BL Library - Enemies-to-Lovers / Hate-to-Love / Rivals-to-Lovers Archives

Manhwa Review | Your Secret Keeper by Team Ddakkong

Title: Your Secret Keeper

Author(s): Team Ddakkong

Artist(s): Team Ddakkong

Sun has recently started a new job at a much better company than the one she is coming from. Having just gone through a traumatic and unfortunate scandal at her previous job, she’s ready to work hard and put the past behind her… but that’s hard to do when her new boss, Doyoung, is actually her first love from high school, which ended before it could even begin. He’s as big of a jerk as he was in high school and seems to be intent on making Sun’s life as hellish as possible until she quits.

Unwilling to be pushed out of another company, Sun spends her days drowning her sorrows in alcohol after work and doing her best to field all of Doyoung’s unreasonable requests and criticisms. One evening, after some heavy drinking with her coworkers, she gets home to find a package by her door. It turns out to be for Doyoung, who lives in the building next to hers. In her drunken stupor, she resolves to bring the package to his apartment and give him a piece of her mind simultaneously.

To her surprise, after puking on him and being let into his apartment, she finds a streaming setup. He doesn’t seem to be the kind of guy that would do that sort of thing, so she ends up perusing his computer while he is in the bathroom only to discover he does stream, but the subject matter is of the adult variety. With this newfound ammunition, Sun intends to use this to make life at work much more peaceful. Additionally, she finds herself attracted to Doyoung even more than she ever had in high school and establishes a sexual partnership with him in exchange for her secrecy.

As their relationship grows and she discovers more and more about the world Doyoung is part of, Sun finds herself falling deeper and deeper for him, but the sudden return of her ex-boyfriend threatens to ruin what little bit of trust she has built back up with Doyoung.

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Manhwa Review | On or Off by A1

Title: On or Off

Author(s): A1

Artist(s): A1

College, for some people, is a time to live it up and have fun before going out into the world and settling down. In the case of Yiyoung and his friends, it is their chance to start their own company. More specifically, they form a game development company, initially led by Yiyoung’s oldest and dearest friend, Mina. Unfortunately, due to a family issue, Mina has to leave the company to help support her family. Still, she leaves it in the hands of Yiyoung to manage the rag-tag group and make it a success with minimal funds and very little time. The goal for the company is to create a game for SJ Corporation, one of the biggest companies in the country, but they have to present the game to the company leaders, and for most of the team, social interactions aren’t their strongest suit.

In comes Yiyoung, the bubbly and affable leader. Confident in his presenting abilities and social skills, he goes out to SJ Corporation, ready to sell them their game. While preparing for the presentation, in walks Director Kang Daehyung, and he is everything Yiyoung could want in a man and more. But, unfortunately, he is also the man who has the final say on whether Yiyoung’s game is worth picking or not. Now full of nerves, Yiyoung fears the worst for the presentation but ends up starting strong. As luck would have it, though, his computer starts going through an update in the middle of the presentation. With time out and the leaders frustrated, Yiyoung is excused from the meeting with no hope of being chosen.

Disheartened, Yiyoung is prepared to call it quits and beg for forgiveness, but a sudden stroke of desperation sends him scrambling to fix his mistake for his team members. He writes up a proposal with a link to the game, sneaks it into Director Kang’s office, discovers from his calendar where Director Kang will be that evening, then “coincidentally” runs into him at the bar, where he begs for another chance. Director Kang, suspicious of Yiyoung’s intentions, throws out some bait to scare him off: sleep with me, then I’ll consider your game proposal. Much to the director’s surprise, Yiyoung takes the bait. But just how far is Yiyoung willing to go for his friends? And will he be able to face the director again after their night of passion?

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Manhwa Review | My Housemate by snob

Title: My Housemate

Author(s): snob

Artist(s): snob

Jinwon has lived an unlucky life thus far. The first company he worked for went bankrupt. He got fired from another job for looking like a person that a manager’s girlfriend cheated with. He’s also been fired just because upper management didn’t like him. To say finding work is hard is an understatement for Jinwon. So, now unemployed, nearing thirty, and trying to study for the civil service exam, Jinwon is desperate for some stability in his life.

Luckily, Jinwon’s sister has recently married a wealthy older man, and the pair need some help. Gyungha, their twenty-year-old son, has run away from home because he hates his new stepmother. Worried over their son, the father and stepmother ask Jinwon to become Gyungha’s new housekeeper and keep an eye on him. Jinwon, desperate for something new and some money in his pocket, hops on the opportunity. Gyungha is less than excited about the idea but allows Jinwon into his world.

As Gyungha finally begins to open up to Jinwon, feelings emerge that go beyond a friendship or familial relationship. What are these feelings? And what do they mean for the new housemates?

