By: Peggy Sue Wood | @pswediting

I’ve been reading a lot of dungeon break comics lately, and I’m really enjoying the genre in manhwas. The art style, which emphasizes clean lines, lighting, and shadows, is reminiscent of Jang-Sung Rak’s work in Solo Leveling. The majority of these comics focus primarily on action, with romance taking a back seat, if it appears at all.

However, I have noticed a lack of female main characters in these works. While female characters do make appearances and sometimes take on important roles in the cast, they are not often the lead. So far, the only female main character I’ve encountered in a dungeon break comic is Son Mo-Ah from I Stole the Number One Ranker’s Soul, also called Shaking Off The Top Spot In The Rankings To The Very Soul.

Son Mo-Ah, like so many other main characters in a dungeon break world, gets a skill that initially seems useless, only to find out that it may be one of the most OP skills around. I won’t give too many spoilers, but I think that this series is on-par in terms of art and story, with several of the more popular dungeon break series that are coming out right now. It’s not at the level of Solo Leveling or The S-Classes That I Raised yet, but it is consistently entertaining. 

In terms of the story thus far, I Stole the Number One Ranker’s Soul reminds me a lot of Necromancer Survival, which is a BL series with a male main character. Both are excellent reads if you’re a fan of the genre.

If you are a fan of the genre, I definitely recommend checking it out! (Along with Necromancer Survival if you haven’t done so yet.) 

Currently, I Stole the Number One Ranker’s Soul has not been officially translated into English, but you can read the novel here using Google Chrome and the Google Translate extension: https://page.kakao.com/content/55684232. Also, if you can read Korean, you can start reading the comic here: https://page.kakao.com/content/60182731. For those interested in Necromancer Survival, the series is currently licensed by TappyToon and can be viewed here: https://www.tappytoon.com/en/book/necromancer-survival 

Happy Reading, Y’All!

[Revised, 2 February 2022 – used Openai to assist in editing]