Final Thoughts on Painter of the Night by Byeonduck

I read Painter of the Night, the Korean manhwa that follows an unfortunate painter who falls in love with his sex-crazed captor.

I penned my first thoughts on the series in May of 2023 after reading about half of it. I know one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I couldn’t help but be drawn to Byeonduck’s erotic tale due to the intricate artwork. I finally finished the manhwa early this year. Ever since, I’ve procrastinated on writing about Painter of the Night because it was utterly exhausting for me to read it. So, writing about it was a challenge.

But don’t get me wrong, Painter of the Night is okay. Again, the art is amazing and the stakes in the story are high. But it’s not a story that I’d like to revisit anytime soon… or ever. I’m definitely not the intended reader for it for a number of reasons.

About the Manhwa

Painter of the Night (2019)

Author: Byeonduck
Genre(s): Adult, Boys Love, Drama, Erotica, Historical, LGBT+, Romance
Demographic: Adult
Theme(s): sadism; sex and sexuality; society; trauma; wealth and poverty
Status: Completed
Trigger(s): coercion, imprisonment, rape

Synopsis

Yoon Seungho is a nobleman with interesting tastes. After obsessively searching for Na-kyum, a painter who once created homoerotic images, Seungho keeps Na-kyum prisoner to force him to paint explicit images again. Na-kyum’s stubbornness is not enough to keep Seungho’s lust at bay. And so, an unlikely bond forms between the young lord and the painter.

From First Impressions: Painter of the Night, a manhwa by Byeonduck

Review

⭐⭐ | 2 out of 5 stars

There are many things that I didn’t like about the series that completely outweigh the better sides of the story. I’ll talk about the bad points first before getting into what I did like about the manhwa.

The Bad

On the surface, Painter of the Night, is a period piece that follows two gay lovers who challenge the social norms of their time. However, their relationship comes at a hefty cost: the main character, Na-kyum, is kidnapped and is alienated from society by the obsessive Yoon Seungho, the son of a lord. Na-kyum is subjected to abuse, particularly sexual abuse, at his lord’s hands. There’s so much rape in the story and its often used as a plot device to make Na-kyum’s situation more terrible and the antagonists more deplorable.

In the beginning of the story, Seungho constantly feeds into his sexual desires by harassing Na-kyum. The other men that Seungho sleeps with are similar; they’re envious and violent when their love for Seungho goes unappreciated.

Yoon Seungho, the supposed love of Na-kyum’s life, is guilty of raping Na-kyum. He goes out of his way to make him uncomfortable with his sex life when he forces him to paint erotic pictures of his escapades. This is another one of those stories where LGBT+ characters are presented as hyper-sexual, aggressive, and predatory.

The male characters’ aggression towards the protagonist when their sexual needs aren’t met even paint men in a bad light. It’s as if men are the aggressors and that they should reach for their desires with violence at the expense of effeminate men.

The author glances over Seungho’s mistreatment of Na-kyum once it was decided that Na-kyum was in love with his abuser. (I talk about this in my first post about the series.) There is a moment when Na-kyum’s sister forces him to reflect on his relationship with Seungho by insisting that he has Stockholm Syndrome and that his affection was a survival tactic. However, this notion is also brushed off. I first took the inclusion of Na-kyum’s reflection as the author’s way of telling the readers that the relationship between the main characters shouldn’t be romanticized; however, the pair is suggested to end up together in the finale.

Surprisingly, the story implies that a person’s past traumas can or should justify their behavior. Seungho’s trauma isn’t perfectly clear, though the author suggests that he was abused (and likely sexually abused) at the request of his resentful father, who had been aware of Seungho’s sexuality and exploits. Seungho blames his father for his depravities and even assaults Na-kyum in front of him to prove just how sickened he had become due to his father’s abuse.

In Painter of the Night, sex is a weapon and sexuality is a weapon. 

Romances and survival subplots aside, the author tries to tap into political drama, but falls short. The political side of the story is jumpy as its added in the beginning, seemingly forgotten about in the middle, and crammed back in towards the end.

The Good

I’ve said this multiple times, but the art of the series is aesthetically pleasing. It is very detailed, though I’m not talking about the explicit scenes of the story…

Painter of the Night is has an interesting premise: a painter is forced to paint erotic scenes during a lord’s flings with other men of similar social standing. Na-kyum must abide by Seungho’s sadism to make sure that his former teacher, In-hun, could become a scholar. Along the way, Na-kyum falls in love with Seungho, and Seungho falls in love with Na-kyum.

Despite the series’ faults, the author includes intricate themes about sex, power, control, poverty, and wealth. The most prominent themes are power and wealth because of the lords’ sleazy plans for Na-kyum. The wealthy antagonists who plot to destroy Na-kyum’s livelihood use their wealth and power to do so. Seungho uses his status to get what he wants, to get Na-kyum, and to manipulate the masses. People fear him for what he represents and not for who he is. Seungho is a representation of social power.

The power imbalances in the manhwa are realistic; those with wealth and political influence rule while the commoners abide by them. Na-kyum has very little options when it comes to Seungho. Na-kyum is a pawn, someone who could be killed by Seungho. And there wouldn’t be much justice served on Na-kyum’s behalf if he were killed. After all, he was subjected to abuse by the elite and hardly anyone stood by his side.

Besides the themes of wealth and power, the manhwa also explores trauma. Na-kyum’s trauma isn’t completely glossed over—at least, not when it concerns what other sex-crazed characters subjected him to. His trauma appears in different forms, such as lack of appetite and depressive episodes. Even Seungho has his bout of trauma to overcome as his overprotective nature is emphasized by his paranoia and anxiety of losing Na-kyum.

Conclusion

I think that Painter of the Night had the potential of being a great erotic LGBT+ drama. For me, the series falls short of promises of romance when Seungho, the main love interest, is abusive. It seems as though many supposed Boys Love (BL) romance stories often depict toxic relationships. The author pushes their interest in each other so that the readers could root for their success… But it’s hard to ignore the sexual abuse. Na-kyum is tortured and emotionally neglected for a long time until he finally falls in love with his abuser. And as a reader, I’m just supposed to accept that their relationship is built on love and that they deserve to be with each other? Hell no!

Na-kyum deserved better.