Arena

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A 29 year old civil employment exam student wakes up in a blank white room and meets a baby angel. This baby angel informs him that he died in his sleep due to heart disease like his father and grandfather. Remembering his mom and their last conversation he says that he will take on a series of life and death tests that the baby angel offers him. From this point on he must put his life on the line and fight in the stage called ‘Arena’. And Every time he clears a test he will gain abilities and weapons to increase his strength. All to clear the tests and get his life back. This is his story of his fights in the ‘Arena’.

Associated Names
One entry per line
아레나
이계사냥기
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Seoul Station’s Necromancer (13)
Life Mission (12)
The Second Coming of Gluttony (8)
Master Hunter K (8)
Reincarnator (8)
Sevens (7)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Alt. world affects Real world
  2. Spirits | Espiritos
  3. KR Novels I'll Read When They Finish (and some CN)...
  4. pls remeber ''
  5. Stuff I've read

Latest Release

Date Group Release
02/25/20 Asian Hobbyist c187
02/25/20 Asian Hobbyist c186
02/23/20 Asian Hobbyist c185
02/22/20 Asian Hobbyist c184
02/21/20 Asian Hobbyist c183
10/26/19 Asian Hobbyist c182
04/29/19 Kokuma Translations c181
04/10/19 Kokuma Translations c180
04/10/19 Kokuma Translations c179
04/10/19 Kokuma Translations c178
03/12/19 Kokuma Translations c177
03/11/19 Kokuma Translations c176
03/11/19 Kokuma Translations c175
02/15/19 Kokuma Translations c174
02/15/19 Kokuma Translations c173
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78 Reviews sorted by


fangyuan
fangyuan rated it
March 26, 2020
Status: Completed
This novel has been a fun read with minor disappointments and I finished it in about a day. I actually salute the author for turning a rather typical setting and story line into something nice through his writing skills and presentation. The humor and portrayal of MC's life with his family has always been a source of smiles and laughter. While I'm on it, I would like to emphasize a point which a reviewer brought up which is the fact that this novel is written by a Korean author for... more>> Korean readers. If you want to truly enjoy reading the novel, at least read with an open mind and try to understand a bit of Korean culture and mindset. In doing so, you would probably come to appreciate a bit about MC's life (and to an extent some aspects of an average Korean's life) and not be as disappointed as the resident 'psychologists' in the review section. Aside from that, this novel is a balanced mix of slice of life and adventure so if you are a hardcore adventure fan, you might end up with disappointment and label this novel 'boring'.

Of course, the novel is not without flaws. First of all, I think the author really wasted and did not properly utilize the potential of the novel's world. For example,
Spoiler

the whole novel only took place in a selected few places within the territories of the two kingdoms. For a parallel world that is essentially identical in size to Earth, this is baffling. Author could have used other places such as the troll forest and other places within and beyond the two kingdoms

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P.S. Thank you very much to the translators who put in a lot of effort to finish translating this novel, Kokuma Translations, Asian Hobbyist and Chamber's Cleanup Service. <<less
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atat12
atat12 rated it
April 9, 2019
Status: c129
It star off so well that I'm hooked, then just go skydiving deep to the bottom of mariana trench the moment that sister's friend showed up. at first I think she would only act as some sort of distraction, or reminder for MC about his Normal life, which will eventually makes our MC grow more mature mentally. He would make right choices, and focus on surviving for the sake of his family. BUT NO! BUT! NO! they hit it off right away like it's the most natural thing to do.... more>> And that's where I dropped this.. Thank you Author. Have a good night..

Edit on 2nd oct 2019

Im running out of stock, so just felt that I might as well give this another chance since there're more chaps now. But sadly im still dropping this. It got a lil bit better, but i... let's just say its not my cup of tea, cus I think its not fair to judge a story that I haven't finished yet. But I really can't bring myself to finish this. Sorry.. <<less
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woofhart
woofhart
December 19, 2018
Status: c56
This is what happens when the novel that was supposed to be intended for Korean readers, gets translated, some gets lost in translation, and gets read by global readers with little to no understanding about Korean culture and daily life of common people... it gets brutally rated. While it's understandable, it's really only from their own viewpoint.

