Wow, I didn’t know this. The New Employee is one of my favorite BLs, too. I love the ML and their relationship.
I feel like authors are probably being pressured to adapt/write series with toxic MLs because they do sell more, which is sad. It’s crazy because, at least among English readers, you get constant complaining about red flag MLs, but then you also get lower read counts on BLs with non-toxic MLs. It doesn’t add up.
“I've also seen people hating on green flag stories coz they're supposedly so boring” Exactly. Or they’ll skip the main story of a series to read the side story with the toxic couple/ML because they’re more “interesting.”
This explains soo many popular manhwas with red flag tops, (jinx)
I think its mainly bc the standard korean man is toxic so they like the concept of red flags who fall in love to the point of turning green(? So in their eyes green flags from the get go are unrealistic
Author's note from The New Employee being nervous about making green flag ML coz Korean MLs are wholly red-flag-centric. Imagine...an author hesitating about drawing an ML from a fairly well-known classic BL and make him red-flag coz that's a Korean norm (though, really. Red flags are the go-to for majority of BL authors from everywhere).
Drama sells. I get it. But you gotta admit, from countries where rape is under reported, I feel so disgusted at how often I see it in comics. I've also seen people hating on green flag stories coz they're supposedly so boring (╥﹏╥) so much red flag stories in front page that I need a refresh.
Sorry. Just feeling extra jaded today