About:
Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series Unromantic Romance.
Content Warning: There may be references to discrimination, sexism, classism, male pregnancy, mentions of abortion, arranged marriage, theft, animal death, animal abuse, breaking and entering, stalking, invasion of privacy, violence, mentions of rape, BDSM, toxic work environment, mentions of corruption, strained familial relationships, power imbalance, sex work, sex workers, drugging, nepotism, excessive drinking, peer pressure, blood, betrayal, slut-shaming, death threats, break ups, mentions of the military, mentions of cheating, self-deprecation, sexual assault, mentions of mafia, and medical procedures, as it appears in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
In a world where omegas rule, Oh Hyeon-oh is a lowly alpha. He is a college student who often freelances as a reporter in his free time to pay his rent. Unfortunately, his articles are often overlooked, as he focuses heavily on small local news rather than news on the wealthy. His current article is on a cat killer, who he happened to get a picture of. Once again, his article is criticized for being far too local and small. Hyeon-oh is, of course, deflated. His sunbae at the news feels bad for him, and to help him catch some big fish, he gives Hyeon-oh his membership card to a famous lounge where the wealthy are known to let loose.
Hyeon-oh still isn't interested in the rich and famous, but he decides to check it out out of curiosity. Once there, he ends up alone with someone at the top of the food chain. It's none other than the CEO of Seonghwa, one of the most powerful omega in the country, Chu Ga-in. Ga-in is intrigued by Hyeon-oh, especially since the membership card is from one of Ga-in's closest associates. To Hyeon-oh's surprise, Ga-in ends up inviting him up to a hotel room, and Hyeon-oh, hopelessly smitten, agrees. But once they're in the room, Hyeon-oh is tied up and patted down, suspected of being someone trying to take down Ga-in and, in turn, Seonghwa.
All of the romance and attraction Hyeon-oh has for Ga-in evaporates, and he's instead in what he perceives as a fight for his life. Thankfully, Ga-in and his men don't find anything suspicious, but instead of being let go, Ga-in fully intends on still bedding the young alpha. This leads to one of the most intense and pleasurable sexual experiences either party has ever had. But when Hyeon-oh wakes up the next day to a pile of cash and no Ga-in in sight, he intends to take revenge for the slight (though he's also still intensely attracted to the aloof omega). All while Hyeon-oh is hunting down Ga-in, and Ga-in is failing to shake off Hyeon-oh's romantic and vengeful advances, Hyeon-oh's cat killer article is picking up steam.
And the killer is now hunting Hyeon-oh.
Review:
I need to go ahead and get this out of the way: I absolutely adore Jeong Seokchan. Their storytelling and unique art style speak to me on a level that no other creator does. I will always recommend and love all their work unless something entirely out of left field occurs. I say all this to make clear: I am incredibly biased toward Jeong Seokchan. If you are looking for a teardown or something similar, you are in the wrong place. I will do my best to make this review balanced, but I make no promises. The fact that this is Jeong Seokchan and omegaverse with mpreg makes this the epitome of work for me. You don't have to wait for the conclusion of the review to hear (or see?) me say this is a favorite. It just is. So take my comments with a grain of salt unless you are a Jeong Seokchan diehard like myself (and if so, take a seat and let's talk 'cause you are my people).
With that in mind, let's start with the art. Jeong Seokchan's work has always been inconsistent and very square. It's certainly not perfect in this series, but as with all of their other titles, it is super expressive, which makes up for a ton. Every character is easily identifiable, even in black and white, and becomes all the more expressive when the color switch occurs after the main story (and seeing Jeong Seokchan's work in color is such a treat). Where the art really shines, though, is in the sex scenes. There are two scenes in particular that I think about all the time and might be the pinnacle of smut art: the scene where Ga-in is giving his first blowjob (those eyes are killer) and the rimming scene. These two scenes show how detailed and perfect this artist can draw, and there are very few others in other titles that can rival these two panels here. I personally think this is worth reading for those scenes alone, but that's just me. Then, of course, we have their precious baby, who is super cute. This series is just a treasure trove of sexy, sweet, and fluffy panels.
And as if I didn't love this enough, the omegaverse world built for this is so fun! In your standard omegaverse story, usually, the alphas rule everything, and the omegas are nothing more than walking holes and wombs. In this case, the society is actually matriarchal. Omegas and women, thanks to their magical childbearing abilities, are on top, and alphas are nothing more than walking dildos. Well, I say alphas are nothing more than sex objects. Even when omegas are the ruling secondary gender, they're still treated pretty nicely in Jeong Seokchan's omegaverse. However, our love interest, Ga-in, is a “boomer” with very antiquated beliefs on the role of alphas in society. It's been trained in Ga-in that omegas are superior, and he has superiority issues due to his own trauma of being briefly disowned because he wasn't manifesting. This makes him utterly uninterested in love and relationships, seeing alphas as a quick way to sate his desires. Because of Hyeon-oh's tenacity and bright personality, Ga-in realizes alphas aren't just easy lays but make for worthy companions. Ga-in remains the dominating power bottom, but he's a power bottom with a heart, and we love that.
This leads me to our sweet bean, Hyeon-oh. He is absolutely precious and a key source for the comedy in this series, which is pretty great (it still doesn't beat out my favorite comedy, The Devil's Temptation, but it's still a good time). The art is leveraged to create lots of fun physical comedy, often sucking all of the detail out of the characters (specifically Hyeon-oh), so they're nothing more than a gingerbread man or something similar. Ga-in is also pretty funny in his own right, but because he is so serious and doesn't even realize what he's saying is funny. They make the perfect comedy duo, Hyeon-oh being the goofball while Ga-in is the straight man. Beyond the comedic aspect, their countering personalities help develop them individually, too. Ga-in learns to relax and play around while Hyeon-oh becomes more grounded and mature. They learn to grow together and become great parents to their daughter, Da-on.
As much as I adore this title, I have some negative things I need to discuss. I know, shock and awe. The start of all of this has to do with a cat killer. The cat killer pushes Hyeon-oh to move into Ga-in's place, which then makes Ga-in realize how much he enjoys Hyeon-oh's presence in his life. It's an essential plot device but ends up fading into the background. I personally don't mind this, as I much preferred focusing on the smut and relationship. However, I can still see how disappointing it might be that such an emotional and scary plot point is just cast aside like it didn't mean anything. It's especially unfortunate since we never actually see who they are, even though we get a brief moment dedicated to showing them reacting to the article, which foreshadows an eventual reveal, but that never happens. There are also a few inconsistencies, such as when Ga-in realizes he knows very little about Hyeon-oh, only for him to comment later on that he did a background check on him the first day they met. The pacing is also a bit odd to me, feeling a bit disjointed and off-kilter at times as it races to the end.
I also have to mention how disappointed I am with the ending. Not because it's bad, mind you! It's because it hints at a second child, which was already foreshadowed early on. But we never get to see them! Nothing hurts me more than hinting at children but never seeing them in the story. We got Da-on, which was great, but I'm greedy and still want that second baby. I also wish we could've seen their big wedding, but, again, that's more of my greed showing. The story is not perfect by any means, but I love it all the same.
Results:
This gives me everything. Jeong Seokchan, omegaverse, mpreg, child-rearing, humor, smut, and fluff all rolled into one. This very well could've been the pinnacle of manhwa for me, but it's a bit too short and disjointed to be the best manhwa I've ever read (granted, it's pretty close, haha). I do really love it, though, and if you want fluffy omegaverse, it doesn't get much fluffier than this. This is a fave for me, and I think you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't check it out for yourself.
Have you read Unromantic Romance? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!