(ThyBlackMan.com) I love some manhwa and webtoons. We’ve gone into Hardcore Leveling Warrior and personal favorite Peerless Dad. There’s also a really dope, long-running series I covered that you’ll see here soon. Hint: it shares a theme with this series we’re about to explore. Something about Leveling alone or something. For now, let’s get into another incredible series for gamers and lovers of comics alike: The Gamer.
Now, this won’t be the last manhwa that we get into for gamers but this might give the other unnamed series a run for its money. Let’s dive into The Gamer!
What Is The Gamer?
Running since September 2013, The Gamer is a long-running manhwa (Korean comic or webcomic) by Sung Sang-Young with Sang-Ah handling the artwork. Based in present day South Korea, it details a high school student, Han Ji-han who has a special ability that allows him to view and experience everything in the world around him like a video game.
Han Ji-han thinks he’s the only one this works for and early on, he views it as even parts weird and annoying. This is his Gamer ability and it takes the form of an RPG status screen. He’s able to view his own level, the level of everyone else—well, most people. Han Ji-han benefits from every activity and chore.
His personal system marks most activities as quests. If he completes his homework, he gets experience points. Taking out the trash? Experience points. Arriving home before curfew? Experience points. As we all know, once you get enough XP, you level up. When Han Ji-han levels up, he’s awarded with stat points that he can apply to his stats.
Apparently, everyone has stats and levels but obviously everyone doesn’t have a cheat that allows them to mold themselves via stat points.
The Abyss and Ability Users
Things escalate quickly for Han Ji-han when his Gamer ability allows him to view some unusual things. He can enter shielded-in areas—basically dungeons. It’s on his first time doing so that he finds out there are other people with weird abilities during an intense fight. His closest friend and classmate, Shin Seon-Il finds something amiss about Han Ji-han and discovers his Gamer ability.
It is Shin Seon-Il who formally introduces him to the Abyss, a place where Ability Users thrive via combat and trade. The Abyss isn’t so much a separate realm as it is a society or community with its own rules, pitfalls, power base, and enforcers.
Think of it as the Masquerade from Vampire: The Masquerade. It just exists because Ability Users exist and they make rules that allow them to live in the normal world while conducting business and settling feuds in the Abyss. The dungeon is a part of the Abyss and allows for training and fighting in the normal world without harming anyone or damaging anything.
Shin Seon-Il is from a wealthy family that turns out to be one of the foundations of the most powerful alliance in the Abyss. Another member of the Abyss is his classmate and the girl he saw in his first dungeon fighting another Ability User, Kwon Si-Yeon. Like Shin Seon-Il, this cold redhead is also a very skilled martial artist. Her familial clan is initially a rival of Shin’s.
Actually, most in the Abyss are either martial artists or some sort of sorcerer. To survive in the Abyss, one needs some sort of Ability and combat skill.
The Story Open Up Fast
Since Han is an everyday student who pretty much stumbled onto the Abyss, Shin initially discourages Han from joining. However, with his Gamer ability—which Shin calls a cheat (it is)—he is able to level quickly and become powerful faster than Shin did with his years of martial arts training.
Part of this is because he can view his progress. He knows what will give him a good amount of XP and how much he needs to train. Once Han Ji-han fully accepts living in the Abyss, the series picks up with new organizations being introduced, enemies with agendas, and more about the Abyss being revealed.
Honestly, this series would make for a dope video game or anime. There’s so much going on in the series and the world building is strong in this one.
Check Out The Gamer
What’s great about this series is how Han Ji-han grows in the Abyss. He has his own concerns about what he’ll do after high school and if he’ll make a living as a part of the Abyss. This kid also worries about his friends—the core group are all classmates—in the Abyss.
The Gamer has a lot of tropes from cultivation, martial arts, and isekai manhwa. Our hero accumulates money rapidly because monsters drop items and money when he kills them. Some of it is regular stuff while sometimes it’s something rare. He manages to make a profit from hunting monsters and trading on the Abyss’ market.
World building in The Gamer is extremely good and it’ll keep you reading to see how things unfold and what else is revealed. This series is highly recommended. If you’re liking The Gamer, check out Life Howling which is pretty much the successor series of this one. Also, check out Sung Sang-Young’s other popular work Wizardly Tower.
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.
