Blade of the Phantom Master (Webtoon)

## Image Gallery

**Blade of the Phantom Master** is a reboot Korean **YLAB** webtoon and the 8th Super String webtoon. It is a reboot of the original Japanese and Korean manga of the same name. The author is Inwan Youn and illustrated by Kyungil Yang.

## Synopsis

"Long ago, there were royal inspectors in a country called Jyushin. They disguised themselves as shabby travelers and passed through towns, big and small. The duty of these inspectors was to find corrupt officials and punish them. But Jyushin has fallen. The world is corrupt, and no one answers the cry for help from the suffering people anymore. However, one royal inspector remains, roaming the lands..."

## Release Schedule

It was first released as a manhwa/manga from April 2001 to September 2007. It was then rebooted on Naver webtoon, it began serializing on November 19, 2017 and completed on September 11, 2019 with episodes released every Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sundays. It was later pay to read on December 11, 2019. There is an official English webtoon release beginning serializing on June 10, 2022 with two episodes (sometimes one) release every Thursday on the Daily Pass.

* From February 5, 2018, it was serialized on the official traditional Chinese WEBTOON.
* From June 4, 2019, the Japanese translation series began on LINE Manga.

## Reading Order

You can see the suggested reading order. There are no other Webtoons that need to be read before reading Blade of the Phantom Master.

## Where to Read

**Official Links**

* Korean (complete): https://comic.naver.com/webtoon/list.nhn?titleId=703307&weekday=tue
* Chinese (complete): https://www.webtoons.com/zh-hant/fantasy/xinanxingyushi/list?title\_no=1298
* English (In-Progress): https://www.webtoons.com/en/action/blade-of-the-phantom-master/list?title\_no=3481&page=1
	+ *Note: Requires webtoon account + daily pass + pay to read at the end maybe.*

**Unofficial Links**

***WARNING***: These links are provided for viewers to read and reference purposes for us. Due to being unofficial, exercise precaution at your own risk, as we cannot guarantee the security of these sites although we do use them without issues. However, this is mainly for any links besides English as English scans are usually safe. Regardless, be careful!

* Korean (complete): https://newtoon186.com/toon/end/%EC%8B%A0%EC%95%94%ED%96%89%EC%96%B4%EC%82%AC
* Original English (complete): https://mangadex.org/title/63495e3b-1ae4-4783-a850-540a50e2a520/shin-angyo-onshi
* Original English Gaiden (complete): https://mangadex.org/title/b52289cd-5e97-43da-8942-c7ed9bd22748/shin-angyo-onshi-gaiden
	+ *As the remake is not too different from the original (Shin Angyo Onshi), you can consider reading the original in English scan*

## Background

The Blade of the Phantom Master is a remake of the original. The storylines are basically the same with a few minor details and a different ending. Furthermore, the concept of White is intertwined into the story to connect it with the Superstring Universe.

There is only one season with a total of 285 episodes, technically 273 if we're excluding the Gaiden Episodes. The whole series can be split into some major arcs, but within there are also small stories in between. Below are the major arcs and minor stories:

* Ep. 1-4: A Royal Inspector Arrives
* Ep. 5-11: Meeting Sando
* Ep. 12-15: The Obaste Tribe
* Ep. 16-19: Attack On Kingdom of Silla
* Ep. 20-24: The Misty Mountains
* Ep. 25-35: Zombie Island Arc
* Ep. 36-39: The Tale of Bangja
* Ep. 40-73: Poisonous Flowers Arc
* Ep. 74-95: Fixing Mahai Arc
	+ Ep. 74-79: Talking Tiger
	+ Ep. 80-83: Eating Poison Mushrooms
	+ Ep. 84-86: Red Light District
	+ Ep. 87-93: Two Loyal Followers
	+ Ep. 94-95: Finding the Blacksmith
* Ep. 96-120: A Princess' Denial Arc
* Ep. 121-173: Hwalbindang Arc
* Ep. 174-246: Mandrake Dream Arc
* Ep. 247-273: Final Battle Arc
* Ep. 274-284: Gaiden Backstories

### Characters

* Munsu
* Sando
* Bangja (Footman)
* Wonsul
* Ajitae

Full Character List

**All Characters with Pages**

**Ajitae****Baekryong****Bangja****Cheol****Dolseok****Euitae Yoo****Eulpaso****Garmaldi****Gildong Hong****Gyewolhyang****Insoo****Joy****Julias von Lucid****Jun****Kwaetacheon****Lord of Silla****Lou Ellus****Mago****Marlene von Lucid****Miss Hwang****Mito****Mongryong****Mosu Hae****Munsu****Musashi****Myowol****Pyeonggang****Sando****Su****Taeyu****Wonhyo****Wonsul****Youngsil**

### Organizations

* Jyushin Empire
* Fredenica Empire
* Hwalbindang

### Setting/Locations

Most of the events occur within the Jyushin Empire or more accurately the fallen empire as well as flashbacks of Munsu's time in Fredenica.

