<Common and Widespread> Author pobae Interview
Meet the Trending Author
vol. 234
[Common and Widespread]
Author pobae | RIDI
'Despite all this,
I want to
love again...'
-From Common and Widespread
Among common and widespread lives and people, my one and only-
The interview with Author pobae of <Common and Widespread>,
starts right now!
[INTRO]
Q. Author pobae! Thank you for agreeing to this interview! Before we begin, could you briefly introduce yourself?
A. Hello, I am pobae, who has recently fallen in love with madeleines along with drawing and storytelling. Thank you for the interview request. I look forward to it.
β³ The precious and invaluable pobae π
[About pobae]
Q. When this interview is published, a month of 2025 will have already passed! Did you have any New Year's resolutions?
A. A resolution... Do you know the resolution that Sumi Jo wrote on her first day arriving in Rome when she was young?
March 28, 1983: Never show loneliness, and always remain proud and confident.
Overcome any hardship with resilience, and never become weak or cry. That's what she wrote.
I was deeply moved when I read that, and it happened to be around the time I was also trembling with fear as I prepared for a new beginning.
Unfortunately, I'm someone who lacks the confidence to always be proud, let alone confident, and whenever hardship strikes, I always cry and become weak...
So, I rewrote it into my own resolution.
March 4, 2024: Never show myself giving up, and always be gentle and kind. No matter what hardship strikes, make sure to rise again.
Is it too grandiose? Hahaha. It's a resolution I really love, so I plan to carry it into this year as well.
Q. How did you decide on the pen name 'pobae'?
A. I get this question quite often. Back in my school days, when I was looking around trying to create an email address,
I mindlessly named it after the title of the math chapter I was studying.
It was 'Inclusion and Exclusion' (Poham-gwa Baeje -> Pobae). I didn't know I would be using it for this long. I'm someone with a real lack of naming sense.
Q. I heard the reason you drew <Common and Widespread> was because you wanted to read a GL with this kind of material and vibe, but since there wasn't any, you drew it yourself... Are you a genius?
A. You can just think of me as a thirsty tenant farmer.
I was practically singing about wanting to see an office romance, and I ended up creating one myself.
I'm still sometimes bewildered as to how things got this far.
I would like to express my gratitude to Siu Ahn, who readily pushed my back to try drawing it.
β³ Siu Ahn! Thank you as well. (Bow)
Q. Do you remember what the very first Yuri (GL) work you saw was? Was there a specific moment that made you like the GL genre after that?
A. The very first work I ever experienced in my life was a novel. It was 'The Devil Takes a Debt' by Bomssal, a work that holds great meaning for me.
As for webtoons, the first one I read was 'Fluttering Feelings' by Ssamba. Both are works that I have loved and cherished for a long time.
I think I completely fell for the genre while getting butterflies from the delicate emotional exchanges and solidarity between the women in these stories.
Q. I actually experienced the GL genre for the first time through <Common and Widespread>. It completely shattered all my prejudices and drew me in, and I was continually surprised while reading it.
It's so good that I can recommend it without hesitation as a starter work for the GL genre. What do you think is the charm of GL?
A. This is such a fun and delightful question. I'm actually curious about what kind of prejudices you might have had.
One of my dark desires while serializing was actually, Β 'Let's make even those who are reading a GL work for the first time fall for it!'
I think the genre's charm is so boundless that it can't be summed up in a single word, but
among them, I particularly love the sharing of emotions and the sense of everyday life that comes from love between women. It makes your heart flutter... Isn't it just so wonderful?!
β³ Seeping in, exploding, and becoming one...
Q. Could you tell us about any comics you loved or works you still enjoy watching?
A. For webtoons, 'Cheese in the Trap' by Soonkki, and for manga, 'Ikoku Nikki (Diary of a Different Country)' by Tomoko Yamashita,
and 'Is It Okay if We Date?' by Tamifull are some works I like.
For movies, 'Interstellar', Studio Ghibli's works, and for books, 'A Man Called Ove' and 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich'.
I make sure to periodically re-watch and re-read these works.
Q. These days, institutions that train webtoon authors have diversified, and there are many curriculums available.
If you ever had the opportunity to teach a class, what kind of content would you like to cover?
A. A class!! That's something I've never even imagined. Thinking about it now, I'd like to share how to observe one's surroundings.
I recently realized through conversations with my friends that taking a long time to observe something isn't all that common.
If you develop this habit as an author, I think it would be useful in so many different areas.
