A largely enjoyable continuation of the series. There are a few hiccups in the story, and I think I'm a bit biased in that I enjoy the manhwa and like the anime adaptation (thus far), so that shades how I feel about this, but overall it's a neat way to see where things began.

A number of things were added to the manhwa adaptation, and expanded further in the anime, but some things were lost in the adaptation phase, too. In the novel, we learn more about Jinwoo's background of growing up poor and having to help raise his sister. The novel really emphasizes that his father was gone from their lives since he turned 14, and he had to give up on college because by that point, his mother was comatose/too ill to support their family. Jinwoo is also much more supportive and closer to his sister in the novel. They have a nice relationship in the manhwa, but it's not emphasized as much, at least this early on.

But not everything that was removed in adaptation was bad. For instance, a lot of the weirdness with women is removed: 1) a number of female characters show particular interest in Jinwoo in the novel, including a nurse who gets his number (whom he later ignores), a hunter who has a particular fascination about him, and a bank teller. These are all removed in the manhwa adaptation, and have yet to manifest in the anime. 2) At one point, Jinho wrongly thinks that Jinwoo, a 24-year-old, is romantically/physically pursuing a minor. Jinho is impressed with Jinwoo over this. The manhwa cuts the scene to just show Jinho's alarm at the idea. None of this adds anything to the story and it's overall very bizarre. The manhwa changes keep the women characters more professional and less "see power fantasy man go mad over it". It's an appreciated change.

The adaptations also generally do a better job of introducing characters and worldbuilding earlier, and the anime really does this even better. Woo Jinchul has a much bigger role in the story in the manhwa, Kim Sangshik, Chiyul Song, and Dongsoo Hwang also have expanded roles. The manhwa also slightly trims some things to make the story flow better. The whole plotline with the cellphones is a bit odd, and its loss is an improvement with the manhwa. But the novel also includes a lot of worldbuilding that gets trimmed out of the manhwa, which is unfortunate, because it makes certain moments later in the narrative not have as great an impact, or not make sense.

All in all though, this is still the story by and large that you like if you like the manhwa and/or the anime. It's an interesting action-adventure power fantasy, with some cute moments, and intriguing protagonist who's sometimes a bit of a dick to people but also has compelling soft sides. Looking forward to volume 3. ( )