By default in “copy” mode,
k2pdfopt auto-adjusts the contrast of each page and uses a gamma of 0.5 to help darken the text:
k2pdfopt -mode copy infile.pdf -o outfile.pdf
Command-line parameters impacting this are:
-cmax Adjust contrast
-g Adjust gamma
-s[-] Turn on [off] sharpening (on by default in -mode copy)