Chapter 57 – War (2)
Around the time dinner hours had just ended, inside the lounge of Korea Animation High AniGo’s dormitory building.
“Haaah… I’m so full…”
“Ughhh, I don’t want to draw tonight. I just want to sleep forever.”
“Sameee.”
A few of the girls were practically half-lying on the chairs, letting out heavy sighs.
Their expressions were so gloomy you’d think they’d already lived through an entire lifetime.
In the midst of that—
Scratch scratch!
In one corner of the lounge, Han Yu-ra sat quietly reading a comic theory book.
<Understanding Comics> by Scott McCloud.
The very book that Choi Jung-an had mentioned at least once every twenty minutes during directing class.
‘Yu-ra… she’s intense.’
‘Is that the level you need to reach to be called a genius?’
She gave off an almost untouchable aura.
If an ordinary kid were acting like that, people would probably just call it showing off…
But since Han Yu-ra had consistently demonstrated overwhelming skill with every assignment, no one could really say anything.
Maybe because of that?
Most people didn’t get close to Han Yu-ra at all—many hadn’t even exchanged more than a few words with her.
Anyway.
While everyone was spending their remaining time in their own ways—
“Everyoneeee~!”
Hop hop! Hop hop!
From the lounge entrance, a rabbit—no, Kim Rok-hee—came bouncing in with springy steps.
All eyes turned toward her.
“Hey, did you… bring it?”
“Ooooh?”
Just as anticipation lit up everyone’s faces—
“Ta-daaa!”
Rok-hee swung the hand she’d been hiding behind her back forward.
“Waaaaah!”
In her grip was a single copy of <New Chance>.
This morning—
- Isn’t <New Chance> coming out today?
- Ahh, I’m so curious about Yang Jae-han sunbaenim’s new work.
- I’m here for Brave King.
David VS Yang Jae-han.
Lately, the Comic Creation Department students had been buzzing nonstop about this showdown between the two creators.
Everyone had been eagerly waiting for this very issue where the two would clash head-on…
So after dinner, Kim Rok-hee and a few others had made a quick expedition to the neighborhood bookstore.
“G-give it here!”
“The cover is insane!”
As soon as Rok-hee handed it over, the girls swarmed around the single copy and started reading it together.
“This is crazy… This is Yang Jae-han’s, right?”
“The art… is unreal.”
Everyone reading <New Chance> was bursting with excitement, letting out little gasps of admiration here and there.
It was a lively, chaotic energy.
Maybe because they noticed the attention?
Han Yu-ra—who had been deeply focused on her book—started subtly glancing over with quick flicks of her eyes.
Catching that, Kim Rok-hee raised the corner of her mouth in a sly smile, then approached…
“Yuuu-raaaa~”
With an overflowing aegyo-filled voice, she plopped down right across from Han Yu-ra and beamed.
“…What?”
Han Yu-ra furrowed her brow in response.
Rok-hee set the bookbag she’d been carrying on her back onto the table.
“Ta-da! I got one more copyyy~”
She pulled out another issue of <New Chance> and continued.
“Wanna read it together? You’re curious too, right? About Yang Jae-han sunbaenim’s new work.”
“That’s…”
Han Yu-ra’s lips twitched as she made a slightly troubled expression.
She didn’t say it out loud, but Rok-hee could tell.
‘Hehe, so stubborn and tsundere.’
There really was something cute about her.
Rok-hee gave a mischievous grin, then…
Scooched over.
She sat right beside Han Yu-ra and opened <New Chance>.
“Let’s read it together. It’s way more fun with someone else.”
“Ahem!”
Han Yu-ra let out a fake cough as if reluctantly agreeing, then fixed her gaze on the magazine.
They started with the very first piece—the one placed at the front: Yang Jae-han’s new work.
The two of them silently turned the pages, taking in the content.
About ten minutes passed like that.
“Wow… insane. The tension is no joke, right? It doesn’t have that tiny bit of cute charm, though.”
Kim Rok-hee smiled brightly as she spoke.
Han Yu-ra’s lip twitched slightly before she answered.
“The directing power is insane. Especially that final panel—hinting that the protagonist has been left alone in the vast ocean, the way it conveys despair was really something special.”
