Chapter 36 – Playing the Adult (1)
Lunchtime, under the shade of a tree on a bench.
Min-hyuk stared straight at Kim Mi-na.
Mi-na avoided his gaze, fidgeting with her fingers and lips.
In any other situation, this might have looked like a scene straight out of a youthful romance comic…
‘But it’s not that kind of thing…’
She clearly had something else she wanted to say, something difficult to put into words.
But after squeezing her eyes shut and opening them again, she finally seemed to make up her mind and spoke.
“Um… sunbae-nim… how do you become a comic artist?”
Yeah, that was it.
‘Well, the fact that she went out of her way to buy New Chance and come all the way to my class… I already had a feeling.’
It was 2005.
Printed comics weren’t exactly booming—most people didn’t even know they still existed.
Yet, even though they went to the same school, she’d bought New Chance and tracked him down to his classroom?
Nine times out of ten, that meant she was someone with serious interest in comics.
‘Thank god… it’s not a confession or anything.’
Honestly, he’d been just a tiny bit worried about how to handle it if it was.
Min-hyuk let out a quiet sigh of relief and relaxed his shoulders.
“To become a comic artist… well, you have to draw comics.”
“Ah, that’s…”
“I’ll explain in detail. In my opinion, there are roughly three main routes. First, if you want to debut in printed comics the way I did…”
Min-hyuk calmly continued his explanation.
He started with debuting through contests or submissions in the printed comic market…
Then moved on to the emerging form of webcomics (or rather, the proto-webtoons) that were beginning to gain traction by building audiences through blog platforms on various sites.
He wove together his future knowledge with the current reality of 2005, explaining point by point.
At one moment—
“Wait, sunbae-nim!”
“Hm? What?”
“I-I’m going to take some notes real quick!”
Mi-na pulled out a small notebook she’d set beside her and began jotting down everything Min-hyuk had said.
‘…She’s pretty serious about this.’
Just a small gesture.
But that one action alone made it clear: this wasn’t something she’d brought up casually. She’d mustered real courage because of her own desperate wish.
Watching her like this… Min-hyuk suddenly remembered his own past.
-Oh Seung-heon, how do one become a comic artist?
-How the hell would I know? Stop talking nonsense and let’s just play Gunbound.
Back when he desperately wanted to become a comic artist but had no one to ask and just wandered around lost.
For some reason, the tip of his nose felt itchy.
“Well… those are pretty much the debut routes I can think of…”
After pouring out his thoughts, Min-hyuk tapped his chin with his finger and continued.
“Do you have any drawings? If it’s okay, I’d like to take a look.”
Min-hyuk stared pointedly at the sketchbook Mi-na had placed beside her.
“Ah, um… it’s mostly just doodles…”
“It’s fine. Just let me see.”
Flip flip flip!
Min-hyuk took the sketchbook and turned the pages one by one.
Here and there were pencil traces of character and costume practice.
‘Fundamentals aren’t bad. She seems to know exactly where to put emphasis in a drawing too.’
It looked very much like the early drawings of a talented artist who would later specialize in female-oriented comics.
Honestly…
‘She’s got talent.’
No—compared to when Min-hyuk himself was in second year of middle school in his previous life, she had more than enough.
While Min-hyuk seriously flipped through the sketchbook—
Kim Mi-na, perhaps nervous, spoke with a trembling, almost tearful face.
“Um… is it really lacking a lot? Is… is there no hope for me?”
“No. You’re good.”
Min-hyuk closed the sketchbook and spoke with a serious expression.
“R-really good?”
“Yeah—at least when it comes to drawing. You’ve never tried making a comic before, right?”
“Ah, yes… I haven’t really done it seriously yet…”
“Then draw one. If you want to become a comic artist… you have to draw comics.”
Min-hyuk handed the sketchbook back as he spoke.
To become a comic artist, you have to draw comics.
