Genre: Drama
A category or genre of narrative fiction intended to be more serious than humorous in tone.
Novel Review | University of the Underworld by Ziloi
Title: University of the Underworld
Our main character is a new ghost. He doesn’t remember how or when he died, nor does he remember who he even is, so he spends the first moments of his new ghostly life simply waiting when he wakes up. For what? For the ghostly guards, of course, that will help guide him to the underworld. No matter how long he waits, though, there is no sign of any guards of any kind to come and help. So, on a whim, the ghostling decides that if he isn’t destined to go to the underworld, he’ll become a malevolent spirit. Unfortunately, his first target is none other than Bai Shaonan, a ghost, and a powerful one at that.
The little ghostling’s antics do not amuse Bai Shaonan, and he’s compelled to destroy the new ghost and move along with his undead life. However, there is something about the little ghost that Shaonan just won’t seem to let him do it, especially when he finds out the little guy wants to become a malevolent spirit and has no clue who he is. So, looking around, Shaonan picks a random name: Cui Yue. Then, he takes little Cui Yue under his wing and back to the underworld, specifically the university where Shaonan is actually a dean.
Cui Yue starts his life as an underworld college student, but it’s not all fun and games. Cui Yue isn’t a very good student, but he’s trying his best, and his grades are the least of his worries when he realizes that Shaonan’s interest may not end at mere scholarly interest. But beyond school and romantic troubles, there is an underworld to the underworld that is working to destroy both Cui Yue and Bai Shaonan for eternity.
Manhwa Review | May Belongs to Me by eol
Title: May Belongs to Me
May has terrible taste in men. His latest boyfriend tended to hit him whenever he was upset, then blamed May for “liking it.” May is pretty quick to leave when things go sour, but due to his homeless status, he’s quick to get with the next man for a place to stay. He’s already got Youngjin, a kind bar owner, in his sights when his abusive boyfriend comes back one evening since he’s also an employee at the bar. The ex-boyfriend attacks May, choking him, but just before May passes out, a mysterious man appears and takes care of the ex before stealing away May in the middle of the night.
When May wakes, he finds him naked, in bed, in an unfamiliar, stark white bedroom. While that is strange enough on its own, he also finds a collar locked around his neck, connected to a chain. May has been in some shitty situations before, but this takes the cake. While trying to determine if this is an ex or just a psychopath, May meets his captor: Jooin. While Jooin doesn’t seem like some fanatical psychopath, he also doesn’t seem like one of May’s exes, but Jooin acts like they know each other.
Jooin is kind and sweet (besides being a kidnapper, of course), but he has the odd inclination to treat May as if he were a cat. He feeds him cat treats, buys him cat toys… and he wants to neuter May? What is going on? Who is this guy?
Manga Review | Pain, Sweet Pain by Fuyu Touji
Title: Pain, Sweet Pain
Yuma is a sub. He wasn’t always a sub, though. Back in high school, he actually tested as someone without a dynamic. No big deal. That’s better. Yuma has seen what chaos dynamics can do to people, and he was just fine not having one. His friend Mao, however, manifested as a dom as a child, which is exceedingly rare and indicates just how powerful his dom tendencies are. Despite their differences, the two grow close, so close that Mao feels an innate pull toward Yuma. No matter how desperately he wants to deny it, Mao wants to dominate Yuma, but he does his best to avoid it for the sake of their friendship.
Graduation comes along, and the two are talking about their futures. Mao, though, is distracted. His longing to dominate Yuma is coming to a head, especially since this is his last chance to be so close to Yuma. Unaware, Yuma continues talking and laughing, enjoying the final hours with Mao, when Mao suddenly grabs and bites him. That single moment caused Yuma to suddenly manifest as a sub. Of course, it would have happened regardless, but Mao’s bite triggered it to occur earlier than it would have.
Wracked with guilt, Mao distances himself from Yuma. On the other hand, Yuma spends the rest of his time chasing that bite. It’s impossible for him to stay with any dom partner for very long because they’re unable to give him that same satisfying bite Mao did when he awakened as a sub. In order to find that sweet pain, he goes through a matchmaking service with his doctor. To his surprise, he’s matched with the person who introduced him to the pleasure of pain to begin with: Mao.
Manga Review | Sating the Wolf by Troy Arukuno
Title: Sating the Wolf
Noah is a wolf, a carnivore, and in this world, most carnivores end up as betas or alphas, while herbivores manifest as betas and omegas. Noah, though, ends up manifesting as an omega, and due to his pack’s history with male omegas being the cause of violence and death, he is banished. On his own, he travels from village to village, trying to hide the fact that he is both a carnivore and an omega to survive. After some time wandering about, Noah finds himself in a herbivore village. He tries to stock up to move on to the next village.
