I really enjoyed this novella, the writing style was so breezy and easy to follow, also as someone who knows a little bit about Korean culture, I truly loved the few glimpses of the MC's upbringing and how he saw the negative side in every single aspect.
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For me, I count a book a success when the author can make me feel the characters feelings, in this book, you could feel the crippling despair of the young man, I was so engrossed with everything happening, also it takes some skill to make the scenes so vivid in the reader's mind and I salute this.
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Again, I feel like if you're familiar with the culture and the hierarchy fixation in the Korean society, you'd view some reactions and scenes in the book in a completely different light.
*I received an ARC of this book through netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

This is a horror book for all ages that gives insight to a new world of horror culture. As well as dives down into the a few taboo topics of what occurs in this life and the next.

A young man in Seoul thinks he’s got the job of his dreams but he couldn’t be more wrong as it turns into his worst nightmare. I’m glad it was as short as it was as it was rather peculiar and not very enjoyable especially the way it started. Also disjointed - is it a translation? If so maybe this is the reason. I liked the description but was expecting something else. Sorry but not my cup of tea on this occasion. It might make a scary film/tv programme!

Unfortunately, this book was too simplistically written for me to fully enjoy. I was interested in it as sexual harassment of male victims is an all-too-ignored topic; I was hoping that it would be treated with gravitas, but it just seemed too surface level to deal with the subject properly.

I'm all for a short book, but this was too short. It didn't more character exploration and time for the story to grow. The supernatural elements were interesting but again I wanted more.

This book was sent to me as an ARC on NetGalley. However, all opinions are of my own.
I struggled a lot with this one. It was more a thriller element than a horror.
I felt the story was muted and I didn’t gel with any of the characters.

Ehrm…. Huh..
Nope. It wasnt a bad book, it was just a bit meh..

The only reason I finished reading The Bully by KJ Kwon was that it was suuuper short. Clocking in at 66 pages, I buckled down and just finished it since it was in my hand.

Guy (I do not believe a name was ever used) works in an AD agency. His boss, Director Dabin Huh, is overbearing, emotionally abusive, and good at hiding it to her own bosses. After avoiding Dabin’s sexual advances, Guy feels like he is haunted by a terribly abrasive and unreasonable boss as well as after hours by a devil.

Story has paranormal elements for sure, but it felt crazy rushed and difficult to justify the pace.

Based in a review copy

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!
It's pretty creepy and grim....and obvs a lots of trigger warning (for me) but it's still pretty okay.



Since the day I declined my boss' sexual advance, all hell has broken loose.


She has abused me with impossible assignments during our work day and haunts me as a vicious spirit at night.

I am losing my mind. I am constantly seeing my boss transforming into a vicious spirit.


Desperate to set myself free, I pay her a visit with a final plan...but even my extreme measure doesn’t provide a way out..


Maybe there is a world of demons hidden just beneath the surface of everyday life.

Thanks to NetGalley and KJ Books for this ARC!
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I read this book in one sitting, and while the plot interested me, the book itself missed the mark a bit. I felt like since it was such a short read, it was rushed and had sort of a jumbled feel.

The message behind it was clear, and I liked that, but in the end, I was more frustrated than entertained.

Strange and creepy Korean horror novel. I liked it although the timeline in the story seemed to jump a bit with him first getting this job and his boss hitting on him and him turning her down to suddenly it seems like significant time has passed and he is still there but alternates between being her errand boy as a form of punishment for turning her down, and getting important projects to work on that could elevate his career. I still enjoyed the story overall and wanted to see him succeed.

This book has an interesting plot and the potential to be really good. However at short 150 odd pages, the characters were underdeveloped and the various menacing situations that arise felt rushed and at times not coherent.
Overall, an okay read - but could have been better

Was a really raw look at how people are. Really liked this book. I hope to read more by thia author.

Thank you to NetGalley and KJBooks for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #KJBooks KJKwon
Yikes! What a delightfully stressful and unique story. We are invited into the life of a young, ambitious Korean man who has the added burden of needing to support his parents. He is lucky to get a job in the competitive job market but he soon learns that this job comes with a price. His boss immediately makes sexual advances on him. When he refuses, she subjects him to major abuse and maybe a little more.
There are a lot of great things about this story. I’m normally not a big fan of novellas. They are rarely effective, in my experience. This one is an exception. The author manages to grab the reader from the start and thrust him right into the protagonists’ stressful crisis. The boss, Dabin, is hell bent on punishing the protagonist for refusing her sexual agenda. She begins by making Miranda Priestly, who is the dragon lady from the book “The Devil Wears Prada”, look like Mother Teresa. She insults him, she manipulates him, she makes him work ridiculous hours, and then she begins to use paranormal forces to torment him. The author packs a lot of action and horror into a story that is only 66 pages. The story is intense and the paranormal events are creepy! I also enjoyed the ending, which is the most important part of any horror story, as far as I’m concerned. I wonder if the author also intended to provide some allegory on the high familial and social pressure that is prevalent in Asian cultures. This was my first read by this author and I will be looking for more!

Ugh, this was another book that went way off the mark for me. I wasn't quite sure of exactly what was going on and it almost reminded me of the movie Disclosure but Disclosure on crack. I wasn't the target audience.

This is a very quick read. It had many descriptive elements that I wholeheartedly enjoyed, but like other reviewers of this title, the characters were hard to fully connect with. It was enjoyable, however, and worth the read.

The Bully immediately lured me in with its synopsis. My favorite kind of horror involves demons, so if a novel, movie, or TV show has them in it, I'm there in a flash. They are by far the scariest supernatural beings to me.

This story takes us to South Korea where the main character has just found a new job in the city and thinks he's landed the job of his dreams. But his life quickly becomes a nightmare when his female boss begins making unwanted sexual advances toward him.

After rejecting her, his boss sets out to destroy his life, and I wondered if there would be anything left of him to continue working. She's so successful in her quest to torture him, it leaves him wondering if she's literally from hell. I know I got whiplash from how she'd praise him one minute, then tear him down the next, psychologically tormenting him.

The Bully has an intriguing idea at its core. I liked being unsure of what was real and what wasn't. The ability to write that way is something I've always envied because it takes skill to be subtle. This is a short read, and I recommend reading it in one sitting if you can because then you get the full effect of the situation escalating out-of-control and the desperation, panic, and terror of the main character.

When I finished reading, I became torn on what to rate this. While the idea was a good one, I wanted more of the supernatural but not necessarily a longer book. I'm having a hard time articulating exactly what it was that led to my three-star rating. I'm trusting the gut feeling I have on this one.

A quick read and finished in one sitting. The book follows the main character throughout his workplace and as the title suggests we also find the bully who is picking on the protagonist however this book also includes a supernatural twist which makes you wonder what is actually going on. Also something to note is that this book is set in Korea and includes a lot of the Korean culture in the supernatural aspect

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. I really enjoyed this one and read it in one day. Look forward to much more by this author.

This one was definitely the more stranger of the short stories that I have read. I won't say that it was much developmentally for me nor will I say that this was the most exciting read of my life, but it was pleasant and I would recommend it for people who really just want to kill time with a quick read.

A mystery thriller that will leave you questioning everything you think you knew.
Dark and sinister. This is a thriller at it's most thrilling.
The boss in this story is the worst ever and what's even worse than that is, she can get away with it.