Below is a map and list of some of the major locations. (Note: The locations on the map below are approximate as it is unclear how closely the dimension in the Blade of the Phantom Master mirrors the main dimension. However, since some of the mountain mentioned do exist, they may be a hint to the general location.):

**Jyushin Empire**

* Jyushin's Capital - The capital of Jyushin , the great empire of the East.
* Obaste Mountain - place where the Obaste tribe reside and where the villagers practice the custom of leaving their elderly in the mountains to die.
* Silla
* Chilgapsan - a region ruled by Pyeongwon and later by her daughter Pyeonggang.
* Baekdu Mountain - The highest and most dangerous mountain in the land of Jyushin. It is rumored that the antidote for the Mandarake grows at the top. Youngsil and Bangja travel there in search of the antidote.
* Seoraksan Mountain - a mountain that apparently Ajitae wanted to travel to. However, in order to get there, according to Mago, his assistant, it would be a much rougher path.
* Gimhae - A wealthy coastal city where the Hwalbindang set their eyes on to steal their gold.
* Mujang's Abode - a place in the mountain regions where Mujang lives and where Mujang trains Sando.

**Fredenica Empire** - A huge country located in the West located across the sea.

* Lou's estate - The place where Lou Ellus resides and where he practices his black magic. He is able to summon the Black Wing Clan who later enters Garmaldi when he and his troops storm Lou's estate.

## Super String Universe

In Marco Polo's Travel to the Multiverse, it is mentioned that Jyushin existed 200 years before, so it is clear that it is before this Webtoon. However, it is unclear where it fits into the overall Super String timeline as it is in a different dimension. However there are two clues in Terror vs Revival:
* In the epilogue of Terror Vs. Revival, Yak and Bongchun observes the dimension and sees Munsu's tomb with the Oz Symbol.
* In the epilogue between Miho and Heyool's conversation, Heyool shows them Marco Polo's diary she received. In it, it has records of both the three horse medallion and the OZ House symbol left in Munsu's tomb.

Both clues added together would suggest that the events of Blade of the Phantom Master is mostly likely before Island Part 2 or at least before Terror vs Revival.
**Crossovers**
* There is mention of making the world "white", implied the White ideology.
	+ In Ep.43, there actually no direct reference to White in the English, but only in the Chinese and Korean. The scene is when Eulpaso mentions about to Munsu and tells him how he will restart the order of the world, whereas in Chinese and Korean, Eulpaso mentions how Ajitae will make the world White.
	+ In Ep.82, while Munsu is under the influence of the poison mushrooms, he has a hallucination when he is telling Haemosu to run as he may be controlled by Ajitae again and that he knows Ajitae has a plan of making the world "White".
	+ In Ep.93, Ajitae tells Mago that he's going to make the world "White" again like snow.
	+ In Ep.123, Youngsil tells Munsu that he received a message from Ajitae that Ajitae would be reviving everything (in reference to Ajitae's vassal) and turn the world "White".
	+ In Ep.128, as Munsu is having a conversation with Mito, he mentions how he is sick of all of this and how he wants to give up, saying that if someone were to tell him the night sky is actually "white", he would accepted, because nothing matters. However, Mito responds saying how all this talk about the world being "White" sounds much like Ajitae.
* This is the first appearance of the Black Wing Clan (Ajitae, Euitae, and Garmaldi) in the Super String Universe though in Blade of the Phantom master, they are never directly referred to as the Black Wing Clan, but rather referred to mostly as demons. Many characteristics and abilities of the Black Wing Clan are displayed as well as explained.
* In the last episode, Wonsul reveals himself to be the Shinigami (Death God) who had been following Munsu during the final battle, revealing he was the one who altered some of the results of the battle. He then proceeds to ask Sando if she'd be willing to try to save Munsu, implying time travel/dimensional travel. At the end of the conversation, there are swirly lines representing the concept of Super String.
* At the end of the series, Lord of Silla and Pyeonggang were on horseback when they saw a writing etched into the earth. It was revealed to be "Oz," the symbol that is seen in "Housekeeper" where in that series, androids were created by the Oz House. Interestingly, it seems that this reference is only seen through the physical copy, not the digital copy.

