Webcomic / The Greenhouse

The Greenhouse is a webcomic by Viesallon, on Webtoons. It is a drama, following Mica as she tries to put her life back together: moving into a new apartment, getting a new job, and making new friends. Unfortunately, one of the first things she does is accidentally bind herself to a demon that had been haunting said new apartment. And perhaps even worse, she hasn't done quite a good enough job leaving her old life behind....

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This comic provides examples of:

• Bad Boss: Mica's second boss at the grocery store. After he decides she'd make a great scapegoat for selling drinks to a minor, invades her personal space, and shouts at her she slams his head into the counter, getting herself fired.
• Bland-Name Product: The store where Mica works stocks brands such as Triangles potato chips, Tata Disks, Cookies, Chip Chip, Noms, and Crinkle.
• Blood Magic: Red was initially sealed into her mirror with a blood curse, and so now Mica needs a highly skilled blood mage to separate them. The first such mage she's sent to can't actually use it at all, and was just going to con her. But the next one found is a master of the craft... and also her neighbor's grandmother. Liv considers just learning it herself, but as Riley points out, it would take years to become skilled enough for the 'surgery' that Mica requires.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Almost everyone. The big ones are of course Mica and Red and Mica and Liv, all of whom have a hell of a time saying how they actually feel about each other.
• Cast from Hit Points: Demons can speak to people other than their host, at least under specific conditions. But even then, it requires huge amounts of energy. When Red does this after being severed from Mica, each sentence visibly reduces chunks of her body to tattered mist.
• The Chain of Harm: Avery's father physically and verbally abuses her, and has been doing so all her life. She tries to control her lover Mica in the same way. Mica lashes out against her friend and Love Interest Liv, who ends the chain for now by sticking around anyway, forgiving Mica and receiving her apology.
• Cute Little Fangs: Mica's canines become increasingly pronounced over the course of the story, a physical tell that she's been possessed by a demon. 'Red' has them too, but they're not visible too often.
• Death Glare: Mica gives one in episode 21, without even noticing. She, uh, doesn't like loud noises. Especially when they come from angry people. The guy in question immediately shuts up and leaves, visibly intimidated.
• Demonic Possession: Shattering the mirror that was holding Red and then cutting herself on the glass is all it takes to transfer the blood curse and make Mica into Red's new anchor.
  • Hearing Voices: The host is the only one who can hear their demon (even most other demons can't hear each other)... but since Mica doesn't know she's possessed, 'Red' pretends to be Mica's own inner voice, belittling her and generally accentuating the negative to make her more vulnerable to Red's feeding. Once Mica learns she's possessed, Red claims this technique becomes essentially useless. Much bigger spoiler: When Liv takes over hosting Red, she becomes the only one who can hear her.
  • Possession Burnout: The longer Red stays, the thinner Mica's soul becomes. Mica is noted to be unusually resistant to this (and that was after just a few days of remaining both alive and sane), but by the time they're finally separated, Mica's soul is regularly slipping into Red's home plane, with presumably disastrous consequences if Red didn't keep catching it.
  • Trapped in the Host: Red can't leave until an expert in blood magic cuts her out of Mica's soul, Mica completes her summoning (receiving favors of her choice in exchange for the already established price of her soul), or Mica dies... and Red is increasingly leery of that last option, since she's not actually sure she'd survive it either.
• Emotion Eater: Red doesn't literally feed on negative emotions, but the closer her host gets to Red's natural low-energy, negative state, the easier it is for her to sup on their life force.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Mica flings herself to the ground from a dead sprint to avoid a collision, injuring herself to avoid possibly hurting someone else. This continues when she suffers in silence rather than try to reclaim her hand from the painful grip of the old lady calling her "cursed".
  • Liv defuses the situation, rescuing Mica and winking flirtatiously at this cute girl she's never seen before.
• Everyone Can See It: Mica and Liv.
• Exhausted Eye Bags: Mica has permanent shadows under her eyes. Demonic Possession will do that to you.
• Flaw Exploitation: Riley pulls this off, successfully convincing Aris to stop killing Red by saying that Liv will never forgive him if he continues.
  Liv's Grandmother: Using Liv was a dirty trick and you know it, Riley!
  Riley: A dirty trick that worked. I can't believe it worked. Oh thank god it worked!
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Red doesn't have any wings... but as she gets more solid, enormous symmetrical scars on her back become visible, suggesting she used to and falling under the Broken Wings version of this trope. In addition to the Fallen Angel connotations, it's appropriate for a being that is quite literally a fraction of her former self.
