| “ | From today on, both Manwol and you will be gone without a single trace.
— Jake Ji to Changyeon Lee, Episode 103
|
” |
Jake Ji (지학호, Ji Hagho; "Hak-ho Ji") is one of the supporting antagonists of the webtoon Weak Hero. He is the leader of Daehyeon High School and was originally considered the second strongest delinquent of Yeongdeungpo until his defeat at the hands of Ben Park, demoting him to the third strongest on the official Shuttle Patch ranking. He is the main antagonist of the Daehyeon Arc.
Appearance
Jake Ji has orange hair and eyes. He appears to be around the same height as Ben Park, but fairly lankier. According to Eugene, he is considered to be very handsome.
In early chapters, he is often seen wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt with shorts or pants. He is also shown wearing a white hoodie or a checkered long-sleeve t-shirt. Generally, he appears to be fairly fashionable, wearing a variety of different Givenchy outfits.
Personality
Despite being Number Two in the Yeongdeungpo Union, Jake's personality is similar to Ben Park's. Both of them being extremely strong, outgoing and often take things lightly, but if angered, they're almost invincible. Jake is also the leader of his own gang that is similar to Ben Park's Gang, and is very protective of his friends.
However, Jake has a darker side to his personality that stems from a past incident involving his brother. During his fights against his enemies, he is observed to be ruthless and will savagely beat his opponents down such as in his fights, often having trouble controlling himself and being lost in his rage. Jake doesn't seem to like fighting a whole lot, as shown in his backstory and his fight with Gerard, as he often argues with himself internally.
History
Jake Ji had taken over Daehyeon Middle School from Naksung Yoon and his gang. [1] Kenny Ji was also in a gang called Manwol. During this period, Donald Na’s Union was becoming more powerful and Manwol wanted to force Kenny to recruit Jake in order to increase their fighting power. Kenny refused to do so which caused the leader of Manwol, Changyeon Lee, to severely injure Kenny to the point of crippling his leg and forcing Kenny to give up his dream of being a soccer player. Jake became so enraged that he joined the Union so that Donald Na would crush Manwol for him.
Plot
Eunjang Arc
Jake Ji is first mentioned in Episode 44 when Eugene was explaining the structure of the Yeongdeungpo Union. Jake is considered the strongest in the Union just below Donald Na and leader of Daehyeon high school. He is later seen reading a comic book called "Two Piece" with his best friend Dean Kwon.
Ganghak Arc
Following the events of the Hyeongshin Takedown Operation, Jake is shown crying over the "Ace's" death in the manga he was reading "Two Piece". Amid his semi-breakdown, Kingsley calls Jake and tells Jake that he must attend the next Union assembly and to not act out like last time, although what Jake did is unclear and there isn't much detail about it.[2]
During the assembly, Jake appears to be way more relaxed compared to the other members. Implicating something different about the way Jake takes things, rather in a joking and light matter.[3] Due to the failure and incompetence of both Jimmy Bae and Forrest Lee, Jake is put in charge of running Yoosun High. Jimmy Bae is furious over loosing his position as head of Yoosun and forced to work for Jake Ji, however Jake Ji does not seem to want to take on new responsibilities, and allows Jimmy to remain in power as the leader of Yoosun.
Jake Ji is later shown overseeing the fight between Wolf Keum and Gray Yeon with the help of his friend Timothy Park. After analyzing Gray's fighting patterns and movement, Jake realizes that Gray isn't just using desperate moves but is rather someone who calculates his fights.[4] Timothy gets a call from Dean Kwon telling them to meet up but Jake, curious about Gray's fighting history, has Timothy gather data on Gray Yeon and his fight record revealing ten consecutive wins. Jake Ji, interested by his record, asks Timothy if he can predict what Gray's rank will be. Though Timothy admits that Gray won't move up higher simply for defeating the 5th ranked delinquent, Timothy correctly predicts that Gray would be ranked 8th in the shuttle patch ranking.
Daehyeon Arc
Following Wolf Keum's loss to Gray Yeon, Donald Na instructs Jake Ji to take over Eunjang by defeating Ben Park. Jake Ji, still indebted to Donald Na for assisting him in exacting revenge against Manwol, agrees to beat Ben Park. While meeting up with Dean and Timothy to see his brother Kenny get discharged from the hospital, he spots his friends being confronted by Alex Go, Gray Yeon, and Ben Park. 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.
