Tag: Yoon Seungho

Painter Of The Night: “Persuasion” and “Pride and Prejudice” in the manhwa (second version)

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 4 Comments

Now, you are wondering how this manhwa can be connected to these English novels written by Jane Austen in the 19th Century. The reason is simple: the titles contain aspects that play a huge part in the manhwa and therefore persuasion, pride and prejudice will be in the center of this analysis. I am using the titles just like Jane Austen did.

Actually, my focus will be on Jung In-Hun and his special relationship with Baek Na-Kyum, where persuasion, pride and prejudice affect their relationship. However, if the title had been too obvious, I am not sure if people would have been inclined to read another analysis about this rather quiet character. Yet, when in the past I used to compare him to animals, my judgement was still too nice. Here, you’ll discover his true personality. Instead of explaining right away about the new discovery and knowledge, I will show you how I came to these terrible conclusions.

After writing my analysis about the mirror and its functions, one reader commented that in the chapter 31 you could sense that the mirror combined with the eyes was somehow used as a tool for hypnosis. [That’s why it is very important that people leave comments, through exchange I can even get new insights too.]

chapter 31

Hypnosis is a trance-like mental state in which people experience increased attention, concentration and suggestibility. This method can be used to treat people suffering from traumas so that the unconscious can reveal itself and free the repressed natural feelings and thoughts so that through suggestions, the patient can be influenced to overcome his fears and trauma.

Now, let me contextualize the sequence of the drawings again. Seungho is forcing the painter to look into the mirror and see his own reactions while having sex with the lord. He wants him to acknowledge his own sexual orientation and his attraction for the master hence he holds Baek Na-Kyum’s face in front of the mirror. And then the author focused on the eyes. The first image above shows the reflection of Baek Na-Kyum’s eyes in the mirror, since the thumb is on the right just like in the 4th picture. So here the beholder observes through the mirror the painter’s gaze and here we feel something has been triggered in his mind therefore the image from his daydream resurfaces (second image, it appeared in the episode 2). In this case, the unconscious is starting to emerge from this repression. The third drawing is focused on the lord’s gaze but here we have to imagine that this is viewed from the painter’s perspective. The lord’s gaze has caught his attention and as such, the artist seems to be put into a second state, into hypnosis. Thanks to the reader’s observation with the hypnosis, something really important caught my eyes: the gaze. Yoon Seungho’s gaze is so captivating for the uke that his eyes can’t leave his gaze…. that’s how the hypnosis started so that after that sex marathon, Baek Na-Kyum was so affected and started feeling butterflies in his belly. Then I was suddenly reminded that in the chapter 2, Baek Na-Kyum is remembering his vow and now pay attention to this image:

chapter 2

Striking is that the eyes are missing. There is no gaze, only the mouth moving has been engraved in the painter’s mind which means that the teacher’s voice and words must have played a huge importance. Yet, why couldn’t the artist remember Jung In-Hun’s face? I came to realize that it must have been related to the physical abuse as we see him getting beaten with his head down. So from his position, he could never catch the teacher’s eyes but he could only hear his voice. So this single scene contains so much info in reality. While it looks like a normal punishment, the spectator is actually witnessing the brainwashing called by psychologists “coercive persuasion”. And now, you understand why I chose “persuasion” as part of the title. Since I am no expert in psychology, I had to do some research about this topic. There are 4 different methods to use coercive persuasion: Environmental, emotional and cognitive techniques. The last one (4th) induces dissociative states but it is not relevant for our case as it is far too modern.

Here, I am listing the different ways for an environmental coercive persuasion: isolation, control of information, creation of a state of existential dependence, psycho-physical weakening. https://exploringyourmind.com/brainwashing-coercive-persuasion-techniques/

From this list, we can see a lot of common points with Baek Na-Kyum’s situation. Although he was raised in a gisaeng house and seems to have been treated quite well, he is introduced as a drunk and lonely person.

episode 1

In the second season, we discover why he cut ties with his family (the head gisaeng). The latter abandoned him and entrusted him to the scholar. She thought, she was doing him a favor and imagined that with the teacher’s support, his career could progress. Because of her abandonment, the painter relied even more on the teacher. Exposed to isolation, the teacher could start influencing him about his views: sex and sodomy are filthy and vulgar. As time passed on, he relied more and more on the teacher so that the moment the vow was made, Jung In-Hun somehow abandoned him. Therefore the painter started drinking alcohol in order to survive his existential dependence on the teacher. Then we witness in the chapter 22 how Baek Na-Kyum has some issues to follow the hunters. He is out of breath and he also falls easily. His weak constitution is no coincidence as we have to remember that he is actually a young man.

This also explains why he got sick after that sex marathon. The psycho-physical weakness of the low-born is the consequence of the coercive persuasion. But here is the next question: did the teacher just use environmental techniques to get his way?

Now, it is time to focus on the second method of coercive persuasion, the emotional techniques. Like before, I am listing its features: Emotional activation of pleasure, then emotional activation of fear, guilt and anxiety. It means that the person uses rewards and punishments so that emotional responses of fear are established. Due to guilt and anxiety, the person becomes dependent and submissive.

As you can observe, Jung In-Hun did use emotional techniques too. The poem and the smiles were his rewards, while the beating was his punishment. While abusing him, he kept explaining that these pictures were abnormal and filthy. In other words, Jung In-Hun has been manipulating Baek Na-Kyum’s emotions by making him feel guilty and dirty. And I believe that it is no coincidence that Baek Na-Kyum was always paralyzed, when he was hugged by Yoon Seungho from behindand why Jung In-Hun always touched the commoner in the front (chapter 24 or chapter 29). If you pay attention to the artist’s behavior, he never showed his back to the teacher, only walked behind or by his side because deep down, his body remembered that he was beaten on his calves, hence unconsciously he protected his back.

chapter 10

Finally, we come to the last techniques of brainwashing, the cognitive methods. Interesting is that this type of coercive persuasion techniques are mediated by previous techniques. A subject who is physically weakened and feeling guilty is perfect for cognitive persuasion: Critical thinking denigration, Lies and deception, identification with the group or with the authority (this means that the person loses his own personality and habit), control of attention and control over language.

Now, you can sense that in reality, Jung In-Hun’s brainwashing consisted of the last techniques: the cognitive techniques, since he first applied environmental and emotional techniques too. We have one scene, where it is clear that Baek Na-Kyum is not allowed to have his own opinion and must think like his “mentor” (critical thinking denigration).

chapter 10

That’s why he is not able to perceive the lies and deception in the teacher. He has been so manipulated by him that he falls for his lies every time and the teacher knows that. The chapter 10 reveals the coercive persuasion at his best. We have the critical thinking denigration, then the teacher makes him feel guilty by reminding what his paintings and sodomy are (vulgar and dirty)

Pay attention to Baek Na-Kyum’s reaction. He is put under pressure, totally stressed hence he is sweating. Finally, Baek Na-Kyum is coerced to abandon painting (identification to the group or authority). If he wants to be acknowledged and accepted by Jung In-Hun, he needs to stop working as a painter.

We can also observe the control of attention in this scene, when he touches the artist’s chin, he makes sure that his words are heard. Simultaneously, the spectator witnesses the control of language. The result is visible in another scene. The expression “consumed by lust” is something that Jung In-Hun uses as well. Here, the young man is just speaking like a parrot in reality.

And we still have people thinking that Yoon Seungho is far worse than the teacher. Since we have exposed his methods how he manipulated and brainwashed the young man, we need to go back to this picture: So Jung In-Hun’s gaze is not remembered. And this is not the only time, when we see the face of the man without eyes.

chapter 20-21

If you pay attention to the images from the chapter 20 and 21, you’ll notice the similarities. The eyes are not visible, only the chin and the mouth are clear. Nonetheless, in his drunkenness, Baek Na-Kyum acted as if he was seeing the man, but he was not. So why did he act like that? Alcohol can not be the only explication because he couldn’t remember the teacher’s eyes as well, when he was awake and normal (chapter 2). In my opinion, it is related to the coercive persuasion, it is a side effect. This shows how despicable this man is.

Sure, during that fateful night, Baek Na-Kyum wished that the man would be Jung In-Hun that’s why he was calling for his name. Now, we have to question if his intoxication liberated his unconscious, his repressed sexual desires. From my point of view, it is a mixture of both. Yes, he is longing for the warmth of a man but due to the brainwashing, In-Hun became the loved one. The teacher was even able to establish a relationship, where he could maintain his clean image without any physical touch. That’s why his love remains so pure. In-Hun made sure that Baek Na-Kyum would never get close to him but at the same time would long for him. Since the latter had indoctrinated him that homosexuality is vulgar and dirty, the poor man’s unconscious fused his repressed sexual desires with the image of In-Hun, but only his voice and mouth were visible. In other words, what we see is the Stockholm Syndrome. The painter has adopted the point of view of his abuser.

“Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response. It occurs when hostages or abuse victims bond with their captors or abusers. […] Over the course of time, some victims do come to develop positive feelings toward their captors. They may even begin to feel as if they share common goals and causes.”  https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/stockholm-syndrome#definition

His so pure love for the scholar is a mechanism to cope with the huge trauma inflicted on him. That’s why his love declaration is so focused on the spiritual aspect: However, the coercive persuasion could never be effective on the artist’s unconscious. This explicates why the painter’s deeply repressed desires keep wishing to have sex with Yoon Seungho. Even awake, he imagines the lord getting closer to him, illustrating his desire that he would like the lord to feel attracted by him. (chapter 15)

This is the reason why Baek Na-Kyum worshiped the poem so much. He could remember the low noble’s voice which reinforced his dependency on the man. And now imagine the reaction of Baek Na-Kyum when he heard the critic from Yoon Seungho. Since he had been brainwashed, he could only react with such an insolence. I wouldn’t say that he was behaving like a freak but I am quite sure that the coercive persuasion explains his rather violent behavior. He yelled and tried to take the poem away from the lord.

At the same time, let us not forget that Yoon criticized the teacher for his poor skills in the chapter 22. You can understand now why Jung In-Hun was so infuriated. He had been able to trick the painter, to have such an admirer and felt that his methods were working well, until someone reminded him what he had actually done in reality: plagiarized a poem.

Now, we have to wonder why the teacher was so adamant to brainwash the young man, since he was just a commoner. My opinion is quite simple: he was terribly jealous of Baek Na-Kyum who, as a low-born, was able to publish many erotic books under a pseudonym. Jung In-Hun’s pride couldn’t take it that someone he considered far below from him was able to raise his financial situation and even get some recognition from the nobles who bought his books. His prejudice and pride were the cause for this coercive manipulation. But this is far from being finished. Why would he spend so much energy on such a single person?

From my perspective, Jung In-Hun is mentally sick. He is suffering from a narcissistic personality disorder. Here I have just listed all the characteristics for this mental illness:

  1. A grandiose sense of self-importance
  2. Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
  3. Belief that one is special and can only be understood by or associate with special people or institutions
  4. A need for excessive admiration
  5. A sense of entitlement (to special treatment)
  6. Exploitation of others
  7. A lack of empathy
  8. Envy of others or the belief that one is the object of envy
  9. Arrogant, haughty behavior or attitudes
  10. Resent in case of a critic (this was taken from psychology today website and another French website)

Now, if you compare the list with Jung In-Hun’s behavior and words, you’ll notice that they have so much in common. He feels so superior to others that he failed to realize Yoon Seungho’s mockery in the chapter 6. He is definitely overestimating his own capabilities. In the chapter 18, we see him envying the powerful noble while strolling through the property (point 1, 2, 8). For the second point, he is already dreaming how he can betray Yoon Seungho, once he succeeds with the service civil examination. In the chapter 44, he wants Yoon Seungho to follow him to the capital as he wants to be seen with him which I relate to the point 3 above. He was so bothered and jealous that the master helped Baek Na-Kyum in the chapter 22.

