Webcomic / To Not Die

I learned how to fight.

"I was always afraid. Always in pain. I fought so hard... ...but I was always stuck in the same place. When I decided to end it all......I realised. I could fix everything. If someone wants to tell me I'm wrong......I will tell them this. I was abandoned... and I needed to survive."

— Dajun Im

To Not Die (죽지 않으려면) is an action drama webcomic/manhwa written by Author Parae and drawn by Jinguk Lim for YLAB comics. This is part of the Bluestring universe and takes place around a year before Get Schooled. The original is host on Naver Webtoon. The translated version was hosted on Webtoons here

Dajun Im is a bullied kid in his second year of high school and is ignored at home. In despair, he almost loses it before he gains the motivation to change his life. He sees the television broadcast of a high schooler like him, Gyeom Ma, who has killed his bullies and is encouraged to kill to survive.

Though he succeeds at pushing his main bully into a truck accident, Dajun loses everything and is expelled for attempted murder. He is kicked out of his family's house and meets his bullies, who gang up on him and beat him even more severely after he retaliates with a brick. Then, he meets a strong wolf cut guy who changes his life, and introduces him to a world beyond his high school.

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To Not Die contains examples of the following tropes:

• Abusive Parents: Dajun's father is abusive while his mother is stoic when his father is disciplining him. He ignored Dajun for being an average student and kicked him out for ruining their family reputation. Then he comes back just so he can slap him and reprimand Dajun over how much an embarrassment he’s caused him that stemmed from his abandonment (never mind his fault in kicking Dajun out) and demands that he come back home. Dajun refuses and gives him a Calling the Old Man Out speech, but this only earns him a beating. Then Hangil comes by and forces Dajun’s father to back off.
• Action Girl:
  • Gayong Hong. She is a skilled wrestler and can take out numerous thugs.
  • Aram Ju. She is a Haegwang Executive and is implied to be stronger than Sungho due to his respect of her as his noona.
• Adults Are Useless: The school committee at Dajun's school is useless as they give a slap on the wrist to Doyun and expels Dajun even though he was the victim. Dajun's parents did not raise him right, and most adults in the story are either criminals, or powerless to do anything.
• Armor-Piercing Question: When asked why he shouldn't help someone and what is the difference between Dajun and someone else, Hangil is unable to come up with an answer.
• Battle Amongst the Flames: Hangil challenges Useong to a one on one duel in the church storage room. After igniting the kicked over gas canister with a cigarette flick, Hangil fights Useong to the death as the church burns down.
• Bittersweet Ending: Season 1 Ends with this. Hangil sacrifices himself to destroy Haegwang by burning the church and killing Useong. However Useong is alive, with a scarred face but he loses a lot of power as many of the affiliates have run away and their main base has been burned down. Haegwang hides as the streets of the district gains peace. Dajun leaves the Hangil fam home to pursue revenge against Haegwang, as the Hangil Fam are heartbroken at their hyung's death.
• Bullied into Depression: This is what causes Dajun to join his runaway fam in the first place, and kickstarts the plot. Come Season 2, the year after Season 1 ends Doyun Lee has bullied a new kid who cannot gain the confidence to retaliate. Then Dajun storms the school with most of his new runaway fam, and scares Doyun into begging for mercy and sends a message to Haegwang. There may yet be hope for the second kid.
• Bungled Suicide: Dajun is about to say goodbye to his family, but Gyeom Ma appears on Tv, starting Dajun's journey.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Dajun runs into his father, who proceeds to slap him and chew him out for “leaving home” while refusing to acknowledge or apologize for kicking him out over his expulsion, then demands that Dajun come back home just so he can save face from his neighbors. Dajun refuses to comply and tells off his father over his abuse and abandonment. This only earns Dajun a beating, but good thing Hangil stops his father and threatens him into backing off.
  Dajun: …You’re going to beat me now?
  Dajun’s father: What did you just say?
  Dajun: Should I be thankful? You never cared about me… you abandoned me… now that I embarrass you, you want me to come back? Just leave me alone if you’re going to abandon me! DON’T ACT LIKE MY DAD NOW!
• Combat Pragmatist: Hangil is this and he teaches Dajun to be this. They use whatever they can to win a fight. The other Hangil Fam members also normally rely on their fists and legs alone but are shown to be willing to use mooks as human shields and will hold down someone else to allow a free hit for their allies.
• Central Theme: Family. A lot of the runaways are shown to be orphans or ran away from home for a multitude of reasons. The story focuses a lot of Family of Choice, and what environments families should be.
• Corrupt Politician: District Delegate Hyeongyu Kim. His contract assault request is to silence Byeongcheol Jung from speaking about his embezzlement.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Come season 2, Dajun wears a lot of dark colors but is firmly a good guy. Subverted in the case of Useong Shin and Haegwang however.
• Dark and Troubled Past: This is what causes the Hangil fam to come together. Saved from their horrible lives by Hangil, they became a Family of Choice.
