Kim Ji-yeon’s Jewel Box: Jang Yo-hun, a Box-Office-Level Presence in Short Films

“Gibeu aen teikeu, ssinyeonbara!”

Lines such as “My child’s father is extremely angry,” “School Rights Protection Bureau inspector! I’m Im Han-lim—!” and the stammering “Ju-, ju-, ju-, a juvenile offender” spawned countless memes from 〈Teach You a Lesson〉, but there’s one moment that should have gone viral and somehow didn’t — a moment that still leaves me puzzled. It appears in episode 6 of Netflix’s 〈Teach You a Lesson〉, in a scene featuring the so-called "minor offenders." Min Ji-ung (played by Jang Yo-hun) and the other minors traffic a drug nicknamed the "heart drug" within the school and brutalize students who fail to deliver the drug properly. Min Ji-ung shouts at a student who didn't make the delivery: “Just give the drug and take the money. Huh? Gibeu aen teikeu, ssinyeonbara!” That is not a typo. He clearly says it that way — ssinyeonbara.

How can someone be this cruel? He is so vicious that the scene becomes strangely rewatchable. If you’ve spent any time at film festivals, you almost certainly know the face of the actor who plays Min Ji-ung, Jang Yo-hun. You may have even seen him recently at the 22nd Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival, where the short 〈Sisyphus's Orbital Period〉 screened. In 〈Sisyphus's Orbital Period〉, Jang puts on a ridiculous Dr Pepper hat to make his girlfriend laugh as she keeps carelessly saying “Oh, seriously,” and his glasses fog up white while he slurps instant noodles so deliciously it almost costs him the audience’s sympathy. Watching his comic face in 〈Sisyphus's Orbital Period〉 was a reminder that love can be pathetic, tender, and fleeting all at once.

The reason I’ve been keeping a close eye on Jang Yo-hun is simple: he appears in short films I especially adore. I once picked a film almost irresistibly because of its title — 〈Nipple World War III〉 — and it delivered dark-comedy pleasures and satire that any black-comedy enthusiast would relish. The film follows a TV producer who is ordered to pixelate all women’s nipples on air, and the story is a gleeful send-up aimed at an era where, if you ask why nipples are sexual or uncomfortable, the only circular answer you’ll get is, “They’re sexual because I see them that way.” Jang appears as an assistant director to Producer Yong (Choi Sung-eun), and the film’s extra spark owes a lot to Jang’s vivid narration. Comedy, grounded acting, narration and even a bit of zombie work: the film showcases all of Jang Yo-hun’s strengths, and that’s when I put his name firmly on my radar.

Later, I was naturally delighted to see him again — as the queer junior hotelier to Esom in the TVING original series 〈LTNS〉, and as a brazen fake car dealer in the Disney+ series 〈Gang Mae-gang〉 who taunts the police with, “I’ve got a record, so what, you think I’m easy?” Beyond those, Jang became a frequent collaborator of Lee Jong-pil, appearing in films such as 〈Escape〉, 〈Pavane〉 and 〈The Times of the Theater〉, even taking on a "chimpanzee" role while moving fluidly between commercial and independent cinema to steadily carve out his own space.

Then Jang Yo-hun took on the role of the leader of the four "minor offenders" in Netflix’s 〈Teach You a Lesson〉 and raised his profile with a much wider audience. In reality Jang was born in 1993, so taking on the role of a 2011‑born boy who is below the age of criminal responsibility must have required serious discussion between director and actor. Casting actual middle- or high-school–aged actors to play characters involved in brutal violence and delinquency can be ethically fraught for a director; it risks demonizing real children to achieve a genre catharsis. To build a cunning leader, Jang chose an exaggerated, caricatured acting tone. His Min Ji-ung at one point stammers, “We’re ju-ju-just minors, we don’t get sent [to prison],” flips the middle finger at Na Hwa-jin (Kim Mu-yeol), and taunts at the police station with a mocking, “Sor-ry~” as he brazenly skirts the edge of the law. Jang’s performance smartly signals to viewers that 〈Teach You a Lesson〉 is not intended as a strictly realistic school-violence drama but as a fantastical comic action piece. Because Jang’s Min Ji-ung first earns the audience’s dislike with those annoying mannerisms, the later prison scene — in which he is choked with a towel and beaten badly by Im Han-lim (Jin Ki-joo) — delivers much more satisfying catharsis for viewers. 

Jang Yo-hun’s path to becoming an actor and making his way onscreen is interesting in its own right. He studied science at university, joined a hip-hop club, played bass in a band, and took to the stage in theater because he loved performing. He worked with a traveling troupe, minored in dance and studied ballet. He’s genuinely a multi-talented multidisciplinary artist. This July he returns to theaters in director Park Se-young’s film 〈Jineureomi〉. Which version of Jang Yo-hun is your favorite?