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— Hero Killer's narration in Episode 1 | ||
Ihwa (이화) is the main protagonist and the titular Hero Killer of the Hero Killer webtoon original series. She is a Villain that purses the mission of avenging her older sister, Yeon, who was killed by corrupt heroes of the Hero Clan as she ruthlessly tracks down any clues relating to her death and those responsible. She was once a member of the villain organization Nameless led by the Smiling Man but left the group after the invasion of Castle Gray.
Raised in District 17: Dust City, Ihwa was initially thought to have Yeon as her only relative, but she was revealed to be the youngest daughter of Ijincheon, the Executioner of the Silver Forest of the Four Swordsmen. After her sister's death, most of her childhood was spent training and being fostered by Yushin, a former member of the Elders, under whose care she was molded into a deadly warrior.
Appearance[]
Ihwa is a beautiful young woman with long silver-white hair and eyelashes, red eyes that glow intensely whenever she uses her EST or displaying her bloodlust. Her beauty is quite eye-catching, with her turning many heads upon seeing her. Ihwa has extremely muscular yet slim build, and she is often seen working out. Pound for pound, she is a powerful physical combatant. Her signature outfit is an open red jacket with a black shirt underneath, black sweats or pants, and white tennis shoes or black heels. She also wears modern clothing that are quite fashionable.
While disguised as the Hero "Kasha," Ihwa's appearance is mostly the same except for her hair and eyelashes becoming jet black when using Appearance Change, and the various outfits she wears conform more to Hero standards as she wore her signature clothing but with shorts.
Personality[]
Ihwa is an extremely calculating, measured, and cautious woman, as she is constantly evaluating every situation and has no qualms about killing anyone that might potentially threaten her. For example, in her initial meeting with the Nameless, she was prepared to kill Vector, a complete stranger who provided care for her, in the off chance that he was an enemy.[2] Accordingly, she will not hesitate to use violence or kill, especially if it will advance her goals. She is also extremely intelligent, resourceful, and a master tactician; she notes herself that while powerful, she has won many of her fights not through pure power but strategy, scrappiness, and luck.[3] She can also be completely unpredictable and confident to the point of extreme recklessness.
She has a grey view of the current society created by the Hero Clan and has a particular strong hatred towards heroes, especially ones that are corrupt or hypocritically towards the Hero Clan's corruption. Although most of this resentment stems from Yeon's death, it's possible that she's disappointed over the general corruption of the Hero Clan. This was further strengthened when she broke into the Hero Clan's data banks and learned about the very depths of the clan's actions in using others to do their dirty work.
She has her own sense of justice despite her goals and often displays contempt at villains as well as. She doesn't like involving regular bystanders or normies in her plans, and like Vector, she will defend them from the more sadistic villains as she won't tolerate unnecessary slaughter. Ihwa is also quite aware of her own actions and has no intention at all in justifying them, believing that she is simply doing what she must as the "Bringer of Punishment".[4] However, she is willing to team up with others if she gets something in return from them no matter their affiliation in being a hero or villain.
Ihwa showing her honesty.
Aside from her pragmatic nature, Ihwa is brutally honest to the point of willfully ignoring the very notion of tact and has a comedic side to her personality, which can partly be attributed to her naivete. She is extremely gluttonous with her being often hungry, even in tense situations or nearly being killed. Whenever she isn't taking something seriously, she primarily thinks about food. She has attempted to eat anything in sight that, going so far as to imagine a sword mixed with honey, nibble on Lyca's neck, bite Crimson Dragon's tail,[5] eat poisonous spores, and often attempted to eat butterflies in her childhood. [6]
Ihwa is also a fierce kleptomaniac, as she loves stealing and hoarding weapons and Gifts, treating each one as treasures with her almost subconsciously stealing them mostly because of how cool they are or look. She will also fight, or kill, to keep every single one of them.
History[]
Yeon and a baby Ihwa being abandoned by their father.
Ihwa was born well into the modern era to her father Ijincheon, an extremely powerful Gift user and a member of the Four Swordsmen, and her mother as their youngest daughter after her older sister, Yeon.
