Best Building in the Kingdom Isekai Manhwa

Key points

• Many isekai manhwa shift the focus from typical adventures to developing communities for prosperity.
• Kingdom building stories often focus on modern areas, technological advancements, and regulations.
• The characters in these manhwa advance society by providing healthcare, infrastructure, and good living environments.

Isekai are generally known for their overpowered protagonists, fun adventures, and unique cast of characters. While most tend to play out in a similar way, some stories prefer a different route. Rather than travel, they develop and cultivate the surrounding area, often adding modern infrastructure and regulations for the community to thrive.

Kingdom building refers to stories that focus on building settlements and communities. Despite this subgenre's name, most manhwa do not always include a literal realm; not everyone can be king. Instead, they focus on smaller areas or certain groups of people, especially in modern environments. The sense of progression is incredibly satisfying, which is why these stories are so popular.

1 Apothecary Prince

A Korean doctor revolutionizes medicine in another world

• MyAnimeList Score: 6.78
• Published: from 2023 to ?
• Genres/Themes: Adventure, Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation
• Author: Back-kyung Luna
• Illustrator: Dadaeng

Since many isekai are set in a medieval setting, the introduction of certain technologies or information is often the focus of the story. In Apothecary Princea Korean doctor dies and is reborn as Rachiel, the sickly prince from a novel he read. With his body unable to perform simple tasks, he is only able to heal himself with remedies from the modern world, unlocking a health progression system.

While the beginning of the story is mostly about recovering health, Rachiel continues to set a standard of healthcare for the rest of her kingdom, providing healthcare and medicine. This has a small domino effect in providing jobs for the working class as hospitals and clinics need to be built. In his effort to help people, he accidentally makes other good things happen.

2 Chitra

Collecting beautiful men with God's Gacha

• MyAnimeList Score: 6.89
• Published: from 2018 to today
• Genres/Themes: Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation, Reverse Harem
• Author: Taesun
• Illustrator: Reffe

Shojo manhwa often have protagonists who have to rebuild themselves from scratch, but they usually do so through personal affairs. In Chitraa young woman is reincarnated as a poor countess who had lost everything and was left for dead. Using the God of Beauty gacha system, he is able to recruit accomplished men throughout history as assistants.

Most characters have a good reason to start developing their land. In this case, Chitra does so as an apostle of the god of beauty. All it does is make the world more beautiful, starting with men. Reform their bad behavior as well as their outward appearance. This is in addition to creating an army, a stable economy and a good living environment.

3 Single player glitch

An overworked man becomes a master in his favorite game

• MyAnimeList Score: N/A
• Published: from 2020 to today
• Genres/Themes: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Video Game, Isekai
• Author: Cheongcho
• Illustrator: Kimenteu

Characters usually put more effort into their territories because they know something bad will happen in the future. In Single player glitchthe protagonist is sent to the world of “Paradise”, a popular VR game, and thanks to his extensive knowledge of the game, he knows how the world will change in the next ten years. To survive the coming war and famine, he must reform himself and the land.

Set in a game universe, Single player glitch combines game archetypes with traditional isekai. There aren't many screenshots, but the protagonist is able to use glitches from the real game. They are mostly used to his advantage, but he is able to use his acquired skills to capture bandits, enforce laws, and make deals. Despite the plethora of clichés, this manhwa is quite entertaining.

4 I woke up as the bad guy

Being is not bad when you have money

• MyAnimeList Score: 6.95
• Published: from 2020 to 2024
• Genres/Themes: Action, Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation
• Author: So, Yuhyeon
• Illustrator: Arlg

In the modern era, kingdom building looks a little different. Rather than running an entire kingdom, it is usually a business or perhaps a gang. In this story, an ordinary office worker is isekai'd in a web novel as Choi Yuseong, a secondary character who only appears at the beginning of the story. To survive the use of the main character, he begins to restore his reputation and becomes self-sufficient.

Unlike other kingdom-building manhwa, Yuseong does not make major changes to society, but steadily builds a following of loyal partners and employees, using knowledge from the novel to help the other characters grow. It focuses on personal growth for most manhwa, and much of the community it creates is seen as a subplot.

5 Tyrant of Tower Defense game

The ultimate player survival challenge

• MyAnimeList Score: 7.75
• Published: from 2022 to today
• Genres/Themes: Action, Fantasy, Isekai, Military, Reincarnation, Video Game
• Author: Ryueun, Garam
• Illustrator: Gyong

This manhwa is a little different from the others on this list. Rather than building a community, this story is about maintaining it. One day, a popular streamer is trapped in the world of a popular tower defense game called “Protect the Empire”. Assuming the identity of Prince Ash, he quickly learns that his decisions have life-or-death consequences and that his circumstances are no longer a game.

The game in the world has a gacha model, focused on gathering strong and unique characters to defend the base, and this is reflected in the overall story, as Ash makes contact with many people who will help him. Just like in those games, he must preserve the resources, infrastructure, and morale of his people.

6 Rubbish of the Count's Family

A man tries to solve the world's problems to live comfortably

• MyAnimeList Score: 7.82
• Published: from 2020 to ?
• Genres/Themes: Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation
• Author: Yu, Ryeo Han
• Illustrator: PAN4

As you can see from the title, the main character of this manhwa is not a king or a prince. Cale Henituse is the eldest son of an earl and a minor villain in a fantasy novel. When the protagonist is reincarnated as Cale, he is determined not only to survive but also to live comfortably. However, knowing the plot of the novel, he knows that there is trouble all over the world. The only way to secure your future is to fix everything yourself.

Rubbish of the Count's Family it's interesting because most of it is about preparing for kingdom building. Only much later did he begin to establish his territory and build villages. However, this means that the story is full of adventures with fun characters, including a pair of shapeshifters and a dragon. It's the best character collector's manhwa out there.

7 My real awakening

A prince tries to stop history from happening

• MyAnimeList Score: 7.58
• Published: from 2020 to 2022
• Genres/Themes: Drama, Historical, Reincarnation, Time Travel
• Author: Gusa
• Illustrator: Tae-Hyung Kim

One of the most popular isekai settings is a period in Korean history or some place inspired by it. This manhwa follows an ordinary man after he is transported into the body of Jinseong, the younger brother of Korea's most tyrannical ruler. However, things are different from what he learned in textbooks. To prevent his brother from becoming a tyrant, he would change history.

Historical manhwa are interesting because the authors often take real events and insert their own ideas and interpretations. Even though most people in the United States don't know the details of Korean history, the manhwa centered around it remains entertaining. It is an example of true kingdom building as Jinseong is a prince and is solving the kingdom's problems to help his brother.

8 The largest real estate developer

A college student is able to earn their degree outside of school

• MyAnimeList Score: 8.75
• Published: from 2021 to ?
• Genres/Themes: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation
• Author: Back-kyung Luna
• Illustrator: Hyunsoo Kim

The most popular and well-known kingdom builder manhwa is definitely The largest real estate developer. One day, a civil engineering student wakes up as Lloyd Frontera, the troubled son of a poor noble family destined to fall into ruin. With his terrible reputation, the protagonist has no choice but to clean up Lloyd's image and help rebuild his family's territory.

This manhwa is a great combination of resource management, land progression, and action. Lloyd not only has a special status screen that tracks his building skills, but also helps him train in aura techniques and swordplay. There aren't many other manhwa that involve so many different things and have an incredibly charismatic protagonist.