**Appearance in Other Webtoons**

* In Terror Man, Season 2, Epilogue, the way that Atrahasis is sealed is similar to way Ajitae is sealed in the cave.
* In Electronics Horror Store (Webtoon), in Ep.53, as Yak is explaining about the Black Wing Clan, Ajitae and Euitae Yoo appear in a cameo.
* In Terror vs Revival there is some references to Blade of the Phantom Master:
	+ Information about Jyushin is recorded in Marco Polo's Diary in Heyool's hand. There is a page with the picture of the three-horse tablet.
	+ When Yak and Bongchun are looking at the dimensional screen, there is the scene of the OZ House symbol engraved by Munsu's grace.
* In Marco Polo's Tavel to Multiverse, Marco Polo has a similar Royal Inspector tablet, though it has OZ ingraved on it rather than horses. In Ep.3, there is an image of the Jyushin army gathered on one of the TV screens where the monk is located.

## Plot Overview

### Poisonous Flowers Arc

A man runs into the bar and is shot down by Eulpaso. It turns that it was a criminal who was trying to escape. Criminals in the city are forced to work 24 hours to help build the furnace so when the volcano erupts Lava will not flow into city

## Folklore and History

The many stories of Blade of the Phantom Master are inspired by various Korean folktales and historical events (i.e. the Tale of Chunhyang), as well as having bits and pieces of Japanese and Chinese folklore and history sprinkled within.

Many of these references are actually mentioned in the original manga under the author's footnotes, but after being remade into a Webtoon, those footnotes were left out. Below is a brief list of the historical/folktale references. For more details, please check out the Folkore and History Page:

**Korean Historical References**:

* Characters - Many characters are based on actual historical figures: Eulpaso, Wonsul, Wonhyo, Nongae, Youngsil, Gyewolhyang, Mosu Hae, Ajitae.
* Group - Certain groups/tribes are also based on real-life groups: Hwarang, Royal Inspectors, Jurchen, The Sambyeolcho Unit
* Kingdoms - Some of the Korean kingdoms are referenced to in the Webtoon including: Goguryeo, Silla
* Geographical sites - Gimhae, Chilgap, Baekdu, Seoroksan
* Practices - Obasute/Goryeojang

**Korean Folkore References**:

Throughout the Blade of the Phantom Master, there are many stories and tales that are part of the Korean culture, these include:

* Tale of Chunhyuang
* Story of Euitae Yoo and Jun
* Woodcutter and Tiger Brother
* Tale of Ondal the Idiot
* Tale of Hong Gildong and Hwalbindang

**Japanese References**:

* Mito, Musashi

For more details and a comprehensive list:

Folktale and History
## Difference Between Original and Reboot Versions

Blade of the Phantom Master has a unique circumstance in that the original was created before the idea of Superstring. Due to this, the original doesn't have much correlation so the updated version exist so that it would fit better within the lore of Superstring.

Below is all of the differences that the original has that the updated doesn't:

* The original was not in color, but rather was in black and white.
* Munsu has a dark blue jacket instead of a brown jacket.
* The Black Wing Clan were not part of the original, instead Ajitae and Euitae Yoo were just some mysterious, powerful demons who're completely unrelated. Thus, Euitae is dead in the original while the webtoon version suggests he could still be alive.
* In the original, Taeyoo and Baekryong's master's name was Mujang instead of Musashi.
* In the original, nudity was more prevalent whereas the webtoon censors/blurs or modified "all" of these moments. Here are some notable ones (note: some are listed as trivia for certain characters that had a censored scene):
	1. Sando having sashes/bandages to cover her privates in the webtoon whereas in the original she does not.
	2. In the Red District Mini Arc, a panel of sexy women and a couple kissing were removed.
	3. Women that wasn't really in revealing clothing were removed
	4. The Mandrake's body were blurred most of the time but there times where it wasn't. Very inconsistent.
	5. As Gyewolhyang & Munsu makes love, some panels were removed from the webtoon.
	6. A dancing woman with her nipples open while entertaining "Mosu Hae" after the Edict was enacted were blurred.
	7. Kwaetacheon's true form; in the original, she appeared naked whereas in the webtoon, she wears feather-like clothing.
* Webtoon blur all direct killings like beheadings, arm cutting, etc.
	+ With Lou's mutaliations of people, they hide it by very dark shades of colors & hiding women nipples by either blurring or putting it black. Furthermore, in the original, a woman was hanged with her baby fetus visible. Still connecting to her. In the webtoon, the fetus was removed and the woman is completely dark.
	+ Panel of guards were decapitated but their bodies were blurred black heavily.
* In the original, when different languages are shown, it appears like eastern scribbling. In the webtoon, it was replaced with random text symbols.
* In the original, Youngsil, Miss Hwang, Eulpaso, and Su all died by the end of the final battle while the all survive in the webtoon, even having their lives afterward the fight be shown in an epilogue.
* In the webtoon, Wonsul actual becomes a shinigami instead of dying. Due to this, Wonsul was able to change the future, saving the people mentioned above.
	+ Furthermore, in the webtoon, Wonsul approaches Sando and asks if she wants to save Munsu from dying.
* In the original, Garmaldi was killed by Marlene, but in the reboot, Sando kills both Ajitae and Garmaldi.
* Oddly, in the webtoon, there was a large panel of Munsu's body stepping on Ajitae's robes. This was not from the original.
* In the original, Ajitae was permanently dead after Sando cut him, but in the reboot, Ajitae revived in his demon form, only to be killed again later by Sando and Marlene.
* In the original, a man that looks like Munsu has his mahai and become a royal inspector. In the webtoon, this man was replaced by a boy named "Dolso."
* In the reboot, paper-version only, there are some extra panels where the OZ House logo (Housekeeper) appears in Munsu's grave.

