Webtoon Spotlight

Spotlight#161: To Not Die

Have you ever wanted to sit back and roughhouse? If so, you'll love Jinguk Lim and Parade's action-packed Bluestring story, To Not Die.

Summary

If God truly exists, it turned its back on Dajun Kim long ago. From growing up under an abusive father at home and suffering at the hands of bullies at school, there wasn't a low his life couldn't sink towards. So he decided to bite back. Through one violent push, Dajun sealed his fate to a harsh life on the streets, as he tries to get revenge on every bully who ever crossed him when he receives a mysterious man's help.

Characters

Dajun Im: Growing up as a living punching bag, Dajun knows the life of the oppressed better than most. As such, he's a determined, righteous, and overall caring person to his friends and allies. This isn't to say he's still a pushover, though, as through his battles in the underworld, Dajun follows a far more confrontational and aggressive persona who is willing to lose everything to win.

Hangil Cho: As leader and founder of the Hangil fam, a family of young runaways, Hangil is like the big brother you've always wanted. He's cavalier and lazy, often throwing Dajun into the wolves to get stronger. If his family is in trouble, Hangil will become a force of nature, revealing a monster born and raised by the runaway life.

Summary

It's been well over a year since I covered my last webtoon from the Bluestring Universe, and I think To Not Die was a fine enough reintroduction. Like stories like Lookism and Weak Hero, Dajun follows the beats of an average underdog; however, when I started reading further, I saw just how straight they played it.

Dajun isn't so much an underdog fighting for a better place and more the descent of a boy with nothing left to lose but his humanity as he gains strength. Much of season 1 lives and not dies by that, often skipping months ahead to further along training and get into action scenes. Speaking of fights, To Not Die's are rather fun.

This series always lets you remember that these fights occur in lawless locations. No bars are held, and no victories come unscathed. You'll still see plenty of martial arts at play during fight scenes, but there is just as much eye-poking, ballbusting, and hair-pulling to go around. To Not Die, silly as it maybe as a title is usually named dropped by characters undertake to gain resolve to survive in a dog-eat-dog world. Found family though is an equally prevelant theme.

The Hangil Fam, while not getting the most development or screen time (though this infinitely multiplies for any noncombatant in the series), aren't blood-related; but their willingness to fight for each other might as well make them that. It's an excellent counterbalance to the series' main antagonist, Haegwang, a criminal organization that often recruits runaways to exploit the disenfranchised.

Not only do they provide excellent benchmarks for Dajun, but their ties emotionally to other side characters and Hangil himself make them consistently emotional threats to fight against, especially in season 2, where both the actions and threats escalate alongside a new cast of characters.

Epilogue

Overall, To Not Die is a solid series. I have difficulty deciding if it's my least favorite behind Hanlim Gym if only because I feel books like Study Group have more going in characters and fights. However, it's still entertaining, and not being tied to the continuities of the other webtoons helps it massively to be enjoyed as its own thing.

While I think season 2 is a downgrade compared to season 1, and the pacing doesn't allow the cast to develop its fight, MC is at least strong enough to keep people engaged. I guess we'll have to see if these issues cease as we turn the spotlight to someone else.