Ji Ho and Gang Dojin
Robber x Lover (우렁강도) is a Korean Boys' Love webtoon by PENGKI. It is officially available in English from Lezhin Comics
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Ji Ho is a university student who has managed to get a killer deal on an apartment. Downtown Seoul, near a train station, in a quiet neighborhood, cheap and spacious — it seems too good to be true.
His first day there, he runs into a robber in his apartment. Said "robber" doesn't seem interested in taking anything, but is very interested in an unfinished story Ji Ho had written in some notebooks, which was abandoned due to lack of spare time. He offers a deal: he'll become Ji Ho's new roommate and keep house for him, so Ji Ho can have time to write his story.
Thus begins a strange living arrangement.
Contains examples of:
- Animal Motifs: When Gang Dojin first approaches Ji Ho the morning after their first encounter, the former has a tiger's head behind him while the latter has a scared rabbit, representing Ji Ho's feelings in the moment.
- Dissonant Serenity: After Gang Dojin leaves to slam his head against a wall in frustration over being mistaken for a robber, he reenters and offers to sit down and talk things out, blood dripping down his face from where he smashed it and wearing a calm smile.
- From Roommates to Romance: Gang Dojin becomes Ji Ho's roommate so that he can keep house and thereby free up time for him to continue writing a story that Dojin became enamored with. The two end up becoming an item.
- Head Desk: When Ji Ho calls Gang Dojin a robber, the latter slams his head against a wall in frustration.
- Medium Awareness: When Gang Dojin offers to talk things out in episode 3, Bishie Sparkles appear around him with onomatopoeia; one of Ji Ho's responding thoughts reads: "Don't try to trick me with the background and sound effects!"
- Meet Cute: The two main characters meet when one tries to return the other's things and is mistaken for a robber.
- Not What It Looks Like: An unlikely series of events leads to Ji Ho mistaking Gang Dojin for a robber in their first encounter. Ji Ho had returned to his apartment with groceries, not noticing that a hole in the bag had resulted in things spilling out on the way. Gang Dojin picked up the items, following the trail back to the unlocked apartment. On the way, one of the items, a kitchen knife, fell out of its sheath and he picked it back up. Entering the apartment and putting the items in his arms aside, he heard Ji Ho's cry of surprise at discovering the hole in his bag. Approaching in concern, he tripped on a box and fell on him, the knife pinning Ji Ho's hood to the floor and becoming stuck.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Dojin was fired from one of his jobs (which also provided him with a place of residence) after his boss' girlfriend broke up with him. He took it out on Dojin because of the attention he was getting from female customers, kicking him out into the street. Afterward, Dojin was reluctant to ask for help at his other job, fearing that he would get women seeking to take advantage of him.
- Stepping Out to React: Gang Dojin becomes frustrated over being mistaken for a robber and wordlessly leaves the room, shutting the door behind him. There's a slamming sound, then he walks back in, blood dripping down his forehead.
