1st Couple Sucks, 2nd Couple Rules
About:
Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series Subscribers Only.
Content Warning: There may be references to gossiping, overwork, sex work, power imbalance, invasion of privacy, BDSM (forced included), slut-shaming, prejudice, sexual assault, drugging, assault, blood, attempted forced porn, attempted gang rape, dubcon, excessive drinking, obsession, blackmail, violence, PTSD, being orphaned, insomnia, mentions of infertility, strained familial relationships, homomisia, self-hatred, age gap, ecouteurism, mentions of cheating (not between the main couples), financial abuse, manipulation, death, mentions of sham marriage (no between the main couples), and car accidents, as they do appear in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
1st Couple (Seasons 1 and 2)
Hanseok Choi is a workaholic. He spends every waking and even sleeping moment in the office, leaving him no time for his personal life. His friend, and coworker, is determined to help Hanseok relax a bit, so he shows him an anonymous online account that posts solo porn. The man is exactly Hanseok’s type, and soon, when he isn’t working, Hanseok finds himself checking up on the man known as mil_tea. But his attention is soon diverted elsewhere once more when a new hire, Doyoon, starts at work, and by happenstance, Hanseok catches sight of a tattoo that mil_tea also has.
2nd Couple (Seasons 3 and 4)
Chakyeong Shin is known as Valenti online, a popular cammer. While playing on camera, Valenti often listens to someone he calls Threesome, though whose actual username is Story Awesome. Story Awesome’s voice sends Chakyeong right into bliss, and many times, he hunts for partners solely based on how closely they can mimic his voice. But when he’s not having fun on camera, he’s renowned interior designer Chakyeong Shin, and for a time, he plans on teaching a class at his old college. While in the middle of class, he sees a beefcake. This man is exactly Chakyeong’s type, named Woojin, and judging by the books hanging out of his bag, he’s a big fan of Chakyeong’s work.
He’d love to leverage that and get the burly student into his bed, but he realizes this fan behavior is a two-way street when he hears him speak. Woojin is a fan of Chakyeong. But Chakyeong is also a fan of Woojin, who is none other than Story Awesome himself.
Review:
This is really two very loosely connected stories. The art changes drastically from beginning to end, which makes the second far superior to the first in terms of art quality. It’s truly night and day. Granted, both maintain the sketchiness of the first, but the second is much more refined and consistent. Admittedly, I am not a fan of the first two seasons (the first story) for many reasons. To keep on theme with the current topic, let’s stick with the art. despise the top’s, Hanseok, design. Saying his chin is prominent would be an understatement. He could cut someone with that thing, and the bottom, Doyoon, isn’t much better with how inconsistent he is. They’re just not very nice to look at, which is unfortunate.
Our second couple, however, is a different story. They both have the hyper-masculine designs we see in the first couple but are much more refined and consistent. Woojin is the definition of an Adonis, and I wish to be squashed beneath his massive pecs and shoulders. But maybe even better than Woojin, our top, is our bottom, Chakyeong. While Doyoon from the first couple falls into the standard smaller and softer bottom trope, Chakyeong is just as built and masculine as Woojin (albeit smaller, but still). I don’t know that I’ve read anything with such equally manly men since Love Me, Doctor!, which is just as much a shame as it is a win. It’s a shame there aren’t more of these pairs out there in mainstream BL, but it’s a win that this exists to represent. Beyond their beefy designs, though, the artist’s talent comes out in full force for their story with some of the prettiest panels in all of BL. Again, the difference in art quality is truly night and day, and the second couple definitely wins on both the design and quality front.
Now, to get into the story. I actually started reading this years ago when I first started this blog, and when I went to reread it for this post, I completely forgot the first story and only remembered the second. I thought I was reading the wrong title until I checked the second story, which is when I realized that my brain had just thrown away the first, and upon a reread, I could see why. The first story was apparently only meant to be one season, per the author’s note, and I think you can feel that. Hanseok is unnecessarily a judgemental asshole despite going along with everything that he judges Doyoon for, and his cruelty happens over and over again with stupid misunderstandings and petty fights. Plus, a secondary love interest comes in for the quickest second ever and just gives up, never to be seen again. He had little to no purpose, and I wish he hadn’t been introduced. Then, Doyoon just accepts Hanseok’s confession as if nothing had ever happened. If this had been a single season and ended like that, this would’ve been an instant hate. Thankfully, we were given a second season where we get more lovey-dovey content and more background, and we get to see the art settle into the beauty we get for the second couple, but it all comes just too late after the main story. I was over it after the first season and really didn’t care much about the second, though, admittedly, Doyoon as a sexual dynamo is everything. I think the smut is worth seeing, but little else.
But then we get to the second couple, and they take many of the elements that failed in the first and knock them out of the park. The secondary love interest? A well-developed character that I actually cared about and who played a meaningful role in the story. Chakyeong is an ass, but reasonably so, without the prudish contradictory way of doing things that Hanseok had. The romance grows gradually, with many bumps and bruises along the way, and, as such, feels much more realistic and satisfying by the end. It’s just so much easier to believe in Chakyeong and Woojin together as a couple because they worked for it alongside all of the smut and their character development. I understand the creator was only guaranteed one season for the first couple, which explains why everything was so rough around the edges. However, seeing how well the second couple was done only makes me more frustrated about the first. Plus, we get group sex and a switch character thanks to Chakyeong, who tops another character while bottoming for Woojin. They’re just everything my degenerate and storytelling heart could want and more.
Results:
As a whole package, this is pretty mid. If we split it based on the separate stories, I’d ignore the first. However, I highly recommend the second. The second story takes everything the first did and does it so much better. The characters are better, the dynamics are better, the story is better, and the art is better. Honestly, if the second couple was a story on its own, it might be favorite material. Overall, though, this is fine. I hope this creator comes out with more work that gets licensed because I have a feeling it would be amazing.
Have you read Subscribers Only? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!