The story behind It’s Okay to Not Be Okay’s five children’s books and why dark fairy tales can be bestsellers too

After concept artist Jamsan got fed up drawing upbeat, mystical fantasies, he choose to concentrate on darker characters, with secrets and troubled pasts

His gruesome drawings were a perfect fit for the Korean TV series about three people who struggle to put their traumas behind them and find love

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Zombie Kid is one of Korean artist Jamsan’s five children’s books connected to smash-hit Korean TV series, It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, that have been published this month. Photo: Jamsan

Published: 6:45pm, 24 Aug 2020Updated: 6:45pm, 24 Aug 2020

By Kwak Yeon-soo

Cable network tvN’s series It's Okay to Not Be Okay wrapped up its 16-part run earlier this month, but is still making headlines because of the children’s storybooks that appeared in the smash-hit drama.

Following the massive success of its fairy tale romance, the production company has decided to publish five storybooks: The Boy Who Fed on Nightmares, Zombie Kid, The Cheerful Dog, The Hand, the Monkfish and Finding the Real Face.

Jamsan, a concept artist who joined the hugely successful TV series, said he is still overwhelmed by the overnight success of the drama both at home and abroad, which caused his career to take off. All five of the storybooks shown in the series are currently listed in the top 20 bestselling books of the month, according to the Kyobo Bookstore and YES24 websites.

The Boy Who Fed on Nightmares is one of the books by Korean illustrator Jamsan that was used in the Korean drama It’s Okay to Not Be Okay. Photo: Jamsan

In the series, Seo Ye-ji plays Ko Mun-yeong, a children’s storybook author who suffers from antisocial personality disorder. She writes cruel fairy tales full of dark themes and grotesque scenes. Ko falls in love with Moon Gang-tae (played by Kim Soo-hyun), a caretaker who works in a psychiatric hospital and takes care of his older brother Sang-tae (Oh Jung-se).

Apart from the healing romance between Ko and Moon, the drama shows how three adults – traumatised by parental abuse and murder when they were children – learn to recover from their past traumas. It's Okay to Not Be Okay, which earned popularity overseas through streaming on Netflix, is recognised for its visual storytelling that includes concept artist Jamsan’s illustrations in Ko’s body of work. His dark, grotesque drawings entwined with screenwriter Jo Yong’s stories about family and love resonated with drama fans.