknown number (unbeknownst to him, it's Wesley Song) with a photo claiming that Stephen works at a market stall in Busan. Ben tells Gray that his motto is "The tougher the situation you're facing is, the more simpleminded you have to be." He tells Gray that if he doesn't check it out, it will always bother him. Ben offers to go with Gray to Busan. Ben arrives at Yeongdeungpo Station before Gray can leave without him. They board the train and Ben is already hungry, so he shares soft boiled eggs with Gray, causing Gray to recall eating food with Stephen.
At Busan, Ben suggests showing a picture to people to ask if they’ve seen Stephen. Gray unlocks his phone and hands it to Ben; Ben notices that it must be hard for Gray to look at even a photo of him. Gray says it is the first time he’s opened his gallery since that day, but he feels a lot better now. Ben finds Stephen’s photo and thinks he’s pretty like a celebrity. When Alex's arm is badly injured by Dongha, Ben freezes and says he has a weird feeling, as if he can sense that something had happened to Alex.
After being unable to find Stephen, Ben and Gray wait at the train station to return to Seoul. Ben tells Gray that he did everything he could, and to just think of it as having had a chance to clear his thoughts. Gray receives texts from the unknown number claiming that he had sent them on a wild goose chase as a prank and says Stephen is dead. Ben angrily turns Gray’s phone off and asks if Gray’s okay. Gray says he thought it might’ve really bothered him forever and wanted to play dumb so it looked like he was listening to Ben’s suggestion. He thanks Ben for coming with him and says he’s okay now. Ben wonders why Alex isn’t answering his phone and wonders if he is mad at him. Gray says Eugene couldn’t reach Alex either. They decide to try calling him when they get to Seoul.
Ben and Gray visit Alex and Gerard in the hospital. Ben acts all happy and upbeat, and leaves after saying he got a call on his phone. The gang is confused by his behavior. Alex asks Gerard to go after Ben because Ben never calls him by his full name. Gerard catches up to Ben at the elevators and sees that Ben is furious. Although Ben never says it out loud, Gerard knows that the weight he is carrying as the leader is a huge burden. If Ben is the metal gate keeping Eunjang safe, Gerard will be his supporting pillar. Gerard tells Ben to not handle everything on his own and that he's got his back.
Calm Before the Storm Arc
Eunjang VS Cheongang Arc
Manhunt Arc
Han River Battle Arc
Aftermath Arc
Ben arrives at the funeral hall, shocking everyone. Kingsley furiously yells at him, but Jake reminds Kingsley that Ben is there just to pay his respects. Ben places a white rose amongst the others. Ben doesn’t know the reason, but he feels as if he should be attending the funeral. After the funeral, Jake tells Ben that Donald probably didn't think of this outcome because no human would calculate when they will die. Jake says while it may be hard for Eunjang to understand, Donald had been the dictator of Yeongdeungpo as well as a huge wall. Jake asks how the White Mamba is doing.
Ben recalls how Gray had been the one to call an ambulance for Donald. He says for Gray, watching someone get hurt in front of him overlaps with his past and his trauma comes out, but Gray did everything he could for Donald. Jake says he’s sure Kingsley is also aware. Jake thinks that Ben’s heartfelt actions are redirecting the flames that were facing Eunjang to himself, and at the same time helps kill the flames. He can understand how Eunjang totally trusts and believes in him.
The gang notices how Class Five is empty. Ben says nothing much happened at the funeral and how Alex had run all the way there because he was worried about something happening, but in the end Alex didn’t even go inside. Alex mentions seeing Wolf outside. They recall Eugene has finally woken up and Ben plans to visit after stopping by Gray’s place. No one has been able to get into contact with Gray, but Gerard knows where he lives since they had stopped by after Gerard had gotten a haircut. Ben sees Colton, Manshik, and Evan heading to the rooftop to smoke and advises them to quit as the gang leaves.
Ben, Alex, and Gerard are at Gray’s apartment building and Ben has just finished talking to someone on the intercom. Ben says that Gray’s mother is worried but Ben decided to give Gray some space and that they’d come visit Gray when he is feeling better. Ben says that Donald’s death has been quite shocking for him and it can’t be helped that old memories come flooding back. Ben asks if Eugene is awake and Gerard confirms it. Gerard also mentions that Teddy and Rowan are already there. The three head to the hospital to visit Eugene. Ben thinks that Gray is capable of overcoming his despair.
