K-drama High School Return of a Gangster: Yoon Chan-young leads body-swap comedy

Lee Seo-jin as gangster Deuk-pal in a still from High School Return of a Gangster.

• High School Return of a Gangster is a diverting watch that offers the thrills of seeing a victim of bullying go up against his aggressors

Lead cast: Yoon Chan-young, Bong Jae-hyun, Lee Seo-jin

It is never too late to better oneself and, for some people, that means belatedly getting a high-school diploma. Falling into that camp is Kim Deuk-pal (Lee Seo-jin, Behind Every Star), a character in the webtoon adaptation High School Return of a Gangster.

Deuk-pal is the number two in a criminal organisation, who would like to use more than his fists to solve his problems now that he is 47.

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He is not showing any signs of physical decline, as the show's opening brawl scene makes clear, but since he is being eyed by gang boss Seo Chil-sung (Lee Kyoung-young, The World of the Married) as his possible replacement, he needs to brush up if he is going to play in the big league.

Deuk-pal is committed to his studies and has the utmost respect for his far younger tutor, but his test scores remain stubbornly low.

While walking down the street one evening, he witnesses a teenage boy get up onto a bridge and prepare to jump. He implores him not to, but the youth jumps anyway and falls straight into Deuk-pal's arms as he rushes towards him. Deuk-pal soon sits up in a daze, only to be run over by a car.

He then wakes up in hospital, although we soon discover that what we are seeing is only Deuk-pal's spirit; his very dead body is in the morgue. The body he is inhabiting is that of the boy who jumped, high-school student Song Yi-heon (Yoon Chan-young, All of Us Are Dead).

Deuk-pal's loyal underlings attempt to barge into Yi-heon's room to demand an apology from the boy who survived after their boss saved him. Yi-heon tries to explain who he is, but all they see is a very rude teenager behaving rather strangely.

Naturally, it takes some time for Deuk-pal (as Yi-heon) to acclimatise to his new circumstances. But at least he got his wish: he is going to high school.

High School Return of a Gangster is pure formula, existing in a subgenre that combines elements of high school and gangster dramas, comedies and occasionally fantasy.

One of the progenitors of this genre is My Boss, My Hero, a 2001 film about a promising young gangster who goes incognito to high school to help him acquire the business acumen his bosses think will serve him well. The smash hit spawned two sequels.

More similar is the surprise 2019 hit The Dude in Me, another story that revolves around a gangster and a high-school student who magically switch bodies after the student falls on the gangster from above.

Since our angle into the story is Deuk-pal, we understand more about him than we do about Yi-heon, who first appears when he climbs onto the bridge. This means Yi-heon's life and personality are just as much a mystery to us as they are to Deuk-pal when he wakes up.

A few crucial points soon become clear. Yi-heon is born into a rich family and has a poor relationship with his father's vile secretary, who may soon become his stepmother, while in school he is mercilessly bullied by many of his peers.

Yi-heon's new devil-may-care attitude takes his habitual attackers by surprise, although it takes a little while for Deuk-pal to get used to the boy's much weaker body.

Before even going to school, he also meets Choi Se-kyung (Bong Jae-hyun, Twinkling Watermelon), who is surprised that his classmate does not seem to recognise him.

When he sees him again at school, Deuk-pal believes that Se-kyung must have been Yi-heon's friend, but the truth is more complicated.

As for Yi-heon, he appears before Deuk-pal in a waking dream. Deuk-pal promises he will try to keep the boy's grades up and take care of his body until they can figure out how to get out of their predicament. Deuk-pal's body, however, has already been cremated.

High School Return of a Gangster is a simple and for the most part diverting watch that offers the vicarious thrills of seeing a bullying victim suddenly going up against his aggressors. But this lacks the comedy chops of something like The Dude in Me or the force and dynamism of a high-school bullying drama such as Weak Hero Class 1.

This is partly down to the show's relatively low budget, which affords the proceedings a stripped-down aesthetic, but also to its lack of imagination. The tropes it wallows in are popular for a reason, but it would be nice if its creators were working as hard to get our attention as its titular gangster is to get his high-school diploma.

High School Return of a Gangster is streaming on Viu.

If you have suicidal thoughts, or you know someone who is, help is available. For Hong Kong, dial +852 18111 forthe government-run "Mental Health Support Hotline" or +852 2896 0000 for The Samaritans and +852 2382 0000 for Suicide Prevention Services. In the US, call or text 988 or chat at988lifeline.orgfor the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

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