Treasure Hunting

Treasure Hunting (Korean: 보물찾기; RR: Bomulchatgi) is a Manhwa series by Kang Gyung-Hyo.^[1] The series has sold more than 13 million copies worldwide.^[2]

The series introduces South Korean readers to different countries around the world, their history, geography and culture, through the eponymous treasure hunt for a lost, hidden or stolen artifact that is culturally or historically significant to the particular country.

It also mentions any historical ties between South Korea and the country being visited. In translations for different countries, this introduction is changed accordingly for the target readers.

Background

The primary character of the series is the young but precocious Pang-Yi who accompanied his uncle, the Professor Gu-Bon, on various foreign trips for archaeology or historical studies. They encounter a clue to some legendary lost, and the hunt would take them across the country, bringing them to sights and experiences significant to the country.

Pang-Yi's rival is Do To-ri, a child prodigy, though they are willing to work together occasionally.

Characters

Main characters

Ji Pang-yi (지팡이): The protagonist of the main series. He is a precocious boy with amazing knowledge of history and power of observation. Pang-Yi was able to visit numerous historically or archaeologically important sites and fell into adventures recovering lost historically treasures. A running joke in the earlier series had him matched with a pretty girl from each country visited.
Professor Ji Gu-bon (지구본): Famous archaeologist who was often invited overseas for conferences or expert advice. He is portrayed as a fat gourmand with a brilliant mind. Once, he lost a lot of weight and he became quite a handsome man.
Yi Eun-ju (이은주): Man-crazy Research Assistant to Professor Gu-Bon. She holds a crush on Dr. Pal-yi and Mark, despite them being the antagonists.
Do To-ri (도토리): Pang-Yi's rival, but he is actually caring about Pang-yi. His IQ is 180. but he has no luck with girls, untalented in mathematics, and suffers from acrophobia. Dotori's mentor is his father, Dr. Dotoran.
Dr. Do To-ran (도토란): Academic rival to Professor Gu-Bon. While Prof Gu-Bon was mainly based in Korea, Dr. To-ran worked extensively for long periods overseas and appeared more cosmopolitan. His IQ is slightly higher than his son, To-ri.
Do Re-mi (도레미): Do To-ri's younger sister. She is less intelligent than her brother and friendlier towards Pang-Yi. She is interested in art.
Dr. Bong Pal-yi (봉팔이): One of main antagonist of the main series, and the protagonist in the prequel series. In the main series, he use his handsome looks to fool many females into helping him to steal treasures.
Bong Ja-ba (봉자바): One of main antagonist of the main series. She is Pal-yi's cousin. She is good at martial arts and uses her abilities to fight. Despite this, she was arrested.
Mark Youngman (마크 영맨): One of main antagonists of the main series. He is a member of the Treasure Master's . Like Pal-yi, he is a handsome man and made Eun-ju fall in love with him. Unlike the other antagonists in this series, he escapes Interpol and he is never arrested by any police. His real nationality is unknown.
Wanda Kim (완다 김) : Pal-ri's mother. She usually supports her son in his effort to steal treasures.

Supporting characters

• Ko & Kai : They are Dr. Bong Pal-Yi's henchmen. Ko is fat but Kai is thin. They met Dr. Pal-Yi since they were children.

• Katherine/Sophie : First appears in France. She is a rich girl who acts like a spoiled brat and she likes Pangyi and Dotori. Her name is as same as Katherine of Medici.

• Nuree : First appears in Turkey. He likes Dotori, But later like Reyna, the girl in Israel. He is Muslim.

• Reyna : First appears in Israel. She wants to choose her own religion, but later she wants to be proudly Jewish just like her parents.

• Nguen Bun Hong : First appears in Vietnam. He loves to cook Pho. He is the third generation of chef after his father and grandfather.

• Windy : First appears in Iraq. She is Pangyi's friend. She is a member of UNESCO.

