I am still not recovered from first the way Lee Geom just grabbed boyfriend up and rocked his world, then calm and cool broke both a man’s arm and leg in what looked like minutes to me. And he looked so fucking pretty doing it too!

Then, if that wasn’t enough, the white haired seme Reider appeared and rocked Lee Geom. His mouth is FILTHY! I love it. I’m not sure about him though.

It’s a damn shame Lezhin has overlooked this on their English schedule, and allowed an entire season to pass in Korea and not bumped this up. We saw the chat on Twitter about it being too dark, and well… about that darkness.

This story is dark, grim, and gets progressively grimmer the longer it goes on. Unless you read Saezuru, you might not be ready for the pain of watching Lee Geom pass through the eye of the needle.

It is a torturous and agonising exercise in trauma… but by God/dess, Inherin makes that shit beautiful pain. Aunthor-nim has created a masterpiece that I predict will garner a cult following in the years to come. It easily surpasses other manhwa for the depth of its story, and the willingness the creator has to allow us to view Geom’s suffering. And my baby suffers.

Lee Geom has been one of my favourites for a while now. I celebrated the release on Tappytoon, even as I have to give Wat?Duck! their propers for one of the best unofficial translations in all of manhwa. We read the raws, buy on Tappytoon and read these scans, because it absolutely doesn’t take anything from the whole story.

The painful story of Lee Geom’s enslavement, his bitter, determined, unbelievably strong-willed battle to find redemption, is echoed only by Lim Wooyeon’s journey.

In the beginning I did not like Woo Yeon. I found him cowardly in a way that directly imperiled Lee Geom. And he knows it. It struck too many nerves, and he irked me quite a bit.

That said, while his journey isn’t as physically torturous, his emotional pain at his own cowardice makes his character development compelling as well. I went from hating him to rooting for him for this. I didn’t begin to root for him until he bravely began showing up for Lee Geom in circumstances that would make a lesser man quail.

And Reider. That silver haired bastard. He intrigued me in the beginning, but I loathe him intensely nearing the story’s climax. It would be unfair to say Reider is the villain in a story with so many fucking villains, but he is certainly one of the slimiest. It’s worse because he’s pretty.

This story has no shortage of slimy bastards to curse at during almost each and every chapter. Whether it is Lim Wooyeon’s fiancée’s father, or the Chairman of CH, or that slick, nasty spirited lawyer. All of them put our beautiful Lee Geom through horrific trials.

But never forget, Lee Geom is the boss. From the moment he broke that dude’s ankle in the first chapter, to the way he grows in strength to deftly handle everything but Lim Wooyeon, well… Inherin drew it beautiful, and it is indeed beautiful to read.

This makes the story’s incredible art, impressive plot, and the characterisations compelling. At this writing t’s been close to two years since I started following this story, and I still cannot look away. If you like dark and twisted tales, this is the one for you. The ‘smut’ is not really ‘smut’… well not until it is. Most of the sex scenes to date in this manhwa might induce you to tears.

Fair warning: This story’s themes of rape, forced prostitution, slavery and all other manner of depravity–and there is considerable depravity, especially by one prosecuting attorney–makes this a difficult read. Please do not read if you’re early in recovery, as some of the scenes are potentially triggering.