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/
It would be great if you could make some donations/sponsoring: Ko-fi.com/bebebisous33 That way, you can support me with “coffee” so that I have the energy to keep examining manhwas. Besides, I need to cover up the expenses for this blog.
In the first part, I demonstrated that the night in the episode 49 marked a pivotal moment in the painter’s life, for he was abandoning Jung In-Hun’s doctrines and cutting ties with the scholar for good. First, he had asked the valet Kim to get rid of the painting about Jung In-Hun’s inauguration, which showed that he was taking his distance from his former admired sir. 
(chapter 44) He saw it as a confirmation that the teacher had truly abandoned him, for he never bid goodbye to him. However, now I believe that Kim never informed the artist of the scholar’s departure.
(chapter 44) He just delivered it in delay so that the artist would feel even worse than before. Without the farewell, he could only come to the conclusion that he had been truly abandoned by Jung In-Hun. Yes, the artist didn’t react like the butler had expected. He remained in the mansion despite the gate had been left wide opened. By getting rid of the painting, he was cutting ties with the learned sir. Yet this was a baby step compared to the scene in the chapter 49. Here, he has finally become the master of his own life and fate therefore he’ll live his life the way he wants. He is accepting his homosexuality and as such his sensuality. He views sex as a part of his life. He rejects abstinence and doesn’t view sex as an addiction. 
(chapter 49)
Furthermore I explained that he became a full-pledged person again, as he regained his own identity. We could even say that he had lost his identity as a painter. In the first chapter, the aristocrat was looking for the painter hiding behind a pseudonym and not for Baek Na-Kyum himself. Their first wedding night changed everything: from that moment on, Yoon Seungho wanted the man Baek Na-Kyum and not the painter- Hence the creation of new drawings became obsolete. For Yoon Seungho, only an image about their first night mattered, as he perceived as a validation of their marriage. But back then he was not realizing the signification of this wish. Yet as you can imagine, it is impossible to separate Baek Na-Kyum from his true vocation. That’s a part of his identity. So when he explained his reason for the “why”, he revealed many things. First, he accepted his homosexuality and his physical attraction to Yoon Seungho and indirectly that he was a painter, although he didn’t verbalize it loudy. Many readers were upset because they thought that Baek Na-Kyum was still acting as a prostitute at the end. The reason for their interpretation was the following picture: 
The lord’s thoughts were reflecting the artist’s mind-set. Yet, observe that in this scene, the real “prostitute” was more the lord. Why? It is because the painter had stipulated that it was the noble’s duty to lick him and as such make the painter feel good. Yet, there was a slight difference. A prostitute’s duty is to focus on the client’s pleasure and not on her/his own sensuality. Yet, observe that the noble’s thoughts are revealing that he will make sure that he enjoys their sex/love session too. Since he said that he would let his body lead him and his life, they thought that he was selling his body. But no, here he was saying that he would also pay attention to his own needs too. In other words, he was becoming a libertine, exactly like the painter. Both chose to live as libertines during that night. People would call it: a relationship with no string attached. However, what these readers failed to realize (in my perspective) is that Yoon Seungho and Baek Na-Kyum never mentioned any remuneration in exchange for sex, while it was different in the past (chapter 46). 
In fact, in this image, he was acknowledging his other part: he was a painter.
I regard this expression “my body take the lead” from Yoon Seungho as a reflection of the artist’s true and original belief, before he was brainwashed and almost destroyed by the teacher. It is strongly connected to his painting. Remember that when he was a child, he painted an erotic image of sodomy. 
(chapter 1) I perceive this image as an indication that the artist had dreamed about this love session. Note that all dreams about the painter were linked to sex and love. For me, this picture is a proof that the brothel had nothing to do with it. He was drawing outside and he had no model for such a scene right in front of him. In other words, the child allowed his body (his arm, hand, eye and brain) to take the lead, hence he was able to create such a sensual picture. Even Yoon Seungho wondered how a virgin could produce such beautiful drawings.
(chapter 20) I have always pointed out that Baek Na-Kyum was a homosexual right from the start, which he accepted as something natural. He was also encouraged by his noonas. 
(chapter 87) He saw no crime in it, rather as something lovely and beautiful, hence he never felt the need to hide it. Notice that in this picture, he was creating such a lewd painting 
(chapter 1) where people can behold it, he feels neither shame nor embarrassment. He had no idea that he was violating social norms. That’s why I came to the following interpretation, when the painter said 
(chapter 49), he was rediscovering his old belief, he wouldn’t feel flustered if someone calls him a sodomite or whore due to his paintings. Notice that he didn’t blush, when he heard Min’s comment or when he saw the sudden kiss. 
(chapter 49) Now, you understand why I was really happy with this chapter. Baek Na-Kyum was slowly returning to the person he was in the past before the teacher and his noona Heena transformed him into a shadow of himself. He was accepting every part of himself: his sexual desires, his sexual orientation and more importantly his work as painter.
The commoner was already an empty shell, when he met the main lead for the first time. Let’s not forget that he was living as a drunk, since he had vowed to never paint again.
By forcing him to drop painting, Jung In-Hun had already ruined the low-born’s life, as painting was a part of his soul. We could say that the low-born was already withering. However, back then Yoon Seungho was not interested in why the painter suddenly dropped his true vocation and why he lied to him too. The lord was more obsessed with the erotic drawings. The cause for this long explication is necessary as with this interpretation, I am predicting what is going to happen in the future.
This signifies that after this episode, Baek Na-Kyum’s talents will return with full forces and Yoon Seungho will even be his source of inspiration. The lord will become the artist’s new muse.
In order to understand this, we need to go back to the chapter 46. There, the beholder could sense that Baek Na-Kyum had lost his passion for painting despite his claim.
His head was down, his cheeks were red as if he was feeling ashamed. Furthermore there was no real passion in his eyes, when he conceded it to the head-maid. His confession about liking to paint was indeed meek. The lord’s observation made later was correct, although he never got to hear this revelation. Here, this drawing illustrated the frozen state of the painter, the loss of his soul and talent.
The artist was only able to produce a new painting because initially he masturbated. Striking is that this scene was a clue about the artist’s original belief. 
Here again, he allowed his body to take the lead, but it was once again behind closed doors and nobody was present. He was hiding again, indicating that he still wouldn’t admit his own sexual desires and his homosexuality. Until now, he had only asked for comfort and love from his counterpart (chapter 20/21 and 41/42). Remember that in the chapter 41, he just asked to be hold and as such, he only wanted to be embraced initially. However, due to his inexperience and pain, he confused love with sex. As you can see, the belief “the body taking the lead” had resurfaced indicating that little by little, the painter was changing. More importantly is that he hadn’t been triggered by an immediate sex session, unlike in the past (chapter 8/9). For the first time, Baek Na-Kyum’s sexual desires had come back to life. Unlike in the past, he didn’t judge the cum as something dirty and filthy. Moreover, Baek Na-Kyum could only ejaculate due to Yoon Seungho’s warmth and love. He had these flashbacks where the lord made love to him. 