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Novel Review | Little Mushroom: Judgement Day and Little Mushroom: Revelations by Shisi

Title: Little Mushroom: Judgment Day | Little Mushroom: Revelations

Author(s): Shisi

The world has become an unrecognizable habitat for monsters. Since the disappearance of the magnetic poles over a hundred years ago in the year 2020, the Earth has been in a state of chaotic flux. Finally, after generations and generations of trial and error, the remaining humans of the world have restored the magnetic field. Still, the areas surrounding the few remaining human bases are inhabited by creatures known as xenogenics, made up of various body parts, including human parts, animal parts, insect parts, etc. These creatures also have the ability to spread their deformation to humans through open wounds, but the change isn’t immediate. So, to prevent these infected humans from entering the bases and spreading the infection, there are people designated as Judges who are given the right to judge if a person is a xenogenic or not. If found guilty, the person can be killed on the spot.

In one of the most dangerous areas out in the wild, a tiny mushroom tries to raise his spore. Unfortunately, one day, a human being exploring the wild for materials comes upon the mushroom and steals his spore. Desperate to get his spore back, the mushroom encounters a dying human named An Ze. They become friends, and An Ze allows the mushroom to use his body to take on a human form of his own. Once the mushroom can take human form, he accumulates all of An Ze’s memories and essentially his identity. Before An Ze passes, he gives the mushroom a name: An Zhe. With the ability to now integrate with humanity, An Zhe travels to a human base with the sole goal of getting his spore back.

Unfortunately, the only way to do that is to survive the Judge’s test, and An Zhe’s first encounter is with none other than the most accurate Judge of all: Lu Feng.

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Manga Review | Please Don’t Bite Me So Much! by Sangou Mitsuru

Title: Please Don't Bite Me So Much!

Author(s): Sangou Mitsuru

Artist(s): Sangou Mitsuru

Yanagi wants to be cool. So he’s bleached his hair and changed his image to achieve just that. But even with that change, Yanagi still isn’t putting out the image he desperately craves as a self-proclaimed “plain face.” Of course, it doesn’t help that he is put face-to-face every day at work with a guy who embodies all of the attitude and aesthetic he craves for himself: Igarashi. Igarashi is the talk of the town. He’s good-looking, a bit of a playboy, and he’s got an aesthetic that Yanagi would die for.

Needless to say, Yanagi isn’t Igarashi’s biggest fan. Even so, much like everyone else, Yanagi can’t help but be drawn to the tall, dark, and handsome coworker. But what draws Yanagi to Igarashi isn’t the same thing that draws anyone else in. Igarashi has a unique characteristic: a set of pronounced fanged canines. For whatever reason, Yanagi desperately wants to touch them. Instead, he wouldn’t mind if Igarashi bit him with those sharp teeth. But when would that chance ever come about?

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Manhwa Review | My Way with You by u-pi

Title: My Way with You

Author(s): u-pi

Artist(s): u-pi

Giran doesn’t care about most things anymore. Since his father’s suicide as a child, Giran has been raised by his grandmother, who devoted her entire being to raising him all on her own. As a result, Giran feels wholly indebted to her and spends his whole life working hard so he can one day pay her back for everything he has received from her. Unfortunately, though, Giran’s grandmother passes away at home alone during his work. Wracked with guilt for leaving her to pass away alone and being unable to fulfill the many promises he made to her, Giran’s life and goals fall by the wayside. He spends his days simply going through the motions, unable to move on with his life.

That is, until one day, he is at a club and catches the eye of a beautiful man named Seon-gyeong. The two have this immediate connection and magnetism that Giran can’t seem to shake. Somehow, they are constantly and inexplicably drawn to each other until they finally spend day after day together. Without any official declaration from either of them, they end up living together and spending more time together than they do doing anything else. But, as time goes on and their flame and passion fail to wane, it is clear something darker is pulling them together. Where did Seon-gyeong come from, and why is Giran so drawn to him?

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Manhwa Review | A Man of Virtue by GGANG-E

Title: A Man of Virtue

Author(s): GGANG-E

Artist(s): Wook

Jinwoo works with his greatest enemy, Sangtae. Their rivalry began back in high school, where Jinwoo used to dominate academically. However, when Sangtae transfers to Jinwoo’s school, it isn’t long before Jinwoo roots himself firmly in Jinwoo’s spot, leaving Jinwoo permanently in second place. While this is frustrating, Jinwoo isn’t too worried about it. Of course, this won’t last forever. Sangtae is going to go to college, and they probably won’t ever see each other again, right? Wrong. As luck would have, Sangtae ends up working in the same company and even in the same department, and just as he did in high school, Sangtae rules the roost, leaving Jinwoo in the dust.