While shopping in town, he encounters a shopkeeper, holding two young rabbit children by their ears and accusing them of stealing his wares. The children claim they did no such thing, but they have no way of proving otherwise. Standing amid the growing crowd, Noah sees the true culprit, a weasel, trying to slip away. Wanting to help the kids, Noah captures the weasel and reveals that he is the one who stole. Thankful for his help, the rabbit children insist that Noah come with them to meet their brother Henri so he can cook a meal for Noah as thanks.
Henri and Noah meet, and although Noah is a wolf, the same species that killed his parents, and the village ostracizes Henri’s family, Henri wants to take responsibility for Noah. Even more so when Henri manifests as an alpha because of Noah’s heat. Can a rabbit alpha and a wolf omega make it work? And can their love withstand the prejudice and judgment of the society around them?
Manhwa Review | From Points of Three by White Eared
Title: From Points of Three
Jisuh is in a lot of debt. Due to his last relationship, which ended in Jisuh having to bail out his cheating boyfriend from some thugs using all of his savings and loans, Jisuh has trouble trusting anyone. He is more than happy to form a physical relationship with someone, but if there’s even a chance he could get hurt, he’s quick to cut ties and run. This rule applies to the famous actor Woo Heejae.
Jisuh happens to meet Heejae on a drama set where Jisuh is filming, and Heejae is the lead actor. Heejae isn’t initially drawn to him as he’s pretty plain-looking, but then Jisuh calls Heejae a snake. Having never been perceived in such a way, Heejae is immediately attracted to Jisuh’s view of things. So, Heejae comes up with a plan to pull Jisuh into his grasp.
In exchange for helping pay off Jisuh’s debt, Heejae wants Jisuh to film him and his partner Sun-yool during their BDSM play. And while Jisuh’s role is a viewer, he imagines himself as a participant. What a surprise it is when Heejae reaches out to him and invites him to join them. It’s just a physical relationship. Nothing could go wrong, right?
Manga Review | Metro by Chika Hongo
Title: Metro
Mizuki spends his days under the watchful and paranoid eyes of his mother. It was of no fault of his own that he is monitored so carefully, but it is instead due to his father’s infidelity. Because his father ended up having a scandalous affair and left both Mizuki and his mother behind, Mizuki’s mother now views everything sexual as evil. To prevent her son from following the same path as his father, she makes him write out every hour of his day, monitors the media he consumes, and controls every aspect of his life that she can so he never encounters anything she deems as immoral.
This causes Mizuki’s life to become rather hollow, especially since, due to an illness, he could not graduate high school and is forced to attend his final year again as somewhat of a social pariah among the strangers in his class. The only spark in his life is the few times he rides the metro. There, on the train, a faceless man assaults him. For someone else, this would be traumatic and horrific, and though it does scare Mizuki, he finds it thrilling and the only intimate connection he’s ever had with another person.
This happens nearly every day like clockwork, with the man touching Mizuki for a while only to disappear without a word, until one day, while touching Mizuki, the man tells Mizuki that if he gets off the train with him, he’ll give Mizuki more. Having been isolated and sheltered for so long, Mizuki finds himself unable to refuse this offer. But is what he finds on the other side worth risking his simple and routine life for?
Manhwa Review | Your Secret Keeper by Team Ddakkong
Title: Your Secret Keeper (Lezhin) | Strictly Confidential (TappyToon)
Sun has recently started a new job at a much better company than the one she is coming from. Having just gone through a traumatic and unfortunate scandal at her previous job, she’s ready to work hard and put the past behind her… but that’s hard to do when her new boss, Doyoung, is actually her first love from high school, which ended before it could even begin. He’s as big of a jerk as he was in high school and seems to be intent on making Sun’s life as hellish as possible until she quits.
Unwilling to be pushed out of another company, Sun spends her days drowning her sorrows in alcohol after work and doing her best to field all of Doyoung’s unreasonable requests and criticisms. One evening, after some heavy drinking with her coworkers, she gets home to find a package by her door. It turns out to be for Doyoung, who lives in the building next to hers. In her drunken stupor, she resolves to bring the package to his apartment and give him a piece of her mind simultaneously.
To her surprise, after puking on him and being let into his apartment, she finds a streaming setup. He doesn’t seem to be the kind of guy that would do that sort of thing, so she ends up perusing his computer while he is in the bathroom only to discover he does stream, but the subject matter is of the adult variety. With this newfound ammunition, Sun intends to use this to make life at work much more peaceful. Additionally, she finds herself attracted to Doyoung even more than she ever had in high school and establishes a sexual partnership with him in exchange for her secrecy.
