(essay)

In the quiet corners of South Korea’s fantasy literature scene, there is one name that echoes with an almost mythical resonance — Lee Yeongdo. For fans of Korean speculative fiction, he is not just an author but something closer to a legend. And yet, outside his homeland, his name often slips through the cracks of global recognition.

Lee Yeongdo doesn’t write the kind of fantasy that simply follows swords and dragons. His work digs deeper, drawing out questions about humanity, existence, and the absurd beauty of trying to be good in a world that doesn’t always reward it. His most famous novel, Dragon Raja, is something more than a story about adventurers on a quest. It’s a quiet study in loyalty, loss, and laughter. The narrator, a boy named Hoochie, isn’t a classic hero. He’s awkward, unsure, sarcastic, but painfully real. Through him, Lee Yeongdo peels back the layers of the fantasy genre to expose something remarkably human.

What sets Lee apart isn’t just his themes, but the voice with which he writes. His characters are funny in a way that makes you feel they’ve lived inside your own head. His dialogue is sharp, his pacing strange and unpredictable, like life itself. While other fantasy writers rely on epic battles or world-ending magic, Lee focuses on quiet moments: a joke between friends, a choice no one will witness, a road that looks empty but changes the character forever.

Lee Yeongdo’s writing often walks the edge between cynicism and hope. In The Bird That Drinks Tears, perhaps his most ambitious work, he builds a complex world where no humans speak the same language. Communication is a battle, and so is compassion. Yet again, what emerges is not just a fantasy novel, but a meditation on understanding – both others and ourselves.

Despite the heavy topics, his writing rarely feels heavy. It has a flow, a rhythm, almost like talking with someone smarter than you who never makes you feel dumb. That balance between deep thought and light tone is hard to find, and it’s probably why so many Korean readers return to his work again and again, even years after finishing it.