Trope: Opposites Attract
Manhwa Review | Your Secret Keeper by Team Ddakkong
Title: Your Secret Keeper (Lezhin) | Strictly Confidential (TappyToon)
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.
Novel Review | Little Mushroom: Judgement Day and Little Mushroom: Revelations by Shisi
Title: Little Mushroom: Judgment Day | Little Mushroom: Revelations
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.
Manga Review | Please Don’t Bite Me So Much! by Sangou Mitsuru
Title: Please Don't Bite Me So Much!
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?
Manhwa Review | A Man of Virtue by GGANG-E
Title: A Man of Virtue
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?
Manhwa Review | Home Alone Together by Shin Yuri
Title: Home Alone Together
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?
Manhwa Review | Undercover Partners by JayJay
Title: Undercover Partners
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.
Manga Review | Dekoboko Sugar Days, Dekoboko Bittersweet Days, and Dekoboko Sugar Days – Extra: Boys, Enjoy Your Youth! by Atsuko Yusen
Title: Dekoboko Sugar Days | Dekoboko Bittersweet Days | Dekoboko Sugar Days - Extra: Boys, Enjoy Your Youth!
Yuujirou Matsukaze and Rui Hanamine’s lifelong friendship began when they were small children. Rui fell into a drain, and Yuujirou was there to rescue him. From that day on, Yuujirou was always there to help defend and protect his soft-hearted friend Rui. However, protecting him has become a lot more complicated since Rui now towers over Yuujirou, and he’s no longer that cute little bundle of joy always trailing behind Yuujirou. Regardless, Yuujirou still hangs out with Rui every chance he gets…
Until Yuujirou realizes that he still thinks Rui is cute – way cuter than any girl or any guy he has ever seen. Does Yuujirou actually like Rui? Faced with this realization, Yuujirou is no longer sure how strong the foundation of their friendship is. Could it withstand him confessing to Rui? Could Rui even like him back? While Yuujirou is grappling with his own feelings, his friendship with Rui grows tenuous. Can Yuujirou come to terms with himself before losing Rui’s friendship altogether?
Manhwa Review | The Devil’s Temptation by Youn
Title: The Devil's Temptation
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?
Manhwa Review | If You Hate Me So by Fargo
Title: If You Hate Me So
Minjae is doing his best to get through school as quietly as possible. Unfortunately, that goes all out the window when he walks in on Hyung-jo doing something… inappropriate while the T.A., Jinhan, is asleep. Hyung-jo is obsessively in love with the T.A., and when he realizes Minjae has caught him, Hyung-jo is willing to go to any length to protect his secret crush from ridicule, even if it means hurting Minjae. Hyung-jo clarifies that he doesn’t care what anyone says about him, but he won’t tolerate anyone bad-mouthing Jinhan.
If that isn’t bad enough, Minjae also develops a crush on Jinhan, but Minjae refuses to back down. Only to make matters worse, Jinhan constantly brings Minjae and Hyung-jo together, forcing the two to interact even when they would both instead do anything but be in the same room with each other. Somehow, while they are fighting each other over Jinhan, Jinhan slowly stops being their focus. Instead, the only people in their view are each other. But, from enemies to lovers, is that even possible?