As office romances go, this story barely featured much ‘office’. But this story doesn’t quite follow the expected… although there is nothing groundbreaking about the tropes it employs, and the art is not eye popping, there is a deep, emotional and psychological edge to this story that is very well told by the writer.

When the story opens, Suha and Jiwoon have been in a holding pattern as boss and secretary. Yet, the undertow of their relationship begins much earlier. Suha is horny, and not shy about hooking up. But despite his baby-faced looks and 32 years of experience he is completely bored by his regular haunts and lovers.

Park Jiwoon we know little about other than he is Suha’s boss. However, as together and unruffled as Jiwoon appears at first, he is really duck paddling under the water for his life, and you start to sense the yandere pretty early on too.

What we witness throughout is the slow unravelling of Jiwoon and the sheer mental and emotional strength of Suha. Suha is the strongest person in the story. He is the most well adjusted and grounded. He has the strongest temperament and the most steadfast of personalities.

He is conservative about his sexuality, but he’s not a prude either. He’s grounded in ways that highlight all the ways in which the other characters are imbalanced and struggling, most of all Park Jiwoon.

And what an interesting character Jiwoon is. An abandoned, unloved child that grows up to be a lonely maladjusted man, with a near lifelong crush on Suha, Jiwoon’s yandere is so simpilicious, so tender, kind and warm, you almost don’t want to call it yandere, but it is absolutely that.

His absolute love and adoration shouldn’t excuse by the truth and reality of his mismanagement of the relationship with Suha. Emotionally manipulating your lover into confinement and lying outright, while calling it protection is not cool kiddos. It’s selfish and more than borderline crazy.

If Jiwoon was even remotely violent with Suha we could say he was a whole psycho, but he really is simplicious with it. But fucking your lover into submission isn’t cool either. That’s not love, and the worst way to get what you want. As Jiwoon learns.

That said, it’s not as toxic as some other semes would have done, so I guess we give Jiwoon just a little rope. I mean Suha certainly does.

And that’s why I liked this story. Suha doesn’t crumple and fall apart at every loud noise or wolf barking. He does grapple mighty with the course and nature of the relationship, not just with Jiwoon, but with Jiwoon’s entire fucked up family, but he isn’t a coward and remains generous. What I like the most is that Suha always chose to care over indifference consistently.

Going above and beyond and being generous with himself in all things with all people… but at no point in the story does it ever make him weak. It’s why he’s fundamentally the strongest character in this yarn. He gives generously, but never loses himself. He always has more to give.

He wises up, and is resolute in all the right places. As a character I liked him so very much. And speaking of generous… it is nice to come across an uke who is not overly shy about sex.

Suha is a little freak-a-leak, as buttoned down and perfect a secretary he is. And boy do these two go at it. They bone. A lot. Like. A lot. And it’s not kinky either… although we do see Suha has a freaky, kinky side too. The sex is just shy of gratuitous, because every sequence serves the character development and indeed, Suha’s character well.

So while you do notice there are a lot of sex scenes (chapters of the stuff), there is a lot of story development embedded in them as well.

I want to make a note here about the art throughout the series. I noticed a very distinct shift in the early chapters in both the lines and the color palette, as if the artist refined their lines continually until finally settling on their final style. I have a few mixed feelings, as I quite liked the slight roughness of the earlier episodes. However, toward the last half of the last season, the color palette and use of colour got more specific and defined, and general shading improved so much it’s hard to really complain about smooth lines and shading. The art style grew on me over the course of the story.

All in all, this is strong tale, and while clocking in at 111 chapters, it does not feel either overlong or overblown. The angst doesn’t feel drawn out unnecessarily or misplaced. I believe it’s because the chapters move quickly, and the plotting is brisk.

It’s well worth the read, and much better now that it’s complete and you can binge start to finish.

Add this one to your reading list.