## Criticism & Evaluation

The webtoon has mostly positive reputation as its unique plot and characters gather the attention of Korean and Japanese readers easily. In general, it is considered that the first half is very good whlie the second half felt lacking a bit and that the ending felt rushed. Here are some specific criticism of both the original and reboot version.

1. **Borrowing Korean History** - Supposedly, people criticised that Inwan distorted the Korean history mainly due their sensitively to the fact that Koreans were active in Japan with Korean material. More precisely, the reason was not because of the history, but because of the notes written by Inwan on the history for Japanese readers however it seems there were some false facts.
2. **Ajitae's Character Inconscienties** - Basically Ajitae's character felt different at multiple events. Having similar characterstics to Light Yagami and Griffith which led to possible contradictions. Differcult to explain so here is the citation if want to read more.
3. **Premature Ending** - The ending felt rushed mainly due to Ajitae's actions.
4. **Nationalility Confusion** - Due to how the original work was made in Japan but the author is Korean, there were confusions whatever to categorized as Korean or Japanese work. In the present however, it consider Korean work due the rights of Blade of the Phantom Master belong to YLAB.

***Webtoon Only***

1. **Preview Amount** - A major controversey where per episode is 200 won but the serialziation was 3 per week. The problem was that the content per episode were portion too short which felt like a scam it seems. There was a clash of readers attacking while others defended it at episode 60.
2. **Ending Didn't Changed** - The original criticsim was that the ending was premature in which readers hoped that there were improvement but it didn't happen.
3. **Reboot Ending** - some criticized the reboot's ending for feeling too sudden (especially with all of the new developments) while other felt it didn't live up to expectations.
4. **Paper Version Ending** - There was a secret Super String ending that was only in a paper-version, not the webtoon. This secret was pretty important so excluding it from other avabilities like Naver webtoon was criticized.

***English Only***

* **Disregarding White** - Although other official webtoons mentions White, English doesn't. Such as in episode 43, Eulpaso says that Ajitae will restart the world when he should had mention White as well. However, this seems to be not an issue as later episodes, White was mention.
* **Some Translation Problems** - doesn't have that many translation issues and some of them have been fixed, however, some still exist that are somewhat note-worthy:
	+ In Ep.133, after Munsu defeats the bandits in the mountains and takes their money, Wonsul forces him to drop the coins, claiming some sort of higher morality. However, Munsu mocks him, saying that the people Wonsul killed in “Yongro” would laugh and his self-righteous attitude. The “Yongro” here is actually not a place, but translated from Korean, would just mean “furnace”. Thus, it is a mistranslation, or more of inaccurate translation, which may cause the reader to think that the furnace area where Wonhyo was lord was called Yongro, when in fact, it is unnamed.

