Sorry for looooong ass post, I'll try to make your time worth it
This manhwa is not yaoi, nowadays many bl manhwas are releasing today with very dark story lines (some are so revolting that you would physically feel ill, case in point non-zero sum. btw dont read that manhwa at all!!! unless you are looking to read something psychological to haunt your dreams and sanity). The term yaoi means "no point" and is a sub-genre of bl that focuses on sexual aspect or relation between characters with no regards to story or character itself (essentially like reading gay one-night stands??) and yes many bl stories have pointless sex and smut scene that are drawn just for the sake of it, not really playing into character, story or overall theme but that's not what i'm talking about
Like I said, many stories that portray male on male relations carries yaoi and bl tag which have absurdly dark storylines and these stories dont add sex just for pointless smut or have any semblance of romantic interest, they actively use sex as a means of control, torture and a tool to satiate twisted morales and joys, I'm not saying that these should never be written or read (for me personally, yes they should not have been written and i would avoid such things) but taking a step back, as a literary exercise, it does show how dark thoughts manifest among characters in a setting we would normally wish never exist (and have to face)
So what's the point you ask?? Well there's a thing called Male on Male category that comprises all of the said relations both fluffy and dark and these type of stories should be tagged with M/M to provide better context on what sort of story to expect from these titles or atleast provide a context that this story doesnt necessarily contain love and romance as a central theme (sure there are dark romances, but we can tag them as M/M AND bl)
Plus, I'm tired of fan accounts taking images of these dark characters and romanticizing the hell outta them by showing them in "flirty" or "seductive" poses or situations with phonk music (or worse using random music which sounds catchy but makes a mockery of the story by "lightening" the situation), I believe BL as a genre should contain stories of light-heartedness, something that allows readers to process in a more comfortable way, there are lot of great bl which do handle dark themes which plays well into overall stories and/or character growth. The stories which completely bases itself on manipulation, torture, hatred, and actions which is literal crimes SHOULD NOT be tagged as BL but instead be tagged as M/M to indicate yes this story have LGBT elements but not in a way you would expect and for clarification, we can add BL as another tag to indicate that this story is romance forward (nowadays yaoi and bl are being used interchangeably even though both are completely different types, that doesnt matter, point still stands)
And now back to this story - SPOILERS!!!
This is no way a love story and there's not a shred of love interest, this story is purely written to explore the Juyeon's revenge to heal himself of the pain inflicted by Jiwok viewed through Jiwok's perspective. In short, Juyeon was in love with Jiwok, Jiwok was with bad crowd and took advantage of Juyeon, forced him into dehumanizing situations and took videos and sent them off to Juyeon's mom, who suffered mental breakdown, Juyeon decided to right the wrong inflicted upon him by targeting Jiwok and decided to inflict the same horror on Jiwok, who in the end almost kicked the bucket and Juyeon brings him to hospital to treat him, Jiwok apologizes to Juyeon for his past behavior when Jiwok was HS (Yes Jiwok did abuse Juyeon when they were HS students) and the thing is Jiwok forgot about the abuse but Juyeon remembers and is angry that not only Jiwok doesnt feel remose, but he doesnt even remember such thing. The main premise is abuser forgets but abused remembers but it's the abused who had to suffer, Juyeon decided to pay back Jiwok in full WITH interest. It's a pretty fascinating psycho-horror story that explores revenge, pain, shame and how abusers get away with the things they do and go about their life (I read the novel, i'll upload link if I find it again) but this in manhwa format is a little graphic BUT the major thing is people coming with completely wrong expectations (I read the sadistic beauty side story M/M, so I kinda adjusted expectations, but even then i'm not prepared for what i'm about to read, and that side story is pretty dark, but i will say that the story itself isnt what it's highlight, its the character themselves which set the tone, actions and consequences, I'll be sure to talk about that story soon)
I dont wanna say that Jiwok deserves what Juyeon is doing to him, but considering what HE done to Juyeon, it's pretty much justified ig?? (Karma's a bitch and what you seed is what you reap), I would suggest people to stick to the manhwa (skip the scenes if uncomforatble, visuals are a bit too much? read novel. Story too dark cuz you expected fluff? thats why i said BL/Yaoi tag misleads people and M/M tag adjusts expectations) You may feel sympathetic towards Jiwok untill you start to learn about Juyeon and then you'll understand the reasons (btw if you are reading this for "that" scenes, please get some help, i understand that you have your own preferences, but this material isn't appropriate for your purposes and it's not hot, its scary, its horrifying and most importantly, it loses the meaning and horror impact if you find those situations/scenarios gratifying or sensual)
