chlorine's Manga

There's currently only one chapter out, but from what I saw from that, this looks very promising.

I'm a sucker for zombie apocalypse stories, and I think romance within them is an incredibly untapped market so this story merely existing makes me quite excited. There are little romance stories within this genre but within that, there's even less gay romance. So I'm all in.

The first chapter establishes characters pretty well and introduces a hint of plot or character mystery that is incredibly intriguing to me. The story opens with our main character, Seonho, having a nightmare. Of what, we aren't exactly sure. It seems to be set within a school and features a man from his past being taken by zombies, and he's been plagued with this specific nightmare for a while now. So the hint of finding out who this man is, and what exactly happened, is a pretty strong draw.

We're also shown a pretty interesting dynamic between Seonho and a man called Hae-soo. They're a part of a larger survivor group, but Seonho seems to be a protector of Hae-soo specifically. It's not a formal role, he's just super protective. Hae-soo is seen as rather weak by the rest of the group, and Seonho's attachment to him seems to be known and drives a bit of discourse amongst all of them. It's interesting because without the knowledge of who the love interest is—a man called Mao who's revealed in the chapter's last panel and is assumedly going to be properly introduced in chapter two—I would have read their dynamic as being the typical hero-damsel, with Hae-soo being the love interest. So it'll be interesting to see how their relationship develops with the introduction of Mao, but with that said, I really hope it doesn't become a love triangle.

THIS IS WHAT I'M FUCKIN TALKIN ABOUT. THIS SHIT IS WHAT MY BIO IS FOR

So I liked this. A lot. I'll probably end up rereading this once the official chapters come out, as the current translation, while serviceable, does at times seem a little unclear. Brett's monologue had me confused at a few points.

Usually I don't like ABO, I think it's a little corny, but it worked really well here. What made it so successful, to me, is the fact that their animalistic instincts are what was at the forefront and center. It wasn't particularly deep, it was just these men basically acting like animals. It was great. There was a really brutal sex scene that had the top—Hayden—completely lose himself in his desires to the point he became delirious.

I was really surprised by Hayden & Brett's dynamic. The fact that it completely switched itself on its head was so surprising but I thought done so well; Brett being a man who liked the violence and liked the forced submission was something I thought was really hot and pretty sensual in terms of character. I love romanticized violence like this.

I do wish this was longer, as I think the plot is actually really good and would have lent itself pretty nicely to something of a slower burn—the initial back-and-forth of Brett being really obnoxious by constantly releasing his pheromones, while also being the only one to notice Hayden is an Alpha, is really fun. You could have very easily stretched that out just a little bit and further built that tension between the two, though I do like how it was done in the main story. This is less of a critique and more so just a wish.

Hayden can't stand Brett for the two reasons listed above and so they keep having these uncomfortable situations, and it reaches its boiling point when an Omega friend of Hayden's goes to him while he's in the midst of his rut complaining about Brett slowly releasing his pheromones around him to try and I guess intoxicate him. This makes Hayden snap, which leads to him going to Brett's party. However once they're alone, already on edge because of his rut, he ends up being overwhelmed by his Alpha instincts and rapes Brett.

And it's fucking great. Idgaf. Because he's acting entirely on his instincts, it's brutal as fuck—he's deeply biting into Brett's neck, he's scratching into his back, he forces his knot, and he's so physically violent with him that he makes Brett's nose bleed, so Brett's also covered in blood throughout the whole thing. Like it's so fucking hot, it's literally just perfect.

And then there's a plot twist.

The day after the incident between the two, Brett manipulates Hayden into meeting him. Hayden had been trying to avoid him since because due to just how overcome by his instincts he was, he couldn't actually remember much of the night beyond the fact that he knew he had gone too far.

But then Brett reveals that he liked it. Loved it, even. But this is also where the bad translation comes in because it's hard to tell whether or not Brett actually planned this to happen—he reveals he was actually the one to tell that Omega friend to go to Hayden's place, but it's hard to tell whether or not he sent him because he knew Hayden would react the way he would, or if he was genuinely just trying to set up that Omega with him. Either way, it's revealed that Brett actually loved the night. That he was a masochist and the two of them were perfect for each other; a man who can't control himself and a man who wants him to lose control.

