Chapter 48 – If You’re Going to Do It, Do It
Late Saturday night, inside Go Gwang-jin’s room.
<<We’ll now conduct our survey. If you had to pick one person here who seems like they’d protect their girlfriend the best…?>>
<<Hey, why are you asking a married man about a girlfriend?!>>
“Heh heh, hehehehehe!”
Half-reclining on the sofa, Gwang-jin was cackling at the weekend variety show on TV.
After pulling all-nighters throughout the week and making a long trip to Daejeon today to meet an artist, his body was completely drained.
He’d already eaten delivery for dinner, and in about thirty minutes he planned to order a whole chicken to go with beer.
Pure debauchery.
If he didn’t at least rest like this on the weekend, there was no way he could keep going—so he was genuinely giving it his all to relax.
While he was savoring this oasis-like break—
Bzzzzz! Bzzzz!
“Ughhh… damn it.”
His phone vibrated violently. Gwang-jin wriggled over to check it.
[Kang Min-hyuk Artist]
The familiar name on the screen.
Gwang-jin let out a deep sigh and pressed the call button.
“Call connected.”
<<Editor-nim, are you available?>>
“Yeah, sure. What, did you finish the storyboard?”
<<Yes, I sent it by email. Please take a look and let me know what you think.>>
“Got it.”
He hung up immediately, pulled his laptop over, and opened it on the table.
“Tch… do I really have to do this?”
A bored, half-hearted expression appeared on Gwang-jin’s face.
Of course, he welcomed an artist’s passion and drive.
But the pages for Brave King chapters 11–14 had already gone through multiple meetings and revisions.
The quality was good. Honestly, he thought they were fun…
So why was Min-hyuk willing to risk burning through the saved buffer just to rework them? Gwang-jin genuinely didn’t understand.
‘Well… let’s at least take a look.’
They’d agreed: if he wasn’t convinced after seeing the storyboard, he’d cut it off himself.
Gwang-jin sighed heavily and opened the email.
Dozens of scanned storyboard pages were attached.
He saved them neatly into a folder and began reading slowly.
“Still as clean as ever.”
How could this possibly come from a high school student?
He had combined existing finished pages with the newly revised storyboard into one seamless file.
A small detail, but…
Thinking that Min-hyuk had gone out of his way to make it easy for the editor to read made Gwang-jin realize once again how those little touches turned into real skill.
(Of course, it was really just the 34-year-old career-man Min-hyuk’s ingrained work habits from his previous life—but Gwang-jin would never know that.)
Anyway.
Approving this revision was a completely separate matter.
“Hmm… he completely removed the early exposition part?”
Click! Click!
Gwang-jin’s eyes sharpened. He licked his lips unconsciously.
“…Ho?”
The carefully crafted opening section—where the host explained the rules in detail—had been boldly cut.
Instead, Min-hyuk had replaced it with the first monster encounter at Gyeongbokgung, showing several characters dying in gruesome ways.
Just like the early monster scenes in the Namsan Tower episode, the focus was now squarely on emphasizing the monsters’ overwhelming force and terror.
The revised storyboard up to chapter 14 felt, in a single word… like an endless upward-ascending rollercoaster.
‘How the hell is he going to resolve this?’
Even just looking at the unfinished storyboard, his breath caught. Tension made his heart race.
He couldn’t even predict how the story would wrap up from here.
Once he finished reading the revised sections… finally, the storyboard for chapter 15—the one that would go head-to-head with Yang Jae-han—appeared.
Gulp.
‘Alright… let’s see it.’
What exactly had our Min-hyuk prepared to take down Yang Jae-han?
Click! Click!
Gwang-jin’s fingers moved the mouse. His eyes darted rapidly left and right.
And when he had read through the entire storyboard—
The corners of Gwang-jin’s mouth slowly crept upward.
“Ahahahahaha! This is insane!”
Go Gwang-jin burst into wild laughter, shot up from his seat,
Grabbed his phone,
And pressed the call button.