He couldn’t bear the thought that Baek Na-Kyum was favored by Yoon Seungho (chapter 10, 22, 40). He wanted to use the painter as spy and had no problem to send him back, although he knew that the man had been raped (see point 5, 6, 7 above). He feels that his status and knowledge are the reasons why he should get a high position. He truly feels entitled, hence he said to Yoon that he was waiting for the right time. The problem with this type of person is their strong reactions, when it comes to jealousy and critics. Since they seek admiration, they hate it, when someone else is getting attention. Their jealousy can even lead them to destroy the person who got admiration. And this is what happened to Baek Na-Kyum. His true goal was to destroy him without dirtying his fingers but he failed, because Baek Na-Kyum caught the attention of the powerful noble. At the same side, he attempted to keep this admiration from the painter as he loves being in the center of attention, this explains why he isolated the painter in the first place. Such people react strongly to critics, they will do anything to get revenge on the person who dared to criticize them. And we have Yoon Seungho who humiliated him many times. The other problem with people suffering from a narcissistic personality disorder is to bring them to get aware of their own mental issues. Sure, back then this “diagnosis” didn’t exist, however this doesn’t change the consequences. People around them suffer very much because they can become abusive and that to anyone. Imagine that such a person gets a high position. First, it will reinforce his entitlement and secondly he will expect to be admired without doing anything. He will exploit the subordinates.

And now, let’s go back to the start of this analysis. The hypnosis was the moment when Baek Na-Kyum was actually liberated from his brainwashing. That’s why his body started reacting after, when he was close to Yoon Seungho and why he started listening to him. However, I doubt that the noble had an idea about the coercive persuasion. This also explicates why the lord was rejected all the time. Baek Na-Kyum was still under the teacher’s influence. I hope that at the end of this analysis, you’ll come to the same conclusion: Jung In-Hun is the real villain in this story and he can become very dangerous.

At the end of the season, he still thinks that he has some connection with the young man, as despite the rejection and the abandonment in the past, Baek Na-Kyum still admired him that’s why he still believes that his harsh words spoken in the chapter 40 out of resent and jealousy didn’t affect his relationship with the low-born. He has the impression that he can still use him as a pawn. Nevertheless, I can imagine that the moment Baek Na-Kyum starts getting more admiration and recognition by society, Jung In-Hun will wish to have him killed.

Persuasion, pride and prejudice towards low-born and nobility are the aspects that define Jung In-Hun so well. His delusion was the cause of Baek Na-Kyum’s unhappiness and tears in reality. Strangely, although the sex session with the mirror seemed to reflect a rather abusive relationship, in reality it freed the painter. That’s why it is important to distinguish between seem and reality. The reality was the coercive persuasion that is so well hidden that you truly need to pay attention to details. I had always said that the man had been brainwashed, yet by discovering the employed techniques, the atrocity of Jung In-Hun’s actions becomes more palpable. Furthermor, it makes me realize that his love for the scholar was fake in reality, just the result of captivity: Stockholm Syndrome.

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 tumblr-twitter account is: @bebebisous33. Thanks for reading and the support.

Painter Of The Night: Traces of “Dangerous liaisons” and “Justine: the Misfortunes of Virtue” in the manhwa

~ Bébébisous33 ~ Leave a 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.

If you have already read about my biography, then you know that my real work is teaching French and History. This means that French literature is part of my lessons. I am not sure if many of you are acquainted with French literature, but at some point while writing my analyses, I came to realize that Painter Of The Night contains many parallels to two famous French novels written just before the French Revolution that started in 1789. The first obvious connection is the historical period.

Moreover, the first novel “Dangerous Liaisons”/”Les Liaisons dangereuses” written by the noble Choderlos de Laclos and the second book “Justine: The Misfortunes of Virtue/ Justine ou les infortunes de la vertu” from Marquis de Sades, also another noble, describe both the libertinage and as such the decadence of high society in 18th Century.

Libertinage or libertinism means that a man or woman lives disregarding authority or convention in sexual or religious matters. They are not bound by social etiquette or even religion. This is a movement existing in the 17th and 18th century influenced by The Enlightenment but it doesn’t necessarily mean that this mentality is something positive. Actually, the perverted side of libertinism is criticized in both works as it became reduced to sex. “Dangerous liaisons” and Justine: The Misfortunes of Virtue” caused a huge scandal and even Marquis de Sades was sent to prison due to his writing. Why? The reason is simple: both books portray the old and high nobility as obsessed with sex and full of vices, while at the same time nobles from high and old nobility called themselves honorable and looked down on poor people and new nobles. No one wanted to be seen as a depraved lord or lady.

Now, if we compare these novels with the manhwa, the similarities are quite visible. All the nobles we met are corrupted, living in debauchery or dishonesty. They are far from being honorable and pure. While the low noble Jung In-Hun didn’t take his position seriously and never taught the children, the others from the high nobility were busy with different kind of pleasures: hunting

chapter 22

, sex

chapter 8

or even sex orgies.

chapter 33

We never see them working as officials, it looks like only the old beared men, mentioned by Yoon Seungho,

chapter 44

are working for the King, while the young lords show no real interest in improving the country and the living conditions of the commoners. They are all selfish and self-centered thinking about their own pleasures or about their own career in order to get power and wealth. Yet, the commoners have always represented the biggest part of any society in the past. In France, the third state (commoners) represented 98% of order society. I doubt that in Joseon the society was very much different. Consequently, nobility acts as if it was honorable and pure, while in reality they have sex orgies and even practice sodomy which is condemned by social morals. And here is the hypocrisy: for commoners, sodomy is kind of forbidden, while it is tolerated for the nobility. Then in Painter of The Night, we see the nobles visiting the giseang house, a brothel, as a diversion.

chapter 19

Whereas they condemn the painter for being unclean and filthy because he was raised there,

chapter 40

they are actually the reason why the brothel can exist. Without rich nobles, the gisaengs wouldn’t be able to live. Here, the author criticizes the double standards and the hypocrisy of nobility. In my opinion, the teacher didn’t visit the brothel, not because he was virtuous, but because he had no rich friend and no mean to afford them. Remember that he is just a low noble: no huge wealth and no connection. This explains why Baek Na-Kyum doesn’t like nobles

chapter 2

which is revealed in the beginning and sees in Yoon Seungho’s behavior the typical attitude of a noble: selfish, depraved, “consumed by lust”. Besides, I already mentioned in another analysis that Jung In-Hun could have a hidden vice: pedophilia. Furthermore, the popularity for erotic paintings is another clue for the debauchery of the high nobles. In other words, all three works (the manhwa and the two French novels) give a similar portray of the high society: a very pessimistic and corrupted nobility supporting the inequity and the injustice of that system. Their titles give them the authority to rule over the commoners. No one seems to be questioning this order society and its rules. It is fine as long as they benefit from this system.

Nonetheless, this negative picture of the high society (nobility) is not the only common denominator between these three creations. I also see some similarities between the characters from “Dangerous liaisons” and “Justine: The Misfortunes of Virtue”. Let me summarize the first novel “Liaisons dangereuses”. Valmont, a lord from the “noblesse d’épée” (old nobility/sword-nobility) is a libertine and as such has a lot of sexual encounters. He loves seducing women and uses sex as a weapon. All this time, he is exchanging letters with Madame de Merteuil, the female version of a libertine. She is his ex-lover but she would like him to seduce a young woman, Cecile de Volanges, the fiancee of the Marquise’s ex-lover. Her purpose is to get revenge on her former sex partner. During this time, Valmont has another target. He has already planned to seduce the virtuous Madame de Tourvel, the wife of the parliament president, a former bourgeois who became ennobled by the king which means that he is wealthy and influential. In other words, Monsieur de Tourvel belongs to the rather new nobility: “noblesse de robe” (“nobility due an official position”) which was considered as a rival by the old and traditional “noblesse d’épée”. The resent for the new nobles leads the protagonist Valmont to seduce the virtuous wife. It was as if he was declaring war to this new nobility as they are often much richer then the old nobility “noblesse d’épée”. This explains why the author of this novel commented in his notes the following:

“The love of war and the war of love. Glory. The love of glory. Valmont and Merteuil [both protagonists or better said antagonists in the novel] talk about it all the time. The love of combat. The tactics, the rules, the methods. The glory of victory. The strategy to win a very frivolous prize.”

Love, or better said sex, is associated to war. As you can perceive, the author Choderlos de Laclos created Vicomte de Valmont and Madame de Merteuil as unscrupulous cynic, full of sarcasm, cold and calculating. Here, the man perceives Madame de Tourvel as conquest and every possible method is allowed to achieve his goal. Now, you understand how the lord is: cold, manipulative and quite determined in order to achieve his goal. Sex is like war in reality but in order to deceive his victim, his actual prey, he has to act as if he was in love. But for the libertine, sex has nothing to do with love. Sex is just a pleasure, a weapon to defeat and humiliate his rival. Now, you understand why I even imagined that Min would be interested in Yoon Seungho and used Jihwa to get rid of Baek Na-Kyum. Here, sex has become a game of power and submission, just like in war. Just like Yoon Seungho had sex with other nobles, sex was his weapon to show his authority and power. In this manhwa, sex is indeed associated to fight and power. Seungho used his position as lord to submit Baek Na-Kyum at the pavilion. Now, if we compare Valmont with Yoon Seungho, we will find some parallels:

– He acts like a libertine, as he pays no attention to moral values and etiquette. He is definitely more enlightened than his “friends” because he values people based on their talents and actions. He puts a lot of trust in his assistant Kim and accepts the painter right from the start despite his social background. He appreciates the man for his talent.

– He acts like a libertine because he often has sex and doesn’t even hide it. Sex has nothing to do with marriage or love. It is just to bypass time.

– For him, sex has never been real pleasure but war. The true purpose of his depraved life is hurt to his father, to remind him of his sins. Besides, I also think that he never felt his sex partners from the nobility as true friends. They were rather his tools, just like Valmont treats other nobles. On the other hand, the nobles thought that they were using him. Thanks to him, they could get to enjoy parties, even take some benefit. However, the lord was always aware of this. Both were never really free in their choice in reality. Seungho had to choose among the nobles, just like Valmont.

– Their way to approach their target is quite similar. There is strategy behind Seungho’s actions. In the scene 16, he wants to know if the artist is a bottom or a top hence he uses a remark to get his answer.

Then he touches the painter’s head with the headband, that way he creates a certain closeness. Finally, the masturbation symbolizes the climax of his slow approach. He knows that he has to be careful with the painter, since the latter was forced to remain by his side by using Jung In-Hun as leverage. In this scene, it becomes clear that he was already aiming at the commoner.

– Both fall in love with their prey. Striking is that Valmont has to act as if he was in love with Madame de Tourvel and as time passed on, the boundaries between appearances and reality became fuzzy so that the noble fell in love with the woman for real. We have also a mixture of seem and real in the “wedding night” because the noble acts as if he was the “learned sir”. He thought, he could seize the opportunity and taste the young man, yet the latter made love to him so that Yoon Seungho could never forget their night together. Sure, the lord had already fallen for the artist before but he was unaware of it. But the “wedding night” was the trigger for him to have him as his real sex partner/lover. So the illusion plays a big part in their falling in love.

However, there are also huge differences between him and Valmont.