With that, I'll also review this based on my own viewpoint.

The author tries to incorporate real day to day life of a common person into a fantasy setting so maybe it's ranked low by... more>> others. The MC is really not some amazing person that's a rare find... quite the opposite. He is someone like those you can see everyday, anywhere... just a common person that makes mistakes, do s*upid things, learns from mistakes, struggles with day to day decisions, doesn't always come up with the best answer, and doesn't get the best female love interest that every other fantasy novel has... the jade-skinned pearl-white elf-like beauty with uncommon background, or something similar.

Every character in the story has your typical Korean behavior thats not really seen in Korean dramas and movies but common in reality... they have their strengths, weaknesses, good sides and bad sides.

But as I am just at chapter 56 while making this review, I reserve my final verdict when I get to the later chapters... but so far, since I know a bit about Korean culture, I read this with an open mind and find it worth reading. <<less
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MetaK
MetaK rated it
July 4, 2017
Status: Completed
Im not English, I'm a Spanish young boy reading on english to improve my English, so the comment will be messed up, sorry for it!

Here I come!

First of all, I don't understand like the 75% of the reviews here (death? zombies??????? ¿whuuuuuuuut?) , I think no one tried to read the novel, because there are no zombies or whatever they say.

Like the Anime/Manga Gantz, when some one die he can take tests to keep living (that's all) and some rich people know about it (but not all the people who... more>> dies got the chance).

Ok, the MC obviously dies an take the first test with the best score, he just had luck.

On the second test, he knows some people on Arena (the first one was just an easy test). From the second test he begins to see that Arena is not a game. Things good complicated for him cause, well some tragic things begin to happen...

But he keep living and doing tests, on some far point he just go out with the best friend of her sister on the real world, he never got a gf so he wanna go out with she cause he got prettier (cause Arena) and she is interesed on him for the money. He just fall in love with her cause he never got experienced before and well she is not bad at all, pretty and cute. Curiously the girl who just wanted the money of him at first and love go party, begin to fall in love too.

The MC is not and idiot, I would do the same: Now im prettier, then I will use it, she just wanna some money well its not bad, she is better than I think, damn im beginning to fall in love, well it happens.

Both worlds are constantly moving and he must improve. He wanna be strong to survive cause the past tests. He got ultrastrong for him level (I say level because the humanity counts the number of missions to know how strong they are).

There are people lot strong than the MC all the time, the majority fall on aura abilities (body fight), the MC is a ranged gunner since the early and he takes some missions on Arena without a fight because he is a healer too, basically he is a ranged summoner (elementals), so he just keep gunning cause is better with elemental powers, not too much OP, just the average examinees go for aura control so he is a little special (he is not the only one elementalist).

The characters on both worlds are amazings, he got a gf cause her sister, he know a girl who just know how to work so she's not in date mode, and he know a girl who is crazy, literally crazy, cause Arena experiences and she wanna be with him cause he heals her, like animal who follow her master. There are lot mans than womans (nice one I must say, because all the other novels are sh*t with the much harem and girls they put on wtf)

Maybe if u keep reading u will understand whats happening instead of put random comments and valorations, like people did...

The novel is amazing, the best one I read so far, and I read a lot of novels from here... <<less
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Guymaioh
Guymaioh rated it
September 3, 2016
Status: c50
One of my top survival novels - As the rewards scheme in completing a mission is this novel is not straight forward. I'm enjoying how the MC is not totally OP albeit with some nice set of skills, but he isn't omnipotent, and is basically struggling forward. The plot is getting more interesting by the chapter, and it really does have that intense, fast paced rhythm. It has gaming elements but not one that overshadow the story - and there's a lot of retrospective and learning from ones mistakes on... more>> a mission. <<less
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Buffelephant
Buffelephant rated it
August 8, 2016
Status: c48
This novel has a certain spark that captivates attention. It has the same premise of Gantze or Terror Infinity except, the protagonist remains connected to society. The story takes the character to a world were death comes at a notice moment. It is still the beginning of the story so the story right now is mainly world building and explanation. Action is present still and we readers can see how easily this story will turn into adrenalin rich text. The story also has a built in respite after such a... more>> rush because the MC is still attached to his family and society. It gives the story premis for which the MC draws his attachment to survival.

