Yonsei News

Power of Stories that Begin with Asking 'Why?'

Asking 'how and what to tell' is the starting point for every creation. Dr. Frost, a webtoon created by a Yonsei alumnus Jongbeom Lee, is a story of a psychology professor who strives to solve the illness of different minds that he encounters in his daily life. A solid yet exciting story unfolds by showing various cases along with professional information on psychology. Jongbeom Lee's work encourages the reader to continuously question. By showing where humans' behavior and minds fundamentally originate from through showing a range of different characters, his work urges the reader to look inside their minds. Empathy to what this story is and how it is told ultimately leads to the question of 'why' which gives an answer to the readers' question. This power is what penetrates the works of Lee and is the greatest strength that Lee has as a storyteller.

An Adventure to Become a Cartoonist

Jongbeom Lee's dream of becoming a cartoonist began at the age of eight. Having decided to become a cartoonist after being recognized by his friends for recreating a scene from the famous cartoon Dragon Ball, he wanted to find a milestone in becoming a cartoonist throughout his middle and high school years. He even visited a cartoonist in his neighborhood and asked how to become one. "A cartoonist should study a lot, not just draw" was the lesson that motivated him to study vigorously. Encouraged by the long-admired dream since he was eight, Lee maintained a high rank throughout high school while simultaneously attending a cartoon club with more passion than anyone else. Yet, his confidence in becoming a cartoon artist was challenged.

"I lacked confidence. In my childhood when I barely knew anything, I was full of confidence. Yet, as I looked into the career more seriously, I got nervous quite frankly. The reason that I chose to study in the division of humanities was also in case that I would not become a cartoonist. It is an area of study that would help me with becoming an artist, and even if I don't become one, I thought it would open me with other options. At Yonsei University, the Department of Psychology is in the College of Liberal Arts, not in the College of Social Sciences, and this helped me with making a decision too."

With the willingness to draw comics freely, he invested in studying throughout middle and high schools. Yet, after entering university which enabled him to concentrate on cartoons, he rather distanced himself from cartoons throughout his college life.

"One of my favorite cartoons is called Hip Hop. It is a comics about dancing, drawn by one of the best dancers in Korea. It was so interesting because the author depicted what he knew the best of. It inspired me to wanting to draw a cartoon about music, so I started to learn instruments. In fact, I heard that I have talents in music and I also felt that way about myself. I entered the jazz music club at Yonsei called 'So What,' played drums and even became a music director. I had to worry a lot when I was drawing cartoons, feeling that it was complicated like learning some foreign language, but with playing instruments, I felt natural at the things that most people found very difficult. Both cartoon and music are means of expression; yet cartoons were frustrating for me while music was cool and enjoyable."

Experiencing the achievements and excitement that his talent in music brought, he became deeply immersed in music and did not draw any cartoon for seven years until graduation. However, he did not completely abandon cartoons. He only put off his dream for a while. Before graduating in 2008, he returned to preparing for a long journey of becoming a webtoon artist.

Finding Answers in the Midst of Most Inefficient Times

Lee made his debut in 2009 with a work based on financial investments called Queen of Investment. It took him almost two years from preparation to debut. It was a difficult period of life as he had to take sole responsibility for himself financially and could not rely on his status as at student anymore. While working as a drummer for band sessions and an English instructor at academies, he did not let go of his dream this time. It was especially challenging since the webtoon industry was just beginning in South Korea so there was no mentor to consult with. Yet, instead of thinking that he had to overcome something, he accepted the reality as it was.

"I do not have any memory of overcoming difficulties in those days. I failed to win any contest one after another and even signed wrong contracts. I kept failing. But I think a quick failure served me right; without any trial or error, I would not have had any experiences. Those who seek efficiency usually find the fastest way, and the least likely way to fail. Although they can develop functionally by continuing to weigh cons and pros, speaking from my experiences I believe that finding original ideas, and planning and creating contents become more challenging when deviating from failures. If you merely seek for efficiency, you will miss out on many contents ideas. Content creators at various platforms, like YouTube or Clubhouse, have grown up based on those countless inefficient experiences. When they deliver their know-hows, you would not find any information on how they approached it efficiently."

The most "inefficient" times of his life from graduation to debut were slow but dense. It was the time when he questioned and explored what he could do best in. His debut work Queen of Investment is a webtoon based on financial managements and it made most use of delivering information on finance and investment. Having lacked art techniques compared to those who studied art as their major, he found his speciality from creating webtoons based on real investigation and development of professional materials that were not available in the early days of webtoons. Lee tried to understand himself, and he wrote what he was skilled at.

"I was good at reading texts, getting information and writing stories based on it, so I thought I would be able to compete with what I could do better at. Looking at the best-selling books at bookstores and analyzing people’s interests, what was lacking in webtoon industry was the topic of 'money.' I investigated actual investors and then just drew. I sent my work to various media including webtoon platforms and newspapers for half an year. When I completed about ten episodes, I finally got a call and made a debut."

If You’re Curious, You’ll See. If You Keep Looking, You’ll Understand

Lee began to be recognized as a popular comic artist since 2011 with the publication of his signature work Dr. Frost on Naver Webtoon. It is the first webtoon based on psychology in its history. In this work, Professor Frost, a psychologist, solves the problems of patients with mental illness with psychological mechanisms and methodologies. Based on professional psychological information and solid stories, it has been attracting popularity for ten years. Lee's major in psychology naturally led to the webtoon project. In particular, the depth of psychological theory, methodology and professionalism in the webtoon was said to have been greatly helped by professors back in college.

