The day of Haeseo's interview spirals into disaster—soaked in coffee, harassed, his ex on the panel, and some sleazy, too. He only wanted a fresh start, but instead, he collides with Gongwoo. Marked by an Alpha before he can settle in, he now has to decide if he'll spend the night with Gongwoo to undo the mark!

This Isn't What I Signed Up For has a story by bogseuli and art by Baeyo, based on a work by GYEONGGEUM. English localization by Manta. Published by Manta (March 26, 2026). Rated M.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

I have, somewhat to my surprise, read a lot of omegaverse series at this point. But I have only read two others that involve a romance between an alpha and a beta, and of those, only one was the primary romance. That means that, unless this takes the route of having Haeseo manifest as an omega, This Isn't What I Signed Up For gets added to what appears to be quite a short list. And hey, I'm always up for genre experimentation.

The story follows Haeseo, who is having a really bad day. First some jerk spills coffee on his shirt on the way to his interview, then one of his interviewers turns out to be an ex with a grudge, and just to make everything worse, the late-to-the-meeting third interviewer is the very same guy who spilled the coffee…and who made a snide comment about not being into betas. Haeseo, who very properly told him that such unsolicited commentary was sexual harassment, is pretty sure his job prospects have been torpedoed when Gongwoo suddenly changes his nasty tune and offers him a job in his division. Haeseo is confused, because despite Gongwoo's claims that he has the perfect resume, Haeseo has never worked in sales, but he really wants to work for this company. So he accepts, not thinking what we readers are almost from the start: that Gongwoo was one hundred percent lying about not being into betas.

Or maybe he's not into betas in general, but he's definitely into Haeseo.

This is something of a slow burn compared to many a BL webtoon. There's plenty of time for Gongwoo to demonstrate just how hot he is for his new subordinate in thankfully subtle ways, and just as much time for readers to shake their fists at the screen and demand how Haeseo isn't getting it. Admittedly, Gongwoo is being careful because he's in a position of power over Haeseo, and that's nice to see. He's not the typical Jerk Alpha this sort of story usually indulges in, and as a sane human being, he's also very aware of the office's robust gossip grapevine. (Seriously, the office is like a middle school cafeteria.) But up until the moment he apparently can't help himself and marks Haeseo – it's still omegaverse, after all – he's trying not to make the situation public, and maybe even trying not to make Haeseo too uncomfortable. I'm less sold on that, but it's possible.

If you're hoping for spice reading this, you won't find it in these chapters, although I have no doubt that it's coming. But if you're an omegaverse reader looking for something a little different and don't mind stiff art, this is pretty good. I'll probably go back and read some more.