7 Korean Fantasy Webtoons You Should Read in 2021

If you're not learning Korean and are just looking for webtoon recommendations, I will leave the English names, feel free to skip the intro.

Webtoons are great for those first starting out reading or those that want something more relaxed than walls of text. The biggest advantage is that they are a lot more comprehensible due to the drawings giving you information about what is happening in the plot.

Obviously due to the lower density of the text, vocabulary acquisition will be lower. For me I can cover much more content in a book than I can with webtoons, most likely due to the need to constantly scroll to get to the text, where as with a large walls of text there is no distraction from the text.

An understated advantage of webtoons is that because they are solely spoken text and less descriptive vocabulary they are a great way to get to speaking earlier. If your main aim is to speak then it might be a good idea to spend most of your reading time on webtoons instead of texts that are less conversational.

With all that said the webtoons in this article are not the most beginner friendly, mostly due to the genre. The fantasy genre tends to use a higher range of vocabulary which can make the level of entry quite high, although at the end of the day it is more important that you are enjoying the story even if it requires look up a tonne of words.

Enjoying content is where the language acquisition happens. When you are reading something that appeals to you and looking up words is no longer a pain but enjoyable because it's helping you understand the story, you will find that your ability will increase without you even noticing.

Luckily for us, all of the webtoons on this list were originally webnovels. This is great because it allows the artists to bring their best without having to split resources to create a consistent story. Another advantage is that if you do want to read denser content, you can just purchase the webnovel and read that instead or along side.

The order follows as of the time of writing, the most popular series. I will leave links to the sites where you can read them. This way you can support the creators. The first 5 or so chapters will be free to read. It is also possible for the monetary deficient to read them by others means perhaps via google search.

나 혼자만 레벨업 (Solo Leveling) 

Releases: Thursdays (목) 00:00 KST

Probably the biggest webtoon ever at the time of writing. It has huge popularity even in the west. As with most of the webtoons in this list it heavily features videogame related elements. There has been for a while a huge fad of dungeoneering. This one stars hunter 성진우(Seong Jin-Woo), who the lowest ranking hunter in Korea. While doing a raid he is severely injured and killed. Suddenly he wakes up in hospital, greeted with a game window informing him he has a daily quest. 

템빨 (Overgeared)

Releases: Saturdays(토) 00:00 KST

A jobless gamer who spends his time playing an MMO, comes across a hidden class. I think this one is my favourite for the humour. It has many out standing moments and it's very easy on the eyes. The characters are pretty fleshed out. We know this one is going to last a while as the webnovel is still being released.

SSS급 죽어야 사는 헌터 (SSS Rank Suicide Hunter)

Releases: Fridays(금) 00:00 KST

The English name still sticks as Suicide Hunter which was the original name, however it was recently changed to 죽어야 사는 헌터 from 자살헌터 due to sensitivity. Currently on a break, this one has a really interesting concept and a very interesting mechanic to tackle the world with. A tower suddenly appears in the world and the inhabitants must climb to the top of the tower. Some are gifted with cards that are of varying skills. As you read it you might be annoyed at how everything "coincidentally" falls for the main character but it's an interesting premise with a good cast of characters.

도굴왕 (Tomb Raider King)

Releases: Tuesdays|(화) and Saturdays (토) 00:00 KST

This one might feel similar to a lot of the others, the world is suddenly overcome by artifacts and many people gather them to become extremely strong. However the main character gets into misfortune and is saved by a mysterious bird and sent back to the time just before the events started. He is then granted videogame style powers by the bird. 

나노 마신 [喇勞 魔神] (Nano machines)

Releases: Thursdays(목) 00:00 KST

This one is straight 200IQ: the webtoon. It is probably the hardest one on the list in terms of language difficulty. The genre is 무협(Wuxia) set in distant China, meaning a lot of the words are different concepts to what we would be used to in the west. I'm not going to spoil the premise but it very quickly becomes fusion fantasy. It definitely has some of the best art of all the webtoons on this list.

귀환자의 마법은 특별해야 합니다 (The Returner's Magic Must Be Special)

Releases: Sundays(일) 00:00 KST

As with the other's very popular in Korea right now. This one is about a guy who has failed to defeat his enemies in the shadow realm and has once again been sent back to rectify everything. Probably has the weakest art of them all but I find that all the newer webtoons have a much high standard of art than 5 years ago.

이차원 용병 (Dimension Mercenary)

Releases: Wednesdays (수) 00:00 KST

A soul stealing group disguised as an employment website. The main character and many others are thrust into different worlds and must survive. I haven't read too far into this one but it's on my list to catch up this year.

Bonus Webnovel: 신과 함께 레벨업 (Levelling with the Gods)

Releases: Tuesdays (화) 00:00 KST

Features a character who is ahead of the curve, he is sent back in time by the god Chronos to defeat the Outer gods before they can become too powerful. This one is great as it combines gods from multiple mythologies and chooses to depict them in the way it feels fit. The art is pretty average but the spreads are amazingly detailed.

Thanks for Reading

Hopefully list will keep you entertained for a while. There are plenty more webtoons I can recommend, especially ones that are popular now. Please leave a comment if you have read any or have any recommendations for other readers. Maybe you might be tempted to purchase the webnovel to read ahead and finish the story before the webtoon.

I hope these will help you with your Korean learning or just are an enjoyable read if you are looking for recommendations.

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