I’ve previously alr made a review on this, but I once again, find myself harping about this story once again because I keep getting roped into reading this again and again.
I’m not saying ‘Stranger’ might be the best BL out there, but I’m saying it might be one of the better ones. Woojung is a character I FULLY and can CONFIDENTLY state feels like a real adult. The beginning of the two leads’ romance is quite frankly disastrous, and I would even say, unconventional and bizarre, weird, off-putting, etc, because a grown man picks up a barely legal teenage boy off the streets, offered him a place to stay, money to spend. This obviously wouldn’t translate well on paper, especially when said adult decides to sleep with the teenager who freshly turned eighteen, almost instantaneously. There’s no way to argue there aren’t any wrongful moral implications.
Any adult with morales would immediately deny it. Yes, Woojung is a freak for that decision. He works in the legal sphere and knows the implications. HOWEVER, it kinda pains me to see that a story about overcoming trauma, learning security and finding the ability to allow yourself happiness when you’ve been so hurt and neglected, is being dropped because I genuinely feel that this manhwa knows how to weasel emotions out of you.
Woojung is a grounded male, almost parental and adult-like figure that Jiho needed in his life, and after being treated so well by this adult, I can believe it’s only inevitable that Jiho might begin to cultivate feelings. You could say there’s some power dynamics at play in the beginning, but imbalances in relationships, power dynamics means that someone has the upper hand over the other, which in this case, Woojung has neither because he likes Jiho. I mean, what kind of prosecutor would dare say he wouldn’t even send an alleged suspect to jail even if his allegations were true? Woojung said that just for Jiho! If he wanted this dynamic to continue, he wouldn’t have sent Jiho to college, even help him develop his own standing. He waited until they became equal—grown independent men—before he proposed.
The way these two build a connection with each other, being consistently present with one other even in turmoil, gives me enough conviction to think they’re one of the BL couples that you can believe will stay with each other for a long time and I’m happy both of them achieved their satisfactory ending after all their hurdles.
So I truly recommend Strangers if you want a good BL to spend your time on!! Plus the legal stuff, albeit little, was interesting to read. Strangers is always in the top three of my BL recommendations (๑•ㅂ•)و✧
i be laughing my ass off at some of the scenes in this bl then it lowkey hits me that this shit ain’t funny from the perspective of the guy being kidnapped first it lulls you in with great humour. yea, great, the toilet flooding with poo scene got me belly laughing, then u remember that this guy got stripped of his clothes, left butt naked surviving off 7/11 snacks, has to perform sexual acts to even get clothed and fed, pretended to age regress just to avoid doing that yet psycho blond (they always r) still tryna hit, tried on multiple occasions to escape but this superhuman mf somehow kept thwarting his attempts and EVEN CHASED DOWN A DRIVING CAR and forcefully integrated himself into guy’s personal home switch up em scenes a little bit and add gray and ts a psychological thriller.
even at this point, the ML’s identity remains ambiguous to the readers. most of the information we’re given hints to throughout the story barely even covers the tip of the iceberg of what we know about ML’s character. we’re only aware that he hates middle-aged man due to a past trauma that we don’t know how it developed, is somehow wealthy enough for his pocket money to be millions of wons yet is in debt. The ML seems to be coo coo and childish at times but we, the readers, also the outsiders to the story, are hit with sudden scenes of him seemingly hyper-aware and manipulative when the MC is unaware, which suggests that he’s only acting naive, dumb and incapable to lower mc’s guard and in fact, knows exactly what he’s doing. LIKE WHO IS HE?? Why doesn’t his family gaf about how he’s got a whole man in his basement? If he’s so afraid of old men, then why does he insist on sticking with mc? Has he known mc before he even came knocking on the door?
A bajillion questions are running through my head with no outlet to confirm them cause this is a gag parodic comedy bl. It’s almost like the BL doesn’t want you to explore too deeply into its themes which are hidden in plain sight under the guise of flower petals and pink. But when you stop laughing and actually linger on it, it slowly begins to unravel itself, revealing an undertone of horror. The ML’s face, stone-cold, and his eyes, piercing and empty, don’t make frequent appearances, but when it does, it’s like a true expression slipping past the crack of a carefully crafted front.
Dare i say the greatest thought provoking yaoi think piece ever hiding itself in the genre of comedy








reading this bl story has given me hope that I can find a non self-respecting twink boyfriend who I can coerce, push around and make my slave & also become a sex god in the sheets FICTION GIVES U HOPE !!!