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Manga Review | The Beautiful Greenness by Miecohouse Matsumoto

Title: The Beautiful Greenness

Taro is an author, or at least he is supposed to be, but he has been experiencing writer’s block that has been impossible for him to overcome. In the meantime, he has been freelancing and writing articles for a couple of publications to make ends meet. Otherwise, he spends his days lounging about his apartment, depressed and alone. Life doesn’t seem like it will change anytime soon until he runs into a greengrocer hawking his wares. Taro doesn’t intend to buy anything, but the greengrocer targets Taro and offers him a deal he can’t possibly refuse: 100 yen for a carrot and spinach.

Despite Taro not knowing how to cook, he accepts the deal and spends the rest of the day complaining about the persistence of the greengrocer. That night, he discovers his bath is out of order, and the following day, he is forced to go out to a public bath, where he runs into the same greengrocer. The two get into an argument due to Taro’s poor attitude and homophobic comments, which prompts Haruki, the greengrocer, to buy back the produce. However, while heading back to Taro’s house, Haruki discovers that Taro might be hiding something tender and sad inside him. When they finally arrive, Haruki takes the chance to see if he can peel back Taro’s layers to find what secrets he has hidden within.

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?

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?

Title: Love Tractor

Author(s): HmmYongYong

Artist(s): AngryMonster

Sun Yool desperately needs an escape. His relationship with his father has been tenuous at best, and his relationship with his boyfriend hasn’t been going much better. While trying to keep the balance in his relationships, he’s also struggling through law school. Things are beginning to come to a head with Yool’s mental health when his mother talks him into going to his grandfather’s farm for a break since his grandfather is in the hospital, unable to keep up his home. Yool accepts the offer and leaves the city to escape to the farm.

Yool expects many peaceful days ahead. However, he doesn’t expect to find a big, burly young adult named Yechan, whom he briefly knew as a child. Yechan grows attached to Yool, and soon, the days with Yechan far exceed the days Yool has alone, and while he would never admit it out loud, Yool finds himself growing attached to the boisterous young man. But even in this idyllic scenario with the eye candy that is Yechan, the darkness of the life he left behind is ever-looming and threatening the fragile happiness he’s built for himself.

Title: Ten Count

Author(s): Rihito Takarai

Artist(s): Rihito Takarai

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: 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?

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?

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?

Title: Rain Again

Author(s): Jeong Seokchan

Artist(s): Jeong Seokchan

Wujin is living life listlessly. He goes through the motions, just enough to stay alive and keep a roof over his head. He’s a recent graduate with no thoughts or feelings about his future. To escape the past that has placed him in this frozen state, he moves as far away as his funds will allow him. One day, while running an errand for his new landlord around the apartment building, he runs into his neighbor, Jin. Jin is a mysterious man. He comes home more often with wounds than not, with looks that could kill.

Most people would be dissuaded from getting close to him. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, Wujin is drawn to him. As Wujin tears down the walls of this mystery man, he discovers that Jin is much more gentle and caring than he lets on. He also has a darker past that he is doing his best to escape. What Wujin doesn’t expect is for Jin to turn around and tear down his walls, as well. With two people suffering from mistakes they can’t escape, will they continue to run together, or will they run apart?

Title: Lack of Love

Author(s): Okdongi

Artist(s): Seoil

Hajin Park is trying his best to start his online fashion store, but it’s a lot more complicated than he realized. His sister, a dentist with her own business, offers to help him out and set up his store online, but only if he does her a huge favor. She is a huge stan for the idol group 89, and while she has a ticket to one of their meet and greets, she’s unable to attend due to work. So, she asks Hajin to go instead to get all of the members’ autographs. While Hajin isn’t looking forward to it, he agrees.

As Hajin is the only man there, he draws a lot of unwanted attention, including from the members of 89. To escape some of the crowds, he goes to the bathroom. While trying to find an open stall, he runs into Hangyum, the hottest member of 89, in quite a compromising position. After escaping the awkward encounter and the meet and greet, Hajin is all set to put all this idol business behind him when he is pulled aside by the manager of 89. The manager noticed how put together Hajin is and wants Hajin to become the personal stylist for the 89 members because their style is seriously bad.

Hajin is hesitant at first, but after discussing it with his roommate and sister and finding that it would eventually help his online business, Hajin calls back the manager’s number. The manager is not the one who answers, though. Instead, Hangyum picks up and ends up personally striking a deal with Hajin. As a result, Hajin becomes Hangyum’s stylist while also assisting the other members from time to time. But Hangyum doesn’t intend for Hajin to just help him with styling. Hangyum and Hajin have a past, and Hangyum intends to heal the wounds they share.

Yaoi

Manga Review | The Beautiful Greenness by Miecohouse Matsumoto

Manhwa Review | My Way with You by u-pi

Manhwa Review | A Man of Virtue by GGANG-E

Manhwa Review | Love Tractor by HmmYongYong

Manga Review | Ten Count by Rihito Takarai

Manhwa Review | Home Alone Together by Shin Yuri

Manhwa Review | Rain Again by Jeong Seokchan

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