– Seungho became a sodomite due to circumstances hence he never came to enjoy sex, whereas the French Vicomte had pleasure with his partners. Only through the painter’s creation, the lord in Joseon comes to perceive himself in a different light and accepts his homosexuality and the ecstasy accompanying sex. He is liberated.

– Moreover, at the end, Valmont chose to sacrifice his lover over his pride and arrogance so that Madame de Tourvel has a tragic end. I sense that our couple in Painter Of The Night has another ending.

– The biggest difference between these two lords is that Yoon Seungho is less conventional and more open-minded than the French libertine. Yoon Seungho despises Jung In-Hun for not teaching the commoners properly. He reads a lot which shows that he pays attention to education and he has a lot of knowledge. This explains why he doesn’t care about gossips and opinions. Valmont hid his career as womanizer hidden, just like Madame de Merteuil. They hid their “sexual libertine life” behind etiquette and manners which is not the case for Yoon Seungho. He is even willing to cut ties with Jihwa, while Valmont still kept a relationship with Madame de Merteuil through the letters. Both are real hypocrites, whereas Yoon Seungho is by no means deceitful. He is a man of his words, hence the promise to take Baek Na-Kyum as his “bride” should be taken very seriously. He is very self-confident too but his pride didn’t stop him to lower himself in order to give pleasure to Baek Na-Kyum. He is willing to do anything so that the artist accepts him as his lover. As a conclusion, “Dangerous liaisons” has a lot of common points with the manhwa.

Now it is time to take a closer look to the novel “Justine: The Misfortunes of Virtue” written by Marquis de Sades. The author is indirectly famous as the word “sadistic” is deviated from his name. In his book, the described debauchery truly represents the climax of sexual perversion. There is everything as sex is connected to pain and crimes: rape, torture, murder, strange sexual practices, theft etc. The enlightened author thought that evil was the product of nature which would explain why God always permits that crimes and injustice happen. He had a very pessimistic view of humans. He was one of those who somehow doubted the existence of god. Anyway, in this novel, Justine is the “heroine” and she embodies virtue. She is so innocent but because of her virtuous nature, she becomes the prey of sadistic, selfish and greedy persons. She encounters so many misfortunes which lead to her death. Virtue can not be victorious, only sins and crimes have the upper hand. Now, I am sure that you are wondering why I connect this novel to the manhwa. This is quite simple. Sades wrote:

“In order to know virtue, we must first acquaint ourselves with vice.”

And here is the connection between Seungho and “Justine: The Misfortunes of Virtue”. Seungho met first vice, he had sex without feeling anything. He lived as a man “consumed by lust”, until he met Baek Na-Kyum who mirrored him his true self with his words. Baek Na-KYum embodies virtue and innocence and that’s the reason why the lord is able to recognize the difference between his sex partners from the nobility and the young man. He is the total opposite of them, which the lord realizes. He feels and witnesses the virtues exuding from the painter which leads the master to change. Furthermore, through his first sexual encounter, he experiences the difference between sex and love… because of his past experience, he is able to notice the huge contrast and enjoys their love making. Without Baek Na-Kyum’s innocence and virtue, the lord wouldn’t fallen in love with him so quickly. He remained pure, although he was raised in a brothel reinforcing his virtue. It was as if he had resisted temptation to carnal desires in a place full of temptations. His virginity symbolizes his purity and innocence. Finally, during the first season, we witness all the misfortunes Baek Na-Kyum encounters:

– brainwashing and physical abuse by the teacher

– the witnessing of a murder (episode 1)

– the straw mat beating (episode 12)

– the injustice of being accused of a crime he didn’t commit (damage the painting) : episode 10/11

– rape

– “drugged” as he is influenced by the aphrodisiac (chapter 35/36)

– the harsh words coming from the teacher “He was born to be a prostitute”

– forced to paint against his will

– Being held captive by the lord through different means (theft, blackmail)

– The sex marathon

– forced to do a blow job

– Victim of theft (the retrieved poem)

– Victim of blackmail (In-Hun as hostage)

– the slaps, being grabbed and dragged by Yoon Seungho

He is definitely a new version of Justine. Just like her, he cries a lot. Tears should be here considered as proof of his purity. It was as if his tears would wash away the sins he just experienced or saw. Sure, he is a little different from her as he lies and is quite daring towards the lord. However, let us not forget that his lies are no real lies as they ooze honesty. Yoon Seungho perceives the truth in his lies. Besides, the insolence is somehow connected to sincerity and honesty which are virtues as such, he is unable to control his thoughts and emotions. It is just that Baek Na-Kyum doesn’t follow completely the social conventions, when it comes to Yoon Seungho.

The only huge difference between two works is the pessimistic perception of humans in Sades’ novel. Here, Yoon Seungho changes for the better, which was not the case for Justine’s enemies/sex partners. Love is the trigger for Yoon Seungho to become a better person, less selfish and more caring. This never happened in the French novel “Justine”. She even dies due to lightening showing that nature is quite evil. There is no love in Sades’ novel due to his negative opinion about nature and humans. Since he wrote many sex scenes, his work is unfortunately reduced to sex, while in reality he used his works to describe the corruption and the decadence of the Ancien Régime. [Explanation for this expression: The Ancien Régime was the political and social system of the Kingdom of France from the Late Middle Ages until the French Revolution of 1789, which led to the abolition of hereditary monarchy and of the feudal system of the French nobility.] He went even further and questioned the nature of god meaning that he criticized religion and Catholic church. That’s the reason why he was sent to prison and spent many years there.

Nevertheless the debauchery in all these works makes me wonder if a coup d’Etat or a huge incident concerning the king will happen. Let us not forget that a purge happened in the past which shows that there was some conflict between noble families and the king. “Dangerous Liaisons” and “Justine: The Misfortunes of Virtue” announce the arrival of French Revolution because of the perversion of nobility. Commoners are no longer satisfied with the privileges of nobility and their scandalous way of life is no longer accepted as such. We should remember that this decadence is described by two nobles revealing that even some nobles felt that something was wrong. Therefore, we have to wonder if the described decadence in Painter Of The Night announces changes in politics too. It is definitely possible that Yoon Seungho will meddle in politics because of Baek Na-Kyum and might change things for the commoners. He did show some concern for them in the chapter 6, when he disapproved Jung In-Hun’s attitude. However, there will be no revolution and abolition of privileges because this never happened in Joseon. The other reason for this assumption is that in another manhwa (“A painter behind the curtain” from Munamu, https://www.tappytoon.com/comics/painter-behind-curtainm), just like Baek Na-Kyum, the painter Ian was exposed to physical abuse and exploitation. In this story he also witnesses the debauchery of nobility in the Ancien Régime which leads to a revolt and later somehow to a revolution. As you can see, I feel that Painter Of The Night could become more political later, yet there won’t be a total upheaval of the social order and the state due to Joseon’s history.

I hope, this analysis has made you want to read more about the two French novels. Feel free to comment. If you liked it, then push the button like or retweet it. Thanks for reading.

Painter Of The Night: Seungho’s weaknesses

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 6 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/

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.

After reading the title, you are probably thinking that this analysis will be about his tragic past. But no… not really, as my focus will be what makes the lord happy and unhappy. As you know, weakness can be negative or positive, like for example chocolate is my weakness and as such many weaknesses are connected to the low-born. Thus I chose different scenes as illustration for my affirmations concerning this topic.

Right from the start, we can observe how Baek Na-Kyum’s face become Seungho’s first and important weakness. He is literally glued to the painter’s face, in particular his hair and his eyes. That’s why in chapter 1, the noble is willing to lower himself and touch his face the moment he sees the painter crying.

Chapter 1

Look how gentle and caring he is in this situation, although they have just met. He acts in a similar manner in chapter 26 after the forced sex. He doesn’t like it, when the painter is crying so much.

Chapter 26

Here he does show some concern again with the same tenderness. Moreover, the image of the painter’s face full of tears (from the chapter 1) left a deep impression on the main lead so that while having sex with Jihwa at the pavilion, he remembers the artist’s visage. (chapter 3). Fact is that he is so drawn to his face that he can’t help himself to caress the lips or cheek (e. g. chapter 12)

or the hair (chapter 16)

(chapter 35). As you can observe, the master is so attracted by the painter’s beautiful head and face that he always looks at him and even feels the need to touch him. Furthermore, the seme made sure that the commoner would keep his pretty visage without a scar that’s why the former asked Kim to put the ointment directly on his lips after the straw mat beating. This signifies that he even ordered medicine for a simple commoner outlining that Seungho was willing to do anything as he was attracted to his face. And let us not forget that this happened before the seme and the uke made love. The obsession for his face is also confirmed directly by the noble, when in the chapter 31, the protagonist declares that he knows that Baek Na-Kyum has been attracted to him.

Chapter 31

This is a proof that his eyes were literally fixed on the artist all the time, even when he was having sex with others. I sense that the eyes are the biggest attraction for the main lead which I will explain further later.

I believe that beauty is not just the only explanation for his fascination. Baek Na-Kyum is so transparent which the noble feels refreshing. Despite the lies and the insolence, Yoon Seungho is capable to perceive the young man’s innocence. Everything in him is exuding sincerity. However, even if the low-born is so easy to read, as time passed on, he becomes the biggest puzzle to solve. Even at some point, Seungho has reached the point that he has to admit that he can’t win this guy over. Imagine, the powerful and fearless lord was almost defeated by such a pure commoner. Why does he find his transparency so interesting? It is related to the world and society he grew up with. All the nobles we saw are or were scheming and manipulative. His so called friends like Min made the “suggestion” to Jihwa to kill the “lover” and the red-haired noble Jihwa played a trick on Baek Na-Kyum by damaging a painting. Then the teacher Jung In-Hun is so fake that he copied more or less a poem from a famous poet and finally his own father betrayed him too. He experienced treachery from his closest relative hence he mistrusts nobility generally. That’s why he doesn’t care about standard morals and etiquette as they are fake. Yoon Seungho is very cautious with people from the same social status, since he has got used to their fakings and schemes. The lord had already felt the naturality and genuineness in those paintings, then he experienced it again with the painter. The latter stands in opposition to the nobles Seungho mingles.

But the lord is not just weak in front of the artist’s face, eyes and his purity, he has a softness for his reddening and tears. Unlike Jihwa who hides his feelings and thoughts behind his closed eyes, his smiles and his rude remarks, Seungho is able to see honest and natural emotions on someone’s face for the first time. As you can observe, the facial expressions are another reason why Seungho fell for the genuine artist. He is able to see that Baek Na-Kyum can’t control his emotions and thoughts. For the first time, our seme is confronted with real emotions through the facial expressions and the gaze. And it definitely helps him to reconnect to his own feelings which had been repressed for so long. Therefore as the story evolves, the more expressions the lord is able to make: he smiles more (chapter 12)/ (chapter 35), his eyes are shining or if he is so angry, his gaze gets so dark.

chapter 28

It was as if his eyes became weapons so that he would kill someone with them. (chapter 30). The beholder is witnessing more and more expressions coming from the lord, while he was so detached in the beginning, when he was sitting in his room looking out of the window. Through Baek Na-Kyum, our seme learns to discover his inner emotions, that’s why we can say that the uke serves as a mirror unconsciously. The eyes were definitely working as a mirror. Baek Na-Kyum showed his sadness, true desires, anger, happiness and thankfulness… a full range of different emotions. But our seme needed to learn how to control them as he had not been used to feel anything for a long time.

But let’s return to the observation mentioned above. Seungho falls for Baek Na-Kyum’s blushing. Each time, he sees the man reddening because of him, he is happy or feels better, just like in the chapter 35.