Thanks to these two elements (the body taking the lead and Yoon Seungho), he could paint again, however he could just create an unfinished and unrefined drawing because of the image he had of himself: a prostitute. His talents were diminished, even the lord’s influence couldn’t remove the false reflection about his identity caused by the scholar’s punishment. In this scene, we had another confession: Baek Na-Kyum was no longer hating the noble indicating that in the end, he had forgiven him for his wrongdoings:
- The brutality the painter was exposed to due to the noble (chapter 1, 11, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31-33)
- The rape
- The forced fellatio
- The sex marathon which made him really sick to the point that he could have died
Sure, he was only talking to himself but in the retrospective, I interpret this scene as the prelude of Baek Na-Kyum’s real transformation. By forgiving the protagonist, the painter has already started valuing the lord differently. The chapter 46 revealed the growing influence of the noble in the painter’s mind and body. He had already started being an inspiration for the artist’s new work. One might argue that this had already happened in the past, yet I have a different perception. In the first part of the first season, Yoon Seungho was forcing the commoner to paint, the latter had no choice to have the master as his model. Then Yoon Seungho was hopelessly waiting for the drawing of their “wedding night” which never occurred. The painter chose to ignore this night and to repress his memories. Then in the chapter 41, he painted so many images in order to ease his pain. 
That’s why his paintings lacked passion and warmth. He was working like a robot. As a conclusion, until the chapter 46, Baek Na-Kyum never considered his “husband” (I am well aware this is not how Baek Na-Kyum perceives Seungho) as his muse. He just used him as his model as he had been forced to or he wanted to smooth his agony.
In the past, I used to belive that Jung In-Hun was Baek Na-Kyum’s first love and he became his muse. However, later on I realized that the artist started painting for a different reason: survival. 
(chapter 1) He had no choice. He had to paint erotic paintings. Thus I conclude that the artist couldn’t fully show his true talent and express his passion for painting totally. Yet, his publications were still beautiful, since the lord’s heart and gaze were moved. On the other hand, the noona Heena sent her adopted son to Jung In-Hun, because she feared for her brother. 
(chapter 46) However, I believe that she was acting on the learned sir’s request. She justified her decision to send him away to the teacher, because she knew that by the learned sir’s side, the artist would never outlive his homosexuality. She imagined that the low noble was her son’s source of inspiration
(chapter 46), whereas the artist had other motivation. Therefore she thought that it was for the best, if he was by the teacher’s side. I assume that the teacher wished the low-born by his side for two reasons: money and the prospect to benefit from Baek Na-Kyum’s talent. It is very likely that out of greed, the learned sir desired to sell the painter’s works for his own benefit. But for the artist had been requested to paint these erotic paintings for survival, I come to the conclusion that he had been asked twice to paint erotic pictures. The first time, it was for a precise client, and the second time it got sold among the commoners, which explains why the tailor knew about the identity of the painter. 
(chapter 64) There’s no ambiguity that the scholar’s prospect got ruined, hence he unleashed his jealousy and resent onto the painter, until the man vowed to follow the scholar’s doctrine. The poor man could never tell Heena about the physical and mental abuse, as he had already been abandoned.
(chapter 34) He had to keep his promise to never return to the kisaeng house. I believe that the kisaeng must have used this incident 
(chapter 94) to send her brother away and exactly like in chapter 44, she made sure that the noonas wouldn’t be informed. That way, she could deceive her colleagues. It had been the painter’s choice. 
(chapter 93) For the man was his guardian, the low-born had to accept his situation. But since he was just a low-born, I doubt that he could sleep in the same room than the scholar. From my point of view, he had to sleep outside on the wooden planks, the older version of this scene. 
(chapter 1) Therefore it is not surprising why he didn’t leave the mansion in the end and why he said this to the head-maid. (chapter 46) He could live a normal life again. Besides, since the coercive persuasion, Baek Na-Kyum had been unable to paint, not just because of the vow in my opinion. Jung In-Hun had trained his body and mind to disregard his impulses. His body was not allowed to take the lead, hence he had to drink in order to numb his soul. 
(chapter 75) Painting was his passion, and the childhood drawings kept by the noonas clearly indicate that he didn’t paint erotic paintings, since he was a child. 
(chapter 94) He painted animals and as such nature.
This changes the moment the painter meets the protagonist Yoon Seungho. The noble is able to trigger his unconscious, therefore he is able to create a terrific painting, 
(chapter 2) although he hadn’t created anything for almost one year. From my point of view, this is the return of the painter’s passion. That’s why he paints under trance. Even the master was expecting that the painter wouldn’t be able to produce such a good work right from the start. However, he was proven wrong. Now, I am wondering if this gesture wasn’t the light igniting his repressed sexual desires and as such his dormant talents:
(chapter 1) Sure, the painter’s mind was reminding him that this is filthy and vulgar, yet I sense that this affected the artist’s unconscious a lot. All the wet dreams Baek Na-Kyum had, the seme’s phallus played a huge part. Thus we have such drawings in the fantasies, where the protagonist’s sex is in the center of the painter’s imagination:
(chapter 2) 
(chapter 6) 
(chapter 8)
Since in the chapter 49 he confesses to his “husband” that his body is affected by him,
(chapter 49), it becomes obvious what this confession means. In front of his partner, the artist is declaring that he will use their sex session as a source for his creativity. On the surface, it looked like the painter was using the noble as his sex toy, since the latter is the one kissing, licking him so that he feels good. Hence the latter got upset while hearing this admission. However, the real message is that his interaction with Yoon Seungho will help him to create new paintings. As you can sense, Yoon Seungho is getting closer to his ultimate goal each time. From my point of view, this was only a matter of time, until the painter realized his true feelings for the noble. It would have come much sooner, if people like Kim, Jihwa and Heena hadn’t meddled in his life. From my point of view, when Yoon Seungho was thinking this , the painter had the exact same mind-set. Since he would follow where his body would lead him, then this meant that he would follow his heart. Thus we have this confession in the kisaeng house: 
(chapter 94) The painter followed his heart. Observe that the numbers have been switched: 49-94. The mirror effect and in the study we had a reflection too. Both main leads reflected each other’s minds: acceptance of a sexual relationship, but rejection at the same time, no strings attached.
The heart is a part of a body and soul. This means that the lord has already become the painter’s source of inspiration. 
(chapter 94) 
(chapter 94) So the lord is now associated to the moon and as such to nature. Thus I conclude that the noble will discover the painter’s true talent. From my point of view, his new paintings won’t be just erotic pictures about himself with the uke, but also about nature (animals, plants). The diversity of the topics will increase, yet I am sensing that the pictures will definitely reflect the painter’s love and admiration for the seme. 
(chapter 92) Yes, it is very likely that Baek Na-Kyum decides to recreate this scene, because we could see that Baek Na-Kyum’s heart and soul was moved. A new version of this scene: 
(chapter 36) Besides, the painter’s works will reveal what the protagonists feel and think about each other: love.
But let’s return our attention to episode 49. In my opinion, the last thoughts in this chapter illustrate the protagonists’ innocence. Both were deceiving themselves in order to protect themselves from pain. These confessions reflected their similar philosophy: “to let my body take the lead” and as such the acknowledgement of sexual pleasure.
First, 
the ” I feel good” symbolizes the climax of his disclosure. Note that “I” and the body “feel good” are what matter to the painter. The noble comprehends the low-born’s philosophy, hence he is annoyed. 
