Chapter 60 – Each on Their Own Staircase
Scratch scratch.
Inside Shin Pil-ho’s studio, while the assistants busily worked away…
Min-Hyuk and Seung-heon were also deeply focused in one corner.
At one point, Min-Hyuk lifted his head and glanced sideways.
Then—
Swish swish! Swish!
He saw Oh Seung-heon confidently drawing pen lines, applying ink, layering screen tones, and cutting them with practiced ease.
After watching quietly for a moment, Min-Hyuk asked,
“You… your skill has improved a lot, huh?”
Back when Seung-heon had helped with Brave King’s assistant work before, he’d been decently skilled—but not this good.
Seung-heon narrowed his eyes and replied,
“You think I’ve just been playing around? I come help Pil-ho ajusshi every weekend, and I’ve been practicing on my own too.”
“Oh, really?”
…This guy’s pretty impressive.
Min-Hyuk wasn’t sure if it was right to think this about a friend, but honestly, that’s how he felt.
‘I should work hard too so I don’t become a burden.’
The corners of his mouth lifted as he picked up the pace.
About an hour passed like that.
“Huuu—done, done, done!”
“Good work, everyone!”
The moment the work wrapped up, everyone let out deep sighs like they’d just finished a marathon.
“We’ll head out now.”
“Thanks for everything. Get some good rest.”
One by one, the half-asleep assistants trickled out of the studio. Shin Pil-ho saw them off.
Once everyone had left and only the three of them remained—
Pil-ho gave an embarrassed smile and said,
“Aigoo, sorry, sorry. I made plans and then ended up causing trouble.”
“It’s fine. What trouble? Just buy us something delicious.”
“Yeah, say the word. Today I’ll treat you guys to a full course.”
Pil-ho thumped his chest with full confidence.
Min-Hyuk and Seung-heon exchanged glances and let out small laughs.
***
A short while later, inside a barbecue restaurant.
Sizzle sizzle!
Shin Pil-ho diligently grilled the meat and placed it on the plates in front of the two boys.
“Mmm… this place is good.”
“Right? It’s new, but it’s already getting a lot of customers.”
Pil-ho smiled contentedly as he watched them eat happily.
While they were enjoying the meal, Pil-ho asked,
“By the way, Min-Hyuk—how’s school these days?”
“Me? It’s fun. The assignments are all comic-related, and I’ve been getting a lot of help with my manuscripts too.”
At that moment, Seung-heon took a big gulp of cola and said,
“Mmm… so jealous. Seriously jealous.”
Min-Hyuk shrugged.
“If you really want to come, just repeat a year and apply.”
“N-no… that’s a bit…”
As the two chatted, Pil-ho scratched his chin and slipped in,
“Speaking of which… Brave King Chapter 15 was no joke. Honestly, even I was shocked when I read it. I knew you were good, Min-Hyuk, but I didn’t expect you to pull off something like that.”
“Huh? You felt that way too, ajusshi? I thought it was really fun. Honestly, it didn’t feel like it lost to <Deadline> at all. By the way, Kang Min-Hyuk—how are you planning to beat the Reverse Heaven’s Monarch? If they win in this situation, won’t it break the power balance?”
“That’s… something that can be handled depending on how it’s written, I guess…”
“If it were you, ajusshi, how would you resolve it?”
“Me? No idea. We’ve got the author himself right here—why don’t you ask Kang artist-nim…?”
When the two turned to him with eyes full of curiosity, Min-Hyuk just smirked and waved them off.
“Ahh, no spoilers. If you’re curious, buy the magazine and read it yourself.”
“Tch, stingy.”
“Min-Hyuk, I didn’t know our friendship was this shallow.”
The two teased him playfully.
After that, the meal continued naturally.
“Anyway, this time a new assistant suddenly stopped showing up starting the next day. To fill the gap…”
“Really?”
“At school I got my sketchbook confiscated twice already just for doodling.”
“…Honestly, that’s kinda your fault.”
“My fault? What fault? What’s wrong with running toward your dream?!”
They spent the next hour or two catching up—sharing stories that had built up over the past few months, complaining, talking about recently read comics that were fun or just okay… classic otaku talk.
After about one or two hours had passed,
The three of them left the restaurant with full, bulging stomachs.
“Thanks for the meal, sunbaenim!”
“Thanks, ajusshi!”
“Nah, it’s nothing. Of course I should treat you. Anyway… we’re full now. It feels a bit of a waste to just go home. Want to do something else? Karaoke’s fine, comic café’s good too… whatever you guys want, just say it.”
Looked like Pil-ho sunbaenim was planning to treat them to a full day today?
