There seems to be some tension about the merit of Killing Stalking due to a toxic fanbase and relatively questionable content, so there are a few things that should be made clear right off the bat: Killing Stalking is NOT a Romance.
Yes, the series centers around a pairing is gay. Yes, it is sexually explicit. But it is NOT cute. It is NOT hot. It is not about the romance, if you can even consider it that.
What it IS is a Psychological Thriller manhwa that truly excels in every category, and I’ll be addressing some of the discourse surrounding it first.
Yaoi is a very loaded genre in of both content and fanbase—There are some (a lot) of BL (short for boy’s love, i.e. everything male x male no matter how explicit or not explicit the content) that are extremely fetishizing and problematic, perpetuating a “female fantasy” of what gay relationships are like with tropes such as rape and pedophilia. A good portion of the fanbase would also consider themselves diehard fujoshis/yaoi fans (fujoshis literally meaning rotten girl, as in “I'm rotten for reading about gay relationships” which isn’t homophobic at all of course) that glorify such tropes and deny any criticism that comes their way. This portion of the fanbase also tends to be the loudest and most unapologetic, which is why they’re looked down upon by non-BL readers as they should be.
However, many non-BL readers then go to label all BL and BL readers according to these trends because these trends are the most “loudest” (cringey and vocal fujoshis, notorious rape and pedophilia yaoi series). Do you see where this is going?
So now we have Killing Stalking, a twisted story about two mentally unstable people in an incredibly toxic and unhealthy relationship, and those two people are male. So not only is it now labeled as a Yaoi and inheriting all the stereotypes that come with that genre, but it’s also now inherited a fanbase that definitely has a few crazies that will see that relationship as hot.
And so then non-BL readers have this opinion, or at the very least a preconception, about what Killing Stalking is: a gay torture porn that is the epitome of fucked up yaoi.
Just to be clear, the blame doesn’t fall just on the crazy fujoshis. If you have a Thriller with straight, ‘normal’ romance it’s still a Thriller. If you have a Thriller with gay romance, like Killing Stalking it’s suddenly become Yaoi. When series have gay (particularly male x male) relationships, that series will suddenly get the “Gay label.” It’ll be placed on a special Gay bookshelf where all the other books with The Gay are placed. Even if there is a substantial amount of gay content (like with Killing Stalking), the main genre is far overshadowed by the fact that it’s Gay.
With Killing Stalking, I imagine that a lot of people see the Yaoi tag and automatically turn away, or are at least somewhat deterred. Then they hear about or see the violence/abuse/psychological aspect and they tie the two together and think, “oh, so it’s weird gay torture porn,” whereas if the couple was straight it would just be “an abusive relationship.”
To reiterate what I said before, Killing Stalking is first and foremost a Psychological Thriller. The story centers around Yoon Bum, a loner with attachment issues, who falls in love with Oh Sangwoo, a popular, charismatic, attractive guy that he finds out is also secretly a serial murderer (you learn all this in the prologue and first chapters don’t worry). For some reason Sangwoo decides to spare his life after Bum confesses to him and thus an incredibly complex relationship/character dynamic ensues and evolves.
There is gore, sex, murder, and some fucked up themes surrounding all of those. I don't want to reveal too much because the reveals are worth experiencing, but does get a little heavy at times, but if you can handle it then it’s definitely worth the read.
The characters, their development, and their relationship are for sure the winning point of Killing Stalking. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it as well done as in KS. Koogi does a masterful job in this aspect in multiple ways: first, both Bum and Sangwoo have extreme emotional depth, the complexity of which is slowly revealed throughout the story. While Bum seems like and is a quiet, socially anxious stalker and Sangwoo seems like and is a manipulative psychopath/sociopath, the degree to which these characterizations are true and how they change throughout the story as the two characters interact and develop is the most interesting part.
From the first several chapters, we already learn that Sangwoo has several sides to his personality and is able to project and manipulate a certain image of himself based on his audience. This leads to a variety of questions: which Sangwoo is the “true” Sangwoo, what triggers him to act a certain way/shift personalities, do more sides exist, why all these different sides of him exist, and how they originate. At the same time, we begin to see how these sides of him change and develop as other characters and events impact his psyche.
