Debtors
The main character or multiple leads are struggling with debt as the main feature of the work or as a source of conflict.
Manhwa Review | Bound to Be Fools by gahyun
Sex Worker Stuck Between Former High School Lover and Gangster Lover
Manga Review | A Strange & Mystifying Story by Tsuta Suzuki
Title: A Strange & Mystifying Story
Aki’s family is cursed, specifically on his mother’s side. Unfortunately, the curse isn’t limited to his mother’s side. His father, who married in, suffered from the same affliction and ended up with the same fate as Aki’s mother and many other family members over the years: death. The only one left is Aki’s grandfather, who is frail and sick, just like all of his family members who passed before him. In his final moments, Aki’s grandfather tells Aki about someone who can help him survive the curse but doesn’t provide much more information before he passes.
On his own, Aki is doing his best to get through life but grows frail as he is struck with an incurable disease he attributes to the curse. After passing out and being unable to return to work, Aki is desperate to keep himself alive and beat the curse. As he is on the cusp of succumbing to the curse, he follows his grandfather’s advice and finds a bone hidden away. Disheartened by the useless discovery, Aki is ready to accept his fate when he gets blood on the bone, causing it to grow and expand with more bones, flesh, muscles, and skin until it takes the form of a half-man, half-god.
As it turns out, Aki’s family acquired a guardian deity. The reason Aki’s grandfather was able to live to old age is that this guardian deity helped consume the curse, prolonging his life. Aki can hardly believe it until the deity reaches into his body and pulls out a part of the curse, providing instant relief. Unfortunately, the best way for this deity to find the curse is to be intimate with the person. Now that Aki has completed the contract by giving the deity a name, Setsu, he has to suffer through the uncomfortable touch to keep himself alive. Even as he continues to claim he dislikes it all, he finds himself looking forward to the pleasure he can receive from Setsu. Once Setsu isn’t needed anymore, he’ll turn back into bone. Once the curse is cured, can Aki return to a life without Setsu?
Manhwa Review | Penthouse XXX by Bacong
Title: Penthouse XXX
Siyeon is leading a double life. Due to his ex, who stole every dime Siyeon had before disappearing, Siyeon is in debt and forced to moonlight as an assassin to make ends meet. He doesn’t really know who his employer is. All he knows is that once or twice a month, he receives a package with a pill and information on his next target. So why would they choose a pretty boy like Siyeon to be an assassin? As it turns out, Siyeon is an esper who can manifest ice and change the temperature at will. The pill they send helps amplify his powers for a limited time, and with his abilities, he often causes his targets to have heart attacks by freezing their hearts, leaving no trace of any foul play. Otherwise, he’s just a regular guy with freezing hands.
With his debt steadily falling by the day, Siyeon can finally better his living arrangements and goes to see a room that is being rented out in a massive penthouse by the owner of the building, who also lives in the penthouse. The man who answers the door is party animal heir Taekyung. Though Siyeon has sworn off men due to his terrible dating history, Taekyung doesn’t make bad eye candy. Unfortunately, after a night of drinking, Siyeon’s self-control wanes, and they get hot and heavy in the bedroom. While Siyeon regrets it immediately, Taekyung is all the more intrigued. He wants Siyeon, and he’s going to do everything he can to claim him.
Manhwa Review | Intense by Kyungha Yi
Title: Intense
Jiwoon Kang is nothing more than collateral. After his father, in debt to a large criminal organization, kills himself, the boss, Yoonshik, takes Jiwoon on as collateral. The boss trains him up so Jiwoon can someday work off the debt. In the meantime, Jiwoon learns to kill and becomes Yoonshik’s right-hand man. In an open secret, Jiwoon also plays the cooperative, though the unenthusiastic role of Yoonshik’s lover. When Yoonshik is sent to prison, Jiwoon is hidden in the redlight district, where he protects the working girls. There, he meets Soohan Lee.
Soohan Lee is mute. He just happened upon the redlight district years ago and, ever since, has taken up residence there, doing odd jobs for a little bit of cash and a roof over his head. His life is rather mundane, even in the bustling streets, that is, until he meets Jiwoon. After getting beaten up while defending a working girl from a customer, Jiwoon comes upon Soohan bloodied up on the ground. Despite their odd circumstances, Jiwoon is compelled to kiss Soohan, which he does. This sends them down a dangerous path fraught with jealousy, violence, crime, and more.
But in the end, will it be worth the struggle?