BL Library - Social Gap Archives

Novel Review | University of the Underworld by Ziloi

Title: University of the Underworld

Author(s): Ziloi

Our main character is a new ghost. He doesn’t remember how or when he died, nor does he remember who he even is, so he spends the first moments of his new ghostly life simply waiting when he wakes up. For what? For the ghostly guards, of course, that will help guide him to the underworld. No matter how long he waits, though, there is no sign of any guards of any kind to come and help. So, on a whim, the ghostling decides that if he isn’t destined to go to the underworld, he’ll become a malevolent spirit. Unfortunately, his first target is none other than Bai Shaonan, a ghost, and a powerful one at that.

The little ghostling’s antics do not amuse Bai Shaonan, and he’s compelled to destroy the new ghost and move along with his undead life. However, there is something about the little ghost that Shaonan just won’t seem to let him do it, especially when he finds out the little guy wants to become a malevolent spirit and has no clue who he is. So, looking around, Shaonan picks a random name: Cui Yue. Then, he takes little Cui Yue under his wing and back to the underworld, specifically the university where Shaonan is actually a dean.

Cui Yue starts his life as an underworld college student, but it’s not all fun and games. Cui Yue isn’t a very good student, but he’s trying his best, and his grades are the least of his worries when he realizes that Shaonan’s interest may not end at mere scholarly interest. But beyond school and romantic troubles, there is an underworld to the underworld that is working to destroy both Cui Yue and Bai Shaonan for eternity.

Read About This

Manga Review | Sating the Wolf by Troy Arukuno

Title: Sating the Wolf

Author(s): Troy Arukuno

Artist(s): Troy Arukuno

Noah is a wolf, a carnivore, and in this world, most carnivores end up as betas or alphas, while herbivores manifest as betas and omegas. Noah, though, ends up manifesting as an omega, and due to his pack’s history with male omegas being the cause of violence and death, he is banished. On his own, he travels from village to village, trying to hide the fact that he is both a carnivore and an omega to survive. After some time wandering about, Noah finds himself in a herbivore village. He tries to stock up to move on to the next village.

While shopping in town, he encounters a shopkeeper, holding two young rabbit children by their ears and accusing them of stealing his wares. The children claim they did no such thing, but they have no way of proving otherwise. Standing amid the growing crowd, Noah sees the true culprit, a weasel, trying to slip away. Wanting to help the kids, Noah captures the weasel and reveals that he is the one who stole. Thankful for his help, the rabbit children insist that Noah come with them to meet their brother Henri so he can cook a meal for Noah as thanks.

Henri and Noah meet, and although Noah is a wolf, the same species that killed his parents, and the village ostracizes Henri’s family, Henri wants to take responsibility for Noah. Even more so when Henri manifests as an alpha because of Noah’s heat. Can a rabbit alpha and a wolf omega make it work? And can their love withstand the prejudice and judgment of the society around them?

Read About This

Manhwa Review | From Points of Three by White Eared

Title: From Points of Three

Author(s): White Eared

Artist(s): White Eared

Jisuh is in a lot of debt. Due to his last relationship, which ended in Jisuh having to bail out his cheating boyfriend from some thugs using all of his savings and loans, Jisuh has trouble trusting anyone. He is more than happy to form a physical relationship with someone, but if there’s even a chance he could get hurt, he’s quick to cut ties and run. This rule applies to the famous actor Woo Heejae.

Jisuh happens to meet Heejae on a drama set where Jisuh is filming, and Heejae is the lead actor. Heejae isn’t initially drawn to him as he’s pretty plain-looking, but then Jisuh calls Heejae a snake. Having never been perceived in such a way, Heejae is immediately attracted to Jisuh’s view of things. So, Heejae comes up with a plan to pull Jisuh into his grasp.

In exchange for helping pay off Jisuh’s debt, Heejae wants Jisuh to film him and his partner Sun-yool during their BDSM play. And while Jisuh’s role is a viewer, he imagines himself as a participant. What a surprise it is when Heejae reaches out to him and invites him to join them. It’s just a physical relationship. Nothing could go wrong, right?

