Main Character Hides His Strength

Description

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Enemy of the world, cursed by all, Kim Sungchul goes on a quest to prevent the ‘prophecy of the end’ from coming to pass.

But no matter how much he raised his strength, there were still some things he could not achieve with physical strength alone.

Resolving to obtain the power of magic, he goes into hiding to learn magic from his most hated of enemies, The Mages.

Associated Names
One entry per line
Enemy of the World
Juin Gongi Himeul Sungim
The Protagonist's Hidden Strength
주인공이 힘을 숨김
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
The King of the Battlefield (13)
Master Hunter K (8)
Seoul Station’s Necromancer (8)
M E M O R I Z E (7)
The Lazy Swordmaster (5)
Reincarnator (5)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Favorite List : Transported to Novels/Games/Otherw...
  2. Male Protagonist (No CP)
  3. Fantasy NO romance
  4. List of Goods
  5. 8th-Grade Syndrome Policy

Latest Release

Date Group Release
04/03/21 OppaTranslations c223
02/18/21 OppaTranslations c222
02/13/21 OppaTranslations c221
02/07/21 OppaTranslations c220
01/31/21 OppaTranslations c219
01/22/21 OppaTranslations c218
01/13/21 OppaTranslations c216-217
01/01/21 OppaTranslations c215
12/22/20 OppaTranslations c214
12/11/20 OppaTranslations c213
11/20/20 OppaTranslations c212
11/15/20 OppaTranslations c211
11/01/20 OppaTranslations c210
10/18/20 OppaTranslations c209
10/13/20 OppaTranslations c208
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Review
60 Reviews


Aeternus
Aeternus
Mar 17, 2018
Status: Completed
The novel loses focus, abandons the premise and strong points in the second half.

I would liked not to have read it.

Spoiler

You want to know why I have left such a devastating review:

Let us remember, what the novel shown, promised us at the begining:

  1. Premise shows us a somewhat broken protagonist, who was betrayed and abandoned. He found quite literal and figurative strength and now he is back with a plan.
  2. The setting is a dystopian dieing world. With different laws, mostly law of the jungle, with some elements of forced classical Lord of the Flies or similar settings. The world is a mysterium, which we want to understand.

So what went wrong:

  1. The protagonist is actually betrayed by everyone and everything. He is apparently a "nice guy", who is used by everyone, and while it was shown at the begining he changed, it is a lie, a deception, he reverces to the same weak character he was before. Maybe weak is ot enough... pathetic is the right word. If you think he has a plan, you will be upset. How is it shown:
    • Spoiler

      He can not kill his enemies, he lets them grow (I ignore the nonsensical reasoning that was given in the novel: "Because he wants to see who is behind them." - there are four guys stronger then him, who else might it be, if not them?)

      [collapse]
    • Spoiler

      The guys who betrayed him are his friends. And the "joke" is he wants to be friends with them. And they betray him more, because he is a guy, who "understands". They just wanted power, nothing personal, so it is ok. (Reason in the novel is same nonsense, the one I wrote is actually what happens.)

      [collapse]
    • Spoiler

      You think the firends thing is bad? You know the "daughter" he saves, it is actually a cuckoo, and not his. The mother is stil alive, and is enemie of the protagonist and tries to kill him, and betrays him more then once in the process of the novel. Then after he saves her from his followers and helps her like 2-3 times, she finally changes camps (to neutral) and they stay friends. But at least he did not get together with her. If you think it saves everything, then good for you.

      [collapse]
  2. The same deception is a world. There are no logic, no rules. Mysteries? - if the world has no rules, everything is a mysterie, because everything can happen at the convenience of the author. Why would you care? The world funktions only around the protagonist, it doesnt actually exist without him. Even law of the jungle, does not work.

There are much more I can write. But I think it is enough to understand my decision.

Thank you for your time.

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NoobaLoob
NoobaLoob
Feb 05, 2017
Status: c35
Spoiler

I haven't seen any spoilers, but the reason this novel does not deserve a 5/5 is as follows.

This novel would have us believe that the strongest human -- by far -- has no allies because he isn't corrupt. It would also have us believe that in a world of complete corruption the MC (again, who is BY FAR the strongest human) could not capture a high mage in order for the mage to kill the demon king. He also could not capture a mage to teach him magic because magicians are fanatic and they would literally su*cide themselves against him in order to stop the MC from learning magic.

I like the novel, but damn that doesn't make sense.

