<The Path to Sehwa> Interview with Author Han Hye-yeon
Meet the Author in the Spotlight
vol. 229
[The Path to Sehwa]
Author Han Hye-yeon | Kakao Webtoon
Have you lost someone you love?
Have you been frustrated by a long-held dream?
Do you want to escape from your exhausting life?
Here, let's have a meal first.
Delivering fulfilling comfort and healing,
The interview with Author Han Hye-yeon of <The Path to Sehwa>,
starts right now!
[INTRO]
Q. Author Han Hye-yeon! It is an infinite honor to have you for this interview! Before we begin, could you briefly introduce yourself?
A. Hello. I'm Han Hye-yeon. I am a somewhat seasoned(?) author who teaches comics at Chungkang College of Cultural Industries while occasionally working on creative projects.
※ A Word from the Author ※ Workspace - Why I use a bureau deskIf I have to leave my seat for even a second, I must close the desk because it can fall victim to pee, hairballs, or claws. I didn't want to know this either. Not until I received a laptop back from the service center just a month after buying it, with a notice that it was unrepairable and the memory unrecoverable.
[About Han Hye-yeon]
Q. Before we start... sincere congratulations on being selected for the '2024 Today's Our Manhwa' award!!
A. Thank you!!
I won the '2011 Today's Our Manhwa Award' for my printed comic book 'Bizarre Biology', and I'm thrilled to win it again this time with the webtoon 'The Path to Sehwa'!
△ You can read <Bizarre Biology> as an e-book and on the webtoon platform 'Lezhin'~!
Q. You debuted with the short story <Mannequin> in 1993 and have been actively working up to now, having moved your stage to webtoons.
Utilizing your background as a biology major, you've presented many unique and mysterious works.
Comparing your early debut days to now, has the story you want to tell changed much?
A. The stories I want to tell seem to have remained unchanged. (It feels like my mental age has stayed the same while I've only gained experience points.)
Right after my debut, I still had many memories of my teenage years, so I could depict that period well,
and the difference now is that I can more comfortably capture the hearts of all age groups.
Q. How did you feel when you first encountered the webtoon genre? Did the difference in working methods heavily influence your conceptualization of works?
A. In print magazines, the story has to be organized within a set number of pages, but in webtoons, I liked that I could set as many panels as I wanted.
There's only a slight difference in expression, but the working method isn't significantly different, so I don't feel a big difference in progressing the story.
Q. You've drawn so many stories. Where do you get the most influence when conceptualizing the subject matter or characters for your works?
A. Various media. Especially newspaper articles. These days, I come across a lot of human-interest stories on the internet and YouTube.
(I'm a capital 'I' (introvert). I don't go outside my house except when going to school or exercising.)
Q. I understand <The Path to Sehwa> is a work you've presented after a long time. Looking at the epilogue, you mentioned the preparation period alone took 4 years.
How did you spend your time while planning and preparing the work?
A. Originally, I intended to do research more actively, but it was during the COVID-19 period, so I couldn't travel much and only went around to learn temple food.
Other than that, I thought I needed physical stamina, so I increased my exercise.
※ A Word from the Author ※
In the past, I used to eat poorly when facing a deadline, but while working on 'The Path to Sehwa', I ate unprecedentedly well-prepared meals.
From labor-intensive dumplings and gimbap, I never thought I would end up making acorn jelly and steaming rice cakes during a deadline.
I never expected to stop working on a deadline, climb the mountain behind my house, dig up shepherd's purse, and boil it into porridge.
Q. Please introduce any genres or media you usually enjoy watching or reading!
A. There are things I repeatedly read and watch without any particular reason.
The children's book 'From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler' which I've probably read over a hundred times, Noriko Sasaki's comics,
and YouTubers who go on winter mountain bivouac trips trekking through heavy snow.
Q. Is there a time in your daily life that you value the most?
A. Playing with my cats. When I wake up early on a nice day and go out to the small yard, the cats follow me out and we bask in the sun together.