Riiiing! Riiiing!
<<Hello?>>
“Kang Min-hyuk Artist! I’ve checked the storyboard!”
The moment Min-hyuk picked up, Go Gwang-jin’s voice shot up in pitch, crisp and businesslike.
A brief silence followed before the reply came.
<<How is it?>>
“Before I answer that… let me ask one thing. Even if you reuse some of the existing pages, the amount you’ll have to redraw from scratch looks like at least three full chapters. Are you really sure you can handle this without missing a deadline and keep the serialization going?”
<<Yes, of course I can. No matter what, I will never miss a deadline.>>
Min-hyuk’s voice carried unshakable seriousness.
‘This kid really can’t be stopped.’
Gwang-jin squeezed his eyes shut for a second, then opened them wide, corners of his mouth rising as he shouted with unrestrained enthusiasm.
“Then let’s do it! Full revision approved! This is absolutely insane—in the best way. With this, I seriously think you can take down Yang Jae-han!”
The exhaustion that had weighed down Gwang-jin’s face just moments ago was suddenly replaced by blazing fighting spirit.
***
Near Bucheon Station, inside a newly built officetel with a view overlooking the city through large windows.
“Everyone, please check the storyboard one more time.”
“Yes.”
Four people—three men and one woman—sat around the meeting table, intently reviewing copies of the storyboard.
They flipped back and forth through the pages with grave expressions, checking every detail.
Watching them quietly, one man finally spoke up.
“How does it look?”
“Hmm… overall it’s good, but I think the last two pages could use more directing impact.”
“More impact in the directing… I’ll think about that.”
“For me, the cut on page 4 and the one on page 7—I feel like removing them entirely and extending the neighboring cuts would make the overall rhythm flow better.”
“Yes, let’s just cut those.”
“What about the dialogue in this section? Can we drop it completely?”
“No, that part feels necessary.”
The man at the head of the table jotted down notes rapidly while exchanging opinions nonstop with the others.
The pale, gaunt man seated there was none other than…
The comic artist Yang Jae-han.
The flagship creator who had carried New Chance for years, once hailed as the last hope of Korean comics… and the man who had sworn, after finishing Aureka, that he would never draw again.
The reason he was now passionately discussing with his assistants was simple: to raise the quality of his new work, set to launch in May, to the absolute maximum.
After the intense round of discussion, Yang Jae-han set down his pen, let out a long, exhausted sigh, and said,
“Huuu… It’s been so long since I did this. It’s really not easy.”
“Haha, but I’m having fun.”
“Me too! I’ve been waiting for this day!”
“Min-ji, we all know that already.”
Soft chuckles rippled among the assistants.
When Yang Jae-han had announced he was quitting comics, they had all thought scenes like this would never happen again.
Yet just a few months later, they were reunited—everyone still caught between disbelief and excitement.
Then one female assistant raised her hand energetically.
It was Kang Min-ji—the one who had been the most heartbroken when the studio disbanded.
“Um, Artist Jae-han? Can I ask just one question?”
“Go ahead.”
“That… why are you doing a new series?”
“Why?”
“Well… when we disbanded, you said you were never going to draw comics again. So I was just suddenly curious… why the sudden change of heart?”
Jae-han scratched his chin for a moment before answering.
“Brave King.”
“Brave King?”
In an instant, the assistants’ eyes widened.
“Yes, Brave King. You’ve all read it, right?”
“Ah… yes.”
They all nodded.
After Aureka ended, this new work had swooped in, claimed the throne, and risen to become a major hit.
With marketing slogans like “David challenging Goliath”… and the actual quality and entertainment value far beyond what anyone expected from a rookie, it was impossible not to notice.
“After reading it… I got kind of pissed off. Because it was fun.”
“You got pissed off because it was fun?”
“Yeah… it felt frustrating somehow. I thought it was more fun than Aureka, and better made. If I quit comics now, I’d probably never be able to surpass that work for the rest of my life.”
“Hmm… it’s that good?”
