Kim Euihyun has hit rock bottom. Crushed under the weight of his deadbeat father's debts, this struggling omega sees no way forward. With loan sharks closing in and no hope left, he makes a heartbreaking decision—walking into the icy sea with his younger half-brother, believing it's their only escape. But just as the tide threatens to claim them, a stranger intervenes. Yeo Taeju, an alpha gangster collecting on Euihyun's debt, pulls them from the brink and offers an unexpected lifeline: a job, a roof over their heads, and a second chance. Yet Euihyun knows that nothing in life comes without a price.

Is Taeju a savior who can guide him toward a new beginning, or just another force dragging him deeper into the abyss?

Low Tide in Twilight has story and art by euja. English translation is done by Lezhin US Localization Team and lettering by Cheng Co. Published by Seven Seas Entertainment (January 20, 2026). Rated M.

Content Warning: rape, suicide ideation

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

With all of the non-consensual and dubious consent BL I've been reading for this guide, I have to wonder if we somehow slipped back in genre time without my noticing. While I remember this being the norm a decade ago, it's become much less prevalent in recent years…or maybe I've just gotten better at picking out what to read. Whatever the reason, Low Tide in Twilight joins Boss, Bxtch, Baby and My Bias is Showing in not quite getting that full consent is sexy…and where those other two could be framed more as dubcon, Low Tide is full-on sexual assault. Taeju one hundred percent rapes Euihyun and offers to mitigate “his” debt for sexual favors that Euihyun eventually agrees to, but in no way wants. Maybe that changes as the series goes on, but it's not a great look to start with.

The only reason Euihyun agrees to the second (and subsequent) sexual encounter is because his younger brother, Euiyoung, needs medical treatment. Euiyoung and Euihyun's father is the reason they're in this mess to begin with – he's that most frustrating of manga/manhwa fixtures, the debt dad. He's a particularly awful example of the breed, given that he stole Euihyun's fingerprint while he was sleeping, which is how he ended up with the debt in his father's stead. It's bad enough that when we first meet him, Euihyun is about to walk into the sea with Euiyoung, ready to kill them both rather than continue living with both their dad's debt hanging over them and his own status as an omega. (Why yes, this is omegaverse on top of things. No, that's not an excuse for the noncon stuff.) After his second sexual encounter with Taeju, he nearly drowns himself in the bathroom sink, and only the thought of his little brother stops him. For a story that seems to think it's kind of funny, it's very, very bleak.

This next bit is very much a me issue, but I also found Taeju gratingly allosexual. He can't fathom that a sex drive isn't the same for all people, and the sex scenes are made worse by his bafflement and refusal to believe that Euihyun hasn't been sleeping around. It may be intended to be a sign of his alphaness, but it really just makes him look like more of a jerk, and believe me, that's an area where he doesn't need any help. He has moments of kindness (albeit with a likely hidden motive), but it would have been easy to make him a bit more sympathetic and the creator seems to have no interest in doing so.

Low Tide in Twilight's first volume isn't the worst thing I've read, but it does manage to be one of the more unpleasant. The book's moving parts – translation, art – are perfectly fine, but the story and characters are at least a bit repellant. I'm moving on and not looking back.