About:
Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series OmegaComplex.
Content Warning: There may be references to male pregnancy, fertility issues, love triangle, self-deprecation, trauma, heterophobia (in this case, fear of opposite secondary sex), self-hatred, mentions of the military, being outed (specifically secondary sex), excessive drinking, possessiveness, sexual assault, betrayal, gossiping, coercion, body commentary (specifically comments on thinness), mentions of breakups (not between main couple), peer pressure, overwork, and mentions of a relationship between a high schooler and adult (not the main couple), as they do appear in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
Yoonwoo Lee is your average, run-of-the-mill, beta college student… or so he's made everyone believe. Yoonwoo is actually an omega, and though there's nothing wrong with being an omega, Yoonwoo's first love and childhood friend, Taegyeom, was once assaulted by an omega during their time in grade school. As such, he ended up with an intense hatred for omegas. Thankfully, in their youth, Yoonwoo hadn't manifested yet, and he could be there for Taegyeom. But it wasn't long after that he ultimately manifested as an omega, and Yoonwoo made the painful decision to leave Taegyeom behind, pretending to be a beta so he never had to see Taegyeom hate him for something he couldn't control.
It's been years since they ran into one another, though not without great effort on Yoonwoo's side. Though they go to the same university, they've never met, as Yoonwoo even decided on a different major to ensure they never encountered one another. Unfortunately, despite Yoonwoo's careful planning, Taegyeom's department also shows up during a department meetup. Thankfully, Yoonwoo has done some additional planning. To hide his pheromones, he smokes pheromone cigarettes, which are made for betas who want to put out pheromones like alphas and omegas. This does seem to fool Taegyeom, but for how long? It seems Taegyeom has no intention of letting Yoonwoo escape him again.
However, while Yoonwoo's cigarettes might fool Taegyeom, they haven't fooled Yoonwoo's hoobae Dohyun, another alpha. Thankfully, Dohyun is willing to keep Yoonwoo's secret, but he wants Yoonwoo just as much as Taegyeom. Pitted between two alphas, can Yoonwoo keep his identity a secret? Or will he succumb to all the alpha pheromones surrounding him?
Review:
The art in this is very cute. However, I have to nitpick something. Often, Yoonwoo's eyes are way too close together (and often too big). It's not a consistent problem, but its inconsistency makes it all the more noticeable to me. This doesn't seem to have been an issue in earlier episodes, which do have a slightly different style from later episodes, and that probably played a factor. Still, it is something I noticed over and over again throughout the series. Taegyeom, however, is everything. He is what Yoonseul from Third Ending wishes he was. Yoonseul looks like an off-brand Taegyeom with hardcore seaweed hair, and I love that for Taegyeom.
There's a good bit of misunderstanding and miscommunication in this, though there's also lots of good communication too. One of the major issues with the miscommunication is Taegyeom assuming Yoonwoo only confessed because they slept together and, in turn, because of pheromones. It's super unfortunate that Taegyeom would make that assumption. Of course, his trauma is part of it, as he was forced to feel things for an omega due to pheromones. But if we consider how Yoonwoo actively avoided Taegyeom for so long, leaving him lost and waiting, completely unaware of why or what happened, it makes sense that he might distrust Yoonwoo's feelings altogether. Having recently read Lover Boy, which also deals with trauma and miscommunication, I feel this really needed a similar arc where we see Taegyeom waiting for Yoonwoo, trying to find him, missing him, and ultimately feeling betrayed. Then, I think his assumption would have the foundation it needed to make the most sense. It does make sense from what we've been told, but seeing it would've been much more powerful.
Another issue I have is when Taegyeom rejects Yoonwoo the first time, Yoonwoo fails to clarify that he liked him even before he manifested, which is unfortunate and a tad annoying. But it resolves relatively quickly. Honestly, how quickly these two figure things out is a bit strange. Taegyeom tells Yoonwoo to stay away so he can forget his love for him, even though Yoonwoo confesses to him. Yoonwoo heads back home but is locked out of his house. He runs into Taegyeom's mom (who I wish was my wife, and I think my partner would agree, haha) and ends up staying in Taegyeom's room while he waits for his parents to come home. This leads to another confession and denial. Not long after, Yoonwoo calls Taegyeom and tells him he misses him. Taegyeom comes running, and then they're all happy together. The back and forth between confessions and rejections feel so needless as a result. I really loved why Taegyeom rejected Yoonwoo, fearing he might be forcing Yoonwoo to love him with pheromones, as it aligns with his past, but it just gets tossed away, which was disappointing. I like that Yoonwoo learns to honestly express himself, and Taegyeom learns to trust, but these developments seem to come out of nowhere. We needed more time with them apart and see how they realized being apart again wasn't what they wanted, especially when all the cards were out on the table. Then, it would be all the more powerful when they came back together.
I would also be remiss if I didn't mention something that hurts me more than probably anything else in this entire series: the pregnancy. But wait. Eve, don't you adore male pregnancy in your BL? I do. I love it so much, and I was so happy when I saw it happening in the extras at the end. However, something I hate is the mention of pregnancy and the lack of a baby reveal, which is what happens in this series. We do get to see the baby on the artist's Twitter in a holiday post, which is super cute and settles my pained heart, but it's still disappointing that we don't see the baby in the series itself. If you need some payoff with your mpreg, this will hurt you. I'm still happy it happened, but part of me wishes it hadn't so that I didn't get teased in the end.
Results:
I was really, really hard on this title, but I did like it. I wouldn't call it a favorite by any means, but it was still really cute. It's super fluffy once the two get together, and we get tons of smut, which is always a plus in my book, but the story needed more time to develop, along with the characters themselves. I also needed more stories about the pregnancy and the baby, but that's very specific to my preferences. If you love omegaverse and aren't looking for anything deep and dark, this is a pretty good one. But if you need depth (and you're like me and need a baby with your mpreg), this will probably end up being a disappointment.
Have you read OmegaComplex? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!