I totally agree. It seems to be an unfortunate trend these days. And after we worked so hard to get out of the gutter where BL started. Idk it seems like the writers think this is what the readers want and/or they are being pressured by publishers to include such elements. Although there are a lot of readers who don't want to see such things, there are a massive amount of readers paying to read these types of stories, why idk. The financial success of things like Jinx and this is undeniable, so I think you have a lot of creators and content platforms chasing that money with more and more of these trash storylines, ruining what could have been very good stories.
i can see the financial incentive, because a lot of readers love a problematic ml and stories with a redemption arc/groveling to win back the mc are probably popular. but the dosing of the shittiness of the ml has to be done right, you can't redeem any type of behavior or POS personality, at least not in a believable way. one of the best examples of a thoughtful redemption arc was in Banana Scandal, with the older brother. he definitely had his flaws, but he wasn't a fuckin psycho or altogether just nasty person.
these authors are just swinging way too hard in an extreme direction imo, unless I'm way off and readers actually find things like this hot or interesting. but in this story we see Yeomin being terrified of the ml and pointing out that what's happening isn't normal, so then wtf? how can you as an author think you can bring a character back from that level of deviance? i can already see some future chapters about the ml's childhood sob story about his mom or whatever, like that excuses this type of behavior. i dunno, I'm just bummed about a promising story going a bit off the rails
Yes, I'm definitely with you. I feel the same. I'm so tired of being excited about a new BL only for it to go completely down the drain. I always see comments of readers waiting for those redemption /groveling arcs, but to me it's like an urban legend because I've never seen one. All I ever see is the ml turning psycho and abusive and the Mc just staying or going back anyway "because love".
You know… I read problematic stories and very problematic ML (don’t come at me please).
But I am aware I am getting into one and what exactly I am looking for where I wanna read one.
My main pet peeve with this one specifically, for which I will actually even drop this story and maybe just read the ending is that all in all what is happening in the last set of actions does not make
1. Sense with the tone of the story itself action wise
2. Yes, the ML was definitely not a green flag since the beginning, we got the vibe. However, I feel this is like a complete disregard of the characterisation done until now.
Long story short, the author created a ‘good base’ and ‘mature’ characterisation, and then threw everything away with some cheap ‘black flag tropes’ which do not make sense in their set up.
Overall it really very lowered the level of the story.
Since the end of season one we got to know what would become the main issue for season two, and I honestly think there was definitely a more interesting and again ‘mature’ way this could have been handled instead of falling in overused tropes that do not really fit neither the story or the characters.
It is really a pity.
Yes this!
It's one thing to force money onto someone who doesn't want it (which is still a violation of consent), but breaking his dad's leg and throwing him into an asylum and then locking up Yeomin and making those threats... man, there's been some pretty toxic ml's recently, but this is just plain psycho criminal behavior.
I struggle to place this story in a genre, because on the one hand, we had some pretty funny scenes, like the ml saying that Yeomin was possessed by the protestant work ethic, so the story seemed lighthearted at times. but then there were some dark signs, like the ml threatening the loan shark about his young child, or him enjoying how "easy" Yeomin was. but those things could have been glossed over with an epic "falling hard" arc from the ml.
sadly, the story truly took a very dark turn recently and I can't see any plausible way out of this mess where they can end up together in a satisfying way for the readers. like what would that even look like? the ml would have to lose all his privilege, maybe even go to jail and realize how unhinged he is, go to therapy, do volunteer work, hell even donate his kidney, I dunno. I am truly baffled, I'll definitely keep reading to see where it goes (and to see cutie Yeomin finally escape and make a life for himself somewhere). however I don't predict I'm going to be happy with the ending, same as with Jinx and other stories.
why do authors do this bruh???? is there like a sick enjoyment for them to make readers hate the ml? are they trying to prove some weird point? I just don't get it