It sounded like the absurd, blunt, cool-sounding line some Japanese politician might drop…
But surprisingly, it was actually a very important point.
‘Most aspiring artists can’t even keep this obvious rule.’
At that moment, Mi-na asked back.
“But… wouldn’t it be better to draw comics after my fundamentals get stronger? My drawings still seem really far behind professionals…”
“Fundamentals aren’t just about drawing skill.”
“Ah…”
Making comics is hard.
It’s not simply drawing pictures—it’s a comprehensive art that weaves together dialogue, story, direction, characters with narrative weight… everything into one.
That’s why even people who draw extremely well often wander lost the moment they start storyboarding, unsure what to do next.
‘By now she probably gets the gist of it.’
The current Min-hyuk was already overwhelmed just trying to walk his own path.
He couldn’t explain everything from A to Z.
And anyway, what he said wasn’t some absolute truth.
Thinking that, Min-hyuk slowly stood up from the bench and said,
“Anyway, I think that’s about all I can tell you. Should we head back in?”
“Ah… yes!”
Kim Mi-na stood up and quickly gathered her sketchbook.
The two of them started walking back toward the main building.
“You go this way, right? Let’s part here.”
“Ah, thank you so much, sunbae.”
A clean, neat ending.
Just as the two were about to go their separate ways—
“Min-hyuk sunbae. I’m really, really sorry, but… could I ask just one last question?”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Um… sunbae-nim… how did you get your parents’ permission?”
Min-hyuk’s eyes widened round.
In that single sentence… he immediately understood exactly what situation this girl was in.
Parental opposition.
Something almost every aspiring comic artist goes through.
“You’ve already talked to them?”
“No… not yet…”
“Then start by actually bringing it up. Don’t be scared. That’s the first step.”
“Did they give permission easily? My parents are really stubborn…”
Min-hyuk shook his head.
“It wasn’t easy for me either.”
“Then how did you…”
“Get serious.”
“Serious?”
“Show them that this isn’t just something you’re doing because you hate studying—that you’re truly sincere about it. That you can’t live without this.”
In his previous life, he hadn’t been able to do that, and he regretted it deeply.
This time, he’d crashed headfirst into reality with his whole body to change that… and the result had clearly created a different present.
“For me, that sincerity came in the form of winning first place at the Animation High competition. For you… just show them your own version of that seriousness, in whatever way fits you.”
“Ah…”
Mi-na’s eyes blinked as if something had clicked into place.
Then she bowed deeply at the waist.
“Thank you so much, sunbae. Really… this helped me a lot!”
“Yeah. Do your best.”
With a light wave, the two parted ways.
“Huuu…”
Man… pretending to be an adult really wasn’t easy.
Still…
‘I hope it helped her even a little.’
As he walked back, a bittersweet expression settled on Min-hyuk’s face.
But when he returned to the classroom—
“Dude, what was it really?”
“If it was a confession, that’d be legendary. Tsk tsk…”
Near his seat, Seung-heon and a few others were excitedly chattering. When they noticed him, they all turned their heads.
Their eyes were already brimming with curiosity.
“What was it? Confession?”
“Confession my ass. She just asked how to become a comic artist. That’s it.”
“Ehhh? That’s it? Lame.”
“Not a confession?!”
“Boring as hell…”
Their 100% excitement instantly plummeted to 100% disappointment.
Like a vertical drop on a roller coaster.
“Alright, alright, go back. Nothing happened.”
“Tch…”
The kids scattered back to their seats as if they’d seen all there was to see.
Min-hyuk let out a sigh and sat down. Seung-heon immediately asked again.
“So what’d you tell her?”
“Hm? About what?”
“How to become a comic artist. What did you say to her?”
“You already know the basics.”
“Come on, tell me in detail.”
For once, Oh Seung-heon asked with an unusually serious expression.
But…
“Shut up, I’m tired… I’m gonna sleep.”
Min-hyuk immediately flopped face-down on his desk and started snoring right away.