“Right? Exactlyyy.”
“And it planted this huge sense of anticipation about how the ‘failed track athlete’ backstory is going to be used in this world. As expected from Yang Jae-han… he really poured everything into this one. In some ways, this Chapter 1 hits even harder than <Aureka> did.”
Han Yu-ra rattled off her thoughts in a rush, her dialect slipping out as she got more and more into it.
Suddenly sensing something odd, she turned her head to the side.
“Hehe… hehehe.”
Kim Rok-hee was staring straight at her with a sly, mischievous grin.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Nothing~ It’s just… I’ve never seen you get this excited about something before. It’s kinda fascinating, personally.”
“Excited…? When did I—”
“Really not?”
“I just… had a lot to say because the work is that impressive. Wait—no, why do I have to make excuses for this?”
“No no, you don’t have to make excuses at all. Hehe.”
Rok-hee scratched her head, then smiled brightly and turned her gaze back to <New Chance>.
“Then~ let’s see how David-sensei—who’s going up against our Yang Jae-han-sensei—handled this chapter. Hmm~”
As Rok-hee hummed a little tune and flipped the page, Han Yu-ra unconsciously licked her lips.
She could feel it instinctively.
‘This chapter… something big is definitely coming.’
David had been steadily building anticipation and stacking foreshadowing since previous chapters.
If he was going to detonate all of it now, this issue—the one where Yang Jae-han debuted his new serialization—would be the perfect timing.
When they finally reached the <Brave King> pages, the title read:
[♕ Brave King ♕]
[- Chapter 15: Reverse Heaven’s Monarch -]
Flip…
They turned the pages slowly.
And what appeared wasn’t the protagonist’s party… but a group of high school students wearing chess-themed equipment, strikingly similar in concept to the protagonist’s group.
And they…
[“Kieeeek!”]
[“What the hell? These things are disgustingly weak.”]
[“This mission’s gonna be easy. Let’s speedrun and wrap it up quick.”]
In just three cuts, they flamboyantly slaughtered a haetae—a monster that the protagonist’s party had barely managed to defeat after three full chapters of suffering.
And they did it using skills and equipment the protagonist’s group had never even seen before.
Anyone could tell at a glance: these new characters were overwhelmingly stronger than the protagonist’s party.
‘Are we going to get friction between these characters and the protagonists?’
‘Hmmmmm…’
Both Rok-hee and Yu-ra swallowed hard.
While the newcomers were busy mowing down monsters—
They arrived at the center of Gyeongbokgung Palace: Geunjeongjeon.
Scattered around the hall were hundreds of undead soldiers that looked eerily similar to terracotta warriors.
[“Uraaaah!”]
[“Come at us, all of you!”]
But their party swept the monsters aside with ease and racked up points.
Honestly, it felt almost anticlimactic—their dominance was so absolute.
The stark contrast with the protagonist’s party made it impossible to predict how the story would resolve this.
Then, in the middle of the action—
[“Pathetic.”]
A voice echoed from the empty air above Geunjeongjeon.
[“Huh? Who the hell just said—”]
Rumble—!
Lightning struck from the sky…
Crack!
A single sword plummeted down, cleaving one of the characters clean in half.
[“What the fuck?!”]
[“Everyone, battle stations!”]
Immediately after—
BOOM!
Right beside them, a dark figure landed. It pulled the fallen sword from the ground and casually flicked the blood off the blade.
The moment that panel appeared, both Yu-ra’s and Rok-hee’s eyes shot wide open.
‘This is…’
It was a colossal knight—or perhaps something worthy of being called a king.
Beneath a half-rotted face, patches of skull were exposed here and there. The hollow eye sockets, eaten away by maggots, stared blankly.
But what stood out most was the armor.
It gave off an eerie, grotesque impression—as though human blood vessels or twisted living organisms had been shaped into plate.
An overwhelming sense of dread hit them, like they were reading a horror comic.
And in that instant—
Kim Rok-hee felt a faint sense of déjà vu.
‘This design… why does it feel so familiar?’
She tilted her head.
The distinctive screen-tone technique used to create that grotesque atmosphere…
It looked exactly like something she had seen about a month ago.