  • Hangil was an orphan who dropped out of school and began the runaway life after his teachers were useless in stopping his bullying and had to learn how to fight by himself. He was eventually taken in by Taebeom but wasn't comfortable with his new family and ran away until he got into a fight with Daesong gangsters and wanted to die, until Taebeom saves him and he realises he can become family with him. Then Useong comes along and after becoming family with him, makes him lose his family in a fire started by Daesong. After a while he is tricked into protecting the runaways by co-creating Haegwang. Then he beats up the Daesong commissioner and finds out the truth, only to be betrayed by the Haegwang founding members as well and thrust into a lonely life again.
  • Sungbin Ha isn't much better. He too was not comfortable with the warmth of an orphanage as a child and rushes into the streets as he witnesses a Daesong Enforcer Jungmin Han doing his gangster work. He begs for his life and the orphanage director is extorted and beaten in exchange for his safety, until they go too far and beat her to death. Then the orphans are reassigned to a different orphanage while Sungbin becomes a runaway and challenges Jeongmin and his gang several times to no avail. Then, when he is about to end it all, he meets Hangil.
  • Taek Kim was a street orphan who was always alone and beaten up by the neighbourhood thugs. He scoured for food barely able to live on and meets Naeun who treats him to pizza. After meeting Hangil passing through the neighbourhood who defeats his tormentors, he decides to beg him to learn how to fight. He trains hard and stops training once he gets his revenge and becomes strong enough to take care of himself, until he realises Naeun and her father are being extorted for money at the pizza place, so he realises he has to continue his training and become strong.
  • Daeyeop Cha was a troublemaking punk who terrorised the streets of the district after running away from home in what was implied to not be happy. He eventually met a dog at a playground and saved it from the Haegwang mooks who attacked it because he fought them before. He then leaves his food with the dog after defeating them and he hopes it will find a new home and hopes that he will too. Then Hangil removes his comic book from his face and reveals he heard the entire thing.
  • Gayoung Hong was an orphan after her parents died and is implied to have been living in the streets until she meets Jiheon, who seemed like a handsome gentleman, until he showed his true colors as an adult entertainment recruiter and tricks her into joining. He gets violent once she refuses and runs away from the establishment. The other thugs who chased her are then smashed into the ground by Hangil. She almost loses her faith and doesn't trust Hangil initially after he gives her his umbrella and his card for a billiards job. When she walks around and sees what Hangil did and what he was capable of, realizes he can be someone she can depend on in the streets.
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • Iltak Heo once beat some guys who bumped into him half to death. It's why Dajun fears him until he is able to defeat him in a straight fight.
  • Taebeom objects to Useong using the runaways for criminal activities as that is not what they should be doing. In return, Useong commisions Daesong to burn down the hardware store, killing Taebeom and the kids he protects.
• The Dog Bites Back: Dajun finally fights back... and is put on two years probation, expelled from school and loses his place in his birth family. This is what makes Hangil hesitant to teach Dajun. Useong was taken in by him after fighting back with a brick, much like Dajun, though he loses himself and indulged in his newfound power.
• Evil All Along: Seongho is revealed to be the traitor when Dajun punches him. Though it was hinted a lot that he was the traitor and not Inhwan. Inhwan is genuinely fighting Haegwang for his dad and is shown to be kind of a ditz, while Seongho is shown to be super talented in pizza making and beat the Daesong gangster in a few hits, which he wouldn't be capable of as Dajun is shown to be a talented fighter but it took him a long time to get that strong.
• Family of Choice: Once Dajun is left to fend for himself, Hangil takes him under his wing and invites him to live under his roof with several of his friends. All of them almost immediately warm up to Dajun, others take them a while, but Dajun comes to greatly appreciate them. Hangil sums up their family bond as he comforts Dajun after confronting and cutting off his father for good.
  Hangil: Don’t be sad about losing a family like that. You can make a family whenever you want. Blood doesn’t make you a family. Understanding one another does.
  • Even before they meet Dajun, this is how the Hangil Fam came together around a year before the story. See above at Dark and Troubled Past for more details.
• The Farmer and the Viper: This is what causes Hangil and Useong to create Haegwang. Once Hangil teaches Useong how to fight and Taebeom letting him into their home, Useong loses himself and repays Hangil and Taebeom's kindless with death and betrayal since they got in his way. Hangil realising he was tricked, leaves Haegwang heartbroken and wrathful.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Doyun was a bullied kid because he was fat, until he fought back and enjoyed it so much, he decided to become a bully instead of trying to end it and considers Dajun fighting back as a crime. After being pushed by Dajun, he loses a lot of his leg functions and come Season 2, he is shown bullying another kid, not having changed one bit. Until Dajun comes back with an army and dishes out payback for all the hell Doyun given him.
• Grief Song: The song that plays on Episode 65. 5 Stars by Loopy, Bloo. The song's lyrics are about the strange world that surround the main cast and how Hangil considered the Hangil fam as his 5 Stars as they grieve over his death and to move on and become someone who shine.
