Painter Of The Night: Conscious versus unconscious (part 1)

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.

What caught my attention in the last two chapters (53-54) is the huge contrast between Yoon Seungho’s conscious and unconscious. Both episodes reveal his inner conflict causing the lord’s deepest pain. In the first season, the manhwaphiles already witnessed the struggle between Baek Na-Kyum’s conscious and unconscious, however it was revealed differently. The painter’s unconscious expressed itself through dreams (real dream or daydreams) revealing the artist’s repressed desires but also the depth of the brainwashing. https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/06/baek-na-kyums-dreams-and-their-interpretation/

In the second season, Byeonduck chose to focus on Seungho’s inner fight. The latter is unwilling to admit his love for the low-born, which is similar to the denial of Baek Na-Kyum’s homosexuality in the first season. I doubt that the lord is refusing to recognize his love for the painter due to his low social status. For me, his rejection to have any feeling is related to his traumatic past. This attitude becomes comprehensible if you explain it that way: Yoon Seungho must have been terribly hurt by the person he loved the most, his own father, hence he swore after the huge betrayal that he would never love again. There is a reason for my statement. Since the lord could understand the painter’s work and feel his sensibility, we can conclude that both protagonists have some affinities (emotional, sensitive and gentle). Because Jung In-Hun, the artist’s surrogate father, was the reason for the commoner’s denial about his sexual orientation, I assume that father Yoon must be the cause for Yoon Seungho’s attitude either. To summarize, both main leads made similar experiences, the betrayal and abandonment of their loved and admired fathers.

Due to his father’s heinous act, the rich main lead chose to consider himself as a spirit because that way, he would never get attached to anyone. Yet, you might wonder why the author didn’t use the dreams for the powerful protagonist too in order to show the lord’s deepest desires. The reason is simple: the aristocrat is suffering from insomnia hence he has no deep sleep. Because of this condition, the unconscious has no way to express itself while the noble is sleeping. It needs to find other ways to reveal itself. This is what I had discovered so far (mentioned in one of my former analyses). Although the lord is always conscious, the repressed desires still find ways to come to the surface. How? The unconscious chose to voice his repressed desires through the noble’s body and as such through certain actions. That’s why if you read the manhwa right from the start again, imagine that the lord’s behavior towards the painter is actually an expression of his unconscious, like for example in the chapter 1 or in the chapter 2 or in the chapter 16 or in the chapter 35 or in the chapter 40In the last one, he places a red dot on the painter’s forehead. What do all these images have in common? The lord’s hand. Through his hand, the noble externalizes his emotions and his desires.

But there is more to it. In my opinion, his lips are the other tool of his unconscious. Therefore, we saw how passionate and tender the noble was towards Baek Na-Kyum in the first season (episode 20) (chapter 31) (chapter 33) (chapter 39). His kisses externalized his true desires and feelings. Funny is that his kisses had already caught my attention therefore I even wrote an essay about these. https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/11/painter-of-the-night-seunghos-kisses/ Yet the difference is that back then, I had no idea that he saw himself as a ghost. Note that I didn’t say the mouth but the lips because there is a huge difference. I’ll explain the divergence later.

Now combine the hand and the lips together, you’ll notice that these parts are essential for smoking. This explicates why we constantly saw the lord smoking next to the window in many scenes: (chapter 5) (chapter 12; here he is blowing the smoke into Jihwa’s face) , in the chapter 33, in the chapter 35 and in the chapter 44. One might argue that this is due to his addiction, yet if you pay attention, the noble didn’t smoke in the painter’s presence during the first season. When he did, he was always away from Baek Na-Kyum. Observe that the moment he catches the painter speaking to Jung In-Hun in the courtyard (chapter 35), he gets so upset that he drops his pipe and prefers grabbing the sword. Moreover, the chapter 5 doesn’t counter this observation, as the artist approached the lord on his own and this unexpectedly. My explication for this habit is his need to control his lips and hands. His mind is making sure that these parts are still under its ruling. Without realizing it, the main character felt that his hands and lips would escape his control if he didn’t smoke. In other words, he used the smoke in order to benumb his body, similar to Baek Na-Kyum’s habit to drink in order to ease the pain. Yoon Seungho needed to ensure that his body would follow his mind, since he perceived himself as the spirit. If his body had moved on its own, he would have detected that he was more than a spirit. However, since the lips and the hands were controlled by the smoking, Yoon Seungho’s unconscious had to find another way to express itself.

