Childhood Friends Romance Between a Deliveryman and an 18+ Comic Artist
About:
Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series Can't Get Caught! XXX.
Content Warning: There may be references to mentions of death, being orphaned, manipulation, excessive drinking, violence, mentions of homelessness, overwork, comedic mentions of suicide, and dubcon, as they do appear in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
Se-eun has achieved his dream of becoming an adult BL webtoon artist. His comic is going well, though it takes everything in him to meet the stringent deadlines. Thankfully, he gets the last episode sent off to his manager, and he’s ready for a nice, long break. Unfortunately, the one place he wants to go is back to his hometown, but his hometown is full of things he’d rather forget, like the death of his grandmother, the woman who raised him, and his long-time unrequited crush, who also happens to be his childhood friend Jeongwoo. But their other, mutual childhood friend tells Se-eun that Jeongwoo is gone, so Se-eun takes the chance and decides to move into his childhood home to take a break, clean up the house, and enjoy the peaceful countryside until his series picks back up.
What Se-eun doesn’t anticipate, however, is that his friend lied, and one of the first people he runs into his none other than Jeongwoo. As expected, Jeongwoo turned out to be a handsome man, and as the deliveryman in town, he is also a mini-celebrity because of how good he looks and how nice he is. Se-eun isn’t surprised, but is horrified because his love and attraction to him are even stronger than they ever were before. Even more horrific, however, is that Jeongwoo perfectly matches the adult Jeongwoo he has been drawing in his BL series. Se-eun is stuck in town for the foreseeable future, and all he wants to do is run away, but no matter how mean and avoidant he is to Jeongwoo, Jeongwoo stubbornly clings to Se-eun.
Se-eun loves Jeongwoo, but he can’t risk the inevitable rejection. Can Se-eun survive this break, or will his hidden work and crush be dragged out into the open for Jeongwoo to judge?
Review:
The art in this is cute, but it is very inconsistent. The heads and eyes are humongous, which probably doesn’t help things on that front. However, I have to say, many of the smut scenes are beautiful. Se-eun, in particular, with his ahegao face, is everything. While I wouldn’t say this is worth reading for the art overall, the smut scenes may be worth it. It’s not revolutionary. It’s not the most beautiful thing in the world. But if they got one thing right, it is the sexy time, and I can appreciate that.
The story, however, is chaos. This is a super short title with only 24 main episodes, so it’s not going to be the most in-depth story, but what story there is is nonsensical. Se-eun does everything he can to make Jeongwoo hate him, or at the very least make Jeongwoo think he hates him. Every time Se-eun sees him, he runs the other way. When they talk, Se-eun keeps it short and tries to leave at the earliest opportunity. There are multiple times during flashbacks where their mutual friend tries to set up a time for all three to hang out, but as soon as Jeongwoo joins in, Se-eun drops out. Yet, Se-eun was shocked that Jeongwoo (and others) thought he hated him? It makes zero sense. Sure, Se-eun may be an airhead, but this level of social ineptness boggles my mind.
It’s also painfully annoying how much Se-eun tries to avoid Jeongwoo. I can understand him wanting to put distance between them so he can maybe move on one day, but rather than being an adult and explaining to Jeongwoo that he wants space, they do this constant song and dance of Jeongwoo pursuing and Se-eun running away. Even over twenty-four episodes, it gets very tiring. Add on the final runaway for Se-eun, which was based on the wildest leap in logic I’ve ever seen (long story short, they end up having sex, and when Se-eun wakes up, he’s alone in Jeongwoo’s house and assumes this is because Jeongwoo was embarrassed and wanted to avoid Se-eun), and this whole thing is super frustrating. It’s even more disappointing because there is a very thoughtful and beautiful episode where we see their relationship and feelings from both sides, and how that changes and shifts over their lives until the climax. It was surprisingly deep for such a superficial story, and the nonsensical nature of the rest of the story wholly overshadowed it. It’s very disappointing.
I will say, though, the side story is a real treat. They’re framed as a webtoon Se-eun is working on, which I love, and completely changes the setting and overall story. It’s an idol love story, and it even features their mutual friend in a relationship of his own. It’s super smutty and much shorter than the main story, but it makes so much more sense than the main story. Really, I think the side story is far superior to the main, which is rare. If anything, the side story makes me all the more disappointed in the main story because it shows how much better it could’ve been, but here we are.
Results:
This was a miss. It’s very superficial, which, for a short story, isn’t necessarily always a bad thing, but in this case, it is. Se-eun is frustrating, and that’s putting it mildly. Misunderstandings abound thanks to his weird leaps in logic, and how Jeongwoo had the patience to still pursue him is beyond me. The side story is a breath of fresh air, which only emphasizes how poor the main story is. If you’re just in it for the smut, then this may be worth a read, but for the story, this is a huge miss. I would not recommend it.
Have you read Can't Get Caught! XXX? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!