The reason why the MC is so hated is because he isn't corrupt, that isn't to say he is a nice guy, but he isn't the kind of person to lord over others (even though it's completely within his power to do so). While 99% of ALL OTHER HUMANS are either pitiful/petty/betrayers who will kill at a drop of a hat for benefits, OR are weak/pathetic/spineless cowards who are to be herded like cattle.

And that is just a completely idiotic thing to say (because history and modern society shows that men/woman ARE willing to put their life at risk for a greater purpose). It is even more idiotic thing to say that in a order world that people would rather su*cide themselves against the MC to stop him from learning magic (like they would suddenly only be brave/steadfast when it came to the MC wanting to learn magic).

So, whatever, now that we believe the MC can't just kidnap a bunch of mages to be taught magic, or get them to follow him in killing the demon king, the MC must hide his strength to impersonate a newly summoned person in order to get the mage 'class' and stats he needs.

This novel just does not deserve the 5/5 rating it has - 3/5 is fair I guess.


Because that guy/gal said I was misleading in my post, I wanted to clarify.

1 - As of chapter 40 we don't know the full story as to why the MC is the 'enemy of the world' - we only know that he became so because he killed a bunch of corrupt leaders, and robbed the merchants guilds infinity vault. The guy replying even admits that the MC had a legitimate reason for doing it.. So how does it make sense that the by-far strongest human has no allies or friends? Idk, could be because all the leaders are butts who toy with others, and after toying with the MC they got killed.

2 - It is possible to steal stats from Demons, this is confirmed. It is possible to raise stats without quests, this is confirmed (no quest would give him 999+ strength). He does not need a mage to get/give him stats nor a Class unless you believe the MC was gifted his Mythic Class - and regardless of his kill count, how is it believable that mages would just KILL THEMSELVES before helping him disperse the Demon Kings soul? He already killed the demon armies.

This world allows a person to have 5 classes. The MC at the start of the novel only has 2 classes, he literally picks up a so-called tr*sh class (Alchemist) and doesn't even sweat it. He does not need a 'specific' mage class (it NEVER said that the "Magician" class wouldn't work, the MC just wanted the best class) - he only needs a class to allow him to disperse the Demon Kings soul - which leads us into point numba 3.

3 - The Demon King may have been unstoppable, that was, until the MC single handily wiped out his ENTIRE ARMY and forced the Demon King to abandon his physical body. The MC could not disperse the soul with punches but a high level mage could do so with magic. The MC never made the claim that only a 'Legendary Class' could do it, only that magic schools like necromancy couldn't because they didn't have single high-power attacks.

4 - Corruption does not mean that he wont kill/bribe, it means that he wont use his power to arbitrarily play with the lives of others. Although it hasn't been said for sure yet, ALL the major leaders of this world, especially mages, are represented as being corrupt because they don't care about anything other than themselves (I mean, look how they treated the summoned people).

The man's 2nd class was "High Grade Chef" - a guy strong enough to solo the Demon Kings army should not be cooking for himself.. Why does he then? Because he's not corrupt.. He wont kidnap a innocent person to cook for him.

Every person shown in power thus far, save for 1 old recluse, has been corrupt. They do not care about anyone or anything but benefits. The people without power have all been shown to be lap dogs and cowards. Even a fallen magician, quickly became the MC's lap dog after seeing his strength.

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Alexander Valdimir
Alexander Va
May 29, 2017
Status: c73
If you look it at a glance, obviously you won't see much. You may see that it's another Anti-Hero MC story where in actuality, is the real hero. But once you read more, you realizes that there's a lot of backstory and background information in play here. The author doesn't just bombard you in the first chapter like a info dump, he meticulously slowly unrevealed it. Not slow enough where it makes you go crazy like "SAY IT ALREADY!", but steady enough to keep you interested. I'll say that most... more>> people won't get hook in the first few chapters as its not the most spectacular but for those who love interesting stories, i'll advise you to keep reading. Note The book is more towards people who are willing to invest time into learning the world rather than a quick generic novel. <<less
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nixxara
nixxara
Dec 24, 2016
Status: prologue
There's nothing much to say after just reading the prologue but here goes...

The MC seems to dislike the both his own kind and the devils (?). I'm guessing the human kind treated him very badly so he holds a grudge. Due to unknown reasons, the MC proceeds to destroy the devils but when he reaches the last boss, he realizes he can't kill it with just brute strength. The last boss taunts him and he decides that he needs to learn magic, something he never bothered to learn, in order... more>> to kill that boss. Otherwise, it's going to destroy the world (I presume).

