The real name of the writer 'SIU' is Lee Jong-hui(27). He is still being cautious of revealing his name and face since he worries that his personal information might hinder the readers from getting immersed in his work. Since he started his work in June 2010, he had indulged himself only on the work and turned down any fan meeting or news interview saying, "Not yet." The <Tower of God> is that valuable to him.
The <Tower of God> is at the top of its fame, setting the new record of '660,000 comments in one episode.' Yet since he had never met with his fans, he was very anxious, thinking "Would it be really possible to meet my fans in Germany." Despite his worries, the people flooded in front of him to get his signature and see his face. Hundreds of people formed lines in the narrow both, like waves of the ocean.
Despite spending two hours of signing, the webtoon artists were unable to finish all the fans standing in the long lines. For the signing event that was continued on the next day, they gave out number tickets. Ohlmann(26), who lives in Berlin, says "I heard that the author of the <Tower of God> was coming, so I came all the way to Frankfurt." He printed every characters' images and asked SIU for his signature.
The <Tower of God> is his first work. He majored in Art Education in college and went into the military after. There, he was recommended by his senior to start drawing manhwa. He drew the story as it came to his mind, on a sketchbook with a spring binding. The story was about 'A boy who came into a tower after chasing a girl whom has meant him everything, and a tower that tests the boy.' By the time when was leaving the military, he already had ten sketchbooks. What he drew at that time became the backbone of the <Tower of God>.
After he returned to the college, he spent his junior year drawing manhwa and posting it on the Naver's 'Challenge' section. It was the choice he made when his other friends were busy finding jobs. It wasn't easy to do challenge. His 2~3 practice works before the <Tower of God> were gone without notice. The chance for him to become a professional did not come easy.
He pulled himself together, and opened the spring notebook from the military again and started working on the <Tower of God>. For one and a half year he had been doing a 'series for himself only,' and then, finally, Naver called him to do an 'official serialization.' He recalls, "I thought someone was pulling a scam." He started his manhwa life in junior year and finally became a professional in the 2nd semester of his senior year. From his friends' points of view, SIU was "successful in getting the job." That is how his official debut happened. After that, the <Tower of God> quickly gained popularity at a surprising pace.
There is something that comes to his mind when he draws manhwa. "I had once did my teaching practice in a high school where only students with good grades are enrolled. I have asked them to draw a line and use it to express their current situation, and most of them drew themselves below the line, and others above the line." SIU says that he wanted to draw a story that features people who are struggling in the excessively competitive world. He is now drawing the manhwa that tells such story after surviving through a severe competition himself.
The reason why he likes manhwa is because of its 'honesty.' "I think the result of manhwa is directly related to how hard I have tried. It costs a lot to make a movie or something in real life in a large scale, but in the world of manhwa, the drawing can become a huge ship or a spectacular place as I draw." SIU says that he is someone who "loses interest in something easily" but for manhwa, he "likes it more and more since the day he first practiced drawing it in the military." His manhwa life has just begun.
In a excessively competitive world, SIU who wanted to draw people who were struggling inside of it, in fact, is now serializing his work after surviving the intense competition of challenge manhwas.