Chapter 93 – How to Interpret a Character
At his desk, Kang Min-hyuk was sipping coffee from the mug beside him while scribbling something on his sketchbook.
But his face was filled with worry, and heavy sighs kept escaping his lips.
“What should I dooooo…”
While he pressed his fingers hard against his furrowed brow,
Ding-dong!
An alert chimed from the computer speakers.
When Min-hyuk turned toward the monitor, he saw the Late-On chat room.
[Late-On Comic Land Prep Room]
[Kim Rok-hee: How’s everyone’s progress going~?]
Kim Rok-hee had sent a message to check on everyone’s work status.
[Han Yu-ra: No problem.]
[Oh Dong-gyo: We’re going to flip Comic Land upside down, so look forward to it.]
“Looks like everyone’s doing well.”
A bitter expression crossed Min-hyuk’s face. Then, a message from Seung-heon arrived.
[Oh Seung-heon: I-I’m… working hard too! Can you guys take a look?]
[Han Yu-ra: Send it]
[Oh Seung-heon: GagDoujin.zip]
Min-hyuk extracted the zip file Seung-heon sent and immediately checked the contents.
Once again, it was Seung-heon’s signature chaotic gag comic—pages not particularly well-organized.
[Heyyyy! My goal is world domination!]
[Uh, that’s not here… that’s next door.]
[Ah, sorry]
As always, the characters’ completely out-of-context actions and lines that made you want to retort from the reader’s perspective…
The so-called “king-irritating” content.
Min-hyuk let out small snorts of amusement at the peculiar sense of humor.
[Han Yu-ra: Funny lol]
[Kim Rok-hee: Looks pretty good to me too?]
[Oh Dong-gyo: Ahem… yeah, not bad at all. I’m getting a really good feeling about the beautiful goods that are about to be born…]
[Oh Seung-heon: Oh, really?]
Everyone seemed to share similar thoughts—positive reactions poured in one after another.
In the middle of that, the arrow turned toward Min-hyuk.
[Kim Rok-hee: Kang Min-hyuk, how’s your doujinshi coming along? A secondary creation doujinshi drawn by Kang Min-hyuk for Reietsu no Headler… I’m starting to get excited.]
[Kang Min-hyuk: I’m still… in the planning stage.]
[Oh Dong-gyo: Ooooh, I’m looking forward to it too. A doujinshi by Min-hyuk-kun!]
[Han Yu-ra: He’ll handle it fine on his own.]
[Kang Min-hyuk: I’ll do my best.]
[Kim Rok-hee: Aigoo, acting all humble again.]
“…Haaaah, I’m not acting humble.”
Min-hyuk scratched his head roughly and looked down at the sketch papers scattered across his desk.
They were covered in notes about all the ideas he had brainstormed so far.
The characters appearing in Reietsu no Headler—the doujinshi Min-hyuk had to make.
Lists of every character, their motivations and desires, usable ideas—everything was jotted down in detail.
He had been repeating this process nonstop from last night until now, so the volume had piled up quite a bit.
But the tiny (?) problem was—
“What should I even do… what…”
Among all of them, there wasn’t a single idea that truly grabbed him.
Some concepts and ideas weren’t bad in terms of quality, but they were far too safe and ordinary.
The whole reason Min-hyuk had chosen Reietsu no Headler in the first place was because he thought the experience itself would be educational, and he hoped it would ultimately help with Brave King.
But if he picked something this ordinary, it was obvious it wouldn’t amount to anything meaningful.
At the very least, he wanted a subject that would be fun to work on…
Even that was proving difficult.
Moreover, something he hadn’t realized until he started working—but after repeatedly reading Reietsu no Headler, he came to one conclusion.
‘This author… really puts a huge difference in depth and affection between the characters he loves and the ones he doesn’t.’
For a comic that supposedly revolved around “character appeal,” surprisingly few characters in Reietsu no Headler actually had real depth or charm.