Consequently, its unconscious picked up another part of his body as well: the feet. That’s the reason why he decided to meet the painter in person in the chapter 1. He was already attracted by him through his paintings. I could mention the chapter 11 as another illustration. Here we see him rushing to the painter’s side in the chapter 11. He can’t wait to eat his lunch with Baek Na-Kyum so that he leaves his room in a hurry, he is not even properly dressed . Now, I’ll use other pictures from the first season, where the feet betray the lord’s love for the painter, in order to confirm my perception. In the chapter 15, he can’t help himself walking to Baek Na-Kyum before asking him to join him and Jihwa in their sex session. He is definitely longing for the painter’s closeness. Then in the chapter 16, he hinders the painter from leaving his room by hugging but for that he had to stand up quickly and follow the low-born. In the chapter 19, he stops in order to observe the scene and later he visits the painter’s chamber. Here, he wants to take care of the painter, be by his side, hoping that the latter has forgiven him. In the last two pictures, he can’t stand the thought that the artist is so close to the scholar. He needs to separate them. In the second drawing, although he claims that he would have killed Baek Na-Kyum, if the latter had left with the teacher, I doubt that he would have done that because of the way he is carrying his sword. He has no strength left. His hand is betraying him and we shouldn’t take his mouth too seriously. This mouth represents the conscious and as such his mind. The mouth externalizes reasoning and rationality so that he can be cold, manipulative and distant. In this scene, I suspect that with his words, he is actually trying to convince himself and the painter that he isn’t attached to the low-born. This explains in different occasions, he says painful things, as the reason stands in opposition to the emotions.

Here, he is talking like a typical noble, what he says represents the social norm. No noble would like to be associated to a commoner. In this scene, his mind decides to kill his rival because he prefers being hated for a real cause. In the chapter 39, he teases the painter for his blushing. With these three examples, you grasp the importance of the mouth. Yet, if the readers compare the three scenes altogether, they will notice that the mouth lets transpire more and more the noble’s feelings. First, he seems detached, then in the second panel his words reveal his resent and in the last one, they will observe his jealousy behind his joke. His mind told him to cover up his negative feelings, he couldn’t act like that in front of the painter, like he did during the night after the rape. In fact, the mouth never truly embodied the lord, it just represents his reasoning and calculating, standing in opposition to his other body parts, where the emotions can come to the surface, unfiltered. As a conclusion, I determine that the hand, the lips and the feet embody the lord’s unconscious, while his mouth symbolizes the conscious. Striking is that the gaze is related to the hand, the lips and the foot so that I come to the observation that the eye serves as the trigger for the unconscious to express itself.

And if we study the lord’s behavior in the second season, you’ll notice that his hand, his lips and his feet kept betraying his unconscious. I chose different drawings as exemplifications.

I remember that some people complained about Yoon Seungho’s behavior in the chapter 45. He was smoking, while he was having sex with the low-born.

I think, I have now found the explanation. In this scene, the lord was resisting his deepest desires, to show his affection through the intercourse. He smoked to control his hands and his lips because he didn’t want to reveal his affection. The mind was present during that sex session that’s why he made such cold and rational comments initially. In fact, this first scene was already displaying the internal conflict the lord was facing. On the other hand, he desired the painter to show his love for him so that he wouldn’t need to face his own inner demons and as such his denial of his love for the artist. I have the feeling that he sees a part of himself in the painter in the end. It was, as if Baek Na-Kyum was the mirror in reality. Notice, if the artist had shown care and love, the lord would have never been forced to question his own behavior. He would have been satisfied with Baek Na-Kyum’s feelings for him. However, he would have never been pressured to confess to the painter. He would have felt loved, accepted and this would have been enough. Besides, we shouldn’t forget as soon as the lord drops the pipe, he is unable to fight against his repressed desires so that at the end, we have another love session: All this was triggered by the painter’s “confession” and his facial expressions. That’s why we always had a love session at the end of each sex session. Remember that right after that scene, the painter has to eat in his chamber and not at the kitchen. As time passed on and with the painter’s facial expressions and gaze, the lord’s hands and lips were always able to express the unconscious:

Then in the chapter 50, we discover that the lord is in the scholar’s room.In the last two pictures, he rushed to the scholar’s former room, his feet exposed his inner thoughts and emotions. He was really enraged hence he felt the need to destroy the book, the latter representing the vicious low noble. His feet led him there and his hand wanted to do something as he was terribly pained. Both body parts revealed the noble’s unconscious.

And now, you understand why the main lead relapsed after hearing that the painter considered himself as a prostitute. He realized that he needed to keep his distance from Baek Na-Kyum because he would have seen himself as a “prostitute” as well, since the low-born reflects his own image. Hence he had to use opium and wine in order to benumb his body. However, he could no longer sleep with others as his body had already escaped the control of his mind. His hands, eyes and his lips were only reacting to the low-born. His inner struggle was even stronger than before, as his love had deepened that’s why he switched to opium and even added wine.

Yet, this was not enough. In the chapter 52, he rushed to Min’s side in order to protect Baek Na-Kyum from Min. Observe that in this scene, the feet, the hand and the mouth are working together. The gaze betrays his true emotions: he is furious therefore he starts a fight with Black Heart and the tongues are the weapons. However, this scene exposes the powerlessness of the drugs on his unconscious. Despite the opium and the wine, his hands, feet and lips were able to act on their own and defend the painter efficiently. That’s how strong his love for the painter has become. Therefore the more profound his affection is, the more furious he gets, when the painter gets hurt.

At the same time, I could detect the increasing influence of the heart on the mouth in the second season as well, which already started in the first season, like I demonstrated above. Let me give you two examples. In the chapter 47, when he answers to the painter’s question about his motivation for his kindness, he is actually rationally describing the pain in his heart. His words are purely rational, yet they reflect his inner emotions: pain of his heart. Notice that right after, he even teased Baek Na-Kyum again. It was as if he was attempting to diminish the value of his words from before. However, both expressions are not able to mask the emotions the lord is feeling. He might describe everything very logically, nevertheless since the idiom “embracing” is related to emotions, it displays that despite the rationale description, the lord is in reality very affected by the artist’s poor health. Both drawings disclose the aristocrat’s heart, yet the mouth under the guidance of the mind, is making sure that his emotions are not truly unveiled. Ont he other hand, these two pictures show how slowly the heart is winning over the mind. The climax is reached, when the lord finally makes this decision: This is quite important because in that moment, Yoon Seungho has the impression that he is giving up on the painter. He is no longer hoping on receiving the painter’s love, this is what he means with sharing his mind with the low-born. Nevertheless, in my opinion, the opposite is happening. When he declares that he will allow his body to take the lead, then this signifies that the mind won’t control any longer the mouth. So he is actually renouncing to the control of his mind. He will follow his heart and instincts and let his hands, mouth, lips and feet make the decision. This marks the turning point in Yoon Seungho’s life. With this declaration, Yoon Seungho will be forced to confront his own feelings in the end as he is no longer expecting this from the low-born.

Now that you know the significance of the lord’s hand, feet, lips and mouth, I can start examining the chapter 53, while I will study the chapter 54 under these aspects in the second part.