EDIT:
Turns out the author picked this story up and serialized it! Originally six chapters, I believe it might now be twenty-something? At least in season one.

Regardless, I've read the two newest chapters (so chapters seven and eight) and I really like it so far. Following their heated encounter in the original six chapters, they've agreed to become fuck buddies with no strings attached; they're outlets for each other, with Brett being the only one who can actually take Hayden's intensity—both in terms of pheromones and physicality—while Brett gets to indulge in the violence he takes pleasure in. That said, their brief encounter in these two chapters wasn't intense nor violent even remotely, so I hope that isn't reflective of the rest of the season.

Chapters seven and eight also bring up a few plot points that may be further expanded upon; Hayden's Omega friend had a dream about him, and I'm really hoping that's not going to lead to the Omega friend falling for him and there being a love triangle. And at the end of chapter eight, Brett says he has his own agenda with being with Hayden—that's clearly separate from his masochism—though he's very vague about it, so that was definitely interesting. Have no idea what he could be up to.

Only two chapters at the time of saying this but . . . This looks vaguely promising. Not necessarily because I think it'll be good—because to be blunt, the two chapters I read just weren't good at all—but because I think it'll be one of those fun but mindless, kind of trashy reads.

The first two chapters introduce the characters and sets up the plot pretty well. It revolves around a caste system. The basic premise seems to be that Hong Il-Tak, a young man who's at the bottom of the social hierarchy due to the fact that he hasn't entered puberty, plans to use Lee Hyun-Woo, who's regarded as like the "king" of the school after he stands up to the school's bully, to climb up the social ladder.

Only one issue: Hyun-Woo has a massive fucking crush on Il-Tak.

Like I said, I didn't really enjoy the first two chapters. I just thought it was a bit too exaggerated, especially in the way the school bully acted—like for example, he has Il-Tak sit on his lap and moan like a pornstar for . . . Whatever reason in front of the whole class, and I just thought it was so fucking stupid. It was hard to take it seriously, and it was hard to see what he was doing and contextualize it with everyone being scared of him. Because that's not scary. That's just faggot shit. Because of how hard it was for me to take the entire caste system set-up seriously, I imagine it might be a bit hard for me to care about Il-Tak's attempts at propping himself up like he's seemingly going to.

But it's not really the plot I care about anyways, so whatever. I'm here for the relationship between Il-Tak and Hyun-Woo, and that so far seems to be pretty cute, so I have high hopes for the rest of the story in that regard.

Il-Tak starts the story out as an insufferable little cunt so I hope he mellows out. I don't fuck with how judgemental he is to the other "losers" considering, like . . . You are a Loser. You are literally on their level. Hyun-Woo, though, I like. He has a kind of quiet but stern and confrontational personality, the typical take-no-bullshit protagonist, but has really animated thoughts full of personality when it comes to his crush. It's cute.

OK I just want to say I am writing the first part of this review directly after finishing the first volume, and then the second part directly after the second volume. This is so I can actually get down my thoughts & feelings as they're fresh.

I imagine this is a story that's written with the intention of both volumes being a part of a larger singular story, or at least in terms of character arcs, as there are a few hanging threads left after volume one. The biggest one, which is brought up a few times and might be what's alluded to with the ending, is Ichii's past. In chapter three it's alluded that Ichii may have had a previous partner, but we don't really end up learning much about it. It's said in a vague way where I'm not even one hundred percent sure he has a partner. Learning about his past is probably what I'm most intrigued about going into volume two.

The story so far is relatively simple; After being turned into a Vampire—or 'Fang' as they now call themselves—En slowly comes into his own and learns the ins and outs of the new society he's found himself in. It's a relatively simple story. Most chapters introduce a new character which are used as a vessel to further explain and expand the universe and the way everything works, which I quite liked. It wasn't just purely an exposition dump; for example, in the chapter where the Fang's "Charm" ability is introduced, it's done by introducing us to a flirtatious couple that often use charms as a psychosexual power ploy within their relationship to tease each other. There's also another chapter where we meet a character who talks about how he lost his partner, with him suspecting it to be a suicide, and how that snowballed into him being suicidal & depressed himself. He was used to show the more depressing side of a Fang's life, and hint that there seems to be a broader depression epidemic amongst Fang's.

