I really hope they don't kill him off. I really want to see TJ succeed. Not with Ian though, that relationship needs to be let go of. Ian wants his own future, TJ deserves a new start. I fear that it will either end in him dying or becoming the villain. I really don't want to see that, but I can see how those two are the most obvious paths for a story of this genre. Fuckkkk
A ramble for if he does get better however:
On the basis of if he were to "find another", food for thought, I also don't know how I feel about him getting in a relationship to "fix" things. Why I care about him so much is because I relate to the low point he is at, the things he went through (obviously my own experience not being the same, not gang related or whatever) and from my trauma and environment I went to a really dark morbid place. I was at the "man with nothing to lose" point.
Problem is, getting into a relationship with the person I am with is exactly how I escaped that. He pushes me to get professional help, to get what I need to build a stable life, and to be a happy person. He challenges my flaws and does not sugar coat his words. I credit him for saving my life, because without him I would have either become someone I could not predict the depravity and emptiness of, or I would have chosen to exit life on my own terms.
The thing is, I was extremely lucky. Most relationships don't work like that and for anyone going through something similar, you can't depend on that. It's also a huge undertaking for the other person, and I could not ever ask the man I love to do the things he's done for me by his own will.
It would be way more meaningful to see TJ succeed in changing his life by his own will, and perhaps AFTER, getting into a relationship where he can heal his most inner wounds. He's very obviously tied to love, as the pain he feels for Ian is evidence of such, but its also his obsession. It's unhealthy, and he needs a different form of love, and for a different person.
Anyways, while that's a bit random I just wanted to write some more thoughts. I hope he doesn't die or go down a darker path. I am prepared for that outcome, but I am hoping so strongly that he will be okay.
Extremely self indulgent ramble ahead;
This is a fucking gold mine. Not an ounce of SA or generally non con slop, extremely engaging story with a premise I would fucking die for, and art of gorgeous quality…
Seriously, any edgy murder themed stories I come across, I prepare myself for a ride to hell, and eventually dropping the work- but this has done EVERYTHING right and keeps its edge without the toxic abusive shit all these other BL’s do. I am beyond ecstatic. It’s so fucking engaging and I feel my emotions go wild with the mood and developments of the story. FUCK.
Seriously, I know this is not some huge masterpiece work like some of the others here, but for what the author aimed for, the premise itself, how it was all executed, I fucking love it. Finally I can enjoy some action murder bastard content without bashing my head into the pavement over rape fetishization bullshit.
My one sorrow is the lack of sex scenes. The implied but never shown! We have some brutal stuff here (given its about an assassin of course), but sex is too far? I am grieving. Nonetheless, the story and our protagonists make up enough for it by far. Perhaps one day… a man can dream.
Fr.... this is perfect 9/10 gonna be 10 if the hot staff more elaborate lol, jk aside I know that's duo gangster gonna alive somehow, author give them some special side tho they're fvcking villain but I'm more into to taeman relationship here, pretty damn ch.60 is a peak need to wait two or more or ten chap to binge
For realllll bro. Same for the chapter too. I binged the entire 60 chapters in one sitting because I’m mental like that. Seriously, such a banger series though.
It's a perfect 10/10 for me. It's so rare to find a good engaging BL webtoon without SA, noncon, annoying MC/male lead. I mean,I read those stuff too but I can't say I enjoy them necessarily, some I do.. but it gets really boring and cliche fast. As someone who is generally fine with everything, I really do appreciate a good webtoon that doesn't include bullshit SA here and there.
You're right. For a BL about murder, it doesn't lean into that heavily and be edgy at all. It treats its characters with respect and I respect it.
I relate strongly. Though, I am not okay with SA. Generally I am extremely adverse to it, but some stories engage me regardless and I can’t help but continue to read it. However, many of the BLs that feature SA continue to do SA or “conditioned sex” after repeated SAs and it becomes a boring, stale, and unengaging mess. Then I drop it.
