We report many-body perturbation theory calculations of excited-state properties of distorted 1-T diamond-chain monolayer rhenium disulfide (ReS 2 ) and diselenide (ReSe 2 ). Electronic selfenergy substantially enhances their quasiparticle band gaps and, surprisingly, converts monolayer ReSe 2 to a direct-gap semiconductor, which was, however, regarded to be an indirect one by density-functional-theory calculations. Their optical absorption spectra are dictated by strongly bound excitons. Unlike hexagonal structures, the lowest-energy bright exciton of distorted 1-T ReS 2 exhibits a perfect figure-8 shape polarization dependence but those of ReSe 2 only exhibit a partial polarization dependence, which results from two nearly-degenerated bright excitons whose polarization preferences are not aligned. Our first-principles calculations are in excellent agreement with experiments and pave the way for optoelectronic applications. 1