With Bum, our understanding of him is totally different. The story is told mainly from his point of view and so the reader is let in on his thoughts and feelings from the start. However, as the story progresses, the reader learns that what Bum hides from the readers and consequently, himself, reveals just as much about him as what we are otherwise shown and told. This also means that one of the driving forces of Bum’s character development is how he changes and evolves, whereas with Sangwoo, the focus is primarily on unearthing his already existing complexity. These two different modes of character development are a testament to Koogi’s ability to create characters that aren’t just interesting and complex, but also complex in different ways.
This leads into the second thing Koogi does really well in of characters, which is the execution of their development. More specifically, Koogi is a master of storytelling, subtlety, and a slow, bit-by-bit reveal that isn’t too vague nor too explicit. Especially in the second half of the series, each new chapter begins to feel like an additional puzzle piece in the larger puzzle that is what the hell is going on. The foreshadowing is also very well done. This is particularly true for Sangwoo’s past, which becomes more complicated than anyone could’ve imagined at the beginning. There are definitely a lot of “woah” and “oh shit” moments throughout the story that are credited to the way Koogi is able to build suspense and execute reveals.
Playing into that is the way the characters’ relationships reveal more about each character while simultaneously flowing completely naturally. Nothing feels forced and everything slots together truly like a puzzle, creating a seamless and immersive experience. Even the sexually explicit scenes have a purpose and are rarely just for the sake of appealing to fans.
Another thing that makes KS so seamless is how interconnected the plot is with the characters. Plot events happen because it makes sense for the characters. It’s as if the characters are deciding the plot, which is how it is in real life and how it should be in non-fantasy, real-world manhwa.
The suspense and story are especially gripping because Sangwoo’s mysteriousness and mental state make him unpredictable and able to take the story anywhere. This is established from an early point onward and keeps the story from falling into cliches. The plot never gets boring for the majority of the story.
However, because of the focus on the characters, the last third-ish of Killing Stalking ends up becoming not as plot driven as some other Thriller/Horror series near the middle and end. This isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing and is pretty expected given the large psychological aspect of KS. There are also some times when the plot does slow down a little. It usually makes sense later on in establishing a certain image/mood, but can feel flat in the moment.
The art is stellar. The style is pleasing while avoiding same face syndrome and the color palette nicely complements the mood of the manhwa. Art plays a large part in the quality of storytelling through things such as perspective, angles, and progression of s, and it’s safe to say both are top notch.
I will say that it does get explicit, both with sex and with gore. It’s definitely not the worst I’ve seen and it’s artfully done so that it’s not “depictions and close ups of gore/sex for the sake of gore/sex.”
Finally, I highly HIGHLY suggest you read the chapter reddit threads for the later chapters when it becomes more subtle and confusing. I only did it from chapter 55/67 onward and a few random chapters before then that I was confused about. This is because sometimes you might miss out on crucial foreshadowing and they usually pick up on it in those threads. People also have some interesting theories and predictions that enhance the experience a lot, given that so much is left to be implied/not explicit until much later.
Go onto reddit.com/r/killingstalking and search “chapter ##” and you’ll get the discussion thread for each chapter when that chapter was released. There most usually won’t be spoilers because future chapters haven’t been released yet at the time the thread is made.
TL;DR:
Do NOT read this if:
- You’re here for the Yaoi/a “dark but cute” romance. Sorry but the only ships you should shipping are Yoonbum x Therapy and Sangwoo x Prison. If you ultimately think the main pairing is cute or hot you need to stop fetishizing gay couples and you probably also some need help.
- You can’t handle gore, murder, physical and psychological abuse
DO read this for:
- The best characters + character development I’ve ever seen, hands down
- Unique, suspenseful story that avoids cliches
- Amazing storytelling through pacing, foreshadowing, etc
- Amazing art
Even if you’re deterred by the Yaoi tag, give it a shot. It’s not a Yaoi with Psychological Thriller aspects, it’s a Psychological Thriller with Yaoi aspects.
Read the chapter discussion threads on Reddit.
*******Also! if you do plan on reading it, here are some things to think about/watch out for while reading:
- Placement and types of injuries (won't be hard to miss)
- Clothing (won't be hard to miss)
- Who has power, and what actions or objects show that (becomes very interesting near the end)
- Significance of the different floors of the house (interesting to think about)
