Category: Jihwa

Painter Of The Night: The significance of clothes (part 3)

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 5 Comments

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. 

For the meaning of colors, I chose three different websites: https://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/ and https://www.colormatters.com/the-meanings-of-colors/ https://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-orange/

This essay doesn’t represent the final part of the analysis about the clothes as I had initially anticipated it. In the first and second part, I examined the clothes of the following characters: Yoon Seung-Won, Min, Yoon Seungho and Baek Na-Kyum. Now, we have only two figures left: Jihwa and Jung In-Hun. However, I can only focus on Jihwa in this analysis because there is so much to explain.

I have already noticed that the analyses concerning Jung In-Hun and Jihwa are not so often read compared to the ones about Yoon Seungho and Baek Na-Kyum. However, it is important to pay attention to the second characters because their actions and words have a huge impact on the main characters and as such on the evolution of the story. We can better understand the motivation behind their behavior and even anticipate their move.

Let’s start with Jihwa’s clothes. If you look at all the clothes Jihwa is wearing during the first season, (chapter 3) (chapter 5) (chapter 12) (chapter 12) (chapter 18) (chapter 21) (chapter 36) (chapter 41)

chapter 43
chapter 43

you’ll note 4 observations.

  1. He definitely prefers wearing an exterior robe with short sleeves, although he sometimes puts on the same type of robe than Yoon Seungho, robes with long sleeves (chapter 12 and 41). I had already mentioned that the people wearing such clothes were more superficial and vain (see essay about the significance of clothes, part 1).
  2. Striking is that this character is only seen one time with his interior clothes. It was as if his true nature was unveiled here. Without his clothes, he is just an immature and spoiled child, while he acts as if he was reasonable and quite open-minded in front of his childhood friend with his apparel on.
  3. The third remark is that he possesses a lot of different robes unlike the noble Min or his friend with the mole. And this leads me to the conclusion that Jihwa pays a lot of attention to his appearance which confirms the character’s vanity and superficiality.
  4. Finally, what catches the beholder’s eye is the recurrence of the colors. His favorite colors are yellow and orange and even a combination of both like in the chapter 12 (yellow mustard) or 43. Therefore I need to focus on these two colors.

Nevertheless before starting with the colors, it is important to explain why Jihwa chose to wear a robe with long sleeves as they represent an exception. In my opinion, in the first case (chapter 12), he didn’t feel the need to attract attention and admiration because he had already succeeded with his plot. He was so happy that he didn’t pay attention to his image. However, he is still wearing his topknot therefore he is demonstrating his power to others: he is a noble. This is totally different in the chapter 36. Here, he was so devastated that he felt the need to look good in order not to fall into depression. He is trying to keep a certain appearance and maintain his image. But as time passed on, his sorrow was so big that at the end, he no longer paid attention to his apparel. Notice that this time, he has loose hair. He is actually clothed and acting like a rich commoner. Hence we can conclude that his image helped him to bear the pain of the end of their friendship, yet at some point it didn’t work any longer.

But now let’s go back to the colors. This is what I found about the color yellow:

Positive keywords include: optimism, cheerfulness, enthusiasm, fun, good-humored, confidence, originality, creativity, challenging, academic and analytical, wisdom and logic. (I underlined all the characteristics visible in this fictive person which I elucidate below)

If we look at Jihwa’s behavior, like for example in the chapter 12

, the reader often sees the red-haired noble laughing and smiling so that we can definitely say that he is cheerful and good-humored. He likes wearing different clothes, drinking, having sex with Yoon Seungho and he even buys erotic books hence all this reminds me of an epicurean, someone appreciating life and its pleasures which is also linked to yellow. He can be sometimes analytical for he observed his childhood friend’s gaze and behavior in the chapter 14/15 and remembered his friend’s words.

Negative keywords for yellow include: being critical and judgmental, being overly analytical, being impatient and impulsive, being egotistical, pessimistic, an inferiority complex, spiteful, cowardly, deceitful, non-emotional and lacking compassion.

On the other hand, the readers often sees his jealousy, his cowardice, his deception. Let us not forget that in the chapter 5, Jihwa is already showing some signs of annoyance and envy, when he meets the painter leaving the master’s room. He fears that the painter might become the protagonist’s new sex partner because his chamber is next to the master’s. He shows a certain creativity, when he plays a trick on Baek Na-Kyum by ruining the second painting. Simultaneously, this action revealed a negative side of Jihwa, he acted like a coward. I can even add that his cowardice is even confirmed, the moment he visits the artist’s room a second time without his friend’s knowledge. He never wanted Yoon Seungho to discover his presence. However, he can’t restrain himself when he sees the painting with the masturbation and slaps the poor painter. He is just too emotional that he admits his crime in front of the painter and his friend. His impulsivity and his jealousy were the reasons why he got caught in the end.

Now, let me explicate why this bright color has so many negative features. While in Asia, yellow is mostly associated to positive aspects, it is a little different in Europe. During the Middle-Age, this color was used in order to portray Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus-Christ, hence yellow is related to betrayal and cowardice. That’s the reason why Jews or treacherous knights had to wear a yellow sign during the Middle-Age.

Lurking in the background is the dark side of yellow: cowardice, betrayal, egoism, and madness. Furthermore, yellow is the color of caution and physical illness (jaundice, malaria, and pestilence). 

This justifies why in French (yellow=jaune) and in English there exist many negative expressions with yellow: “rire jaune” (two-faced laugh) or “jaune cocu” (cuckold yellow) or “yellow belly” (coward). Therefore yellow represents deception, betrayal, adultery, arrogance, vanity and jealousy. In other words, this color is often connected to danger and bad behavior. Now, you are no longer surprised why Jihwa is often see with yellow clothes as this color does truly reflect his personality.

Jihwa betrays his childhood friend three times. Besides, he keeps deceiving Yoon Seungho with his smiles and laughs as he is not sincere with him. The irony is that the latter is aware of his friend’s acting which explains why he can never fall for Jihwa. From my perspective, Yoon Seungho explicates his friend’s dishonesty as the typical behavior among the nobility hence he can never perceive Jihwa’s love. The latter can’t confess his love for him, too afraid of getting rejected… and here again a coward.

Furthermore he still believes that since they have known each other for so long, the protagonist will fall in love with him at some point due to his beautiful face and body. It is just a matter of time. Besides, Yoon Seungho is his only sexual partner hence the red-haired aristocrat hopes that his friend will notice this singularity. What Jihwa fails to recognize is that the main lead loves simplicity and naturalness which is reflected in his clothing, whereas the red-haired friend prefers showing off, also visible in his apparel. He is too self-absorbed to recognize his friend’s true personality and longing. That’s why he is seen looking at his reflection twice and especially, this picture reminds me of the myth of Narcissus who looked at his own image until his death. Here, Jihwa believes in the strength of his beauty. He can’t envisage that his friend is immune to his handsome face. Striking is that we have yellow and orange dominating in this drawing as if it was signalizing a danger, a bad omen for our second character.

But if you read again the negative and positive associations of yellow, you’ll note two aspects that seem to contradict each other: “optimist” and “pessimist”. However, there is no contradiction in reality because the beholder can observe these two features in Jihwa. The closer he believes to achieve his goal (becoming Seungho’s official lover), the more enthusiastic and optimist he is.

Since he was successful with his trick, he laughs very loudly at the inn. However, the moment the main character decides to cut ties with Jihwa because of his deception, the more depressed he becomes. That’s why he is seen at the same tavern drinking his sorrow. He can’t stop crying. He is also very depressed and pessimist.

chapter 36

This explicates why Min could manipulate the noble so easily. The latter switches from one mood to the other very quickly. The higher his spirits are, the harder the fall. Therefore he is weeping so much in the chapter 43.

He thought that he could reconnect with Yoon Seungho hence he put a very expensive robe with cranes on it. He thought that this would increase his chance to seduce the alpha. Striking is that cranes have a special meaning.

In many cultures cranes symbolize happiness, honor, longevity, and good fortune. In some areas they are even said to be mystical, magical, or holy creatures. Strictly speaking, the crane is a sign of good luck. And this is exactly how Jihwa perceives himself. He thought that if he could approach Seungho again, then he would bring him good fortune. Besides, he imagined that with such a robe, Seungho in his despair would recognize Jihwa as his only true friend, as the one who brings him comfort and as such good fortune. By choosing such a pattern on his clothes, he reveals his arrogance and vanity. In fact, Jihwa is not a crane but a pheasant that is about to get killed (chapter 41). So the choice of the robe for that fateful evening is no coincidence. He is over-estimating his beauty and he truly doesn’t understand his childhood friend due to his egoism and superficiality.

Another negative aspect of yellow is lack of empathy. His lack of compassion is visible on different occasions. He treats Baek Na-Kyum like a servant, hence he opens his clothes without asking. Then he insults him and he even shows no remorse for the unjust punishment (straw mat beating). He even laughs about it, not caring about the damage. For him, the painter is just a commoner hence he can do anything he wants. He has such a misconception about commoners, he is very prejudiced and judgmental. For him, all the low-born are uneducated, greedy and selfish. They would do anything in order to change their life and social status. Yet he he is totally wrong as he is generalizing. In reality, he just projects his own thoughts into Baek Na-Kyum. His entitlement leads him to believe that he can even mistreat any commoner, any servant. He is as ruthless and brutal as Yoon Seungho. Jihwa justifies every action. It is always for his friends’ best interest (revenge/Saving Seungho’s reputation), whereas in fact, it is for his own benefit. He is selfish but still shows a certain lack of confidence because he tries to get rid of a rival through tricks. As you can detect, he is a mixture of arrogance and lack of confidence. He uses others in order to hurt his rival (Seungho in the first case and the hired assassin in the second case). This is just another act of cowardice. Fact is that he feels threatened by the painter, he senses that his friend is attracted by the low-born.

As a first conclusion, we could already perceive that many attributes to yellow are indeed reflected in Jihwa’s personality like arrogance, deception, betrayal, cheerfulness, creativity, confidence, cowardice, lack of empathy, jealousy and judgmental.

Since Jihwa possesses orange clothes too, we need to pay attention to the connotations associated to this color.

Positive keywords include: sociable, optimistic, enthusiastic, cheerful, self-confident, independent, flamboyant, extroverted and uninhibited, adventurous, the risk-taker, creative flair, warm-hearted, agreeable and informal.

Negative keywords include: superficial and insincere, dependent, over-bearing, self-indulgent, the exhibitionist, pessimistic, inexpensive, unsociable, and overly proud.

Since some features are quite similar to yellow, I won’t focus on these.

Unlike Yoon Seungho, the red-haired aristocrat is often seen in company and talking to his friends, so he is indeed sociable. The red-haired noble is self-indulgent as he does whatever he wants, like he opens the shirt of Baek Na-Kyum without asking or barges at Yoon Seungho’s mansion uninvited. His flamboyance is visible, when he calls on the main lead after the straw mat beating. Another example for his boasting is when he dresses up to pay a visit to Yoon Seungho. He already imagined that the former would be hurting on his own because of Seung-Won’s call. That’s why he chose the robe with the crane. He definitely wanted to make a statement: “Without me, you’ll never be happy”. But the opposite happened. Once hurt, he can’t hide his pain and has to exteriorize it, hence he goes to his acquaintance, the man with the mole. He can’t hide his tears in front of the others…

He is definitely a risk-taker (challenging in yellow) because he entered his friend’s house without any appointment or without the seme’s knowledge in order to plot something against Baek Na-Kyum or to spy on his friend.

His arrogance and his self-centerness are the reasons why he doesn’t truly understand his friend. He knows his traumatic past, yet he can’t perceive how it affected the protagonist. He just views this as something tragic caused by a selfish father. He is too stupid to get aware that this is much more complicated, related to politics and the nobility. That’s why Jihwa should be judged as an immature and spoiled “child” who has never been confronted by the reality of life. He thinks that his title as noble is a given and he takes it as granted. However, it can definitely change if the king decides to purge the aristocracy in order to reinforce his position, if it is necessary.

Finally, I would like to examine the last clothes Jihwa is wearing in the chapter 43 and 44. What caught my attention is that he is wearing an exterior robe with short sleeves, has a red belt and a huge hat covered with a veil. On the one hand, with his apparel he is attracting the attention of people, especially at a place where there are many commoners. At the same time, he is attempting to hide his identity. This contradiction reflects the character’s true personality: he is arrogant and stupid enough to believe that he can walk just like that without his identity being discovered. I am quite sure that people will remember his appearance. Besides, he chose his favorite color… So the pheasant who perceives himself as a crane is about to experience the harshness of life. He has no idea that this impulsive decision marks his downfall. He is too foolish and blinded to realize that he has been played by Min.

As you can conclude, the clothing and the choice of colors for Jihwa are definitely no random and confirm one more time that Byeonduck must have thought very carefully about such details. No wonder if the author needs a lot of time in order to develop her story, each drawing has its importance and a special meaning, just like each cloth reveals the inner thoughts and emotions of the character wearing it.

Feel free to comment. If you have any suggestion for topics or manhwas, feel free to ask. If you enjoy reading it, retweet it or push the button like (tumblr/twitter account: @bebebisous33). Thanks for reading and the support.

Painter Of The Night: Min: a snake, a wolf 🐺, a magpie or a crow?

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 3 Comments

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/

First, I had thought that I just had to update the essay about Min but I realized quickly that I would have to rewrite so many things that the old version would have been totally changed. Maybe you are now thinking that the conclusions in my first version were wrong. Fact is that I’m still perceiving Min as a second villain and my prediction is still the same: a struggle between Yoon Seungho and Min will happen in the second season.

What changed is that since I analyzed the scenes, the characters and their clothes much more precisely, I have come to a better understanding about Min. Besides, the purpose to leave the first version as such is to let you know how much insight I gained, as time passed on. The essay about Min was one of the first analyses I wrote on my blog.

Now, let’s talk about Min. The latter is only introduced much later because his name appears for the first time in the chapter 33.

chapter 33

Striking is that he is introduced by one of the sex partners during the sex orgy. We deduce that this noble is Min because he has just asked Yoon Seungho why he didn’t bring the artist that evening. First I wasn’t certain if Min was the one who participated at the sex session in the chapter 8 because his face looked a little different but now, I can say for sure that he was present (pictures from the chapter 8 and 9)

This is the same person: Min. Note that he is looking carefully at the painter’s facial expressions and he was the only one who could see the painting.

What I missed back then were the words said by the aristocrat (4th image above, chapter 33): “I heard from Master Min that he’s got a pretty little face”. This means that master Min had met Baek Na-Kyum and talked about him to other nobles. This proves to me that he was the one in the chapter 8. [This illustrates that I am not omniscient and can make mistakes by overlooking details therefore I am always glad to receive any feedback. But let’s return to the chapter 33.]

And what caught my attention to this picture are the words again. While we see Yoon Seungho’s mind thinking back to the painter’s poor physical condition, he has to hear from the acquaintances how the painter looked like. Notice that the low-born’s description is very precise which indicates that Min had paid a lot of attention to the artist’s reactions. First, he must have witnessed the locked gaze between them and also catch the arousal of the painter during the sex session between the master and the other noble (chapter 9). Moreover, in the drawing above, the aristocrat repeat the same expression “I hear”. We have twice “I hear”. All this implies that Min must have talked a lot about the painter to the other aristocrats. Hence he appears to be chatty as a magpie. They heard everything about Baek Na-Kyum through Min’s gossip. Not only he kept an eye on the low-born’s reaction during the sex session (chapters 8-9) but also he looked at the painting carefully. So now, why would he do that? Why would he talk to other nobles about Yoon Seungho’s painter?

If we go back to the chapter 8, when Min appeared for the first time without us knowing his name, we discover that he had already picked an interest in the painter. He had seen the erotic publications which Yoon Seungho was fond of but had never investigated the identity of the author because he thought that the creator was just an old man.

Moreover, not only he observed the artist during the sex session but also expressed his attraction, while he was having sex with Seungho. Look at his gaze aiming at the low-born.

As a first conclusion, we detect that Min had shown a lot of interest in Yoon Seungho and his likes, especially concerning Baek Na-Kyum. He knew about the erotic books, he heard about the painter, then he noticed the artist’s reactions and the good quality of the drawings, although initially he hadn’t anticipated that Baek Na-Kyum would be able to have such a discerning eye and even get aroused. It was as if he was gathering info.

It looks like Min’s life was revolving around the protagonist’s and his fascination for the painter. In my first analysis about Min, I had declared that he wanted to submit Seungho and become the protagonist’s lover due to this intimate gesture in the chapter 43, where he touches the seme’s waist, a very intimate place. One of my readers objected that Min was an uke in the chapter 8 hence he could never become a seme.

But if you remember now what I wrote about the function of these sex sessions, you’ll understand what Min really wants. He wants to replace our beloved seme and become the new alpha. The sex parties are battles in reality. So by submitting Yoon Seungho and turning him into an uke, it would signify that he had won against the old alpha and after his victory he would represent the ultimate power. And let’s not forget that Seungho became a seme because he was himself a victim of rape (my theory). Becoming the seme means taking control of the sexual encounter and having power.

So we are about to assist to a fight between both characters. Sex is war hence Min wants to isolate the main character and ensure that he loses everything so that he is literally destroyed and reduced to become an uke, an omega. Killing Baek Na-Kyum is not just getting rid of a rival in my opinion, he is well aware of the lord’s love for the painter. Even if the painter doesn’t get killed, in the worst case, Seungho will retaliate against Jihwa so that all the other aristocrats will distance themselves from the furious lord. So for him, it looks like a win-win situation, if Jihwa succeeds or fails. By getting rid of Jihwa, who was Seungho’s childhood friend, and the new found love, he wants to isolate the main lead and kill him symbolically. Min is determined to dethrone the notorious hell-raiser but for that he needs to exude charisma too to attract supporters so that he can become the new alpha in the sodomite community. There is this saying in Latin

“A man is a wolf to another man”, 

that later Hobbes used in order to write his theory about the Leviathan. My point is that in this manhwa, Min is acting like a wolf to our protagonist. Since he wants to become the new alpha, he needs to act like one. That’s why he is imitating the noble in his gestures and his clothing. He smokes like Yoon Seungho,

This reminds me of Yoon Seungho smoking in front of his window.

read the erotic publications and has the same type of robes. He doesn’t have loose hair like the other aristocrats at the sex party, our protagonist is his model that he leans on. So why was he acting like an uke in the chapter 8?

If the beholder looks again at the picture of the penetration, then the person notes the similarity of Min’s action with Baek Na-Kyum’s gesture in the chapter 41.

In this situation, Seungho was bothered by the painter’s gesture because he was behaving like a prostitute. This is no coincidence. Min was willing to use his body because it meant, he would be allowed to approach the famous lord and spy on him. He acted like a snake, with the intention to backstab Seungho at some point. So becoming an uke was just a subterfuge and he was only biding his time.

I mentioned before that he needs to get supporters in order to become the new alpha and if you pay attention at the evolution of the story, you’ll notice Min’s slow intrusion and his growing influence among the aristocrats. Note that the man dragged away by the topknot is close to Jihwa hence he went running to the red-haired man in order to complain about the experienced humiliation. When they meet at the inn in the chapter 12, Jihwa is alone with the noble with the mole on his cheek.

However, in the chapter 36 when Jihwa is drinking his sorrow at the same tavern, Min is also present, more precisely, it appears that Min is following the man with the mole.

He knows how humiliated the man with the purple robe felt, as he witnessed it. Since they are coming together here, we have to assume that Min’s company has been accepted by the other. For me, it looks like he is already influencing him and he knows that he can only get close to Jihwa through him.

Note that the next time, they meet in the chapter 41, they must be at the lord’s house (the one with the mole) because of the expression “without any notice”. Moreover, the latter is sitting at the end of the table. From my perspective, Jihwa must have gone to this man’s house, just like the latter did when he got hurt by Yoon Yeungho. Both men seem to be very close. That’s why I believe that Min approached the man with the mole first and then Jihwa so that he would listen to him. He is definitely attempting to create a divide between Jihwa and the man with the mole on one side and Yoon Seungho on the other side. He is slowly isolating the powerful master. In a wolf pack, the omega lives as an outcast. Notice that he goes one step further at the pavilion. Besides, meanwhile the topic becomes dangerous with the suggestion of killing Baek Na-Kyum, one guest objects and even Jihwa hesitates. However for each objection, he has an answer. The beholder witness that he is taking the lead.

Little by little, he could convince them all. Strictly speaking, he has become the new leader of the pack.

Then if you scrutinize the chapter 33, you’ll notice the absence of Jihwa and his friend too. They didn’t participate in that sex orgy. Yet, we see Min’s increasing influence in that scene as well. The jealous man is actually challenging our famous protagonist which is reflected in this picture. Note that Min is standing on the one side, whereas Yoon Seungho is sitting on the other side and the others are lying on the floor. It was as if the powerful noble was sitting on a throne. Moreover, we have to imagine that Min’s gaze is directed at our main lead. However, if you pay attention more closely to the picture, you’ll detect that most of the nobles’ heads are turned to Min’s side underlining his growing influence. The fearless noble might still be sitting on the throne, yet Min has already attracted attention. Besides, the exchange of words is not harmless in this scene too. In reality, he is already challenging the seme.

With this simple question, he is asking for the noble’s explication. His question sounds more like a demand hence he acts as if they were on the same level. Min is behaving as if he had privileges somehow. He would like to taste the artist and Yoon Seungho should share his artist with the others. Min is pushing the boundaries and this simple question with the following suggestion (to welcome the artist properly) leads to a conversation about the painter. At the end, the other aristocrats are making some demands too.

As you can observe, Min influenced the other nobles with his gossips and his question so that the other nobles are now curios and unsatisfied with their current situation. Yoon Seungho should show more concern and even share his belongings. Interesting is the master’s reaction. He reminds them of their position. They have no right over his possession.

Despite the reminder, the protagonist leaves the scene and we should judge his behavior as if he was retreating… in other words, Min seems to have won the challenge.

This must be encouraging for Min because as soon as Yoon Seungho leaves the pavilion, the others keep chatting about him and he can definitely hear them.

They are talking behind his back while he is still in range and can hear their exchange of thoughts. This reveals a certain disregard towards the famous sodomite. His position is now weakened. Here again, Min is chatty as a magpie.

Now, you are wondering why I keep comparing the man with the green robe to a magpie. There are many reasons for that. First, the nobles I associated to animals were all birds: Yoon Seungho an eagle, Jung In-Hun a peacock and Jihwa a pheasant. So in my eyes, Min had to be a bird. He talks a lot, like a magpie. Thirdly, a magpie is famous for stealing hence it is associated to envy and jealousy. The final reason is that a magpie often eats eggs from other birds. It might look small and not dangerous but for many small birds, they are fearsome predators.

As you can guess, Min is in fact a mixture of a wolf, a magpie and a snake that crept close to Yoon Seungho so that he would bite him. In my first version, I already associated him to a snake due to the color of his robe and his words. His words were seductive but simultaneously had an effect like a poison. He was poisoning Jihwa’s mind with his so-called advice and news. He lied to him at the tavern and the master with the mole had no idea about it as he was not present at the sex orgy. If he had been there, he would have realized that after the challenge, Yoon Seungho never showed up again.

His words are alluring because they seem comforting Jihwa. Here, the “friend” with the mole is not stopping Min because he has no idea what happened at the sex orgy. Min had already anticipated Seungho’s reaction that he would distance himself from the sex partners. He started spreading the rumor about the existence of a lover, just after the powerful master left the building. Therefore in the chapter 36, Jihwa and his friend are still clueless because they don’t frequent the same circle. With his lies, Min is trying to gain Jihwa’s trust. Striking is in that moment, Jihwa mentioned the protagonist’s past and his secret. This would have been terrible if Jihwa had revealed it in front of him. Fortunately, despite the friend’s questioning, he restrained himself to comment any further.

Min knew exactly what Jihwa felt for the main character and used it to his advantage. Love is a weakness in his eyes. He wanted to create an opportunity so that Jihwa would get more hurt than before. Without dirtying his hands, he is trying to isolate and destroy Seungho.

And this reminds me of the way he hurt the pheasant during the hunt. He shot arrows… which makes me think of the small beak of a magpie. This black and white bird has to use its beak a lot in order to eat the whole content of the egg. Seungho killed the pheasant, he was not afraid of dirtying his hands.

And this leads me to my next observation, the way Min acts among people. He is influencing them with his words so that they are somehow incited to contest Yoon Seungho’s power and authority. There is actually a certain MO in his behavior, which leads me to compare him to a crow. Crows are birds living in a bird colony and it is not rare that crows sometimes target an eagle. They might never kill it but they can corner it and chase it away due to their number. And this is exactly what Min is doing: he is leading the nobles to question the main lead’s authority, first with small requests and at the end, with the advice to kill the painter. He lets the others attack the master, while he remains hidden. However, like I described it above, crows never really win against the eagle in the sense that they might chase it away but they can’t kill it. However, an eagle can definitely kill a crow, once the leader is found out. That’s why I believe that Min won’t be able to win this war in the end.

The more the reader met Min, the more they could observe how manipulative and cunning the noble was. If we examine the chapter 43, you have the impression that Min embodies the snake from the Bible, seducing Jihwa to commit a deadly sin. The latter is about to lose his innocence. Remember that he acts like a spoiled child so his spontaneous decision, incited by Min, will lead him to great suffering. Jihwa is too naive to perceive Min’s true motive. He has no idea that Min is a wolf disguised as a sheep. If he had just interrogated Min why he lied to him in the first place, he would have realized the manipulation. He can’t accept amusement as an excuse. He is not even bothered, when Min mocks him.

Jihwa is truly too blinded by jealousy and his own entitlement to understand Min’s true personality. It was as if Jihwa was not only blind but deaf as well. He doesn’t even hear that his friend called Min:

Black corresponds to the color of the magpie and the crow. So this man has truly perceived Min’s true nature. He didn’t like that the man with the green robe spread false info.

And Min keeps talking until Jihwa gives in. The former tries to diminish the consequences of Jihwa’s action. Even if he is found out, Jihwa can never get any punishment because he is a noble and the victim is just a low-born.

The question is if Min truly believes what he is saying or if these words are calculated lies. In my opinion, there are a mixture of both. He can’t envision that the lord’s fury will target him, as the one hiring the assassin is Jihwa. Besides as nobles they are protected. However, if anything happens, only the childhood friend will suffer from this. What the aristocrat fails to see is that the lord did notice his daring attitude because Yoon Seungho is not stupid, he can read people very well. Besides, he is not aware of the lord’s true personality. So far, he only knows the master as someone “consumed by lust”.

Then the man gives an explication for his lies. He did it out of amusement, nevertheless I doubt it. He had a goal behind this. He needs to weaken Seungho by spreading gossip, ridiculing him with his paramour as commoner and even siding with people who were humiliated by the seme, like f. ex. the noble with the mole. Examine the words used by Min to describe the main character. He “has been bewitched” by a charlatan insinuating that the seme is weak and controlled. He calls his action at the tailor shop “vulgar rolls”. In other words, Seungho is vulgar and no longer noble and honorable. He is possessive and behaves like a wild animal (“raises his hackles”). As you can observe, all these connotations are negative. All this speech serves to undermine Seungho’s authority. Jihwa is led to believe that if he kills the painter, he will save his friend’s reputation and name. That’s the reason why Jihwa agrees to the suggestion. This man is very dangerous and Jihwa is just too stupid to realize the manipulation.

But if we examine the hunt scene more closely, we can definitely sense that Min increases the pressure on the main character. He questions the veracity of the gossip, this time he grabs the lord by the wrist and even touches his waist. He is now very close to him physically, unlike in the chapter 33, where he challenged the protagonist from a certain distance. This doesn’t surprise the reader that Seungho reacts to this behavior by threatening the man with the green robe. For the main character, Min is just a mouse implying that he doesn’t represent any danger. However, he is making a huge mistake. First Min is not acting on his own which Seungho is not aware. There is a reason why the protagonist doesn’t feel frightened and it is related to his past. For him, the old men are far more dangerous because he experienced it himself therefore he keeps his distance from the capital and the government. This is clearly visible with the last words pronounced to Jung In-Hun. Yoon Seungho suspects more the officials than the young aristocrats living in debauchery.

He can’t imagine that someone might be looking at his throne, since the lord chose to become a sodomite out of revenge. So he can’t envisage that someone might like to take this kind of position. However, I believe that this battle between Min and Seungho will be a wake up call for our main character. He will realize that danger can come from anyone, not only the family and the officials but also from the decadent young aristocrats. It will help him to be prepared to fight other stronger opponents in my opinion.

What Min has not recognized yet is that love can be a strength and not just a weakness. It can push the master to ensure that his loved one is protected too. Taking responsibility is not just about comfort but also about the power to protect the loved one from others, in particular in such a violent and rigid order society. From my point of view, Yoon seungho will conceive that he needs to become proactive… so maybe he will realize that being an official has its advantage, especially if you are in a position where you can pronounce verdict. Nobles have a lot of privileges hence getting sentenced is quite rare. The question is how Yoon Seungho will retaliate against Jihwa and Min. Will he use violence in a rage? This would create a huge scandal and even endanger more his position. I doubt that he will act on an impulse. First, he has learnt to control his emotions and Baek Na-Kyum could represent the voice of reason. Finally, he has already created a network (chapter 6) which Min is not aware. While Jihwa used an assassin hired on the market place, I have the feeling that Yoon Seungho could use his own shadow guards.

