So I'm rereading everything and Somin appeared since the very first chapter, she's a travel club member. On chapter 10 it's said she's secretly dating another club member, so my guess is her lover broke up with her and that's why she looks so sad on chapter 77.
At first I was like "huh? The sunbae doesn't look like the one on the cover"
Now I'm kinda sad bc I liked the sunbae's design better. Still reading though.
What I thinking same!! I just got confused about the cover
This story is not completely bad, but both main characters are badly written, albeit in different ways.
First we have Dabi, who is very sure of her sexuality instead of being a little lamb. The problem though, is that she makes no concessions in the relationship. She influences Junghyun to change his clothes and hairstyle, but the positions never change. He is always giving, she is always receiving. She misunderstans him and fucks up, he forgives her. It's never the other way around.
Some relationships do work like that, but this is not an interesting read to me, I prefer to see development on both main characters.
Then we have Junghyun. It's nice that he's not a rich CEO archetype for a change, and he's the man most women dream of, but there are still issues with him, or should I say it's a lack of issues? First of all, he is madly in love with Dabi and would endure anything to be with her, but the reader never gets to understand WHY he fell so hard that he waited for her for 10 years.
He supposedly rejected all dates before her, so what was it that made him fall so hard? And he says he fell for her in their first date, but during said date she was just nodding along to his rambling. When Dabi's sister asks him what he likes about her, Dabi interrupts him before he can finish his sentence. But seems like it boils down to love at first sight, which is kinda weak for a love that lasted 10 years.
And we get to see Dabi's family and friends, but all of Junghyun's family is dead and he has basically no friends. That just goes out to show how superficial he is as a character. He is the perfect man, that's as far as it goes, and that gets boring.
I recommend this to whoever wants to enjoy some smut, because most of the story is just that. If you removed the sex scenes, this story would end in 20 chapters. I do like some smut, but at one point I really stopped caring and just started skimming so I could finish this.
Sorry, but it's not just the translation that is bad.
They are going into this super dangerous, supposedly well guarded place with no disguise, and one of them is super famous and should be easily recognized. And there's security on the door, yet nobody is seeing them prancing around in that alley? And the club keeps track of the people puking in the alley, even their full name and address and the stage of their maggots, but doesn't realize that the main characters are going there that often and puking nothing?
And how convenient that they get into the security room and there's no one there! Unless the top is actually with the cult and is just luring the bottom while pretending he is investigating, this is not going to cut it for me.
I know what you mean. I'm also getting a flashback of Codename Anastasia. I'm not trusting that ml . But I also think there is no reason to lure MC unless there's something happened in the past.
This story is as flat as the colors in the art.
Sanho is the typical bottom that fell first; ditzy, naive and dense, constantly stumbling in his words. But this portrayal is so extreme that he comes off as plain stupid. The author is forgetting that Sanho is an ADULT MAN that is portrayed as handsome, friendly and smart enough to get into a good university. He is not a little kid, he should not be this clueless. The drawings of him with little dog ears get annoying even.
The only way to redeem his character would be to just come out and straight up say he is autistic or something similar, and I say this as an autistic person. That would be the only explanation for him being so socially inept. And before someone says "well he could actually be autistic and you shouldn't assume he isn't" or whatever... Unless it's stated in universe that Sanho is autistic, this is just bad writing.
But Sanho is still better than Euihyun, who simply has no personality. The authors wanted him to be an asshole to make the unrequited love plot last but couldn't commit, they don't even have the skill to commit in the first place. Not only that, but they still wanted him to be the sweet and gentle hyung that Sanho fell in love with so how can he be an asshole? Other authors make this work with some sad backstory, but this is not being achieved here.
Seems like the explanation they were going for is that Euihyun doesn't like people that only care about his money, but from the start it was obvious Sanho wasn't one of those people. Even if there was an initial misunderstanding, it should be over pretty quickly. But no, he knows Sanho isn't after his money but still acts like an asshole. I mean, what's a good explanation for him to get so mad that Sanho was waiting for him outside?
It's clear to me that his actions are solely defined by what the plot needs, he has no substance.
When the mistress asked how he knows that it wasn't her who saw them, I'm guessing he said it's because he put someone (the ML) to tail her, and we've seen him do that, but seems like he lied about her being at the gallery.
Also, now we know the ML knows her from the past, but the moles of the ML and the dead lover are different places, so my guess is that he's a sibling or some sort of relative.
I'm only starting this after the comments say if he's with her mom or not. I've seen enough cougars in comics this month and I'm not into that.
This is interesting, I don't think it's josei though. Seems like a "seinen" with a female protagonist. Quotation marks on seinen because this is a Korean webtoon so this is not how they classify things.
Seems like josei to me.
I don't think it is. Let me explain why:
- Majority of josei are romance manga, which is not the case here
- You could argue that this is one of those rare non-romance-focused josei, but there's a strong male-gaze aspect, which I suspected from the start and the more recent chapters confirm it. The dress and boots combination that she starts wearing from chapter 7 onwards is a male idea of what looks good and there are unnecessary zoom-ins on her boobs
- Aside from the male gaze aspect, the art itself is very much what you would see on a Seinen instead of Josei. This might go unnoticed if you're not familiar with the differences, but josei usually is more cutesy while this one resembles Lookism
- Seems like at least one of the authors is a man judging from his name (Kwak Dongju) and men do not usually write josei
I get where you’re coming from, but I’d argue that this manhwa actually fits better under Josei than Seinen. Here’s why:
1) Not all Josei = romance.