Chapter 35

Although he was terribly fatigued, he couldn’t restrain himself from smiling, when he saw (chapter 35) the painter’s reaction. I could use the scene in chapter 39 as another example. In that scene below, he hears from the low-born that he is blushing because of him.

chapter 39

That’s why he starts teasing him. So this blushing is first connected to his face and secondly to his honesty, which reinforces the idea that the face as such plays a huge part in his falling in love.

The other weakness is that simple words coming from Baek Na-Kyum have a great impact on the protagonist. He is so affected by his comments that he behaves differently. First, he is truly bothered by Baek Na-Kyum’s critic, when the latter reminded him that he was just a man consumed by lust. (chapter 5) Hence he can’t even have sex with Jihwa the same day. Let us not forget that these words were told the day before and the noble had not taken these too seriously. However, this time the critic is not said because the uke is upset but because he is serious. During their exchange, the low-born is trying to say the opposite: he is not a man consumed by lust. So he is lying, yet as I mentioned before, the lies are so transparent that they are no real lies. In other words, the uke didn’t realize that he was in reality reproaching the man to be obsessed with sex. The innocent reminder did the trick. Seungho has now something to think deeply.

chapter 5

Then we have this terrible scene in the bathroom (chapter 26), where Baek Na-Kyum is brutally honest with the lord. While the latter tried to put the blame on the artist that everything happened, because he had accepted the proposal and mistaken him for the teacher, then the low-born replies with such a honesty that Seungho can no longer hide from the truth:

Chapter 26

He dares to tell the tyrannical master that he is the one responsible and deep down, the lord knows that he is right. Remember that he didn’t respond to the kiss immediately in chapter 20. Look now how shocked the noble is. His honesty makes it impossible to reply. He is left speechless. No one has ever dared to be so frank and he knows that deep down he can not deny it. Then Baek Na-Kyum yells at him how much he hates him.

Chapter 26

This triggers the lord to grab his sword and announce him that he is about to kill someone.

Chapter 26

He doesn’t even need to give the identity of the future victim. As you can observe, Baek Na-Kyum’s words have such a power over the lord. He can’t help but react to these reproaches or critics. If we compare this confrontation to the one with Jihwa, we can perceive a huge difference. Seungho is always able to reply and even have the final words, whereas it is not the case with Baek Na-Kyum. And in each time, the painter’s gaze played a huge part in it. Here, he could see the hatred reflecting in these eyes and he couldn’t bear looking at them any longer. He had no response to this harsh reply. Then the most important scene where the beholder can witness the power of Baek Na-Kyum’ s words is in chapter 41. While crying, he begs the lord to leave him alone. He uses the imperative twice so he acts as if he has the upper hand. He gets so upset that he ends up yelling at him.

Chapter 41

Furthermore, with his words he is rejecting the lord’s presence. However, Seungho kept holding his hand and forced the young man to show his face because he wanted to see his eyes and facial expressions. Pay attention to the first facial expression when he observes the painter crying.

Chapter 41

He is honestly worried and must feel the urge to console him. That’s why he wants to look at the painter’s face because he knows that his facial expressions will reveal the cause of his distress that’s why he refused to listen to him. Here, he acts like a lover full of concern for the painter. However, the way he is rejected upsets the master. I believe the slap was triggered for two reasons. Until chapter 41, we always saw the protagonist being very lenient towards the uke’s boldness. By reminding him of his status, Baek Na-Kyum can’t push the man away. As you see, he used the slap as a way to stay by the painter’s side. Furthermore the reproach Baek Na-Kyum expressed that he did everything he wanted. He was following his order: he painted as requested. However, Seungho was no longer interested in the paintings. He is longing for the commoner’s love. So here again, the noble is reminded of their actual situation. The painter is just an employee hired by him. The words Baek Na-Kyum screamed provoked a certain reaction: he used his status in order to be able not to follow the painter’s wish, besides the uke’s words did reflect the truth. They had a master-servant relationship. On the other hand, the lord wanted to comfort him in the beginning, until he saw the picture of In-Hun and comes to a different conclusion. He believes initially that it is related to the departure of the teacher, then that the painter has been asked to sleep with the lord on In-Hun’s request.

The other weakness is Baek Na-Kyum’s erection. The rich man is desperate to be the cause of his erection. Hence he tries to stimulate him in chapter 31.

Chapter 31

The expression “for me” at the end of the sentence emphasizes the expectation of the noble. He wants to be the cause of his sexual desires. Now, you can understand why the lord was so happy to see that the commoner had an erection because of him in the chapter 36. We all know that the real trigger for his erection is the aphrodisiac but if he hadn’t been sexually aroused by the lord before, I doubt that this would have ever happened.

Chapter 36

That’s why he is smiling with this erection. He is still careful in this chapter because he knows about the weak constitution of painter but he is very insecure about Baek Na-Kyum. He has no idea how he could improve their relationship. So the erection helps him to provoke pleasure in his sex partner. He knows that it is important for the uke to feel ecstasy so that he will be accepted as his partner.

In other words, Baek Na-Kyum seems to be his weakness: his face, his eyes, his facial expressions, his words and his genuineness are the causes why he fell hard for the painter. But this is not the end. The protagonist has other weaknesses which were revealed in the first season: the shaking hand, the nightmare and the insomnia. They are all mostly related to his family and past. Striking is that only Baek Na-Kyum is able to witness all these reactions. He saw the exhausted face in the chapter 35, (chapter 35) indicating a certain lack of sleep, then the shaking hand with the fist,

chapter 37

while the lord was talking in a confident manner in front of his brother Seung-Won. He is definitely hurt by the request from his brother because he is reminded of his own past. Yet he can’t reveal anything: his own suffering and what really happened back then. He has to suppress everything and the shaking hand with the fist outlines the resent and frustration. Finally, he asks the young man to sleep with him. He hugs him in his sleep, however he seems to suffer from a nightmare.

Chapter 38

Yet he has to hide all of this in front of his servants and other nobles because this could be used against him. He is not allowed to reveal his vulnerability. I come to the conclusion that his hidden vulnerability represents another weakness.

Yet, though the painter has become the biggest weakness for Yoon Seungho who fell in love with him, I believe that he will become his biggest strength. Yoon Seungho will be forced to leave his lethargy behind and even to meddle with politics and officials, since Baek Na-Kyum has been able to evoke true protective instincts. Therefore the weaknesses I listed above are actually positive aspects. All of this proves the deepness of the master’s affection. This is not just a physical relationship.

On the other hand, it seems that the lord’s vulnerability will be one of the reasons for Baek Ny-Kyum to fall in love with the lord. First, he was already attracted to him right from the start. Secondly, he noticed the straightforwardness of the lord. He never deceived him (even with the warnings and the blackmail) so that at some point he even started listening to his words. Because of him, he starts questioning the teacher’s true intentions. He has finally accepted to be by Yoon Seungho’s side. I also think that in the second season, Baek Na-Kyum will discover new sides from the lord: his intelligence and education. I am even expecting that Yoon Seungho teachs the uke himself how to read and write so that he can be called “learned sir” and replaces the teacher totally.

Painter Of The Night; “Room with a view” in Joseon (part 2)

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 5 Comments

Yesterday, I examined the scenes from the chapters 5, 12 and 17, where Yoon Seungho was always sitting in a room and mostly looking out of the window. We noticed that the protagonist showed some privileges towards the painter, although there is a huge gap between their social status. And as time passed on, Yoon Seungho became more proactive as he even left his position in order to seek for Baek Na-Kyum (12/17). Now, we need to analyze the three other episodes, where such a scene occurred, in order to outline the evolution of their “scandalous” relationship.

Let’s focus on the room with a view from the chapter 30. As you can see, unlike in the past, Seungho is no longer sitting, but standing and also moving. He has been beating his servants. This contrasts so much to the earlier scenes as he was always first portrayed as pensive and immobile. The reason for this huge change of behavior is understandable. The noble just discovered that Baek Na-Kyum was no longer at the mansion. He even went from Baek Na-Kyum’s room to In-Hun’s bedchamber to confirm that he didn’t misunderstand the situation. If both are not present, then they ran away. He became so furious and desperate that he couldn’t control his emotions therefore he started beating his servants, even the loyal assistant Kim. That’s the reason why I compare him to a volcano. All his repressed emotions erupt. Then he hears that the two persons have come back. In my opinion, he must have felt relieved for one moment, until he turns his head around and he witnesses that In-Hun and Baek Na-Kyum are together.

The author chose to focus on Seungho’s gaze in order to let the readers vizualize Seungho’s inner emotions. He is shocked, simultaneously feels betrayed and jealous. That’s why he is not just active in the house, once he sees from the window the return of the painter with In-Hun, he literally flies towards Baek Na-Kyum like an eagle so that his prey can’t escape again. This chapter stands so much in opposition to the first 3 scenes, where the noble was portrayed as passive, calm and emotionless. Even if we could see a progression in Seungho’s behavior as he started leaving his room in order to go to Baek Na-Kyum’s side, he was always in control of his emotions, even if he teased the painter in chapter 12. Besides, when he came to the artist’s rescue, he might have humiliated the sex partner Jihwa, yet his actions were precise and reasonable. He punished the spy and not Jihwa explaining the reason why he didn’t do anything to him. For the sake of their past relationship, Yoon Seungho was willing to overlook the betrayal. However, here the noble is literally boiling due to his emotions. He feels frustrated, hurt, jealous but also abandoned as he had ordered the painter to remain by his side the night before. We shouldn’t forget that Yoon Seungho is in love with Baek Na-Kyum that’s why his heart can’t take the escape.

On the other hand, we know the cause for the artist’s elopement. He had been raped and he also witnessed how the resentful lord was about to kill the teacher, if he hadn’t stopped him. The menace made in the chapter 12, In-Hun as a hostage could get hurt, had become real. From Yoon Seungho’s perspective, the artist was still rejecting him and as such defying him which he had never experienced before. We have to imagine that Yoon Seungho as seme has quite a reputation that’s why he has many sex partners. But here, a low-born chose the hypocrite In-Hun over him. He might have not run away but he remained by the teacher’s side. Imagine how the noble must have felt, he was so used to be sought out as sex partner and here nothing is working with Baek Na-Kyum. Neither wealth nor force could have an influence on the painter, he is still bold and fearless despite the threads and the violence experienced.

First the innocent man forget their first night that left such a deep impression in the noble therefore the latter was already frustrated that the young man still had no recollection. So when he forced himself on the painter, he was somehow marking the artist as his… he imagined that by using his power, Baek Na-Kyum would become submissive and obedient just like it happened in the chapter 12. Remember that due to the straw mat beating incident, Baek Na-Kyum bowed to him and showed respect. I have the impression that Seungho thought that the painter would react like in the past. But no… Baek Na-Kyum became even more insolent. He declared to hate him, although the lord wanted to make up for the forced sex and went himself to the bathroom in order to bring him new clothes. Here, he is once again rejected so that Seungho sees no other alternative than to turn his thread into a reality. Imagine the humiliation and the anger for the noble. Furthermore he had always treated the painter with such lenience so far. In other words, Seungho keeps being rejected, all his actions were pointless and the return of the ill-fated couple marks the third rejection. Baek Na-Kyum is still by Jung In-Hun’s side that’s why the master flew like an eagle and caught the painter so brutally. This time, the noble is able to achieve something: Baek Na-Kyum finally concedes in the lord’s request (“he will do anything he wants”) but only because the former doesn’t want their sexual relationship unveiled in front of the homophobic teacher. In order to be still accepted by In-Hun, the artist is willing to do anything for the lord. Here, there was a struggle of forces between Yoon Seungho and Jung In-Hun too and it somehow worked for the powerful lord. Homosexuality was the trigger for Baek Na-Kyum to become submissive and obedient.