It starts with the noble leaving the bedchamber in rage. He has finally accepted Min’s request hence his mouth is voicing his agreement. These words mirror the cold and rational mind, the conscious. Since this is his conscious speaking, he will show them that he feels nothing for Baek Na-Kyum, however his eye is actually betraying his inner emotions. Yet the moment he is outside his room, his thoughts are revolving around the painter and his denial that the latter is special to him. Nevertheless, while he is talking to himself, his own feet lead him to walk straight because of his gaze. Sure, one might say that his feet led him to the painter’s chamber as he was walking in the right direction, yet he only stops walking the moment he hears the painter’s scream coming from his chamber. Strictly speaking, the aristocrat would have continued ambling, if he hadn’t heard the painter’s shout. This shows that the lord has no control over his own body. Note that his heart is telling him the opposite of his mouth revealing Yoon Seungho’s dilemma. Moreover, since he is talking to himself, it discloses that he needs to convince his mind with his mouth. Even his own mind is wavering. In other words, we could even say that he is trying to brainwash his body and mind that he feels nothing for the artist and the mouth represents the final instance of the mind. Furthermore, he is so focused on his mind that he doesn’t even realize where he is really going. The heart expresses itself through the feet, while the mind uses the mouth to fight the noble’s unconscious. This is not surprising that Byeonduck even drew two pictures of the lord’s feet underlining here the meaning of the noble’s feet. They represent his unconscious. I have the impression that they reflect his inner conflict either. We have to remember that the noble hasn’t been in contact with the painter for a week, thereby he has been missing Baek Na-Kyum’s closeness. On the one hand, he would like to be close to him again, yet since his mind and mouth said that he would offer his lover to his guests, he is torn apart. That’s why he walks in the direction of the painter’s room, yet he is actually about to pass by the low-born’s study without stopping, until the yell pulls him out of his torpor.

But let’s examine even more closely this scene. First, while ambling, he has suddenly a vision. We could say that this flashback symbolizes the noble’s inner conflict. While his hand and eyes are affected by the painter’s presence, he remembers the voice of his mind contradicting the gesture of his hand. From my point of view, this hallucination is the first visual expression of his unconscious. For the first time, his repressed desires are revealing themselves directly. That’s why his mouth attempts to convince his body and his wavering mind that he doesn’t love the painter. The sudden appearance of this memory reveals the growing influence of his unconscious on the mind. This explains why right after, the lord’s mouth expresses the opposite. To summarize, little by little, the noble’s unconscious is getting the upper hand, nonetheless his mouth is still resisting. Yet he somehow becomes blind right after, too agitated by the dilemma. That’s why he doesn’t see where he is going. Note that after this picture, we have the drawing with the feet stopping moving. That’s the reason why I state that after this terrible vision, his mind chooses to close his eyes to the truth due to the mouth’s interference so that the main lead becomes blind. His eyes can no longer focus on his surroundings, too lost with these contradictions. Remember the importance of the protagonist’s eyes. They are not only the mirror of his soul but they serve as a trigger for his unconscious. He prefers becoming blind that following the decision made by his mind and expressed by his mouth. The memory of that caress and kiss had such an impact on him that his eyes are no longer obeying to the mind.

Striking is that in this scene the ear plays a huge role. Thanks to his good hearing, he realizes that something is going on in the painter’s chamber. This significance of the ear illustrates that the noble’s unconscious is taking more and more control of his body. First, we had the hand, the feet, the lips, the eyes and the mind. Now, it is the turn of the ear. His eyes refused to work for the mind so that his ear was forced to work. As you already know, when someone loses a sense, the other senses attempt to compensate the loss of sight. That’s how he can discover the painter’s suffering. His mind might have been fighting his unconscious, yet his body is on his guard as it feels the need to protect the painter from any harm, just like I explained it above with the scene from the chapter 52. Therefore he can only rush to the artist’s study like a ghost. That’s why the servant can’t hear the lord’s footsteps. The feet could only lead the noble to the artist’s side. I would like to thank my follower @PearlArea who was the first to note the difference between the servant and the lord. While Deok-Jae didn’t take off his shoes before entering Baek Na-Kyum’s room, the main character did. And I see it as a confirmation of my judgement about the feet. They express the noble’s deeply repressed desires: he loves his lover so much that even in a hurry, he still took the time to remove his shoes.