** rating subject to change ** <<less
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kkgoh
kkgoh
Oct 21, 2018
Status: c125
An ok Korean dystopian fantasy novel if you ignore the numerous plot holes that were pointed out by other reviewers. Similar to "Reincarnator"/"King of the Battlefield". It was supposedly at one-point a top ranker on Munpia (the korean web novel ranking site).

Action is good, basically a mesh of One-Punch-Man and John Wick.

The translation quality is pretty good, think it's currently on hiatus since translator/translation group have had personal/family health issues. It's on Amazon ebooks too.

... more>> PREMISE

The MC was summoned/isekai'd into an OtherWorld to fight demonic forces. However the summoners aren't exactly good guys either. MC is OP but unable to finish off one of the bosses (Demon King) with his current warrior buildout, so he tries to "respec" his character build to include magic. Along the way he comes across old foes and slowly uncovers the mysterious circumstances for the current situation of the OtherWorld.

CHARACTERS

MC was summoned 25 yrs ago (likely in the 90's) so he's probably in his 40s. Typical jaded/hypocritical anti-hero. Just wants to end the calamities plaguing the world while undergoing his own personal journey of "redemption". He does have his idiosyncrasies like a cooking obsession that makes him more human.

The only noteworthy side character is a talking alchemic book that genuinely becomes MC's companion.

The various antagonists are generally poorly written. Their motivations/backstories/behavior aren't consistent, almost like split personality disorder at times. Former/current heroes that somehow ALL went to the darkside, an often used trope that doesn't make sense.

COMMENTS/ISSUES

(1) Great translation quality

Kudos to the translator, this is one of the best translated/edited novels, very readable with little/no mistakes, sentences structure flows well.

(2) Fight scenes are good

As other reviewers mentioned, the action sequences are pretty epic. Not large scale battles like "Legendary Moonlight Sculptor" epic. More like fight scenes from John Wick. Although it does end pretty quickly.

(3) Lots of plot holes

Other reviewers have mentioned this, not spoilers:

  • MC needs magic power to end the Demon King when he solo'd his way in, but can't find anyone to help him deal the finishing blow when he is THIS CLOSE to finishing it. Really? All of humanity is out there fighting the good fight (even if most are corrupt/diabolical), and he can't find/convince enough mages who will put aside their differences to finally end their hellish existence in an alternate world?

    Spoiler

    Summoned humans can apparently amass enough achievement points and chose to go back to Earth ("Returnees") !! Some have already done so! So there's a huge incentive for summoned humans to push forward. And yet MC is saying ALL the mages would rather cut-their-nose-to-spite-face and not contribute to finishing the Demon King??

    The whole "returnee" concept is s*upid and created unnecessary plot holes.

    The author later changes the story and hints at a conspiracy to prevent the Demon King from being killed since the future calamities would be worse. So it's not JUST the mages, but the people in power who wanted to preserve the status quo, and that the MC knew about this. It's also mentioned from a future time-traveler ("Regressor") that humanity eventually pushed past the Demon King obstacle anyway.

    The whole "regressor" concept is s*upid and created MORE unnecessary plot holes.

    It gets worse. Once it was clear how OP the MC was, humanity's rulers quickly came to an agreement with the demons, where they actively defended the Demon King from the MC. So those in power had the ability to kill the Demon King anytime, and could actually negotiate with the Demon King all along? That makes no sense... since the Demon King should have avoided antagonizing humanity, esp after getting beaten to pulp by MC. There was NO POINT to starting that big winter frontier battle (that went on 20+ chapters) ??

    Sounds like author tried to be too clever, and just kept making mistakes.

    [collapse]
  • Humanity managed to amass sizable forces, but can't find it within themselves to change the system or be more efficient/less cruel? Even after countless yrs? The summoned humans from Earth are at the top of the food chain (emperor!!), and are summoning other humans, basically mass conscription/migration. Even tr*shy non-fighters can be easily placed in productive non-combatant roles (aka "Release that Witch"). There is no purpose to the Summoning Palace and wanton cruelty. Especially when everyone faces the same existential threat. In "Reincarnator", humans are forced through the grinder by an insane "God". In this novel, humans basically created their own grinder for no reason.

    I get that Koreans are obsessed with dystopia and corrupt governments given the crap they have to deal with (so many of their presidents in jail, so many corrupt chaebols), but this is WAY too far out.

