| WARNING | The following page contains SPOILERS leading up to and including the final chapter. Reader discretion advised. |
|---|
Hyuk Lee is the leader of the Green Roof Apartments survivors, Eun Lee's older brother, and currently an evolved human. He is one of the main characters of Sweet Home. In Shotgun Boy, he appears as Gyuhwan Han's best friend in his flashbacks and over the phone as Crewcrew.
For his Live Action counterpart, click here.
Quick Answers
What role does Hyuk Lee play in the survival of the Green Roof Apartments residents?
How does Hyuk Lee's appearance change when he becomes an evolved human in Sweet Home?
What is the relationship between Hyuk Lee and Eun Lee in Sweet Home?
Who is Gyuhwan Han to Hyuk Lee in Shotgun Boy?
What is the significance of Hyuk Lee's character in the live action adaptation of Sweet Home?
Appearance
Hyuk Lee is a young man with spiky silver hair and glasses. He is of average height (174 cm) and wears button downs and khakis.
When monsterfied, his appearance became red and bloated (akin to a giant blob of flesh), encapsulating those that became trapped in it. The width had expanded greatly.
Personality
Hyuk is an intelligent and level-headed young man with an affinity for leadership. He often plans the many missions the survivors need to undertake. He is unafraid to take risks and is pragmatic, such as accepting an infected human into their ranks, if it helps boost their success rates. He also was prepared to take underhanded measures to tip the odds in his favor. However, as other survivors have learned, Hyuk is extremely blunt in speech and often says things rudely or in a way that would draw their ire. Hyuk is aware of this trait and either uses it to energize people or to provoke people for his own enjoyment.
Due to his video game playing habits, he occasionally offers explanations using video game terminology. Because of this and his bluntness, it often embarrasses his sister Eun. Despite this, Hyuk deeply cares about Eun. He notices her actions and is able to deduce that Eun has a crush on Hyun. Additionally, when he learns he is infected, he asks the other survivors to not tell Eun so she won't worry.
Hyuk also possesses empathetic traits but masks it greatly for both survival and so that no biases are made when it came to decision making as a leader. An example of this is despite viewing Yuri as attractive, he initially determined retrieving life saving medication for Yuri to be too dangerous to the mission team's lives. However, if there is no harm to the survivors, Hyuk would let emotions and morality guide his decisions, such as allowing Seong Kim to kill her husband.
Background
Hyuk was born to a successful family in Korea. However, his mother died some point after giving birth to Eun Lee and his father's company eventually went bankrupt. His father left Hyuk and Eun at an orphanage while going off to find a new job, promising to return for them with more money. Unfortunately, some time later, the father would suffer a tragic accident and die on the job, leaving Hyuk and Eun as orphans. The two eventually move in to the Green Roof Apartments.
Before the monsterization incidents occurred in their current location, Hyuk often met up with a friend, Gyuhwan, frequently and would hang with him.
Plot
Shotgun Boy (Before Sweet Home)
Hyuk messages Gyuhwan about his retreat situation. He then sends a message to Gyuhwan, asking if he has heard about the upcoming movie of Maria from the Sky.
Later, Hyuk asks Gyuhwan if he wants to hang out after his retreat is over.
Sweet Home
At the start of the monster apocalypse, Hyuk is seen with Eun in the lobby wondering why everything is locked up. He breaks into the security office, but notices it is completely empty. He returns to the lobby where he sees a strange man approach the front entrance. When the gates open, he and Wook Pyeon manage to fight him off and lock him back outside. Hyuk takes the time to get on his online game to check if anyone outside the apartment might be alive and connected to the internet. He does manage to connect with someone, not realizing it is another apartment resident, Hyun Cha.
Hyuk forms a rescue party with Wook, Eun, and a few other survivors. They slowly make their way through each floor. Hyuk realizes the monsters can be killed by fire, though his explanation was phrased oddly and embarrassed Eun. The rescue party eventually saves Jayhun, Jisu Yoon, and Hyun. Hyuk is the first survivor to greet Hyun and explain the situation. In particular, he notes Hyun is locked up because the other survivors don't trust him. At a meeting over Hyun's fate, Hyuk calls for a vote, which ends in Hyun being accepted. To fully gain the survivor's trust, Hyuk has Hyun accompany Wook on a mission to save Dusik. Hyuk privately confides with Hyun to treat the children as expendable, which infuriates Hyun. Hyuk then explains to a worried Jisu some of his reasons for sending Hyun on the mission and why the party was so small. Hyuk explained he was taking a gamble on Hyun's ability to keep himself from monsterfying and his rapid healing ability to boost the odds of success. Hyuk also explains that he was prepared to rig the vote in Hyun's favor, but was surprised he didn't have to. He alludes to the fact that during these times, a group of survivors would not so easily accept an infected human and wonders if others could be infected and may have voted to keep Hyun to set a precedent should their infection be discovered. He also notes that some people's actions become just like those of the monsters, predicting and warning of Seon Ahn's attempted murder of her husband. Following restraining Seong Kim, Hyuk overhears Jayhun and Jisu planning to escape. He points out how cold it would be to abandon someone they recently stuck up for. He notes that they are unable to leave, though initially phrased it in a way that drew hostility from the two. He warns them that monsters broke into the parking garage, which makes escape impossible. He does note he would not care if they thought they could handle themselves, but advised them it would be suicide to try. Eun confronts Hyuk over his callousness, having overheard the conversation. When Hyun successfully completes the mission, Hyuk reveals he only said what he said tyeso provoke Hyun, earning him a punch in the face.
