Lee Hyun

Lee Hyun is the main character in the manhwa Nowhere Boy. He kickstarts the manhwa's storyline by winning a television contest 'Survival: I am Unhappy', the winner being given a wish from God as a prize. His wish was for the End of the Earth, or D-Day.

Appearance
During the first seven chapters of the manhwa, Lee Hyun's shaggy long, black hair covers his blue eyes as well as most of his face, which he usually keeps bowed down. Despite this, reportedly by those around him (specifically Oh Duk Hee), he is seen to have attractive features. Duk Hee had initially given him an A+ in a 'pretty boy' ranking, but after seeing his face for the first time (marking the time when the manhwa starts showing his facial expressions more often), this ranking was changed to an S. Due to this appearance, he was able to capture the interest of the female Apostles, including Angel Minjoo and Transforming Somi.

When in a calm state, Lee Hyun appears expressionless and extremely slow. However, whenever triggered into a shock-like state (mostly during the Black attacks) is is shown he is still capable of emotion.

Personality
Lee Hyun initially appears to lack personality, leaving what is known of it to the interpretation of his peers. His classmates view him as scary, burdensome, stand-offish, and/or particularly mysterious. Oh Duk Hee and the Apostles have found him completely dead in terms of personality; his reactions to their efforts on making him happy so far remain expressionless and stoic. Duk Hee and the Apostles call it a 'pokerface'. However, Lee Hyun is shown to have a personality beyond his detached exterior composed of stark unhappiness with himself, which is manifested as Black. His present personality seems to be defined by previous events in his life, leaving his inner personality to struggle in an attempt to express itself. This was shown when he visited his mother voluntarily after being give the choice by Duk Hee.

Lee Hyun's childhood personality was the complete opposite of his current personality. He was cheerful, energetic, smart, and athletic. He was a strong drive, although most of this drive was expended into winning the praise and ove of his mother. This perosnality gradualling began deteriorating, once his efforts to win the attention of his parent continually shown to be futile.

Childhood
Lee Hyun's mother had been diagnosed with pregnancy denial, a rare psychological disorder in which the woman denies her pregnancy on varying levels of awareness. Because of this, his mother was unable to develop maternal feelings towards her son; even so extreme as to have nightmares about murdering him.

Lee Hyun had spent most of his childhood successful, well-mannered and ambitious towards hobbies and school. The reason for this is his unconditional desire for his mothers love and acknowledgement, which had developed as a result from his mother's disorder. He continually tried to show her his achievements, such as soccer and school curriculum. A situation in which he had eaten the entirety of a spinach plate (a taboo amongst usually picky children) in order to win his mother's approval shows his strong drive towards doing so.

At one point, Lee Hyun's mother had eventually snuck into his room, and made an attempt to strangle him. As she counted down, he had struggled to reach for a pencil, which he then used to injure his mother's hand and cause her to recoil. She questioned whether her attempt to murder him was another of the usual nightmares she had been experiencing, indicating she may or may not had been consciously aware of what she was doing.

Afterwards, she returned to her bedroom where she started a mental breakdown as a result from the previous event. This inevitably led to her being subdued by a doctor. While bedridden, Lee Hyun had walked in on his father and her doctor (While holding a drawing and document showing that he had won an art contest) discussing her disorder, revealing his mother's true intentions towards Lee Hyun. This in turn developed his unhappiness with himself. He soon felt that he didn't belong anywhere and kept asking himself where was Hyun. Eventually he decided he only wanted his mother's love and that the only way for her to be happy was for him to die. On his next birthday he took his mother's hands and put them on his throat and told her to do it for real this time.