This is where you can read the manhwa. https://www.lezhinus.com/en/comic/painter But be aware that this manhwa is a mature Yaoi, which means, it is about homosexuality with explicit scenes. If you want to read more essays, here is the link to the table of contents: https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/04/table-of-contents-painter-of-the-night/
The chapter 48 marks a turning point in the relationship between the wealthy noble Yoon Seungho and the low-born Baek Na-Kyum. If we look back at the evolution of their bond, we will notice a certain pattern. Everything is related to the scholar’s teaching and the following doctrine based on seven rules:
- The artist can’t be associated to sodomy.
- He is not allowed to paint erotic paintings.
- He can’t admit to be a homosexual.
- He isn’t permitted to have sex with a man.
- He is not allowed to concede that he feels pleasure, when he has an intercourse with a man.
- He is not authorized to question the teacher’s words and actions. He has to obey him blindly.
- He is not permitted to fall in love with another man.
As you can observe, the 7 laws Jung In-Hun imposed on the low-born through the coercive persuasion, the scientific term for “brainwashing” represent the different barriers Yoon Seungho has to overcome. The 7th rule is the final step before removing Jung In-Hun’s indoctrination for good. This is important since it explains why the lord had to fight right from the beginning. Furthermore it explicates why Baek Na-Kyum had chosen Jung In-Hun as his true love. By doing so, the painter would follow the scholar’s rule. He would never have sex with a man, since the teacher hates homosexuality. On the other hand it allowed the artist to remain true to himself. It was his subterfuge to give up on his own identity and personality.
The first barrier: The painter rejected the noble’s offer, when he remembered the main lead’s reputation. He can’t be associated to a sodomite hence he lied about his identity. 
Therefore the seme was forced to take the man with him and pressured him until the painter gave in. He had to admit that painting was his way to survive. Notice that Yoon Seungho cornered him to concede this.
The second wall: The master blackmailed the artist in order to have him worked as his painter, when he noticed that his pressure was short-lived. We shouldn’t forget that the painter tried to flee in the chapter 4. Fortunately, the seme discovered the poem and his admiration for the noble Jung In-Hun. So he used the teacher as leverage. First, he made an offer: paint for me and your learned sir will get a high position. 
(chapter 7) Notice that in order to force the painter to violate the scholar’s rules, the noble had to use stratagems that didn’t require a lot of strength in the beginning: some little menace and the blackmail. Yet, the manhwaphiles can detect that the thread keeps growing as well. The aristocrat already has to use his power (influence and money) in order to corner the painter (chapter 7) which shouldn’t be neglected. It did represent a lot: a roof and free food for the low noble.
Since it wasn’t enough. The powerful main character had to exert his own strength and body to touch the painter’s mind and body. Note that the noble invited 3 nobles to his sex session in the chapter 8 and this is no coincidence. He had to demonstrate his stamina and charisma to arouse Baek Na-Kyum and he did succeed. The artist wished to replace the two ukes thereby he was so excited that he had to masturbate right after.
I am quite sure that the innocent protagonist hadn’t done it before due to the scholar’s preaching. So the chapter 9 marked another progression. Baek Na-Kyum disrespected the rule 3 for the first time on his own. He can’t admit to feel attracted to another man, to be recognized as a sodomite. That’s why the masturbation represented a compromise. Since he was alone, nobody would know about it. As you can detect, little by little Seungho is removing all the rules set by the low aristocrat. But the higher the rules are, the more Yoon Seungho needs to use force.
Let’s take a closer look to this evolution. The increasing use of violence is linked to Jung In-Hun’s presence at Yoon Seungho’s mansion. After being invited to Yoon Seungho’s mansion, the jealous scholar had to remind the commoner of his obligations. 
(rule 2) Surprising is that due to his interaction with the main lead, Baek Na-Kyum had somehow started thinking on his own, using his own critical thinking therefore he reprimanded the rich master for his cruel behavior towards the servant who got killed. In that moment, Jung In-Hun had to put him back to his place. He admonished the painter harshly for his criticism. As a low-born, he was not allowed to make such comment. 
(chapter 10) From my point of view, the chapter 10 not only reveals the huge influence Jung In-Hun has on the painter, but also illustrates the growing influence of Seungho on the artist. The master’s words and actions did shake the rule 6. But it wasn’t enough to remove this wall hence Baek Na-Kyum accepted the low noble’s reproach and remained silence.
