BL Library - Marking / Bonding / Imprinting

Manhwa Review | Gold Gray by Lee Green

Title: Gold Gray

Author(s): Lee Green

Artist(s): Lee Green

Lee Rain has dreams of becoming an actor. He can sing, dance, and act, but having grown up poor and under mysterious circumstances, he's had to claw his way up to achieve the bare minimum, much less his dreams of stardom. Along with the daily struggle of surviving, Rain has an odd ability to smell what he calls “perverts.” They smell so good; unfortunately, they are drawn to Rain like flies. Frustrated, Rain has finally saved up enough for a hail Mary. He plans to drop everything and travel to the United States, hoping to make it onto Broadway or die trying.

On the other side, there is Won Lukas. He's a perfect alpha, bred and raised from the finest stock to take over Roenjoy industries one day. Unfortunately, following his father's death, Lukas learns of a disgusting stipulation left in his father's will for the company. The next president will be the child that can produce an alpha heir. The only way to create a perfect alpha is by an alpha having a baby with an omega, but due to a pandemic that swept through the world, omegas went extinct.

But Roenjoy has a seedy underbelly. Hidden from the public eye, they have managed to create artificial omegas, which they raise from fetuses to adulthood, and upon giving birth, they die within a week to prevent the secret from getting out. Lukas is prepared to artificially inseminate an omega to take his role as company president. Unfortunately, the building where all of the omega research took place is destroyed by none other than Joshua, a subpar alpha and Lukas' half-brother. With his brother vying for his position, Lukas is desperate to find an omega and make an alpha heir, but with all of the known omegas gone, there is little to no hope until Lukas meets Rain.

Title: Your Love Belongs to Me

Author(s): Honoji Tokita

Artist(s): Honoji Tokita

Mochizuki and Ishio have a lot in common. They are both captains of their respective martial arts teams, have secondary sexes, and hate each other. Mochizuki is an omega, and Ishio is an alpha, but they aren't drawn to each other. The only reason they interact at all is that they are forced to share a dojo, which results in numerous skirmishes between the teams. To assert their dominance, the two captains spend much of their time trying to embarrass or fight each other, with little to no success.

One day, while Mochizuki changes in the dojo, Ishio walks in on him. It is then that Mochizuki notices how shy and nervous Ishio gets around him when it comes to anything remotely sexual or affectionate. With this new insight, Mochizuki changes his method of harassing Ishio, which entails hugging, cuddling, and all but sexually assaulting him. Naturally, Mochizuki is beyond pleased with this development until Ishio makes it clear:

If Mochizuki isn't careful, Ishio might just mark him as his.

Title: Dine With a Vampire

Author(s): PANGIN

Artist(s): PINKO

Sooin spends every day living in utter hell. He lives in a world stuck between guilt and rage, love and vengeance, and complacency and revenge. The best he can do on a day-to-day basis is to try not to anger his roommate, Sungha. Why Sungha? Because Sungha spends every day torturing and beating Sooin because Sooin fell in love with him. Sooin could leave, but his guilt won't allow him to, as he feels his love for Sungha has turned him into a monster. So he endures Sungha's cruelty, but not without hoping that someday he can escape.

Then, while at work, Sooin meets another kind of monster. He runs into the owner of the restaurant he works at, Chi-hwan, because of a cut on Sooin's finger. It turns out that Chi-hwan is a vampire, but not just any vampire. Instead, he is a vampire that can't drink human blood and must subsist off the hearts of his fellow vampire brethren. But for some reason, he is drawn to Sooin's blood, and when he gets a taste of it, he finds it perfectly palatable when human blood hasn't been for so long.

Desperate to ensure Sooin stays alive and well so he can partake in his blood, Chi-hwan makes him an offer Sooin can't refuse. Chi-hwan will kill for Sooin, including Sungha. All Sooin has to do is give him blood.

Title: Sating the Wolf

Author(s): Troy Arukuno

Artist(s): Troy Arukuno

Noah is a wolf, a carnivore, and in this world, most carnivores end up as betas or alphas, while herbivores manifest as betas and omegas. Noah, though, ends up manifesting as an omega, and due to his pack's history with male omegas being the cause of violence and death, he is banished. On his own, he travels from village to village, trying to hide the fact that he is both a carnivore and an omega to survive. After some time wandering about, Noah finds himself in a herbivore village. He tries to stock up to move on to the next village.

While shopping in town, he encounters a shopkeeper, holding two young rabbit children by their ears and accusing them of stealing his wares. The children claim they did no such thing, but they have no way of proving otherwise. Standing amid the growing crowd, Noah sees the true culprit, a weasel, trying to slip away. Wanting to help the kids, Noah captures the weasel and reveals that he is the one who stole. Thankful for his help, the rabbit children insist that Noah come with them to meet their brother Henri so he can cook a meal for Noah as thanks.

