In this review of Royals #2, Daeshim lets it be very known that he knows Castor cheated. And he’s quite insistent on finding out how.
Royals #2
Writer: Derek Kirk Kim
Art and Main Cover: Jacob Perez
Variant Covers: Derek Kirk Kim, Ethan Young
Page Count: 40 pages
Release Date: 5/6/2026
This review contains spoilers
Royals #2 begins with Paul still on his date, as Castor fills him in on an exciting update: Jiyun brought a friend! But Paul just wants to enjoy his date’s—whose name we find out to be Minah—company. He tells her about his and his brother’s history after she points out that their last name means “royalty”. But when he asks her about her life, she’s quite evasive and starts to take her leave. After an “emergency” text from Castor, insisting that Paul come and make their threesome a foursome, she leaves in a huff.
Paul’s only able to lament this for a moment, as that’s when Daeshim shows up with a few guys and demands his money and some answers. What follows from there is a fight that goes from that one establishment through a few more parts of Seoul. All this time, Paul’s trying to get his brother to come help him, but Castor’s asleep. They eventually catch up to Paul and go to confront Castor for the money.
Castor finds that Jiyun and her friend took the money. When he comes to again, he and Paul are subjected to an intense enhanced interrogation, involving beatings and the threat of being murdered by a rooster with blades attached to its legs. Eventually, Paul breaks and tells them about the telepathic bond.
Since this seems a bit far-fetched, they demand a demonstration. And upon learning that it’s for real, Daeshim has another idea. Rather than try getting the money they cheated him out of, he’ll have them do a job for him.
That job: steal from St. Mark’s Church. He grew up there and Father Park was like a father to him, so he’d rather have someone else do it. The guys agree, but mere agreement isn’t enough for Daeshim. No, he needs to make sure they don’t betray him.
Which is when he lets Paul know that he’s dragged Minah into this whole thing.
Boy, oh, boy, was Royals #2 an escalation! The previous installment introduced all of the major players in this tale, let us get to know a bit about them and what they’re all about. This installment comes along and cranks everything up several notches.
It starts off fairly small, with the Castor/Jiyun hookup escalating to a threesome that Castor still hopes to add Paul to, And then we have Paul going from enjoying a date, to lamenting how said date ended, to one hell of a fight before the torture begins.
Looking at the twins together, it’s easy enough to assume that Castor’s the more physically threatening, being a bit bigger than Paul. But in that fight sequence, that wonderfully-choreographed fight sequence, we see one Paul versus Daeshim and four other dudes. A lot of it was evading them, but he lasted for a decent amount of time while being outnumbered and outgunned. Also, respect for him for having the presence of mind to snark at these guys while being faced with the prospect of having a hand cut off. Or while dealing with a beating.
It’s only while his brother is being threatened that he finally breaks. Even with him being understandably pissed at the guy for his post-coital nap when he seriously needed backup, and being frustrated with Castor overall, it’s clear that he still loves him. With Castor, he also clearly cares for Paul, even if he can be a bit oblivious as to if he’s interested in something. Or when he’s upset with him.
And we see just where the name “Bloody Cocks” came from for Daeshim’s gang. There are a few possible interpretations, and it’s the one with the murder-rooster.
Minah’s evasiveness about her history makes me wonder if she’s somehow connected to Daeshim. With how she points out that Paul must have an awesome brother, it feels like she could either have been an only child or has a not-so-awesome brother that she wouldn’t want to admit to being related to. Someone like, say, the leader of one of Korea’s most notorious gangs.
Plus, he brought up a picture of her on his phone, knew that she also grew up at St. Mark’s…So, that tells me he either knows her in some capacity, or did a bit of stalking.
The artwork in Royals #2, as usual, is awesome to behold. The fight scene in particular is handled with a delightful degree of chaos and frenetic energy, and it’s easily the highlight of an already entertaining story.
Final Thoughts
Royals #2 takes what worked for its predecessor and builds upon it, giving us an energetic and entertaining tale. It moves along at a fast pace, and makes me eager for part three.
