THE Gamer, from that title we already know it’s a Friday Line Webtoon representing the Game Fantasy genre among them. The writer is Sangyoung Seong and the artist is Sang-A. It started serial publishing from Best Challenge (until Ep. 39) and it started official serial publishing from September 2013. At that time, the genre Game Fantasy was quite unfamiliar, and I remember it received attention with its fresh material. And there were people welcomed this work out of their nostalgia for Game Fantasy novels, which is a likely memory of Korean men in their 20s and 30s now. Personally, when I read it for the first time, I felt like I found out an old hometown friend or a forgotten toy I had stuck with in my childhood. The nostalgia to the Game Fantasy amplified the expectation to this work.

The protagonist Jihan Han is a common high schooler, who only likes playing games much. He is common, except he loves games so much and thinks time to time that ‘it would be really good if my life is actually a game, displaying the character level above the head, seeing my own experience points, and setting character stats as I wish’. Well, in a more accurate manner, he’s a ‘former’ common boy.

One day, the protagonist, who was a common boy, comes to see people’s level above their heads for real. Like the reality became a game. He sees the level and the title above Seonil Shin, his long-time friend. When he’s asked of a favor, a quest alert screen appears. Moreover, when he studies or works out, his intelligent stat or strength stat increases. In addition, after obtaining the power, he becomes aware of the fact Seonil Shin, who was known as an athlete student to him, was actually an heir to the special family, ‘Cheonbu Family’. The power applies the game system to everything in the reality, as he wished. That’s the power of ‘The Gamer’.

*It is unrelated, but some fans coupled the protagonist and Seonil Shin for the title of the work (the gay-mer) and their hot (?) friendship, and there was a rumor that it is realized and the BL novel for the couple of two is to be published.

However, it was not only the protagonist who has such a power. His long-time friend Seonil Shin, his classmate Shiyeon Kwon, and even one of the teachers Seongon Hwan were all extraordinary people. Fortunately, or unfortunately, his long-time friend Seonil Shin was also an extraordinary person, and the protagonist receives his help to learn about this world of his. If he didn’t have such a helper, I think he could’ve dead right away as he’s just a novice with the power.

In the other hand, even his mother is a mysterious person with secrets and there are many foreshadows related to her, so one can guess that how he obtained the power is not an accident, but a predestined fate. Because the given environment was unnatural here and there, like someone manipulated it. Anyway, no matter the reason was, he is awakened as a power wielder, and it makes him impossible to live an ordinary life. Because, once he’s awakened as a power wielder, people don’t leave him be. Eventually, for his safety and a peaceful life, he needed a force, or more power. To achieve that clear and simple truth, he continues to grow ceaselessly. In addition, his power, ‘the Gamer’ is quite an overpowered, cheating-like power, which delivers the most efficiency for the given time. The readers receive the vicarious satisfaction and pleasure from it. That’s the biggest reason why the readers read the genre Game Fantasy, I think.

But there’s the night where the day is, and there’s the Moon where the Sun is; it has regrets, too. It gathered the popularity at the time it began the official publishing, but entering part 2, it faced a great deal of criticism. It was the result of accumulated problems.

I will show some examples. First, weak development.

Many developments are too random. The writer seems to be aware of it for some extent, but he says he won’t change for now, maybe because of the plot is ongoing.

Second, slow advancement of the story.

For the readers who read the latest episodes every week, the speed of advancement is too slow. There are many similar webtoons of other kind which also have not-so-fast advancements. But this is problematic, because, while other Shonen-like works unfold the story with tension by adopting narrative structure around the main episode, the main content of this work is the process of the protagonist growing, and it tediously repeats it.

Third, directing.

Many people point out that they couldn’t feel tension on various scenes meant to be tense. And there’s too many monologues of Jihan Han, the protagonist. That verbose explainer guy talks for himself all the time when he obtains a new skill or an item or something else. Kind explanation for the readers is thankful, but if it is too long, the readers get the feeling the work is dragging on.

It received many other criticisms and an enormous amount of low ratings bomb, but now it’s slowly getting better. Every work is subject to a criticism. The better the work, the more the criticisms. I think, if this webtoon accepts the criticisms and brings its strong sides to the front through communication with the readers, it will step up from a popular Friday webtoon to the one of the best Line webtoons.

As it already has enough elements to catch the interest of the readers, I wish it go on with wider eyes and ears, and a broad mind.