Is Ten Midnight Stories Worth Reading? Review & Where to Read
Quick Answer
If you like short, self-contained horror stories more than you need a single strong plot to follow, yes. Go in expecting a mixed anthology, not a masterpiece, and you'll get your money's worth.
Quick Verdict
“Some of these ten candles burn a lot brighter than others, and that unevenness is the whole experience.”
Best for: Readers who enjoy anthology horror and don't mind some segments landing harder than others.
Not for: Readers who want one continuous story with a single cast they can follow start to finish.
- Type
- Webtoon
- Genres
- Horror, Supernatural
- Status
- Completed
- This review
- Minor Spoilers
- Author
- Sikorsky
- Artist
- Cheon Do Dam
- Publisher
- Toptoon
- Platform
- Tapas
| Quick facts | |
|---|---|
| Format | Webtoon (seinen), 54 chapters |
| Run | 2022–2023 · completed |
| Content | Horror imagery, death |
| Where to read | Tapas — official |
Overview
Ten Midnight Stories is a Korean horror anthology webtoon with a simple, effective hook: ten strangers gather around ten candles, and one by one they tell horror stories. When a story ends, its candle goes out -- and the implication that something happens once all ten are dark hangs over the whole book. It's a classic campfire-story structure, closer to Japan's hyakumonogatari storytelling tradition than to a single continuous horror plot, and it's complete at 53 chapters across the full set of ten stories.
What it does well
The framing device is doing real work here. A lot of horror anthologies are just a folder of unrelated short stories with a flimsy excuse to bundle them together; this one gives you an actual countdown, and the dread of watching candles go out one at a time adds tension even to segments that are otherwise fairly conventional. It's a small structural choice that pays off.
The anthology format also makes the book easy to pick up in short bursts -- each story runs just a handful of chapters, so you're never locked into a long commitment to find out if you like it. And when the individual stories work, they tend to work by leaning on classic urban-legend horror -- the kind of story that feels like it could have been told around a real fire -- rather than piling on gore for shock value, which suits the frame it's built around.
Where it falls short
The unavoidable problem with any anthology is consistency, and this one doesn't escape it. Some of the ten stories land a genuine chill; others read like a weaker draft of a stronger idea, and the gap between the best and weakest entries is noticeable enough that your overall opinion of the book will depend a lot on which ones you happen to read first. The frame narrative -- the group telling the stories -- also stays fairly thin on its own; it exists mostly to justify stringing the shorter tales together rather than being a satisfying story in its own right. And a few of the individual segments lean on twist endings that are easy to call if you've read much horror manhwa before.
Verdict
Ten Midnight Stories is a decent, uneven anthology that's worth reading if you like short-form horror and don't need every entry to be a hit -- the candle-countdown framing gives it more atmosphere than most anthologies bother with, even when a given story doesn't quite land.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- The framing device -- ten strangers, ten candles, ten stories, and a candle going out at the end of each one -- gives the anthology a real sense of dread and countdown that a plain story-collection format wouldn't have.
- Because each story wraps up in a handful of chapters, it's easy to read in short sessions without needing to remember a long-running plot.
- The strongest entries lean into classic urban-legend horror rather than gore for its own sake, which fits the campfire-story mood the framing sets up.
- At 53 chapters total for ten separate stories, nothing overstays its welcome -- if one segment doesn't click with you, the next one is just a few chapters away.
Weaknesses
- Anthology horror lives and dies on consistency, and this one is genuinely uneven -- some of the ten stories land a real chill, others feel like a rough draft of a stronger idea.
- The frame story around the candle-lighting ritual itself stays thin; it's there to string the shorter tales together more than to be a satisfying story on its own.
- A handful of the individual entries rely on a twist ending that's easy to see coming if you've read much horror manhwa before.
Similar Titles
Junji Ito Collection
another anthology format built around short, self-contained horror stories rather than one long plot
shares the Korean horror sensibility and a willingness to let dread sit rather than rushing to a jump scare
Where to Read Officially
| Platform | Format | Pricing | Region notes | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tapas | Digital chapters | Free + Paid | Region availability varies | Open |
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to read the stories in order?
The framing device works best read in order since the candles go out one by one, but each of the ten stories is self-contained, so you won't lose the plot if you skip around.
Is Ten Midnight Stories connected to other Sikorsky works?
No, it's a standalone anthology, not part of a larger shared continuity.
Where can I read it in English?
It has an official English release on Tapas and DAYcomics -- no need to look for scanlations.