Most of the pages were devoted to just a handful of main and supporting characters.
Outside of those chosen few, the rest barely had any character substance at all.
Even when trying to reinterpret, nothing really clicked, which made it even more difficult.
“Huuuuh……”
Frustrated, he opened the book once more.
[“Alright, the story that begins now… is about two mages who veered off the fork in the road of fate.”]
[“Hey you, pay attention.”]
[“This story is really fun, you know.”]
In the early part of the work, a character dressed as a mage looked directly at the reader before the introduction began.
A character who served as both the author’s self-insert and a fourth-wall-breaking device… used in a framed structure to pull the reader into the story.
Since the character itself didn’t need much narrative depth and was used purely functionally, the design was plain and the expressions blank.
If one were to compare this character to something in Brave King…
‘…Something like Coupler, maybe.’
The Dalmatian mascot Coupler, who hosted the game in Brave King.
In Min-hyuk’s case, because of the death-game genre, he had put considerable visual effort into Coupler to make him feel like a true mascot…
‘But functionally, they’re quite similar.’
Both the narrator character in Reietsu no Headler and Coupler in Brave King were difficult for readers to feel much attachment toward.
Since they existed purely for function, they revealed almost no desires, backstory, or purpose.
Well, in Coupler’s case, though still incomplete, Min-hyuk had planned to give him some character depth in the later parts.
Things like why he became the death-game host, why he looked like a Dalmatian… and so on.
At first, he was created just for visual shock, but once a reason was given by the author, there was always room for interpretation.
Right then.
“Hm?”
Min-hyuk’s eyes suddenly widened.
A single thought had flashed through his mind out of nowhere.
‘If there’s no visible desire or charm at all… wouldn’t it be better if I gave it to them instead?’
In a way, it was an obvious thought—an obvious idea.
But…
Because this was his first time doing secondary creation, he had unconsciously limited himself.
He had assumed that the work he did had to stay strictly within the character traits already present in the original.
The moment he placed such a rigid frame on himself while simultaneously demanding it be “not clichéd” and “a new experience”—two conditions that were practically incompatible—how could anything come out?
The moment his thinking broke out of that box, everything felt completely different.
Twisting or changing the character traits of an existing character could be seen as damaging the original work and might feel unpleasant to fans…
‘But for characters who exist only functionally, with no real backstory or personality… there’s actually a lot more room for me to interpret.’
For example, just like the ‘Narrator’ character he had just seen in the early parts of Reietsu no Headler.
“Alright.”
Thump! Thump!
His heart started beating faster.
It felt like a ball that had been stuck in place suddenly gained momentum and began rolling down a hill.
Min-hyuk’s gaze returned to the early pages of the comic…
…to the Narrator.
Then he began jotting down the elements this character possessed.
‘No distinct physical features, breaks the fourth wall to speak directly to the reader, explains things as if he himself is writing Reietsu no Headler… that’s about it.’
The method was simple.
Take the elements Min-hyuk had just listed and approach why the ‘Narrator’ possessed them—not from a functional angle… but from a narrative one.
‘What if he wrote this because he genuinely wished for such a thrilling hero story to happen in real life? Or maybe he’s actually acquainted with the characters who appear in Headler.’
Thoughts exploded inside his head all at once.
Just moments ago it had felt like a barren desert…
Now the ideas were overflowing so much that he couldn’t even organize them properly.
And in moments like this, Min-hyuk knew a good method.
“I wrote a novel. No… maybe it’s more like a memoir. Maybe it’s a story about someone I know. What kind of feelings do I have toward Headler? And how do I know about the readers watching from outside the screen right now? Hmmmm……”
A strange, soft, almost androgynous voice slipped out—different from Min-hyuk’s usual tone.
It was the voice he imagined for the ‘Narrator’ of Headler.
He was role-playing—method acting—by fully stepping into the character’s position and situation.
