Wen Hai Lee

Wen Hai Lee (李文海, Lǐ Wénhǎi/リー・ウェンハイ Rī Wenhai) is a supporting character featured in Yakuza 0. He is a former professional assassin and the proprietor of Hogushi Kaikan, where he works as an acupuncturist and masseur.

Profile[]

Appearance[]

Lee has a considerably heavy build and a shaved haircut.

Tattoo[]

Red guan yu — Wen Hai Lee's tattoo (from 10th anniversary book).

The tattoo on Lee's back depicts Guan Yu, a legendary general from the Three Kingdoms Period of China. Guan Yu is often worshiped as a god of war or guardian deity in many Chinese religions, reflecting Lee's will to protect Makoto. The weapon Guan Yu wields is his signature Qīnglóng Yǎnyuèdāo (青龍偃月刀, lit. "Azure Dragon Weir Moon Blade"), or more commonly translated as Green Dragon Crescent Moon Blade, hence the dragons on Lee's arms.

Attire[]

At work, Lee's attire consists of a tank top, a pair of slacks, and a pair of leather sandals. Whenever outside, he is seen with an Alpha Industries^WP N-3B parka over his standard attire.

Personality[]

While initially hostile and brutish to Goro Majima, Lee is actually rather intelligent, apparent when he planned to fool the yakuza by murdering Makoto's doppelganger and getting rid of biological evidence (i.e. burning off her fingerprints, surgically destroying her face so that nobody would know her identity) so that the real Makoto could be spared. He is also very protective of Makoto as she reminded him of his deceased daughter and promised to avenge her many times. He is also extremely observant and sardonic towards Majima.

Background[]

SPOILER WARNING: Plot details for Yakuza 0 follow. (Skip)

At some point in his youth, Lee was the father of a little girl. Unfortunately, she was always sick and the side effects of the drugs she took impaired her vision. Ultimately, the girl died of her illness and this left Lee heartbroken.

Eventually, Lee became a hitman who did contract work for a mainland organization. Six months prior to the events of Yakuza 0, Lee did a job that involved running a raid on the Korean mafia, because of a turf war over slave trade and that mafia already killed off several of his organization's men. After killing two of the mobsters in a storehouse, Lee found a room full of half-naked women in cages. As soon as he unlocked the doors, all of the women ran away, except a blind woman named Makoto Makimura. She reached out in the darkness for Lee's hand and once she found it, she latched on and wouldn't let go. She cried and kept telling him "thank you". She reminded him of his dead daughter, so Lee decided to rescue her. Makoto told Lee that she was kidnapped by a man with a bat tattoo and sold to the Korean mafia. Lee became determined to find the man with the bat tattoo in order to exact revenge on Makoto's behalf. Lee began using Makoto's name as his own in order to protect her. Lee decided to take her under his wing and started a massage parlor called Hogushi Kaikan, where she would eventually work.

At some point in time, Lee began looking out for and protecting girls who had no where else to go, and also asked them to let him know if they ever find the man with a bat tattoo.

Involvement[]

Yakuza 0: 1988[]

Realizing he forgot his wallet after eating out, Lee heads back to Hogushi Kaikan to retrieve it. As Lee enters the clinic, he notices his apprentice, Makoto Makimura, working on a client: Goro Majima. Immediately suspicious and noticing Majima's dagger, Lee talks to Makoto - unaware of the danger due to her blindness - while slowly walking towards his acupuncture needles. When Majima attempts to grab his dagger, Lee quickly throws a needle at him, forcing him to remain still. Lee convinces Makoto to leave by asking her to go get him cigarettes and after she leaves, Lee and Majima stare off. When Majima calls him Makoto Makimura, Lee asks where he heard that name, to which Majima replies that he learned through word-of-mouth due to his number of workers. Lee offers Majima a chance to leave while he still can, but Majima refuses to leave.