  • All "Preselected" are by nature, as*holes Author has this weird obsession with depicting nepotism, to the point that it's nonsensical. Most of the preselected got there due to nepotism and don't give a sh*t about fellow humans.

    If you're the top guy in power, why would you summon family relations to an apocalyptic world, away from the safe Earth? And it just happens that almost all preselected are callous pricks? Why would you tweak pivotal battles/wars and put the fate of humanity (and yourself) on weak family members? That's not how nepotism works. All cases of human history show that it's just a slow form of corruption and leads to the GRADUAL demise of civilization.

    This is a pretty biased view from the author. Also wouldn't it make more sense to summon trained military personnel, strategists, advanced weaponry and such from modern day Earth to aid the war effort? This seems really s*upid.

    Is this just some lame meta commentary about privileged people and nepotism in Korean society? If author had removed this nonsense extreme bias towards nepotism, it would have solved so many other plot holes in the novel. You WOULDN'T NEED "Preselected", "Returnees", or even the "Curse of Extinction" explained below.

  • The whole Curse of Extinction thing is s*upid and pointlessly confusing A god-level curse that basically kills off all the very young (maybe <20 yrs old).

    It's never properly explained, but we have to painfully infer that this curse is somehow repeatedly enacted at different points of time (since the earliest race that got affected was at least hundreds of years ago, else it makes absolutely no sense that ancient races and newer races can meet up). Either that or every non-summoned human/demi-human is currently hundreds and thousands of years old. Becomes pointlessly confusing, the implications on population/battles don't make sense either (since humanity is so willing to throw away able-bodied fighters as cannon fodder).

    I suspect author tried to shoe-horn this in as an explanation for the Preselected (nepotism of the summoned humans bringing in their family from Earth since they can't have kids). Which is what happens when author shoots himself in the foot with too many ideas.
  • All of humanity is deliberately depicted as base/selfish/corrupt and are the ultimate evil of the story, not the Demons If you put ANY race in a summoning situation with ZERO opportunity to demonstrate goodwill, what else are you supposed to do? And all of their systems (Summoning Palace, Guilds, Kingdoms/Empires etc) are just self-reinforcing bad behavior.
  • MC has character conflict (partially resolved) MC is so OP and has the power to secretly manipulate Observers, but can't/won't lift a finger to help others WHILE being apathetic to his fellow humans AND walking around with a chip on his shoulder (thinking he's the savior of humanity).

    Spoiler

    MC just watches as a desperate survivor is lured/killed while giving s*xual favors to a "Preselected" survivor in exchange for food, even though MC knew exactly what would happen.

    MC enlists helps from both "good guys" (who are weak and lazy due to being underfed) and "bad guys" (violent but disciplined, and had the advantage of monopolizing food). He gifts info that strengthens the "bad guys", not caring what the eventual consequences are when the power struggle between the two groups comes to a head. MC passes that off as a necessary consequence and the results are not his problem.

    Yes, laziness is a sin. But MC is aiding and abetting bad behavior too. And an obvious better solution would have been to procure/gift food for the "good guys" so everyone starts off at the same point.

    [collapse]

    It's an overused phrase, but "great power comes with great responsibility". No one is suggesting MC should become an arbiter of justice. But if MC doesn't effect change when he can, and yet feels jaded about humanity while inwardly claiming to be it's only real savior, then he is just a hypocrite.

    Which is actually ok if that's the way author wants to write the MC, but as the reader you have to acknowledge that's pretty irrational/delusional. You can't play the role of humanity's savior while being that callous. Else you're attempting to write a novel where Ozymandias from Watchmen is the actual hero. Which is s*upid.

    EDIT: It does appear in later chapters (50+) that MC's character inconsistencies are somewhat resolved. Maybe author realized where he went wrong. A particularly good piece of writing in Chapter 85-93.

    Spoiler

    Two siblings (brother and sister) embark on a suicidal mission to gain power in the Demon Realm. Brother's thirst for vengeance against his father leads him to disregard the love that his sister has for himself. Sister is emotionally dependent on the brother while growing up and abides by brother's decision.

    MC gives them a choice, either give up their path of vengeance and live, or pursue it at the cost of their lives/soul. Eventually brother gets his power, sister dies, MC does nothing. No complaints from me, that's good writing and execution.

    That's what's important. A self-proclaimed savior of humanity and protagonist of a story MUST logically give at least ONE choice to the humans he seeks to save, not judge them beforehand and leave them to die.

    [collapse]
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Trent
Trent
May 02, 2017
Status: --
Sort of a strange novel, in how it's quite bad at some basic things yet great at more difficult ones.