Hyuk later helps the survivors take inventory and repair the elevator, though he was unable to help the survivors fight off Mr. Kim. At Jayhun's makeshift funeral, Hyuk makes an insensitive comment. He reflects on the Tongue Monster's attack and what he is able to see outside the windows. Hyuk notices that there has been very little monster activity outside and wonders if the monsters are just quietly waiting or if their numbers have thinned out. He bluntly asks Hyun to go outside to check, but gets forcefully rejected. Hyuk again has to talk to his sister about his bluntness, but manages to turn the conversation against her when he notices Eun has stood up for Hyun several times, realizing she has a crush on him.
At some point, Hyuk records a video message and leaves it behind for any survivors that might stumble upon it as a record they were here.
Hyuk later heave to kill the monster now as no barricade will be able to stop it. They are saved by the arrival of Joon Shin and his gang. However, Joon Shin's gang quickly seize control of the situation and note that Hyuk does not actually have a long term survival plan. Hyuk is tied up and locked up with Wook Pyeon. Hyuk's nose starts to bleed and he passes out, indicating he has started turning into a monster. Wook breaks free of the restraints and a recovering Hyuk asks to check the prison bus for supplies. They are disheartened to find the supplies were a lie and discovered the gang's method of survival. Hyuk notices a horde of monsters approaching the apartment building. Hyuk begs Pyeon not to act as bait to help Hyuk get back inside, but Pyeon knocks the wind out of him and does it anyways. Hyuk goes back to the building and saves Jisu from Joon. Hyuk holds Joon at gunpoint, but Joon points out he knows Hyuk knows a gunshot would attract every monster in earshot. He is forced to retreat when monsters start breaking down the barricades. Hyuk is then momentarily dazed by the effects of monsterization, but does not appear to know his inner desire. He asks that Jisu and Hyun not tell Eun, and then gets everyone to evacuate towards the roof. He goes to tell Dusik the current situation and that they need to use their emergency back up plan despite the risks. Dusik also confides with Hyuk that he is turning and to just leave him. Hyuk catches up with the other survivors and explains what happened to Dusik. He stops Jisu from chasing after Hyun and continues to go upstairs. As he does so, he notes that it is not like the monsters to leave their territory and all gather in one location.
He and Myeong-Il set up the rope to escape, but only have three pulleys to carry people, meaning some people will have to cross by hand. Yuri and Sook as well as Eun and Yeong get the first two pulleys, and Hyuk gives Hyein Son the last one. Right after Eun starts her descent down the rope, Hyuk calmly says his goodbyes, knowing that he is on the verge of turning and cannot resist much longer. He tells the others that he will not be joining them and needs to take care of something else, as he pulls out a gun. He goes to the 15th floor to save Jisu, though he in turn needs saving. He also is disturbed by how close Hyun is to turning. Back on the roof, the remaining unevacuated survivors encounter a monsterfied Joon Shin. The monster proves to be almost unstoppable until Hyun monsterfies and destroys it in one attack. However, the monster-fied Hyun turns on his friends. Hyuk realizes what he ultimately wants and moves to fight Hyun. He gives in to monsterfication and becomes a giant mass of flesh to stop Hyun and give Wook and Jisu the time to escape. At some unknown time in the future, Hyuk exhausted all his desires and turns into a cocoon, dissipating the giant mass of flesh.
By the end of the webcomic, it is unknown what happened to him; however, it is revealed at the end of Shotgun Boy that he eventually emerged from his cocoon as an evolved monster.
Shotgun Boy (After Sweet Home)
Hyuk is now an evolved monster. He was seen by the end of Shotgun Boy, facing the cinema showing a Maria From The Sky poster. He now no longer feels any emotion. He told Hyun in the cinema that he no longer felt any emotion. He also told him that he no longer had any emotions left as Eun's older brother. When Hyun was about to leave, he spoke up, saying that the next time they meet, they meet as enemies. That was the last appearance of Hyuk in Shotgun boy
Monster Form
Hyuk's monsterfication was built on the desire to stop the monsterfied Hyun and letting everyone get to safety. Although this desire manifested shortly before monsterfication, Hyuk started to experience symptoms far sooner. Hyuk's will apparently was not as strong as Hyun's, as when Ihyun noted that Hyuk was on the verge of turning, not even one night had passed since Hyuk started showing signs. Hyuk was aware he would not be able to hold out much longer and so willingly stayed behind so the other survivors would be safe.
