Ihwa

* Normal
* Undercover
* Child Form
* Child Form Undercover

**Ihwa** (이화) is the main protagonist and the titular **Hero Killer** of the ***Hero Killer*** webtoon original series. After her sister Yeon was killed by corrupt heroes, Ihwa sets out to avenge her by killing as many heroes as possible. She would join the villain organization known as the Nameless and works with Engen, the Smiling Man and legendary villain as they work together to destroy the Hero Clan.

While originally thought to have her late sister as her only relative, she was revealed to be the youngest daughter of Ijincheon, the second Executioner of the Silver Forest and member of the Four Swordsmen, four of the most powerful swordsmen in the world and his wife. She is also the former student of Yushin, a former member of the Elders and the Four Swordsmen.

## Appearance

Ihwa is a beautiful young woman with silver-white hair and eyelashes and red eyes that glow intensely whenever she uses her EST. Her beauty is quite eye-catching, with her turning many heads. Her signature outfit is an open red jacket with a black shirt underneath, black sweats or pants, and white tennis shoes or black heels. Ihwa has an extremely muscular yet slim build, and she is often seen working out. Pound for pound, she is a powerful physical combatant.

While disguised as the Hero "Kasha," Ihwa's appearance is mostly the same except for her hair and eyelashes becoming jet black, and the various outfits she wears conform more to Hero standards.

## Personality

Psychologically, Ihwa is coldly serious, cautious, cunning, insanely confident, resourceful, strategic, bold, extremely and completely unpredictable, calculating, callously reckless, violent, and stingy woman that has a grey view of the current society and carries a cold-blooded demeanor as she will not hesitate to kill anyone that tries to get in the way of her goals. Her ruthlessness is exemplified by her aim to kill every hero, hoping that one of them will be her sister's murderer. Ihwa has a particular hatred towards heroes, especially ones that are corrupt or hypocritically towards the Hero Clan's corruption. Although most of this hatred is fueled by her sister'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 corrupt heroes and villains alike. 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 needles 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. 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. Aside from her pragmatic nature, Ihwa is also brutally honest to the point of willfully ignoring the very notion of tact and has a comedic side to her, although, this side of her is often a mixture of goofiness, ignorance, naivete, gluttonous and materialistic cravings, outright shamelessness, and even a weird thought process. Whenever Ihwa isn't taking something seriously, all she can think about is food or more delicious and luxurious food that suits her taste, and in moments like this, she will eat anything that she views as food, going so far as to imagine a sword mixed with honey, nibble on Lyca's neck, eat poisonous spores, and attempted to eat butterflies as a child. This is evident even in her childhood.  She also loves hoarding stolen weapons and gifts, desiring them beyond their power sets and strategic value.

## Background

     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 her father Ijin 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. 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 . Yeon would even ask Ihwa to promise her 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 . As she mustered the last of her strength to come home, Ihwa found her sister as Yeon died in her arms.

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.  While the rest of her adolescent and teens consisted of training, 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. Yushin would teach her everything he knew about combat and fighting, including his swordsmanship. At another point during this time, he would also teach her the Executioner's signature technique with a demonstration  and warn her to never drink alcoholic beverages because of the unfortunate events that unfolded due to it.

     Years passed as her training was nearing completion as Ihwa was shown to have targeted underground gangs to test her abilities in which she annihilated them.

## Story

### District 17 Assault Arc

> If the Heroes are here to clean the evil and corrupt villains...Whose job is it to clean up the corrupt heroes? If nobody else is willing to do it...Then I'll do it. I shall become the Face of Death.
>
>

With her training nearing completion, 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. 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.

     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.

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 encounters Chaos, a member of the clan, who had tracked her down.

### Hero Candidate Arc

After their attack on District 17: Dust City, Ihwa tasked by Engen to infiltrate the Hero Clan

### Assault on Castle Gray Arc

Ihwa, still reeling after Nenya's death, is with the Nameless and their Villains allies.

## Battles & Events

**District 17 Assault Arc**

* Hero Killer vs. Jade
* Hero Killer vs. Chaos & Viper
* Hero Killer vs. Rachel Sinclair
* Hero Killer vs. Grayman
* Hero Killer vs. Victoria
* Hero Killer vs. Claymore

**Hero Candidate Arc**

* Hero Killer vs. Vendetta
* Hero Killer vs. Lyca
* Hero Killer vs. Condor
* Kasha, Fazin, Lyca, Effi, Suki, and Ubowa vs. Condor
* Hero Killer vs. Smiling Man
* Hero Killer vs. Bareknuckles

**The Torch Arc**

* Hero Killer vs. Jintae Yang
* Hero Killer vs. Highnoon & Crimson Dragon
* Hero Killer vs. Claymore Round 2
* Hero Killer vs. Sledgehammer

**Nostra Arc**

* Hero Killer vs. Pitbull
* Hero Killer vs. Farza
* Hero Killer vs. Dicer, Cookie Cutter & Madam Liquor
* The Nameless, Chain vs. Farza
* Hero Killer, Chain vs. Dalia Mendoza
* Hero Killer vs Paladin and Black Hand

**Assault on Castle Gray Arc**

* Hero Killer vs. Hekate
* Hero Killer vs. Puppeteer
* Hero Killer vs Hekate Round 2
* Hero Killer vs Jintae Yang Round 2
* Hero Killer vs Daemon

## 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 Collector" 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.
* 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.
* Ihwa is a Master Chef.
* Ihwa is a violent drunk.
* Ihwa is one of three people to have wielded Chain in his Sword Form.
* Ihwa has developed a habit of naming her techniques after Gift users that's she killed.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CmeOWN1JylJ/?utm\_source=ig\_web\_copy\_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
2. ↑ Episode 70
3. ↑ Episode 124
4. ↑ Episode 106
5. ↑ Episode 53
6. ↑ Episode 124
7. ↑ Episode 2
8. ↑ Episode 97
9. ↑ Episode 94
10. ↑ Episode 2
11. ↑ Episode 1
12. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CO2IvmHDkp4/?utm\_source=ig\_web\_button\_share\_sheet&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA