Sang-hwa was a supporting character in the Korean zombie film Train to Busan. He was a working-class man who was travelling on the KTX 101 train to Busan with his wife Seong-kyeong when it succumbed to a zombie outbreak.
History[]
Sang-hwa and his pregnant wife Seong-kyeong boarded the KTX 101 train to Busan along with protagonist Seok-woo and his daughter Su-an. While his wife was in the washroom, Sang-hwa told Su-an to go use another washroom further down the train. Later, because of a stowaway woman, the train passengers began to succumb to the mysterious zombie virus and attack people. Sang-hwa briefly fought with one of the infected and locked him in the toilet.
All the passengers gathered in a single car near the front of the train and Seok-woo closed the door on Sang-hwa and his wife. For good reason, Sang-hwa developed an aversion to him and even tried to hit him before being stopped by Seong-kyeong.
When the train reached Daejeon Station, Sang-hwa and the other surviving passengers got off the train and headed for the main exit where a quarantine zone had been established. However, as they approached the exit, the survivors saw that the platoon of soldiers standing near the doors had been completely infected as they sensed the survivors approaching and turned to attack. The survivors then turned and ran back to the train, though many of them fell to the horde before they could make it back.
Sang-hwa and Seong-kyeong made it back to the train, but ended up in different coaches with a horde of zombies between them. Determined to save his wife, he wrapped his arms with cloth and tape to protect them from the zombies' bites. He enlisted the young baseball player Yong-guk to help him as well as Seok-woo, whose daughter was trapped along with Seong-kyeong. They then ventured through the zombie-infested coaches, beating back the creatures and taking advantage of the darkness whenever the train went through a tunnel. They succeeded in retrieving Su-an, In-gil and Seong-kyeong and started making their way back to the front where the rest of the survivors were waiting.
Fate[]
Though Sang-hwa and the others tried to distract the zombies using sound and darkness, these tactics only delayed the inevitable and the infected pursued them. When the group approached the front car, Yong-suk shut the door on them to keep the infected out. Sang-hwa and Seok-woo managed to open it and get the others through, but the mob of zombies became crammed against the doorway and Sang-hwa struggled to get the door closed again. While he was attempting to close the door, a zombie caught in the gap slid her head up and bit Sang-hwa's hand, infecting him.
Knowing he had little time before he turned, Sang-hwa told Seok-woo to take Seong-kyeong and the others ahead to Coach 15 where the other survivors had fallen back to. He also called out to Seong-kyeong and told her that he wanted to name their baby Yoon-syun. Thanking Sang-hwa for giving him and his daughter a chance, Seok-woo took Su-an, Seong-kyeong and In-gil to the next coach. Sang-hwa continued to hold the horde back until he finally succumbed to the virus and became a zombie himself.