“I still think Aureka is better. Right?”
“Of course—who drew it?”
The assistants raised their voices, trying to hype him up.
Jae-han gave a wry smile and said,
“That artist… is a middle school student.”
“…Huh?”
For a moment, silence fell over the studio.
“Middle school student…? What do you mean…?”
“Please explain in detail.”
Jae-han shrugged lightly.
“Exactly what I said. I heard from the department head that a third-year middle school kid brought in the Brave King manuscript, crushed all the other seasoned pros, and won the serialization slot. Apparently he’s in high school now, but… that’s not really the point, is it?”
In an instant, the assistants’ faces looked like they’d seen a ghost.
One of them clutched his head and groaned.
“Ughhhh… self-loathing. That thing… was drawn by a middle schooler?”
“Damn genius. Just die already.”
All of them were assistants and aspiring comic artists at the same time—so they understood exactly how absurd and unfair this was.
“You all get how I feel, right?”
When Yang Jae-han gave a faint smile,
“Down with David! Down with Brave King!”
“Beat the middle schooler to death!”
“Uoooooh!”
They all shouted in mock outrage, half-joking.
Jae-han lifted the corner of his mouth slightly and returned to checking his own storyboard.
“Well, with all of you here, I’m confident we can pull this off. Even in my opinion, this manuscript is going to turn out really fun.”
“We’ll win! We’re definitely winning!”
“We’ll pour our souls into it!”
The title of the work being prepared in Yang Jae-han’s studio was <School of Deadline>.
A school-life story mixed with zombie apocalypse elements, sprinkled with game-like mechanics…
A comic that delivered nonstop, relentless entertainment.
The four people gathered here were the very ones who had planned and story-boarded <School of Deadline>.
But regardless of whose work it was…
They were certain.
Even if someone else had made this, it would still be terrifyingly addictive—a perfectly crafted, hook-filled comic.
And they were grinding it down from the storyboard stage, polishing every last detail with obsessive care.
A new work created by pouring everything the best artist had to offer.
Honestly, if you exaggerated a little, it felt like nothing else could possibly take number one.
‘We’re going to win.’
‘This is going to devour New Chance—no, the entire Korean comic industry.’
That was why confidence overflowed from everyone in the studio.
Jae-han clenched his fist, his face brimming with certainty, and said,
“Let’s check the storyboard one more time. Today… we finalize up to chapter 3, so we can start inking tomorrow.”
“Yes!”
The opening act had begun—
The battle for number one in New Chance.
No—the fight for the top sales spot in the current Korean published comic industry.
***
Late evening, inside the New Chance editorial office.
“Haaaah… I’ll head out first.”
“Good work, everyone.”
One by one, the editors who had finished their tasks left the office.
As the number of people in the room thinned out noticeably—
Tap tap tap! Tap tap tap!
One staff member’s fingers flew across the keyboard without pause.
Song Jae-kyung.
The ace of the editorial team, in charge of New Chance’s cover designs and overall volume editing.
Right now, he was fully immersed in designing the cover for this issue of New Chance.
At that moment—
“Jae-kyung, how’s the cover coming along?”
“Ah…”
When he turned his head, Department Head Song Mi-hyeon stood there, arms crossed, staring at him with hawk-like eyes.
Jae-kyung scratched his forehead, slid his chair slightly aside, and said,
“It’s going well. Take a look.”
“Hmm… not bad.”
The cover prominently featured Brave King.
Its clean, stylish art style blended perfectly, creating quite an impressive atmosphere.
Mi-hyeon stared at it intently for a moment, then snapped her fingers.
“Jae-kyung, sorry, but can you add one more line of text at the bottom?”
“…What text?”
Scribble scribble!
Mi-hyeon tore off a sticky note, quickly scrawled something with a ballpoint pen, and handed it to Jae-kyung.
When he read it, his eyes widened dramatically.
“Seriously… can we really write it like this?”
“Just do it.”
With a sharp tone, Song Mi-hyeon nodded firmly.
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