Piggybacking off of that, the emotions conveyed within the pages of this story cannot go understated; there's just something about it, especially in the latter half of the first volume, that just kind of gets to me. I feel like there's this subtle, understated throughline of depression throughout this whole story—I feel like it has quite unhappy themes, and I really liked that. It really does strongly convey, through rather subtle ways, that being a Fang is to be lonely. There was one moment when En and Ichii were out, and as En looks at Ichii he laments, "He had the habit of looking somewhere in the distance sometimes—it makes me uneasy." It's such a simple but provocative sentence, and it's emblematic of the overall writing and I think themes of this first volume. Like I'm not happy, but I'm happy I'm not happy.

One thing I'm fifty-fifty on is the relationship between En and Ichii. To be honest, it just moved way too quickly for me. Considering I knew this was two volumes straight from the jump I had hoped this might be a slow burn, but it's not. It's an instant flame. And I don't really get why they're attracted to each other . . . At first. I'm fifty-fifty on it because by the end of the first volume I did come to really like their relationship and their dynamic; it's cute, it's fun, I feel like En's a source of light for Ichii that he hasn't had in a long time. They also just look at each other in a way that makes my heart skip a beat. Though it's not initially developed well, I do believe there are feelings there. The chemistry that gets built is perfect.

VOLUME TWO:

Instantly, this story remains and even builds upon its strong emotional core. For me, the most important thing a story can do is make me emotional, and the ease at which this story does is kind of insane. The first chapter of the second volume deals once again with the theme of loneliness and "otherness" that Vampires feel, with one of the other Fang characters we know having been invited to his ex-girlfriend's wedding—she's a human, and that's why she and the Fang originally broke up. This chapter really highlights the struggle in relationships and the mere existence a lot of Fangs have, there's a quote by En about Ichii I really liked saying, "This guy... He had the saddest eyes sometimes... It's hard to tell what part of himself he considers monstrous."

Speaking of Ichii, I loved him, but I'm very apprehensive about saying I love him. The reason why I'm apprehensive is because this story is very apparent in being one part of a larger story, it's hard to feel satisfied knowing this isn't everything and that the characters are still developing—you learn a bit about Ichii but you also don't feel like you learned a lot, and volume three very blatantly seems to be where the meat of his story and past is. But the development he does get, I loved. Ichii seems like such an inherently depressing man, which is a type of character I'm always weak for. I love sad men. I love hearing their stories and reading their poetic waxings and feeling this deep sense of sadness. It's like crack to me.

One thing that becomes clear is that Ichii is lonely. It's alluded to throughout the two volumes that Ichii once had a partner, but for whatever reason his partner is gone. I was under the impression his partner was dead, honestly. But the cliffhanger of the end reveals that his past partner was actually a criminal who had been locked up—and his old partner is also revealed to be the main villain.

The plot is properly introduced and really ramps up in volume two. It's a simple enough plot, being that of a serial killer Fang. There's honestly not much to say as it's definitely more of a background thing; engaging enough but the relationships of this story are what take center stage.

I was shocked by the reveal that Megi / Ichii's past partner was behind the murders, mainly because I fully expected him to be dead. So that gagged me! It was a good plot twist, it was done pretty well. I don't dislike what I'm about to bring up, but it does make me nervous—with the reveal that Megi's Ichii's past partner, I'm hoping to god volume three doesn't have Megi trying to win him back. The first thing he did after revealing himself in volume two was kiss him, but I'm hoping that was just to provoke him. I hate love triangles and love rivals, especially when the main couple has been so fantastically set up, so I could easily see a plotline like that derailing this story.

Right now the story is at three stars but if volume three (or until the story finishes) follows this standard of quality, this is easily a four-star story, possibly even pushing into a five-star.

I read this because I thought it was abandoned, figured I'd read it for what it's worth since I liked the concept used in the author's other work . . . But I saw the raws are actually ongoing . . . So that's good I guess.

There's not much to say so far, the story's really only just begun. It's hard to say whether it'll be pure smut or if there will be a genuine development of a relationship and / or plot.

The story begins with Seon-Ho opening his locker and seeing semen covering everything inside of it. He doesn't know why it happened, nor who did it—but he briefly thinks it might be his friend, Yoo-Geon, since it's known that he cums on the lockers of the women he likes . . . Which is really weird, and the story doesn't address just how weird it is. Like, that's super strange.

