Chapter 52 – Preparation (3)
One corner of Namdaemun Market.
“Come take a look!”
“One thousand won each! One thousand woooorn!”
“Ah, half off? Then what am I supposed to eat?”
Vendors were calling out to attract customers, while tourists haggled over prices.
Right in the middle of that uniquely lively atmosphere, Min-hyuk and his group were walking along.
Dong-gyo wiped the sweat beads from his forehead with a handkerchief and said,
“Haaah… haaah… Why are there so many people?”
“Is this your first time at Namdaemun Market? This is actually on the lighter side.”
“This… is light? Nan da sore…”
Dong-gyo looked devastated at Rok-hee’s jab.
Min-hyuk let out a small laugh.
As they turned into one alley, Rok-hee suddenly spun to the right and said,
“Then go ahead without me! I’m heading to the fabric market!”
“Sure, see you later.”
She explained she needed to buy materials to make clothes for her ball-jointed doll, Vincent.
Watching her back, Dong-gyo shook his head and muttered,
“I don’t get it. Going through all that trouble just to dress up a doll. I can’t even be bothered to buy my own clothes—Mom just gets them for me… What do you think, Min-hyuk-kun?”
“Well… tastes differ.”
“Tastes differ? You’re really going to accept that as a valid taste?”
…Honestly, someone might say something like that, but hearing it from Oh Dong-gyo felt a little weird.
“There’s nothing wrong with it. We’re all in the animation/comics department.”
Min-hyuk shrugged, swallowing the words he really wanted to say.
Of course, he didn’t completely disagree with Dong-gyo.
He’d only come all this way because he urgently needed screen tones…
If she’d said she was going to buy clothes for a doll, he probably wouldn’t have bothered coming.
But Rok-hee’s behavior itself was…
‘Actually a very good trait for a comic artist.’
Having affection for characters, dressing them up, giving them narratives and stories.
That experience itself couldn’t possibly be bad for creating works.
The cute atmosphere and character charm that permeated all of Kim Rok-hee’s pieces were deeply tied to her personal tastes anyway.
Still… she might be a bit of an extreme case.
“Anyway, let’s focus on what we came here for.”
“…Ughhh, fine.”
The two of them turned and continued walking.
When they entered one particular alley—
“Hmm… so this is the art supply street?”
“Looks like it.”
An entire alley was lined with art supply stores.
From large chain stores to shops specializing in Western painting, Oriental painting, and more…
It was a sight not easily seen in everyday life.
‘Let’s see… the place Artist Shin Pil-ho told me about…’
Min-hyuk stared intently at each shop sign as he walked, then stopped in front of one.
[Comic Land – All comic supplies, rare comic books, illustration books, etc.!]
Beneath the large sign was a store with a very subculture-feeling cat character drawn on it.
A bit worn down, but quite spacious-looking.
Seeing people who clearly gave off the “real deal” vibe going in and out, this had to be the place.
Min-hyuk and Dong-gyo exchanged glances and silently stepped inside.
Then—
“Uoooo!”
Dong-gyo adjusted his glasses and widened his eyes.
The comic supplies scattered everywhere were secondary—
One entire wall of shelves was packed so densely with comic books that it made most comic bookstores look small in comparison.
Dong-gyo exhaled excitedly through his nose.
“M-Min-hyuk-kun! L-Let’s split up for a bit here!”
“Sure, go ahead.”
Tap tap tap!
Dong-gyo dashed off into the forest of comic books.
‘Good thing I brought him.’
Min-hyuk gave a small smile and headed straight toward the comic supply section.
First, he picked up the essentials he needed right away.
‘Might as well grab a few bundles of manuscript paper, G-pens, spoon pens, ink…’
He started by loading up on the consumables he used most.
Since the prices were so cheap—and just mentioning Shin Pil-ho’s name would get him a friend discount—he decided to stock up big while he was here.
After piling the basket high with supplies—
“Huuu… now the real game begins.”