Wanting to provoke Ben Park into fighting him seriously, he has Timothy do research on the members of Ben Park's Gang and advertise his and Ben's fight so that he'll feel pressured into their fight. Later that day Jake Ji pays a visit to Gerard Jin, a member of Ben Park's Gang, while he is working. Taking their conversation outside, Jake Ji reveals to Gerard his intentions of fighting Ben Park, but he wants Ben Park to take him seriously, and in order to do that he believes he needs to beat up Gerard Jin so Ben Park knows to take their fight seriously, only targeting Gerard because he is one of the only three students of Eunjang along with Ben Park and Gray Yeon that are ranked in the Shuttle Patch. He does not want to fight Gray because he wants to save Gray for another time, and to show Ben Park just how strong Jake is. Gerard agrees to fight Jake on the condition that Jake will leave Ben Park and his friends alone should Gerard win, to which Jake promises.
Without hesitating, Gerard attacks Jake with a swift kick to Jake's face, though Jake manages to dodge it. Gerard tries to overwhelm Jake by kicking him a few more times until Jake catches Gerard's leg mid-kick and elbows Gerard in the face, causing him to fall back. Jake then begins to overwhelm Gerard with his quick attacks, though Gerard manages to land a hit on Jake's palm. Realizing Jake is toying with him, Gerard demands that Jake take their fight seriously, which Jake does by beating Gerard ferociously. As Jake continues to beat Gerard, his conscience begs Jake to stop before he kills Gerard. Jake is able to overcome his anger and stops beating Gerard, ending their fight. Jake apologizes to Gerard for going overboard in their fight and takes his leave.
He later confronts Gray Yeon shortly after, watching as he swiftly defeats Hayden Ma. Jake points out how Gray is trembling from beating up Hayden Na, and that Gray is now enjoying fighting like everyone else, even comparing him to Donald Na. As Jake takes his leave he informs Gray about his recent fight with Gerard Jin and to warn Ben Park that Jake would be coming for Ben next.
After just a few days of waiting, Jake Ji arrives at Eunjang High to confront Ben Park alone. Jake Ji arrives at Eunjang and, standing just outside of the schools main building, calls out to Ben Park and challenges him to a fight. Ben Park, while on his school's roof with his friends, heard Jake Ji call out for him. Ben accepts the challenge but orders 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.
Union VS Cheongang Arc
Calm Before the Storm Arc
Han River Battle Arc
Aftermath
Fight Record
- Naksung Fam (Daehyeon Middle): WIN
- Manwol Union [Team Play]: WIN
- Gerard Jin (Eunjang): WIN
- Ben Park (Eunjang): LOSE
- Jaeryeong Lee & Action Squad (Cheongang) [Team Play with Wolf Keum]: WIN
- Juwon Lee (Cheongang): WIN
- Doyun Kim (Cheongang): WIN
- Wolf Keum (Ganghak): WIN
Relationships
Kenny Ji
Kenny is Jake's older brother. The two care about each other deeply. Kenny didn't want to drag Jake into the gang life, even going against Changyeon's orders to recruit him into Manwol. Jake was enraged when he saw his brother's injured state after Manwol beat him up. Jake made a deal with Donald and joined the Union to defeat Manwol. When Juwon insulted Kenny, Jake became pissed off.
Dean Kwon
Dean Kwon has been one of Jake's close friends in their middle school days, along with Timmy Park. Dean Kwon is the number 2 representative of Daehyeon and both harbor an immense interest in anime manga and video games. They almost always accompany each other and both are extremely powerful when it comes to fighting.
Timothy Park
Jake and Timmy have been best friends since middle school. Jake relies on Timmy to gather information as Timmy is Daehyeon's data collector and director of Daehyeon's general affairs. He collects information on everyone in the Union and analyzes them, similar to Eugene from Eunjang. Timmy, Jake, and Dean are often seen together having fun playing computer games, reading anime, or playing soccer/football.
Eunchan Hong
Ben Park
Jake doesn't even know who Ben Park is until he oversees the fight between Gray Yeon and Wolf Keum.[5] Shortly after that, they have a confrontation when Ben is visibly annoyed after seeing Jake attempting to diffuse a situation between Dean Kwon and Alex Go (after Dean landed the first blow against Alex).[6] Shortly a few episodes after, Jake challenges Ben Park to a fight directly outside Eunjang High, and the two battle it out. Eventually and quite surprisingly, Jake loses in the end, possibly receding his number 2 spot to Ben Park.
Gray Yeon
Jake oversaw the fight between Gray and Wolf, and was impressed by Gray's fighting skills and record (currently flawless). They encountered each other after Gray beats one of Wolf's lapdogs in a 1v1 fight, and Jake applauds the show that Gray had put on. Gray is suspicious about Jake's intentions of cheering for him, and asks what motive does Jake have for acting the way he did. Jake forgets what he was about to say, and Gray tells Jake off for wasting his time. Both parties share a level of intrigue for the other, with Jake surprised that Gray can take down Wolf, and with Gray surprised with Jake's tactical maneuvers during his fight against Ben Park.