Hence from my point of view, Min is making a huge mistake. He thinks that the main character just led a life as a huge sodomite, whereas in reality he has many connections. He kept his cards well hidden because he wanted to protect himself. Therefore I sense that Yoon Seungho will change his strategy.

As a conclusion, the competition between the two masters has already started in my opinion. Sure, I have no idea how long the fight between them will last. Sure, it is definitely possible that Min asks for help at some point. Nevertheless, I perceive this challenge from Min as the first fight Yoon Seungho has to face which could be viewed as a preparation for stronger opponents. Yoon Seungho might not be aware that danger is around the corner and Baek Na-Kyum will be the first victim as he only considers his family and the officials as his enemies or source of danger. Besides, the master will be devastated if the artist is badly injured. Yet, he knows about Min’s personality because he witnessed his daring attitude twice and during the hunt, Min was even touching him. Strictly speaking, the latter is well aware that the jealous man has been defying his authority. So the identity of the mastermind is not really hidden. Yoon Seungho, embodied by the eagle, has sharp eyes and he will definitely go after the challenging man. The question is how far the noble will go in order to punish these betrayers.

With this drawing alone, we can see how Min is taking the lead and preparing for a rebellion behind the protagonist’s back. It looks like a conspiracy but on a smaller scale. At the end, no one was able to really reject Min’s words. They are too stupid to perceive Min’s true intentions. Since Yoon Seungho has already experienced the consequences of a conspiracy, he knows how to deal with rebels but I can’t imagine that he will do it openly. The family survived the purge due to a secret deal and the main character could do the same with Min and the others.

Feel free to comment or to give any suggestion for an analysis (topic, manhwas). If you enjoyed reading it, either retweet it or push the button “like” so that this writing doesn’t become pointless. My twitter account is: @bebebisous33. Thanks for the support.

Painter Of The Night: The significance of clothes (part 2)

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 1 Comment

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. I mostly used the following website for the colors: https://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/

Yesterday, I described Seung-Won, Min, Baek Na-Kyum and Yoon Seungho from the chapter 1 to 30. The only thing I would like to add is that I was finally able to find the name of the color corresponding to Baek Na-Kyum’s jacket: Pink Mountbatten. On certain websites, it is a little more brown and on others more pink. It was the closest I could come to. Now I would like to continue, where I stopped yesterday. We were still describing Yoon Seungho’s clothes.

First, it is important to start with the robe he wore, when he visited the low noble Jung In-Hun. He had a style of robe that he doesn’t usually put on. Furthermore, he always kept his hat on his head indicating that he couldn’t feel comfortable in such a shabby house. He gave a different impression about himself, as if he was concerned about his appearance and image. He was acting like a typical noble, vain, superficial and with an air of entitlement. That’s why he had chosen the exterior robe with short sleeves in order to demonstrate his wealth. Only rich and powerful lords wear that kind of robe. Now, you can understand why the low noble felt comfortable around Yoon Seungho and revealed his true thoughts about the commoners. Due to the clothes, the teacher thought to perceive the lord’s personality. Yet, Seungho did it in order to deceive the man. Nonetheless, I doubt that Jung In-Hun wasn’t just talking in order to impress the man. His contempt for commoners did represent his true thoughts, however I have the feeling that Jung In-Hun was particularly harsh in words because of Yoon Seungho as he believed that he would look down on the commoners. In other words, here these clothes should be perceived as a disguise from my point of view. Now, let’s pay attention to the color. First, Yoon Seungho was wearing green announcing a turning point in his life, then he wore blue as he wanted to impress the painter and was somehow irritated at the same time due to the negative description of himself, “a man consumed by lust”, and now for the teacher, he chose dark purple. And this is what I found about purple and dark purple:

Empathy: Compassion, kindness and a love of humanity are positive qualities of Violet. Controlled emotion: Violet is passionate, like red, but inclined to display it in private only. Respectable & distinguished: The darker shades of violet particularly are linked to the origins of purple where it was only available to royalty and the wealthy. […] Dignity: Violet exudes a quiet modest form of dignity which is often appealing to others. Cynical: This is a negative side of violet. […] Deep Purple: Dark purple is related to higher spiritual attainment. A powerful color, it can also indicate arrogance and ruthlessness.

One might argue that during their conversation, the lord doesn’t seem to show any empathy. However, the empathy could be understood differently. Yoon Seungho acts as if he showed empathy towards the young noble, feels sorry for his poor situation. No one has recognized his true talent. He fakes to display a certain concern for him. He asks about his profession and lets the teacher talk. During their entire conversation, he is very cynical here for example, he is mocking the low noble. But the latter is too arrogant to perceive the irony behind this comment. Due to the impressive dark purple color, Jung In-Hun thought, he needed to impress the noble and said things that the protagonist wanted to hear, while in reality it was the opposite. Seungho wanted to reveal the hypocrisy of this man and due to the disguise, he was able to hear what the low noble truly believed. Right from the start, Jung In-Hun was already kissing the man’s ass and the seme was well aware of it. The cloth and the color were used as a subterfuge and Jung In-Hun fell into that trap. While he thought, he was manipulating the powerful master, the opposite happened. The color and the robe left such a deep impact on the poor noble that he was manipulated to unveil his true mentality: arrogance, entitlement and a scheming nature. Due to his appearance, Jung In-Hun imagined that he was standing in front of a typical wealthy noble.

Now, if we pay attention to the other exceptions where he didn’t wear a robe with long sleeves, we have the hunt and the visit at the tailor shop. He chose black for the exterior robe and burgundy for the interior clothing. You can imagine why we see these colors. Black is associated to death, [I know that in Asia in the past white was chosen for funeral but since then it changed due to the influence of the Occident.] which does fit to the hunt. Nevertheless, black is also associated to other notions:

Black means power and control, hanging on to information and things rather than giving out to others. […] Black is intimidating, unfriendly and unapproachable because of the power it exudes.

And now, we know why he chose this color for the hunt, each time he knew that his guests would pry into his life and try to get some info hence the color serves as a shield. It creates a distance to his “guests”. Besides, he is also making a statement: he has power and is in control hence he can’t be manipulated and influenced by Min and Jung. The other color is burgundy which is related to red. We shouldn’t forget that blood is red too which fits to the situation. By putting these two colors together, it signalizes Yoon Seungho’s personality. He is strong-willed, fearless and in dangerous situations, he will be ruthless and determined to protect himself. He oozes energy and has no problem to dirty his own hands which is also shown each time. He is always the one killing the wild animals (deer, pheasant). So his clothing reflects his personality according to the situation. He mistrusts his guests and he needs to make a statement with his clothes and his behavior. He makes them see that he can be merciless and is not afraid of them. He is demonstrating his power and strength.

But what caught my attention is that each hunt always happened after his relationship with the painter had improved. In the chapter 22, he had just made love to the artist a few days before and in the chapter 41, he had just done a foreplay at the tailor shop. And we all know that red is connected to passion and sex. So from my point of view, the burgundy red on the sleeves are an indication about Seungho’s sexuality. It indicates an improvement in his life, he is coming back to life, since there is no life without blood. He is feeling much more positive emotions. But these are just small steps, especially during the chapter 22. This explains why at the end of the first season, his last robe with long sleeves is burgundy. This symbolizes that he has come back to life entirely. While at the beginning, the light green reflected the start of a new life and indicated as such growth and awakening linked to spring, now the flower is slowly blossoming. But burgundy has a specific signification:

Burgundy: a dark purplish red, it is more sophisticated and serious and less energetic than true red. It indicates controlled power, determined ambition and dignified action and is often favored by the wealthy.

This fits his personality and situation. He is still very serious and passive. He hasn’t given up his hobby looking through the window. It was as if he had just come back to life hence he is not entirely active. He needs time to adapt. His love for Baek Na-Kyum hasn’t reached its peak, he hasn’t opened up and he has never let him see his long hair. Therefore the gap between the painter and the lord hasn’t disappeared. From my point of view, he will have to leave the window and meddle in politics due to Baek Na-Kyum and his family. But he is ambitious and powerful despite the appearances of his hedonistic way of life. Remember my theory is that his bad reputation is just a diversion and in fact, he has built his own connection hence he could sent someone in order to dig info about Jung In-Hun very quickly. And this “disguise” as a huge sodomite is quite palpable during the sex orgy. Unlike the other nobles, his coiffure is still well kept. He hasn’t lowered his guard at any moment. Even Min has some fuses in his hairdressing.

Now, it is time to examine the clothes the protagonist was wearing from the chapter 33 to 40.

Here, we see him the burgundy robe which we saw in the last chapter. Now, you might argue that this would somehow contradict my interpretation above. Striking is that his robe is only seen when the lord leaves the sex party. He has decided to go back, especially after having heard from Min that Baek Na-Kyum should become a plaything for the nobles’ amusement. The noble Min even manipulated the other aristocrats due to his remark so that Min’s words triggered something in the protagonist. He became very possessive and this shows that his love for the uke was the reason why he returned to the mansion. Min’s words reminded him that by staying away, he wouldn’t get the painter’s affection. While sleeping with others, he attempted to ease the pain from a guilty conscience and even try not to think but Min’s words brought him back to reality. Furthermore, what caught my attention is that the beholder only views a part of the robe. So he has not fully come back to life and his love is strong enough to make him leave the party and to never return but it is still unstable as he has no idea how Baek Na-Kyum will react, when they face each other.

During the chapters 35 and 36, Yoon Seungho chose a dark green robe, the color symbolizing envy and jealousy. Here he had to witness how Jung In-Hun was flirting with his painter. He could imagine how the commoner would blush due to the stroke on his hair and the caress on the cheek. The exhausted man had done everything in his power to win the man’s heart but he had always failed: threads, his position as master, sex appeal, new clothes, a master’s bed, taking care of his health at any cost, giving up his chamber and his sexual expertise as a fine lover. None of this worked. That’s why he was so desperate at the end and even willing to kill the low-born out of jealousy. The cloth reflects his inner emotions and fragile state of mind. The irony is that at the end, he is no longer jealous or envious the moment he notices the uke’s erection. He literally gives up on these bad emotions which is somehow reflected with a simple gesture due to the brother’s visit. He gives up on his jealousy by covering the artist with his green robe. Simultaneously, by putting his own robe on the artist, he is making a statement. This is his trusted partner and lover hence he is sitting by the lord’s side. The noble is protecting him with his name and he makes it clear that he is taking his responsibility. That’s why after sharing the same bed, the aristocrat wants to make it official as soon as possible and sends him to his own tailor.

Now, the clothes Yoon Seungho is wearing at the tailor shop are totally different from the usual ones. They contrast by the colors and the form. He has for the second time an exterior robe with short sleeves. He chose black and pink as the interior robe. The reader is able to perceive the message here. He is in love and oozes a certain happiness therefore he can’t help teasing Baek Na-Kyum at the tailor shop.

Unconditional love: Pink relates to both unconditional love and romantic love. Hope: Pink inspires the possibility of a positive outcome. […] Caring: Sensitivity and tender loving care relate to pink’s feminine and intuitive energies.

He is expressing himself through the color pink. He hopes for a positive outcome, they haven’t had sex together since the sex marathon and this time, the master wants Baek Na-Kyum to take the initiative. He is willing to wait but sharing the same bed was a good first step. The noble is also bringing to light his caring side and would like the commoner to detect it. This explains why he is helping him later.

However, he chose a black robe indicating that he doesn’t want to make his new found love too obvious. At the same time, black is intimidating as if he wanted to scare people off so that they wouldn’t try to pry into his life. There is another reason why he chose such clothes. He wants to appear as a noble so that people will talk about him and his particular reason to the tailor shop. Remember that he is using his reputation for a purpose and he is in control of the situation like black suggests it. That’s why he is wearing a red belt again. He is definitely attracting attention, not only for people so that they can start gossiping, but also he truly would like to impress the painter, to seduce him. He knows from experience that being too direct in his seduction, like showing up naked in front of the painter (see the chapter 15), this will scare off the low-born. So for the first time, he wants to leave a good impression on the uke, unlike in the past.

At the end of the season, the lord is wearing warmer color like pink or burgundy displaying his transformation. Only at the end, he is no longer wearing any black clothes so that we can say that he has given up on protecting his feelings and creating a barrier between himself and the outside world. That’s why I conclude that he has started to live for real as he feels emotions. Green and blue are rather cold colors, especially blue which explicates why they were often seen in the beginning. It might be associated to royalty and power, yet the latter mean nothing, when there is no love and warmth. Now, you can imagine that there will be a third part about the clothes, since I haven’t been able to treat Jihwa and the low noble teacher.

Feel free to comment or to give any suggestion for an analysis (topic, manhwas). If you enjoyed reading it, either retweet it or push the button “like” so that this writing doesn’t become pointless. Thanks for the support.

I’ll update the analysis about Min because since April 2020, I discovered so many elements about him that I need to change many things in the essay. Besides, this is the analysis that people read the least which shows that there was something lacking.

Painter Of The Night: The significance of clothes (part 1)

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 1 Comment

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.

I had to do some research about the meaning of colors to improve my basic knowledge, especially when there are different green and pink. I chose this website because it contained many info. https://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/

Since I analyzed the meaning of the headband and the bed, my follower sabashaikhyaa asked me about the meaning of clothes in the manhwa. That’s why I will examine the clothes used by the characters: Yoon Seung-Won, Min, Yoon Seungho (chapter 1-30) and Baek Na-Kyum. Yoon Seungho (chapter 33-44), Jihwa and Jung In-Hun will be analysed in another one because it is definitely too long for one essay. Besides as you know me, I am very detail-oriented. Imagine that I have not only to compare their clothes, but also analyse the choice of colors, the way they wear these and examine if they have their hair loose or a hat. Besides, the focus on Yoon Seungho’s clothes will take the biggest part as he is the only one wearing so many different clothes which outlines his wealth and also indicates his different states of mind and as such his transformation occurring during the season.

Before analyzing the main characters’ clothes with their colors, I believe that I should start with the different kind of clothes worn among the nobles. There is a detail that caught my attention revealing the singularity of Seungho’s personality compared to the other aristocrats. (sorry for not respecting the chronology here). What have these robes in common? The exterior robes have all long sleeves and they are quite simple and tight fitting compared to the other nobles. His sleeves never appear puffy like the ones from his brother: Let’s take a look at the other nobles. Have you noticed the difference? Jihwa, Jung In-Hun and Seung-Won prefer having an exterior robe with short sleeves unlike the main character. The only exceptions for our beloved seme are, when he visits the teacher Jung In-Hun, he is hunting and when he visits the tailor shop in the chapter 39-40:

I have to say that I didn’t pay attention to the different clothes worn by Jung In-Hun or Jihwa, I only chose one for them because these were quite representative for what they usually wear. So what does it mean that Yoon Seungho’s robes have long sleeves with a single layer? It reflects his personality: he is a confident and straightforward man. He doesn’t need to demonstrate his nobility. He doesn’t lie since he always warns people if they have the intention of harming him. It also reveals a certain simplicity. He doesn’t want to attract attention or impress people and by choosing rather dark colors and a rather dark belt it reinforces this impression.

From my point of view, the clothes with short sleeves are mirroring Jihwa, Seung-Won and Jung In-Hun’s personality. They are hiding their true thoughts and intentions. They are not really honest. Furthermore, they are trying to act as if they were quite rich and influential. They definitely want to make an impression on people and if we pay attention more closely on the younger brother, the beholder observes a huge contrast. We have the impression that the brother is wearing so many interior robes as if he wanted to appear much bigger and stronger, especially here. Even if it is cold, neither Seungho nor Jung In-Hun nor Baek Na-Kyum have so many layers. Therefore we can say that Seung-Won’s clothing outlines his deceptive nature but also his inferiority complex in my opinion. Furthermore, the red belt is quite catchy just like his choice of color for his robe and stands so much in opposition to the brother’s colors. The choice of dark colors for Seungho exhibits the seme’s rather pessimistic attitude due to his traumatic past which Seung-Won never experienced. With the bright colors, the younger brother wants to attract attention, he seems to be vain too. Unlike the main lead, he pays attention to his appearance. He is not humbly dressed. Now, let’s focus on the color chosen by him: it is either light yellow and lime green. This is what I found about the negative aspects to yellow:

“being critical and judgmental, being overly analytical, being impatient and impulsive, being egotistical, pessimistic, an inferiority complex, spiteful, cowardly, deceitful, non-emotional and lacking compassion”.

Then if we add the negative features of lime green, then we find this:

“Lime green inspires youthfulness, naivety and playfulness; it is liked the most by younger people. It creates a feeling of anticipation, and helps to clear the mind of negativity.”

And this is what I wrote about Seung-Won in my other analysis: selfish, insensitive, arrogant, deceitful but also naive. So the choice of colors reflects his personality (egoistic, naive but full of anticipation) and reinforces my judgement about him. He couldn’t wait for the brother’s answer, he needed his help hence he barged at his mansion at a late hour. He was indeed impatient.

Then I would like to point out another observation about the younger brother. Notice that he never put down his hat while sitting in front of the protagonist. We can’t say that he was in a hurry because a table full of dishes had been brought in the meantime. Seungho showed a certain respect from his side. And this exposes the nature of their relationship. Seung-Won doesn’t treat Seungho as a real brother, only as a tool hence he feels uncomfortable. Besides, it reinforces the impression that he is not honest with him. The clothes as a disguise and shield are mirroring his intention. He is not opening up to Seungho, in reality he is trying to deceive him. A foolish attempt which unveils his naivety. As you can observe with the analysis of Seung-Won’s clothes, we could determine that they reflect their personality, their state of mind and the intention of the characters. So the question asked by my follower was correct, the clothes have a deeper meaning.

Maybe you might have realized that there is one noble I left out, when I compared the clothes of the nobles. Min was not included. Unlike the others, he has a similar dress like Seungho. His robe has no short sleeves, unless he hunts, just like the seme. Then you might wonder why he is an exception? Besides, we know that he is deceitful and manipulative hence this would contradict my own interpretation above. The exterior robe with short sleeves indicates a double-faced and vain personality. However, there is a simple explication for this. Min is copying Seungho’s style. By dressing in a similar way, it reveals his envy, jealousy and longing to replace him. Now, let’s take a closer to the green.

“This color green relates to stability and endurance, giving us persistence and the strength to cope with adversity”

hence this is no surprise if green is associated to fight too. It helps to hide from the enemy because the person blends in with nature. Furthermore dark green has another connotation. It is linked to jealousy and envy therefore there is this expression “green with envy”. This dark color is also associated with other negative attributes: ambition, possessiveness and greed. We can conclude that dark green signifies greed and selfish desires. Now, you understand why Byeonduck chose this color for Min. He is greedy, ambitious and jealous. This is another clue that Min is determined to dethrone Seungho and take his place as the new alpha in the sodomite community. That’s why he is imitating his style.

Now, it is time to analyse Yoon Seungho’s clothes more closely. Let’s start with the first episode. What caught my attention here is the color.

“Pale green indicates, as the color of new growth on plants, immaturity, youthfulness and inexperience. It allows us to see things from a new perspective, to make a fresh start that’s why green is also the color of growth, the color of spring, of renewal and rebirth.”

Hence I have the impression that Byeonduck’s choice of the color is intentional. It announces the master’s future metamorphosis. He has no experience in a real relationship. He has never learnt how to deal with rejection, reprimand, how to be considerate towards others and feel deep emotions and externalized his thoughts. The light green implies that the noble is here in a rather good mood because he is about to meet his idol. The other thing is that here the noble is only wearing the exterior robe as if he was allowing people to see a certain side of himself. However, if you scrutinize, the domestic is not looking at his master, he is bowing. This indicates that the lord is not paying attention to his appearance because for him, the presence of a servant is not perceived as an intrusion. For him, it was as if there was nobody, the assistant is just a nobody. Hence he can let his robe open as if he wanted to breathe. Moreover, he reveals a certain side of his personality: his determination and his ruthlessness. He is willing to do anything in order to obtain that painter, even if he has to kill someone. Strictly speaking, it looks like he is more talking to himself than to the domestic. From my point of view, this image illustrates that the main lead accords no importance to his image and dignity. He feels more comfortable with a rather loose robe.

But there are other notions linked to the color green. A person wearing green

“is generous and loves to share, yet simultaneously he also looks for recognition. It is friendly and can keep confidences.”

This explains why Yoon Seungho is wearing the same robe on the day he meets his idol, the admired painter Baek Na-Kyum. He wants the artist to feel his genuine admiration and to be recognized as his biggest fan. That’s why he gets touchy from the beginning. In front of him, there is this talented painter who can create emotions in him that’s why he gets aroused.

Now, I’ll focus more on the low-born because unlike the noble, the color of his clothes never really changes, only at the end. It remains light pink for a long time because as a commoner, he has no other clothes. I am quite sure that the readers have an idea what pink symbolize: love.

“The color pink represents compassion, nurturing and love. It relates to unconditional love and understanding, and the giving and receiving of nurturing.”

No wonder why Byeonduck chose pink for the artist. He embodies pure and innocent love, especially at the beginning. He has deep feelings for Jung In-Hun. But pink is also associated to negative aspects which I’ll enumerate:

“being physically weak, over-emotional and over-cautious, having emotional neediness or unrealistic expectations, being naive, immature and girlish, lack of will power and lack of self worth.”

So the color represents the true personality of our protagonist. He is definitely physically weak, he is very emotional, hence he often has tears and he is too idealistic, so immature and naive that he can’t detect the teacher’s lies and manipulations. It fits his personality so well.

However, as time passes on, the pink becomes darker and darker.

(chapter 35)

(chapter 41)

chapter 44

At the end, the color of his clothes is a mixture of pink with brown. The degrading of the pink is an indication of the character’s growth. He is no longer naive and innocent, his love has been destroyed by Jung In-Hun… yet the pink has not completely disappeared from my perspective. So at some point, the artist could choose pink again, the moment he realizes his feelings for Yoon Seungho. This color marks a crucial moment in Baek Na-Kyum’s life: the loss of innocence and his disillusion at the end of the season. He has somehow perceived the truth: the teacher never cared for him and he meant nothing for him. He was just a tool, a prostitute for the low noble’s interest therefore he has been abandoned.

Striking is that the moment Yoon Seungho wanted to take responsibility for him, he let him wear his own clothes, like in the chapter 26. He brought his green robe or in the chapter 36, the dark green.Because he was wearing the master’s clothes, it illustrates that the lord wanted to make a statement. From now on, Baek Na-Kyum is his partner and as such, he should be treated like a master. However, only after his long illness, he is willing to wear the master’s clothes.

What caught my attention is the powerful noble wore the same green robe from the chapter 12 to the chapter 16. In the meantime, he chose a blue robe from the chapter 5 to 11.

He is so eager to meet the painter that he is already walking without closing his exterior robe. This displays his good mood, his anticipation and his lack of pretense. He is truly not vain.

The episode 11 is quite special because it is the only time, we see Yoon Seungho’s long hair.

Kim is brushing his hair indicating how much he trusts his loyal valet.

And this is no coincidence. Even till the last episode of the first season, Yoon Seungho never untied his hair in front of the painter. This displays that he has not really opened up to the low-born. He might love him but there is still this invisible wall between them. The lord was in a good mood that morning hence he left in a hurry.

The question is why? He had heard the masturbation that Baek Na-Kyum did behind the closed door so he knew that the last sex session had aroused the uke and the painter had been lowering his guards. That’s why he wanted to eat lunch with the commoner. The more he treated him with respect, the more he believed that he would achieve his goal, getting new paintings… maybe he had already fantasized to taste the virgin. Now, it is time to pay attention to the color:

Positive keywords for blue include: loyalty, trust and integrity, tactful, reliability and responsibility, conservatism and perseverance, caring and concern, idealistic and orderly, authority, devotion and contemplation, peaceful and calm.

Negative keywords for blue include: being rigid, deceitful and spiteful, depressed and sad, too passive, self-righteous, superstitious and emotionally unstable, too conservative and old-fashioned, predictable and weak, unforgiving, aloof and frigid. It can also indicate manipulation, unfaithfulness and being untrustworthy.

Blue is also associated to coldness and distance. Striking is that many features are mirroring the actual state of mind of our lord. He is caring and wants to take his responsibility for the painter that’s why the commoner has a very good bed, he has the occasion to eat lunch with the master. Besides, Yoon Seungho already thinks that the painter has already conceded to his request. Despite his good mood, he is emotionally unstable because his mood changes so abruptly. One moment he is showing a certain favoritism, the next he treats him like a servant.

However, he shows a certain predictability in his reaction. He acted exactly like Jihwa had anticipated. He would unleash his fury against the low-born. He would show no mercy (unforgiving) hence he would submit him to the straw mat beating. He acted like a noble in that moment.

But before his outburst of rage he was quite idealistic and even devoted to the artist as he wanted to eat his lunch with him. And this explains why he chose a even darker blue robe after he had heard the reproach from Baek Na-Kyum (“he was a man consumed by lust”) and after the rape. He was even more cold, emotionally unstable, unforgiving and conservative. That’s why he can’t get aroused by Jihwa in the chapter 5 or he has an outburst after taking his bath in the chapter 25. It did mirror his state of mind. A simple gesture and he would literally explode. That’s why his robe is not closed. In my opinion, he must have some difficulties to breathe due to pangs of conscience. Besides, it reinforces my impression that he is someone who prefers comfort over looks. Even happy, he paid no attention to the way he was dressed, he couldn’t even wait to meet the painter in the chapter 11. He is not vain, quite a natural personal. But the open robe is also a sign of his torment too in my opinion, when he is having some trouble. Finally, we shouldn’t forget that blue is connected to royalty and I have the impression that he chose this color in order to impress the painter and to demonstrate his power. He was a majestic master. The darker the blue, the more he wants to appear majestic.

After the straw mat beating, he switches his robe again and returns to light green. From my point of view, it displays his desire to appear younger and it shows his uncertainty how to treat the low-born. From the chapter 12 to 16, he only wears the light green one.

Besides, there is one moment where he stands completely naked in front of the artist. Sure, this was not the first time that our low-born had seen the lord naked, yet this time it diverges because he is exposing his phallus directly to the painter. He is using his sex-appeal to invite the painter to join him. So the lack of robe here has a purpose. Then after the sex session with Jihwa, he doesn’t wear his light green robe properly. The man is revealing his naked chest. On the one hand, I believe that this has to do with seduction, on the other side this displays his comfort in front of the painter. Here, the latter is not perceived as a nobody, rather as someone where the lord can be himself. He is natural, playful and quite relaxed. This is the first time that he is so close to the commoner, there are no distance and no painting between them. He is approaching him so carefully as he has sensed this man’s shyness. Therefore he is wearing the light green robe, when he masturbates the young man for the first time. Everything is new, I doubt that he did something similar to Jihwa, in particular with this special position. He is embracing the man showing his need to feel close to the low-born. For him, the social gap is non-existent. Only his desires matter. Striking is that after this event, Seungho starts wearing again the lighter blue robe. Interesting is that each time, he chose it, he was in a good mood.

chapter 19 At the gisaeng house

He couldn’t forget the painter’s reaction after the masturbation. He was blushing with some tears.

A flashback, the image Seungho remembers

Even later he even witnesses the argument between the low noble and Baek Na-Kyum so he definitely saw an opportunity to approach the commoner again. What caught my attention is that this time, the noble is wearing a red belt indicating that he wants to impress someone. Sure one might argue that dressing up has something to do with the visit to the brothel. However, I detect that this red belt serves as an announcement: The master has already planned to seduce none other than Baek Na-Kyum. And this did happen but he never realized that deep down, he was looking for acceptance, love and warmth, not sex. Unlike the painter, his unconscious reveals itself, when the man is not dreaming, it is rather the opposite. This is understandable because the lord barely sleeps. Due to his insomnia, his repressed natural desires can only appear, when he is awake which leads me to the following conclusion. That’s why the choice of his robes and the way he wears them is never random and reflect his emotional state of mind. All his moves were triggered by his unconscious, while he thought that it was his own free will. He was fated to fall in love with the painter because the latter embodies the opposite of his own world: artificiality, treachery, vanity, coldness, hypocrisy.

That’s it for now. I didn’t mention the lord’s clothes in the chapter 6 because it makes more sense to examine it with Jung In-Hun. By the way, I am not saying that people wearing now green clothes are jealous or something like that. This serves for literary purposes.

Feel free to comment or to give any suggestion for an analysis (topic, manhwas). If you enjoyed reading it, either retweet it or push the button “like” so that this writing doesn’t become pointless. Thanks for the support.

I have been thinking to write about “At the end of the road” from Haribo which was the first BL manhwa I ever bought. It would be great to know if you would read an analysis about it, either by leaving a comment here or through Twitter. Thanks for any reply.

Painter Of The Night: Yoon Seungho’s pangs of conscience

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 4 Comments

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 different occasions, the readers catch the protagonist feeling remorse and regretting his actions. Striking is that the first time, we could only detect it through the narration of a witness. And this happened in the chapter 13.

Even the narrator is quite unsure how to interpret the master’s action because of the expression “it seems”. Why is he so uncertain? First, the master’s behavior is unusual. Like Jihwa said, he is someone who doesn’t go back on his word. However, the servant is well aware that he has no idea what motivated the master. He might have good reasons because he is someone very cunning and has a secretive nature. Besides, no servant really understands the lord, he is just a mystery to them. He is harsh, has mood swings and leads such a decadent life without paying attention to his bad reputation and gossips. He stands out so much from the other nobles. He is just an oddity hence the spy hired by Jihwa can’t explain Seungho’s change of heart because he is so different from the other aristocrats.