He moved directly into the screen tone section.
Hundreds—maybe more—of different screen tones densely covered the wall in front of him.
Min-hyuk checked his notebook and began loading up the essential tones he needed without hesitation.
And the last thing he had to do now…
‘Reverse Heaven’s Monarch… I need to find the screen tone for him.’
He had to find the perfect screen tone to decorate the armor of the villain who would cap off chapter 15: Reverse Heaven’s Monarch.
Min-hyuk licked his lips and dove straight into selection.
“Hmm… this one’s too matte. This one’s too flashy… This is close, but the saturation’s a bit off.”
He examined each tone one by one, mentally simulating how it would look applied to the Monarch, imagining the final image.
But somehow…
Nothing immediately screamed “This is it.”
‘Analog work really has this disadvantage.’
In webtoons, you could freely modify any asset you had…
But with physical screen tones, that kind of tweaking was impossible—so finding something that was 100% perfect felt incredibly difficult.
Of course, that was also part of the unique charm of screen tones.
‘Still…’
For Reverse Heaven’s Monarch especially, he refused to settle for “good enough.” Min-hyuk kept searching for even slightly better options.
As he let out a sigh and took a side step—
Thump!
His shoulder bumped into someone.
“Ah, sorry.”
“My apologies.”
When he turned his head and bowed slightly—
“Huh?”
“Hm?”
Min-hyuk’s eyes widened.
The person he’d bumped into… was someone he knew very well.
“Artist Shin Pil-ho…?”
“Min-hyuk?”
The benefactor who had introduced him to Editor Go Gwang-jin, and the creator of <Comics Are First Love>—Shin Pil-ho.
He was standing there, staring straight at Min-hyuk.
“What are you doing here?”
“Ah… I ran out of screen tones, so I came to buy some. And… I need to find one really important material too.”
Pil-ho glanced at the overflowing basket, tilted his head curiously, and asked,
“Important material?”
“Ah, yes. Um… it’s for a screen tone I need in chapter 15…”
When Min-hyuk hesitated slightly, Shin Pil-ho scratched his chin as if something clicked and asked,
“Can you tell me what it is? If it’s screen tones, I might be able to give you some advice.”
“Are you sure? Aren’t you busy?”
“Busy? My benefactor is in trouble—how could I not lend a hand, even if it’s just a little?”
“Ah…”
The word “benefactor” made Min-hyuk feel awkwardly embarrassed, and he scratched his forehead.
But whatever.
‘Actually, this is perfect.’
As far as Min-hyuk knew, Artist Shin Pil-ho pursued diversity in directing while still working analog.
That meant he knew how to make the most of various materials.
Just a few days ago, the lead color pages of <Comics Are First Love> had been colored using colored pencils and watercolor.
Someone like that couldn’t possibly be clueless about screen tone usage.
No—in fact, he was the one who had originally taught Min-hyuk how to use them.
There was no better person to ask.
“Um… in Brave King chapter 15, there’s a character called Reverse Heaven’s Monarch.”
After explaining in detail—
“Hmmmm… an armored… medieval fantasy-style monster, right?”
“Yes. I want him to feel grotesque yet terrifying—like he’s no ordinary being. But I can’t find a screen tone that fits perfectly.”
After listening, Pil-ho groaned thoughtfully for a moment before answering.
“This… I don’t think I can give you a clear answer.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah. I don’t know the exact mood or image you’re going for at that timing. If I just guess, I might end up leading you in a weird direction.”
“…….”
Well… that made sense.
After all, Artist Shin Pil-ho had only seen up to chapter 11 of his manuscript.
He couldn’t possibly know the exact tempo or atmosphere that would be built up by the time chapter 15 released.
If he could show the actual manuscript, maybe—but explaining it verbally right now wasn’t going to produce useful advice.
Min-hyuk scratched his head and replied,
“Well… then I guess I have no choice but to keep thinking about it myself…”
“Have you ever tried layering tones?”
