A different kind of media adaptation is happening in reverse this year: instead of a webtoon becoming a movie, a movie is becoming a webtoon. Naver Webtoon launched “Blind Following” on May 30, a horror-occult spinoff set in the world of “Exhuma,” the shaman thriller that drew more than 10 million theatrical admissions in Korea and became a defining hit of the country’s occult genre.
Rather than continuing the film’s story forward, “Blind Following” reaches backward, following the film’s two most memorable characters, shamans Hwa-rim and Bong-gil, during their high school years, well before the events of the movie. The webtoon centers on how the pair first crossed paths, tied to a mysterious incident involving a snake deity called “Jin” that Hwa-rim experienced as a child while concealing her true identity from those around her.
The title itself carries thematic weight: “Blind Following” (맹종, maengjong) literally means following orders or authority unconditionally, without regard for right or wrong, a concept the story ties directly into the eerie events unfolding around its two teenage leads. The series is drawn and written by artist Haemuri, whose previous Naver Webtoon series “Snare” (“Olgami”) built a reputation for tense character dynamics and dense psychological detail, qualities expected to carry over into this new horror-occult outing.
The project represents a notable cross-industry collaboration: Showbox, the distributor behind the original “Exhuma” film, partnered directly with Naver Webtoon on the spinoff. Lee Hyun-jung, an executive at Showbox’s film business division, called it meaningful that the beloved film’s world could expand through webtoon storytelling’s distinct visual grammar, while Naver Webtoon’s Korean content lead, Lee Jeong-geun, framed the timing as ideal for genre fans heading into summer, historically prime season for horror content in Korea.
The move underscores a two-way IP relationship that’s become increasingly common in Korean entertainment: webtoons regularly get adapted into films and dramas, but hit films are increasingly spinning back into webtoon form too, letting studios extend a successful cinematic universe’s shelf life through Korea’s dominant serialized digital comics format.
Source: NAVER Corp. press release, May 29, 2026.