There seems to be panel in Sadistic Beauty M/M version in which Juyeon meets that manhwa's 2nd main lead, I'm kinda curious about their interactions, like are they friends or is it just cameo (IDK, saw it on one of the supposed fan acc on reels)
Anyhow, Juyeon "gives" Jiwok the option of freedom if he's obedient but considering Jiwok's personality, im pretty sure its a deliberate part on Juyeon to manipulate Jiwok because he knows Jiwok wont listen to him and people who are saying Jiwok should have listened, Why should Jiwok listen to his abuser? He's actively harming him and it's pretty reasonable of him to run away or seek place that allows him to feel safe, that's just human nature. we cant expect him to be rational especially when his abuser is tying him down, yes yes he could have played his cards better and negotiated with Juyeon, but i dont blame Jiwok for not listening to Juyeon cuz he's an abuser and in what world do they hold up their word?, the only mistake Jiwok did is that he didn't seek help from police or someone, however considering the place the story takes place in (FYI its South Korea), we could make educated guesses on how this would be handled, which is to say, puts Jiwok in a more precarious situation and the korean soceity expects men to be strong and virtous (old school and outdated ik, but still followed in many society), Jiwok, a well built man seen spreading his legs would be a disaster in the SK society where homophobia is present, that would worsen Jiwok's situation as Juyeon could leverage that to isolate him and push him into even deeper pit
I dont really have much to say about characters themselves, except both comes of as someone who'll hurt people and have twisted morales and it's the story itself that makes it interesting to read
However, Park Juyeon behavior is something to be discussed, People write him off as a psychopath and narcissistic (which he is) but fails to understand why he's like this. The trauma and the pain caused by Jiwok shaped Juyeon's mind and character that the only way to survive or to not get taken advantage of is to become "confident" as in he chose to mask the pain by emboldening himself and presenting himself as someone who cares only about him and now prefers to put himself forward and his rage is driven by shame and despair caused to his mom who literally went into pyschotic breakdown. Like no child wants to see their parents fall into despair, especially when they get hurt, but here not only he got hurt, the way he got hurt is publicized, he could have chosen to retreat into corner but he chose to set the wrongs as rights. Do I sympathize him and his actions? Nope but I do understand him and his motives
And as for Jiwok, he comes off as extremely prideful. I'm pretty sure he's the type of guy who gives into peer pressure, wants to appear as someone great or capable and over-hype themselves when with guys (like some guys who'll force themselves to engage in boy talk to the point that even socially clueless people can catch their desperation) and that pride wont let him address the issue by confronting or reporting Juyeon. The photos depict him in a compromising and vulnerable state and he knows that if that picture were to leak, people especially his juniors and friends wont respect him and even mock and ridicule him and so he decided to bear the abuse by gritting teeth, people made observations that he comes of as someone who gets pleasure from pain, that could be it, but for me it feels like he's trying to demonstrate to Juyeon that he's not someone who'll break but rather stay strong and wont budge even if you try to do so, he's essentially putting up a front, showing Juyeon that he's a strong guy who wont give into pressure which is pretty good, if not for the fact that he's an asshole who destroyed Juyeon (Karma's a bitch, he should've known better) however that doesn't mean that I celebrate his pain but rather pointing out that his actions came back to him
Another thing is that Jiwok may have had friendship with wrong people. This is just me but it seems that Jiwok's choice of friends also somewhat at fault. As he's a extremely prideful and arrogant guy, he easily gets into trouble with people and his acquaintences and his actual friends seems to be weak people but then again Jiwok involved with some street thugs and Juyeon simply paid them off anyway, plus those guys could've some bad blood with Jiwok anyway so they have jumped on the opportunity. Anyway the point is, Jiwok's desire to be cool and powerful and popular caused him to form friendship with people who also share same temperament and ego issues and attarcted followers who are weak and fold to slight threat. Had he formed better relations with good people, He may have had some chance of escaping Juyoun's torment (Atleast those friends could've provided moral support and assistance) but instead here's he now dealing with thugs and ex-friends who now wants to settle scores with him and Juyeon's revenge provided good pretext to jump in to gang up on him (literally) and this provided better leverage for Juyeon as Jiwok used his friends to torture and gang on Juyoen and so Juyeon is simply doing the reverse to Jiwok
