By Eu
I was skeptical when I first came across Make Me Bark. The cover and the title made it seem like it’s a hardcore BDSM comic. I was not in the mood for heavy stories.
Turns out, it’s actually an enjoyable story with perverted characters.
From Lezhin:
Sungjoon’s not doing great, but life is looking up. His job at the convenience store pays enough for him to afford his own place. A tiny, smelly, and laughably cheap place, but he loves it. He loves it right up until he walks home and finds it on fire. Unfortunately, things get worse as he realizes he doesn’t know anyone in the city who can help. Wait, no… that’s not right. Actually, he does know Lee Hyo-in. A rich kid from his university who is, coincidentally, looking for a roommate. Well, not a roommate. More of a… dog.
I’ve been thinking of one best thing about this webtoon. Is the story intriguing? Did the angst make me read until the end? Did it make me cry?
I had nothing. It was just smut — innocent-looking characters doing perverted things and being clumsy in love.
And I think that makes Make Me Bark enjoyable.
In other words,
Make Me Bark is a guilty pleasure.
Lee Hyo-In and Bae Sungjoon’s relationship start off by playing the usual master-pet relationship which makes me low-key nervous that the story would veer to a darker direction. But it remained light as Hyo-In’s plays are actually pretty tame. He isn’t even that forceful to his kinks and seeks Sungjoon’s consent. Though he resorts on using his charms to make Sungjoon do his will lol.
Hyo-In’s kinks not only ignites his possessiveness but also awakens the pervert in Sungjoon. He can be erotic with his naivete adding to his charm. Later on in the story, the pet turns to demand from his master.
Cutesy BDSM
While the cover and the synopsis set the tone of BDSM, this is a lot tamer than other stories. At the top of my head, there’s just one scene that is BDSM-ish. The rest of the smut are all pretty vanilla. One funny thing to note is how Sungjoon starts getting into cosplay kink and makes Hyo-In wear skirts whenever they have sex lol.
But it’s not just pure smut.
Smut aside, I had the most fun in seeing them being clumsy with their feelings. Especially for Sungjoon who questions their vague relationship. It’s just hilarious the way he turns around, leaving a confused Hyo-In after a night of passion. But it’s a good wake up call for the two of them to step back from their lust and try to get their life together first.
Second pairing
But that is not to say that’s not the case for the second pairing which are Joo Bin and Lee Yeonsoo. After a lot of coincidences, these two pairings become friends with one another. Lee Yeonsoo and Lee Hyo-in are both regulars at their favorite adult shop, with Yeonsoo giving advice to Hyo-In about the different toys to use for Sungjoon.
Lee Yeonsoo is the oldest character and knows Joo Bin for a long time. Yeonsoo has a promiscuous lifestyle, often seen playing different plays with his boy toys. Unlike the innocent Sungjoon, Yeonsoo is a power bottom who loves BDSM.
But once he got together with Joo Bin, his love for sex plays seem to wane. He is still the same power bottom but the two never had or used any toys from Joo Bin’s collection. (I assume he has a collection of toys considering he’s a regular in the adult shop and he gives reviews on products lol.) Such a shame.
Wrapping Up!
Given the length of the comic, Make Me Bark is close to a PWP story. It has a little plot, but with lots of fluff and smut to make up for it which makes this the perfect title to read after finishing a heavy story (say, Heaven Official’s Blessing lol). It’s short. It’s light. It’s cute. It’s fun. It’s enjoyable. That, my friends, makes this worthy of my time.