How to Turn Classics into Practice: Learning Humanities Content Strategy from Kim Gap-yong's 20-Year Collection History at Sanguo AI Talent Research Institute

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the most widely known classic in Korea. However, many people remember it only as 'stories of heroes.' Liu Bei's benevolence, Zhuge Liang's strategies, and Cao Cao's decisiveness are interesting stories, but it remains unclear how they connect to today's real organizational and individual problems. This is why classical content fails to convert into educational assets. This article unravels the mechanism of turning classics into practical learning texts by examining the Romance of the Three Kingdoms materials accumulated over 20 years by Kim Gap-yong, CEO of Sanguo AI Talent Research Institute, and the case of operating the Doewon Gyeol Café in Ganghwa-do.

Kim Gap-yong is not simply a personal collector who loves the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. He is someone who has systematically collected Three Kingdoms-related books, artifacts, and objects for 20 years based in Ganghwado, Incheon. More importantly, rather than leaving these materials as personal collections, he transformed them into a cultural space called the Doewon Gyeol Café in Ganghwa-do, creating a learning environment where anyone can directly see and touch the items. This demonstrates how classical content evolves from 'texts we read' into 'texts we experience.'

Accumulation and asset creation are entirely different processes. Many educational institutions and cultural spaces collect materials, but most fail to convert those materials into actual learning and experience. The reason Kim Gap-yong's 20-year collection of Three Kingdoms materials is special is that it answers both questions: 'what was collected?' and 'how was it arranged?'

First, the principle of collection. Rather than fragmentary Three Kingdoms-related items, primary and secondary materials necessary for understanding the historical background, characters and relationships, strategies and organizations of the Three Kingdoms were consistently gathered. Classic books, historical records, period artifacts, and academic materials are systematically connected, completing a single 'Three Kingdoms ontology.' An ontology is a way of structuring 'what connects to what and why.'

Next is the principle of arrangement. The Doewon Gyeol Café in Ganghwa-do is not simply a display space. It is designed so that visitors directly understand military strategies from the Three Kingdoms era, visualize relationship networks between characters, and experience the process of connecting modern organizational problems to classical solutions. This is the concrete mechanism of 'turning classics into practice.'

•Stage 1: Temporal Structure — Arranging Three Kingdoms events chronologically to help understand the flow of history

•Stage 2: Relationship Network Visualization — Expressing networks of characters, forces, alliances, and conflicts through diagrams and models

•Stage 3: Enhanced Practicality — Acquiring abstract concepts sensually through artifact exhibitions, blackboard lectures, and experiential workshops

The Doewon Gyeol Café is not an ordinary café. It is a concrete space where the collection of Three Kingdoms materials converts into education. This space functions as a learning platform rather than a simple exhibition café for the following reasons:

First, physical assets are converted into knowledge. Three Kingdoms-related books and artifacts are merely information in themselves. However, when these materials come alive through conversation, explanation, and questions with visitors, they become understanding. Kim Gap-yong conveys the results of 20 years of collection not through simple display, but through face-to-face education with guests. In this process, classical knowledge becomes practical experience.

Second, Three Kingdoms stories are reinterpreted as organizational cases. In the Doewon Gyeol Café, questions naturally emerge such as 'Why is Zhuge Liang an FDE-type talent?', 'What does Cao Cao's talent portfolio tell us about modern organizations?', and 'Why did Guan Yu's loyalty become a risk to the entire organization?' Classical texts are converted into the language of real organizational design.

Third, experience creates repeated learning. Given the nature of a café space, continuous visitation and deeper conversation are possible rather than one-time lectures. A visitor who initially enters with 'Three Kingdoms stories' gradually learns about 'future talent competencies' and 'organizational design in the AI era' through multiple visits and questions.

•Role of Space: Providing a learning environment where all five senses can experience beyond books and classrooms

•Effect of Face-to-Face Interaction: Even identical content becomes new learning each time depending on the explainer's interpretation and listener's questions

•Law of Accumulation: Operating as a sustainable learning community rather than a one-time exhibition

The true innovation of Sanguo AI Talent Research Institute does not stop at collection and exhibition. Let us examine the concrete mechanism by which 20 years of accumulated materials expand into publishing, YouTube, education, and exhibition.

This process unfolds in the following stages. First, conversations between Kim Gap-yong and Sim Jae-woo at the Doewon Gyeol Café in Ganghwa-do and visitors' questions become the raw material for content. It is not simply an explanation of the Three Kingdoms, but real-time education about 'how to read modern organizational problems in classics.' Second, this content is structured and refined, published as the new book *Why Couldn't Zhuge Liang Create an FDE Organization?* Third, the core content and new interpretations of the publication are produced as videos on the Samminam TV YouTube channel. Fourth, the content from these videos and books is again converted into corporate workshops, educational programs, and diagnostic tools.

