Mistaken identity is a common theme in romance manga and manwha, and A Business Proposal is Yen Press’ latest series to dabble in the concept. However, it almost feels like an overload of “who’s who” early on. While it is a lot, it is still a fun read and seems like there’s a potential for things to calm down now that the concept’s completely settled.
Hari Shin isn’t in the best place as A Business Proposal’s first volume begins, as the manhwa’s heroine dealing with two heavy hits. Someone she’s been in love with for a long time revealed he has a girlfriend, and decided the best way to let her know was to invite her to lunch to — surprise — meet her. Her parents’ restaurant was hit hard by an avian flu incident, so she’s helping to support them. However, her friend Yeongsun Jin offers a solution to help with one of those problems. Her family wants her to get married and arranged a blind-date and meeting with Taemu Kang, a similarly rich man whose grandfather who wants him to get married. Yeongsun will pay Hari to go in her place and make a terrible impression to screw things up enough that this won’t be an issue.
Naturally, it doesn’t go that way.
Hari shows up in makeup, a wig, and out-of-character clothing. She behaves poorly and insists she’s the most outlandish kind of woman and into the sorts of activities and relationships a corporate, rich, and stereotypically elitist person wouldn’t be into. The thing is Taemu, in an effort to get things over with, decided he’d just marry the her before they met to be done with the waste of time.
What follows ends up being a comedy of errors in many ways. Hari will behave even more poorly and panic. Taemu will be amused by the situation and her antics and continue to press the idea of them getting married. Yeongsun will similarly panic and get amusingly frustrated, because now her family thinks that a marriage is a possibility.
There are times when it’s almost overkill as a result. This is because there isn’t just one case of mistaken identity between Hari and Taemu. Over the course of this first volume, there are two additional incidents involving major characters. Some of the situations I did actually appreciate. For example, Yeongsun and Taemu’s assistant Sunghoon Cha find themselves in this sort of situation. The chemistry between the two of them is genuinely delightful, and offers a more peaceful contrast to the drama surrounding Hari and Taemu. But the fact that all three of these do happen in the first 14 chapters of the A Business Proposal manhwa can feel like a lot. Especially if you read it all in one sitting.
All this said, I’m quite interested to see where things go in the second volume of the A Business Proposal manhwa. It feels like Haehwa and Narak spent the bulk of the first first chapters getting over all of the expected mistaken identity parts of the story, so now the second part can focus on the budding relationship between Hari and Taemu. It also leaves things off in such a way that Yeongsuh and Sunghoon’s storyline could become just as compelling. It almost feels like it had to get typical elements from this kind of theme so it could start really opening up. Especially since there are still secrets to deal with and misconceptions to unravel.
A Business Proposal volume 1 is available via Yen Press, and volume 2 of the manhwa will be out on August 22, 2023.
