The Player Hides His Past Reading Guide: Where to Start

The Player Hides His Past isn't finished. Start at Episode 1 on WEBTOON or Tappytoon, the two official English publishers. Season 1 is Episodes 1 to 53, season 2 began with Episode 54, and a new episode still lands every Thursday; the newest one on Tappytoon when we checked was Episode 136, posted October 29, 2026. If you want the ending today, only the Korean web novel has one, and Novel Updates lists no English licence for it.

The setup is one joke with a fantasy world around it. A VR game called Chronicles of Arcana spills into the real world, and "players" wake up as their in-game characters. Lee Hoyeol, an ordinary office worker, wakes up as the character he built in middle school: a Demon Hunter with the full name Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo. WEBTOON's blurb says it gives him "all the mannerisms and speech of an absolute cringelord." The Korean title is 플레이어가 과거를 숨김.

The Player Hides His Past at a glance

WEBTOON's English edition started on September 20, 2023, and its series page also says "Up every Thursday" and rates it Young Adult (16+). Its website lists only Episodes 1 to 3, though, and sends you to the app for the rest, which is why the table uses Tappytoon's full list for the English numbers.

Both editions number episodes the same way, so the gap is simple: English is four episodes behind Korea's free list and nine behind Naver's newest paid preview. English started about three months after Korea, and both sides took a 259-day break between seasons.

English series cover. Image: Tappytoon.

Step-by-Step: reading The Player Hides His Past in order

1. Pick WEBTOON or Tappytoon: Both carry the licensed English translation; Tappytoon's copyright line reads "Gaechaban, Vinukki, Badass / C&C Revolution Inc." On the web, Tappytoon is the easier one to browse: every episode is listed, Episodes 1 to 3 are free, Episode 4 sits on a "free every 24 hours" timer, and later episodes show a price of 300. WEBTOON's site stops at Episode 3 and asks you to continue in its app.

2. Read season 1, Episodes 1 to 53: Tappytoon labels the last one "Episode 53: S1 Finale", and the Korean list marks 53 as the last episode of season 1. Treat it as the test run. The May 30, 2024 r/manhwa thread quoted further down was started by a reader who had just finished season 1 ("a bingeable 53 chapters", in the opening post), so the complaints in it are about these episodes; season 2 didn't exist yet.

3. Don't read the long gap as a cancellation: On Naver's free list, season 1 ended June 7, 2024 and season 2 opened February 21, 2025. English followed the same rhythm, July 18, 2024 to April 3, 2025. That's about eight and a half months on both sides, and Naver and Tappytoon both label Episode 53 as the end of season 1.

4. Carry on into season 2 from Episode 54: The numbering doesn't reset, there are no recap episodes to skip, and nothing in the list is out of order. Korea's Episode 100 (January 16, 2026) came with celebration art, labeled "100화+축전 공개!", on the same post as the chapter.

5. Catch up, then choose how to wait: In English, that means Episode 136 and a new one each Thursday. If you can read Korean, Naver is four free episodes ahead, with paid previews five more past that. If you want the ending, that's only in the Korean novel (next section).

Tappytoon is the platform where this one is easiest to sample on the web. Our best manhwa on Tappytoon list covers what else the service licenses, and where to read manhwa legally compares it with WEBTOON and the rest.

Is The Player Hides His Past finished? How many chapters?

The webtoon isn't. Naver lists it as ongoing and not on break, with 140 free episodes as of October 30, 2026, and Naver Series counts 145 including the paid ones. MangaUpdates splits it the same way we do, season 1 as chapters 1 to 53 and season 2 as ongoing from 54. We found no announced end date.

The story it adapts is finished. The original is a Korean web novel on Naver Series, published by 엔리즈 (n-ries), marked complete at 900 episodes and rated for all ages. Novel episodes and webtoon episodes aren't the same length, so 900 against 145 doesn't tell you how far the webtoon has got, and none of the official pages say.

The novel, the credits, and the anime question

We found no official English edition of the novel. Novel Updates lists it as "Licensed: No" with no English publisher, and the only official home we found is the Korean one on Naver Series, where the first 25 episodes are free. One novel reader says the webtoon trims things: in an April 2026 r/manhwa thread, they pointed people to the novel because "the manhwa skipped a bunch of parts that I found funny as hell." We didn't find an official chart matching webtoon episodes to novel chapters, so we won't guess one.

