It’s quite blatantly obvious that there’s nothing redeeming about JK, but what I’m surprised is people trying to justify his actions. Like baby, ain’t nothing justifiable about his shitty attitude towards not just Dan, but to everyone around him. I hope everyone reads your comment and also can agree with what you’re saying!
I agree. I don't know why some people are acting like some of us are being too sensitive about stories with violence and abuse. We're fujoshis, so basically grew up on toxic BL, and we know what a toxic turned healthy love story looks like.
Examples of slow burn stories where the "top" had a major redemption was Maya from Hidoku Shinaide and Seungho from Painter of the Night. With Maya, he was abusive and we could tell that he genuinely did like Nemugasa and just had trouble expressing it in a healthy way. With Seungho he was also toxic but he did care about Nakyum and slowly began to show it in their sexual interactions and by buying gifts. He just needed to show his love with holding Nakyum hostage and abusing him.
However, with JK we can't tell if he even likes Dan or not. It's been confirmed that JK does like Dan from what his actor friend said but nothing in his actions shows that. Even the "kind of nice" things he's done like saving him from those thugs and letting him live in his house were things that ultimately benefitted him.
Personally, I'm still going to read the story because I still kind of like it. I do hope that people aren't being rude or hateful to the author but people are allowed to voice their disagreements with the direction the story is going.
REAL ASF there’s some idiot in the comments responding to everyone that’s criticizing the story and it’s pacing, talking bout some “y-you just aren’t the target audience
Wtf the other half of my comment got cut off, what came after “target audience” was: ‘like no bitch, people are right to be critical that we’re over a year, fifty-fucking-one chapters in, and both Dan and Jaekyung only have shown a microgram of character development.
And plus, with the chapters being so short (fucking 10 days for a 3 minute read? Bruh), no shit that people are getting fed up and feeling like the story is just spinning in circles.’
Why do emojis sometimes cut off comments :(((
LMAOO THEY SAID THE SAME THING TO ME but fr tho aint nothing progressive that’s happening in the story, just really torture porn.
The people rendering readers' problems with the lack of character development as nothing but an inability to recognize a "slowburn", please be so fr. The problem lies in the stagnancy of the characters coupled with no healthy, foreseeable redemption at this point.
Dan has the constitution of a wet paper bag, which once began as endearing, but now borders on insufferable. JK is an angry, abusive monster who seemingly lacks empathy. This is all we have seen as an audience for 50+ chapters and has hardly deviated.
There's a myriad of red flags I was originally able to overlook, because with proper storyteling, they could have been apologized for or explained away. Now, it just seems like there's no realistic, satisfying redemption I can see for this. For me personally at this point, there is no apology, backstory, or otherwise that's gonna justify JK being as unhinged as he's been.
Anyone looking through the previous chapters for human moments for JK realistically are only going to find two: Him speaking with Granny and him showing a modicum of consent after getting drunk.
"He paid off Dan's debts!" - because it was an inconvenience to him that Dan had other things distracting him from solely focusing on his physical therapy. Need I remind you, he walked in on Dan getting ROCKED by his debtors, and his first thought wasn't "Oh no, Dan! Do you need help?" It was "You're late." The only reason he beat them up was because they challenged him, not because he was concerned for Dan.
In order to avoid making this post any longer, I'll skip over him referring to Dan as his "property" and skip to where I lost all hope:
Dan decides he wants to get the rich man a heartfelt present. Instead of asking this man for a raise that he knows said man can easily afford, he takes a night job; he works tirelessly for that man by day, then makes his money for his present at night. Said man notices how tired he is, but doesn't care or ask about his health. Once Dan finally gifts said man the present, instead of appreciating it or the work Dan put into getting it for him, he throws it away. He then mocks him for being so sentimental and berates him for exhausting himself and not focusing solely on his physical therapy.
I've read "slowburns", and the good one still have better ways of portraying potential for a healthy, realistic love story than this has. If not, the author gives clear and/or nuanced indication as to why the love might result in toxicity. This story makes it seem like there's supposed to be a light at the end of the tunnel, while giving us nothing but Dan torture porn.