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Manhwa Review | Butler by Nabit

Title: Butler

Author(s): Nabit

Artist(s): Nabit

Seo Yian is a butler at a prestigious hotel where the elite of the elite frequent due to their unmatched service, but more importantly, for their all beta staff. Yian is just another one of those betas, serving as a personal butler for VIP client Yoo Jekwon. Yoo Jekwon is an alpha and a CEO of his own company. He is on a whole other level to most people, but especially to Yian, who feels lucky just to be in his presence every day. Jekwon is mysterious, pretty much living at the hotel. But Yian isn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth and instead takes full advantage of Jekwon’s odd living situation.

To take their working relationship to the next level, Yian offers some “special services” to Jekwon. Though Jekwon is initially surprised, he happily accepts, and the two spend many steamy evenings together under the guise of a master-and-servant relationship. Unfortunately, after spending Jekwon’s rut in his bed, Yian takes in a lot of alpha pheromones. This has the unfortunate side effect of forcing Yian into a transformation, causing him to manifest into an omega. While this would give Yian the chance to be with an alpha like Jekwon, it means he can no longer work as a butler, a job he adores. Jekwon is more than happy to take responsibility, but with Yian’s pheromones being unstable, their relationship status undefined, and the threat of Yian’s identity being exposed to his job, Jekwon has his work cut out for him.

All of this is only made worse as Jekwon’s stepfather is determined to find any weakness Jekwon might have and exploit it to force his stepson to work in his company.

Title: Cover-up

Author(s): GyaGa

Artist(s): GyaGa

Yeon Geum-hwa is a tattoo artist and a highly sought-after one at that. Unfortunately, he learned his craft from his ex-boyfriend, an obsessive and controlling man whom Geum-hwa would love nothing more than to escape from. That opportunity arises when he gets a call about a potential client in Japan. They want to fly Geum-hwa out there to perform a cover-up for someone. While it’s not explicitly stated, it’s not hard to figure out that this client is part of a gang or yakuza.

It’s a dangerous prospect, but if it will free Geum-hwa from his ex’s influence, the danger is well worth it. So, after designing the tattoo, Geum-hwa is flown out to Japan, where he meets his client, Katamoto Seung-jae, the second son of the Katamoto family’s head. Geum-hwa inadvertently ends up in the middle of a power struggle between the first son and the second son, being used as leverage by the first son when Geum-hwa and Seung-jae begin a physical relationship. While he’s no longer any safer in Japan than he would be at home, Geum-hwa is hopelessly in love with Seung-jae, and while Seung-jae feels the same, he isn’t willing to risk Geum-hwa’s life.

Even though Geum-hwa is willing to risk everything to be with Seung-jae, Seung-jae feels compelled to let him go. Will Seung-jae be able to follow through, or will he be unable to let Geum-hwa go?

Title: Killing Stalking

Author(s): Koogi

Artist(s): Koogi

Yoon Bum is a loner, but he doesn’t want to be. Bum longs for companionship, but not just with anyone. He longs for no one other than Oh Sangwoo. Bum has been quietly stalking Sangwoo since meeting him during conscription after Sangwoo rescued him from an assault by his platoon leader. After figuring out where he lives, Bum discovers the numbers of Sangwoo’s door lock and lists out every possible combination, which he decides to try so he can gain access to Sangwoo’s house. Unfortunately, at the end of the list, a cop car pulls up and begins questioning why he is there. Bum is in a panic but is able to say he’s Sangwoo’s cousin before getting the code right and slipping inside.

While Bum sees this as a victory, he doesn’t realize that the cops he spoke to know Sangwoo, and they end up telling him about the run-in with his “cousin,” prompting him to return home while Bum is lurking about. But having a stranger in his home isn’t the main reason Sangwoo is in a rush to get back. While Bum is snooping about, he discovers a basement door in the floor with a lock on it. Once he opens it and heads down, Bum discovers a woman, bound and beaten. Bum tries to help her, but before he can get her free, Sangwoo finds him, knocking Bum out with a baseball bat.

Bum is now Sangwoo’s newest victim. Can Bum survive this encounter? But more importantly, can he make Sangwoo love him as much as he loves him?

Title: My Bias Is Showing?!

