Interview with JellyBin, Author of <Myojin>

[About <Myojin>]

Q. I know <Myojin> is your debut work. How long did the planning for the project take?

A. Myojin's beginning is a bit vague.
    I didn't intend to create a webtoon from the start; ideas gradually piled up while I was taking various classes in college,
    and the framework and materials of the story took shape.
    When sharing this vague story with others, I thought a webtoon would be the most suitable format, so I started drawing it as a webtoon.
    Since I was a student with no goal of an official serialization, I took my time and slowly serialized it, which allowed me to fill out the story later.
    I think I spent about 3 years like this before the official serialization.

△Gaksisonnim, the beautiful yet terrifying God of Plagues

Q. I think the artwork, which looks like ink wash painting, plays just as big a part in the charm of <Myojin> as the mysterious story.
    How did you establish this art style?

A. The story came first, and while looking for an art style that fit the story, I settled on the style used during the Myojin serialization.
    As I mentioned earlier, since official serialization wasn't my goal, work speed or efficiency wasn't a consideration.
    Because of this, I struggled quite a bit after it became an official serialization. In the amateur league, I scanned line art drawn with a pen and colored it digitally,
    but it was absolutely impossible to meet the deadline for a weekly serialization, so I ended up switching entirely to digital.

△A cruel folktale that is brutal yet impossible to look away from

Q. <Myojin> features various creatures that you might have heard of in oral traditions. Each character is born from folktale-like stories and takes up a large portion of the narrative.
    Among the characters in <Myojin>, who took the longest time to conceptualize?

A. Myojin. He was one of the first characters to come to mind, but he was also the most difficult to complete. 

△It's Myojin. It seems to imply an inexplicably (Myo) sincere (Jin) desire to keep seeing him.

Q. Is there any character among the many in <Myojin> that you'd like to expand on further?

A. Nagi, who appears as an acquaintance of Myojin who fell to earth.
    At the time, I even conceptualized a short side-story, but after finishing Myojin, I didn't have the energy to make comics for a while, so I missed the timing. 

△Old man Nagi, who felt like a fence for Myojin and other non-human beings. 

Q. The characters in <Myojin> almost seem to be made by clumping together only the darkest parts of human nature.
    But as you read the work, you also receive a deeply moving sense of comfort and empathy from the characters who steadfastly find their own paths.
    Among the characters you conceptualized, was there anyone you hoped the readers would accept in a special way?

A. During serialization, I hoped that Makman and Myojin would particularly resonate with the readers,
    but now I don't mind who it is, and I just hope that readers find it entertaining even for a moment, in whatever way they experience it.

△Two people intertwined like a skein of thread

Q. In his first appearance, the charming protagonist ‘Myojin’ seemed to have no interest in anything other than his desire to return to the sky.
    But as he becomes entangled with other characters, he eventually makes choices for the sake of others.
    Personally, rather than feeling that the character ‘Myojin’ had changed, I felt that his original nature, which had been suppressed by the severe hardships he experienced, was manifesting again.

    When you first conceptualized him, was ‘Myojin’ a character who gradually became filled up? Or was he a character built up in layers with a complex inner self similar to a human's? 

A. Myojin is closer to a blank slate of a character. That's why he was a difficult character to complete.

    He certainly has desires, but compared to other characters, his desires are not about internal needs or beliefs, but about the external environment.
    He is a character who doesn't bother looking into his own inner self or at right and wrong, and therefore is indifferent.
    Until he became an adult, escaped from the Oni, and entered the Heavenly Realm, he lived in an environment where he had to abandon thought to survive,
    and because of this, his desires remained related to external circumstances. Should I say he had no questions and no conflicts?

    Then he meets Makman, and as he watches her fight to find answers without letting go of her inner conflict
    despite being in a harsh environment like his, he begins to change little by little.

    Because he was such an indifferent character, I remember having a hard time making sure that change didn't feel awkward or artificial.

△Myojin, who longed for the shining sun

Q. ‘San’, born between a God of Plagues and a human, possesses an incredibly human-like inner self.
    He leaves ‘Myojin’, whom he knew as a father, out of hatred and resentment, but he felt like a character tormented by a loneliness even deeper than that.
    Looking at the <Short Epilogue> you drew in the afterword, it shows ‘San’ finding peace by his family's side.
    Seeing his actions for his daughter made me rethink what Myojin meant to San as a father.

    If ‘Myojin’ had remained on earth forever in a human body, would his relationship with ‘San’ have changed?

