I'm going to piss y'all off but this chapter isn't about Dan and his feelings. It's not how jjk should change for Dan and even be kinder to Dan. The way we all experience life is different same goes for fictional characters. Just cz they grew up in similar situations doesn't mean their outcome will be the same. This is why pop psychology is so dangerous bcz of it's often deductive nature. The backstory is for us to further understand the man jaekyung and his fuckery overall. Once again it's not about Dan and what Dan deserves. It's for us to see and understand jjk beyond his sex life(it's not romance yet to me). Y'all want to center Dan so much when this part of the story isn't even about him. We get it you hate jjk and love Dan but y'all are annoying trying to shit on people's enjoyment of the progress we are getting. I don't know why y'all want jaekyung to be so obsessed with Dan that every part of his character should be about grovelling for Dan. Unless y'all want Dan to be manipulated let jjk deal with his shit and have some introspect before we get some accountability.
I don't believe this backstory is to justify his behaviour but it sure ash explains it. Don't be swayed tho, we can empathize and still not fuck with his fuck ass behaviour. I don't know why this is so common in manhwa where a parent dips and leaves the kid with the someone they know is an abuser. I hope his mom doesn't come back. I hope she stays away forever, shit I hope she's dead tbh. As for his nasty dad I hope he beat the shit out of him with his new found power. The man had a child in biologically hazardous environment on top of the abuse. He was probably injecting himself with jaekyung present. We finally understand why he doesn't care for anything more than boxing. We also get to see why he has such love-hate feelings towards Dan. Poor Dan unintentionally triggers him. I'm not saying jaekyung ain't a dickhead but we finally see why one moment he wants to save Dan and the other he quite literally hates his existence for lack of a better description. Anyway I'm here for it. I want to know more and I hope we finally see where the fuck ass jinx came from its about time the story is named after it.
The disrespect to the redhead uke is despicable just how I like it. He thought he was the prize now he was basically being smothered by both men he thought he had control over. I can now say it with certainty that he is just an attention whore. He wanted them both even though it seems nanjo was serious about him but who would want to take you seriously when you treat them like that?? I don't blame nanjo for indulging mokyoen cz the person he wanted was shit to him even if he can't consciously admit that to himself. He wouldn't be getting bent if he was all in with sunhwa. The audacity of Sunhwa to be offended when he set up this whole shit in the first place is ridiculous. Even in real life most people have affairs with the addition in the threesome. Clearly whoring around had lobotomized him. I don't feel bad for him. He was cheating and generally had no respect for nanjo or mokyoen, too self absorbed to see he's making people uncomfortable. He really embodies typical bottoms whose entire schtick is being wanted and always making everything about them and their feelings as if other people are just bags of potatoes.
My cutie patooties. Couples that mutually like each other are just precious. Power bottom supremacy
I was jumped last year for saying the bottom is an insufferable airhead. I'm glad to see I'm still right. All of them are red flags tho
don’t let them silence you
Speak your truth
and people in the Bible were mad at Jesus for speaking true words go pop off babe
I don't know why people are reading this when they constantly say they don't remember anything. Where did you leave your comprehension skills?? Is it that some of you can't read beyond tropes that's this feels like punishment?? I know I'm being mean but I'm so tired of the shit takes coming from so called fans. Like y'all are so off track with the lore of the story that I feel insulted. Like seoin calling haeyool babe is fucking sarcasm. ATP stop reading bl they are rotting y'all's brains. Read a book without pictures!!! Y'all are embarrassing ATP!!! That study about 2000s kids being unable to read, y'all are proving it right. You are embarrassing the rest who can read.
Why are people assuming seoin will fuck that shitty little twink??? Do they not teach sarcasm as a stylistic device in literature anymore?? The chapter begins with him basically telling the evil twink to fuck off why would he go to fuck him ??? I think y'all don't want to understand these characters and want all the biases you've conjured up in your head to be reality. Personally I'm getting the vibe that seoin in fiercely loyal to yw. He's doing what must be done cz that unwanted obsession freak is blackmailing yw. That man looks like he'd kidnap and try to assault him. Seoin knows haeyools fuckery best so I think it's best that he ends that shit cz yw doesn't even want an interaction with the guy.
Nobody assumes here Seoin will fuck haeyool twink, matter of fact, it was his shamelessly showing up to Haeyool and called him babe unprecedented that feels like harassment
That's what sarcasm is!!!! He is not harassing haeyool he's reminding him of how shameless both of them are but unlike seoin haeyool is still trying to act like he's a saint as if he hasn't been harassing and blackmailing a man that doesn't want him. Unfortunately for haeyool he doesn't know how obsessed yw is with seoin that when he brought up framing seoin it was a wrap.
