Ihae's life is turned upside down when she wakes up in the dark underworld of her favorite dating sim. To survive as an unnoticed background character, she must stop Dokyeom, heir to a powerful crime family, from becoming the obsessive gang boss who destroys everyone in the original story. But the more time they spend together, the more his fixation falls on her. Between school life, hidden quests, and dangerous secrets, can Ihae reach a happy ending, or is she already on the path to tragedy?

Love Rehab for a Gangster is based on an original novel by JANSO, with art by sein, adaptation and storyboard by JEU. English localization is done by Kiwivine. Published by Tapas Entertainment. Rated T.

Erica Friedman
Rating:

Ihae is determined to find the one potential happy ending in a game in which the heroine—and most of the other characters—only find bad endings. Now thrust wholly into the game world as a side character turned into a protagonist, Ihae is still determined to find a happy ending. She gets the distinct feeling that the game is playing her, however.

Ihae's actions are based not on a game script, but on normal human interactions. Committed to changing the script, Ihae finds herself changing far more than the game outcomes. But will it get her the happy ending she is looking for? Ihae's game is generous with rewards, but isn't giving her any skills she doesn't already have. This makes the comic relatable, but not fast. We're in each scene, just as any human might be, whether it's a fight with a jealous young brother or a kidnapping.

Some attempt is made to give the characters backstories, but they are situational. “This reminds me of that time when…” and it does sometimes feel a bit expository, but overall this comic runs on vibes. And, of course, romance. The leading man has leading man energy and sulkiness, as so many leading men do. Even Ihae comments on his stereotypical everything.

This is a “game” about gangsters, so expect violence, betrayal and blood. But for all that, this is still a romance game, and we must expect that, as the chapters unspool, Ihae and Dokyeom will find happiness-ishness. This is a little soap opera, a little crime/action, and a fair amount of the main character shouting about one thing or another. If you're a fan of games like the in-comic media, “Gangster Love,” you might get a kick out of the immersion here.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

This is the closest to Villains are Destined to Die that manhwa has come. Well, in the spiritual sense, at least. Ihae isn't at all like Penelope in the character sense – she's freewheeling and outgoing and has all the self-preservation of a caffeinated toddler. But the situation she finds herself in is distinctly similar: she's been reborn – or at least transmigrated – to a vicious otome game that earned an R18 rating not for sex, but because it's just that brutal and traumatic. Think “ninety-nine out of one hundred endings are bad” brutality. Ihae only committed to playing GangLuv because no one had ever gotten the lone good ending, so it's not like she even enjoys the game. But then she…let's go with “loses consciousness,” because she might not be dead and wakes up as a high schooler inside the game. It's one year before the actual story starts, and that means that Ihae has been handed not only the chance to find the happy ending, but also the possibility of circumventing the entire game story all together, thanks to some handy cosmic coincidences.

Of course, that means she has to navigate the random quest that “the system” throws at her and not look like a total freak to Dokyeom and his family. She's not doing so hot on that front so far, in no small part because she can see game prompts that no one else can. In fact, this is a cheat skill-free setting for her. She has no powers and everyone is just an ordinary human, albeit one involved in organized crime. If Ihae is going to get to a happy ending, she's going to have to do it as herself with no extra help, something made a bit more difficult by the fact that she's not even an adult anymore; she's a high school second year.

The writing and art in this are both quite funny. Maybe not laugh-out-loud funny, but each chapter reads quickly and easily with chuckle-worthy moments throughout. It's the sort of webtoon you could sit down to read a chapter of and then look up hours later to find you've binged as many as are available. (Twenty-four as of this writing.) There are a couple of odd translation choices, such as Dokyeom's “stomach flip[ping] over,” which makes it sound more like he's about to barf than that he finds Ihae cute, but that's small potatoes. If you like Villains are Destined to Die and wonder how it would work as a comedy, this is worth checking out.