Plot-wise, the story has some gaping holes which make you think "wut?" when they appear. The whole business with the MC needing magic, but being unable to get a single magician to help him through any means (alliances, favors, threats, bribery, whatever) is pretty ridiculous. I'm starting to think he's undertaken his mission to give himself an excuse to learn magic, seeing how much he seems to enjoy learning new things. I'll laugh if it turns out that his epic weapon had the ability to damage ghosts all along.

The MC's point of view is what keeps me interested in the story. His personality seems unexceptional: he's a cool, calm, strong loner. And I don't need to tell you how many bad writers try to use such an MC. But here's the thing: this story does it well.

The MC's personality seems simple, but its details are uncovered gradually along with the world's setting. The tidbits of information he reveals make you think, "Oh, I can see him being like that, " even as they slowly flesh him out, and he always stays in character.

The other experienced characters are also interesting and credible; everyone's had a story and struggles in their life, and everyone's schemed and fought to survive and progress. However, unlike plenty of other apocalypse-themed novels, the novel doesn't use that as an excuse to make everyone's personality similar.

Also, the translator does an awesome job at conveying the story's moods.
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Deathwing
Deathwing
Mar 16, 2020
Status: c157
Overrated. The novel starts well and the pacing is beautiful with hidden storylines until chapter 120 or so. Then the author just says f*ck it and starts writing a discount slice-of-life story that does not make any sense where characters start changing sides every chapter.

The novel has a considerable amount of racism as well. Lizardmen speaking Russian, the Japanese are literally losing fights over a drawn picture of a woman saying "This is my dream girl!" and dropping their weapon, yelling Sugoi. (I am not kidding, this is literally in... more>> the chapter, every single word I've written)

Anyone other than our Main Character is a 1D character that doesn't make any sense and lasts for about 3 chapters at most. <<less
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keklel
keklel
Jan 02, 2017
Status: c11
So far so good. No unnecessary exposition, just jumps straight into the action. Pretty much non-stop action so far which keeps it exciting. Main character's motivations are not yet revealed but will probably be revealed later. No interesting characters so far but hints that there will be later on.

Settings wise: It's similar to Reincarnator, except with more corruption - which makes sense, as the Summoning Hall in this world is not a separate dimension as in Reincarnator, so guilds do have influence there. This makes the politics at the... more>> start more interesting as the MC can obtain benefits by dealing with the guilds directly in the newbie stage instead of just ignoring everyone around him.

Character wise: Fairly decent, motivations are somewhat shallow so far (magicians and newbies are just concerned with their own survival) but okay, there are hints that more interesting characters will appear later on. Homunculi and demons add variety though their dialogue is admittedly pretty cheesy - if there were only homunculi and demons in this story it would be pretty bad.

There is some humor, which makes it different from Reincarnator and KOTB. The humor isn't completely random either, it makes some sense in context (though you might reasonably ask "how bored of a magician do you have to be to place a erectile dysfunction curse on the MC").

Also see the following passage:

[An amazing test of the Eighth Hero, Eckheart, the Wonder of the Generation
* 1 Free Intuition JUST BY TRYING (15 Max!!!)
* Ancient Artifacts to be discovered
* A Familiar Reward with special objectives
* Opportunity for a mission
/// Try it now, all of this is FREE!]

“... what... is this?”

He had completed several thousands of quests and missions, but this was the first test of its kind. He could feel the quest maker’s desperation, how few challengers must there have been for it to have reached this point? <<less
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SoulZer0
SoulZer0
Jan 03, 2017
Status: c11
As of chapter 11.

The title of this novel makes people think that it is a satire but it's not. This novel has a dark story, so please read this novel before you rate it.
Spoiler

At first, when he was unable to defeat the Demon King, my impression is that he will lose but instead they were unable to touch each other therefore fighting was pointless. The Demon King promised MC that he will destroy the world before he ran away.


Short summary
Spoiler

After he that, he returned to a summoning place where humans will be mass summoned, around 2000++ people. He blended with the crowd and pretended to be new. He hid his strength most of the time. But he wasn't hesitate to use it when he needed it but he made sure no one saw him.

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MC's attitude
-Cruel
-Calm
-Calculating
-Indefferent

The world so far has been interesting, there are various factions from what I can see. Even though MC is very strong, there are people who have higher records than him. The author uses "Erectile Dysfunction" skill as a way for MC to reject a woman, which is a hilarious way to do.


