THEY KISSED!!! THEY FINALLY KISSED!

Let’s go back a bit to clarify what happened. Seoha, Chowon, Jieum, and Doyun went on a trip to a coastal town where Chowon’s family used to visit. During this trip, Seoha and Chowon are compelled to have a conversation where they can finally address their feelings related to Juwon’s death, who was Chowon’s older sister and Seoha’s first love.

An unexpected change in the weather forces them to spend the night in the town as it’s unsafe to drive back to the city. They all stay at Chowon’s vacation home, but Jieum has a strong intuition about something ominous looming. She senses that an unsettling event is on the horizon, although she is unsure of what it might be. Soon after, tensions rise when Chowon accuses Jieum of possessing intimate knowledge about the house that surpasses a casual acquaintance’s awareness. This confrontation triggers a wave of uncertainty between the two women – Jieum fears her secret has been discovered by Chowon, while Chowon questions how Jieum has acquired so much personal information about her, Seoha, and matters only known to the family.

Meanwhile, back in the city, they grapple with suspicions and uncertainties while Seoha and Doyun confront their own pasts. Doyun finds himself in a situation where a business meeting unexpectedly transforms into a high school reunion where he encounters his former tormentors. Once again, he is reminded of his lack of belonging among them, including with Seoha and Chowon, due to his family’s modest financial background. On the other hand, Seoha is compelled to join a family gathering where his relatives taunt and belittle him because of his disability. They view his condition as a disadvantage for him, perceiving themselves as having a better shot at inheriting the company since he is seen as the ‘flawed’ son.

This volume is quite heavy as it unpacks a lot of traumas for our characters. While the readers already had an insight into Seoha’s past, in Volume 4 we get a better understanding as to why Seoha is the way he is and how he turned out despite his family. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the same loving family that Chowon and Doyun can boast about: everyone is trying to up one another to discredit the other in the eyes of the company’s chairman, Seoha’s father. Partially because of his high status, Seoha has been bullied all his life, and he’s had to fight his own battles, even as a kid. On the other hand, Doyun has a lovely family that consists of his mother and young brother. Nevertheless, he’s been ridiculed since high school because he was a scholarship student and now because he’s Seoha’s secretary. The relationship between the two men is complicated. There is still a lot to unpack, and the author, Lee Hye, gives us hints of the drama that is to come.

Jieum and Chowon instead are dealing with another situation all together: Jieum’s secret. The suspicion is there and Chowon is planning to bring it up with Jieum. She fails to talk about this in this volume, but I’m pretty sure that it won’t take much longer to have a development on this. I wonder what Jieum will do when faced with the upcoming questions. Will she tell Chowon the truth? What about Seoha? Now that he’s coming to terms with his feelings for Jieum and Juwon, how will he react if he knows they are the same person? The more I read this series, the more questions (ok, more like expectations) I have. The best part of this volume is that there is finally a development in the romantic relationship in one of our two favourite couples.

I quite enjoyed how the first four volumes in the series have linking covers to show the romantic relationship between the characters. This office romance story is packed full of drama, and with this volume we also get a possible hint of crime and mystery, which I’m pretty sure will be developed in further volumes. The illustrations continue to be on the ‘simplistic’ side in terms of backgrounds but with a detailed focus on the characters’ expressions. The colours of the art are duller than other series in the same genre, but they help with the ‘heavier’ themes discussed in the story.

See You in My 19th Life is written by Lee Hye, and it was published as a digital comic on Webtoon, before turning into a k-drama available on Netflix. The print volumes are published by Ize Press with the Webtoon translation. Volume 5 is already out.

Our review copy from Ize Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.