Due to the incident with the ruined creation, the commoner got punished. This time, the main lead used his own physical strength directly on the artist (slapping and blocking the painter’s mouth). 
(chapter 11) Compared to the past where he just pushed the low-born away, his gestures in the chapter 11 displays the increasing use of Seungho’s force. But the master felt remorse hence later the painter was only scratched by the master. Nonetheless, let’s not forget that Seungho had already set his eyes on the painter. He wanted to taste the artist. As a first conclusion, the lord had only removed the rule 1 and 2. At the end of the chapter 15, the noble is facing another hindrance, the rule 3: his denial of his homosexuality. Therefore the masturbation in the chapter 16 marks the first step in order to destroy the rule 3. Notice that the noble was annoyed, when the artist gave the false excuse that he was tired in order to avoid the noble. So he somehow “attacked” Baek Na-Kyum by hugging him and grabbed his penis. 
(chapter 16) Let’s not forget that he didn’t ask for the commoner’s permission. That’s why the painter cried in that scene. The latter knew that he was violating the rule 3, yet the seme saw that Baek Na-Kyum was aroused and felt pleasure.
Since the lord knew about Baek Na-Kyum’s affection for his teacher (chapter 7), he was well aware that he needed to wait for the right opportunity. When the main character witnessed the fight between the low-born and Jung In-Hun
(chapter 19), he was already on his guard waiting for a signal which appeared in the form of the stolen bottle. He seized the opportunity to meddle between Jung In-Hun and Baek Na-Kyum. He needed to squash in between these two men.
So when he appeared in front of the painter, the artist was hallucinating because he had revealed to his scholar that he had broken the rule 2. Besides, he was violating the law 6. We shouldn’t forget that from the chapter 8 on, the painter started disobeying the low noble. First he justified his violation by claiming that this was for the scholar’s sake. Then in the chapter 10, he expressed his own mind in front of the teacher, however it concerned Yoon Seungho. Finally in the chapter 19, we see the painter for the first time talking back to his “master”.
He rejects the teacher’s criticism that he was the one who seduced the main lead. Pay attention that the low-born voiced his own thoughts for the second time in front of the arrogant “peacock”. As the manhwaworms can sense, the rule 6 is more and more shaken, the longer Baek Na-Kyum is living under Yoon Seungho’s roof.
Striking is that their “first night” represents a violation of the rule 3 and 4. This explains why Baek Na-Kyum has every reason to deny the presence of Yoon Seungho in his chamber. By acting as if he was delirious, the painter found a subterfuge in order to deny his homosexuality and his love for a man. This was supposed to be addressed to the scholar, yet the painter was well aware that the scholar would never accept him at all. That’s why the readers get images from Baek Na-Kyum’s perspective and it is quite clear that the artist never saw Jung In-Hun. 
(chapter 21) In fact, he was attempting to deceive himself and the noble. During their night, Baek Na-Kyum was well aware that this could only remain a dream because if he admitted it as a reality, then this would signify that he was conceding his own sexual orientation and even his attraction to Yoon Seungho which he felt very early on (chapter 2, 6, 8-9, 13-16). Therefore I come to the conclusion that the artist somehow knew what happened during that night but chose to act as if the noble was Jung In-Hun. Later he repressed his memories and even ignored them so that he would act as if he was still following the teacher’s doctrines.
(chapter 21).
As a conclusion, from the chapter 1 to 21, the rules 1 and 2 were removed, whereas the laws 3 and 6 were just shaken. This is important because it justifies why the noble has to use more and more force in order to get what he wants.
However, their first night marks a pivotal moment for the noble as well. While in the past, the main reason for inciting the artist to break the rules set by Jung In-Hun was rationalized by the main lead’s desire to have erotic paintings, the motivation started shifting, the master felt more and more attracted to the artist. We could say that the reason for Seungho to pressure the painter was the noble’s libido till the chapter 20. The moment the protagonist feels love for the first time, his motivation changes. He is no longer looking for a sexual satisfaction but for warmth and affection. The discovery of Baek Na-Kyum’s purity left a huge impact on him.
