Wanna One’s Park Ji-hoon tries his first K-drama action series with Weak Hero Class 1, playing a smart student who fights school bullies
- Park Ji-hoon from K-pop group Wanna One plays smart student Yeon Si-eun in a teen drama that he says is a realistic portrayal of school life
- Yeon joins up with Ahn Su-ho (Choi Hyun-wook), and a transfer student, Oh Beom-seok (Hong Kyung), and they protect each other against bullies
By Lee Gyu-lee
Actor and singer Park Ji-hoon has taken on his first action series, playing the lead character, Yeon Si-eun, in new TV series Weak Hero Class 1.
Based on the web comic of the same name, the teen action series follows the story of Si-eun, a smart, model student. He is an outsider who devotes his time to studying rather than socialising with his classmates.
One day he comes across another outsider at the school, Ahn Su-ho (Choi Hyun-wook), and a transfer student, Oh Beom-seok (Hong Kyung). The three form an unlikely friendship and come together to cover each other’s backs at school, where fights and bullying are routine.
“Si-eun is a lonely kid. And when he meets Su-ho and Beom-seok, he becomes more mature. This series is about (Si-eun’s) coming-of-age story with his friends,” says Park, of K-pop group Wanna One.
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The actor trained at an action school before filming the series. “This is my first action series, so I trained for about three to four months,” he says. “As I was creating my character and practising the action sequences, I tried to put myself in the character’s shoes like, ‘How would Si-eun hit other people?’ or, ‘What faces would he make in this situation?’”
He found many common traits between his character and himself.
“In some way, I was like Si-eun when I was in school. I became a [K-pop] trainee at a young age. So I also felt the loneliness Si-eun experienced in his school life,” he says.
“Working on this, I’ve got a lot of encouragement. I’ve learned that there could be different ways to approach acting and create a scene from working with fellow co-stars. There were a lot of moments that led me to step out of my box. In that sense, I feel this series has helped me grow.”
Han, the creator of the series, said that it will be a realistic portrayal of school life.
He adds that the viewers should be able to identify with the characters.
“It would be interesting for viewers to see which character resembles them when they were in school. If they reflect on their own experiences of school life, it would be more interesting to watch,” he says.
