Creditor x Debtor, Alpha x Omega, Red Flag to Green Flag Romance
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Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series Low Tide in Twilight.
Content Warning: There may be references to parentification, child abandonment, child neglect, child abuse, suicidal ideation, attempted suicide, attempted child murder, blood, violence, miscarriage, male pregnancy (mpreg), noncon, gang activity, extortion, theft, forced sex work (sex in exchange for debt pay-off), overwork, mentions of bribery, corruption, sexual assault, commentary on body weight, drugging, torture, kidnapping, strained familial relationships, stalking, sexism (specifically based on secondary sex), slut-shaming, murder, excessive drinking, somnophilia, self-deprecation, arranged marriage (not between the main couple), blackmail, breakups, and bullying, as they do appear in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
Kim Euihyun is in trouble. His whole life has been relegated to a never-ending stream of part-time and full-time jobs as he tries to pay his deadbeat dad off to get some peace and also take care of his little brother. He’s been doing this since he was a teenager, so that isn’t necessarily the issue. The issue is that his father has skipped town and listed Euihyun as the guarantor for all the debt he left behind. This leads to him being approached by a gangster, who sexually assaults him, and pushes Euihyun to join a brothel since Euihyun is none other than an omega.
Unfortunately, Euihyun’s immediate reaction was to kick the gangster‘s ass, leaving him bloodied and unconscious.
Fighting a gangster, especially one that owns an immense amount of debt that Euihyun now owes, has put him in an unmanageable situation – one that now includes the life of his little brother. Unable to see a way out, Euihyun does something unthinkable. Taking his little brother, he goes to the beach and fully intends to walk out into the water and end this struggle for both of them. Thankfully and unfortunately, before Euihyun can go through with his plans, he is snatched up by Yeo Taeju, one of the gang’s bosses, and now Euihyun’s direct owner.
Oddly, Taeju is rather goofy, and he’s a perverted alpha, too, but Euihyun won’t be fooled. He’s just as slimy and cruel as the rest of the gang, and Euihyun knows that at the slightest provocation, his destiny will be the brothels he so desperately wants to avoid. So, Euihyun does what he does best: works. But with a young brother left at home and Taeju’s obsession with him growing by the day, the pressure is starting to build again. Can Euihyun avoid the fate of most omegas in this situation? Or will he have to resort to something much more dangerous?
Review:
I need to be clear before we really dive in that I adore this manhwa. As it was serializing, it was by far my favorite ongoing title, and now that it is over, it is up there as one of my top five, if not top three. This is a very dark and violent title, and it has received a lot of negative discourse on social media because of that. With that said, I love the darkness. I am a huge fan of noncon/dubcon work. If that is not your thing, you won’t want to read this manhwa, and you probably won’t like my review. That’s fine, everyone is entitled to their preferences and opinions, but just be aware that I am a huge fan of this and don’t expect a teardown here. Now, with that out of the way, let’s dive in.
First off, the art in this is glorious. It is not the cleanest, by far, and a lot of characters suffer from elongated, flat heads, which most people probably won’t notice or care about, but I did, so yeah. It’s worth mentioning. You’ll also catch the occasional yaoi hand, which might be triggering for some. Despite all that, this work is ultra expressive. Whether it is abject horror and sadness or unrestrained joy, every character’s expressions are just so clear and open, and I love every bit of it. This is also sorta uncensored on Lezhin. Now, why “sorta”? Well, for whatever reason, the first season is uncensored, then it flips back to censored with lightsabers for a while, only to go back to uncensored later in the series. I have no idea why, and it makes me unexplainably annoyed, but it is what it is. Fingers crossed the print version is 100% uncensored.
But enough about the art. Let’s get into what makes this manhwa so amazing to me: the story. Sure, this is a romance between Taeju and Euihyun, but maybe more important than anything or anyone in this story is Euihyun’s little brother Euiyoung. Euiyoung is the core piece to Taeju’s and Euihyun’s relationship, and even the whole foundation of this story. It is Euiyoung’s birth and abandonment by his other parent that leads Euihyun to stick around in his father’s abusive household past adulthood. Euiyoung also teaches Euihyun what pure, unconditional love is – both to give and receive it, since he has neither from his parents. Euiyoung also teaches us that deep down, Taeju has good in him, as he often takes care of Euiyoung, even when it wouldn’t benefit him either with Euihyun or with his work. Without Euiyoung, Euiyhun would have no reason to move forward with his life or even live it, and he probably would’ve never known that Taeju has a kindness within him. Plus, Euiyoung is a wonderful character, and this series, even if it ended in the same way, just wouldn’t be as good without him.
Now, a lot of what I have discussed, thus far, is very sweet and fuzzy. However, the core of this narrative is anything but that. Euihyun, though he is saved and ends up with Taeju, which is probably the better of most evils he could end up with, he is forced to become Taeju’s sex slave. It is the most intimate thing Euihyun has ever experienced, and for it to be a forced situation just heightens the cruelty and sadness of it all, especially when he actively seeks it out since he sees his sexual relationship with Taeju as the only way he can continue to survive in his situation. This horrible transactional relationship binds these two together, making anything healthy or happy seem impossible. And while Taeju is steadily falling in love with Euihyun, Euihyun is slowly realizing that what this is could never be mistaken for love. It ends up empowering Euihyun just as much as it destroys him, and when this all collapses with Euiyoung being taken from him and Taeju raping him during his rut, Euihyun is forced to figure out what he needs to be happy, healthy, and want to live. It is powerful, but it takes a lot of pain and anguish to get there. I love it.
Now, as dark as this series is, it has a ton of light sprinkled throughout. While I wouldn’t outright categorize this as a comedy, there are some super funny panels in this. It not only gives us a reprieve from the cruelty and the suffering, but it lets us see a different side of Taeju and Euihyun, revealing who they might have been under different circumstances. Thankfully, by the end and in the side stories, we finally get to see these much brighter versions of themselves as our couple navigates parenthood (with Euiyoung and their baby), pregnancy, cohabitation, marriage, etc. Our reward, and their reward, for all the suffering is the joys of domestic life, and it is a joy, indeed. Personally, I think all the struggle is worth it to reach this fun, lighthearted ending, and it really ties up the series in a nice bow.
Results:
This is a gem of a series, and I love it dearly. I’ve reread it any number of times at this point, and I have especially enjoyed rereading those domestic side stories over and over again. It has a lot of things I love, like omegaverse, dubcon/noncon, male pregnancy, child-rearing, and the like, and part of me wonders if this was made for me. It is smutty, but it has a powerful narrative, too, so it is the best of both worlds. I highly recommend this for those who can stomach this kind of content. This is beyond a favorite for me.
Have you read Low Tide in Twilight? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!
