Kirai's manga / #unrequited love(24)

After Youngjoon (uke) suffers a defeat after playing against Hyun (seme), a star baseball player, both his career and self-esteem takes a dive. Seven years pass after their first and only meeting, in which Youngjun tells Hyun that he can't stand him, but it seems that Hyun still harbours feelings for him…

Unbeknownst to Dojin (uke), the younger brother of his roomate, Jaehee (seme), has harboured a crush on him for several years. With his roomate leaving on an exchange trip, Jaehee comes to live with Dojin and, in a true BL fashion, is overheard jerking off to him. A cute love blossoms between a pretty boy with a personality gap and a guy who is neck-deep in denial! ——— Most of the time, it's interactions with other characters that spur the main romance along, and the main conflict is Dojin refusing to admit that he recipocates Jaehee's feelings. Also, Jaehee is the type of seme who only puts on an amicable attitude around Dojin, so it's fun to see him interact with other characters.

Synopsis: Momose Aoi (MC) and his childhood best friend, Okamoto Ritsuki (ML), both get transported into a dating simulator, in which Aoi must win over one of the love interests to exit the game. Unfortunately for Aoi, he is a dense guy with zero charisma. Also unfortunately for Aoi, he finds out that Ritsuki has been in love with him since forever. Review: This is a silly, comedic and light-hearted manga. I find myself coming back to reread it often. Aoi is a dense yet entertaining protagonist, while Ritsuki is the type of cool yet loving romantic interest who won't let his crush be stolen by someone else. The comedy ramps up when Ritsuki decides that he'd rather sabotage Aoi's digital love life than escape the game. I wish that the story has more sabotaging hijinks, but alas, the story resolves itself too soon.

Synopsis: When a deadly accident kills his friends, a system approaches Wang Yi (MC) with a contract: transmigrate into novels and take on the villain's role, and in return he can reverse that tragedy. However, the male leads (ML) somehow see through his acting, and they fall in love with Wang Yi instead of the female lead. The male leads all have a mind-reading ability; is there a connection between them? Review: This manhua has colourful art, great comedy and an interesting storyline. The premise of accidentally romancing the male lead as a side character is not new in Chinese stories, but I find the male lead's mind-reading ability to be a fresh way to throw a wrench in the protagonist's plans. If you like the world-hopping genre, this manhua is a must-read.

Synopsis: The day after Dojin (MC) proposes to his then girlfriend, Jooeun, Dojin wakes up in an unfamiliar house without her by his side. Instead, Jooeun's brother, Juyeon (ML) is there with with him, and Dojin's world falls apart when Juyeon reveals that he and Jooeun were in a car crash two years ago. Review: Juyeon is not as toxic as I expected—he can scheme, but he has little involvement in his sister's disappearance and he doesn't lock up Dojin in their new house. There's also a small mystery surrounding the circumstances of the two-year gap.

Synopsis: Theo Smith's real identity is Theodore Jerome (MC). Twenty years ago, Theo learns a dark truth about his father after the death of his mother, so he runs away, leaving behind his half-brother, Cedric (ML). In the present, he thinks he has escaped his past, but then he re-encounters Cedric, who turns out to be less innocent that he's always believed. Review: The darker elements of this manhwa are interesting and atmospheric—for one thing, the 'ghost' part of the title is literal. Theo is deeply affected by his trauma and harbours a lot of guilt and self-hatred. Meanwhile, Cedric has twisted desires for his half-brother from the very beginning, but his cunning is quite laudable. Thanks to him, Theo gets closure, if not a somewhat happy ending.

Review: After cutting ties with his family, Seo Wonhyuk (MC) runs into his stepbrother, Lee Hanseo (ML). Even though Wonhyuk is his stepbrother and a beta, not an omega, Hanseo manipulates Wonhyuk into assisting him with his rut. Review: This won't be to everybody's taste, mostly due to Hanseo's treatment of Wonhyuk. I also think that this manhwa is more like a fragment of a larger story, since it is rather short and lacks character development.