Height: 5'9" (175 cm)
Birthplace: Incheon, South Korea
Occupation: Student, Amateur Cyclist
Affiliation: Hummingbird Crew
Bicycle: NJS Samson (formerly), LOOK 496
Quote: Anyone can try hard to reach a certain goal, but not many people are persistent. If you keep trying at something, eventually you get the results that you want.
Jay Jo or Jo Ja-Hyun is the main character in the webtoon series Wind Breaker. He is enrolled in Sunny High School. As the story progresses, he gains a group of friends who all have a passion for biking. As time goes on, he starts to express his opinions better and be more socialized. His debut in the League of Street preliminaries helped him gain popularity in the biking scene in Korea and at his school.
Jay is perceived as a solemn person and sometimes mistaken as selfish, arrogant, and stubborn. He didn't have many friends because of his parent's wrong point of view on friendship. As a result, Jay became very introverted, stoic, and studious and often kept to himself.
However, as the story progresses, it is shown that he is also quite caring, understanding, and selfless. Despite his emotionless personality, Jay expresses more of his feelings over time, as he spends time and interacts with his friends.
Background:
Jay did not have much childhood and was constantly studying, even on his birthdays. Jay's parents hold incredibly high expectations for him when it comes to academics to the point where he's not allowed to have friends as they would only distract him from his studies. His parents told him that he could have fun after attaining a stable and successful career for himself.
When Jay was younger, he wasn't studying only when he was with his uncle, Mach Jo. On his 13th birthday, Mach gave his bike to Jay promising that they would one day go on a cycling trip together. Unfortunately, his uncle died before that could happen.
Jay loved his uncle dearly and would often think about him, and those memories would remind Jay why he loved cycling. While Mach was still alive, he asked Jay about his dream, and Jay responded that he wanted to be a doctor. However, Mach knew that this response was the expectations Jay's parents had pushed onto their son. He then asked Jay what his absolute dream was. Mach's influence on Jay went on to fuel Jay's passion for cycling.
Years later, Mr. Nam prompts his class, asking what they would do if they only had a week to live. Jay wrote down that he would like to go on a bike trip with his friends, something he could not do with his uncle.
Part 1:
On the first day of school, Jay made a downhill skid with his old-looking bike, getting the Zephyrus Crew's attention. After seeing Jay's moves, Zephyrus Crew's Leader TJ offered a face-off after trash-talking out of his jealousy. After losing the match, TJ can't bear the defeat and beats Jay and kicks his bike with his crew.
Dom saws the fight and scares the Zephyrus Crew off. Dom and Minu, the person who asked Jay for the match, carry Jay to his home.
Later on, Jay helped Minu's rematch against TJ, but it was too late to help Minu, seeing him getting kicked out of the crew he created.
Jay met Shelly on the way to a meeting for the Student Council. He helped her take back her wallet that was stolen by two pickpocketers. After returning her wallet, Jay realized that his bike got damaged.
When Jay visited the bike shop to repair his bike, Heri, owner of the shop, suggested Jay create a group and join the upcoming competition, "League of Street." At first, Jay was skeptical, but when he learned that his uncle's biking companion Sangho Choi was the organizer, he decided to join.
Jay, Minu, and June created a biking crew alongside Shelly and Dom. Mia designed the merchandise&logo, and the crew was born with the name "Hummingbird Crew."
After the fight with Vinny and his unknown people, who kidnapped Mia and Yumi, Jay got suspended and lost his position of Student Council President. Thankfully, Nick, the school principal, lifted Jay's suspension by a "challenge" of intense bike training alongside Dom and Minu.
Later that day, Vinny's friend Sung asked Jay to let Vinny join their crew to pay his hospital billings. They accepted Vinny as a member of their crew, and team Hummingbird was complete.
Part 2:
Jay's academic rank dropped to 12th place, formerly 1st, causing his parents to scold him. This psychological pressure caused Jay to act weirdly and eventually made him quit the crew.
After not attending the first round, he decided to come back and represent his crew at the second round. His tactical riding and famous Inertia drift made him famous for the rest of the competition.
When Jay's mom saw him competing in a bicycle race, she got furious and went to Jay's school, forcing the principal to withdraw Jay from the team. The pressure made Jay leave the team again. However, Jay reconsidered his choice and decided to take all exams at once to join the race.
Later on, Hwangyeon threatened Jay to blackmail Mia on social media. He asked Jay to compete with him. Jay won the biased race and got the USB, including Mia's pictures. Nevertheless, Hwangyeon published the photos from a different source.
Part 3:
After the horrific accident, Jay was off the grid for a whole month. When Shelly found him in the mountains where they trained, she encouraged him to come back. After the race with the monk, Jay remembered a conversation with his uncle and eventually decided to come back to the city.
When Jay and Shelly came back to civilization, they had a cold relationship. After the long break, they won their first match against the Punk Prince Crew. Even though they won the race, it was pure luck. Their motivation was drained, and they lost their condition, even though they continued training.
When Mr. Nam saw their lack of motivation, he invited the crew to train with him. After the intense training, Jay saw Shelly texting and talking with someone on her phone. When Jay asks about it, Shelly dodges the question. That's when Jay's emotions start to be written all over his face against Shelly.
When Owen Knight, Shelly's close friend from England, came to their school, he and Jay had a cold stare. Sometime later, Owen offered a race with a bid from both sides. Jay told Owen to go back to England if he won, and Owen told Jay to shave his head if he won.
Owen used a regular bike at the race yet won the match with his famous move "Lean In." This was the first time Jay's "Inertia" was defeated. As they agreed, Jay attempted to shave his head, but Shelly stopped him from doing so.
When Aria started to come to the crew's training, Shelly began to get both angry and jealous, making her relationship with Jay on the outs. One day Jay called Aria aside and told her not to come to their training anymore and told Aria he likes Shelly.
Later on, when Jay heard Shelly would leave Korea just before the race day, he ran over to her house, but she was not there.
At that time, Shelly also went to Jay's home to farewell, but he was not there.
The next day at the race, Jay rode like crazy, without thinking and calculating the outcomes. When Vinny told him to catch Shelly at the airport, Jay suddenly changed direction and left the race. With the help of Aria, he caught her at the airport and kissed her, declaring his love. Shelly hugged him and said, "You should've told me a long time ago," and Part 3 came to an end.
Skills and Techniques:
Jay is a well-rounded cyclist. Throughout the competition, Jay is acknowledged as the ace of the crew. He can play as a defensive rider, supporting his crew during their races and an offensive rider. One of his lesser-acknowledged skills is his ability to sprint. He is often overshadowed by his crewmate Dom, but Jay has shown to sprint at high speeds during races.
Years of practice made Jay seem like an "extension" of his bike. He mastered his control of the mechanics and has unique skills like Stabbing Break, Rock Wall, Fish and Chips, Railing Grinds, Jumps, and the famous Inertia. Jay possesses extraordinary technique with the bike. He shows excellent control maneuvering around sharp turns. Often in races, he would accelerate, rather than slow down, during turns to execute drifts.
Note: The story is taking place in South Korea, and Jay's real name is Jo Ja-Hyun. However, the official publisher, Naver Webtoon, does not use Hangul writing for his name. This applies to almost every character in the series. Therefore, avoid changing his name to Hangul's writing.
Voice Actors
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