The Snake Lady completed The Snake Lady AUTHOR: ohchen 
LEAD: Baekhyun
GENRE; SETTING: action, romance; assassins
CHAPTERS: 15
READER INFORMATION: [M] (This is for violence and mild gore)  

Assassins don't really do romance.  Ask any of them; the regular late nights, the somewhat violent reflexes, the blood-caked clothes and the constant threat of imminent death usually prove a bit too overwhelming for the average lover to handle.

For Lee Aeri, romance is completely out of the question.  One night flings, yes, steamy, no strings attached affairs, also yes – but vendettas tend to be pretty consuming, and in Aeri's case, the majority of the time she's got very little room for anything but an intense desire for revenge.  So naturally, love, or anything along those lines, is a big no-no.

Just when vengeance seems in sight, a curveball comes flying, one that hits her full-frontal.  Now, armed with a zleaxy lawyer-turned-hacker-extraordinaire, her own quick wits and unbeatable skill, and an itch she just can't seem to scratch, she faces an impending deadline to attain what she's lusted after for so many years.

Lee Aeri is on the verge of getting even.

thoughts PLOT: Aeri's shot (slice?  She tends to use knives...) at vengeance against the Kim brothers is ruined by the appearance of the Switchblade, a rival assassin.  After she angrily quits the hit she wanted to carry out, she winds up with the Switchblade on her doorstep after he's framed by the Kims for murder, and Baekhyun (the Switchblade's real identity) is possibly the last person she could ever want for a flatmate.  However, as badly as they initially get on, they have a lot of goals in common and agree to work together to get rid of some of the more corrupt members of society, especially the Kims, and to search out a particular somebody Aeri needs to find.

This plot kind of had everything it needed and it's just a pity it wasn't longer (though apparently there may be a sequel when the author has finished The Dream Team and The Big Tic, which are also recommended on this list).  Some parts of it are more predictable than others, but that wasn't really an issue as the best thing about ohchen is how she delivers on expectations just as much as how she pulls out surprising twists.  The plot held together well and had clearly been thought out from start to finish.  There's a fair amount of action (it is an assassin au, after all), but this was balanced out by gentler scenes and a lot of caustic humour from Aeri (and various fluffy scenes, too, which was even nicer).

CHARACTERISATION: Aeri amuses me.