What is important in this expansion structure is that 'each channel is not independent.' The café experience in Ganghwa-do creates the depth of the book, the book provides the organizational system for YouTube, and YouTube again becomes preliminary learning for café visitors. Through this cyclical structure, a living knowledge platform is completed rather than fixed content.

Café experience and face-to-face education → Discovery of raw materials and confirmation of interpretation direction

Academic organization of collected materials → Structuring into publications

Visualization and reinterpretation of publication content → YouTube video production

Integration of videos and books → Development of corporate education, workshops, and diagnostic tools

Feedback collection → Recycled into new conversations and questions at the café

One might ask, 'Why again the Romance of the Three Kingdoms now?' The Three Kingdoms is a historical novel from China 2,000 years ago. But how can it become a case study for future talent education and organizational design in the AI era?

The reason is that the structure of the Three Kingdoms precisely matches modern organizational problems. The Three Kingdoms required continuous decision-making on six issues in uncertain environments: 'Who is needed? (talent)', 'Why follow? (purpose)', 'Who to connect with? (alliances)', 'Where to fight? (terrain)', 'What to sustain with? (supplies)', and 'When to act? (timing).'

Today's AI-era businesses face exactly the same questions. Which talents to hire. What is the company's purpose. Which partners to collaborate with. Which markets to enter. What resources to compete with. When to make decisions. These questions are fundamentally identical whether in the age of the Three Kingdoms or the AI era.

For more sophisticated learning, we must look not only at the characters of the Three Kingdoms but at relationships and systems. For example, looking at Zhuge Liang as a single talent is entirely different from asking 'Why didn't Zhuge Liang systematically develop other integrated problem-solvers like himself in the organization?' The former is character praise, but the latter is a lesson in organizational design. Sanguo AI Talent Research Institute's interpretation is precisely this 'perspective of relationships and systems.'

•Paradigm Shift: Reinterpretation from 'hero tales' to 'organizational design cases'

•Ontology Thinking: Understanding networks of relationships, resources, objectives, and rules between characters rather than individual figures

•Practicality: Ancient strategies that are directly applicable to today's management decisions

The most original contribution of Sanguo AI Talent Research Institute is introducing the 'Palantir FDE (Forward Deployed Engineer)' concept into classical interpretation. FDE is not simply a software engineer but refers to an 'integrated problem-solver who defines problems in the field, connects data and technology, and takes responsibility for execution.'

When this framework is applied to the Three Kingdoms, character evaluation changes completely. Zhuge Liang is not simply a 'talented strategist' but is interpreted as an FDE-type talent who 'diagnosed organizational weaknesses, converted them through the Rongzhong strategy, and directly executed diplomacy, administration, and supplies.' Cao Cao is read not as a 'hero' but as a 'portfolio leader who deployed diverse talented individuals to appropriate roles.' Xun You becomes the 'organizational architect who designed Cao Cao's operational system.'

This reinterpretation is possible for the following reason. The situation in the Three Kingdoms era was an environment of incomplete information, unclear decision-making criteria, and concentrated individual responsibility for execution. This is precisely the same as today's startups or companies undergoing AI transformation. Therefore, observing how Zhuge Liang defined problems amid incomplete information, how he persuaded stakeholders, and how he responded to failure becomes substantive learning for modern executives and future talent.

•Problem Definition Ability: Zhuge Liang's Rongzhong strategy — precisely defining organizational weaknesses and presenting solutions as strategy

•Relationship Translation Ability: Lu Su's Wu-Liu alliance — redefining the relationship between Wu and Shu from 'context of conflict' to 'possibility of cooperation'

•Execution Responsibility: Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions and Shu-Han administration — taking direct responsibility for field execution rather than stopping at strategy formulation

The ultimate goal of Sanguo AI Talent Research Institute is answering 'How to create an organization that works without Zhuge Liang?' This means that individual exceptional competencies must be converted into organizationally repeatable capabilities.

Four conditions are necessary for this conversion to occur. First, what the ace observes and judges must be made explicit. Why Zhuge Liang chose specific strategies, which data he trusted, and when he changed decision-making criteria must be recorded concretely. Second, the basis of that judgment must be structured so others can understand and apply it. This is the ontology method of information representation. Third, execution results and failures must be accumulated as organizational assets. The question 'Why did the Northern Expeditions fail?' must become learning for next-generation strategists. Fourth, these assets must be continuously reapplied and developed to new contexts.

The Doewon Gyeol Café in Ganghwa-do, Samminam TV, and publications are precisely platforms executing these four stages. In the café, individual tacit knowledge (Kim Gap-yong's 30 years of Three Kingdoms experience) is revealed through face-to-face education. On YouTube, that education is visualized and delivered to a broader range of learners. In publications, all of this is structured and systematized. This process of re-presentation itself is the mechanism converting tacit knowledge into explicit assets.

