Seven years ago, Hakyung Lee accepted an offer to impersonate a dead girl. The plan was simple―he would pose as his childhood friend, Jiyoung Han, and convince a rich grandpa on his deathbed that he wasn't a fraud. It'd only be for one summer, and once that was over, Hakyung would walk away with the funds to pay for his mother's hospital care and medication. And everything seemed to be smooth sailing―until Yoonsung Jang rushed to his grandfather's side, determined to expose Hakyung as a fake. Except he doesn't…and as the two spend more time together, the carefully placed walls between them begin to crumble. Now, in the present day, Yoonsang steps into the very bar where Hakyung works. For one, it's a simple, innocuous encounter. For the other, it's a one-sided reunion seven years in the making…

Reunion has a story by 2coin and art by DeulSum. Translation by Manta Comics and lettering by Chana Conley. Published by Ize Press (October 20, 2026). Rated T+.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

This is the third time I've read this part of the story, and I have to say that I'm relieved (and delighted) that Ize Press is releasing it in paperback, because now I can finish it with a minimum of fuss. Before this release, the original novels (reviewed in last season's Light Novel Guide) and the manhwa were only available online – not even as e-books, and as someone who prefers not reading her books from a website, even on an e-reader, I couldn't be happier. (But, Manta, if you're reading, please release the novels as e-books!) That I've been willing to read it that many times should tell you that this is a good story.

Told across two different times – the present and seven years in the past – the story follows Hakyung Lee's relationship with Yoonsung Jang. The two initially met when Hakyung, desperate for money to pay for his mother's medical care, accepted an offer to play the part of his deceased childhood friend Jiyoung. Yoonsung's grandfather is declining rapidly, and he feels a debt to Jiyoung's also-late grandmother. Unaware that Jiyoung was murdered by her father when she was ten, he's determined to connect with her and help her – and for reasons as yet unexplained, his son is more willing to hire a twenty-two-year-old man to play a twenty-year-old woman than to tell his dad that Jiyoung is dead. Hakyung is, in fact, the fifth person to play Jiyoung, but because he knew her and her grandmother, he's also the only one likely to succeed.

Yoonsung is fully aware that Hakyung's a fraud, but unaware that he's a man. Because he sees that Hakyung really does care for his grandfather, and how happy his grandfather is, he basically lets it slide, and the two become close. Meanwhile, in the present, Hakyung is working at a bar frequented by Yoonsung's chaebol friends, leading to the two meeting again…and at some point in the intervening years, Yoonsung has lost his memories of the summer he spent with “Jiyoung.” There's mention of an accident that Hakyung clearly knows about, and the slow reveal of just what transpired seven years ago is part of what makes this so interesting. Because we go into the past already knowing that Yoonsung is going to lose his memories of Hakyung, there's a sense of waiting for that shoe to drop that makes for some very well-written tension. In the present, Yoonsung seems aware that he knows Hakyung, and Hakyung is leery of this, but also unable to stay away from the other man.

DeulSum's art ably enhances 2coin's story, adding tension to the proceedings with their use of body language and color. The past is always drawn brighter than the present, reflecting the place it has in both men's hearts, and there's some clear fearful yearning in both time periods. Yes, it can be a little melodramatic, but Reunion is basically a K-drama on paper – it's contrived, but while you're reading, you just can't look away.

Erica Friedman
Rating:

With a plot that is based around a gender switch in order to foster a fake identity, a seven-year separation, and a handful of other plot complications all mushed together, Reunion takes a bold stab at throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks.

In their desire to create a deep and tense relationship, full of secrets, between the two leads, we're given a backstory so confusing, so neck-deep in plot, that the Reunion between Hakyung and Yoonsang ends up feeling forced by circumstance and lacking in any real connection.

On Hakyung's side, seven years ago, he pretended to be a dead young woman to make money to save his mother, who had cancer. Yoonsang knew he was a fake, but was unable or unwilling to uncover the truth at the time. Despite (or maybe because of?) their feelings, they allowed themselves to be engaged by the elderly grandfather; the ruse was meant to dupe.

Now seven years have passed, and they have met again by accident. Literally, Yoonsang is injured when they collide. Convinced he knows Hakyung, but not remembering how due to memory loss, Yoonsang presses his case to be part of Hakyung's life. Hakyung only wished that Yoonsang, and everything he represents, would disappear.

As messy as all this is, I might have found it fascinating as an exercise in writing a soap opera, except for Yoonsang's inexplicable behavior. Having met a young man who flat-out denies knowing him, Yoonsang asks him, “Do you want to sleep with me?” Excuse me, sir, this may not be a Wendy's, but wtf? From that point on, we slip back and forth between the uncomfortable relationship as Hakyung faked being Jiyoung, Yoonsang before and after a mysterious memory loss, and Hakyung and Yoonsang “reunited” in a new, and equally uncomfortable situation.

Even as a soap opera, Reunion is asking a lot of the reader. One hopes that as the story evolves, some of the mysteries are filled in and the lies and discomfort give way to truth and, hopefully, comfort for the protagonists.