u/Font-street

Almost immediately from reading [Dungeon Food Truck Boss], I move to read this one. I wonder if it influences my judgment.

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Note: Before we start, I'd just like to say that I am writing this review...without naming certain twists and developments that happened right around the end of Season 2. Just in case people who have caught up with the episodes would like to correct me on those updates.

Tl;dr: A better Hunterverse story than a slow life story. Fleshed out cast and a steady pace makes for a grounded story that strikes a good balance between a Hunterverse story, a slow life story, and a slow burn romance. The ML is endearing, but the MC is just decent, and the story sometimes sacrifices warmth to rush through the action. The second season takes a deeper stab into the plot and the main mystery, and the increased focus on action and intrigue does take away from the initial appeal a little bit.

Recommended if you like your business stories with a little bit of action, if you like usual leveling up Isekai stories, and if you like stories that try to develop its supporting cast. And if you like puppy male characters, rejoice; this story has TWO, including the ML.

Not recommended if you want pure business stories OR pure dungeon running stories, and if you like hot and dramatic romance.

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Let's start from the basic; the pacing is pretty good and the art is consistent. The action scenes are flashy enough for me to ignore the stiffness of the pose.

Now, if we go deeper... I really feel like this story's real value depends quite firmly on your perspective.

[Welcome to the Dungeon Hotel] is a combination between Hunterverse genre and the slow life subgenre of Isekai stories--y'know, stories with a "[insert mundane verb] in a [insert fantasy place] as a [insert mundane profession]" type of title.

As a slow life story, I think this title is kinda dime a dozen. Aside from the premise, its plot beats are kinda generic. Unlike stories like [Magic Artisan Dahlia Wilts No More] or [The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter], the career side of this story is barebones and serves only as a vehicle to advance the plot. And as much as the writing tries, and it really does try, it simply cannot compete with the best of the subgenre, and the Hunterverse elements doesn't really add much to the overall narrative bcs a lot of the slow life stories already likes to add action + 'guild rank' elements to begin with (much to its own detriment, personally speaking, but who am I to judge)

The opposite thing happens if you look at it as a Hunterverse story. Hunterverse may have been born from JRPG and LitRPG elements but it is a VERY young genre by itself, and I think the slow life elements here adds a much-needed human depth to its basic structures.

Sure, [Welcome to the Dungeon Hotel] still uses the well-worn 'from zero to hero' plot structure, but it sets itself apart from many of its peers by grounding the MC's growth in the relationships she builds as opposed to levels and stats and which S-Class dungeon does the MC raid this time. For the most part the story tries to fill in the power fantasy of having a good, supportive community. And unlike [Dungeon Food Truck Boss], this story sticks to it.

Jeonghyo, the MC, starts off as your ordinary, overworked young woman in capitalistic Korea who is pushed away from her cafe dreams and straight into hero--I mean, into hotel life. This move feels more akin to ordinary Isekai stories, and it does add a bit of driving force to the early narrative. However what truly sets this story apart is Jeonghyo's social connection. She does not start the story alone, and I'm not just talking about a single best friend side character that only appears every once in a while. She has a literal 'fanclub', consisting of powerful friends of her late father.

And then the story quickly expands her social connection. From her customers, to her employees, to her love interest and supporters, even some of her neighbors; the narrative doesn't just focus its spotlight on Jeonghyo as the MC and that adds a lot of nuance and dimension to the narrative.

It doesn't stop there either. While it's not as good as the best of the slow life genre, the narrative still tries to flesh out the supporting cast. And it's not just the Hunter side of the world either; one of the more important side character in the story is an ordinary human, a single mother, and the story fleshes her character and her completely mundane struggles just as well as the Hunters.

Meanwhile, the powerful elders I mentioned....While they do fulfill certain typical roles in Hunterverse stories, like 'the powerful executive' or 'the magical crafter' or 'the bureaucracy expert', but they never step in to solve her problems. This is a narrative restraint that I am glad to see. So many stories with this kind of conceit likes to turn those powerful figures into what is practically the MC's 'insta-kill button'; powerful backers that uses their status to shield the MC from opposition and gives the MC impunity to do whatever they like.

Not here; outside their basic Hunterverse roles, these elders actually serve more as parental figures for Jeonghyo. They dote on her, they worry and bicker and fret, they try to get her into their side for their safety, but ultimately their roles are that of a parental figure: to step back and let Jeonghyo do her own thing. The second season even goes one step further and attempts to flesh out the elder's shared past by adding a long-lost former friend.