• Shun Li : First appears in China. She is a Chinese fighter. Her hair looks like a Chinese snack.

• Maria : First appears in Brazil. She is a Brazilian natural explorer. She is Professor Ji Gubon's friend and he likes her, too.

• Mr. Hudson : First appears in Egypt. He is an Egyptian oil millionaire. He wants Pangyi and Dotori team to help him hunting treasure in pyramid that he discovered. Yi Eun Ju has a crush on him.

• Raffi : First appears in New Zealand. He is a Maori warrior whose grandfather is a tribal chief. He likes to play rugby. His favourite Rugby team is the All black team.

• Kena : First appears in New Zealand. He is Maori tribal chief. He used to be a Maori warrior. He wants his grandson Raffi to be a Maori warrior just like him.

• Mrs. Misra : First appears in India. She is a beautiful Indian woman. She is Tandoori's mother. Professor Ji Gubon has a crush on her.

• Tandoori : First appears in India. He is a boy that looks like a girl because he never cut his hair. His religion is Sikh.

• Professor Will : He is an old English man. He is Professor Ji Gubon and Professor Do Toran's teacher.

• Vice Professor Albert : First appears in UK. He is a rich English man. He is Professor Will's rival. He has a treasure of his own and he likes to make a competition for Pangyi vs Bong Palyi team. He wants them to battle to get his treasure.

• Jose : First appears in Cuba. He is a Cuban baseball player.

• Amelia : First appears in Cuba. She is Jose's aunt. She is a Cuban doctor. Professor Ji Gubon has a crush on her.

• Anna : First appears in Cuba. She is a pirate. She wants to steal all the treasure in the ocean. She is a relative of Davy Jones.

• Pepper : First appears in Mozambique. He is a Mozambican soldier. He can fight very good. He wants to own AK-47 gun of Mozambique.

• Tom : First appears in UK. Student Council President receive message from 008. His parents were dead and later adopted by Dr. Bong Palyi.

• Vivika : First appears in Austria. She is an adopted child of President Rudolf. She is a musician who can play violin really good. She is Katherine's cousin.

• President Rudolf : First appears in Austria. He is a rich Austrian man who adopted Vivika as his daughter. He is secretly a Treasure master.

• Rud Fanbasten : First appears in Netherlands. He is an Art teacher of a university in Netherlands. He is secretly a Treasure Master.

• Mr. Fanbasten : First appears in Netherlands. He is a fat man who likes cheese. He looks like Santa Clause. He is Rud's father.

• Emily : First appears in Netherlands. She is a Dutch florist. Her picture was founded in one of Rud's paintings.

• Alex/Alexia : A Romanian guy who breaks up with his girlfriend and becomes a girl because of his ex-girlfriend's magic potion.

• Choyeiji/Takuya/James : First appears in Japan. He is a Japanese-Korean boy who does not like his own name. He has 3 names. English name = James, Japanese name = Takuya, Korean name = Choyeiji. Pangyi likes to call him Broken eyebrow. He has crush on Doremi as seen on Korea.

• Elóise : A Québécois girl whom secretly a witch. She is Alex's ex-girlfriend. First appears in Québec.

• Mobile : First appears in Myanmar. She is a Thai girl who lives in Myanmar and the main character in Lithuania. Pangyi likes to call her brat but she is sometimes smart and sometimes arrogant.

• Anne : First appears in Germany. She is an innocent sweet girl. She likes German history and playing piano. She likes Nazi.

• Emir : First appears in Germany. He is Anne's twin brother. He likes to play football. He is a lady boy.

• Jens : First appears in Germany. He runs away from his father because his father is a Nazi. He has his own house. He is Anne and Emir's father.

• Carl : He is Jens's father, Anne and Emir's grandpa. He used to be Nazi, SS officer. Right now he is an old man that lives in a hospital in Munich. He is the only Nazi left that know about the gold treasures.

