The World is Money and Power (Webtoon)

**Art Director**

* Yato
* Sungjin Kim

**Staff**

* Hongjae Lim
* IL Jeong
* Taehun Kang

## Image Gallery

**The World is Money and Power** is a Korean **YLAB** webtoon and the 1st Blue String webtoon. The story was written by Dongwoo Han and illustrated by Dohee Lee. It is published by YLAB.

## Synopsis

"Gunwoo Dahn has vowed to overthrow the status quo of the dysfunctional high school he recently transferred to, where rich and powerful third-generation chaebol heirs call the shots and gambling runs rampant. But does Gunwoo have what it takes to beat the odds, defeat the Taekyeong Oh Family, and restore law and order to his high school?"

## Release Schedule

The first season began on May 1st, 2018 and finished on May 5th, 2020 and the second season began on December, 29, 2020 and finished on May 23, 2023. It was serialized every Wednesday on Naver Webtoon from May 1st, 2018 before becoming a paid service on June 13, 2023. It was released for English on April 18, 2021 and is currently ongoing. Every episode for Engish is on saturday.

* From January 19, 2019, the series was translated on the Chinese (Taiwanese) page of WEBTOON, Naver Webtoon's overseas service.
* From January 20, 2019, the series was translated in Simplified Chinese on Dongman Manga , an overseas service of Naver Webtoon.
* From February 12, 2019 the series was translated on the Indonesian page of WEBTOON, Naver Webtoon's overseas service.
* From March 18, 2019, the series was translated on the Thai page of WEBTOON, Naver Webtoon's overseas service.

## Reading Order

You don't need to read any of the other Blue String Webtoons to understand The World is Money and Power.

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

## Where to Read

**Official Links**

* Korean (Complete): https://comic.naver.com/webtoon/list?titleId=710747
	+ *Note: Requires Naver Account + Pay to Read.*
* English (In-progress): https://www.webtoons.com/en/action/the-world-is-money-and-power/list?title\_no=2615

**Unofficial Links**

***WARNING***:These links are provided for viewers to read and as references for editors. As they are 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://newtoon205.com/toon/end/세상은-돈과-권력

## Background

There are two seasons.

Below are the two seasons divided by major arcs:

**Season 1**

* Ep.x-x:

**Season 2**

* Ep.x-x

### Characters

**Season 1**

* Gunwoo Dahn
* Seojae Ji
* Taekyeong Oh
* Yuri Cha
* Taehoon Jung

**Season 2**

* Gunwoo Dahn
* Seojae Ji
* Taekyeong Oh

Full Character List

**All Characters with Pages**

**A (World is Money & Power)****Gunwoo Dahn****Hyeonmin Kwon****Seojae Ji****Taekyeong Oh**

### Organizations

**Season 1**

* Mir High School
* BK Alliance

**Season 2**

* Mir High School
* BK Alliance

### Setting/Locations

**Season 1**
Mapo-gu, Seoul

**Season 2**
*TBA*

## Blue String Universe

There isn't really any hints from the webtoon itself but there are some in other webtoon. In particular, **My Bad Boyfriend** where it takes place at the year 2020. Gunwoo Dahn appears but with his current known hair style as he meets Taeeun Jung four years after the main events of **My Bad Boyfriend**. Therefore, it could be that this webtoon takes part before **The World is Money and Power** by one year. In other words, **My Bad Boyfriend** takes place during 2020 and The World is Money and Power could be during 2021.
No hints to its place in the timeline are provided in the webtoon itself and instead come from other webtoons. In particular, **My Bad Boyfriend**, set in 2020, has Gunwoo Dahn cameo in its final episode where he meets Taeeun Jung in the US, 1 to 4 years following the events of the webtoon. Due to this and the fact that Gunwoo's trip to the US was revealed in the final episode of **The World is Money and Power**, the webtoon may occur 1 to 4 after **My Bad Boyfriend**. Additionally, the group disbanded by the TRPA in **Get Schooled** season 1 known as "Helpers" appears. Thus, it can be deduced that the events of **The World is Money and Power** occur before **Get Schooled**.

