Bloody Romance note is a Korean supernatural romance webtoon, written by Jihyun Sa and illustrated by Seoru.
Hari Bang is on her way to becoming a famous mukbang vlogger, until her doctor tells her she urgently needs to lose weight. Luckily, she's just discovered a weight-loss method with a 100% success rate: letting a vampire suck her blood.
When Hari learns her handsome classmate Doyun Oh is secretly a half-vampire struggling against his newly awakened bloodlust, she offers to let him drink from her. He'll satisfy his hunger, and she'll lose the 20kg she needs to start making videos again. Win-win!
Doyun is reluctant at first, but Hari's blood is just too sweet to resist. As the two spend time together, Doyun realizes he's not the only vampire after Hari's blood. What is it about her that's so special? And is it really Hari's blood he craves, or is it her?
The series ran from 2021 to 2022, for a total of sixty chapters. A complete English translation is available to read on TappyToon.
Bloody Romance contains examples of:
- Affectionate Nickname: Hari is known as “Mukbang Hari” among her friends. This is actually a pun; Korean family names come before your given one, making Hari's full name (Muk)Bang Hari.
- Beta Couple: Hari's friends Ahyul and Seunghyeon become a couple over the course of the series
- Bland-Name Product:
- The site where Hari posts her mukbang videos is called WeTube.
- The characters frequently sport t-shirts featuring logos for brands like Adiaos (Adidas), Superme (Supreme), and Pandaonia (Patagonia).
- Blood Countess: The unnamed royal vampire from Romania. She craves Hari’s blood and she's not above taking her hostage to get it.
- Break His Heart to Save Him: After Hari ends up in the hospital, Doyun becomes convinced his presence is endangering her, so he tells her he wants to break up, because he's no longer attracted to her blood after a recent transfusion. She quickly sees through the lie.
- But Not Too Foreign: Eden is a royal vampire who's half-Korean and half-English.
- Childhood Friends: Hari has two best friends from kindergarten, Eden and Seunghyeon.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Hari's friend Eden has harboured a crush on her since they met in kindergarten, but moved to England before he could confess. By the time he tells her how he feels, she's already in love with Doyun.
- Compelling Voice: Vampires can use their power of persuasion to make humans do their bidding or alter their memories.
- Death by Childbirth: Doyun’s mother died giving birth to him.
- Disappeared Dad: Doyun’s father killed himself a few years after his wife died in childbirth.
- Driven to Suicide: Doyun’s father. Because he imprinted on his human wife, he was unable to feed on anyone else's blood after death. It's implied he killed himself to escape the slow process of starvation that was driving him mad.
- A Fate Worse Than Death: As revenge for trying to kill Doyun, Hari imprisons the Romanian vampire in a tiny bubble she can never escape. The last time we see her, she's crying out for Hari to come back and finish her off.
- First Girl Wins: Doyun is the first of Hari's two love interests to be introduced, and the one she ultimately chooses.
- Forgotten First Meeting: Hari and Eden were best friends in kindergarten, but her memory had to be erased after he accidentally drank too much of her blood, nearly killing her. Eden moved away shortly after the incident, only to return halfway through high school when he senses Hari's witch powers have awakened.
- Jedi Mind Trick: Doyun tries to use this on Hari when she first discovers he's a vampire. It doesn't work, because she's a witch.
- Love-Obstructing Parents: When Hari's mother returns, she blames Doyun for Hari's near-death experience and pressures him into breaking up with her. She changes her mind after realizing that Doyun was willing to sacrifice his life for Hari's.
- Maternal Death? Blame the Child!: Doyun's father blamed him for his mother's death. We later learn that his father had imprinted on her and was slowly starving to death, so he may not have been in his right mind when he said this.
- Memento MacGuffin: Hari carries around a keychain her mom gave her. It secretly contains a charm that seals Hari’s witch powers so she can't be detected by vampires.
- Missing Mom: Both of the leads.
- Doyun’s mother died giving birth to him.
- Hari's mother went on a “trip” several years ago and never returned. It turns out that, after using all of her magic to seal Hari’s witch powers, she fell into a coma for several years. She returns to her family as soon as she wakes up.
- No Body Left Behind: When Eden kills Jeonghwan for trying to kidnap Hari, his body disintegrates into dust.
- No Name Given: We never learn the name of the royal vampire from Romania who tries to kidnap Hari for her blood.
- Our Vampires Are Different:
- Vampires are immune to sunlight and can live ordinary lives among humans, as long as they sustain themselves by regularly drinking blood.
- Feeding on humans drains them of their nutrients and energy, causing them to lose weight. This is harmless, as long as they’re in good health and given time to recover. Many modern vampires have capitalized on this by opening weight-loss clinics, where they’ll suck a human's blood while they’re under hypnosis.
- Vampirism is hereditary. Humans can't become vampires.
- If a human and a vampire reproduce, their child will be a half-vampire. This rarely occurs, as carrying a hybrid puts a strain on the mother's body that can kill either of them before reaching full-term.
- Half-vampires can consume human food and need to drink blood less frequently than their full-blooded counterparts.
- Between the age of 18 and 20, half-vampires have the opportunity to become either a human or a full-fledged vampire. If they choose neither they'll remain a half-blood for the rest of their life.
- A vampire can “imprint” on a willing human by kissing them immediately after drinking their blood. This will make the human’s blood undetectable to all other vampires, but the vampire can only feed from them for the rest of their life. If the human dies, the vampire will starve to death.
- Our Witches Are Different:
- Witches can manipulate the elements and life energy.
- Magic is a hereditary trait, not a learned skill. It's implied to be passed down the matriline, as the only witches we encounter are all women.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: A vampire's irises turn red when they experience bloodlust.
- Technically-Living Vampire: Vampires have a different biology, but are very much alive.
- The Dog Bites Back: After Hari imprisons the royal vampire in an unbreakable bubble, she begs her assistant to help her. He thinks of all the times she mistreated him and decides to leave her there instead.
- Vampire Hickey: A vampire's bite leaves a pair of puncture wounds. Luckily, they've engineered patches that will heal them in a matter of hours, so they're never permanent.
- Vegetarian Vampire: All modern-day vampires are vegetarian, as it's very easy to feed on humans without killing them.
- Voluntary Vampire Victim: Hari. She's so desperate to get her blood sucked that when Doyun initially refuses, she cuts her finger and stands on a street corner hoping the smell will attract another vampire.
