Chapter 101 - Proposal from a Big Shot (Scheduled)
“With the Bucheon Comic Awards, starting this year, government influence is going to come into play.”
“Government influence? What do you mean by that?”
At one word from Oh Han-cheol, Shin Yo-seop’s eyes widened round.
“You know well that the current administration has recently been pushing the slogan ‘Contents Korea,’ right?”
“I don’t watch the news much…….”
“Anyway, they’re pushing that slogan now. And as one of the parts, there’s talk of wanting to promote comics quite a bit. So lately, it seems they’ve been in continuous contact with the Bucheon mayor’s side as well.”
“That means…….”
As Shin Yo-seop’s eyes narrowed, Oh Han-cheol tapped his fingers together and continued.
“Starting this year, the standing and prestige of the two major comic awards will completely change. At the Bucheon Comic Awards, the Grand Prize will be changed to the Presidential Award, and the Best will become the Ministerial Award.”
“…….”
A stiff expression rose on Shin Yo-seop’s face.
A complex mix of determination, anticipation, and resolve.
Han-cheol lifted the corner of his mouth slightly and spoke again.
“Writer-nim, Crow King…… there isn’t much left until the finale now, right?”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“Then, time the finale to coincide with the Bucheon Comic Awards. I’ll provide full support fire, so I’d like Writer-nim to cooperate accordingly.”
At that, Shin Yo-seop took a deep breath, closed his eyes tightly, then opened them and answered in a calm voice.
“If it’s to crawl, I’ll crawl. If it’s to roll, I’ll roll.”
“…….”
“But in return, please make sure I win the Grand Prize by any means necessary.”
“Very well.”
Inside the conference room, a very…… heavy and serious atmosphere began to fill the space.
***
After the second semester began.
The usual daily life at AniGo continued once again.
Practice, assignments, studying, free drawing sessions.
Days repeating like a hamster wheel.
And in the midst of that, if there was a special event for Manchang and the kids, it would be this.
“Hey, the new issue of Jump Comics is out!”
“Wow damn, is Han Yu-ra’s work in there?”
“Look.”
Han Yu-ra’s work ‘Melton: Chronicles of the Demon World’ had officially begun serialization in Jump Comics.
Min-hyuk also bought a copy because he wanted to see if the manuscript turned out well, and read it.
‘Nice job, Han Yu-ra. It’s definitely much more polished than what you showed me before.’
The direction, the dialogue, the overall completion level of the art itself—it all felt noticeably better than the last manuscript she showed Min-hyuk.
Her sense of humor had improved, and the pacing control was close to perfect.
It really felt like the artist’s skill was visibly rising in real time.
[I dare you to touch my child! I’ll kill you, you bastard!]
The first chapter ended with the high-ranking demon father charging at the enemy rushing toward the protagonist and landing one solid hit.
It kept the overall concept of the work well while making readers look forward to what comes next.
‘If I don’t want to get left behind, I’ll have to struggle hard too.’
The corner of Min-hyuk’s mouth lifted slightly.
And as he turned another page.
Along with a stylish, impressive illustration of a character wearing feather armor reminiscent of a crow, the following sentence was written.
[Crow King! Finally, the identity of the final boss is revealed!]
“Ah, this work.”
Min-hyuk’s mouth curved upward.
Crow King.
Along with Aureka, one of the hugely popular works that divided the Korean comic industry during this period.
If Yang Jae-han, the writer, was someone who possessed evenly high stats in direction, dialogue, character design, and reached the extreme of so-called “commercially successful” works……
Then Shin Yo-seop, the writer of Crow King, belonged to the complete opposite camp.
‘He was a writer who reached the extreme of stylishness.’
The art was so stylish it felt like looking at an illustration collection, and it had destructive power in driving the story with his unique heavy atmosphere.
Because of that, its broad public reach was relatively lower, but among comic enthusiasts, there were often cases where people valued the unique flavor that only Crow King possessed even higher.
