New Café Owner Trades His Unused Couple Rings for a Walking Billboard
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Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series Order Up!.
Content Warning: There may be references to power imbalance, age gap, cheating (not between the main couple), breakups (not between the main couple), overwork, gossiping, heterosexual sex, violence, sexism, homomisia, excessive drinking, dubcon/noncon, child neglect, manipulation, xenophobia/racism, religion, mentions/implications of conversion therapy, blood, being outed, stalking (not between the main couple), extortion, and somnophilia, as they do appear in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
Hyojun has made a drastic decision, but not without reason. Formerly an office worker, he really had no intention of leaving his position, especially when his boss was also his boyfriend, until he suddenly received an invitation to said boss’s (and boyfriend’s) wedding. Disgusted and sad, Hyojun decides to take the plunge. He tenders his resignation, blocks his now-ex, and decides to open a café based on his former coworker’s idle musings. He doesn’t expect to make a fortune and even plans to close up when his lease on the building ends to get back into an office job, but he didn’t expect to struggle as much as he does.
Unfortunately, Hyojun has opened his business in what is essentially a cursed location. Despite being near a college and in an otherwise ideal location, every business that opens here closes soon after due to little to no foot traffic. Hyojun’s coffee shop is looking to follow this same pattern.
But then Hyojun meets Minwu. As it turns out, Hyojun bought a set of couple rings just before receiving the horrible invitation that changed everything. In order to get a surplus of liquid cash for his failing business and help move on from his traumatic breakup, he decides the best way to kill two birds with one stone is to sell the rings. Minwu is an avid jewelry collector and reaches out. When Minwu comes into Hyojun’s business, his good looks draw a crowd, resulting in more sales than Hyojun has seen since he opened. Desperate to make something work, Hyojun offers up the rings for free in exchange for Minwu’s time. Minwu is hesitant, but accepts.
But the longer Minwu spends in the coffee shop, and the more he thinks about the rings that happen to be big enough for two men, he finds there might be more to Hyojun than meets the eye.
Review:
The art in this is rough. There is no getting around that. Wonky eyes, weird ear placements, and odd body proportions abound in this one. There is a hilarious scene at the very beginning when Hyojun falls asleep after a blow job that shows Minwu’s uncensored penis with the funniest, smallest, half-circle balls nestled beneath that I’ve ever seen. There is also another where they’re in a bathroom stall, and Minwu’s eggplant becomes much more flexible than any I’ve ever seen. Once again, we have an uncensored series that I think would’ve benefited from having lightsabers. It does get better, but not by much. I will say, though, as iffy as much of the art is, there are some panels of Hyojun that I can feel the creator put a ton of time in, particularly during smut scenes, and that was a breath of fresh air. However, if you need good, consistent art, this isn’t the one for you, unfortunately.
I will say, despite the subpar art, there are some actually funny moments in this series. I would not call it peak comedy by any means (it doesn’t come close to something like The Devil’s Temptation, for example), but it does have moments that were funny enough to make me giggle. Hyojun, in particular, really makes this series for me. His personality is very likable for several reasons. When he is in a relationship, he is very giving and accommodating. Admittedly, he comes off as a bit of a doormat. But when the person he loves betrays him or pisses him off? He plays no games, and I love that. He is vicious, dropping some lines that I will be referencing for a long time.
There is something about this series that reminds me a lot of Talk to Me Tenderly. This isn’t nearly as good as that title, but some of the personalities and the dynamic between Hyojun and Minwu feel similar to me (if the personalities between the top and bottom were switched, that is). This is on the shorter side, with only thirty-two episodes, which doesn’t leave much room to explore things beyond a certain depth. We do get a lot of bang for our buck with a ton of background on Hyojun’s previous relationships, which is probably why he is so likable, but Minwu remains an enigma from beginning to end. He starts off as this snobby, asshole, rich kid, but transitions into this fluffy, retriever-like lovebug with very little character growth to explain this transition, and there is hardly any background on him beyond a short aside where he is shown to have been somewhat neglected by his parents and just given money instead of time and attention. That is very sad, don’t get me wrong, but compared to the amount of time and attention we get on Hyojun, Minwu’s character feels very, very superficial. It is very disappointing.
Finally, before I close out this review, I do want to talk about the main villain of this series: Hyojun’s ex, his former boss. This is where most of the content warnings come from, and it’s a bit of an odd tonal shift. His appearance and attempts to convince Hyojun to come back to him, despite being married, aren’t really the issue. The issue arises when his arc finally comes to a close, and his wife is introduced. For most of the series, everything is pretty down-to-earth, such as the rich kid who was given money instead of love, the lover being betrayed, and moving on to start a new life, etc. Of course, this is BL, so realism isn’t really the name of the game, but all of these things are much more reasonable and generally in the same tone. However, when the wife appears, melodrama is the star of the show. She stalked the boss, convinced him to marry her after a month, continued to stalk him as he cheated on her with men, and essentially kidnapped him, claiming she would never divorce him, no matter what he does, because she is the only one who will ever be able to accept those parts of him. This is recognized as very melodramatic (with our main characters joking that it’s like watching a soap opera) as they watch it unfold. I did find their role in it all very funny, and I liked that the boss received his punishment, but the detail and time spent exploring this relationship were a bit of a shock tonally, and I felt they were unnecessary overall. I would’ve much rather spent that time on Minwu, but here we are.
Results:
This was okay. I did like it, but it is nothing revolutionary. It has some really great panels that I will be using for meme-ing, and there are some very nice ahegao faces, but the story itself is very superficial. If you’re looking for something to just mindlessly read for some smut and a laugh, then this might be worth a go. However, if you are hoping for something with some depth and more mindful character growth, you will probably be disappointed. Hyojun is perfection and makes this series, but there is only so much a likable character can do in a very mid-tier story.
Have you read Order Up!? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!