Anyways, Seon-Ho assumes it mustn't be his friend since he only ever did that to women. So he talks to Yoo-Geon about it, and Yoo-Geon suggests going to the school at night to try and catch whoever's doing it. While at the school later that night, Seon-Ho ends up falling asleep, and while he's asleep, Yoo-Geon gives him a drug.

That drug makes him get a pussy.

It's kind of simple albeit retarded logic behind Yoo-Geon doing that; Yoo-Geon fell for Seon-Ho at first sight, but he can't really acknowledge that he's not straight, so to make it "acceptable," he gives Seon-Ho a pussy. I feel like that flawed line of thinking could lead to some character development, I think it could possibly end up being relatively sweet to see him go from his repressed homophobia to accepting his sexuality and his love for Seon-Ho in its purest form. But it's also too early to assume that'll happen. We'll see.

One thing too is that this shares a lot of similarities between the author's other work, Boy Meets Girl. Beyond the penis-to-pussy drug, their dynamic is also basically a 1:1, and as is a specific plot point where the characters only start fucking because the love interest says "if you fuck me, I'll give you the drug that gives your dick back." I'm not saying this as a complaint, since this is only seven chapters so far, but the similarities are incredibly blatant.

Amazing art, as to be expected. The characters look really sexy.

(Writing this at the end of season one)

Considering how I didn't really like the original short story this is adapted from, I'm surprised by how much I liked this.

This isn't great, and season two is really going to act as a make-or-break for this story, but for what it is now . . . It's decent enough. So far it's mainly been porn—admittedly pretty good porn, not to sound like too much of a coomer—but the latter half of the first season definitely gives a bit of development that strengthened the story quite a bit. I liked what it did and what it could mean for season two.

I really liked the two main characters. I thought the reason for their resentment and anger towards each other was surprisingly understandable and understated, it wasn't too far-fetched or exaggerated—I feel like when you have stories that have characters who hate each other as much as they do here, authors tend to overcompensate and make the root of their anger really silly. Like, "I hate ugly people because an ugly person killed my parents" type of deal iykyk. But for these two men it really just came down to them resenting the other due to misunderstandings and pride.

Woo-Jin and Woo-Yeon are step-brothers, coming together as one family during their early childhood. At first, Woo-Jin was eager to have a new brother; he tried to follow after his new brother's footsteps, to try and use that as a stepping stone to bond with him while also making him proud. However, Woo-Yeon didn't see it that way. To him, Woo-Jin was intruding on everything he liked, giving the impression he was trying to outshine him and push him out of what he was a part of, kicking down on him. Quickly, he grew to hate him, and in turn, Woo-Jin grew to hate him for his hate. This followed them into their adulthood, with Woo-Jin now purposefully trying to rile his brother up and doing exactly what he was mistaken for in his youth, coming to a head when he followed Woo-Yeon into college.

I really loved that dynamic, honestly. It wasn't explored too in-depth as it was more like backstory dropped near the end of season one, but I'm hoping it's further explored in season two. There's just something that seemed so . . . Endearingly pathetic about all of it. These men are bad people yet it stems from something so childish that I ultimately can't help but find it kind of silly, and I don't mean that as a negative.

The brothers are almost opposite in personality despite both being so similar that I found it quite interesting, too. They're both angry people, they spend a lot of this story upset at each other, but the way it's expressed is so different; Woo-Jin is more explicit and prone to outbursts, like a child, while Woo-Yeon's is more intense and reserved, withdrawn. He also has this undercurrent of sexuality to it. He definitely has like a huge brother complex.

I also liked the hypno. It's mainly just kink though, if we're being real here. The author wanted to write a hypno kink story so they wrote this. And they're good at it! Woo-Yeon's personality when he is in that state of hypnosis was really cute to me. It was very meek and eager, more sensitive than he usually is, and he acted kind of . . . Dumb, in a way that's cute. Like he's my cute little retard ๑(◕‿◕)๑

But I did really like how during the second half of the season, it did seem to affect him. He was realizing the rate of his blackouts, and these hazy flashes were coming to him that he couldn't really make out, nor discern to begin with whether they were dreams or reality. It very evidently affected his psyche in a way that Woo-Jin hadn't expected.

