I love this comment. It really sheds a better light on their dynamic, not just labeling it as "yaoi slop," as many people have claimed.
Wow omg I love what you wrote so much! A lot of people have a hard time comprehending such complex plots and characters, I could read your thoughts on stories forever omg
FINALLY. A refreshing take instead of the redundant "this author is promoting toxic behavior", "yaoi slop", "romanticize, normalize harmful romance" bla bla bla.
Whether you love or hate the character, you will accept their flaws and strength once you studied the psychology of the characters and their decisions. You don't have to always agree, and you don't have to always justify their decision. But you can understand *why* that decision is made.
*And* that actually reflects real life. Real life is messy and not everything is black and white. To confine these character to just popular terms "red flag, green flag" is a disservice to the author. The author could be telling their own experience, or they could be telling someone else's that they know, through fictional tool like this. It doesn't always mean that the author is trying to "brainwash" readers that "hey, this is the perfect romance" or "this behavior is acceptable". Rather, they just want to show how upbringing, social class, and power dynamics affect characters' perception and reaction.
Again, we don't have to agree with the author's decision. Just like how potterheads does not agree with JK Rowling. But spreading hate, calling the author slurs is a disservice to their effort and time drawing and coming up with the characters, when we hide behind an anonymous internet persona and reading it on illegal sites like this for free.
Thank you !
Thank you !
I agree !! Everyone has their opinions and of course we aren’t able to view this story in a vacuum and ignore the effect similar “toxic” tropes have on society and communities especially because of their frequency, but I think it’s equally important to exercise the empathy required to understand the state of Kim and jk’s mentality coupled with their experiences when it comes to these types of stories. Obviously there’s a lot of excess smut involved but I can’t ignore the fact that i believe this author is putting a lot of effort into this telling of a trendy story. My hope is that their character development can go on to be something worthwhile. Also I would like to mention that it isn’t uncommon for people who were previously neglected (touch starved, hungry for affection) become addicted to things that make them feel loved and desired to make up for what they never received as a child one of those things being sex. It’s really terrible but jk doesn’t know how to make real connections with people and would reject them all together. If it wasn’t for the effort of those who saw him as a champion then he wouldn’t have any sort of circle. And before Dan jk was just using twinks, but no twink was dumb enough to deal with his basket case long term. Another thing: from jk’s perspective Dan for a while was just another person who needed something from him, like a job or money. It’s hard to decipher a persons true personality and intentions off the jump and it’s not like jk is easy to get either. God I could go on and on and I didn’t even know it.
You seriously ate with this take
Yessssss! It's trauma response to their past upbringing and experiences. The past shaped who they are now, and their present self will shaped their future. They are coping, they are figuring things out. That's exactly character development! And character development doesn't always have to be a positive one. Character becoming a villain is still a character development!
Plus, what is considered "toxic" anyway? Most of what considered as toxic traits in the first place has become blurry. For example, protectiveness shud be considered a positive trait right? But protectiveness can be toxic as it can become borderline controlling. And that's what I meant by not everything is always black and white.
And you're right about the intimacy thing. There are studies on these. For example, hypersexuality is actually a common trauma response in SA victims. Despite hating the feeling or memory of getting SA, they can't help it becus it's human nature to want intimacy. They might even rely on extreme sex activity such as bdsm to overwrite the trauma. Ofc it's different from one person to another.
And my theory is that, this is what mingwa is trying to incorporate in Jinx. Both JK and Dan are sexually dependant on each other, becuz that was the foundation of their relationship. Casual sex. But now they are emotionally getting involve, so they are just figuring out how to move past from being just connected physically. And if it's done right, it will give justice to these characters and prove mingwa's improvement in writing, albeit a small one. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day, no? :3
And you left no crumbs too, babes
I think little is spoken about the chains that a person with Kim Dans background has to break in a world that has had so little sympathy for him. He’s a sensitive and genuinely kind/passionate soul who’s been so mangled and so unspoken for even in childhood that to even say for the very first time that “I’m doing this because I want to” is somehow the primitive step of him gaining some sort of authority with his body. Okay yeah you could say I’m romanticizing it, but think about it. I personally have never gone through even a quarter of the extreme hardship Dan has gone through and even I have had to endure some kind of learning curve trauma breakthroughs. How much of Dan saying “I’m doing this because I want to” is for Jk and how much of it is actually for himself. Vocalizing something he’s always thought that he didn’t deserve whether it be love, happiness, freedom, and who knows what else and taking ownership over it is such a HUGE step for him. It’s hard because the slavery that poverty can bring is so crippling that in this insane far-from-reality story I actually don’t think it’s farfetched that Dan has a lot of affection for someone who’s finally given him a break from an anxiety that has consumed him since he was a child (poverty/loansharks) and allowed him to experience new problems. Obviously abusive as he is, jk is also severely damaged and in a way I see this strange connection in them both where it’s two wounded people teaching each other exactly what the other one lacks. For jk it’s compassion, and for Dan it’s a backbone. Wow even though I’m only typing I let out a breath lol anyways PLEASE I’m not trying to start a debate I’m just sharing my perspective for others to read.
Extra thoughts: jk doesn’t deserve a Kim Dan but I think only a Kim Dan is strong enough to take down the emperor Joo Jk and I mean it in a metaphysical way because if we really think about it. Jk is a prisoner of his mind. Similarly without anyone around him from an early age, and taught that you only win at life by being the best at an mma sport, literally the thing that made him successful and gave him purpose when he was a forgotten poverty stricken neglected child, jk is trapped in the parameters of his feral upbringing. And now here comes this person, not here to fight him in ANY WAY, not an argument, not a dirty look, NOTHING. What jk was doing, his “jinx” was all a self-soothing ritual that got him high and he rode his high all the way to a match. it was only a matter of time before he messed up his shoulder and then what would have happened?? What would his “jinx” become? What drugs would he have taken ? Kim Dan has saved jk just as much if not more than Jk has saved Dan.