The works which have consensual and very well planned sex scenes are the best, as it is extremely rewarding and exhilarating when you get that “FINALLY” moment which comes after a lengthy build up. I suppose the only issue here is that I felt I would get that from this BL, but it ended up skipping the scene which gave me a semi blue-balls moment LOL.
But I can easily excuse it because the entire story itself is just so damn good. Seriously how they handle the characters and developments, no matter how dramatic they may be, its so fun and engaging, and executed amazingly. I don’t mean to sound like I’m kissing ass here, but I just enjoy this one so fucking much man.
TRUE. Getting blue balled again and again kinda suck I am ngl, but the story and characters are so damn good that I keep finding myself coming back here to reread every now and then. How could you not love good characters and interesting plot man.
I speed ran binged this shit til the most recent chapter. It’s such a silly, surprisingly deep at times, but nonetheless humorous work. I feel insane. The tension and shit has got my head spinning. I cant take this shit brothers. This is the end.
While I read BL stories for MLM as a gay man myself, the few times I see WLW it’s always such sweet heartwarming stuff. Heals the soul.
MLM on the other hand always has me teetering on the edge, Maythan not feeling the same way as Kael does, and the situations all from before between them. Why are men so complicated?
I say this all in good fun though. Genuinely happy to see the girls start their journey. I’m curious as to how things are going to go with Kael and Maythan, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a bit bitter. I could be wrong though.
There’s already a few comments saying it, but seriously. I’ve been wanting to see a switch up scene, at least once, with a main couple in a few of these ongoing BLs.
And this one is probably my number one when it comes to that desire. Their main dynamic right now, Matt on top, Jin on bottom, is seriously good, but I want to see how Matt would handle taking it from Jin. I think it’d be really good, even just once…
COME ONNNNN
If it happens it will be a miracle
Thirst and Neko x Neko have vers couples. Most gay relationships are vers, shame that Yaoi manga does not reflect that. Maybe because written by women.
Someone in another comment recently reminded me of Thirst, which I had started but forgot to continue, but I’ll also check out Neko x Neko. I appreciate it man!
I agree though. I’m strictly a gay top myself, but that’s because the idea of bottoming to me has some personal deep adversity to it, due to past traumas.
I love stories and art though, and BL is my best source of interesting gay stories within my aisle of interests, and when it comes to novels, I’ve very much enjoyed the ones where gay couples are more versatile.
While I very much appreciate all the authors of these BLs, I think far too much I see themes of heteronormative ideals projected onto these fictional men. Some are genuinely good in depicting the queer experience, but sexual dynamic wise, it’s very binary. I also think that is due to BL, not the gay short comics written by actual gay men, being almost entirely dominated by cis and typically straight women.
While a little unrelated, the other issue I have is how often I see SA / Rape depicted commonly as normal by these authors. None of the gay comics I have read made by men have done this, though I do bet it exists, it seems much less common in the simple short story porn comics I’ve read. This work dealt with the topic in an interesting way, I’ll admit, but I really do think it’s way too heavily depicted in BL and it’s quite tiring.
It also just seems odd to me, since that is a token part of our sexuality. The fact that we can do both, and many of us do. Why is it so unrepresented in BL? I hate to say it’s because women authors tend to self project onto these characters, in turn, fetishising gay men for their own desires, using us as a conduit for their kinks whilst keeping away from the discomfort of showing such things happening to a woman, but it feels that way a lot of the time. Also that- Gay men, the tops specifically are just seen as more brutal, often depicted as sexual assailants and horrible people within BL. Not within this work so much, but many many others. That does not sit well with me.
Apologies for the long comment, just some more thoughts I had.
Actually I remember it was you who replied to me in the other comment Haha. But Neko x Neko is one I didn’t know of, so at least that!
I’ll say this;
The story itself is pretty interesting, and keeps your attention. I like how things are developing, I like the twisted personalities and uncertainty surrounding every character. I like the appearance of the two main doms. and I think this is certainly an entertaining story.
