"The Strange Guest" melts away like cotton candy

Baek Hee-na's picture book series 'Strange', 'Strange Mother' and 'Strange Guest' have returned with a refreshing look.
To sum up this revised edition in one word, it is 'a Baek Hee-na picture book you must read again.'
Just looking at the covers of these two beautiful works side by side is a feast for the eyes.
It's clearly the same story, but it feels new, like seeing it for the first time.
This revised edition is a compact size that is perfect for reading while lying down, and is easy on a child's hands.
Newly added visual elements and finely polished scenes will make the story more vivid and vivid, providing readers with new emotions and experiences.
Of course, the process was not smooth.
The author carefully re-selected the scenes to be included in this edition, meticulously adjusting the colors and lighting to match the emotional tone and mood of the story.
We set out to find the best paper to tell our story on, and there were days when we had to stop printing because things didn't turn out as we intended.
After these trials and errors, the result was a book that stood out for its physical properties and narrative depth.

I hope that Baek Hee-na's "strange" world, unfolding in Storybowl, will finally bloom brightly like flowers on a clear spring day, and that the hidden efforts and sincerity of the writers and other workers will deeply touch the hearts of readers.

★ Did the book fairy sprinkle cotton candy powder?
This revised edition of "The Strange Guest" has changed beyond recognition.
On the cover, a white goblin, Cheon Dal-rok, floating on fluffy, five-colored clouds like cotton candy, looks at the reader with a cheerful yet mysterious look.
The sensational flash of light surrounding Dalrok fully shows off the goblin character's supernatural abilities.

★ The surprise element using the belt is also noticeable.
It's also fun to see Dalrok's expression change when you take off the ribbon.
The inside of the belt also contains vivid sketches of the author's early storyboards.
When you see the finished scene, which is implemented exactly as in the sketch, you can feel the creator's meticulous effort.
The author's signature and the Dalrok painting engraved on the ribbon are a small gift to the readers.

★ The front and back pages of the purple paper symbolizing the mystical sky are decorated with dark clouds and five-colored clouds.
This visually symbolizes the emotional line between the siblings before and after meeting Dalrok, ​​and leaves the beginning and lingering feeling of the story.


★ The carefully adjusted colors in each scene add depth and atmosphere to the background, clearly showing the narrative depth and spatial context of the story.
Additionally, the characters' colorful expressions and movements are expressed so vividly that they seem to jump out of the book.

“Someone who doesn’t care, without expecting anything in return
“I wanted to show my willingness to help.” _ Baek Hee-na, from an interview with the Hankook Ilbo

"The Strange Guest" melts away like pink cotton candy

The celestial Cheon Dal-rok, with a cute, white, round face, wearing a small, fringed hat, and a long-sleeved vest, is a baby goblin.
The sky above is the home of the thousand-year-old who came riding on the clouds.
Even if he is a goblin living in the highest sky, Cheon Dal-rok is a child born in heaven that cannot be helped.
After sobbing and hurriedly stuffing bread into my mouth, I got angry and then quickly became happy as if nothing had happened.
In a noisy and intrusive situation, is it only a baby goblin that turns the house into a mess?
If one child just walks around the house for a moment, it's like a bomb has hit and it's chaos.
Anyway, the fact that two siblings have to take care of a wild baby goblin in a house without a mom or dad is no ordinary spicy food.


Dalrok has a special ability.
You can change the weather at will depending on your mood.
When I'm angry, it becomes hot and when I'm in a good mood, it snows.
But because he's a baby, he's not very good at using his abilities.
The weather changes dozens of times a day.
This book is filled with a whirlwind of weather events, from hot weather to snow, thunder and lightning, torrential downpours, and rainbows.
Just looking at the various facial expressions of Dalrok, ​​who is naturally charming, makes me smile.
Sometimes, you may feel a desire to express your emotions freely like Dalrok.
This is especially true when oppressed feelings pile up like dark clouds.
Maybe that's why.
Even after closing the book, that round face keeps floating around.

In Baek Hee-na's 'strange' world, someone keeps coming down from the sky to the ground.
Heaven and earth are connected, knowingly or unknowingly, and small hands help each other.
In this work in particular, the earth appears to be helping the sky.
A real-life sibling takes care of a lost baby goblin.
He also helps willingly without expecting anything in return.
In fact, the protagonist 'I' did not find the sudden visit from Cheon Dal-rok to be unexpected.
Wasn't this the little brother I had been longing for?
Besides, I also made unforgettable memories with my older sister, so I feel some responsibility.
Could it be that Dalrok was also a gift and response from heaven?
Anyway, I already miss Dalrok.

