interesting story about infatuation, trauma, mental illness, and inner turmoil. i won’t stand with anyone who views this as a romance. sangwoo and yoonbum were never going to work out, even if they met under normal circumstances where yoonbum wasn’t a freak and sangwoo wasn’t a manipulative, calculating killer. Sangwoo is literally emotionally straight. Him having intercourse with Yoonbum is entirely unemotional. He views Yoonbum as his mother, he says what he wants to say to her through Yoonbum. Through the manhwa, the line between Yoonbum and Sangwoo’s mom starts blurring for sangwoo. Everything yoonbum does is now a reference to his past. Even when yoonbum was consoling sangwoo throughout the chapters, it didn’t feel like he was talking to yoonbum, but rather his own mother. He yearns for her consolation, he yearns for her love. He couldn’t trust his mother, and so now, he’s desperately trying to find that trust within Yoonbum. That’s why every act of “betrayal” sends Sangwoo deeper into the spiral. Yoonbum and Sangwoo’s mother are becoming more and more alike, and so his perception of them become more and more entwined. Anyway, Sangwoo deserved to die. Yoonbum was a victim. He was mistreated and unloved his entire life, and all of his prior experiences contributed to the fact that he could be so infatuated with sangwoo even after he was held hostage. We saw it with that girl he met in high school, and again in the military. He will become obsessed with anyone who shows him kindness. He was originally scared in the basement at the beginning, but as soon as Sangwoo began showing him kindness again, he thought that whatever was going on was okay. Yoonbum himself is so vulnerable to manipulation, he will do anything to be treated with love, even if that love is momentary and an illusion. Till the end, he mourned his love, and he mourned the love he thought he was receiving for being himself. The effect trauma has on one’s mind and future is no joke. I wouldn’t reread. 7/10
Killing Stalking