Readers who get sexually frustrated when there's no smut. Or specifically, when the Female Lead doesn't give in to sleeping with the Male Lead.
Now don't get me wrong. I love me some good smut. Especially when there's so much tension atmospheric and setting it just feels so right.
But tell me why there are people annoyed and frustrated at the female lead for not having sex with the dude who's been making her uneasy since chapter one 👁👄👁.
A good example is Lee-yeon from Flowers are Bait.
I get it. The chemistry and tension between her and Chaewoo is giving, and I am here for it. I do have my moments when I want these two to spice things up and I do have my moments where I'm like, girl come on! We all know you want to let this man hit.
But did y'all forget WHO Kwon Chaewoo was before all this?
Lemme just drop this panel right here:
Baby girl was unlucky enough to walk in on this guy burying people, dead and alive, and almost got herself killed by this man, but by some miracle, she managed to smack him in the face with her tree cutter before one of his victims finished him off and knocked him out into a coma.
But she gets nabbed, threatened and blackmailed by Chaewoo's brother to look after him in his vegetative state for the past two years.
Chaewoo wakes up. Has amnesia. Lee-yeon lies and tells him that they are married to save herself from potentially getting killed, and Chaewoo buys into it and becomes the biggest golden retriever that can bite if you fuck around with his "wife."
Sure, Lee-yeon does freak out when he does act like the seductive love interest he is and get into some sexily compromising positions and tries to put distance while also feeling conflicted. And the slow burn is slow burning.
BUT HAVE WE FORGOTTEN THAT THIS MAN ALMOST TURNED HER INTO A CNN MURDER HEADLINE IN THE FIRST CHAPTER? LIKE HELLO?!
People really expect her to be hot, thirsty and horny for the man who damn near could have killed her because she unwillingly became a witness to his crimes? Nah fam. Her reactions are completely rational, normal and justified because SHE IS TRYING TO SURVIVE!
Our friends asked about you.
Saying your name didn’t hurt like it used to.
I told them I haven’t heard from you,
And for months now that’s the truth.
This is the longest we’ve been apart.
Almost a year now but it feels like it’s been longer.
I still feel the cracks in my heart,
But every day without you I grow stronger.
Flowers Are Bait: A Dark Romance That Actually Works (With Minor Spoilers)
So I randomly stumbled across this Manhwa some months back, and this could be a biased opinion since I read the first season of the manhwa and only started reading the webtoon, so my opinion is subject to change when I finish reading it, but I think Flowers Are Bait (or Flowers of Allure) is a dark romance that actually works without excusing it's characters actions and behaviours, actually acknowledges it how messed up its characters (especially its male lead) are without gaslighting its readers into believing that they're good people who are misunderstood and are bad at feelings. Its characters are actually nuanced, morally grey and complex in a way that makes their relationship work and makes sense, and I'm going to talk about it.
So, here's a rundown of the story:
Our MC, So Lee-yeon, is a tree doctor in her 30s - 30 years in the prologue and 32 years in the present timeline.
She was just minding her business in the forest at night, doing her tree doctor shit until BOOM, she witnessed a guy burying one of his victims alive. This guy is our male lead, Kwon Chae-woo, 22 years old in the prologue. 24 years in the present timeline.
So our girl Yeon was scared and stepped on a twig, and obviously Chaewoo noticed. And our girl books it and calls the popo. But she gets caught by Chaewoo with those wire thingies that are used to choke people.
And right when you think she was going to meet Jesus - BOOM - Chaewoo gets hit in the head by one of his escaped victims with a rock, freeing Yeon and rendering Chaewoo unconscious.
Before Lee-yeon can process what's happening, the victim books it. Never to be seen again. Now Lee-yeon was left alone with an unconscious body, which she now had to take care of for two years.
I know what you must be thinking: Why didn’t she call an ambulance or take him to the hospital to deal with him?
You'd be correct. I also thought the same thing coz ain't no way I would WILLINGLY agree to take care of the mofo who ALMOST PUT ME ON A CNN HEADLINE.
But then we find out that Chaewoo is part of what I assume is a mafia gang. And his big bro is the boss.
We also find out that hit to the head put Chaewoo in a vegetative state/coma, and he (big bro) ain't happy about that. Lee-yeon tried to plead her case and was like: no. I didn't hit him. Someone else did it. I'm innocent.
