Webtoon Spotlight

Spotlight#125: Hanlim Gym

Have you ever wanted to tear some shit up? Then you're going to get a rush of adrenaline as we spin the spotlight by Hyeseong and Sukjae Lee. So let's finish this third spotlight with a bang.

Summary

For years Yeongha Seon has dominated as the strongest fighter around. Only to be proven wrong by getting beat into the ground by Suho Kang, the top combatant in a series of underground, underage fighting ring called PvP. Now left with the stink of defeat and the hunger to improve, Yeongha decides to track down the name on Suho's jacket: the Hanlim Gym. With his new allies, our brawler now wishes to rank his way across the PVP and surpass Suho Kang.

Characters

Yeongha Seon: After nearly having his friend lose his life from bullying, Yeongha has devoted his life to becoming the strongest thug in order to protect the weak. Originally, this path led him to become an aggressive, naive, determined, and vengeful brute. However, after his defeat from Suho and further training, Yeongha's more righteous and friendlier aspects come true.

Hanlim:The main caretaker of the gym, Hanlim has zero tolerance for the bullies and thugs that often come to her gym. Taking pity on Yeongha, though, Hanlim later shifts to serve as the cool head that guides him. Make no mistake, though. She can easily kick your ass if you get out of line.

Heyongeun Lee: A recruit of Hanlim Gym, Heyongeun wishes to get stronger from a life of hellish harassment. This doesn't make him weak, though, as he's willing to do about anything to help a friend.

Overview

Reading this webtoon after Study Group is like taking a cold shower after waking up at 3 AM. For arguably the two most connected stories in the Bluestring Universe, they couldn't be more different visually or tonally. While every character here is supposed to be a minor, the art wouldn't let you believe that given these "teenagers' ' Jojo sculpted faces and Baki-level physiques.

The heavy outlines, small eyes, and darker tone perfectly set up the batshit insane fights that pepper the story. But, honestly, the better you accept that these teenagers are only that in name, the better your suspension of disbelief will be. Because outside of that, Hanlim Gym certainly delivers on the action. Between Youngha's fast-moving development and the nature of the PvP, we get introduced to a large variety of fighters and martial arts, so every fight feels incredibly unique and pulse-pounding.

Outside of the balls to the walls action, Hanlim Gym has a little more beyond the surface to get you invested. As the ranks of fighters increase, we get some pretty well-articulated worldbuilding on how this works. From corporate investors, ranking systems, and the utter lack of rules, we see more of who runs this show. I don't believe all this bullshit can work in real life, but it at least excites future fights.

Beyond even that, though, is probably the only fundamental similarity between Study Groups: self-improvement. Through battles, Youngha goes from a thug barely any better than those he fights to a righteous warrior who doesn't want to avenge his loss but to become even better. Hamlin Gym is fundamentally the story of never settling for where you are and instead striving for what can happen later. It gets delivered in probably the most meatheaded way possible, but it still works.

Epilogue

So far, we are 3/3 on goated WEBTOONs from Ylab's Bluestring universe. If there are more English translations of Bluestring's other entries, I would love links to them. Still, with this new spotlight cluster over, the march to 200k seems over. It's been an incredible ride covering these stories, but it's also been incredibly draining (legit these last three spotlights were all fully read and reviewed within the same day). I'll probably celebrate this achievement more properly next spotlight, but I promise it's a new ball game from here on out. So for all the light you've shown me, I hope a little returns to you as well. Thank you all, and have a nice day.