Chapter 102 – A New Opportunity
[Hello, Writer Kang Min-hyuk. This is Pan Hee-hyun, whom I met at Comic Land. I briefly greeted you at the booth and received your autograph back then—I’m not sure if you remember me.]
[The reason I’m contacting you is none other than to offer you a serialization proposal for your work.
Judging from the short story you showed at Comic Land last time, Writer-nim clearly has more than enough capability to work as a professional…… and that’s why I’m reaching out to ask if you would like to work together with our editorial department.]
[Currently, our Bluehouse is developing and publicly operating a system called ‘Webtoon’ for serializing comics within the Bluehouse portal. (Please refer to the link)]
[Right now, the webtoon system isn’t widely known to the public yet. However, we believe it will gradually grow and expand. Moreover, at the platform level, we plan to provide massive support for it.]
[I’ve sent the detailed vision and blueprint to Writer-nim’s email. If you have any questions or anything you’d like to discuss, please feel free to contact me anytime. I’ll be waiting for your reply.
– Sent by Pan Hee-hyun, Assistant Editor, Bluehouse Webtoon Editorial Department –]
A text bomb that went beyond a mountain of rice and felt more like arriving at an all-you-can-eat unlimited refill restaurant.
Min-hyuk skimmed it once with his eyes, then held his phone out forward.
“You guys…… got a message like this too?”
Then everyone nodded and held out their phones.
“Yeah, the content’s a bit different, but it looks like a serialization offer came from here?”
“Same here, pretty similar.”
“Me too.”
Seeing infinite refill texts filling every screen, it seemed they had all received emails with roughly the same content.
‘They must have contacted us after seeing ‘that.’’
Min-hyuk chewed over the memory for a moment.
- What’s this on the table?
- Our contact info and minihomepi addresses. Quite a few people come in after seeing them at Comic Land.
He remembered Kim Rok-hee saying it was standard at Comic Land and writing down everyone’s emails and minihomepi addresses on one side.
They must have seen it while getting autographs and reached out.
And the fact that contacts came to all of us……
Meant there was at least one more person who received a text with this content.
Wooooong!
Another text arrived on Min-hyuk’s phone.
He could guess who sent it without even looking.
[Oh Seung-heon: Yo! Kang Min-hyuk! I got a text from Bluehouse! Jackpot! Jackpot jaaaaackpot!]
Min-hyuk nodded and typed back.
[Me: Got it]
[Oh Seung-heon: Why such a dry reaction?]
‘As expected…… it came to him too.’
Then everyone standing in front spoke up one by one.
“Oh Seung-heon too?”
“So he got contacted as well.”
“Yare yare…… Isn’t this just them poking everyone?”
Well, half right, half wrong.
As far as Min-hyuk knew, at this point in time, Bluehouse Webtoon was essentially run single-handedly by Editor Pan Hee-hyun—a place that could barely be called a team.
In a situation like this, reaching out one by one wasn’t just random poking……
‘It means they’re desperately in need of real writers.’
All five who participated in Comic Land received the proposal.
‘The situation…… just got interesting.’
While Min-hyuk stroked his chin, the other kids chattered.
“So what are you guys gonna do?”
“Hmm. Does doing something with Bluehouse even mean much?”
“Not really. I’m already swamped just with what I’m serializing now.”
Hearing reactions like this felt extremely unfamiliar from Min-hyuk’s perspective.
- Haaa, how am I supposed to prepare my next work? What if I fail the review?
- Come on, someone of Writer-nim’s level will pass the review easily, right?
- It’s not that simple, it really isn’t……
In the future, Bluehouse would become so renowned as a serialization platform that even famous established comic artists occasionally failed the review process.
Seeing the kids say it’s nothing special or worrying about it felt incredibly awkward from Min-hyuk’s standpoint.
“Ughhh. I don’t want to get busier either. I still have to prepare Comic Land goods too.”
“Min-hyuk-kun, what are you going to do?”
“I’m already busy enough as it is, so it’ll probably be tough for me.”
“Then I guess I won’t do it either.”
“Me neither!”
Just as everyone seemed to quickly give up, Min-hyuk spoke again.
“Hmm, if you’re not too busy, wouldn’t trying it out be fine?”
“Huh? Why all of a sudden.”
Min-hyuk stroked his chin for a moment.
The reason he brought this up was simple.
‘Joining Bluehouse from the very beginning comes with enormous advantages.’
Pan Hee-hyun, the future representative.
From what Min-hyuk knew, she had several characteristics that set her apart from other editors.
- Writer Min-hyuk, if it’s comfortable for you, feel free to call me noona!