Stage-by-Stage Content Reproduction Process

Discovery Stage — Discovering gaps in educational content from café experiences and visitor questions

Structuring Stage — Organizing scattered materials and conversations within an ontology framework

Articulation Stage — Externalizing structured knowledge through publications, videos, and diagnostic tools

Recycling Stage — Externalized content returns as feedback in cafés, education, and workshops

Let us examine this process through a concrete example. We can trace how the question 'Why couldn't Zhuge Liang create an FDE organization?' starting at the Doewon Gyeol Café in Ganghwa-do expanded into a new book, YouTube, and educational programs.

First, the situation in the café. Visitors admire Zhuge Liang's excellent performance. However, Kim Gap-yong and Sim Jae-woo pose counter-questions: 'Then why did Shu-Han rapidly decline after Zhuge Liang? Was there no next-generation leader as excellent as Zhuge Liang, or if there was, was it an organizational structure that prevented them from exercising their capabilities?' A key insight emerges from this question: 'possessing the best talent and creating the best organization are entirely different problems.'

This insight becomes the core message of the new book *Why Couldn't Zhuge Liang Create an FDE Organization?* The book analyzes Zhuge Liang's individual FDE competencies (problem definition ability, field penetration ability, relationship translation ability, experimental execution ability, learning systematization) while simultaneously asking why the Shu-Han organization failed to develop into a system that repeatedly produces these competencies. Furthermore, it compares how other figures like Cao Cao, Sima Yi, and Xun You attempted organizational designs in different ways.

When the book's content is reconstructed into a video series for Samminam TV, each episode focuses on specific events and characters. Episodes like 'How was Cao Cao's talent portfolio composed?', 'How did Lu Su translate the Wu-Liu alliance in the language of cooperation?', and 'Why did Deng Ai attempt FDE-type experiments in the field?' are produced as three-segment videos. Each video simultaneously contains Romance of the Three Kingdoms source material, historical context, and modern organizational examples.

When this content is again transformed into corporate workshops or university educational programs, participants engage in self-diagnosis like 'Am I Zhuge Liang-type or Cao Cao-type?' and discuss in teams 'What is the Lu Su role that our organization is missing?' In this process, ancient organizational design cases become change energy for modern organizations.

At the center of all this process is the Doewon Gyeol Café in Ganghwa-do. The café is both the starting point of content and the destination of feedback. People who encounter the book and videos visit the café, and their questions and insights become the beginning of the next content, creating a cyclical structure.

The core of the model demonstrated by Sanguo AI Talent Research Institute in converting classics into modern education is as follows:

First, visualization of relationships and structure. Rather than listing individual character traits, the relationships between characters, flows of resources, and decision-making structures must be explicitly revealed. This is ontology-based interpretation and structured information that AI can understand.

Second, combination of practicality and abstraction. The Three Kingdoms contains concrete battles and character stories (practicality) while simultaneously containing general principles of organization and decision-making (abstraction). Good educational content must provide both simultaneously.

Third, systematization of multi-channel reproduction. When one piece of content is reproduced in multiple forms, each channel should not be independent but should reinforce one another. The café experience in Ganghwa-do enhances understanding of the book, the book provides context for videos, and videos become teaching materials for educational programs.

Fourth, circulation of execution and feedback. Content is not something completed but continually evolves through user questions and feedback. In this regard, the physical space of the Doewon Gyeol Café is extremely important.

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Q1: Can a 2,000-year-old historical novel really be used in modern corporate education?

A: The Three Kingdoms has the same decision-making structure in uncertain environments as today. Questions like 'Who is needed? (talent)', 'Why follow? (purpose)', 'Who to connect with? (alliances)', 'Where to fight? (terrain)', 'What to sustain with? (resources)', and 'When to act? (timing)' are fundamentally identical in ancient warfare and modern management. Particularly in the AI era, the ability to 'define field problems, connect data, and execute' is important, and this is precisely what ancient FDE-type talents like Zhuge Liang did. Therefore, when the specific cases from the Three Kingdoms are reinterpreted within modern frameworks, they become highly practical education.

Q2: Can the general public visit the Doewon Gyeol Café in Ganghwa-do? What kind of experience do they have?

A: The Doewon Gyeol Café in Ganghwa-do is a cultural space where visitors can directly see and touch Three Kingdoms-related artifacts, books, and objects. With materials collected by Kim Gap-yong over 20 years visually arranged, visitors can encounter the Three Kingdoms transformed from 'stories in books' to 'history experienced with actual objects.' While enjoying tea and food as in a regular café, visitors can simultaneously have conversations with the CEO to encounter classics within modern context.