Painter Of The Night: The night is long

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. 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/

After reading the title, the manhwaphiles surely recall that these words were voiced by Yoon Seungho in chapter 71: The lord was definitely expressing his joy and excitement. For the first time he truly desired that the night would be long to enjoy this moment where he was accepted. Unfortunately, the night ended so abruptly due to the painter’s exhaustion. The power of the climax and the sex marathon from the previous night were too much for his frail body. Knowing that the artist liked his bed, the lord let his lover rest in the bed and chose to sleep far away from him. And the readers should wonder why, especially after witnessing how in chapter 38, they lied next to each other.

What caught my attention is that he had a similar attitude in chapter 55. Back then, he didn’t put the painter on the bed, but covered him with his beautiful hanbok. Since he abhors his own mattress, he believed that the artist would judge his bed the same way after the terrible night (the assault and the interrupted gangrape). However, he didn’t stay by the artist’s side unlike in chapter 38. For the lord, the night after the eviction of the nobles must have been very long. That’s why there are bottles of wine next to him. He sat there drinking in order to kill time. The readers have to envision that he was sitting the whole night without being able to open the window or the door, as Baek Na-Kyum was not sleeping under a real cover. He was scared that the pure man would catch a cold. Moreover, I believe that he kept watching over his lover out of fear that the artist might have a nightmare to the terrible event from the previous night. This explicates why in chapter 74, he went to rest in the next room in front of the opened window. He knew that the commoner would sleep peacefully. However, the chapter 74 gave us the final clues why Yoon Seungho has always had nightly activities in the past and why he avoids his bed. Remember how Jihwa in his love confession underlined the connection between the sexual activities and the importance of the nightmares (chapter 57) which exposes that the nightly torment is related to his phobia of the bed and to his insomnia. I come to the conclusion that his nightly activities helped him to get through the night, because he couldn’t even lie down in his bed. They helped him to kill time. This is what Jihwa even witnessed. The beholder views how the main lead pushes his friend away with his arm. Why? One might say that as soon as he sleeps, he has a nightmare. However, as you can imagine, there’s more to it.

From my point of view, the main character is suffering from nocturn panic attacks and the nightmare in episode 74 showed us how the panic attack comes. A person is considered to be suffering from a night panic attack, when he experiences 4 or more from the following symptoms:

• sweating: That’s why the lord has to sleep in the cold, outside the cover
• chills
• feeling faint
• nausea
• palpitations, a pounding heart, or an accelerated heart rate
• feeling dizzy or lightheaded
• feeling unsteady
• trembling or shaking
• feeling smothered :
• feeling a fear of dying
• depersonalization, or the feeling of being detached from oneself
• sensations of shortness of breath Here, he could barely speak.
• feelings of choking
• fear of losing control:
• pain or discomfort in the chest
• paresthesia, or sensations of tingling or numbness
• derealization, or feelings of unreality quoted from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324531#how-to-calm-down

As the manhwaphiles can detect, what the lord has are more than just nightmares or insomnia. This explicates why he doesn’t sleep next to the painter. The latter always sleeps so peacefully that Yoon Seungho can’t bear the thought of disturbing him. However, you can observe that by just being by the artist’s side, his panic attack disappears. That’s why he plays with the painter’s hair . This gives us the answer to why the artist had such a disheveled hair the next morning in chapter 38: On the one hand, the headband represents a hindrance for the lord, on the other hand it was removed even before he spent the night with Yoon Seungho. From my point of view, touching the artist’s hair has a calming effect indicating that the lord truly needed Baek Na-Kyum’s assistance that night. The night spent by the painter’s side helped him to go through the night, therefore he felt more refreshed the next morning. However, he must have had a panic attack, hence he left the bed before the painter woke up. I believe, the artist’s regular and deep breathing has a calming effect for Yoon Seungho. Therefore in chapter 74, he lied down next to Baek Na-Kyum and looked at his face. Like I pointed out the last time, the noble is in a fetal position which is a clue that he is relaxing. The panic attack vanished so quickly thanks to Baek Na-Kyum. Now, you understand why the lord is visiting the artist from time to time during the night. That’s when he has a panic attack and the sleeping face of his lover with his normal breathing helps him to recover quickly. He doesn’t want to trouble his lover. We could even say that when the main lead kisses the artist, it is to express his gratitude. Thanks to him, the night doesn’t seem so long now. That’s why he can smile more often and becomes cheerful again.

Let’s not forget that Yoon Seungho tried once to share his bed with Jihwa with the hope to get rid of these nocturn panic attacks, but the second lead couldn’t help him at all. That’s why Jihwa accepted these nightly activities afterwards, he had resigned that his friend could never recover. As the readers can envision it, the causes for these nocturn panic attacks are the lord’s traumatic experiences, these panic attacks are the symptom of PTSD. This explicates why he hated night in truth. In other words, he became a nocturn animal due to his suffering path.

