• A cartoonist's instinct hidden behind a civil engineer's business card, and an 8-year-old immigrant boy's chaotic adjustment to Calgary.
• "I became a bestselling author trying to make fun of my friends"... The journey of self-discovery of a K-eldest son from Busan.
• A double life that not even his strict, solemn, and serious parents can stop! A 20-year coming-of-age record filled with humor and emotion.

An Engineer, or a Genius Side-Hustler?

There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who succeed by living obediently as their parents tell them, and those who inevitably end up doing what they want, even if it causes their parents a bit of heartache. But here, quite bizarrely, is a man who is managing to do both at the same time. It is none other than Calgary-based civil engineer and cartoonist, Stefano Jun.

Published in 2025 and warming the hearts of the Canadian bookstore scene, the graphic novel Modern Asian Family: Straight Outta Busan has an extraordinary title right from the get-go. A parody of the legendary N.W.A album 'Straight Outta Compton', this title exudes a folksy charm akin to the Busan dialect and the sorrows of a 'K-eldest son' rather than grim determination. By day, the author works as a civil engineer designing roads and bridges in Calgary, but by night or on weekends, he picks up a pen and designs his own life. And he does so with comic panels filled with highly amusing, touching, and sometimes embarrassing scenes. The phrase written in his bio reveals the identity of this book at a glance: "He will someday realize that the real money is in his engineering career instead of artistic passion, but that day is not today." What an honest and hilarious confession!

How Making Fun of Friends Turned Him Into an Author

The background of how this book came to be is rather mischievous. Stefano didn't start drawing comics with the grandiose goal of "exploring my self-identity through my immigration history!" When his friends kept pestering him to draw them, he got annoyed and started drawing funny comics of their most embarrassing moments—the cringeworthy times they really didn't want others to see—just to make fun of them.

But isn't life ironic? Those doodles, drawn just to tick off his friends, began to explode in popularity on online platforms. His friends were appalled, but readers cheered. The 'honesty' within them resonated across borders. Stefano says that was when he realized, 'Ah, my story, our ordinary embarrassing moments, can become a source of comfort and laughter for someone else.'

Age 8: A Busan Boy Dropped Onto an Unfamiliar Planet

This book is a memoir-style graphic novel that collects short comics in an omnibus format. The story begins when he was 8 years old, leaving Busan and suddenly dropping into the unfamiliar land of Canada. To little Stefano, who didn't speak a word of English, Canada—especially Calgary, Alberta—must have felt like another planet.

Swapping the ocean breeze of Busan for the cold winds of the Rocky Mountains, he had to fight a massive wave of 'culture shock.' As you turn the pages, you come across episodes of the language barriers young Stefano faced, which are simultaneously heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud funny. The misunderstandings at school experienced by a boy who only knew "Yes" and "No," and the moments he cowered because of the smell of his packed lunch. He cheerfully unravels those memories—ones that any immigrant would have buried in a corner of their heart—with his signature sense of humor.

It is no exaggeration that local media praised the book as a "keenly observed insight" into the experience of growing up. This is because he doesn't just whine about how "hard" it was; rather, he delicately observes the process of finding his own place amidst that unfamiliarity.

Korean Parents vs. Artist Son

The other main characters in this book are Stefano's parents, your typical 'Korean parents.' As noted in his bio, needless to say, his parents are yet to be proud of his life decisions.

Scattered throughout the book are humorous depictions of the tense tug-of-war between parents who want him to pursue a stable profession (civil engineering) and a son who is obsessed with the side hustle of drawing comics. His parents only feel relieved when he hands out his business card as an engineer who builds bridges and structures, but Stefano's eyes sparkle the most when he's drawing his quirky illustrations. This conflict is likely a universal theme that resonates not only with Korean immigrant families, but with older and younger generations alike, or indeed any young person torn between their dreams and reality.

However, by the time you finish the book, you can feel the deep love underlying his parents' nagging, as well as Stefano's own heart, which, despite his grumbling, ultimately finds a sense of security within the embrace of his family. It could be seen as quintessential Korean 'jeong' (affection and bonding), while simultaneously being a unique family love forged through 20 years of navigating life together in Canada.

From a 'Busan Bumpkin' to a 'Calgary Insider'

What makes Modern Asian Family: Straight Outta Busan so special is that it is not simply a 'successful immigration story.' Stefano doesn't brag about having perfectly assimilated into Canadian society. Rather, he acknowledges that he is still an 'in-betweener.' He was born in Busan but has lived in Canada for 20 years; there are times when English is more comfortable for him than Korean, yet he still craves spicy food and walks on eggshells around his parents. Instead of delving too seriously into this complex and subtle identity, he just shows it exactly as it is. It’s as if he’s coolly stating, "I'm a civil engineer but also a cartoonist, and I'm Canadian but originally from Busan." Readers laugh at his comics and suddenly realize: Ah, identity isn't something that fits neatly into one box, but rather the very process of living with all those contradictions.

To Those Who Find Today Overwhelming

The book has been praised as being "Full of emotion, humour and surprise." In fact, people will find themselves laughing throughout the book, only to experience a tug at their heartstrings as they close the final page. Stefano Jun might still be trying his best to ignore the fact that engineering makes more money than comics. But from a reader's perspective, it might be a relief that he hasn't 'completely' realized it yet. Thanks to that, we were able to encounter such a funny and lovely story.

Are you perhaps struggling right now to adjust to a new environment, or wandering between your parents' expectations and your own dreams? If so, I highly recommend opening Stefano's book. The story of this chaotic Busan family, set against the snow-capped mountains of Calgary, will tell you, "It's okay. Life is actually more fun because it doesn't go according to the blueprints." It is an absolute must-read.