The Fall 2024 K-Comics Guide

The New Recruit (18+)

What's It About? 

The full-color webtoon/manhwa (comic) about a steamy Boys' Love office romance. Inspired the K-Drama The New Employee! Seunghyun spent his twenties following his crush through college and grad school, only to wind up totally single and with no idea where to go in his career. When he manages to land an internship at a competitive marketing company, he's ready for a fresh start without worrying over unrequited love. Except his supervisor is the handsome workaholic Kim Jongchan, whose hot and cold attitude leaves Seunghyun flustered. And worse yet, his crush from school works at the same company too! Will Seunghyun survive his first job and a potential first relationship?

The New Recruit has a story by MOSCARETO and art by Zec, with English translation by Su-a Min. This volume was lettered by Melina. Published by Seven Seas (October 22, 2024).

This K-Comic is intended for mature audiences only.

Is It Worth Reading?

This is the third time a version of The New Recruit has gotten an English translation: first the all-ages comic on the Manta site/app, then MOSCARETO's original novels, and finally this decidedly not all-ages version from Seven Seas. As you may have guessed, it's also my third time through the story, and I have to say that I've enjoyed it every time. This version may be my favorite – the all-ages one is clearly missing things and the novels tend towards the overwritten, particularly in the sex scenes. Zec's take on the story balances out all of the elements in a very nice way, making the plot feel complete while still paring down some of the more excessive bits and pieces.

The most important aspect of The New Recruit is that at its heart, Seunghyun and Jongchan's romance is really sweet. That can be taken as a given; Jongchan is Seunghyun's boss at work, and he's got a reputation as a workaholic hardass. But he's also fully aware of that, and he takes care not to use his power against Seunghyun – or to let others at work know when they start dating. He's a hard worker, but ultimately respectful (at least within the confines of a genre that doesn't have a great track record on that front), and he clearly falls for Seunghyun before he's able to admit it to himself. Seunghyun is, on the whole, more cautious about their relationship because he's concerned about their power imbalances and has his own insecurities about being an intern at age twenty-nine, having failed regular recruitment drives after finishing graduate school. Jongchan has to address his fears, and that's really where the sweetness comes in.

Unlike some other office-set romances, this one really uses the setting as a major piece of the story. Work is more than just a place for the two men to meet; it forms a large part of the plot. Jongchan isn't popular at work (to put it mildly), and his detractors are quick to notice that he's being nicer than usual to the new intern. They willfully ignore their own bad behavior towards Seunghyun in favor of trying to use Jongchan's actions against him – and against Seunghyun. That means that they're also turning a blind eye to the fact that Seunghyun is genuinely good at his job – better than they are at theirs, even. Their efforts to sabotage Jongchan could wind up hurting the company, and they're willing to let their own egos get in the way of their careers.

It's also worth noting that both men are gay when the story starts – none of this “gay for you” silliness or even any self-discovery on the sexuality front. That helps jump-start the romance, although neither advertises their sexuality, meaning that Seunghyun isn't clear on Jongchan's until they kiss. (Jongchan figures him out when a friend who went to their same university mentions the name of the club she and Seunghyun were in, which was well known to be the LGBTQIA+ group.) Although this is still wordier than a lot of other manhwa, the story more than makes up for that, and the softly colored art is very appealing. You have your choice of which version of the story to pick up, so the only thing left to do is decide.

I already suspected that I harbor no desire to work myself to the bone in a South Korean advertising agency. Thanks to The New Recruit, I have extensively confirmed my disinterest in this life path. Though marketed in the BL genre, this comic has hundreds of pages about client presentations, sales calls, and inter-office jockeying for position. My eyes glazed over from all the corporate inside baseball. In between that, there's a questionably exploitative boss/intern affair that makes me want to call HR. Incredibly, The New Recruit has been popular enough to be published three times in English: this is the first “uncensored” version (though the invisidicks beg to differ). With all the jargon and the relationship's power dynamic, I can't imagine why.

The New Recruit is remarkably similar to another BL title in this manga guide: Perfect Buddy. Both stories are full-color depictions of life in a Korean white-collar office. Characters have to navigate long hours, abusive bosses and colleagues, warring departments, and drinking parties; But while Perfect Buddy features two equals, this story is about intern Seunghyun, who has fallen for his boss, Mr. Kim. That's the person in his life he spends the most time with, after all. Seunghyun is 29 and old enough to make his own choices, but the way this relationship centers around a boss and his direct report makes me wonder what would happen if Seunghyun said no to any of Mr. Kim's NSFW requests. For now, the story is light and funny and the character designs are charming. I also want to give kudos to the comic for identifying many characters as gay or lesbian; additionally, a large part of the plot centers around a college LGBT club.

This comic is nearly 300 pages long, but it would be half that length if it cut out the office politics. This cutthroat environment causes problems for our protagonists, since colleagues believe Mr. Kim is cultivating a lowly intern as his successor, causing trouble for Seunghyun. Even when they're out on a date, these self-identified workaholics are still talking shop. The volume concludes with a lengthy sex scene that had previously been removed in every English publication but this one. When my partner looked over my shoulder and saw me reading the dirty part, he remarked, “Oh, did they meet their sales projection?” He was right that it's hard to imagine what else besides the office would make this pair so passionate.