• Horror Hunger: Demons need to feed on life energy. They can't help themselves; it's more akin to breathing in that it happens automatically when food is available. Red attributes much of her own initial hostility to being literally too hungry to think properly after a decade of starvation. When she starts causing problems again, Mica successfully bargains for good behavior in exchange for regularly removing the amulet that prevents Red from feeding. A proper contract makes the feeding much more efficient, letting the demon survive without taking too much from the host. But when a demon loses their anchor, this hunger becomes the only thing they're capable of thinking about. Red very nearly kills Liv after being severed from Mica, and is utterly horrified upon being bound to a new pseudo-anchor and regaining sentience.
  Mica: I think she was just hangry.
• Hot as Hell: 'Red' starts as little more than an anthropomorphized red mist, but as the comic goes on, becomes increasingly solid and feminine in appearance... plus horns and a Prehensile Tail. From the way she describes her abs while they're disintegrating after her bond with Mica was severed, she might be intentionally shaping her body to be attractive.
  Red: I like where this form is going!
• Human-Demon Hybrid: An offhand comment by 'Red' suggests they exist in the setting; she thought Liv might be one before realizing the actual reason for her red eye.
• Intangibility: Red, and presumably demons in general.
  • Touch the Intangible: But several spells are capable of affecting her, causing discomfort or preventing her from entering a home. A shower of salt onto her host is also an agonizing experience for Red. Once their bond develops enough and Red is solid enough (and Mica isn't wearing her protective charm), she and Mica can actually touch each other: Red finds poking Mica with her tail to be endlessly fascinating, but is completely thrown for a loop when Mica boops her nose and tussles her hair.
• Invisible to Normals: Demons. Not even Mica, her host, can see 'Red' at first... aside from catching glances of her in reflective surfaces like ponds and windows. She's entirely visible to magical practitioners like Liv, though.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing:
  Red: Refer to me as anything but 'it' if you please.
• Ladykiller in Love: Liv. She's very used to flirting and seducing, but actually falling for Mica is more than she knows what to do with.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: One of the more common side effects of ending a demonic possession, and so far it's never been clean. Liv can't remember her brother at all, leaving her completely unable to process the overwhelming grief she still feels for his death. Mica might have it even worse, since there are no pictures or other physical proof that Red ever existed, making her feel like she's losing her mind (the Cute Little Fangs she's developed due to Red's influence help a little). Both are tormented by a very dark version of Wistful Amnesia, as they're forcibly reminded that there used to be something extremely important to them that is now completely lost. On the plus side, Liv has a plan to get both of their missing memories back.
• Living Lie Detector: 'Red'.
  Red: Humans give off a different feel... an energy when they do not tell the truth. I would know, you are constantly lying to yourself.
• Lonely Together: 'Red' has spent the entirety of her time on earth trapped in a mirror, able to glimpse the lives of the humans who rented her apartment but never interact with them. Mica, her host, fully expects to have to run away from everyone she knows and loves to prevent her Psycho Ex-Girlfriend from ruining their lives. In a moment of vulnerability, Red points out that she can't be hurt like that, and asks Mica to resummon her once they've been separated, so at least they can be alone together. Mica says yes.
• Mark of the Supernatural: Those possessed by demons eventually develop a permanent physical tell. For main character Mica, it's her Cute Little Fangs that get more pronounced as the story goes on. For love interest Liv, one of her eyes can turn red. This becomes useful later when Mica is separated from Red and loses all memories of her in the process. Her Cute Little Fangs are the only physical proof she has that she's not completely losing her mind.
• Non-Giving-Up School Guy: The flashback chapters show us that Avery was a rare student version, doing everything in her power to keep Mica on campus (up to and including tackling her out of a tree) and encouraging her to actually do her schoolwork, so Mica wouldn't get in trouble with the teachers. Cute, even wholesome, but with the benefit of foresight, this was obviously an early sign of her controlling personality, her need to have the people she liked doing things her way and only her way.
• Non-Humans Lack Attributes: Played with by the demons we see.
  • 'Red' plays it straight so far. She starts off as little more than anthropomorphized mist (plus horns, but even as she gets increasingly solid and humanoid (including clearly defined breasts and legs) never develops 'attributes'. This may be an intentional choice; the way she describes her abs while they're disintegrating suggests she has some control over the way her body develops. Or maybe she just hasn't developed far enough yet.