Well, taking this chance to blow off some steam and act a little childish didn’t sound bad.
Back in high school, he used to do this kind of thing a lot with Seung-heon.
Min-Hyuk stroked his chin, thinking about what to suggest—
“Um… instead of that… is there somewhere quiet where we can talk?”
“Quiet?”
“Yeah… somewhere like a café would be nice…”
Oh Seung-heon spoke with an awkward expression, fidgeting like a puppy that really needed to go.
“What’s with you all of a sudden?”
“What do you mean ‘all of a sudden’? Can’t I want to go to a café?”
It wasn’t that he couldn’t, but seeing someone who usually avoided quiet places suddenly suggest one felt strangely off.
As far as Min-Hyuk knew, Oh Seung-heon was about as far from “quiet” as a person could get…
Min-Hyuk tilted his head at the unexpected suggestion.
Then Shin Pil-ho looked straight at Seung-heon and answered,
“Well then, let’s go to that big roadside café over there. It’s spacious and pretty quiet.”
“Ah—yes! Thank you, ajusshi!”
The three of them quickly headed to the nearby café.
Once they’d ordered drinks and sat down…
Shin Pil-ho spoke up.
“Alright, if you’ve got something to show, let’s see it now, Seung-heon.”
“Huh? You already knew?”
“Of course. You suddenly want to go somewhere quiet? I’ve known you long enough to guess what that means. I can read you like a book.”
Huh? What’s he talking about?
Min-Hyuk tilted his head again, unable to follow the conversation, when Seung-heon rummaged through his large backpack and pulled something out.
It was… a stack of manuscript pages.
On top of the stack was a finished page, complete with clean pen lines.
“What’s that?”
“I’m submitting to a contest soon, so I made this manuscript. Since I was meeting ajusshi anyway, I wanted some feedback.”
“Huh?”
“What’s with that reaction?”
“It’s just…”
Contest? Feedback?
Two words that felt completely out of character for Seung-heon had just come out one after another, leaving Min-Hyuk momentarily stunned.
As Min-Hyuk’s eyebrows twitched, Pil-ho—who had already started reading—spoke up.
“Seung-heon’s been working really hard lately, Min-Hyuk. Whenever he has time, he comes to help out and brings manuscripts for feedback.”
“Really? Him?”
“Yeah. Lately he’s been quite the handful—in a good way.”
Pil-ho said it like that, but the proud look on his face was unmistakable.
Seung-heon sat with his knees neatly together, face full of nervous tension as he waited.
Seeing that…
For some reason, a memory from the past flashed through Min-Hyuk’s mind.
- Webtoon artist? You’re gonna quit your company job to become a webtoon artist?
- Yeah… I thought about it a lot, but I feel like I need to do it now.
- So what exactly are you planning? How are you going to make it work?
- There’s this contest at Bluehouse right now…
Back in his previous life, when he’d quit his public-sector job to challenge himself as a webtoon artist.
The night he’d confided in Seung-heon over drinks, nervously explaining his dreams—he must have looked exactly like Seung-heon did now.
While he was lost in thought, Shin Pil-ho—who had finished reading—scratched his forehead and began.
“The overall flow is much better than before.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. It reads smoothly, nothing really sticks out. Readability-wise, there’s almost nothing to complain about now.”
“Ooooh!”
Just as excitement lit up Seung-heon’s face at the praise—
Pil-ho’s feedback barrage began in earnest.
“But… it’s not fun.”
“Huh?”
“There’s no rhythm or emphasis in the directing, so it’s hard to feel any excitement. It lacks that strong desire to make certain parts hit hard. This section feels watered down from too many revisions… but what you originally wanted to show was the twist that the protagonist was actually the one who caused the accident, right? Then you can’t just pass over it with safe panel layout and directing. You should’ve exaggerated that cut more, or tried a completely different directing approach. And next page.”
“Uh—uhh… wait, wait—let me take notes.”
As Shin Pil-ho relentlessly hammered him with feedback, Seung-heon hurriedly pulled out a notebook and started scribbling.
He leaned forward intently, listening with utmost seriousness.
Even his slightly tense face carried a look of desperate earnestness.
Min-Hyuk, sipping his iced Americano through a straw, watched and let a small smile tug at his lips.
‘He’s been working even harder than I thought.’
He’d seemed pretty serious the last time he showed something, but…
Min-Hyuk hadn’t expected this level.
Seeing him grow so quickly filled him with a strange sense of warmth.
“That’s all from me.”
“Haaah… damn it… can I even submit this to the contest now?”
