Sungeun, Cover Art, Bitten Contract, Webtoon.
Bitten Contract – Information
Content Warnings
These content warnings do not reflect the contents of the review below; only the literary work itself.
- Death
- Loss of loved ones
- Illness
- Bullying
- Trauma
Spoiler Disclaimer
This recommendation post may contain small plot spoilers for review purposes. Any major spoilers are hidden by default and are able to be revealed via click or tap.
Bitten Contract – Plot Summary
Bitten Contract is a romantic story that starts out by introducing the main female lead, Chae-I. Chae-I is an actress struggling with chronic migraines. These migraines interfere with her work; making her have a hard time acting and even creating rumors that she is a negative person.
Ijun, a fellow coworker (idol and actor), notices her struggle and secretly tries to help her by… biting her!?
It turns out Ijun is a modern vampire, and biting humans usually allows them to feel very healthy for a full week afterwards; conveniently, they even forget that the bite happens! But when Ijun bites Chae-I, for some reason, she remembers!
Although very creeped out at first, Chae-I cannot deny that she felt instant relief from her migraine pain. Due to this, she makes a deal with Ijun to continue biting her so she can perform properly.
You may be wondering, what’s in it for Ijun? Why did he help her in the first place, anyway? Read Bitten Contract and find out! More info on this amazing webtoon below!
Why I Enjoyed Bitten Contract
I like slow burns a lot, so Bitten Contract definitely checks off that point! The main relationship builds slowly and appropriately, allowing the characters to learn more about each other first. T
here is so much tension that builds up throughout this romance, making it feel so satisfying to see the characters grow to like each other more and more!
Sungeun, Cover Art, Bitten Contract, Naver.
Also, if you love drama, this story is for you! Love rivals, secrets, jealousy, backstories, and more obstacles become a challenge for our two main characters. Prepare yourself for all the drama, emotions, and twists!
There are many side characters along the way that either support the main two or act as an obstacle. The characters are all designed pretty well, with big personalities and varying intentions. We even get a side-story romance for some supporting characters, which was a fun little addition to the plot.
One good example of a well-written supporting character in Bitten Contract is Chae-I’s so-called rival, Sena. Although she is called Chae-I’s rival, she doesn’t act like a character with the annoying mean-girl trope.
Don’t get me wrong, there are mean characters in this webtoon for sure, but I was so glad it wasn’t Sena. You’ll see what I mean once you see it for yourself!
Maybe it’s because her design looks like a character that would be made to play that role, but her character’s actions and attitude pleasantly surprised me. She acted appropriately given her circumstances, and was a likable character.
This story had a lot more focus on friendships between women than I expected, and I really liked how that plot point turned out in the end. Webtoons and manhwas often write rivalries between women in stories, so it’s nice to see women actually supporting each other in this story.
Another reason for liking Bitten Contract is the art style. At first it felt a bit off to me in the first chapter if I’m being completely honest, but it quickly becomes likable and more polished.
The main characters are super gorgeous, and have lots of pretty, heart-thumping, and romantic moments! To be honest, the author draws them a bit too perfect for grown working adults, haha. It kind of makes sense though, considering they are in the entertainment industry.
Sungeun, Cover Art, Bitten Contract, Naver.
I also love the main female lead. She is level-headed, hardworking, and very well-written. She has appropriate reactions to events in the story, and doesn’t really have any annoying character traits. She’s an admirable heroine, which is great because the story is mostly from her perspective!
Lastly, although this story has a lot of drama that involves conflicts, rivals, jealousy, and other fun stuff…it also has some touching moments too. I definitely teared up quite a lot at some of the plot; even though it’s a romantic story, it even becomes sad and heartfelt at times.
A Couple Cons
My first and main con is that later in the manga is a self-sacrifice trope. I hate those with a passion, they make me very angry when reading a perfectly good story. It always causes a giant version of the misunderstanding trope that everyone hates, and honestly it ruined multiple chapters for me.
It just felt unnecessary and dragged on the story. If you hate this trope too, beware! Although I really hate that trope, it was only for a small portion of the story, and I still enjoyed the plot despite it.
Another trope many readers might dislike is the heroine-in-distress trope. Something is always happening to a perfectly innocent character. Frequent attacks and hate; to the same target every time!
However, this heroine is actually very strong and doesn’t act like a victim; instead she stands up for others and ignores gossip. Because of her personality and likable character, this trope was much less distracting than it could have been.
Lastly, I know that some readers get tired of manhwas often because the stories are kind of copied or predictable. I can’t lie, this story does have very commonly used plot points and manhwa tropes like the whole celebrities-in-a-scandal trope.
I won’t say this story is completely unique or unpredictable, but I don’t really mind similar stories and will happily read the same tropes over and over again.
I’m the sort of person who will gladly enjoy the same story multiple times in different “fonts.” But if you aren’t, just be mindful that this webtoon does have the usual manhwa vibe, character types, and overall storyline that many other stories like to use.
Sungeun, Cover Art, Bitten Contract, Naver.
I’ll also add that the vampire aspect wasn’t used too heavily throughout the story. It was very normalized after the beginning revelation, and then the plot turned to mostly focused on the main romance, celebrity drama, social media gossip, and similar topics.
While it doesn’t completely disappear, the reasoning for Chae-I’s headaches and why she can remember being bitten by Ijun is sort of pushed to the background of the plot until the end of the webtoon.
I was sort of hoping the modern vampire topic would be a bit more apparent or important to the story. Which is ironic because I was afraid I wouldn’t like the vampire aspect of this story!
Final Thoughts
Bitten Contract is a great read! I binged the entire story in one sitting (which is probably unhealthy, haha) because I had to know what would happen next!
Even if you are someone who’s not into vampire-fantasy themes, I can tell you that this story honestly didn’t give that vibe at all. It felt pretty normal, and actually made jokes about traditional vampire stereotypes!
Trust me, I know a vampire fantasy theme sounds a little cheesy, but it makes the vibe of this webtoon a bit spicier. The romance was exciting and sexy, and the overall story was full of fun drama. Give it a try!
Disclaimer: Any images used for this blog are for illustrative purposes only, are not owned by me, and are under ownership of the artist or publisher.
Images Credit: Sungeun, Bitten Contract, Webtoon, Naver, 2021.