Yeah, the word I used harassing is a joke in context, like when a creep at the bar walks close to you and start falling u babe. That was the joke, the term "harassment"
I was surprised to see people mistook his sarcastic comment seriously. I laughed when he said it cause that character is about to get hell from Seoin
I saw someone say yw shouldn't apologise to seoin but why wouldn't he??? Yw is a golden boy through and through. He loves seoin of course he'd say sorry after knowing that seoin felt abandoned by him. That is what love is. Their dynamic is a breath of fresh air. Seoin too has been worried of yw mental health after seeing those bottles like any normal person should be. I get his anger towards that new evil twink. It's no longer about jealousy but fury. That twink was blackmailing yw and I hope seo in deads that shit completely. He's made the promise to yw that this time he'll protect him. Even if he doesn't have control over everything on this he can at least do something like shutting up that obsessed bitch. The only obsession I love here is the mutual obsession between yw and seoin.
Why were we denied yw sucking seoin and please no one call it SA cz it's not.
Finally a story that addresses the fuckery of 2nd love interests. Most of them move on absolute and pure selfishness. They cockblock the MC from the love they want and mask it as care and worry when it's just control. They figure they can't have have the MC loving them so next best thing is seizing control. It's manipulative asf and I don't know why it's often defended but for once we have an MC that isn't oblivious and sets things straight. I love that bit when he told minwoo he isn't a child. 2nd love interests conveniently make the MC be a child to justify their obsessive helicopter parenting-like attachment. The MC is a grown ass man regardless of their history he has the freedom of choice and right to autonomy.
I think comparing jjk to Dan is so disingenuous cz if jae has to be kind cz of similar backgrounds then why is Dan poor with nothing to show for his 30 years of life?? Dan too should have risen above the poverty and general adversity and make something great of himself that he can be proud of. But what is Dan, a coward, drunkard and habitual chainsmoker. And it's not hidden that he is ashamed of his life. It's why he admires jjk in the first place.His grandmother can't even die in peace, she raised him and tried to give him some semblance of stability but yet here we are. By y'all's logic that should be enough to make him a great man but really it's not. It's an unfair comparison really, I didn't even like writing that out loud. Y'alls binary way of thinking dismisses so many factors about how they got to be where they are. I don't think Dan is kind especially if he is so unkind to himself.
I see people say jjk had people but it seems like he left for Seoul quite early to pursue boxing seriously. We are not assured he was given emotional and mental support by the granny and ahjussi. What are the chances that he had to raise himself still even if he had boxing?? We have to wait and see. I get people hate jjk and that's why being dismissive of his upbringing is just an assured thing. I won't be doing that though cz I know trauma affects people differently. I have a soft spot for all traumatized people (doesn't mean they shouldn't be held accountable though).
Y'all act like Dan is peak human when he's been trying to off himself unconsciously. I would even say he hates himself that the so called kindness y'all admire is a mask to hide how broken he is. It's an unfortunate characteristic of people with suicidal ideation. He is tired of his life and I don't blame him when you can't ever truly express yourself when you've locked yourself in a cage where you are good to others but never to yourself. Jaekyungs shit treatment of him and rejection just asserted all those feelings of worthlessness he's carried around for as long as he can remember. It broke him to be discarded by the one person he has emotionally invested in beyond his grandma.
Any I might have went off track but I think the comparison thing oversimplifies the hard life both this people have lived through.
That's why Jaekyung called Kim Dan a BUM. He saw a pretty college graduate with a loving grandma with nothing to show for it but an alcohol and smoking problem and shit ton of dept
It's not even a lie cz where I come from you'd be shunned by society. Everyone will always wonder wtf are you doing for your life to be so shit when you already have the tools to do something for yourself. It's unfair tbh but I don't blame people for thinking like that . Also because of jjk soft spot for old people to him Dan is a shit grandson stressing his grandma and not even trying to do and be better for her
You quite literally put into words what I was thinking, I feel people always want to pick and choose only in surface level understanding, it’s honestly a waste for such well written characters to be only categorized as “good & bad”, these characters portray real human emotions, we ourself can’t be considered perfect, and even if this is “just” a story doesn’t mean their background isn’t as complicated, their actions and thoughts are a straight vein coming from their past, and it is unfair to compare such different upbringing, since they both suffered differently and processed that emotion differently, before “taking sides” let’s be more proactive and focus more on understanding each side. (Then again obviously, I’m not saying trauma is an excuse to treat other people badly but it the reason for the behavior)
Jaekyung is right to think that Dan is a shit grandson.
That old woman raised him with love and Kim Dan repaid her with a vice that landed her in the hospital
Exactly. Things don't have to be black and white. These characters emulate human beings, as you've said we aren't perfect and so are they. They fall short and should be held accountable but I don't believe in them being written off completely. I often take side but not on this I will not be doing that.
I think the backstory is important to understand jjk, because all he learned from his father was to be abusive to the people who are near him. A child thinks, that the parents love it and when the parents hit the child all the time it can create the thought, that hitting is a way to show that you like someone.