Lee attacks Majima, and after a long fight, the two are interrupted by a group of yakuza. The group leader tells Lee that they know he is the owner of the shop and asks for Makoto's location, calling him by his real name. Lee insists that he is Makoto Makimura, but his bluff is called. Suddenly, Makoto comes back to shop and tells Lee that she got his cigarettes. Lee becomes nervous, and mutters her name.

Lee quickly tells Makoto to run and tries to stop the yakuza, but is swiftly shot in the left shoulder. Refusing to give up, Lee continues to run toward Makoto, but is shot again in his left leg, causing him to fall. Makoto nervously asks Lee what is happening and Lee continues to tell her to run. The leader tells Lee to stay put and his men capture Makoto. When Majima attempts to intervene, the leader points his gun at him, but before he can shoot, Lee throws an acupuncture needle at the leader's hand. Barely able to move, Lee tells Majima to help Makoto get away from the yakuza because he is the only one who can. Suddenly, Lee is shot in the abdomen by the leader and collapses from the pain and blood loss. Majima defeats the leader and the rest of his men, and leaves Lee behind to rescue Makoto.

Severely wounded, Lee heads to an underground Chinese hospital named Mahjong Jambalaya. There, he is patched up, though is unable to move his wounded arm. While playing Mahjong, Lee notices Majima enter the room. While waiting for backup to arrive to kill Majima, Lees starts playing Mahjong with him, acknowledging the fact he has always wanted to play Mahjong with a hit man. With backup arriving, Lee watches as they are all defeated by Majima, and starts listening to his story. After hearing Majima's story and motives, Lee starts creating a plan in order for all three to escape alive. Before Majima leaves, Lee finally asks for his name, and gets his answer.

Soon after, Lee finalizes his plan, of creating a body double for Makoto, and having her die in Makoto's place. With the plan of giving the idea to Majima, Lee acquires security camera pictures of Makoto's body double, and also a spare outfit for her. Lee heads to Makoto's supposed location given by Majima, and hands Makoto the pictures, before leaving the building in order to obtain drinks to knock out Makoto. After obtaining the drinks, Lee returns, and notices Majima viewing the pictures alongside Makoto. Questioned of purpose of the pictures, Lee details his plan, involving making the body double unrecognizable, and dressing her in Makoto's outfit. As Majima declines, Lee attacks him, claiming he would not leave the room alive knowing of the plan. Lee is defeated, and he watches as Majima takes the pictures and outfit, and leaves.

The news report on TV next morning shows the plan worked. Majima arrives at the parlor and Lee congratulates him for following though, but Majima clarifies it was done by an unknown party, much to Lee's surprise and anger.

In an effort to further ensure Makoto's safety, he aids Majima in getting Makoto away from the yakuza by fleeing Sotenbori. However, Tsukasa Sagawa suspected that Majima didn't really kill Makoto, and planted a car bomb in Lee's van, instantly killing him when he starts the car.

SPOILERS END HERE. (Return)

Fighting Style[]

Lee is a strong, capable fighter and a practitioner of Wing Chun. Owing to his career as an acupuncturist, and his background as an assassin, he incorporates acupuncture needles into his combos.

He has three seperate combos, including:

a Rush Combo, made up of a right gut punch, a right inward knifehand, and a right hammerfist-reverse-grip downward needle-stab with his left hand;
another one consisting of a right gut-punch, a left backfist, a spinning reverse-grip rightward needle stab, and a reverse-grip leftward stab command grab, followed by him throwing Majima over his shoulder if the last attack connects; and
a needle throw-running right palm strike combo (2nd fight only).

The rest of his moveset is comprised of:

a right side kick,
a triple punch,
Taiga Saejima's Knock Back guard reversal (Heat Mode only),
a grab attack where he wrenches Majima's head sideways,
a counter stance where he grabs Majima in a joint-lock, stabs him in the shoulder and trips him up, if he attacks him (2nd fight only);
a right-foot stomp as a downed attack, and
a taunt where he cracks his head to the left and the right with both respective hands.

He emits a yellow aura in Heat Mode.