(Side note: I feel like there’s some weird almost racist comments about the long hair guy here. Maybe unintentional racism, but it feels really off. Then again, the author is also the one who made the person of color the number 1 piece of shit. That’s definitely a problem in many BL…)
That being said, it’s another case of “there must be rape to make it realistic!!!”
No. I think it would have been WAY more interesting for the long haired man to have seduced the mc, or given him a good enough “bargain” since the start to get this otherwise straight guy to open his legs. I know it’s a prison, but this is also fiction. Already many things in this are unrealistic. The lack of rape would be a breath of fresh air, and allow many more to enjoy this otherwise interesting story.
I like some dirty dark themes. I like sabotage and enemies to lovers type dynamics. We could have some peak hate fuck action- but again. Its rape. And the “sex” scenes aren’t even all that interesting.
(Sex in quotations because imo rape is not sex, just trying to isolate the scenes themselves and look at them objectively)
Anyways. Mixed feelings on this one. I will still keep my eye on it because of my interest, but it’s a shame that this one also follows the rape plague of BL…
You are so necessary <3
?????? is the setting not a korean prison? theyre all Korean; from a western perspective, they're all poc....
Racist may not be the right term because if they are all Korean then it might not apply, but colorist may be the right word. Worldwide people with dark or darker skin colors may be seen as more aggressive. It might not be as explicit because it is a toxic BL and as many of us know it's pretty common to see toxic tops in BL. Not sure if I can pinpoint where the unintentional colorist is coming from though.
This will be a little long, apologies.
Suppose I didn’t think of it that way. I’m a korean american, so I forget when things are supposed to be korean oriented or white oriented since I am surrounded by both lmao. Regardless, I understand there is still a distinction between light skin and dark skin poc. Dark skinned poc are still treated worse than light skin poc due to appearance alone.
This I understand from being within poc communities and hearing their experiences. As well as my own partner, who is an east asian dark skinned person. His chinese light skinned colleagues never face issues with their skin tone, whilst he has had his parents say things like “it’s unfortunate you are not more fair” since he was young.
“White passing” poc people are also spared of much of the racism people who are “visually poc” face.
All in all, poc are still poc, but dark skin poc have been heavily misused by asian writers in many BL’s I’ve read. To rephrase I suppose;
“The author wrote the dark skinned character to be an asshole, which is too common in BL, and has racist undertones.”
I’m not saying its intentional, however, this is typically a result of interalized racism that is “natural” to some, therefore harder to identify. This is also very common in the traditional Korean mindset from what I know of my own family, some of which are unfortunately blatant racists to black people.
I feel some, especially Koreans who live in South Korea, have poor understandings of how to deal with race and skin tones. I am very fortunate to have been surrounded by other poc people of different tones and ethnicities, but I can still criticize the issue at hand.
I hope that clarifies enough.
I appreciate your kind words!!
Just replied to this comment then got your reply lol. I agree. If the character is a korean with dark skin, my point still stands that this is at the very least, colorist. If the character is not korean, perhaps south east asian or another darker asian ethnicity, then we return to racism. Either way, I see this as a problem too often in BL sadly.
srry, i think you may have misinterpreted what i had meant. i simply thought that you assumed dark skin = poc and light skin = non-poc by the way you used "person of color" in your original post. its more so just confusing as to what you meant by it rather than an issue with your topic of discussion/perspective.
colorism is racism, so referring to it as racism is fine. no issues with that
Omg I like this explanation so much!!!!
i don’t mean any offense with this comment but i don’t understand how anyone could click on a manhwa like this and not expect rape. in fact i think it should be expected with a plot like this.
Ohh I see I see. Apologies for the misunderstanding.
Yeah, it was mostly based on the issue of skin tone, and how darker toned people are depicted in these stories, generally as very toxic. I am glad that is cleared up!
Glad you do! I’m just the type to share what I think wherever whenever, and I didn’t expect such a positive response from so many! (Wow, almost 80 likes now haha)
Your words flatter me, thank you!
No offense taken, I understand where you are coming from.