The story is rather fast because at first, it is said that there were seven heroes and next few chapters, MC receives a quest from the eighth hero. This novel seems to eliminate everything that is not relevant to the plot, making it enjoyable. You have to complete quest to increase your stats, and MC has been farming rather easily.
For some reason, MC is not well-known even though it has been mentioned how those who were summoned along with him have become influential people due to their strength. It's probably because of not being a mage has something to do with it. Mage is highly regarded in this world but MC isn't a mage despite being very strong. His weapon is a hammer, but he's good with many weapons.
He had the choice of being reincarnated to his original world, many had done so, but MC decided to not do so which I'd like to know why.
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The translation team has done a good job in translating this. Ps: Will be updated when more chapters are available.
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rincewind
rincewind
Jan 30, 2017
Status: c26
The best Korean web novel I've read till now.

This web novel suffers from a nonsensical plot, a common flaw in web novels mostly Korean and Japanese that deal with Demon kings and absolutes of good and evil. Main Character Hides His Strength makes up for this with excellent fight scenes and good interactions between the two dimensional (a compliment for a web novel) characters.
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Overclock
Overclock
Jun 30, 2018
Status: c142
One of the best KR novels out there. Has an OP MC who doesn't piss me by how strong he is due to the setting. Has good world building and characterization of a corrupt world where good people are few and the vile and corrupt rule. Especially love how the MC views everything around him. Some people may be upset and bash the novel because the MC isn't die hard for revenge or changing the corrupt world, but I'm not terribly upset and it's a breath of fresh air from CN novels to have a mature protagonist. Oh, but he does have at least one person he hates to the core and will curve stomp and humiliate which was very satisfying. Still, if you like those revenge plots it's best to go else where.
Spoiler

Some reviews talk about how unrealistic it was that the MC couldn't learn magic from threatening or buying someone off. They are right to think so as I did once, but it's complicated. Especially when he absolutely needed secrecy. And even if he did threaten someone it's impossible he would reach the level he needed to. He needed to reach the top 0.001% of magic users in a impossible time frame where as the few geniuses and fortunate who reached such a level took decades. And bringing a companion has risk since it is the demon king, so there is a high chance they would die even with our OP MC there. And as later chapters state, if he brought his magic teacher who is strong enough to kill the demon lord with magic, the demon lord would spot them and do everything in his power to kill the helper. The demon king may evenchoose to flee or resort to more drastic measures to survive, so it's impossible to bring a helper if you think about it.

There is also something readers like to complain about. He had a daughter not his own by blood pushed onto him by some woman. The MC appears to be aware from the start that she isn't related to him by blood, so he wasn't tricked like some suggest, but for currently unknown reasons he bonded with the daughter and his reason for fighting and saving the world is for her. I don't get why, but lots of people bring this up. Some even in the reviews which is s*upid. We don't even know the full story as of yet.

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MondoX
MondoX
Apr 24, 2017
Status: c131
I wanted to like this LN, especially how it began. The MC was OP from the beginning, with the exception of magic. Therefore, he was hiding his strength, until he reaches a certain level of magic power. However, the story began to slow down, and there has not been much world building or side character development. The MC is more of a true loner compared to the MC from Everyone Else is a Returnee. I figured since he was hiding his strength while he levels-up his magic, he might try... more>> to gain reliable allies, but his interactions with others were like those of NPC's. It seems the MC only interacts with others whenever he needs something. He knows what will happen in the future, so why not gain reliable allies and make them strong? <<less
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Yemallis
Yemallis
Aug 13, 2017
Status: c95
MC Hides His Strength takes so many tropes that have been done to death and mixes them all together into something completely original. First time seeing a Children of Men explanation for summoning which is such a good setting I'm surprised I haven't seen something similar before. The only bad thing so far is the name.
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OfficePony
OfficePony
Jan 04, 2017
Status: c13
Grammar: 4/5
Story: 3.5/5
Writing: 3.5/5

Great stuff.

The grammar is pretty decent, the translation group puts in quite a bit of effort. I've personally only stumbled upon a couple of mistakes per chapter which is more than forgivable. Rare occasions of awkward wording/phrasing do appear, but not enough to really make you stumble until the early portion of chapter 12. The story isn't very original, but the writing style of the author is enough to make up for the gap, though it could be better. I am enjoying this series from... more>> the get-go, and plan on continuing until it ends, the translation group gives up, or it takes a steep dive in quality. <<less
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nutthanachai41
nutthanachai
Oct 22, 2021
Status: v223
MC determines to resolve the calamities. But other elites that lead the world don't admit truth, they assume that the calamities can be delayed. They fight among themselves, prolong wars, and seek profits. In the era of chaos, thus MC seek strength to resolve the calamities by himself. By seeking pure strength he earns title 'Enemy of the world'.

