I'm convinced the universe is mocking me, or I'm just torturing myself

[Bogertophis]

... I want a larger more fiery species as a challenge, but they can't really hurt me beyond biting as they aren't heavy-bodied so they aren't outright dangerous as far as I'm concerned...

Just to be accurate, any constricting snake that's LONG enough is going to be strong enough to strangle you if they happen to be around your neck. I'm NOT saying they'd want to, or even that they would try, but I don't want you to make a false assumption- it doesn't require a heavy-bodied snake to pose a danger. I once had one of my large male Florida* rat snakes (Yellow x Gulf Hammock x Everglades?) constrict my forearm for about 20 minutes, during which time NOTHING worked to get him to release. He didn't bite me at all, & I've never figured out what he was thinking that day- all I know is that it wasn't fun, & had that been my neck..... -so you need to understand this, & not let your guard down, okay?

My male FL rat snakes are currently 7' long- usually fine to handle & they're not biters, but snakes can still be a bit unpredictable since they're basically wild animals, not "domestics". And when a snake gets some size, like over 6' long, they're a lot to hang onto- shoulders are very convenient & appealing for the snake to climb on, as you'll find out. Never allow them to fully loop your neck. AND, IF you have long hair, that can also present a hazard- a snake can quickly create a tangle which makes them very difficult if not impossible to untangle, again, putting you at risk of being strangled if they're also around your neck. I once had this demonstrated by a large bull snake many years ago. Trust me on this.

Corn snakes are not much in the way of preparation- even though they don't sit still, they're very polite snakes; a racer of some type (like maybe a 'coachwhip', or a Korean rat snake) would be much closer to a VBB. (A reminder, I've raised & kept large Taiwan Beauty rat snakes in the past- very similar to VBB.)