Author(s): Nabit

Artist(s): eol (formerly cereal)

Aejoon is a superfan of K-pop idol group A-One. More specifically, he is a stan for member Siyeol. Siyeol is his bias, and Aejoon shows his love and devotion for his favorite idol through his bedroom, which is decorated from wall to wall with Siyeol merch. Unfortunately, that’s as far as his expression can go. As a teacher, Aejoon feels he can’t be his true fanboy self in public without risking his professional image. Thankfully, while his students discuss K-pop occasionally, his coworkers don’t seem to know a thing about it, making it easy to blend in with his colleagues.

His two worlds are set to collide, though, when it turns out his school has been chosen to be the set for an upcoming variety show starring none other than Siyeol. Aejoon is simultaneously overjoyed and horrified. He’s not confident that he can continue to hide his fanboy nature when faced with the idol he loves above all others. Unfortunately for Aejoon, Siyeol intends to draw that love and devotion out of him, but not for the reason Aejoon might assume.

Siyeol is in love with the former leader of A-One, Jooha, but Jooha has been in a relationship with Kyusung, leaving Siyeol without a chance. That is until Jooha confesses that he thinks Kyusung is seeing someone else on the side. Siyeol is furious, and in passing, he sees Kyusung on a video call with none other than Aejoon on the screen. With the identity of Kyusung’s paramour, Siyeol is determined to get revenge for his unrequited love, Jooha. What Siyeol doesn’t realize is that Aejoon and Kyusung are cousins, and Aejoon ends up being much more attractive to Siyeol than he ever could have imagined. Will this relationship based on a lie survive? Or is it destined to fall apart?

Title: The Warehouse

Author(s): Killa+Whale

Artist(s): Killa+Whale

Dohyun Kim is just barely hanging onto life. Since graduating high school, Dohyun has been hopping from job to job, scraping by, with little regard for other people and personal relationships. He longs for the simpler days when he could partake in the fun and pleasures of high school without the pressures of the real world and with the forced relationships of classmates. Without that forced proximity to people, Dohyun lives a pretty lonely life, but he would prefer that to the vulnerability intimate relationships require.

While working in a scammy cell phone shop, Dohyun is again bemoaning his existence. He leaves his post to smoke in the alley nearby, but before returning, he is assaulted, knocked out, and taken away. When he wakes up, he finds himself in a strange, almost empty room. As if that wasn’t odd enough, he also has a chain around his ankle, limiting how far he can move around the strange room. Why would someone take him? He has no enemies, no loans, and is just generally uninteresting.

When the kidnapper shows himself, the reason behind Dohyun’s kidnapping doesn’t become any clearer, but for whatever reason, this man seems to want to punish Dohyun.

Title: You Get Me Going

Author(s): Moscareto

Artist(s): Oh DoYeon

Young-won wants a fairytale romance. Though he has some relationship and sexual experience under his belt, they were all cruel or useless men, hardly anything he would consider a real romance of any kind. Young-won is tired of settling for shitty partners. So he wants to get out into the dating pool and find the prince charming he has longed for all this time. Unfortunately, work makes it challenging to find time to date around, and the added stress of working alongside his polar opposite certainly doesn’t put him in the mood for love.

This rival in question is Hyun-woo. Though he’s as handsome as a prince, his attitude is anything but. He’s direct and rude, often making fun of and picking on Young-won in meetings until their discussions become full-blown arguments. Even if Hyun-woo were the last man on earth, Young-won would sooner die than be with him. They spend every day making each other’s workday a living hell, and as a result, their rivalry is well-known around the office.

However, Hyun-woo and his antics are far from Young-won’s mind when he gets matched up for a blind date by his good friend, who owns a restaurant where they will be meeting. All day, to show off in front of Hyun-woo, Young-won talks about how great his date is supposed to be and how excited he is to meet them. Unfortunately for Young-won, the person he meets is none other than Hyun-woo. The date ends in disaster, but with their sexualities revealed, they start to see each other in another light.

Can these two enemies become lovers? Or are they destined to hate each other forever?

Title: Interview with a Murderer

Author(s): KJK

Artist(s): KJK

Clark is a reporter. He doesn’t like working all that much, but he does enjoy one aspect of his job when he can partake in it off the clock: gathering macabre and interesting stories about criminals that intrigue him. He has an extensive collection of stories stored away for his eyes only. There’s a new story on the horizon that Clark is determined to get his hands on. There’s a serial killer on the loose, known as the Triage Killer, who has killed three people thus far. There’s no evidence of his identity, so the odds of Clark encountering him are slim to none.

