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Kim Youngjoong, CEO of YJ Comics, Serves a Bridging Role in Making What's Wrong with Secretary Kim into a Hit

In the process by which a hit web novel became a hit drama, the webtoon played a huge role as the bridge between the two genres. I met Kim Youngjoong, CEO of the webtoon company YJ Comics, who played a central role in the successive hits of What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim (Secretary Kim) as it took on different genres, to hear about how the hit web novel was made into a webtoon.

I am curious about how you encountered the webtoon Secretary Kim.

KakaoPage was in charge of distributing the original web novel Secretary Kim, and as the company began to make web novels into webtoons in 2015, its webtoons were well received. In the fall of that year, KakaoPage suggested that our company review the possibility of making four web novels into webtoons, and one of them was Secretary Kim. After reviewing the original web novel, our company contacted webtoon artist Kim Myung-mi to ask her to take charge of the job. That’s how we began to make a webtoon version of Secretary Kim.

It seems that a successful match between the original work and the cartoonist is important. For Secretary Kim, why did you choose cartoonist Kim Myung-mi to recreate the original?

The way we choose a cartoonist to create a webtoon is similar to the way a drama production team finds an actor to fit a specific role. Just as every actor has a genre that he or she can excel in, every cartoonist has an original style and specialty. Based on our previous experience working with Kim Myung-mi, we were confident that she would make the romantic comedy original into an excellent webtoon.

There are so many web novels with various styles. I am curious about the specific process you used to select an original web novel to make into a webtoon.

The first method is to review several original web novels, which have been suggested and sent by original publishers or distribution platforms, and then select one. Several people in our company read the original novels suggested by original publishers or distribution platforms. What they try to do in this process is assess whether we can keep the fun aspect of the originals intact, and create even more fun. We connect the web novel selected in this way with a matching webtoon artist. The second method is to select an original novel that matches a specific webtoon artist, and original novel production companies and distribution platforms select and recommend original web novels. After receiving recommendations, we select the most optimal original web novels to be made into webtoons, and then deliver them along with the reasons for selection to the webtoonist. When the webtoonist finally makes a decision and selects one, the production begins.

It seems that the collaboration with KakaoPage, which was in charge of distributing the original web novel, played an important part in the business of making this web novel into a webtoon. Can you please describe this collaboration process?

KakaoPage has been able to differentiate itself from other webtoon platforms with its joint commercial system, in which it suggests webtoon production companies turn an original web novel into a webtoon and create quality content together with the company. In addition, once this high-quality content is created, it can be promoted on KakaoPage’s platform, which has a superb structure for various kinds of promotion and marketing. I think the collaboration between our two companies was great, in this process that spanned from the production to the promotion of Secretary Kim.

You have worked on many projects that involved turning web novels into webtoons. What are the common difficulties you encounter?

For Secretary Kim, Kim Myung-mi found the original novel fun but expressed concern that the main plot was limited to specific places and specific characters. Unlike novels, webtoons can advance the story only when incidents, big and small, happen in every episode. Therefore, showing the same places and characters can make the story monotonous. As well, in novels the narration is sometimes concentrated at the beginning to explain events in the latter parts. In webtoons, however, it is difficult to give an explanation in the form of narration. This requires a reconstruction, such as moving an event in the latter part to the beginning part. When Kim Myung-mi had difficulties reconstructing the story, we tried to offer her different suggestions.

What was the process of consulting with the original publisher about the degree of the original novel’s adaptation like?

Because YJ Comics had a lot of experience with making web novels into webtoons before Secretary Kim, we were able to convince the staff in charge at GAHABOOKS, the company that published the original novel, of the necessity of adaptation. GAHABOOKS asked us not to change the key story and main flow of the original work, but accepted all of our adaptations. We were told that the author of the original novel enjoyed the various new elements in the webtoon.

What do you think have been the factors in the success of the Secretary Kim webtoon?

First, the original novel was a proven success, and Kim Myung-mi did a wonderful job adapting the excellent original novel. The characters of the original novel were represented well in the webtoon, and the end of every episode, managed to arouse the reader's curiosity. In terms of marketing, KakaoPage exposed the webtoon on several channels and we cooperated by providing event prizes. I think that these factors together contributed to its success.