Henri and Noah meet, and although Noah is a wolf, the same species that killed his parents, and the village ostracizes Henri's family, Henri wants to take responsibility for Noah. Even more so when Henri manifests as an alpha because of Noah's heat. Can a rabbit alpha and a wolf omega make it work? And can their love withstand the prejudice and judgment of the society around them?

Title: Wolves Behind Bars

Author(s): Joy

Artist(s): SolWoo Lee

Kiyo is an omega and a struggling artist with an intense hatred for alphas due to his father. His father, a crime lord alpha, treated Kiyo and his mother as nothing more than commodities to earn money. Thankfully, Kiyo has escaped most of his father's influence and has been surviving on commissions from people while he holds up in his small apartment. Unfortunately, after taking a gory commission from an anonymous client where he painted various murder scenes and posted them online under a series known as The Game of Darkness per the client's instructions, Kiyo is arrested for the murder of various high-profile alphas, which were all depicted in his paintings with details that the police had never released.

Unfortunately, the client was using an untraceable online presence, and the payments all originated from the accounts of dead people, so Kiyo is the only one in the crosshairs for these crimes. He is arrested and taken to prison until his trial and possible sentencing are complete. Due to a clerical error, though, Kiyo is placed in an alpha-only institution. The head of the prison wants to avoid any complaints or scandals, so he quietly brushes the error under the rug while pushing for a transfer as soon as possible. In the meantime, Kiyo is forced to room with an alpha named Iri, placed there by the warden to protect Kiyo until he can be transferred out.

Iri doesn't seem good or bad, which in a prison teeming with alphas that want nothing more than to break Kiyo is better than nothing. Even so, it is impossible to tell if Iri is truly Kiyo's ally or his enemy, as there are plenty of people gunning for Kiyo both because he is an omega and because of his father. With no one else to turn to, Kiyo relies on Iri emotionally, but over time, he soon begins to rely on him physically. As Kiyo and Iri start a physical relationship, Kiyo does everything he can to fight against the overwhelming lust and love he begins to feel for Iri because what is more important is survival. Will Kiyo be able to survive prison? Even if he does, will he be able to prove his innocence? And what are Iri's true intentions for Kiyo?

Title: Beast Blood

Author(s): Sato Fumino

Artist(s): Akira Egawa

Euphemia Ashencourt is a pretty girl… and that's all anyone sees in her, which only puts her that much deeper in her half-sister's shadow. Her elder sister is none other than the mayor of Gothic City – a corrupt city overrun with Nightz addicts, gangs, and Beast Blood-hating groups murdering them whenever possible. But Euphemia's sister is slowly working on turning things around. Naturally, Euphemia wants nothing more than to help her sister make the city better and prove that she is more than just a pretty face. So, using her sister's connections, Euphemia gets a job at a research facility to find a way to naturally destroy the Night Bloom – the flower used to create Nightz.

Euphemia never thought that trying to help her sister destroy some flowers would ever lead her to danger. However, one evening, after seeing the Night Blooms bloom, she is captured by some gang members on her way home. They take her out to the Wilds with the intent to assault her before feeding her to a Muta – a monstrous and blood-thirsty creature. Before the men can touch her, she resolves to take her own life and control her death. But in the middle of her attempt, a man with glowing silver eyes appears.

His name is Zelaide, and he isn't just any man. He is Beast Blood, a species that looks human but is much more than that. He's stronger, he's faster, and he's more beast than man, and he's a Hunter – a contractor that does all the violent, dirty work that most humans can't or won't. He takes out the men, defeats the Muta, and saves Euphemia. That would typically be the end of Zelaide's involvement with a human woman, but the moment Euphemia laid eyes on him, she wanted him and wasn't going to let this beast of a man get away.

Title: The Devil's Temptation

Author(s): Youn

Artist(s): Youn

All Hyun of the owl tribe wants out of life is yummy food, comfy furniture, and never having to leave the house. But unfortunately, he has to work to survive. To keep up with his corporate job, he has to attend the holiday party at the end of the year. What makes it worse is his archnemesis from the snake tribe, Ivan, is there and makes it a point to tease Hyun as much as he can. To survive the night, Hyun drinks himself into a tizzy, only to embarrass himself in front of the director of the company and his crush from the snake tribe, Alek. Thankfully, Hyun doesn't have to suffer the party for too long as he passes out.

When he wakes up, not only is he in bed with Ivan, but he has a weird mark on his neck. This is an imprint specific to the snake tribe that binds the marker to the marked so that the marked craves physical intimacy with their marker. It's okay, though, because there is a cure, but it could take months to develop, and in the meantime, Hyun could experience flu-like symptoms… or possibly go blind if he doesn't get enough pheromones from Ivan. The worst part, though, is that the mark also attracts other members of the snake tribe and him to them, so he has to juggle intimacy with his enemy Ivan and try to keep from pouncing on his crush and boss Alek, too.

Can an owl like Hyun survive in the snake pit? And even if Hyun does survive, what does this new level of intimacy mean for his relationship with Ivan and Alek? Do they only like him for the mark, or is there something more?

Title: Love is an Illusion!

