Chapter 34 – David Was Right. Probably
Beep beep beep beep beep!
Inside a newly built apartment not far from Anyang Station.
Yang Jae-han opened the door and stepped inside.
One hand holding a plastic convenience store bag, the other clutching this week’s issue of New Chance.
“Huuu… What did I even do to be this exhausted?”
Jae-han set the plastic bag on the dining table.
One can of beer and a convenience store chicken skewer for a side dish.
He arranged them neatly, then placed the New Chance magazine to the side.
“Alright then… let’s take a look. Just how great this ‘David’ artist really is.”
Jae-han sneered, the corner of his mouth twisting upward as he flipped open the magazine.
‘Manager Song Mi-hyeon must’ve really lost her touch—plugging a total rookie into my spot.’
That was his honest feeling.
Over the past eight years of serialization.
While he had grown sick of comics and no longer wanted to draw, there was one thing Jae-han was still proud of.
In all of Korea, the number of people who could achieve the same level of commercial success as him…
The number who could draw comics as “fun” as his… could be counted on one hand.
That was why he had actually been curious—who the editorial department would pick to follow up <Aureka>.
But when he heard they’d chosen some fresh-faced rookie… he couldn’t help but scoff.
A moment later, the cover of this oh-so-amazing rookie’s comic appeared.
“Title: <Brave King>. Krrrr.”
Well, at least the art style looks decent. School setting?
Boys and girls in school uniforms standing on a giant chessboard.
Just characters standing there, yet it somehow gave off a strange sense of dynamism.
The intense perspective and foreshortening created real motion.
Good sense.
Honestly, the quality was pretty solid.
‘Well… just because someone draws well doesn’t mean the comic will always sell.’
Flip.
Jae-han turned the page.
The story of <Brave King> began in a classroom.
[Bin-woo, you dumbass. Huh? You can’t even tell the difference between chocolate milk and strawberry milk?]
[Aaaah! Aaaah!]
Early on, a group of bullies who looked like typical school thugs were beating up the main character named Kim Bin-woo.
The other classmates either watched indifferently or completely ignored it.
The direction wasn’t bad, and the dialogue felt natural.
But…
‘It’s just a typical school comic. Probably gonna go the route where a transfer student shows up and wipes out the bullies or something.’
Jae-han wasn’t feeling any interest at all—his lips were already pouting in boredom.
The first few pages of <Brave King> followed the exact template of the most clichéd school-life comic anyone had ever seen.
He’d read comics like this a hundred times over.
If he had to predict the rest of the flow:
‘The transfer student beats up the bullies, becomes friends with this Kim Bin-woo guy… then higher-grade bullies show up, get beaten too. After a while, the ones who got beaten start getting “redeemed” one by one and join as supporting characters.’
The rest was obvious even without looking.
Honestly, he could draw something like this blindfolded.
He acknowledged that school-life comics were always steady sellers that guaranteed sales…
‘But you’re trying to replace <Aureka> with this?’
The thought of the publishing house hyping this up as the next big thing, the super rookie, made Jae-han feel ridiculous.
As he kept turning pages like that—
“Hm?”
[Slide!]
[What the— that guy… isn’t that a box cutter?]
[Dieeee!]
[Crazy bastard!]
The atmosphere of what he’d assumed was a typical school-violence comic suddenly flipped 180 degrees.
Up until now, the character Kim Bin-woo had been thoroughly beaten down—set up purely to showcase the bullies’ cruelty.
But now, that same guy’s eyes had gone wild…
He grabbed a box cutter and charged straight at the bullies.
The action was directed with extreme drama, instantly building tension and pulling the reader in.
“Ho?”
So they twisted the cliché once…
‘Not bad at all?’
Only now did real interest spark in Jae-han’s eyes. He stroked his chin and turned the page.
[This crazy fucker really wants to die!]
[Thwack! Thwack!]
[Die, die, you bastard!]
Kim Bin-woo wildly swung the box cutter, grazing the cheek of the bully leader, Jeon Gang-pae…
And then…
Kim Bin-woo was mercilessly beaten down by the group.
Even while getting pummeled, Kim Bin-woo looked wronged and furious…
His eyes wide open, gritting his teeth to hold back groans.
A gaze full of venom.
‘Hm? Wait… so this character is actually the protagonist? They’re giving him way more character depth than I expected?’
A faint sense of anticipation began to creep in.
So Kim Bin-woo wasn’t just some helpless kid who gets beaten and dragged around by bullies?
