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Manhwa Review | Banana Scandal by Dolsha

Title: Banana Scandal

Author(s): Dolsha

Artist(s): Dolsha

Dojin is a college student from Korea who is attending university in the States. He enjoys it, but it hasn't always been smooth sailing. Even though he's no longer in Korea, the experience of rumors and judgment is just as rampant in the tight-knit Korean community on his campus. Dojin does his best to stay out of the drama while still enjoying college life, but when his roommate Taehwan goes off to intern in Hong Kong, Dojin's peaceful college life is thrown into disarray as Taehee, Taehwan's younger brother, comes to stay in their apartment.

It's not so bad at first. Dojin has known Taehee since they were young, and despite being taller and a bit gloomier, he's still the introverted boy who loves cartoons for kids. Taehee, however, is no longer that innocent young boy. While Dojin is sleeping in their room, he happens to hear something odd. It doesn't take much to realize that Taehee is playing with himself behind Dojin's back. Dojin should be repulsed. He should get up and tell Taehee to get out.

But for some reason, all Dojin wants to do is see how Taehee looks in the throes of passion.

Title: Miscreants and Mayhem

Author(s): Brothers Without a Tomorrow

Artist(s): Brothers Without a Tomorrow

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.

Title: The Man Who Shattered My World

Author(s): Osamu Moriya

Artist(s): Osamu Moriya

Tachibana is a player, and he's exclusively a top. He has no intention of falling in love or maintaining a romantic relationship, and to ensure his partners are aware of the status quo, he has them agree to a relationship contract. It has several requirements, but the most important one is simple: no falling in love. This serves Tachibana well for the most part. However, while he's on the hunt for a new partner, he finds himself having to reject potential candidates, as they admit that they might end up falling for him. Tachibana is about to call it a night after hunting for a sex partner when a new guy approaches him.

The man is very handsome but very tall and much more masculine than Tachibana usually goes for. Tachibana immediately assumes he's a top and clarifies that he is exclusively a top. But to Tachibana's surprise, the man says he's a bottom. Again, the man is not Tachibana's usual type. However, Tachibana loves to dominate, and what would be more satisfying than dominating this big guy? So, after explaining his contract with the stranger, the two agree to the terms and head to a hotel room together. Everything is going well with his new bedmate, Kuzumi until Kuzumi decides to turn the tables.

The exclusive top Tachibana suddenly finds himself on the bottom and is thoroughly dominated instead. Tachibana is ready to break the contract and forget the whole thing, but Kuzumi has no intention of letting Tachibana go. And as much as Tachibana doesn't want to admit it, he finds himself craving to be taken by Kuzumi again.

Title: Starfighter

Author(s): HamletMachine

Artist(s): HamletMachine

A Navigator is given the name “Abel,” and he's paired with a Fighter who is given the name “Cain.” They are part of the Federated Alliance Fleet, a military force that protects Earth and her colonies, including Mars, where Cain is from. As Navigator, Abel's role is to pilot a ship through space, while Cain, the Fighter, acts as the gunman. The two have to work together, especially in this time of war with the looming threat of the Colterons, an alien race that seeks to take over Earth and her colonies, even if it means decimating all human life. However, Abel isn't initially keen on pairing with Cain, as Cain starts their new partnership by biting Abel's lips, leaving them scarred.

A scar, Cain says, proves that Abel is his.

Abel is thrown off and not sure their partnership is going to work, but even when he knows he should be hesitant around the unknown Fighter, he can't help finding himself attracted by his dominance. Ultimately, after only knowing each other for a few hours, the two sleep together. What begins as nothing more than a physical relationship quickly develops into an emotional one, one that Abel is determined to protect while out on the battlefield. What Abel doesn't know is that this relationship might not have started as randomly as he might have thought, and Cain doesn't realize just how important Abel will be to him.

