Manri Shintong

Manri Shintong Hupung is the elderly owner of the Black Shop and a celebrated dumpling maker whose information, foresight, and safehouses support Jaehwan from the upper Metaverse into the war for the Abyss.

Biography

The Black Shop joins the climb

Manri Shintong meets Jaehwan when Andersen transfers an old favor to him. Once renowned for finding information, Parts, and Settings, he uses Manri Eye to search for Kim Yoonhwan. He confirms that Yoonhwan is alive and nearby, but contact with the power concealing him injures Manri Shintong and forces him to stop. The old god urges Jaehwan to abandon the search and later warns him that the Alliance has turned Climbing the Branches into a hunt. Jaehwan's refusal reminds him of his own compulsion to make dumplings after accepting that he would never reach the Phantasmal Tree's end, and he recognizes that climbing is equally necessary to Jaehwan's life. (Chapters 151–152)

Manri Shintong consequently commits the Black Shop's gatekeepers and remaining safehouses to Jaehwan's side. He hides vulnerable children, joins the struggle up the Branch, and reaches the Ninth Floor with the Allies. When its Task demands that one traveler kill everyone else, he immediately offers Jaehwan the right to continue; when Jaehwan rejects that rule and stabs the ceiling instead, Manri Shintong joins him. At the Tower's destruction, he accepts that the gods must leave and transfers the essence of the Black Shop's World Power into Jaehwan's final strike. Afterward, he shelters displaced Followers, encourages Jaehwan to give them work, and guides him toward the dream demon capable of repairing Solitary Unbowed and the auction rumored to hold an Ancient God's artifact. (Chapters 153, 162–177)

Waiting at the Seventh Site

The collapse of the Metaverse and the Black Shop's later flight from the Eighth Site leave Manri Shintong operating a second branch of the Martial World Inn at the Seventh Site. He continues making one exceptional Today's Dumpling each day for Jaehwan's return. When hostile gods attack the inn, the dumpling is revealed as part of his foresight: Baeko saves it at the exact moment Jaehwan arrives to stop a Gigantes strike. Manri Shintong then returns Solitary Unbowed to its owner and receives Jaehwan's order to gather the Companions of the Metaverse for war. (Chapters 211–212)

Manri Shintong later stands with the Black Shop among the Committee forces attempting to stop Jaehwan from leaving the Abyss. Unlike the political arguments around him, his farewell is personal: he presses a dumpling into Jaehwan's hand, says he does not care what happens to 《Big Brother》, and asks him to return to eat again. This is Manri Shintong's last direct appearance. A later revised-world scene recalls his dumplings through Jaehwan's writing, but does not establish whether the old god survived into that reality or what eventually happened to him. (Chapters 237 and 265)

Appearance and personality

Manri Shintong is an elderly man with a beard, a partly bald head, and aged hands. He commonly appears behind the Martial World Inn's counter or carrying noodles and large dumplings from its kitchen. His eyes emit a mysterious green light when Manri Eye activates, then cloud as smoke flows from his nose. (Chapters 151–152 and 211)

He is hospitable, cautious, and deeply informed about the dangers of the Abyss. His instinct is to preserve talented people rather than spend them in impossible struggles, but he can recognize when survival without a chosen purpose is no life at all. Dumpling making is both craft and answer to that realization. He is proud when others praise the food, protective of Baeko despite constant complaints, and quietly persistent enough to make a fresh dumpling every day for an absent friend. (Chapters 151–152, 156, and 211–212)

Powers and limitations

Manri Eye

Manri Eye is a top-grade manipulation-type Setting used for remote search, perception, and limited foresight. For a personal search, Manri Shintong takes the subject's pulse and uses a name plus the subject's memory of the missing person. Smoke then externalizes what he perceives, allowing him to establish Yoonhwan's survival and briefly sense his surroundings. The Eye can also anticipate a future meeting precisely enough for Manri Shintong to prepare Today's Dumpling before Jaehwan returns. (Chapters 151 and 212)

The Setting is not omniscient. Manri Shintong says he can clearly see within the Metaverse, but a distant master of manipulation notices him looking back, forces the smoke away, and leaves him coughing blood. He cannot identify that being or safely continue. His knowledge also depends on interpretation and available networks; even Black Shop credentials fail against stronger access controls, and he openly distinguishes what the shop knows from what it does not. (Chapters 151–152 and 178)

World Power and support

Manri Shintong is identified among the high-grade gods and survives the exhausting climb into the Ninth Floor. He can contribute World Power directly, giving Jaehwan a current said to contain the essence of the Black Shop. The corpus does not provide a measured total, a personal Sanctuary, or a named offensive technique for him. During the Seventh Site attack he requires Baeko's support simply to watch the aftermath, so his most consequential contributions remain foresight, logistics, and the timely return of Jaehwan's weapon rather than frontline dominance. (Chapters 164, 170–175, and 212)

Power progression

Relationships

• Jaehwan: Manri Shintong begins by trying to protect Jaehwan from a fatal search, then recognizes that the search and climb are necessities rather than ambitions. He provides intelligence, shelter, followers, World Power, a repaired sword, and finally a dumpling offered as a reason to return.

• Baeko: Baeko is Manri Shintong's disciple and gatekeeper. The master mocks his cooking and competitiveness but entrusts him with Today's Dumpling during a lethal attack, using foresight to place the disciple at the point where Jaehwan can save him.

• Andersen: Andersen is an old acquaintance to whom Manri Shintong owes a favor. Her transferred claim introduces Jaehwan to the Black Shop and obliges him to attempt the search for Yoonhwan, although the danger he encounters leaves the debt technically unpaid.

• The Black Shop: Manri Shintong leads its gatekeepers and information network. Its members defend the Martial World Inn, operate safehouses, help Jaehwan climb, and later stand with him as part of the Committee-era coalition.

Items

• Solitary Unbowed: Manri Shintong identifies the sword as too unusual for an ordinary blacksmith and directs Jaehwan toward a skilled dream demon. After Ignel finishes with it, the weapon is left at his inn; he throws it back to Jaehwan during the Seventh Site battle. (Chapters 177 and 212)

• Today's Dumpling: Manri Shintong makes the finest dumpling of each day and reserves it for Jaehwan. Manri Eye lets him prepare one for the precise day of Jaehwan's return, turning an ordinary meal into both a signal and an expression of long-term trust. (Chapters 211–212)