Chapter 79 – Hey, Isn’t That a Bit Harsh?
In the comic community, what was commonly called the “Yang-David War”…
The May first-week issue of New Chance featured the showdown between David and Yang Jae-han.
Back then, the entire community had been in an uproar debating who won and who lost, but the actual results weren’t immediately known.
Because magazine comic rankings—determined by reader surveys—were collected over two months and announced all at once in the following issue.
In other words, the July first-week issue of New Chance contained the combined results of the May-June battles between Yang Jae-han and Kang Min-hyuk (as David).
Min-hyuk narrowed his eyes and asked,
“So you’re saying you want to see the results right now, so you bought the magazine?”
“Ooooh!”
“Haaa… Still, you should hold off and look during break—”
Just as Min-hyuk was trying to somehow restrain Dong-gyo,
“Huh? Isn’t that the July issue of New Chance?”
“Crazy, jackpot.”
A bunch of kids suddenly popped up from behind and stared straight at Oh Dong-gyo.
“Hehe, that’s right.”
“Wow, damn! Doesn’t that have the Ankeito results for David and Yang Jae-han?!”
When Dong-gyo answered with a smug expression, kids immediately started crowding around.
“Hey hey, check it quick.”
“Can you let me see for a sec?”
In an instant, so many kids swarmed that it was impossible to control.
‘Is it really this big a deal?’
Shock was plain on Min-hyuk’s face.
Even Kim Rok-hee—who had just been glaring daggers at anyone causing unnecessary distractions from work—sneakily edged closer and joined the circle.
Then Dong-gyo hugged the magazine to his chest with both arms and shouted,
“No no no! I’m looking first!”
“Eyyy, open it already!”
A strange standoff unfolded between Dong-gyo and the kids.
At that moment, one kid asked,
“But… between Yang Jae-han and David… who do you think won? Probably David, right?”
“Speak sense, man—how could David possibly beat Yang Jae-han?!”
One kid snapped back irritably.
For a split second, Min-hyuk’s shoulders twitched.
“Huh? Is it really that one-sided?”
“They’re on completely different levels—different classes! Didn’t you hear what Yang Jae-han said during his special lecture last time? That David guy or whatever—does he even take comics that seriously?!”
“……”
Wow, the words are really harsh.
‘Well… it’s not entirely untrue.’
Somehow, it felt like he was getting cursed out right to his face.
After that, the kids’ criticism kept pouring in.
“Yeah, Brave King is just riding on its premise—premise carried!”
“But the fundamentals are solid and the directing is good, isn’t it?”
“Hey! Whose side are you on—Yang Jae-han or David?! If you’re from Animation High, you should be cheering for Yang Jae-han!”
“Ah… yeah, that’s true. Yang Jae-han is basically our ‘teacher,’ after all.”
As the mood in the room tilted heavily one way, Dong-gyo adjusted his glasses and said,
“Don’t take it too hard, Min-hyuk-kun.”
“…Take what hard?”
“The thing you worked on was just the armor design for David’s Reverse Heaven’s Monarch, right?”
Min-hyuk roughly understood.
This was Dong-gyo’s clumsy attempt at comfort.
Since they’d worked together before, he probably thought Min-hyuk would feel bad.
But.
“Uh, yeah… that’s true.”
To be precise, that “David” is actually me…
The words rose all the way to his throat, but lacking the courage to deal with the aftermath, Min-hyuk swallowed them down hard.
Right after that.
“David go die!”
“Trash David! Yang Jae-han wins!”
The classroom filled with shouts praising Yang Jae-han and condemning David as some kind of heretic(?).
‘Calling him trash is a bit much, isn’t it…’
Min-hyuk gave a wry, bitter smile.
At that moment, Rok-hee patted Dong-gyo’s shoulder and urged,
“Hurry up and just check the Ankeito results. We need to get back to work soon.”
“Yosh!”
Flip flip! Flip!
Dong-gyo opened New Chance and quickly turned the pages.
The kids’ faces pressed in closer and closer, until his hand stopped on one page.
