Chapter 63 – Yang Jae-han Invades (2)
After that, Yang Jae-han-sensei’s lecture continued.
If Min-Hyuk were to rate the overall quality of the lecture from his perspective…
‘…This is insane.’
<<I basically focus on reading the desires of the current era and channeling them into my work as much as possible. For example, in my work Aureka… I tried to incorporate trends I observed from the MMORPG games that were hugely popular a few years ago. For instance—>>
<<When it comes to characters, I believe their identity is ultimately established when their past collides with their present. I think a lot about how the “codes” revealed externally to readers connect to that.>>
<<For example, if a new character is an alcoholic and gets a lot of comedy out of it, the range of variation becomes much wider depending on how you set up their past. That’s something you can design by deciding what role this character will play in relation to the protagonist and how they’ll interact.>>
From early planning, to character construction, to the actual process of producing manuscripts—
Every single word carried detail about how he approached his work.
You could feel exactly why, even in the twilight years of published comics, he alone sold tens of thousands of volumes.
And if one more thing were to be added—
‘The word “genius” is actually an insult to Yang Jae-han.’
Most artists, when asked why their work succeeded or failed, tend to fumble or give vague answers.
They create based on intuition—what they personally find fun—drawing from the works they’ve read and their experiences.
But Yang Jae-han operated on an entirely different level.
‘He’s someone who builds works through meticulous calculation.’
And just imagining how much effort he must have put in to reach that point was staggering.
That was also why, in his previous life, after completing Aureka, Yang Jae-han never drew another comic.
For someone like him… perhaps he simply had no lingering attachment left to the medium.
‘Strange feeling.’
In his past life, Yang Jae-han had been nothing more than an idol—an untouchable figure.
But now, listening to him speak, Min-Hyuk felt like he could finally understand him, even just a little.
As the lecture went on for quite a while—
<<Well then, I think that’s all from me… If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I’d be grateful.>>
Hands shot up from all over the room, and questions poured in.
“Sensei, what pen do you usually use when working?”
<<I use both G-pens and spoon pens. Honestly, the specific pen isn’t what matters—it’s about the overall tone of the work… and what kind of mood or intent you want to convey in that scene or chapter. You should choose flexibly based on that.>>
“You said you place great importance on reading readers’ desires during early planning. What desire did you project into <Deadline>?”
<<Primarily the desire for survival, and then—within that extreme situation—the desire to be acknowledged by those around them. Explaining this in detail would take too long… but if you look at newspaper headlines or posts on internet communities, you’ll probably feel some overlap.>>
Perhaps because they were Animation High students—
The questions carried real depth and thoughtfulness.
Especially for Min-Hyuk—who was actually serializing right now—every word hit close to home.
‘There’s quite a lot of overlap with how I planned Brave King.’
Empathy and realization came in waves.
He kept noticing parts he had overlooked and new ways of looking at his work.
It felt like Santa Claus had shown up and scattered gifts through the air.
Min-Hyuk was deeply immersed in listening when—
<<Ah, looks like time’s up. That’ll be all for today’s lecture. Thank you all for listening. I hope you become great creators and show us wonderful works in the future.>>
Yang Jae-han bowed deeply.
Clap clap clap!
Applause erupted, and every student’s face was filled with fulfillment.
‘Naruhodo… that approach to character construction isn’t bad at all.’
‘…Not just pen lines—breaking down the elements you can use according to intent, in finer detail, will make a difference in quality.’
Even though it was short, his lecture had given each person their own small (or large) realizations.
‘Yang Jae-han-sensei is so cuuuute~’
Well… some people, like Kim Rok-hee, didn’t seem to have taken away much of substance.
Yang Jae-han stepped down from the podium after briefly greeting Ma Dong-hyun-sensei and left the hall.
A short while later…
“Alright everyone, line up and exit slowly. Don’t rush or someone might get hurt.”
“Yesss.”
Under the teachers’ guidance, students began filing out of Ani-Hall.
Min-Hyuk was walking back to class side by side with Dong-gyo when—
“Kang Min-Hyuk-kun?”
“Yes?”
Ma Dong-hyun, the department head, stared straight at Min-Hyuk with what looked like an angry expression.
“Follow me. I have something to say.”
“Ah… yes.”
Min-Hyuk nodded and followed Ma Dong-hyun down the far end of the corridor.
“M-Min-Hyuk-kun… what kind of trouble did you get into this time?”
Surely he hadn’t gotten mixed up in something weird…?
Oh Dong-gyo watched his retreating back, adjusting his glasses with a grave look.
***
A short while later, in front of the counseling room.
“Go on in.”
“Ah—yes.”
At Ma Dong-hyun’s instruction, Min-Hyuk swallowed hard and pushed the door open.
Then—
“Oh, hello! So you’re… David-sensei, right?”
Yang Jae-han—the same person who had just given the lecture in Ani-Hall—stood up from his seat and extended a hand.
“Ah—yes. That’s me.”
…So his guess had been right.
