“Before I left for Hong Kong, I told you you were free. But I take that back now. Stay with me forever.”
I’ve heard quite a bit about KBTBB over the last few months, so imagine my delight when Voltage made Soryu’s route free on their Love365 app (until 11:59 6/30 JST, no less)! So did this guy live up to his hype? Absolutely yes.
…The truth is, this story and I definitely got off on the wrong foot. The premise of KBTBB is pretty stupid, and super problematic for a love story. TL;DR MC works as a maid at a fancy hotel. One day, a series of unfortunate events leads MC to accidentally break a vase that’s sitting in a storage room. She’s subsequently captured and sold off in a black market auction (!!) to a bunch of rich people at the hotel. And who “buys” her, you ask? The main love interests of this story, for a cool $20M. They literally run this freaking auction. And therefore didn’t actually lose out on any money buying MC…but that doesn’t stop them from making MC pick which guy “owns” her from now on! Yikes.
So MC picks Soryu, a scary-looking, grumpy Cantonese mobster whose first act is to shirtlessly threaten MC into compliance (“If you’re good, I won’t do anything bad to you”). His preferred form of communication is taking out his gun–not a euphemism–and waving it in people’s face, lmao. And like IkeSen Kenshin, he’s none too fond of women, and weirdly sexist all at once (“Wipe that stupid look off your face. I’d never point a gun at a little girl”).
The meat of the plot features MC masquerading as Mei Ling, an ally mob boss’ friendly daughter, as bait to draw out Soryu’s enemies. ML’s in town to find a husband, so guess who has the dubious pleasure of attending endless marriage meetings on her behalf? As MC fumbles her way through chaperoned dates with high profile criminals and various kidnappings/murder attempts, she gets to know Soryu better. Turns out the guy has a obsessive fondness for MC’s omelettes (not innuendo. again), and a fairly strong sense of honor for a mafia dude – tl;dr he doesn’t like harming innocents. He’s also hilariously unused to normal civilian things, like vegetables sitting out in the open at grocery stores (so poisonable! he says).
And perhaps most importantly, it becomes clear that despite his gruffness, Soryu cares about MC a lot. He gives her a piggyback ride when she injures her ankle. He relinquishes his bed when MC has to stay over at this apartment due to shenanigans. And he willing to take a literal bullet and beating – and ultimately, face execution – all for MC.
The climax of Soryu’s plot is exactly what one would expect and want from a cheesy mafia-based route, with all the arranged marriages and shifting alliances and threatened murder and whatnot. And it is glorious. Despite – or perhaps, because of – the extremely bumpy start MC and Soryu had to their relationship, the route’s ending definitely felt earned, and had me grinning like an idiot.
At the end of the day, I still think MC’s an idiot for getting involved with a mobster. And I cannot in good consciousness recommend Soryu’s route to just anyone. Dude sets off more red flags than IkeSen Kenshin (whom I also adore…oops), and it feels a bit weird to romanticize this level of crazy. But tbh, that’s also probably why this route never failed to entertain, from beginning to end. It reminded me of the crappy, unrealistic Cantonese gangster B-movies that I used to love watching as a kid. The side characters (especially Mei Ling and Ryosuke!) were fantastic. In short, Soryu’s evolution from scary mobster to only-slightly-less-intimidating mobster-in-love was truly a delight to witness!
Choice quotes “Do you know the best way to overcome fear? You have to overcome something even more frightening than the thing you fear.” “You’re still a mafia princess to me, MC! And I promise to serve you forever!” – Ryosuke “…No. I don’t hate how you smell, MC.”
Personality: 10/10 in terms of otome entertainment value. Perfect combination of cool/stoic, and secretly kind. But would he be good IRL boyfriend material? Oh hell no. Mafia shenanigans aside, it’s probably not a good idea to date a dude who calls you nothing but “woman” for over a month?? 2/10 irl.
Appearance: 10/10. 11/10?? This guy is sex on legs. Total physical perfection.
MC: 7/10. MC was pretty all right. One could argue she was too passive, but what’s a girl to do when she’s thrown into the criminal underworld?
Plot/Payoff: 9/10. After the initial super questionable beginning, this route was a giant (extremely inaccurate) mobster cliche, and I absolutely loved it.
Personal enjoyment: 9/10. A very memorable route!
Just learned that Soryu’s route is free to read again on Love365 until 10/4 JST! If you haven’t gotten the chance to read his story yet, do it!! I gave his route a 9/10 back in the day but with my nostalgia lenses on, it’s a solid 10. 😍
Otome Reviews 