This story was lowkey really ass. Its saving grace was the art, which was—to judge it by its overall standard—really, really good, bordering on phenomenal. But its story, for what little existed, was rather weak.
It was incredibly jarring to read basically nineteen chapters of non-stop, shameless PWP, only to have the last two entirely dedicated to rushed, hamfisted plot that is basically one big shonen battle . . . Though when I say "big," that's in reference to the fact that it took up two whole chapters, and not in reference to the spectacle of the fight. Despite being a life-or-death fight between two demons—or Gods, it's a bit hard to follow—the fight felt rather anticlimactic. They're just standing in place shooting beams at each other.
The story started incredibly strong; it opened with a group of friends going on a camping trip in a mountain. When one of the friends goes a little deeper into the woods to try and find sticks for their fire, he comes across a cave with old warding charms roped in front of the entrance, though he doesn't know that's what they were. He calls out for the rest of the friend group to come to where he is, and once they do they all reluctantly agree to go into the cave together to check it out. This scene creates a pretty good sense of atmosphere and foreboding dread, with them gradually getting more freaked out as they delve deeper. They end up coming across a man-like statue wrapped in warding charms, and Junhee—our MC—feels an unexplainable pull towards it.
When Junhee touches the strange statue, out erupts a large deity, which scares the other three friends away. As soon as they leave the cave, their minds were seemingly altered with, making them forget Junhee was with them on their trip. So they leave, and Junhee is left with the diety—a man called White Wolf, though he also goes by White & Baek. Baek was originally going to eat Junhee in order to recover his stamina and energy, but Junhee begs for his life, saying he would never betray Baek the way people in his past had. So Baek makes him agree to a contract . . . And this is where the PWP begins.
Another way Baek can be "fed" is through sex, both by directly participating in it but also just merely being around when it happens as to take in the energy that gets released. So they fuck. And they fuck. And they fuck. And then Junhee's friend fucks him . . . And then another friend, and another, and then it's back to Baek. It's just nonstop porn. The first two chapters are to establish context, and the next nineteen chapters are shameless sex scenes between multiple men, which is why the sudden inclusion of plot—that I didn't really care about and had struggled following—during the last two chapters felt so odd to me.
Speaking of all the fucking, I didn't really know what was going on with Junhee's friends. It seemed like Baek possessed them to fuck him, but then it also looked like it was less direct overt possession and more so some sense of supernatural influence, but then it also just seemed like all he did was amplify their already-existing feelings for Baek. I don't know if all three friends were influenced by all three possibilities at once, if it's a case of one possibility per one friend, or if it's a mishmash where some friends are more influenced than others. And to be entirely honest, I thought Junhee had more chemistry with his friends than he did with Baek. I usually hate unconventional couples but I was kind of hoping that the story would end with them all having a casual relationship with him, especially Woo Hyun, who acts as this story's antagonist.
Woo Hyun was probably my favorite character. He's the first—and I think only—one to notice their memories got altered, and he was also the first one of their friend group to fuck Junhee. It's actually rather brutal, as due to (I think) Baek's influence he rather brutally rapes Junhee, and that moment basically triggers his downward spiral. He acted uncharacteristically and tries desperately to make up for it, while also noticing the man suddenly hanging by Junhee's arm is incredibly suspicious.
While Woo Hyun acts as the antagonist for the majority of the story, the real big bad is a man from Baek's past. To be entirely blunt, I didn't give a fuck about it. The basic plot—being that he was an old lover of Baek's that Baek let die . . . I think? And is now back for revenge—is good . . . If it were a longer story. This entire plot is limited to what's essentially just one chapter. It's just so fucking stupid.
The ending is also kind of bittersweet and I have no idea if it's intentional. All except one friend basically lost physical contact because of what happened with Baek, though I don't believe any of them can remember, and now all Junhee really has is Baek. One friend had his memories of the whole thing erased, the other left the company and now can barely meet up with him, and the last friend, Woo Hyun, moved to a different country.
Also . . . The translation are, like, really bad. There's no other way to put it. It's not extreme or unreadable but it is pretty poor.
To end on a good note, to call back to what I first mentioned, I really loved the art. For the most part, it was incredibly well done and detailed; the men were incredibly handsome, sexy, attractive, you name it. And most of the sex scenes too were super hot, I loved that Junhee really lost himself in the moment so many times and became a mess. It was sexy
