I'm only hear for the beta character. I want him out and free. And I couldn't give a shit whether he is technically cheating, because we the audience know the real truth.
The MC is a pretty trashy person. If you don't want someone to hang around, just cut them off. Instead I just read 12 chapters of this guy basically shit talking someone who placed their trust in him.
Also he's extremely entitled and naive. Almost 30, lives off Dad's money, acts like he's owns the place, hates office politics and drama but has no understanding that his arbitrary pettiness and moody childishness is what backfires and causes him hardship.
Seriously, I hope that if I'm going to read this any further, the MC will actually develop a brain and not only just use it when it comes to whatever Taeshin-related nonsense happens.
MC is pathetic. ML has anger issues. ML's father is trashy.
I only feel sorry for MC's family. Grandpa seemed like a decent man. Mom's love was genuine.
They're all are trash except for our cupcake he's got his own issues to deal with
Rape is normalized in BL because authors either have weird fetishes or because authors know all the readers will happily pay real money for WattPad levels of stupid drama.
I think it has more so to do with the entertainment content people were fed (and still are fed at least in China). The whole kabedon trope is a perfect example of the shit my generation and previous generations were taught was "romantic". I still see aggressive kabedons done in modern Chinese dramas.
I guess you're maybe right partially, but Korean BL manhwa and Japanese manga also depicts terrible plot devices. I think authors are catering towards people who get a kick out of the male power fantasy, even though applying such a fantasy would be deemed horrendous in the real world by most people.
I brought up China specifically cause I believe this is a story by a Chinese author. But yes, Japan and Korea also feed into this in their own ways (they both still do that aggressive kabedon shit). Not just them, the western world also feeds into it. A great example is the 365 days "romance" series that trended on Netflix in the recent years. To be clear, I'm not even talking about BL. I'm talking about the romance genre in general. The whole "possessive lover/guy/seme" tag really means "aggressive lover/guy/seme". That sort of aggressive male lead that sexually assaults and physically overpowers the protagonist didn't pop up out of nowhere in BL. Straight romance like shoujo mangas were already doing that shit decades prior (for instance Memphis literally breaking Carol's arm around the beginning of Ouke no Monshou). It's a reflection of people believed romance to be (which has shifted in part with the years). I agree though that there are some sick authors with sick kinks that just want to write fucked up stories like Plaything. But I don't think they're the norm. For the most part, the violence I see just comes from shit that was normalized at some point like using force to detain the other person, sexually assaulting someone in the name of love, raping, raping someone drunk or delirious, assaulting a sleeping person, using coercion and force in general, etc.
Seriously, the red head alpha guy is such a dumb mfer. Mom and Dad tell him to play nice and get connected with ML. He responds to their order by trying to dig up shit with the ML because.......vibes? Superiority complex? Tf? All these people are rich because of business, but can't learn how to be business-like and diplomatic for shit.
New character, you stfu and mind your own business. The guy works 4 jobs and still goes to school.
The readership is reminded why things from the medieval era should stay in the medieval era. We don't call today's royalty a bunch of "inbreds" for no reason!
I knew this shit was going to come up. Korean BL never fails to include a shitty seme. Nice body, horrible personalities.