As their relationship grows and she discovers more and more about the world Doyoung is part of, Sun finds herself falling deeper and deeper for him, but the sudden return of her ex-boyfriend threatens to ruin what little bit of trust she has built back up with Doyoung.
Manhwa Review | The New Recruit by Moscareto
Title: The New Recruit
Seunghyun is almost thirty and has never had a job. That isn’t to say he hasn’t been working hard. On the contrary, it’s quite the opposite. Seunghyun has been spending much of his adult life in school, going so far as to earn his master’s degree in business. However, his reasons for doing so weren’t necessarily because he wanted to achieve such a big goal. Instead, his true intention was to follow his crush and first love. Seunghyun has been in love for five years with his old college friend.
Unfortunately, no matter how long Seunghyun carried the torch for his friend, the timing was never right. Resigning to the fact that he’ll never be with his first and only love, Seunghyun ends up graduating without any idea what he wants to do with his life. So, he does what every newly graduated adult does: start applying for jobs. He doesn’t have too much luck there either until he’s able to get his dream internship. The only downside is that his boss, Mr. Kim, doesn’t seem too happy that he is there.
But as Seunghyun works and proves himself, Mr. Kim begins to warm up to him, but that heat isn’t as innocent as Seunghyun believes.
Manga Review | Kabukicho Bad Trip by Eiji Nagisa
Title: Kabukicho Bad Trip
Toru is a top-rated host. That’s not surprising, seeing how attractive and personable he is. However, he can’t give all of the credit to those things. In fact, most of his success comes from his unique ability to read minds. Using this ability, he sways the masses and becomes one of the most popular hosts in Kabukicho. Of course, he could have any woman or even man if he wanted them, but Toru doesn’t want just any person. He wants Mizuki Hikawa.
Mizuki is a popular and equally attractive male model, and Toru is obsessed with him. He is so obsessed with him that Toru uses “Mizuki” as his name while hosting. But Toru does his best to keep it under wraps, even going so far as to travel out of his way to pick up magazines with him on the cover. On one such occasion, at a convenience store, Toru runs into Mizuki – literally. They end up falling over each other and, in turn, start talking. It turns out Mizuki needs some help getting to a shoot, and Toru is more than happy to be his knight in shining armor.
After all of Toru’s help, Mizuki makes an effort to keep in touch, and the more they meet up, the more Toru can see into Mizuki’s private thoughts. Of course, Toru is beyond pleased that Mizuki is attracted to him. What he isn’t as pleased with is that almost everything Mizuki imagines or wants has to do with BDSM and absolutely dominating Toru. Though scared of this new territory, if it means being with Mizuki, Toru is willing to give everything a try, and he does mean anything.
Manhwa Review | Siren’s Song by Clarju
Title: Siren's Song
Yul has lived his entire life hopelessly strung along by others. “Lived” is a generous term. With his life never fully in his control, he has always been forced to follow the whims and commands of those around him. Even as an adult, that hasn’t changed. He currently lives in an apartment owned by his adopted brother, who has an unhealthy obsession with him that goes beyond a sibling relationship. In that home, alone and unable to leave, Yul spends his day under surveillance and composing music that is presented to the world under his brother’s name. His only solace is out on the apartment balcony, where he can sing and smoke to his heart’s content.
Yul’s small world is rocked, though, when one evening on the balcony, his singing is overheard by a neighbor on the balcony above. The neighbor Luan is immediately drawn to Yul for an inexplicable reason. However, Yul allows Luan to begin his plan for revenge against everyone who made his life hell, even if he has to destroy Yul in the process. Luan doesn’t expect that as he grows closer to Yul and begins to uncover the history behind his existence, Luan not only wants revenge for himself but for Yul as well. But what he fears more than anything now is losing or hurting Yul amid his vengeful warpath.
Manhwa Review | My Housemate by snob
Title: My Housemate
Jinwon has lived an unlucky life thus far. The first company he worked for went bankrupt. He got fired from another job for looking like a person that a manager’s girlfriend cheated with. He’s also been fired just because upper management didn’t like him. To say finding work is hard is an understatement for Jinwon. So, now unemployed, nearing thirty, and trying to study for the civil service exam, Jinwon is desperate for some stability in his life.
Luckily, Jinwon’s sister has recently married a wealthy older man, and the pair need some help. Gyungha, their twenty-year-old son, has run away from home because he hates his new stepmother. Worried over their son, the father and stepmother ask Jinwon to become Gyungha’s new housekeeper and keep an eye on him. Jinwon, desperate for something new and some money in his pocket, hops on the opportunity. Gyungha is less than excited about the idea but allows Jinwon into his world.
As Gyungha finally begins to open up to Jinwon, feelings emerge that go beyond a friendship or familial relationship. What are these feelings? And what do they mean for the new housemates?