Welcome to Episode 2 of Ya-oi-Oh! I know it’s been a long break but it’s back and better than before. Anyways. As an apology I’ll start with one of my favorites…

KILLING STALKING

Oh God, where do I start? Let’s start with some basics. Killing Stalking is an award winning manhwa that was written and drawn by Koogi and published by Lezhin. It’s genres are Drama, Horror, Psychology, Tragedy, Webtoon and Yaoi. All in all it’s a highly intense manhwa.But before we dive into the good stuff let’s take a look at the official summary on Lehzin’s website.

Yoonbum, a scrawny quiet boy, has a crush on one of the most popular and handsome guys in school, Sangwoo. One day, with Yoonbum’s obsession towards Sangwoo reaching its peak, Yoonbum decides to enter Sangwoo’s home. But what he saw inside was not the Sangwoo he had dreamed of.

What I would like to add is that Yoonbum ends up being held captive by Sangwoo, who turns out to be a serial killer and uses Yoonbum’s infatuation of him to torment Yoonbum in every possible way imaginable. If I didn’t mention this everything following this would not make sense but I still apologize if i ruined anything for you.Just from reading this summary you might wonder why I described it as „highly intense“. That Summary didn’t seem intense at all. A simple yaoi can’t be that good, right? Wrong! Just to name a few aspects: immense physical/emotional/sexual abuse, nudity, violence, horror, torture, sexually explicit content, murder, manipulation and the list still goes on. It’s categorized as a psychological horror with a few boy love elements mixed into it, but this is not your typical ‚happily-ever-after Yaoi‘ or anything close to that. Killing Stalking is truly unique and one of a kind.

For beginners, the characters are definitely unconventional as they undergo very real physical and mental struggles especially in contrast to your typical Boy Love stories like BJ Alex or A man like you. Almost every character is conflicted between their own fantasy and perception of reality and the actual truth. However, they are pretty aware of their own idiosyncrasies, which makes it even more fascinating and infuriating at the same time.

So let’s introduce the main two characters:

Yoonbum and Sangwoo. Yoonbum (also referred to as Bum) is the socially awkward young man and Sangwoo the handsome popular gentleman. Yoonbum had been saved by Sangwoo when back when they were in the military thus leading Yoonbum to get heavily infatuated by Sangwoo. What started harmless turned into an obsession and before he knew it he found himself stalking Sangwoo. Eventually he breaks in and has to learn the hard way that Sangwoo isn’t who he thought he was but instead a Killer. Obviously these two aren’t your typical characters and but instead and are two mentally unstable people with a bunch of very serious mental disorders. Adding on, the mental state of both characters fluctuate back and forth most often as a direct result of an action taken by the other.

Mental illness the characters have shown multiple traits for:

Yoonbum

Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD),
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD),
Paranoid Schizophrenia,
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
Severe Stockholm Syndrome,
(Self-harm has also been displayed)

Sangwoo

Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD),
Paranoia,
Psychopathy,
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

(I’ll add links to each mental illness at the end for anyone who doesn’t know what they are or are just interested in them.)

The biggest explanation for their behavior is that both of these characters have been hurt severely in the past by people dear to them. However, the main difference between the two is that they have found different ways to deal with their unfortunate situations and realities. Bum coped internally and by inflicting pain on himself versus Sangwoo whose coping mechanism was to kill things off at the source (literally).

Storyline

The story and each characters personal backstory and development are really well thought out and well written and explored. In each chapter you learn something new about one of the characters. Each time you think it can’t get darker Koogi hits you with a new aspect of their past, which make them the person the are. Sometime you get a sad detail and sometime something totally sickening – like getting puzzle pieces each time, slowly displaying Koogi’s Masterwork piece by piece. It’s insane how captivating and suspenseful the author paces this story. Every chapter has you on the edge of your seat because of how unstable the characters are. You really never know who’s gonna be alive or dead in the next panel or if it’s going to be a happy chapter or the one Sangwoo snaps.

