A 143-Hour Epic with 58 Voice Actors: "Bloodthirsty Bird" Audiobook Released

Two Years of Production and Review: Golden Bough Announces "Largest Cast Ever for a Single Audiobook"
Production Cost 100 Times that of a Standard Print Book... Exclusive on Aladin for One Year

Youngdo Lee's epic fantasy novel "Bloodthirsty Bird" has been reborn as a drama-style audiobook, featuring 58 voice actors and a total running time of 143 hours.

Cover of the audiobook set for Youngdo Lee's fantasy novel Bloodthirsty Bird. Featuring 58 voice actors, it was produced over two years, with a total running time of 143 hours 31 minutes and 48 seconds. Hwanggeumgaji.

Golden Bough announced on August 20 at 11:00 a.m. that "Bloodthirsty Bird" was released exclusively on Aladin. The audiobook consists of eight volumes and 42 chapters, with a total running time of 143 hours, 31 minutes, and 48 seconds. Golden Bough explained that this work features the largest cast of voice actors ever for a single audiobook, with 58 participants.

Production began with the first recording in 2024 and took nearly two years to complete. Veteran voice actors such as Kim Kihyun and On Youngsam participated, along with Yang Jeonghwa, Yeo Minjeong, Eom Sanghyeon, Seong Wankyeong, Jeon Taeyeol, Choi Han, Sa Munyeong, Song Junseok, and Jang Seongho. Kwon Sunghyeok served as the narrator, while Jang Seongho performed as Elsie Ederi, Song Harim as Jeongwoo Gyuriha, Yeo Minjeong as Chi Cheonje and Iras Eonal, and Yang Jeonghwa as Wonsi Je and Grimi, among others.

This audiobook was produced in a drama format that combines voice acting, music, and sound effects, rather than simple reading. To faithfully represent the original's large-scale battles and its cast of over 100 characters, the number of multiple roles assigned to each actor was minimized. According to Golden Bough, the production cost was about 100 times that of a single typical physical book. Golden Bough and Aladin jointly invested in the project, and the audiobook will be provided exclusively on Aladin for one year.

The success of the previous audiobook adaptation, "Tears of the Bird," led to this large-scale production. The "Tears of the Bird" audiobook, produced in 2020, featured 21 voice actors at the time and won the 10th Korea Digital Publishing Award. Golden Bough stated that sales of this audiobook exceeded 100 million won at release and have now surpassed a cumulative 800 million won.

"Bloodthirsty Bird," the sequel to "Tears of the Bird," was published in 2005. Spanning around 16,000 manuscript pages, the epic depicts the clash between absolute power and free will through over 100 characters involved in a civil war within a nascent empire. A special 20th-anniversary edition was also released last year, becoming a bestseller at major bookstores.

Youngdo Lee rose to fame in 1998 with his serialized work "Dragon Raja" on PC communication forums, and later published "Future Walker," "Polaris Rhapsody," "Tears of the Bird," and "Bloodthirsty Bird." The rights to "Tears of the Bird" have been exported to 17 language regions, including English, German, French, and Japanese, and are being published by leading global publishers.

The audiobook set of "Bloodthirsty Bird" is priced at 200,000 won. If purchased by volume, each of the eight volumes costs 35,000 won, and individual chapters (42 total) are available at 6,000 to 8,000 won each. A free sample version featuring one hour and three minutes of content is also provided.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.