In the chapter 21, Yoon Seungho made love for the first time. He experienced something totally new. For the first time, he had an intercourse with a virgin and they made love. Secondly Baek Na-Kyum had kept his chastity because he was determined to remain faithful to his love Jung In-Hun. Since the low-born was deeply in “love” (For me, this is not a real love) with his teacher, it was as if he had made a vow of fidelity and chastity. Yoon Seungho discovered someone so pure and innocence, although the latter painted erotic images and came from a brothel. Imagine what the lord must have felt. He met someone so pure despite his filthy surroundings hence he stands so much in contradiction to Jihwa. The red-haired noble never confessed his love to his childhood friend and he never said that he kept his virginity for him, out of love. In the painter’s chamber, 
(chapter 21) Yoon Seungho heard a love confession, got hugged and kissed tenderly and there was someone crying out of happiness because of him. For the first time, he saw that tears could be related to happiness and he could affect someone positively. That’s why he reacted by kissing the painter’s eye and tears. 
(chapter 21) Although he knew that it was just an illusion because Baek Na-Kyum had confessed to someone else, he hoped deep down that the painter would love him, if he remembered their night today. He tried to trigger his memory through different tricks (like here with the book) 
but he failed (chapter 23). Yet he showed a certain patience as he didn’t pressure the artist to paint their night immediately, he gave him time. He imagined that once Baek Na-Kyum remembered their night and painted it, it will become a reality, a proof that this was not an illusion. But because of the coercive persuasion, Baek Na-Kyum tried to repress his memory. He had to if he wanted to keep following the scholar’s rules. The painter chose to ignore the images he had since it meant that he hadn’t kept his vow. All this time, Yoon Seungho has no idea about the true nature of the relationship between Jung In-Hun and the low-born. First, he believes to see it as a crush, then he witnesses the depth of the painter’s feelings. This is important because from that moment, the main motivation for the lord will be love and no longer his libido. This will be his goal which will give him the necessary strength to remove the other rules: 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
Yoon Seungho imagined that since he took the painter’s virginity, the latter would give up on his love and focus on him, but it didn’t happen. The painter had to as he had been formatted to respect the teacher’s doctrines. That’s why even when the lord forced himself on the artist, the commoner still whispered the scholar’s name.
(chapter 25) The rape represented the ultimate use of violence which kept increasing from the start. But the noble failed as he was not able to remove the rule 4, 5 and 6. Yet he did achieve something which I’ve realized only now. For the first time, Baek Na-Kyum was admitting that he loved a man and he could no longer the excuse that he was under the influence of the alcohol. So at the pavilion, the artist violated the law 3 (being a homosexual) as he confessed his love for Jung In-Hun.
That’s it for today. I’ll write the second part later.
Feel free to comment. If you have any suggestion for topics or manhwas, feel free to ask. If you enjoyed reading it, retweet it or push the button like. My reddit-Instagram-tumblr-twitter account is: @bebebisous33. Thanks for reading and for the support, particularly, I would like to thank all the new followers and people recommending my blog.
Bebebisous33s' analyses in K-dramaland and manhwas 
There is a part of me that thinks that apart from wanting to be loved by Na-Kyum,Seungho also wants him (BNK) to know himself and accept and be comfortable with his own sexuality and understand that it’s okay to love a man 🤔
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Yes, you’re right. He noticed that the painter didn’t know his own face and facial expressions hence he confronted him with the mirror. Seungho is quite perceptive about Baek Na-Kyum’s true personality. He loved his art, his hands, his facial expressions and his eyes.
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Do you think Jung In-Hun will return or that the Lord will kill him or abandon him after knowing that he is the reason for Nakium’s behavior?
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He knows that Jung In-Hun is responsible, however he never discovered the real cause for BNK’s behavior: the brainwashing. He will seek revenge for the painter, there’s no doubt that the lord will drop the low noble. Even the latter is aware of that, he needs to succeed with the exam and my belief is that Jung In-Hun is not smart and talented enough to succeed hence the scholar plans to use BNK but this won’t work anymore. I’ll write more about it in the second part.
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Thank you for u analyses on the painter of the night.
u have been helping us see this manhwa in a different light.
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Thanks a lot for the compliment. I hope that people will stop judging Seungho so harshly and realize who the true villains are.
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Aaaaaaa I always check your blog everyday for updates, tbh xD Thank you for writing all this. it means a lot bc I don’t even know what they’re thinking.
But I just read the latest chapter (Ch 49), and all I can remember is something you said about Seungho being the ‘Master of deception’. But damn… I guess even someone like him gets deceived when in love. His pride is blocking his feelings, but one confession from the painter and he looks satisfied (even if it was clearly a lie).
