The Gamer (manhwa)

The Gamer (Korean: 더 게이머, RR: Deo Geimeo) is a webtoon hosted by Naver. The webtoon is set in contemporary South Korea, originally not introducing anything out of the ordinary. Once the main protagonist, Han Jee-Han, notices a dialogue box in front of him like in a video game so he recognizes that he has become a video game character, supernatural events start happening.

Summary

Han Jee-Han was a normal high school student who developed a special ability that allowed him to treat the world around him as a game called 'The Gamer'. He noticed that by leveling up, he could increase his stats and improve his body and mind, among other things. The day after noticing that he can also increase his stats through training (he studied to increase his Intelligence), he accidentally slipped into a combat area for those who have a link to the Abyss, the hidden world of their own. He witnessed a battle between Kwon Shi-Yun and Hwan Sung-Gon, getting involved in it as well. He was approached by Kwon Shi-Yun, who questioned him on his identity.

Han Jee-Han began to realize that he needs to train to be sure that he'll be safe in the case that he gets caught up in a fight again, so he trains his fighting capability with blunt objects (he uses a baseball bat). On his way home, he accidentally slips into another combat area, having to fight his way through zombies who he later finds out were amassed souls that Hwan Sung-Gon was collecting. He then realizes that he needs to talk to his friend, Shin Sun-Il. Jee-Han assumes that Sun-Il was part of this world due to his level being incredibly higher than everyone else around him, and his assumption proves correct when Sun-Il is threatening, due to him not knowing that Jee-Han has become part of this world.

The story goes on, with Han Jee-Han deciding to stay in the world of the abyss, putting him in many dangerous situations as he grows stronger to protect himself and those around him.

Characters

Han Jee-Han

Han Jihan (한지한; Hanjihan) acquires the 'Gamer ability'. This ability enables him to evolve in the same way the main character(s) in an video RPG would, i.e. with levels. However, he discovers a completely new world (The Abyss) that ordinary human beings are oblivious to. The Abyss is very ominous and scary, comparable to mafia subculture or other rather villanous secret organisations.

Shin Sun-Il

Shin Sun-Il (신선일; Sinseon-il) is Han Jee-Han's childhood friend and attends the same high school as him. He is the first to discover Jee-Han's new 'Gamer ability', and also introduces Jee-Han to the Chunbumoon clan. Sun-Il was initially a little stronger than Jee-Han in terms of 'levels'.

Kwon Shi-Yun

Kwon Shi-Yun (권시연; Gwonsiyeon) is a high school student who transferred into 2nd year class 8. She is also an ability user and hails from the Yunhonmoon clan, the clan who normally opposes but is currently allied with Chunbonmoon.

Hwan Sung-Ah

Hwan Sung-Ah (환성아; Hwanseong-a) also becomes a transfer student at Jee-Han's high school a while after Shi-Yun's transfer. She becomes close to Jee-Han, who tries to cure her of a strange illness, with the help of his newly learned healing ability.

Chapter list

The arc notion was abolished as of chapter 29. Season 1 ends with chapter 86 (though the next chapter is supposed to contain an epilogue and author's notes).

The latest chapter is 186, as of July 28, 2017.

English translations

As Naver Corporation started making web content globally available in 2014, many webtoons, including The Gamer, got official English-language translations. Hankook Ilbo noted The Gamer as an example of a webtoon that introduces Korean culture to English-speaking audiences.^[1] Together with Tower of God and Girls of the Wild's, The Gamer is among the most popular English-translated webtoons as of 2015.^[2]

References

External links

• The Gamer at Naver