Title: The Sweet Swindler

Author(s): Pppallet

Artist(s): Pppallet

Unyul, also known as Yul, is known as a standoffish asshole on campus. And this is not without purpose. Yul has experienced painful betrayal from his closest friends and confidants in the past, so much so that he was forced to drop out of his old college and transfer to his current one. So, to avoid getting too close to anyone, he acts in such a way that everyone despises him, and that works just fine for him. His only true friend is his roommate and fucky buddy Gongju. Unfortunately, Gongju is also a bit of an insufferable asshole, but that's why they get along so well. Plus, Gongju is very talented in bed, so they have a perfectly balanced relationship.

But while attending Gongju's gardening club, he meets a freshman named Seoha. Yul is instantly attracted to him, and though he knows this will likely end up in him getting hurt, he can't help trying to forge at least a friendship with the young man. It's a big surprise for Yul when Seoha begins to reciprocate his feelings. Yul sees this as his chance to finally be in a relationship with a kind and honest guy. But Gongju doesn't seem to be willing to end their situationship. Stuck between the man he's in love with and the man he loves to bed, Yul isn't sure he can choose.

And what Yul doesn't realize is that beneath all of the sweetness, there can be a sour center, just as there can be a sweet middle to a bitter treat.

Title: Limited Run

Author(s): Eeej

Artist(s): Eeej

Yeon-oh is not just a struggling actor. As the eldest son in his family, he is compelled to try and pay off his father's neverending gambling debt, constantly compounded and recurring thanks to loan sharks who willingly lend him money. They know his father can't pay it off, but they also know Yeon-oh will do what he can to pay it off, including providing them sexual favors. His life is a neverending rat race, and he sees no end to it until he gets invited to speak to the CEO of the conglomerate Haekang. There's no doubt what a CEO wants with a struggling actor. It's a sponsorship, which equates to a celebrity being showered with gifts and opportunities in exchange for, often, sexual and physical favors. Yeon-oh initially wants to refuse, but after being pressured by his father, he decides to go.

The CEO, Jaehyuk, decides to make the offer. But Jaehyuk tells Yeon-oh what he expects. He doesn't want just simple physical pleasure, though that would be part of it. He wants Yeon-oh to use his acting skills to pretend to be his boyfriend in public. As it turns out, Jaehyuk is determined to rebel against his grandfather and tear down the upper echelon of Haekang's public image. The ultimate goal is to ruin his grandfather, though for what reason Yeon-oh doesn't know. The two start off rocky, with Yeon-oh struggling to put on a front in public, but over time, it grows easier, and as lucrative work starts coming in, Yeon-oh's life takes a positive turn. Neither Jaehyuk nor Yeon-oh realizes that there is a growing target on Yeon-oh's back, not just from Jaehyuk's family but all of the people watching Yeon-oh.

Meanwhile, Yeon-oh is beginning to struggle not with acting or being Jaehyuk's bedmate. He's struggling with his own feelings. What started as an act is slowly beginning to feel like reality. While he knows Jaehyuk has no intention of being with him for real, Yeon-oh can't help feeling hopeful that Jaehyuk cares about him as a real lover somewhere deep inside.

Title: Master's Pet

Author(s): Shroomi

Artist(s): Shroomi

Marquess Joseph Howard has been trying to grow out of his gambling and cheating father's shadow. Unfortunately, that becomes immensely more difficult when his younger half-brother, his father's love child, is brought to his home. The mother of the child requests compensation for raising the child, named Collin, as was promised by Joseph's father before his death. Still compelled to escape his father's past promises and debts, Joseph agrees to pay off the woman, who then leaves young Collin behind for Joseph to raise. Joseph isn't interested in his half-brother, but unlike Joseph, who looks nothing like the long history of Howard Marquess before him, Collin is a spitting image of his deceased father. Joseph is immensely jealous and feels Collin is just a physical representation of his inadequacy as the new marquess.