- Noona? Suddenly?
- Because all the other writers do it too.
She placed tremendous emphasis on the fact that the most important thing in a comic platform was ultimately the ‘writers.’
She was famous for fostering a culture where editors and writers kept no distance, spoke casually, and chatted comfortably.
And perhaps because of that tendency.
‘She was also famous for keeping loyalty with the writers.’
When a writer sacrificed for the platform?
Pan Hee-hyun was always the one who gave back more than that to the writers.
The writers who provided works to Bluehouse in the early days and contributed to the growth of webtoons.
Representative Pan Hee-hyun didn’t just call them “noona” or “unnie” with words—she treated them like real siblings.
Even if the payment and treatment at Bluehouse weren’t that great right now, starting serialization at this point carried tremendous significance in that sense.
But……
Explaining all this to the kids right in front of him?
If he told them the truth as is, it would obviously be dismissed as nonsense.
Even Min-hyuk himself would have thought it was nonsense if he didn’t have future knowledge.
That’s why, to persuade them……
He needed a slightly more adult-like approach.
Min-hyuk scratched his chin and said.
“Editor Pan Hee-hyun is someone with real skills. She’s passionate too.”
“Huh? How do you know that?”
“I heard it from Writer Shin Pil-ho.”
“Huh? That Shin Pil-ho Writer-nim?”
Everyone’s eyes widened round.
The reaction came because they all knew well that Min-hyuk had been Writer Shin Pil-ho’s assistant.
“Yeah, I vaguely heard it from Writer Shin Pil-ho a while back. That there’s this Editor Pan Hee-hyun who has a great reputation in the industry. Passionate, skilled, and that Bluehouse is a platform with a promising future.”
“Ughhh, really? Now that a writer-nim said it, I’m kinda drawn to it for no reason.”
“Me too…….”
Interest began to appear on the two kids’ faces.
“Well, the choice is yours. But just so you know, even if Han Yu-ra and I don’t do it, that doesn’t mean you have to skip it. Personally, I don’t think this opportunity feels bad at all.”
“Okay. I get what you mean.”
“I’ll think about it too.”
The two kids answered positively.
Min-hyuk lifted the corner of his mouth slightly.
At that moment, Rok-hee tilted her head and asked.
“But Kang Min-hyuk, what’s that ‘busy’ thing you’re talking about?”
“Uh…… huh?”
“You said getting the Bluehouse offer seems good from your view. But then what’s the busy thing that makes you not want to do it?”
“Ah, that’s…….”
Min-hyuk scratched his cheek, and Han Yu-ra glanced at him sideways.
“It’s a bit hard to explain in detail. I have something separate I’m doing. Like a side job, I guess.”
“Huh?”
As he answered with an awkward smile, Dong-gyo pushed up her glasses and asked back.
“By any chance, Min-hyuk-kun. Are you…… doing something similar to Yu-ra-san?”
“Huh? What do you mean.”
In an instant, sweat beads formed on Min-hyuk’s forehead and his throat went dry.
‘Did he notice?’
It wasn’t entirely impossible.
No matter how much he’d tried to hide it throughout the semester, there was no way Min-hyuk hadn’t made any mistakes at all.
He might have let slip something that could serve as a hint, and considering Dong-gyo had strangely sharp instincts when it came to things like this……
It was possible he figured it out.
That Kang Min-hyuk’s true identity was the writer of Brave King, ‘David.’
Gulp.
Tension filled his face when Dong-gyo spoke in the most serious voice imaginable.
“You’re preparing for a contest, right! Am I correct?”
“Huh?”
Min-hyuk’s eyes widened round, and Dong-gyo and Rok-hee reacted at the same time.
“See, I knew it! Look at that flustered expression!”
“Min-hyuk-kun, if you were doing something like that you should’ve just said so! This is making me feel left out?”
“Uh, that’s…… not exactly it.”
“You can be honest with us! Really, right?”
“Of course!”
The two poured out words excitedly.
Min-hyuk tried to salvage the situation by throwing in a few more words.
“If there’s anything we can help with, just tell us anytime! We’ll help as fellow comrades!”
“Hehe, same here!”
For some reason, the two had arbitrarily jumped to their own conclusion.
‘……Well, does it matter?’
Somehow, this left a slightly uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.
While Min-hyuk pursed his lips.
Ding! Dong! Daeng! Dong!
The bell signaling the end of break rang out.
“Ah, damn…… already over.”
“Haaaa, let’s head back.”
The kids made dying faces and trudged back toward the classroom.
As the group filed out noisily and Min-hyuk was about to follow behind.
Han Yu-ra crossed her arms and spoke.