"Having studied psychology was very helpful from time to time. In particular, the first page of Understanding Human Behavior, the textbook from the “Introduction to Psychology” class in college, shows the table of contents that broadly lists all fields of psychology. Teaching a major is a process of nurturing cultured people and in my opinion, cultured people should have a map of their own majors in their minds even if such lacks depth. Understanding Human Behavior was that map for me. I was able to learn who to meet for consultations and what papers to look for just by looking at that book. Though studying psychology at college was interesting, Professors Eun Kook Suh (personality psychology), Min-Shik Kim (psychology methodology) and Hyun Joo Song (development psychology), who gave me consultations for the seasons 1 and 2, were the biggest help for me. Thanks to them, I was able to embed professional information realistically and in depth."

Dr. Frost, a genius psychologist, solves the problem of each patient with a mental illness but he himself does not feel emotions. It is an ironic setting; but Lee says, "I wanted to draw about self-understanding." Dr. Frost repeatedly says "I can't related to you. However, I can solve our problems." Yet, he matures from solving patients' problems and facing 'his own shadow' whereby he starts to understand himself and learns emotions. What enables this long journey is the continuous thirst for questions. Lee quotes the main character's lines from his own work, "Psychology begins with a question. If you don't have anything you want to ask, you can never understand." This message is actually the driving force of Jongbeom Lee himself as a creator and also the source of inspiration for stories.

"I have a lot of interests in the world and I also like people. If you like something, you will continuously observe it. If you keep observing, you will notice things that were invisible before and learn things that others don't. You will shortly begin to understand. It might be that I majored in psychology, but in every encounter, I always observe my companions and ponder upon 'Why does that person behave in a particular way?' I especially pay attention to those who are hiding their fears under the disguise of strong appearance. This fear is an important point that touches people's feelings and it can be seen all over the world these days. So in Dr. Frost, what is beneath the characters and settings is the feeling of fear. Observing various conflicts of interests from my surroundings my interests often change, and based on such I enjoy creating stories. I look for them whenever I'm curious. Being a fanatic is the most enjoyable thing for me."

Dr. Frost has been in the spotlight since its first publication and has been rewarded for its popularity and quality, winning the 2011 Online Cartoon Awards, the 2012 Korea Content Awards and the Jury Awards.

The One and Only Path to be Good at Cartoons

Since completing the seasons 1 and 2, Jongbeom Lee has been teaching "Understanding Storytelling" at the School of Manhwa Contents at Chungkang College of Cultural Industries. Also, opening a YouTube channel called "Lee Jongbeom's Webtoon School," he has been serving the role of a mentor for aspiring webtoon artists. Though life as a creator and that as an educator seem to vary, they have something in common. Above all, he, who was inexperienced in comics, is now accustomed to teaching as he grows to be a good comic artist. He teaches students who dream of becoming webtoon artists basic knowledge and skills of webtoons including storytelling methods based on his experiences, but at the same time, he encourages more fundamental questions such as attitude and direction as future cartoonists.

"I believe in the field of art, people confide too much into the common belief that 'the more you draw, the better you get.' Consequentially it is true, but it is difficult for many people to jump into doing something that they cannot accept. I try to guide them in my own way. People often say that those freelancers in the art industry should be adventurous and talented; yet I try to encourage those who are afraid of trying new things jump into an adventurous life."

Therefore, Lee wants to ask a reverse question to countless students who ask what experiences they need to gain to become comic artists.

"In fact, each person requires a difference experience. If you like animals, then draw comics about them. There is no definite answer. I always ask students 'what they want to do' and as I hear from them, I reply with 'then do it.' Actually, there is only one experience that can improve creating cartoons. It is the experience of actually drawing cartoons. Instead of practicing, just go ahead and start to draw them right now."

Also, he emphasizes on the need to think about ‘the direction of one's life and questions about oneself’ to juniors who have a lot of concerns about their career paths.

"If you have any concerns, trust the person who asks you questions rather than the one who merely gives advice. Asking a question means that they are interested. Do not listen to those who claim what worked for them would apply to you too. Asking yourself what makes you the most nervous leads to not only understanding yourself but also deciding your career path."

Asking Why You Live as a Writer, Rather than How You Live as One

Since returning to the third and fourth seasons of Dr. Frost from 2019, Jongbeom Lee has been working arduously day-to-day to meet the deadlines. Sometimes the work feels repetitive involving a sense of responsibility rather than a feeling of accomplishment. It entails a high level of labor. There is also an occupational disease called 'back and neck disc.' Despite the fact, he is preparing to meet the next week's deadline, looking into a monitor on his desk. The season 4 of Dr. Frost will end soon and his 10-year-long journey will also come to an end, but he plans to continuously search for new adventures.

"I enjoy doing things that I have not done before. I also did activities such as hosting on radio as a DJ and appearing on TV shows just because they were fun, setting aside financial benefits. Once Dr. Frost is completed, I will learn to code and make a game based on a good story. I am also interested in web novels, which are the hot potato of the content industry nowadays. I would also continue playing music as my hobby. Both are related to creating stories. For my next webtoon, I am quite interested in depicting children who are leaving orphanages and searching for independence."

Lee, who is always curious about the world, keeps asking questions and searching for answers. His curiosity motivates him to naturally think of new stories. It turns into an exciting story that the readers see on the internet.

Starting as a mere dream, his life as a comic artist sometimes entailed failures, burdens and exhaustions. But now, webtoons are a daily life in this world as well as one of the main languages of communication. In this process, he constantly seeks for 'why he lives as a writer' rather than 'how to live one.' As he has a solid answer to this question, he is asking questions again to the world.