The credits look messier than they are. The novelist is 베데스, shown as "Badass" on WEBTOON and Tappytoon and as Bedes on AniList. WEBTOON credits the webtoon script to Gaechaban ("Adapted by") and the art to Vinukki. On the Korean side, Naver Webtoon lists 콘차 as the writer, 비누끼 (Vinukki) as the artist and 베데스 as the author of the original novel, while Naver Series puts 콘차 and 베데스 together under 글 (writing). We found no notice explaining why the Korean pages show 콘차 where WEBTOON shows Gaechaban, so we're only reporting what each page says.

As for an anime: there isn't one. AniList lists no adaptation of any kind, and MangaUpdates has no anime entry for it either.

Romance, the two-personality gag, and whether it's worth it

Romance: Don't come for it. AniList files it under Action and Fantasy with tags like Magic, Dissociative Identities and Demons, and no romance tag. The opening post of a May 30, 2024 r/manhwa thread sums it up as "typical op and genius mc, no romance", and an early MangaUpdates comment is titled "lacks any romance or plot. (so far)".

The gag: Hoyeol decides what to do, and it comes out as Grandfell would say or do it. As one reader put it in 2024, "it's Lee Hoyoel's feelings, but Mr. noble dude's reactions." Readers split on whether that's two people or one. An April 27, 2026 thread asks it outright: "Are these two guys in one body or is it just his inner thoughts?" Back in 2024, another reader said the "biggest problem is that they should have explained way better how the 2 personality really worked." The fans who stay are there for exactly that friction: "the inner monologue is just a guy cringing, honestly that's the thing that makes it work."

Character banner from the English series page. Image: WEBTOON.

Worth it: Yes for the art and the first season, with a warning about the long run. The art gets the praise even from people who are lukewarm on the rest: "Besides the quality art there is nothing that stands out about the story." The other recurring complaint is repetition, "a repeat of MC accidentally excelling too much and getting attention", and by 2026 one reader felt Hoyeol is "just on a joyride while his OC is no-diffing everything." In 2024, after season 1, a MangaUpdates reviewer reading the English WEBTOON edition "was so sad when I ran out of chapters to read" and said they were looking forward to season 2. The AniList average sat in the mid-70s on November 1.

Our call: give it the 53 episodes of season 1, which is enough to know whether the gag works for you. The May 2024 thread quoted above was written with only season 1 out, and readers were already split: one called it "almost direction less" on plot, while the thread's opener read the season ending as setting up more story around the grey-haired character. The 2026 complaint is the joyride one. If Grandfell's speeches have stopped making you laugh by Episode 53, weigh those comments before starting season 2.

If you liked it, read these next

AniList users pair it most often with The Knight King Who Returned with a God (16 votes), and the 2024 thread's opening post made the same comparison about the lead's split personality. AniList links Korean, Thai and Chinese editions of that one, but no English edition. Further down the AniList list, with a few votes each, are two series we've covered: see our Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint reading guide and our I'm the Max-Level Newbie reading guide.

WEBTOON's own "You may also like" row suggests The Advanced Player of the Tutorial Tower, Ultra-Alternate Character and The Perfect Hybrid. If it's the game-rules side you liked, our best game manhwa list is the next stop.

How we checked this: on November 1, 2026 we went through the full Korean episode list on Naver Webtoon, the Naver Series pages for the webtoon and the novel, the English series pages on WEBTOON and Tappytoon (Tappytoon's full episode list, newest first), AniList, MangaUpdates and Novel Updates, and read the two r/manhwa threads quoted above. Episode numbers and dates come from the official lists; we haven't read the series end to end for this guide. Last reviewed: November 1, 2026.

References

• The Player Hides His Past on WEBTOON: official English edition, schedule, rating, credits
• The Player Hides His Past on Tappytoon: official English edition, full episode list
• 플레이어가 과거를 숨김 on Naver Webtoon: Korean original, episode list
• 플레이어가 과거를 숨김 on Naver Series (webtoon) and (novel): Korean paid editions and the original novel
• AniList entry: credits, tags, recommendations
• MangaUpdates entry: season split, English publishers, reader comments
• Novel Updates entry: novel status and licensing
• r/manhwa: opinions on this? (May 2024) and are these two guys in one body? (April 2026)

Related Reading

• Best Manhwa on Tappytoon: nine licensed picks on the platform with the fullest English list of this series.
• I'm the Max-Level Newbie Reading Guide: one of the series AniList users recommend alongside this one.
• Best Game Manhwa: seven series where the game rules actually matter.
• Best Ongoing Manhwa 2026: what else is still updating every week this fall.