I just caught up on reading this webtoon and now I don’t know what to do!
So, I wanted to try reading something in Korean and when I saw this I think 17 episodes or so had been uploaded. It wasn’t the first time I’ve tried reading a webtoon in its original language, but it is the first time I have successfully read up until the most recent update. And, with some heavy lifting from Naver Dictionary when I forgot the same words over and over, I must say it has been a really enjoyable read so far.
The set up is that an unnamed (as far as I can tell) sex worker whose part-time* job is to top men meets several interesting(?) characters in his line of work.
Naturally, with the protagonist being a sex worker the story is a bit heavy on the sex initially. The two most recent arcs seem to have toned it down due to the nature of these storylines but the essence of the webtoon is still the same.
Whilst the narrative focuses on the protagonist’s perspective, we are also introduced to the lives of his clients (and in one case it isn’t just the actual client). None of the clients we see have the same story nor the same reason for using his services. Getting to know these people makes for a really interesting collection of storylines.
If I had to define the genre, I’d have to go with it being a humanist type of work. There’s comedy but also some tragic and serious aspects which take the main stage depending on the story. The clients and would-be clients get the opportunity to have their thoughts and reasonings seen and I think it is a really nice way of handling the topics featured.
There is also a character whose perspective we don’t see. In light of how the other characters are allowed to rationalise themselves and their situations, I like it even better that we don’t get to see the inner world of the aforementioned character. I don’t want to know about him. In my opinion, including bad people but not giving them a chance to try to justify their actions with any sympathetic backstory is a good way of handling things.
I won’t tell you who my favourite character is but, just know that as of episode 20 I have 3 characters battling it out for first place and, unfortunately(?) none of them are the protagonist. I like him and I like following him and rooting for him, but I feel that he’s distant. There have been a few flashes of vulnerability that he has shown but, aside from when he was getting beaten up, I can’t say how genuine these more tender displays are.
I hope this isn’t a major spoiler but I still haven’t forgiven him for one thing he did. It was a nice gesture on the surface and it made me tear up but then afterwards he had such mean thoughts! I don’t know, come back to me after you’ve seen that part and let me know all the ways I’m wrong to still hold a grudge.
This is the first series I’ve properly followed that was serialised on Mr Blue. That is to say, I have no idea what the timelines and thresholds would be for it to get licenced in English. It is a really interesting webtoon and it tops the Mr Blue charts so I hope that it can reach a wider audience soon!
(*알바 is often translated as a part-time job from what I’ve seen. It’s a shortened version of the German word arbeit. That being said it isn’t a 1:1 equivalency for what I as an English person would call part-time being that it seems more related to the type of job as opposed to the hours worked. It sort of encompasses casual work as well as customer service jobs for people who aren’t managers. The part-time top here is more of a freelancer in my mind too but I think using the term freelancer also has certain nuances in Korea that don’t fit mr Top Part-timer.)
Hush Nili 
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