Author(s): Fargo

Artist(s): Fargo

Hye-sung is an alpha. Er, or at least he thinks he is an alpha. However, that belief quickly goes down the drain while Hye-sung is working at a party and runs into the dominant alpha and musician, Dojin. After being exposed to Dojin's pheromones, Hye-sung goes into heat. Dojin tries to take care of Hye-sung and save him from himself as the newly awakened omega tries to throw himself on a few alphas. Dojin whisks Hye-sung away to a hotel where Hye-sung rants and raves that there is no way he could be an omega. Finally, Dojin, flustered by Hye-sung's pheromones and frustrated by Hye-sung's delusional beliefs, proves to Hye-sung that he is indeed an omega… physically.

After the dirty deed, Dojin realizes that he actually enjoyed it even though he supposedly hates omegas because of the notion that omegas and alphas have to be together. Even more distressing is that Dojin follows up their encounter by writing a song that his peers say is his best work yet. Believing it is just a coincidence, he runs into Hye-sung again, and they have another steamy encounter that not only results in another great song but something neither of them expects: a baby.

Hye-sung wants to get rid of the baby while Dojin intends to keep it, but more importantly, he now desperately wants to hang on to Hye-sung. They make a deal together where Dojin will pay Hye-sung to carry the baby to term, and Dojin will assume full parental responsibilities. Hye-sung will finally be financially comfortable, and he won't have to be a mother. Still, Dojin plans on doing anything he can to talk Hye-sung into raising their baby together. The problem is he only has the span of Hye-sung's pregnancy to do it.

Title: Bloody Sweet

Author(s): Lee Narae

Artist(s): Lee Narae

Shin Naerim's life isn't going so great. She's being bullied at school because her mother is a moodang (Korean shaman), and her only solace is online, where she writes web novels and keeps up with a blog. Though she is bright and cheery online, she cannot even speak in real life because it would only entice the bullies further. So instead, she spends her days silently taking every comment and nickname (“wig,” being the main one, short for “witch girl”), waiting for her high school life to finally be over so she can move on with her life.

Unfortunately, there is still more high school life to contend with, and next on the docket for Naerim is an overnight school field trip. As if it isn't enough for her to deal with the name-calling and abuse during the school day, now she has to do it overnight. Even more unfortunate is that there is an abandoned church nearby where they are staying. It is the perfect backdrop for more bullying of the “witch girl.”

However, these school girls don't know that just because a place is abandoned doesn't mean it is empty. While forcing Naerim through the abandoned church, they encounter a closed wardrobe with talismans on the outside of it. They make Naerim open it to reveal a man hidden inside – presumably a dead man as he falls out of the wardrobe on top of Naerim without a word. Of course, everyone is shocked and runs off, leaving Naerim alone in the church with the dead body. As luck would have it, though, it isn't a dead body but a vampire, and he finds Naerim delicious.

After taking a few licks of Naerim's wounds, she kicks him off of her and takes off back to where the class is staying, but even as she escapes the church, she finds that a red thread now trails out from her wound, seemingly to nowhere and she is the only one who can see it. However, it's not clear what the thread is until the man appears on the balcony of the place Naerim is staying. She realizes that the man, named Vlad Fetechou, is a vampire and because he drank Naerim's blood, a witch, he has now become her servant with a collar and red string that ties them together. If Fetechou drinks enough of Naerim's blood, he will eventually become human, and their pact as servant and master will be broken, but will Naerim survive long enough to help Fetechou? Does she even want him to become human in the first place?

Title: The Sweetest Man

Author(s): Haejin

Artist(s): Haejin

Minhoon and Hyungwoo have been best friends for 15 years. Minhoon has always been inexplicably drawn to Hyungwoo, but Hyungwoo has always had a wall up that Minhoon has never been able to cross. Yet, for some reason, Minhoon is desperate to do just that. One evening, after heavy drinking, Hyungwoo is in no state to take care of himself, and as he has always done, Minhoon makes it a point to take him and let him sleep at his house. What neither of them expects, though, is Hyungwoo to suddenly attack Minhoon, biting him on the lips in a sudden kiss.

At this point, Hyungwoo is forced to admit to Minhoon that he is actually a vampire, and due to the bite, Hyungwoo is now a kin – a partial vampire created as an immortal food source for their creator. A dark world is soon opened to Minhoon, one that is full of violence and danger, primarily because of Hyungwoo's father, the head vampire, who wants to take control of Minhoon so he can then control his runaway son Hyungwoo.

While Minhoon is struggling to come to terms with his new immortality, the threat of the surrounding vampires, and his daily life, he must also contend with something he has had to figure out for the last 15 years: what are his feelings for Hyungwoo?

Marking / Bonding / Imprinting

Manga Review | Your Love Belongs to Me by Honoji Tokita

Manhwa Review | Wolves Behind Bars by Joy

Manhwa Review | The Devil’s Temptation by Youn

Manhwa Review | Bloody Sweet by Lee Narae

Manhwa Review | The Sweetest Man by Haejin

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