Tadashi

As the *Pilot* opens, **Tadashi** is just arriving at Korea University, as a fresh-faced, seemingly sweet and innocent boy from Japan who has fallen on awful times. However, as the show progresses, we see he may not be as innocent as he seems.

When Tadashi begins his life in the University, he does so covered in mud. It’s an indicator of his status and of the unrepentant cruelties of the world -- shoved from a car, he lands face-first in a mud puddle; when shown to a room to wash-up, he instead finds BTS, as he is standing there with ordure on his face and attire. Tadashi seems innocent and is easily pitied; however, his cunning and intensity, which is polar-opposite to BTS’s *genuine* kindness and selflessness, take the show from a comedy into a darker, unique analysis of the motivations that infest an individual who has no-one for support but himself. Tadashi shows how far he will go to achieve comfort: he would rather make himself bleed to gain an ounce of sympathy than suffer any more at the hands of others -- “I’m on my side,” he says (in response to BTS who tries to make a deal with him, and asks him where his loyalties lie), “always.” Depending on the audience, Tadashi is shown in different perspectives as being extremely manipulative and taking control of his own fate to being innocent and doting. There are many different facets to the inner Tadashi and perceptions of what he had to go through and face as a young man of the time.

Tadashi does some despicable things over the course of the show, but he’s motivated by a horrific fear of being forced back into penury and prostitution, a life he only just escaped. It is not hard to understand why he went to such unconscionable lengths to avoid that ever happening again, not to mention he’s sexually harassed on the car ride to the University, thrown into shit *twice*, pranked into touching lye with his bare hand by another one of the University’s servants, and gets beaten with a lash for trying to heal Si-Hyuk’s sores.

Tadashi gets progressively less sympathetic as the show goes on, resorting to becoming a poisoner in the season's final episode. It’s possible that he was always this nasty deep down, and was hiding it to get into the University’s favor. While it's impossible to know how much of the show is accurate, being as so much took place behind closed doors, it’s generally agreed upon that Tadashi wasn’t nearly as innocent and charming as one would have you believe.

## **Physical Appearance**

Tadashi can be considered a pretty boy. With his height being considered somewhat shorter than the other characters, what he lacks in the height department he more than makes-up in the beauty department as he has always been considered rather “beautiful”. More often than not, Tadashi is clean-shaven, but he has been known to wear a light stubble. The first thing that captures his followers’ hearts and gazes was the alluring stare of his almond-shaped eyes. They’re a milk chocolate color with speaks of a deeper, darker brown around the pupil, and in most lighting they almost look like they’re sparkling. They’re framed by long black lashes, long enough to cause much jealousy from the fairer sex.

Although, in terms of muscles, Tadashi has none, he is able to distract from this point with his facial features. Tadashi has a very cherubic appearance. He is 20 in actuality, so it’s not hard to believe that he looks young, but he in fact looks quite a bit younger than he’s supposed to. He puts this down to his delicate features, good complexion and childish hairstyle, but the reason for this is unknown. He looks more like a 17-year-old than his real age, which gives him the appearance of someone who is innocent and, in some ways, adorable. It suits his personality well, he thinks, which only works to enhance this.

As the show starts out, Tadashi wears his hair in bangs, but, as the show progresses, his hairstyle progressively becomes more voluminous and complexly styled as his powerful influence increases, as though serving as a counterbalance to the chaos with which his life becomes consumed. The type of person Tadashi is, is visible in his clothing, with the balance of pastel and bright signaling his youthful appearance and childlike innocence. As he undermines BTS and captivates Si-Hyuk, Tadashi undergoes a dramatic wardrobe and beauty evolution -- peaking with dressier shirts and jewelry, and also starts wearing heavy make-up -- which includes a heart drawn on his cheek -- aggressively blotchy, as though someone used their fingers to do it, and not very well.

## **Personality and Traits**

When we first are introduced to Tadashi, he arrives as a wide-eyed innocent that slowly descends into diabolical manipulation. He has a sort of dark charisma about him, a trait that draws other people in around him with the distinct feel of being lured towards something dangerous, but magnetic all the same. Given that he looks as innocent as a recently baptized baby, his assertion is weighty and pulls from multiple levels of assumption. First, Tadashi must understand how innocent he looks, but not only that; he must understand how innocent the other person assumes he must be. This necessitates his understanding of his projected perfection to the other person. Next, he must believe that he is more corrupt, even slightly, than the expectations of the person he is talking to. He must, on some level, understand how innocent he looks, but his repeated claim of corruption is ultimately unfounded. Tadashi is in fact exactly as innocent as he appears and has no deep down inner-demons.

Tadashi has an undeniable charisma that perhaps comes from being an ambitious and attractive omega who seems to know and be able to get exactly what he wants. Tadashi can turn on the charm like a switch, and there are very few people who have not melted at least a little bit when he flashes a smile and praises someone -- especially since the praise is always about something sincere, even if very small. He may have chewed-out other omegas, but half-the-time, instead of disliking him for it, they start out mad and then move over to being somewhat impressed. His air is captivating and draws people in. Unfortunately, this magnetism only seems to threaten suffocation when it comes to the alpha himself.

But as the show’s war of conniving wages on, the truth behind the boy’s disposition begins to shine through. Tadashi’s surface kindness hides a cruelty and killer spirit. It is possible that he knows he has just what it takes to grab whatever gigs come his way. He proves that he not only has an incredible presence, but his acting abilities are far greater than he gives off. He contemplates his next move in order to advance his status. Tadashi plays 4-D chess with his adversaries and faux-friends by behaving polite and innocent, but he is insidiously manipulating them through backhanded compliments, playing mind-games to lower their shields, and using his extreme youth and charm to undermine the rest of the characters.

## **Role in Series**

### ***Pilot***

Tadashi wiped his brow, pausing for a second to brush the sweat away from his forehead. The mop felt heavy in his hand, his feet a little sore from being on them all day, so he allowed himself a five-minute break to catch his breath. His shirt was sticking to his back. Tadashi leaned back against the cold wall of the entrance foyer, setting the mop beside him, the bucket full of dirty water at his feet. He’d been an official cleaner at the University for the better part of five days now, and for the most part he liked his work. He didn’t much like being treated like a second-class citizen by some of the other uppity omegas, but the pay was good and helped him keep sending his father money, so all in all Tadashi didn’t mind his work. The sweat was drying cold on his skin. Tadashi shivered, wrapping his arms around himself as a breeze scudded through the foyer from the open doors.