And at that instant.
“W-what the hell is this?”
“Huh…?”
The classroom fell strangely quiet for a moment.
The kids’ eyes widened like saucers.
It was because of the Ankeito results.
“Does this make sense?”
“The results… are like this?”
[1st – ‘Brave King’ 3,811 votes / ‘School of Deadline’ 3,811 votes]
[2nd – ‘Re:Life’ 930 votes]
[3rd – ‘Loving Relationship’ 833 votes]
……
……
Brave King and School of Deadline.
The two works everyone thought would have a fierce battle had tied for 1st place.
And with the exact same number of votes, down to the single digit.
Below it was the editorial department’s comment:
[Editorial Comment: This time, two incredibly popular works—Brave King and School of Deadline—have tied for 1st place. The vote counts were identical, not a single vote difference, leaving even the editorial team completely stunned.
Thanks to the immense popularity of both works, the number of survey responses this time was about five times higher than usual, and every week the rankings flipped back and forth in a bloody war.
We checked the final tallies right on the deadline day, and this was the result. Honestly, in all our years, we’ve never seen anything like this.
We sincerely congratulate both artists for earning 1st place with such outstanding works, and we want to express our deepest thanks to all the readers who sent so much love that we could witness this epic battle.]
“The vote counts are exactly the same? Is this even possible?”
“It doesn’t seem like a lie…?”
The kids blinked in disbelief.
Then—
“No way! Why couldn’t Yang Jae-han win?!”
“I sent in my survey too! Why won’t David just die?!”
Regretful voices erupted from all over the room.
Seeing them like this…
‘I can never, ever reveal that I’m David.’
Min-hyuk’s resolve hardened even more.
***
A short while later, during break time.
At the far end of the corridor leading to the right staircase, Min-hyuk stood holding his phone.
He glanced around to make sure no one was nearby, then pressed the call button.
Ring ring.
Ring ring ring.
After a couple of rings—
<<Hello, this is Go Gwang-jin from New Chance.>>
The voice of editor Go Gwang-jin came through from the other end.
Min-hyuk scratched his forehead and said,
“Hello, Editor Go Gwang-jin. It’s Min-hyuk. I had something I wanted to ask about…”
<<It’s about the Ankeito results, right?>>
“You’re psychic.”
<<Ughhh, sorry about that one. I really wanted you to win, so I pulled every string I could… but the result ended up like this.>>
A voice full of regret came over the phone.
Somehow, it felt like a serious misunderstanding.
“No, no—it’s not like I lost or anything. It’s not something you could control anyway, Editor.”
After all, Yang Jae-han was someone Min-hyuk had once even considered an idol.
To have gone toe-to-toe with someone like that while still in a high-schooler’s body—and to end up in a joint 1st place—was already an absurd outcome.
There was no way he’d be upset about it.
<<Ughhh, yeah, that’s true… but now it’s unclear which work we’ll send as our entry for the Our Comics Award in the boys’ manga category.>>
“Ah…”
In that moment, he remembered.
Soon, they were supposed to nominate one work from the boys’ manga section for the Our Comics Award.
By convention, around this time they would submit the work that took 1st in the Ankeito results…
But with a tie for 1st, the editorial team must have been put in a tough spot.
<<Huuu, don’t worry too much. I’ll figure something out. If it really doesn’t work, I’ll just threaten to bring a gas canister and set the office on fire—they’ll shove something in then.>>
Whoa, isn’t that way too extreme?
Min-hyuk scratched his forehead again and replied,
“You don’t have to feel that much pressure. If it can’t be helped, it can’t be helped.”
<<Really? I don’t have to stress?>>
“Yeah, don’t stress—just make sure the outcome is good.”
<<No, that actually stresses me out way more…>>
When Min-hyuk said it half-jokingly, Go Gwang-jin responded in a half-whining tone.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of Min-hyuk’s mouth.
<<Huuu… Anyway, that’s how the situation is… Oh right, there’s one more thing I need Author Min-hyuk to do.>>
“Another thing? What is it?”