Donald Na
Donald Na first approached Jake Ji and offered him to join the Yeongdeungpo Union, but Jake refused. After his brother, Kenny Ji, was beaten up by members of the Manwol, Jake wanted revenge against Manwol and accepted Donald's offer to join the Union to take down the people who wronged his brother. The fight ended with a victory on Donald's side and Manwol's leader was left conscious for Jake to finish him off. Ever since Jake was ordered by Donald Na to take down Ben Park, Jake has harbored some feelings of resentment for Donald but doesn't show it, due to the fact that he owed Donald a favor by having Donald take down the Manwol on the behalf of Jake and his brother Kenny.[7]
Jimmy Bae
Ever since Jimmy's loss to Eunjang, Donald has ordered Jake to be head of both Daehyeon and Yoosun. Jake, however, has left Jimmy to keep his position and allowed him to remain the leader of Yoosun. Jimmy sees Jake as suspicious and having ulterior motives as Jake is a newer member of the Union. However, Jimmy doesn't dare to challenge him and respects his strength and authority.[8]
Wolf Keum
Jake and Wolf don't interact often until they paired up to recover the stolen files from Daegwang. Jake witnessed the fight between Wolf and Gray, and didn't give much thought of the defeat of his fellow Union leader. Instead, he was more interested with Gray. After Donald decided to hand over Daegwang company from Wolf to Jake, Wolf became more curious of Jake's actions. After Magyeong' s CEO stole the files from Daegwang company, Wolf ordered Hwangmo to tell Naksung to tip him off about Jake's movement. Wolf tailed Jake to Mapo, and initially didn't show interest. Wolf entered the building when he noticed that a backup from Cheongang arrived. Jake and Wolf took down the action team of Cheongang with ease and successfully retrieved the files. After they got the files, Jake suggested to Wolf that he can take Daegwang back by telling Donald that he was the one who retrieved it. Wolf only laughed at the suggestion by saying that Jake still doesn't know Donald well, and it is still too early to celebrate since they got involved with Cheongang.
Juwon Lee
Juwon found out about Jake when Jaeryeong reported to him about the Magyeong incident. Jake and Juwon first met when they were the matchup during Union's raid at the Octagon. Juwon was intrigued about Jake since he was the cause of Manwol's downfall. The two had a brutal fight, and Juwon managed to get the upperhand after getting irritated when he realized that Jake was using him as a stand-in practice partner for someone. He grabbed Jake's hair and smashed him into the wall, but Jake managed to escape the second smash by using his hand to block the impact. Jake then tells Juwon that he is different from someone he knew (referring to Ben Park), and that he fights with the intent to kill.
Jake was on the losing end until Juwon badmouthed Kenny that he is a bad apple that led to Manwol's downfall. This prompted Jake to get angry, and told Juwon that he is going to die, not as a member of Cheongang but because of his tongue. They continued their fight until Juwon managed to knock down Jake. Juwon told Jake that they should stop and praised him as the most talented fighter he fought, but Jake just punched Juwon in the face and struck him continuously, leaving no room for Juwon to counter. The fight resulted in Juwon suffering a gruesome defeat by Jake's hands.
Abilities
Physical
In his fights against his opponents, Jake can hit freakishly hard, such as when he knocked someone out with one slap[9], similar to Ben. Jake is a tactical fighter and can deflect or dodge most attacks, making landing a successful hit on Jake very difficult. Jake's fighting style revolves around efficiency, making him use lesser stamina. He is known for his Flying Punch. Jake is athletic, especially when he jumped up to get the high ground on Gerard. Other than fighting, Jake also plays soccer and is very proficient at it.
Mental
Jake often relies on Timothy to get a scope of his opponents. When the time comes to confront his opponents, he knows everything about his adversary's history and fighting tactics. Jake also seems to have an innate ability to sense fear in people, especially shown in his encounter with Gray Yeon.[10] However, Jake seems to struggle with his double personality. His urges telling him to keep going too far with his opponents and his alter ego is begging for his urges to cease. This internal battle of his may be a tragic flaw, but there just isn't enough information.
Gallery
Trivia
- There is currently no info about which high school is actually ranked 'Number Two' under Yeo-Il, though it has been surmised to either be Daehyeon or Hyeongshin (at least while Myles Joo was still in charge).
- Jake is a huge fan of the Two Piece manga series.
References
- ↑ Chapter 103
- ↑ Chapter 47
- ↑ Chapter 62
- ↑ Chapter 87
- ↑ Chapter 87
- ↑ Chapter 109
- ↑ Chapter 103
- ↑ Chapter 62
- ↑ Chapter 101
- ↑ Chapter 111