While Hunting a Serial Killer, Childhood Friends Kiss
Title: Park Hanhoo's Manager
Criminals / Gangsters
The main character or multiple leads are criminals or gangsters as their primary source of income.
Manhwa Review | Love So Pure by Plan B
Title: Love So Pure
Jihyun isn’t the best student. He’d prefer to just have sex, sleep, and work at his part-time job as a bartender, but his mother wants nothing more than for her son to get an education. So, after taking extended periods off, he’s forced to return to college or risk being expelled entirely. But it isn’t necessarily that he hates school that he took so much time off. In reality, Jihyun has gone through a traumatic event with an ex-boyfriend, where much of his personal and private information was leaked, forcing him to leave or risk being bullied and ostracized by his peers. With so much time having passed, Jihyun is hopeful that most people who knew about the situation have graduated or, at the very least, moved on from campus.
Still, he’s not looking forward to waking up early and attending class. However, some of that frustration is alleviated when he finds that one of his classmates, Yohan, is a hulking beefcake – his soldier, as he likes to refer to him. Jihyun would love nothing more than to climb around that giant tree of a man, but he’s pretty sure Yohan is straight. Thankfully for Jihyun, Yohan finds himself entranced by Jihyun, too. But the two want very different things. Yohan, a softy at heart, wants to woo and date Jihyun, and while Jihyun, deep down, would love a relationship, he feels he is incapable of having one due to his trauma. Can these two find common ground, or will they perpetually be stuck in situationship limbo?
Manga Review | Spend Wisely by Niyama
Title: Spend Wisely
Manami Godai is a loan shark, no better than a financial gangster. Unfortunately, as much as he would like to be, he’s not really cut out for this job. His main problem? His attraction for those he’s supposed to extort for money. Too many times, he’s fallen for someone, and they’ve run away without paying him a dime. Not to mention his soft heart, often letting those he feels sorry for forgo making payments if they’re sorry enough. This has resulted in Manami being in debt to those above him. Determined to pay off his own debt, he fully intends to get payment from his biggest debtor: the Kanekura family.
The father, who was the principal debtor, had disappeared, leaving behind his two sons, whom Manami intends to extort for the remainder of his debt. When Manami and his right-hand man find the Kanekura household, they find a humble shack in disrepair and an unkempt yard. Manami’s heart is already stirring, feeling for the people here, but he holds firm and tries to get in contact with those who live there. There are supposedly two brothers and their grandmother living there, and upon first contact, Manami meets the younger brother.
The young man is cute but far too young for Manami’s liking. It’s not long after, however, that he meets the older brother, who couldn’t be any closer to Manami’s type. While he needs money, he wants Makoto Kanekura, and after some gangster-level coercion on his part, he gets just that. And he makes Makoto an offer he can’t refuse: every time they have sex, Manami will take off $300 from the debt. Makoto, an upstanding and honest guy, still intends to pay back the debts with cash, but he can’t help coming to Manami time and time again for more.
The pleasure he gets from Manami is priceless.
Manhwa Review | Frenzy Train by Meuhwagwa
Title: Frenzy Train
Sovian Darnell is on a mission. He’s destitute, but he’s intent on changing his future, all thanks to a marble he has hidden in a private place. All he has to do is smuggle the marble down to the south of the country, and then he’ll be set for life. Literally and figuratively, he’s sitting on immense wealth, but the only way he’s going to get it is if he can make it onto the train heading to the south. Thankfully, he does, but onboard, he runs into a strange man who introduces himself as Zerkin Sicario.
Zerkin is strangely forward with Sovian. While Sovian would like nothing more than to escape to economy class and hole up there until they get to the south, Zerkin doesn’t seem willing to just let Sovian go. Zerkin offers Sovian some cool water, a rarity on the train, which apparently only has warm water. Despite his better judgment, Sovian accepts the water but discovers his body permanently changed upon drinking it. He craves for someone to touch him, and he finds himself getting wet.