Also ending the season like that is crazy. I need season two rn even if it ends up being a fucking mess. Just at least the next chapter. You can't make him break the hypno right in the middle of fucking his brother and expect me to be patient ?!?!

As I write this, it's only just completed season two—two out of a planned three—so obviously this is an opinion still subject to change. But as it is now, I already have some thoughts that I think are pretty concrete.

So far in the story, everything has been moving at a breakneck speed. It's just too quick, too rushed, both in terms of the relationship & the plot, though the latter feels the weight of the issue significantly more.

While the basic premise is great, I always love political dramas set within fantasy settings or just general royalty, the execution of it is less so. It had a good build-up in season one, doing well in establishing the status quo and the unrest certain characters have over it, but that smooth speed is just completely shot during the climax of season two. Season two builds up the tension of Laurent possibly rising to the throne and the way Zigrien & Idris are planning on hopefully stifling that, though throughout most of the season they act rather independently with Idris being stuck as Laurent's sex slave essentially and Zigrien trying to build ties and social standing with nobles who oppose Laurent, not to mention a proposed engagement with the princess. It's going smoothly for most of the season.

And then the climax happens. Out of nowhere Laurent kills his father so he can take the throne, and pins the assassination of Zigrien. The reasoning behind it is solid, he pinned it on Zigrien because he's jealous of the thinly veiled relationship he & Idris are having so this is an easy way to get rid of him, but the issue is that it just literally comes out of nowhere. Sure we're seeing him get jealous and start to hate Zigrien, but I do not feel like it was to the extent that he would kill his father and start this faux uprising. And even if it could possibly be seen as in-character for him at that point to do it, it's still dissatisfying because it completely undercuts the other storylines—like the engagement between the princess and Zigrien.

Another thing I didn't like was the sudden inclusion of magic and mystical beasts at the end of season two . . . It just felt really jarring? This isn't based on anyone real and the setting itself isn't based purely on any actual period, but it still didn't stray too far from reality. The world still existed and worked as the real world would. So the sudden literal demon monsters that showed up were just so sudden and unfitting.

As I also mentioned, the relationship feels a little rushed, specifically on Zigrien's side. It kinda feels like he doesn't like him, only to suddenly switch after the sex scene in chapter one (or whatever), unlike Idris who did feel gradual and genuine. I could see Idris start to fall for Zigrien as well as also clearly see why, meanwhile for Zigrien himself, I'm still left feeling kind of unsure. He just does, I guess.

When it comes to the characters themselves, I actually liked them a lot. Idris is exactly my type; he's jaded and angsty but has a really big, beefy body—specifically his tits like they're huge. I also really liked his role in the story, the way he's seen as this cold-blooded, ruthless killing machine. The backstory to it is great, I love these kinds of helpless characters who aren't helpless in a whiny pathetic way.

Zigrien is alright. He's kind of a usual fish-out-of-water trope, who's trying hard to fit in in an environment he's not used to and really isn't welcome in. He's passionate, loyal, slight hopeless romantic. But what I really fucking liked was the way he was at the end of season two. Seeing characters fall like that is always great and it has me so excited for season three. I really hope the writer continues with the darker take on his personality, though I would understand if not considering he only acted so coldly because he was at his lowest. It's a double-edged sword.

This BL is still ongoing so obviously everything's still subject to change, but with the first couple mainly being done in season one and a new couple being the focus in season two . . . I'm not really sure how I feel.

The first couple and the second couple both suffer from the same issues, though it looks like the second couple may suffer it worse if the story is going to unfold in the way it feels like it will. Basically, it's a love triangle. And I generally hate love triangles. I just don't like that dynamic, I think it's needlessly messy and usually I get attached to one guy over the other. I especially hate three-way relationships, which is something I feel the second couple could be heading to, because the dynamic always feels uneven. I also just don't like the uke going around fucking two guys. Stick to one instead of being the town whore.

With the first couple, it's not a typical love triangle. It's kind of like Twilight where there's one clear couple and then some sad love rival that everyone knows isn't going to end up being the one. Season one mainly follows Jaehyung and Suyong, a bickering pair of rivals who just can't seem to keep their hands off of each other.

