🎭 Novels & Manhwa Where the MC Hides His Power
There is a special kind of satisfaction in a protagonist who could level a city but chooses to look like the weakest person in the room. These are the novels and manhwa where the MC hides his power — a retired assassin posing as a janitor, a peak immortal pretending to be a mortal disciple, a returning villain hiding behind a harmless smile — until someone pushes too far and the mask slips. The genre runs on dramatic irony: the reader knows exactly how dangerous the hero is, and we get to savour every condescending sneer from the people about to find out. Below is a hand-picked, daily-updated list of the best secretly-overpowered web novels on Novelzhen, all AI-translated from Chinese into full English and free to read.
AIAmerican Comics: The Girl Next Door Is Spider-Gwen

Shadow Slave
AIThis Dungeon Has Sprouted Mushrooms
AIBack to 1980: Mountain Hunting Is a Life Too

Naruto: Systematic Shinobi
AIWizard War at Hogwarts
AITeaching in Konoha: The System Says I'm Tsunade's Student
AIHigh Martial Arts Across Two Worlds
AIStar Rail Travel Agency: Spreading the Paths to Genshin

The Retired CEO's Guide To Being Spoiled
AINaruto: I'm an Uchiha, I'm Done Trying!
AIOne Piece: Starting as a Navy Captain, I Grow Stronger by Slacking Off

I am in Konoha: I am kind-hearted but was forced to go astray by the system
AISeverely Dependent on Goblins
AITransmigration: A Wife's Glory, a Husband's Honor — The Heirless Heir Raises a Child
AIGentlemen, It Is Time to Enter the Ten Thousand Souls Banner

Naruto: Eating A Devil Fruit In The World Of Shinobi
AIHiding in the Martial World to Become Ancestor
AII Really Am Not Neglecting My Duties
AIWho Told Him to Cultivate!
Most of these stories share three beats: the MC deliberately conceals a hidden identity (a god-tier cultivation, a past life, a system, a legendary bloodline), the world underestimates him, and the eventual reveal lands like a thunderclap. If you love the slow build and the inevitable face-slap payoff, start with the most-read titles below, then branch into cultivation and overpowered-MC stories where the hidden-strength trope shows up most.