| “ | I don't wish to be the ruler of the minorities, but a friend of everyone.That would make me look cooler, don't you think~? | ” |
| “ | Life is V-ery~ | ” |
| “ | Indeed it is, indeed it does. | ” |
Jang Gwangnam (장광남), can also be romanized as Jang Kwangnam, is the main protagonist in the Hellper webtoon. His guide reaper is Jusa.
▴▴Overview▴▴[]
Jang Gwangnam was the leader of Killberos, a tribe sworn to protect the people of their city, before he died from getting hit by a garbage truck while upon his motorcycle. He looks like a mean person, but he is well respected by his gang for keeping the peace. He is currently in Hell, doing his best to collect 100 life tickets so he can reincarnate to hopefully reunite with his beloved followers. Armed with a crazy amount of strength and wild imagination, Gwangnam's goal may not be so out of reach, especially since he has been granted power from The Lower (the strongest being in hell) making him a Hellper. But there is a price to this luxury, the more he uses the power of The Lower, the more he is likely to be eternally destroyed. His catchphrase is "Indeed it is, indeed it does."
▴▴Appearance▴▴[]
Gwangnam is a tall man of quite muscular build. As an Asian, he has slanting black eyes and a quite pale skin complexion. Gwangnam also has long, unstyled black hair parted down the middle and a "beard" on his chin which is actually just five black dots. He is usually shown with an upside-down triangle shadow over his face that goes over his eyes and nose.
When he was alive, he wore all kinds of Killberos merch and acted as the model for the clothing line. One of his most iconic outfits (and the one he wore when he died) is a white, Killberos-branded jacket with a large fur collar. The jacket has a Killberos emblem on the left sleeve.
For a ghost, the cause of its death becomes the shape of how it will form into. Gwangnam's cause of death is "running wild" which typically allows Gwangnam to manifest motorbike and engine-like modifications to his body. After gaining his "shape" in the afterlife, he wears a black jumpsuit with all sorts of embellishments, including the Killberos logo. Since Gwangnam was killed with intention or murdered, Gwangnam's transformation comes with a jagged knife that signifies a grudge.
▴▴Personality▴▴[]
Gwangnam is an over-the-top and bombastic character in both life and death. He is immature and is usually cracking jokes, even during fights. This demeanor causes him to have trouble expressing serious feelings like love, as noted by his ex-girlfriend Shin Jaehwa. Although he seems childish, Gwangnam has a strong sense of honor and comradery as he is quick to form strong bonds with those he meets, such as the denizens of the Underworld which he encounters throughout Season 1, making promises to protect them no matter the circumstances. He believes in protecting the weak and only using violence in defense/retaliation.
As a child, his morals were a bit shiftier before he met Bang Ocean. He had the same sense of chivalry, but he pickpocketed and stole from many people before Bang Ocean influenced him to become a better person.
We learn from Jang Deukchun that much of Gwangnam's personality is derived from the comic books he binged while trapped in a book store after the South Chungcheong Earthquake. This explains his child-like nature and almost cartoonish sense of self and honor.
| Spoilers ahead! |
|---|
| Gwangnam's past is expanded upon in Season 2. In it, we learn that Gwangnam is empty inside and devoid of emotion. He only mimics emotions which he sees inside comic books and those around him. Therefore, what we see as his bright attitude is actually just an imitation, indicative of his nature as a Vote Counter and not a real human (although we have seen other humans without emotions similar to Gwangnam). During the course of the second season, we see Gwangnam swap between an incredibly ruthless persona, usually during a fight and derived from his adoptive father Janga, and an honorable/heroic persona similar to a comic book character. These represent his "light" and "dark" tendencies as a Vote Counter, but as we see in Season 1 his light tendencies take precedent in his adulthood (for the most part). |
▴▴Biography▴▴[]
It is said that Gwangnam grew up with comic books for "practically half his life" and was the president of Killberos before he died.
He died on the Road of Hardship in a traffic accident when a garbage truck collided with his motorcycle as he was on the way to pick up his girlfriend Jaehwa after she took her college qualification exam. Gwangnam calls his motorcycle "Killb-O" and it has the plate registered in Kana-shi and numbered 6666. After his death, he started as a ghost with 1 black ticket on his wrist and was received by a guide reaper named Jusa.
There was a knife stuck on his shape which means someone caused his death with intention. Due to Jusa being drunk at the time, Gwangnam managed to win a fight with him. Gwangnam then took and drank the Thousand Year Life Liquor.
In order to enter Jaehwa's dream, he headed to Middle Town with Sese. On the way he was loaned 20 tickets by Ji-Lung. At Middle Town he met his "granny" who saved him a spot on the queue at the Samsingak Ticket Booth but who was then absorbed by Jordy's Gorgon. In a fight with Pajuju, Gwangnam lost his legs to Jordy's Ap-Sickle. Despite this, Gwangnam managed to protect the goblins hence he's now considered a brother and family to Seopjikoji.
Seopjikoji and other goblins like Hodong brought Gwangnam to Samsin to reattach Gwangnam's feet. However Samsin was
unable to do it because of the Ap-Sickle. Eventually Seopijkoji cut off his own feet so that they could be attached to Gwangnam, effectively exchanging their feet.
In the dream he shared with Jaehwa, Gwangnam managed to warn her of her impending death but she instead asked him to answer whether he liked her, to which he was hesitant, much to Jaehwa's sadness.
On the way to goblin training in North Head Town, Gwangnam passed by the place where Jusa was rehabilitating from alcohol. Unbeknownst to Gwangnam that it was Jusa, he fed Jusa some alcohol, resulting in Jusa eventually escaping from the confinement.
Using a root that Samsin grew, he could use Clear Vision from Death World to look at Jaehwa's home during the fight.
▴▴Abilities▴▴[]
His signature move was "hand-knife-wood-chopper" and he used this to knock Jusa out. When Gwangnam first materialised his shape, it was very loud and he did it with ease, surprising Sese. Gwangnam learned this neck chopping move from middle school his Korean language teacher Kim Eon-Cheol who first wielded it, asserting that "there is nothing that won't fall down if you hit it 10 times."
After gaining his "shape", Jang Gwangnam is able to freely modify parts of his body at the expense of stamina as well as detach parts of his body, modify them, and utilize them as weapons. His Great Transformation was Zeroback. He is also one of the rare Hellpers, albeit at the risk of going into a deep sleep for a few days after exiting Hellper mode.
▴▴Trivia▴▴[]
- Gwangnam's name is open to interpretation (due to similar sounding words in Korean which can mean different things), but he likes to think of it as "gwang" standing for "light", "nam" standing for "man" and "Gwangnam" literally meaning "Bright man". This refers to "a ray of light that runs through the black road". However on his funeral plaque it was noted that "gwang" more so meant "crazy", making him a "crazy guy" or a "Mad Man".
- The dark inverted triangle shaped shadow covering Gwangnam's face is actually visible by others in the underworld, it's not just a stylistic choice.
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Ghosts • 
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Dark Party • 
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