And all this happens in the courtyard which reveals how much Seungho is willing to do in order to get what he wants. He doesn’t care about his reputation and gossips. He is not even properly dressed which contrasts again to the former scenes I analysed before. This mirrors his own state of mind: messed up. And now, you understand why Seungho is so violent in his reaction… his heart had never been touched before. All this time, he only used his brain… looking out of the window pensive. His heart was not beating, until he met the painter. The latter brought him back to life but at the same time, he had to experience many new things: insolence, innocence, love and constant rejection! This explains why the lord has sex with the painter for the whole day and night (chapter 30-32). He believes that once Baek Na-Kyum witnesses his own reaction in the mirror, he will come to admit that he feels pleasure with the noble and to accept him as his partner and even as his lover. Notice that the lord and the commoner had sex in his chamber which stands in opposition to their other sexual encounters in the past (Baek NaKyum’s chamber and the pavilion). By bringing back to his chamber, it is clear that Seungho has elevated the painter’s status. He is no longer a servant. However, the lord made the mistake to disregard the artist’s physical disposition so that their sex session ended up with illness.

Before analyzing the next scene with the room with a view, it is quite important to contextualize this chapter. Since Seungho had no idea how the painter would react after this sex marathon, he returns to his chamber with a very indifferent face. He is very prudent but his gaze is focused on the painter’s facial expressions. I mean, the artist could still reject him because the lord risked his life. However, nothing happens. Baek Na-Kyum somehow blushes and he doesn’t seem to reject the noble entirely. He just wants to leave the chamber so that the lord can rest. While he is submissive this time, his behavior reveals that there is still a distance between him and Seungho. That’s why the noble acts in a seductive way. He almost kisses the low-born but allows him to return to his chamber while telling him that he is only sparing him because of his poor health. This is quite important as it outlines that Seungho is still claiming Baek Na-Kyum as his partner. On the other hand, he is left alone in his chamber which bothers him. He definitely wants to share his bed with him therefore he is unable to sleep during that night. I am quite sure that Seungho must have been thinking about strategies how to improve their relationship.

Since he suffered from insomnia, his chamber is a little chaotic the next morning. Kim arrives and opens the windows. Then he helps the lord to get dressed with a green robe. So we see Seungho walking to the window in order to have a view in his courtyard. Then he witnesses how Baek Na-Kyum is talking to the low noble.

chapter 35

While they are chatting together, the lord can’t help himself but smile. However, this is a bitter smile.

chapter 35

Here, Yoon Seungho is rather calm but in fact it is because he is exhausted mentally and physically. Hence he doesn’t seem enraged. On the other hand, this doesn’t signify that the lord no longer feels angry or jealous. He is resigned… he is on the verge of admitting defeat. Therefore he walks over slowly unlike in the chapter 30, which we don’t see as the author focused during this time on Baek Na-Kyum with his teacher. While he walks towards the artist, he is still unsure what he should do. He must have been observing the gestures between these two and even witnessing how Jung In-Hun left the low-born behind in front of a closed door despite the tender gesture before his departure.

However, the low-born remains immobile behind the door, while feeling excluded and somehow abandoned by the teacher. He doesn’t notice that he has been observed by the noble all this time. Deeply in his thought, he suddenly hears Seungho’s voice. For the second time in this chapter, Byeonduck uses a black drawing:

Interesting is that this picture should be perceived as Baek Na-KYum’s thoughts, just like in the other black image. The low-born is lost due to In-Hun’s lack of concern and the feeling of being abandoned, until he is called by the lord. Only then we see that Seungho is indeed holding a sword. Notice the way he is holding it. It was as if he had no force to sway the weapon as it almost lies on the ground. The master has no energy left.

This illustrates Seungho’s exhaustion, frustration, despair and resignation. He would have killed the painter if the latter had followed the teacher. So this walk in the courtyard was a final attempt to get the painter to his side as he wouldn’t have been able to accept another turndown. He would have preferred the artist being dead than anything else. This underlines his possessiveness. No one is allowed to have him, if he can not have him. Then the following picture is seen from Baek Na-Kyum’s perspective:

He sees an exhausted man with dark rings which he didn’t expect. The low-born gets aware that the lord is not feeling well which surprises the young man.

For the first time, Baek Na-Kyum is looking at the lord as a person and not a master. He can’t hide his astonishment. He saw Yoon Seungho the night before and he looked fine and now he is more or less a wreck. Baek Na-Kyum has always seen the lord as someone strong, full of confidence and energy, hence he feared him despite his innocent boldness. Here, he gets to see another side of the lord: weak, sensitive and resigned. Here we can see the young master at his lowest point. He approaches the young painter after seeing his reaction. Due to his facial expression, Yoon Seungho felt that the low-born was no longer pushing him away. Yet he is lost, just like Baek Na-Kyum. In other words, they are both in the same situation: confused and lost. Yoon Seungho, who spent his night thinking how to improve his relationship with him, has no idea how to get closer to Baek Na-Kyum and to win him over, since even his seductive move and his display of concern from last night had no effect on the painter. The latter still went to the teacher’s side.

That’s why he asks for the first time what the painter likes so much, because he senses that only by knowing the painter he will understand him better so that he can get closer to him. This shows that he wants to know the young man for real. Since he is so weak and asks so gently, Baek Na-Kyum’s heart starts beating louder and you can see that the master’s action and question have triggered something in him.

He is sweating because he doesn’t want to reveal his inner emotions which he doesn’t understand too. However this doesn’t go unnoticed by the lord that’s why he wants to say something.

Notice the direction of his gaze. He is definitely starring at the painter and we all know that Seungho has sharp eyes. He was always able to notice his micro-expressions during his sex session with other partners which he confessed during their sex marathon. So the low-born’s reaction does intrigue him but he is unsure. He is well aware that if he asks something too directly, the artist might get scared again. We shouldn’t forget that the protagonist had already noticed the denial of his sexual desires. So he knows that sex as such is a taboo. I can not tell for sure what he was thinking but since he questioned the artist about his likes, I am wondering if he wanted to ask if Baek Na-Kyum had come to like him due to his reaction. But since he is aware that he is walking on thin ice, he stops himself. Moreover, he could have misinterpreted it. Remember that here the lord is at his lowest. Every possible method with the uke failed so far. The talented man is a complicated puzzle in his eyes. The lord’s question took the man by surprise, once again he is lost in his thoughts and feelings again. His presence and his unusual behavior did affect him and he can not comprehend his body reaction. That’s why we have another black picture again with only the lord’s voice represented: “And the painting?”. This brings the uke back to reality. That’s how they are able to reconnect: the painting brings them closer as this is their real common denominator.

Baek Na-Kyum actually misunderstands here the remark. He thinks that the lord was asking for a new painting of their last sex session. However, the lord had something else in mind. He actually wanted to know if he liked the painting where they were together (the one with the masturbation). Due to the misunderstanding, Seungho becomes happy as he finally sees that the painter will create a new painting and is no longer pushing him away like before that’s why he smiles. The prospect of a new painting of their sex encounter enlightens his mood. Now he knows that the painter has memories of their night together, which makes him happy. Finally, he gets aware that their sex marathon did leave an impression on the painter.

Furthermore, despite his own predicament, Seungho still shows concern for Baek Na-Kyum as he touches his head in order to ensure that he has really recovered from his fever. Sure, the motivation behind the gesture was initially different: he couldn’t restrain himself from touching his face after hearing that the young boy had not forgotten their sex together. Nevertheless, this contrasts so much to the previous teacher’s behavior who was feeling well but didn’t take seriously the poor condition of Baek Na-Kyum. He just left him behind. That’s why I believe that the more Yoon Seungho reveals his vulnerability to the painter, the more the low-born will be moved and fall in love with him. This observation is also confirmed in the next episode. Here, he witnesses the lord having a nightmare which somehow troubles the painter. The latter prefers lying to the teacher than letting him know about the content of the conversation.

In other words, the chapter 30 represented the climax of Seungho’s activity. He rushed to the painter in order to ensure that the one doesn’t leave his side, whereas the chapter 35 marks a pivotal moment in Yoon Seungho’s life: he is on the verge of admitting defeat. We could say that this chapter symbolizes his fall, he has no energy left. He is truly exhausted, resigned and lost, until he wtinesses that Baek Na-Kyum is able to perceive him and still wants to keep his promise: painting erotic images of their sex session. As such, he was about to become passive again but their conversation makes him realize that he was wrong again. Baek Na-Kyum has indeed changed a little hence he starts with a first step. The painter should work again on a new picture in his chamber. However, everything moves much quicker than expected because during the same day (evening) the noble sees that the artist has an erection in his presence, then the latter spends the night with him which he had always wished. Because of that, Seungho becomes more optimistic and decides to claim him as his “bride”.

Finally, we have the last chapter of the first season where the room with a view plays a role again. That’s why as illustration I chose this picture for this analysis. It represents the final change in Seungho’s life: he has become passive again, he is observing the courtyard while smoking. Does it mean that Seungho has returned to the man he was at the beginning? No, not really. He has obtained what he wanted: the painter is now his partner. Therefore he no longer needs to become proactive, to leave the room in order to get his attention. The painter already belongs to him. Strictly speaking, Seungho can become a neutral person again who refuses to meddle with people’s life and politics. He already has what he needs.

This time, Baek Na-Kyum is the one walking in his direction. For the first time, the readers observe the painter walking towards the noble’s house, in the past it was the opposite: Seungho was looking for the painter. Even, when Yoon didn’t come to his side, Baek Na-Kyum either left his room for a walk or he appeared out of the sudden in front of Yoon Seungho in the room. This actually announces the next evolution of their love story. It seems that Baek Na-Kyum will be the one who comes closer and closer to the lord. Furthermore, the painter stops and even looks at the master. This image illustrates that Baek Na-Kyum is no longer blind because of the teacher. He is able to notice the lord looking at him. Yet he doesn’t bow like in the chapter 12 nor fear him and tries to run away. He is quite calm. In this scene and the one before, we saw the artist paying attention to the lord. Sure, since the young man doesn’t go to the lord’s side, there is still some distance between them, however now Baek Na-Kyum is able to notice his gaze and his presence and even takes the time to look at him. This reinforces the impression that Yoon Seungho has been able to change the painter’s perspective. Interesting is that both are looking at each other, while it is snowing. There is this tradition in South Korea that if you watch the first snow falling with your partner, then this person will be your fated love. As you can see, the snow seems to indicate that both persons are fated.

But the return of Seungho’s passivity will be short-lived in my opinion. Seungho will be forced to meddle in people’s life and even politics because of Baek Na-Kyum. First, we have the planned assassination. Secondly there is In-Hun, who could use his new position in order to get revenge on the repeated humiliation he suffered in the past, if he succeeds the exam. Finally his father won’t remain inactive too and could use the younger son. However, the passivity and somehow neutrality doesn’t signify that Yoon Seungho has no clue what is happening around him. Since he has been hurt in the past, one of his ultimate goals was to never be defenseless again. Therefore I perceive that Yoon Seungho has never revealed his true power and skills. He has been using his bad reputation and the rumors about his declining family in order to deceive people. With a low profile he can ensure not to become a target of politicians or of the king.

