The Children's Teacher, Mr. Kwon

Ever felt something was plagued by problems, but could not help enjoying it either way? That is exactly the case with “The Children's Teacher, Mr. Kwon”, hence my high score. It manages to capture your heart and make you turn a blind eye to the abruptness of events. Seemingly, the story seems as a slice of life about a gangster who somehow managed to become a teacher at a remote school with 5 kids of different ages. You would expect various adventures with the kids and how they slowly bond with Kwon, but in reality there are not that many of those moments. There are somechapters and generally comedic panels, where the kids just do normal, silly stuff, but the heart of the manga lies in the backstory of each child (and Kwon) and that is where the problems begin. Almost at the very start of the webtoon, it gets into a serious problem where one of the children gets abused at home and the teacher is the one to save the very dire situation, as if the story was waiting for him to get the ball rolling. Very abruptly, the children always find themselves in situations they need to be rescued one way or another and Kwon just does that, which feels a bit disappointing. Towards the last 1/3 of it, the coincidences seem to pile up even more, which can make you wonder. Having said that, the children are adorable and Kwon, as well, which make such problems seem a bit inconsequential. Even with the normal slice of life scenes being mostly the minority in the grand scale of things, it sets firmly the bonds among the characters and establishes their personalities and way of thinking without force. Albeit the story being riddled with “fated” events, you cannot help feeling for Kwon and his endless trouble as he is between vengeance and a new life, as well as the kids who face pretty amazing things for their age and have to mature. The characters keep their good points throughout the work and you get attached to them easily. The drama is good, but it is difficult to fail when your main cast mostly consists of children, since children are innocent and Kwon, their protector, does everything in his power to help them, while figuring his life out. Bonus kudos to one of the children who had the least interaction with Kwon (because there was no need to) and managed to solve the arisen problems on their own or with help of another child. Amidst the several adult problems, it was nice to see a child getting through somewhere with only their own power. Extra bonus to the doggo! If it is not apparent, I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and I believe this would have been even better if the things did not dive in right away with serious problems. Not everyone needed to have something that difficult to work on, but I digress. Finally, the art was not spectacular, it is pretty simple and maybe a bit crude with the lines, but you get used to the design easily and while still a bit amateur-ish, it fits the kids to a T. I generally have no problems when it comes to art and so, no problem with this one either.