• Hera : First appears in Greece. Her name is as same as Greek goddess name. She lives in Crete island. She likes Greek mythology. Both Pangyi and Dotori like her.

• Nicos : First appears in Greece. He is Hera's father. He makes a fake treasure for Dr. Bong Palyi and regretted it.

• Indy : First appears in America. He is American but he asked appears in Germany and Italy. He is also a treasure hunter. He likes adventure and hunting treasures from all around the world. He always has equipments with him all the time but he doesn't like to take a bathe.

• Two Tailed Skank : First appears in America. No one know what his actual name is but peoples call him Two Tailed Skank because his fart can separate into two lanes.

• Dapper : First appears in Singapore. He is a Catholic Thai-Vietnamese. He is also a fascist

• Nanda Bayin : First appears in Myanmar. He is the fourth king of Tongoo Dynasty. He wants to be a student council president. He is Mobile's best friend. Joined Treasure Master to replace Book in Burgundy.

• Vinh : First appears in Vietnam. He is a professional Vietnamese chef. He wins the best chef of the year prize.

• Joseph : First appears in Philippines. He is an orphan boy that was raised by father Martin at the church since he was a kid.

• Father Martin : First appears in Philippines. He is a Filipino priest who raised many orphans at his church.

• Jay : First appears in Philippines. She is an emotionless girl who was raised by father Martin since she was a kid after her parents died because of Typhoon. She was hired by Mark to find a treasure for him. She was forced to be a Treasure Master and betrayed on father Martin.

• Thani S. Silachai : First appears in Thailand. He is a boxer. He has an ability to do Muay Thai fight.

• Kaew : First appears in Thailand. She is a flower seller in the street. She is Thani's younger sister.

• Professor Mahmoud : First appears in Turkey. He is an architect. He is Nuree's father. He lies that he was Senan's relative. He is a Treasure Master.

• President Cecil White : First appears in South Africa. He is a British man who lives in South Africa during racism ages. He does not like racism because he loves a black woman. He owns a rainbow diamond in his mansion.

• Tandy : First appears in South Africa. She is a kid who likes football. She has many part-time jobs.

• Rosa : First appears in South Africa. She is Tandy's aunt. She helps President White to find a rainbow diamond. She is also President White's crush. She is dead.

• Lion King : First appears in South Africa. He is an antagonist. He is Tandy's boss and president White's nephew. She likes to support football.

• Professor Scot : First appears in Scotland. A friend of Professor Do Toran. Help Dotori and Pangyi find the treasure.

• Book : One of the Treasure Master later eliminated in Ukraine.

Titles

World Adverture History (세계 탐험 시리즈)