Romance is common in Josei, but it’s not the definition. Josei is really about stories that resonate with adult women, whether that’s romance, work-life, or darker psychological themes. This series deals with power dynamics, self-worth, and manipulation and those are issues that adult women relate to even without a love story.
2) The “male gaze” doesn’t disqualify it.
Plenty of Josei titles (Midnight Secretary, Paradise Kiss) include sexuality, stylish outfits, and even provocative framing. What matters is the narrative perspective. Here, the female lead is still the one driving the story. She has agency, and the focus stays on her choices and struggles.
3) Art style ≠ demographic.
Josei isn’t always “cute.” Some of the most iconic Josei (Nana, Tramps Like Us) have gritty or stylish art that could easily be mistaken for Seinen. What really matters is the intended audience and the emotional themes.
4) Author gender doesn’t decide demographic.
Sure, men don’t usually write Josei, but it’s not unheard of. Demographics are based on audience and themes, not the author’s gender. There are plenty of male authors in Shoujo/Josei spaces, and their works are still classified that way because of content.
5) Seinen usually leans into external conflict (action, crime, sci-fi), while Josei digs into internal and interpersonal struggles. This manhwa is clearly more about psychological survival and self-value than about action or politics. That puts it much closer to Josei in my opinion! Just a darker, non-romantic version of it which deviates from the norm but still is in the genre.
I think you’re basing your argument on some really limiting assumptions. Like Josei has to have a “cute” art style, or only be created by women. That’s not how it actually works. Josei simply means stories aimed at adult women, and those stories can range from romance to workplace drama to darker psychological themes.
This series fits that perfectly: it centers on a female lead, deals with power dynamics and self-worth, and focuses on internal/emotional conflict over external action. Those are classic Josei traits, even if the art style is more "seinen" than "josei" or the authors aren’t women.
So while it might borrow some visual elements you’d expect from Seinen, at its core the perspective and themes align much more with Josei. Assuming it can’t be Josei because it doesn’t fit a narrow checklist really misses the broader picture of what the genre represents.
I said it myself that not all josei is about romance, not all josei has cute art style, but I'm looking at these aspects together. It all adds up to this title not being josei.
Also, I don't deny that there's sexual frames in josei manga, but there's a difference between female gaze and male gaze. For instance, there's lots of webtoons that are just porn, and yet there's a clear difference between porn aimed at women and porn aimed at men and you usually can tell with just one glance. The outfits, the angles and the art style play a part in this, we can't pretend it doesn't.
And of course the gender of the author doesn't dictate the genre of the comic, but how many men write josei or shoujo? It's far more common to see women writing seinen or shounen than men writing comics with female demographics.
And just for the record, not all seinen is about external conflict. There's more seinen with internal conflict than there is josei with male authors. You say I made generalizations, but this is a generalization too.
Now let's look at ALL the aspects. This is non-romantic, male-gazey, has stereotypical seinen art and male authors.
Anyways, as I said in the original comment, this is all guess work since korean comics don't use these categories. This is listed in the original site as simply "story" and "thriller".
I see where you’re coming from, but I think you’re still over-relying on surface traits to define Josei vs. Seinen. A few extra points to consider:
1. Psychological storytelling is strongly tied to Josei.
-While Seinen certainly can have internal conflict, its dominant identity (hallmark ) is still tied to external, plot-driven conflicts. This manhwa is driven almost entirely by psychological tension, manipulation, and emotional stakes! ( style much closer to classic Josei dramas than to Seinen’s structure)
2. Josei doesn’t exclude darker or male-gazey works.
-Josei historically includes titles that are gritty, sexualized, and even exploitative at times. Flowers of Evil and Helter Skelter (both Josei) don’t shy away from using sexuality and discomfort through a female lens. Just because a story has “male gaze” elements doesn’t mean women aren’t the intended or engaged audience.
3. Female-centered narratives are rare in Seinen.
-Regardless of outfits or camera angles, this story is still led by a female protagonist whose POV drives the narrative. Seinen rarely makes women the central subject without reducing them to side characters, trophies, or supporting roles. However , Josei, normally explores flawed, complex women as leads. That’s the mold this story fits.
4. Market reception matters too.
-In practice, the readership skews differently. A webtoon like this is marketed on websites and platforms where it's predominantly female readers, which is part of why fans see it as Josei. If it were Seinen, it would likely be pushed alongside male-oriented action/fantasy thrillers.
5. The “checklist” approach oversimplifies.
-Yes, the art leans Seinen-ish, yes, there’s fanservice, yes, the authors are male but none of these outweigh the main themes and intended audience. If anything, that mix just shows Josei is evolving and borrowing aesthetics from Seinen, rather than proving it “isn’t Josei.”
6. Korean webtoons blur the categories anyway.
-Since you pointed out they don’t officially use these labels, all the more reason not to force-fit it into Seinen just because it has male authors or sharper art. If we’re applying Japanese demographic terms, then Josei is the closer fit because of its themes and focus, not Seinen.
The designer guy looks like a past lover of hers, was recommended by her husband and reported her steps to him?
How much y'all wanna bet that the husband hired that guy to seduce her and make her out to be a cheater so he can divorce her without giving a single cent? The husband must be doing precisely what the lawyer is talking about on chapter 3.
FL is not keeping a poker face, sadly. The cheater saw someone peeping and the very next day she ditches the table where they were fucking? It's too obvious.
uuu interesting take
I just want to know what happened to Yeoul. WHERE IS YEOUL? Does the cute little fox just not appear again? That would be so sad! Give me all the spoilers please!