• It Amused Me: When asked why he betrayed them, Seongho simply says that it was interesting and fun. He was saddened by how he was always scolded for violence in school even though it was glorified in entertainment such as video games and movies. But since no one in Haegwang opposes his violence and fun, he does so gleefully. Then Dajun destorys him in the rest of the fight.
• Meaningful Name: Haegwang. While it seems like an Ironic Name at first as it sounds like a korean restaurant name and literally means sea light, its true meaning is dark as it comes from Haegwang Hardware, the hardware store Taebeom used to protect runaways and resembles a corrupt meaning to it as it shows that it once stood for protecting runaways, it is not used to refer to the criminal runaway youth organisation.
• Mob War: Dajun deliberately induces one in Season 2. They fought Lab H in order to cause a shift in the Balance of Power in Seoul's criminal underworld to cause Haegwang to move in on the upper half of Seoul to cause the remaining Gangbuk 4 leaders to surrender to him so he can fight Haegwang. Given how overwhelming Haegwang was against the normal mooks of the Gangbuk 4, they really may not have a choice.
• Never My Fault:
  • In chapter 30, Dajun’s father gives his son a Bitch Slap and reprimands him for leaving the family while pointing out that he should’ve come back. His father proceeds to go on a tirade over how much his son embarrassed him so much that he couldn’t go around their neighborhood. The only reason Dajun couldn’t live with his family is because his father is the one who kicked him out and ordered him to never come back. But his father refuses to acknowledge or apologize to Dajun and bluntly demands him to come back home just so he can save his reputation. This was the final straw from Dajun and he refuses to follow his father demands while calling him out over what a cruel bastard he was and failed as a parent. His father responds by beating him up while shaming Dajun for being rebellious. Fortunately Hangil walks into the scene and stops Dajun’s father abusing his son any further.
  • Doyun and his underlings ruthlessly bully Dajun, but once he fights back, they’re appalled by his behavior and try to get payback, while not comprehending how cruel they all treated him. The underlings go as far as to gang up on Dajun and chew him out for beating Doyun into the hospital. Despite the glaring facts that Doyun would not leave him alone, and Dajun only acted in self-defense.
• Ordered Apology: The bullies apologise to Dajun, though it is just for show and the school is of course useless, even in a public area of the classroom.
• Sequel Hook: Season 1 Ends with Wonchang taunting Dajun for his lacking power and numbers in comparison to Haegwang, leaving him with the taunt that he will need his help. Dajun leaves the Hangil fam and is seen recruiting his first runaway fam member, with the determination to become someone who can kill Useong Shin.
• Scare 'Em Straight: Hangil beats Dajun until he decides to leave as he believes Dajun is unable to survive the runaway life. Dajun just follows him around persistently to learn how to fight and survive.
• True Companions: The Hangil Fam. Then in Season 2, The Dajun Crew. They know that it would be easier to just surrender to Haegwang and commit crimes to survive for money and food...but they decide to live a more honest life and stick together.
• Useless Bystander Parent: Dajun’s mother never comes between her husband’s abuse on their youngest son, and would only show up until he’s done beating Dajun just so she can tend to his wounds while justifying the beatings as a form of Tough Love. Once her husband kicks Dajun out of the house, she cries by herself but does not protest his decision.
• We Can Rule Together: Gangrak decides the Hangil fam is useful enough that they should be prioritised over a serious contract assault from Doyun. But he decides against it once Dajun refuses his offer.
• With My Hands Tied: Even though he should be worn out from the continous torture and waterboarding, Byeongcheol saves Dajun in his fight against Gangrak by crashing his tied chair into Gangrak, which makes Gangrak crash and destroy the chair he is tied to in his rage, which gives Dajun a wooden beam to damage Gangrak. Byeongcheol later in the fight, grabs Gangrak's ankle and while unsuccessful, allows Dajun enough leeway to finish the fight.
• Would Hit a Girl: Everyone who can fight seems to be willing to do this. Hangil doesn't hesitate to harm Aram, and the Daesong and Haegwang members psychologically torture and hit girls who refuse to serve in their bar.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • The Haegwang Mooks are shown to smack an elderly woman holding a child because she didn't give them protection money if not for Daeyeop.
  • Jungmin would have killed Sungbin had he not been so entertained by his extortion of the orphanage. He scarred Sungbin with a knife, and found it amusing that Sungbin would come after him a few times to only be smashed until their final confrontation as Haegwang and Hangil fam.
  • The Racing Crew beat Eundong for being incompetent at pickpocketing and would have killed him to spite Dajun if not for Dogyeom.
• Would You Like to Hear How They Died?: Doyun tells his version of what he believes to have occurred to his bullied victim and tells him to not die in vain and be his punching bag forever. He is sorely mistaken as Dajun shows up soon after.
• You Are Not My Father: Dajun’s father is appalled that his son would be associated with a thug like Hangil and question why he would throw away his future. He makes one more offer for Dajun to come home, but if not then he’ll never be allowed back. Dajun refuses his offer and is content with staying with his Family of Choice.

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