KT Millie's Library, a digital reading platform, announced Wednesday that it will debut fantasy and science fiction novel "A Thousand Blues" by author Cheon Seon-ran as an original webtoon.
"A Thousand Blues," winner of the 2019 Korea Science Literature Award grand prize, depicts the friendship and solidarity that transcends species between a humanoid robot that gained self-awareness due to human error, an injured racehorse, and an outsider girl. The work previously earned recognition for its artistic merit when it was adapted into a creative musical drama.
The novel has recorded a cumulative 170,000 "saved to library" entries on Millie's Library, with women in their 20s and 30s comprising the largest share of readers over the past year, demonstrating a solid fan base. Millie's Library explained that the webtoon adaptation of "A Thousand Blues" faithfully captures the core narrative and emotional essence of the original while using the visual storytelling unique to webtoons to portray the characters' emotions and relationships in a more three-dimensional way.
Millie's Library plans to continue adapting outstanding literary works into webtoons and will release 20 original webtoon titles within this year. "This work combines the deep narrative of the original with the visual enjoyment of webtoons to deliver a new form of emotional impact to readers," said Lee Myung-woo, head of Millie's Library's story business division. "We will continue to demonstrate the infinite expansion potential of literary intellectual property in various forms."