(chapter 49) But the kiss and the caress catch the powerful noble by surprise. These gestures stop him from complaining, because he is surprised by the painter’s initiative. Simultaneously, the kiss reminds him of the first Wedding night. This time, the artist is kissing him and not the scholar, so it is an improvement. He is recognized as his sexual partner.
Striking is that we see the lord making love to Baek Na-Kyum, for he is hugging the painter’s body 
. He is even protecting his head. He has never been so close to him before. Despite the hurt, the noble accepts his new situation, unaware that he has come one step closer to his goal. The tragedy was Yoon Seungho had no idea about his real wish. Unconsciously, he desired to be loved by Baek Na-Kyum. This explicates why it took so long for the protagonists to become a real couple. The lord had not recognized the existence of his affection. He thought, he was motivated by his mind, which is here reflected in the study. The reality was that he was motivated by his wounded heart. However, deep down he was lowering his expectations, for he had been hurt.
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.
(chapter 48) The noble had noticed that the artist was blind and deaf hence he needed to use the low-born’s body to awake his senses and arouse the painter’s instincts. That’s why he licked the painter’s ears while whispering, 
(chapter 49) or pinched his nipples. At no moment, the protagonist let his emotions (anger, frustration) take control over the situation. That’s why we definitely can’t say that we have another rape in the chamber. First, since “Baek Na-Kyum is a whore” (in the painter’s mind), then the lord can do anything he wants. The noble’s reasoning is quite simple: “Because the commoner is acting, then I should act too”. Secondly, the noble is trying to discover the root of the problem
(chapter 49), while at the pavilion, he thought that if he forced himself on the painter, he would achieve what he wanted: being recognized as the painter’s partner and husband. From my point of view, we can observe the master of deception in action in this scene. He is using his body as a tool, just like in the past, when he had a sex session with the nobles. However, his goal concerning Baek Na-Kyum is different. This is not to defeat his counterpart. Inflicting pain is just his way to get through the painter’s mind and body. In fact, his goal hasn’t changed at all since the chapter 23. He is still hoping to be loved by the painter but right now, his immediate purpose is to discover the truth. Pay attention to the seme’s face in the illustration above. He knows that he is inflicting pain on the painter hence he is hurt as well. The manhwalovers can perceive the noble’s true face. That’s why I called Seungho as the master of deception. In the image above, the artist can’t see the noble’s true emotions and personality. Our seme feels, he has no other option left as the painter is living like a robot, or better said, a robot prostitute. This contrasts so much to the scene at the pavilion where his selfish desires and negative emotions led him to wound the man. From my perspective, Yoon Seungho is actually selfless here, he is doing it for the artist’s sake. He prefers being hated than getting unnoticed or objectized as an image: Seungho is a man consumed by lust. As a conclusion, Seungho is taking the bull by the horns, willing to get hurt and even hated in the process. The painter needs to answer his question: 
(chapter 48) Did the scholar request the painter to sleep with him in order to discover a weakness? Sure, Baek Na-Kyum said that he was doing it on his own free will, yet his reactions led the lord think otherwise hence he couldn’t lower his guard entirely. 
(chapter 49) He triggers him with his comments and actions, yet he is determined to make sure that once the artist reaches the breaking point, he will stop. That’s why the noble doesn’t listen to the painter’s complaints
(chapter 49), until Baek Na-Kyum yells to his lover and starts crying for real. Notice that in the drawing above, the artist expresses his own thoughts and desires for the first time. What caught my attention is that in this drawing, Baek Na-Kyum is speaking without a pause, unlike in the past where he is not even using the pronoun “I” or “me”: 
(chapter 45). My interpretation is that in that situation, the painter was only perceiving himself as an object. Sure, right after he admitted that he was feeling something. 
(chapter 45) But the emotions were quite superficial, he had great difficulties to externalize these. While the pronoun “I” was only used for the first time for a short moment, there was still the presence of an object in his confession. In other words, he was still denying the existence of two naked bodies till the chapter 49. Either he was an object (“it feels nice”) or the lord was one (“I like it”). Hence the lord’s remark was so point on: 
(chapter 48) First, he had misunderstood the confession, yet at some point he perceived his “confessions” for its real value: the presence of an object in his expressions. 
(chapter 49)
(chapter 49)
(chapter 49)
(chapter 42)
(chapter 41) In other words, I see a lot of common points between Jung In-Hun and modern dictators like Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini. We have the following common denominators:
(chapter 49)
(chapter 29) While some people judged it as something negative, I viewed it in a positive way. First, this flashback shows that the painter is thinking on his own. Secondly, he gets aware that the teacher’s hug was fake. He realizes the contradiction between the hug and the words said in the chapter 40: “He was born to be a prostitute”. “If so, why did he hug me back then?” From that thought, Baek Na-Kyum comes to the right conclusion. Jung In-Hun was not sincere and he is finally able to perceive the true nature of his learned sir: a hypocrite, though he doesn’t voice it. This is definitely relevant, this illustrates that Baek Na-Kyum is abandoning the scholar’s doctrine for real. He questions the teacher’s power and control and criticizes him for his dishonesty and duplicity. Since I stated that the rule 6 was central, this means that all the rules become obsolete as well. Baek Na-Kyum decides to live like he wants. And unaware of this, the lord makes the same decision. 
(chapter 49) He has suffered a lot and he fears to mistake the warmth from the protagonist as something real, whereas it could be fake too. That’s why Yoon Seungho can’t be pleased with this confession. He has to hear that he won’t be loved, that their relationship is only physical, he can’t expect more. Therefore Seungho gets upset and is about to complain, when he hears “I feel good”. Remember that I had explained that their position had been switched from the chapter 36 on. The noble had lowered himself and become a servant in order to get accepted. Now, with this confession, the painter is accepting the noble as his servant and he will be the master. No wonder that the seme is bothered first because this was not his true goal in reality. But when the commoner kisses the lord, Yoon Seungho’s negative feelings disappear. 
(chapter 49) which is strongly connected to Baek Na-Kyum’s confessions. Let me summarize all his confessions:
(chapter 39) So he won’t react like in the past, hide his special relationship with the lord. He won’t show any fear, when it comes to gossip or judgement from others. Why should he feel ashamed? This is something natural, which means that the next time Deok Jae calls him 
(chapter 47), he will be able to reply. 
That’s the reason why Baek Na-Kyum blames the noble for this. By doing so, he can keep denying his homosexuality and he would have kept following the teacher’s regulations. However, like I explained in the first part, Baek Na-Kyum wasn’t innocent either, he did know what was happening. By acting as if he was seeing the scholar, he had the excuse to forget this night. Besides, the painter was the one confessing first and not the other way around. We shouldn’t forget that the aristocrat didn’t respond to the kiss immediately. He still hesitated for a few seconds.
Imagine that with only one hand, the low aristocrat was able to create some distance with the artist. The latter stopped approaching his learned sir after this gesture. Then, the teacher argued with Baek Na-Kyum that with his explanation, he was questioning his abilities.
so he violated the rule 3. The artist still whispered the low aristocrat’s name so that we can say, the painter remained faithful to his “learned sir” so he ensured that the law 6 wasn’t broken.
however Jung In-Hun’s authority was never challenged. In other words, Yoon Seungho was forced to use his position and his physical strength to have the painter submitted to him. While the lazy readers only perceive the strength the protagonist exerts on Baek Na-Kyum, they fail to recognize that the seme’s struggle is actually helping the artist in the long run, whose mind and body are imprisoned. Due to the lord’s actions, the painter is triggered to admit his own sexuality and his pleasure. 
