To Not Die (Webtoon)

* S1
* S2

**Staff**

* Joseph Lee
* Eun

## Image Gallery

**To Not Die** is a Korean **YLAB** webtoon and the 9th Blue String webtoon. The story is written by Parae and illustrated by Jinguk Lim. It is published by YLAB.

## Synopsis

"Dajun is bullied every single day at school. Desperate, he believes taking his own life will end his torment but soon realizes it's not him who deserves to die... it's all the scumbags in this world. And when an incident with his bullies forces him to have to fend for himself on the streets, Dajun sets out for revenge. To do so, he’ll need to become strong. But he quickly learns that school bullies aren’t his greatest enemy… he’s now got bigger fish to fry."

## Release Schedule

It will be serialized every Friday on Naver Webtoon starting May 20, 2021. The first Season was released on May, 20th, 2021 and finished on August 18, 2022 and then to September 15th, 2022 for the last 4 special episodes. Afterwards, there was a hiatus for 5 months. The second season was released on Februrary 16th, 2023 and is in progress. For Official English, it started on January 11, 2022 and is in progress. Every episode for Engish is on monday.

* From July 8, 2021, a series of translations began on the Indonesian page of WEBTOON, Naver Webtoon's overseas service.
* From July 30, 2021, a series of translations began on the Chinese original (Taiwanese) page of WEBTOON, Naver Webtoon's overseas service.
* From July 30, 2021, a series of simplified Chinese translations began on Naver Webtoon's overseas service, Dongman Comics.
* From September 5, 2021, a series of translations began on the Thai page of WEBTOON, Naver Webtoon's overseas service.
* From October 3, 2021, the Japanese translation series began on LINE Manga, Naver Webtoon's overseas service and a Japanese published manga e-book service.
* From December 19, 2021, a series of translations began on the French page of WEBTOON, Naver Webtoon's overseas service.
* The translated series began on June 10, 2022, on the German page of WEBTOON, Naver Webtoon's overseas service.

## Reading Order

You do not need to read other Blue String webtoons to understand this.

For recommended reading order of the Webtoons click **here**.

## Where to Read

**Official Links**

* Korean (In-progress): https://comic.naver.com/webtoon/list?titleId=772764
* English (In-progress): https://www.webtoons.com/en/drama/to-not-die/list?title\_no=3787
* Indonesian (In-progress): https://www.webtoons.com/id/action/to-not-die/list?title\_no=3071

## Background

The webtoon has one season and another in progress.

### Characters

**Season 1**

* Dajun Im - the main protagonist of To Not Die.
* Hangil Jo - Dajun Im's mentor and leader of the Hangil Fam.
* Taek Kim - member of the Hangil Fam.
* Seongbin Ha - member of the Hangil Fam.
* Gayeong Hong - member of the Hangil Fam.
* Daeyeop Cha - member of the Hangil Fam.
* Useong Shin - the main antagonist of To Not Die.

**Season 2**

* Dajun Im - the main protagonist of To Not Die.
* Dogyeom Baek - Dajun Crew No.2
* Huisu Kang - ex-leader of Lab H
* Useong Shin - the main antagonist of To Not Die

Full Character List

**All Characters with Pages**

**Daeyeop Cha****Dajun Im****Dochang Gwak****Dogyeom Baek****Gangrak Bae****Gayeong Hong****Hangil Jo****Huisu Kang****Seongbin Ha****Seongho Moon****Siyang Hwang****Taek Kim****Useong Shin****Wonchang Nam**

### Organizations

**Season 1**

* Hangil Jo Fam
* Haegwang
* Daeseong

**Season 2**

* Dajun Crew
* Haegwang
* Hangjae
* Myeonggwan Group
* Gangbuk's Four Kings
	+ Lab H

### Setting/Locations

**Season 1**

Season 1 takes place in Guro District, Seoul, South Korea.The events take place roughly a year before the events of Get Schooled.

**Season 2**

Season 2 takes place in Seoul and, for some time, Incheon.