Maaaan I feel bad for both of them we’re in such a huge mess rn. I wonder what’s next
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I have to correct: the confession was not a lie. He never said to Seungho that he loves him. He just admitted that he likes having sex with him and he feels pleasure with him. So he confessed that he was physically attracted to Seungho. Notice that after this confession, Seungho was annoyed again because he is longing for the uke’s love. However, the moment he got kissed, he sensed that Baek Na-Kyum was feeling more than just enjoying sex with him and he let it go. The only lie Na-Kyum told was addressed to himself: he is just enjoying sex and allows his body to feel everything. This marks a huge progression because he is dropping the regulations set by Jung In-Hun. He realizes the insincerity of the teacher’s huge hence he is keeping his distance from Seungho. Just like the master of deception, he is scared and traumatized, he prefers keeping Seungho at a certain distance out of fear of being betrayed and hurt.
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I am working again hence I can’t write like in the past but I’ll try to post twice or three times a week.
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Ohhhh makes sense, thanks!
But I have to ask, bc maybe I misunderstood NK. he said “I’ll live like this” or smthn
what did he mean? To live more freely and indulge in pleasure or does he mean “I’ll live like the prostitute that I am ” ?
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No, he is no longer acting like a prostitute. He means that he won’t listen anything what people say. He won’t feel ashamed because he likes making love to Seungho (although in his mind, he is just having sex with him). In my opinion, this means, he won’t follow moral standards. He will do what he likes, how his body feels it.
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What you are saying makes so much sense. If we look at things that way, it does seem that Nakyum was somehow really moving on with this statement. As if he finally accepted his sexual orientation. Could it be that simple though? I am not sure. Regarding the context, it will still put him in a concubine/prostitute kind of position. Maybe we’ll at least see him less depressed from now on and he will be back to enjoy his simple life. But it does not suit his personality. He has way too much pride and dignity to accept to “live like that”… so I am guessing we will still see him depressed for a while. Which means… not that much progress in the plot! I am convinced Nakyum won’t get over his teacher until this jerk comes back, tries to manipulate him and when Nakyum will have to make a choice (of betrayal or not), he will choose Seungho over the learned shit. Have you read the comments claiming that the last monologue was in fact coming from Seungho? I first laugh at that but then I checked again… mainly times, haha! And it might not be impossible. Highly unlikely but not impossible. What’s confusing is the fact we mainly see Seungho’s face on these last panels. He looks preoccupied as if he was really dealing with that dilemma and finally making up his mind with that finally decision. Weird. Seungho giving up on questioning Nakyum’s contradictory behavior would make sense. But the very last sentence does not match still. Why would Seungho say something like: “This is how I’m going to live. This is what suits me”. Anyways, I am sure we will have fans fighting over both possibilities the whole week, lol! Maybe the author will step in to make things clearer. Was it Nakyum or Seungho?!
PS. Thanks for taking time to write your analysis! And all the best for your return to teaching in this new school year : )
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I have to say that it was BNK’s statement at the end and not Seungho. secondly, BNK is finally cutting ties with his teacher, he has realized that the hug was fake. He is too scared to fall in love with another man after this huge heartache. I see it differently: the painter is definitely moving on because if he lets his body talk and feel, this means that he will be able to paint like in the past. Remember that his repressed sexual desires were the reason why he could paint so well in the chapter 2, although he had stopped painting for a while. His creativity and talents will come back, the last painting indicated the painter’s agony hence the image was not well done which Seungho noticed. I am very pleased with the new evolution.
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Howdy! This post couldn’t be written any better! Looking through this post reminds me of my previous roommate!
He continually kept talking about this. I’ll send this post to him.
Fairly certain he’ll have a good read. Thanks for sharing!
It’s very straightforward to find out any matter on web as compared to books,
as I found this post at this website. Woah!
I’m really enjoying the template/theme of this website.
It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s difficult
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fantastic job with this. Also, the blog loads extremely
fast for me on Opera. Superb Blog!
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I had a revelation that I need to share with you.
I am quite convinced that all the thoughts in the last part of chapter 49 belong to SH.
If you look at it, everything starts in the panel where SH asks himself “what am I trying to do here?”, And then tells the painter that whenever he is with him, he ends up bursting into tears. Then NK, in his brutal sincerity, describes how he feels every time he is with the Master. This makes SH feel bad, but very bad.
So in the middle of the sexual act, he has this “realization” and comes to the conclusion that they are only bodies, that it is not necessary to share their minds and that having sex is what he knows best.