Funny is that the assassin is standing on the roof which somehow confirms my belief that the room with a view had an important signification. Besides, just like in the English novel where Georges Emerson moved closer to Lucy Honeychurch in order to pursue her and Lucy feared the disapproval from society if she acknowledged her love for the freethinking man, Seungho had to fight for Baek Na-Kyum, just like the latter needs time to realize his feelings for the nonconformist noble. Here, I sense that the fight for their love will have more repercussion on society and politics. Seungho fears more the loss of Baek Na-Kyum than the rejection from people. And this leads me to the final conclusion: I am expecting that the attempted assassination will trigger another big eruption but also will open the painter’s eyes. It could be the moment where he sees the lord very vulnerable again.

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Painter Of The Night: “Room with a view” in Joseon (part 1)

~ 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.

I chose this title, well aware that there is a book written by E. M. Forster titled “Room with a view”. I am not sure if younger generations are familiar with this great novel because I often mention this book in my History classes and most of my students (in Germany) have never heard of this book. People tend to reduce the story just to a romance. Nevertheless it mostly deals with the repressive Victorian values for women and the class differences. It criticizes how in England working people are despised by classes from the high society (high bourgeoisie, nobility and even the clergy) in reality. Therefore it takes a long time for the female protagonist Lucy Honeychurch to admit her love and to decide to marry George Emerson, a freethinking employee of a rail company over a very traditional man Cecil Vyse belonging to the higher society. This means, she marries below her status. With just these aspects, we observe parallels between this story and our manhwa: the huge gap between Seungho’s status and the painter’s, the denying of Baek Na-Kyum’s attraction and starting feelings for the lord and finally the strict moral standards restraining their future love for each other [Baek Na-Kyum is not aware of his feelings yet].

However the real reason I chose this title is the role played by the window and the lord’s room. Like I had mentioned in my analysis “Yoon Seungho: a tragic figure or a hell-raiser?”, Byeonduck often put the protagonist standing in a room and watching through the window. First, his position indicated his passivity as he was a spectator. It was as if he was not really living but letting bypass time. Nonetheless it also reflects the evolution of the relationship between the seme and Baek Na-Kyum. Thus the fourth similarity with the English novel is the role played by the room with the view. Without this, their relationship wouldn’t have changed. That’s why my focus here will be about the scenes where the room and the view played a huge part and compare them to each other in order to mirror the different phases of their relationship. But where did the room and the view play a role? We have altogether 6 scenes: chapter 5, 12, 17, 30, 35 and 44.

Now let’s take a closer look to the first scene which is situated after Yoon Seungho confiscated the treasured poem written by the teacher Jung In-Hun. In the chapter 5, the beholder witnesses how the lord is looking out of the window alone while smoking.

Suddenly, he hears Baek Na-KYum’s voice apologizing. This shows that he didn’t hear the approaching steps or didn’t feel his presence revealing that his mind was wandering elsewhere as he only turns his head around, when he hears the low-born’s voice.

Interesting is that the painter didn’t even announce his arrival, he came suddenly so that we can say that Baek Na-Kyum was quite bold here. A servant usually would let the master know that he would like to say something to the master. He can’t barge like that without greeting him properly. Interesting is that Yoon Seungho is not at all bothered by his lack of manners. He doesn’t dismiss the man or warns him for crossing the line. Yoon Seungho has even to question the painter for the reason of his abrupt apology. It comes out of nowhere and there is no explication. During their conversation, we can feel the artist’s clumsiness because he repeats the words he said the day before while giving the explication.

Here he doesn’t even realize the other big mistake he is making. Actually, he is reminding Yoon Seungho of his judgemental description: he perceives him as a man consumed by lust. Actually, his words in this conversation trigger something in the noble. The day before, the latter didn’t really take to heart the critic coming from the painter but now, it is a little different. Furthermore he senses that the apology is not entirely honest as there is a motivation behind it. He would like Yoon Seungho to return the poem which the latter refuses. His lack of politeness is even reinforced as he is almost giving an order as he uses the imperative.

The lord is honestly tolerant during this whole scene, in fact he is amused by Baek Na-Kyum’s behavior. The painter thinks, he could fool the noble with his somehow insincere apology but Yoon Seungho tricks him by accepting the apology without returning the poem. He is somehow entertained by Baek Na-Kyum. He senses the innocence behind his daring attitude, he is so transparent.

What caught my attention here is that from their first meeting, the artist has always behaved in a reckless manner giving the impression that he was nonconformist. We know that when it comes to homosexuality, here Baek Na-Kyum symbolizes the summit of conformism. But let’s go back to the bold behavior in front of the lord. Baek Na-Kyum tried to run away, destroyed the first picture and lied so many times, however the protagonist was never truly offended. He always forgave him, besides his lies could be discovered immediately. Consequently, the low-born distinguished himself from all other people evolving around Yoon Seungho. They all used to show respect due to his social status or to fear him, notwithstanding they were not honest with him. So I guess, the noble must have felt a certain closeness to the painter who was so transparent and sincere, even with his lies. Sure, the admiration for the painter’s talent played a role for the high tolerance as well.

If you pay attention to the situation here, you’ll observe that the lord remains calm and almost emotionless, though the painter showed a certain disrespect for the noble, it looks like he was not offended. Baek Na-Kyum never realized his boldness all along. Striking is that this conversation is the reason why Seungho can’t have sex with Jihwa in the same chapter. Despite the appearance, the lord took the critic coming from the uke more personally… and let us not forget that before, he never paid attention to hearsay or judgemental attitude through gossips. This scene reveals that this conversation did affect the lord to the point that he couldn’t have sex.

As conclusion, the noble shows a tolerant attitude towards the daring low-born, yet simultaneously we witness during that day that Seungho is a little sensitive, when it comes to Baek Na-Kyum. He doesn’t like to be perceived by him as someone obsessed with sex. Finally, it becomes clear that Seungho doesn’t abide to moral codex so strictly. He might be merciless while killing a servant, yet he is not someone valuing manners over reason or common sense. We get to see glimpses of his tolerance.

Then in the chapter 12, Jihwa visits the powerful noble unannounced, while the noble was looking out of the window.

Striking is that Seungho shows no courtesy at all because he doesn’t receive the guest properly. He just remains in the room indicating that this sudden visit is not really welcome. However, he doesn’t truly reject the encounter and lets the noble sit to his table. Here, he keeps smoking while looking out of the window. Then we have our adorable Baek Na-Kyum stepping out of his room for a walk.

The moment Seungho sees a glimpse of the painter, he stops smoking. You can observe that Baek Na-Kyum has caught his attention. He is intrigued and doesn’t pay attention to Jihwa’s comment. In only two pictures, the relationship between Jihwa and the alluring seme is defined: Jihwa is just a sex partner and is only a tool for the main character. Despite their hot sex at the pavilion, Seungho’s perception and “feelings” for the noble have not changed at all. After leaving his room, the painter must have felt the lord’s gaze because he shows his respect by bowing. He is quite obedient and submissive. His attitude has changed due to the beating, he is more respectful.

Jihwa noticed the lack of response from Seungho and the gaze directed to outdoors. Hence he turns the head and views the painter. The image above reflects the relationship between the seme and Baek Na-Kyum. He is just an employee or servant that’s why he bows his head. What is more surprising is the protagonist’s next move.

He literally abandons his guest and leaves the room. Imagine the huge contrast. He didn’t even bother to go outside to join his guest, a noble, he remained inside. Yet he goes to the courtyard in order to meet a domestic. Imagine the humiliation and frustration for Jihwa, since he is belonging to the high society. Seungho is literally ignoring society’s values. He shows more respect for a commoner than a noble. We can understand why Jihwa is annoyed by Seungho’s behavior. Furthermore, he thought that he had been able to damage the relationship between his sex partner and the painter. In this scene, we witness the importance of the artist in Seungho’s life. First, he hasn’t slept with him yet. Secondly, Baek Na-Kyum had just been reprimanded by the lord for ruining a picture. So this illustrates that despite the fault, Seungho was very forgiving and showed a different attitude towards the low-born. He usually shows no mercy and doesn’t change his opinion, once a verdict has been passed, even Jihwa pointed this out. But this privileged treatment doesn’t just end here.

The rich noble joins the artist’s side with a smile despite their past violent argument and the punishment. He is even teasing the “servant” underlining his quite friendly behavior towards the artist. He shows neither resent nor pettiness in this moment, unlike our detestable teacher Jung In-Hun.

He even caresses the painter’s hair while confirming his full recovery. Let us not forget that the lord only allows Jihwa to come close to him and touch him, where they have sex. As soon as the sex session is finished, there is no intimacy and closeness. The lord keeps people at a distance, until he met Baek Na-Kyum. The latter is an exception. Here again, he touches the painter just like in their first encounter. Seungho shows no disdain which outlines his open-mindedness. He doesn’t view the painter as filthy and unworthy of his touch. This contrasts to Jihwa and In-Hun’s point of view. Here Seungho demonstrates his carefree attitude towards social values and norms. He still doesn’t care about the social status of the painter. Since the lord perceived Baek Na-Kyum’s true talents, he is worthy to be touched. This illustrates that titles mean nothing to the lord. In other words, this scene illustrates the lord’s nonconformist attitude contrasting so much to Jihwa’s and In-Hun’s mentality. However, we shouldn’t overlook that here Seungho is not entirely nice towards the artist. He uses the closeness to remind him of their deal:

The seme is definitely threatening the painter. It is their secret and he wants to make sure that the painter won’t run away. Furthermore, this image unveils Jung In-Hun’s true situation: he is just a hostage. Since Baek Na-Kyum has experienced himself the harsh treatment once, he knows that his words are not empty promises. So their visible intimacy is deceiving: there is a struggle of forces and the noble has the upper hand. However, for Jihwa it looks totally differently.

He only sees the whispering, bringing to light the closeness and the attention given to the painter, whereas he has been left behind and excluded. He has no idea that in reality, Seungho is not so nice towards the painter hence in the chapter 43, he thinks that the artist has in fact seduced the noble. He is just a spectator. Consequently, he feels neglected and threatened by Baek Na-Kyum as the noble is longing for Seungho’s love. He used sex in order to remain close to his sex partner hoping that at some point their sex together will make the powerful lord fall in love with him. Their sex session at the pavilion let him believe that his dream came true, while in reality this didn’t happen. To conclude, this scene revealed that the noble already treated the painter differently and even disregarded societal norms and values but at the same time, we see a moving Seungho who doesn’t stay sitting. For the first time, he becomes active which leaves the impression that the protagonist is coming to life. Besides, his view from the window allowed him to come closer to the servant and reestablish his relationship with the artist that had been almost ruined with the punishment.

From this scene, we jump to the chapter 17.

Here, Seungho is in his chamber thinking about the painter as the night before he masturbated him. He remains there fully awake but his windows are closed hence he has no idea what is happening outside. During this time, Baek Na-Kyum is getting slapped and insulted by a jealous Jihwa. However, he starts hearing the servants talking. Normally, he pays no attention to gossip. Yet, he must have heard Baek Na-Kyum’s name because he turns his head to the closed window.

This scene is quite important because this explicates that not only Seungho’s eyes and mind are revolving around the painter but also his ears. He even pays attention to gossip, another distinction from his normal behavior. He doesn’t usually care for chatter, in particular concerning his own reputation, but when it comes to Baek Na-Kyum, it is different. Here, this paints a certain sense of protectiveness coming from the protagonist. That’s why he leaves the room without calling the servants and joins them in order to question for the cause of this chatter.