△ (Top) Miyu / (From left) Eundol & Nana
※ A Word from the Author ※
1. The cats that modeled for Bori - Miyu and Eundol
A few years after Miyu, my first cat who was with me for 19 years, passed away, I happened to meet an identical-looking cat at school and brought him home.
2. The cat that modeled for Tari - Nana
A kitten I met in front of my house the year after my first cat Miyu passed away.
Her appearance was completely different, but she liked origami balls just like Miyu, slept like Miyu, and played like Miyu, so I felt attached and eventually took her in.
Q. I heard you also teach students in addition to your creative work. What is the most important thing you teach students learning comics?
A. Hmm... Strictly keeping deadlines? Other than that, I emphasize finding out what they like the most and melting that into their comics.
Also, a tip to hide something fun like an Easter egg in a corner of a panel when drawing comics gets tough.
[About <The Path to Sehwa>]
Q. It's an impressive work with soft, calm colors and a warm atmosphere felt through the screen, almost like looking at a watercolor painting.
Please tell us what initially prompted you to plan it!
A. I started it as a K-Food Webtoon Support Project, following a proposal from Ggoboogi Books, who planned temple food as the most Korean K-Food.
I didn't have confidence, so I declined several times, but somehow, when I came to my senses, I was drawing bean sprouts and roof tiles.
Through a version set in an academy where one learns temple food, or versions set in a temple in the 1940s, 1980s, and 2020s,
and other various story drafts, it eventually became the current story.
△ (Left) Season 1 Cover Thumbnail (Right) Season 4 Cover Thumbnail
Q. "Sehwa" is both the name of the first protagonist in the work and the name of a place that holds significant meaning for her. What was your intention behind this name?
A. I love the road from Woljeong-ri to Sehwa in Jeju Island.
After searching through dozens of names to create a fictional temple, it was the only one that didn't pop up,
and it also happens to be a temple name that doesn't exist in reality.
Q. The places featured in the work felt very realistic. Are the locations that served as backgrounds familiar to you?
A. It is a blend of several temples I visited for research and to learn about the food. (Those familiar with them often recognize, 'Oh, this is this temple, and that is that temple.')
There's also the mountain behind my school, and my mother's vegetable garden.
※ A Word from the Author ※
I visited more temples than I expected during the work period. I went to learn temple food, stopped by a temple near the swimming pool,
and ended up visiting one during a school workshop as well.
Among them, the most memorable place was a temple in Jirisan Mountain that I visited with students for a cultural experience from school.
Q. The protagonist 'Sehwa' receives various forms of comfort from the people she meets at Sehwasa. Sometimes through time, sometimes through passing words...
They aren't overly embellished or particularly special, but they always resonate in the heart. When someone else needs comfort, how do you usually console them?
A. I am a capital 'T' (Thinking type). I'm not good... at comforting. I'm less socialized, so I often don't even realize they need comfort...
(I'll be running away now.)
Q. On the contrary, when you needed comfort, what kind of comfort resonated with you the most?
A. Ramen and cats. YouTube videos of sleeping in snow-covered mountains.
△ 'Bori', who recognized 'Sehwa's' sorrow
Q. Looking at the people gathered at Sehwasa, they each have their own stories, but they also seem like one large organism making up the place called Sehwasa.
The first protagonist 'Sehwa', too, will feel like a part of this large organism to the next protagonist who forms a connection with Sehwasa.
Did you have specific roles in mind for each character when conceptualizing the people within Sehwasa?
A. Sehwa was a character encompassing all seasons, and I wanted the rest(?) to represent each season: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
Spring, where flowers bloom wistfully even when blizzards rage in the final cold snaps.
Summer, which might be seen as the peak of life, yet is stained by monsoons and typhoons.
Autumn, looking as if it bore fruit but withering away with empty husks, and Winter, with nothing left but to be buried in the snowfield.
Still, spring comes again.
△ The people met at Sehwasa
Q. Watching the work, the various foods introduced in every episode make me hungry.
Each episode has a food or ingredient that pierces through the story, showing that you've observed temple food for a long time.