Striking is that Byeonduck chose to reveal the outcome of the incident through a flashback from a spy. Besides we only see the lord from far away and what caught my attention is that we don’t get to see the lord’s gaze. As you know, his eyes are the mirror of his soul. Hence even the readers are left in the dark and it is left to the beholders to find an interpretation. But since we know the whole story for the first season, I believe that the lord’s change of heart represents his first visible guilty conscience.

We have two different clues for this. The master personally went there to stop the punishment. It is not just because he wanted to ensure that his order would be followed. He could have sent his loyal valet Kim. No, he regretted his action for slapping and for the punishment. His appearance there signalized that he felt responsible. And now this is my own interpretation. He had calmed down and realized that he had been too harsh and violent. He got aware that he had just jumped to the conclusion that he had ruined the painting but he must have remembered the painter’s surprised face and he only took liability because someone was accusing Jung In-Hun indirectly. I have the impression that he must have remembered the incident with the poem, where Baek Na-Kyum was so bold to criticize the master and even tried to take back the poem. He knows the painter’s daring attitude, when it comes to Jung In-Hun. The other clue is that he asked his servant Kim to attend the artist personally and take care of the wound on his lip. Striking is that he knew where the innocent man had been injured: the cut on the lip. So he must have paid attention to the artist’s face. From my point of view, the lord is someone self-reflecting a lot. How do I come to this conclusion?

Notice that there is a certain pattern in his attitude. He did the same thing after the rape but this time, the beholder had many occasions to witness his remorse. In the bathroom, he is recalling what led to the rape and the fact that he is remembering shows that he is not denying what happened. He wants to know how this could happen since he had never planned the rape. A person without remorse or regret wouldn’t even give a thought and would never attempt to remember like that because bad memories are quite painful. In the bathroom, he cools down and is no longer angry, rather remorseful. Therefore he makes the decision to bring the injured painter his own clothes. The deadly gaze he gives to Kim on his way back is a defense mechanism in my opinion. He doesn’t want to be confronted by a critical and reproachful gaze. We all know that he is truly sensitive, when it comes to gaze. And notice that he even attends the poor low-born himself. He stands by the bathtub and looks at him and even wipes the tears from his eyes.

However, the noble doesn’t truly realize the real impact of his action. He thought that even if he coerced him to sex, the painter would no longer resist him and accept him as his partner. He is a lord after all. That’s why he shows a certain lack of understanding first.

The lord believes that if he brings himself new clothes and wipes himself the tears from his face, it will be enough to smooth the pain. He makes the assumption that this will be enough to compensate for his wrongdoing. In his eyes, he has already lowered himself and taken over the job of an assistant. He never expected that the painter would reject his gentle gesture and push his hand away.

The rejection and the reproachful gaze ignite a fire in Seungho. He becomes furious.

We have to imagine that he never had to face admonition, until he met the commoner. The lord might have felt remorse but he doesn’t want to take the whole blame and tries to make the uke feel guilty. He never expected such a reply from Baek Na-Kyum. The climax of the reprimand is when the commoner puts the blame on him for the whole situation. If he hadn’t acted as Jung In-Hun, then none of this would have ever happened. Striking is that painter is more angry at him because of their first night than the forced sex at the pavilion. That’s why the beholder sees a shock on the master’s face. No one has ever reprimanded him like that, confronting with such harsh words and putting all the responsibility on him. He can’t accept criticism so well as he has never been used to it. We shouldn’t forget that he has never been in a relationship and all his “acquaintances” are just sex partners. He has been a loner for a long time.

His inability to accept criticism has been revealed all along. It started with the condemnation with the words “a man consumed by lust”. It annoyed him so much that he wanted to be left alone. He literally ran away. Just after the rape, he does the same. He had already felt remorse, when the uke whispered Jung In-Hun hence he left the pavilion.This terrible and somehow empty gaze serves as a shield, he is so lost in his thoughts and he doesn’t even want to see or hear anything that could resemble a disapproval or reprimand. In other words, the regret or remorse are always connected to a certain cowardice. He doesn’t want to face any admonishment and wants to seclude himself. However, as time passes on, I believe that he reflects on his behavior and has some pangs of conscience. Hence he went himself to release the painter from the straw mat beating and he personally fetched the horse and brought back his own clothes to the commoner. He has a certain self-awareness. And let’s not forget that he personally confirmed that the wound on his lip was healing. This gesture illustrates that the lord is definitely taking the blame for the injury.

If we compare the two situations (the straw mat beating and the scene in the bathroom), we can notice a progression in the involvement. First, he let the valet Kim attend the wound, this time he is willing to do it himself. He has started to devalue himself. Hence I come to the conclusion that after the straw mat beating, he did feel some regret but not to the point to feel so guilty. However by each wrongdoing, the pangs of conscience are getting bigger. Nevertheless his position as master represents a hindrance in my opinion. That’s why he wasn’t willing to take the whole blame for the rape in the bathroom.

And now, we come to the situation where the lord will feel remorse again. This happens right after the sex marathon. Striking is that this time, Byeonduck let the beholder witness how little by little the lord takes his responsibility for his action and bad decisions. He never imagined that his sex stamina would exhaust the artist so much. First, he drinks water and notice that the uke is immobile.

Here we can observe the worries in his eyes hence he puts the bowl next to the commoner believing that this would be enough.

The three dots in the speech bubble are interesting because this shows that the lack of reaction from the painter leaves the master speechless. We don’t see his face but yet we hear his shock, the sudden realization dawns on him that there is something really wrong with the artist. That’s why this time, the noble gives himself the water with his own mouth. Here, he can’t blame anyone like in the past (see the straw mat beating, the rape and the fellatio due to the way Baek Na-Kyum is dressed: half-naked and touching his body). He can’t run away either because if he did, the artist could die. He has to face his wrongdoing. Yet we can detect a progression in his change of behavior: he has lowered himself even more than before. When he recognizes that his simple gesture didn’t work, he gets even more concerned.

The pangs of conscience are in this chapter not only visible but palpable. He sends for a doctor and Kim is by the uke’s side. What caught my attention here are the following pictures.

The doctor is actually criticizing the valet and the lord indirectly. This time, a third person is expressing a reprimand which incites the valet Kim to warn the physician.

He knows his master’s personality pretty well. He can’t accept any criticism, he actually expects a violent outburst. Only then we discover Yoon Seungho’s presence and he has a deadly gaze again. However, he shows no other reaction, although he did hear the diagnosis and the admonishment from the doctor. Like I had mentioned it above, the cold and mortal gaze is a defense mechanism. But his lack of violent outburst indicates that he does accept the reprimand. Little by little, Seungho is changing, is willing to face any criticism. He has no other choice. Then he remains at the door until the doctor has given his full diagnosis and prescription. Even plagued by remorse, he assumes the responsibility for his wrongdoings by his presence while remaining silence. Striking is that as soon as the physician has finished his speech, the lord leaves the room.

Here again, he is running away again in order to reflect on himself and the valet had even anticipated this behavior. He needs “seclusion” in order to think deeply and he can only get it outside the mansion. Hence he goes to sex parties, where his body might be present but his mind elsewhere. Besides I suspect that just like Baek Na-Kyum, he wants to ease the pain with sex so that he can’t think of anything else, yet from my point of view, Seungho couldn’t stop thinking while having sex… and I am sure that Min’s words triggered his possessiveness that’s why he returned to the mansion at the end.

He might take the blame financially but admitting himself to be responsible is another thing. Like I mentioned it in another analysis, Seungho wants to know the reason behind his actions. Why did he want to sleep with the painter so much? Was it because he had focused too much on the artist? Maybe if he had other sex partners, he would feel less aroused by the commoner? Why does it feel so different with the others? Moreover, he fears the painter’s reaction. That’s why he never comes back for many days. It is a mixture of a guilty conscience and introspection. Since he has always been rejected and criticized by the painter before, he has already imagined that the uke would behave like in the past. He only comes back, when he hears that the painter recovered from his fever. Deep down, he hopes that the uke won’t react so violently because so many days have passed and he is in a much better condition. He is definitely hoping that he won’t be confronted with harsh words and hatred. That’s why when he returns to his chamber, he has this indifferent faze and impenetrable gaze in order to protect himself. He observes a different reaction: there is no resent or hatred like in the bathroom, although what he did, was far worse in his eyes. Therefore he lets the painter leave his bedroom. The low-born could have died and the master is well aware of this fact but he is content enough that there is no hatred from the painter. The pangs of conscience are the reason why he broods the whole night. Besides, he has to find a way to get closer to Baek Na-Kyum.

From the chapter 36 on, Seungho is willing to become the servant in their relationship. This represents the climax of his transformation. However, the transformation is not complete. Why? First, he never apologized to the painter personally. Even when the painter was slapped by Jihwa and the identity of the culprit was revealed, Seungho only caressed the artist’s face saying that with him, his life was more colorful. That’s why there is this slap in the chapter 41. He still views himself as a master. We have to imagine that he has internalized his role as master so this shouldn’t wonder us that there are some remains. From my point of view, Seungho is now able to digest criticism but he needs to learn to communicate with the painter hence he wouldn’t need to seclude himself in order to reflect. An apology is needed too in my opinion. When the lord does that, their relationship will improve and the gap between them will really disappear.

The first season illustrates a gradual metamorphosis. He is able to face disapproval which explains why he is much calmer than before, he acts more and more like a servant, although he has not dropped entirely his role. He needs to learn to express himself more but after so many years in solitude and loneliness, this can’t happen so suddenly. He has to learn to be in a relationship and communication is the key. The eagle has almost been tamed.

Feel free to comment or to give any suggestion for an analysis (topic, manhwas). If you enjoyed reading it, either retweet it or push the button “like” so that this writing doesn’t become pointless. Thanks for the support.

Painter Of The Night: Jung In-Hun, a new version of “Bel-Ami”?

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 2 Comments

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.

As you already know my style, you can imagine that in the title of this essay, there is a reference to a novel. This work “Bel-Ami” was written by Guy de Maupassant, a French writer from the end of the 19th Century. The latter is very famous for his short stories which I love so much. I have to admit that he is my favorite French writer because of his style: short, simple but full of irony and metaphors.

“Bel-Ami” is the nickname given to the protagonist Georges Duroy because he is handsome. “Bel-Ami/Beautiful Friend” (French translation) is admired by many women from the bourgeoisie. The story is about the social rise of Georges Duroy. His parents are just peasants, but the man is able to become famous and rich at the end. Georges Duroy is portrayed as an ambitious and unscrupulous seductive man who reaches the top of the Parisian social society thanks to his mistresses and the collusion between finance, the press and politics. Actually, he embodies the very type of anti-hero. Striking is the higher he climbs, the more ruthless and immoral he becomes. So his social rise corresponds to his increasing loss of conscience and morality. [He was never a good person from the start, but he got worse].

Now, the reader can detect why I would connect this man to Jung In-Hun. First, you can sense that their personality is similar: ambitious, greedy, selfish, opportunist, ruthless but hiding their true personality behind smiles and good manners, even if Georges Duroy has to learn the etiquette through his mistresses because of his origins. As you can imagine, Guy de Maupassant was portraying an immoral and corrupted society and he had a very bad opinion of women and bourgeoisie as such. The period and the location might differ from Painter Of The Night, yet the negative image of the high society remains the same.

However, there is a huge difference between Georges Duroy and Jung In-Hun. While the former is a commoner, the other is a low noble. Yet, their situation in the beginning is quite similar, they have no wealth and no connection in order to become powerful and rich. The other parallel is that both can enter the social circles from the high society through a friend. In Bel-Ami, it’s his friend Monsieur Forrestier who gives him a job as a journalist. From that moment, the former soldier is able to meet people and women so that he can advance in his career. In other words, we could say that he prostitutes himself in order to climb up the social ladder. On the other hand, I have to point out that he enjoys having many conquests. So sex is his way to feel superior and to achieve his goal. The end of the novel announces the peak of his career: he has just married a naive but rich daughter Suzanne Walter, whose mother was his former mistress and sponsor, when his eyes meet one of his former conquests, Madame de Marelle, insinuating that in his second marriage, he will still have mistresses.

But let’s go back to the comparison between Jung In-Hun and Georges Duroy. So far, we discovered the similarities between their personality and their social situation at the beginning of the story: poor and without connection. Another parallel between Jung In-Hun and Georges Duroy is the introduction through a friend to a new world. Baek Na-Kyum is the one who causes the meeting between the teacher and Yoon Seungho.

But now, you are wondering why I connect Jung In-Hun to Georges Duroy, when the latter is the main lead and the teacher just a second character and when we know that the low noble is never seen having sex or having mistresses. Their situation , their personality and the description of an immoral and decadent society might be similar, yet the methods of Jung In-Hun and Georges Duroy differ.

First, Jung In-Hun has to pass the civil exam and he needed the support of a sponsor in order to have access to a good library which was necessary in order to get more knowledge. Georges Duroy was just hired through his friend. But in reality their methods only diverge on the surface. Both use people as pawns and once the latter have served their purpose, the anti-hero and the antagonist have no problem to abandon them.

However, there is a more specific reason why I link those terrible characters. Sex plays a role Jung In-Hun’s life too, although it is not very visible because he has a condemning attitude towards homosexuality and sex as such. I am quite sure that he acts as if sex was something vulgar and dirty too. Nonetheless, his attitude towards homosexuality changes the moment he realizes that he has become himself a victim of manipulation. While he thought that he had been able to deceive Yoon Seungho, it was the opposite. The powerful noble needed him in order to force the painter to work for him. When the learned sir tried to fight against the protagonist during the hunt, he was immediately defeated.

chapter 22

Not only he had to kneel down in front of the seme but he had to hear that his dream of social rise could not succeed so easily like he had imagined. Therefore on his way to the mansion, he unleashes his anger and frustration against Baek Na-Kyum as he is much weaker socially, physically and mentally hence the poor man is grabbed violently by the wrist and even pushed against the wall. The artist is surprised by this sudden brutal behavior, nevertheless he doesn’t complain. What caught my attention in this scene is the alternation of his attitude towards the commoner. First, he is aggressive, then when Jung In-Hun asks the artist to search for a weakness, he has already distanced himself from the low-born.

He thought that with just an order, he could have the painter worked for him as a spy. But since Baek Na-Kyum is so innocent and humble, he wonders how he, as a low-born, could get info so easily. And this questioning infuriates the teacher so much that he yells at him and grabs him brutally again. Yet, when he witnessed Baek Na-Kyum’s shocked face, he gets aware that he needs to treat the artist better if he wants to convince the painter to act as a spy. That’s why Byeonduck zoomed on the low noble’s mouth.

It was as if he was clenching his jaw, grinding his teeth, as if he had to do something that he really dislikes. Now pay attention to the gestures he makes:

chapter 24

He becomes very close to the uke, touches his shoulder with his head and hands, then he kisses his hands. He is definitely seducing the innocent man. One might object that this is just an act but fact is that he is using his body in an alluring way in order to convince the painter. It is like a job he has to do. He knows that Baek Na-Kyum will never ask him for a sexual favor because he has indoctrinated him that he views homosexuality as filthy and disgusting. Sure, one might argue that he has only taken over the part of the pimp. However, what the uke didn’t realize is that he has the upper hand in their relationship. If he had been a corrupted person, he could have proposed a deal: “Sleep with me and you’ll get your info”. Imagine the irony of the situation: Jung In-Hun is here asking the painter to do anything, including sleep with the lord, in exchange for weaknesses, whereas at the same time, the learned sir is forced to become touchy and to caress the painter’s hands with his lips. We have to wonder who is here the whore. The low noble knows that he is safe with the artist and the latter will never come up with the idea to exploit this situation.

Nonetheless, the elements of prostitution are right here. He is willing to use sex in order to achieve his goal and he is willing to use his body to seduce the naive man. And if we compare his behavior towards Baek Na-Kyum in the past, we will observe that the low noble always kept his distance from him. It was especially visible in the chapter 7 at the teacher’s arrival. While the artist was almost jumping on him, the learned sir could only take a step backwards while making a disgusted face. The only time, he touched the man, it was to prevent him from painting so that he would leave the mansion. Nonetheless, he was barely touching the uke’s chin (chapter 10). But it was not obvious and he thought that this was a small token, nothing in comparison to what he would get from Yoon Seungho’s support. However after the chapter 24, the low noble’s attitude changes drastically. Jung In-Hun keeps touching him illustrating that sex and homosexuality that he abhors so much are now part of Jung In-Hun’s world. (chapter 29) (chapter 38). Imagine that he is even willing to visit the uke’s chamber in order to squeeze information out from the painter. So for me, this sudden appearance at the painter’s chamber symbolizes his willingness to visit a man’s chamber for his own selfish interests.

Not only he opens the door but also he stays with the painter in the chamber behind closed doors. You can now guess the meaning behind this action. He no longer fears the gossip as long as he can get what he wants. He seems desperate. Visiting the low-born’s chamber and remaining for quite some time behind closed doors can generate rumors. To me, it becomes more and more obvious that the “social rise” of Jung In-Hun will be related to sodomy and not to skills. I have always wished that the best punishment for the learned sir is to become the image he detested in the first place. And this negative future seems to be foreshadowed with the lord’s words at the end of the chapter 44:

First, the protagonist associates the teacher with lip service. We know what he means behind his words. The low noble is just talking but he thinks the opposite. However, the metaphor “lip service” could be perceived differently if the beholder takes it literally. He will kiss men with his lips and he might have to kiss the old bearded men’s asses for real. So my theory is that just like Georges Duroy, he will prostitute himself. The two differences are the following: the men will be his tools for his career and secondly, I don’t think that the readers will be able to witness his social rise like with Georges Duroy. He is doomed to failure in my opinion. I have the impression that Jung In-Hun’s career will mirror the painter’s career but in the negative way. While Baek Na-Kyum will be supported by Yoon Seungho because of his love for him and will be able to climb the social ladders despite the scandal, Jung In-Hun will sink lower and lower through sodomy. Since he claimed that Baek Na-Kyum was born to be a prostitute, the teacher’s fate could be that he ends up as a real prostitute in a brothel because he failed with his schemes. That’s why I conclude that Jung In-Hun won’t definitely be Georges Duroy due to his failure.

Then I would like to analyze more closely the character Jung In-Hun in the chapters 29, 30 and 35 concerning his role as pimp and prostitute. Striking is that after escaping from the mansion, the commoner asks the low noble to run away with him because their lives are in danger. After this statement, Jung In-Hun replies with a rhetorical question:

And the readers are well aware that this is Jung In-Hun’s MO, feigning ignorance. With this rhetorical question, he forces the painter to lie since the learned sir brainwashed the artist that the former hates sodomy and he wants to keep his distance from people committing such a sin. Furthermore, the low-born had been reminded in the chapter 10 that he could never criticize the lord for a “crime/wrongdoing” like Baek Na-Kyum did back then. The learned sir had said harsh words against him underlining that due to his social status he had no right to condemn Yoon Seungho. Since he can not accuse the master of rape, the uke is cornered. He will never be seen as a victim by Jung In-Hun. Furthermore, the former wishes to maintain his relationship with the low noble. “Thanks to” Yoon Seungho, he had been able to renew his relationship with him and he could stay close to him.

As you can detect, the pimp will do anything for his own interests. He needs the painter to share the bed with the powerful noble as he knows that the bedchamber is the place where confidences and secrets are revealed. So the chapter 29 insinuates that Jung In-Hun has already assumed the role of the pimp but it becomes clearer in the next chapter. At the same time, he was acting like a prostitute because for the return, he had to touch the low-born and even hug him (see the pictures above). After their return, the teacher protects the artist by claiming that Baek Na-Kyum would only listen to his words.

He is definitely ambiguous with his statement. He can not reveal that he knows about the rape since he would unveil his true personality. He is manipulative and deceitful. That’s why he can only mention the paintings. With the last words, the fake man is implying that if Yoon Seungho wants to obtain the artist’s favors, the master needs to pay attention to Jung In-Hun because he is the only person he listens to. Right in front of the seme, Jung In-Hun is claiming the low-born as his slave, his belonging. But this doesn’t end here. We are actually witnessing how the teacher is selling off the uke what the latter fails to realize. However, Seungho understood the meaning here hence he is worried later that this could happen at some point. The irony is that Jung In-Hun is too arrogant and stupid to realize the dangerousness of his situation. He could get killed by acting like a pimp. And the paradox is that due to Baek Na-Kyum’s intervention, Jung In-Hun couldn’t pull through the deal as the painter expressed that from now on, he would do anything for the lord. In front of the teacher, the commoner is declaring that Yoon Seungho has become his master and the gesture with the hands symbolizes the allegiance. He is joining his hands to Yoon Seungho. In other words, what Jung In-Hun wanted to do in the chapter 30 is to use Baek Na-Kyum as his whore in exchange for favors but he failed because of the painter’s spontaneity and innocence. The low-born didn’t fall into the teacher’s scheme.

But the double role as prostitute and whore doesn’t just end here because the low noble needs to discover a weakness and for that he has to rely on the artist. He can’t give up. That’s the reason why we have another encounter between Jung In-Hun and the painter in the courtyard. Baek Na-Kyum meets the teacher who explains the reason why he never visited the painter during his sickness.

Just like I mentioned it above, we see how Jung In-Hun is getting more and more touchy with the painter. He has no other mean, he needs to seduce the low-born and a stroke or two are nothing compared to what he could get. However, like I pointed out earlier, I detect all these actions as the ones of a “whore”.

He caresses the hair just like Yoon Seungho and we have to remember that the latter has been observing this scene from his window. No wonder if the protagonist gets jealous and desperate, he has been taking care of Baek Na-Kyum so well, was willing to give up his own bed and his reputation but he never succeeded. And here, he has to see how another man is “seducing” the object of his affection with cheap little tricks. Besides, he even lets his hand there for a while provoking the painter’s blushing.

For the sake of his career and his own interests, he is willing to “dirty” his hand. The teacher is well aware of the impact of his gesture but he needs his support. Besides, this doesn’t cost him anything. Just a nice gesture and he believes that Baek Na-Kyum will do as he says. We have to imagine that the teacher is acting like that in order to take over the painter. But by doing so, he doesn’t treat the artist as his belonging and his slave, that’s the reason why he doesn’t point out the absence of the white headband. As a conclusion, we see the low noble selling himself. In exchange for a service, he needs to be a little touchy and tender. The learned sir didn’t forget that the commoner had pledged allegiance to his “sponsor” but he expects that “out of love for him”, the commoner will obey to his order.

But here we have another comical situation because the painter, full of innocence, reveals that the new master paid expensive medicine for him. And notice the gesture. The hand on the head is immediately removed…. How can the teacher compete against expensive medicine? His little trick can’t work but he doesn’t let the painter see his shock. Then he tries diminishing the lord’s action by declaring that he wasn’t seriously ill. These words do affect the painter. Here, he is able to sense that the low noble doesn’t value him very much. The candid man has to remind the learned sir that his condition was pretty serious. He is already hurt. And just before leaving, this is what Jung In-Hun says:

He tries to act like a pimp again hence this is the only price he has to pay. This time, he is caressing the cheek with his full hand… Observe the progression. From the head, the teacher went closer to the lips. He is truly increasing his seductive gestures. Imagine that all this time, Yoon Seungho had to witness their interactions. No wonder, when he declares that he would have killed the painter if he had left the domain with the low noble. For him, it was as if they were having sex in front of him.

Finally, this explains why in the chapter 38, the low noble caresses the cheek as he has to compete with the lord who spent the night with the uke. He needs the favor from Baek Na-Kyum notwithstanding, he reminds the painter to wear his white head-band. By doing so, he is trying to claim the uke as his servant. Now, you understand why he didn’t make a remark about the absence of the white cloth in the chapter 35. Here, he wasn’t sure if the painter had won the lord’s favor despite the declared allegiance. Furthermore, the pressure on Jung In-Hun is now increasing. Maybe he already knows that he won’t succeed like he stated it so proudly in front of the other commoners and Baek Na-Kyum hence he needs to discover Seungho’s weakness right before his departure. Striking is that this final attempt to assert the painter as his belonging fails. He tried to act like a pimp with Baek Na-Kyum but it never worked.

As a conclusion, Jung In-hun might be a low noble but he is acting like a pimp and prostitute. He, who claims to be clean and honorable is far from it. I suspect that Jung In-Hun is doomed to fail because he has no idea what awaits him at the capital. He is far too arrogant and stupid to realize that there are dangerous men there. I have honestly to admit that I thought that Jung In-Hun would use Yoon’s brother and father for his own interests…. but now, I have the feeling that the opposite could happen. The father and the younger son might use the teacher as their prostitute, just like they used their eldest son in the past. Let’s not forget that Yoon Seungho’s relatives are manipulative, selfish, ambitious and ruthless. Yoon Seung-Won might be innocent but I doubt that this is the case for the father. Sure, there is nothing certain about their relationships. Who will exploit whom? It could go both ways. However, I believe that Jung In-Hun will have to sell himself at some point. It already started with these little gestures which he justified that this was nothing compared to glory and a great career. And the most surprising observation is that it was Baek Na-Kyum’s innocence that saved him from the manipulations of his “admired sir” (see chapter 24, 30, 35).

Feel free to comment or to give any suggestion for an analysis (topic, manhwas). If you enjoyed reading it, either retweet it or push the button “like” so that this writing doesn’t become pointless. Thanks for the support.

Table of Contents Painter Of The Night (version from September 8th 2024) – Essay 471 / Video „Edge of Darkness“ Analyses 367, 293, 450, 417 and 400 updated

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 3 Comments

Like announced, I am locking the essays little by little. So if you desire to keep reading them, you’ll need to follow me on Instagram/reddit/tumblr/Twitter and contact me (bebebisous33@yahoo.com) or subscribe here.

Announcement: From essay 458 on, I am changing the password. For my subscribers, please contact me.

The following analyses were all written between April 2020 and September 2024. Now, you can see if you have read everything about Painter Of The Night. Pay attention that some essays are updated because of details I missed the first time and because we get new info in the new season. All these new discoveries always lead to new theories. But after composing so many essays, I have to admit that if they don’t contain huge misinterpretations (like it was the case with Kim), I can no longer review/update all of them, especially since I am still writing new essays with each new released chapter.