  • We later see a demon called Aris, who does have nipples and appears to wear pants, averting the trope.
  • And at the same time, meet a possibly demonic being by the name of Amihan, who has nipple-less breasts but always has her hips censored by her Godiva Hair or speech bubbles.
• Painting the Medium: Starting on episode 7, the comic gets an opening 'logo' with the name, a stylized green house with some leaves, and the episode number. But starting with episode 71, the logo has transformed. The new house is covered in red, which has spread to the now wilted leaves, and enormous devil horns stretch from the roof, dominating the top of the image. This could be because Red has finally grown strong enough, after being regularly fed for the first time in, well, ever. But the timing is right after Avery confronts Mica and Liv, revealing just how much she knows about both and threatening them, so it's probably a more general indicator that things have gotten dangerous and out of control.
• Parental Abandonment:
  • Mica's mother and father divorced due to their constant fighting. Her father fought to keep her, but perhaps more out of spite for the mother than affection for Mica. Her constant getting into trouble prompts him to threaten to cut her off when she's kicked out of yet another high school, a threat he makes good on when Avery frames her for arson.
  • Avery's mother is never seen or mentioned. And her father is both physically and verbally abusive, and doesn't seem to care what she gets up to beyond how it affects the business and her capabilities.
  • Liv's parents are presumably both still alive; she's just independent now that she's in college, and we never see them or hear from them. Though she might have gotten a little isolated from her family when she accidentally lost all the memories of her dead brother, resulting in a very different trauma from the rest of the family, which may play a role in their lack of appearance.
• Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Avery. She's hell-bent on taking Mica back, and is not above ruining the lives of everyone else Mica loves to ensure she has her all to herself. After all, she's done it before.
• Salt Solution: A bag of salt spills onto Mica's head in the grocery store. This is agonizing for the demon possessing her, and gives her a splitting headache, but fails to banish the demon, revealing that getting rid of 'Red' is going to be a lot trickier than Liv had hoped.
• Sensory Overload: Downplayed with Red. This is probably her first time on Earth, and being able to actually touch Mica (once their bond develops that far) is a novel and endlessly fascinating experience for her; she spends Mica's entire shift poking her with her tail, and is very disappointed when the protective amulet goes back on and they become intangible to each other again. She is also totally thrown for a loop by Mica nose booping her and patting her head. She gets it a lot more strongly (and a lot less pleasantly) when put into a cat body: bringing coffee near her almost makes her fall of the sofa screaming, and she does not like entering the kitchen full of smells.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Mica and Liv do this constantly in response to the relentless teasing by their friends.
• Sleep Deprivation: Having a demon drink down your soul is not good for your quality of sleep. Mica is almost too exhausted to function after the first night. Improves once she gets a protective charm from Liv, but the Exhausted Eye Bags never completely leave. At least, not until she and Red are separated.
• Summoning Ritual:
  • Used to summon demons from their home planes, naturally. You can have either a specific ritual for summoning a specific demon, or a general one that opens a door and lets whichever demon can fight their way through first into the world.
  • The first page of the comic features the tail-end of Red's original summoner performing one... or rather, deciding she can't go through with it, and using a blood curse to bind Red into a mirror instead. This Imperfect Ritual is the source of many of the problems in the plot.
  • Completing the summoning with another ritual would be the easiest way to deal with Red, providing a safety net and reducing Red's feeding to a manageable level. The catch? The original summoner already set some of the terms for the contract, and they can't be overwritten. While Mica could ask for any favor she wanted once the summoning is complete, the price is set in stone: her soul once she dies.
  • Mica promises to summon Red properly once they've been severed. This becomes a necessity once she loses her memories of Red, since summoning her should restore them. But Red is fragmented, with part of herself still trapped in her home dimension, and that's the part that knows her summoning key: a necessity for summoning Red specifically rather than letting whatever demon is strongest/luckiest come through.
• Trauma Button:
  • Mica hates loud noises in general, and shouting most of all. It reminds her of her parents.
  • For Mica and Liv, any reminders of the person they've lost to Laser-Guided Amnesia are agonizing, calling up broken memories and the certainty that something important is missing.
• Troubled Abuser: Avery and her brother are derided and physically abused by their father, who will never let such important investments live their own lives.
• Walking Spoiler: Mica's resident demon, 'Red'. Despite being part of the premise of the story, there are a lot of things about her that must be spoilered.

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