I liked their dynamic. What sets off the story is that Jaehyung accidentally puts Suyong into the hospital, and they end up coming to a deal where the more sexual things they do together, the less Jaehyung has to pay towards the hospital bill. But it's so blatantly just an excuse to fuck. Like I said above, they're a bickering pair of rivals so they're kind of always at each other's throats in more ways than one. It's fun to read. Their personalities are very exaggerated, with Jaehyung being very reserved and composed pretty much at all times while Suyong is like an explosive wild card. They're polar opposites, so there's a nice juxtaposition there between the two. They naturally seem like personalities that both would and wouldn't get along, so you don't really question why they both seem to hate each other but really like each other at the same time.

But Minwoo. During season one, I did not like Minwoo. At all. Mainly because he is the aforementioned love rival. It was honestly just pathetic to read, because on one hand you could tell he wasn't ever going to actually get with Suyong, but then with that, there were scenes where Suyong would still entertain him. There was one moment where they almost fucked, and that almost ruined the relationship between Suyong and Jaehyung for me—they weren't dating yet by that point, but they did clearly like each other, they had kissed by that point. So it left a bitter taste in my mouth. Suyong is a whore.

One thing that both couples really suffer from is miscommunication. Like with the first couple, Suyong and Minwoo almost fuck because of miscommunication. Suyong believes Jaehyung doesn't actually like him, just his body, so he goes to Minwoo thinking he likes him for his whole being. Jaehyung very clearly liked him and instead of doing the productive thing and talking about it, Suyong gives up and goes to Minwoo. Like what? Another moment—which could be the context for the scene I mentioned above, I can't recall the order of it too well—is that while Jaehyung and Suyong are fucking, Suyong implies they're a couple, which surprises Jaehyung simply because they never actually explicitly talked about it. But Suyong took his surprise as apprehension, that Jaehyun didn't want to date, and stormed out. And it's so fucking retarded. It's so contrived.

So far season two focuses on a new main character and his love triangle. Norman, and his love interests Sungtaek & Minwoo.

Norman is kind of meh to me. He's pretty notable, as he kind of serves as a narrator for the whole story; the very first chapter is actually from his POV and how he caught Suyong & Jaehyun together. He has one notable quirk which is that he is or was an avid BL reader, so he gives advice a little bit in season one . . . But in season two, finds himself as the main character in a BL story. It's kind of funny. He's very cute, I can give him that, but his constant fixation on how he's "just a side character," and that his love interests secretly actually like each other rather than him got very old very fast.

Minwoo is actually a character I like a lot now! When I started season two I had actually thought he'd end up being the love interest I like more. He's not. But he's still good! He's a very jealous man which I like, and very flirtatious and rather shameless, yet despite that is still rather sweet towards Norman. He's a fun read and there's a lot of tension between him and the MC.

But as of right now . . . Sungtaek has my dick in an iron grip. Sungtaek is the longtime (perhaps childhood, I can't remember) friend of Norman who has had a crush on him forever. I adore his personality, he's one of those kind of day-and-night types—his usual personality is quiet and timid, placid, yet when he's horny he's pretty much just a complete total desperate degenerate loser. I fucking love it. There's also the aspect of how he's big, broad, and tall, yet kind of a softie. I always love those personality types.

Again, this also suffers from miscommunication & whore uke behavior. As of right now, Norman's only fucked Sungtaek, and in fact I think he's the only one he really likes, but he has kissed Minwoo before. He let him kiss him and then kissed back, and that was after him & Sungtaek fucked like rabbits. I don't like that. And the miscommunication comes from something I mentioned before; Minwoo and Sungtaek are being very up-front and direct about how they like Norman, they're like dogs at his feet, but Norman's convinced himself they don't actually like him and they're using him as an outlet for the fact that they want each other . . . And it's like . . . Just fucking talk to them about that oh my god.

In my gut, I feel like season two is going to end with Norman, Minwoo, and Sungtaek going into an unconventional, three-way relationship. Right now I like Norman with Sungtaek specifically so I can't imagine I'll like that end result, but it's hard to say because I can't actually tell who's going to be the choice by the end. In my gut, I think it'll be all three because there's not a clear choice, which to me, says they're both the choice.