Number	Title	ISBN	Date of publication	Original title	Original date of publication
1	Treasure Hunting in Iraq			이라크에서 보물찾기	2003
2	Treasure Hunting in France	978-9-8108-8858-9	May 2011	프랑스에서 보물찾기	2004
3	Treasure Hunting in China	978-9-8108-8870-1	May 2011	중국에서 보물찾기	2004
4	Treasure Hunting in India	978-9-8108-9095-7	Jun 2011	인도에서 보물찾기	2004
5	Treasure Hunting in Egypt	978-9-8108-9095-7	Jul 2011	이집트에서 보물찾기	2005
6	Treasure Hunting in America	978-9-8108-9309-5	Jul 2011	미국에서 보물찾기	2005
7	Treasure Hunting in Japan	978-9-8108-9308-8	Aug 2011	일본에서 보물찾기	2005
8	Treasure Hunting in Greece			그리스에서 보물찾기	2005
9	Treasure Hunting in Russia			러시아에서 보물찾기	2006
10	Treasure Hunting in Germany	978-9-8107-3058-1	Aug 2012	독일에서 보물찾기	2006
11	Treasure Hunting in Australia			호주에서 보물찾기	2006
12	Treasure Hunting in Brazil	978-9-8107-1962-3	May 2012	브라질에서 보물찾기	2006
13	Treasure Hunting in UK			영국에서 보물찾기	2007
14	Treasure Hunting in Turkey	978-9-8109-5581-6	Jun 2015	터키에서 보물찾기	2007
15	Treasure Hunting in Spain	978-9-8107-2756-7	Jul 2012	스페인에서 보물찾기	2007
16	Treasure Hunting in Thailand			태국에서 보물찾기	2008
17	Treasure Hunting in the Netherlands	978-9-8107-5596-6	May 2013	네덜란드에서 보물찾기	2008
18	Treasure Hunting in Mexico	978-9-8107-2602-7	Jun 2012	멕시코에서 보물찾기	2008
19	Treasure Hunting in Canada	978-9-8107-6084-7	Apr 2013	캐나다에서 보물찾기	2008
20	Treasure Hunting in Vietnam	978-9-8107-6183-7	May 2013	베트남에서 보물찾기	2009
21	Treasure Hunting in Austria	978-9-8107-6824-9	Jun 2013	오스트리아에서 보물찾기	2009
22	Treasure Hunting in Israel			이스라엘에서 보물찾기	2009
23	Treasure Hunting in Cuba	978-9-6705-4271-3	Sep 2013	쿠바에서 보물찾기	2010
24	Treasure Hunting in South Africa	978-9-8107-1783-4	Apr 2012	남아공에서 보물찾기	2010
25	Treasure Hunting in Switzerland	978-9-8107-1581-6	May 2012	스위스에서 보물찾기	2010
26	Treasure Hunting in New Zealand	978-9-8107-7497-4	Oct 2013	뉴질랜드에서 보물찾기	2011
27	Treasure Hunting in Italy part 1			이탈리아에서 보물찾기 1	2011
28	Treasure Hunting in Italy part 2			이탈리아에서 보물찾기 2	2012
29	Treasure hunting in the Philippines	978-9-8109-4822-1	Apr 2015	필리핀에서 보물찾기	2012
30	Treasure Hunting in Sweden	978-9-8109-6282-1	Aug 2015	스웨덴에서 보물찾기	2012
31	Treasure Hunting in Finland	978-9-8109-9050-3	Apr 2016	핀란드에서 보물찾기	2013
32	Treasure Hunting in Peru	978-9-8109-8372-7	Feb 2016	페루에서 보물찾기	2013
33	Treasure Hunting in Poland	978-9-8111-0238-7	Aug 2016	폴란드에서 보물찾기	2013
34	Treasure Hunting in Taiwan	978-9-8111-0798-6	Sep 2016	대만에서 보물찾기	2013
35	Treasure Hunting in the Czech Republic	978-9-8109-9527-0	Jun 2016	체코에서 보물찾기	2014
36	Treasure Hunting in Scotland		Jun 2019	스코틀랜드에서 보물 찾기	2019
37	Treasure Hunting in Myanmar		Nov 2019	미얀마의 보물 찾기	2019
38	Treasure Hunting in Mozambique		Jan 2020	모잠비크의 보물 찾기	2020
39	Treasure Hunting in Singapore		Feb 2020	싱가포르의 보물 찾기	2020
40	Treasure Hunting in Thailand (Gulf)		Feb 2020	태국 만의 보물 찾기	2020
41	Treasure Hunting in Laos		Feb 2020	라오스의 보물 찾기	2020
42	Treasure Hunting in Québec		Mar 2020	퀘벡의 보물 찾기	2020
43	Treasure Hunting in Romania		Mar 2020	루마니아의 보물 찾기	2020
44	Treasure Hunting in Lithuania		Mar 2020	리투아니아의 보물 찾기	2020
45	Treasure Hunting in Ukraine		Mar 2020	우크라이나의 보물 사냥	2020
46	Treasure Hunting in Burgundy		Mar 2020	부르고뉴의 보물 사냥	2020