His first job was a shoeshine boy in a whites-only barber shop. Before this, he was a shoeshine boy in Times Square and worked in an automat. Guthrie befriended an African-American shoeshine boy named George, who played blues on his harmonica. Pep worked as a shoeshine boy in downtown Hartford alongside Johnny Duke. As a teenager, he worked at shoeshine stands and car washes. When he is not Underdog, he is "incognito" as Shoeshine Boy. The premise was that "humble and lovable" Shoeshine Boy was in truth the superhero Underdog. Shoeshine disguises himself and saves the hostages, but Cad escapes. He debuted in the company at age five, portraying a shoeshine boy. Dan takes him home and names him Shoeshine after the dog licks his shoes. They lived above the shoeshine shop. Lee Jin-tae owns a shoeshine stand to pay for his younger brother Jin-seok's education. Kyle (Andy Forrest) is a government employee and regular customer at Andy's shoeshine stand. Barsinister and Cad kidnap Dan and force him to call Shoeshine for help. Secret messages are passed to him at a shoeshine box.