A. I think it would have changed.

    I don't think Myojin would have actively treated him differently, but wouldn't San, on the receiving end, feel quite different?
    Since San's conflict was also largely an internal one involving his identity, if San embraced himself,
    and found balance living within human society as a heterogeneous being, he would inevitably react differently to the same external stimuli.
    Of course, in this case, Myojin would have changed too.

    So, even if it didn't change drastically, I think there would be positive changes regardless.

△Loneliness, or fear, disguised as hatred

Q. I'd like to ask about ‘Jinhong’. While we could say that the era and her gender were major reasons for the greedy woman becoming a complete villain,
    ‘Jinhong’ was actually full of malice even before she realized those things.
    At some point, the evil spirit hovering around her felt like ‘Jinhong’ herself.

    The era and gender were excuses for ‘Jinhong’s malice. In the distant future, if she were free from these two things, what kind of person would ‘Jinhong’ be evaluated as?
    Would she still be called a villain then? 

A. I did give Jinhong the limitations of her era and gender, but I designed her as a character whose evil deeds couldn't be explained by that.
    No matter the era, Jinhong is a villain. She was born with a nature that allows her to casually harm others, and she actively uses that nature.

△Jinhong and the child ghost?... The evil god she raised herself!

Q. There's a saying, 'God only gives humans as much hardship as they can endure.'

    If so, was Makman's hardship a process for her to become a god?

A. Yes. As I wrote in the afterword, as a god who stays by the side of those in situations where human power is truly useless,
    I wanted Makman to know what the loneliness and pain of such a situation feels like. It's been a long time since I finished the series,
    so my answer might not accurately convey the intentions and feelings I had back then as well as the text in the completion afterword, though.😅 

△Makman, who brings tears to my eyes every time I see her, even a hundred times... no, Dalrae🌸

Q. Midong, who had guarded Myojin's side for a long time, shows various emotions with San's appearance.
    Thanks to that, I even thought, 'Does he show a somewhat human side when treating San?' 

    Please tell us about Myojin and San from Midong's perspective!

A. In Myojin's case, it was probably a love-hate attachment, or an acquaintance he ended up living with—someone more distant than family but closer than a boss at work.
    He was the very first living being Midong encountered when he awoke as a Dokkaebi, and he somehow ended up serving him as a superior(?),
    I remember writing their dynamic as a relationship where he didn't think too deeply about it, despite him being a totally indifferent and strange guy.

    In San's case, since Midong isn't human, those feelings might have been more shallow, but I remember writing the story thinking that he would feel a slight sense of guilt and a sense of stemming from it
    responsibility anyway.

△Finding San, finding Myojin... becoming a family.

Q. What was the most memorable episode you worked on in <Myojin>? Or was there an episode that was difficult to draw?

A. It's been quite a while since I worked on it, so my memory is hazy now, but... from Jinhong all the way to Makman and Myojin's ending, that was the hardest part.
    I wanted to detonate the storylines I had built for each character with an explosive ending, so I agonized a lot over the directing and artwork.
    It also took a long time to draw.

△Makman, who overcame a desperate fate... no, Dalrae.

[Outro]

Q. Among your works, is there one you'd like to recommend to readers who enjoyed <Myojin>?
    Or is there a past work you'd like to reintroduce?

A. To be shameless, I hope my works <Fungi Evolution> and <Where the Darkness Vanishes> get introduced to a few more people.
    Especially <Where the Darkness Vanishes>—it wasn't a comic with a lot of views, so I always feel a bit sad about that.

△Where the Darkness Vanishes (Chungking Express ver.)_Excerpt from the Author's SNS

Q. You must be taking a break since finishing <They Say Dokkaebi Don't Know How to Cry>. How have you been?

A. I am steadily preparing my next work. I'm also working out hard.

Q. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer this long interview.
    There are so many fans drawn by the charm of <Myojin> who love your stories and characters.

    You must have received many comments and questions; are there any that stand out in your memory?

A. There are so many... This isn't exactly an answer to your question, but I just want to say thank you to everyone who always leaves comments and shows their reactions!

△Dalrae's birthday someday_Excerpt from the Author's SNS / There are many cute stories on the Author's SNS. For those of you saying, "I can't let go of Myojin!"? Head over to their SNS.

Q. Lastly, if you have anything you'd like to say to the readers who loved <Myojin>, please feel free to share.

A. I will consistently create fun comics. Since my work speed is so slow, I'm always sorry that I can't greet you with new works more often.
    Still, I won't stop my activities, and I will try to make comics that won't disappoint those who continue to read my work.
    Stay healthy, and I'll see you on the serialization platform when my next work begins.

Spend tonight with Myojin & Dalrae. Thank you for joining us for this long interview. :-)