It's unknown when but father decided to choose her mother over his daughters and presumably abandoned Ihwa when she was a baby and her sister Yeon as a child. The reasons for this have yet to be revealed.[7] Ihwa would be raised by Yeon for most of her childhood as her guardian and sole relative in Dust City. She was close with Yeon as she adored her older sister and through flashbacks, she seemed to have had a comparatively normal childhood, save for mysterious moments when Yeon disappeared for extended periods and would come home covered in blood while telling Ihwa to call by name of "Kasha" when she was in her work clothes and allude to threats to her own life [8]. Yeon even asked Ihwa to promise to avenge her if she ever desired it rather than living a normal life. Yeon was eventually killed by the Black Hand during Operation Dusk after having an unknown fall out with the Hero Clan [9]. As she mustered the last of her strength to come home, Ihwa found her sister as Yeon died in her arms.
Ihwa and Yushin.
In that moment a man named Yushin appeared at their door within minutes of her finding her sister's body after fighting off members of the Black Hand. He would ask Ihwa if she wanted revenge against those that killed Yeon.
Ihwa immediately answered with yes if it was possible and accepted Yushin's offer to train her as she vowed to find the hero responsible. [10] While the full extent of her adolescent and teens is unknown, she spent it training with Yushin as he taught her everything he knew about combat and fighting, including his swordsmanship but decided not to pass on his own style of swordsmanship as he saw that it would limit her growth. Ihwa grew close with Yushin as she started referring to him as "old man" and the former Elder showing mutual feelings as he occasionally shared some stories of his wild youth to his young student, having once told her a little bit about his encounter and duel with the Executioner. The old swordsman also taught her his old rival's signature technique, One Blade - Thunderous Slash with a demonstration [11] during this period.
Presumably around her teens, Ihwa once drunk her first alcoholic beverage but she immediately blackout and later woke up to found Yushin, who was in tatters and their surroundings damaged, who told her to never drink alcoholic beverages because of the unfortunate events that unfolded due to it.[12]
Years passed as Ihwa's training was nearing completion. At one point, she was shown to have targeted underworld gangs to test her abilities as she annihilated them with her training nearing completion. [13]
Story[]
District 17 Assault Arc[]
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— {{{Source}}} | ||
Ihwa and Yushin obverse the Mad Dog, Jade, as the hero is performing his "duties". Yushin tells her with his death that her training will finally be complete. However, Ihwa confidently rebuffs her former mentor and Yushin asks her to show him what she can do now as she leaps off the building. As night falls, Ihwa shadows Jade to the Anachist, a local club. After dispatching the hero's bodyguards, she makes her way Jade's private room and the fight between the two begins between them with Ihwa drawing first blood.[14] Jade initially thinks that he has the upper hand as he considers Ihwa to a weakling and beats her easily, but in reality Ihwa was sizing the hero up while luring him into letting his guard down. Ihwa, after getting beaten up, realizes how Jade's Electrokinesis Gift works and mimics his power to tear him apart. Ihwa then shows her actual strength as she overwhelms Jade and kills him.
Hero Killer killing Jade.
After killing the corrupt hero, Yushin appears and tells her that the clan will be coming after her now with much stronger heroes as well. He then asks Ihwa if she's prepared. But as per usual, she confidently welcomes it while stating that she is the Hero Killer. And those who get in her way will die by her hands, and she doesn't care how powerful they are.
Hero Killer's information board.
The next day, Ihwa observes the Hero Clan's reaction to Jade's death and sees that the media hasn't said a word about it as if nothing happened. After her morning workout, she heads to work at the Get Back, a local cafe. There she meets with the owner and starts the day with their routine despite the lack of customers. But Ihwa notices one particular customer and encounters Chaos, a member of the clan, who had tracked her down. While the owner heads to the back, Ihwa confronts the hero and aims a knife towards his throat.
Hero Candidate Arc[]
After their attack on Dust City, Ihwa is tasked by Engen to infiltrate the Hero Clan during the upcoming Hero Trials. Ihwa successfully passes all three stages of the Trials and becomes an official Hero under the name of Kasha. Kasha is inducted into the Clan by Victoria personally, who is aware of her identity as Ihwa. During the ceremony, Victoria informs her of the location of the Torch.
The Torch Arc[]
Ihwa meets and befriends Nenya, who unbeknownst to her holds a fragment of the Torch.
Victoria organizes an impromptu battle royale for ownership of the Torch, in which Gift users in the entire city of YS Harbour competed, including Ihwa, Raxfer Sinclair, Sledgehammer. On a whim, Victoria declares Ihwa to be the winner of the battle royale and passes ownership of Nenya to Ihwa.