But no matter how much he raised his strength, there were still some things he could not achieve with physical strength alone. Resolving to obtain the power of magic, he goes into... more>> hiding to learn magic from his most hated of enemies, The Mages.

Though MC is stronger than anyone, he can't solve everything. In this novel you would see MC travels to many places to add up his strength. Many encounters, both past and new, friends and enemies. No matter how strong he is, it would fall short, because his enemies isn't only the calamities, but the whole world. MC's path is a harsh one. He would have to be prepared, and face off many trials. Unravel mystery of the calamities, and traces of the past. In my opinion this novel isn't dull. The author could splendidly display many realism for example human's cruelty, people never learn, those who failed once bond to failed again, scheme is useless against violation, profit before moral, etc. <<less
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BrotherofHavok
BrotherofHav
Jan 18, 2017
Status: c117
EDIT: Liked the story, characters, world, and plot so much that I purchased the translated book off of Amazon. Would highly recommend supporting author/translator.

So far its highly enjoyable and I would strongly recommend this story to anyone. Maybe Spoilers:
Spoiler

Premise is that the MC was previously summoned along with others to a very dangerous world. He grew to become extremely OP, but gained a lot of enemies. As he's trying to destroy the Demon Lords one of them becomes a ghost or etheral and his max strength stat is useless so he must go through the summoning process again in order to gain skills that would allow him to kill the demon lords when they turn into ghosts. But he can't just blast through the beginning area otherwise he'd call the wrath of all his enemies down on him and even he wouldn't be able to survive.


So OP, but only when no one's looking. Cool.
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Quickly becoming one of my favorites.
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Mr.Skink
Mr.Skink
Nov 02, 2020
Status: c210
Ratings:

Setting: 9/10

Characters: 9.5/10

... more>> Plot: 9/10

Action: 7/10

Easy to understand: 6/10

Overall grade: S-

Reason:

feels like a fleshed-out world and not some 2d world like other books. Every character is their own person. The plot is really thick and interesting makes you want to know what will happen next. The action is meh if you're here for the action you can still read this but it will be a bumpy ride. It makes you use your brain to understand why people do stuff or why the plot is like this and the future and so on. The reason why I still rate this despite the last 2 ratings is that the last 2 ratings are not as important but still matter.

---------------------------

The MC from volume 1: (chapters 1-55)

seemed like an anti-hero type, he lets innocents die, is cold-hearted to even the people with somewhat good intentions, etc. I felt this way too that's why I stopped reading for a while, but I found out that's not what it is.

Review to chapter 210:

Ok, so what I want to say is that the MCs' objective is to end the calamities to get something (it's important but won't say) not to end the calamities because he is a hero or savior. Calamities are basically like the demon king, they come in order (demon king is 1st then 2nd and then 3rd and so on to the 5th) but he's not the type to let innocents die just because, no, he also helps the innocents as long as it isn't detrimental to what he is trying to accomplish.

Honestly, it's very difficult to explain this book cause there is so much going on in the book that you can't just look at it from one perspective and be confident that your right in what you say. It's because of the fleshed-out characters and plot.

So all in all my opinion is to read to around 113 (that's when the 2nd book finishes) then you can understand why I'm having a horrible time to explain.

P.S. for you to enjoy and/or understand the book you must be able to understand the underlying meaning the author conveys to you throughout the story cause if you can't you will be ignorant of what is actually happening throughout the story and be left behind, so If your a reader who can't do that and only is able to understand things that are blatantly obvious I suggest not reading this since this talks a lot about human nature and emotions.

P.P.P.S. If you say that the world revolves around the MC and you think it's just because of plot armor or whatnot, it shows that you legit don't know the reason why this is, there is an actual reason for this, there is a reason why some characters in the book right before they die or disappear say that he is a...

Spoiler

Tool for God, you'll see later down the line what I mean

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the spoiler above does not spoil anything just that it's not told at the beginning so I just put it in a spoiler tag for ppl who haven't read it. <<less
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Nvelist
Nvelist
Nov 16, 2017
Status: c114
TOTAL FIVE STAR!

This is a story that unlike anything seen before. As in the beginning it already pointed out that the main character is already very very very strong.