But Joseph is determined to better the Howard name, so he reluctantly takes in his half-brother. Joseph prepares the young man for his noble education but finds that he is traumatized and wild. In order to make things a bit easier, Joseph brings in another servant, an enslaved man named Ein. He intends for Ein to get close to Collin and help him integrate into his new life within the Howard household. But Ein has a painful past, one that still haunts him and that he openly fears. Joseph is willing to help Ein escape his past forever, but at a cost. During the day, Ein serves and teaches Collin, but Ein acts as Joseph's bedmate at night.

Ein wants to serve in hopes of one day finally breaking free from his past, but when young Collin falls for him, an intense love triangle threatens to tear everything apart. Ein is willing to give his body to his masters. But will he end up giving over his heart, too?

Title: The Flower of Alosha

Author(s): Jang Ryang / Jangryang

Kay is living his best simple life as the vice captain in Lablen. He's a bit of a womanizer, enjoying the company of women, though never more than one at a time. This does come at a price, earning him the ire of his captain, who often longs for the very women that Kay ends up with. It is an annoying but small problem in his life, so Kay is relatively happy at the end of the day. But Kay's simple world is rocked when none other than the Grand Duke, Zigryl Rhyner, arrives in this small, cold region of the empire unannounced.

Zigryl is well-known for his chaotic and cruel nature, and though he isn't the emperor, his brother, the emperor, who has been ill for some time, has no successors. So, he has all the power of the emperor without the shackles of the crown. What is a man with such power and freedom doing in this snow-covered rural region of the empire? As it turns out, Zigryl, alongside his attendant Schumann, isn't here for Lablen but for the subregion of Edor, which is well-known for being dangerous and near-impossible to reach thanks to the surrounding Forest of the Dead. They are after something called the Alosha's Flower, and they need a guide to get there.

Unfortunately for Kay, as soon as Zigryl lays eyes upon him, the Grand Duke wants Kay and only Kay for the journey ahead. Kay, unable to deny the wants of someone with such power, has no choice but to acquiesce. Kay anticipates this mission will only take a few days, and then he'll be able to return and live his everyday life back in Lablen. But what Kay doesn't realize until it's far too late is that Zigryl wants Kay as a guide and a bedmate, and once he gets a taste of him, he has no intention of letting Kay go.

Title: No Reason

Author(s): Salty

Artist(s): Salty

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.

Title: Wedding Plans for Mr. & Mr.

Author(s): Rotten Green T

Artist(s): Gege

Kyungwon sees love every day. He's a wedding planner, and though he's good at his job, it isn't always fun for him, as usually the grooms are just his type. Desperate for love, Kyungwon goes out to a gay bar with a friend and drinks his pain away. Emboldened by the alcohol, when a popular hottie comes into the club, he walks right up and introduces himself. The two drink together, and there is an immediate connection, which leads to them climbing into a hotel bed together. The sex is excellent, but Kyungwon doesn't remember much else and leaves the man in the hotel room the following day.

After their hot and heavy encounter, Kyungwon forgets everything else about his partner from that night. That is until, while at work, he's approached by a stranger who introduces himself as Kangwoo, the brother of a former client. Kyungwon is stunned, and just when he thinks this is his chance to fall in love, Kangwoo says he wants Kyungwon to be his wedding planner. Kyungwon is heartbroken but happy to assist. But as they go through the process of planning a wedding, Kangwoo becomes more and more suspicious. He doesn't ever bring his bride, he hates everything that Kyungwon shows him, and it seems that he has no intention of getting married to anyone. If his intention isn't to get married, what exactly is his intention?

Red Flag

Manhwa Review | Banana Scandal by Dolsha

Manhwa Review | Miscreants and Mayhem by Brothers Without a Tomorrow

Manga Review | The Man Who Shattered My World by Osamu Moriya

Manhwa Review | The Sweet Swindler by Pppallet

Manhwa Review | Limited Run by Eeej

Manhwa Review | No Reason by Salty

Manhwa Review | Wedding Plans for Mr. & Mr. by Rotten Green T

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