Sorry for looooong ass post, I'll try to make your time worth it
This manhwa is not yaoi, nowadays many bl manhwas are releasing today with very dark story lines (some are so revolting that you would physically feel ill, case in point non-zero sum. btw dont read that manhwa at all!!! unless you are looking to read something psychological to haunt your dreams and sanity). The term yaoi means "no point" and is a sub-genre of bl that focuses on sexual aspect or relation between characters with no regards to story or character itself (essentially like reading gay one-night stands??) and yes many bl stories have pointless sex and smut scene that are drawn just for the sake of it, not really playing into character, story or overall theme but that's not what i'm talking about
Like I said, many stories that portray male on male relations carries yaoi and bl tag which have absurdly dark storylines and these stories dont add sex just for pointless smut or have any semblance of romantic interest, they actively use sex as a means of control, torture and a tool to satiate twisted morales and joys, I'm not saying that these should never be written or read (for me personally, yes they should not have been written and i would avoid such things) but taking a step back, as a literary exercise, it does show how dark thoughts manifest among characters in a setting we would normally wish never exist (and have to face)
So what's the point you ask?? Well there's a thing called Male on Male category that comprises all of the said relations both fluffy and dark and these type of stories should be tagged with M/M to provide better context on what sort of story to expect from these titles or atleast provide a context that this story doesnt necessarily contain love and romance as a central theme (sure there are dark romances, but we can tag them as M/M AND bl)
Plus, I'm tired of fan accounts taking images of these dark characters and romanticizing the hell outta them by showing them in "flirty" or "seductive" poses or situations with phonk music (or worse using random music which sounds catchy but makes a mockery of the story by "lightening" the situation), I believe BL as a genre should contain stories of light-heartedness, something that allows readers to process in a more comfortable way, there are lot of great bl which do handle dark themes which plays well into overall stories and/or character growth. The stories which completely bases itself on manipulation, torture, hatred, and actions which is literal crimes SHOULD NOT be tagged as BL but instead be tagged as M/M to indicate yes this story have LGBT elements but not in a way you would expect and for clarification, we can add BL as another tag to indicate that this story is romance forward (nowadays yaoi and bl are being used interchangeably even though both are completely different types, that doesnt matter, point still stands)
And now back to this story - SPOILERS!!!
This is no way a love story and there's not a shred of love interest, this story is purely written to explore the Juyeon's revenge to heal himself of the pain inflicted by Jiwok viewed through Jiwok's perspective. In short, Juyeon was in love with Jiwok, Jiwok was with bad crowd and took advantage of Juyeon, forced him into dehumanizing situations and took videos and sent them off to Juyeon's mom, who suffered mental breakdown, Juyeon decided to right the wrong inflicted upon him by targeting Jiwok and decided to inflict the same horror on Jiwok, who in the end almost kicked the bucket and Juyeon brings him to hospital to treat him, Jiwok apologizes to Juyeon for his past behavior when Jiwok was HS (Yes Jiwok did abuse Juyeon when they were HS students) and the thing is Jiwok forgot about the abuse but Juyeon remembers and is angry that not only Jiwok doesnt feel remose, but he doesnt even remember such thing. The main premise is abuser forgets but abused remembers but it's the abused who had to suffer, Juyeon decided to pay back Jiwok in full WITH interest. It's a pretty fascinating psycho-horror story that explores revenge, pain, shame and how abusers get away with the things they do and go about their life (I read the novel, i'll upload link if I find it again) but this in manhwa format is a little graphic BUT the major thing is people coming with completely wrong expectations (I read the sadistic beauty side story M/M, so I kinda adjusted expectations, but even then i'm not prepared for what i'm about to read, and that side story is pretty dark, but i will say that the story itself isnt what it's highlight, its the character themselves which set the tone, actions and consequences, I'll be sure to talk about that story soon)
I dont wanna say that Jiwok deserves what Juyeon is doing to him, but considering what HE done to Juyeon, it's pretty much justified ig?? (Karma's a bitch and what you seed is what you reap), I would suggest people to stick to the manhwa (skip the scenes if uncomforatble, visuals are a bit too much? read novel. Story too dark cuz you expected fluff? thats why i said BL/Yaoi tag misleads people and M/M tag adjusts expectations) You may feel sympathetic towards Jiwok untill you start to learn about Juyeon and then you'll understand the reasons (btw if you are reading this for "that" scenes, please get some help, i understand that you have your own preferences, but this material isn't appropriate for your purposes and it's not hot, its scary, its horrifying and most importantly, it loses the meaning and horror impact if you find those situations/scenarios gratifying or sensual)