After elaborating why the lord can’t rest in his bed, I would like to give another explanation for the trigger of these panic attacks. Since we know that Yoon Seungho was sexually abused by the king due to the drawing of the mountain, I could make a connection with the bed. This picture comes from Gyeongbokgung palace and note how the colors of the bed and seats are similar to the one from the protagonist’s. Besides, I am sure that people have already watched sageuks, historical korean dramas, where the king is dressed with a red hanbok adorned with golden embroidery, where you can see a dragon like this one:

So this is not surprising that as soon as the lord sees these colors and especially the bed, he gets stressed. Thus it is important to examine the following picture again: (chapter 57). In this scene, the noble attempted to kill himself. Striking is that he had just lost his hair revealing that this had happened after the public humiliation with the topknot. I come to the conclusion that the bed itself triggered his anxiety and has so far represented a source of his panic attacks. Back then, it was so strong that he desired to end his own agony. Moreover, observe how the valet is forcing him to remain on the bed. The manhwaphiles certainly recall how I described that this picture actually illustrated the lord’s captivity. He was treated like a prisoner. Now that we know that his phobia of the bed is linked to sexual abuse and to the king, you can comprehend why Yoon Seungho desired to end his life here. As soon as he saw the bed, he was reminded of his time with the king and the sexual abuse. There’s no ambiguity that the main lead was held captive in the palace. Since the butler stopped him from committing suicide, the manhwaphiles had the impression that Kim truly cared for his master. On the other hand, for we are aware of the signification of the bed and its colors, the manhwaphiles should question why the master has such a bed. First, in this manhwa, nothing is random. For the lord was not in the capacity to choose his bed, someone had to pick the bed. As you can imagine, the butler made the choice and from my point of view, he did it on purpose. He made sure that the lord would always be reminded of his traumatic past. That way, he would remain trapped in the past. In my opinion, he must have accompanied the young master to the palace. Therefore he knew that the poor man was traumatized and chose to take advantage of it. Note that when the physician visited the painter’s study, he noticed that Baek Na-Kyum was lying on a bed reserved for nobles. Even the physician thought, it was Yoon Seungho’s bed which shows that technically the lord could have had such a bed. But no, the yellow-red bed was never changed. Since Yoon Seungho was mentally sick, I doubt that he could choose his own bed after returning from the palace. As for father Yoon, when he went into exile, I don’t think that he left his own mattress and cover behind. Moreover, if you pay attention to father Yoon’s bedchamber, you’ll detect that the father prefers blue due to the bed and the background. That’s the reason why his sons were both dressed in blue: (chapter 57) (chapter 55)

We have two possibilities: either the butler acted on father Yoon’s order or he made the decision himself. As you can imagine, I’m more inclined to believe that the butler made the choice on his own. That way, Yoon Seungho would never try to get revenge on his tormentors and discover Kim’s betrayals, simultaneously the butler would be able to live a quiet life. The lord could never relax due to the bed, hence he would seek relief elsewhere. That’s why he could fall into debauchery so easily, Kim made sure that Yoon Seungho would go down that road. Yoon Seungho is even wondering why he started living like that. This truly exposes that he never made the decision consciously. Therefore I come to the conclusion that the red and yellow bed represents the source of his misery, making sure that he never relaxes.

An important detail caught my attention in chapter 14. When Jihwa visits him for a sex session, the cover is turned over. Yoon Seungho never did it even with Baek Na-Kyum. (chapter 31) and (chapter 73) . From my perspective, it outlines how much Jihwa meant to Yoon Seungho. He never saw the sex sessions with him as a battle, exposing why Yoon Seungho is so lenient towards his childhood friend. But it was different with the painter. The latter kept rejecting him in the beginning, so he had defeat his opponent and enemy, forcing him to surrender. However, when the latter didn’t fight him back and showed no sign of resistance, he was bothered. Deep down, he felt that he still hadn’t truly won the war. Strangely is that the painter started conquering the yellow-red bed to the point that in chapter 72 the low-born preferred making love on the bed. Hence the lord followed his request. Since here, he was making love to Baek Na-Kyum, his mind was not focusing on the bed. All his attention was directed to his lover, hence he could lie down for the first time. That’s why I come to the deduction that the lord should buy a new bed or put the painter’s bed in his bedchamber. The lord will only be able to overcome his nocturn panic attacks, when he has the painter by his side. But more importantly, he should talk about it to Baek Na-Kyum. The latter would definitely give him the comfort and reassurance that he is safe next to him. However, as long as Kim is working at the mansion, I fear, the bedchamber will never be a safe place.

No wonder why the lord felt so happy, when Baek Na-Kyum was accepting his advances, for the first time he truly desired the night to be long, whereas he had wished the dawn came quicker, when he was on his own. And when the second abduction takes place, it will be a very long night for everyone: the protagonists, the villains and the readers as well. 😓

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