(This is currently three stars but that's very, very STC. How they stick the landing is really important. Chapter 46 is the most recent as I write this)

(EDIT: As of chapter 58, Minwoo has now fucked Norman. In fact, chapter 58 is part of a broader threesome scene, with that chapter ending with what's hopefully the start of double penetration. But I'm making this edit because I mentioned before there's a lot of miscommunication, and now it's started to annoy me even more. Now that both love interests have fucked Norman separately, and are currently fucking him together, I find Norman's ignorance to their feelings to be incredibly frustrating. It's annoying to read him think they might genuinely like him, just to instantly brush those thoughts aside and reaffirm to himself that he's merely a sex friend. And it's like . . . Dude, come the fuck on. You're being retarded here. It's so obvious the two guys like him, like they're very upfront about it, so him somehow not realizing that is just annoying).

They be fucking like rabbits in this story. Like actually. It's crazy.

I was originally going to begin this review with saying that I thought there was actually too much sex—I like smut don't get me wrong but these dudes go at it literally non-stop, there are maybe like five chapters max without smut—but . . . The more I think about it, the more I feel like it fits. This is a very psychosexual story, the dynamic between Jinsung & "Yura" hinges almost entirely on sex. It serves their characters.

Of course, when it is so smut-heavy, you kind of need to be in a specific mood. If you jerked off fifteen minutes before reading this story then the constant barrage of porn isn't going to hit as good as it could. You'll probably just get a reaction of "oh, wow. That's definitely porn. Takes up three whole chapters. Oh. And now the next chapter is also porn. And the next. Ah, they're not fucking this chapter- never mind he whipped his dick out at the end. It really just keeps going doesn't it." Not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything.

But as I said, the smut does have its role in the story. The condensed plot is that Yura, a childhood friend & crush that Jinsung lives with, starts treating Jinsung differently, sneaking into his room at night and touching him while he believes he's asleep. Except, this isn't Yura. This is his alternate personality. It's revealed he has undiagnosed dissociative personality disorder.

Sex plays an integral role in their dynamic as this story explores selfishness, jealousy, and the way lines blur. This alter gives Jinsung a bridge into getting exactly what he wanted, while also bittersweetly still keeping it unattainable. At first he's apprehensive about this newfound relationship, but throughout the story he gradually gets more selfish as he's able to taste more and more of the man he wants. He doesn't want to let go, and after a certain point, the alter doesn't want to let go either, even once Jinsung realizes what's best. Their relationship develops through sex, it's treated both as porn but also as the intimate moment between two people that it is. It binds the alter to Jinsung, gets him attached, which has really intense scenes in the latter half of the story when the lines between Yura and the alter blur, and the alter's feelings of love and personification grow more intense.

There's a lot of characters in this story and Yura is probably one of my favorites, if not my favorite. While the explanation behind his DID was rather wack—DID is a personality disorder that stems from trauma, but he doesn't have trauma. I think for him it stemmed from not knowing how to deal with his crush?—the actual alter & what it represented was fucking great to me. In short: his alter is a personification of his feelings for Jinsung, it's why the alter is so (sexually) aggressive and flirtatious. Yura had spent so much time ignoring how he felt, too scared to confront it. He pushed it down and bottled it. And so it split, and now he can't control the way he feels anymore.

While Yura is kind, gentle, yet serious and his alter is his foil by being aggressive, sexual, and careless, I really liked the few scenes we saw of Yura that had showed a bit of edge to him. The backstory of how he beat up the men trying to (if I remember right) rob Jinsung, only to have Jinsung seem afraid of his sudden violence was great to me. The fact that Yuna after that tried to further hide the violent side to his character just to be the perfect man for Jinyung is what really made me love that scene, and further love Yuna's character. He's dedicated and loyal whether he's really all that aware of it or not. He doesn't even swear anymore because he got the impression Jinyung didn't like it.

The characterization of Yuna in the last few chapters plus the side stories is my favorite now. He's a mix of his "core" personality while also having the almost unhinged edge that his alter had, the undying and uncontainable desire. He's the perfect man fr.

When it comes to Jinyung, there's not as much to say about him. He's not as overtly messed up as Yuna is so there's obviously not much to dissect, but I really loved his character. I loved the almost selfish side to him, the way he was constantly going through a moral dilemma of whether or not to lose himself in the embrace of the alter. He is so close to having what he wants, yet somehow, has never felt so further from it. There's something almost poetic in their dynamic and the feelings it evokes from Jinyung.