One evening, when Jinwoo is particularly frustrated by Sangtae, Jinwoo drinks excessively. Then, in his drunken stupor, he pukes on a haechi statue, drawing the beast’s ire. The following day, at random, Jinwoo is inundated by dirty fantasies to the point that he can barely function. Unfortunately, amid one of these fantasies, Sangtae catches Jinwoo trying to relieve himself, resulting in further embarrassment and rivalry between the two. Amid their fighting, though, Jinwoo realizes that he only gets the fantasies when he is near Sangtae, leading him to conclude that these are actually Sangtae’s fantasies.

With Sangtae mysteriously at the crux of Jinwoo’s curse, will he be able to team up with his greatest enemy to solve this issue? Or is this just one more reason to avoid Sangtae for the rest of his life?

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Manhwa Review | Home Alone Together by Shin Yuri

Title: Home Alone Together

Author(s): Shin Yuri

Artist(s): Shin Yuri

Junwoo is a hikikomori – a young adult who has become a recluse. For the past five years, since graduating high school and after the death of his parents, he has holed himself up in his childhood home, where he spends his days in idle existence. The only thing he has to look forward to is the occasional visit from his neighbor Hanbit, a guy he’s had a crush on since he was a kid. Otherwise, his days are filled with severe loneliness and the self-loathing he hasn’t been able to shake.

One day, Hanbit comes by, implying that he might be moving in with Junwoo. This lights a fire under Junwoo, and he immediately assumes this is his chance to win over Hanbit. However, when Hanbit comes over, he brings along a stranger: Wooyeon. It turns out that Hanbit isn’t planning to move in. On the contrary, he is moving away to be with his longtime girlfriend. However, in fear of Junwoo being left alone unsupervised, Hanbit has the great idea that Wooyeon should move in with Junwoo.

Neither Junwoo nor Wooyeon seem jazzed about the idea, but both seem compelled to go along with it because of their affection for Hanbit. So begins the awkward orbiting the two have as they live together. Despite their disdain for each other’s company, slowly but surely, they grow to tolerate one another. And soon, that tolerance evolves into something more, something neither of them expected it would be. But these two have a lot of old wounds that threaten the peace they have created with each other. Will they be able to move forward, or are they destined to drown amid their surging trauma?

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Manga Review | Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku by Fujita

Title: Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku

Author(s): Fujita

Artist(s): Fujita

Narumi and Hirotaka have been friends since childhood when they bonded over their love of nerdy hobbies. For Narumi, she loved manga and anime. For Hirotaka, his love of video games dominated everything else in his life. However, as their carefree childhood days flew by, Hirotaka soon realized that he cared for Narumi almost as much as his video games. Unfortunately, though, those idyllic days of childhood bliss faded away, and so did Narumi and Hirotaka’s friendship.

As adults, Hirotaka and Narumi end up working at the same office. While they don’t immediately kick off as friends again in adulthood, they find solace in each other’s company once they reveal that their previous obsessions have only intensified. Able to be 100% herself with Hirotaka, Narumi spends a lot of her time complaining and confiding in him, whether it be about her fujoshi-related hobbies, work concerns, or even her failing love life. Hirotaka, still infatuated with Narumi, faithfully stands by as her shoulder to cry on. One day, though, listening to another tale of woe from Narumi due to her various love interests leaving her because of her otaku hobby, Hirotaka takes the plunge. He asks Narumi:

Why doesn’t she just date him instead?

And so begins the struggle of love between a closeted fujoshi and a game-obsessed, antisocial otaku. What could go wrong?

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Manhwa Review | Undercover Partners by JayJay

Title: Undercover Partners

Author(s): JayJay

Artist(s): Luvloo, Otae

Kyuho Je is over being a conglomerate family heir. He is looking for any way possible to get out from under his family while maintaining his lifestyle for himself. He finds the answer to all his problems through a money-laundering expert by the codename “Smurf,” who, in the real world, is known as Kangha Nam. Once Kyuho catches Kangha, he extorts him into entering a contract. Kangha will help Kyuho launder money from Jeho corporation, his family’s corporation, while acting as Kyuho’s lover. Kangha isn’t all that willing to go along with it at first, but when Kyuho offers to compensate him at any price Kangha sees fit, the offer is just too good to be true.

Kyuho gets to work on his plan immediately. He gets Kangha on at work as his secretary and begins setting the stage for their very fake but very public romance. Kangha charges for every touch, every event, and every favor, which grows his nest egg exponentially. However, as time goes on and they spend more and more time in these compromising scenarios, it becomes much harder to distinguish what emotions are real and which are just part of the act. While Kyuho and Kangha try to identify the legitimacy of their feelings and relationship, the looming threat of their illegal schemes being discovered is ready to ruin everything.

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