The manuscript kept emphasizing that there was something fiercely poisonous inside him.
The corners of Jae-han’s mouth twitched.
‘Let’s see where this goes next.’
[Someone… please help me!]
[I’ll do anything! Just someone help me!]
Beaten-down Kim Bin-woo stared straight at his classmates, eyes pleading desperately.
Every single one of them turned away or ignored him completely.
[Why…?]
[What did I even do so wrong?]
And in that moment, a pitch-black energy began to gather in Kim Bin-woo’s chest.
It felt like an embodiment of malice, rage, or some swirling negative emotion.
As it grew larger, Kim Bin-woo’s body started to transform—becoming demonic.
It seemed like an extreme metaphorical direction to show his emotional state.
The tension built again, making it feel like something was about to explode in the flow.
‘They’re really tightening the screws well.’
It had a certain thrilling chewiness to it.
Jae-han’s fingertips twitched as he turned the page again.
He was genuinely curious now—how exactly this artist was going to steer the story.
But.
‘If you set up the beginning like this, it usually collapses afterward.’
From the first few pages, it had looked typical, but judging by the direction and emotional buildup so far, it was almost certain now that Kim Bin-woo was the protagonist.
And… that was exactly the problem, Jae-han thought.
If the enraged Kim Bin-woo suddenly stood up right here and beat down all the bullies, it would completely break plausibility.
But they’d already laid the emotional groundwork so thick…
If they didn’t let it explode here?
‘The readers would feel like they’re about to burst.’
Both choices in front of them were bad.
A complete dead end.
Flip! Flip!
Jae-han kept turning pages.
And then…
Once again, the flow twisted in a completely different direction.
“Huh?”
[Hahahaha! Hellooo, everyone! I am the host who has come from faaaar away just to meet all of you—my name is ‘Coup-ler’!]
The moment he thought a transfer student or some savior would appear—
A white-suited figure that looked eerily like a dalmatian…
A beastman named ‘Coup-ler’ walked straight into the classroom.
‘What kind of character is this now?’
[Beating up your friend isn’t a nice thing to dooo~?]
[Who the hell are you, you fucking dog?]
[Me? I’m a fucking dog, yeah. Why ask when you already know?]
[You talking shit? You wanna get beat too?]
The bullies who had been thrashing Kim Bin-woo started picking a fight with the dalmatian-like beastman.
[Guh… guhahahack!]
Then, with just a snap of Coup-ler’s fingers—
The neck of the bully who had charged at him was cleanly severed.
Black blood sprayed from the stump, expressed indirectly through dramatic direction.
[He… he’s dead?]
[Kyaaaaah!]
[C-crazy! Someone call 112!]
Students panicked and tried to flee the classroom.
Their terrified expressions and gestures felt vividly alive.
For this one moment, the atmosphere was straight out of a horror comic.
‘Wait… this isn’t just a school-life comic anymore?’
Jae-han’s eyes widened in shock.
He no longer felt like nitpicking—he had fully slipped into the role of a reader and kept turning pages.
[My phone… it’s not working!]
[The door—the door won’t open!]
No signal.
The classroom door wouldn’t budge no matter how hard they pounded, as if it had been sealed with concrete.
Then…
[Everyone, calm downnnn!]
The beastman slammed his magic wand onto the floor—
And the entire classroom flipped upside down, transforming into the shape of a giant chessboard.
‘Holy shit…’
A full double-page spread used to deliver one massive visual impact.
He couldn’t even imagine how much time had gone into completing just that one spread.
‘Dropping this level of quality right from the first chapter?’
Jae-han’s mouth fell open in genuine astonishment.
After that…
The overwhelmed students stood speechless, mouths agape, while the dalmatian, Coup-ler, continued speaking.
[…]
[Everyone… make a contract with me! If you do, you’ll get to participate in an intense death game for the next 49 days!]
[Death game? Don’t be ridiculous! Why the hell would we do something like that?]
[Why? Because if you survive to the very end of this game… you can make your dreams come true!]
[Dreams?]
When one character voiced doubt, Coup-ler thrust his staff forward again.
[That’s right! If you want to become the richest person in the world… I’ll sit you on a mountain of money!]
Each time, the panel zoomed in on one character’s face, showing a fantastical vision of their desired future self around them.
[If you want overwhelming power that no one can defeat… I’ll grant you that too!]
[Or perhaps become an unbelievably beautiful woman loved by everyone!]
The characters’ expressions as they gazed at the visions, and the way the direction subtly revealed what desires each of them harbored.
