I just going to put it out there... New Waves is not as good as it should be
No, I was not held back by my expectations, i read eagarly through 150 chapters in a sitting, but i felt that Shi-Woon was just a punching bag for about 100 of those chapters...
In terms of his progression as a character, he hasn't gone far. He is still the strong willed fighter, nevering giving up.
However, when he becomes teh elader of teh Sunwoo clan he seems to have attained leadership qualities. BUt to me it just seems like cockiness. Also his "brave" "leadership" traits are wasted when he interacts with Chun Woo, he doesnt fight him and acts like an invalid.

As you may also have noticed Shi is continuously underplayed, giving teh notion that he is "weak" that he has a reason to be in the current state of patheticness (chp. 150). But we must remmeber that Shi is special in that he took a dan pill got invigorated with Ki, then became the student of the most badass martial artist, also somehow wins over the phoenix pendent which allows him to become the leader of the Sunwoo clan. Yet he's still so pathetic, his martial arts have made little progress and his character is still weak when faced with a real challenge (when he can fight Chun). In every single fight the opponenet of Shi lets him off beacuse they belive that he has speical "recovering powers" or "they want to see him reach full potential". Really as a martial artist and character overall he hasn't changed much.

I think they have used his life too cheaply in that Shi is always putting his life on the line announcing how he is willing to die all the time. I believe as a martial artist you should not always have the mind set to be willing to die, it does not make you strong.

The romance between Jin-le was really nice early on however i think that the introduction of Sera was a bit much.

In The Breaker, the edgyness was taken off with the chibi illistrations of Chun. This was really nice, since i cant stand watching a Shi covered in blood for 50 chapters. The chibi style drawings have dissapeared in New waves, which means that the authors want to maybe make the story more serious. This is oh-kay, but since this manga originated with a mixed style they should've kept it since it was a good aspect.

Another thing that bothers me is that since this is a martial arts manhwa, i think there needs to be more realic progression in combat. As in, iron fist style, there are more eloquent and useful techniques than just "ran at opponenet and grab concrete". Sigh.

I know Chun is like the 9 something dragon, most OP martial artist. However if he can "take over Seuol" then shouldn't there be other people like him around the wrold. I mean, come on, there isn't just like 9 schools of martial arts... I mean theres boxing, muay thai, sambo and others more. Also later one i feel asthough the manhwa is trying to take the storyline and action to an international level, this is wh i feel that teh diversity in combat is lacking, it's aiming to get bigger but with so little a base for construction.

The fact that other asian country's have a strong standing in martial art's, then why hasnt the manga introduced them? I mean if a guy can come into a country run around killing hundreds of people and still be able to escape wouldnt it make international news? wouldn't other martial artist around the world come to kill him? or challenge him? (CHun)

Overall i think this manhwa is an 7.5-8/10