Pil-ho smiled and set the manuscript down. Seung-heon shook his head, face pale.
Then Pil-ho turned to him and asked,
“Seung-heon, you’ve got more to say, don’t you?”
“More… to say?”
“You know what I mean.”
Pil-ho nodded toward Min-Hyuk.
“Ah… um… that is…”
“Go on. Don’t regret holding back.”
“……”
With a gentle push from Pil-ho, Seung-heon slowly turned his head—as stiff as a rusty joint—and spoke.
“Um… dear, esteemed Kang Min-Hyuk artist-nim…?”
“Why are you being so gross all of a sudden?”
“…Um… could you maybe read my manuscript and give me some feedback? I’m planning to submit it to the Jump Comics Newcomer Contest…”
Ah, so that’s what it was.
Min-Hyuk stroked his chin, then raised the corner of his mouth in a grin.
“Of course I can. But…”
“Mm?”
“If I beat you up too hard, I’m not taking responsibility, okay?”
Gulp.
Seung-heon swallowed hard and nodded.
“Of course. That’s how it is, right…? Writers are supposed to grow by getting beaten down.”
“Then let’s do this as feedback… Here you go, Min-Hyuk artist-nim.”
“Got it!”
Min-Hyuk took the manuscript from Pil-ho, straightened his posture, and began reading intently.
Flip flip… flip…
After turning through several pages…
A stunned expression spread across Min-Hyuk’s face.
“W-Why? Is it bad?”
“No, not that. I’ll tell you after I finish reading—just wait a sec.”
“Ugh… okay.”
Honestly, he was shocked.
Not in a bad way—very much the opposite.
‘Can someone’s skill really improve this much in such a short time?’
Just a few months ago, Seung-heon’s art and understanding of comics had been at an elementary-school level…
But now, honestly—if they were measured against the kids at Animation High, he still wouldn’t be called “good.”
‘Compared to a few months ago, though… it’s insane growth.’
At the very least, it now looked like actual comics.
Just reading it made it clear.
How seriously—and how desperately—Oh Seung-heon was approaching comics right now.
When he finally finished the manuscript…
“Alright… here we go.”
Min-Hyuk spoke with a completely serious expression.
***
Late into the night.
Min-Hyuk, Seung-heon, and Pil-ho walked down a street lit by orange streetlamps.
Seung-heon smiled faintly.
“Man… that was fun.”
“Fun? All we did was beat your manuscript to a pulp.”
“That’s what made it fun. Getting feedback like this—thinking ‘if I fix this part, it’ll get better’—that’s the exciting part.”
At that moment, Pil-ho chimed in.
“Seung-heon… what’s with you acting so out of character?”
“Out of character?! What’s ‘in character’ supposed to mean?!”
“Tch. Shin sunbaenim, please keep kicking his ass whenever he shows up. If you leave him alone, he’ll go completely off the rails.”
“Got it. I’ll remember that.”
The three of them burst into quiet laughter at the silly back-and-forth.
Before long, they arrived back at Pil-ho’s studio.
“Alright, get home safe.”
“Thanks for everything today, sunbaenim.”
“I’ll come again next week, ajusshi!”
“Sure. Seung-heon, keep working hard. And Min-Hyuk artist… well, you’ll figure it out.”
After Pil-ho disappeared inside, only Min-Hyuk and Seung-heon remained, walking together.
A slightly chilly night breeze blew, and the orange streetlights cast a strangely dreamlike glow.
Seung-heon spoke first.
“Kang Min-Hyuk.”
“What.”
“To be honest… I was really jealous of you.”
“Yeah?”
“Of course. I thought you were just some guy who played games and read comics with me, laughing like an idiot. But you’re doing everything you want, and getting real results. If I wasn’t jealous, that’d be weird.”
“……”
Min-Hyuk scratched the bridge of his nose, unsure how to respond.
Seung-heon continued.
“So it kept eating at me. What the hell am I even doing? Is it okay to keep living like this…?”
“You don’t have to think that way…”
He was about to say Seung-heon was still too young to be so pessimistic—
But Seung-heon looked straight at him and said,
“Then at some point, I realized just being jealous wasn’t enough. If you want something, you have to take action that matches it, right?”
“…Yeah. That’s true.”
Maybe he felt embarrassed.
Seung-heon squeezed his eyes shut, rubbed his foot against the ground, and continued.
“So… just wait. I’m going to work my ass off and catch up to you soon.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to run like hell so you don’t.”
“Cut me some slack.”
Pfft.
A smile spread across both their faces.
Deep in the night, under the warm orange glow of the streetlamps… in a quiet alley.
That was all.
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