Nostra Arc[]
As an official hero, Kasha requests and is assigned to her first assignment in the city of Nostra, the most dangerous city within the district of YS Harbour. The city is known to be one in which the villains outnumber the heroes. In addition, most of the heroes are corrupt and either coerced or willing working with the villains.
On her first night there, she accidentally kills her assigned mentor hero Pitbull in a drunken stupor.
Kasha meets Shell Knight, Lyca's hero partner, who appears to be the only upstanding hero in the city. Shell Knight invites Kasha to join her in an unsanctioned mission to attack a villain base that was previously protected by Pitbull.[15] By the time Kasha arrives, the villains have already been killed by Shell Knight while Kasha witnesses Shell Knight being cut down by Farza.
Later on at night, Lyca confronts Sting X who was involved in the death of Shell Knight. Lyca attacks Sting X, but Metal Giant arrives to save Sting X, knocking Lyca out. As they are about to kidnap, experiment on, torture, and eventually kill Lyca, Kasha arrives and kills both of them. She then goes on to finish the purge of Nostra by killing the remaining three heroes: Dicer, Madam Liquor, and Cookie Cutter.
Engen assigns the Nameless, including Ihwa, the task of killing Paladin. However, Jintae Yang disguises himself as Paladin and indiscriminately attacks the town in an attempt to draw Ihwa out. Jintae Yang kidnaps John, Bagna, and Rachel. Ihwa and Nenya go to rescue them, but Jintae Yang manages to kill Nenya and take possession of the Torch.
Assault on Castle Gray Arc[]
Ihwa, still reeling from Nenya's death, along with the Nameless and their Villains allies led by Engen begin the Invasion of Castle Gray. Having been assigned the tactical duties of the invasion, Baek-Ji tells Ihwa to destroy all Castle Gray's outer outposts.
Ihwa's main goal is not to support Engen, but to fight and kill Jintae Yang for killing Nenya. During the assault, she singlehandedly kills Daemon, then assists Rachel in defeating Sapphire.
As the Villains begin making their way across the forest, Hero Killer spots a dead body implied on a tree branch and approaches it. But
As she's finishing off the last of bounty hunters with repeated strikes till their nothing but entrails and limbs, she senses someone watching her and throws her axe at them. A man with large ears carrying equally large swords on his back easily catches the attack and expresses slight surprised at her cruelty towards them. Hero Killer tells the man that she has no reason to be kind to those that were trying to kill her and asks what he wants, like a fight perhaps, but the man declines Ihwa's assumption and tells her that he was hoping to stick together with her for the time being as he got separated from his companions due to the forest's thick mist.
The man tells Hero Killer that the wooden and trees monsters that she defeated earlier are just the start of the dangers and that the Forest of Immortals is much ominous than that. He explains that the forest is home to unfathomably sinister creatures that become much more dangerous the further a person goes in, even for someone as strong as her.
But Ihwa rebuffs his warnings and sees the dangers as the perfect chance to test her newfound level to see if she could fight against those bastards if she went all out, she suddenly stomps on the ground that creates a powerful shockwave, stating that she was on her way to found out.
Hero Killer then asks the man who he is to decide if she's good enough or not while he takes out his swords. The long-eared man tells Ihwa that she shouldn't be foolish when boasting of strength as it is the last thing that she should do within these woods as he draws his swords.
He then briefly tells Ihwa that he is a treasure hunter that travels across the world in search of treasure to sell to those that want to buy, but he is classified as a Villain due to some minor troubles as a result. But he digresses and tells her that he's been to the Forest of Immortals before it became as big as today.
Years ago, he and his colleagues attempted a venture into Castle Gray and sought out the snow-covered lands' treasures. They across the haunting forest and were initially successful as they met very little trouble that they couldn't handle but the group was annihilated as he ended up being the sole survivor after they encountered the monsters of the forest that were drawn to their EST.
Ihwa asks the treasure hunter what it was, and he tells her that he later learned what the locals called them, the Human-Faced Plants, as one of them stares at them with an eerie grin. The creature attacks the two and the two villains clash against the monster with the treasure hunter hacking off its arm with his swordsmanship while Hero Killer unleashes her all against the grinning monstrosity, the treasure hunter tries to convince her to take the chance of the monster being wounded to escape but Ihwa refuses and tells him that he can leave if he wants to, but he stays to assist in killing the monster.
Ihwa and Rendo running from the Human-Faced Plants.
