About:
Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series You Get Me Going.
Trigger Warning: There may be references to self-deprecation, excessive drinking, slut-shaming, violence, car accident, homomisia, mental abuse, manipulation, implied sexual assault, power imbalance, body-shaming, gossiping, PTSD, and harassment, as it appears in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
Young-won wants a fairytale romance. Though he has some relationship and sexual experience under his belt, they were all cruel or useless men, hardly anything he would consider a real romance of any kind. Young-won is tired of settling for shitty partners. So he wants to get out into the dating pool and find the prince charming he has longed for all this time. Unfortunately, work makes it challenging to find time to date around, and the added stress of working alongside his polar opposite certainly doesn't put him in the mood for love.
This rival in question is Hyun-woo. Though he's as handsome as a prince, his attitude is anything but. He's direct and rude, often making fun of and picking on Young-won in meetings until their discussions become full-blown arguments. Even if Hyun-woo were the last man on earth, Young-won would sooner die than be with him. They spend every day making each other's workday a living hell, and as a result, their rivalry is well-known around the office.
However, Hyun-woo and his antics are far from Young-won's mind when he gets matched up for a blind date by his good friend, who owns a restaurant where they will be meeting. All day, to show off in front of Hyun-woo, Young-won talks about how great his date is supposed to be and how excited he is to meet them. Unfortunately for Young-won, the person he meets is none other than Hyun-woo. The date ends in disaster, but with their sexualities revealed, they start to see each other in another light.
Can these two enemies become lovers? Or are they destined to hate each other forever?
Review:
I've determined that Moscareto is probably one of my favorite manhwa writers of all time. Even when I don't care for the art, every time I've read something they wrote, I end up just loving the story, which overtakes any qualms I have over the art. This is one of those cases. The art is much more my preference than the other Moscareto work I've read, The New Recruit, but it's still not the best. The faces can look odd, particularly with the eyes and mouths, and some stances just look stiff and awkward. Overall, though, the art is fine. Of our two main characters, Young-won is much more consistent and nicer to look at, but neither is bad.
As I briefly mentioned earlier, even if the art isn't exactly to my taste, with Moscareto involved, the story almost certainly is. I love a good hate-to-love scenario, which we do see here, and just like Moscareto‘s previous work, it's an office romance, which, again, love. The best part about this all is their personalities. Young-won is so extroverted while being easily embarrassed and nervous with his partner. On the other hand, Hyun-woo is rough and extroverted, but he's gentle and considerate with a partner. It's a wonderful depiction of how people are multi-faceted, especially when in the presence of someone they love versus everyone else.
I am particularly fond of Hyun-woo, who takes the time to understand Young-won and why he is the way he is in the bedroom. He very easily could have been a red flag top, but he isn't. Instead, he tries to show Young-won what a relationship should be like, how he can be honest with someone without fearing they will hurt or leave him, and to be affectionate and loving if he wants to. Hyun-woo builds up Young-won and encourages him to do as he pleases, which is just so heartwarming. In turn, seeing Young-won grow from a person terrified to have sex with the lights on to initiating and being open to being vulnerable with someone is so sweet, but this growth isn't limited to the bedroom. Young-won learns to stand up for himself against someone who traumatized him and even show affection for the one he loves in public because he wants to. Seeing Young-won grow into his own is so awesome. This is worth reading for that alone.
With all this being said, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the one flaw with all of this. Hyun-woo's development is pretty fast. He goes from claiming that he isn't interested in marriage or long-term relationships. But he's proposing within a couple of weeks of being with Young-won. It's romantic for sure, but it just doesn't feel as believable as Young-won's growth over the course of the series. Granted, Young-won is so cute during sex, and I guess I would probably want to lock him down forever, too. They seem very compatible in bed (and outside of it, too, of course), so this could be a case of finding the right person being enough to completely change someone, but it's just hard to accept in such a short time. It's cute, though, so it's hard to fault it.
Results:
I love this. It's very sweet, romantic, and smutty, with excellent writing and character development. It's not perfect, but it's pretty close. I've happily reread this time and time again, and I think it's definitely worth a read if you haven't already.
Have you read You Get Me Going? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!