Read About This

Manga Review | Kabukicho Bad Trip by Eiji Nagisa

Title: Kabukicho Bad Trip

Author(s): Eiji Nagisa

Artist(s): Eiji Nagisa

Toru is a top-rated host. That’s not surprising, seeing how attractive and personable he is. However, he can’t give all of the credit to those things. In fact, most of his success comes from his unique ability to read minds. Using this ability, he sways the masses and becomes one of the most popular hosts in Kabukicho. Of course, he could have any woman or even man if he wanted them, but Toru doesn’t want just any person. He wants Mizuki Hikawa.

Mizuki is a popular and equally attractive male model, and Toru is obsessed with him. He is so obsessed with him that Toru uses “Mizuki” as his name while hosting. But Toru does his best to keep it under wraps, even going so far as to travel out of his way to pick up magazines with him on the cover. On one such occasion, at a convenience store, Toru runs into Mizuki – literally. They end up falling over each other and, in turn, start talking. It turns out Mizuki needs some help getting to a shoot, and Toru is more than happy to be his knight in shining armor.

After all of Toru’s help, Mizuki makes an effort to keep in touch, and the more they meet up, the more Toru can see into Mizuki’s private thoughts. Of course, Toru is beyond pleased that Mizuki is attracted to him. What he isn’t as pleased with is that almost everything Mizuki imagines or wants has to do with BDSM and absolutely dominating Toru. Though scared of this new territory, if it means being with Mizuki, Toru is willing to give everything a try, and he does mean anything.

Read About This

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?

Read About This

Manhwa Review | Siren’s Song by Clarju

Title: Siren's Song

Author(s): Clarju

Artist(s): Clarju

Yul has lived his entire life hopelessly strung along by others. “Lived” is a generous term. With his life never fully in his control, he has always been forced to follow the whims and commands of those around him. Even as an adult, that hasn’t changed. He currently lives in an apartment owned by his adopted brother, who has an unhealthy obsession with him that goes beyond a sibling relationship. In that home, alone and unable to leave, Yul spends his day under surveillance and composing music that is presented to the world under his brother’s name. His only solace is out on the apartment balcony, where he can sing and smoke to his heart’s content.

Yul’s small world is rocked, though, when one evening on the balcony, his singing is overheard by a neighbor on the balcony above. The neighbor Luan is immediately drawn to Yul for an inexplicable reason. However, Yul allows Luan to begin his plan for revenge against everyone who made his life hell, even if he has to destroy Yul in the process. Luan doesn’t expect that as he grows closer to Yul and begins to uncover the history behind his existence, Luan not only wants revenge for himself but for Yul as well. But what he fears more than anything now is losing or hurting Yul amid his vengeful warpath.

Read About This

Manhwa Review | The King and the Paladin by IRINBI

Title: The King and the Paladin

Author(s): IRINBI

Artist(s): Park JiEun

Ezekiel is a noble paladin. For years now, he has been steadily building up his reputation, wealth, and standing in society in hopes of one day reuniting with his long-lost love Calli, and finally establishing a life with her. However, before finding her, he is appointed as the heir to a dukedom as the illegitimate son. Ezekiel accepts his role, and as the heir, he meets with the newly appointed queen of the kingdom. To his surprise, though, the bloody queen Calliope is none other than his long-lost love Calli. Before he can even express his joy, Calli captures him and forces him into a marriage ceremony right then and there.

Calliope has suffered for years under the power of her father’s concubine and her children. Her only reprieve from the suffering was the company of a mysterious man named Ezekiel, who was being kept and trained by the church. The two shared many sweet and intimate moments. After discovering the corrupt and salacious nature of the church, Calliope’s goal is to help rescue Ezekiel and take over her rightful place on the throne as its only direct descendent. However, upon making this decision for herself, she discovers Ezekiel has disappeared, and all she has to go on is the rumors that he has left to become a noblewoman’s concubine. Betrayed by her only love, Calliope goes on the warpath, ascends the throne, and with Ezekiel back under her thumb, she is determined to keep him by her side, even if it means destroying him in the process.

