Hello! <3 You wouldn't know this from my kpop writing but I am actually a really interesting person to ask this question to. Not because I am inherently more interesting than other people lol but because I actually have spent quite a lot of time thinking about Major Character Death as a warning in general and specifically as it functions in fic and rpf fandom. I actually wrote an essay on it years ago for a fandom zine, and chose to discuss three fics all tagged with MCD for my birthday on a podcast, also years ago.

My general belief with rpf is that we have to draw our own lines for ourselves. I've been in the rpf game for a long time! Kpop was not my first rpf fandom, and likely won't be my last. & the way I engage tends to really hold "characters" as separate from real people, specifically when it comes to writing persona and not assuming that any story I write about idk Seventeen Jeonghan actually purports to know anything real about him. This perspective obviously gets complicated by my additional belief that cultural respect is really important and we need to be mindful of how we are writing people who, out there in the real world, do indeed experience life in a way that's impacted by ethnicity and race and culture as we all do, but I'd hold that belief in a fictional fandom too.

Anyway, my point here is that I'm actually generally in favor of (tagged, even if it is a choose not to use warnings situation) MCD in fic, even in rpf, especially when it's a nuanced exploration of grief or loss that's detached from the real lived experience of the idols we're writing about. I think death is a topic a lot of people are scared to touch in fic, especially in canons where there isn't canonical character death (or in rpf, where we're looking at the real world), and I think that's really fair, and everyone can draw lines about what's comfortable or uncomfortable for them. Personally, I really struggle with fic that sexualizes young idols, or fic that centers sexual slavery as a theme (e.g. hybrid fic with "owners" or royal/political fic with sex slaves), much more so than MCD, but that's also because of my own constellation of values and experiences and preferences. AND I think a skilled writer can write on almost any theme and bring something really nuanced and important out of it. It's never a perfect rule.

This all gets complicated even more by the reality of deaths in the industry, of course, and in life in general. I'm quite uncomfortable with fic that highlights/focuses on deaths that have happened irl, especially when they're sort of hamfistedly being used for "angst" etc in a story. And I also try to live by my 2023 resolution, which is to constantly remind myself that anything on the internet could be written by a 14 year old. That usually helps me calm down a little. Regardless, there are also angles of MCD in rpf fic that I really don't like or engage with.

Whew! Okay, wow, what a long answer to your question. I am sorry that you're having a reading experience that feels soured by this change! It sucks since the expectation with fic is often that things are overtagged rather than undertagged, so it can feel jarring when the latter happens.

Also, I do not take commissions! Part of it is having a ton of wips and also working — I wouldn't be able to get things out on time and I'd have to really sideline my own projects, which would be sad because I'm excited about them. The other part is being a white American who at this point is not really comfortable profiting off of fic about kpop idols. (As before: it's all about drawing our own lines!).

I really appreciate the compliment though and thank you for reading one of my fics even when you didn't know the canon!! That is so sweet and I'm glad you were still able to enjoy. <3