A world a reality that doesn't give a silver line over the sky as below fiddled and cramped with many sorts of blood, cruel and evil.

Characters that sometimes gives you a headache and the feel to punch the wall and screamed dealing the monologue of their evil, sinister, arrogant, prideful lines. Orchestrated a crumbling world full of despair and tragedy. And believe... more>> me that unlike JP novels full of shining gold and blue sea, reality in this story is very harsh and cruel.

Such the main character himself with a strong goal and harden emotion that cannot be wavered by his opponents insult or arrogance words.

Gladly speaking the main character is already a superior existence in that world but there are still idiots and prideful mouthful scheming people that can't believe the "Enemy of the World" that they think they know his power is already a Transcendence being that already in the realm of the gods in his still mortal flesh.

Heart breaking past of the main character. Friends he have or perhaps a girl he loved all dead. Former comrades turn his identity as an "Enemy of the World" as he didn't accept their discussion about what they want to halted. This novel have some characteristics example of weapons and creatures taken from greatest fantasy novels and games. From J.R.R. Tolkien to Warhammer to Harry Potter even though minors. Taken also a devastated Biblical plague that haunted the world.

Spoiler

Rejoiced as MC not alone as we readers already saw that nightmarish cover. He has a companion alongside with him as also make the story not solely focus of blood and death. A companion of a talking floating/flying book. Its soul is a female with a childish attitude and tsundere type. An Alchemist book that given knowledge to MC as raising his goal to overcome the Demon King once he completed his promised.

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This is one MC the enemy wouldn't want to mess with! <<less
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randomusername
randomuserna
Jun 16, 2017
Status: c80
Despite the weird name, which made me think the person who submitted this accidentally put a tag as title, the novel is pretty good. The best part about it imo would have to be the characters. The MC personality isn't annoying af like 90% of novels I've read and Os actually really interesting. I would have preferred maybe MC having a bit deeper interaction with a character or two. The writing is decent but two problems which sometimes bother me is the world-building is lacking (imo) which makes it harder... more>> to really visualize the setting and the plot is not really detailed I guess. It's not bad tho, overall I really enjoyed it and if the world building was improved itd be one of my favorite novels. The translations are also done well. I think I've only spotted two mistakes throughout the 80 chapters I read and they were quite simple mistakes. <<less
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KKristen
KKristen
May 26, 2017
Status: c71
The title of this novel may lead you to think that the story will be cliche and the quality may be low -- that would be wrong. This is a dark and violent twist on the "summoned to another world" genre... And it's done so well.

PLOT:

Kim Sangchul, former summoned hero, the strongest man alive, now the Enemy of the World, uses his inhuman physical strength to slaughter his way through the Other World to the fortress of the demon lord. He easily destroys its body, but lacks the magical ability... more>> to obliterate its soul.

In order to gain the stats and training needed to master magic, he sneaks into the bloody Summoning Palace and pretends to be one of the thousands of new humans summoned from Earth. Hiding his strength, the Enemy of the World learns magic from scratch.

REVIEW:

The Other World in this novel is very unique compared to other stories -- this is a dark, bloody world facing multiple calamities. Thousands of people are summoned and forced to fight monsters and death matches in order to weed out the weak.

The main character is also unique in that he's much older than most main characters, and battle-hardened. He has already survived the massacre in the Summoning Palace and lived in the Other World for decades. He's a loner with few words and single-minded determination. He doesn't trust people and doesn't make friends. However, despite his coldness and inhuman strength, I found him to be a realistic and intriguing lead.

While the genre of this novel falls firmly in Fantasy rather than Horror, this novel is still pretty brutal and gory in a horrifying and realistic way. People don't die "pretty" deaths here, and the Other World is on its way to ruin. Strength rules, betrayals abound, and nice people don't survive.

TRANSLATION:

The translation quality for this novel is some of the best I've ever seen. You can really tell that the translators care a lot about making sure the terminology, language, names, etc are consistent and thoughtful. Such a high-quality translation makes this novel one of the easiest to read, despite the complex content.

RECOMMENDATION:

In order to enjoy this novel, you have to enjoy (or at least be ok with) :

    • Solitary, serious main characters
    • Grim and realistic fantasy
    • Brutality
    • Game mechanics and leveling
    • No romance
Also, be warned that you sort of need to be in a "bloodthirsty" sort of mood to really get into this. Personally, I found it to be a welcome change from the usual whimsical "reborn/summoned to another world" cliches. <<less
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