  1. The first meeting between Yoon Seungho and Baek Na-Kyum: the prelude of their special relationship https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/04/14/the-painter-of-the-night-from-byeonduck-the-first-meeting-between-between-seungho-and-baek-na-kyum-the-prelude-of-a-special-relation/
  2. Yoon Seungho and Baek Na-Kyum, a comparison (second version) 24.12.20 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/05/31/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seungho-and-baek-na-kyum-a-comparison/
  3. Yoon Seungho: a tragic figure or a hell-raiser? (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/04/18/yoon-seungho-a-hell-raiser/
  4. Min: the introduction of a new villain? (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/05/05/painter-of-the-night-min-the-introduction-of-a-new-villain/
  5. An analysis about Baek Na-Kyum’s paintings 🎨 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/05/07/painter-of-the-night-an-analysis-about-baek-na-kyums-paintings/
  6. The chamber where everything changed https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/04/24/painter-of-the-night-the-chamber-where-everything-changed/
  7. Jung In-Hun: a snake, a peacock 🦚 or a chameleon? (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/05/30/painter-of-the-night-jung-in-hun-a-snake-or-a-peacock/
  8. Jihwa, chronicle of the foretold death of a childhood friend? (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/05/29/jihwa-death-foretold/
  9. The pavilion, a place full of symbolism (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/02/painter-of-the-night-the-pavilion-a-place-full-of-symbolisms/
  10. Responsibility, an analysis of the chapters 39 and 40 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/03/responsibility-an-analysis-of-the-chapters-39-and-40/
  11. Yoon Seungho’s father: first impressions https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/04/yoon-seunghos-father-first-impressions/
  12. Yoon Seungho’s gaze: the mirror of his soul (part 1) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/05/seunghos-gaze-the-mirror-of-his-soul/
  13. Baek Na-Kyum’s dreams and their interpretation (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/06/baek-na-kyums-dreams-and-their-interpretation/
  14. The role played by the hand (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/07/painter-of-the-night-the-role-played-by-the-hand/
  15. Hypotheses for the second season https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/08/painter-of-the-night-hypotheses-for-the-second-season/
  16. Yoon Seungho, Baek Na-Kyum and Nameless as animals – second version (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/09/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seungho-and-baek-na-kyum-as-animals/
  17. Jung In-Hun’s secrets (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/10/painter-of-the-night-jung-in-huns-secrets/
  18. Seungho’s kisses 💋 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/11/painter-of-the-night-seunghos-kisses/
  19. “Room with a view” in Joseon (part 1) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/12/painter-of-the-night-room-with-a-view-in-joseon-part-1/
  20. “Room with a view” in Joseon (part 2) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/13/painter-of-the-night-room-with-a-view-in-joseon-part-2/
  21. Seungho’s weaknesses https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/14/painter-of-the-night-seunghos-weaknesses/
  22. The mirror 🪞 and its functions (fourth version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/15/painter-of-the-night-the-mirror-and-its-functions/
  23. The helping hand 🤝 (second version) 24. 04.2021 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/16/painter-of-the-night-the-helping-hand/
  24. Traces of “Dangerous Liaisons” and “Justine: The Misfortunes of Virtue” in the manhwa https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/17/painter-of-the-night-traces-of-dangerous-liaisons-and-justine-the-misfortunes-of-virtue-in-the-manhwa/
  25. “Persuasion” and “Pride and Prejudice” in the manhwa (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/18/painter-of-the-night-persuasion-and-pride-and-prejudice-in-the-manhwa/
  26. “Master and Man” (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/19/painter-of-the-night-master-and-man/
  27. The window 🪟, the door 🚪, the air and their signification (third version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/20/painter-of-the-night-the-window-the-door-the-air-and-their-signification/
  28. Who is this Baek Na-Kyum? – part 1 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/21/painter-of-the-night-who-is-this-baek-na-kyum/
  29. “Spring Awakening” part 1 (second version) (only accessible with password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/22/painter-of-the-night-spring-awakening-part-1/
  30. Sex or love? ❤️ (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/23/painter-of-the-night-sex-or-love/ Sex or love? ❤️ Version with only 10 pictures https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/07/02/painter-of-the-night-sex-or-love-2/
  31. “Spring Awakening” part 2 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/25/painter-of-the-night-spring-awakening-part-2/
  32. Yoon Seungho: a psychopath? (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/26/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seungho-a-psychopath/
  33. “Spring Awakening” part 3 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/27/painter-of-the-night-spring-awakening-part-3/
  34. The difficult life of painters (comparison with A Painter behind the curtain) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/28/painter-of-the-night-a-painter-behind-the-curtain-the-difficult-life-of-painters/
  35. Reputation and responsibility (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/29/painter-of-the-night-reputation-and-responsibility/
  36. An accomplice, a pawn or an innocent?https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/06/30/painter-of-the-night-an-accomplice-a-pawn-or-an-innocent/
  37. Yoon Seungho’s gaze: the mirror of his soul (part 2) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/01/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-gaze-the-mirror-of-his-soul-part-2/
  38. The role played by the gaze https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/02/painter-of-the-night-the-role-played-by-the-gaze/
  39. Baek Na-Kyum: a crybaby? (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/03/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyum-a-crybaby/
  40. Yoon Seungho’s fears https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/04/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-fears/
  41. Illusion and reality (another manhwa is included: Legs that won’t walk from Black apricot) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/05/painter-of-the-night-legs-that-wont-walk-illusion-and-reality/
  42. The significance of the headband (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/06/painter-of-the-night-the-importance-of-the-headband/
  43. The bed and its different meanings (second version:25.03.2021 ) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/07/painter-of-the-night-the-bed-and-its-meanings/
  44. Jung In-Hun, a new version of “Bel-Ami”? https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/08/painter-of-the-night-jung-in-hun-a-new-version-of-bel-ami/
  45. Yoon Seungho’s pangs of conscience https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/09/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-pangs-of-conscience/
  46. The significance of clothes (part 1) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/10/painter-of-the-night-the-significance-of-clothes-part-1/
  47. The significance of clothes (part 2) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/11/painter-of-the-night-the-significance-of-clothes-part-2/
  48. Min: a snake, a wolf🐺, a magpie or a crow? https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/12/painter-of-the-night-min-a-snake-a-wolf-a-magpie-or-a-crow/
  49. Seungho’s mouth 🫦 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/13/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-mouth/
  50. The significance of clothes (part 3) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/14/painter-of-the-night-the-significance-of-clothes-part-3/
  51. The Manual how to read and analyze the second season of Painter Of The Night https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/15/painter-of-the-night-the-manual-how-to-read-and-analyze-the-second-season-of-painter-of-the-night/
  52. Breakups, chagrin and alcohol 🍾 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/16/painter-of-the-night-breakups-chagrin-and-alcohol/
  53. Short analysis of the new trailer (second season) – second version (18.07.2020) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/17/painter-of-the-night-short-analysis-of-the-new-trailer-season-2/
  54. The significance of clothes (part 4) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/18/painter-of-the-night-the-significance-of-clothes-part-4/
  55. A new version of Fall of man https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/19/painter-of-the-night-a-new-adaptation-of-fall-of-man/
  56. Baek Na Kyum’s lies (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/20/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-lies/
  57. Jung In-Hun’s problems and worries https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/21/painter-of-the-night-jung-in-huns-problems-and-worries/
  58. Yoon Seungho’s scar https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/22/painter-of-the-night-seunghos-scar/
  59. Traces of Candide in the manhwa https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/23/painter-of-the-night-traces-of-candide-in-the-manhwa/
  60. The animal representing Yoon Seung-Won (This was the last one before the second season started) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/24/painter-of-the-night-the-animal-representing-yoon-seung-won/
  61. Baek Na-Kyum: a fiancée, a wife, a favored servant or a prostitute? – part 1 (second version) (only accessible with password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/25/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyum-a-fiancee-a-wife-a-favored-servant-or-a-prostitute-part-1/
  62. Baek Na-Kyum: a fiancée, a wife, a favored servant or a prostitute? – part 2 (third version) (only accessible with password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/26/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyum-a-fiancee-a-wife-a-favored-servant-or-a-prostitute-part-2/
  63. An easy conquest (only accessible with password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/27/painter-of-the-night-an-easy-conquest/
  64. Rumors and the Yoons https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/27/painter-of-the-night-rumors-and-the-yoons/
  65. Dreams https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/07/31/painter-of-the-night-dreams/
  66. Baek Na-Kyum’s future (part 1) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/01/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-future-part-1/
  67. Baek Na-Kyum’s future (part 2) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/02/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-future-part-2/
  68. Baek Na-Kyum’s future (part 3) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/03/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-future-part-3/
  69. Drawings and emotions (part 1) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/04/painter-of-the-night-drawings-and-emotions/
  70. Drawings and emotions (part 2) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/05/painter-of-the-night-drawings-and-emotions-part-2/
  71. Drawings and emotions (part 3) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/06/painter-of-the-night-drawings-and-emotions-part-3/
  72. Needs and desires https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/08/painter-of-the-night-needs-and-desires/
  73. “Why?” (part 1) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/09/painter-of-the-night-why-part-1/
  74. “Why?” (part 2) (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/13/painter-of-the-night-why-part-2/
  75. Dignity (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/17/painter-of-the-night-dignity/
  76. Yoon Seungho’s long fight and struggle (part 1) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/19/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-long-fight-and-struggle-part-1/
  77. Yoon Seungho’s long fight and struggle (part 2) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/21/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-long-fight-and-struggle-part-2/
  78. Baek Na-Kyum’s confessions (part 1) (third version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/22/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-confessions-part-1/
  79. Baek Na-Kyum’s confessions (part 2) (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/23/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-confessions-part-2/
  80. Baek Na-Kyum’s confessions (part 3) (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/24/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-confessions-part-3/
  81. Yoon Seungho’s traumatic past (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/25/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-traumatic-past/
  82. 🤓 Jung In-Hun’s poem, an analysis https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/28/painter-of-the-night-jung-in-huns-poem-an-analysis/
  83. Realization (part 1) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/29/painter-of-the-night-realization-part-1/
  84. Realization (part 2) – updated version https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/08/30/painter-of-the-night-realization-part-2/
  85. Baek Na-Kyum’s confessions (part 4) (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/03/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-confessions-part-4/
  86. Baek Na-Kyum’s confessions (part 5) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/04/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-confessions-part-5/
  87. Hearsay (part 1) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/05/painter-of-the-night-hearsay-part-1/
  88. Hearsay (part 2) – second version https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/06/painter-of-the-night-hearsay-part-2/
  89. Punishment or not? – Wishful thinking (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/07/painter-of-the-night-punishment-or-not/
  90. Jihwa’s torment (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/09/painter-of-the-night-jihwas-torments/
  91. Baek Na-Kyum’s confessions (part 6) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/11/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-confessions-part-6/
  92. 🖤 Black Heart (part 1) 🖤 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/12/painter-of-the-night-black-heart-part-1/
  93. 🖤 Black Heart (part 2) 🖤 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/13/painter-of-the-night-black-heart-part-2/
  94. Love and War (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/14/painter-of-the-night-love-and-war/
  95. Portraits (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/15/painter-of-the-night-portraits/
  96. Imagination and speculations (no analysis, just predictions for fun) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/16/painter-of-the-night-imagination-and-speculations/
  97. The mirror of truth? https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/18/painter-of-the-night-the-mirror-of-truth/
  98. The heart and the mind (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/19/painter-of-the-night-the-heart-and-the-mind/
  99. The spirit 👻 and the shadow 👤 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/21/painter-of-the-night-the-spirit-and-the-shadow/
  100. Spirituality and sensuality https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/22/painter-of-the-night-spirituality-and-sensuality/
  101. Prejudices, secrets and images: Deok-Jae (fourth version) – was liked by the author herself, for me a proof that my theory is correct https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/24/painter-of-the-night-prejudices-secrets-and-images-deok-jae/
  102. Prince Charming https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/25/painter-of-the-night-prince-charming/
  103. White ⚪️ versus Black ⚫️ (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/27/painter-of-the-night-white-versus-black/
  104. Paintings (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/09/28/painter-of-the-night-paintings/
  105. The discovery of spiritual love, a theory https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/02/painter-of-the-night-the-discovery-of-spiritual-love-a-theory/
  106. Conscious versus unconscious (part 1) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/03/painter-of-the-night-conscious-versus-unconscious-part-1/
  107. Baek Na-Kyum’s mouth https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/04/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-mouth/
  108. Conscious versus unconscious (part 2) (third version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/06/painter-of-the-night-conscious-versus-unconscious-part-2/
  109. Yoon Seungho’s hands 👐 and feet in the first chapter https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/07/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-hands-and-feet-in-the-first-chapter/
  110. Beauty and the Beast in the manhwas (with Serene Bird) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/09/painter-of-the-night-serene-bird-traces-of-beauty-and-the-beast-in-the-manhwas/
  111. The sun 🌞, the Earth 🌎 and the moon 🌜 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/10/painter-of-the-night-the-sun-the-earth-and-the-moon/
  112. Love triangles https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/11/painter-of-the-night-love-triangles/
  113. Yoon Seungho’s secrets (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/13/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-secrets/
  114. Injuries https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/14/painter-of-the-night-injuries/
  115. Doomed Love? https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/15/painter-of-the-night-doomed-love/
  116. Light, hope and desires (part 1) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/17/painter-of-the-night-light-hope-and-desires-written-by-user4792569-and-bebebisous33/
  117. Light, hope and desires (part 2) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/18/painter-of-the-night-light-hope-and-desires-part-2-written-by-user4792569-and-bebebisous33/
  118. Dream and reality (third version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/19/painter-of-the-night-dream-and-reality/
  119. Lee Jihwa: Another puzzle?🧩🧩 (third version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/22/painter-of-the-night-lee-jihwa-another-puzzle/
  120. Father Yoon (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/24/painter-of-the-night-father-yoon/
  121. Corruption versus purification https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/25/painter-of-the-night-corruption-versus-purification/
  122. Animals and predictions https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/26/painter-of-the-night-animals-and-predictions/
  123. Jihwa’s confession – part 1 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/28/painter-of-the-night-jihwas-confession/
  124. Jihwa’s confession – part 2 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/30/painter-of-the-night-jihwas-confession-part-2/
  125. Yoon Seungho’s love confession: the hands (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/10/31/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-love-confession-the-hands/
  126. Yoon Seungho’s love confession: dream and reality https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/01/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-love-confession-dream-and-reality/
  127. The Best man (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/02/painter-of-the-night-the-best-man/
  128. Yoon Seungho’s confession: Wreck. https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/06/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-love-confession-wreck/
  129. Past, present, future – part 1 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/08/painter-of-the-night-past-present-and-future-part-1/
  130. Past, present, future – part 2 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/09/painter-of-the-night-past-present-and-future-part-2/
  131. Past, present, future – part 3 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/10/painter-of-the-night-past-present-and-future-part-3/
  132. Starry Night versus Cloudy Night https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/13/painter-of-the-night-starry-night-versus-cloudy-night/
  133. Fire and water – part 1 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/15/painter-of-the-night-fire-and-water-part-1/
  134. Fire and water – part 2 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/16/painter-of-the-night-fire-and-water-part-2/
  135. “It cannot be” https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/20/painter-of-the-night-it-cannot-be/
  136. Past, present and future – part 4 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/20/painter-of-the-night-past-present-and-future-part-4/
  137. Fate or liberty? 🗽 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/21/painter-of-the-night-fate-or-liberty/
  138. “BADUM, BADUM and its implications” https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/22/painter-of-the-night-badumbadum-and-its-implications/
  139. Past, present and future – part 5 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/23/painter-of-the-night-past-present-and-future-part-5/
  140. The painter’s gaze https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/24/painter-of-the-night-the-painters-gaze/
  141. “It all started with… ” https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/26/painter-of-the-night-it-all-started-with/
  142. “Crime and Punishment” – part 1 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/28/painter-of-the-night-crime-and-punishment-part-1/
  143. “Crime and Punishment”- part 2 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/11/29/painter-of-the-night-crime-and-punishment-part-2/
  144. “Crime and Punishment” – part 3 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/12/02/painter-of-the-night-crime-and-punishment-part-3/
  145. Fire and darkness: Yoon Seungho (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/12/06/painter-of-the-night-fire-and-darkness-part-1/
  146. Fire and darkness: Baek Na-Kyum (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/12/08/painter-of-the-night-fire-and-darkness-part-2/
  147. Fire and darkness: valet Kim – part 1 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/12/11/painter-of-the-night-fire-and-darkness-valet-kim-part-1/
  148. Fire and darkness : valet Kim – part 2 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/12/13/painter-of-the-night-fire-and-darkness-valet-kim-part-2/
  149. The night of revelations – part 1 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/12/19/painter-of-the-night-the-night-of-revelations-part-1/
  150. Yoon Seungho’s obsession and its origins (second version) (Dine with a Vampire is mentioned and analyzed here) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/12/20/painter-of-the-night-dine-with-a-vampire-yoon-seunghos-obsession-and-its-origins/
  151. The night of revelations – part 2 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/12/21/painter-of-the-night-the-night-of-revelations-part-2/
  152. Brothers https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/12/22/painter-of-the-night-brothers/
  153. The night of revelations – part 3 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/12/23/painter-of-the-night-the-night-of-revelations-part-3/
  154. The phoenix, the crane and the butterfly (Another manhwa: Serene Bird) (third version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/12/29/painter-of-the-night-the-phoenix-the-crane-and-the-butterfly-serene-bird/
  155. Valet Kim: a dog 🐶, a matchmaker or a father? (third version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/12/30/painter-of-the-night-valet-kim-a-dog-a-matchmaker-or-a-father/
  156. Landscapes and its signification https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/12/31/painter-of-the-night-landscapes-and-its-signification/
  157. What if…. https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/01/painter-of-the-night-what-if/
  158. Silence 🤐 (fourth version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/02/painter-of-the-night-silence/
  159. Loyalty https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/03/painter-of-the-night-loyalty/
  160. Family (Third version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/04/painter-of-the-night-family/
  161. Yoon Seungho’s hanboks https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/06/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-hanboks/
  162. Justice (third version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/07/painter-of-the-night-justice/
  163. “HAA…” Flashbacks https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/09/painter-of-the-night-haa-flashbacks/
  164. The power of … (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/10/painter-of-the-night-the-power-of/
  165. The Joker – part 1 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/12/painter-of-the-night-the-joker-part-1/
  166. The Joker – part 2 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/15/painter-of-the-night-the-joker-part-2/
  167. The Joker – part 3 (second version): The manhwa The Beast Must Die is included as a comparison https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/16/painter-of-the-night-the-beast-must-die-the-joker-part-3/
  168. Pandora’s box – part 1 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/19/painter-of-the-night-pandoras-box/
  169. Painting and desires – part 1 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/20/painter-of-the-night-painting-and-desires-part-1/
  170. Pandora’s box -part 2 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/22/painter-of-the-night-pandoras-box-part-2/
  171. Absence https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/24/painter-of-the-night-absence/
  172. Painting and desires – part 2 (fourth version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/25/painter-of-the-night-painting-and-desires-part-2/
  173. The Joker’s plan https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/26/painter-of-the-night-the-jokers-plan/
  174. Painting and desires – part 3 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/29/painter-of-the-night-painting-and-desires-part-3/
  175. Heroes 🦸‍♂️ – part 1 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/01/30/painter-of-the-night-heroes/
  176. Reflections https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/01/painter-of-the-night-reflections/
  177. The fate of shadows and the phoenix https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/02/painter-of-the-night-the-fate-of-shadows-and-the-phoenix/
  178. The slaps ✋🥊 in the kaleidoscope (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/06/painter-of-the-night-the-slaps-in-the-kaleidoscope/
  179. Kim’s power – part 1 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/07/painter-of-the-night-kims-power-part-1/
  180. The life of women 👯‍♀️ in Joseon (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/10/painter-of-the-night-the-life-of-women-in-joseon/
  181. Kim’s power – part 2 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/12/painter-of-the-night-kims-power-part-2/
  182. Heroes 🦸‍♂️ – part 2 (second version) (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/14/painter-of-the-night-heroes-part-2/
  183. Yoon Seungho’s love confession: I adore you (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/15/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-love-confession-i-adore-you/
  184. A man consumed by lust https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/16/painter-of-the-night-a-man-consumed-by-lust/
  185. Love and respect https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/20/painter-of-the-night-respect-and-love-part-1/
  186. Desires and communication 📲 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/21/painter-of-the-night-desires-and-communication/
  187. Baek Na-Kyum’s past https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/22/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-past/
  188. Stockholm Syndrome (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/23/painter-of-the-night-stockholm-syndrome/
  189. “How strange…”🤔🧐 (second version) (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/25/painter-of-the-night-how-strange/
  190. Jealousy and trust (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/26/painter-of-the-night-jealousy-and-trust-part-1/
  191. Decisions https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/27/painter-of-the-night-decisions/
  192. Setting the trap https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/02/28/painter-of-the-night-setting-the-trap/
  193. Love and trust https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/01/painter-of-the-night-love-and-trust/
  194. A thousand thoughts swept through my mind till sunrise https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/04/painter-of-the-night-a-thousand-thoughts-swept-through-my-mind-till-sunrise/
  195. Farewell https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/05/painter-of-the-night-farewell/
  196. Pranks https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/06/painter-of-the-night-pranks/
  197. Sex and sensuality (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/07/painter-of-the-night-sex-and-sensuality/
  198. The Light 💡 in the Heart ❤ (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/09/painter-of-the-night-the-light-in-the-heart/
  199. Love💘, embrace and caress 👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/11/painter-of-the-night-love-embrace-and-caress/
  200. Five candles 🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️ https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/12/painter-of-the-night-five-candles/
  201. The purge (theory) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/13/painter-of-the-night-the-purge-theory/
  202. Peace and Love ☮️ (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/14/painter-of-the-night-peace-and-love/
  203. The bride 👰 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/15/painter-of-the-night-the-bride/
  204. Baek Na-Kyum’s orgasms (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/17/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-orgasms/
  205. Investigation 🔍🧐 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/18/painter-of-the-night-investigation/
  206. Yoon Seungho’s treasure 👅 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/20/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-treasure/
  207. Lord Na-Kyum and Seungho-Ya https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/20/painter-of-the-night-lord-na-kyum-and-seungho-ah/
  208. Yoon Seungho’s erections (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/21/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-erections/
  209. Butterflies 🦋 🦋 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/22/painter-of-the-night-butterflies/
  210. The Rebirth of the Phoenix https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/23/painter-of-the-night-the-rebirth-of-the-phoenix/
  211. Adoration (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/26/painter-of-the-night-adoration/
  212. Words https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/27/painter-of-the-night-words/
  213. Liberation https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/28/painter-of-the-night-liberation/
  214. The baby Yoon Seungho 👶 https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/29/painter-of-the-night-the-baby-yoon-seungho/
  215. Cowardice versus courage: innate or learnable? https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2021/03/30/painter-of-the-night-cowardice-versus-courage-innate-or-learnable/
  216. The topknot incident (fifth version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/01/painter-of-the-night-the-topknot-incident/
  217. Yoon Seungho’s suffering path (fourth version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/02/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-suffering-path/
  218. Animals of misfortune https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/03/painter-of-the-night-animals-of-misfortune/
  219. Refraction 🌈 https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/04/painter-of-the-night-refraction/
  220. A Fool 🤡 in love😍❤️‍🔥 (third version) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/05/painter-of-the-night-a-fool-in-love/
  221. A perfect crime?😱 https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/07/painter-of-the-night-a-perfect-crime-%f0%9f%98%b1/
  222. The night is long https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/08/painter-of-the-night-the-night-is-long/
  223. Nightmares and their message🖼️🖼️ (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/09/painter-of-the-night-nightmares-and-their-message/
  224. Truth and memories 🧠 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/11/painter-of-the-night-truth-and-memories/
  225. Interpretation of a nightmare (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/12/painter-of-the-night-interpretation-of-a-nightmare/
  226. Sins 🛐 (third version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/13/painter-of-the-night-sins/
  227. Secrecy and perpetrator (third version) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/14/painter-of-the-night-secrecy-and-perpetrator/
  228. Changes https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/16/painter-of-the-night-changes/
  229. The Ghost and the embrace 💞 https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/17/painter-of-the-night-the-ghost-and-the-embrace/
  230. The shadow and the light (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/18/painter-of-the-night-the-shadow-and-the-light/
  231. Strolls and guidance (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/19/painter-of-the-night-strolls-and-guidance/
  232. Inspirations (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/21/painter-of-the-night-inspirations/
  233. The heart versus the mind: The manhwa Unintentional Love Story is included https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/23/painter-of-the-night-the-heart-versus-the-mind/
  234. Home 🏰 (second version) The manhwa Dr Frost is mentioned https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/25/painter-of-the-night-home/
  235. Hiatus (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/26/painter-of-the-night-hiatus/
  236. Karma 💩🕉 (third version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/04/29/painter-of-the-night-karma/
  237. The birth of the zombie (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/05/02/painter-of-the-night-the-birth-of-the-zombie/
  238. Lord Song (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/05/05/painter-of-the-night-lord-song/
  239. Love and Sex 👨‍❤️‍👨 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/05/10/painter-of-the-night-love-and-sex/
  240. The kisaeng and the scholar 🎓👨‍🎓 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/05/13/painter-of-the-night-the-kisaeng-and-the-scholar/
  241. Beautiful catastrophe (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/05/22/painter-of-the-night-beautiful-catastrophe/
  242. The gifts 🎁 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/05/26/painter-of-the-night-the-gifts/
  243. Who is this Baek Na-Kyum? – second part (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/05/29/painter-of-the-night-who-is-this-baek-na-kyum-part-2/
  244. Perception (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/06/01/painter-of-the-night-perception/
  245. Season 3: the breaking of the shackles (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/06/05/painter-of-the-night-doctor-frost-season-3-the-breaking-of-the-shackles/
  246. Chaos (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/06/20/painter-of-the-night-chaos/
  247. The scholars’ fight (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/06/26/painter-of-the-night-the-scholars-fight/
  248. Happiness https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/06/29/painter-of-the-night-happiness/
  249. Tears and characters 😥- part 1 https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/07/03/painter-of-the-night-tears-and-characters-part-1/ (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/07/03/painter-of-the-night-tears-and-characters-part-1-version-with-only-10-pictures/
  250. Tears and characters 😥- part 2 (second version) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/07/04/painter-of-the-night-tears-and-characters-part-2/ (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/07/05/painter-of-the-night-tears-and-characters-part-2-version-with-10-different-pictures/
  251. Tears and predictions😉 https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/07/05/painter-of-the-night-tears-and-predictions-%f0%9f%98%89/
  252. Sex and passion 😍 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/07/08/painter-of-the-night-sex-and-passion/
  253. The Wedding nights (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/07/11/painter-of-the-night-the-wedding-nights/
  254. Kisses and reactions (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/07/12/painter-of-the-night-kisses-and-reactions/
  255. “Huis clos” – part 1 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/07/14/painter-of-the-night-huis-clos/
  256. “Huis clos” – part 2 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/07/17/painter-of-the-night-huis-clos-part-2/
  257. Jihwa the criminal (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/07/19/painter-of-the-night-jihwa-the-criminal/
  258. Treacherous colors 🟪 🟫 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/07/27/painter-of-the-night-treacherous-colors/
  259. Soul on the skin (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/07/30/painter-of-the-night-soul-on-the-skin/
  260. Power and salvation (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/08/04/painter-of-the-night-power-and-salvation/
  261. Twitter and Yoon Seung-Won https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/08/08/painter-of-the-night-twitter-and-yoon-seung-won/
  262. Sweet painful lessons (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/08/15/painter-of-the-night-sweet-painful-lessons/
  263. Black Heart🖤 and Green Heart 💚 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/08/17/painter-of-the-night-black-heart-and-green-heart/
  264. Silly or pitiful regrets? https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/08/19/painter-of-the-night-silly-or-pitiful-regrets/
  265. Chapter 77 between fiction and reality (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/08/20/painter-of-the-night-chapter-77-between-fiction-and-reality/
  266. Proposals (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/08/22/painter-of-the-night-proposals/
  267. The witch and the lustful spell (part 1) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/08/23/painter-of-the-night-the-pawns-revenge-the-witch-and-the-lustful-spell-part-1/
  268. The end of the vicious circle (third version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/08/25/painter-of-the-night-the-end-of-the-vicious-circle/
  269. Guilt and sin (fourth version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/08/27/painter-of-the-night-guilt-and-sin/
  270. Time ⏳ and crime (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/08/28/painter-of-the-night-time-and-crime/
  271. The moon🌙 in the darkness (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/08/29/painter-of-the-night-the-moon-in-the-darkness/
  272. Between confessions and silence (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/09/02/painter-of-the-night-between-confessions-and-silence/
  273. We (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/09/04/painter-of-the-night-we/
  274. Fake? (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/09/05/painter-of-the-night-fake/
  275. The lady and the servant (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/09/07/painter-of-the-night-the-lady-and-the-servant/
  276. The fooled or fooling puppet master(s)? (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/09/09/painter-of-the-night-the-fooled-or-fooling-puppet-masters/
  277. Power struggle and favors (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/09/11/painter-of-the-night-power-struggle-and-favors/
  278. The sun is down 🌇 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/09/12/painter-of-the-night-the-sun-is-down/
  279. Between expectation and knowledge (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/09/14/painter-of-the-night-between-expectation-and-knowledge/
  280. The sacred place(s)? (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/09/16/painter-of-the-night-the-sacred-places/
  281. Yoon Seungho turns over a new leaf https://bebebisous33.tumblr.com/post/662584572815540224/painter-of-the-night-ysh-turns-over-a-new-leaf
  282. Young master and Kyumah (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/09/18/painter-of-the-night-young-master-and-kyumah/
  283. Shame and Love (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/09/19/painter-of-the-night-shame-and-love/
  284. Young Master and the doors (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/09/21/painter-of-the-night-young-master-and-the-doors/
  285. The mystery behind the closed door (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/09/23/painter-of-the-night-the-mystery-of-the-closed-door/
  286. The bride’s abduction (theory) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/09/25/painter-of-the-night-the-brides-abduction-theory/
  287. Yoon Seungho’s castration (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/09/28/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-castration/
  288. White knights, victims and martyrs (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/09/30/painter-of-the-night-white-knights-victims-and-martyrs/
  289. “F***ed-up!!” (third version) (Only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/10/02/painter-of-the-night-fed-up/
  290. Hate crime 🤬🩸 (third version) (Only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/10/03/painter-of-the-night-doctor-frost-hate-crime/
  291. Haunted (Second version) (Only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/10/04/painter-of-the-night-haunted/
  292. Kyumah’s Third eye (Only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/10/07/painter-of-the-night-kyumahs-third-eye/
  293. Revenge (second version) (Only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/10/09/painter-of-the-night-doctor-frost-revenge/
  294. “It hurts… 😭” (Only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/10/11/painter-of-the-night-it-hurts-%f0%9f%98%ad/
  295. The dragon and the shaman 👹 (fourth version) (Only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/10/13/painter-of-the-night-the-dragon-and-the-shaman/
  296. Sex and drugs 💉 💊 https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/10/15/painter-of-the-night-sex-and-drugs/
  297. Yoon Seungho’s smile (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/10/17/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-smile/
  298. “Who is dead?” (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/10/19/painter-of-the-night-doctor-frost-who-is-dead/
  299. Wishes (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/10/23/painter-of-the-night-doctor-frost-wishes/
  300. Neglected Thefts (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/10/24/painter-of-the-night-neglected-thefts/
  301. Harmony among the chaos (third version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/10/27/painter-of-the-night-harmony-among-the-chaos/
  302. The scarf, a small but significant detail😉 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/10/29/painter-of-the-night-the-scarf-a-small-but-significant-detail-%f0%9f%98%89/
  303. Jihwa’s Third eye (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/11/03/painter-of-the-night-doctor-frost-jihwas-third-eye/
  304. The peasant and the animals (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/11/06/painter-of-the-night-the-peasant-and-the-animals/
  305. Stuck! (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/11/10/painter-of-the-night-doctor-frost-stuck/
  306. The Power and Pleasure of Possessions (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/11/11/painter-of-the-night-the-power-and-pleasure-of-possessions/
  307. From a proxy war to a proxy fight (third version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/11/13/painter-of-the-night-from-a-proxy-war-to-a-proxy-fight/
  308. A stranger in the study! 👣👣 (Second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/11/15/painter-of-the-night-a-stranger-in-the-study/
  309. The shadows of the ancestors (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/11/18/painter-of-the-night-the-shadows-of-the-ancestors/
  310. Men in black 🐱‍👤 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/11/20/painter-of-the-night-men-in-black/
  311. The puzzle and the missing pieces (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/11/21/painter-of-the-night-the-puzzle-and-the-missing-pieces/
  312. Prayers (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/11/23/painter-of-the-night-prayers/
  313. Bloody Marriage (third version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/11/27/painter-of-the-night-bloody-marriage/
  314. The blessed twist of fate (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/01/painter-of-the-night-the-blessed-twist-of-fate/
  315. Oracles of the calligrapher 😉 – part 1 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/02/painter-of-the-night-oracles-of-the-calligrapher-%f0%9f%98%89/
  316. Oracles of the calligrapher 😉 – part 2 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/04/painter-of-the-night-oracles-of-the-calligrapher-%f0%9f%98%89-part-2/
  317. Sexual education 📚 🏳️‍🌈 and love 🌹(second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/05/painter-of-the-night-sexual-education-and-love/
  318. The devil is in the details 😲 – part 1 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/07/painter-of-the-night-the-devil-is-in-the-details-😲-part-1/
  319. The devil is in the details 😲 – part 2 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/09/painter-of-the-night-the-devil-is-in-the-details-%f0%9f%98%b2-part-2/
  320. Shocking discoveries ‼‼ (third version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/11/painter-of-the-night-shocking-discoveries/
  321. Royal touch and the hand of benediction ( only accessible with a password) (https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/15/painter-of-the-night-royal-touch-and-the-hand-of-benediction/
  322. Proposals and marriage vows (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/16/painter-of-the-night-proposals-and-marriage-vows/
  323. The bed is moving (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/18/painter-of-the-night-the-bed-is-moving/
  324. I can’t take anymore (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/19/painter-of-the-night-i-cant-take-anymore/
  325. The painter’s smile 😊(only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/22/painter-of-the-night-the-painters-smile-%f0%9f%98%8a/
  326. No more s… 🤫 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/24/painter-of-the-night-no-more-s-%f0%9f%a4%ab/
  327. Love songs💖💞 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/25/painter-of-the-night-love-songs%f0%9f%92%96%f0%9f%92%9e/
  328. First season revisited 🤓😲 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/26/painter-of-the-night-first-season-revisited-🤓😲/
  329. “Pervert or Perverts?”🤔 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/28/painter-of-the-night-pervert-or-perverts%f0%9f%a4%94/
  330. “Crazy lunatic!!” 😤 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/12/30/painter-of-the-night-crazy-lunatic-%f0%9f%98%a4/
  331. “Busted!!“🫥🪤 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/01/01/painter-of-the-night-busted/
  332. Nostalgic and terrific spots -part 1 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/01/03/painter-of-the-night-nostalgic-and-terrific-spots-part-1/
  333. Nostalgic and terrific spots -part 2 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/01/05/painter-of-the-night-nostalgic-and-terrific-spots-part-2/
  334. The perfect servant (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/01/06/painter-of-the-night-the-perfect-servant/
  335. Amusing Tattling or idle tale-telling? (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/01/07/painter-of-the-night-amusing-tattling-or-idle-tale-telling/
  336. Truth and lies (soon: only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/01/13/painter-of-the-night-truth-and-lies/
  337. The scholar‘s shadow (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/01/15/painter-of-the-night-the-scholars-shadow/
  338. I’m sorry (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/01/19/painter-of-the-night-im-sorry/
  339. In desperate need of fun and pleasure (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/01/20/painter-of-the-night-in-desperate-need-of-fun-and-pleasure/
  340. Love and hatred in the winter forest ☃️🌳 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/01/22/painter-of-the-night-dr-frost-love-and-hatred-in-the-winter-forest/
  341. Cluedo in the kisaeng house (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/01/24/painter-of-the-night-cluedo-in-the-kisaeng-house/
  342. Every nobleman’s dream 🤩 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/01/27/painter-of-the-night-every-noblemans-dream/
  343. I am in love with you (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/01/29/painter-of-the-night-i-am-in-love-with-you/
  344. The mystery behind the corpse (third version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/02/01/painter-of-the-night-the-mystery-behind-the-corpse/
  345. Baek Na-Kyum’s childhood 🖌️ (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/02/03/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-childhood%f0%9f%96%8c/
  346. Me and Seungho-Ya 🌒⭐(only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/02/05/painter-of-the-night-doctor-frost-me-and-seungho-ya-%f0%9f%8c%92%e2%ad%90/
  347. “Because it hurts” 💔💘 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/02/09/painter-of-the-night-because-it-hurts%f0%9f%92%94%f0%9f%92%98/
  348. The intriguing maids (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/02/10/painter-of-the-night-the-intriguing-maids/
  349. 🖤Black Heart’s moles🐀(second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/02/12/painter-of-the-night-%f0%9f%96%a4-black-hearts-moles-%f0%9f%90%80/
  350. Between rejection and choice – predictions (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/02/16/painter-of-the-night-between-rejection-and-choice-predictions/
  351. Yoon Seungho’s power (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/02/18/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seunghos-power/
  352. The long awaited karma 😈 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/02/20/painter-of-the-night-the-long-awaited-karma-%f0%9f%98%88/
  353. That day ❄️❄️ (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/02/23/painter-of-the-night-that-day-%e2%9d%84%e2%9d%84/
  354. The hands on the cheeks 🖐🏻 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/02/24/painter-of-the-night-the-hands-on-the-cheek/
  355. Who is wearing the pants?👖 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/02/27/painter-of-the-night-who-is-wearing-the-trousers-%f0%9f%91%96/
  356. “Na-Kyum, Na-Kyum!!“😰 or “Na-Kyum, Na-Kyum!!” 😤(only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/02/28/painter-of-the-night-na-kyum-na-kyum%f0%9f%98%b0-or-na-kyum-na-kyum-%f0%9f%98%a4/
  357. From dream 🎇 to nightmare (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/03/02/painter-of-the-night-doctor-frost-from-dream-%f0%9f%8e%87-to-nightmare/
  358. The mystery of the gibang ghost 👻 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/03/05/painter-of-the-night-the-mystery-of-the-gibang-ghost-%f0%9f%91%bb/
  359. A man of exceptional greed 🤑 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/03/09/painter-of-the-night-doctor-frost-a-man-of-exceptional-greed-%f0%9f%a4%91/
  360. Lee Jihwa’s special relationship with Yoon Seungho 🛏 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/03/11/painter-of-the-night-lee-jihwas-special-relationship-with-yoon-seungho-%f0%9f%9b%8f/
  361. The true face of faith ⛪⛩️ (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/03/12/painter-of-the-night-the-true-face-of-faith/
  362. Questions 🤔 and possible answers (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/03/16/painter-of-the-night-questions-🤔and-possible-answers/
  363. Naïve (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/03/20/painter-of-the-night-naive/
  364. Sound 🎵 and silence – part 1 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/03/23/painter-of-the-night-sound-%f0%9f%8e%b5-and-silence-part-1/
  365. Sound 🎵 and silence: Memories (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/03/26/painter-of-the-night-sound-%f0%9f%8e%b5-and-silence-memories/
  366. Silent light 🕯️ and noisy darkness (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/03/29/painter-of-the-night-silent-light-%f0%9f%95%af-and-noisy-darkness/
  367. A guided tour of Yoon Seungho’s domain 🏡 (second version) (only accessible with a password) Use the second password https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/03/31/painter-of-the-night-a-guided-tour-of-yoon-seunghos-domain%f0%9f%8f%a1/
  368. “No….It can’t be true”😭😱 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/04/02/painter-of-the-night-no-it-cant-be-true%f0%9f%98%ad%f0%9f%98%b1/
  369. The liars🤥, the fools 🤡 and the heroes (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/04/03/painter-of-the-night-the-liars-%f0%9f%a4%a5-the-fools-%f0%9f%a4%a1-and-the-heroes/
  370. The hidden shaman (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/04/07/painter-of-the-night-the-hidden-shaman/
  371. Heena’s curtains? (Second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/04/08/painter-of-the-night-heenas-curtains/
  372. Painter Of The Night, The 🔞 Muppet Show? 🎎 (Second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/04/09/painter-of-the-night-the-%f0%9f%94%9e-muppet-show/
  373. The feast in Yoon Seungho’s honor 🎭 (third version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/04/11/painter-of-the-night-the-feast-in-yoon-seunghos-honor-%f0%9f%8e%ad/
  374. A change of heart❣️ (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/04/14/painter-of-the-night-a-change-of-heart-%e2%9d%a3/
  375. “He’s 🤬 going to kill them all…“(second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/04/15/painter-of-the-night-hes-going-to-kill-them-all/
  376. A change of heart or the whims of these nobles (soon: only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/04/16/painter-of-the-night-a-change-of-heart-or-the-whims-of-these-nobles/
  377. The bloodthirsty Captain Hook 🐊 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/04/18/painter-of-the-night-the-bloodthirsty-captain-hook-🐊/
  378. Chicken 🐔 and dog 🐕 (third version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/04/20/painter-of-the-night-chicken%f0%9f%90%94-and-dogs-%f0%9f%90%95/
  379. “To be or not to be” (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/04/25/painter-of-the-night-to-be-or-not-to-be/
  380. The terrible fate of slaves (with Bongchon Bride) (soon: only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/04/28/painter-of-the-night-bongchon-bride-the-terrible-fate-of-slaves/
  381. “Black eye 👁️‍🗨️” (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/05/07/painter-of-the-night-black-eye-%f0%9f%91%81/
  382. The lotus 🌸 and the snake🐍 (with Steel Under Silk) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/05/11/steel-under-silk-painter-of-the-night-the-lotus-%f0%9f%8c%b8-and-the-snake%f0%9f%90%8d/
  383. The troublesome target 🎯 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/05/13/painter-of-the-night-the-troublesome-target-%f0%9f%8e%af/
  384. “I didn’t know that you could run so quickly.” 😧 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/05/14/painter-of-the-night-i-didnt-know-that-you-could-run-so-quickly-%f0%9f%98%a7/
  385. Hide in Plain Sight (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/05/17/painter-of-the-night-hide-in-plain-sight/
  386. Sleeping with the enemy (fourth version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/05/19/painter-of-the-night-sleeping-with-the-enemy/
  387. Dogs🐕 don‘t wear pants 👖(only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/05/22/painter-of-the-night-dogs-dont-wear-pants/
  388. Sympathy for the devil 😈 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/05/25/painter-of-the-night-sympathy-for-the-devil-%f0%9f%98%88/
  389. 💋 Stolen kisses 💋 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/05/28/painter-of-the-night-%f0%9f%92%8b-stolen-kisses-%f0%9f%92%8b/
  390. Manual 📖 how to avoid flashbacks (third version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/06/01/painter-of-the-night-manual-%f0%9f%93%96-how-to-avoid-flashbacks/
  391. Fortune-telling 🔮 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/06/05/painter-of-the-night-fortune-telling-%f0%9f%94%ae/
  392. The mysterious doctor 👨🏼‍⚕️ 💉(second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/06/06/painter-of-the-night-the-mysterious-doctor-👨⚕%EF%B8%8F💉/
  393. The face of “Lord Song” 🤴 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/06/07/painter-of-the-night-the-face-of-lord-song-%f0%9f%a4%b4/
  394. Spirits and the lustful shaman 🎑 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/06/11/painter-of-the-night-spirits-and-the-lustful-shaman-%f0%9f%8e%91/
  395. Bittersweet memories 📸 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/06/14/painter-of-the-night-bittersweet-memories-%f0%9f%93%b8/
  396. No matter what 🎲 Baek Na-Kyum must vanish (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/06/17/painter-of-the-night-no-matter-what-🎲-baek-na-kyum-must-vanish/
  397. The Dark Knight 🦇 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/06/22/painter-of-the-night-the-dark-knight-%f0%9f%a6%87/
  398. Seungho-Ya 👶 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/06/23/painter-of-the-night-seungho-ya-%f0%9f%91%b6/
  399. Intimate philosophical Secrets 🔐 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/06/26/painter-of-the-night-intimate-philosophical-secrets-%F0%9F%94%92/
  400. Baek Na-Kyum’s origins (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/06/30/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-origins/
  401. Whatever took you so long…? 📅⏳ (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/07/03/painter-of-the-night-whatever-took-you-so-long/
  402. Innocent or not guilty? ⚖️ (with Payback) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/07/06/painter-of-the-night-payback-innocent-or-not-guilty-%e2%9a%96/
  403. Dark circles 🔘 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/07/13/painter-of-the-night-dark-circles-🔘/
  404. Powerful fellatios 🍆 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/07/14/painter-of-the-night-powerful-fellatios-%f0%9f%8d%86/
  405. The muse Baek Na-Kyum 💌 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/07/17/painter-of-the-night-the-muse-baek-na-kyum-💌/
  406. PLOP 💣 and SLURP 🤤(only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/07/21/painter-of-the-night-plop-💣-and-slurp-🤤/
  407. Clouded judgement 🌒 🌬 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/07/29/painter-of-the-night-clouded-judgement-🌒-🌬/
  408. 🏮📯 Scandal(s) in Jemulpo 📯🏮 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/08/02/painter-of-the-night-🏮📯-scandals-in-jemulpo-📯-🏮/
  409. The loyal deserter 🙇 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/08/08/painter-of-the-night-doctor-frost-the-loyal-deserter-🙇♂%EF%B8%8F/
  410. The lovely slacker 👓 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/08/13/painter-of-the-night-the-lovely-slacker-%f0%9f%91%93/
  411. Arrogant, filthy and lying nobles🏯 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/08/20/painter-of-the-night-arrogant-filthy-and-lying-nobles-%f0%9f%8f%af/
  412. The scholars’ shoes👞 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/08/25/painter-of-the-night-the-scholars-shoes-%f0%9f%91%9e/
  413. Mumyeong’s past㊙️㊙️, a theory (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/08/26/painter-of-the-night-mumyeongs-past-㊙㊙-a-theory/
  414. The beauty in the summer🌞 clouds ☁️ ☁️ (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/08/27/painter-of-the-night-the-beauty-in-the-summer-%f0%9f%8c%9eclouds-%e2%98%81%e2%98%81/
  415. 🎆 Grandiose celebrations 😈😭 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/08/28/painter-of-the-night-%f0%9f%8e%86grandiose-celebrations-%f0%9f%98%88%f0%9f%98%ad/
  416. Coming-Of-Age 👘🎩 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/08/31/painter-of-the-night-coming-of-age-%f0%9f%91%98%f0%9f%8e%a9/
  417. Hunted or wanted? 🏹🩸 (second version) (soon only accessible with a password)
  418. Goddess’ will👩‍⚖️⚖️ ❤️ (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/09/10/painter-of-the-night-doctor-frost-goddess-will-%f0%9f%91%a9%e2%9a%96%ef%b8%8f-%e2%9a%96%ef%b8%8f-%e2%9d%a4%ef%b8%8f/
  419. Chapter 69 ☯️ ♋ revisited (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/09/16/painter-of-the-night-chapter-69-%e2%98%af%ef%b8%8f%e2%99%8b-revisited/
  420. My boy 👳‍♀️(only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/09/18/painter-of-the-night-my-boy-👳♀%EF%B8%8F/
  421. The vanishing of Baek Na-Kyum’s white headband🤕 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/09/23/painter-of-the-night-the-vanishing-of-baek-na-kyums-white-headband-%f0%9f%a4%95/
  422. Suicide ⚰️🪦 (only accessible with a password). https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/09/25/painter-of-the-night-suicide-⚰%EF%B8%8F🪦/
  423. Romantic scenes: The muse’s kisses 😍😘👄 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/10/01/painter-of-the-night-romantic-scenes-the-muses-kisses-%f0%9f%98%8d%f0%9f%98%98%f0%9f%91%84/
  424. Perfect lovemaking💞👨‍❤️‍👨 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/10/06/painter-of-the-night-perfect-lovemaking-%f0%9f%92%9e%f0%9f%91%a8%e2%9d%a4%ef%b8%8f%f0%9f%91%a8/
  425. “I should have left you to die back then” 🩸⚱️ (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/10/08/painter-of-the-night-i-should-have-left-you-to-die-back-then-%f0%9f%a9%b8%e2%9a%b1%ef%b8%8f/
  426. The secret behind the library 📚📚 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/10/13/painter-of-the-night-the-secret-behind-the-library-%f0%9f%93%9a%f0%9f%93%9a/
  427. Nightmare Inn 🏨🍚🍜 (second version) (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/10/14/painter-of-the-night-nightmare-inn-%f0%9f%8f%a8%f0%9f%8d%9a%f0%9f%8d%9c/
  428. The Rise of the Dragon 🐲 (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/10/20/painter-of-the-night-the-rise-of-the-dragon-%f0%9f%90%b2/
  429. Happy laughter 😄 and fearful agony 😦(soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/10/23/painter-of-the-night-happy-laugher-%f0%9f%98%84-and-fearful-agony-%f0%9f%98%a7/
  430. Painful departures 👋🩸⚰ (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/10/27/painter-of-the-night-painful-departures-%f0%9f%91%8b%f0%9f%a9%b8%e2%9a%b0%ef%b8%8f/
  431. The secret behind curry🍛 , apple 🍏 and butter 🧈(second version) (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/10/30/painter-of-the-night-the-secret-behind-curry%f0%9f%8d%9b-apple-%f0%9f%8d%8fand-butter-%f0%9f%a7%88/
  432. The puzzle with the paper 📜 📨 (second version) (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/11/02/painter-of-the-night-the-puzzle-with-the-paper-📜-📨/
  433. The liars🤥 in front of the mirror of truth: Lee Jihwa and Yoon Chang-Hyeon 👺 (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/11/03/painter-of-the-night-the-liars-%f0%9f%a4%a5-in-front-of-the-mirror-of-truth-%f0%9f%91%ba-lee-jihwa-and-yoon-chang-hyeon/
  434. Heena’s secrets 🔐 (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/11/08/painter-of-the-night-heenas-secrets-%f0%9f%94%90/
  435. Baek Na-Kyum’s foot 👣👣(soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/11/13/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-foot-%f0%9f%91%a3%f0%9f%91%a3/
  436. The riddle ❓❔ with the bed cover🛏 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/11/19/painter-of-the-night-the-riddle-%e2%9d%93%e2%9d%94-with-the-bed-cover-%f0%9f%9b%8f%ef%b8%8f/
  437. A Question Of Perspective: The loss of the topknot (combined with A Sip Of Poison) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/11/24/painter-of-the-night-a-sip-of-poison-a-question-of-perspective-the-loss-of-the-topknot-%f0%9f%92%87%f0%9f%8f%bb%e2%99%82%ef%b8%8f/
  438. The ruined paintings 🖼 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/11/30/painter-of-the-night-the-ruined-paintings-%f0%9f%96%bc%ef%b8%8f/
  439. Truthful flowers 🌸🌺🌹🥀 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/12/09/painter-of-the-night-truthful-flowers-🌸🌺🌹🥀/
  440. The hidden painter of the night 🎨 🖌🖼 (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/12/23/painter-of-the-night-the-hidden-painter-of-the-night-%f0%9f%8e%a8%f0%9f%96%8c%ef%b8%8f-%f0%9f%96%bc%ef%b8%8f/
  441. Yoon Seungho and his puzzled physician 🩺 (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2022/12/29/painter-of-the-night-yoon-seungho-and-his-puzzled-physician-🩺/
  442. The riddle of the enigmatic covers🔍🕵️‍♂️ (second version) (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2023/01/04/painter-of-the-night-the-riddle-of-the-enigmatic-covers%f0%9f%94%8d%f0%9f%95%b5%ef%b8%8f%e2%99%82%ef%b8%8f/
  443. Video: Summary of a love story 💖😍🌹 https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2023/01/08/painter-of-the-night-summary-of-a-love-story-%f0%9f%92%96%f0%9f%98%8d%f0%9f%8c%b9/
  444. Juicy Deeds 🤝 and Dry Words 🗯 (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2023/01/18/painter-of-the-night-juicy-deeds%f0%9f%a4%9d-and-dry-words-%f0%9f%97%af/
  445. Promise me 👄 you’ll never forget me because … 🥺 (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2023/02/02/painter-of-the-night-promise-me-%f0%9f%91%84-youll-never-forget-me-because-%f0%9f%a5%ba/
  446. The shadowy plot(s) 👀 from the past 🙊 (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2023/02/04/painter-of-the-night-the-shadowy-plots-%f0%9f%91%80-from-the-past-%f0%9f%99%8a/
  447. The shadow👤 behind the shrine ⛩️ (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2023/02/09/painter-of-the-night-the-shadow-%f0%9f%91%a4-behind-the-shrine-%e2%9b%a9%ef%b8%8f/
  448. 📣Breaking News! 📣 The painter vanished again!😨 (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2023/02/17/painter-of-the-night-%f0%9f%93%a3breaking-news-%f0%9f%93%a3the-painter-vanished-again-%f0%9f%98%a8/
  449. Right here beside you 👬(only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2023/02/19/painter-of-the-night-right-here-beside-you-%f0%9f%91%ac/
  450. Baek Na-Kyum’s-? 👀🧐 (second version) (only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2023/03/01/painter-of-the-night-baek-na-kyums-👀🧐/
  451. “Bad decisions!!❌⭕ (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2023/03/05/painter-of-the-night-doctor-frost-bad-decisions-%e2%9d%8c%e2%ad%95/
  452. “Thank god 🙏 he didn’t see nor hear a thing about that awful matter.” (soon only accessible with a password) https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2023/03/09/painter-of-the-night-thank-god-%f0%9f%99%8f-he-didnt-see-nor-hear-a-thing-about-that-awful-matter/
  453. “Uncatchable👻 ghosts👻👻 in town! 🌆 ” (soon only accessible with a password)
  454. The enigmatic and dark face 👹 behind the purple hanbok 🟣 (soon only accessible with a password)
  455. The dark ⬛ shed ⛺ and its symbolism ☯ (soon only accessible with a password)
  456. A book📖 , a kiss 💋 , a confession (soon only accessible with a password)
  457. Scary, treacherous body language 👄 👀 🤝  (only accessible with a password)
  458. 🎉The spectacular return of 👓 Jung In-Hun 🎉 (only accessible with a password) – reminder: new password
  459. Sleeping Beauty and the dwarfs 🧝‍♂️ (only accessible with a password
  460. Clueless ❓Jung In-Hun 👨‍🎓 (only accessible with a password)
  461. The reality of nightmare (podcast/video)
  462. Terrific power of love 🤍💖💢 (locked)
  463. Lord Shin’s killer 👿🔪 🩸💀
  464. The true Face of Family 👨‍👨‍👦‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 (locked soon)
  465. The Heavenly Hearth ☄️🌈 (locked)
  466. The mystery behind Baek Na-Kyum’s inspiration (locked)
  467. Edge of Darknesss 🎗️( here is the link to the video)
  468. Bloody🩸 Tide is turning🌊 (locked)
  469. Dropped amusement😞
  470. 🟦⬛Back to square one? 🟥⬜
  471. Lazy Hand ✌ Of Justice? ⚔