Another long response, can’t help myself I suppose;
I did expect rape or generally unpleasant themes from this one, but I wanted to give it a shot regardless, again, because I was interested in the story itself. The prison theme and such. I’ve been pleasantly surprised before, so I try to give everything that piques my interest a shot. Nonetheless, I feel it’s still valid to voice my dislike for the rape. It’s a “disappointed but not surprised” kinda thing.
All I’m saying is that it would have actually been interesting if they had excluded rape, but still made the darker or gross themes work without that addition, which is not even being used tactically here as a story device, but rather to lead up to “sex” scenes with the main character and the others. If they depicted and treated rape as a more serious thing rather than a way to fanservice, even then perhaps I could excuse it. As well as the fact that it’s been drawn to be pornographic in nature, to directly gratify people who either don’t see rape as serious, or are even into it. So in that sense, it does not seem to strongly add to the story itself. It feels out of place and in poor taste.
My solutions would be either:
Allow the MC to offer his body willingly to the long haired man for favours and protection. Allow a slow process of going from vanilla type sex to more kinky types. Show the MC “barely tolerating” it at the start, but begin to enjoy it over time and come to be conflicted with his feelings, alongside other characters. Like the white haired one, to try it with him. This would allow character development in sexuality and the understanding of pleasure for MC.
or
While I do not prefer it, depict the rape as brutal, not sexy, not fun or pleasurable, and for what it is. Show the long haired man to be a terrible person (dislike this more because he’s dark skinned… alas) and show how MC becomes more mentally affected by these experiences which eventually lead up to some sort of action. Likely a revolt that would stop the assaults on him. It could lead to him becoming the most respected / feared person instead, going from the bottom to the top of the food chain. This would be more on the psychological side of the genre.
Don’t worry about the long responses I actually liked your post. i rarely see people share their thoughts like this so passionately ╮(￣▽￣)╭
Now I see your point more clearly, and I agree with it! I like the second option. It would be really exciting to see the MC have some sort of revenge arc against the long haired seme, we usually don’t see much of that in BL (unfortunately) and with the MC’s personality I think this would make the story so enjoyable.
I personally don’t see the manhwa as something to be seen as “romantic” which is probably why the rape scenes didn’t bother me?? or i didn’t feel completely thrown off by it, they are all in prison for a reason after all lmao. but yes i agree the scenes could be handled a bit more seriously but then again it’s a BL manhwa ...(￣∇￣")
Silly ah ramble. Don’t mind me.
Honestly this makes me realize how deeply cliche the dynamic of gay men in BL still is. I’m a possessive and dominant top myself, so I do prefer the same in the works I read, but this one still gets me.
I think it’s because Matthew, while he is seen as cute at times, is still treated as a man and has his own sense of maturity and edge. When BL does the “switch up”, they tend to really infantilize the top, much like how bottom characters are infantilized anyways. They don’t do that to him or Jin, which I really appreciate.
I really like this. Jin being possessive and having a strong desire for Matthew, and he makes that clear (rather than other bottom aligned characters which keep it to themselves, get all flustered and secretive. Yes it’s cute, but I’ve seen it 100 times over it feels.)
I know others may not like this, but I actually am pretty interested in seeing them switch it up in bed too. Probably won’t happen, but it would be very satisfactory to me, considering how they feel more unique dynamic wise. I don’t see it enough in te popular BLs.
While I won’t ever bottom in my own sex life, there’s a good bit of personal reasons for that. Generally though, there are plenty of gay men that enjoy the unique ability gay men can do in bed (when it comes to penetrative sex) and that’s switch roles freely and enjoy “both sides of life” lol.
I feel like BL doesn’t explore that enough, and unfortunately it may be due to a heteronormative ideal. Vers men rise up, lol.
Anyways just a silly little ramble. Enjoyed this latest chapter a lot, and I look forward to more of their development.
