Golden Child’s Bong Jae-Hyun has captured the attention of viewers with his overwhelming performance in the drama “High School Return of a Gangster.”
On the 29th of May, Bong Jae-Hyun played the role of Choi Se-Kyung in the drama “High School Return of a Gangster,” which was released on Wavve and TVING.
The fantasy drama tells the story of a 47-year-old gangster who possesses the body of a nineteen-year-old bullied high school student, uses his skills to punish the bullies, and forges a new friendship with a friend who suffered from domestic violence.
Choi Se-Kyung, played by Bong Jae-Hyun, is a model student with good grades, well-groomed hair, physique, and physical strength, but he has a hidden pain inside.
In his first appearance, Choi Se-Kyung bumps into Song Yi-Heon (Yoon Chan-Young) at a bookstore, where he offers him a recommendation for a ‘good book to build up the basics’ and shares a textbook with him.
Choi Se-Kyung, who burst into laughter when Song Yi-Heon asked him, ‘How do kids study these days?’, answered with the standard answer of a good student, ‘I study hard, mainly textbooks’.
Kim Duk Pal (played by Lee Seo Jin), who possesses the body of Song Yi Heon’s way of speaking puzzles Se-Kyung and says, “What’s wrong with you, you sound like my uncle.”
Then, on the first day of school, Choi Se-Kyung confronted Song Yi-Heon again in the classroom and watched in wonder as he wasn’t intimidated by Iljin’s Hong Jae-Min (Joo Yoon-Chan), who had been bullying him for a long time.
He goes to Song Yi-Heon after he collapses after a fight, reaches out to him, and takes him to the health center to treat him, taking care of him.
‘How can you not remember me,’ Choi Se-Kyung said to Song Yi-Heon, who didn’t recognize him, ‘you slept in my room, studied with me, traveled with me, and even said that my parents are like your parents? When Song Yi-Heon asked to shake his hand, saying, ‘Let’s get along again,’ he slapped his hand away and said, ‘We were never friends. You threatened me.’
This was a stark reversal of the warm and caring persona he had shown earlier and gave a strong sense of intimidation.
‘Your height, build, and face are the same, so they’ll think you’re the same, but your way of talking, laughing, walking, and looking at them has changed.
It’s like you’re a different person,’ he said, and then caught him off-guard with a sharp question, “You’re not Song Yi Heon, are you?”
Choi Se-Kyung hovered by Song Yi-Heon’s side, constantly keeping an eye on him.
During nighttime self-study sessions, Se-Kyung would explain the maths problem to Yi-Heon as he struggled with it, and when he relaxed, Se-Kyung would ask him, ‘What’s your real name?’ as he struggled to figure out Yi-Heon’s identity.
The last conversation Song Yi-Heon had with Choi Se-Kyung before he was possessed was also revealed, and the fact that Choi Se-Kyung was unable to sleep, and just thinking about the conversation gave him nightmares.
Soon enough, Choi Se-Kyung checked the address in the student record and visited Song Yi-Heon’s house.
While Song Yi-Heon was away, he sneaked into his room and searched through his room, increasing the tension as he tried to find the real Song Yi-Heon.
There was also a scene where Choi Se-Kyung was subjected to domestic violence by his father, a prosecutor, for breaking curfew.
His trembling submission to his father, who secretly installed a location-tracking application on his mobile phone to monitor his behavior, was heartbreaking.
Bong Jae-Hyun’s delicate emotional performance, based on a wider and more robust acting spectrum that he has expanded across various fields, maximized the fresh story and suspenseful development of “High School Return of a Gangster” with its many twists and turns.
It will be interesting to see how he will unravel his mysterious relationship with Song Yi-Heon in the upcoming episodes.
The drama starring Bong Jae-Hyun, “High School Return of a Gangster” will be released every Wednesday at 4 pm on Wavve and TVING.