The natural way to meet without the students finding out Min-Hyuk was David:
Use the special lecture as an excuse to come to the school, then call Min-Hyuk separately afterward.
From the school’s perspective, having a famous writer give a lecture was a huge win—and in exchange, they only had to lend out one student for a short while. It was an overwhelmingly profitable deal.
And the reason something like this was possible was probably…
“You’re really not normal either. Coming all the way here just to meet Min-Hyuk?”
“Hearing that from you, Ma Dong-hyun-sensei, feels kinda weird.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… you’ve done way crazier things than this back in the day.”
“Tsk… this guy has no filter in front of a student.”
Yang Jae-han grinned mischievously. Ma Dong-hyun smacked him hard on the back.
At a glance, the two of them clearly shared a very close, casual relationship.
‘So that’s how it was… he arranged this through Ma Dong-hyun-sensei.’
Min-Hyuk had heard before that the two were quite close, so he’d half-expected something like this.
“……”
While Min-Hyuk stood there blankly watching their playful bickering—
“Ahem. Anyway, Min-Hyuk. Just hang out with this rotten guy for a bit. I know I shouldn’t, but he kept begging and begging.”
“…Rotten guy? Isn’t that a bit harsh?”
Min-Hyuk gave a small smile and replied,
“No, it’s fine. I really wanted to meet him too.”
“Really? Then good. I’ll leave you two to it!”
Ma Dong-hyun waved carelessly and walked out of the counseling room.
“……”
A brief silence fell.
‘What should I even say?’
“Deadline was really amazing”?
“I’ve been a fan since Aureka”?
“Your lecture earlier was… incredibly moving”?
He tried out different lines in his head, but none felt quite right—his lips refused to move.
Then—
Yang Jae-han spoke first.
“Thank you, Kang Min-Hyuk artist.”
“Huh?”
Thank you? For what, all of a sudden?
As Min-Hyuk tilted his head in confusion, Yang Jae-han gave a soft smile and said,
“It might seem out of the blue, but… honestly, I was planning to quit comics.”
“Ah…”
Min-Hyuk already knew this from his previous life.
He had felt deep regret over it back then.
“Exactly what I said. After finishing Aureka, I was completely sick of comics. I thought there was nothing left to improve. But then… after reading your work, I changed my mind.”
“My work?”
“Yes. I happened to see New Chance while walking by, picked it up—and there was this brazen rookie taking over my slot and starting serialization. I thought, ‘Who does this new guy think he is?’ and gave it a read.”
Min-Hyuk blinked. Yang Jae-han shrugged, let out a small huff through his nose, and continued.
“And damn… it was good. It was the first time in ages I felt pure enjoyment from reading a comic. Before I knew it… I was already preparing a new work.”
“Ah…”
Point.
Yang Jae-han pointed straight at Min-Hyuk’s face.
“School of Deadline exists because of Brave King. That’s why I’m saying thank you right now.”
“……”
Thump!
Min-Hyuk’s heart pounded fiercely.
The king of published comics’ twilight era—Yang Jae-han himself—was declaring that his new work had been born solely because of Min-Hyuk…
And he was saying it with his own mouth.
A rush of emotions—fulfillment, excitement, trembling, overwhelming gratitude—swirled inside him, too complex to put into words.
Min-Hyuk bowed his head deeply and said,
“I feel the same way.”
“Hm?”
“Since middle school, I’ve looked up to your comics… If it weren’t for Aureka, I might never have decided to draw comics myself. So… thank you too. For letting me draw comics.”
“If that’s really true… then the honor is mine.”
“……”
Another brief silence settled between them.
Yang Jae-han scratched his cheek awkwardly and continued.
“Well… let’s put the gratitude aside for now. So… shall we talk about comics?”
“Comics? What kind of talk…?”
“Anything, really. What comics you’ve been enjoying lately, what you’ve been feeling while working on your current piece, your own methods… Just two comic artists talking shop. I think it’d be fun.”
Yang Jae-han’s attitude was completely sincere.
And in his words, Min-Hyuk could clearly feel that he was being treated not as a high school student—but as a fellow professional creator.
Then, Yang Jae-han scratched his cheek again, looking a little embarrassed as he added,
“I might sound arrogant saying this… but honestly, there aren’t many creators I can talk to who truly understand my way of thinking about comics on a conceptual level. That’s why my conversations with other artists usually don’t last long.”
“Ah…”
“But after reading Brave King… I felt like you and I would really click. That we could talk properly.”
Yang Jae-han looked straight at him with unwavering eyes—eyes filled with so much genuine intensity it was almost overwhelming.
‘Man… he really knows how to mess with people’s hearts.’
No wonder he was a first-rate artist.
Min-Hyuk gave a gentle smile and replied,
“Thank you for thinking so highly of me. Then… where should we start?”
“First… would it be okay if I asked you some questions I’ve been curious about regarding Brave King?”
Min-Hyuk took a deep breath, then answered with overflowing confidence.
“Yes. Ask anything you want.”
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