That is until his friend and ex, Oliver, reaches out. Oliver is a psychiatrist, and as it turns out, his patient, Alex, is none other than the Triage Killer. Oliver wants Alex to form meaningful relationships, and he feels that being interviewed by Clark will start that process. While Clark doesn’t believe his presence will help Alex, Clark is all too happy to jump at the chance to meet the one and only Triage Killer. When they do meet, the killer is much more normal than Clark would assume, and his only explanation for why he kills is a simple one: love.

In order to get more information out of Alex, Clark must give himself over to the killer. A small price to pay for what Clark craves: interesting stories. But when Alex becomes enamored by Clark, will Clark come out of it alive? Or will he become the Triage Killer’s next victim?

Title: Secret Therapy

Author(s): Cheongdam

Artist(s): Cheongdam

Yoon Jaesung has always been the hottest shit in town. He’s got the good looks, more money than he knows what to do with, and he’s smart. One of the ways he shows just how great he is is by being at the top of his class. Unfortunately, after the return of Lee Hyun, that method of showing off is taken from him, relegating him to second place. This is unacceptable for the perfectionist that is Jaesung. It’s so traumatizing for Jaesung that he ends up with another, far worse issue. He’s impotent.

At a loss, he complains to his friends, one of whom turns him onto a streaming app called Cake. It’s a gay cam site, and with nothing to lose, Jaesung gives it a shot. Jaesung checks out the streamer his friend suggested, and while there’s nothing particularly unique about this streamer, there’s just something about him that piques Jaesung’s interest. Miraculously, this streamer cures Jaesung’s impotence problem, but as Jaesung finds out, this streamer is the only one that can get him hard anymore. Desperate, Jaesung floods the streamer with donations, hoping to meet him in person, have sex, and cure his impotence for good.

What he doesn’t expect is that the streamer happens to be someone he already knows.

Title: Double Marks

Author(s): MIRO

Artist(s): MIRO

Ash is one of the few unbonded omegas at the aristocratic school of Seytan Academy. As an omega, there is immense pressure on him from his father, who demands the best and nothing less, or he will marry off his son to the highest bidder. The pressure is immense, but Ash has a secret weapon: his childhood friend and classmate Judah. Judah shows his answer sheets to Ash during every exam, even at the risk of failing himself. Why? Judah is an alpha, and he is hopelessly obsessed with Ash. In exchange for helping Ash cheat, Judah asks for sexual favors for his reward, which Ash reluctantly gives.

While this works for a while, the appearance of Isaac exposes their secret arrangement. Isaac is an alpha, and he has his eyes set on Ash. His attention on Ash leads him to catch Judah sharing his answers with Ash during an exam. He takes a picture, which he uses to blackmail Ash into having sex with him, too. Stuck between two alphas, one of which wants him all for himself, all Ash wants is freedom. But can an omega ever truly be free?

Title: Sweet As Hell

Author(s): SSAK

Artist(s): SSAK

Choi Eui-hyun and Jung Min have known each other since high school. Their relationship didn’t start off great, with Min turning Eui-hyun and his friends in for smoking on school grounds. Unlike Eui-hyun’s friends, Eui-hyun doesn’t blame Min but instead uses this as an opportunity to get to know the cold beauty that is Min. This short time together culminates in a brief moment of them kissing just outside of school. This moment imprints itself in Eui-hyun’s mind, leaving him always wanting Min, even after they graduate and go their separate ways.

During their college years, they are at the same school but live in a distant orbit around each other, especially when rumors go around about Min having come to campus to confront another man about cheating on his girlfriend with Min. Everyone assumes Min is just a stalker and avoids him. Eui-hyun, though, is just as attracted to Min as ever, and during a school get-together at a restaurant, Eui-hyun takes the opportunity to get some one-on-one time with Min. This leads to them going home together, initiating sex, only to stop just short of going at it. But even without the sex, this is the start of the casual relationship with Eui-hyun desperately pining for Min; all the while, Min tries to keep him at arm’s length while maintaining their sexual relationship.

Can they meet in the middle, or are they destined for failure?

Manhwa Reviews

Manhwa Review | Cover-up by GyaGa

Manhwa Review | The Warehouse by Killa+Whale

Manhwa Review | You Get Me Going by Moscareto

Manhwa Review | Interview with a Murderer by KJK

Manhwa Review | Double Marks by MIRO

Manhwa Review | Sweet As Hell by SSAK

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