(Thank you @Slam_ for this observation) Therefore he views the painter as his “wife”. Only his love for Baek Na-Kyum could give the main character the strength to keep struggling. That’s why he doesn’t admit defeat, although the low-born hurt him over and over again, although he was once on the verge of giving up on him (chapter 35). Let’s not forget that back then, he saw how Jung In-Hun was flirting with his “wife” who kept blushing due to the scholar’s caresses. However, he didn’t do it because he saw the painter not following the double-faced man. That’s why I would like to examine the following chapters under the following aspect: Baek Na-Kyum’s attitude towards the rule 6 because Yoon Seungho’s struggle is strongly connected to this doctrine.
. The sex marathon might have caused the painter’s sickness, however it helped the artist to question his learned sir’s action. In the picture above, he is criticizing his admired sir and he even wondered why the noble showed no reaction after witnessing how he was dragged away by Yoon Seungho. The teacher’s indifference pained him to tears. 
He is perceiving the low noble more and more in a different light in the chapter 35, especially when he hears the noble declaring that he would have never spent money for him. 
Baek Na-Kyum even replies that he was seriously ill, however Jung In-Hun shows no real concern. He still thinks that a few caresses will be enough to get what he wants. 
He is so used to the painter’s submission. He abandoned him twice, nevertheless the artist always viewed him as his master and never questioned his past actions (chapter 1, 19: the several abandonments). That’s why he doesn’t feel the need to put much effort in his deception. In the scholar’s mind, the painter is still his servant. He just needs to remind him of his task and the low-born will obey him.
That’s what he is expecting. However during this scene, the intellectual didn’t pay attention to the change in the artist’s attitude. The fact that the latter asked him why he never visited him and the commoner even replied that he was seriously ill, these were clues of Baek Na-Kyum’s transformation. But since Jung In-Hun is too selfish and was himself under pressure because he realized that he might end up with nothing, he didn’t catch these details. The picture of painter standing in front of the door with his head down reflected his second pain and disappointment.
Since he has already vowed to treat Yoon Seungho as his master, he can’t betray his second lord, the famous sodomite. The second reason for his dishonesty is that the seme’s vulnerability did move his heart, hence he could only hide the truth. Moreover, I would like to add another cause for the artist’s lie. 
Since Jung In-Hun had been acting as if he knew nothing of the real relationship between Baek Na-Kyum and Yoon Seungho, he couldn’t accuse the painter of lying. As he was the man who developed this doctrine where homosexuality is considered filthy and vulgar, the low noble couldn’t mention it because this would signify that he had been manipulating the painter and the latter would have got aware of it. So the regulations set by the teacher became the reason why neither Jung In-Hun nor Baek Na-Kyum could be honest. If they had been frank to each other, then this would have meant that the scholar had been violating himself his own laws and his authority would have not only been tarnished but also doubted. This would have displayed that the scholar has been acting as a pimp. I hope, this is understandable. 
Yoon Seungho expressed his doubt that the artist wasn’t truly selfless like he claimed. These remarks made the latter ponder, as he felt that Yoon Seungho was correct with his statement.
He did hope that the teacher liked him. So he was indeed bothered until he felt the need to interrogate the scholar himself. Since I listed the teacher’s doctrine, now the manhwalovers can judge this episode differently.
I have to admit that in the past I only examined the chapter 40 under the aspect “fate” and “prostitute”, hence I wrote before that Jung In-Hun revealed his true personality because he was pressured, angry and jealous. First, he realized that the promise made by Yoon Seungho is fake. Moreover, he resented the artist because the wealthy noble favored the latter so much (new clothes, the room next to the master, the right to spend the night with the lord, invitation to the pavilion and to the hunt etc), while the rich aristocrat somehow neglected him, a noble too. Furthermore the hypocrite was asked by a commoner to take his responsibility. 
We shouldn’t forget that the painter could never see his own reflection in the teacher’s face 
(chapter 2) 
(chapter 7) and this was deliberate. The commoner could only witness the teacher’s smile. The painter interpreted his fake smile that he was liked and accepted by his learned sir. However, the moment the artist confesses his love, he is confronted with a terrible image of himself in the scholar’s gaze. The eyes reflect the image of a prostitute, which wounded the low-born so much that he became blind. He couldn’t bear this reflection, yet he failed to recognize that the gaze never reflects the truth, as the the eyes contain a lot of subjectivity. Here, the low noble could reveal how he viewed Baek Na-Kyum, someone unworthy and despicable. 
And the final words said by the low aristocrat cause the artist to become deaf as well. He is so traumatized that he is like paralyzed and let the noble leave the library without being able to argue. That’s why he has this negative perception of himself. 
In his mind, his last trick must have turned Baek Na-Kyum into a submissive person again and he knows it that’s why he still thinks, he can use the commoner as his pawn. He might have abandoned the artist for a third time, he has the impression that the low-born will always follow his orders like in the past. Despite each rejection, Baek Na-Kyum welcome him with open arms (chapter 7 and 24) so he still believes that he has the upper hand and he is still controlling the low-born. That’s why he leaves the artist without biding goodbye. He doesn’t need to keep the pretense but knows very well that the painter has stopped rebelling after destroying his identity and personality for good. With this new interpretation, I come to a different judgement about Jung In-Hun. 
He can’t escape from this new prison, a hell created by the gaze from others. 
It is pointless because the low-born is no longer using his eyes and ears to perceive the reality. He relies too much on others (Yoon Seungho, the head-maid, the servant Deok-Jae, Jung In-Hun). Through pain and pleasure, he might realize that he is a person on his own, he has an identity but for that, he needs to exist and express his wish, emotions and thoughts. 
. He believes that through pain inducing his tears, the painter could finally reveal what happened back then. He witnessed it with the rape and the fellatio.
Each time, Baek Na-Kyum retaliated with his brutal honesty. The master prefers getting hurt than seeing his partner as an empty shell. As a conclusion, Yoon Seungho is willing to risk his relationship with his lover so that the man can finally drop his stuporous state. The main lead knows that the scholar is responsible but he has no idea what really happened. 
Therefore the seme was forced to take the man with him and pressured him until the painter gave in. He had to admit that painting was his way to survive. Notice that Yoon Seungho cornered him to concede this. 
(chapter 7) Notice that in order to force the painter to violate the scholar’s rules, the noble had to use stratagems that didn’t require a lot of strength in the beginning: some little menace and the blackmail. Yet, the manhwaphiles can detect that the thread keeps growing as well. The aristocrat already has to use his power (influence and money) in order to corner the painter (chapter 7) which shouldn’t be neglected. It did represent a lot: a roof and free food for the low noble. 