The power system hasn't been fully explained. For instance,
Spoiler

why does the MC have a summoning skill option that's special, when others don't?

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It does however fit logically within the premis of the story and allows the story to generate a ton of action. The characters get some power, based on karma they improve themselves. Karma is awarded based on how well they survive in this fantasy death world.

The main problem I see with this story is a slight lack of emotional attachment, from us readers and even the MC, to the side characters. The story has its death at any moment environment. We expect some people to die. Actually, we expect lots of people to die. The characters are cool and not necessarily flat. Yet, if one or two disappear they won't be missed. This could be that the story hasn't progressed too far, so not enough bonds have been made to care about these side characters. It could be a problem all translated works have, that information is always lost in translation. For now, we don't really show much reaction to someone's death. The MC hasn't reacted much to death either. He seems like he could easily turn into a psychopath if he didn't get returned back to society after each round, and he's only been to 3 rounds (basically a noob) so far.

The translator seems to be doing a great job so far at translating this novel. I haven't checked the Korean to English translation to see how well they are doing, but the story flows well in English. <<less
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andreyjb15
andreyjb15 rated it
December 15, 2022
Status: Completed
I loved it.

Very concise story, good throughout.

Not a one character-does-it-all, but good side characters.

Really nice.
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Mahesvara_
Mahesvara_ rated it
June 23, 2022
Status: Completed
It's very good and interesting early chapters mainly on character strength growth, there's not much excitement since the Plot is mostly mediocre, it's mostly enjoyable to see the MC gaining strength. The MC is smart but not unreasonable as he also made mistakes here and there you can relate a bit with the MC. I also had a few laughs from the humor, but near the end I feel like the author intentionally making the MC s*upid and slow which is going backward since the MC is quite great early... more>> chapters. There's also problem with tags on the novelupdates. The "Cold love interest" tag is basically an spoiler on the romance of the story.
Spoiler

The MC had a cheerful girlfriend (not cold at all) early on and their relationship is quite sweet and fun, they are in relationship for half the whole novel to the point I want to root on them but it wasn't enjoyable read since i've seen the "Cold love interest" tag and I'm sure she wasn't the FMC as the girl wasn't cold and there's already a cold girl around. It's frustrating reading it since it's so obvious that they're not meant together. They broke up as expected halfway of the novel. Thanks to that tag that spoiled the whole romance of the story. It ruined the suppose to be some kind of surprise.

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As for the final battle, I can only say that it's so plain and bad, nothing interesting. The MC is so s*upidly passive the whole fight. They're also getting fooled with simple trap by the enemy, they aren't using any brains at all. The Final Enemy's power also wasn't explained, the enemy just swinging their hands here and there without any techniques or thinking. It's the most s*upid part of the novel. Obviously the author lost all his creativity near-end of the story. Overall 3/5. Great translation at beginning, but for the last 20+ chapters at the end is quite bad. Good to pass the time as it was shorter than normal KR novels. <<less
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LehmD
LehmD rated it
May 25, 2022
Status: c199
Great novel. Would have given this 3.5 stars because its not much different than other novels but it has NO HAREM so I have to give it a plus for that since it's rare you see this.

The synopsis is a bit misleading in my opinion. The novel starts with MC dying and he gets a chance to get his life back by completing missions in "arena". Arena is actually a completly different open World not some kind of building to fight in. Every time MC clears a stage he gets... more>> a few days to a couple of months Rest in the Real World so its not just constant fighting.

What I found most enjoyable is probably the romance. But its hard to explain why without spoilers.
Spoiler

MC gets a girlfriend really early on and it seems like the perfect relationship (albeit a bit weird because age difference). But it doesnt work out and they break up which I think is great because usually once a Main character gets a girlfriend/wife they stay together forever. Now the girl he actually ends up with isnt that great I guess their relationship is supposed to be funny but it just looks worse compared to the first one. Still it makes sense because MC can talk to her about arena and she isnt just there to provide relief after a long time of being away.