I enjoy this attempt to paint these elders as their own characters very, very much because this adds a lot of texture. The elders don't just exist in the world as glorified infodumps, they add a personal connection to Jeonghyo's story. Jeonghyo's character also gets enhanced; her refusal to rely on these powerful elders means a lot more than what would happen if these elders are just complete strangers. And their existence as supportive parental figures basically raise a middle finger to so many Isekai conventions. (not that Jeonghyo lacks dead parents either; the reason why these elders fret on her is because her father has been dying for a while.)

Also raising a middle finger to OI conventions; the ML. If you see the second and third image, you'll see that the ML is tanned, notably so. Not only that, he's not 'beastly' or 'feral' or 'wild' or 'animalistic' in any way. No; Wuhyeon, the ML, is a traumatized kuudere knight more akin to [A Stepmother's Marchen]'s Norra. And I do enjoy that archetype so very much.

Now don't get me wrong, Wuhyeon does not stray from the archetype THAT far. He remains the top hunter, the cream of the crop, the best of the best. He does have a dark past, and his initial appearance does suggest the cold and distant mask you'd expect from your usual Dukes of the North. But then [Welcome to the Dungeon Hotel] also defies most OI conventions by laying out his entire deal straight from the very first chapter. And then it doesn't even bother to make him put up masks and whatnot in front of Jeonghyo; the narrative quickly sets him up into yearning mode and it doesn't take much to open himself up to her, to make her learn what we know.

The romance is kinda slow burn, steadily progressing through the 87 chapters that has been released so far. It doesn't have much misunderstanding, but it does feature the usual "oh no do I love him but am I worthy of him" from Jeonghyo's side. There is...a little bit of love rival, but it doesn't really go anywhere.

Some of y'all will call this boring. I won't disagree, especially compared to the most dramatic of OI romances. But I do appreciate a steady and smooth romance that doesn't obstruct the overall narrative, and [Welcome to the Dungeon Hotel]'s romance is one such case.

I can say that the continued focus on characters really adds a grounding element to the narrative. I've been reading a couple Hunterverse/Guideverse stories lately, both otome and BL, and I can say that [Welcome to the Dungeon Hotel] is one of the most fleshed out manhwa as far as the overall cast is concerned.

But this does make the few exceptions to the rule feel more glaring. Jeonghyo's employees, the literal Golden Retriever Goldie and the angry bunny Toto, don't get much development despite being present for most of the narrative. They're just cute people acting cute and nothing more. Jeonghyo's school friends and much of her neighborhood also quickly gets sidelined as the narrative advances and the Hunterverse element of the story gets deeper and more complex.

Those Hunterverse elements start off pretty basic, but it does get more and more complex as the story goes. There's an overarching mystery that ramps up in the second season, but even before that the story changes courses every now and then, forcing Jeonghyo into dungeons for one reason or another and becoming an action story. Everything is decently written, with decent pace that thankfully doesn't escalate as wildly as [Dungeon Food Truck Boss], but everything is also...ordinary. And it does take away from the narrative a little bit; there are times when the story rushes through moments that could and should have been warmer, draining some emotional weight from the overall narrative.

I'm also sliiiiightly side-eyeing Jeonghyo as a character. Don't get me wrong, she's a good character and a good protagonist; competent and compassionate, yet also distant and melancholic. I also enjoy the fact that the story makes it a point to show that she doesn't only grow in levels and stats but also in heart and spirit. Again, this plays into the story's theme of community and how it strengthens people.

But I still struggle to put her alongside the Greats. She is a defined character, but the picture painted by the narrative is that of an ordinary girl who simply tries her best to do good and move beyond her past. Her character shines not in how she triumphs over the story's challenges, but in how she interacts with other characters.

I like the leveling side of the narrative a bit more. Like [Dungeon Food Truck Boss], a lot of the skills and traits Jeonghyo got are centered in her secret class, and I enjoy seeing the creativity shown by the narrative in adding RPG elements into hotel-running.

What I'm squinting my eyes at though, is the second season. So far it's...fine? I think? And I do appreciate its attempts of fleshing out Jeonghyo's parental figures. But I'm starting to worry that the plot will overtaken the slow life part. This goes PARTICULARLY hard for the end of the second season, which... I get what the narrative is trying to do, and I appreciate the ambition, but it sorta kinda woulda neuter the majority of the story's internal tension?

I fear, oh so fear, that this will go the same route as [Dungeon Food Truck Boss]. And then I will have to sadly amend this review. But this is just me being a doomsayer. I mean, I can't even find much spoilers out there.

What we ACTUALLY have is a competent story with a good heart. It's a story that sells a much-needed fantasy of having a good support system AND being valued for your domestic labor. It's a story that has fleshed out cast, a steady art, and a fun skillset.

Regardless of how it ends, I shall appreciate the journey I've had so far.