Similar to the Infant Monster, Hyuk's monster form is immobile and non-aggressive. His monster's desire was to stop Hyun, which it did so by manifesting a giant mass of flesh, which engulfed and hardened around both Hyuk and Hyun, trapping them and preventing Hyun from harming anyone else.
Hyuk's ending desire turned out to be extremely powerful despite his initial assessment of his will being weaker than that of Hyun's. Due to the fact that he was able to stop Hyun's monster form right in his tracks until both their evolution states, this makes Hyuk monsterfication at the very least one of the strongest monsters in the series.
Relationships
Eun Lee
Eun and Hyuk are siblings. While they appear to be distant, they do care about each other. Hyuk wanted Eun to get to safety when the Tongue Monster attacked, and later on he wished his sister well, knowing it would be their last good-byes. He was unwilling to tell Eun about he was turning because he didn't want her to be worried. However, similar to other people, Hyuk does get on Eun's nerves with his nerdiness and blunt manner of speaking.
Hyun Cha
Initially, Hyun and Hyuk only knew each other by their online game names, and the two were rather abrasive towards each other. When meeting in person (despite not realizing they met online), this initially did not change. Hyun was furious at Hyuk's seemingly insensitive and coldheartedness, while Hyuk took pleasure in teasing and trolling him. Hyuk, however, was also willing to stand up for Hyun's inclusion in the survivors' operations, but this was motivated by a desire to use Hyun's monsterfication to the survivors' benefit rather than any real sign of friendliness.
As time goes on, the tension between the two cool off. Hyuk sees Hyun as a dependable ally for missions that involve hunting monsters. In return, Hyun starts to respect Hyuk as the de facto leader of the survivors. He holds Hyuk to a high standard of morality (talking Hyuk down from killing Joon) and demands him to lead. He also listened to Hyun as well when Hyun managed to talk him out of killing Joon Shin. Hyun wanted to watch "Maria in the sky" with Hyuk. But in the last chapter when Hyun turns into a monster Hyuk says that maybe they can't watch it together anymore.
Joon Shin
Joon Shin and Hyuk loathe each other. Joon Shin looks down upon Hyuk's efforts as futile, while Hyuk cannot stand Joon's amorality. Joon's condescension appeared to also include underestimating Hyuk. While Joon believed Hyuk was too smart to fire a gun with monsters nearby, Hyuk hated Joon so much that he would have killed him had Hyun not talked him out of it.
Wook Pyeon
Wook and Hyuk appear to have an amicable relationship. Wook trusts Hyuk's plans, while Hyuk realizes Wook's physical strength and mental discipline is useful to the group. However, their relationship was temporarily strained when Hyuk opted not to include retrieving a new inhaler for Yuri, even if it meant Yuri would die. This infuriated Wook. They put this even behind them, however. When a criminal gang took over the apartments, Hyuk and Wook were held hostage. Wook carried Hyuk when he fell unconscious from monsterfication and made sure no one would find out without Hyuk's permission. Wook also was willing to act as bait to lure away monsters so Hyuk could get to safety.
Jisu Yoon
Initially, Jisu and Hyuk had a rather cold relationship. Hyuk's abrasiveness and tendencies to troll others were returned with hostility from Jisu. He did seem to not mind her as much as he did with Hyun, partially because Jisu seemed to resemble Maria. The two gradually warmed up to each other, though occasionally Jisu had to physically knock some sense into Hyuk, particularly when Hyuk suddenly asked Hyun to go outside. Jisu, however, was gravely concerned when Hyuk started monsterfying, and as a friend promised to mercy kill Hyuk if he ever turned.
Yuri Park
Hyuk and Yuri do not interact much in the series, however, he did appear to have a crush on Yuri, referring to her as a "goddess," much to everyone else's bewilderment. These feelings, however, were overridden by Hyuk's pragmatism. Despite knowing Yuri needed an inhaler to survive, Hyuk deemed it too risky to raid a hospital in addition to a grocery store and was willing to let Yuri die.
Hyein Son
Hyuk, like most of the other survivors, despised Hyein due to her negative, cowardly and hypocritical behaviour. Despite that though, he still allowed her to stay in the group, even though she seemed to drag everyone down. He appeared to understand Hyein's logic in a way as he made everyone stand back so
Trivia
- Hyuk enjoys the show Maria From The Sky and talks about it with other people, like Gyuhwan Han, through his online user, CrewCrew.
- His online pers
 Characters
| ||
|
Yeongchan High Variants Others Returning Cast | ||