See You in My 19th Life Volume 4 Review

THEY KISSED!!! THEY FINALLY KISSED!

Ok, let me rewind back a little bit to explain. Seoha, Chowon, Jieum and Doyun took a trip together to a seaside town where Chowon’s family used to go. Here, both Seoha and Chowon get the chance to talk…more like they are forced together until they can finally talk and express their feelings that were shaped by the death of Juwon, Chowon’s older sister and Seoha’s first love.

A sudden change in the weather forces the four of them to stay in the town overnight, as it would be too dangerous to drive back to the city. They all end up staying at Chowon’s holiday house, but Jieum cannot shake the bad feeling she has. She knows something is about to happen, but she doesn’t know what.  Thankfully (or maybe not), she doesn’t have to wait much longer before the other shoe drops—Chowon calls Jieum out for knowing things about the house that a stranger shouldn’t know. And this starts a spiral of doubts between the two women—Jieum wonders if Chowon has found out about her secret, while Chowon starts worrying on how Jieum knows so much about her and Seoha and about things that only family should be aware of.

Back in the city, they deal with the doubts and suspicions, while Seoha and Doyun deal with their own pasts. Doyun ends up to a business meeting turned into a high school reunion where his bullies are present. Once again, he’s shown how he doesn’t fit in with them—including Seoha and Chowon—as his family doesn’t come from money. Seoha is forced to attend a family dinner with all his relatives who goad him and make fun of him because of his disability. They see it as an advantage for them as they have a better chance to become the company’s heir instead of the ‘broken’ son.

This volume is quite heavy as it unpacks a lot of traumas for our characters. While the readers already had an insight into Seoha’s past, in Volume 4 we get a better understanding as to why Seoha is the way he is and how he turned out despite his family. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the same loving family that Chowon and Doyun can boast about: everyone is trying to up one another to discredit the other in the eyes of the company’s chairman, Seoha’s father. Partially because of his high status, Seoha has been bullied all his life, and he’s had to fight his own battles, even as a kid. On the other hand, Doyun has a lovely family that consists of his mother and young brother. Nevertheless, he’s been ridiculed since high school because he was a scholarship student and now because he’s Seoha’s secretary. The relationship between the two men is complicated. There is still a lot to unpack, and the author, Lee Hye, gives us hints of the drama that is to come.

Jieum and Chowon instead are dealing with another situation all together: Jieum’s secret. The suspicion is there and Chowon is planning to bring it up with Jieum. She fails to talk about this in this volume, but I’m pretty sure that it won’t take much longer to have a development on this. I wonder what Jieum will do when faced with the upcoming questions. Will she tell Chowon the truth? What about Seoha? Now that he’s coming to terms with his feelings for Jieum and Juwon, how will he react if he knows they are the same person? The more I read this series, the more questions (ok, more like expectations) I have. The best part of this volume is that there is finally a development in the romantic relationship in one of our two favourite couples.

I quite enjoyed how the first four volumes in the series have linking covers to show the romantic relationship between the characters. This office romance story is packed full of drama, and with this volume we also get a possible hint of crime and mystery, which I’m pretty sure will be developed in further volumes. The illustrations continue to be on the ‘simplistic’ side in terms of backgrounds but with a detailed focus on the characters’ expressions. The colours of the art are duller than other series in the same genre, but they help with the ‘heavier’ themes discussed in the story.

See You in My 19th Life is written by Lee Hye, and it was published as a digital comic on Webtoon, before turning into a k-drama available on Netflix. The print volumes are published by Ize Press with the Webtoon translation. Volume 5 is already out.

Our review copy from Ize Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.