| “ | Here comes the villain, you goddamn fuckers.
— Teddy Jin to Sir Lee, Episode 91
|
” |
Teddy Jin (진태오; Jin Tae-oh; "Tae-oh Jin") is a secondary character of the Webtoon Weak Hero. He is a student in Class 1-1 of Eunjang High School and an infamous bully from Seong-Il Middle School. Initially a supporting antagonist during the Eunjang Arc, Teddy's fight with Gray Yeon has humbled him and sent him down a better path, leading to him becoming part of Ben Park’s Gang.
Appearance
Teddy has blue eyes and blonde hair. He has a short and lithe stature. In his debut, he is depicted with a bob haircut. In chapters following his loss to Gray Yeon he is shown more often wearing his hair pulled back into a ponytail.
At school, Teddy is usually depicted wearing his uniform school with a graphic t-shirt (long or short-sleeved) or hoodie underneath.
Personality
Teddy is first introduced as a materialistic bully, putting great value in reputations and designer brands (especially if said brands are part of his possession). His tactics as a bully were ruthless, if not outright sadistic, focused on toying with his opponents and slowly wearing down their will to fight.
After his defeat by Gray, he becomes more reserved, and shows a softer side of his personality. The first example of this is his willingness to help Eugene while he is being targeted and beaten by Hyeongshin students. He also helps Alex Go when he notices he is targeted by Forrest Lee, and visits Gray with Rowan and Eugene when the former was hospitalized. He is shown to still enjoy finding opportunities to fight, but this is now typically backed by more admirable motivations (e.g. taking Phillip Kim down, protecting a fellow classmate, protecting a stray kitten).
Though he is capable of coming up with various ways of bullying and navigating fights, he appears to be fairly gullible. He falls for Phillip Kim's peacocking of strength, and believes Rowan's tall tales of being a famed brawler in Australia (i.e. "Sydney Guillotine").
Teddy loves cats. He finds a kitten in the rain and takes them in, later naming them Co, and becomes distressed when the cat becomes sick. In a number of panels after the adoption of the cat, he can be seen reading cat magazines. He later also begins to take care of a stray kitten wandering around Eunjang High and names them Sprite.
History
Teddy attended Seong-Il Middle School, where his ruthlessness as a bully led to several classmates dropping out. Teddy was once suspended for beating a fellow student that grabbed his backpack. However, due in part to the student's nickname of "Professor", the truth of the encounter became muddled, with many students (especially those at Eunjang High who hadn't attended Seong-Il) incorrectly believing he attacked an actual teacher.
Plot
Eunjang Arc
Teddy is first shown bullying Gray by pouring Coke onto his head when Gray is taking out the trash. It is revealed that Phillip had instructed him to deal with Gray. Teddy continued to relentless bully Gray until Gray finally fought him and won. The loss resulted in Teddy being abandoned by Chad and cut off from Phillip Kim's group.
Hyeongshin Arc
Ganghak Arc
Daehyeon Arc
Relationships
Gray Yeon
He begins to harass Gray on behalf of Phillip Kim as part of his induction into Phillip's gang. As the harassment continues, Gray's animosity towards Teddy grows. After Gray retaliates, Teddy is humiliated, leading to his abandonment by Phillip Kim and Chad Jang. In subsequent meetings, Teddy demonstrates a strong fear towards Gray. Gray initially also continues to demonstrate animosity towards Teddy, as seen by his reaction towards Teddy's presence when Eugene is being ganged up on by Hyeongshin students. Later, Gray seems to forget about their fight entirely, and is confused when Teddy has a strong fearful reaction to being offered a can of coke (an item that Gray uses to punch Teddy's face in their fight) during their celebration of their win over Hyeongshin.
As a result of Teddy becoming closer to Eugene and Rowan, he begins to interact more often with Gray. These interactions are friendly/impartial in nature. His visit to Gray at the hospital shows, however, he is still quite fearful of Gray.
