Smutty Noises Next Door Cause Neighbor Feud
About:
Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series Muhyeok and Naui: My Irresistible Neighbor.
Content Warning: There may be references to prejudice, slut-shaming, invasion of privacy, violence, overwork, excessive drinking, blood, perceived theft, sick animals, homomisia, dubcon/noncon, disordered eating, commentary on body size, stalking, BDSM, and manipulation, as they do appear in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
Naui is struggling. His new neighbor is making his life a living hell. The neighbor is admittedly hot, and as a result, he has a new lady on his arm day after day. This leads to a neverending night of sex-scapades that keeps Naui up long into the night. So, when Naui has to get up and go to work, he’s barely above a zombie. Things are degrading fast.
And things only get worse when Naui starts receiving his neighbor’s packages. When Naui tries to put the package in front of his neighbor’s door, the neighbor catches him and presumes he was actually trying to steal it. Things finally come to a head when Naui goes to his neighbor’s door to retrieve his misdelivered package, only for the neighbor to assume Naui stole it. Naui is all too happy to prove his neighbor wrong, but when they both open the package, they find a big, naughty device that neither of them actually ordered.
Review:
This art style isn’t the cleanest in the world. It’s super sketchy, and there are many times when some of the character faces aren’t the most consistent, but I love it. The chaotic and down-to-earth nature of it aligns with the chaotic and realistic energy of the narrative, and that’s what I love the best – when the art style reflects the story’s tone. But it goes beyond that. Muhyeok might be the hottest man I’ve ever seen in a comic. He’s not going to be to everyone’s taste, of course, but he certainly aligns with mine. Plus, his tattoos might be the most realistic and natural-looking that I’ve ever seen. In a lot of manhwa I’ve read where tattoos are involved, the tattoos end up looking fake because they don’t move or align with the body, they look unnatural because they are pitch black, or they are covered up (if you want to see what I mean, check out Love So Pure). And that cut out in his eyebrow? It’s everything. He’s such a hottie, and Naui is such a plain-looking cutie – they just look perfect together. I love it.
Now on to the story. This relies on the misdelivery trope to eventually have these two interact with one another. This is the same trope from Delivery Complete, but this does it the right way. Where Delivery Complete had this weird expectation from the top to have the bottom prevent misdeliveries (as if he was the one making them), this one has immediate mistrust from the two as Naui tries to properly redeliver the misdelivered packages he receives only for Muhyeok to assume that Naui was attempting to steal them. I love this. If I opened my door to find my neighbor holding my package, I would probably be suspicious, too. It’s such a realistic setup, and there’s nothing like the perceived theft of packages between neighbors to spark that hate-to-love scenario. Once again, this is another thing for me to love about this title. For another good misdelivery trope, check out Full Volume.
As for how the relationship develops from there, this is probably where most people are going to disagree with me. I don’t mind dubcon, but many people dislike it. There is a bit of dubcon in this as Muhyeok tries to seduce Naui, and there are multiple times thereafter when Muhyeok comes over and pressures Naui into sex. Again, this doesn’t bother me as a fan of noncon, but I imagine there are many people who would probably prefer to avoid this. As much as this is fluffy and sweet, it takes a lot of toxicity to get there.
But once we do get past the toxicity, this relationship is everything. Naui’s harsh tsundere exterior, not unlike my faves, Hye-sung and Hyun, eventually melts away into a soft tsundere. Muhyeok, despite the dubcon nature of their relationship initially, is always a very loving and doting partner. This is also a super smut-heavy title, which I am always a fan of (I implore you to read this if for no other reason than Naui’s butthole saying ‘nom nom’). These two have some great communication, and as opposed to these other super drama-heavy titles, this is very light couple drama mixed in with comedy and a whole lot of smut. It’s such an easy read and feels so good.
Results:
This ended up being an instant favorite for me. I love a good hate-to-love trope. Muhyeok is hot as hell, and this is packed with smut. Plus, Naui is my favorite type of tsundere. Is it perfect? Not by any means. But it’s one of those light-comedy, light-drama, and heavy-smut titles that just makes me feel so good by the time I’m done with it. I’ve read this several times by now, and it’s certainly in my reread rotation.
Have you read Muhyeok and Naui: My Irresistible Neighbor? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!