<<You know the 3rd volume of the collected edition is coming out soon, right? I think we need to prepare the cover in advance.>>
“Ah, right.”
Min-hyuk nodded.
Brave King’s manuscript had already exceeded the length needed for volume 3.
“Is there anything in particular I should pay attention to?”
<<Mmm… This time, I’d like the atmosphere to feel a bit different.>>
“Atmosphere?”
<<It’s the Reverse Heaven’s Monarch episode arc. The episode itself has that overwhelming, dark vibe… I want a cover that grabs the reader’s attention right away—something strikingly unique in mood. From here on out, even the tiniest differences could decide the outcome against Yang Jae-han.>>
“Ah… So basically, make it look impressive and sophisticated?”
<<Ahem. As expected of Author Min-hyuk. You get it right away.>>
“Of course.”
He really wants to push me into the Our Comics Award, huh.
Watching his editor desperately flail to make it happen, Min-hyuk’s mouth curved into a slight smile.
Just then—
Ding-dong-daeng-dong!
The bell rang, and kids started pouring back into the classroom.
“I’ll head back in now, Editor. Got to get back to work.”
<<Got it. You’ve got to do your best, Author Kang Min-hyuk! I’m going all out too!>>
“Yes.”
A unique, impressive-looking cover…
‘Well, I’ll just have to try.’
A relaxed, confident expression settled over Min-hyuk’s face as he walked down the corridor.
***
Scrape scrape! Scrape scrape!
Afterward, Min-hyuk dove back into working on the large sheet.
He moved his hand slowly, steadily filling the paper.
At the same time, thoughts filled his head.
‘Hmm… A cover that really grabs attention.’
Because of what Go Gwang-jin had just said.
With the current tie against Yang Jae-han, he was clearly trying anything to tip the scales.
Well, Min-hyuk intended to respond in kind.
In fact, he had already come up with a rough layout and concept for the volume 3 cover.
The concept for volume 3 was, naturally, “Reverse Heaven’s Monarch.”
The idea was to have the Reverse Heaven’s Monarch standing behind the protagonist, exuding an unsettling aura, while giving the sense that the protagonist was defying it.
The concept itself had no issues, but when the word “unique/different” got layered on top, things started to twist.
Unlike the main story, published comic covers absolutely had to be in full color.
That meant over 80% of the atmosphere came down to the coloring.
‘I can only do digital coloring…’
In his previous life he had done webtoons, so digital was what he was used to and comfortable with—that’s why he chose it.
Thanks to that, the quality had been consistently good so far…
But the problem was that he had never experimented with a wide variety of coloring styles.
Now that he needed to create a cover that would instantly catch readers’ eyes, he had no intuition for what kind of coloring would work best.
‘I need to find some kind of method…’
But the cover couldn’t be delayed too long either.
How long had he been lost in thought while moving his hand?
“Huuuu…”
Is this about right?
Min-hyuk lifted his hand, stood up, and stepped back to look at the full sheet again.
There it was:
A Siamese cat beastman character in uniform, poised energetically as if about to smash a badminton shuttlecock.
The exact image Kim Rok-hee had shown as the concept—now realized.
Since a different person drew it, the mood felt just slightly different.
“Kim Rok-hee, the sketch is done—can you take a look?”
“Already?”
“Yeah, I finished up to the line art.”
Rok-hee, who had been going around the classroom helping the other kids, came over and looked at Min-hyuk’s drawing.
Her mouth curved into a smile.
“Ooh, this is good!”
“Not bad?”
“Yeah, the eyes and the corner of the mouth feel subtly different, but honestly this version has its own charm! As expected of Kang Min-hyuk—the grand prize winner! Way beyond expectations!”
Rok-hee gave her usual bouncy tone and shot her thumb up enthusiastically.
“Coloring clearance granted for takeoff!”
And then…
Min-hyuk scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed expression.
“Um… sorry, but I’m… not good at that.”
“Huh? At what?”
“…Coloring.”
“What?”
A look of pure bewilderment spread across Rok-hee’s face.
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