"You're more than enough in my book! And you're definitely not dumb! So stop telling yourself that you are."-Yeong-Gi Hirahara
Yeong-Gi is one of the main characters of I Love Yoo. He is the second son of Randulph Skuli Hirahara and the younger brother of Kousuke Hirahara. His family members call him by a short version of his first name, Nol, while he prefers to go by the nickname Yeong-Gi.
Throughout his life, Yeong-Gi was treated as the outcast of his wealthy family and hardly had any real friends at Nongke Math and Science Academy (NMSA). Though, he did develop a friendship with Soushi Toyoshima and Dieter Becker-Wulff, and later started dating Alyssa Cho.
He later met Shin-Ae Yoo, and kept accidentally running into her since. He tried to force a friendship, but when Shin-Ae told him about how he is going too far in making friends, Yeong-Gi pulled back at her discretion.
Appearance
Yeong-Gi has tousled ginger hair, thick eyebrows, freckles, and green eyes. He bears a strong resemblance to his father. Taller than his brother, Yeong-Gi is athletically built and has on numerous occasions been seen boxing with a punching bag as a workout. He dresses much more casually than his brother, often sporting jeans and sweatshirts, when not in his school uniform or formal attire. He also is seen with a pair of red glasses when at home, due to being short-sighted, and wears contact lenses when he is out. Like Kousuke, he is complimented for his good looks, often garnering admiring gazes from other women.
Personality
Yeong-Gi has a bright personality and is often chipper. He is seen as a very friendly, approachable person. Unlike Kousuke, Yeong-Gi displays his happier emotions more openly. He is also very persistent as shown at the beginning of his relationship with Shin-Ae. Yeong-Gi is very observant and quick, similar to Kousuke, as they both perceive situations and people's intentions. Yeong-Gi treats people equally no matter what path of life they walk. He is a man who keeps his promises and fulfilling it afterward. His kind personality can be easily misunderstood or taken for granted, which has taken its turn for him. Initially and even later on-his actions are proved sincerely when Kousuke explained it his natural demeanor.
However, when his anger is triggered, Yeong-Gi acts quite aggressively and headstrong, directing his anger to his punching bag rather than expressing those negative emotions verbally. It has been hinted that he has been struggling to contain his internal pain and conflict. On a couple of occasions, his seething pain has vented out in his thoughts and towards Kousuke. (seen in Episode 52).
Relationships
Shin-Ae Yoo
Shin-Ae threw her drink at a burger joint, accidentally ruining Yeong-Gi's school blazer. They met once again at the Hirahara masquerade, with Yeong-Gi offering to prank her friends as an act of revenge for ditching her. Yeong-Gi kept offering to help Shin-Ae (even when she thought of him as a pushy stalker and blackmailed her for her friendship through donuts. She took him to the hospital after he was drugged in the party (he had a drink someone had prepared to drug Shin-Ae). They became friends after a couple of meet-ups and run-ins. She seemed uncomfortable with his endearing compliments and how overbearing for her sake, saying he had a girlfriend and he shouldn't treat her like that. After this, he stopped complimenting so much.
He wanted her to be hired at the Hirahara company, but his brother opposed him. Yeong-Gi enjoys being around her and cares for her emotional well being. He is persistently hell-bent on becoming friends with people, this being one of his weak points because he doesn't have many friends. He shares Shin-Ae's love for food. In chapter 50, Shin-Ae complimented him saying he was handsome, and they both got embarrassed.
Taken from Shin-Ae Yoo's Page of Relationships:
Shin-Ae was suspicious of Yeong-Gi at first, but later on she feels more attached to him and wants to be a better friend. They're always teasing each other and they are friends. They later are confirmed to have feelings for each other.
Shin-Ae first meets Nol when she accidentally pours her orange soda on him, instead of his friend, who she was aiming for. She apologizes and tries to get the stain out of his uniform by punching it.
She runs into him again at his family's formal, where she drops her mask. Nol picks it up. Afterwards he follows her and offers her a ride, she mistakes him for a pervert, and he tries to explain that he is not and wants to call her a cab and prank her friends, who had ditched her.
In Episode 5, he asks her to be his partner, for the prank, and she loudly slaps his hands and shouts "Heck Yeah!" He comes up with the idea of prank-calling Rika and May. Shin-Ae originally unimpressed, realizes the plan is better, but then quickly thinks it is going too far. Shin-Ae gets accosted by two men, and Yeong-Gi defends her. He then asks to have her drink. Unfortunately the drink was roofied by the two men from earlier. So Nol passes out, and Shin-Ae takes him to the ER. After he is safe, and she has a terrible run in with Kousuke, she leaves.
In episode 10, she sees Nol again at a bakery, where he asks to be friends. She is slightly suspicious of it, but says she will consider it.
In Episode 14, after she tells Maya about him, Maya sets up a blind date for Shin-Ae as payback. This causes the three to meet again.
In Episode 17, Nol then follows her in the mall, and helps return a lost girl to her sister. They then exchange numbers, where Yeong-Gi writes his name in her contacts as 'Yeong-Gi"
In episode 20, They see each other again after school, where she goes to the arcade with him. He approaches her while she is reading a book, and offers to buy her a meal if she can beat anyone in a game. She ends up passing out, and he catches her.
