You brought up the timeline points that i was thinking about. Nicely said.

I actually think this chap/scene here is actually the ‘first’. As in this happened after KO started living with Moza and before Moza got ‘done’ the first time. As in, this was that MISSING SCENE where they went from ‘roommates’ to something more.
It’s a little overbearing sure, but technically KO hasn’t done anything /bad/.
Like in almost every culture, it isn’t all too abnormal to find some curious boys ‘helping’ each other, and since Moza didn’t complain when it happened at first, you can’t call it non-con or dub-con — he perfectly knew what was happening.

What KO did wasa little manipulative, sure, but technically it’s a legal form of courtship. Even for hetero couples.
Give them good food, get them in the mood. If they don’t say no, it’s only fair.
(And btw. “Chocolate is considered an aphrodesiac food.” And so is wine for that matter. Is it a drug? No. Is it illegal? No. It’s food. The text said “aphrodesiac food” which means food that incites desire , but only on a normal biological level. It is not rape. And like I said, Moza knew exactly what was happening!! …just not that he’s being courted.)
From the start Moza has been consenting to everything, even if he wasn’t fully aware of the extent. He was bribed with housekeeping (which, hey. If KO was a girl then it’s obvious he’s offering to be the housewife)and he said yes, he was asked if he was fine sleeping in the same bed and he said yes (oh come on guys, how hard is it to think of buying new sheets at the store? If he really didn’t want it he could’ve just said so. The couch is even a possibility!!)
, and when he was ‘helped’ it still wasn’t a no. In the end he even asked for it (and hey. It’s just hand-jobs. Nowhere near abnormal. And like I said, normal male behavior even. Isn’t it creepier when a guy gets a girl to give them one than a guy doing it for another guy?)
It may be a little manipulative on KOs part since Moza has no clue, but to anyone else looking, it’s been obvious from the start that KO was courting him. And since KO doesn’t say much, he has to express his intent another way. And thus this slow-burn way to make Moza sexually attracted to him happened. (Plus. The fact Moza allowd it means he’s not completely resistant.

This is a slow developing romance. It’s not stockholm syndrome since KO never actually prevented Moza from doing anything (is it KO’s fault Moza never got a girlfriend? Nope. Is KO actively preventing KO from getting a girlfriend before they got together? Not exactly since technically all he did was discourage him from the one he has his eye on, whom isn’t even in his reach.) He never even forcefully did anything without at least letting him know. (P.S. When he said “Let me help you.” that in no way meant there’s no room to argue. Moza was perfectly free to say no and run off to the bathroom to take care of it himself. If, you know, he really wasn’t interested in letting another man touch him. Cause that’s a thing there– he was perfectly free to say no cause no actual foul-play was happening.
And besides, he’s a young healthy and slightly perverted boy who desperately wants to have a relationship. Is it wrong for KO to take advantage when he isn’t being outwardly rejected? Nope. (And he isn’t. Like I said. Moza could totally reject him and tell him to sleep on the couch and take care of his bodily functions himself. It’s not KOs fault the dude never thought of this cause he just so happened to be fine with things. There was nothing said about Moza feeling uncomfortable with the development which means ‘consent’.)
What is it like? A rich dude courting a non-rich girl with really expensive gifts and other favours – an actual courting/seduction tactic for men. Is it illegal? Nope. Do they have to reciprocate in the end? They might feel inclined to do so after accepting, yes. But can they reject the advances if they were truly uninterested? Yes.
(P.S. to thos who wish to complain it’s not the same, I digress.
It is obviously bad for men to sexually coerce women, which means a dude cant just go up and get a girl hot and then say “let me help you”. That is obviously bad form. So with women it is not ‘sexual favours’ but actual material favours. Like “Oh i see your in trouble there, let me help you. You need money? Here let me pay for it. You need help, I’ll do it. – normal slightly manipulative courting tactic where the girl racks up a debt of gratitude with the dude and when it comes time for “that”, although she technically can decline, she’s already accepted so much that she feels it would be shameless to say no.
And if the guy is hot and the girl happens to be attracted to his looks then well.
But. If two guys happened to watch a particularly racy film and find themselves hard and one says “let me help you”, and other the guy says okay why not, then is it bad? If the ‘no homo’ rule was given then it can even be considered normal.
So say here it ended up it is not ‘no homo’ and KO goes “let’s have sex” and somehow Moza cant decline, same difference “we’ve done everything else so why not?” And how Moza is obviously attracted to KOs good looks…
Well. What’s the difference?)

And when Moza said “no” like in the meat pie chap, KO listened. Which means no forcing is involved, only seduction. There really is nothing strange about this development at all!!! …save the fact KO never expresed his intent and feelings in spoken words and Moza is too oblivious to realize what was going on until it was too late.
Which. Is also good considering the fact that /technically/ KO didn’t force his feelings/desires directly onto Moza to make him feel like he had no choice. He’s always HAD a choice. It was bribery, it was seduction, it was plotting, but it was never outright coercion.