‘Smart.’
Jae-han was genuinely impressed.
Right now, <Brave King> had way too many characters for an early chapter.
There was no way to explain every single one in detail, so the artist had naturally woven in just enough to let readers roughly grasp each character’s core desire through the visuals.
And when his grand speech finally ended—
[Paah!]
[Money! It’s money!]
Ten-thousand-won bills rained down black across the entire classroom, instantly seizing the students’ attention.
[Money! Moneeeeey!]
[Crazy, that’s mine, you bastard!]
But just as the frenzied students started fighting and crawling on the floor to grab the cash—
One single boy didn’t move an inch.
Kim Bin-woo.
The boy who had been beaten senseless by the bullies throughout the entire first half of the chapter.
At the end of his gaze… the bullies’ figures came into view.
[Heeheehee! Money, money!]
[Hey, what about Jeon Jae-jun’s head getting cut off earlier?]
[Fuck that, who cares?]
Bin-woo’s face twisted as if he were looking at disgusting insects.
Thud. Thud.
Bin-woo walked straight across the classroom.
Without sparing a single glance at anything else, he headed directly toward the dalmatian beastman.
Then, standing right in front of him, he glared and spoke.
[I’ll make the contract. Right now.]
[Ooooh! Really?!]
[Yeah. If it means I can achieve my dream…]
Bin-woo gritted his teeth hard.
And that became the trigger—
[I-I’ll contract too!]
[Do we need to sign a contract or something?]
[Hey, if Kim Bin-woo’s doing it, we have to too!]
One after another, students raised their hands.
The fact that Kim Bin-woo—the weakest in the class—had found the courage to step forward had given everyone else the push they needed.
Soon, the entire class was signing the contracts…
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Fireworks exploded as the dalmatian shouted,
[Class 1-3, 16 members! All contracts completedddd!]
[Then, we’ll begin the very first mission right away… Good luck, everyone!]
Immediately after, the bodies of all the Class 1-3 students were enveloped in light and teleported somewhere.
The perspective returned to Kim Bin-woo.
[Where… is this?]
As Bin-woo looked around in confusion and slowly lifted his head, he could see Namsan Tower standing tall in the distance.
But strangely, the entire world had turned into a black-and-white silent film… and there wasn’t a single person in sight.
Then—
[Keekik! Kigigigigik!]
An unpleasant scraping sound came from the side. When he turned his head—
[Th-that’s…]
Perched on a tree was a monster that looked like a demon, baring its fangs… staring straight at Bin-woo with blood-red eyes.
And.
[To be continued in the next chapter.]
With that, the first chapter of <Brave King> came to an end.
“…”
Yang Jae-han, still holding the magazine, had deep furrows etched across his forehead.
The beer and chicken skewer he’d set out remained completely untouched.
But for some reason, he had zero appetite.
…After reading this work that called itself David, he felt…
“Crazy.”
A genuine exclamation slipped out, and somehow… it felt like he’d lost.
Honestly, <Brave King> was fun.
Even compared to <Aureka>—his own masterpiece—when looking purely at the enjoyment of the first chapter, it felt like <Aureka> was being pushed back.
‘This is from a rookie?’
Flip flip flip!
He went back to the beginning and reread the first chapter of <Brave King> several times over.
What he had assumed would be a typical school-violence story had brutally shattered his expectations… yet at the same time amplified anticipation to an insane degree.
The level of immersion was unbelievable for a debut work.
It felt less like reading a comic and more like riding a roller coaster.
After seeing this, there was no way he could resist buying the next issue of New Chance.
Jae-han was certain of it.
“Huuu… I’m going insane.”
He’d already decided to quit, so why show him something like this now?
Thump! Thump!
Yang Jae-han’s heart started pounding.
And for the first time in years, a fierce fighting spirit bubbled up inside him—hot and unstoppable.
He crossed his arms, tapped his foot restlessly, then grabbed the can of beer beside him and chugged it down.
Gulp gulp gulp!
“Krrrrrr!”
He drained the can in one go, took a huge bite of the chicken skewer, and muttered,
“I can’t end it here.”
Looking almost frantic, Jae-han immediately pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed a number.
<<Hm? What’s up at this hour, Artist Yang?>>
“Manager-nim, sorry to bother you. But… if a spot opens up in New Chance… could you let me know in advance?”
<<Spot? What do you mean?>>
“I want to do it. A new series.”
A powerful expression—half smile, half blazing competitive spirit—spread across Yang Jae-han’s face.