Looking for manhwa like Study Group? Start with what makes it work. Gamin is the one student at Yusung Technical High, a place nicknamed the "school for future criminals," who actually wants to get into university. Every study group turns him away, so he starts his own, and the one thing he's truly gifted at is fighting. The pull is a decent kid, a school that's given up, and fights that look like skill instead of superpowers.
Study Group itself is still running: WEBTOON's English edition is in Season 3 and updates every Sunday. While you wait, here's where to go next.
Quick picker: same shared universe, Hanlim Gym or Get Schooled. Finished and grounded, Weak Hero. Learning to fight from scratch, Viral Hit.
| Pick | What it shares with Study Group | Status on WEBTOON |
|---|---|---|
| Get Schooled | Same shared universe; school violence met with force | English page offline |
| Lookism | Street-level school fights, huge cast | Ongoing, Sundays |
| Hanlim Gym | Same shared universe; a school fighter finds a sport | Completed |
| Weak Hero | A small, studious lead who wins with his head | Completed |
| Viral Hit | A weak kid who learns to fight | Completed |
| Teenage Mercenary | The student nobody should pick a fight with | On break, will return |
| The Boxer | Technique over strength, a bullied teen | Completed |
| Juvenile Offender | Bullying, revenge, a broken system | Completed |
Manhwa like Study Group in the same universe
1. Get Schooled
AniList lists Get Schooled in the same Blue String universe as Study Group, and both Korean covers carry the YLAB logo. The angle is flipped. Instead of a student protecting his own circle, Hwa-jin Na works for the Ministry of Education and disciplines the worst school bullies with methods the series blurb calls "pretty violent." The live-action version, Teach You a Lesson, came out on Netflix on June 5, 2026.
There's a catch for English readers: when we checked on October 19, 2026, Get Schooled's English WEBTOON page returned a not-found error, and the title didn't come up in WEBTOON search. The Korean run is still going. Our Get Schooled review covers the story itself.
Pick it if: you liked Study Group's question of what adults should do about a school that's failing its kids.
2. Hanlim Gym
Hanlim Gym is the other Blue String title, and it's finished. Yeongha is a bullied transfer student who fights back and becomes the toughest guy at school, until Suho Kang, champion of the PVP games, takes down him and his crew single-handed. To win back his pride, Yeongha joins the PVP games himself. It's Study Group's "school fighter gets a goal" setup, with a sport in place of a university exam.
Pick it if: you want a complete story from the same shared world.
Manhwa like Study Group with grounded fights
3. Lookism
Lookism isn't in Study Group's universe, but readers pair them constantly. A 256-point r/webtoons post put it simply: if you like Viral Hit and Lookism, read Study Group. The premise is wilder: Daniel, an unattractive loner, wakes up in a different, tall and handsome body. For Study Group fans, the school fights are the reason to stay.
Taejun Pak's series still updates every Sunday on WEBTOON, where it has more than a billion views, and it now has a Netflix animated series. See our Lookism review before committing to a run this long.
Pick it if: you want a much bigger cast and you don't mind a long read.
4. Weak Hero
This is the closest match in spirit. Gray is a small, mysterious new student, and the bullies who run his school find out too late that his fighting is "calculative and brutal." Like Gamin, he wins by thinking faster than the other guy, not by being bigger.
Image: Weak Hero Korean volume 1 cover.
It's finished. SEOPASS and RAZEN's series ran from 2018 to 2023, and AniList counts 268 chapters. There's also a live-action drama: Class 1 on Wavve in 2022 and Class 2 on Netflix on April 25, 2025.
Our Weak Hero reading guide maps the season breaks.
Pick it if: you want a finished school-fight story with a lead who wins with his head.
5. Viral Hit
Hobin Yu is a scrawny high schooler who starts winning fights after following the advice of a mysterious NewTube channel. The appeal is close to Study Group's: fighting as something you can study and get better at, with a lighter touch. (You may know it by its older English title, How to Fight.)
Image: Viral Hit Korean volume 1 cover.
It's finished at 222 chapters (2019 to 2024), and the story is by Taejun Pak, Lookism's creator. Our Viral Hit review has the full verdict.
Pick it if: you liked watching Gamin out-think stronger kids and want the "learning curve" version.
6. Teenage Mercenary
Ijin Yu lost his parents in a plane crash at eight and survived abroad as a child mercenary. Ten years later he comes home to Korea with one year of high school left. Like Study Group, it runs on the gap between a quiet student and the kid nobody should pick a fight with, and WEBTOON's own blurb asks whether the school will survive him.
WEBTOON's latest listed episode is 276 (June 23, 2026), and the page says it will return. Our Teenage Mercenary hiatus update tracks the break.
Pick it if: you want the same mismatch with bigger stakes, and you can live with a wait.
7. The Boxer
A legendary coach called K is looking for one last prodigy when he finds an apathetic teenager standing still while bullies throttle him, and sees "precision, grace, and uncanny perceptiveness" in the way he moves. The Boxer swaps the school for the ring, but it shares Study Group's interest in technique and in a lead whose reasons for fighting are the real story.
It's finished: AniList counts 133 chapters, including 30 extra chapters, and Yen Press publishes it in print. See our The Boxer review.
Pick it if: you want fights treated as craft, and you're fine with a colder lead than Gamin.
8. Juvenile Offender
Yunseong Lee is a bullying victim who decides to become a juvenile offender himself, so he can take revenge on his bullies inside a detention center. It's the darkest pick here, and it's about the same thing Study Group circles: a system that fails the kids inside it.
Image: Juvenile Offender Korean cover.
It's short and finished at 82 chapters.
Pick it if: you want a tight, angry revenge story in a single weekend.
Our Take
If you only read one manhwa like Study Group, make it Weak Hero: it's finished, and it has the same small-kid-who-thinks-faster appeal. If you want more of Study Group's own world, Hanlim Gym is the easier one to finish. We'd hold off on Get Schooled until its English edition is back.
Study Group has a smaller English audience than you might guess: about 69 million views on WEBTOON, next to Lookism's billion. One r/webtoons reader guessed why: "readers of English Webtoon are more interested in romance or fantasy." If you're one of the people who stuck with it, this list is for you.
How we checked this: on October 19, 2026 we read the English WEBTOON pages for Study Group and seven of the picks, tried Get Schooled's (not found), pulled AniList data for all nine series, checked Wikipedia for the three live-action adaptations, and read the r/webtoons threads linked above. We didn't re-read the series for this update; the picks are our editorial judgment. Last reviewed: October 19, 2026.
Related Reading
- Study Group Manhwa Review
- Study Group Reading Guide: Where to Start Right Now
- Get Schooled Manhwa Review
- Manhwa Like Viral Hit: 8 Picks for Technique Fans
- Study Group Character Guide: Yoon Ga-min's Full Cast
Frequently Asked Questions
Which manhwa are in the same universe as Study Group?
AniList lists Study Group, Get Schooled and Hanlim Gym as part of the Blue String universe. Lookism, Viral Hit and Weak Hero are separate series.
Is Get Schooled still on WEBTOON in English?
When we checked on October 19, 2026, its English WEBTOON page returned a not-found error and the series didn't show up in WEBTOON search. The Korean original is still running.
Which of these are finished?
Weak Hero, Viral Hit, Hanlim Gym, The Boxer and Juvenile Offender are all completed on WEBTOON. Lookism and Study Group are still running, and Teenage Mercenary is on a break.
