A Business Proposal Volumes 9 and 10 Review

Volume 8 seemed to be the end of the story for Taemu and Hari when they married and got their happily ever after. So what more can the readers expect in the last two volumes of the series?

While the main story ends with Volume 8, in my opinion, in the remaining volumes, we delve into the ‘happy ever after’ of both the main and side characters. In the romance genre, the wedding tends to be the ultimate goal, and many times it also symbolises the ending of the story, leaving the readers to their imagination for what will happen to the protagonists next. Well, we don’t get that in A Business Proposal as the authors take us on a journey beyond the ‘happy ever after’ that consists of side stories that span a few years in time.

Taemu and Hari are now married and are enjoying their honeymoon period, both during their vacation and at home. It’s in those volumes that the ‘older teen’ reading age comes into effect, but although the readers know what’s going on, everything still happens behind closed doors. What I appreciate a lot about their story is that they don’t think they have to have a baby to be happy. Actually, they wish to enjoy their married life before they even start trying. Readers, though, beware—Taemu gets super sweet with Hari (how can that even be possible?!) and what he says will likely make you swoon.

Yeongsuh and Sunghoon instead left us with shocking news when attending their best friends’ wedding—they are pregnant! They couldn’t be more ecstatic about it… other than Yeongsuh’s father, of course! He dotes on his daughter, and he can’t wait to dote even more on his grandchild. He wants the best for them and his meddling, both in the pregnancy and in organising the wedding, creates issues in Yeongsuh and Sunghoon’s relationship. However, the readers know that Yeongsuh is not one to suffer and not say anything, and she doesn’t hesitate to stand up for herself and her partner. In the romance genre, usually the man is created as having a strong personality to protect his woman, so I appreciate how the author decided to show the woman as having the strong personality and the man being more passive. It’s such a change to what many manga and manhwa do.

These two couples though are not the only ones that find love. Hamin, Hari’s brother, had his heart crushed when he realized that Yeoungsuh would never reciprocate his feelings. But all is not lost…her cousin Yooju might be just what Hamin needs. She was there at his lowest and when she meets him again, she needs to do something to make him notice her, even if that something is crossdressing as a man and starting work at Hamin and Hari’s parents’ kitchen shop. For a wealthy heiress who’s  never had to do manual labour, it’s not easy working as a waiter, especially as she keeps dropping everything, but it’s all worth just to spend time with Hamin. Her presence also helps him heal from his heartbreak, and Hamin can’t stop himself from starting to develop feelings for Yooju, even when he thinks Yooju’s a male. Things also get more complicated when the truth comes out and Yooju’s mother stops the two from seeing each other ever again. But if there is something the readers have learned in this series, it’s that love always finds a way, so imagine Hamin and Yooju’s surprise when they find out they are attending the same university. This is fate.

Lastly, but not least, another meddling character is finding love in his old age: Mangeun Kang, Taemu’s grandfather. He loves his family and, thanks to his quirky personality, when he notices that Hari’s parents’ chicken restaurant has become super busy thanks to a TV scoop, he doesn’t hesitate to help out. But when he notices a lady spending time with her young granddaughter, flying hearts are all he sees. So he doesn’t hesitate to get to know her. Now, the readers only need to hope for this love to bloom, which will hopefully give some breathing space to Taemu, Hari, Yeongsuh and Sunghoom as grandfather adores being involved with them.

From start to finish A Business Proposal is full of romance and humour. It started as a webnovel by Haehwa and was then adapted into a 10-volume manwha with art by Narak and adaptation by Perilla. It’s released in the English language in volume format by Ize Press. A K-drama of the series is also available for streaming on Netflix.

Our review copies were supplied by Ize Press.