“You’d better come clean properly, huh?”
“Huh?”
“How long do you think you can keep hiding it from them? It’d be better if you told them yourself before it gets too late, right?”
“…….”
When Min-hyuk blinked, Han Yu-ra walked straight out into the hallway.
Then……
“Huuu, this isn’t easy.”
Scratching his head with a somehow complicated expression, Min-hyuk left the lounge.
***
After the contact from Bluehouse came, each person decided on their stance.
“Han Yu-ra, you’re obviously not doing it, right?”
“Of course. It’s not like I have two bodies.”
In Han Yu-ra’s case, since she had to start full serialization in Jump Comics, she naturally passed on it.
[Oh Seung-heon: I’m going for it!!! We agreed to start serialization within two months!]
[Me: Congrats. Now Oh Seung-heon is officially a comic artist too.]
[Oh Seung-heon: Artist my ass, it’s 500,000 won a month.]
[Me: If you’re getting paid, you’re pro.]
It seemed Oh Seung-heon had accepted Pan Hee-hyun’s proposal and decided to officially serialize his contest honorable mention work, ‘Earth-Destroying Level Gag Impact.’
‘It’ll probably do well.’
Min-hyuk was certain.
That unique sick humor of his matched perfectly with the current needs of the webtoon market……
The kid’s comic had a high chance of succeeding.
And Dong-gyo and Rok-hee as well……
“Hehe, I decided to do it, Min-hyuk-kun! They said I can draw beautiful girls!”
“Me too, well, they said I could draw whatever cute stuff I wanted! It’ll probably help with promotion for Comic Land too! I even told Teacher Jung-an!”
It seemed they had accepted the proposal according to their own desires.
Once that conclusion was reached.
“So now the whole Comic Land family has debuted as pro comic artists? Except for Min-hyuk-kun.”
“Why isn’t Kang Min-hyuk participating…… It’d be nice if we all debuted together.”
The two subtly started pressuring Min-hyuk.
“Haha, I’ll do it later, later. I have to finish what I’m doing right now first.”
“You mean the contest, right?”
“Fighting!”
“That’s…… not exactly it. Anyway.”
‘Man, they really make things awkward.’
Every time, Min-hyuk deftly changed the subject and refocused on Brave King’s work.
First priority was finishing the overall flow all the way to the end.
The inspiration he gained while working on the Comic Land zine was a huge help here.
Because……
Min-hyuk had decided to bring the moderator character, the Dalmatian furry ‘Coup-ler’—who had so far only functioned mechanically—to the forefront.
‘Having Coup-ler turn out to be the final boss would be fine too. The protagonist ultimately breaking the game’s system itself would be the most dramatic. And it would connect perfectly with the ending I originally had in mind.’
The conclusion of a work is important.
Especially when it’s a hit that has already built a fanbase.
Whether he could deliver an ending that satisfied the readers or not would be the single most decisive factor in whether those readers would follow his name to his next work.
For Min-hyuk, who planned to make a major shift to the webtoon medium after finishing this work, this was something he needed to pay even more attention to.
So while delivering a shocking twist was important, he focused more on how well it aligned with what the readers wanted……
Or how ‘coolly’ the characters that had been treated as important so far were directed.
Once a satisfying conclusion emerged.
‘Build up what kind of desire Coup-ler has by sprinkling hints throughout this episode. I need to include scenes where the characters express doubts about it too. So the ending doesn’t feel out of nowhere.’
He broke down the content into sections and pinned down the parts that absolutely had to be included.
While progressing through episodes, the villains of each episode, the games being played, the characters dying or surviving, and the highlight direction would change.
But as long as he didn’t lose sight of this main thread, there shouldn’t be any major problems in advancing the work.
After perfectly completing the groundwork for racing toward the finale……
“Huuu, it’s done.”
Now it was time to dive straight into working on this chapter.
The title and main theme of this episode……
‘Cannibalism among kin.’
Up until now, battles against enemies that anyone could clearly see as monsters.
This time, breaking out of that framework, it dealt with conflict against people you could actually talk to.
English-speaking American high schoolers around the same age as the protagonist’s group appear.
Through this process, the cruelty that unfolds and the fundamental questions they have about this game are revealed.
Also, how each member of the protagonist’s party has their mentality shattered in ways unique to their character traits.
Since he had already roughly outlined the framework……
He could now move into full storyboard work.
Scratch scratch! Scratch scratch!
But as he started laying out the storyboard like this.
‘Something’s off here, isn’t it?’
Staring blankly at the roughly completed storyboard, a deeply dissatisfied expression gradually spread across Min-hyuk’s face.
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