Han Yu-ra seemed to sense something similar; she narrowed her eyes and stared hard at that single panel.
But after a few seconds of frozen silence—
Flip flip flip!
They pushed aside the strange feeling and turned the page.
What followed was the Monarch’s massacre.
[“Aaaahhh!”]
[“Crazy—this guy’s insane! Status effects aren’t working!”]
[“Bind his ankles!”]
[“He’s disgustingly fast—!”]
The characters who had been one-sidedly slaughtering monsters just moments ago were now being butchered in return.
A few of the higher-tier pieces—Rook, Bishop, Queen—who possessed powerful abilities put up a decent fight, but…
[“You at least gave me a little bit of fun.”]
[“Spare me! Spare meeee! I’ll serve you as my master, so please—!”]
Crunch!
[“Unnecessary. Anyone who dares point a sword at me…”]
In the end, they all met a wretched, miserable demise at the hands of the Reverse Heaven’s Monarch.
It was as if a storm had swept through—nothing but death remained around Geunjeongjeon.
Clank… clank…
The Monarch strode into the hall.
He kicked open the doors, stepped onto the wooden floor, and looked toward the dragon throne on the opposite side, lips curling upward.
[My seat… was already prepared for me.]
The Monarch sat arrogantly upon the throne, resting his chin on his hand.
As though sitting in such a place was second nature to him.
Or perhaps as though he had desperately longed for this very moment all along.
He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them wide, raising one arm high.
And then.
Snap!
The instant he flicked his fingers—
Shiiiiiiiiing—!
Hundreds upon hundreds of spirits poured forth from his fingertips.
[We greet the Monarch!]
[This time, for sure—you will seize the Reverse Heaven!]
[Lord Zilfred! We behold our hero!]
Endless murmurs from the dead—closer to screams than words.
They flew into Geunjeongjeon… and seeped into the scattered corpses of characters and monsters alike.
Then.
Crack… crack…
The spirits breathed life back into the dead bodies, regenerating and raising them once more.
They looked grotesque—like victims of zombies or parasitic creatures.
All of them turned their gazes toward the dragon throne where the Monarch sat.
Thud!
Every single one dropped to one knee and bowed their heads.
Exactly… like Western knights paying homage to their lord.
[“Good. It’s been a long time since we’ve all gathered.”]
And finally, the panel showed the Monarch’s rotting, curling lips.
[To be continued.]
When they finished reading all the way through <Brave King>—
“Haaahhhhh… I can’t breathe. I literally can’t breathe.”
Kim Rok-hee exhaled heavily, patting her cheeks.
“…He’s completely lost his mind.”
Han Yu-ra nodded with a bitter expression, as though she had no words left.
‘This is destructive.’
Honestly, she was shocked.
The protagonist’s party hadn’t appeared even once throughout the entire chapter.
Instead, by introducing a villain with truly overwhelming power and charisma… he had seized all attention.
How on earth would the protagonist’s group survive against this insane monster? What kind of battle would unfold?
Anticipation and mystery exploded simultaneously.
Depending on how the story developed from here, the work’s evaluation could swing wildly—but looking at Chapter 15 alone…
“Wow—insane! Insaaaane! I can’t wait for the next chapter!”
“Isn’t this an absolute crisis situation?!”
The girls were buzzing with excitement, their expectations swelling as they chattered away.
That was the honest, straightforward reaction to <Brave King>.
Han Yu-ra had originally thought David would at least put up a decent fight… but this was far beyond that.
At that moment, Kim Rok-hee spoke again.
“Yu-ra, didn’t you feel it while reading?”
“Feel what?”
“I mean—this Reverse Heaven’s Monarch character design… doesn’t it feel super familiar?”
Han Yu-ra closed her eyes tightly, then opened them again as she answered.
She had definitely felt it too.
“…Are you talking about Kang Min-Hyuk?”
“Yes!”
The monster design that appeared in this chapter.
The atmosphere was eerily similar to what Kang Min-Hyuk had shown them about a month ago.
Their eyes met.
A silent signal passed between Han Yu-ra and Kim Rok-hee.
There was definitely something there.
Something between Kang Min-Hyuk… and <Brave King>.
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