Read About This

Manhwa Review | A Thousand Cranes by Jeong Seokchan

Title: A Thousand Cranes

Author(s): Jeong Seokchan

Artist(s): Jeong Seokchan

Craig’s life has always been challenging. He’s always played the role of a parent to his younger sibling and had to be a punching bag to their father. So when his father disappears, Craig momentarily believes this is the relief he and his sibling desperately need. Unfortunately, though, debt collectors come knocking once their father is gone. It turns out that Craig’s father has accumulated a massive amount of debt and listed Craig as the guarantor for all of it. Craig sticks around, unable to leave his sibling behind and unwilling to throw away all of the responsibility his father did. He quits school, takes on as many jobs as possible, and starts the neverending task of paying off his father’s debts.

Over time, though, the responsibility is only getting heavier and heavier, and as time goes on, the debt never seems to let up, no matter how much he pays off. Life is beginning to seem not worth the effort. Then, on an evening when those dark thoughts are incredibly taxing, Craig comes upon a scene one would only expect to see in gangster films. In the shadows of a dark alley, there is a dead body, and standing above the dead body is a killer. Craig runs off but is soon captured by the killer. At first, the killer, whose name turns out to be Dean, is fully intent on silencing Craig forever, but there is something about Craig that Dean can’t seem to let go of. So, instead of killing Craig, Dean decides to hire him and take on all of Craig’s debt, so Dean is the only creditor.

With some of his stress lifted, Craig finds himself lighter and freer, even when tied exclusively to Dean. As they continue to work and learn more about each other’s pains and struggles, the superficial line between debtor and creditor begins to blur. Can these two broken and struggling people find solace in each other? Even as Dean’s job in the dark underbelly threatens to tear everything they’ve built apart?

Read About This

Novel Review | Look at Me by Tansan

Title: Look at Me

Author(s): Tansan

Heerak is a well-known alpha. He’s a successful restauranteur and social media influencer, which leaves him spoiled for choice when it comes to partners. However, one evening, he wakes from a drunken stupor to find himself in the throes of passion with a cute omega. Well, cute from what parts of him he can see. Before he can identify the anonymous bed-partner, he blacks out again. The following day, the omega of his dreams is nowhere to be found.

This sends Heerak on a search, which results in finding the omega, except he wasn’t an omega at all. It turns out the person in question was Dooseon, a beta and one of Heerak’s employees at his company. Wanting to avoid a scandal, Heerak goes into protection mode, offering to pay any price for Dooseon to keep quiet. However, to his surprise, Dooseon doesn’t want anything. If anything, he got what he wanted out of the deal: a night with Heerak, for whom he always had some level of attraction.

Stunned by this revelation and by Dooseon’s refusal of compensation, Heerak finds himself drawn to the beta. It is no longer a game of protecting his image or burying a scandal; instead, it’s all about getting Dooseon to fall for Heerak. As Heerak does his best to shower Dooseon with time and affection, Dooseon struggles with this new suitor. Why does Heerak spend so much time on him? What could a dominant alpha get from a beta like him?

Read About This

Manhwa Review | A Kind Goblin’s Bird by 8cat

Title: A Kind Goblin's Bird

Author(s): 8cat

Artist(s): 8cat

There is a tale about a woman who can help grant wishes in people’s sleep. All she has to do is sing as the person falls asleep, and in their dreams, they will see their wishes granted. She is an oracle and one that Sah Heonyoung seeks out to test her powers. When he sees her, they are inexplicably drawn to each other; Sah Heonyoung, in particular, is drawn to the oracle. However, his identity as the twin of the crown prince, a goblin, makes it impossible to want anything without fear of losing it.

The oracle in question has never had a name. She is forced to live out in the woods of the mountain, surviving on weeds and grass in between the few times she is called to perform her wish-granting ceremony. Over time, her body has accumulated many scars, her legs have weakened to the point that she can’t stand for long, and her eyesight is poor at night. Her life is an endless struggle until she meets the goblin in the red mask. He whisks her away, gives her a name, and asks her to be his bride. In an instant, her life has changed, but the imperial family, his family, threatens to steal away her happiness forever.

Read About This

Social Gap

Authors (Optional)

Artists (Optional)

Publishers/Platforms (Optional)

Work Types (Optional)

Tags (Optional)