I am quite sure that the innocent protagonist hadn’t done it before due to the scholar’s preaching. So the chapter 9 marked another progression. Baek Na-Kyum disrespected the rule 3 for the first time on his own. He can’t admit to feel attracted to another man, to be recognized as a sodomite. That’s why the masturbation represented a compromise. Since he was alone, nobody would know about it. As you can detect, little by little Seungho is removing all the rules set by the low aristocrat. But the higher the rules are, the more Yoon Seungho needs to use force. 
(rule 2) Surprising is that due to his interaction with the main lead, Baek Na-Kyum had somehow started thinking on his own, using his own critical thinking therefore he reprimanded the rich master for his cruel behavior towards the servant who got killed. In that moment, Jung In-Hun had to put him back to his place. He admonished the painter harshly for his criticism. As a low-born, he was not allowed to make such comment. 
(chapter 10) From my point of view, the chapter 10 not only reveals the huge influence Jung In-Hun has on the painter, but also illustrates the growing influence of Seungho on the artist. The master’s words and actions did shake the rule 6. But it wasn’t enough to remove this wall hence Baek Na-Kyum accepted the low noble’s reproach and remained silence. 
(chapter 11) Compared to the past where he just pushed the low-born away, his gestures in the chapter 11 displays the increasing use of Seungho’s force. But the master felt remorse hence later the painter was only scratched by the master. Nonetheless, let’s not forget that Seungho had already set his eyes on the painter. He wanted to taste the artist. As a first conclusion, the lord had only removed the rule 1 and 2. At the end of the chapter 15, the noble is facing another hindrance, the rule 3: his denial of his homosexuality. Therefore the masturbation in the chapter 16 marks the first step in order to destroy the rule 3. Notice that the noble was annoyed, when the artist gave the false excuse that he was tired in order to avoid the noble. So he somehow “attacked” Baek Na-Kyum by hugging him and grabbed his penis. 
(chapter 16) Let’s not forget that he didn’t ask for the commoner’s permission. That’s why the painter cried in that scene. The latter knew that he was violating the rule 3, yet the seme saw that Baek Na-Kyum was aroused and felt pleasure. 
(chapter 19), he was already on his guard waiting for a signal which appeared in the form of the stolen bottle. He seized the opportunity to meddle between Jung In-Hun and Baek Na-Kyum. He needed to squash in between these two men. 
(chapter 21) In fact, he was attempting to deceive himself and the noble. During their night, Baek Na-Kyum was well aware that this could only remain a dream because if he admitted it as a reality, then this would signify that he was conceding his own sexual orientation and even his attraction to Yoon Seungho which he felt very early on (chapter 2, 6, 8-9, 13-16). Therefore I come to the conclusion that the artist somehow knew what happened during that night but chose to act as if the noble was Jung In-Hun. Later he repressed his memories and even ignored them so that he would act as if he was still following the teacher’s doctrines.
(chapter 21). 
(chapter 21) Yoon Seungho heard a love confession, got hugged and kissed tenderly and there was someone crying out of happiness because of him. For the first time, he saw that tears could be related to happiness and he could affect someone positively. That’s why he reacted by kissing the painter’s eye and tears. 
(chapter 21) Although he knew that it was just an illusion because Baek Na-Kyum had confessed to someone else, he hoped deep down that the painter would love him, if he remembered their night today. He tried to trigger his memory through different tricks (like here with the book) 
but he failed (chapter 23). Yet he showed a certain patience as he didn’t pressure the artist to paint their night immediately, he gave him time. He imagined that once Baek Na-Kyum remembered their night and painted it, it will become a reality, a proof that this was not an illusion. But because of the coercive persuasion, Baek Na-Kyum tried to repress his memory. He had to if he wanted to keep following the scholar’s rules. The painter chose to ignore the images he had since it meant that he hadn’t kept his vow. All this time, Yoon Seungho has no idea about the true nature of the relationship between Jung In-Hun and the low-born. First, he believes to see it as a crush, then he witnesses the depth of the painter’s feelings. This is important because from that moment, the main motivation for the lord will be love and no longer his libido. This will be his goal which will give him the necessary strength to remove the other rules: 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
(Chapter 9) Baek Na-Kyum excused himself with a lie, he would show him when the work would be finished. However, the true reason for his departure was his erection. Notice that he is using the paper to hide his erected phallus. He was also on his knees before, when Yoon Seungho approached him. The cause of his sexual urges is revealed with the following drawing. 
(Chapter 9) This drawing represents the painter’s perspective. As you can see, the painter’s eyes are focused on the lord’s hand touching the butt and anus. From my point of view, he is imaging the lord’s touching him. This time, the artist is conscious and can no longer repressed his sexual desires. Later, his gaze focuses on the other uke, the one penetrated by our main lead. Here, it is quite clear that the artist wishes that he had replaced Min.
(Chapter 9) Although the painter had been quite rude and left him behind, the lord wasn’t bothered. In fact, he was pleased that he had indeed affected the artist.
(Chapter 9) His eyes might be open but his spirit seems to be elsewhere. He is not really looking.
Because the readers never see his gesture, they can not be certain. Hence Byeonduck had to draw a picture with his erected phallus showing his masturbation. 
Striking is that the moment he feels that he is about to climax, he closes his eyes. Here again, this reinforces the statement that Baek Na-Kyum is determined to refuse to face reality and deny his attraction for a man, for the noble. 
(Chapter 9) When the sperm comes out, it lands on the floor. This is quite important as it illustrates the artist’s attitude towards the semen. He considers it dirty and filthy hence he makes sure that his hand doesn’t get soiled. That’s how much he despises himself and his needs but he can no longer repress these urges. He prefers closing his eyes, masturbating behind a door and using his body to cover his filthy gesture so that no one can ever witness it. But he is too focused on his needs that he forgets that he is making noise so that Yoon Seungho knows what he is doing. At the end, you sense the low-born’s despair and disgusted attitude with his final position. 
(Chapter 9) The manhwaworms feel his strong refusal to admit his attraction towards the noble, his sexual arousal and his sexual desires towards Yoon Seungho. The painting had such an effect on him, it awoke his repressed sexual desires.
(Chapter 46) However, he has still a position where it is still protected. If someone came from the side, they wouldn’t detect immediately what the low-born is doing. This can be explained that there is still some shame left but it is now related to his perception that homosexuality is a synonym for prostitution. That’s why he is still reserved. On the other hand, the semen doesn’t land on the floor but on his hand which shows that he no longer feels disgusted.
(chapter 46) Some readers complained that he didn’t wash his hand before falling asleep. Yet what they failed to realize is that this proves that Baek Na-Kyum no longer perceives sperm as dirty and filthy. This symbolizes a huge step forwards. Now, if we compare the two masturbations, the readers will notice another huge divergence: the chronology of the drawings of Baek Na-Kyum with closed or opened eyes. In the chapter 9, we had first the painter with opened eyes as he was lost in his thoughts and the moment the ejaculation was about to come, he closed his eyes. Here, we have the opposite, first the closed eyes. 
(Chapter 46) The reason is simple: he is not lost in his thoughts, quite the contrary. All his thoughts are revolving around the master confirming the change of his attitude. He is no longer denying his attraction towards the noble. That’s why the author lets the manhwaphiles see the images he has in his mind. What caught my attention here is that the painter had visions of the moments, the lord made love to him.