It was the most basic technique in character building, yet incredibly helpful for organizing thoughts.
“…The reason I’m aware of the readers is because I’m a mage who can connect dimensions… the so-called dimensional observer magic. You’ve seen it in Headler, right? There were a few hints about dimensional magic scattered throughout. Yeah, the ‘Black Lineage Mage’ mentioned as the final villain. Actually… I know that guy a little. Heh heh heh… don’t be too shocked, okay?”
His brow furrowed, then he let out a villainous laugh.
The pitch of his voice rose and fell as the performance continued.
Among the lines, he gradually adjusted toward ones that felt more natural and emotionally resonant.
And as those elements merged with the worldview and the narrator character indirectly and directly revealed in Reietsu no Headler, another narrative began to take shape.
When the all-out performance had continued for a while—
“There’s a reason I narrate. I’m manipulating the story from behind the scenes. Yeah, that’s it. You never would’ve guessed, right?”
The character’s direction finally solidified.
A mage from the past who dabbled in forbidden magic and became trapped in the gap between dimensions…
But now he was waiting for a chance to escape while observing the world of Reietsu no Headler.
If he could escape from here—what would he do?
Reietsu no Headler, the child of destiny.
“If I could use that child…”
Min-hyuk wore a sly, wicked smile and tapped his fingers rhythmically on the desk.
He looked exactly like a villain straight out of a comic or movie.
Right in the middle of being deeply immersed in the role—
“…Min-hyuk-ah, is something wrong?”
“Huh? Wrong? I told you—I need the child of destiny to escape beyond the dimensions… Hm?”
Min-hyuk, who had been talking animatedly, suddenly turned his head to the side.
There, standing in front of him…
…was Hong Mi-seon, looking down at him with a worried expression.
In her hands was a tray piled high with fruit.
“…Uh, Mom, it’s not like that. I was just… trying to act out a character I’m creating. That’s all.”
A mix of embarrassment and mortification appeared on his face.
‘I’m dying of secondhand embarrassment.’
From Hong Mi-seon’s perspective, the current Min-hyuk must have looked exactly like a son suffering from full-blown chuunibyou.
Hong Mi-seon gave an awkward smile, set the tray on the desk, and said,
“Right… Here, eat some fruit.”
“…Yes.”
An strangely awkward atmosphere lingered as Mom slowly backed away…
…and left one last comment.
“My son… f-fight on. If it’s too hard… take breaks, okay?”
“Ahaha, yes.”
Min-hyuk’s shoulders slumped.
“…Damn it.”
He let out a long sigh and made a face like he wanted to cry.
***
Eight days had passed since they officially began preparing for Comic Land.
“F-Finally… done…”
Kang Min-hyuk, looking utterly wrecked, let out a deep breath.
Trying to handle both Brave King’s manuscript and the Comic Land doujinshi at the same time had turned out to be far more work than expected.
And the Comic Land manuscript in particular had required even more hands-on effort.
Scanning, color correction, lettering…
Normally the New Chance editorial team would have handled all of that, but Min-hyuk had to do everything himself, which was incredibly tedious.
‘Thank you, Editor Go Gwang-jin.’
After spending a week that was anything but vacation-like, Min-hyuk felt his stamina completely drained.
He collapsed forward onto the computer desk, breathing raggedly.
Ding-dong!
Right then, the Late-On notification chimed.
When he lifted his head…
[Kim Rok-hee: Everyone! Is the work finished? You need to send it today so I can get everything printed on schedule!]
Kim Rok-hee’s message appeared.
As Min-hyuk trembled and reached for the keyboard—
[Han Yu-ra: Done.]
[Han Yu-ra: Doujinshi_HanYura.zip]
The first file arrived in the group chat—Han Yu-ra’s manuscript.
“Han Yu-ra…”
He wondered how she had done it. He was genuinely curious…
A faint spark of anticipation appeared on Min-hyuk’s face.
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