And the big bro was like: girl I don't give a fuck if you did it or didn't do it. It makes no difference to me. Someone has to pay for what happened to my lil bro.
So big bro decides to strike a deal with Yeon. He'll look for the real culprit in exchange for her looking after and taking care of his vegetable bro, and make sure he doesn't leave when he wakes up. And obviously, she agrees.
So she takes care of Chaewoo's vegetable body in secret. Praying that he doesn't wake up.
And one fateful night, the universe decides to give Lee-yeon a big fuck yo peace and Chaewoo wakes up and attacks Yeon. But he's got no memories. And in a desperate attempt to save herself, she tells him she's his wife.
Yada yada, Chaewoo falls unconscious again. A month later, after being admitted to a private doctor, the doctor confirms that Chaewoo might have developed symptoms of KLS (Kleine Levin's Syndrome) and is unsure of when Chaewoo wake up once he falls asleep. And this mofo's been asleep for 12 days. So Yeon is like: HALLELUJAH. SOME PEACE.
That is, until the doctor forgot to add the small detail that one of the symptoms of KLS is hypersexuality. Then we find out the only way to wake Chaewoo up is if Lee-yeon sleeps in the same bed as him.
This manhwa already has the checklist requirements for a dark romance, along with other tropes thrown in:
✅Dark but morally grey ML who's hot, a total eye candy and is obsessively attached with the FMC.
✅Slow burn romantic tension between the FMC and ML.
✅Morally grey and complex FMC with a tragic back story and baggage (which I will get into later).
✅High emotional stakes.
✅A bit of will they won't they.
✅Spicy smut.
So why do I think Flowers are Bait is a dark romance done right?
Quick disclaimer before I continue: my thoughts, reviews and analysis are based on what I've read from the first season of the manhwa and the chapters that picked up after the end of season one of the manhwa until chapter 89 of the webnovel. I have not finished the webnovel. My thoughts, analysis and review are subject to changes when I finish the webnovel or when the manhwa returns for the second season. So I might be biased.
Let's get into it.
First off, what I love about Flowers are Bait is how the narrative handles Lee-yeon as a character and MC. One of my biggest pet peeves is when the FMC's self-awareness is in the trenches. I'm talking about the authors making the MCs (especially their FMCs) so unbearably naive and blind to glaringly obvious red flags, and the only thing they contribute to the plot is being innocent, naive, and infantilised with the personality of a cardboard. And the only thing they're good for is being corrupted or abused by the ML for God knows what reason.
But it's not like that with Lee-yeon. She feels like a character. She feels like a person. She's aware that the situation she's in is not normal at all. She's being forced to take care of and look after the man who almost made her a CNN headline for a murder. She had to lie to this mutha fucka about being his wife just to protect herself, and she's constantly walking on eggshells, trying to make sure this man doesn't get his memories back, coz there's no telling what will happen or what he'll do when that happens.
The only critique that I have is mainly directed to readers who are frustrated with her and how she's acting towards Chaewoo, just coz he's being golden retriever husband material.
I will repeat what I said in a previous post I made about this: why are we expecting a traumatised woman to be hot and horny towards a man who almost tried to kill her in the first chapter? No sane human would want to sleep with the person who tried to send them to meet Jesus. The slow burn is slow burning, and I do have my moments where I'm like "girl, come on. We all know you want this man", but her reactions and her trying to keep her distance from Chaewoo, especially after he almost tried to do to her, are completely justified because baby girl is trying to SURVIVE.
We also get to see Lee-yeon's inner conflict over the situation she's in. Sure, she's cautious around Chaewoo, and she should be because this man is unpredictable, and she's slowly seeing his violent and psychotic tendencies slowly manifest. But at the same time, she sees his humanity. She sees he's capable of being a kind gentleman and a supportive and protective husband. She sees how he looks at her with love and adoration, even though all of it is built on a lie she created to guarantee her safety. And it slowly eats at her conscience.
She's trying to rationalise Chaewoo's affection towards her as him acting that way because she's manipulating and capitalising on his amnesia, and him being physically attracted and intimate with her because of his KLS. She uses that to put distance between them and, well, she's not wrong for thinking that way. Chaewoo is frustrated by this coz he has no memory of his life and who he is pre-coma and KLS aside from the bits and pieces from his dreams and the fabricated truth from Lee-yeon.
