Honestly I don’t even understand Kirin. Why does he keep being SO irrational and let’s...

It’s all the points you’ve brought that make this plot so good and against the grain of most. But sigh I guess we can’t have everything. What would be such a great plot twist is Kirin actually being smart enough to use Kang moo all while collecting evidence of his own to frame Kang moo. Now that would actually subvert the cliche we are used to. But Kirin is written to be emotionally driven and that’s also his weakness, I so assume the author intends to use that as enough of a reason for him to love Kang moo despite the coerced rape, manipulation, physical abuse, and threats he’s faced. Not to mention he’s already reduce himself to the mindset that he’s a “kept” woman so I guess there we have it.

It’s those kinds of details I love. But most only mainly enjoyed the “romance” that wasn’t even there. I was so glad KS ended the way it ended as it was so satisfying to some degree witness the fickle cruelty of the faiths and on another note have my vindictive self enjoy m those who shipped the romance be dashed of their delusions.I revel in that kind of literary realism.

Exactly! To your last point. Somehow this will then justify Kang moo‘s constant mistreatment of Kirin as it’s in Kirin’s best interest as his savior. With this mindset Kang Moo psychopathy is used to enhance his appeal and desirability rather harm it causes without bias to all those around him, with Kirin at its epicenter. iKirin has no agency in his own vengeance story. The mere fact of this is what undermines the plot if even he can’t accomplish his goal unless it’s at Kang Moo’s approval. Sometime one genre just doesn’t crossover with another genre and makes the plot worse for that. this is just so forced.

At this point because it’s BL, it sells the idea more and garners a reliable audience who’s demographic are avid consumers. it’s more or less exploitative if this element adds no substance or it is not given substance. KS fell in this trap too to some degree by the author relying on mlm but not considering the history of BL and it’s tendency for toxic behavior within its community. When the author attempted to walk that back it was too late and overshadowed the entirety of the work. I love queer representation and wholeheartedly agree it should be normalized, but if the plot just centers around the characters sexualization what’s the point of the rest of the plot if doesn’t further the narrative, but rather just provides detours. It’s counter productive to the authenticity. This especially worse with plots that do opposite of the spectrum in queer baiting. There needs to be a balance. It’d be different if this plot was entirely centered as smut, but it isn’t so this just hurts it in my opinion.

I mean go off. If I had soap box I’d up there all day. And Momentum is a wonderful example of good story telling. I truly wish there were more like it. Truthfully because of the annoyances you’ve mentioned I’ve gravitated to more and more manga/ manhwa that have nothing to do with BL because of these reasons.I’ve been reading BL since I was 13 now over a decade later here I am having grown up and made changes in my mindset and understanding of the world, yet the material I would so gladly turn to as one of the few sources of queer representation has not done the same. And while I was fortunate to seek further outside sources of queer kinship others have not or have been unable to. And have grown with the mindsets and examples of a genre that has done so little to actually help the lgbt it takes from.

Granted look at just the growing downvotes since we’ve started our discussion. How do you expect authors to change or develop better writing when critical discussions is seen as unfavorable even among readers. It’s no surprise the genre is stagnant.