Here, his sudden arrival astonishes the domestics, they didn’t expect him to appear like that. The noble usually has servant Kim to attend to his every need because the latter waits for his call after waking up. None of this happened. Here, we see that the lord has no problem to lower himself and asks for the reason of their trouble. This scene confirms one more time that Seungho breaks convention for the painter. His carefree attitude towards normal standards reflects his detachment towards society and their values. He is willing to do anything for the painter as he is well aware that this gossip is related to Baek Na-Kyum, although the content of their conversation is not revealed. For that, the reader has to fill the blanks. Even with a closed widow and no view, the protagonist was still looking out for the painter. This explains why Seungho intervened very quickly. The result of this is that Jihwa is humiliated. This illustrates the escalation of Jihwa’s exclusion. In the chapter 18, the noble is literally excluded from Seungho’s life and becomes an outcast. Imagine the irony of the situation. Actually, the painter should be the outcast due to his social status. He was raised in a brothel and as such, he should be the one getting dragged and not the noble. Here, we witness the reverse. Nobility has no value for the main protagonist. This points out again his disregard for convention and his freethinking. He definitely embodies freedom which reminds us of George Emerson, although their social status is reversed. But at the same time we see the protagonist becoming more proactive. Little by little, he is losing his passivity due to his admiration and attraction to the painter. He is even willing to cut ties with his noble sex partner for a low-born’s sake. The reader senses that Seungho not only protects the uke but has already considered as his possession. No one is allowed to touch him.

As conclusion for the first part, through a detailed examination, I could distinguish Yoon Seungho’s open-mindedness and tolerance. He is definitely a free spirit contrasting so much to Jihwa and In-Hun. He doesn’t follow moral standards so blindly, he shows respect for Baek Na-Kyum because of his talent and his attraction. Furthermore, right from the start the main protagonist has always treated the painter differently, although the latter is a low-born because of his daring but genuine attitude. The artist had even more value than Jihwa. Seungho’s interest and concern for Baek Na-Kyum became more obvious over time. He is even willing to leave his favorite place, observing the courtyard from the window. He is meddling more and more in his courtyard which in my opinion illustrates that Seungho is starting living again. All this coincides with his sexual liberation. Consequently, we can see that despite having often sex, Seungho was not really living, just bypassing time but Baek Na-Kyum changed everything. From his window, Seungho felt the need to leave his room and come closer to him. He would go any length for him, sacrificing a rich friend.

Finally, the analysis of these first three chapters with the room revealed a lot in common with the English novel “Room with a view”, a connection between two people belonging to two different classes: a certain carefree attitude towards the conventions, even Baek Na-Kyum treated the lord differently with his frankness and boldness.

I decided to make a break here because I feel that this would have become another long analysis but I have other duties in real life. I still have three scenes to explain in details, therefore I can post the rest of the analysis on Saturday so that the readers get to read an analysis per day. I am trying to stick to this… we still have many days left, until the new season starts. I decided to write so many analyses in order to bypass time and not to miss too much the manhwa. Feel free to comment and push the button “like” or retweet it, if you enjoyed reading it. For translation, I can recommend deepl.com.

Painter Of The Night: Yoon Seungho’s father: first impressions

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 8 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/

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.

The main lead’s father only appears at the end of the first season. Striking is that the beholder can’t see his face as he is looking at the paper on the table. That way he still remains mysterious and somehow anonymous.

episode 44

However, the father is already mentioned in the first episode through Baek Na-Kyum. Striking is that this character is introduced in a similar way like Jung In-Hun. This indicates that although the father is not present in Seungho’s life, his shadow has left a deep impact on Yoon Seungho. Thus in the first chapter, we hear from the artist that the master Yoon had cut off the topknot of his eldest son. This gesture symbolized the rejection and the abandonment from the father. Furthermore it also ruined the son’s reputation. From that moment on, Yoon Seungho was stigmatized by gossips as a huge sodomite. Since Baek Na-Kyum is even able to remember this story, it shows that the huge scandal hasn’t really died down… it still exists in people’s mind. Consequently, the master Yoon is linked to a scandal which doesn’t leave a good impression for the readers.

Later, we discover that the families close the clan Yoon were all arrested due to a purge and only the family Yoon was able to escape from this extermination. What caught my attention is that the whole family left the mansion leaving the eldest son behind. From this simple information, we can already conclude that the father was running away and dropped all the responsibilities to his eldest son. That’s why I already come to the conclusion that the father is more or less a coward. He literally walked away from everything. In another post, I have already exposed my theory about Seungho’s tragic past hence I won’t repeat myself. Sure, there is no guarantee that my assumptions are correct. Yet even without knowing the whole past, I can discern certain features from the father: his gutlessness and his cruelty.

However, the reader feels his presence again, when the younger brother pays a visit to Seungho. The latter had refused to reply to the letter from his brother hence the young man didn’t want to leave the noble alone therefore he visited his brother during the evening and even forced his way into the mansion.

episode 37

The servants could barely stop the young master to enter the chamber of his eldest brother. The way Seung-Won behaves underlines the urgency. The father and his brother seem to need Seungho. But we don’t know the reason. The brother shows a certain discomfort, when he is finally received, since there is a drop of sweat on his cheek. You can sense that he would like to talk in private but can’t because Baek Na-Kyum is present sitting next to Seungho. He tries to ask his brother to send away the young man but he is interrupted by Seungho. The latter won’t listen to him and he should tell immediately the cause for this late visit.

episode 37

The excuse is the long health issues of the father. Therefore he begs his eldest brother to pay a visit to the father. But if Yoon Seungho went to visit his father, this would signify that the son wants to be reintegrated into the family. He would show his respect to his father. Consequently, the father could announce his wish to return to the real family’s domain where Seungho is living. In the long term, the father could claim that since he is the head of the family, he is the real master of that mansion.

Chapter 37

For our protagonist is not stupid, he can only reject the request. Furthermore, this excuse and demand outline two major points:

– The father is using his son Seung-Won as a tool. He knows that he can not ask his eldest son directly, as he was the one who cut ties with him. The father is quite manipulative. He is definitely not ill which the picture in the chapter 44 confirms. The father tried to reach his son much earlier through letters but the son turned a deaf ear.

– The father wants to maintain his good reputation, he doesn’t want to lower himself and beg Seungho for forgiveness. The father truly shows neither regret nor remorse. Now, we can clearly see where Seungho’s selfishness comes from. The father knows that he needs Seungho’s support so that his younger son can become an official. Maybe he wanted from Seungho that Seung-Won is allowed to live at the mansion in the capital.

episode 37

Seungho doesn’t just refuse the request, he is making fun of his brother and father. The reader feels the resent coming from the protagonist, his reply is full of sarcasm as he is reminding his brother about the past which hasn’t been revealed. Since he mentions that he is already living by the principles father taught him, I came to the conclusion that Seungho was never a homosexual from the start. Because his father abandoned him in the past, this event shouldn’t be changed as the father chose to do such a thing. But this ironic remark reinforces the determination of the seme. He has no inclination to reconnect to his relatives.

As conclusion, he is also abandoning his family. He has no intention to help them. Yet, when the brother leaves the house, he receives a letter from the servant Kim which makes Seung-Won happy. It was as if the late visit was not fruitless. For the first time, Seungho gave a letter for the father.

Only at the end of the first season, we discover the content of the letter. It is the ruined painting, where Seungho is having sex with two partners.

chapter 44

In the first picture above, we could see the hands shaking. This already revealed that the person was not happy at all, quite angry. Sending this picture was a very bold move from the protagonist. He is showing his disrespect to his own father. But at the same time, he is reminding his father that he became a homosexual because of him. He is definitely living the life his father forced upon him. However, if you pay attention, the painting has been ruined by Jihwa therefore this erotic picture is fuzzy. It was as if his life as a hell-raiser and biggest sodomite is about to evaporate. His disappearance coincides with his falling in love with the painter. He is actually no longer living like that. He has become quite monogamous. He hasn’t slept with anyone else after Baek Na-Kyum’s recovery. So the father is left in the dark.

Finally, I would like to point out that the father didn’t even let the brother see the content of the letter. This shows that there is some secrecy kept from Seung-Won. Secondly he didn’t even go outside to say goodbye to Seung-Won, when the latter is about to leave for the capital which shows a certain lack of affection from the father. This actually reinforces my impression that Seung-Won is just a tool for the father and is manipulated by him too. It seems like Seung-Won wants to enter the civil service examination too. Seung-Won and Jung In-Hun will both meet there. I can also imagine that Jung In-Hun will be the one who leaks the info about Baek Na-Kyum to the relatives. I can imagine that the father might try to use the painter in order to force Seungho to give in.

As conclusion, although we didn’t get to see the father’s face and don’t know much about him, he has left a negative impression. Through my analysis, I perceived many flaws. He is selfish, greedy, manipulative, coward, cruel and ruthless. Just like Baek Na-Kyum was living in the shadow of the envious and jealous Jung In-Hun, Yoon Seungho led a similar life, he was burdened by the father’s shadow. Since we could see how the painter could escape from the teacher’s claws, we can assume that Seungho will experience the same. Actually this has already started. Thanks to his love for the painter, Seungho has turned into a different man. But let us not forget that he is suffering from insomnia, his hand was also shaking, (chapter 37) when the brother asked him to visit the father. His suffering has not ended totally, for that he needs to unveil his past to the artist.

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: Min, the introduction of a new villain? (Third version)

~ Bébébisous33 ~ 5 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/

What caught my attention in the chapter 43 is the man with the green robe. His name is Min and just like Seungho, he is a noble. (chapter 43) Here he is described by his friend with a black heart. However, in the first season, he was shown in different chapters (8, 9, 19, 33, 36, 41 and 43), but he was among others and as such, he was never properly introduced. His presence increased until the chapter 43 marking a pivotal moment. In the first version of this essay, I desired to prove that Min would play a bigger part in the second season. And this was proven correct. Nevertheless, I still need to introduce him. But who is this man, what do we know about him in the first season?

But first let’s go back to the chapter 41, where he was shown hunting with Seungho.

Chapter 41: Seungho on the left and Min on the right

This means that he is quite close to Seungho, as the latter spends time with him outside the sex orgies. Striking is that in this chapter, the man with the green robe was tasting the water, when he asked Seungho to confirm the rumor about the incident at the tailor shop. Seungho warned him not to cross the line, as he could share the same fate than Jihwa. During that scene, the author draw two pictures focused on the hands. The man with the green robe grabbed the wrist of our main lead (chapter 41) and even put his other hand on his waist.

Chapter 41

And these pictures are not random as usually. Remember how Seungho reacted, when Jung In-Hun touched his shoulder, he was about to kill the teacher. (Chapter 30) He was so upset, hence imagine how he felt, when he sensed Min’s hand on his wrist and then waist. With such a gesture, Yoon Seungho could only get more irritated. And here, our main lead only pushed his hand and insulted him by comparing the man with a mouse . His gestures towards our seme revealed something in my opinion. The waist is a very intimate place. It gave the impression that Min was interested in Yoon Seungho sexually. It was, as if this man wanted to become Yoon Seungho’s lover as well. The gesture is quite deceiving, which explains why Yoon Seungho thought that lord Min was wooing him. However, the protagonist was misinterpreting the gesture and interest. In truth the noble was lusting after the painter. This explains why Yoon Seungho was not sensing the danger coming from the “friend“. But then why doesn’t Jihwa feel threatened by him? Then remember that he grabbed Seunho’s wrist. A man in Asia will usually grab his girlfriend’s wrist. In other words, the man with the green robe was treating him like a woman (the waist, the wrist). Everything was pointing out that he wanted Seungho to be his uke. Yet, the reality is that he wanted to “screw“ the main lead. He wanted to ruin him out of jealousy. He desired to have the painter. “Screwing“ someone can have two different meanings. But there‘s more to it which I will explain more below

However, like I had really sensed right from the start, Min was in truth a seme, just like the protagonist, hence Jihwa never felt threatened by him. If I look back at chapter 33, his sexual role was implied, as he was smoking and still had his topknot on, just like Seungho, while the ukes in this scene had all their hair down. (Chapter 33) As conclusion, anyone observing the scene in chapter 41 would come to the conclusion, that this man wanted to have Seungho as lover, just like Jihwa, but in a different role. He would like to be the top. As conclusion, the lord Min was a seme who seemed to be interested in Seungho. Thus he considered Baek Na-Kyum and the red-haired master as rivals, whom he needed to eliminate. And that‘s how Yoon Seungho perceived his gesture and words in the woods. This explicates why he compared him to Lee Jihwa. In the main lead’s mind, Black Heart was paying attention to his every moves and was always updated about his interactions with the painter out of jealousy. The reality is that Min was terribly envious of the main lead. His real center of interest was in truth Baek Na-Kyum. Thus he kept looking at him during their first meeting. (Chapter 8) (chapter 9)

However, the chapter 43 revealed more information about the master Min and his personality.