Painter Of The Night: Yoon Seungho’s fears (improved version)

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 3 Comments

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.

Right from the start, the main lead is introduced as a strong, confident and powerful person when he is cleaning his sword.

In this scene, the lord oozes charisma and doesn’t reveal any weakness. Even his position reinforces this impression, since he is sitting on a pedestal, higher than the servant and far away from him. Besides, the way the domestic is bowing illustrates the high respect the lord requests from him: strict obedience and deference. The master is quite frightening, especially when you hear him announcing that blood might be spilled, while he wipes his weapon. The beholder senses the dangerousity and the lack of mercy exuding from the noble. Yet as time passes on, we discover that this is just a facade and in different situations, the readers can detect his insecurities and fears.

One of his biggest fears is naturally the discovery of his family’s secret related to his past as a victim and scapegoat. He doesn’t want anyone to know what happened to him in the past because he doesn’t want to be reminded how powerless and weak he was back then. During his brother’s visit, Yoon Seungho was reminded of his trauma, when the latter was asked by Seung-Won to show concern for his father’s health and even pay him a visit. First, his fist is clenched indicating that there is resent, frustration and even hatred. However, his hand and wrist are shaking revealing a certain fear. Seungho doesn’t want anyone to witness his vulnerability and weakness. Notice in the last drawing that the leg is hiding the main lead’s hand and wrist from Seung-Won’s view. So his words contrast so much to his actual disposition. He is not calm at all, nonetheless he is willing to let the painter to see his shaking fist. Here he is definitely acting in front of his brother. The image of the shaking fist actually represents Baek Na-Kyum’s perspective. The beholder is discovering through the uke’s eyes that Yoon Seungho is not superhuman like in the beginning. Yet, the brother never got to see this sensitive side.

And this explains why our main character was so attracted to the artist very quickly. He, the master of deception and acting, meets someone who embodies honesty and naturality. He was defenseless in front of this kind of behavior because this implies spontaneity and unceremoniousness. Seungho was always caught off-guard, he could never really predict the painter’s actions. Sure, one time he anticipated that the painter would try to escape hence he took the poem, nevertheless he never imagined that Baek Na-Kyum would even try to take it back. His “talented hand” became his weapon.

chapter 4

That’s why his cool and fearless attitude started to crumble down the moment he met Baek Na-Kyum because the painter’s attitude provoked so many emotions. Due to his lies, daring comments and actions, the lord was never able to remain passive and indifferent or even to act properly. The usual distance between him and the servants in the first scene disappears right after due to Baek Na-Kyum. The latter was touched the moment they first met. Like I mentioned it in another analysis, their first encounter marks a change in the lord’s life. He is actually inviting the low-born to enter his personal space. From that moment, Yoon Seungho kept touching him. Either he wiped the tears on the artist’s face (chapter 1) or he caressed the hand with his cheek (chapter 2) or pushed the low-born

chapter 4

or slapped him(chapter 11). Baek Na-Kyum intruded his personal space physically or emotionally . I also believe that the hypnotic gaze helped the commoner to come closer to the lord, just like it served to unleash the commoner’s unconscious.

All this outlines that Yoon Seungho made sure that no one would ever enter his personal space before and Baek Na-Kyum represents the exception. This explicates why Jihwa was doomed to fail as he acted like his childhood friend. All of them were fake, creating a certain illusion which none of the participants recognized as unreal. Jihwa knew the painful past, however he never thought that Yoon Seungho’s deception would hide his biggest wish: to feel loved and accepted. Though the main character is well aware of the nobles’ “disguise”, he never saw the true feelings of Jihwa for him, even if his love for Yoon Seungho is rather shallow and selfish. Jihwa was not willing to admit their sexual relationship so openly.

One might wonder how this is possible to stipulate that no one has ever entered his personal space, when he had so often sex and with so many different sex partners. They had to come closer to him physically. However, if you look at the paintings, you’ll sense the distance between the main lead and his sex partners.

First, there is always a gap between Jihwa and the noble’s head. They are never shown kissing. In the second picture, although the bodies between the seme and the uke seems to be physically closer due to the penetration, the presence of the other uke creates a barrier. The protagonist is almost kissing the second uke, while he is penetrating the other. Both sex partners are not able to taste the lips and the phallus at the same time. As you can note, there was no real intimacy in these sex sessions. His body and his phallus were his armor and weapon. Like I had written before, we should see these sex sessions as a fight and war among nobles. The bed was the podium where a fight was simulated. This explains why Jihwa and Min decided to have the painter killed. As a conclusion, the lord created a fake image of himself as a powerful and self-assured noble with a strong stamina which no one ever questioned. All this underlines how big his fear is to reveal his vulnerability and sensitivity. His strong stamina was the result of drinking a lot of replenishing medicine (aphrodisiacs), no one has been really suspecting that he was no homosexual right from the start, even the readers were fooled by Byeonduck. The lord is a master of deception hence he could only fall for someone who symbolizes the opposite: naturalness and unrestraint. You all know the saying: opposite attracts.

Since the lord falls for the painter’s honesty and naturality, it becomes clear why he is so desperate to get the pure love from the low-born. He used all the means at his disposal in order to feel loved: the special treatmentand favoritism, then his sexual charisma ,

his strength ,

his power through threads and finally his sexual experiences. None of this worked. Only by giving up his position as a noble and lord, he is able to be accepted by the painter. With the fellatio, Yoon Seungho is willing to appear weaker in front of the low-born. This position reflects his change of mind. He had already noticed that Baek Na-Kyum was moved, when the latter saw him at his lowest point. This explicates why the lord has no problem to reveal his vulnerability in front of the uke, when Seung-Won appears. Later the protagonist even requests to the commoner to share his bed with him. By hugging him so closely he showed his true personality.

chapter 38

He was the one who relied on the painter and not the other way around. Moreover, the power has been shifted: Baek Na-Kyum is the one in command as he has the cover and not the lord. The commoner has turned into the master, while the noble is the servant. Moreover when he “begged” the low-born to stay with him, the latter was sitting, whereas the former was standing. Each time, Byeonduck made sure to have the spectator recognized the switch of position. The lord knew that he would get nightmares during that night. There is no disguise and deception from his part. He is literally naked in front of the artist. He had dawned to him that naturalness and sensitivity could be the only tool… That’s the reason why Seungho chose to reveal his weaknesses. However, we shouldn’t forget that Seungho is not manipulating here the low-born, his deep feelings were the cause for all of this. The kiss at the end of the sex marathon marked another pivotal moment in the noble’s life. His love was so strong that he was willing to lower himself to hydrate the exhausted painter.