Do you know the phrase, 'The world changes into high resolution'? It's a saying I really love.
If you look closely, there are so many more interesting things around us than you'd think!!
Q. Are there any media you often watch or music you play while working?
A. I always listen to something while working.
When I work on the storyboard, I select a song that matches the mood of the story and listen to it to match the rhythm,
and when I start drawing, I listen to podcasts or the radio. I always seem to seek out the sound of people.
β³ What kind of sounds were playing?
[About <Common and Widespread>]
Q. I know this is your first long-form work. How did you feel when the official serialization was first decided?
A. I honestly couldn't believe it when I first got the call.
I still vividly remember sitting on the stairs outside the building, trembling, while on the phone with PD Park, my very first editor.
I was so flustered, thinking, 'Me? Common and Widespread?? Really? Why?? For real??'
Even now, I am full of gratitude to PD Park who contacted me. Are you healthy? I always pray that you're doing well.
Q. After deciding to draw the work, how did the overall conceptualization of the story progress?
A. I sporadically thought about the parts I wanted to see.
For example, the final scene where Hyeon catches Aram as she falls and hugs her, the scene of crying out of loneliness at the airport,
the scene where Aram quietly conveys her true feelings while drunk. The scene where Hyeon realizes her love and gets scared,
the scene where Aram hits Huiram hard, shattering their relationship,
and finally, the scene where Aram is diagnosed with hair loss (which is a scene I truly love), and so on.
After that, it was more like I just followed the flow as it went.
After drawing the first episode, Aram became much clearer, and after drawing the second episode, Hyeon became vivid.
I followed along diligently with the feeling of observing both of their lives.
β³ There are so many favorite scenes, but...
Q. There's a lot of talk about the title. The majority of reactions were along the lines of, 'If a love story this good is common and widespread, then I've never been in love.'
After finishing the work, I thought the title <Common and Widespread> might be short for 'A love story of meeting someone special amidst a common and widespread life.'
What prompted you to initially choose this title, or was there a message you wanted to convey to the readers through it?
A. Actually, when I first came up with the title, I really thought this was a common and widespread story that anyone could experience.
I distinctly remember... that it took me less than 5 seconds to come up with this title.π
The love I feel is vastly meaningful, precious, and perhaps so special that it might come to mind for the rest of my life,
but the fact that all of this is actually a common and widespread event that happens to everyone felt very interesting to me.
Because love is truly common and widespread.
I really, really loved this profound contradiction. I wanted to draw a very common love story where you give your whole heart to someone, try avoiding them, get frustrated to the core,
and drift apart because you can't understand each other, only to become close again.
The kind of thing anyone could do, and with anyone.
Q. The reason I started reading <Common and Widespread> was simple. I got hooked from the character introductions and the story of their first meeting in Episode 1.
The character details regarding Aram and Hyeon made me feel a great deal of empathy. How long did it take to conceptualize the characters?
A. 'Popping into existence' is the expression that best suits Aram and Hyeon.
When I first drew Aram's face (it sounds really cringey and funny to say), I felt like she must have gone through these kinds of experiences,
and when I imagined a person with the opposite disposition, Hyeon was born.
It was closer to feeling that if it were those two (I know it's a really cringey and funny thing to say), they would have these kinds of habits and ways of speaking.
On the contrary, it took a very long time to understand Huiram.
When I would write something down thinking she might act a certain way, I would suddenly hear someone's voice from far away saying, 'That's not it!'
Thanks to that, there was a time I set a day aside and pondered solely about Huiram from morning until night.
There are still many aspects of her I don't fully understand. She's a very complex, difficult, and affectionate person.
β³ Complex, Difficult, Affectionate Huiram π
Q. Did the characters' personalities develop a lot as the story progressed?
Or did you have a solid main framework set from the beginning that never wavered?
A. I think I clearly felt Aram and Hyeon's traits even before getting into the story.
All the major events followed the premise of 'If it were this person, they would have acted this way.'
Aram is a brave person who often falls but always gets back up, Hyeon is a gentle person who is quiet and like the dawn.
I believe these two keywords carried the entire work.
Q. Were there any specific points you considered important when designing the characters?
A. For the visual design, I focused mainly on contrasting points, like the small one and the tall one, a sun-like vibe versus a dawn-like vibe.
In particular, I had a lot of fun drawing Aram's blushing cheeks.
It's something that takes double the effort in the line art process, but I was happy the whole time I was drawing those cheeks.