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The novel really gets you hooked in the beginning especially with some unexpected twists while still being a decent read towards the end. Unfortunately the final act suffers from being rushed like in a lot of other novels and the epilouge is less than a chapter but since the overall thing is only 200 chapters it's not bad.

I didn't really like MCs decision Making in regards to his skills. Sometimes he will ask what it would look like if he leveled skill to level X and sometimes he just does it and then surprise surprise its super op. But why did he do that without asking what it would be first?
Spoiler

also the whole taming felt pretty useless from the beginning because the animals he can get will never be nearly as strong as an examinee. And some skills get never mentioned again after getting them like teleport. He spends a ton of karma on it but never needs it after the first two uses.

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I think the main antagonist doesn't make much sense. He knows early on that MC is getting strong really fast and they can never be allies and they even meet each other but he doesn't try to get rid of him to avoid future trouble. <<less
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12697
12697 rated it
August 13, 2021
Status: c167
started good but end up bad. And for the comments that said that mc's sister and girlfriend are gold diggers and a sl*t I think that is too much. The sibling's comedy skit looks cute to me and for the gf that they said she's a sl*t don't trust in the reviews because she's not, I think they just have unrealistic stan... more>>
Spoiler
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dard or they're just kids or virg*ns living in the 1960s or they just read novels for the sake of them fantasising pure heroine so that they can sleep good at night. <<less
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DaExorcizt
DaExorcizt rated it
August 5, 2021
Status: Completed
This novel is a great quick read, took me around 2-3 days. It has some nice parts, pretty steady progression up until a few chapters pre-ending and some nice jokes.

But the 3 stars are there for a reason. Remember, I said these series are a good *quick* read. I read it last year and came back to read it again, and this time I took off the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia.

Like some people mentioned, the start is similar to Gantz. He is teamed up with people who, with the... more>> exception of 1 person, you totally sympathize with. Author even makes you root for them.

And then thet die to save MC. Like.... why? This could have been ommited and the series would have been great. After that the series takes a ***HARD*** hit in quality of the Earth side of the story until he breaks up with his new girlfriend (which is totally badly writen and not exactly resolved), almost 70 or 80 chapters later.

There was the greatest part of the story after the first chapters before og crew died, around 100-160. After that the story felt a bit too rushed to end.

Annnnnnnddd.... there was the Chinese villain. Yeah... I mean, f*ck the CCP for being uppity racists, but another Korean novel with a greedy, brutally ruthless Chinese villain.... like... bruh... you ain't just beating the dead horse, you are going full on Mr. Hands on it. <<less
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tatopk
tatopk rated it
January 10, 2021
Status: --
I signed up just so I could warn the people about this novel. I read up till 127 and then skimmed through till the end.

Do not get your hopes up at the start. It starts pretty good and I too was hooked instantly, but then 60 or so chapters later it's all downhill and it becomes So bad. Any character development up to that point slowly disappears and we're left with uninteresting shell of an arrogant person with no values in his life, not to mention all the other... more>> characters are not that great either.

Read spoiler if you want to know about relationships and the worst part about this novel.

Spoiler

By the way he gets a girlfriend pretty quickly for no reason at all. They seem superficial, but MC just throws around "I love you" even though he doesn't mean it. And then for no reason at all they break up (not even officially break up, girl just assumes he dumped her and MC just goes with it and never explains why it happened because he is unfeeling jerk)

And for the second half of the novel he gets another girlfriend and oh boy, I thought his relationship couldn't get get any cringier, but he somehow gets together with a weird unfeeling machine of a woman, which by the way is completely opposite of the cute and lovely girlfriend he had before.

Also the first girlfriend is pretty much just never mentioned again like she didn't exist.