Which. Is technically similar to Xiao Nai actively pursuing WeiWei in the game as his wife while knowing exactly who she is in real life and thus making her his girlfriend without her even knowing who he was yet. They met and they are automatically dating cause they realize they like each other anyway.

In MoKOs side, Moza just didn’t realize this fact until he found himself bonafide sleeping with his house-husband he technically half-invited to his home (as that was a public invitation and KO happened to have won it), half took advantage of (the rent KO pays which means he is most certainly not freeloading and should even be the one getting paid for housekeeping and everything, which, again proves his sincerity in the matter. Which also gives Moza another excuse to say no. “If you have that much money then you can just go and get your own place right? No need to keep living with me.”), and decidedly doesn’t mind sleeping with.

Apart from the male sexuality aspect, just where is this abnormal?

….aaannndddd wow this became an essay hahaha…. but like really. I’ve seen plenty of the typical overbearing gong/seme yaoi you’re al talking about and this really isn’t anywere as bad as that.

Yehey for people with no life!!! I seriously love your comment here. I’m Asian, albeit a straight girl, but I know how homosexual love affairs play out in my region and yes, you are correct. BL is taboo here, only the openminded internet users accept these couples in real life. I see violence and hatred and embarrassment given to them all the time. I’m very happy that this Chinese novel included a love team of homosexual content that doesn’t involve forcing, raping, blackmailing, etc.. I sincerely feel KO’s affection for Hao Mei, and Hao Mei to KO albeit Hao Mei is a little slow. Thanks for this essay of yours!

I didn’t just draw conclusions from the stories I read. I actually read about the culture and observed certain family situations of power/gender.
Plus I said it’s more so eastern culture although America was more like that back in the day. It was “some” examples I was using for a fictional novel like this.

My assumptions are merely opinions of what I observed. None of what I stated was facts but thanks for assuming I was lowkey dissing the culture when really I was trying to remain on a certain focal point of BL.

Your assumptions are really far-fetched. Japanese BL stories often involve domineering and selfish guys too and you don’t see a one-child-policy in Japan. That’s just how BL stories are written in China and Japan. You have domineering and aggressive male characters in Western romance fiction, too. *shrugs*

I hope most people don’t draw conclusions about a country and its culture because of the fiction it produces, especially when it comes to more unrealistically written fiction like boys love…

I agree with Chey. I think people are blowing it out of proportion. KO is obviously brilliant yet very doesn’t say much. Hao Mai is very smart yet when it comes to relationships he is pretty clueless. I think that his original curiosity of KO turned into liking him. It didn’t make him gay. It made him like KO the person.

I kinda mentioned this in a comment before but I would love to add my opinion to this thread.
I think most of us who are reading these in English are Westerners or English speaking. Meaning instantly that this is Eastern influenced, things are ran and portrayed in different lights due to its culture especially relationships. I don’t know if anyone has watched Addicted or Uncontrolled or many other BL series but usually they’re angst, aggressive, and shows the tragedies/ struggles of homosexual love in Asian culture. Since the one child policy in China, kids of thst generation grew up having “The Little Emperor Syndrome”. I think this applies more to addicted and Uncontrolled Love as the two dominating guys in both stories were privileged and rich. They get what they want, who they want, and express love in a way others call selfish. Both took on a dark tone and often almost involved rape of some sort or molestation. One ended in tragedy and the other I heard had a happy after all the terrible bumps throughout the book.
Back to this book, based on the tone and authors context this story is more lighthearted and doesn’t involve the other issues the previous issues I’ve talked about. It’s simply showing love regardless of gender and more focus of relationship characteristics/issues. Like the time KO hacked into his computer and etc. There was no “wow this is really creepy. Warning!”, cause in context it was more so humor like animes when one of the class clowns in the story is doing something that’s really creepy but it’s to exaggerated and ridiculous to make it funny. Light humor. If it was a serious anime and the characters did the same actions I could tell by the context this is something more and warns me shits about to happen.
It’s obvious Mr. Beauty is attracted to KO otherwise I don’t see how they could have sex so much. Aphrodisiac food isn’t a drug, tbh in the real world it might incite that turn on but of course in literature or movies they tune it up for affect. Plus if the story continued i think the coworkers would find out and point out those are all turn on foods and make fun if him like prev., then they just end up making it a funny scene. KO isn’t a man of words so asking “let’s have sex” isn’t going to happen plus he listens to the words No when Mr. Beauty doesn’t want it he doesn’t keep going like the other 2 stories when it gets real serious. In Asian culture from what I heard, love isn’t shown through words but action. “I’ll cook for you, do laundry, and etc” was somewhat of a proposal but I’m not sure Mr. Beauty got it until later that night when they had sex. I wish they elaborated when it said pushed him down on the bed or whatever to see how it played out. Anyways what I’m saying is their actions are showing love and words are a humor thing to show the developed feelings of one another. Now if you actually read all this sorry for this long ass almost analytical short essay that means I have no life to put so much thought into this lol. Tbh I prefer the live action couple, they play it out well and have good chemistry on screen. This was all my opinion though so feel free to dispute it and still call it predatory relationship even though I try to see it in a different light.