BL Review: Painter Of The Night

This manhwa can be summed up by one thing and one thing only: sex. A plot that hinges on sex and is driven by a guy who’s upset that he *can’t* have sex with the main douchbag of the manhwa.

Na-Kyum is an infamous painter, known for his detailed paintings of... sodomy. Seungho, a noble who enjoys orgies more than anyone should, decides he wants Na-Kyum to draw him fucking, so he tracks him down, locks him up in his estate, and forces him to draw gay sex for him. EPIC, RIGHT?!

This manhwa lacks an interesting story, which is tragic because there are many ways this story could have gone considering the time period. However, it ends up being another cliche romanticized rape fantasy occasionally interrupted by a slowly paced and predictable story.

You could argue that because this manhwa is set in the Joseon dynasty, the rape can be excused. First of all, shut the fuck up if you think anything can “excuse” rape, and secondly, the time period merely explains why it’s so prevalent, it doesn’t excuse the actual rape. I doubt rape victims in the Joseon Dynasty just brushed it off and went back to daily life cause, “oh well, it’s normal!”

Na-Kyums backstory and the time period is not reason enough for Na-Kyum to just magically go from hating Seungho and trying to run away to being highly submissive to him and falling for the man who’d beaten and raped him several times. This story’s time period is merely for aesthetics, the author doesn’t bother to use it to stir up an interesting story and that’s probably the most frustrating thing.

This stories main “antagonist,” the aforementioned “guy who’s upset he can’t have sex with the main douchbag” is thrown aside for the majority of this manhwa thus far. When he finally *does* show up to do something substantial, it’s to hire a hit man to kill his sex rival but he pussys out at the last minute and decides to pay a prostitute instead but, plot twist, this other noble dude wants to fuck Na-Kyum so bad he plans to help Noble 1 get his fuck buddy back. I’m laughing so hard while writing this.

The characters in this manhwa are just... so... fucking stupid. They’re all adults, right? Why are they dumb? And why is Na-Kyum this painfully idiotic, stupidly submissive and naive person? He’d just as easily go running into the arms of the man that raped and beat him as he would try and run away from the estate. Even after being raped several times due to a dumb misunderstanding on Seunghos part, he tells his sister that he’s in love with Seungho. What the fuck is there to love about this deadpan bitch who did nothing but rummage through your asshole the entire manhwa?

A lot of people like to say that these characters had some sort of development. No they didn’t? Seungho realizing he’s in love with the boy he’s tormented the entire manhwa and, out of no where, deciding to stop being a bitch and care for him is not development. There’s no process leading up to him realizing these feelings and I doubt there will be any process leading up to him deciding to stop being an asshole. He doesn’t deserve a happy ending and, realistically, he doesn’t deserve nor would he have ever gotten Na-Kyums love and affection.

I hereby deem this manhwa a piece of shit.