Best Manhwa with Smart/Genius MC

Using an idiot character as the protagonist is way easier than having a smart MC. Although the character’s intellect is in no way a reflection of the mangaka’s intellect, a mangaka still has to be smart enough to make the characters look smart. However, a manga with genius characters has an alluring charm. It forces you to think whether there’s an underlying meaning behind every act, scene, and dialogue. If you’re looking for some Manhwa with smart protagonists, well here’s our list of some of the best manhwa with a smart/genius MC.

10. Second Life Ranker

Yeon-woo’s twin brother disappeared five years ago, only for his pocket watch to suddenly fall into Yeon-woo’s hands. Inside, Yeon-woo found a hidden diary. “By the time you hear this, I guess I will already be dead…” Obelisk, the Tower of the Sun God, is a world where several universes and dimensions intersect. Yeon-woo’s brother had died after being betrayed while he climbed the Tower, and after learning the truth, Yeon-woo decided to climb the tower with the help of his brother’s diary.

9. The Villainess Lives Again

From childhood, Artezia Rozan’s happiness was dependent on ensuring the success of her brother. As a master manipulator and schemer, she became his most valuable ally in seizing the empire’s throne. That’s exactly why her brother’s betrayal cut so deeply when Artezia was imprisoned as punishment for all of her crimes. Soon after being rescued by Grand Duke Cedric Evron, she vows to help him overthrow the cruel new emperor by sacrificing her own life with forbidden magic. Now waking up several years earlier back in time, she will forsake her own family to help Cedric at all costs. They say that blood is thicker than water, but can Artezia destroy her brother while her own romance blossoms amidst the chaos?

8. The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor

Lee Hyun, an orphan, and debt-ridden 20-year-old high school drop-out, puts his famous avatar from ‘The Continent of Magic’, once the most popular online RPG game in Korea, up for auction. Once the news spreads online, fierce and unexpected competition to win Hyun’s unique avatar breaks out, raising the auction price to KR₩3,090 million (± US$3 million).

However, when loan sharks show up to collect his deceased parent’s debt of KR₩3,000 million, he’s left with only KR₩90 million! He utilizes KR₩50 million (± US$47,000) of the money to pay for a small house for his grandmother and sister to live in. Determined to support his family and send his little sister Hayan to college, he joins the next-generation online RPG game named ‘Royal Road’ as a dark gamer.

7. Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

A novel called Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World (written by the anonymous author tls123) has been written and published over the course of a decade, and Kim Dokja is the sole reader who has followed it to its ending. When the real world is plunged into the premise of Ways of Survival, Kim Dokja’s unique knowledge of the novel becomes vital to his survival.

Kim Dokja allies with Yoo Joonghyuk, the protagonist of Ways of Survival, in order to change the novel’s original plot and more quickly approach the end of the story. As Kim Dokja and his party members progress through the scenarios, they face increasingly difficult threats and life-or-death challenges, struggling to stay alive and work together as they aim to destroy the that demands their suffering.

6. Weak Hero

Due to widespread bullying in Eunjang High School, weak students live in constant fear of becoming the next prey. But their luck is bound to change when Gray Yeon—a scrawny freshman, no taller than 157 cm—leaves the entire class in shock—stands up to a bully twice his size and overpowers him with ease. Gray’s courageous act, resourcefulness, and unique insight earn him the nickname Eunjang’s White Mamba. Despite his size, Gray continues trading blows with bigger and stronger bullies from other high schools in town, all in hopes of preventing history from repeating itself.

5. Your Throne

Cunning and ruthless, Lady Medea Solon has only had one goal in her life: to become the princess of the Vasilios Empire by marrying Crown Prince Eros Orna Vasilios. However, Medea’s ambitious scheme collapses when the crown prince chooses naive Psyche Callista as his fiancée instead of her. As a result, she resolves to remove Psyche by any means necessary and secure her place on the throne.

However, not all goes according to her plan. At the Yearly Prayer held in the Temple, Medea confronts Psyche and her ignorance toward possessing unfathomable authority. In an instant, Medea falls into a seemingly bottomless fountain, unable to reach the surface. Believing that God is responsible, she prays to be the one who rules the empire. The deity grants Medea’s wish at the cost of exchanging bodies with Psyche, a twist of fate that may reveal more than what meets the eye.

4. The Beginning After the End

King Grey has unrivaled strength, wealth, and prestige in a world governed by martial ability. However, solitude lingers closely behind those with great power. Beneath the glamorous exterior of a powerful king lurks the shell of a man, devoid of purpose and will. Reincarnated into a new world filled with magic and monsters, the king has a second chance to relive his life. Correcting the mistakes of his past will not be his only challenge, however. Underneath the peace and prosperity of the new world is an undercurrent threatening to destroy everything he has worked for, questioning his role and reason for being born again.

3. King’s Maker

Five years after the mysterious disappearance of the nation’s fourth prince, a statement is issued, demanding that any boy found using his name is reported to the authorities. Thus, a manhunt begins for those named Wolfgang. Wolfgang Goldenleonard is well aware of his identity, and he knows that the authorities are still looking for him. He also knows that they mean to end his life. In hiding since the death of his mother, the prince has fostered a bond with the orphans of the streets.

However, after threats to them are made, Wolfgang is forced to reveal himself. With his identity publicly revealed, Wolfgang is taken to the home of his tyrannical father. At his father’s palace, Wolfgang retains his hatred for the man who gave him life. He refuses to behave as befitting of a Goldenleonard prince and breaks every rule he possibly can. He is often reminded that he is never to covet the king’s possessions, but through his rebellious spirit and fiery nature, he has already caught the eyes of the king’s favorite catamite, Shin Soohyuk. Shin sees Wolfgang as a force for change, the spark that may just light the fires of rebellion. And with the promise of granting Shin’s freedom, Wolfgang agrees to become his pawn.

2. Solo Leveling

Ten years ago, “the Gate” appeared and connected the real world with the realm of magic and monsters. To combat these vile beasts, ordinary people received superhuman powers and became known as “Hunters.” Twenty-year-old Sung Jin-Woo is one such Hunter, but he is known as the “World’s Weakest,” owing to his pathetic power compared to even a measly E-Rank. Still, he hunts monsters tirelessly in low-rank Gates to pay for his mother’s medical bills.

However, this miserable lifestyle changes when Jin-Woo—believing himself to be the only one left to die in a mission gone terribly wrong—awakens in a hospital three days later to find a mysterious screen floating in front of him. This “Quest Log” demands that Jin-Woo completes an unrealistic and intense training program, or face an appropriate penalty. Initially reluctant to comply because of the quest’s rigor, Jin-Woo soon finds that it may just transform him into one of the world’s most fearsome Hunters.

1. Tower of god

Twenty-Fifth Bam had been alone his whole life until he met Rachel. Now, however, Rachel is set on climbing the Tower, and she is willing to leave Bam behind to do so. After Rachel disappears in a veil of light, Bam follows her, vowing to ascend the Tower in hopes of meeting her again. But the Tower is a dangerous place full of ancient secrets, fearsome monsters, and nefarious humans. Each floor is protected by an Administrator who puts the daring challengers through grueling tests that will push them to their limits.

As he confronts Headon, the Administrator of the first floor, Bam learns that he is an ”Irregular,” someone who was not chosen by the Tower but was able to enter it on his own, an extremely rare event inside the Tower. Regardless of this revelation, however, his path forward is clear. Be it wealth, power, glory, or even reuniting with Rachel, all desires will be realized at the top of the Tower.