## Plot Overview

### Season 1

* Ep. 1-5: Running away from home
* Ep. 6-15: Taking down Giung Cheon
* Ep. 16-30: Conquering Jungran High School
* Ep. 31-54: Taking down Gangrak bae
* Ep. 55-66: The final battle with Haegwang

## Blue String Universe

The events of To Not Die season 1 occur one year before Get Schooled season 1 as evidenced by confirmation given in Get Schooled where Gyeom Ma, seen being arrested in To Not Die, states that it had been a year since his confinement.
The events of To Not Die season 2 occur around the same time as Study Group and Get Schooled. In Study Group season 2, Yangcheon Wi and his subordinates discuss Haegwang, and confirm that Haegwang is engaging in human trafficking, thus confirming the events of To Not Die season 2 and Study Group take place roughly around the same time. In addition, as a result of the 1 year gap between To Not Die and the aforementioned time gap involving Gyeom Ma, the events of To Not Die season 2 transpire roughly around the same time.

**Crossovers**
**Season 1**
* In Ep.1, Gyeom Ma, from Get Schooled, appears on television.
* In Ep. 42, Daeyeop mentions the title of Get Schooled when fighting Haegwang.

**Season 2**
* In Ep. 32, Heesoo mentions the title of Get Schooled when fighting Siyang.

**Appearance in other webtoons**
* In s1, Ep.94, of Study Group, Haegwang is mentioned by Yangcheon Wi.

## Criticism & Evaluation

All Evaluation and Criticisms are from Korean Readers documented from Namu.

### Evaluation

The evaluation of the main characters is good. Such as main characters "Dajun Im" & "Hangil Jo."

Dajun's evaluation is very good. In season 1, although he was the weakest among the Hangil Fam due to his low fighting power, he showed his fierce tenacity and constant struggle to survive, and he used every possible means in the fight but never crossed the line, receiving favorable reviews from readers for his excellent character. brought it out

In season 2, it appeared with a strong impact by retrieving the foreshadowing of the first scene of Episode 1. Compared to the first part, he appears so powerful that you wonder if he is the same person, but his evil spirit and good personality are maintained, and although it is different from the first part, it shows a different charm and is receiving favorable reviews. However, there are some differences of opinion about the fact that the strategic aspect has become too strong. Perhaps thanks to this character, he was announced as one of the main characters in Bluestring's first crossover work.

For Hangil, as the strongest character in Part 1, there was a high possibility that he would become a Mary Sue character, but with appropriate intervention, he did not take up Dajun's lead role, and he showed responsibility as the leader of Hangil Fam and his tremendous performance in the fight with Useong Shin, and a fierce end to readers. It left a lot of lingering memories and played a big role in the conflict between the protag and the antag.

### Criticism

* **The Scale Being Too Large** - The main theme in Season 1 was survival and street fights between runaway teenagers. However, there is criticism that the scale of the work has grown too large since Season 2. Due to the death of Hangil, Haegwang moved beyond Guro and took over the Gangnam area in Seoul, and there is an opinion that because of this, the main theme from Season 1 mentioned above has faded.

* **Setting Error** - In ep. 55 of Season 1, in a conversation between Taek & Hangil, it is mentioned that they have known each other for several years. However, in episode 3 of the special episode, an error occurs that states that the two first met a year before Dajun joined Hangil Fam. The conclusion is that Taek knew Hangil for 1 year and 8 months, which is a clear setting error.

* **Absence of Season 1 Characters** - It is also considered disappointing that the proportion of characters from Season 1 has disappeared too much as of Episode 48 of Season 2.

## Media

* **OST** - A song for the webtoon titled "***5 Stars***," and is created by Loopey & Bloo.

## Trivia

* A lot of official English readers didn't like the song selection for season 1, ep. 65 or found it funny.

## References

1. ↑ To Not Die, S1, Ep.1
2. ↑ https://www.webtoons.com/en/drama/to-not-die/list?title\_no=3787
3. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%A3%BD%EC%A7%80%20%EC%95%8A%EC%9C%BC%EB%A0%A4%EB%A9%B4#s-3
4. ↑ http://ylabcomics.com/bbs/board.php?bo\_table=02\_02\_eng#2
5. ↑ Get Schooled, Ep. 31
6. ↑ Get Schooled, Ep.31
7. ↑ Study Group, Season 2, Ep.94
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%A3%BD%EC%A7%80%20%EC%95%8A%EC%9C%BC%EB%A0%A4%EB%A9%B4#s-6
9. ↑ https://www.webtoons.com/en/drama/to-not-die/episode-65/viewer?title\_no=3787&episode\_no=65