The past Min-hyuk liked Aureka the most, but……
When he was bored, he often read Crow King too, so he remembered it.
Feeling oddly nostalgic for no reason, Min-hyuk continued reading Crow King’s manuscript.
[I’ll smash everything. All of you…… so that you never forget my name for eternity.]
“Huh? Was the original line like this?”
The scene where one of the heroes named ‘Crow’ in the story removes his mask and reveals that he was the mastermind behind all the incidents so far.
Clearly, even though Min-hyuk had read Crow King, he didn’t remember this scene at all.
In the original story, a new main villain was introduced, given narrative and episodes, and slowly built up……
But now, somehow……
‘It feels like the work is rushing toward the final phase?’
It felt much faster than the pacing he had in mind back then.
This version did bring anticipation and fun in its own way, but something felt off.
‘Is this also a butterfly effect?’
There was no way to rule out the possibility that Min-hyuk, while drawing Brave King, had directly or indirectly influenced things.
The simplest thing to think of was……
‘It somehow feels like he’s building up toward the comic awards.’
Writer Shin Yo-seop had been compared to Writer Yang Jae-han throughout his entire career—a sort of rival relationship.
But unlike his previous life, Yang Jae-han was now serializing his new work ‘School of Deadline,’ so perhaps that had lit a fire under him.
And probably……
He was pushing this hard to go head-to-head at the comic awards coming at the end of the year.
‘That’s fortunate. That I’m not clashing with this writer.’
Honestly, half of him felt regretful, and half felt relieved.
Either way, he planned to pour everything into Brave King and launch the finale like a firework.
He was just a tiny bit curious what the result would be if they faced off directly.
‘Well, let’s do our best.’
Min-hyuk lifted the corner of his mouth slightly and closed the magazine.
Anyway, moving on.
After serialization began, Han Yu-ra had become a celebrity within the school.
“Yu-ra, give me an autograph!”
“Give me paper.”
“Me too, me too! I’ll definitely buy the volume when it comes out!”
“Okay.”
Not just classmates, but kids from the animation department, and even people from other grades came looking for Han Yu-ra to ask for autographs and act friendly.
At first, Han Yu-ra seemed to accept this kind of reaction calmly.
“Yu-ra!”
“Yeah.”
“Autograph please!”
“Okay.”
“Please, I’ll cheer you on!”
“…….”
But as the days passed, one could clearly see fatigue piling up on her face.
……
……
One day.
During drawing class, in the break time.
“I’m tired…… so tired.”
In the lounge on the lower floor, Han Yu-ra stared out the window while chugging a canned coffee.
From behind her, Kang Min-hyuk chuckled and replied.
“See? Being a comic artist and getting recognized by others has absolutely no upside.”
“……Should I just reveal that you’re David?”
As Han Yu-ra narrowed her eyes and spoke, a chill ran down his back.
She was dead serious.
Min-hyuk waved his hands frantically.
“No, of course not. If you do that, I’m dropping out.”
“Tch. So weak.”
Yu-ra frowned and finished off the remaining coffee.
Min-hyuk stroked his chin and asked back.
“Do you hate it that much? Getting attention? Being noisy isn’t so bad in its own way.”
“It’s annoying. It gets in the way of working. Especially Kim Rok-hee…… she’s such a pain.”
Crack!
Yu-ra’s body trembled as she crushed the empty can.
Memories from the past few weeks came rushing back vividly.
- Kyaaa! Everyone! This right here is Writer Han Yu-ra! Isn’t she pretty? And her skills are even more amazing than her looks! Please check out ‘Melton: Chronicles of the Demon World’ a lot!
- Stop it.
- Come on, come on, line up if you want an autograph, line up! Haha, Yu-ra and I are best friends! If you have anything to say, ask me!
- Best friends……?
- We’re besties, right, Yu-ra! We went to Comic Land together, ate dak-galbi together! Right?