Koogi creates suspense flawlessly through her words and visualizes this with her rather Realistic-style artwork. The rather harsh art style and the dark colors are amazing and sets the scene perfectly. A lot of black and dark red (partially because of how much blood there is) which makes it even more intense and graphic, but nonetheless incredible. The character designs are unique as well, especially the fact that Koogi often only draws one eye which has dark under eye circles making them appear emotionally drained and sinister, adding to the tense atmosphere.

However, Koogi manages to make them look attractive (which is the main reason why people glorify and excuse their relationship. I’ll get back to it later). I mean, Sangwoo can be so attractive in one scene and right after go to an absolute devil. Yoonbum is also depicted as adorable in a lot of panels making you forget that he is actually a Stalker and broke into Sangwoo’s house in the first place.

I would call this ‘well blended darkness’ since although pretty much the whole story line is dark, the few yet amazingly portrayed fluff scenes make your heart beat a little faster with hope… Just to be stopped and scattered a few chapters later.

The Yaoi Factor

Which brings us to the next topic. The Yaoi factor. Since this also belongs to the category Yaoi it also contains the BL romance part. But make no mistake, because their abusive relationship is not a romance. Don’t go into this thinking it’s a cute BL or Yaoi because it most certainly is not. There is no compassion, they are not in love, this is straight up abuse in every shape and form. This is not even in the slightest healthy or what a relationship should be. I know that this topic has been very controversial within the Killing Stalking Fandom but that’s my take on it.

The relationship between Sangwoo and Yoonbum is tragic, abusive and torturous. Sangwoo is absolutely terrifying and his possessive nature is twisted, but he’s really good at manipulating Bum. It’s just really messed up no matter from which angle you look at it. It’s sick to see Sangwoo torturing and beating up Yoonbum in one moment and then hugging and kissing him right after, saying that he loves Bum.

Slowly but surely it messes with your own mind. You know you’re not supposed to “ship” them, but the extreme contrast between the abuse and the affection makes you want some kind of happiness to happen… A rollercoaster of emotions that will tear you back and forth after each panel.

No matter what the characters do, you secretly wish it turns out to be a happy ending (especially thinking how their whole life has been a misery). Two fucked up people getting together. They could finally let their past behind them and live happily ever after … is what I had hoped for while reading but eventually I had to realize that this is beyond fucked up. We are talking about a Serial Killer and a Serial Stalker.

I’ve read arguments like „They had a tough childhood and they don’t know any better. They deserve a chance at happiness together“. Yes, I am aware that both of them had a traumatizing childhood and traumatizing events happen to them. But in real life two negatives don’t equal positive. Broken people can’t fix broken people. You see it all the time, girls and boys getting into relationships thinking they can fix the other person by solely loving them. Baby no. That’s not how this works. „Hurt people hurt people“.

In addition to that I’d like to point out that having a traumatizing childhood or traumatic event happen to you does not in any shape or form give you permission or is an excuse to being a shitty person. Especially a Murderer or a Stalker. We all have a sad song to sing. We all have a justification to do bad in this world. That doesn’t mean that we should or that we should make excuses for such behavior. What we need to do instead is get some therapy and really untangle the issue from its roots. Cause at the end of the day neglect and ignorance of one’s own issues lead to self destruction.

The Finale

The ending was in no way satisfying for quite a while but in hindsight after researching the main topics of Killing Stalking I’ve come to realize that this is the most thought out and appropriate ending. The whole story leads to this exact ending. Koogi has built the whole storyline and character arch to lead exactly to that ending. So many details, hints and information and yet so incredibly unpredictable. Not even in my wildest dream would I have imagined Killing Stalking to end like it did.

I applaud Koogi for her fascinating work. I’m still in awe thinking about her captivating way of storytelling and incredible art. She is the embodiment of talent and has changed the entire ‘Yaoi‘ scene for a lot of people including myself.

I would definitely recommend reading this of you are into more darker themes and like non-conventional stories. Just be aware that Killing Stalking has a lot more to it than what I wrote. I wish I could talk about everything but I don’t want to spoil anything for you so just read it yourself thus supporting Koogi.

So to wrap this episode up let me just say it again just as I had already done in my introduction. Killing Stalking is truly unique and one of a kind.