Hell Joe

Hell Joe (헬 조, Hel Jo) is an inhabitant of the Floor of Death; he is the lord and ruler of South City and dwells inside the Red Fortress.

History
Hell Joe used to be a "Hole Repairman" in the South City. On the Floor of Death, these “holes” are special organs, which pull shinsoo from the outside. Hell Joe came to know everything about holes after working on them for such a long time. Eventually, the former ruler of South City, Grand De Sah, began to trust Hell Joe. Afterwards, Grand De Sah called him into his castle and appointed him “Top Hole Master”. Having become the Top Hole Master, Hell Joe started changing the structure of the holes as he pleased, allowing him the control over the shinsoo and the life of South City. Subsequently most of Grand De Sah’s underlings changed sides, and eventually, Hell Joe led those people to the core of the castle against Grand De Sah until finally, he ruled over South City. He later tried to take over North City but thank to Gran De Jah's eyes, which could predict the future, and the aid of a mysterious woman, he was forced to give up on invading North City.

He later tasked David Hockney with teaming up with Yuliu Mata to find the thorn fragments with the false promise to find a way for him to leave the floor of death. When Hockney refused to find the rest of the fragments after finding one for him, Hell Joe tore out Hockney's eyes in a fit of rage and tried to use them to find the thorns himself, to no avail. He later tortured a Red Witch in an attempt to force her to find the fragments for her, unaware that Guides' powers don't work on the Floor of Death, and causing her to die an excruciating death.

At some point, he encountered Urek Mazino who gave him a monster from within the holes. He then went about using its abilities to steal the powers of the South City residents which he then redistributed amongst his subordinates.

Appearance and Personality
His skin, hair and eyes are grey and he has impressive scars on his face. Red appendages come out of his back and antennas from his forehead. Joe wears a puffy hooded parka-like jacket with a red fluffy collar; it is bound by a three-eyes brooch at his neck. When using the powers of the Red Thryssa, he gains red horns, glowing red eyes, claws on his right hand, and an insectile mouth with mandibles and fangs.

Hell Joe seems to enjoy comics and gets annoyed when others interrupt him when he is reading. According to a Red Witch, he can be described as maverick, in a way he doesn't trust anyone else. Hwa Ryun also declared that he is defying fate itself as he caused a Red Witch to die when she was not yet destined to.

The Floor of Death
With Ssong coming to tell him of Karaka's arrival, Joe irritatedly told him to get lost as he was trying to finish his comic. Ssong persisted and they discussed what to do when Karaka arrived and they were empty handed, reminding him of the 'promise' they'd agreed on. Joe angrily replied to tell Karaka he could no longer co-operate due to the poor quality of gifts he had received before telling Ssong to get lost.

Later, Karaka burst in and argued with Joe about their ends of the deal. Going on a ranting tangent, Karaka then gave him a new offer: bring him the intruders that had disappeared. Joe initially refused until Karaka told him that one of the intruders was capable of getting them out off the Floor of Death.

With Karaka's new offer being set, Joe asked his Army Commanders whether he should believe Karaka's words with the Commanders having differing opinions on whether to trust Karaka or not. Joe then announced to everyone on the Floor of Death the false revelation that the final piece of the Thorn was in his castle and if they wanted it, they should challenge him and his Commanders.

With a mysterious woman attacking the castle and killing Walcott, an excited Joe got ready to go and confront her himself. On his way, he saw a fleeing Fabregas. Calling him out on his cowardly actions, Fabregas tried to retaliate but instead fell victim to Joe's fearsome power. Ordering Fabregas to capture the other intruders if he wanted his power back, Joe went off to confront Yuri.

Powers and Abilities
SIU explained that he is strong, even by High Rankers' reckoning, especially so since he is on his 'home turf'. He is among the strongest on the 43rd Floor; even a person of Karaka's strength cannot take him lightly. Due to his absolute knowledge of the holes running within the Floor, Joe is able to disable his opponent's shinsoo attacks by manipulating the holes. Together with his Red Thryssa abilities, it has made him almost invincible on the Floor of Death.


 * Claws of the Red Thryssa (붉은 바리의 손톱, Bulg-eun Bali-ui Sontob): He was able to wound Ha Yuri Zahard with this move.
 * Hell Joe: Blood Flood (헬 조 블러드 플러즈, Hel Jo Beulleodeu Peulleoseu): He is able to flood the holes (blood vessels) of the Guardian corpse with its blood.
 * Hell Joe: Weak Beam (헬 조 약한 빔, Hel Jo Yaghan Bim): He was able to generate a 'weak' Shinsoo blast of intense shinsoo that completely eradicated everything in front of him by a large range.
 * The Zero Area (제로의 영역, Jelo-ui Yeong-yeog): He lowers the Shinsoo density so that other people are no longer able to use Shinsoo manipulation techniques. Baam was not affected by this technique; because of the Thorn according to Garam Zahard.

Red Thryssa: Hell Joe's main offensive power stems from his acquisition of the abilities of the Red Thryssa, a fearsome predator. The Red Thryssa's abilities exist equally within his teeth and right hand and enables him to paralyse and absorb the powers of any Floor of Death inhabitant he catches. While this allows Joe to somewhat circumvent the immortality spell, using the ability does not actually kill inhabitants of the 43rd Floor but makes it almost impossible for victims to recover their powers.

Notes and Trivia

 * Hero 12, the comic Hell Joe is reading, features a scene in which one person steps into someone's head. Similar to the moment in which Ha Yuri Zahard stepped on to Baam's head during the events of Season 1 Chapter 2.
 * SIU described Hell Joe as an OP character.