The two succeed in killing it but are already exhausted from the fight, however, before they can even catch their breathes more Human-Faced Plants show up to attack. Ihwa and the treasure hunter then retreat with the monsters chasing after them. They fend off the monsters' attacks till one of them unleashes a tendril that spreads overgrown spores in the ground that start withering all the nearby trees and plants around them.
The treasure hunter unleashes his swordsmanship, Moonblade, to cut to them apart but the Human-Faced Plants quickly surround them.
The monsters get ready to devour the villains as they open their respective mouths, but they stop and turn to see a woman leap in over and grabs one of them, she instantly kills the monster with a single powerful kick while ripping off its teeth and proceeds to do the same to the others.
The woman is revealed to be Hekate, the personal assistant of Victoria, who greets them and offers to guide them through the forest. The remaining plants attack her but only succeed in annoying her as she finishes off the last one.[16]
While pondering the reason behind Engen's goading Jintae Yang into killing her, Ihwa spots Hekate having a conversation with a heavily armed man and wonders what it's about. She approaches the two of them with "stealth" and attempts to steal the man's swords but is immediately caught by him as the swordsman grabs her wrist, and he turns around to see who dares to touch his blades, who revealed to be her father Ijincheon.
Ihwa, in that moment, is visible shaken at the sight of him. She asks who he is, but Hekate makes up a story about him being a teacher that she called to help her out in her training, the former villain then quickly excuses herself.
After a decade since losing Yeon, Ihwa meets her father buts remains completely unaware about their connection. Ijincheon goes along with Hekate’s excuse and introduced himself as "Professor Sword" to her. Proceeding with a lesson, he sets his swords down on the ground and tells Ihwa to pick and choose one that she likes. Naturally, she chooses them all, but Ijincheon tells her just one. Ihwa, begrudgingly, chooses one sword while looking a little gloomy.
Ijincheon tells Ihwa to attack him in any way that she's most comfortable and opens with Weapon Creation but her father easily blocks her attacks while she barely counters his strikes with Demon Mask. While exchanging blows, Ijincheon notes that Yushin decided not to pass on his swordsmanship to her to avoid giving her limits but to let her develop and fight freely. He takes the opportunity to get to know Ihwa and asks her how many people she’s killed so far.
Ihwa tells him just a few pieces of filthy trash here and there. Ijincheon, thinking to himself, exclaims that she's grown into a fine young woman with an honest expression of proudness for his daughter. He then strikes her away with his sword, but she withstands it and asks if his sword is a shard. She unleashes Demonic Gust Slash, a huge slash of wind from it, but Ijncheon easily parries the attack while prizing how sharp she is too. He unleashes his own technique, Clan I Blade - Tree of Awakening and continues attacking Ihwa but she withstands his onslaught once again. Ijincheon then thinks about how she greatly reminds him of her mother
Ihwa takes the opportunity to land a blow on her father’s face while he is momentarily distracted but asks if he’s alright, in rare moment of surprising concern. Ijincheon tells her that he’s fine and they continue training as the Executioner gets even more serious as he unsheathes his sword. Throughout the night, he prepares Ihwa for her final fight against her archrival by using some of Ancient Sword Technique of the Flowing Blade techniques during their sparring lesson.
The two finish their training and the father and daughter pair sit around a campfire. Ihwa learns that Ijincheon is also on a journey to avenge his family and comments on the similarity with her own goals. Ijincheon agrees that it is strange but changes the subject by asking if she liked her training and Ihwa tells him that she learned a lot but could tell that he definitely went easy on her.
He then asks Ihwa if she’s confident that she beat Jintae Yang, but she is surprised that he knows the villain swordsman and answers of course he does. Ijincheon, in all honestly, prizes her abilities by telling her that she's already beyond the level where he needs to teach her anything. And that she must make further progress on her own, but he has a gift for her. He tells Ihwa that he will give her one of his swords and she naturally thinks that means all of them, but he tells her again just the one while questioning if his daughter doesn’t know how to count. Ijincheon opens what appears to be a pocket dimension to pick one and pulls out a red colored beautifully crafted sword with a slight curve. Ihwa instantly leaches on to his arm to proclaim that the sword is hers now.
Dropping her and the sword, Ijincheon apologizes to his daughter and tells her that she needs to overcome her archnemesis, who genuinely desires to kill her. If she can accomplish that, there won’t be many in the entire world that could oppose her. Ijincheon then tells her after she’s done, return the Hero Clan’s territory and complete her revenge. He leaves but still keeps his true identity a secret and Ihwa wonders when she told him her name.