I did my best to draw Hyeon handsomely. I wanted to draw a tall beauty.
β³ The blushing beauty and the tall beauty
Q. This is a work with an impressive novel-like atmosphere. Just like the soft art style, the script of every episode really hits home.
I think I stared at the sentence 'So lonely my ribs tremble' in Episode 44 for a long time. From what kind of experiences do these lines emerge?
A. There are things I've experienced myself, and there are also many things I came up with on the spot to describe a situation.
The phrase 'so lonely my ribs tremble' that you mentioned is embarrassing but... it came from my personal experience.
It was based on a thought I had one day when something sad happened, realizing that when a person cries hard, the ribs and organs inside their body tremble.
Whenever a sentence comes to mind while walking normally, I make sure to write it down in my notepad and use it in my work later.
Because of that, the notepad in my phone is an absolute mess...
β³ The readers' ribs also trembled while reading...
Q. It's not easy to frequently come across black-and-white works in webtoons. I think that's partly why it felt even more special.
There were scenes where you partially added color. If you had to express Aram and Hyeon in a single color each, what colors would you choose?
A. Aram would be a sun-like yellow. Hyeon would be a warm, dawn-like blue.
The entire story takes place against the backdrop of winter, but I wanted to give it a warm feeling.
Now that I've completed the work, the inexperienced parts keep coming to mind. It's a shame, but I guess that's also the beauty of serialization!
Q. In the afterword of the work, you mentioned that after the creation of the morning sun-like Aram, the person who came to mind from a completely different direction was Hyeon.
As the work progressed towards the second half, I felt like the two were somehow starting to resemble each other, or maybe they were people who were already a little alike from the beginning.
Is Hyeon getting colored by Aram? Or is Aram squeezing the softness out of Hyeon? (...Are both saying the same thing?)
A. In the beginning, the two are very different people! Compared to Aram who charges in, Hyeon starts a love that flows in slowly.
Meeting as strangers on the way to work and talking on the way home, Hyeon marvels at the fact that she has become meaningful to someone.
Afterwards, upon hearing Aram's confession in her personal space at home, she also feels a bit of fear.
Because falling down is ultimately unavoidable, and things you can't stop are always scary.
But even after that, Aram shows her in her own way that it's okay to be scared, and it's okay to fall.
Because you just have to get back up again.
I think that's how Hyeon, after watching and learning from her, was later able to resolve herself to dash forward without hesitation even if she was so scared she could cry.
Don't they say people resemble each other when they're in love? Aram changed Hyeon, and that changed Hyeon changed Aram, and I think they finally started to resemble each other.
β³ Hyeon's Romance
Q. My jaw dropped at Aram's flirting skills. With flirting at that level, I felt like she could seduce anyone, same sex, opposite sex, or even non-humans.
Watching the review broadcast of <Common and Widespread> covered by the podcast show 'Webtoonista',
they mentioned that Aram's straightforwardness in the beginning felt like only getting the red stick piece in Tetris.
Aram is basically a dating expert; are these dating skills the author's own skills? β¦Are you a dating expert?
A. Hahaha... Aram is a very... different person from me...π
Since I always become a foolish idiot when dating, I'm actually a bit jealous of Aram.
Knowing the exact timing to push and pull like that, isn't that only possible because it's a comic?
Or, I also think it's a series of fortunate events where the speed of her approach just happened to perfectly match Hyeon. I envy you, Aram.
β³ How can anyone resist that.
Q. There was a question about the script earlier, but the non-verbal expressions are also prominent in this work.
Personally, I believe that for non-textual expressions to resonate, the directing skills must be incredibly outstanding.
Directing stands out in action or genre fiction, but simply arranging and composing cuts and angles
doesn't make non-verbal expressions easily resonate with readers.
Did you tend to keep this in mind while drawing the storyboard?
A. I think so.
In fact, the storyboard process took the most emotional effort for me.
What is the best way to effectively convey a person's emotions?
It's still a difficult aspect, but I believe that, besides dialogue, a person's eyes, actions, and the way they move their body
convey a lot of words, and I really like that. Sometimes I wonder if it isn't more intuitive than words and louder than sounds.
Throughout the work process, I spent a lot of time and energy, and had so much fun, trying to recreate on the canvas all those vague feelings I've experienced.
β³ You can feel Aram's excitement just as it is.
