Imagine having nowhere else to go, and the only place available to stay in is a house that is notorious for being haunted. Would you be able to handle the eerie creaks, door knocks, and shadows if it meant having a place to call home?
No Home is a South Korean manhwa created by Wanan. It is published and available to read on Naver Webtoon, completed with 269 chapters, and is currently having an animated series adaptation by Studio Lico, which is well known for producing the hit animation series Alien Stage.
No Home focuses on the six main characters: Haejoon Goh, Eunyung Baek, Juwan Park, Marie Kim, Hara Kang, and Minju Gong. It puts an emphasis on their stories, relationships, and their motivations for leaving their home.
The series starts with Haejoon Goh, a teenage boy who left his home because of his neighborhood shaming him for his ability to see ghosts. While walking around and ready to move into a student dormitory, his wallet with all of his life savings gets stolen by Eunyung Baek—a boy who lives in a tent. Haejoon tracks him down, and ends up fighting him. This scuffle results with Haejoon in the hospital and Eunyung losing his tent. Haejoon begs with the principal to give him a dorm, despite the dorm applications being closed. She proposes that Haejoon resides in the abandoned building near the school until dorm applications open up again. However, when he arrives at the house, Eunyung Baek is already living there. Both of them are then essentially forced to tolerate each other while living in the same house.
Tiktok user @siyeqt shares their thoughts on their favorite character, “Eunyung Baek,” They added, “He’s a complex character with many flaws, aware of his wrongdoings—but tries to make up for them. I relate to him in a way, I feel that he is more human than anyone else.”
One of the biggest points of No Home is that it calls out the insensitivity and inconsiderateness of society towards people that are deemed different from the norm. Haejoon Goh’s connections with the supernatural, along with his mother’s appreciation for such, causes his house to be ridiculed as the “Ghost House” by their neighborhood. This bullying and judgment leads Haejoon to refuse to admit his ability to see ghosts, despite the fact that he can.
Twitter user @eunyungpilled says, “I like Haejoon… because many people, even if they grew up in a happy household, can still develop mental illness.”
“And to add on to that, Haejoon’s flaws and strengths is what really made him so great.”
In my opinion, one of the best components of No Home is all of the relationships and dynamics between the characters. All of them are so intricate and complex, none of the chapters ever feel boring. Even the side characters have interesting dynamics with each other.
Instagram user @homare_1023 shares with us their favorite relationship between the characters, “Juwan and his mom; when I read his arc I related to Juwan not having that much privacy, and having your parents gossip so much about your personal life.”
They add, “But it made me understand better about my parents, and what they might have gone through just to get me here. So reading that arc made [me] enjoy No Home even more, and wanting to get to know more of these characters.”
The relationship between Haejoon and Eunyung is especially compelling. The two meet under poor conditions, and are forced to live together in an abandoned home. Their personalities are complete opposites as well, so they constantly fight. However, as they continue to live together, they begin to learn and understand each other better. Their understanding of each other’s background sets the ground for many emotional moments.
Tumblr user @hahagwegg says, “I’m a particular fan of Eunyung and Haejoon’s relationship because they hurt each other the most due to understanding each other the best.”
They continue, “On the same coin, they have such different outlooks on life due to their upbringings so there are key aspects of each other that they just can’t emphasize with, despite trying.”
