(Not) BL Review: Killing Stalking

Obviously KS isn’t BL. It’s not romance and there was no sparks flying between Bum and Sangwoo, hence the “not.” I just wanted the catch some eyes.

I used to like Killing Stalking quite a lot, but after a re-read and various interactions with fans who had no idea what they were reading but still felt the need to argue it’s themes causing me to recall many things from the manhwa, i’ve changed my mind.

First I want to address the fandom. It seems a lot of people are hell bent on convincing others that Sangwoo and Bum are “relationship goals” or that Sangwoo was in love with Bum. Killing Stalking is NOT a romance, NOT a BL and NOT something to be romanticized in the slightest. It’s a psychological thriller with depictions of incest, rape, homophobia and mental and psychological abuse. Sangwoo kills people, he was homophobic and Bum is nothing but his mothers surrogate. Get that through your heads.

Onward with the review!

Bum is a young student, broken and tormented, who finds solace in admiring his Classmate Oh Sangwoo from afar. It bring hims *so* much solace, in fact, he begins stalking the boy and makes an unsettling discovery when he witnesses a young woman meet her end by Sangwoo hands. Bum is discovered. With his repugnant gaze and dreadful demeanor, Sangwoo kidnaps Bum and makes him his new play-thing.

But, what’s this? Bum... kinda.. sorta looks like... Sangwoo’s mother. Wait a second... Is this another serial killer with mommy issues trope? Yes. Yes it is.

It really is tragic because, as a character, I *did* like Bum. He was a character you could truly empathize with, feel for and pity. It was interesting seeing what led him to such unhealthy means (stalking Sangwoo) of expressing his emotions. He’s an orphan who’d suffered emotional abuse his entire life, was sexually violated by multiple people, sexually abused during his military service and is frequently raped and abused by his uncle. You can truly see why admiring Sangwoo from afar brought him joy and why Sangwoo showing him even the slightest bit of affection, despite the physical and emotional abuse Sangwoo had put him through, caused him to fall deeper in “love” with him. As someone who’s had, really, nothing good happen to him his entire life, he was aching for even the tiniest bit of affection and Sangwoo showed it to him causing him to develop Stockholm’s Syndrome over the coarse of the manhwa. This also ties into his BPD, which causes sufferers to experience emotions rather intensely. I truly did like Bum and I empathized with him immensely. Though he’s not exactly this innocent, pure boy, he’s still a well written character.

But then you have Sangwoo. Ted Bundy’s fictional incarnate. Your generic, stereotypical serial killer who had a mother who never loved him. A classic and overused trope that, in this instance, completely ruined the story. Nothing this man does makes sense. How wasn’t he caught sooner? Koogi spends so much time trying to make us believe Sangwoo is this 1000 IQ modern Einstein who’s your classic charismatic, evil genius serial killer when she really just made the cops immensely dumb. He manages to regularly attend school and keep his job all while still finding the time to pluck random people off the of street, torture and kill them, and scrap their bodies without ANYONE suspecting him. The cops are just so insanely stupid, and even with this being blatantly obvious, we’re just supposed to believe that Sangwoo is just *that* fucking smart.

His bullshit character, mixed in with the multiple instances of lazy writing is the worst thing about this manhwa. His backstory, which carried on for longer than it needed to, just opens more doors than it closes and we’re never given closure. At one point, Koogi tries to get use to *sympathize* with this man who’d never shown even an ounce of sympathy towards his victims or Yoon Bum.

I think it’s important to note that this Manhwas themes are NOT taken seriously by the author at all. From the plethora of official art work *done by koogi* of Yoon Bum and Sangwoo to the special chapters featuring the two to the fact that Bum goes from being deeply traumatized by sexual abuse to just not giving a fuck. Koogi is clearly more than capable of portraying rape in a realistic light, as she did it with the rape scenes with Bums uncle, but when it comes to Sangwoo, suddenly he’s blushing and we get close ups of his cock. Koogi *herself* stated that this book is not a BL nor is it meant to be romanticized. But it’s ok when she does it? She’s just blatantly ignoring her own words. I mean, come on. A manhwa about psychological abuse, rape and murder has SPECIAL CHAPTERS featuring the abuser and his victim.

Overall, just an absolute shit show and I will forever believe that anyone who genuinely likes KS is one of those 13 year old Tik Tok girls who think they’re masochists.