(chapter 42) 
(Chapter 46) The kiss triggered the climax indicating that the kiss, full of love and passion, moved him so much. He sensed the lord’s love stronger here. Since his eyes are wide-opened, it clearly shows that the man is actually facing reality. He is no longer hiding, running away from his sexual desires and admitting that his feelings towards Seungho have changed. Notice that this time, he even questioned himself for this reason. Why could such a kiss provoke such a reaction? He is now looking for an answer, he is no longer running away. He wants to discover the truth. 
(Chapter 47) What caught my attention in the new drawing is that he didn’t select the memory we saw:
Here, the full moon seems so far away, Yoon Seungho’s mansion is almost illustrated in its entity. My first thought was that the full moon personified Baek Na-Kyum and the latter is so far away from the powerful noble as they have not met yet. The sky is so dark (almost black) due to the light glowing of the moon. It was as if the noble’s world was full of darkness and his future meeting with the painter represents his only joy and hope in life. He is so eager to have the painter by his side and to have the artist painted for him. The mansion is so big, indicating his wealth and power, however it feels so big and empty at the same time. It was as if his domain was not a real home. The light coming through the windows doesn’t exude warmth, the beholder feels a certain coldness as there is nobody outside the building. So this image could be judged as an illustration of the main lead’s world: dark, cold, empty, lonely and lifeless. 
First, why is this a crescent moon unlike in the first image? Did the painter lose something hence he is no longer complete? Secondly, there is no building and the moon seems to glow stronger as the sky is lighter. If the moon is the painter and the sky Seungho’s world, how come that the moon is glowing stronger because even if the painter had felt excited before, he was still resisting the noble’s advances and attraction? Furthermore, in this chapter he is threatened by the master. Then we see no mansion, while we saw the roof in the image from the chapter 4. Why is there no building portrayed here? That’s why I saw it as a necessity to find an explanation that would fit to all the pictures. Hence I would like to show all the images in their chronology so that we can figure out if the drawings with the moon have a deeper meaning like the weather and the season.
(chapter 1), then he asked the artist to paint the next night. In my opinion, Yoon Seungho didn’t interact much with people during the day, as he was rather smoking and looking through his window. Therefore his appearance at Lee Jihwa’s mansion was something extraordinary. He couldn’t even wait for the next night which the red-haired noticed. Let’s not forget that this man is suffering from insomnia so he can’t sleep during the night. That’s why I have the impression that the moon and the dark sky are personifying the protagonist. 
We never saw the moon during that night and the sky looked so bright. It was as if the moon was looking down on the building, while the noble is embracing and kissing the painter. This night was particular because it never looked like a real night… a mixture of day and night, giving the illusion of a different time. That represents the “dream”, something special is happening right now. The lord has discovered love and warmth hence the light of the moon seems warmer and closer. This was just an illusion and the reality came back in the chapter 25.
Jung In-Hun had become his guardian because he had been bribed by the head-gisaeng. Only yesterday I came to realize why the painter could repress the bad memories about his physical abuse: The Stockholm Syndrome. And this is relevant as it explains why the artist adopted such a fear of homosexuality and even talked like the scholar. Furthermore I can even envision that this Stockholm Syndrome must have affected his hands and talent. This even reinforces my opinion about the huge impact of Yoon Seungho on our low-born. Due to his attraction to the lord and the sex session, the repressed sexual desires were unleashed so that his talent was triggered. That’s why he impressed the lord so much in the chapter 2.
Nevertheless it started to rain the moment the teacher discovered the existence of the deal between the powerful noble and his former pupil.
Imagine the rain followed with thunder represented Baek Na-Kyum’s tears and heartache because of the teacher’s rejection symbolized by the hand.
It was as if the snow embodied the artist’s tears once again, yet this time the real pain is no longer existing because his heart has turned cold. He feels nothing at all hence he has no problem to ask the butler Kim to throw away the painting. The more fall and winter are approaching, the more the painter’s relationship with Jung In-Hun deteriorates. In the chapter 35, the painter is definitely hurt by the low noble’s gesture, when the latter closes the mansion door right in front of him. This coincides with the fire where the fallen leaves are burnt. 
The caress on the cheek equivocates to the fire, the last real warm gesture the painter received from his teacher.
It was as if his heart was frozen consequently he feels nothing. However, the presence of the snowmen illustrates his innocence and his longing for companionship. He wished deep down that he wasn’t alone and had someone by his side. Yet, the painter has no idea about it. Now, you can understand why I connected Byeonduck’s drawings to the Surrealism. Sure, this is my own interpretation and nothing more. The weather and the seasons are following the same evolution than the painter’s transformation. Little by little, he starts losing his admiration for the scholar which ends with the real separation. He has been so hurt that he is like an empty shell. But there is one difference from the past. This time, Baek Na-Kyum was the one who cut definitely ties with the scholar hence the double-faced man has no idea that he can no longer use the painter as his tool.In the past, the jealous aristocrat could push him away but the painter never resented his admired sir and accepted that the teacher would return to his side without questioning his motivation behind his smiles and strokes. He had been abandoned once, hence he became a drunk. However, the painter had no grudge hence he fell for Yoon Seungho’s lie in the chapter 7.
It was the same in the chapter 24, when the scholar took him and pushed him against the wall.So far he had avoided the painter, yet he needed him again. At no moment, the artist rejected the man’s advances (kiss on the hand, his head on his shoulder). The low-born always forgave the low noble. 
Furthermore the huge distance between Jihwa and Yoon Seungho could be explained that the artist wished, he had joined the lord and put himself between the main lead and the red-haired man. Remember that he wanted to take the sex partner’s place. As you can see, the first painting displayed a lot the painter’s unconscious, his sexual desires that’s why he had to destroy it. The image represented a proof of his homosexuality. In other words, the first drawing let the noble perceive the painter’s emotions and feelings hence he felt his own attraction. Therefore he could liberate himself from his negative image he had of himself.
![ANALYSE] Le Cri, Edvard Munch](https://alheuredelart.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/3-3_le_cri2.jpg)
The word “vivid” is definitely characteristic for Expressionism. That’s why I connected the artist’s work with the Expressionism. Sure, the low-born lives in a different period, the industrialization had not reached Joseon yet. However, it is pretty obvious that the painter’s creations are strongly influenced by his emotions and state of mind. 
Since all the books were motivated by his love for the learned sir, the nobles could already sense the painter’s emotions and desires in these erotic pictures. Sodomy was portrayed as something natural and lovely. This explains the painter’s popularity and why the main lead became addicted. Because of this observation, I couldn’t help myself connecting this to another Art movement from the 20th Century called Surrealism. 
The readers can detect that he is starting to think on his own, showing that he is no longer under the teacher’s influence: this is the evidence of critical thinking, something the seme tried to initiate in the artist.
He is definitely treated like an important guest. From my point of view, the elevation of his ambiguous status is linked to the confession he made to the lord before.
From my point of view, the comment said by the head-maid of the kitchen did affect the painter. She was the one who pointed out that the master cared for him very much, although the noble never acted so caring in front of him. 