And that adds more stakes because, what's going to happen when Chaewoo does find out the truth and questions if everything they've been through and his love for her is really real.
And let's get to the meat of Lee-yeon's character and why she's finding herself being drawn to Chaewoo despite knowing how dangerous he is. This will be spoiler-heavy from the webnovel. So I'll highlight it in colour.
So, in the webnovel, we find out that the reason why Lee-yeon was outcast in her family is because she's a byproduct of an affair between her mother and her younger sister's husband. This stuck with her from childhood, adolescence and adulthood, and it was so bad that she had to change jobs THREE times. Like that's crazy. Imagine being punished for existing and carrying the sins of the actions of the people who birthed her.
This ties perfectly with why she's a tree doctor and why she spends most of her time treating trees and plants, because to her, trees are kinda her safety net and safe place. They don't judge her. Then we have Chaewoo, someone who seemingly accepts ALL of her without judgment and still treats her well despite knowing the truth of who and what she is. And I think it puts her in a dilemma, being starved of affection and acceptance and seeking it from the last person to get it from.
Another thing that I like about Flowers are Bait is that it doesn't feel like it's glamorising or painting its characters as misunderstood individuals who just need love or treating its FMC as someone who's supposed to fix or change the ML, even at the cost of her getting abused and assaulted by him. I think it does a good job at acknowledging that both Chaewoo and Lee-yeon are twisted individuals, with Chaewoo having his dark, violent and psychotic tendencies slowly manifest even when he's protecting Lee-yeon, and Lee-yeon having the most power and control in the relationship because she's the one with the answers to fill up the gaps in Chaewoo's memory and the one manipulating, controlling, and even taming him with her lies.
And I think the reason why it's working as a dark romance is the psychological thriller side of it, and I'm a sucker for some good psychological thrillers. I've read manhwa and webtoons like Bastard, Pigpen, Sweet Home, Shotgun Boy, Gremory Land, Uriah, Everything is Fine, Killing Stalking, For Your Murder, Survive, Replaced, Night Fishing, The Guy Upstairs, My Deepest Secret, Never-ending Darling, Rotten, Surviving Romance, Disconnected from Reality, The Saviour's Time, and plenty more.
As I've said before, manhwa like Cry or Better Yet Beg have potential if they actually explore the psychology of characters like Matthias without excusing or gaslighting their audience into believing that he's a misunderstood man who's bad at feelings. On paper, he's already a compelling character, and I wouldn't have minded getting into his psychology and why he thinks and acts the way he does while also acknowledging that he's a fucked up individual.
And who knows, maybe my thoughts and views on Flowers are Bait might change if I read the webtoon while I wait for the second season.
in another universe, we are eating pancakes around a small table in yous kitchen, the maple syrup smells so delicious, and we listen to the birds chirping outside, on the bird feeder, you drink a cup of coffee, while i drink a cup of tea. eyes are tired but fond.
"hyung, smile for me." chaejin tried in aegyo. gunwoo has been out of it lately, stressing over myname and the new comeback. he hasn't got time to smell the fresh air outside nor run around freely with a gummy smile plastered on his face. only when he is on-screen, can he make small jokes to relieve himself but that isn't reality. chaejin has been sitting in his studio for the past two hours, figuring out a way to make gunwoo smile. honestly, gunwoo can feel chaejin's sincerity but he just can't feel the happiness seeping into his bones. chaejin sighed before pausing the music and taking off the headphones. gunwoo was about to protest but chaejin was quicker. chaejin grabbed gunwoo's wrist and dragged him out of the studio, out of the company building. "today, i want you to release your stress!" chaejin shouted before giving the taller man a bear hug. gunwoo scoffed but followed the younger anyways. they went to a cafe first, trying out something new. then they went to an arcade to play off the stress. gunwoo could slowly feel his limbs untangle and his brain wires working again. he miss this. he missed spending time with chaejin and having fun. how long had he been in the studio to not realize how beautiful chaejin's smile is when he is genuinely happy. the two played and played till it was late enough. they walked by the han river, hand in hand, fingers intertwined. chaejin gave a sigh of relief, gunwoo a sigh of happiness. "hyung, smile for me." chaejin said, showing the older his famous eye smile. gunwoo let his lips curve into a smile, a genuine one. he knows he looked awkward, so he gave a little laugh unknowingly. chaejin brightened up at the sight of his hyung finally feeling freedom even for just a short while.