Our relationship is clouded with dark clouds... We are siblings.

Even though we're together, we feel alone, we seem inferior to others, and our relationship is overshadowed by dark clouds... We're siblings.
One rainy afternoon, a chilly atmosphere hangs over the house where only my older sister and younger sister live.
I opened my sister's room and tried to talk to her, feeling as if I were going into a tiger's den, but the reply I got was, "Sister, I'm busy! Go play by yourself!" It was truly indifferent.
The idea that you have to have a karmic bond of nine thousand kalpas to become siblings, that it is a natural relationship that was created by heaven, all of those things are lies.
“I wish I had a younger sibling too.
“The little brother who likes me the most and always plays with me…” The moment he picks up the bread with a sad heart, someone grabs the hem of the protagonist’s pants.
“Hyung-ah...” Was this the heavens’ response? The reckless goblin brother who descended from the sky, Cheon Dal-rok’s loud fart startled his older sister, who had been stuck in the corner of the room, and she came out.
The younger brother and older sister join forces and diligently embark on the mission of taking care of the celestial baby, Dalrok.
Oh, my indifferent older sister has changed.
I give ice cream to the sulking Dalrok and soothe and calm the sleepy one.
Even if I fall while chasing Dalrok, ​​even if I'm on a foggy road where I can't see anything, even if my house is flooded, I feel secure because I'm with my older sister.
The dark clouds between them had cleared away and the feelings between them had become clear and bright.
Normally, we are the most indifferent to each other, but when a crisis comes, we become invincible. We may seem awkward, but the invisible bond between us is quite strong... We are siblings.
"excuse me.
“Have you seen my little brother?” Huh? Someone from the sky came to visit again.
Dalrok's older brother, Cheonalrok.
Brothers and sisters on earth experience true brotherhood when they meet their brothers in heaven.
Now that we have this secret bond called Dalrok, ​​no matter what anyone says, our relationship will always be strong.

The Strange and Beautiful Story of Baek Hee-na

"Where did the clouds come from? How did they end up hanging on the tree branches?" Baek Hee-na's next story, "Cloud Bread," came to mind.
However, due to copyright issues, the story of the clouds was no longer continued after Cloud Bread was lost.
After much thought, I remembered the story of the fairy and the baby goblin who came riding on a cloud.
I wanted to let children meet legendary creatures like fairies and goblins.
The baby goblin Cheon Dal-rok's last name was 'Cheon'.
A rare surname was needed, one that lived in the sky and was not tied to the earth.
When I think of the colorful sky, the names of the goblin brothers, Alroki and Dalroki, seemed appropriate.
I also imagined Dalroki's long sleeves becoming a baby carrier for a fairy to carry around.


The part that I put the most effort into in this work was the vivid and diverse facial expressions of the characters.
In particular, since Dalrok's emotions drive the story, I created several Dalrok faces with different expressions.
To the writer, each scene comes as a vivid process and memory.
In particular, every scene in “The Strange Guest” was dazzlingly good.
The scene where the overcast weather changes into a hot and sunny day along with Dalrok's emotional changes was particularly impressive.
The sunlight-like lighting vividly revealed the bright sky and sweltering heat beyond the kitchen window.
The colors of Dalrok's face, his older sister's training clothes, and even his younger brother's fan were all perfectly coordinated.
The outdoor filming of the egg ghost was done in a way that the dazzling spring sunlight brought the atmosphere to life.
Cotton Candy Grandpa's gaze and expression are also charmingly captured.
Dalrok's face, which was picking out cotton candy, was reflected in the convex mirror (circular road reflector) on the street corner, and I was delighted as if it were a gift from chance.
In these completed scenes, the color, shape, and spatial arrangement must be visually balanced so that the reader's gaze and emotions flow naturally.
If the characters, background, props, and text in a scene fail to faithfully fulfill their respective roles, the emotional line is destroyed and everything becomes a bubble.
There is nothing more sweet and satisfying than capturing a scene with breathtaking colors and lighting after all this delicate and arduous work.
A time when only the writer and the story exist, this strange and mysterious creative time is a sweet rest for writer Baek Hee-na and ice cream for Dalrok.