Records of the Swordsman Scholar

I’ve been following this manhwa since chapter 30 and even then, I knew this was a slowburn story and leans philosophically rather than action. It was refreshing to have a change of pace especially during a time where action-heavy manhwa like Solo Leveling and Legend of the Northern Blade was still running and on the spotlight. I loved this manhwa initially but after 150+ chapters, that kinda changed. From a 5, to a 1.

The thing with slowburn stories and why you typically stick with it is… there’s a PAYOFF in the FUTURE. Martial Artist Lee Gwak is a good example. Personally, I thought during the Northern Sea arc or even the recent “War” arc, the payoff would happen. We’ve been shown the slow, power creep of our MC and maybe, he could’ve shown off his powers but with how the recent arc handled the story and the lame twist, that really made me lose faith in the writing.

The current arc is comparable to One Piece’s Marineford Arc, where the MC is put in a very “depressed” situation. What’s great about the Marineford Arc is Luffy was on his “highest” point, he was showing his powers at his peak then which made the downturn a great twist. This manhwa on the otherhand, goddamn.The story was just “lukewarm” with its pacing by that point, then the writer drove it off a cliff! The MC was barely using his power, heck, at some point he can’t even fight with his sword because of some BS reason! He only survived because of plot armor. It’s just executed so badly and don’t get me started with the lame enemies.

This manhwa had potential and I’m still gonna read it because of sunk-cost. I really hope atleast the ending could salvage it.