Eugene Gale
Teddy befriends Eugene after Eugene helps him take care of a cat he finds in the rain. Teddy comes to respect Eugene, especially in regards to Eugene's loyalty to Gray, something he realizes he did not have in his former friendship with Chad. After he takes Co back from the vet, he apologizes to Eugene for his bullying. Eugene accepts his apology, and a relieved Teddy gives Eugene a bag of Coke in appreciation.
Teddy accepts an invitation to visit Gray in the hospital with Eugene and Rowan. On their way there, Teddy is able to carry an easy conversation with the two of them about their encounter with Wolf.
Rowan Im
Rowan transfers to Teddy's class, Class 1-1. Teddy ignores Rowan's advances in establishing an amicable classmate relationship at first. Despite this, and learning that Teddy is considered an outcast in Class 1-1, Rowan continues to try and become friends with Teddy.
When Teddy decides to take over Class 1-1 from Phillip Kim, he recruits Rowan's help. The two of them begin to hang out together at school after their successful takeover of the class. Teddy finds Rowan talkative, but he doesn't seem to mind and may even find this a comforting characteristic.
After learning about Rowan and Eugene's encounter with Wolf and Ganghak, his respect for the two grows. He offers to teach a lesson to the Eunjang students who complied with their beating when the two of them spot the students in the school courtyard. While Rowan dislikes the idea, Teddy decides to confront them regardless, partly to honor his friend, and partly because it is still in his nature to enjoy picking fights.
Ben Park
Gerard Jin
Chad Jang
Chad was Teddy's friend before his loss to Gray. At first, it seems like they were very good friends, having been always seen together during middle school and at the start of high school. It becomes apparent later that Chad valued and maintained their relationship not out of genuine like for Teddy, but because he is an opportunist who instinctively latches onto strong people. As such, Chad ends their friendship after Teddy loses to Gray in favor of joining Phillip Kim's gang.
Teddy later threatens him by asking him to meet him at the incinerator after taking over Class 1-1. Chad is visibly frightened. This fight is has not been shown in the comic. After the Han River Battle, it is unknown if their friendship ever recovered.
Co and Sprite
Co is Teddy's pet cat. He loves Co dearly and became very worried when Co got sick. Teddy feeds Co lots of food and bought them a cat tree. Teddy loves them so much to the point where he got a job at Ttosikki Chicken that involved him needing to dress as a teddy bear.
Sprite is a cat that roams around Eunjang's campus. Teddy leaves food and water out for them. When Teddy saw some students bullying Sprite, Teddy beat them up and rescued Sprite. It is unknown why Teddy doesn't bring Sprite home and adopt them like he did with Co.
Abilities
Teddy is well-known for coming up with ruthless, but creative, methods of bullying individuals without necessary physically beating them. This is demonstrated by his bullying of Gray, wherein he threw trash, tripped him in the hallways, ruined/messed with his belongings, etc. During his middle school days, relentless tactics forced a number of his classmates to transfer out of school.
His fighting style is quite variable, with a combination of kicks and fast punching. He is often shown jump kicking people during fights (after swinging off of some sort of high bar or platform, followed by a "boo-yah"), and blowing on his fist before punching.
He is fairly fast, as commented by Alex Go during their fight with the pack of Hyeongshin students.
Fight Record
- Gray Yeon (Eunjang): LOSE
- TEAM PLAY (Hyeongshin): WIN
- SEARCH TEAM (Hyeongshin) [Team Play]: WIN
- TEAM PLAY (Eunjang): WIN
- TEAM PLAY (Daehyeon): WIN
- Fought Sam Lee of Hyeongshin High, though was left unfinished.
- Grape Lee: WIN
Quotes
| “ | Booyah, bitches.
— Teddy Jin to Hyeongshin Team 3, Episode 41
|
” |
Trivia
- Teddy has a habit of gifting people cans of Coke on several occasions (e.g. to a classmate after saving him from bullying on the rooftop, to Eugene after he helps him take care of Co, to Gray after he is hospitalized).
- He's a decently skilled soccer player, being able to aim perfectly and work well on a team.
- Teddy is a foil to Bryce Oh. Bryce went from a friend to an enemy. Teddy went from an enemy to a friend.