After Kousuke comes to collect him, he tells Kousuke that if he gets Shin-Ae food, he will be cooperative for a week. This causes Nol to start work.
In Episode 25, they run into each other at the Hirahara Corp, where Shin-Ae is thinking of applying. Kousuke invites her to lunch with the two of them. When both boys notice she is cold, they both take off their jackets. In Episode 27, Nol puts his around her, and laughs at how 'smol' she looks. She refuses the jacket, but he decides to be cold with her.
In Episode 28, On the way home, she falls asleep in the car, and wakes up to something smelling nice. She sees that his jacket is around her. He walks her to the door, and tells her he hopes they can work together. She is concerned on why he would act so friendly if he has a girlfriend.
In Episode 37, they see each other again when he unexpectedly drops by when she is tutoring Soushi and Dieter. He joins for tutoring and pays her extra. She asks about his mom, assuming it is Yui, and he gets a shocked facial expression.
By Episode 43, they see each other again at WacDonalds, and he waits for her break. He tries to encourage her, but to her it comes off as strange. She confronts him on why he is being so nice even though he has a girlfriend. He tells her he was just trying to be a good friend. By Episode 44, they meet again later in the park by coincidence, and she tells him that she appreciates his efforts, but he is coming on too strong. He agrees to tone it down.
In Episode 49, he sees her next at the formal, where she is very upset and tired looking. He offers to do her makeup for her. He says he can learn via Woutube. They then get food and sit down on the floor at the formal. He and her get separated. He runs into her again and asks if they are friends. She says of course. He then introduces her to Alyssa, his girlfriend. She is shocked that Alyssa offers her to dance with him.
Starting in Episode 58, when she is drugged, he goes looking for her. He punches Sang-Chul in the face, and shouts 'Fried Chicken!' to distract her. She ends up falling with Kousuke catching her, and Nol catching his brother. Upon Yui's arrival, Nol drops Kusuke. He then alls into the water as well. He panics seeing Shin-Ae injured. He then gets arrested for possession of the vial, and assault. He then makes bail, and goes to bring the coats back to Kousuke and Shin-Ae. He sits outside her door. When she finds him, he runs to a balcony. She follows him. They talk and she cries.
Shin-Ae worries about him and calls him multiple times, but his phone is off while he is at a family meeting with the Kim's and Hirahara's. When he turns it back on, in Episode 73, he calls her back, and she asks if he is okay.
They see each other at work, and he encourages her to see Dieter. He also took the blame for her being late on her second day.
Later, in Episode 84, he is there when she calls Dieter about the intruder. He develops an allergic reaction to Lil'Buddy. He swats away her hand when she goes to check his temperature. She then leaves allergy medicine in his car for him.
In the Mid Season Recap, she says the following about Nol: "That gigantic idiot. He's gotten on my nerves on plenty of occasions. I treated him poorly because of my own personal bias. But even after it all... from the start he always had my back... helped me through tough times... comforted me during one of my lowest moments... I'm sorry I have been unfair to you... you've proven to me that you are someone I can trust... I'm glad I gave you a chance"
In Episode 93, they see each other at the park again, and talk. She helps him pick up his earbud, and asks him to lower the music volume so he doesn't damage his ears.
When she sees him at WacDonalds after both her and his interview with Yu Jing, at the end of Episode 116, he tries to leave, attempting to avoid her. In Episode 117, she gets him to stay, and they talk, and she encourages him. She holds his hand, he reacts shocked and then tells her that he has a girlfriend. She says forget it, that she was just trying to be a good friend. He smiles and offers her a earbud to listen to his music.
Later that night when she is reflecting on it, her hands feel weird and she is embarrassed for saying 'You smell clean' to him.
Kousuke Hirahara
Kousuke and Yeong-Gi are brothers; however, their relationship is complicated because of hinted past aggressiveness on Kousuke's part. When they were children, Yeong-Gi would frequently attempt to become closer to his brother by bringing birthday gifts, but Kousuke would insult him and destroy them for an unknown reason. Presently, Kousuke appears to be making an effort to include Yeong-Gi in the company's activities. Yeong-Gi maintains a steady wariness of his older brother. It is suspected that Kousuke feels an obligation to make up for his past mistakes and constantly attempts to sympathize with Nol.
Taken from Kousuke Hirahara's page of relationships:
Yeong-Gi is Kousuke's younger brother. Kousuke refers to his brother as "Nol", despite his younger brother's protests. He and Kousuke appear to have a negative relationship, evidenced by their constant bickering. This is commented on by Shin-Ae, in Episode 26.
After Shin-Ae gifted Kousuke a piece of Cheesecake, he reflects on his past birthdays of his childhood. It is shown that Yeong-Gi was attempting to give Kousuke gifts every year for several years, which Kousuke would discard. Eventually, Kousuke told his brother "Do us both a favor... and give it up already."
At some point, Kousuke becomes overprotective with Yeong-Gi. In Episode 9, he mentions that he promised his father that he would look over his brother.