He ended up in a worse situation as now he had no one on his side. The painter must have realized that leaving the noble did appear good on the surface, yet in the long run he would have to face a more terrible fate. Like I mentioned above, the mansion represents a shelter. In the past, leaving the brothel seemed to be a good decision for the painter’s bright future. The mother saw that the painter’s origins would become a hindrance to his career hence by asking the teacher to become his guardian would give a better reputation to the painter and help him in his career. 
Notice how he is diminishing the painter’s importance in his life. Secondly, he even admitted that he scolded the painter severely once, the moment he saw the content of the paintings. In my former analyses, I had already pointed out that this was a lie but the new element is that since he had become his adoptive father, he knew about the painter’s identity right from the start: he was the famous painter publishing under a pseudonym. From my point of view, the painter was inspired by his love for the teacher hence his work was so lewd and was oozing love and warmth. Remember that people keep wondering how he could create such paintings. The low noble is the origin for the publications. Now, you can better understand why the artist has lost his inspiration. That’s why he could create such a nice picture of Jung In-Hun’s inauguration and the pictures of Seungho with the painter lacked details and passion. This doesn’t surprise us that the painter is not really motivated and creative. For that he needs to fall in love with the master for real. We see a progression in that sense. First, he dreamed of sex with him, so his unconscious was telling him that he was attracted to him. Now he is even awake and remembers their sex sessions which arouse him. He could ejaculate because he sensed that lord was making love to him, when he kissed and embraced him. That’s why we are the witness of the painter’s transformation, how the lord will become his new inspiration and this will enhance his talents. That’s why Yoon Seungho’s place will become the true home of the painter: a place to rest and eat but at the same time, where he will fall in love again and become more inspired and creative than before.
From my point of view, the servant will serve as a tool in Baek Na-Kyum’s growth. Through Deok-Jae’s betrayal the painter will realize that the teacher’s harsh words and abandonment were caused by jealousy and were not reflecting the truth. That’s the moment the scholar will have no influence any longer on the artist. 
Little by little, he’s expressing himself better. The sentences might still contain some pause, yet his sentences are much longer. Besides he is able to explain why he is no longer trying to run away. The fact that he confided to her about his final attempt and his change of mind indicates a certain emancipation from the terrible surrogate father. 
We have Baek Na-Kyum standing in front of the mansion door. Yes, this image confirms my interpretation about the symbolism of the door. The painter’s situation is always reflected through the door. First, the foot print on the snow left by him outlines his loneliness. Now he’s on his own. The teacher is no longer by his side. Nonetheless his foot print is regular hence we can say that Baek Na-Kyum was resolute in his decision. There is no hesitation based on the foot print. 
; chapter 19: Seungho 
, although here the low-born hallucinated that it was the scholar; episode 29: Jung In-Hun led him back
; chapter 34: Seungho
; chapter 35 the teacher closed the door in front of the commoner
, chapter 41 Seungho again but this time the door is left open
). In only one case, we witnessed him opening the door but here he had been forced to enter the lord’s chamber
due to the protagonist’s thread. At no moment Byeonduck showed us the painter opening himself the door because he really wanted it. When he escaped in the chapter 29, he only appears in the street meeting the teacher. Moreover, Baek Na-Kyum stood either in front of the door or behind it. I would say that this characterizes the painter’s lack of freedom and passivity. He was never master of his own destiny. This is important because the image from the chapter 46 illustrates the artist’s determination to escape but simultaneously the acceptance of his own sexual orientation. He is no longer hiding it but the fact that the man just opens the door slightly indicates a certain discomfort and embarrassment. For me the positive aspect is that he acts on his own, he is no longer forced to hide or admit his homosexuality or to stay at the mansion. He chose to leave and this was his first true choice for a very long time. In the beginning he was dragged to the mansion, then he was stopped by Yoon Seungho in the chapter 4. Later he was persuaded to return by the fake scholar. He never had the freedom to choose for himself therefore we never saw him opening the door himself willingly. Therefore you can understand why I am not so sad despite the sorrow exuding from the chapter 46. Here he shows a strong will like he did in the past, when he was courageous enough to defy and even criticize the lord.
We had images focusing on the hand or the gaze but never on the feet. This is no random, Byeonduck wanted to tell us something through the zoom on the feet. 
The second relevant detail is the chronology of the drawings. First, she pays attention to the painer’s feet, then to his head with his thoughts. 
The alternation between images of the feet and the artist’s thoughts exhibits the instinctive decision of the painter. He might be resolute, yet his feet are guiding him. He is just following his intuition and this is something more spontaneous than a well planned escape. It was as if his feet were carrying him somewhere else. Notice that first his mind is associated to black insinuating that his mind was blank. He couldn’t really ponder about this decision. This sudden and instinctive decision lets him run away. However, while his feet are leading him away from Yoon Seungho’s home, he realizes that he needs to find a shelter. Only then he starts thinking deeply about his destination. 
That’s the reason why he slows down as the more he ponders, the more he gets aware that he has no place where he could find a shelter. He is truly alone. That’s why he stops in the street. This represents his ultimate escape and his resignation. 
He feels abandoned without a home. Striking is that there is no door stopping him. Although he is free, he has the impression that he is still “imprisoned” as he has no home where he can seek refuge. The author revealed through the choice of the images that Baek Na-Kyum made the decision to leave because of his instincts. Nevertheless, this flee ended with the heartbreaking realization that either his mother or the teacher had abandoned him for good.
Then the last words spoken by the head-gisaeng resurface which triggers in him the memory of his adoptive mother’s gesture, the caress on his cheek, while he is crying.
This is quite important because it is the pain that Baek Na-Kyum remembers the most. 
The face expresses mixed feelings, since the eyes are expressing a certain sadness, while there is a glimpse of a smile on the mouth. The painter’s heartache has not completely disappeared, but the agony has diminished. The size of the eyes is quite interesting. The logical explication is that Baek Na-Kyum couldn’t find stones of the same size, yet I can’t help myself giving it a deeper signification. This symbolizes the transformation of Baek Na-Kyum, he is between childhood and adulthood. The small eye refers to the childhood and as such the candidness, and the bigger one to the adulthood, as he is now able to comprehend better the world and its reality (inspired by the saying getting a bigger picture). Through the bad experience (abandonment by the teacher), he is disillusioned but not to the point where he has lost his innocence definitely. That’s why I interpret that the future attempted assassination will become a real wake-up call and will mark the pivotal moment in the painter’s life. He will lose his purity for good, his worldview will change forever. Like I said before, the painter hasn’t perceived the teacher’s true personality and his real intentions behind his harsh words. He hasn’t grasped that the scholar was so jealous and envied him that he felt the need to destroy him with his words. He still thinks that what Jung In-Hun said was correct. Later, I’ll explain the reasons for this mindset. But let’s get back to the snowman.
He is left speechless, feels uncomfortable hence he is sweating. Notice that while the servant kept criticizing him, he never said anything to his defense. This outlines what I explained in the essay “An easy conquest”, he is not able to express himself due to the loss of his ex-mentor and guru. Furthermore, there is another reason for his silence. He somehow believes what the jealous domestic is saying. He still views himself as a low-born and even worse, as a prostitute. The fact that he wanted to stay in the backyard with the staff shows his longing to be perceived as a servant. He feels like a prostitute but he would like to be treated like a servant so that his special position would not be detected. He feels really embarrassed, when the head maid from the kitchen outlines his special status. 
