Painter Of The Night: Baek Na-Kyum’s future (part 3)

This is where you can read the manhwa. https://www.lezhin.com/en/comic/painter  But be aware that this manhwa is a mature Yaoi, which means, it is about homosexuality with explicit scenes.

In the second part I explained that the painter’s last escape was the result of a spontaneous and instinctive decision. However the more he thought about his destination and his future, the more he was reminded of his past where the closest persons to him chose to push him away and cut ties with him.

While running, he got aware that he had no one he could turn to thereby his regained freedom had no more meaning. We have to imagine that for Joseon people having no roots and no relative as guardian is perceived as a terrible fate. Even nowadays in South Korea being an orphan is a huge stigma. Now consider this in the past, the stigmatization must be even stronger. This explains why Baek Na- chose to return to the mansion. What caught my attention is that he loved the brothel because of his good relationship with the gisaengs. When he was pushed away by his adoptive mother, the latter picked Jung In-Hun as his mentor and guardian. Notice that the scholar is welcoming him with open arms. So for Baek Na-Kyum, home was associated to people. In other words, the synonym for home was family. Nonetheless he was abandoned by people. That’s the reason why he decided to return to the huge property. We could say that he dropped the idea that home meant family. For him, home has a different meaning now. Home has become a place, a location where you can be protected from the most important needs (bed and food). At least he has a home where he can rest and feel protected. That’s why he says the following to the lady why he made up his mind to remain at the mansion. He can sleep and eat well, he recognizes the advantages accompanying his stay at Yoon Seungho’s mansion, furthermore he can not be abandoned like in the past. Even if the lord loses his interest in him, he could work as a servant, that’s exactly what he is thinking. His abandonment issues forced him to redefine the signification of home. As a conclusion, the painter never chose to return because of the protagonist Yoon Seungho who is perceiving him as his “bride”, although right now his status reminds us more to the one of a concubine.

Now if we compare the dishes he had before and in the chapter 46, the readers can observe an improvement in the quality. He is able to eat more refined dishes. Moreover he is no longer allowed to eat with the servants. He is definitely treated like an important guest. From my point of view, the elevation of his ambiguous status is linked to the confession he made to the lord before. I like it very much that this second misunderstanding led the seme to feel that he had got closer to the painter. Let’s not forget that the improvement of their relationship was caused by another misunderstanding, the erection in the chapter 35. The butler Kim had fed the young man with an aphrodisiac, yet the lord thought that the artist was excited due to his presence and sexiness. Strangely this kind of misunderstanding underlines the low-born’s innocence. Through these mistakes, the manhwaphiles are able to see the genuineness of the commoner. There is no scheme behind these misleading words. If you compare the way Jung In-Hun received him with open arms and smiles with the way the main lead is integrating him in his household, you can detect the huge contrast. While the former treated him so nicely right from the start, the other seems less welcoming on the surface. However, the teacher’s gesture was so fake that in the end he abandoned him without second thoughts. Baek Na-Kyum realized that. Despite oozing warmth, the scholar turned so cold and distant the moment he pushed him away. That’s why I would say that the main lead is choosing the right approach. Both need to learn to trust each other. The irony is that although the artist made the decision to return to the mansion because of the place, at the end of the chapter 46, he can’t help himself thinking about Yoon Seungho. So little by little, the place gets associated to the lord. From my point of view, the comment said by the head-maid of the kitchen did affect the painter. She was the one who pointed out that the master cared for him very much, although the noble never acted so caring in front of him.

What caught my attention in this chapter are the similarities between his departure from the brothel and departure from the mansion. While the head-gisaeng thought that sending Baek Na-Kyum away would become a good opportunity for the painter to get closer to his admired sir and the latter would even look after him, the outcome was totally different. He ended up in a worse situation as now he had no one on his side. The painter must have realized that leaving the noble did appear good on the surface, yet in the long run he would have to face a more terrible fate. Like I mentioned above, the mansion represents a shelter. In the past, leaving the brothel seemed to be a good decision for the painter’s bright future. The mother saw that the painter’s origins would become a hindrance to his career hence by asking the teacher to become his guardian would give a better reputation to the painter and help him in his career.

Because of the explanation of Baek Na-Kyum’s mother, it becomes clear that the painter had already started publishing his erotic paintings. They must have known that his work had become popular. Now I understand better why the artist had his work published under a pseudonym. It wasn’t just because of the topic but rather to hide his true origins. If people had known that he was raised at a brothel, his reputation would have been really damaged. They would have diminished his talents saying that he was inspired by the place. However thanks to the anonymity, the nobles imagined that the painter was an old man and never looked for him. Striking is that this chapter reveals the circumstances how the artist came to the teacher’s side and why he always listened to him so blindly. This is important since it portrays the true viciousness of the low noble.

From now on, my argumentation is mostly speculative as we have to fill the blanks with the few details we were given.

Based on the info we have, the low aristocrat was asked by the head-gisaeng to take care of the painter. I doubt that the teacher would have accepted the offer so willingly as we know for sure that he despises commoners. So the cause for his fake smile and welcoming attitude is quite simple. He was bought by the head-gisaeng. She must have given him some money which the lord couldn’t refuse. Now, I am suspecting that the purse we saw in the chapter 29 came from the head-gisaeng. I doubt that Yoon Seungho gave him money directly because the teacher would have never been so jealous of the artist. So maybe the teacher tried to publish a book of poetry too but was refused, while he saw the painter’s success and fame. He became so envious that he decided to ensure that the painter would stop painting.

What made me so furious while reading this chapter are we are discovering more and more Jung In-Hun’s lies. Remember what he told Yoon Seungho in the chapter 6. He only mentioned that Baek Na-Kyum was his pupil once but omitted to say that in reality he had become the painter’s guardian. Notice how he is diminishing the painter’s importance in his life. Secondly, he even admitted that he scolded the painter severely once, the moment he saw the content of the paintings. In my former analyses, I had already pointed out that this was a lie but the new element is that since he had become his adoptive father, he knew about the painter’s identity right from the start: he was the famous painter publishing under a pseudonym. From my point of view, the painter was inspired by his love for the teacher hence his work was so lewd and was oozing love and warmth. Remember that people keep wondering how he could create such paintings. The low noble is the origin for the publications. Now, you can better understand why the artist has lost his inspiration. That’s why he could create such a nice picture of Jung In-Hun’s inauguration and the pictures of Seungho with the painter lacked details and passion. This doesn’t surprise us that the painter is not really motivated and creative. For that he needs to fall in love with the master for real. We see a progression in that sense. First, he dreamed of sex with him, so his unconscious was telling him that he was attracted to him. Now he is even awake and remembers their sex sessions which arouse him. He could ejaculate because he sensed that lord was making love to him, when he kissed and embraced him. That’s why we are the witness of the painter’s transformation, how the lord will become his new inspiration and this will enhance his talents. That’s why Yoon Seungho’s place will become the true home of the painter: a place to rest and eat but at the same time, where he will fall in love again and become more inspired and creative than before.

That’s it for today. I have still more to say … but I can’t write for hours at my parents’ home.

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