But there is one problem if the low-born becomes his sex partner and the noble reveals his vulnerability. It could expose the noble’s weakness to others and turn him into a target. That’s why in the chapter 30, he wants to know what really happened after the low-born escaped. How could Baek Na-Kyum be willing to return to the mansion with Jung In-Hun, when he knew about the bad temper of Yoon Seungho? What made him return, when it was clear that he had definitely run away? Pay attention to the seme’s questioning. Here, he wants to know if the low-born came back because of the low noble’s request, if he has been asked to sleep with the powerful lord in order to get some info. That’s why he keeps questioning the teacher’s words.

Then he adds this comment after hearing that the teacher only mentioned the erotic paintings.

The protagonist is reminding the artist of the still valid thread. Jung In-Hun could lose his life, just like the low-born if he doesn’t comply to his wishes. Yet, this exchange reveals an important element. The angry noble doesn’t want to sleep with the commoner because the latter has been asked. In other words, he is not looking for someone selling his body, a prostitute. Sure, in this scene he still uses his prideful attitude linked to his social status to get his wish fulfilled, nonetheless it truly illustrates the noble’s longing for a genuine relationship and the fear that the nature of their relationship might become corrupted.

He has already anticipated this request from Jung In-Hun

This fear becomes more palpable in the next chapter 31. He ensures that this was the truth without the interference of the teacher. He might still act here as a powerful noble, however he is already emotionally weakened. He can no longer hide his emotions for the uke, however Jung In-Hun is too arrogant and too stupid himself to realize Yoon Seungho’s deep love for the low-born. How could such a powerful person fall for a commoner? This defies any common sense for this order society. His worry that Baek Na-Kyum might become a prostitute is deeply graved hence the noble is not sleeping with the uke after renouncing his position as master in their relationship. The main lead just pleasures the painter and waits for his change of mind and heart. This constant fear resurfaces in the chapter 41. The sudden request accompanied with tears and a certain resignation leads the noble to think that Jung In-Hun has now asked him to have sex with him. Like I mentioned it before, Baek Na-Kyum had internalized the teacher’s words and come to believe that he was indeed a prostitute. All his actions contrast to the spontaneity and the naturalness Baek Na-Kyum exuded before. He was no longer fighting and his gestures were stripped of warmth and genuine sensuality. Yoon Seungho saw the behavior of a prostitute in front of him, resigned to his fate… selling his body which is not what the noble is looking for. At the end, he was convinced that despite the tears, Baek Na-Kyum was doing it on his own accord because the commoner has never been able to lie and hide any ulterior motives. There is a reason why Yoon Seungho fears so much this idea that the painter might sell his body and it is related to his own father. The latter sold his own son in order to save his own skin and as such treated his son as a prostitute, while he was himself the pimp. Now, you understand why he wasn’t willing to sleep with the artist.

As a conclusion, the biggest fear of the powerful master are that Baek Na-Kyum only sleeps with him out of obligation, like a prostitute, which is connected to his own trauma. Then he dreads that people might come to know his past and vulnerability. The majestic lord’s walls around him were destroyed by the painter through his honesty and naturality contrasting to the seme’s way of life where there are only deception and artificiality. On the other hand, this also reveals the biggest wish of our main character: he wants to be loved genuinely by Baek Na-Kyum and he knows that nothing in the world except tenderness and care can buy the painter’s affection. Neither power nor money could impress the painter. In order to get his heart, Yoon Seungho needs to unveil more himself, to be totally naked in front of the uke. He is intelligent and educated which the painter never got to see. He only saw his obsession for sex and erotic paintings so far. However, Byeonduck has already insinuated that his education will play a bigger role later because of this picture.

chapter 36

For the first time, Baek Na-Kyum visits the lord’s chamber where there is no sex session. For the first time, he sees the lord writing. So far, he was either smoking or having sex or hunting. Yet, this aspect doesn’t catch the painter’s attention because he has to control his erection and secondly he has been requested to paint an erotic picture. So sex is not totally absent in the room.

Little by little, the noble is introducing him to literature and education. Here, he doesn’t include the artist in his letter or poem, but in the chapter 40, he is willing to read for him. And let’s not forget that the returned poem in the chapter 7 could be a different poem but Baek Na-Kyum failed to notice it. Hence just like Baek Na-Kyum, the readers will discover a new side of our protagonist in the future, like f. ex. his refined sense of poetry which was just implied in the chapter 4.

Feel free to comment. If you have any suggestion for topics or manhwas, feel free to ask. If you enjoy reading it, retweet it or push the button like. My twitter account: @bebebisous33. Thanks for reading.

Painter Of The Night: The role played by the gaze

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 1 Comment

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.

Now, you might be wondering if this analysis isn’t a repetition of my other analyses because I have already pointed out the importance of the gaze in this manhwa. Yet, I should have actually analyzed these two chapters much earlier because here the significance of the gaze is literally revealed and the reader is able to understand the role played by the eyes. Now, you are questioning which chapters I am referring to.

Before revealing it, I would like to reexplain the function of the gaze based on the theory from Jean Paul Sartres, a famous French philosopher and writer from the 20th Century because it is indispensable in order to understand the analysis. This repetition is necessary since people might have already forgotten it or didn’t read the analysis where I explicated it.

In Sartres’ theater play “No Exit” (“Huis Clos” in French), the three protagonists Joseph Garcin, Inez Serrano, and Estelle Rigault, are dead and their damned souls are brought to the same room in Hell where there is no mirror. As they are locked inside by a mysterious valet, they are confronted with their own reflection through the gaze from the others. Here, in this deformed reflection, the three sinners are unable to accept what they see that’s why at some point Garcin concludes that “”hell is other people” (“l’enfer c’est les autres”) because the judgement perceived through the gaze of people makes it unbearable for the “sinners”. They avoid the gaze because they can’t face their own wrongdoings and flaws. In other words, the gaze serves as a mirror, however there is a lot of subjectivity in it and doesn’t truly reflect the reality. Now, you understand why Yoon Seungho felt so excited and attracted by his own gaze in the first painting as he saw himself in a different reflection. There was no negative judgement and it oozed attraction and beauty. He no longer saw himself as a “sinner” in the painting, however this is how he felt before when people looked at him. Therefore he didn’t enjoy company very much, only went out for sex parties as it was necessary to maintain his reputation as a hell-raiser.

And now, we come to the chapters where the gaze becomes essential and marks a turning point in Yoon Seungho’s life. From my perspective, the sex session in the chapters 14 and 15 reflects the decision of the powerful noble to seduce the painter. The painting becomes as such more or less obsolete, it gives him just an excuse to get close to the low-born. This explains why Yoon Seungho starts with Baek Na-Kyum’s masturbation in the chapter 16 representing the first real success in his seduction.

Now let’s take a closer look to the sex session between Jihwa and his childhood friend. Striking is that Jihwa refuses to kiss the seme because he is upset. Earlier, he was reminded that he only visited his childhood friend because of sex which is not correct. Jihwa loves him hence he was willing to have sex with him. Though the red-haired noble had been humiliated and his feelings somehow denied, Jihwa couldn’t help himself to give in and came as asked that night. However, this time it is different because for the first time, Jihwa is looking at Seungho’s gaze. He wants to know about his friend’s emotions. So his eyes are not close unlike in the drawing above.

chapter 14

However, if you look carefully, you’ll note an important detail. Jihwa places his hand in front of his mouth meaning that he is not dropping his mask. Furthermore, from Seungho’s place, it makes it much harder to notice Jihwa’s gaze. Simply put, Seungho can not see Jihwa’s gaze very well, whereas it is the opposite for the sex partner. Here, we can detect why Jihwa failed to seduce Seungho in the end. He never showed his true feelings in front of him, either he closed his eyes or faked his facial expression or put his hand in front of his face. Yoon Seungho could never see the positive reflection in his childhood friend’s eyes. This is what Jihwa witnesses, an amused lord.

He is not bothered that Jihwa refused to kiss him, he decided to concentrate his lips on something else. He is teasing his sex partner, well aware of the affect of his kisses on Jihwa. Yet he doesn’t pay attention to Jihwa’s blushing as he keeps teasing him.

And note that all this time, the red-haired man has his hand up as if he was afraid of revealing his feelings. I do think that Jihwa feared that his affection for Seungho could be exploited by the latter and considered it as a weakness, especially if the childhood friend had no feelings for him. What he failed to realize is that his friend was longing for love all along. So his mask was the reason why the protagonist could never see the love Jihwa had for him. However, their little interlude is interrupted by the painter’s arrival which dampens Jihwa’s mood, unlike the seme. While he is fingering Jihwa’s butt, the former is looking over his shoulder in the painter’s direction.

chapter 250

Striking is that the red-haired noble notices it quite right away

but because of the strong fingering, he is no longer able to focus on the seme’s gaze. As you can witness, the red-haired noble has a different attitude compared to before. He is paying attention to the protagonist’s facial expression and his gaze because he has been warned by his “friend”. This reinforces my impression that before the appearance of Baek Na-Kyum, Jihwa must have always closed his eyes. Because the anal massage was stronger, Jihwa was not able to understand the true meaning behind this action. He must have felt that he had been mistaken and Seungho was not concentrated on the painter’s presence any longer. However, I see it differently. The protagonist reacted like that in order to provoke an reaction on the painter’s face.

As always, the chronology of the pictures is important. Notice that right after this drawing, Byeonduck added the following picture.

He is turning his head and eyes in the direction of the painter as if he was telling him: “Imagine, I would treat you like that, if your places were exchanged”. At the same time, he is definitely curious to witness the uke’s facial expression.

And this is what Seungho views: Baek Na-Kyum is like hypnotized, he is not moving his brush and his gaze is directed at the seme’s eyes. Notice here again that this is the perspective from the main lead, it was as if the beholder had become one with the protagonist. We can conclude that they are looking at each other trying to perceive the soul behind the eyes but simultaneously their own reflection. How does the other judge me? Am I also a sinner?

All this time, Jihwa was too excited to notice the subtle exchange of gazes, hence after the first ejaculation, he is asked to do a fellatio. During this occasion, Jihwa can look again at Seungho’s gaze and what he observes annoys him the most. He sees that Seungho is starring (again) at the painter which means that the noble is neglecting his sex partner. Each time, the powerful lord wants to examine the painter’s reaction and look at his gaze, as if he was drawn to the uke’s eyes. We could even say that both gazes seem to have a hypnotic effect, they help them to unveil their deeply repressed unconscious. Besides their hypnotic gaze serves as a mirror, they see each other as attractive and alluring. There is no contempt and disdain, they perceive themselves as normal and natural, unaware of the effect caused by the gaze. This could be judged as an contradiction to Sartres’ theory, sometimes the gaze from the other can liberate oneself.

What Jihwa detects triggers an old memory then we get a flashback from the sex partner who got dragged to the courtyard by the powerful seme as he kept starring at the painter. undefined

Now, you recognize that Seungho’s stare gives the impression to the beholder that he is under hypnosis hence he can’t stop himself looking at the painter. I believe that the trance is triggered by the eyes. The gaze reveals the reflection of themselves and the alluring gaze from the other helping them to unleash their sexual repressed desires. That’s why Jihwa thinks that he needs to do something unusual in order to break their locked gaze.

In his arrogance, the red-haired man thinks that he has achieved it

because of the seme’s strong thrusting but he is totally wrong because right from the start, the sex session was actually destined to the painter. The protagonist wanted to provoke a sexual reaction in Baek Na-Kyum unconsciously therefore the lord’s gaze is returning immediately to the artist’s direction. Jihwa doesn’t get aware that he is truly a toy and a tool.

His concentration on the painter remains so high.

For the first time, Baek Na-Kyum is not left unaffected.

He is sweating, blushing but simultaneously he is not avoiding the master’s stare. He keeps looking at him. I think that the strong stimuli with the masturbation, anal massage and the thrusting have been triggered by the uke’s passiveness. My explanation is the following. Due to the coercive persuasion, Yoon Seungho needed to give a stronger excitement in order to arouse some sexual desires in the low-born as the painter’s unconscious had been deeply repressed which he truly achieves in the end.

While the chapter 14 was focused on the Seungho’s gaze and his perception, we get the sex session from the painter’s view in the chapter 15. Here, we witness the inner struggle the painter has because he needs to hide his sexual arousal. What caught my attention in this chapter is not just the painter’s inner thoughts but also the position of the characters.

Let’s start with the position of the characters. We saw in the chapter 14, how the rejected sex partner saw the exchange of gazes while they were about to have sex. undefined Now, compare it with the image from the chapter 15. undefined By contrasting both images, the beholder detect the difference in the distance. It was as if Seungho had got closer to Baek Na-Kyum. However, we have to imagine that this is just an impression due to the perspective. Nonetheless it reflects their increasing closeness. Little by little, the noble is definitely getting closer with his seduction but just virtually. We have to remember that each sexual gesture is addressed to the young painter. The climax of their developing intimacy represents the following picture. undefined

And this is the reason why during the chapter 15, Seungho’s body comes closer to the painter, although it is not for real. The cause for this change is the effect of the trance, the hypnotic gaze is much stronger than the last time. They have not been interrupted and unlike in the past, Seungho has also changed his attitude towards the painter too. He had already marked him as his future prey in the chapter 12, when he scratched him on the nape of the neck.

That’s the reason why the commoner remembers this gesture in the chapter 15 but for the uke, this scratching had a different signification: it was a thread, a blackmail. People would leave a hickey in order to mark their “possession” but this action underlines Yoon Seungho’s rough side. Besides, he is not close enough to leave a hickey yet.

Now, let’s go back to the position of the characters. If we compare the drawing in purple to the second one, not only the distance between the painter and the noble has been reduced but also the color is different. The purple on the left represents the artist’s mind, his unconscious has resurfaced but the low-born is fighting against his repressed sexual desires. The darker the color, the stronger the desires. That’s why the commoner is talking to himself with closed eyes. If his eyes are closed, his soul and unconscious can not be unveiled. This underlines the importance of the eyes one more time. The eye serves as a boundary between the unconscious and the conscious.

Then if we study the chronology of the drawings in the chapter 15, the readers catch the signification of the closed eyes on the painter’s side. First, we hear his inner thoughts because he has problem to paint that’s why he keeps looking down and avoids the seme’s gaze.

He is sexually aroused so that he can’t focus on the painting. Yet, he is forced to look up as he has to paint something. On the other hand, his facial expression reveals his inner struggle and his arousal.

This doesn’t escape the sharp eyes of our protagonist hence there is this light in his eyes reflecting interest and excitement.

In that moment, the hypnotic gaze starts again which explains why the painter can’t move for a while and keeps staring at the lord. undefined

Then the uke tries to break the locked gaze and looks down again. So his only mean to fight this hypnotic gaze is to avoid to look up and keep talking to himself. But this is not enough because Jihwa is moaning the lord’s name. Therefore he closes his eyes, yet the attraction to succumb to his repressed sexual desires has increased one more time. undefined His mind has already started fantasying which requires an immense strength of will, to resist, particularly when the uke has the impression that Seungho is having sex right in front of his face.

The sexual arousal is visible and the painter is trying to convince himself that the seme is not interested in him, yet his intuition is telling him the opposite. As you can discern, the readers get a glimpse of the artist’s inner thoughts, while they view the lack of effectiveness in his methods to resist his repressed sexual desires. At the same time, I have the feeling that the picture above could represent the perspective of the master which would contradict the words Baek Na-Kyum is saying to himself.

Then the temptation reaches its peak, when the painter is even imagining that Seungho has come so close to him and this time he is alone, reflecting that he is about to succumb to the desire. The hypnotic gaze did work in reality and Baek Na-KYum’s unconscious has almost been unleashed. Since nothing is working (looking down, then closing the eyes and talking to himself in order to persuade himself that all this is a delusion), he starts thinking of his teacher Jung In-Hun.

This image represents the memory of Jung In-Hun’s arrival. What caught my attention here is that the spectator doesn’t see the teacher’s eyes. It was as if they were closed. Sure, one might think that it is just due to the smile. However, this image gives an opportunity to outline different aspects:

– Jung In-Hun is avoiding Baek Na-Kyum’s gaze because he doesn’t want to show his soul… Remember that the eyes are the mirror of the soul.

– The disappearance of the eyes could mirror the true value of the painter in the teacher’s opinion. Since the eyes are closed, there is no reflection which means that there is no person in front of him. It was as if the low noble was denying the artist’s existence.

– Finally this contradicts the reality. The teacher’s smile was fake and what the artist thinks as a reality is actually the real delusion. This was Jung In-Hun’s true face. He looked down on the painter. Imagine the irony of the situation. He is truly fighting his natural sexual desires with a delusion, whereas his unconscious has already understood the signals sent by the seme. The latter is truly interested and attracted by the low-born.

– The absence of the gaze marks the end of the hypnotic effect. The coercive persuasion has been done so well that Baek NA-Kyum is totally immersed in this image and his own delusional world. Furthermore, this explicates why the low-born couldn’t remember the teacher’s gaze in the chapter 2. The low noble had never looked him in the eye because he would have revealed his true thoughts, his soul. Besides, the artist would have recognized the disdain for him and his social status. That’s why the voice and words played a huge role in the commoner’s brainwashing.

All his thoughts are evolving around Jung In-Hun that’s the reason why he doesn’t detect the approach of the noble. He

Now, the protagonist stands right in front of him. He is no longer virtually close but for real. Consequently, he touches the artist’s head. He is now directly seducing him. He believes that all the foreplay with Jihwa has been effective. This is the reason why the noble invites him directly to the sex session.

He had monitored all the reactions on the uke’s face, even noticed his erection hence he thought, he had won. That’s why Byeonduck gives us an illustration of the actual situation:

Jihwa is now alone. The closeness between Seungho and Na-Kyum has become a reality.

Now, Jihwa has been abandoned as he has served his purpose. Now, Seungho is physically close to the commoner and even touching him. Unlike in the former illustrations, this is real and not just an illusion or a wet dream.

The problem with this seduction through the actions and the hypnotic gaze is Seungho’s mindset. He actually made two mistakes: He never paid attention to Jihwa and never thought that the noble would strongly oppose to this offer. Secondly, Seungho has just been looking for sex, whereas his unconscious was telling him something else. The gaze in the painter revealed that it wasn’t just sex, there was a deep attraction and an acceptance of his homosexuality. Baek Na-Kyum would have never accepted the offer as he is someone looking for deep feelings. Deep down, Seungho was fascinated by the warmth and the affection oozing from the low-born’s stare. His attraction is natural and not influenced by his social status or his wealth which can not be said for his aristocratic friends.

From my point of view, he is not aware of his own feelings, just like he doesn’t realize that the uke couldn’t paint because he was fighting his repressed sexual desires. But Seungho doesn’t give up, he just waits for the end of the sex session and remains by the uke’s side with the excuse that he needs to be present until the painting is finished. However, if you monitor his words and actions, you can clearly perceive the main lead’s true intentions: he attempts to seduce him again but this time, with a small step as he could discern the resistance in the artist.

As a conclusion, we could discern the real role of the gaze in these two chapters, one was focused on the seme’s perspective and gaze, whereas the other was concentrating on Baek Na-Kyum’s inner struggles due to the hypnotic gaze and the sex session. Besides, the reader could observe the change of Jihwa’s behavior as he is no longer closing his eyes and pays attention his childhood friend’s mind and gaze. Finally, the signification of the closed eyes linked to the teacher was unveiled here. And this explicates why Seungho had to use the mirror and his own gaze in the sex marathon so that he would free the painter’s unconscious and body which revealed how deeply the commoner had been manipulated by the low noble. Let’s not forget that after that day, Baek Na-Kyum was no longer able to control his body. His blushing, his heart bumping and his erection were more visible and palpable for the uke. The latter could only admit his own sexual orientation and his attraction for the master.

Feel free to comment. If you have any suggestion, feel free to ask. If you enjoyed reading it, then retweet it or push the button like. Thanks for reading.

Painter Of The Night: Yoon Seungho’s gaze: the mirror of his soul (part 2)

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 3 Comments

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 first part, I explained the importance of Seungho’s gaze. Through his gaze, we could perceive his inner thoughts and emotions. However, what caught my attention is that the first part contained mostly scenes where Seungho is either furious or jealous. This time, I wanted to focus on scenes where either other emotions are visible and palpable for the readers or Byeonduck used certain effects so that the beholder even becomes one with the main lead Yoon Seungho.

I chose this drawing from the chapter 22. Here, we can see a genuinely happy protagonist.

He is not just smiling, his gaze exudes a certain gentleness and care. Furthermore, his words reinforce this impression as he is giving an advice. He had just kept the young artist from falling. For the first time, the reader can witness a change in the lord’s behavior. If we compare it to the smile from the first chapter, we observe a difference as he is no longer acting like an obsessed or crazy fan full of excitement because he is able to meet his idol. In the chapter 22, the seme is oozing sincerity, warmth and more importantly calmness. That’s why he has been patient with the low-born. All this has been triggered by the night spent with Baek Na-Kyum. All this outlines the importance of their “wedding night” and that he has experienced something new. He felt loved although it was just an illusion and deep down, Seungho was hoping that this wasn’t a dream. Baek Na-Kyum’s words during that night expressed what the seme felt too.

For both of them, it was as if a dream had come true: they are finally loved and accepted as they are. It is no surprise that Seungho said nothing during that night as he is not someone who expresses himself so openly about his feelings. The change of attitude was already announced by this gesture as he personally took care of the uke. This revealed that the protagonist had been keeping an eye on the low-born which we didn’t see. Striking is that after helping him and showing him such a nice and gentle smile, the painter thanks him and the reader is unable to see Yoon Seungho’s face.

Now, it is left to the reader’s imagination what kind of reaction the lord has on his face, when he hears the grateful words coming from the uke. I doubt that the genuine smile and the warm gaze vanished, he must have kept oozing happiness which must have caught the teacher’s attention. Pay attention that the low noble is turning his head to the side’s and his eyes are looking behind, in the artist’s direction. However, I am quite sure that by doing so, he must have seen the smiling face of his sponsor. This explains why Jung In-Hun had such a gloomy face after this incident. Not only Yoon Seungho had personally prevented the painter from falling but the former had even talked to him in a gentle tone, while the noble had ignored his guest for the hunt all this time. He must have felt totally humiliated as he is a noble, whereas Baek Na-Kyum is a low-born. As you can see, the gaze the powerful noble had gives a lot away about his inner feelings: it announces his transformation which was triggered by this memorable night. That’s why the lord wants the painter to remember their night together.

Then I chose the scene in the chapter 28, where Baek Na-Kyum is coerced to give the angry seme a blow-job.

Notice that this drawing is made as if there is an invisible spectator, as if there was a camera filming the scene and the beholder is a peeping Tom. However, this suddenly changes because now, the perspective is different. We see the blow-job from the master’s perspective. There is no invisible narrator or spectator.

Byeonduck uses a certain technique to let the readers enter the master’s eyes. We are now seeing from the lord’s view, until the perspective abruptly changes one more time.

Now, the “camera” zooms on the lord’s face so that we are seeing the affect the view had on Yoon Seungho. Through this alternation of perspectives, the readers are able to perceive what Seungho is actually feeling. Moreover, this outlines the affect Baek Na-Kyum has on the lord.

Now, you can observe that the zoom is now focusing on Baek Na-Kyum’s head and the lord’s hand. We are here again witnessing it from the master’s perspective. The beholder has entered deep in the lord’s mind and it was as if he would caress himself the painter’s hair. We are ones with the protagonist, we see and stroke the uke too.

However, Seungho can’t help himself looking at the uke’s face and what catches him by surprise is the painter’s gaze. In this gaze, he can view himself but also perceive the painter’s unconscious. Notice that the uke is not looking angry or scared or upset like at the beginning of the scene, so Yoon Seungho feels that Baek Na-Kyum is no longer rejecting him, he shows no disgust as well. The master witnesses with his own eyes that Baek Na-Kyum has been affected by the blow job as well. Our seme is deeply affected by the gaze given by the uke hence he is cumming right after. This explains why the lord told him after that they would use the mirror so that the painter would see his own facial expressions. He should stop pushing him away as his gaze revealed a different reaction. As you can see, the painter’s gaze was also the mirror of the low-born’s soul. Both unveil attraction, desire and love. No wonder why the lord showed his own gaze in the mirror, when they were having that sex marathon.

He wanted the uke to notice his soul too so that the painter would perceive the lord’s true longing and personality.

And he was not wrong with this move because this triggered the painter’s memory. He remembered the gaze he saw in his wet dream, where his unconscious expressed his desire to have sex with the master.

The lord’s gaze had an hypnotic effect, he definitely freed him from the brainwashing he suffered from Jung In-Hun which he hasn’t realized yet. On the other hand, the gaze given by the blow-job reinforced the impression that Baek Na-Kyum was not really rejecting him despite his claims and gestures. The gaze betrayed him, revealed his true desires.

The next scene where the lord’s gaze marked another turning point in the love story is the next blow-job. In the chapter 36, when Baek Na-Kyum enters his chamber, we see an exhausted noble.

He had almost given up on the painter before until he saw his blushing which gave him some small hope hence he had ordered him to paint in his chamber that night. Striking is the contrast of the emotions between the two main characters. Whereas the lord looks emotionless and indifferent due to his exhaustion, the painter is feeling excited. His heart is bumping loudly and he has an erection which underlines the affect the noble’s presence has. Here, the master is definitely not seducing him with his gaze or body, he is immobile and indifferent. However, the moment Yoon Seungho notices the uke’s erection, the nature of his gaze switches:

chapter 36

It was as if a fire had been ignited, life came back. There is a light reflecting in his eyes which wasn’t there before. The dormant volcano is now erupting again, however this is not like the explosive Mount Vesuvius’ eruption that destroyed the town Pompei, rather like an effusive eruption of the Mount de la Fournaise (On the Island La Réunion) which is less dangerous as lava steadily flows out of a volcano onto the ground. That’s why he doesn’t force himself like at the pavilion but prefers pleasuring the painter. He is controlling his emotions that way he can nurture his relationship with the low-born. As you know, lava is a good fertilizer hence Seungho ensures that Baek Na-Kyum is slowly accepting him as his partner.

As you can recognize, the author Byeonduck paid a lot of the attention to the chronology of her drawings and each picture has a purpose. The focus on Seungho’s gaze is no coincidence because they reveal each time something important, or the switch of perspective is to let the reader perceive what the characters are thinking , observing or even feeling. We had another example of this in the chapter 39. Here, the tailor’s hand on Baek Na-Kyum’s body represents the perspective of the noble and through the switch of perspective, the reader is able to enter the noble’s mind and read his thoughts: he is jealous and dislikes what he is seeing. This explicates why the sensitive readers have come to love the seme because we were seeing the events from his perspective and feel his own emotions and turmoil.

So now, if you read the story again, pay attention to the perspective and the chronology of the pictures. That way, you’ll notice how detail-oriented the author of this manhwa was. Through her pictures, you could feel the emotions of the characters.

Feel free to comment. If you have any suggestion for a topic, feel free to ask. If you enjoyed reading it, then retweet it or push the button like. So far, this blog has been quite successful because since I opened my Twitter account, I had more than 17.500 views for June and Byeonduck has been liking many analyses without sending these to her sometimes. Thanks for reading.

Painter Of The Night: An accomplice, a pawn or an innocent?

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 2 Comments

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.

As you can guess, this analysis will focus on Yoon Seung-Won, the protagonist’s younger brother. We don’t know much about him as he only appears in two chapters (37 and 44) hence it is quite difficult to discern this character. Since Yoon Seungho’s father is responsible for our seme’s tragic and painful past, we have to question the role played by the brother. Does he know that his father used Yoon Seungho as a scapegoat in order to escape the purge? Does he know what the father really wants? Or is he using his father’s name for his own interest? That’s why I will try to define his personality and judge his actions. Is he an accomplice of the father or is he just used by the latter? He could also be innocent.

Just like Jung In-Hun, Seung-Won’s existence is introduced indirectly with a letter.

In the chapter 36, the valet Kim has been entrusted a letter written by father Yoon, but the younger master requested a quick reply. We shouldn’t forget that the introduction of the poem in the chapter 4 served to reveal the duplicity of the teacher as we had two different opinions about the value of the poem. Here, the purpose is different as we have no idea about the content. However, this little scene illustrates the relationship between Yoon Seungho and his younger brother. First, it is clear that the latter has always attempted to get close to Yoon Seungho through letters, as the assistant Kim mentions “this one”. This means that the brother must have sent other messages before, which is confirmed later in chapter 37. However, in this scene, the butler says that this letter comes from father Yoon indicating that Seung-Won used his father’s name. Furthermore, this time there is a huge difference, because the domestic Kim has been requested to deliver the letter personally and to ask for an answer. This gesture outlines that Seung-Won knows the importance of the loyal valet Kim in Seungho’s life. He hopes that through the valet’s words and influence, his request can be fulfilled.