Could you tell us since when you became interested in temple food, and what triggered it?
A. Long ago, as I became interested in vegetarianism, I naturally gained an interest in temple food.
At a time when I wondered why Korea didn't have much vegan-related material or easily purchasable vegan products unlike foreign countries,
I turned my attention to temple food, the most Korean vegan food, and started collecting recipes.
△ Let's eat and cheer up🥰 / (From left) Winter solstice red bean porridge (Patjuk), Spring flower pancakes (Hwajeon), Purple summer eggplant rice, Autumn noodle soup packed with pumpkin (Kalguksu)
Q. Among the temple foods introduced in the work, which one is your absolute favorite?
A. Chamnamul perilla oil pasta! Thin capellini pasta noodles are fine even when kept for a long time, so I boil a lot of them, keep them in the fridge, and eat them.
I tend to like adding plenty of vegetables, but if you put in too many perilla leaves, you lose the taste of the perilla oil, so I top it with a ratio of 1/3 perilla leaves to 2/3 chamnamul.
It's perfectly tailored to my taste.
Q. Bori, who seeks out the sad ones first, and Tari, who expresses anger on behalf of those harboring it, are other protagonists of <The Path to Sehwa>.
How did Bori and Tari end up getting these abilities?
A. That's a good question.
My second cat, 'Kkoma', was usually shy around strangers, but whenever a sad friend visited, he would always sit right next to them.
When that friend fell asleep, he would climb on their stomach and sleep together with them.
It seems that when people get sad, their body temperature rises, making it the perfect temperature for cats to use as a cushion. (Yes. I was a science major.)
△ Bori & Tari appearing in the temple stay guidebook (Provided by the author)
Q. <The Path to Sehwa> concludes with its 108th episode. It's a number that brings to mind the 108 defilements in Buddhism.
Did you consider the number of episodes from the planning stage? What meaning did you put into planning it?
A. At first, as part of the support project, I only planned the 'Sehwa and Sehwa' arc.
After the official serialization began, I additionally planned spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
There was a tough period after passing the midway point. When I figured it would end around episode 100, I decided to proceed with the mindset of performing 108 bows, since I was already near that mark.
[Outro]
Q. Among your works, is there one you'd like to recommend to readers who enjoyed <The Path to Sehwa>?
Or if there's a past work you'd like to re-introduce, please let us know!
A. If you first discovered the author Han Hye-yeon through 'The Path to Sehwa', I'd like to let you know that I also have spicy, red flavors(?), not just mild ones.
I recommend 'Bizarre Biology' or 'Aechong'.
△ (Left) Bizarre Biology Cover_Source: Lezhin Comics (Right) Aechong Paperback Cover_Source: Kyobo Book Centre
Q. I know you have the nickname 'Christmas Author'. Will we be able to see newly drawn Christmas shorts from you again?
Christmas is coming up soon, how do you plan to spend it?
A. For some time now, I've been spending Christmas practically monopolizing a lane in a swimming pool that has fewer people than usual, taking my time.
My goal is to gather Christmas shorts again in 2~3 years and publish a new compilation book.
△ You can find them as paperbacks/e-books at online/offline bookstores and on Lezhin right now!
Q. You must be taking a break after completing the work in May, do you have any plans for your next project?
A. I'm slowly contemplating a blood-splattering red flavor.
Q. Thank you so much for your hard work answering this long interview. There are many readers who found comfort in <The Path to Sehwa>.
What meaning will this work leave for you?
A. It was my first serialization in a long time, and also the longest one so far.
Can I do this? Why am I doing this? There were moments when I constantly repeated these questions to myself.
It was a time when I realized once again that everything has a beginning, an end, and a new beginning.
Q. Finally, if you have anything you'd like to say to the readers who loved <The Path to Sehwa>, please feel free to share.
A. Thank you for enjoying it! As I mentioned in the author's note midway through,
Sehwasa is nowhere (NOWHERE) but it is also now here (NOW HERE), so please drop by occasionally.
I will return with a short spin-off of 'The Path to Sehwa' in 10 years.