Crossovers
**Season 1**
No crossovers
**Season 2**
* In Ep.12, Seojae Ji's older sister, Minsol Ji, is revealed as an ex-member of the 707th Special Missions Group, which Hwajin Na was also previously a member of.
* In Ep.89, Gunwoo mentions "Helpers", a criminal group that appears in **Get Schooled**.
* In Ep.96, a mentioned of the title of **Get Schooled** appears.

**Appearance in other Webtoons**
* In the final episode of **My Bad Boyfriend**, Gunwoo Dahn appears.
* In Ep.20 of **The Age of the Barbarous**, A appears.
* The webtoon's title is mentioned in **Study Group** on numerous occasions.
	+ In season 1, Ep.4, Jaehwang Chu says that "*although the world is all about money and power, this place is all about your fists.*"
	+ In season 1, Ep.24, Jangho Oh says "*in the end, life is about money and power*."
	+ In season 2, Ep.96, Yunghyeon Ji says "*you have to be careful when dealing with people with money and power*."
* In Ep.16 of **The Age of the Barbarous**, the name of the billiards hall that the E clan goes to is named "Billards: Luck and Fortune".
* In Ep.90 of **Get Schooled**, the puck hitter's gambling game nickname is this webtoon's title.

## Criticism & Evaluation

All evaluation and criticisms are from Korean Readers documented from Namu.

### Evaluation

The general consensus so far is that it is a well-made political drama set in a school. It deals with gambling as the main subject, but in reality, it is the elite group and their subordinates who control the school from the top. And it can be seen as a political film that deals with the battle between opposing forces. Attractive characters are incorporated into author's unique, interesting, detailed, and complex storytelling. It's not just a school setting, but a secret struggle between wealthy families. Large external gambling facilities and stories related to them. It covers a wide range of topics, including the gangster world, which arouses readers' interest.

However, poker, which is the central focus of this work, is not treated lightly. By introducing new gambling games that twist or combine the methods of existing gambling games such as Hwatu, the plot is made in-depth and interesting. It maintains tension at all times by densely depicting a situation in which characters plotting different plots gather in one place and engage in an indirect power struggle through gambling.

The main character and the people around him. Even though most of the characters, including the hostile forces, are students in their first or second year of high school, the main characters are people who have already experienced hardships or are descendants of large conglomerates, so the scale of their plans and actions is beyond imagination for a high school student.

The beautiful drawings by the illustrator, also contribute to the positive reviews. The beautiful drawing style and the ability to bring out the individuality of each character while giving their appearance attractive characteristics are top-notch. When looking at the work, cuts reminiscent of illustrations appear one by one in each episode.

### Criticism

* **Kakegurui Possible Plagiarism** - the first reason is because the content from episode 1 is almost completely identical to Kakegurui. Not only is the subject matter of school and gambling the same, but the content of episode 1 of this work itself is very similar to the first content of Kakegurui such as both of its introductory content. In episode 2, it continues very similarly when in Kakegurui, Jabami Yumeko briefly wins money at the beginning of a game with Saotome Echo, but gradually increases the stakes and loses money.
	+ Judging from the fact that there is no word from YLab, it seems that they do not think it is plagiarism, but rather that they just copied the motif. Of course, even now, perhaps because the first two episodes were intense, this issue occasionally comes up in the comments section, but now, as time has passed, the line has changed a lot and the plagiarism issue has largely subsided
	+ Some readers are disappointed by the author and Naver Webtoon, as they didn't mention the controversy.
	+ In September 2023, a controversy broke out about plagiarism from "**I Want to Date a Girl**," a Blue String webtoon where it plagiarized ***Kaguya: Love is War*** and ***Oshi no Ko***. Due to this, the plagiarism of this webtoon was mentioned again.
	+ Some pointed out that the main character duo in the manga **Bakumen**, by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, is very similar to this webtoon.

