What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?

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I was honestly really surprised to find out that this manhwa didn't have a single review so I just had to leave one. This is my first ever review so don't expect it to be too good or anything. (Spoiler-free review)

Story 9/10: When I first started reading this manhwa I didn't actually like it and never thought it would end up being one of my favorites. The story starts off with our male mc being shown off as being kind of a player. He comes off as an arrogant, selfish man and it looks like this is gonna be just one of those stories where ... a girl falls in love with her arrogant boss because she's a masochist or something, but that turned out to be far from the truth! Don't judge this manhwa by its cover, because there turned out to be so much more to it than first came to the surface. I only ended up giving the story itself a nine as there were still some aspects I personally didn't enjoy as much, but the overall story was still very pleasant and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in a romance story that's deep but still has comedic value.

Art 10/10: The art is absolutely stunning and made me just want to screenshot every single page. It made the story even better and more enjoyable than it already was. It's not too complex and not too simple. I haven't really found an art style like this one again.

Characters 10/10: The characters are very well built! From the surface, it looked like these characters were gonna be those basic romance characters you'd find in any manga/manhwa, but the opposite was true! The back story of these characters gradually gets built up as the story progresses as it should at the perfect pace. The back story is very beautiful and made me fall in love with the characters and this whole manhwa all together.

Enjoyment 10/10: Absolutely enjoyed pretty much every second of this. I kept coming back for more and just couldn't stop reading until I knew how it ended, which I honestly didn't expect when I started it. I fell in love with it very quickly. I would re-read it again and again if I could.

Overall 10/10: It was just overall a very nice reading experience. I enjoyed it so much and the story, characters & art were all absolutely amazing. It probably sounds very cheesy and it won't be the manhwa for everyone. Maybe I'm biased, who knows, but I do know I really like this and would recommend it.

Thank you for reading my review! I wish you fun if you end up reading it!!

This review may contain mild spoilers.
What's Wrong With Secretary Kim is not your typical office romance. Ms Kim Miso, the headstrong female lead, is the perfect secretary to the world's toughest boss, Lee Yungjoon. Well she WAS the perfect secretary, because after nine long years without a single day off, Kim Miso has had enough. Her sudden decision to quit has Lee Yungjoon frustrated and confused. How dare she leave his side?

Characters: 9/10 - Kim Miso is a seemingly average girl who has grown quite the reputation. After working for an impossible boss, she can handle anything with class. We are introduced to a ... capable woman, but it's made clear that she wasn't always this way. Kim Miso is a fully fleshed out character. We learn about her goals and dreams, her family and their influence, her own personality. She's searching for someone crucial to her foggy memory. With Kim Miso as our main narrator, we relate to just how overwhelming her job really is. Most of us are not the super elite, rich boss, but the super poor secretary.

Lee Yungjoon is god's gift to earth. Beautiful, arrogant, rich, smart... the list goes on and on. When Kim Miso says she wants to quit, his world is immediately put in jeopardy. How could he lose the secretary he describes as "a finely tailored suit" without putting up a fight? Throughout the story, we learn he may not be as simple as a cocky boss. Lee Yungjoon is the biggest surprise to this story.

The side characters in this story are just as rich in personality as the main ones. Miso's family was warm and provided a great board for Miso to bounce her worries off of. President Park is a great comedic foil to Lee Yungjoon's seemingly perfect visage. Every interaction with these charcters is meaningful to the plot in some way.

Plot: 9/10 - When I say you will not guess what happens, I mean you WILL NOT guess what happens. The overarching story of the romance between Miso and Yungjoon is comedic and fresh. Their romantic relationship starts as a way for Yungjoon to keep her around. Why he's so determind to keep Miso is the heart of this story. A backstory no one could have predicted tie these two characters together. The pacing is phenominal. There are no misunderstandings, miscommunications, or silly accidents. This story feels believable, down to the last detail.

The romance that blooms between these two is beautiful. I love these two characters, and Miso might be my personal favorite female lead I've ever read. This is a beautiful romance, and authors Kim Myeongmi and Jung Kyun-Joon do an amazing job really letting us explore the world of these two. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves romance, mystery, and comedy.

I would say that being full of cliches and having bland plot developments are one of the strong points of this work, because this way you don't get so angry at its absolutely insufferable male protagonist.

Ok, him being tyrannical is part of the premise of this manhwa, and that's not bad in itself. The problem is that the entire story tries to depict many of his controlling and even stalking behaviors as "romantic", and shows how the female protagonist begins to fall for him because of them...

Yes, there are plenty of other "romance" works that show this type of behaviors so it's pretty normalized ... in the genre, but when the story would be categorized as horror / psychological abuse if the male protagonist were poor and ugly, you can easily see how toxic the relationship it depicts is.