Then the reader senses a certain urgency behind Seung-Won’s action. It was, as though the noble was desperate to get something from his notorious brother. Besides, the beholder can also feel that the brother is trying to ignore Seungho’s past, to do, as if nothing bad had happened before, because the letter as such symbolizes a request and not an apology or a heartfelt message. We can conclude that the brother shows a lack of sensitivity and a certain egoism in his attitude. He is definitely selfish, because he has been “pestering” Yoon Seungho without showing empathy to his past. There are no comforting words coming from the valet’s mouth. One might argue that the brother has no idea about the father’s betrayal. However, we can refute this objection with the following point: the incident with the top-knot and the abandonment from the father. Since it has become a famous topic as rumor, it is impossible that Seung-Won has been left in the dark. He knows that his father rejected Seungho and no longer considered him as his son. Furthermore, the fact that he and his father had to leave the family mansion, the younger master could only realize the father’s gesture: he was a coward running away from his responsibility. Who would leave the main mansion behind because of the eldest son? Actually, the most natural thing would have been the other way: the father should have sent the son away due to his sodomy, yet it was the eldest master with his family who moved to the countryside. In other words, Seung-Won is well aware of the meaning of his father’s actions, even if he doesn’t know the whole truth. Therefore Seung-Won can’t be described as innocent because he never sided with his brother but remained by his father’s side.

After receiving the message from Kim, Seungho burns the letter without even opening it. Notice that he didn’t even destroy it in his room by attempting to maintain a certain dignity and respectability. No, he burnt it in the open, right in front of the servants, among the leaves. This attitude sends many signals. First, it is demonstrating that he has an idea about the content of the letter. The “request” didn’t go unnoticed, Seungho could discern the younger brother’s selfishness. Then it displays that the noble feels no emotional attachment to his “family member”. His gesture outlines too that he has no ties with Seung-Won. For him, they don’t exist or strictly speaking, they don’t belong to the same family. I would go far as to say that he considers his brother and father as garbage. That’s why he lets the message burn among the fallen leaves. As you can see, in just two pictures, I was able to describe the dynamic between Seungho and his brother and even display a little Seung-Won’s personality.

chapter 36

Since Seungho ignored his brother like in the past and Seung-Won was quite desperate to get an answer, his unannounced visit is no surprise. In fact, this reinforces the impression that Seung-Won is quite under pressure himself and needs his brother’s help no matter what, which signifies that Seungho has the upper hand. Observe that it is already late, but the younger master doesn’t care at all, reinforcing the bad impression we had before: quite rude and self-centered.

The visit means that Seung-Won needed to call his elder brother personally in order to pressure the latter so that the powerful noble would rekindle his relationship with him and the father. What caught my attention is that Seung-Won only paid his brother a visit the moment he had no other option left. It looks like he never visited him before, he thought that letters would be enough to amend their broken relationship. This indicates that Seung-Won has no idea about the real impact on the father’s abandonment in Seungho’s past. He is clueless when it comes to his brother’s suffering. Maybe he thinks that since Seungho has been left at the main mansion, his elder brother has been enjoying a comfortable position so he has been compensated for the humiliation suffered and the abandonment. He may consider it as a compensation for Seungho’s pain. This would explain why he doesn’t feel the need to comfort his brother. But this is just a speculation from my part.

However, this raises the question: does the younger brother really know what happened back then? He knows that Seungho became the scapegoat and was sacrificed in order to save the family as it is revealed during their conversation. Here, Seungho was reminding his brother that his father was the one who condemned him for sodomy, hence he was left behind. If you pay attention the brother’s reaction, you’ll notice his embarrassment and awkwardness. The man is sweating because he doesn’t want to be reminded of the past.

Moreover, he is avoiding his brother’s sharp gaze displaying his guilty conscience. That’s why I come to the conclusion that the brother knew about the intention behind his father’s action and didn’t stop him. From my perspective, the father must have explained his son what he was about to do. He would create a scandal with the eldest son and cut his topknot because of his supposed “homosexuality” in order to divert the king’s attention and save their family. But my belief is that Seungho had to suffer more than the humiliation and rejection. He was raped which the brother doesn’t know. In reality, the father sold his eldest son in order to save his own skin and explained his cowardice to Seung-Won as a normal sacrifice. I have the impression that Seung-Won has been left in the dark in certain aspects which is somehow confirmed in the last episode. Here, Seung-Won has no idea what the elder brother sent to his father. He was happy, when he received a letter handed over by Kim

chapter 36

This smile brings to light naivety and innocence. He has no idea about the content of the paper which is in reality the ruined painting of Seungho having a threesome. More striking is that the father never let the younger brother see the content of the paper. However, he blames the brother, when the father doesn’t leave his room in order to bid farewell.

chapter 44

Seungho is the cause for the father’s neglect which shows that he is really clueless why the brother would resent so much the father. The younger son acts as if Seungho is to blame for the father’s fury. There is definitely a lack of sensitivity and a certain naivety exuding from the younger master. But he is not so innocent either compared to Baek Na-Kyum. He is a liar , because the illness is just an excuse. He is quite daring to ask his brother to pay a visit to their father. He knows the true signification of this request, which is the reason why Seungho laughs it off and refuses. The brother is willing to act as a messenger for the father, since in reality, Seungho’s support would help him as well. He expects from the powerful noble so much and has never done anything for him in return.

This selfishness and rudeness is visible when he tried to enter Seungho’s bedchamber. He used his position as lord to mistreat Kim by threatening him and accusing him to lie, to ignore his words,

chapter 36

only Baek Na-Kyum’s voice was able to stop him which caught him by surprise.

That’s why at the end, I judge Seung-Won as an accomplice and pawn at the same time. He is no innocent in Seungho’s suffering, as he never expressed any comforting words during their meeting, he only wants the past to be swayed under the carpet and ensures that his father can be able to return to the main domain. He was an accomplice in the father’s request, because he knew that he would get some benefit himself. However, he is also a pawn as he has no real idea how far his father is willing to use him for his own interest. The father didn’t tell everything to Seung-Won. All the actions Seung-Won did (the letters, the visit) manifest a certain simplicity. He can’t really deceive people, especially his brother with his lies. His smile at the end of the chapter 36 reveals a naivety and innocence therefore I judge Seung-Won as someone who can be easily manipulated, especially by double-faced ones like Jung In-Hun. Their ways will cross and I can imagine that he will become the teacher’s next target and victim. The young man is not intelligent and cunning enough to perceive people’s lies and manipulation, maybe due to his selfishness. He feels entitled due to his social status and can use his position to get what he wants.

Feel free to comment. If you enjoyed reading it, retweet it or push the button like. If you have any suggestion for new topics, feel free to ask. Thanks.

Painter Of The Night: Reputation and responsibility (second version)

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 7 Comments

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/

Only after the second season, I have finally understood the true role played by rumors which are strongly intertwined with reputation. The latter is what others think or believe about people. As you can detect, notoriety is linked to appearances and image. Striking is that I had already sensed that reputation and responsibility were stark connected to each other in season 1, hence I had written this essay. Yet, I had misinterpreted certain aspects which I am correcting now.

As I had demonstrated before, the chapters 39 and 40 were focused on responsibility. Yoon Seungho was determined to become Baek Na-Kyum’s guardian, which he announced in three different occasions:

  1. He scolded his maids for not treating Baek Na-Kyum properly, although the latter had slept in the master’s bedroom and the servants knew that.
  2. The lord sent the low-born to his own tailor so that he could get expensive winter clothes
  3. When he questioned the scholar’s intentions, he wanted to outline that contrary to Jung In-Hun, he would become responsible for the painter. Unconsciously, he put a red dot on the painter’s forehead, a sign for a bride. Yet his true goal was to push the painter to ponder about his actual situation. He should realize that he did expect something from his learned sir. Since he had helped him to find a sponsor, the painter hoped, the scholar would become reliable for him, as he was just a low-born.

As you can see, the noble acted like a responsible man before announcing it to Baek Na-Kyum. In the kitchen, the negative comments from the maids made the master realize that the artist’s status was affected due to his connection with Yoon Seungho. He was the target of bad remarks, because the young artist was wearing the lord’s own shirt. For the first time, the aristocrat was confronted with the negative consequences of reputation and image. The main lead might be fine with his bad notoriety, but it is different for Baek Na-Kyum, as the latter is just a commoner. Yoon Seungho witnessed how the low-born claimed to be an artist, but he was not perceived as such. By giving him new clothes, the main lead wanted to demonstrate that the artist was not a servant, he had a special status. However, this incident was relevant for another reason. Due to the master’s reprimand, the gossips about Yoon Seungho’s household disappeared, hence Jihwa’s servant couldn’t get new information about his childhood friend. (chapter 41). Consequently, the author showed us in chapter 38 and 39 the origins of rumors and their function in the story.

Striking is that although the lord wanted to become responsible, he didn’t accompany the low-born right away, but sent him to the tailor with his own valet, before appearing himself. What caught my attention is that right from the start, the tailor doubted Kim’s words.

chapter 39

The tailor was very suspicious and kept asking questions to Kim. On the other hand, we have to wonder why Yoon Seungho didn’t follow the commoners right away. In my opinion, he changed his mind due to the tailor. First, the lord must have realized afterwards that the shop owner would doubt the valet’s words, as he had witnessed how his own maids would look down on the artist. Therefore, he must have anticipated that the tailor would have a similar reaction: he would suspect the veracity of the order. And he was right about this assumption, like the following tailor’s comment exposes it: Hence Yoon Seungho decided to join them. Moreover, the main lead is a very possessive and jealous man. While getting dressed, he must have recognized that the tailor would get close to his lover by measuring him too. Note that it was the first question the lord asked, when he penetrated the room. This definitely exposed that the noble was thinking a lot about this task. Moreover, his gaze was instantly directed at the tailor and his hand. This displays that the main lead had already envisioned the measuring and disliked the idea that someone else would see his partner so closely. Striking is that his late arrival truly outlined the artist’s importance in Yoon Seungho’s life, which couldn’t escape the tailor’s notice. Imagine, the lord was ensuring himself that everything was done properly. To sum up, the master had two reasons to join the butler and the artist. He desired to make sure that Baek Na-Kyum was treated properly, at the same time he needed to keep other men away. He had to protect the painter’s reputation: he was no servant, but an artist and his companion! Through his words said in front of the tailor, he deliberately unveiled the nature of their relationship. He knew that the tailor would catch this insinuation. In my eyes, it was not just an unconscious expression of love (the lord was not aware of his affection), but also a conscious choice. As a lord, he desired to defend Baek Na-Kyum’s position as a painter and as his lover. That’s why Yoon Seungho became responsible.

What caught my attention is that the shop owner uses the expression “I’ve never heard of…”, it insinuates that he also talks a lot with other merchants and customers. Besides, the gossiping attitude of the tailor is also confirmed in the chapter 41:

chapter 41

Notice that when Min described the tailor as loose-lipped, he was criticizing the main lead and reminding him to pay more attention to his image and appearances. However, Yoon Seungho remained indifferent, as he has never paid attention to rumors, because he is well aware that they never reflect truth. For he never cared about gossips, he had no problem to have a foreplay at the tailor’s shop. All these gestures and information led me to the following conclusion. The chapter 39 and 40 announced a turning point in Yoon Seungho’s life. By becoming responsible for the painter, he would create new rumors. Remember how he had been portrayed so far: (chapter 1)

(chapter 10) (chapter 13) (chapter 18)

(chapter 22) (chapter 33)

What do these gossips have in common? They all portray the wealthy main lead as a bad man. He is a man with no integrity and honor. Besides, he has a bad personality as well. And this observation made me realize the true function of these rumors in the story. The lord’s negative reputation through grapevines is created for only one purpose. It is to isolate him from everyone. He has such a bad notoriety not only among nobles, but also among commoners. That’s why Baek Na-Kyum didn’t want to be connected to him in the first episode and lied to Yoon Seungho. This also explicates why Heena noona rejects him. Therefore we have to question ourselves about the origins about these rumors. Who started them? As you can imagine, I believe that there are two people responsible for these grapevines, for gossips circulate among the local aristocracy and others among the commoners, yet their nature diverges.

  • As you can anticipate, in my opinion, Min is the one spreading these rumors among the nobles. First, in chapter 36 Black Heart is using rumors to manipulate his pawn: Besides, the childhood friend is often mentioning rumors as well, and since Jihwa is Black Heart’s pupil, this could be judged as another proof for my interpretation. Under this new perspective, this explicates why Jihwa, who is close to The Joker, could mention this gossip to Yoon Seungho in chapter 18: Moreover, I believe, Black Heart told this to the second lead as well. He desired to portray the main character in a negative light so that the red-haired aristocrat would turn his attention to him. Let’s not forget that in chapter 18, the childhood friend claimed that he had been using Yoon Seungho, indicating that besides their sexual relationship, Jihwa managed to make some deal. And now, you understand why The Joker is using gossips against the main lead, which became obvious in chapter 33. He imagined that he could isolate Yoon Seungho and make him feel miserable. This is no coincidence, when the main character heard this grapevine, , he replied this: He desired his childhood friend to tell the others that he didn’t fear this type of gossips. We have to envision that these words must have reached the Joker’s ears. That’s why in chapter 33, he retaliated by using the painter as an excuse. Note that the nobles mentioned Baek Na-Kyum as gossip and while leaving they kept talking about another rumor: So when Min decided to meet the main lead in the woods, he envisioned that the protagonist would get upset because of the gossips concerning the incident at the tailor shop. Maybe if he confronted him directly, he would get another reaction: fear and pain. I would like to remind my readers that in my eyes, Min is suffering from an Antisocial Personality Disorder, this explicates his passion for manipulations, fear and misery. He tried to instill fear in the noble (“look, now you are even associated to a low-born!”) but he didn’t succeed. That’s why The Joker decided to have the painter killed right after. If the latter were to die, then Yoon Seungho would truly become lonely, especially after discovering that his childhood friend was the culprit. Let’s not forget that Min was present, when Jihwa showed a certain empathy for his lost friend despite their quarrel. The Joker recognized that their friendship was not ruined for good. And note that in chapter 76, he is using the same method again. He witnessed how Yoon Seungho showed leniency towards Jihwa despite his wrongdoings, as the lord didn’t punish him. Min is manipulating the second lead, making him believe that he has to listen to him, as the protagonist could target him. The Joker is using the second lead’s existential fear to separate both friends. Despite all his schemes, Min was not able to attach the red-haired aristocrat to himself. Furthermore, he even has to discover how Jihwa had sex with a low-born like Nameless and he would even listen to his words. No wonder why Min got infuriated in the end. Despite all his schemes, he was not able to control Jihwa and Yoon Seungho. Both escaped his manipulations. And now the readers should question themselves Black Heart’s true goal in all this. Why is he so determined to hurt the protagonist and to make him feel miserable? If he was able to hurt and control Yoon Seungho, he would become the ultimate puppet master. However, that’s what The Joker thinks. Remember what I wrote about Black Heart’s real weakness. The latter fears social norms and as such rumors. Strictly speaking, he pays attention to appearances despite his nihilistic tendencies. That’s why he smiles and laughs a lot. However, he has always envied Yoon Seungho for that reason. The latter has always remained impassible to social norms and rumors. He showed real courage and strength, because he never complied through peer group pressure. And the worst is that even Jihwa was willing to be associated to such a man, although the latter has a terrible reputation. I would even say that the bond between the two characters hasn’t been destroyed yet after all, although both figures kept hurting each other. Even after the abduction, the main lead didn’t retaliate against his friend. That’s why Min has to make Jihwa and Yoon Seungho miserable. He envies the protagonist, because he was capable to have such a friend. They have seen the worst from each other, yet they were able to remain friend, even Jihwa wanted to become Yoon Seungho’s lover. Moreover, now he is not hiding his relationship with Baek Na-Kyum. As you can imagine, the episode 76 made me realize Min’s defeat. The latter couldn’t stop Yoon Seungho from revealing his special relationship to the painter in front of commoners. He treated his lover like his wife and the town folks could witness it. Therefore this is no coincidence that episode 76 is connecting responsibility to rumors. The water and the music box are the evidences that Yoon Seungho is a responsible man. They reveal his integrity which stands in opposition to reputation. Integrity describes how you act, it is a characteristic of you regardless of who is watching. Finally, Yoon Seungho’s true personality is revealed to the world in chapter 76. He shows moral righteousness, courage, gentleness and responsibility. He allows a commoner to hug him, is willing to lower himself and listen to the low-born’s request: he needs his help. And during the second season Min’s only success was in chapter 54. Here, he could only wound the main lead, because the painter feared social norms as well. But now, it is no longer working on Baek Na-Kyum either. I believe, the trigger for this huge war is Baek Na-Kyum. I am still convinced that Black Heart is obsessed with the artist, because he wished that the artist would look at him the same way. Imagine this: The low-born showed pure desires, and neither the main lead’s terrible reputation nor his wrongdoings could disgust the artist so that the latter would leave Yoon Seungho’s side. As a psychopath/sociopath, Min can only resent the main lead.
  • As for the rumors among the commoner, Kim was responsible. He allowed the staff to talk badly about their master. In chapter 32, he never intervened in order to defend his master’s honor. Moreover, he influenced them with his words. After calling Baek Na-Kyum a no-good painter (chapter 11), the maid associated Baek Na-Kyum to a charlatan (chapter 17). Besides, I would like to outline that through his words, Kim encouraged the staff to show a disrespect towards the low-born. That’s why they started eating his food. Since, the valet never reprimanded them for their misconduct, it truly shows that Kim had no interest to protect his master’s interests and rights. He is the one who described Yoon Seungho as violent and with mood swings, because he used the incident with Jihwa’s topknot. He had a reason for spreading these rumors. Exactly like Min, he desired to isolate Yoon Seungho so that the latter would always rely on him. He would show care and concern in front of his master, as he knew his true personality: he was gentle and considerate. And now, it is time to focus once again on chapter 40. Note that when the protagonists left the tailor shop, the butler didn’t follow them: Why? It’s because he needed to speak with the tailor alone. He asked him to never reveal the foreplay to others. That’s why Kim never witnessed this scene: There is no ambiguity that the butler must have claimed that he was doing it in order to protect his master’s reputation. Imagine, he had a sexual relationship with a commoner… what a scandal, especially in that historical period. However, his true intention was different. If the town folks were to discover that their lord would make no distinction between nobles and commoners, and he wouldn’t look down on the low-born, the commoners would judge their lord in a better light. They would realize that he showed tolerance, open-mindedness, honesty but more importantly reliability. I see another evidence that Kim employed gossips to reveal the visit to the tailor to Jung In-Hun. This is the reason why the scholar speaks of flourishing. Let’s not forget that he was the only one who knew about the order of winter clothes. And here, they had just been ordered. From my point of view, Kim hoped to create a quarrel between the learned sir and the painter. Another evidence for this evidence is perceptible in chapter 50: The valet’s words clearly imply that the conversation had become the topic of gossips. That’s why in chapter 45, Byeonduck introduced Kim in front of commoners spreading gossips. This is no coincidence. And this led me to realize two important elements. Right from the start, the author wanted to indicate the valet’s true personality. Kim was not only responsible for the rumors concerning his master, but also for the ambiguous status for Baek Na-Kyum. Furthermore, the butler thought, his trick had been successful, yet during his walk through the town, he discovered a new gossip. The town folks had already perceived a change of their lord’s behavior and connected it to a love affair. And this showed that the lord’s image was not that bad in reality. They still hoped that their lord would calm down and settle. They were even willing to accept Jihwa as the lord’s mistress. This truly revealed that they didn’t truly reject his homosexuality, rather his debauchery. In chapter 45, Kim discovered that Deok-Jae had ruined his plan. Kim was determined to ensure that Yoon Seungho would keep a bad reputation. The moment he was seen as a responsible man, he would no longer be isolated and rely on him. Moreover, the moment he was judged as responsible and he wouldn’t reject commoners, it becomes possible that the commoners complain to him and ask for his help. However, slowly Kim lost his pawns among the staff, so that he has no one to spread rumors. The maid questioned his authority and even defended her lord in chapter 67. She didn’t question Yoon Seungho’s reasoning, it was his right. This means that now he is considered as the real master of the mansion. Kim still used the male servants for his scheme in chapter 69, but in my opinion, he even lost their support, because nothing bad happened after their love session. And note that the domestic’s words are referring to rumor: The butler was no longer able to manipulate through rumors, hence he ends up alone in the backyard. Imagine, Kim can’t even use the loose-lipped tailor for his schemes, as the shop owner resents the butler for turning him into a liar and fool. That’s why we see him whispering to a client, when the lord is standing in front of his shop. Now, the tailor can talk to his heart content. Neither Kim nor Kim can ask him to remain quiet. And note that in chapter 76 Yoon Seungho is walking alone with his lover, hence when he helped his panicked lover, the commoners could witness how kind, selfless and generous Yoon Seungho was. Exactly like in chapter 40, he came later so that his behavior would outline the artist’s importance in the noble’s life. First, he sat on the ground to comfort his partner. Then after bringing to the planks of woods, Yoon Seungho took care of Baek Na-Kyum’s headgears. He made sure that his wife was properly covered and he would get water. Finally, he was even willing to buy an expensive music box, although Baek Na-Kyum never said anything. He acted as a responsible man which many people, commoners and nobles, could witness.

But what does it mean? The rebirth of the phoenix has been noticed by the town folks. But more importantly, they witness how the artist had a panic attack and how he screamed for Yoon Seungho’s help. The shop owners will certainly gossip about this incident and remember the painter’s disappearance which cause a huge ruckus in town. The commoners complained about the behavior of the lord’s servants. Back then, the rumors were that a servant had run away, however the tailor revealed that the lord’s lover was the painter. Hence I am expecting that the town folks will realize that Yoon Seungho’s lover was abducted. And since Jihwa had confessed in public the night before the artist’s disappearance, the commoners will realize what the ex-lover did, when he got rejected. And maybe that’s the reason why Min is able to bind Jihwa to him. If his crime was revealed to the commoners, the latter could definitely complain. And this story clearly reveals that reputation is nothing… what really matters is integrity. However, Jihwa needs to learn this lesson, but only through pain he will recognize this. That’s why he is still not listening to his conscience. This explicates why Black Heart reveals his true personality in chapter 76. He is selfish, stupid, but more importantly irresponsible, for he lets Jihwa become responsible for his own misdeeds.

And now, you understand why I can’t review my bad perception about Kim and Min. Both are cowards who hide behind rumors in order to manipulate people. At the same time, this method helps them to wash off their hands from their own misdeeds. In their mind, they can never be held responsible. The others are to blame, as they repeated their words or decided to listen to their words. However, they are forgetting that words are as such actions. They can’t escape their responsibility for their crimes: blackmail, perjury, murder, complicity of abduction. That’s why chapter 76 is so beautiful in the end, as it shows that despite the use of rumors, neither Kim nor Min were able to change the lord’s true personality, they just delayed the truth. He would do anything for his bride: spend a huge amount of money for something that even the king had not seen. The lord’s statement in chapter 40 became true. He took his responsibility as a man and transformed Baek Na-Kyum into his bride. And now…. new rumors will surface, and definitely reach Heena noona’s ears. How will she react? I don’t want to answer to that question, however you are more than welcome to give your opinion to this question.

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 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.

Painter Of The Night/ A Painter Behind The Curtain: The difficult life of painters

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 2 Comments

This is where you can read the manhwas. https://www.lezhin.com/en/comic/painter https://www.tappytoon.com/comics/painter-behind-curtainm. But be aware that these manhwas are mature Yaoi, which means, it is about homosexuality with explicit scenes, although there is a softer version for “A Painter Behind The Curtain”. Here is the link, if you are interested in more analyses about this manhwa and others https://bebebisous33analyses.com/2021/06/06/table-of-contents-of-analyzed-mentioned-manhwas/

If you have already read the analysis about “Traces of “Dangerous liaisons” and “Justine: The Misfortunes of Virtue”, you know why I am now using the other manhwa “A Painter Behind The Curtain” created by Munamu. Both works have a lot in common, not only the historical setting but also the story as such. Both stories have a painter as a protagonist and the latter share a similar fate: a lot of suffering.

Since many are not familiar about A Painter behind the Curtain, I’ll just give a short summary. The story has 70 chapters but only 26 have been released in English. The main character is Ian Sconel, a talented painter who was sold as a child by his father to the Bardis, as soon as Mr. Bardi recognized his talents.

chapter 2

Since The Bardis have a long tradition of painters in their family, the father wanted to use the young boy’s talents in order to maintain the family’s reputation and their high lifestyle as renowned painters for the aristocracy. Mr. Bardi let his buyers think that his second son Jeremy was the genius one, whereas Ian Scornel was the one who created all the masterpieces. That’s why the author chose the title “behind the curtain”, as he painted the whole time hidden from the eyes of the others. The title is also referring to the meeting of Ian Sconel and the other protagonist, Mr. Raymond.

Ian was hiding behind the curtain when Mr. Raymond saw him for the first time

If we compare the two artists, we will notice that despite the different location (Italy-Joseon) both come from the bottom of the society. That’s the reason why the two men are illiterate.

chapter 10: Here, Mr. Raymond is offering an employment contract to Ian but the latter can neither sign nor read it. (chapter 40)

Moreover the two felt the need to paint all the time as children.

chapter 1

Ian as a child, chapter 2

Although they were both passionate about painting, Baek Na-Kyum’s drawings were limited to one subject: erotic pictures of sodomy. The difference is quite easy to understand: Baek Na-Kyum was raised at a gisaeng house, where sex was a common thing. Besides, this also outlines that the korean boy knew right from the start about his sexual orientation. For Ian, we discover that Mr. Bardi is sexually abusing him. So his homosexuality wasn’t determined right from the start. Little by little, Ian falls in love with Mr. Raymond because the latter treats him so well. But since servants confessing their love to Mr. Raymond are immediately fired, Ian has to hide his feelings for him. Baek Na-Kyum has also to hide his feelings in front of the lord, or better said, he has to fight against his repressed sexual desires (chapter 6), as he has been manipulated by the teacher Jung In-Hun that homosexuality is something filthy and immoral. (chapter 34)

The other common denominator is that the two men became victims of rape, (chapter 26) even if Ian was sexually abused quite often as he spent many years at the Bardis before getting “rescued” by Mr. Raymond.

chapter 4

Notice that during the rape, Ian has to listen to Mr. Bardi’s words that the latter is his benefactor, since he gives him the opportunity to paint and he has a roof over his head. All this leaves deep scars in the painter’s mind which explains why later he refuses to paint any longer.

The blond haired man vows not to paint any longer as he saw it as the cause for his misery and suffering, while Baek Na-Kyum was coerced by Jung In-Hun to abandon paintings due to the sodomy. The two painters have at some point kept their distance from their passion.

Chapter 2

But let’s go back to Ian’s paintings. Ian is forced to paint what Bardi wants so he is limited in his creativity. Whereas Yoon Seungho also restraints the low-born in his creativity, since he has to paint sex scenes, Ian has to create religious paintings or scenes with nobles.

Both sponsors use their position to impose their will. The painters have no right to refuse and to choose their subjects based on their inclination or inspiration. This outlines their precarious situation as they are dependent on the sponsor. Yoon Seungho’s attitude does resemble Mr. Bardi’s behavior, yet there is another huge contrast too. Ian is kept captive in his room, can only get food if the picture is finished. That’s why he is often hungry and very skinny.

On the other hand, Yoon Seungho shows a certain favoritism because he placed Baek Na-Kyum right next to his bedroom and the former is even willing to eat his lunch with him. (chapter 11) Despite the difference, they both have to please their sponsor with their work. If there is disobedience, then there is also punishment:

Mr. Bardi slapping Ian after the latter left his room in order to retrieve food as he was starving.

(chapter 13) The low-born was about to get the straw mat beating, until the lord changed his mind. However, just like Ian, the young man had been slapped and even pushed by his “sponsor” before. Ian’s suffering lasts much longer because he arrived at the house as a child and he was already a young man, when he was able to leave this hell created by Bardi.

All these aspects are here dramatized, however this was the reality for painters in the past. Even Vincent Van Gogh couldn’t live properly as he had no real sponsor outside his family. Many painters had to adapt themselves to the taste of their “clients” in order to earn money that’s why many artists chose to paint following the trend and the rules. In other words, the painters’ creativity and curiosity for experiment were bounded, just like in the two fictions.

chapter 13

Baek Na-Kyum became a successful painter because he published many erotic books which the nobility was fond of.

chapter 1

Sure, he had to publish them under a pseudonym, nevertheless his books were quite famous as he was able to survive as a drunk without painting any longer. So even if the topic was taboo, aristocrats were quite interested in such drawings. In order to get attention from the nobility, Ian is also reminded by Henry, a noble, that he should paint based on the trend but this time, Ian refuses. Unlike Bardi and Yoon Seungho, Mr. Raymond gave him the freedom to paint based on his inclination.

The other disparity is that Yoon Seungho wanted to keep the paintings to himself, he never wanted to let people see Baek Na-Kyum’s talents or to earn money with it. It was as if he was determined to own the painter so that he could keep him hidden from people’s attention, as if he wanted to put him behind the curtain. And notice that the noble is not interested in encouraging the artist to develop his talents. (chapter 41) He was jealous and annoyed, when he saw the picture of Jung In-Hun’s inauguration so that he failed to see the talent and dedication in this different type of drawing. So there is a certain selfishness in the seme here but I am expecting that this will change. He could have noticed that the low-born’s talent is not just defined by sex and sodomy but his insecurities made him blind in that moment. Yet, this painting has been given to the loyal valet Kim so that it can get destroyed. But I feel that Kim might give it to his master or keep it. I have the feeling that this painting will play a bigger role in Baek Na-Kyum’s career later.

Now, people who haven’t read “A painter behind the curtain” might think that Yoon Seungho is the Joseon version of Bardi, however they are wrong. Actually, he is a mixture of Bardi (due to his selfish and violent side) and Mr. Raymond. If you look at the image where Mr. Raymond is looking at the painting, you’ll notice his fascination and admiration for the work created by Ian.

