남보다 못한 사이

NAMBODA MOTAN SAI

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
Not Available
RELEASE
March 7, 2026
CHAPTERS
132

DESCRIPTION

Yi-Hyeok and In-Seo have been friends for their entire lives. It’s something they take for granted. Just like the sky is blue and water is wet, the two of them are lifelong buddies. Or, well, that’s what they think right up until the moment In-Seo kisses Yi-Hyeok as a joke that turns into something more, sparking a whole new scorchingly hot relationship between them. It might be pretty funny, really steamy, and a little strange...but they’re still friends. Right? …Right?!

(Source: Lezhin US)

Note: Includes 66 extra chapters.

CAST

In-Seo Baek

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO NAMBODA MOTAN SAI

MANGA DramaSowoneul Malhaebwa!

REVIEWS

tsundereii
95/100
“We are beyond friends, lovers, family…”
foreword

please take everything with an astronomus grain of salt. a review is of course one’s own opinion. also, welcome to my first review here on anilist.

as well as, i wrote this with minimal to zero spoilers as possible.

nonetheless, i hope this might be of interest to you (not me sounding like a formal letter now-)

intro

stranger than friends (남보다 못한 사이) is a BL manhwa by sagold and yeoro.

it involves two childhood friends, joo yi-hyeok and baek inseo, developing a relationship into more than what they’ve been for over two decades, 23 to be precise.

and why is that?

well, it’s because they have been friends since the day they were born. it all started when both of their mothers stayed in the same room to recover postpartum.

the main plot begins with inseo inviting yihyeok to come over and hang out.

inseo came across some of their older photos and suggested they recreate one of them.

inseo specifically chose a photo where inseo is giving a peck or kiss to yihyeok. at first yihyeok was hesitant, but to save his pride he didn’t want to back down.

fun fact: yeoro reached out to sagold to collab! pog ;')

characters

okay, so i’ll briefly write about the characters as best i can. feel free to look here or other places for more details.

the group of friends
yihyeok
after high school, he immediately started working part time jobs. he didn’t want to attend college and it was too expensive anyway.

inseo
attends college, i believe he is a piano major. has a loveable family; an only child

sanho
known as the cute guy; real great at taking photos; has older sisters

tak
a top scholar; super smart. tak helped sanho study well and thanks to tak, sanho attends the same school as inseo and tak.

there is also a brief side story with sanho x tak (one coming out soon as well after the author’s breaks)

yihyeok’s mom
left yihyeok about 15 years ago; had not been in contact with him since then. as she left, she brought along with her a photo album filled with baby/child photos of yihyeok.

boss
yihyeok’s boss at one of his part time jobs. has a crush on yihyeok, also one of the reasons why he hired him.

my favorite moments

starting from the end of ep. 42 it gets better

this is going past the major conflicts and leaning more into trying to understand each other forreal this time.

when inseo finally opens up to yihyeok and crosses ‘that line’

the moment when inseo and yihyeok finally understood each other.
the importance of communication and talking out misunderstandings, being actual adults and giving each other a chance to say what they have been dwelling on.

in the end, the moment where both yihyeok’s mom and inseo’s mom just wanted happiness for inseo and yihyeok (not at the same place, nor same time though).

also the chibis are so cute!

my least favorite moments

trigger warning attempts of sexual harassment/rape.

the moment where boss is trying to take advantage of yi-hyeok while yi-hyeok’s drunk.

i personally found boss creepy and psychotic..manz needs help. although he is kind to yihyeok, he keeps trying to cross the boundaries despite being rejected by yihyeok many times.

the moment when inseo and yihyeok pretended that nothing happened and returned to be friends

alright so you WILL be in for a ride, but stick it out (like yihyeok did– /lh)

i swear the ending is great (my opinion of course)

throughout the series, readers often see yihyeok’s point of view and personal thoughts.
we often see the story from his point of view. at first it was frustrating to figure out inseo because it seemed like he did not care at all. yihyeok had felt heartbroken because, objectively it did not see that inseo had feelings for him at all.

ALSO inseo’s choice of words and responses just to hide his own feelings made it worse. but there needs to be conflict after all.

don’t worry.
it’s not like those isekai manhwas where misunderstandings last for 100+ episodes (ok that may be a stretch but ifykyk)

more personal thoughts

i personally found it interesting with the parallels being drawn with sanho x tak and yihyeok x inseo. both inseo and tak have long had a crush on their significant other. it’s just frustrating when they can’t realize their feelings.

i could empathize with many of the characters throughout this series. i read the english version, but the way yeoro told this story - how it came together in the end - made me like this even more.

with inseo:
words from his childhood held him back like shackles. he didn’t want to appear weird. he was certainly overly possessive of yihyeok, but that doesn’t make him a bad person. for instance when they were kids, he pushed down another girl at the playground because he didn’t want her to play with yihyeok. everyone has nuances and the world isn’t so black and white.

with yihyeok’s mom:
she had every reason to leave. however, i’m sure she regretted leaving yihyeok.
if you want to know what happens, keep on reading mate ;’)

with yihyeok:
not being able to know the reason why his mom left him. having feelings for someone and thinking it might not be reciprocated. feelings that eat you up inside to the point that you can’t function as well as you did before.

yihyeok is soooo thoughtful and just a kind person overall. he even lets sanho stay at his house, where sanho’s also free to come in and go out anytime. he also noticed that deep down, which was before inseo crossed that ‘line’ that prevented him from saying the feelings he kept dormant, inseo was still that 6-year-old child that didn’t get to heal from his past. personally, i love the concept of the inner child. that’s why it’s such a struggle because most people are still suffering from the pain they’ve suffered from their past that they may not even be well aware of.

so should you read this?

i mean who am i to judge or tell you what you should do –– i mean here are some quick answers imho

yes:
if you like smut, yaoi, BLs
if you like the friends to lovers trope
if you like good endings
if you can keep going through misunderstandings

conclusion

well, that just about wraps it up !

i feel slightly frustrated with not being able to convey what i thought i wanted to put on this review, but maybe that will improve as i write more.

i appreciate if you did take your time to read/skim/glance over this.
hope you have a great day, and enjoy reading whatever you pick up !

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