Since his body was under the control of his unconscious, it explains not only the violence of Yoon Seungho’s reaction concerning Deok-Jae but also the speed of his gestures. That’s why the manhwalover barely see the noble’s hands. Yoon Seungho appears all of the sudden and starts pushing and slapping the servant. I compared him to a spirit or ghost in my former analysis about this chapter 53, yet simultaneously these drawings reveal the strength of his unconscious. This reflects not only the depth of his love for the painter, but also it exposes now that the unconscious has taken control of the noble entirely. Even the mouth is now revealing his true desires: Who are you

He doesn’t want to share the painter with others. He belongs to him, we could say that he has lost his reason in this chamber. That’s why he keeps beating the vicious servant. Baek Na-Kyum, who has now switched the role with the noble in the first season, embodies the reason, yet a different one. That’s why the manhwalovers witness the constant questioning of the painter in the second season. Baek Na-Kyum is now a combination of the mind with the heart because of his kindness and generosity. Although he was deeply wounded, he never gave up entirely on his heart. Consequently, he could still be nice and gentle towards others. Despite the suffered pain, the artist is able to perceive the repercussion of the lord’s behavior. That’s why he steps in and stands between Deok-Jae and Yoon Seungho. Maybe with his body, he will be able to stop the lord. By hurting the low-born, the lord is stopped because he is deeply affected by the fact that he wounded the one he treasures. He is shocked and pained, when he sees that with his hand, he wounded the artist’s cheek. However, what really stopped the lord was more the painter’s hug than anything else. Finally, his deeply repressed desires have been satisfied. He is now able to sense the painter’s warmth and love. He even hears his voice reminding him that he needs to calm down. However, in his embrace, the lord is still under the influence of the unconscious. Therefore the manhwalovers can observe the lord’s tenderness. In his embrace, the aristocrat’s hand starts touching Baek Na-Kyum’s hair and white head-band, a displeasing sign for his eyes as it is a reminder of the huge social gap between them. Let’s not forget that the unconscious rejects any form of social norms. The gesture of his hand exposes his deepest desires. Right now, he would like to caress the man’s face and if Min hadn’t appeared, the lord would have kissed the artist. The separation affected the lord so much. His urges for closeness kept growing, although he tried to fight these with drugs and the fight with the servant triggered the lord to act on his instincts. So by beating the servant, his unconscious was finally able to express itself. At no moment, the mind intervened as the lord’s body was controlled by the conscious. However, at the end of the chapter, Min ruins the reunion because he ignites a fight by kissing the artist. We shouldn’t forget that in that scene, the lord is still under the influence of his unconscious therefore he pushes Black Heart so violently that the door breaks. Yoon Seungho can’t bear the thought that someone might take away Baek Na-Kyum. The idea that someone else even kisses his loved one can only infuriate the noble. Let’s not forget that during the season 1, he got so resentful that he even wanted to kill Jung In-Hun. From my point of view, this push could be perceived as a new version of the event in the chapter 26, when he grabbed the sword in order to eliminate the scholar. The hands were already the ones voicing the unconscious the best, especially if you recollect the first chapter, when the noble grabbed the artist’s hand and put them on his loins. Furthermore, the eyes were the trigger for his unconscious hence we see this

before he hurts Black Heart. That’s why at the end of the chapter 53, his hand is protecting the painter’s ears. His unconscious is well aware of Min’s black heart, hence he needs to do anything so that the artist doesn’t get hurt. Furthermore his gaze is aiming at Min, it was as if he was expecting an attack from his opponent. But by unleashing his unconscious, he is actually exposing his vulnerability. His heart is indeed in the open, furthermore his body is acting on his own. He guards the loved one, unprepared that the next attack won’t be directed at his treasure but at himself.

As a conclusion, the chapter 53 exposes the fight between the conscious and unconscious, where the latter won the battle. Consequently the lord was finally able to express his deepest affection for Baek Na-Kyum to the joy of all the readers. Yet his mind is not really present in that moment hence he can’t anticipate Min’s moves. This explicates why he couldn’t prevent the kiss and in the next chapter he won’t be able to protect himself from the next attack. Right now, his body is thinking that Min is aiming for the low-born due to the kiss, nonetheless the real target is and has always been the powerful seme. However, all this proves how sensitive and emotional the lord because his repressed desire is to shower the painter with his love, not only through pampering but also through his protective instincts.

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