This manhwa follows Kang Shichan, an "elite" high school student whose life undergoes some drastic changes the night he encounters a Tedlar. Tedlars are basically this story's version of demons that exist right under the noses of human's… nothing original there. Now due to certain circumstances, Kang has no choice but to surrender is body to Legendary Tedlar/Demon Lord (Inferno) and quickly learn to survive. Having just summarized the basic story & premise in a few lines, you'd expect this to be a straight-forward action manhwa with supernatural & dual-life themes and for the most part that assumption would be correct. However various side stories & sub-plots, involving all the other Tedlar clans & special human organizations, certainly develop over time. Along with a big reveal, all seemingly leading to some major confrontation or something another and then it ends... Yeah... That's it I guess.
(-_-) "Sigh~"
As for characters, some of them are an interesting change from the usual Shounen battle manga/manhwa, but unsure whether it's a positive change. Here we have quite the conceited bastard for a protagonist but they do try to make sure Kang Shichan isn't a complete asshole, by occasionally showing him to be rational & compassionate. Things get more engaging when a girl Shin Chae-hee & another Legendary Tedlar (Gehenna) get involved, adding some drama and potential romance to the story. But the author fails to do much with her and the same can be said regarding all the characters. Because even with such a rudimentary plot, the characters lack clear motivations and just does things, some things rather illogical. Honestly once I finish this review, I'd probably forget the lot of them within a month.
Although one Korean I won’t forget is Im, Dal Young and here he is, at it again, with another artist (Kim, Kwang Hyun). So anyone who’s read any of his numerous works (Unbalance x2, Zero, Freezing, etc.) will be familiar with the art style. Busty babes and beefed up guys are on the menu for character designs. However the creature designs are some of the most uninspired pieces of crap, I'm used to seeing in visual novel & light novel illustrations. At least a fair amount of detail is put into the backgrounds and the action sequences are fairly easy to follow, but lack any good flow to them.
Overall Aflame Inferno initially feels like a rather unoriginal manhwa, with the clichéd 'average guy almost dying and being bestowed with great power to fend off beings' premise but apart from some minor tweaks, that pretty much is what you get. Just like other manga/manhwa of the genre, there is its own power system and overarching narrative. But just as the story begins to take off Im, Dal Young does what he always does and loses interests, condemning Aflame Inferno to permanent hiatus.