His status had been elevated by the lord. He is his partner hence he can no longer be perceived as a servant. The fact that he is no longer wearing his white headband illustrates that Seungho doesn’t recognize him as a commoner but as his lover. I would say that since he has no topknot, his status reminds me of a concubine, although it is quite obvious that for the seme, Baek Na-Kyum is his wife. From my point of view, the lord is changing his status little by little, the closer they get. Remember that there is a lack of trust between Seungho and the painter. The noble has no idea why the artist chose to give in, hence he asked in the episode 45. However I explain the sudden order from Yoon Seungho as a consequence of the “love confession” in the chapter 45. The more Baek Na-Kyum is opening up, the more Seungho is showing his true colors, intentions. But the trust is based on shaking grounds. In reality, the “I like- My lord” is a misunderstanding, on the other hand the chapter 46 reveals that Baek Na-Kyum is indeed leaning more and more on the noble, as he has no home any longer. The first reason why I associate the painter’s status to the one of a concubine is that he has no topknot like Seungho. If he had one, he could be considered as a master.
Besides, the jealous man pointed out that the “favored servant” wasn’t a master at the moment, but he could be perceived as one due the privileges the artist has. Yet the envious man was somehow making fun about this (“might”), as if this idea was so ridiculous and impossible. Notice that at no moment, the painter spoke for himself, defending his actions and his innocence indicating that what Deok-Jae said about him was how he views himself. He has such a low self-esteem. He didn’t voice one complain (even the destruction of the snowmen), he let the domestic criticize him because he even feels lower than the servants: he is indeed a prostitute. That’s why he can’t think about his future and he is not even focused on his painting too. Hence the readers saw no new painting in his bedroom. 
in another essay. However both were influenced by the perception he had about Yoon Seungho and his attraction for that noble. In the analysis, I had pointed out that they reveal his repressed sexual desires. Nonetheless, the manhwaworms are well aware that Baek Na-Kyum felt that the lord was attracted to him, and he sensed the lord’s desires. Interesting is that these “illusions” became a reality, since the master became the painter’s sex partner and “husband”. Striking is that our artist is far from happy because his dream was to become the teacher’s bride. 
He would like to become rich and powerful like Yoon Seungho, the latter serves as example. Since he considers himself as morally upright and more educated, he has the impression that his dream will come true soon. He received such a good offer from the famous hell-raiser after all, even without working hard and using his knowledge. 
(chapter 7). He never anticipated that the lord would do something like that, while he had already imagined that his promise to support the lord would be just an empty promise. As a conclusion, fate and entitlement explicate why the teacher didn’t get famous in the past and why he is destined to fail.
, he had the impression that he understood him. He imagined, his childhood friend would only hate and resent his own family due the father’s abandonment and betrayal. He wasn’t sharp enough to perceive that Yoon Seungho saw beyond his family’s wrongdoings. Besides, he never got to know what truly happened to his childhood friend, as he was informed through Kim. For him, nobility was the real cause of his own suffering. First he got betrayed by his own family, sold as a concubine to the king, and when one of the aristocrats betrayed his family for his own benefit, the main lead’s father chose to backstab his own son and blame him for everything. Consequently, in Seungho’s eyes, nobility is a synonym for treachery, cowardice and selfishness. What Jihwa judged as common denominator represented in reality the barrier between him and his childhood friend. Yoon Seungho could never love someone from the aristocracy, though the main character has no idea about it. 
(“I’m so happy, my heart is so full”) Although the latter said nothing, he felt the same hence he kissed the painter’s eyes so tenderly. Consequently this night symbolizes the moment where the main lead realized that love did exist and he could obtain happiness too. Since he was well aware that the love confession was addressed to the intellectual, he decided to work hard for his own dream and happiness. 
I doubt that he was lying to the painter, when he threatened him in the chapter 11.
Therefore the sex sessions with the seme were a sort of prostitution. They approached him for their own interests, however the main lead was aware of that and chose to humiliate them with his sex sessions. That’s why he abhors prostitution and was happy to have found someone so pure. Now, you realize the importance of the hearsay. The nobles are the ones spreading these rumors about Yoon Seungho. He is uncultured because he does commerce and deals with commoners. They need to spray this gossip in order to keep their dignity and remain honorable. They use grapevine in order to tarnish the main lead’s reputation as they can’t accept that they have to lower themselves in order to get what they need from the protagonist. 
As you can detect, the hearsay is among the young nobles and the red-haired lord is trying to use this as a weapon to weaken the rich master. This doesn’t surprise us that the seme refuses to submit to this kind of pressure and even replies that he will make sure that this rumor will become true. 
This would ridicule more the young nobles. Right from the start, the rumors are a weapon of the nobles targeting the protagonist. Consequently, the manhwaphiles grasp better why in the second season Yoon Seungho is also using gossip among commoners to get support, to change his reputation. He is a transformed man. At the same time, it outlines how powerful and influential Yoon Seungho is. He is not seeking for an official post because of his traumatic past, yet he learnt due to his bad experience that he needed money to protect himself and through his fortune, he could create his own network without getting too close to the government. This also explains why he hates nobility and even feels closer to merchants and commoners. This arrogance among the nobility towards Yoon Seungho doesn’t surprise me at all. In France before French Revolution, the bourgeoisie was also despised by the aristocracy, although the high bourgeoisie was even richer than some old families among the nobility. 
When he says “our”, he is actually speaking about himself and not his other relatives. 
A duck is not considered as beautiful per se but we have the fairy tale of the ugly Duckling. Here, in this story, the ducks are conceited and perceived themselves as pretty compared to the baby swan (vanity). Furthermore, in this fairy tale the ducks are excluding a family member because of his different appearance, just like in the manhwa. Yoon Seungho got abandoned by his father and his brother. In the ugly Duckling, the duck represents the family and their intolerant behavior outlines the strong bond between the ducks and their babies resembling them. Seung-Won is indeed supported by his father, the former even speaks for the family. 
The duck symbolizes the family and this isn’t surprising, when in Korea, couple of ducks are offered for a wedding. One of the purpose of marriage is to continue the family heritage. 
He is sweating and avoiding his older brother’s gaze. Then his hands are on his knees showing his discomfort. Yet he has no problem to lie about the father’s illness and to suggest Yoon Seungho to visit his parent, well aware of the significance of this visit. He is quite arrogant to think that his brother wouldn’t catch the meaning behind this visitation. He is underestimating the protagonist because he believes in the rumors that Yoon Seungho lives in debauchery. He has the impression that his older brother is not so smart, however the way his suggestion is rejected reveals that Yoon Seung-Won knows very well how his brother became a famous sodomite. 
This shows that the brother is neither cunning nor smart. The duck is not considered as a smart bird, compared to the magpie or the eagle. 
We have to envision that he even avoided to meet Yoon Seungho personally, until it became absolutely necessary due to the urgency of the matter. We should remember that the latter didn’t support his brother the moment he was abandoned by the father, he preferred following the father. 
Look at the figure’s smile, he thinks that his move did succeed, whereas there is only raillery coming from Yoon Seungho. The latter remembered the words expressed by his loyal assistant the same morning. 
Bebebisous33s' analyses in K-Dramaland and Manhwas 