Kousuke would supervise Yeong-Gi while he met up with his friends, which Dieter said in Episode 99, eventually stopped when Soushi begun to hang out with Yeong-Gi.
In Episode 23, Yeong-Gi promised to be compliant with Kousuke for a week, if Kousuke got Shin-Ae something to eat. Since Kousuke did feed Shin-Ae, Kousuke asked Nol to go to work at the Hirahara Corp.
In Episode 34, Kousuke left out Shin-Ae's application to work at the Hirahara Corp, in an effort to motivate him to work.
In Episode 44, Yeong-Gi confront Kousuke about Shin-Ae's application being deleted. This leads to a verbal altercation.
In Episode 47, Nol decides to continue work, to the annoyance of Kousuke.
During the formal arc, Kousuke and Yeong-Gi work together to help find Shin-Ae. Yeong-Gi agrees to be compliant for the rest of the year. When Nol drops Kousuke and Shin-Ae, Kousuke assumes it was on purpose, and out of vindictiveness.
In Episode 120, Nol is the first person Kousuke tells about his potential job as CFO, in Japan.
After Kousuke gets drunk at a club, he drunk dials Shin-Ae and Nol, in Episode 124.
Soushi Toyoshima
Soushi and Yeong-Gi are close friends who often hang out with each other outside of school. They have similar personalities, but Yeong-Gi's is slightly more polite. Soushi is one of the only real friends Yeong-Gi has, so Yeong-Gi deeply treasures his time and friendship with Soushi.
Dieter Becker-Wulff
Dieter and Yeong-Gi are close friends who like to hang out with each other often. They are similar in that they are both incredibly kind and polite people. Both of them are good friends with Soushi and Shin-Ae. Yeong-Gi cares deeply about Dieter and he tried to lift Dieter's spirits by bringing him and Shin-Ae closer together.
Alyssa Cho
Alyssa is Yeong-Gi's girlfriend. She frequently blows off his attempts to get together due to her being busy with work. His father tells him the only thing he managed to do for the family is to get a famous girlfriend, referring to Alyssa. He seems confused about his feelings towards her.
Sang-Chul Kim
Yeong-Gi and Sang-Chul have a negative and antagonistic relationship. Sang-Chul commented that he heard Nol was 'an inept individual, especially compared to someone like Kousuke'. Later, Sang-Chul creepily joked about kissing Nol's girlfriend. This made Nol uncomfortable. When Nol realized Sang-Chul likely drugged Shin-Ae, he was infuriated. After Sang-Chul insulted Shin-Ae and Alyssa, Nol punched Sang-Chul in the face, and Sang-Chul got Nol arrested. They were forced too work together under Assistant Jayce, which was not viewed upon as a happy event. Sang-Chul vows revenge against Nol.
Randulph Hirahara
While the extent of their relationship is unknown, what has been shown of Yeong-Gi’s feelings is that he is distant to his father. He stood up to his father at the Kim's Formal, which caused his father to be surprised. His father also asked for Shin-Ae's help with Yeong-Gi's court case, without Nol's knowledge. His father also arranged for an interview with Yu Jing and his son, Nol. His father has begun to help his son more often. He commented to Shin-Ae that he is happy with the change she has brought about in him.
Yui Hirahara
Yui and Nol appear to have a hidden negative relationship, where she appears polite, but he seems terrified of her. He appears petrified when he sees her or hears her mentioned. During the Kim Ball, Yui commented on how much he resembles his father and playfully touching his hair to which Yeong-Gi nervously flinched when her hand came close to him, suggesting there may have been history between her and him. She refers to him as 'kid' and behind his back as a 'green eyed loafer'.
Trivia
- His MBTI type is: ENFJ
- Quimchee, the creator of I Love Yoo, revealed that the shape of Yeong-Gi's eyebrows was inspired by Emilia Clarke's eyebrows
- Yeong-Gi's looks take after his father’s a lot
- He does not like tea, for reasons which the author has said are spoilers
- The background on Yeong-Gi’s phone is a picture of Steve Harvey
- He is one year behind in school
- His worst memory happened when he was in middle school and his best memory is from when he was in preschool
- Yeong-Gi wears brands like Superdry, Old Navy, Levi Strauss, and Uniqlo
- The most expensive piece of clothing that Yeong-Gi owns is his high school uniform
- If Yeong-Gi would travel on a vacation, he would go anywhere in Southeast Asia or South America
- Yeong-Gi deals with hiccups by letting it run its course, no matter how long it takes to go away
- He does not like cologne
- He uses a punching bag to relieve stress
- In Episodes 64 and 65, he is shown writing with his left hand
- His favorite Disney movie is Hunchback of Notre Dame, modern ones being Zootopia and Coco
- Yeong-Gi is voice acted by Yungi Chang in the Comic Dub Version made by Sans Comic TV on Youtube
- In Episode 148, his Full Name was revealed to be, Nolan Oliver T. Lochlainn
- His name was originally Kazuki.
- Left handed
- In the original I Love Yoo, he would get sick easily
- Favorite season is winter
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