FRRRRRRRRRR, The possessive and dominant ones ヾ(☆▽☆) yet also submissive and possessive ⁄(⁄ ⁄·⁄ω⁄·⁄ ⁄)⁄ on my knees. I love the best of both worlds(๑•ㅂ•)و✧
Real as fuck man. Love to see diverse dynamics !
you get it. I'm the same as you, except the possessive and probably dominant part lol but this story, especially their personalities, makes them feel like two men. iygwim, I'm essentially the author doesn't define each character's personality and their overall self based on the role they play in bed, like, Just because this character is a bottom doesn't mean he has to be or appear more "femme" than his partner, he's still a guy at the end of the day.
and to add, there's a tonn of femme gays who only top. so I fucking hate when BLs make it so linear and blakc and white when it really isn't. (sorry for the rambling too)
Seriously this man. I didn't want to say it "makes them feel like two men", because I know there ARE plenty of gay relationships where one guy is more femme or soft and the other is more masc or "hardcore", but the reason they feel more REAL is because this more heteronormative dynamic is HEAVILY over played in BL.
I also agree with the Femme tops, or generally- femme x femme gay guys. There is very little of that it seems. Though I do prefer masc men, so I don't actively search for it, but from the featured and popular BL's it seems femme tops and femme x femme is nonexistent at times. It is really bothersome to see the same stuff over and over...
But these two feel refreshing. Personality shouldn't be so tied to what you like in bed, and I really appreciate that from the author!
I think it is good that it was the piece of shit rapist Daewoo that ended up killing this fake, because it keeps Woo-yeol’s hands cleaner ultimately.
Say, if ever the case of whether Woo-yeol actually killed someone comes under scrutiny, keeping himself clean here on will help him in the long run. We don’t know if it simply is untrue, related to an accident, self defense, unknowingly, indirect, etc.
Whatever the case, it’s good that here Daewoo is dirtying his hands even more, rather than Woo-yeol getting his ruined. Daewoo hopefully will die in the future for his disgusting sub-human acts, but for now, him being a “pawn”, so to speak, in cleaning up the issue of Woo-yeol doppelgängers is useful.
While so far, it’s only happened twice, so yes, an exaggeration, this is wild as fuck. The plot itself bangs so hard, but then you got the fact that, first, these two are adopted brothers, so it’s pretty fucking sus already, and then secondly, one rapes the other, then the other way around when they meet again.
It seems Korean and Japanese BL is as every plagued by rape themes, and it really fucking ruins so many amazing stories I have seen. ESPECIALLY when its the “first time” after hundreds of chapters of slow burn, only for one of the guys to rape the other. So much time wasted.
Luckily this isn’t the case here. Still, I can’t help but wish to continue reading it because the story itself is genuinely great so far, but the rape kills all the enjoyment of such instantly, and typically I avoid works without sex because I’m sex addicted, and easily get bored without it. This isn’t sex though, and the story actually has me interested. It’s unnecessary rape which I know will be romanticised to hell and back.
Overall, things just don’t seem to work out for me constantly in BL I actually take interest in. I wonder why all of the few with stories that I actually enjoy must always have stupid fucking rape. I’m so tired of it. What must a man do to have good action based story, good art, and healthy fucking relationships in his webcomics? For fuck’s sake.
This is basically a vent at this point, but can you blame me when this happens over and over? Such a joke.
The story had so much potential, I hate this rape theme really good BL’s have:(
Exactly, the potential coming from this comic is so high and it’s one of the few action comics I like. However the rape coming from both sides is so unnecessary, not to mention that the relationship between them is already weird as it is. It disappoints me honestly:(
The art and world building sucked me, especially in the dungeon, I thought I was reading solo leveling for a second then smash lil bro showed up just to smash big bro who is musty af rn after all those ant guts...took me out but i need more(〜￣△￣)〜
I binged this to chapter 101 in one sitting. Jesus fucking christ this story is a rollercoaster.
There’s a lot I could say, as a addict rambler, but I don’t know if I even want to start with this one…
I just hope things wont crash and burn. I am invested, but my heart has been tugged to many directions I think its gonna be torn apart by this shit. Gods fucking balls dude.