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Manga Review | Ten Count by Rihito Takarai

Title: Ten Count

Shirotani suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. He spends every day in fear of being contaminated. The only way he can make it through his day-to-day life is by covering himself completely and avoiding as much human contact as possible. As a result, Shirotani is always in long sleeves and long pants along with a set of gloves to protect his hands. Even with all of the protection, though, the moment he enters his home, he must strip completely and put the contaminated clothes away, then he has to wash his hands as many times as possible until they are chapped and bleeding. This is Shirotani's routine.

At least it was, until the day his boss narrowly avoided being hit by a car. While parked on the side of the road, the company president received a phone call, which he took just outside the car. While on the phone, he failed to notice a car heading his way. Shirotani, seeing the oncoming vehicle, calls out to the president and reaches out to him, but at the very last second, his aversion to human touch stops him. Thankfully, though, a passerby on a bicycle saves the president. As it turns out, this savior is Kurose, a counselor at a psychiatric clinic, and the moment he sees Shirotani's gloves, he identifies that Shirotani has germophobia.

Ashamed by his inability to save the president and from Kurose's urging, Shirotani begins seeking help from Kurose. First, Kurose has Shirotani write down ten things he can't do due to his obsessive-compulsive disorder – 1 being the easiest to achieve, 10 being near impossible. Then, together, Kurose and Shirotani go through each one and try to overcome them with exposure therapy. However, the line between counselor and patient begins to blur, and soon Shirotani is doing things with Kurose that disgust him, yet he craves it. Does Kurose truly see Shirotani as a patient needing treatment, or is there something more? And if there is more, can Shirotani overcome enough of his aversions to let Kurose in?

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?

Title: ANTI P.T.

Author(s): Lee Gpiee

Artist(s): Lee Gpiee

Param is a perfect employee. He was a special hire at one of the top companies in Korea, one of the youngest employees to be promoted into his position, and he's an overall likable guy at work. Life doesn't get much better than this! Unfortunately, though, Param isn't as perfect as it would seem. He has a secret he's kept under wraps for quite a long time. Param is actually gay, and he has a crush on his coworker Taehyun. To top it all off, Param has a terribly sensitive body. It doesn't take much before he is in a highly awkward situation.

On a day like any other, Param does his best to get through the day without any issues. However, he ends up pinned against his work crush in a crowded elevator. This, of course, results in Param's typical awkward situation. As soon as he gets the chance, he escapes the elevator and heads to the nearest bathroom to help relieve himself. Along the way, he ends up running into a beefy delinquent. Param is less than polite about the run-in and ends up rubbing the delinquent the wrong way. Unfortunately for Param, he drops his work ID, and when the delinquent follows Param to the restroom to return it, he ends up catching Param in the act.

Thankfully, the chances of ever running into this guy are pretty much nill… right? Wrong. That same day, Param heads down to the company gym to start his new workout routine, only to find that “delinquent” is not actually a delinquent but a personal trainer for the company. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, the personal trainer, Hwi, blackmails Param. Either he signs up for classes with Hwi for double the standard rate, or Hwi tells the entire company how much of a perv Param is. With no other choice, Param agrees, but it isn't long before these workouts go beyond that standard gym routine.

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.

Title: Alien in My Wardrobe

Author(s): BINGO

Artist(s): BINGO

Haesung Park is your average corporate professional. He goes to work, works hard, goes home, and goes to sleep, a regular routine for an average guy… at least, it would be if Haesung didn't also spend his days fantasizing about his sunbae at work, Shiwon. Shiwon is kind and reliable and one of the reasons Haesung can do his best at work. However, in Haesung's fantasies, Shiwon is dominant and cruel, which is exactly what Haesung wants. Haesung is secretly into BDSM, so he tries not to get close to anyone. Who could ever accept someone with such weird tastes?

Never fear. The heavens answer him with a man who conveniently crashes onto Haesung's balcony. He's tall, dark, and handsome, not to mention a jerk, which aligns perfectly with Haesung's BDSM fantasies. However, he isn't just any man. He is an alien from a species whose ultimate goal is to overtake humanity and eventually the Earth because their planet is dying. While Lotus, the alien, doesn't intend to make Haesung his main research subject, Haesung mistakenly links up to Lotus's research.

