Seduction More Beautiful Than Love 2

Lee Hyeon-Sook – Tokyopop – 2008 – 2+ volumes
Tokyopop’s translation stops at volume 2

While this series does have pretty art, I’m left a little cold on the romance, which seems to be the point. All the same, there is an intriguing conflict set up here, and Ryumin’s intentions become puzzling and far less clear than they should be, which is definitely several points in this series’ favor.

Daoun deals with the fallout from falsely accusing a student of stealing test results last volume. The student liked her enough that she was trying to leave Daoun a present when she was caught, which of course makes this situation that much uglier. Students badmouth her, parents badmouth her, and other teachers badmouth her. Later, since the student’s opinion of her has deteriorated, she is unable to make a single one of her homeroom students attend mandatory after-school tutoring sessions, which puts her in bad standing with the administration.

She wonders if any of it is worthwhile, but Hyunwoo stands by her. He’s a good character, and I loved the way his shy admiration from afar, confident that he almost has Daoun in a position to admit his feelings after so many years, is contrasted with the bold Ryumin. Hyunwoo blows off Daoun’s concerns about Ryumin being too forward as paranoia, but as Ryumin begins to target Hyunwoo for teasing and antagonizing, he is less sure of himself. The contrast between these two, and the completely opposite ways they help Daoun, is quite unique, and I’d love to see either of them make a very serious move. Of course, Ryumin’s been making serious moves from the beginning, but his actions become less clear here.

The blur comes partially as a result of his erratic help concerning the accused student. He acts as a go-between without telling Daoun, but then does something malicious and taunts her later. He also hinders her progress in the after-school tutoring later. Does he still like her, do his actions reflect a change in his mood, or is he acting out of jealousy since Daoun is spending more and more time with Hyunwoo? The ambiguous intent is intentional, and again, I would love to see the mystery unravel as Ryumin grows closer to Daoun.

The other reason Ryumin’s intentions are unclear is because he has a girlfriend. He says no, she says yes, but he’s clearly intimate with her, and he shows at least one scene where he genuinely cares about her. She begins to pick up on his feelings for Daoun, and by the end of the volume, has Daoun in a tight spot. She’s rather evil, and the missing dangerous piece from the majority of the first two volumes: none of the characters act like a teacher and student together is a dangerous thing, but surely if Daoun was caught with Ryumin, it would be bad for her?

I’m still not entirely fond of Daoun as a main character, since she’s still rather vanilla and lacks personality quirks. I think a vanilla character is probably best considering the two types of men vying for her affection, and I am happy this isn’t being played for comedy. It’s true that neither Ryumin or Hyunwoo are terribly three-dimensional at this point, too, but all the same, they’re making some interesting friction together.

The pieces are all here as far as romance stories go, but they’re fitting together in a different way, and I’m growing to like it more and more the further I read. Its tone is also more mature and josei-ish than, say, Sugarholic, even though one of the love interests is still in high school. I do like the marginally more mature flavor here (other than the fact everything is happening slowly and a lot of attention is paid to Daoun’s career, I don’t know if this is that much different than a mature high school title), and I love the art and setup so far. It’s not one of my favorites, and I’m not absolutely crushed I can’t pick up the next volume, but I still think it’s another unique voice that won’t continue, and that’s a shame.