“Layering?”
“Yeah.”
Shin Pil-ho reached into Min-hyuk’s basket and pulled out two screen tones.
Two seemingly ordinary tones: one diagonal line tone and one gradient tone.
‘Why would he…’
Just as Min-hyuk was wondering that, Pil-ho overlapped the two sheets and held them up right in front of his eyes.
“This is what layering tones looks like. When you overlap two like this, you can create an entirely new texture.”
“Huh…?”
In an instant, Min-hyuk’s pupils shook.
The two tones he had dismissed as unremarkable—when crossed—produced something that looked exactly like the texture of woven fabric.
“This is a technique a lot of tone-savvy artists use. Layering up to three is pushing it, but two? It gives a completely different feel—keep that in mind. And… if you want to change the vibe again, you can just scrape away parts of the top tone.”
“Huuuuh…”
Why hadn’t he thought of that?
With this method…
‘I might be able to fill in that missing 2%.’
Min-hyuk immediately started grabbing the screen tones he had set aside and putting them back into his basket.
‘This one layered with that one… scrape it diagonally from the top, and it might give a grotesque yet metallic steel feel? This isn’t bad either.’
Whether from joy or excitement, his expression was hard to pin down.
While he was deeply focused on selecting tones, Shin Pil-ho—watching from behind—gave a small smile.
‘Looks like he just had a breakthrough.’
Well, he’d do fine.
Pil-ho never worried about Min-hyuk.
The kid was the type who understood ten things the moment you taught him one.
At that moment, Min-hyuk called out excitedly,
“Hey, Artist-nim! Could you take a look at this combination?”
“Sure.”
They spent about ten minutes huddled over the screen tones like that.
“This should do it.”
“You bought a lot.”
“I figured if I stock up now, I’ll use them eventually.”
Min-hyuk smiled contentedly at the overflowing basket.
“Yeah, the more tones you have, the better.”
Pil-ho nodded with a warm, kind smile. Then Min-hyuk suddenly seemed to realize something and scratched his head awkwardly.
“Ah, sorry, Artist-nim. I got too excited and caused a scene…”
“No no, it was fun for me too. Haha! It’s nice seeing you after so long. How’s that guy Gwang-jin treating you? He’s not being annoying, is he?”
“No, he’s been great.”
“Good to hear.”
In the middle of their conversation, Min-hyuk scratched his head again, a little embarrassed, and asked,
“Um… how’s your work going these days? The lead color pages in the latest issue were absolutely incredible!”
“Not bad. Thanks to you, Min-hyuk.”
Thump!
Pil-ho placed a hand on Min-hyuk’s shoulder.
“Huh? What did I do?”
“What do you mean ‘what’? You did everything. If it weren’t for your help… I wouldn’t have wrapped up the last work so well, and this one wouldn’t be doing this well either. When I call you my benefactor, I mean it every time.”
“Come on… <Comics Are First Love> is all your work, Artist-nim.”
“No, it isn’t.”
Perhaps because of the sudden barrage of praise—
A subtle, awkward atmosphere filled with embarrassment hung between them for a moment.
Then—
“Um, excuse me!”
“Hm?”
Both heads turned to the side.
Standing there was a sturdy high school boy—Oh Dong-gyo—pointing at them with wide eyes.
“C-Could that be… Artist Shin Pil-ho from New Chance? The one who draws <Comics Are First Love>?”
“Yeah? That’s me… Who are you?”
When Shin Pil-ho tilted his head in confusion,
“Uoooooh!”
Thud!
Dong-gyo dropped to his knees dramatically and roared with emotion.
“I’M A FAN! ARTIST-NIIIIIM!!”
Inside the art supply store, countless eyes turned toward them.
‘…This is so embarrassing.’
For a brief moment, Min-hyuk turned his head away in mortification, pretending not to know him.
“Huh?”
Shin Pil-ho blinked in bewilderment, giving an awkward smile.
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