Best Surreal Horror Manhwa

The horror genre does not discriminate against any form of entertainment. From movies to comics to manga, anime and now manhwa. However, this piece does not focus on just any horror manhwas, but the chilling and mind-numbing ones. These manhwas aren't just visually terrifying; they do an excellent job of getting under the readers' skin and present an unprecedented immersive experience that is close to the real thing.

For avid readers and fans of the horror genre, these manhwas present themselves as nothing more than a treasure trove of horror thrills that the average horror reader is looking for. So when it comes to these manhwas, below are the best manhwa picks for these immersive horror stories.

8 Hive

A nightmare born of insects

• Creative: Kim Gyu-sam
• Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Survival
• Number of chapters: 242 (in progress)

Hive it represents an apocalyptic world that is already in its last moments after just a day of invasion. The story revolves around the central character Eun-Sung Lee, an ordinary middle-aged family man with a wife and daughter whom he had no doubt would return to after a day of work like any other day.

However, reality does not go according to Eun-Sung's plan. Souou is suddenly plunged into chaos when a giant man-eating insect begins to fall from the sky out of nowhere, infecting or killing anything in its path. As a result of this sudden invasion, Seoul suddenly became a land of anarchy and chaos. Amidst the chaos, Eun-Sung manages to survive, but quickly sets out to find his lost family, hoping they're not dead yet. Accompanied by battle-hardened old man Ji-Eun Seong, Eun-Sung traverses the rubble-strewn land in a desperate attempt to find her family while ensuring her survival.

7 Killing the chase

Psychotic stalker meets psychotic killer

• Creative: Koogi
• Genre: Drama, Horror, Psychological, Thriller
• Number of chapters: 67

Falling in love with a serial killer seems like everyone's nightmare, right? Well, this is Yoon Bum's reality Killing the chase series. However, his romantic attachment to popular college sweetheart Oh Sangwoo would be nothing more than an intangible chain of affection if he hadn't decided to break into his house. The object of Yoon Bum's obsession has no idea that the emaciated student is stalking him, but everything changes after Yoon Bum breaks into Sangwoo's house.

However, even in Yoon Buma's worst nightmares, he couldn't have predicted what he was about to witness: his beloved Sangwoo is actually a serial killer and the worst kind. His problems are compounded as his little transgression doesn't go unnoticed when Sangwoo catches him. Yoon Bum quickly and painfully learns that it is not a wise decision to stalk or break into a stranger's house, especially when the victim is a psychotic serial killer.

6 Strangers From Hell

Neighbors or killers?

• Creative: Kim Young Ki
• Genre: Horror, Psychological, Thriller
• Number of chapters: 88

IN Strangers From Hell, it seems that sometimes strangers are just strangers, even the ones you supposedly live with. But what happens when these strangers are much stranger than the neighbors? The series follows its protagonist, Jong Yun, a young man in his early twenties who moves to Seoul as a last resort due to his low income.

He rents a shabby room in a dilapidated building. However, his cheap lifestyle soon becomes the least of his worries when his neighbors start acting suspiciously. Unaware of what is happening, Yun begins to fall back into reality as strange and mysterious things begin to happen, but by this point it may be too late.

5 The promise of the orchid

• Creative: Jeon Geuk-Jin
• Genre: Horror, Supernatural, Action, Fantasy
• Number of chapters: 105

The promise of the orchid brings a haunting tale of a mysterious life superimposed on the ordinary life of the story's protagonist, Jaesin Yang, who has had the same dream for almost fifteen years since childhood after a tragic massacre that destroyed the orphanage where he resided. him as a child. His dream shows nothing but a mysterious red-haired woman whispering, “I'll wait for you.”

His dreams take a turn for the worse after he moves to the notoriously haunted Orchid Road in an attempt to understand the mystery behind his dreams. The first night after moving in, Jaesin almost loses his life to an apparently vengeful demon, but is saved by a mysterious woman named Socheon, who happens to look exactly like the woman in his dreams. After meeting Socheon, Jaesin quickly finds himself on the side of the battle against the demon lord Geumgwan.

4 Pigpen

A slaughterhouse in the middle of nowhere

• Creative: Kim Carnby, Cheon Beomsik
• Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller, Psychological
• Number of chapters: 67

Pigpen presents a mysterious case of memory loss and identity loss, where the central character of the story, a young man, finds himself on the shore quite beautiful, but without any memories of who he is and how he got there. Desperate to find out about himself, the tracks he finds only lead down endless rabbit holes.

On the island, he discovers a family on his own, who welcome him into their flock. However, with their generosity comes an uneasy feeling. It seems that family is not what they appear to be. Stuck with a haunted family with no memories, survival seems to be the best and almost impossible option for the protagonist.

3 Sweet Home

Your worst fears brought to life

• Creative: Kim Carnby, Hwang Youngchan
• Genre: Drama, Horror, Psychological, Supernatural, Thriller
• Number of chapters: 140

Being the sole survivor of a tragic accident that killed an entire family must loosen a few screws in one's head. Now add to that the fact that people suddenly turn into monsters out of thin air, and it drives anyone to the edge. This is the case with the main character of the story, Cha Hyun, a high school social loner who loses his family in a tragic car accident.

Cha Hyun, the sole survivor of his family, is forced to move into a new apartment by himself. However, life takes a turn for the worse after the relocation when Hyun realizes that the people around him are suddenly turning into monsters as a reflection of their inner demons. Even worse, Hyun himself is on his way to becoming a monster. As time goes on, Hyun must work with his other tenants to find the cause of the monsters, because otherwise it would literally mean the end of the world.

2 Tarot Cafe

The Realism of the Occult

• Creative: Sang-Sun Park
• Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Romance, Supernatural
• Number of chapters: 18

The horrors of the supernatural are personified in Tarot Cafe E series and come to life, more often than not. The story follows the life of the central character Pamela, a tarot cafe who seems too bright to be true. Devoted to helping supernatural beings in the human realm, Pamela will offer her help to anyone who needs it, be it a vampire, a wizard, or possibly even a ghost.

However, it seems that she is not as bright and cheerful as she admits. Despite his supposed good nature, he must face something: a terrifying secret that he must deal with at all costs. A secret that will prevent her from passing on to the next life if she leaves it unattended. However, how he decides to deal with his little secret remains to be seen.

1 Melvin's therapy

Therapy from hell

• Creative: A. Rasen
• Genre: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Supernatural, Psychological
• Number of chapters: 81

Therapy takes a rather dark and twisted turn Melvin's therapyand the series represents the ideal bone-chilling experience. Therapy, as we all know, should solve a person's psychological problems, most of the time it does. But Melvin's therapy doesn't just solve her patients' problems; it presents them with something much more ominous, more terrifying, a sense of something terribly wrong.

The series revolves around the central character Melvina, a therapist who is too good at her job, almost as if she could embody her patients. However, Melvin's therapeutic process is not only about solving her patients' problems, but also about forcing them to completely unravel and emerge as their true selves. Something he does with chilling efficiency throughout the series.