The so-called merchant is definitely moved by the creation and the gaze is again revealing the affects caused by the painting. He keeps starring at it, there is a certain calmness and relaxation oozing from his eyes. Just like Yoon Seungho, the bourgeois falls in love with Ian’s pictures. And little by little, he falls in love with the artist himself. As you can see, the paintings serve as a bridge between the two men, Yoon Seungho wants to find the man with the talented hands and at some point Mr. Raymond will realize Mr. Bardi’s fraud and the origin of the paintings: Ian.

However, Mr. Raymond’s kindness and gentleness is not selfless in reality. He needs the artist’s talents in order to get closer to the nobility and as such to power. Art and paintings are linked to power because rulers and even the Church used art in order to legitimate their authority.

Here, this is the famous portray of Louis XIV made by Hyacinthe Rigaud. Through this painting, the French King wanted to demonstrate his power. He is an absolute Monarch. He possesses all the powers: the executive (symbolized by the sword), legislative (scepter) and judicial branches (the hand of justice on the stool). But he doesn’t need the regalia on himself in order to prove his position as absolute ruler.

At the same time, only painters working for the Church or the King had a rather comfortable life. Yet they had to paint what they were told to. Just like Yoon Seungho, the bourgeois is motivated by revenge but uses art as his tool and not sex. Mr. Raymond has a different approach therefore he needs Ian’s talent and help.

chapter 12
chapter 12

Mr. Raymond is not powerful like the lord from Joseon, since the merchant only belongs to the third state, the commoners. He wants to obtain power as he suffered injustice in his childhood.

chapter 13

His father was executed due to a scheme perpetrated by count Rothsildt. So far, he has internalized that only in a powerful position he can get revenge and protect himself and his family from any injustice. Since he is just a bourgeois, he is despised by the aristocrats, at the same time they seek his company as many nobles are facing financial issues which is historically correct. Just before the French Revolution, many bourgeois were even richer than nobles, especially many low nobles were impoverished… which reminds us of Jung In-Hun at the same time. So his role as a sponsor for a talented painter represents his way to get access to power. Like I have mentioned above, for kings talented painters are a tool for the securing their own power.

Since Mr. Raymond has to rely on Ian’s talent, he can’t behave like Yoon Seungho. He needs to win the painter’s trust hence he teaches him reading and writing. Striking is that Ian is compared to a cat,

whereas Baek Na-Kyum’s behavior reminded me more of a lamb. That’s why their position contrasts so much. Ian has the upper hand right from the start with Mr. Raymond and in Painter Of The Night, it is the opposite. Seungho can use his position as lord to force the man to paint, yet as time passes on, the situation reverses. At the end of the first season, Baek Na-Kyum has the upper hand in their relationship. Seungho wants to have the artist’s consent, when it comes to sex. He no longer uses his position as lord. (chapter 41)

This explains why Ian is given so much freedom by the bourgeois. As time passes on, Ian’s PTSD disappears and the artist can develop his own interest and change his techniques. Thanks to Mr. Raymond’s support, he can choose the topic of his paintings and the methods which announces a huge change and innovation in the art. Ian shows an interest for commoners or for landscapes.

chapter 17

The way he paints as well, reminds me a lot of the Impressionism, an art current characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subject matter, inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles.

Jean Monet: Haystacks (Sunset) The use of unusual colors in the sky and in the haystacks is very characteristic for an impressionist painter. A classic painter would have use different blue and yellow colors for the landscape and no small brush stroke.

Impressionism originates with a group of artists living around Paris whose independent exhibitions created a wave of scandal and attention at the end of the 19th Century. Famous painters from the impressionism are f. ex. Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, Morisot. But Van Gogh and Cézanne were highly influenced by this art movement until they developed their own style. These painters decided not to follow the rules by the Art Academy which explains why many painters from that current struggled a lot. Only Renoir and Monet could become rich and successful before their death. And now, if you look at Ian’s paintings, you observe that Ian has the same thinking and approach as he paints on his impressions. Now, I am adding a picture where the beholder can view the paintings that the nobility liked.

In the background, you can see the classic paintings he created, when he was exploited by Bardi.

The beholder observes the huge contrast as Ian no longer paints religious scenes or mythology, his focus is more or less on daily situations: they have less pathos and ooze more humbleness. But thanks to Raymond, Ian Sconel is able to catch the attention of a famous court painter. However, we shouldn’t forget that this young man wouldn’t have been able to develop his skills any further if Raymond had not entirely supported him.

That’s why the attitude of a sponsor is really important, he can brake or improve the artist’s talents.

Now, if we return our attention to Painter Of The Night, the reader notices that Yoon Seungho was only focused on getting new paintings for his own pleasure. The interest of the low-born never mattered. However, I sense that the lord might come to change his attitude and even help him to develop his talents. Just like in “A Painter Behind The Curtain”, I am expecting that the master will teach Baek Na-Kyum to write and read. Secondly, we know for sure that he has connection to the Royal Academy

chapter 12

and Baek Na-Kyum has for the first time painted on another topic: the inauguration of the low noble Jung In-Hun. (chapter 44) The drawing was detailed and totally different from the erotic pictures. So I am expecting that Yoon Seungho turns into a real sponsor and becomes more and more like Mr. Raymond. However, the latter will have to choose at some point between power or love. By taking care of Ian so well, he wanted him to open up but at the end, Raymond fell in love with the genius too. While one artist could incite arousal with his creations, the other could calm the resentful merchant. Strictly speaking, their art had a huge impact on the life of the two semes.

Despite the suffering and their tragic past, both artists have the chance to meet someone who will help them to get recognition for their talents and to become more independent. But just like I have been showing all along, the painter’s life in the past relied a lot of sponsoring. The French novelist Emile Zola wrote a novel called “L’Oeuvre” (The work) where he described the struggling of an impressionist. The latter was determined to create a masterpiece with innovations and to get recognition but failed at the end. Zola, a close friend of Cézanne, was inspired by his friend’s life and the impressionism, yet this book became the reason why Cézanne cut ties with his childhood friend as the painter Claude Lantier was portrayed in a rather negative way: he was obsessed and neglected everything else including his family. The reasons why I am mentioning this work are the following. First, it outlines the importance of a sponsor and confirmed what the manhwas are telling in their fiction. Then it reveals the difficulties the avant-garde painters had in order to get accepted. Finally here comes the biggest reason. I had to read this book when I was a high school student and through this work, I came to understand the significance of paintings. That’s how I discovered the impressionism and fell in love with their works. Because of this novel, I could finally understand better why innovations in art movement were related to a fight against Academy and rules. Painters are indeed fighters because what they do can go against social norms and etiquette. That’s why their life is so difficult. The rape, the exploitation might be fiction in the manhwas, yet they symbolize the struggles painters from unknown origins had in order to make a breakthrough.

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.

Painter Of The Night: “Spring Awakening” part 3

~ Bébébisous33 ~ Leave a comment

This essay represents the last part of the comparison between the theater play “Spring Awakening” from Frank Wedekind with the manhwa Painter Of The Night. In order to be able to compare the characters from the German theater play with the ones from the Korean manhwa, it is important to give a short explanation about the characters from “Spring Awakening” and the role they played in the story. We have the main protagonist Melchior Gabor, his parents and the school director Sunstroke.

Melchior Gabor is a teenager with good grads at school hence he is very confident. Furthermore he is a free spirit hence he knows a lot about sexuality through books and observations. The reason why he stands so much in opposition to Wendla Bergmann is that his mother wasn’t strict compared to the other parents. She believed in her son’s maturity and intelligence and imagined that he wouldn’t do anything stupid. However, as you know it, Melchior Gabor will force himself on Wendla Bergmann. Moreover Melchior is the friend of Moritz Stiefel (Boots). The latter has problems with his grads therefore later, the pessimistic teenager decides to commit suicide because he is expelled from school. He is unable to face the disdain from his parents and the humiliation. But before killing himself, Melchior Gabor tried to help him in many ways, like giving his own homework or giving him a lesson about sex education. This led to the situation that Moritz Stiefel asked Melchior to write notes for the sex education because the former is rather shy and embarrassed. However, after Moritz’s suicide, the adults which means the parents, the school director and the teachers put the blame on Melchior because of the notes about the sex education found in the belongings of Moritz. They claim that the student did it due to the shock he received, when he saw the “vulgar and dirty” papers. As you already know, the real cause was the pressure to perform well coming from the family and the school. Moritz was well aware that he needed to rank among the first 60th students in order to avoid the expel. Even the school director Sunstroke admits this:

“because we have to protect our institution from the devastation of a suicide epidemic that has already broken out in several high schools…” (Act 3, scene 1)

As you can see, the pressure to perform is in fact related to the increasing number of suicides among the students underlining the extreme pressure put on the teenagers. And here, the school director Sunstroke reminds me of Jung In-Hun due to their similar profession and attitude. They blame others for their own failure, especially a teenager which is the perfect target. Jung In-Hun also made the painter feel guilty and dirty with his brainwashing and later with the rejection and abandonment. Since he was born to be a prostitute, the teacher didn’t need to feel responsible for him. Sunstroke doesn’t need to feel guilty for Moritz’s suicide as there is Melchior as justification. Strangely is that both characters are also associated to the same metaphor: the smelling air due to the lack of opened windows. When Jung In-Hun is seen in the library, , the beholder never see any window, only books or walls. In “Spring Awakening”, Sunstroke asks to have a window opened during a meeting but he is unable to have his wish fulfilled. Either one teacher doesn’t want to have his back facing the opened window or one window was boarded up. This underlines their lack of connection to the youth, they are both living in their own world, disconnected from the students or from people in general.

But let’s go back to Melchior Gabor. Instead of changing their methods, the school and as such the adults choose to turn the main protagonist as a scapegoat which leads the father to abandon his son and sends him to a reformatory. His mother Mrs Gabor agrees to her husband’s decision the moment she discovers that her son slept with Wendla. Rejected by society and by his own parents, Melchior escapes from the reformatory and goes to the cemetery. There he sees Wendla’s tomb and in his despair, he begins to hallucinate, where he sees his dead friend Moritz. He is about to commit suicide, when a masked man appears and convinces him to keep living. We have to understand that this hooded man personifies life as such. The masked man tells Melchior how the generation conflict could have been mitigated. The parents should have responded a little to the children’s needs and talked openly to them and simultaneously they should have shown them what was out there in the world. So despite the rejection and abandonment, Melchior decides to follow him and discover the world. He chooses life over his friend.

As you can imagine, we can draw a lot of parallels between Melchior Gabor and Yoon Seungho. Both know about sex quite well, then they are betrayed and abandoned by their own family. Besides, both become the scapegoat for the wrongdoings committed by adults. Both rape, although it was never their intention in the first place. Then their personality is quite similar: they have a huge influence on others (leadership), they are very observant, they read a lot. In other words, the two young men are intelligent free spirits. Moreover, despite the huge pain of losing his friends Wendla and Moritz, Melchior chose life in the end, just like Yoon Seungho. The only first huge difference is that Yoon Seungho is not a social person as he has no real friend. Even his childhood friend Jihwa doesn’t know him that well as the latter always keeps his own thoughts and emotions to him. However, we can conclude that Yoon Seungho’s fate resembles a lot Melchior’s.

Nonetheless, it is important to look closer to their similarities. Strangely, both have a huge libido. Melchior started having erections much earlier compared to his friends (Act 1, scene 2), just like Seungho is able to have sex with Baek Na-Kyum for a very long time. (chapter 33). Their age might differ but they both experience “Spring Awakening”. When Melchior is lying in the hay loft, Wendla joins him. Although he attempts to send her away, she refuses to leave him hence he can’t resist her any longer and starts kissing her. She objects that they don’t love each other that’s why they shouldn’t kiss, however Melchior replies that love doesn’t exist, there is only egoism. In other words, he implies that love is not required during intercourse, they should just follow their impulses. We can observe that he is following his sexual natural instincts. This reminds us of the scene, where Yoon Seungho has sex with Jihwa at the pavilion.

chapter 3

Here the excited noble is also following his instincts. For the first time, he is aroused and feels sex with a man quite exciting. He is neglecting his partner’s needs as well. He experiences something new. He feels pleasure for the first time, he also perceives himself differently. Just like Melchior, the noble is only focusing on sex and doesn’t pay attention to love. He is selfish just like the teenager. Striking is the resemblance in the location, a pavilion and a hay loft are quite similar, since they are open.

However, the huge difference is that Melchior has sex just one time with Wendla and he actually rapes her. With Jihwa, it was different because this was consensual sex and Jihwa did love his childhood friend. Furthermore, Yoon Seungho makes another experience: he makes love to Baek Na-Kyum after the latter confesses his love to him mistaken him for his learned sir. Yoon Seungho thought that he could just have sex, nevertheless he ended up feeling the difference between sex and love. They made love and they had not just sex, though Seungho didn’t realize the distinction. Melchior in the theater play never got to know what making love feels. However, we could say that this represents the second step in the Spring Awakening of our Korean protagonist. Unlike Melchior, Yoon Seungho can no longer say that love doesn’t exist, since the young artist confessed his love … yet the master is unaware of his own feelings.

The readers know that Yoon Seungho rapes the low-born at the pavilion, just like Melchior raped the innocent girl at the hay loft. Both never planned it, even if we can observe a difference between both rapes. Yoon Seungho had planned to have sex with the man there, he thought that Baek Na-Kyum had remembered their night together. Since he thought that the artist had made a painting of their night together, he imagined that he had accepted him as his sex partner. Melchior initially tried to fight his instincts, as he wanted to send his friend away but she refused unaware of the reason for his rejection. In other words, the teenagers acted on his instincts, on an impulse. Yoon Seungho raped the young man out of frustration and not because of a sudden attraction. Besides, Baek Na-Kyum refused more categorically than Wendla, he slapped the noble, whereas she tried to argue with her partner. They shouldn’t kiss because they don’t love each other. The stronger resistance can be explained very easily. The painter knew what the man wanted, whereas Wendla had no idea what was going to happen to her. Unlike Wendla, Baek Na-Kyum received sex education because he was raised at a brothel, furthermore he knew about homosexual sex. Strangely, both rapes start with kisses which shows that there was more than just sex. A kiss serves as a trigger for arousal but reveals a certain tenderness.

Right after the rape, Yoon Seungho calms down and regrets it hence he tries to redeem himself by taking care of Baek Na-Kyum.

chapter 26

For Melchior, it is a little different. Some time passes until he sends a letter to Wendla which is caught by her mother. However, both want to take their responsibility for their wrongdoing. When the sex marathon occurred which led to the uke’s exhaustion, here again the lord wanted to redeem himself for overlooking the health condition of his partner. Hence he made sure that he had some water and have the doctor fetched and was ready to buy some expensive medicine.

Another resemblance is the role played by Melchior in the discovery of sexuality. We know that Seungho forced the uke to look at his facial expressions while having sex with him so that the latter would no longer deny his sexual orientation. In the theater play, Wendla asked Melchior to beat her because she had never experienced it before. She was curious about it, Melchior was quite surprised by her request but decided to follow her request. Through him, she discovered her sado-masochist disposition. Both Wendla and Baek Na-Kyum realized what they like, though the girl has no idea that it is related to sex. On the other hand, Yoon Seungho contrasts so much to Melchior because the latter ran away after beating the girl. He felt embarrassed and had no idea how to deal with those feelings. Yoon Seungho has never been embarrassed about sex and he has no problem to use violence as well. Sure, he is much older than Melchior and as such he has experienced much more than the teenager.

Both young men are excluded from the family. The elder master accused his son of sodomy and cut off his topknot which created a huge scandal. Then he moved to another mansion in the countryside. Melchior Gabor becomes the gossip because of Moritz’s suicide and of the notes he left to him. The father, Mr. Gabor, declares that Melchior needs to be sent to a reformatory which could be considered as an exile. So there is a physical distance between their relatives and the protagonists in both stories. Another similarity is the cowardice of the fathers.

Mr. Gabor blames his wife for their son’s wrongdoings, while he never showed any interest in education before. He could have explained more about sex education but he never did. The father prefers to save his family’s reputation by abandoning his son than to help his son to take his responsibility for Wendla. Both parents are selfish. The result is the same: Yoon Seungho and Melchior felt betrayed and abandoned by their family. On the other hand, we have no idea about Seungho’s mother. Was she alive back then? Did she become a victim of the purge because her parents could have been involved? The mother could have played a role in Seungho’s suffering as well. Either she betrayed him like Melchior’s mother or she became herself a victim of her husband’s action.

Then we come to the ending. Melchior chose life at the end, although he was suffering so much due to his guilty conscience, the loss of two friends, the abandonment and the disowning by his own family. Yoon Seungho must have felt the same way, even worse, since I suppose that he was himself raped. Besides, I have the feeling that Yoon Seungho could have been responsible for the death of the servants (forced to erase every trace of a possible participation in a conspiracy). We only hear that the servants were replaced. Either they moved with the elder master or they were “removed”. But there is a huge difference: Yoon Seungho chose to get revenge on his father by keeping his reputation as a famous sodomite so that the father would be constantly reminded of his own sins and cowardice. Furthermore, Yoon Seungho was barely alive all these years because of his passivity. He was just surviving hence he constantly looked at his courtyard while smoking at the window. Yet there is the appearance of the masked man in the manhwa as well: the drawings created by Baek Na-Kyum. Through the erotic books, Seungho came back to life as he was able to get aroused. Yoon Seungho had no idea who was the creator of these beautiful paintings, however they became the reason for discovering joy in his life. That’s why we can see the huge smile on the noble, when he meets the low-born for the first time. So the meeting of the hooded man happened before the story in the Painter Of The Night starts. And now, you can perceive the contrast: the chronology is totally different. Since the theater play ends with the meeting of the hooded man, we have to imagine that the manhwa could be seen as a continuation of “Spring Awakening”. This is what Melchior is going to experience later: rediscover the pleasure in sex, discover the existence of love and finally have a companion by his side. The hooded man takes his mask away and gets an identity: Baek Na-Kyum. The latter is the reason why Yoon Seungho smiles again, why he can feel emotions again, while he was living more or less like a robot in the past.

The master actually experiences two kind of “Spring Awakening”: the first one with Jihwa and the second one with Baek Na-Kyum in the bedchamber of the low-born. Sure, his “revenge” on the father kept him alive all this time, while Melchior is far more desperate and feels more guilty than the lord at the cemetery. However, you could see that both works have a lot in common, not only because of the topics but also the resemblance of the characters. And the theater play was written 200 years ago which shows how actual it is. The hypocrisy, the pressure on students to perform well, the discovery of sexuality among teenagers and its repercussion, the taboo linked to homosexuality will never disappear.

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Painter Of The Night: “Spring Awakening” part 2

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 2 Comments

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/

In the second part, I’ll compare the mentality and the protagonists from the manhwa with these from the German theater play “Spring awakening” written by Frank Wedekind. I know that many are not familiar with Wedekind’s work but it is definitely interesting to observe the similarities between both works.

I am well aware that Byeonduck has not been inspired by this theater play, however through this comparison I would like to point out that her manhwa has truly the potential to become a classic in the long run due to the topics she covers: acceptance of homosexuality, the conservative moral values oppressing people’s identity and tabooing sex leading to problems, the process of self-discovery, the importance of critical thinking and the unconscious, the inequity in a hierarchical society, coercive persuasion as a method to oppress people, the traumas caused by suppressing too much the unconscious, the decadence of the nobility in the 18th Century, the meaning of paintings, the importance of education for children etc. Therefore people shouldn’t read Painter Of The Night just as a hot and gory story but as a story with many meanings, just like “Justine: the Misfortunes of Virtue” from Sades that is often reduced to sex.

In order to grasp better why this author wrote such a provocative theater play, we have to understand the historical context. This story was written during the German Empire (1871-1918) which is described as an authoritarian state (Obrigkeitsstaat). In this historical era, German society was influenced by strict values, like f. ex. blind obedience, willingness to make sacrifices, ruthlessness, nationalism, high esteem for the army but no critical thinking. That’s why critical ability was not trained rather it was the opposite. Critic was oppressed. At the same time, more and more schools were founded which sounds like a good thing. However, the true reason for increasing literacy was to turn boys into obedient soldiers in reality. [Now, you can understand why Hitler had it much easier later… these values existed before he came to power] This explains why physical punishment and the ruling by fear were common methods during this historical period. Children had to listen to their parents, their teachers and the authorities without question.

Die gar traurige Geschichte mit dem Feuerzeug von Heinrich Hoffmann
This is a story from the Struwwelpeter written by Heinrich Hoffman. As you can see, the girl plays with the matches. Her disobedience leads to her death. She gets burnt. The lesson is that if you should listen to your parents’ words because if not, you can die. These lessons are quite gruesome but reflect the mentality of that period. Fear is used as a tool to get submissive students.

Now, the readers can sense the similarities between both stories. Both societies in “Spring awakening” and “Painter Of The Night” are very conservative. Filial piety and respect towards higher classes are requested and highly esteemed, besides there is a strict and conservative social hierarchy and no one has to question the social norms. The commoners are not allowed to complain, they have to accept the inequity. In the German Empire, nobility still existed in that period despite the constitution. There is no real supervision about the teacher’s methods and skills, they can do whatever they want as long as they are supporting the ruler and his politics. The king and nobility’s authority are not even criticized. This explains why in the German Empire teenagers have no freedom and are monitored all the time. Sex and sex education are taboos, yet the teenagers have to deal with the awakening of their sexual desires coming along with the puberty.

After describing the context, we can now start to introduce the story “Spring Awakening”. We have a 14 years old girl, Wendla Bergmann, who gets pregnant by coerced sex. Her tragedy is that she is not even aware of the pregnancy. Because her pregnancy could be seen as a stain for her family, it is disguised as a disease by the doctor, while the young woman is forced to get an abortion causing her death. Melchior Gabor, also a 14 years old teenager from the bourgeoisie, is the one responsible for her situation. Since he suddenly felt attracted by her, he slept with her, well aware that there is no deep love between them. He is just following his natural instincts. You have to imagine that Wendla Bergman couldn’t even call it a rape because she had no idea what was happening to her. Now, you are wondering how all this could happen.

Since Wendla has been taught to listen to her mother’s words, she believes everything what the mother says. The poor girl listens to her mother so well that at the end, it becomes her downfall. The mother refused to give her a lesson about sex education in many occasions. First, the teenager has a sister named Ina who has just given birth but during Ina’s pregnancy, Wendla was not allowed to meet Ina. Her mother announces her the birth of Ina’s son which surprises Wendla. Wendla’s parent explains the origin of the birth with the legend about the stork delivering the baby. However, she is very curios which explains why she is never really satisfied with her mother’s answers and keeps asking. Moreover, she even begs Melchior to beat her revealing her sado-masochist disposition.

Wendla is not so convinced by Mrs. Bergmann’s lies but the mother is determined not to tell her the truth. The innocent girl doesn’t give up until the mother confesses that children are born out of love after a marriage. So in the girl’s mind, love and marriage become the conditions for a pregnancy. Imagine her astonishment, when her mother reproaches her to endanger their family’s reputation at the end because she is now pregnant. In that moment, the daughter replies that this can’t be possible because she only loves her mother and she is not married. She is not stupid, just really naive. Now, you are wondering where the similarities between Wendla and the characters from Painter Of The Night are.

This is quite simple: Baek Na-Kyum has a lot in common with Wendla. Both embodies innocence and purity. Both become victims of deceptions and as a result both get raped due to the manipulation of a relative. Baek Na-Kyum would have never refused Yoon Seungho so strongly, if he had not been brainwashed by Jung In-Hun in the first place. The “rape” is the consequence of the false belief. The painter is attracted by the noble right from the start but he has to fight against his natural sexual desires since he has been taught that sex is dirty and vulgar. Sure, here it is about homosexuality, yet I am quite sure that Jung In-Hun is no advocate for sex education in general, especially when I suspect that he is a pedophile. Sex is a taboo based on etiquette and social manners in that historical period. Therefore painting erotic pictures about sodomy is like a crime in Jung In-Hun’s eyes. As you know, he had another reason to condemn these pictures. He never wanted the painter to become successful. Wendla and Baek Na-Kyum put so much trust in their “parent” that they fail to notice the deepness of their lies. Then we have the same expectations. Both parents don’t accept disobedience, neither critic nor question.

Wendla senses that she is not suffering from hypochromic anemia but she is not aware of her real condition. She still relies on her mother, just like Baek Na-Kyum who has already sensed that something was wrong and decided to lie in the chapter 38. Yet they still have a certain faith in their relative.

Both characters are abandoned and betrayed by their loved and admired relative. The mother asks for an abortion without telling her daughter. She hides it behind her tears and sweet words. Here, the beholder can witness a similar attitude of the teacher. Behind his sweet talk and smile, he has another intention. The low-born has to spy for him. He is here actually telling him to sell himself indirectly, yet he acts as if he knows nothing about Seungho’s sexual orientation and that Baek Na-Kyum could become his target. His ignorance protects him for feeling guilty and responsible. The mother never told her daughter who Mrs Schmidt was and what she was about to do. She even adds at the end that Mrs. Schmidt is just someone. That way, she can’t be blamed for her daughter’s death and the latter can never reproach her responsibility. In-Hun’s alleged ignorance leads to the rape, just like Mrs. Bergmann ignored deliberately the sex education leading to the rape.

When Wendla senses her death coming, the mother till the end lies to her daughter which shows Mrs. Bergmann’s real coldness. She is actually the one responsible for her future death because she is the one who asks for the illegal abortion out of shame. Moreover, even before the truth about her pregnancy is unveiled, the mother keeps saying that Wendla is just suffering from hypochromic anemia. However, unlike Baek Na-Kyum, Wendla doesn’t resent her mother so much, once she discovers the truth. She just complains: “Why didn’t you tell me everything before?”. Besides, she is left in the dark about her own fate: Mrs Schmidt coming for the abortion.

For Baek Na-Kyum, it is totally different because at the end, he accepts the abandonment and realizes the real betrayal. On the other hand he is still accepting the harsh words coming from his learned sir:

“You were born to be a prostitute”

That’s why he tries to call himself a prostitute in front of the noble but fails (chapter 42).

He has not learnt yet to criticize the teacher’s words because the latter is a learned sir, whereas he has no education. Furthermore the blind obedience in “Spring awakening” is also visible in Painter Of The night, since it is expected by the low noble. Through the rethorical question, Baek Na-Kyum is manipulated into dropping the paintings. The artist has to follow his “adoptive father”‘s values and restrictions. Just like in the German Empire, harsh punishments are a common method in order to create submissive pawns. By inducing fear and giving punishments, Baek Na-Kyum is little by little coerced to give up his own identity and personality. He has to follow the rules and social norms which makes him a perfect tool for deception and lies. He ends up as a drunk because he needs to fill that emptiness. Indirectly, the author is here showing issues concerning blind obedience and filial piety, just like Wedekind. The portray of adults is quite negative: they are superficial, manipulative and hypocrite, unwilling to admit their own failure or guilt.

Another parallel is the importance of the clothing. In the first scene, Wendla’s mother wants her to change her night gown as she has become more feminine and more seductive. She needs to dress more like a woman but the young girl refuses. Then we have Jung In-Hun who wonders why Baek Na-Kyum doesn’t have his headband. Just a simple question and yet it is quite important. Here, Jung In-Hun is reminding him to wear the headband as it is a sign for his social status.

So he is pointing out that he should wear clothes according to his social status. Notice, this servant is also wearing a headband. The parents are here making sure that they are dressed according to their social status and age. There is no freedom in both cases.

But unlike Wendla, the artist has a different fate. First, he doesn’t die, although we could say that the rejection from Jung In-Hun could be perceived as a death in the figurative sense. Jung In-Hun thought that the low-born had no value any longer hence he didn’t need to keep pretense. The second difference is that he has the great chance to meet someone who is about to become his “mentor”: Yoon Seungho. The latter has a different way to teach the painter. He makes the young man question the teacher’s intentions through a question. He wants him to become more critical, to develop critical abilities. Yoon Seungho is a supporter of the education for commoners, as the chapter 6 underlined it with the sarcastic remarks from the powerful noble. I have the impression that the poetry could become the link that brings Yoon Seungho and Baek Na-Kyum closer. As you already know, I have no doubt that the noble returned a different poem. As a result, I am expecting that Yoon Seungho becomes the low-born’s teacher. He truly becomes his “learned sir”.

The other difference is that unlike Wendla, Baek Na-Kyum has an idea about sex and sexuality because he was raised at the brothel, whereas Wendla belongs to the bourgeoisie, a higher class from the society and she is a woman. Besides, we have another contrast: Baek Na-Kyum blamed Yoon Seungho for the rape and hated him,

chapter 26

whereas Wendla shows no resent towards the young man due to her ignorance.

Yet their innocence and their fate as victims are the common denominators. They are manipulated by selfish, two-faced and narrow-minded parents who reject their own responsibility. Their methods of education might differ, Wendla was never beaten unlike some of her friends and Baek Na-Kyum, yet the deception was used by both relatives. For her own sake, she preferred to risk her daughter’s life than have her family’s reputation ruined. However, Jung In-Hun is worse than Mrs. Bergmann, since he doesn’t even love the young man and shows no conscience at all. He can’t even cry, he can only fake smiles.

As you can sense, I only compared two characters from the theater play and could outline many parallels. But this is not the end as I haven’t even examined the main character Melchior Gabor yet. This will be the topic for another analysis.

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