The only notable flaw I can see in this story is the fact that I felt the resolution of Yura and his alter, of the alter disappearing and becoming one with Yura, kinda just came out of nowhere. The alter said a few times he said he felt like he was already disappearing before the moment happened, but I never understood why. There was never a reason for it. Yura was gradually getting his memories back, sure, but they were fractured and even with that, him and Jinsung never talked about how they felt. So it all suddenly being good felt kind of contrived, sad to say.

One thing I usually actually fucking hate is side couples. More often than not they're total page wasters, just hogging the panels when their relationship isn't one I signed up for. However, it's not like that for this story. I actually loved their relationship as much as the main one, even if their dynamic isn't even complex.

When Jae-Pil was introduced and he had the most shameless crush on Jinsung, I was worried he'd be like some pathetic antagonist that the story just really didn't need. I fully expected this to end up being some lame love triangle. But it was not. Hyunmin came in and swooped him up like a bird, and I loved it. I loved them together. Hyunmin is unrelenting in his advances and attraction while Jae-Pil is initially completely unreceptive only to gradually warm up to him, and I love those types of love stories. It's so fucking messy. They were definitely the lighter aspect to this story to balance out the angst of the main, almost acting like comedic relief, but it still had a real sense of weight to it. It was a real relationship. Their main ending was actually really emotional, when Jae-Pil revealed he was leaving Korea and it made Hyunmin pretty much spiral. Their "goodbye" was cute, sad, and funny. I loved them so much.

Something I think is really of note is the art style. In general it's really good, but occasionally we'd see into Yuna's inner mind and it had this intense, surreal grittiness that I absolutely adored. The art there was phenomenal.

As I'm writing this, the story is technically still ongoing. It's up to the fourth side story. However, as the main story has ended, I'm treating this review as definitive. I doubt much will happen in the side stories that drastically changes my opinion. I expect we'll see the main couple act cute and the side couple finally get their proper happy ending. Of course if I'm wrong I'll edit this in a few months and eat my words

(I'm writing this at chapter 28, the end of s1)

This should be more like 3.5 stars rather than just 3, but you can't do half stars so oh well.

There's a lot I like, and then a few minor things I dislike. I'll get what I don't like out of the way: I don't like that Ryu's a complete whore, just goes against my personal taste, and I also don't like how he's done really nothing with his second chance at life. All the changes that have happened just . . . Have, there's no obvious influence in this new timeline from him deciding to do things differently . . . Because he's just not, for some reason. He got murdered, woke up two years previously, and just continues living life the way he used to. However, I don't think it's too huge of an issue—things changed by themselves without his influence, he's in a position now that he never was in his original timeline, so I understand why the author doesn't have him trying to change things too much. I just wish he was a bit more proactive despite that.

I also think there's a little too many characters that have been all brought up at once. It's a little hard to keep track of who's who.

Kwon Noah and Ryu Jean had an absolutely great dynamic though, I loved their relationship. I'm always a sucker for angst, and angst is like the foundation of their relationship. They have a history from before the story stars and I think the way it's been done, so far, is great; the way they clearly cling onto each other all these years later while also not really being able to stand the fact that they do, with Noah specifically.

Noah was a character I like a lot so far. He's very jaded, very guarded, very much someone who doesn't like to think with their emotions to the point they end up just ignoring how they feel entirely. I like characters like that.

However, Ryu Jean . . . He's perfect. He has the tits, the height, the muscle, the soft personality that goes against his hard exterior, like I love him. He's really a romantic at heart, the type of person who keeps mementos of the person they love even if the relationship had fallen apart. Also, I found the way he gets really verbal during the sex scenes to be hot #idgaf

This is a pretty plot-heavy BL too, a mix of mystery and the mob genre, and I gotta say it's done pretty well so far. I liked how the relationship is effortlessly woven into the plot, their dynamic is integral to it, and there's also so many mysteries right now that I'm wondering about. The main thing I'm looking forward to in season two is finding out more about Ryu's real identity, since it ended on a cliffhanger revealing that his name was Choi Yoojin