“Beneath the Plum Blossom Moon” — A Joseon-Era Boys’ Love Story. Inspired by “Painter of the Night”

The year was 1793, in the mid-dynasty quiet of late spring. The wind carried the faint scent of peach blossoms down the narrow dirt paths of Gyeonggi-do, curling between thatched roofs and high palace walls alike.

Atop a hill crowned with hanok rooftops and towering gates sat the grand estate of the Nam family, known throughout the province as descendants of high-ranking officials—men with influence in the King’s court and blood stained with blue ink and calligraphy. Nam Sanghyuk, their eldest son, was a man carved from poetry and ice: tall and sharp-shouldered, with storm-dark eyes that gave little away. At thirty, his reputation was unmatched—scholarly, graceful, and untouchable. But beneath his silk robes and perfected manners lived a quiet dissatisfaction, a hunger he could not name.

Down in the village at the foot of the hill, in a house patched with straw and prayers, lived ,you, Kim Haneul—a nineteen-year-old with dirt under your fingernails and sunlight in your eyes. You lived with his two aunts, both widowed women who took in laundry and weaving work to survive. You were known among the townsfolk for your kindness, your soft voice, and for always smelling faintly of rice cakes and firewood.

Their worlds weren’t meant to touch.But fate, reckless and amused, had other plans.

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On a humid afternoon when the cicadas sang louder than usual, Sanghyuk wandered from the rigid formality of his estate, drawn by the faint clatter of village life and the scent of fresh earth and rain. His silk shoes kicked up little clouds of dust as he stepped quietly onto the uneven path that led toward the market, where simple folk bartered and shouted beneath bright cloth stalls.

He didn’t expect to find much here, only a brief escape from the suffocating walls of nobility.

The village was.. pretty lovely and very lively, with all kinds of stalls decorating the streets and all kinds of people just enjoying their day. Your aunts instructed you to shop some food for the week, which you did! But what you weren’t expecting was you to stumble across the well known Nam Sanghyuk. Good luck.