There seems to be panel in Sadistic Beauty M/M version in which Juyeon meets that manhwa's 2nd main lead, I'm kinda curious about their interactions, like are they friends or is it just cameo (IDK, saw it on one of the supposed fan acc on reels)
Anyhow, Juyeon "gives" Jiwok the option of freedom if he's obedient but considering Jiwok's personality, im pretty sure its a deliberate part on Juyeon to manipulate Jiwok because he knows Jiwok wont listen to him and people who are saying Jiwok should have listened, Why should Jiwok listen to his abuser? He's actively harming him and it's pretty reasonable of him to run away or seek place that allows him to feel safe, that's just human nature. we cant expect him to be rational especially when his abuser is tying him down, yes yes he could have played his cards better and negotiated with Juyeon, but i dont blame Jiwok for not listening to Juyeon cuz he's an abuser and in what world do they hold up their word?, the only mistake Jiwok did is that he didn't seek help from police or someone, however considering the place the story takes place in (FYI its South Korea), we could make educated guesses on how this would be handled, which is to say, puts Jiwok in a more precarious situation and the korean soceity expects men to be strong and virtous (old school and outdated ik, but still followed in many society), Jiwok, a well built man seen spreading his legs would be a disaster in the SK society where homophobia is present, that would worsen Jiwok's situation as Juyeon could leverage that to isolate him and push him into even deeper pit
I dont really have much to say about characters themselves, except both comes of as someone who'll hurt people and have twisted morales and it's the story itself that makes it interesting to read
However, Park Juyeon behavior is something to be discussed, People write him off as a psychopath and narcissistic (which he is) but fails to understand why he's like this. The trauma and the pain caused by Jiwok shaped Juyeon's mind and character that the only way to survive or to not get taken advantage of is to become "confident" as in he chose to mask the pain by emboldening himself and presenting himself as someone who cares only about him and now prefers to put himself forward and his rage is driven by shame and despair caused to his mom who literally went into pyschotic breakdown. Like no child wants to see their parents fall into despair, especially when they get hurt, but here not only he got hurt, the way he got hurt is publicized, he could have chosen to retreat into corner but he chose to set the wrongs as rights. Do I sympathize him and his actions? Nope but I do understand him and his motives
And as for Jiwok, he comes off as extremely prideful. I'm pretty sure he's the type of guy who gives into peer pressure, wants to appear as someone great or capable and over-hype themselves when with guys (like some guys who'll force themselves to engage in boy talk to the point that even socially clueless people can catch their desperation) and that pride wont let him address the issue by confronting or reporting Juyeon. The photos depict him in a compromising and vulnerable state and he knows that if that picture were to leak, people especially his juniors and friends wont respect him and even mock and ridicule him and so he decided to bear the abuse by gritting teeth, people made observations that he comes of as someone who gets pleasure from pain, that could be it, but for me it feels like he's trying to demonstrate to Juyeon that he's not someone who'll break but rather stay strong and wont budge even if you try to do so, he's essentially putting up a front, showing Juyeon that he's a strong guy who wont give into pressure which is pretty good, if not for the fact that he's an asshole who destroyed Juyeon (Karma's a bitch, he should've known better) however that doesn't mean that I celebrate his pain but rather pointing out that his actions came back to him
Another thing is that Jiwok may have had friendship with wrong people. This is just me but it seems that Jiwok's choice of friends also somewhat at fault. As he's a extremely prideful and arrogant guy, he easily gets into trouble with people and his acquaintences and his actual friends seems to be weak people but then again Jiwok involved with some street thugs and Juyeon simply paid them off anyway, plus those guys could've some bad blood with Jiwok anyway so they have jumped on the opportunity. Anyway the point is, Jiwok's desire to be cool and powerful and popular caused him to form friendship with people who also share same temperament and ego issues and attarcted followers who are weak and fold to slight threat. Had he formed better relations with good people, He may have had some chance of escaping Juyoun's torment (Atleast those friends could've provided moral support and assistance) but instead here's he now dealing with thugs and ex-friends who now wants to settle scores with him and Juyeon's revenge provided good pretext to jump in to gang up on him (literally) and this provided better leverage for Juyeon as Jiwok used his friends to torture and gang on Juyoen and so Juyeon is simply doing the reverse to Jiwok