Beggars can't be choosers, though, so Lotus is just fine with using Haesung as his research subject. Haesung, however, is not as gungho with the situation. So, Haesung strikes a deal: Lotus can stay with him and research to his heart's content… if Lotus will help him fulfill his BDSM fantasies. Much to Haesung's surprise, Lotus accepts. So begins the odd partnership between an alien and a human. What could go wrong?

Title: Sweat and Soap

Author(s): Kintetsu Yamada

Artist(s): Kintetsu Yamada

Asako works at a toiletry manufacturing company in the finance department, which is convenient since she struggles with something that makes life pretty tricky: sweat. Asako sweats much more than average, so she has to be extra hygienic to avoid smelling out in public. Even with her above-average hygiene habits, though, Asako still finds herself stressing over her smell. As a child, she was relentlessly bullied for sweating, and that trauma has carried over into her adulthood. So, her days are spent in constant anxiety and fear over getting too close to those around her and becoming the laughingstock of her peers due to her hygiene.

Her fears come to a head when the lead product developer Kotaro Natori at work approaches her in the lobby because of her smell. He has an unnaturally strong sense of smell because he develops the soaps their company produces, and Asako's scent is particularly strong to him. However, he doesn't dislike her smell at all. Instead, he is inspired by it, and he desperately needs Asako's odor to inspire him for the upcoming Winter line of soaps he is preparing to present. Though Asako wants to do anything but let Kotaro smell her all day, for the company's sake, she agrees to let Kotaro smell her at the office daily. It's not long, though, before Kotaro is drawn to Asako for more than just her smell, and even Asako is beginning to enjoy these sniff sessions a bit more than she expected.

Title: The Devil's Temptation

Author(s): Youn

Artist(s): Youn

All Hyun of the owl tribe wants out of life is yummy food, comfy furniture, and never having to leave the house. But unfortunately, he has to work to survive. To keep up with his corporate job, he has to attend the holiday party at the end of the year. What makes it worse is his archnemesis from the snake tribe, Ivan, is there and makes it a point to tease Hyun as much as he can. To survive the night, Hyun drinks himself into a tizzy, only to embarrass himself in front of the director of the company and his crush from the snake tribe, Alek. Thankfully, Hyun doesn't have to suffer the party for too long as he passes out.

When he wakes up, not only is he in bed with Ivan, but he has a weird mark on his neck. This is an imprint specific to the snake tribe that binds the marker to the marked so that the marked craves physical intimacy with their marker. It's okay, though, because there is a cure, but it could take months to develop, and in the meantime, Hyun could experience flu-like symptoms… or possibly go blind if he doesn't get enough pheromones from Ivan. The worst part, though, is that the mark also attracts other members of the snake tribe and him to them, so he has to juggle intimacy with his enemy Ivan and try to keep from pouncing on his crush and boss Alek, too.

Can an owl like Hyun survive in the snake pit? And even if Hyun does survive, what does this new level of intimacy mean for his relationship with Ivan and Alek? Do they only like him for the mark, or is there something more?

Title: Invitation of the Mystic Messenger

Author(s): GIMAN

Artist(s): MeriG

Hana Kang was not having a very good day. She gets fired from her job, her rent goes up, and as a result, she loses her home. So she goes out into the world with her few possessions, lost and alone. Out there, she runs into a beautiful blond woman who comforts her and asks her to be her friend one day. Naturally, Hana wants to be her friend, too, and after they part, Hana finds that the mysterious woman has left her phone, which gives her the perfect opportunity to seek her out.

However, upon checking the phone for information on the mysterious woman, Hana finds nothing except an app called Mystic Messenger. When she uses the app, she gets a response from someone named Unknown, who points her toward an empty apartment. Little does she know, the apartment and the app are being monitored by members of a group known as RFA – Rika's Fundraising Association – and because Rika has passed, her role in the group is opened, and they all offer it to Hana. So, with a new job, a new apartment, and a gaggle of attractive suitors at the ready, Hana sets off into the unknown.

Salarymen / Corporate Jobs / Office Jobs

Manga Review | Ten Count by Rihito Takarai

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

Manhwa Review | ANTI P.T. by Lee Gpiee

Manhwa Review | Alien in My Wardrobe by BINGO

Manga Review | Sweat and Soap by Kintetsu Yamada

Manhwa Review | The Devil’s Temptation by Youn

Manhwa Review | Invitation of the Mystic Messenger by GIMAN

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