Deer Demigod Falls For Murderer
About:
Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series Just Divine!.
Content Warning: There may be references to hunting, religion, injured animals, blood, violence, murder, sex work, murder for hire, ageism, kidnapping, power imbalance, invasion of privacy, manipulation, confinement, death, mentions of treason, mentions of arson, being orphaned, enslavement, child abuse, epidemic, mentions of capital punishment, imprisonment, starvation, theft, PTSD, and excessive drinking, as they do appear in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
Cheong-yeon is a demigod. Being not fully human and not fully divine leaves him longing for the side of himself that he doesn’t get to indulge in very often: his human side. This results in him escaping to Earth from the Great Beyond, catching various animals, and then sneaking them back as pets, no matter how often his father tries to convince him to stop. On one of these outings, however, while he’s in the form of a deer, Cheong-yeon ends up being injured by a hunter. He’s racing through the woods, trying to escape, only to run into another human. Desperate, he begs the human to hide him, which the human does, and even goes so far as to wrap Cheong-yeon’s wound.
Cheong-yeon is smitten. He wants nothing more than to take this human back with him to the Great Beyond. So, he tells the human to come to a lake, which functions as a pathway between worlds, where he will be able to meet a divine being. The divine being will then grant the human a wish. It’s all a ruse so Cheong-yeon can capture him and take him back home as a new pet, but what Cheong-yeon fails to realize is that this man, Mooksan, is not just any human.
Mooksan is a murderer, and Cheong-yeon’s peaceful divine life is about to be turned on its head because of him.
Review:
The art in this is interesting. There are some really nice panels, but most of them are kind of wonky. There is something about the shapes of our main cast’s faces that just throws me off for some reason. They are super inconsistent, and I’m not fond of it. Of the two, though, Cheong-yeon is the most consistent. Plus, he’s a top, and I’m a huge sucker for a pretty top. I do love that they’re both very masculine men, which is rarer than I’d like to admit in BL, but it’s unfortunate that the art style isn’t as up to par as I would have liked it.
Unfortunately, the story is also not my favorite thing in the world. It feels very disjointed and like it tries to do a ton of work in too short of a package. Mooksan, in particular, is woefully underdeveloped. He’s a bad guy. He kills people for hire, kills people just because, and steals everything that isn’t bolted down. He’s conniving and cruel, but that isn’t why I dislike him (I mean, the top from Blind Play is one of my favorites, and he’s a serial killer and torturer, too). He’s got moments where he seems to be a bad guy with a heart of gold, and he has the tragic backstory that helps humanize him, but he still comes off as an asshole. It’s meant to be humorous and silly, but I don’t find it to be either. This could just be because the “comedy” in this isn’t for me, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s a jerk.
Plus, unlike many of my other beloved killers, Mooksan’s relationship with his partner, Cheong-yeon, is hardly a relationship at all. There is a fun semi-mind control setup with Cheong-yeon putting a collar on Mooksan that causes him to fall in line and steadily fall for him. But that does little to nothing to actually bring these two closer together. Cheong-yeon still seems to see Mooksan as a pet or oddity, and Mooksan doesn’t feel like he cares for Cheong-yeon beyond him being an easy mark and occasional lay. It’s super unfortunate.
But there is one ray of light in this story. Unfortunately, it’s a brief light, but I’ll take what I can get. Cheong-yeon and Mooksan end up unofficially adopting an orphan child. This is probably the most emotional growth we see from Mooksan, and this is the closest we get to a romantic and almost familial relationship between Cheong-yeon and Mooksan. Sadly, just when we’re getting all of this growth, the story ends. I think what this needed was more time. There needs to be more time to explore Cheong-yeon and how his views about those on Earth evolve. More time is needed to see Mooksan grow and change as a person and gain insight into his feelings for Cheong-yeon. And, of course, I’d have loved to see more family time with their adopted son, but we don’t get any of that. Instead, we get some smut, violence, and a disjointed narrative. It’s disappointing.
Results:
I’ve been reading a bunch of shorts, and while some have been winners, this was not among them. The characters were so opposing that they needed so much more time to develop and, in turn, make their relationship even slightly feasible. Mooksan remains wholly unlikeable, and I’m not sure that Cheong-yeon is able to see a human as a true romantic partner. Plus, I’m a sucker for child-rearing in my BL, and for that to be the best part, yet be so short hurts more than it helps. I like the premise of this, but it’s ultimately just an overall miss.
Have you read Just Divine!? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!