* **Unrealistic Setting** - The setting that gambling is rampant in schools and teachers admit it is too unrealistic, but since it is the basic setting of the work, it is meaningless to consider realistic probabilities. However, there is a problem with plausibility rather than probability. The following examples is a bit long so refer to the citation here.
* **Mistake & Setting Errors** - There are multiple errors. For more concrete explanation and more errors, refer to the citation here.
	+ Across episodes 1 and 2, two mistakes were made. Jumong is listed as class 2 even though he is in the same class as Gunwoo. Even though Gunwoo's class is class 5. Later, it is revealed that the location of the match with Youngho was the 2nd grade class 5, it ended up being a setup error.
	+ With regard to board games, according to the rule explanation in episode 1, the person who won the game can race in the next game, while according to the rule explanation and Jumong's words in episode 2, the person who lost can race in the next game.
	+ In episode 1, it is explained that 1 coin = the value of about 100 won, and in episode 32, when Eunji Lee sells midterm test papers and says that the minimum unit price is 500,000 coins, in the next cut, the kids in the class say, "It's 5 million won!!" (1 Coin = 10 won) and protested.
	+ Yuri Cha mentioned in episode 3 that she should go to Class 7's Hyungsoo for fraudulent gambling, but the name that actually appeared in episode 16 was Hyunsoo.

## Media and Merchandise

### Media

* **Film** - In June 2023, the plan was revealed in DART 's securities report following YLab 's initial public offering . As of September 2022, it is in planned development status and the production company has not been determined.

### Merch

* On the YLAB Store, can buy stuff like acrylic stands.
	+ https://smartstore.naver.com/ylabstore/category/307e7ee5e2244de284a999324d12980b?cp=1

## Trivia

* The author said that the original draft of this webtoon was for **[1]**, a discontinued/suspended Super String Webtoon. At the time, Parakho's story was a gambling story set during the Japanese colonial era. Later, the gambling content was reused for this webtoon.
* One of the few Blue String webtoons to have merch.
* There was an incident where a change of author was announced. It was said that Euicheol Shin, author of "**The Age of the Barbarous**," would take over for season 2, but the illustrator revealed on Instagram that it was something that never happened, the original author was kept for season 2.
* On April 1, 2020, to commemorate April Fool's Day, the thumbnail was briefly changed to a meme of a girl holding money and saying 'Kya~' as if she was obsessed with power.
* On December 10, 2020, a fan cafe called ‘The World is Money and Power’ was opened but closed.
* On April 1, 2022, a special cut was added to commemorate April Fool's Day. It appears that the characters occupy each of the 16 spaces to form a large heart. In the meantime, Doosik Jeong is mosaiced and Seol Baek is throwing away taffy.
* Among Blue String's webtoons, it is the only webtoon whose title is opposite to the main character's beliefs. The belief that the world needs money and power is Taekyeong's beliefs while Gunwoo is opposed to it.
* After the release of Blue String, this work was completed without any connection to any other Blue String webtoons.

## References

1. ↑ World is Money & Power, S1, Ep.1
2. ↑ World is Money & Power, S1, Ep.1
3. ↑ https://www.webtoons.com/en/action/the-world-is-money-and-power/list?title\_no=2615
4. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/세상은%20돈과%20권력#s-3
5. ↑ http://ylabcomics.com/bbs/board.php?bo\_table=02\_02\_eng#2
6. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/블루스트링/설정#s-3
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 https://namu.wiki/w/세상은%20돈과%20권력#s-6
8. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/세상은%20돈과%20권력/표절%20논란
9. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/세상은%20돈과%20권력/핍진성%20문제
10. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/세상은%20돈과%20권력/실수%20및%20설정%20오류
11. ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/세상은%20돈과%20권력#s-7
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 https://namu.wiki/w/세상은%20돈과%20권력#s-8
13. ↑ https://www.webtoonguide.com/ko/board/news-column/14109?fbclid=IwAR2Fz9CjMjVd9CQShEQ6255kJj184Zuoo\_WnfUIdBDnvANE7ppAXzrFO4Cc