Taeyang never thought he'd run into his first love, Jiwan, again―things didn't exactly end well after Jiwan ghosted him years ago. So when Taeyang's heroic firefighter rescue lands him a television appearance at the very station Jiwan works at, Taeyang seizes his chance. But no amount of imagining their reunion could have prepared Taeyang for the revelation that awaits him…Turns out, Jiwan has a kid―named Taeyang, no less! And after Taeyang learns Jiwan's son is as old as their breakup, all the pieces start to fall into place. Now he knows just what to do: compel Jiwan into giving him seven of his Sundays for seven dates to make up for all that lost time!

Seven Sundays has a story by and art by Charyeok. English translation is done by TAPAS ENTERTAINMENT INC. and lettering by Chana Conley. Published by Ize Press (July 21, 2026). Rated M.

Content Warning: homophobia

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

Yearning after the one that got away is a trope as old as the romance genre. For firefighter Taeyang, it gets even more complicated because his escaped One is his childhood friend Jiwan, who vanished from his life eight years ago after what looks like a one-night stand. Taeyang has been pining after him ever since, to the tune of erectile dysfunction with everyone else he tries to sleep with…and if I'm being honest, it looks a lot like he doesn't want to sleep with anyone who isn't Jiwan anyway. So when a particularly daring rescue nets him the opportunity to star in a documentary produced by Jiwan, there's no way Taeyang is going to turn it down – or let the chance to reconnect slip by.

What he doesn't expect? Jiwan to have a seven-year-old son named Taeyang. To say that this complicates things is an understatement, though it's definitely not enough to scare adult Taeyang off. How could it, when his love named his kid after him?

It's hard to deny that Jiwan is sending off signals that he can't forget Taeyang either. Where things get sticky is that he doesn't want to be. It's not because he doesn't love Taeyang, either; you don't name your kid after someone you hate, after all. It seems like it's more that he feels he doesn't deserve a family and happiness. A flashback late in the book shows that his father disowned him after he came out, and there's an implication that his household was abusive even before that. He had his son with a lesbian friend possibly in an attempt to have a family of his own, but he still seems conflicted about whether or not he deserves it. Both Taeyangs believe he does, and in fact they form an alliance, because little Taeyang wants big Taeyang to be his other parent. The problem is that you can't force someone to do what's best for them.

There's a darker story lurking underneath the fluffy upper layer of this series. It doesn't quite wear both aspects comfortably, but there's a clear sense that it's trying. The main issue is that Jiwan keeps getting in his own way, which frustrates Taeyang. The no-chance rival situation gets taken care of in this volume, so now the only problem is Jiwan himself, and with two Taeyangs determined to make him knock that off, I think this stands to keep getting better as it goes on. If you're in the mood for a racy BL story where one of the romantic leads is his own worst enemy, this is worth your time.