beta
I'm sorry, let's hit a pause, and have an intervention for the sake of media literacy. Be aware before you proceed this has nothing to do with my opinion of the author's intentions or the inherent quality of their work, but....
Jinx, as a fiction work IS NOT A DARK ROMANCE. While dark romance, as a genre, can explore problematic and taboo themes, it does so while maintaining two key elements in the narrative: agency (giving autonomy to each character, even through power imbalanced dynamics) and reciprocity (the most important---portraying the unconventional connection through these dark themes). To be more precise, a dark romance will showcase how all of these dark themes are actually the catalyst for the characters relationship, and NOT AN OBSTACLE TO OVERCOME.
It's clear that the narrative of Jinx didn't provided Kim Dan with these two attributes until just recently (with him going away), and even then, the author decides to do so in a very conditioned and limited way (he ends up returning to Jaekyung, under duress), so while Jaekyung is currently trying to make amends and change his ways with Kim Dan, it is not enough to meet the required conditions to call Jinx, a dark romance story..... (yet????)
Anyways, that's that.
If anyone is interested in BLs that properly explore dark romance, you might want to check out: Twittering birds never fly, Ten count, Let's go Karaoke, The summer Hikaru died, Peace of God, Ani no Chuukoku (anything by asada nemui really)
And if you are still confused about the subtleties:
Goth (Otsuichi) which is the most illustrative and textbook dark romance I can think of, though, it's F/M
That being said.
Happy Jinx day :D
Very beautifully explained.
Instant gratification readers club colonized the comment section.
Author is giving convincing storical setting, superb art, character building, and people whining that slow burn is too slow.... like? Lets be fr...Go to wattpad friends...