Here Min is manipulating Jihwa with his words.

The readers could realize his dangerosity here. Why? First, it was revealed that this seme knew all along about Jihwa’s feelings for Seungho, and he played with them. He enjoyed toying the red-haired aristocrat. Black Heart misled the childhood friend so that the latter would run to Seungho’s mansion, especially if you recall that during the same night, Yoon Seung-Won visited his brother. This explains why he lied in the inn. The noble with the mole knew about the deception, as he had a drop of sweat on his face. (Chapter 36) Naturally, here Kim had played a huge role in this deception too, as he allowed to leak information to the red-haired master’s servant. (Chapter 41) Yet, Min knew that Jihwa wouldn’t be able to resist and run to the lord’s mansion. He had already calculated that the childhood friend would discover the truth. He would be hurt and realize his mistake. He even ridiculed Jihwa by comparing him to a dog. (chapter 43) Here, he reminded me of Seungho with his sarcasm and his ironical comments from chapter 6. (chapter 6) He enjoys making fun of Jihwa and is as cunning as Seungho, though in reality the main lead‘s true personality is totally different. (Chapter 43)

Consequently, I couldn’t help myself associating Min to a snake… he was like the devil, inciting the stupid Jihwa to commit a murder. I would even say that he was employing the red-haired noble as his hunting dog. In my first version, I had suspected the man before to be jealous, as he was the one who had even asked Seungho to bring the painter to one of their sex parties. (Chapter 33) It was, as if he wanted to ensure that the artist meant nothing to the protagonist. As you can see, the vicious man gave the impression that he was jealous of the painter. His reproach towards the main lead sounded similar to the childhood friend’s. (Chapter 18) (chapter 41) It was, as if he wanted to play with Jihwa and get rid of Baek Na-Kyum at the same time. The latter is viewed as a source of danger, for Min keeps thinking about him. The noble considered the artist as a witch who put a spell on him, Here, he was projecting his own thoughts. (Chapter 43) It looked like both ukes represented a threat. He was definitely using Jihwa so that if anything would go wrong, only the red-haired aristocrat would be blamed. The man with the black heart tried to diminish the consequences of the murder. He said that the murder should look like an accident, hence this attempted murder can never happen at the mansion. Back then, I had envisioned that they would wait, until Baek Na-Kyum left the mansion, and this expectation was proven correct.

Now it becomes clear why the man with the black heart is doing such a thing. Although Min claims that he wants to be entertained, when he lied to Jihwa in the past, he had already prepared to set the trap for Jihwa. He knew where to hire the killer. (Chapter 43) He had already anticipated Jihwa’s reaction. While Min declared that it was funny, when Jihwa came crying, he added that he was disappointed that he only saw just tears. He wanted him to “come with his tail between his legs”. (chapter 43) And this outlines his cruelty. It was, as if he was “castrated”, had lost his masculinity and virility. As you can see, the guy was making fun of Jihwa and even insulting him. But the latter didn’t pay attention to these words, too wounded by the scene he had witnessed in the study of his friend. By acting like that, he gave the impression that he didn’t care. In truth, it exposed the antagonist’s naivety. He even didn’t see any danger coming from the man with the black heart.

But striking is that after Jihwa’s arrival, he proposed right away to the noble to have Baek Na-Kyum killed. He was indeed acting like a jealous man. (Chapter 43) Now, Yoon Seungho was neglecting him. But in order to convince the upset red-haired noble, Min added more fuel to the fire with his comments:
– His childhood friend had been bewitched
– At some point Baek Na-Kyum would become Seungho’s mistress
He was implying that the red-haired aristocrat was on the verge of losing his love. All this pointed out that the guy was manipulating Jihwa to ensure that the latter would decide to kill the lowborn. That’s the reason why we saw Jihwa’s imagination of that night. The Joker‘s words distorted the memory from the red-haired master. (Chapter 43) The words the man with the green robe said had a huge influence on him. Not only his mind is black, but also his heart which outshines this man’s evilness and dangerousness. Let us not forget that he is a seme… but since he has been forced to be the bottom because of Yoon Seungho, all his actions can be judged in a different light. People could see him as someone who has been longing to become the main lead‘s lover. Thus he said this in season 2: (chapter 52) and in season 3 (chapter 92) But this was just a deception, his real target was the painter. However, after season 3, I realized that in truth, Black Heart had only been a puppet himself, though Min seemed to be like a personification of the devil… his lies, his words in order to incite Jihwa to commit a crime, his words ridiculising Jihwa and even Seungho.

Some questioned this perception in the beginning, for when Min appeared in chapter 8, he was an uke, he couldn’t be a top.

chapter 8

But the readers were overlooking that the main lead got raped and he even used to be a bottom. So roles can be switched. It becomes obvious, when you read this scene. (Chapter 16) Here, the main lead desired to discover the painter’s sexual preferences. So when Min stroke the main lead’s waist, he never realized the true signification of his action. (Chapter 41) The main lead could only assume that Min was interested in him, he wished to become his only partner. Deep down, he desired to become the top, but since Yoon Seungho was not willing to change his position, Black Heart was willing to remain a uke. Note that Min invited the main lead in chapter 19 to the kisaeng house, and offered him wine, right after the main lead had cut ties with his childhood friend. (Chapter 19) It was, as if he was wooing him, hoping to take over Lee Jihwa’s place. Then in chapter 33, Min is the one asking for Baek Na-Kyum.

chapter 33: look, he is dressed and acting like Seungho, which gives me the impression that he is a top.

Striking are his words: “We would have all welcome him”… In the first version of this essay, I had demonstrated, that these words were the proof that Min was in fact a seme, but he was only a uke because of Yoon Seungho. The second season proved me right. He wanted Seungho to bring over Baek Na-Kyum so that they could taste him… I doubt that they would have allowed the painter to be a top. especially when sex sessions are viewed as battles. However, every action from Min were in fact ambiguous. He gave the impression that he was happy to be favored by Yoon Seungho (chapter 33), he would seek his company (chapter 51) (chapter 52) and he was jealous of the painter, for the protagonist was only paying attention to him.
As you can see, due to his words and actions, Min created the illusion that he wished to taste Yoon Seungho, especially when he acts like a hunter. Imagine how his reputation would change if Min was able to tame Seungho and have him become an uke. Min is a player and hunter because of his behavior and words (hunting scene, his offer, his manipulation with lies etc)… Thus, you comprehend why in my first version, I had the impression that his real target was not the painter, but Seungho. It was caused by the ambiguity of his actions. Striking is that in the shaman’s house, he never tried to taste the painter at all. He even allowed the other nobles to taste the painter first. (Chapter 101) Note that he even pushed Lee Jihwa to become a top. (Chapter 100) It was, as if Min was not interested in the painter at all. His true goal was to get rid of Lee Jihwa and Baek Na-Kyum, his rivals. But we know the truth… Black Heart wished to be noticed by Baek Na-Kyum, thus he said this to him in the shaman’s house: (chapter 99) But if he wanted to become his lover as uke, he would be not different from Jihwa. However, this man is definitely not seeking for Seungho’s love. His actions and words don’t fit the profile of an uke, of a person longing for Seungho’s love, rather he fits the profile of a hunter and player.

After season 3, I came to realize the cause for this contradicting attitude. In my eyes, Black Heart was already acting on the king’s behalf. The mysterious lord Song wished to keep the famous sodomite as his lover/wife, and the painter represented a hindrance. Using Lee Jihwa was the perfect tool to achieve his goal. He would get rid of two rivals at the same time. Yoon Seungho would blame his childhood friend for the painter‘s death, once alone again, the king could approach Yoon Seungho. Thus the latter was treated as a prey by Min in each season. But while he used the artist as an excuse to hunt his prey, the hell-raiser, he couldn‘t admit that he wanted to have the painter for himself. Baek Na-Kyum was a commoner. What appeared as a tool, became slowly a goal. (Chapter 56) But Min was still in denial, hence he justified his requests as an urge, while he was also longing for the painter’s affection.

Due to his words and the color of his robe, master Min reminded me of the snake in the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the one who brought misery to Adam and Eva, here in this case this seme is leading Jihwa to his own demise. Hence I came to develop this theory that Min would become the villain of the second season. My interpretation was just based on my own knowledge and European background. Striking is that this man persuaded Jihwa that nothing would happen to him, Baek Na-Kyum was a commoner and if this looked like an accident, then he wouldn’t get caught. (Chapter 43) And remember that Jihwa is a noble… and in the bible, God got aware of Adam’s original sin, hence the latter was banished from paradise. Thus I had been expecting that Lee Jihwa would lose his title as noble, as his crime would be discovered. And this prediction became true which the author revealed in the creator‘s note.

Finally, I would like to point out that Seungho compared Min to a mouse indicating that Seungho didn’t consider him as a threat, he even saw Min as harmless. (chapter 41) A mouse is small and has no real claws. This shows that Yoon Seungho was underestimating him, but also was misinterpreting Black Heart’s action. He was acting like a jealous concubine, thus he compared him to Lee Jihwa. Here, we had the impression that the protagonist was well prepared. He thought, he knew why Min asked him to bring the painter for their sex party and why the lord Min asked about the veracity of the rumor about the incident at the tailor shop. But no… he didn‘t detect the longing and envy from Black Heart towards the painter. I compared him to a snake due to his cunning behavior and his cynical and seductive words… But the reality was that he was a fool himself, for he had no idea about Yoon Seungho‘s past. The abduction did occur and this twice, but note that Min had to become involved himself in order to achieve his goal. The irony is that when Min said this to Yoon Seungho (chapter 102), he was again giving the impression that he had acted like a jealous man who was longing for Yoon Seungho‘s attention. He had acted like a vicious concubine, but in Joseon, „jealous concubine or queen“ would get sentenced to death, like the Queen Yun and the concubine Jang Ok-Jun. (chapter 101) No one in his right mind would torment a loved one like that. Yoon Seungho was not recognizing what jealousy and envy are and what these emotions could trigger people to do! Black Heart would torment Baek Na-Kyum, for the latter was rejecting him. So imagine the king‘s reaction, when he discovers that Min got killed. (Chapter 102) First, he lost his loyal helping hand, secondly he got misled and even betrayed by Lee Jihwa. In other words, the opposite had happened. Instead of obtaining Yoon Seungho, the king lost his “wife“ who decided to kill himself. To conclude, the villain from season 2 and 3 was in reality a pawn, the shadow of the true villain, lord Song. This explicates why Min‘s behavior was particularly ambiguous in season 1… All his actions and words could be perceived as a jealous man who desired to become Yoon Seungho‘s top!! The king would have never approved such a thing! And this could be the other reason why he will vent his anger on the Lees.

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