Eventually, she engages Jintae in a one-on-one fight and prevails, taking both the fragment of the Torch from him as well as his One Hundred-Sided Blade.
TBD[]
Battles & Events[]
Etymology[]
- Ihwa (이화) means "Loving Change, Enthusiasm, Reliability".
Trivia[]
- Ihwa has a hobby of collecting weapons taken from her opponents and victims. This was originally just a running gag, but her father appears to have the same hobby with his nicknamed of "Sword Hunter" which indicates that it runs in the family.
- Kkulbeol & Beolkkul initially planned for Ihwa to wear a wooden mask during the initial planning stages of the series, but the idea was abandoned.[17]
- Surprisingly, Ihwa will talk formally to those who are not in the same field as her.
- Ihwa is the third youngest of the Nameless.
- Ihwa took the alias of "Kasha" as it was the same name her sister once used for her work in Black Hand and found those with a connection to it.
- Ihwa is a Master Chef.
- Ihwa is a violent drunk, as a single slip causes her to rampage.
- Ihwa is one of three people to have wielded Chain in his Sword Form.
- Ihwa has developed a habit of naming her techniques of the Gifts taken after the users she's killed.
References[]
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CmeOWN1JylJ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
- ↑ Hero Killer Episode 7
- ↑ Hero Killer Episode 138
- ↑ Hero Killer Episode 70
- ↑ Hero Killer Episode 79
- ↑ Hero Killer Episode 124
- ↑ Hero Killer Episode 106
- ↑ Hero Killer Episode 53
- ↑ Hero Killer Episode 124
- ↑ Hero Killer Episode 2
- ↑ Hero Killer Episode 97
- ↑ Hero Killer Episode 94
- ↑ Hero Killer Episode 2
- ↑ Hero Killer Episode 1
- ↑ Hero Killer Episode 96
- ↑ Hero Killer Episode 129
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CO2IvmHDkp4/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA
[]
| Villains | |
|---|---|
| Independents | Hero Killer • Yushin • Pudding • Chain • Nugal • Mind Shocker • Silver Knight • Dusty Cloaks • |
| New Nera | Abyss Dancer • Puppeteer • SJ • Needles • Rendo • Highnoon • Knife Wielding Female Villain • Orange-Haired Man |
| The Nameless | Smiling Man • Rachel Sinclair • Vector • John Nash • Baek-Ji • Bagna • Nenya • |
| Jintae's Gang | Jintae Yang • Sapphire • Condor • Daemon |
| Vendetta | Tokata • Scar • Dave • |
| Gold-Blood Gang | Office Staff • Rezo Gold-Blood • |
| Ex-Villains | Hekate • |
| Hero Clan | |
|---|---|
| Elders | Master of the Clan • Bishop • Victoria • |
| The Council | Narkle Encilion |
| Special Forces | Paladin • Prosecutor • Chaos • Hekate • Ledium • Langjer |
| Dust City | Chaos • Heavy Smoker • Viper • Jade • Grayman • Claymore • Sharpshooter • Stonefist • Sand Snake |
| Cloud Garden | Bishop • Fullmoon • Fullmoon's Assistant • Raxfer Sinclair • Prosecutor • The Defender • Crimson Dragon • Golden Arrow • Bareknuckles • Black Kite • Musica • Dual Saber • Bora • Naram • Three-Section Staff User • |
| YS Harbour | Sledgehammer • |
| Nostra | Shell Knight • Pitbull • Sting X • Metal Giant • Dicer • Madam Liquor • Cookie Cutter |
| Hero Trials Graduates | |
| Retired/Ex/Missing Heroes | |
| Black Hand | |
| The Undead | TBA |
| The Legion | TBA |
| Underground Heroes | Casketeer |
| Area Guard | Grayman • |
| Shards | |
|---|---|
| Weapons | Ashiyak • The Answerer • Chaser's Axe • Demonic Gust Slash • Ijincheon's Knife • Sword Purgatory • Red Sword • One Hundred-Sided Blade • |
| Items | The Torch • Chain's Ring • |
| Human Shards | The King of Nera • Islotta Rainfall • Nenya • Jintae Yang • Ihwa/Hero Killer |
| Locations | Tower of Milen Kula |