## Media & Merchandise

#### Media

* Original Anime - On November 13, 2007, an animated film for the original Blade of the Phantom Master (Not the reboot) was made and directed by Joji Shimura. The film consists of the first arc to the end of the Island Arc. However, in between the arcs are fastfowarded. Meaning some mini arcs are not animated. There are major changes during the island arc like expansion of the island's background and Mago's allegiance

#### Merchandise

* In the official YLAB Store, there isn't any merch but you can buy the collector's edition of the BotPM manga but is likely only in Korean language:
	+ https://smartstore.naver.com/ylabstore/products/6479472647

## Trivia

* Having the total of 285 episodes, making it the longest work within the Superstring Universe.
* There is a webtoon collab with **Kingdom of the Winds: Yeon**, it features a quest banner of tons of main characters, related items, and a BoTM Quest.
	+ Trailer 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQBYme66dbc
	+ Trailer 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFAkFYONJXo
* The webtoon had a collab with **Evolution Girl**, a Korean only Mobile Game where Sando appears as a playable character.
* In the original, there were a lot of female illustration assistants.
* Sol Songgyong, a Korean professor of literature on Korean folklore, met Inwan Youn and had an interview about his use of the folklores in this manhwa. He quite enjoyed the manhwa and was eager to meet the author. Although at first, he was mad at the modifcations of the folklore but came to accept it 3 days later.
* In the original manhwa, the author & illustrator collaborated Kazuhiko Shimaoto during the winter of 2002. He illustrate a parady using their characters as a promotion for a Hoero Pen booklet.
* The following people contributed to the original: Manabu Okizaki (translator), Youn Ji-young & Kim Min-Kwan (interpretor), Akinobu Natsume (Editor), Studio Nobla (Supporter), and Takehiko Inoue (recommendation).
* In season 1, ep. 2 of Study Group, a bluestring webtoon, a student is seen reading Blade of the Phantom Master.
* Blade of the Phantom Master is considered to be the Korean version of "**Berserk**", a popular Japanese manga created by "Kentaro Miura". It is because both have similar setting, plot, and characters.

## Gallery

Korean PaperbackAnime (Korean Cover)Cover Draft 1Cover Draft 2Vol. 9 Cover DraftVol. 14 Cover DraftVol. 15 Cover DraftAnime Cover DraftGuidebook DraftOriginal Thank youBoTM X Evolution GirlBoTM X Kingdom of the Winds: Yeon
Full Gallery Page
## References

1. ↑ Blade of the Phantom Master
2. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%8B%A0%EC%95%94%ED%96%89%EC%96%B4%EC%82%AC(%EC%9B%B9%ED%88%B0)
3. ↑ https://www.webtoons.com/en/action/blade-of-the-phantom-master/list?title\_no=3481&page=1
4. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%8B%A0%EC%95%94%ED%96%89%EC%96%B4%EC%82%AC
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%8B%A0%EC%95%94%ED%96%89%EC%96%B4%EC%82%AC(%EC%9B%B9%ED%88%B0)#s-3
6. ↑ Blade of the Phantom Master, Ep.74
7. ↑ Terror vs Revival, Epilogue
8. ↑ Blade of the Phantom Master, Ep. 43, 82, 93, 123, 128, 172, 230
9. ↑ Blade of the Phantom Master, Ep. 41
10. ↑ Blade of the Phantom Master, Ep.173
11. ↑ Blade of the Phantom Master, Ep.202 & 203
12. ↑ Blade of the Phantom Master, Ep.207
13. ↑ Blade of the Phantom Master, Ep.199
14. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%8B%A0%EC%95%94%ED%96%89%EC%96%B4%EC%82%AC#s-6
15. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%8B%A0%EC%95%94%ED%96%89%EC%96%B4%EC%82%AC/%EB%B9%84%ED%8C%90%20%EB%B0%8F%20%EB%85%BC%EB%9E%80
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%8B%A0%EC%95%94%ED%96%89%EC%96%B4%EC%82%AC/%EB%B9%84%ED%8C%90%20%EB%B0%8F%20%EB%85%BC%EB%9E%80
17. ↑ https://m.blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=nrj2375&logNo=221616415722&proxyReferer=http:%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
18. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%8B%A0%EC%95%94%ED%96%89%EC%96%B4%EC%82%AC(%EC%9B%B9%ED%88%B0)
19. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%8B%A0%EC%95%94%ED%96%89%EC%96%B4%EC%82%AC(%EC%95%A0%EB%8B%88%EB%A9%94%EC%9D%B4%EC%85%98)
20. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%8A%88%ED%8D%BC%EC%8A%A4%ED%8A%B8%EB%A7%81/%EB%AF%B8%EB%94%94%EC%96%B4%20%EB%AF%B9%EC%8A%A4#s-4
21. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/stories/ylabcomics/3237028591929551473/
22. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABdkltbij0Y
23. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%A7%84%ED%99%94%EC%86%8C%EB%85%80
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Shin Angyo Onshi, Ch 5
25. ↑ Shin Angyo Onshi, Ch. 18.2
26. ↑ Shin Angyo Onshi, Ch. 20.01