This is quite fundamental, because it implies that SH is giving up (it does not last long, only 4 chapters, I hope), but he understands that harassing NK will not lead him anywhere, only to the artist’s suffering and feeling bad him for this. (The last panel of chapter 49, is quite enlightening, you see the expression of SH and he is suffering while making this decision.)
And he finishes confirming his decision when Kim tells him what In-Hun said to the painter, there SH is convinced that nothing was real, that the painter may like to have sex with him, but that there is nothing more than that.
Then he returns to his “bad” behavior, not to take care of NK, not waiting for the boy to approach by himself, but to evade him, to convince himself that NK is not special, he is just another body, like so many others who have passed through their rooms.
That explains a lot his behavior in the next episodes. He is trying to undo his feelings for NK, he is resigning himself, he thinks he will never get anything but his body.
That is why he drinks so much that the maid complains about all the wine she had to prepare, it is all so painful that SH drowns in alcohol and drugs, so much that he does not even stop to think about what is happening, that is why he reacts like this in the chapters 52-53, he doesn’t understand anything. SH doesn’t understand why the artist is going to look for him, he doesn’t understand why Min is so insistent, he doesn’t understand what NK’s hug means. His emotions are in a wild state because he spent 10 days trying to drown them …
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First, I have to say that I had to change the essays (confessions, Realization) because of one mistake. After reading your comment, it totally makes sense! Now I am wondering if in the end, both persons were not thinking the same. While the one decides to follow his body, the other decides that their relationship is purely physical and he can no longer force the painter. Therefore he takes his distance from the painter. Anyway, I need to change Hearsay too. But I’ll do it after composing the next analysis of the chapter 53.
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Okay that actually makes a lot of sense now , and this is why if we didn’t understand his intentions when he agreed to share Nakyum, neither did Seungho himself. He was acting freely without thinking since, as you stated, he is in pain, and deep inside he might be angry and frustrated. Decisions made in anger don’t end well
But what surprised me was that the moment he saw Nakyum again, it’s like he acted on instinct. He said he would share the painter with others but the moment Min laid his hands on him, he became violent. At this point, I don’t really know what’s going to happen :’)
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Yep, that’s exactly what it seems to happen. Those last thoughts panels of Ch.49 were confusing and many of us thought they belonged to Nakyum. But now it is certain they belong to Seungho since he recalls these sames thoughts in the last chapter. Funny is that even after giving up on questioning Nakyum’s true intentions, he still went as far as to ask the servants and get an answer to his question. When he said : “That’s how I am going to live, that’s what suits me”, it was definitely the statement that brought him back to his old bad habits of drinking, doing drugs and chilling with his stupid friends. Now that we know it, the following chapters and his behavior all make sense. Yet, I am still unable to tell what will make SH and NK relationship get better. The shadow of In-Hun is still haunting the place and Nayum’s mind, that’s certain. It makes Seungho even more confused. They need to address the “prostitute” issue at some point otherwise I am not seeing how they can go back to have intimate moments without feeling lost and conflicted.
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Thank you so much for the input.
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I forgot to say that at the end of chapter 49, when Seungho thinks: “That’s how I am going to live, that’s what suits me”, he was still considering keeping Nakyum as a sex partner without further questioning his motivations… but only after knowing the truth about In-Hun that he decides to totally give up on Nakyum. It means giving up on the sexual part as well! That was quite a radical decision. It implies that all Seungho wants is Nakyum’s heart and that he won’t compromise on that point. He won’t be satisfied with the body and sex without the feelings and emotions. Which is the total opposite of his statement above! How conflicted he must be! A lot of people are now wondering how will SH react after Min’s revelation, but the main game changer will be Nakyum’s reaction in my opinion. Will he truly believe that SH cares about him? Will that ignite some kind of trust between these two? Can’t wait to see it!
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But there is one important aspect in this: the importance of his body. He lets his body take the lead and since his heart is set on Baek Na-Kyum, he can no longer have sex with others. That’s why he doesn’t have an erection, when he gets a fellatio. Therefore all his parties were just a shadow of his former past life.
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True! He did not even bother undress while he was with the noble guys smoking. Actually, we all immediately thought that it was a sex party but with some perspective, it could have been just a smoking/chilling party. Even the nobles were not fully undressed. Maybe the one who tried a move on Seungho did it out of a habit and it was not from any request. Just like you said, it looks like Seungho is now way too involved with Nakyum to have fun with someone else.
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Now, I have another explication for this.
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