Nillin

you know ball, esp that scene where he takes the photo of them together

Idk what you know ball means

POTN is considered "amazing" in my opinion because of the smex let's all be honest, and the fact that both characters have visuals, the ARTstyle if you will... when it first came on, readers were drawn to the "plot" because it was something new. A painter and a lord in the Joseon Era and their relationship yeah, it was really interesting... it got popular to the point that it paved a way for other manhwa stories to make more capturing that kind of same vibe it brought but just a little twist of different authors. Of course this is just my opinion. When it comes to the other side of the"PLOT", not so much... I mean, they started off in a very... toxic beginning... which btw, those times were the days red flags semes were first becoming a thing, or maybe it was just me. But I clearly remember it started with Sangwoo (from Killing Stalking).

Obviously POTN is different from this—story wise, but honestly when it comes to the manipulation, gr@pe scenes, and other things, there's no difference.

Are you sure because I have been reading toxic Yaoi since I can remember. Toxic and yanderes have been with us since the beginning in Japanese mangas too. But I understand this depends heavily on what you were able to access at the time etc.

I agree on the point with art style and that maybe POTN popularised red flags in Korea. It definitely is a blueprint for upcoming historical works.

I've also been reading Japanese toxic Mangas too of course, I started there even before encountering the toxic ones in manhwa, so reading POTN and other stories like it is nothing new to me. But I was particularly talking about POTN as topic and the spread of toxic stories in SK BL/manhwa. And yeahhh, Japanese mangas are no exception too, at all. I think that when it comes to disturbing shit, they have the tip of the iceberg... but there authors who make stories that it might seem like it's romanticizing the dark side, but it's also showing how a relationship can be twisted in a way. Some are just straight up fucked up of course.