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Do not read this novel unless you want to get into depressed mood for a while after you read it. <<less
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MyRAMEN
MyRAMEN rated it
September 22, 2020
Status: c9
Compared to other novels in this genre, it was pretty bad. This was mostly due to character interactions and logic. The author also made the MC really s*upid for this story. For example his first arena floor he needed to kill a Red Ape, and the author kept putting stuff like what the hell is that? Is it a plant? et cetera so much for filler. This might be due to lost in translation title, but most likely just a bad writer, perhaps a newbie. The MCs side in real... more>> life was really bland and obvious to tell it was just for filler... Also the there are game elements and like most novels of this type the amount of filler used for stats, skills, items, etc will be ridiculous. How do I know? Well... at the MCs newbie level with bately any things, the filler was already a lot, so with the other filler in this novel, it will be pretty obvious on how it will turn out. Reading some other reviews, I noticed that most are basically implying that they only read for the arena/dungeon side of the book. I would honestly just skip this though. <<less
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Galilio
Galilio rated it
September 1, 2020
Status: Completed
Excellent novel! I loved the set-up and the execution. And the humor is an added bonus. I only had one issue with the way the story progressed
Spoiler

The discarding of the girlfriend and then not even mentioning her again was really a douche move

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aku720
aku720 rated it
March 23, 2020
Status: --
I read it for guilty pleasure, at the beginning it was indeed nice but as the plot progress you find there isn't much enjoyment or excitement. The MC continues to get good results, he stands out from crowd, girls desire him, exponential growth, every thing becomes convenient etc... Very similar to the typical novel, so eventually a time will come when you will start feeling bored (for me it was around 140) and you would not feel like reading it anymore.
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renenzant rated it
February 15, 2019
Status: c174
Well, at first I wanted to drop this novel..

And the star rating is more like 3.7 rather than 4, but since it isn't possible I'll just press 4 star.

... more>>
Spoiler

It was as everyone else with low star for this novel had said, this was an epic novel up to ch.45 where everyone else in the team were just killed whyyyyyyyy.. (I think the author was just tired of writing a complicated teamwork story rather than a solo story)

And then, it's true that along these chapters, while I'm still irritated by the abrupt change in the story, the MC real life was filled with annoying people (like his little sister and his gf).

since the arena system was still interesting to me, I tried to keep reading this.

Thankfully the gf was removed afterwards (sadly, there were still a harem vibe here and there) and the little sister was not showed as frequent.

Gradually, there were other interesting examinee, quite fast paced progress in the story, and I keep reading till now.

All in all, this is a good story, and still intrigued me to see to the end, but not something that I would want to re-read again.

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whitespade
whitespade rated it
December 25, 2018
Status: c116
I like his interaction with his gf and younger sister, it look genuine like normal human male. But then somehow the arthur took a sharp left turn and make him a ... more>>
Spoiler

cheating slag

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which is very jarring based on his characterization. It is of course normal for humans to do it, but the drama before that point out that his character is not like that.

So now I become very distracted that I cant even register the fighting part of the story as the relationship drama afterwards is too stale like a japanese isekai I cant continue. <<less
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ljin75651
ljin75651 rated it
April 9, 2018
Status: c119
Definitely not bad, but not great either. There are a few times that the story feels dragged out, usually when the MC is back to the real world. The game elements and fighting sequences aren't as exciting, but there's something about exploring a new world with the MC that's kind of intriguing.

I usually find myself reading a few chapters and stopping and starting on and off again, since it's not a bad read, but I typically don't find myself anticipating reading it either.

In any case, if you don't have anything... more>> else to read and want to try something new, give this a try! <<less
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baqar_otaku
baqar_otaku rated it
October 19, 2017
Status: c102
Amazing Novel... The Story is interesting and the Characters are deep. The MC is smart and becomes strong quickly. The Story is an Interesting blend between a Fantasy and Modern Superpower/Magic setting and its like a Survival Novel in the early chapters of the novel. Its fairly dark too.... anyway I loved this novel
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Aternus
Aternus rated it
July 22, 2017
Status: c86
Very fun System-type novel. MC has interesting summoning abilities and his time spent on Earth is often just as interesting as his time spent away on missions.

only caveat, the romance is a little weird. Otherwise, great read, and it's not a big enough detraction really as the rest of the plot is great and it's the only bad example of character interaction.
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