“This jerk…”
Would it kill him to just tell me?
Seung-heon stared at him with a sullen face for a long moment before letting out a sigh.
Then he pulled out the sketchbook from his drawer…
Scratch scratch!
…and began earnestly drawing something on it.
***
Ding-dong-daeng-dong!
“Attention! Salute to the teacher!”
4:30 p.m. Finally… bedtime—no, class was over.
“Haaaah, slept so well.”
“…Huuu.”
Min-hyuk and Seung-heon walked side by side toward home.
A cool breeze brushed their cheeks, and trees everywhere were tinged with autumn’s red hues.
At that moment, a greasy, savory smell tickled Min-hyuk’s nose.
He turned his head—there was a bunsik place.
“Hey, what do you wanna eat?”
“You buying?”
“Of course, dude. Hyung’s a pro comic artist now, remember?”
Min-hyuk smirked playfully.
Normally, Oh Seung-heon would’ve fired back with some snarky comeback.
But…
“Then buy me one of those.”
For some reason, Seung-heon pointed at the Pikachu-don katsu in a listless tone.
‘What’s with him?’
Feeling strangely subdued, Min-hyuk tilted his head.
“Auntie, two don katsu please. Soak them in sauce.”
“Here you go.”
Each of them took one and kept walking.
Crunch crunch.
The cheap, greasy flavor of the don katsu blended with the crisp autumn air, adding an extra layer of umami.
Min-hyuk unconsciously lifted the corners of his mouth.
‘Days like this… won’t last much longer.’
Sleeping all day at school, stopping by the comic bookstore after classes with Seung-heon to browse manga, snacking, playing a few rounds of Gunbound, then drawing comics.
A life where he worked hard on his series while fully enjoying the romance(?) of third-year middle school.
It was fun. Satisfying.
But once he entered Animation High…
‘They require dorm living…’
Between assignments and comic studies, he might not even have this much free time anymore.
He was genuinely happy about going to Animation High, but somehow it also felt bittersweet.
‘But… why’s this guy acting like this all of a sudden?’
Min-hyuk glanced sideways at Seung-heon, who was silently tearing into his don katsu.
Normally the guy never shut up, but ever since lunchtime he’d been like this.
‘I have no idea what’s going on…’
Min-hyuk scratched his chin.
Then—
“Hey, Kang Min-hyuk.”
“Hm? What.”
Seung-heon suddenly turned his head and asked with a dead-serious face.
“Do you enjoy drawing comics?”
“Of course I do… that’s why I’m doing it. Not every single moment, though.”
“Enough that you wouldn’t regret doing it for the rest of your life?”
Why was he asking this out of nowhere?
“Why are you suddenly asking that?”
When Min-hyuk opened his eyes wide and asked back, Seung-heon took a deep breath and spoke calmly.
“I want to do it too… become a comic artist.”
“Huh? You?”
What the hell was this all of a sudden?
Min-hyuk’s eyes rounded in shock. Seung-heon furrowed his brow.
“What, I can’t?”
“No, it’s not that you can’t… but why all of a sudden?”
“I don’t know… just hanging around you and helping out, it started feeling fun. Or something like that…”
So that’s why he kept pestering him earlier.
Ah… so this was it.
In that instant, Min-hyuk remembered Seung-heon scribbling in his sketchbook earlier.
And the way he’d obsessively asked what Kim Mi-na (the second-year) had wanted to talk about—it all clicked.
“You’re not just saying this lightly…”
“It’s not like that, asshole. I actually thought about it seriously.”
“Thought about it?”
“I wondered if I was just mistaken—because I like reading comics and saw you doing well. But no matter how much I thought about it… that wasn’t it. I just… really want to become a comic artist.”
“…”
Seung-heon’s voice and expression said it all.
‘This guy is 100% serious.’
Dear God, why are You suddenly testing me like this?
A troubled look completely filled Min-hyuk’s face.