What? A manwha about counselling? Hell yeah! And it's excellent, I assure you.

This is the story of Nam-Bong Baek (aka Dr. Frost), who had a severe brain injury while he was young and as a result he's unable to experience certain emotions. He decided to study psychology in order to understand himself and comprehend human behavior, so now he's a counsulting psychologist at Yonggang University.

The manwha is highly informative and educational, it provides insight to the most common mental illnesses through relatable stories and the different kinds of therapies available. It also addresses themes as the inexperience of recently graduated counselors, how it's preferable to prevent illness rather to treat it, and the taboo of mental health, how society (Korea in this case) looks down on counselling patients because of the great pressure and high expectations they have (to perform right all the time, to be idols, to become what other people want and met their needs before their own, etc.).

All the characters have meaning and depth, the author did an amazing research job to build them in a way so we can see and appreciate not only the main story line but also their journey as individuals. It's full of references in case the reader wants to know more about psychology, for example, it names the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), drama therapy (where the client process trauma through a theatrical setting) and psychological autopsy (when data is collected in order to analyze the reasons that lead a person to commit suicide), to state a few.

I was touched and grateful by the way the author conveyed the idea of what it means to being a counselor, and how the relationship between counselor and client was depicted as more than a business deal, but a humane approach to healing for both of them. How it's ok to be imperfect, because humans are imperfect. How it's ok to feel your feelings, because humans are not only conscious but sentient beings.

I couldn't find the third season translated, but the first two seasons are available for free on Webtoon and the manwha was adapted into a drama in 2014.

I would recommend this to anyone slightly interested in psychology or counseling.

"All counselors are just people who walk on the face on their own shadow anyway"