- Is “best friend” maybe short for “begging-to-be-hit” friend?
- Haha! Yu-ra’s good at joking too!
Was it just fun to tease Han Yu-ra?
Or was she genuinely excited and bouncing around because her friend succeeded?
Maybe both.
Kim Rok-hee’s atrocities (?) of pouring oil on a fire, fanning the flames, and even detonating a bomb.
Even Min-hyuk, watching from the side, couldn’t help but shake his head.
If Rok-hee ever found out that Min-hyuk was ‘David’……
‘I don’t even want to imagine it.’
Just thinking about the disaster that would unfold made goosebumps rise and his spine chill.
But.
‘Still, it’s not all bad.’
Having one more person in the exact same situation.
Even though Han Yu-ra was complaining like that, she was properly handling her studies while serializing in Jump Comics.
Her grades were at the top tier, and the quality of her assignments was high.
To the point where, in many ways, she seemed better than the regressed Min-hyuk.
Having someone like her nearby meant Min-hyuk couldn’t afford to let his guard down or slack off.
And if there was one more good thing.
‘It strangely gives a sense of camaraderie, should I say.’
The classmates didn’t know he was the writer of Brave King, David, so there were many things he couldn’t say.
But once he started talking openly with Han Yu-ra, sometimes he could vent his true feelings.
A slight sense of camaraderie had formed.
Even though this side still had its secrets.
‘This isn’t bad either.’
Min-hyuk smirked, lifting the corner of his mouth.
Then Han Yu-ra narrowed her eyes and said.
“What’s so funny?”
“No no, it’s not like that. I just thought of something else and laughed.”
“Watch it, you.”
“Yessir yessir.”
After that, the two of them poured themselves diligently into their works.
‘I won’t lose to that guy.’
‘Han Yu-ra…… she really went all out on the assignment, huh?’
As comic artists working on their pieces, and as students going through school life.
They both struggled desperately to produce the best possible results.
If someone were to define the relationship between these two……
Yes, this expression fits perfectly.
‘Rivals.’
***
“Ki-kill meeeee…….”
“Damn it, why did I even come to Animation High.”
“I miss Mom.”
Today too, as evening arrived.
In the always peaceful(?) daily life of Animation High, the kids let out joyful screams…… no, wails of agony.
This applied to Han Yu-ra and Kang Min-hyuk as well.
“……Haa.”
“I’m dying.”
At the table, the two chugged canned coffee and slumped over.
Like wet laundry hanging on a clothesline.
The absolute volume of work they had to handle was already massive to begin with.
‘Because of that damn Kang Min-hyuk…….’
‘Damn it, I overdid it just because the fire got lit.’
From the moment they started recognizing each other as equals in competition……
It’s human nature for the desire not to lose and stubborn pride to surge.
- Oh, Min-hyuk’s storyboard…… the direction is really excellent?
Back and forth.
Every time they achieved something, every time they got better feedback, one’s mouth curved up while the other’s face twisted.
- Yu-ra’s character design, the overall planning intent comes through really well. I like it.
Childish, but precisely because it was childish, the fight became even more desperate.
Thanks to that, both their works and assignments saw a ridiculous jump in density, leading to this unfortunate situation.
As the two accepted their karma with heavy sighs……
“Why are you two so exhausted?”
“Yu-ra-san must be tired from working on her comic, right?”
Rok-hee and Dong-gyo, standing across from them, tilted their heads and asked.
“Then why is Kang Min-hyuk like that?”
“Min-hyuk-kun…… well, he’s just living diligently, I guess?”
And just as the two of them were chattering away nonstop.
Ziiiiing!
“Huh?”
“What the hell, suddenly.”
A sudden vibration sound.
Startled, all four of them almost simultaneously pulled out the phones from their pockets.
But……
Everyone’s eyes widened round.
“What is this?”
“Uh, is this for real?”
“You got this text too?”
They exchanged glances and muttered one by one, as if confirming.
**************
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