Q. Hyeon and Aram are real people, right? Where can I go to meet them?
A. They live in Baepo-dong, Popo-gu, Pobae-si, South Korea.
Since they usually take Line 4759 in the morning to work and transfer to Line 18129,
you might often spot them if you visit the transfer section at Baebae Station during commute hours.
Q. Please pick your favorite line and favorite scene!
A. My favorite line is 'This was my romance,' which appears in Episodes 4 and 44.
It's the line that appears in the scenes where Hyeon and Aram each break into a sprint toward their love. The moments of running with all your heart always feel overwhelming.
β³ Aram's Romance
My favorite scene is when Hyeon comes out of the hospital in Episode 43 and shouts at Seunga over the phone.
In fact, I think it resonated deeply with my heart because it was the first scream from Hyeon, who had been calm and quiet throughout the comic.
β³ It's love, it's love (Satisfied)
Q. Could you tell us about the scene you put the most effort into and an episode that unexpectedly took a long time to work on during serialization?
A. The episode I worked on the longest would probably be Spin-off Episode 8. Because I lost the file once... I had to redraw more than half of it...π₯²
The episode I put the most effort into was the final episode, Episode 46.
Since it was my first time wrapping up a story, I felt a lot of difficulty figuring out what to do.
I wandered a lot in the process of cutting out and filling in the stories I wanted to tell.
I remember the moment I finally finished it, submitted the draft, and smiled blankly while staring at the ceiling. It felt like, 'I did it..!'
β³ Hope everyone feels comforted
Q. Was there an episode that was the most fun to draw, or a memorable event during the serialization of <Common and Widespread>?
A. I've drawn 'Common and Widespread' for such a long time that it's hard to pick just one. There are too many.
The moment I received my first fan art and first fan letter, the moment I was struggling and crying over the storyboard at a cafe after work,
and the moment on a hot midsummer dawn at Siu Ahn's place, where I passionately talked about the comic wearing only a tank top and red shorts.
I also can't leave out the moment when I shared the news of the serialization decision with an author I really, really adored.
You might not know how much strength I gained from those words of sincere support. I will always cheer for your well-being.
[Outro]
Q. Please tell us briefly if you have any plans for your next work or stories you are currently conceptualizing!
A. I think it might take quite a while before my next work comes out.
For the time being, I'll likely be organizing and polishing the stories I want to tell while living my real life.
Still... if I were to draw something again, I'd want to draw a story about two very different people fiercely fighting and adapting to each other.
I want to try various things like school life or fantasy genres, but I just can't seem to muster the courage...π
Q. I hope to see you with various works in the future. Is there a genre or project you'd definitely like to challenge yourself with if you become a veteran author someday?
A. I'd like to work on a project that can be adapted into video/live-action.
It's mostly out of a greedy desire to see it with my own eyes... but I'm so curious to see the story I wrote materialize and move.
Even if it's far in the future, I definitely want to give it a try.
Q. Thank you so much for your hard work in answering this long interview.
You must have received a lot of affectionate comments and questions, but are there any memorable ones or questions you regretted not being able to answer?
A. Because comments and questions account for over 80% of my driving force to draw, I actually remember almost all of them.
Among them, there's one question that stayed in my memory for a long time but I couldn't get around to answering.
It's the question, 'How was Aram able to muster up such courage?'
When I received that question, I wasn't entirely sure either, so I couldn't give an answer at the time, but...
Even now as I write this reply, I honestly still don't know.
β³ Aram's brave love
Exactly. How was she able to do that?
What made Aram dash forward again without hesitation, even after falling down countless times?
When she got unbearably lonely sometimes, what made Aram step out into the world again,
and for what reason did her desire to love pop out once more?
I believe this question will definitely be reflected in my next story, don't you think?
Thank you for asking me such a precious question. I want to give you the answer to this question through my next work, so please wait just a little longer.
β³ π
Q. Lastly, if you have anything you'd like to say to the readers who loved <Common and Widespread>, please feel free to say it.
A. Thank you for reading. I just threw the story I wanted to see and the things I wanted to say out into the world,
but I never imagined that watching readers find their own meanings in it would be this enjoyable.
Now, to me, 'Common and Widespread' has become more meaningful than just a creative work.
Sometimes, when I feel like a worthless piece of lint, I lift my head and think, 'No. I drew Common and Widespread!'
To all the readers, thank you so, so much for cheering for it, enjoying it, and sharing your thoughts.
I, too, will cheer for all of your common and widespread daily lives. See you again!
I love you.π
Thank you for being with us for this long interview.
