Do you love action movies? Don’t lie. Maybe they’re a guilty pleasure or maybe you love this genre with the fire of a thousand dying suns. No matter which category you fall into, action stories have a way of getting our blood pumping. And for many fans, nothing excites them more than action tales featuring martial arts. But while many novels have tried to incorporate martial arts into their plotlines, there’s no denying something is lost in translation. Part of the enjoyment lies with the visual aspect, after all. Thankfully, we don’t run into that problem with martial arts manhwa or webtoons.

Some martial arts manhwa features thriller plotlines, but for those who don’t enjoy thrillers, no need to worry. Martial arts stories come in all forms. In addition to thrillers, we have sports stories and even contemporary stories. Isn’t that great?

But before we delve into the world of martial arts webtoons, we need to go over a crucial term for people unfamiliar with these kinds of stories—especially ones from South Korea. What’s the term? Murim. It doesn’t come up in all martial arts webtoons, but it comes up with enough regularity that going over the definition would be helpful. Think of murim as the secret world of martial artists. It co-exists with regular society, but people from the murim try to maintain distance from people from regular society. As you can imagine, problems pop up when that separation falls apart.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about some martial arts manhwa.

The Breaker by Jeon Geuk-jin and Kamaro
A martial arts classic from the 2000s, The Breaker finally has an official English release thanks to Ablaze. It follows Shiwoon Yi, a bullied high school student, who meets Chunwoo Han. Chunwoo is supposedly the new English teacher. In reality, he’s the last user of a powerful martial arts technique and has infiltrated the school as part of a mission against the Martial Arts Alliance (aka the organization that governs the murim in the world of The Breaker). Through a series of events, Shiwoon becomes Chunwoo’s disciple and enters a world of amazing martial arts, competing factions, and deep-seated grudges.

Taekwondo Kid by Jun
Ihn Kim is a strong and talented taekwondo fighter. Unfortunately, there’s a difference between taekwondo as a martial art and taekwondo as a sport. Ihn understands the former but not so much the latter. Because while strength matters most in a street fight, clean, technical hits are a requirement of competitive taekwondo. As a result, his school’s taekwondo team makes fun of him and deems him a hack. That doesn’t deter Ihn though, and he sets out to prove them all wrong.

Return of the Blossoming Blade by Lico and Biga
A century ago, the Ten Great Sects of ancient China fought a war against a demonic cult. But thankfully, Cheongmyeong of the Mount Hua Sect manages to defeat its leader, Cheonma. Less thankfully, he dies from the wounds sustained in battle. His story doesn’t end here, though. Cheongmyeong wakes up one hundred years later with a second chance at life. But to his shock, he discovers that his beloved Mount Hua Sect has been reduced to a shadow of its former glory. Now he has a new mission: restore his sect’s prestigious reputation.

Infinite Leveling: Murim by Jinwoo Kim and Gonbung
Love martial arts stories? Reincarnation stories? Leveling up stories? This webtoon combines them all. Yuseong Dan dies on the battlefield without any notable deeds to his name. But not only does he get another chance at life, he receives the opportunity to boost his heroic reputation courtesy of a system that helps him to level up via quests. Of course, the quests become more difficult as he grows stronger, and Yuseong soon wonders if he can reach his goal of becoming a powerful hero without dying.

Hanlim Gym by Hyeseong and Sukjae Lee
Transfer student Yeongha is picked on and bullied. Then one day, he gets sick of it and fights back. And wouldn’t you know it: he’s very strong. His powerful fists propel him to the top of the school hierarchy. That changes when he runs across Suho Kang, the reigning champion of an underground fighting ring. Yeongha abruptly discovers there are people stronger than even him. Thirsty for a rematch, he joins the underground fighting ring himself and embarks on a journey to grow stronger. After all, his fighting style is wild and dependent on brute force. What could some training and control do? And the place where he’ll learn? Hanlim Gym, of course.

What do you think? Did a martial arts manhwa from this list catch your eye? We hope so but if you think we left something off the list, feel free to sound off in the comments.