Thankfully, Zerkin is there to take care of him, but just as quickly as Zerkin appears, he disappears. And along with him, Sovian’s precious marble. Sovian has no choice but to hunt for Zerkin, but he has to traverse the entire train to get to him, which is full of men looking to take advantage of Sovian’s new constitution.
Manga Review | The Demon And The Goblin’s Love Story by Tengoku
Title: The Demon And The Goblin's Love Story
Kurama is a demon who protects the mountain he lives on. His existence is a lonely one, as he’s often joined only by the animals that call the mountain home too. But he spends his time fulfilling his duties, patrolling the mountain, and ensuring everything is as it should be. On one such patrol, however, he finds that his mountain is not as it should be. There’s trash and garbage littering the mountainside. Enraged, Kurama takes his time to clean it all up, then he goes on the hunt to find just who caused it.
Much to his chagrin, he discovers a gang of goblins taking refuge in a cave on the mountain. Kurama has dealt with goblins before, and it has never gone well. Still, this is his mountain to protect, so he takes the bag of trash and confronts the goblins. Immediately, he’s introduced to their leader, Hijiri, who apologizes on his people’s behalf. They have no intention of harming the mountain and hope Kurama will allow them to stay. It’s a pleasant surprise, to say the least.
While Kurama is pleased that his mountain will be protected, he’s more taken by Hijiri. For the first time ever, Kurama is hopelessly in love with the goblin leader. But how can an awkward demon win over someone so charming?
Manhwa Review | Miscreants and Mayhem by Brothers Without a Tomorrow
Title: Miscreants and Mayhem
Nanmu has been punishing himself for years. He’s in a leadership position in a gang, having been adopted from a cult by the leader of the gang alongside his two closest friends, who he considers his brothers. Unfortunately, Nanmu committed one of the greatest sins, having fallen in love with the leader’s, his adopted father’s, mistress. To be with her and adopt her son as his own, Nanmu willingly gave his body over to the gang, where he was ruthlessly raped and passed around by all the members. In a desperate attempt to rescue him, his two brothers offer to take the punishment with him. Instead, their father commands Nanmu’s brothers to have sex with him instead. It’s a perverse and painful situation, but one that Nanmu believes he deserves, especially when he ultimately loses the woman he did this for, along with the child he considered his son.
Many years have passed, yet Nanmu is still punishing himself with painful sex between his two brothers. As if that isn’t already hard enough, the men of his gang are steadily being assaulted, bludgeoned with a hammer, and left for dead. Nanmu struggles to find the culprit until one of his men calls him for help. When he arrives, he sees a familiar face, a beauty like the one he lost long ago. But it’s not the woman he was in love with. It’s her son, Pil-gyun, and Pil-gyun is looking for the man he calls ‘dad’ – Nanmu. But Pil-gyun has no intention of being a filial son.
Manhwa Review | No Reason by Salty
Title: No Reason
Jung-hoon is the right-hand man to the boss of the notorious Sung Jin gang. He’s beloved by his underlings, whom he often spends time with and jokes with, though not without strict expectations for them. Though Jung-hoon’s primary focus is always the gang and his men, he does enjoy spending his free time bedding beautiful men, and he’s particularly weak to a pretty face. Things get a bit more complicated when one of the newest recruits happens to be stunning. Unable to control himself, Jung-hoon talks the young man, Hyunjae, into going back to his place with him, where he begins to try to top him. However, when Hyunjae accepts Jung-hoon’s advances, he turns the tables on him and tops Jung-hoon instead.
Though Jung-hoon prefers to top, after doing it with Hyunjae, he is more than willing to bottom, and so begins a casual situationship between the two. After a year of working together, it’s clear to everyone under Jung-hoon that he has a soft spot for Hyunjae, but even without the preferential treatment, everyone generally despises Hyunjae, maybe none more than Jung-hoon’s right-hand man. It’s still unclear where Hyunjae came from and how he became so proficient at killing at such a young age. Jung-hoon’s judgment is clouded by the affection he feels for the young man, and he assumes he was made for the business, so he ignores his men’s warnings.
