Let me just add: the scene where Sangwoo calls out his mom while he was having sex with Yoonbum? That will forever be etched on my mind. The gasp (and the laugh that followed) I let out was undeniably e loud. Sangwoo is such a well-written villain. His mom(!) is even a bigger villain, making multiple men suffer and multiple women die because of her messed up brain. If she got therapy (or got admitted to a psych ward) early on, many victims would not have been victims. Unfortunately for Yoonbum, his problems don't start with Sangwoo (or his mom), so he'd still have a tragic story.
I don't think it counts as bl, the writer planned it to be a psychological horror and also said that Sang Woo is straight.
Does this still count as BL? Definitely homoerotic but do we really call this BL? Regardless, I honestly really still like this manhwa. I hate stories with toxic couples and r*pe but this is just different. Maybe it's the fact that the toxicity and the SA isn't really portrayed romantically. Do we even consider this as toxic? It's crime scene after crime scene with loads of mental illness. Whenever bum gets hopeful, we immediately know it's because he has his traumas and he is mentally ill. It's not because he's genuinely in love with Sangwoo. And for Sangwoo, he only became ""romantic"" near the end and whenever he does something ""nice"" for bum, there's this looming certainty that something terrible will be done after. The atmosphere of the scenes are definitely set up as some sort of dark psychological thing, unlike most toxic BL where the color palette is very light and basic. There's not a single panel in this manhwa that gives the slightest air of romance and for me, it makes it so great. The ending for Sangwoo is so hilariously poetic too. The guy who is so mentally messed up that he became a serial killer ended up dying because of a hospitalized old lady that got annoyed with him?? Top notch comedy, I tell you. For bum, on the other hand, although I hoped back then that he ended up recovering and living a good life, I think dying is the best option for him. I truly believe that no amount of therapy could ever make him recover, especially since he would've had to pretend that he wasn't an accomplice for some of the killings and that he did not have any feelings, albeit messed up one's, towards Sangwoo.
Despite any opinions that you may have on the nature of Sangwoo and bum's relationship, one thing we can all agree on is that this is a psychological thriller first before it is a "BL". And regardless of how controversial the themes of this story is, it had already made its mark as one of the best manhwas in the genre. Koogi comeback when