The story also show's that jjk slowly learns to love in a proper way. He tries to take care of Dan but he didn't lern this important part from his Parents. Dan had his Grandma who always protected him and loved him no matter what.
did y'all forget that it's implied in the beginning that his entire career was derailed by a creepy superior? like he was pretty much blacklisted from the industry.... yall have 0 empathy and zero concept of mental health. I get y'all are prob too young to understand the nuances of addiction and mental health but this is a terrible mindset to have towards others. And if y'all aren't even young then idk what to say other than goddam your parents failed you
This is such a fresh perspective and this is the type of conversations I wanna have and honestly see more of on here. I would also like to add that Dan had love and was taught kindness but he wasn't taught how to be confident and take up space in the world. Then you have jaekyung who took his place in the world with his fists and with lack of love and guidance beyond boxing he developed extreme apathy towards anything he didn't see as worthy of his attention or that that didn't serve his interests.
We didn't forget that but did you also forget his grandma tells jaekyung Dan's issues were there from the very beginning even before his job? You think all this just started cz of his shit superior? That man targeted Dan cz he saw how weak he was. Dan is so oblivious to himself as prey that attracts predators not only jae but the shit doctor, the loan sharks and even the guy that framed during jjk match. We can have empathy but he too needs to change how he moves in the world. Mental health awareness is not to shield you from struggle but to help one accommodate struggle and not just sit there to never fight back. Dan being weak is a character flaw that even if jae apologizes and holds himself accountable as long as he doesn't do better it will be the same cycle with another predator.
Why do y'all default to insulting people for having ideas that aren't similar to yours? You're weird for saying this over some fictional characters. You haven't expressed any nuances in your statement when all I've done is express the nuances from beginning. Anyway you can have empathy for Dan's situation and still want him to be better at least for himself. His life is shit and no one but him can change that.
It’s honestly ironic that you’re accusing others of lacking empathy while completely misinterpreting a conversation that is rooted in trying to understand complex trauma responses in both characters. No one here denied what Dan went through. In fact, that was the entire point: to avoid reducing him or Jaekyung to simple tropes of “villain” and “victim” without acknowledging the deep psychological damage both carry. This isn’t about defending one or vilifying the other. It’s about trying to comprehend how and why they became who they are.
Bringing up that Dan was blacklisted by a superior and essentially derailed professionally only reinforces the point being made: that people are shaped by sustained systems of harm and neglect. But here’s the thing. Recognizing where that pain comes from is not the same as excusing behavior. This is a distinction that keeps getting lost. The original comment and mine were centered around understanding characters like Dan and Jaekyung as layered individuals, not moral binaries.
The story, however controversial, is portraying trauma, shame, survival, addiction, and control in very human, very uncomfortable ways. And instead of asking why these characters act out in such self-destructive or damaging ways, the discussion often becomes about choosing a side. But this isn’t a football match. These are narrative tools designed to reflect the complexity of being broken and how people can hurt others while being deeply hurt themselves.
You said we “have no empathy,” but if anything, I’d argue empathy is exactly what we’re practicing. Empathy that includes uncomfortable truths, that allows us to hold two ideas at once: that Dan is a victim of a brutal system and poor mental health, and that he’s not just a passive, innocent martyr. That Jaekyung has power and has abused it, and that he likely has never known a healthy emotional framework either. It’s not one or the other.
Your tone, while claiming to defend mental health awareness, turned immediately to personal insult. Calling people too young to understand, or worse, suggesting their parents failed them. That’s not mental health advocacy. That’s deflection masked as righteousness. It’s also a textbook example of what happens when people become so fixated on their interpretation that they stop listening altogether.
If we can’t explore these characters beyond surface-level labels, what’s the point of storytelling at all? The beauty of fiction, even controversial fiction, is that it allows us to dissect the uncomfortable. To explore why people do what they do, and to reflect on it in ways that mirror real life. That’s exactly what was happening here. A conversation not about condoning, but understanding. It’s disappointing that rather than engage with that, you chose to accuse others of lacking empathy while demonstrating none yourself.
At the end of the day, we’re analyzing fictional people through the lens of real-world trauma psychology, not trying to “win” an argument. I truly hope you can reread what was said with a more open mind and recognize that, because throwing around accusations and shutting people down for having a different perspective isn’t the progressive take you think it is.
Thank you so much for this. I don't know why people have such a hard time that some of us want to understand the characters beyond superficial labels. Red-green flag discourse has really fucked bl readership because god forbid people want to explore the characters ideation deeply. You have expressed my thoughts on this so beautifully and so precisely. Thanks
I’m really glad it resonated with you. Your original comment honestly put into words something that’s been sitting heavy with me for a while. There’s this constant rush to label things as good or bad, red flag green flag, like that’s the only framework we’re allowed to use. But stories like this are meant to be messy. That discomfort? That gray area? That’s where the actual meaning lives.
It frustrates me how often empathy gets mistaken for blind approval. Trying to understand someone’s pain or inner world doesn’t mean we’re excusing their actions. It just means we’re willing to look deeper and acknowledge that not everyone processes trauma the same way. There’s value in that. And honestly, it takes a lot more care and effort to hold that kind of space for complexity.
So seriously, thank YOU for putting that into words first. It’s so refreshing to see people still engaging with nuance and not just parroting hot takes. It makes me feel like there’s still hope for meaningful conversations in the BL community
Apply this logic to Jaekyung too since he suffered more than Kim Dan. Show Jaekyung empathy and recognize that Jaekyung's mental health is also in shambles.