Unfortunately for Jung-hoon, by the time he realizes he has put his trust in the wrong place, the entire gang is wiped out, leaving him as the sole survivor. For what reason, he doesn’t know until Hyunjae confines him and throws him to his underlings. It’s clear Hyunjae wants nothing more than to ruin Jung-hoon, but why? What does he have to gain from it? Jung-hoon can’t ponder over it for long as he spirals into neverending darkness.
Manhwa Review | The Origin of Species by Harusari
Title: The Origin of Species
Youngjin is a faulty omega. Though he’s part of the extraordinary species, due to being born from an ordinary species and an extraordinary species pairing, he’s effectively infertile. Not to mention, he’s missing the superhuman strength, speed, and other superior qualities found in full-blooded extraordinary species. That wouldn’t be so terrible if not for the lonely and dangerous life he’s forced to lead. After his grandfather passed, Youngjin was left entirely alone on the island he grew up on, everyone else having moved to the mainland. It isn’t until Youngjin is taken in by “sir” that he is given a new purpose. Sir steadily grooms Youngjin, tying him to him with immense debt and helping him become an unstoppable hacker, but oppressing all other aspects of his life.
During an intense mission where Youngjin must hack into a safe at an auction to steal a mysterious, encrypted item, he and his teammates are captured. Youngjin is tied up and presented to an alpha, the item’s buyer. He is Seo Seunghyun, president of a large company and a man who has every intention of getting what he wants, no matter what it takes. He has the item, but it’s encrypted, and his team just isn’t well-equipped to break into it. Having seen Youngjin’s skills firsthand, he’s sure Youngjin is just what he needs. Youngjin is willing to work with Seunghyun only under a few conditions.
The first is to free his teammates.
Easy enough, but then there’s the second condition:
Make a sex tape with Youngjin.
Seunghyun is shocked but even more intrigued, and after a night with Youngjin in bed, he finds himself intensely drawn to the strange omega. If Seunghyun wants Youngjin, he’ll get him, and he’s willing to do anything to win Youngjin over.
Manhwa Review | The Words In Your Snare by Chepali
Title: The Words In Your Snare
Jooin is just trying to enjoy his life. He’s running a little cafe in the middle of the country, enjoying spending time with the locals. But more than anything, he enjoys the words, and that doesn’t mean conversation. One of the main reasons Jooin enjoys the conversation so much is because he can read minds. His ability is limited to physical words that spawn off people and linger around where they hang out. In the city, Jooin was often bombarded with negative and positive thoughts. In the rural areas, Jooin sees more positive words than any other kind, and there are fewer, making his life much more peaceful.
However, that peace is disrupted when a strange bag of coffee beans appears at his cafe. Not long after, a group of police officers and a handsome man in a suit come looking for that bag of coffee. It’s an odd scenario for a random bag of coffee, but nothing is stranger than the man who, for whatever reason, doesn’t give off any words at all. Jooin has never encountered anyone whose thoughts he couldn’t see, but no matter how much he looks, he can’t see any of his thoughts. Things only get stranger as the man returns time and time again, lingering around Jooin for a reason he can’t even fathom. The man then makes a request, one that Jooin has no intention of complying with.
This stranger, Mookya, wants to date Jooin.
Thankfully, Mookya works hours away in the city, so Jooin plans to let their odd relationship fade away. But then a young man with a knife drops by, looking for drugs. Jooin can only assume that the random bag of coffee beans was actually a bag of drugs, and after subduing the young man, Jooin has no choice but to go back to the city. He ends up right back where he started, working alongside the police to read possible criminal’s minds. Unlike before, though, Mookya is there, too. As Jooin spends more and more time in the city, with the gangster Mookya wooing him, Jooin feels himself softening up to the mystery man, but love can’t cover up the dark feelings and thoughts lurking around the city Jooin has left behind.