Eugene says the final battle and Donald’s death still doesn’t seem real. Teddy mentions that Ben even attended the funeral, surprising Eugene. Eugene and Rowan agree that it’s really in character for someone like Ben. Ben, Alex, and Gerard arrive and Ben brings a box of juice. Ben mentions that since Eugene and Gray aren’t at school, it’s been feeling empty lately.
Sometime later, Ben, Alex, Gerard, Teddy, Rowan, Eugene, Class Eight Guy, and Gray are at Donghae Rest Stop. Jeremy Park says he’s relieved that Gray made so many good friends, and that he was worried when he heard Gray went to Eunjang because there’s a psycho named Ben Park who is a monster that would swallow Yeongdeungpo whole. Eugene introduces Ben to him, and Jeremy realizes that Gray is the White Mamba. The group arrives at the cafe and Gray goes inside by himself.
Fight Record
- Jimmy Bae (Gilshin Middle): INTERRUPTED (Considered WIN)
- Donald Na (Yeo-Il Middle): LOSE
- TEAM PLAY (Yoosun) [Team Play]: WIN
- Jimmy Bae (Yoosun): WIN
- Robin Ha (Hyeongshin): WIN
- Forrest Lee (Hyeongshin): WIN
- Jake Ji (Daehyeon): WIN
- Juwon Lee (Cheongang): WIN
- Forrest Lee and Hyeongshin Mob: WIN
- Donald Na (Yeo-Il): LOSE
Relationships
Alex Go
Alex is Ben's childhood friend and they are nearly always seen together. Because of this Alex, is sometimes referred to as Ben's "Minion", which Alex resents and is often the reason for picking fights with others. The two are very protective each other. Alex is willing to take a beating in order to defend Ben, such as when Alex encounters Jimmy in the pool bar at the start of the series. When Alex gets into a fight with Colton Choi, Ben immediately seeks revenge in the following break. Ben is visibly depressed when Alex ignores his phone calls and home visits during the time period when Alex avoids going to school because of his injuries from Jimmy.
Gray Yeon
Like everyone else in Eunjang, Ben Park was in disbelief of Gray's fighting capabilities until he witnessed Gray defeated Harper Ha (Helmet) with little effort. Ben Park became interested in Gray afterwards and tried to become friends with Gray. Gray at first avoided Ben as he preferred to be a loner. That was until they were ambushed by Harper Lee and his gang and fought together to defend themselves. Since then the two have formed a friendship similar to the former friendship that Gray and Stephen originally had. Ben seems relaxed around Gray and Gray seems comfortable enough to confide in Ben his personal history. Ben sympathizes with Gray about his trauma and goes out of his way to make Gray feel more comfortable when he is tensed, such as finding a different hang out spot for Gray and the rest of their friends when Gray didn't want to converge on their school's rooftop.
Jimmy Bae
Donald Na
Abilities
Physical
Ben has been showcased as one of the strongest characters in the series so far, with multiple feats of his astounding strength, speed, and endurance on display in fights and other activities. At the start of the series, he was able to stop and restrain Jack Kang just from grabbing onto his wrist alone. When he, Alex, and Gerard are at a punching machine, Ben’s punch scores a 970/999, with the impact creating a ridiculously loud sound only surpassed by Gerard’s kick. Following the Yoosun Showdown, his physical abilities have only increased all the more. He is also shown to have ridiculous stamina, as during the Hyeongshin Takedown Operation, he was able to easily defeat 5 people, sprint from the Daebang Underground Passage to the Yeongdeungpo Park at Singil, and then pummel Forrest into submission shortly thereafter. During that battle, his strength had increased to the point where he was able to effortlessly overpower Forrest, who himself was able to take on Teddy Jin and Alex Go simultaneously, even picking him up entirely like he was a box before throwing him into a fence. Overall, Ben has been shown as an unparalleled fighter throughout the series, with some victims even likening his punch to that of a sledgehammer or a boulder. His multiple feats of superhuman strength have cemented him solidly as the Shuttle Patch Rank’s #2, falling only behind Donald Na.
Mental
While academically nowhere close to the likes of Gray Yeon or Stephen Ahn, Ben possesses keen insight and perception, allowing him to peer into the hearts and thoughts of others. He is an excellent counselor, having been able to help Gray open up about his troubles and situations, and possesses a knack for problem-solving, as evidenced by his discovery of the Annex building. During fights, while Ben tends to rely on his damage output and tremendous slugging power to win, he still holds a cool head, being able to assess an enemy’s style and strength relative to his own.
Gallery
Trivia
- Some readers think his debut appearance in the early episodes looks like He-Man.
- He is able to eat six slices of pizza at the same time.