Chapter 103 – Hoping That He, Too, Can Lean On Someone
Kang Min-hyuk’s current episode, ‘Cannibalism among Kin.’
This was the first episode where the characters had to commit murder not against monsters, but against other people.
Using this process to make both the characters and the readers harbor doubts about the death game itself that was unfolding in Brave King was undoubtedly important.
However, more important than handling such setting-related elements……
‘Is the character psychology…… really like this?’
Throughout Brave King, the in-story characters had been pushed to their absolute limits.
But so far, the crises they faced had been based on the relatively simple goal of ‘their own survival.’
Thanks to that, the relationships among the characters—who had been awkward and clashing in the early parts—somehow patched up and connected, gradually approaching the theme that the early Kang Min-hyuk had constructed……
The theme of ‘forgiveness’ for this work.
But this episode had a completely different tone and direction.
[Of course we have to kill them! We have to! Don’t you think so?!]
[……I-I hate it. Killing a person…… how am I supposed to do that? You’re telling me to become a murderer?]
[We have to find another way! A way to survive without killing!]
[You think something like that exists, you idiot?]
The sense of rejection and conflict over having to kill beings just like themselves—murder.
This reopened the distance between characters who had been closing the gap while facing the same enemies together.
Even in the same situation, each character perceived and reacted differently, so this was obviously a natural development.
Min-hyuk’s original intention had been to show these various patterns of behavior while gradually sprinkling breadcrumbs about the worldview of Brave King in between.
But what Kang Min-hyuk didn’t like was……
‘The emotional lines…… are too flat.’
He thought the emotional lines toward the protagonist and the existing main and supporting cast were fine.
Because the characters’ ways of acting, values, and character building had been built up over a long time.
However, the problem here was.
“Shin Dong-hyun and Ma Hee-ra. These two…… are their emotional lines really like this?”
The emotional lines of the two characters who had hardly been focused on in the story were now noticeably drifting off on their own.
The typical otaku character, Shin Dong-hyun.
The short-statured, sociable “popular kid” type with lots of friends, Ma Hee-ra.
From the beginning, they had been atmosphere-relief characters who weren’t given much weight.
In the early stages when the work started, with as many as 16 characters, this wasn’t a big issue.
After all, due to the nature of death game stories, several characters died off with each progressing episode, and now only eight characters remained……
‘Why are the emotional lines and narratives of the remaining kids so shallow?’
Honestly, this was an unexpected problem.
In a normal work, giving too much narrative or detail to low-weight characters would cause issues, but not giving them any rarely became a problem.
This was precisely the issue Kang Min-hyuk faced because it was his first time attempting a death game story.
‘In the end, I have to somehow break through this…….’
The work that had structurally helped him the most in planning Brave King was GETZ.
Even drawing help from it, in this case the direction was completely different.
In GETZ, new characters kept flowing in during the death game, and it was enough to maintain the atmosphere in the work by simply capturing quirky speech patterns or bizarre actions—symbolic character traits—without delving deeply into inner narratives or depth.
But in the case of Brave King as planned by Min-hyuk, the concept was high school classmates from the same class going through the death game from start to finish.
Since that style of character management didn’t fit, this was a problem that naturally arose as the work progressed.
He kept trying to resolve this part.
‘This really isn’t easy…….’
There was no way nonexistent character depth would suddenly appear.
What made this even more problematic was.
The reason this episode was especially important was because the highlight direction of this episode……
Was the death of the two characters he just mentioned.
[I…… why am I like this…….]
[Kyaaaak!]
He erased and redrew the storyboard several times, filling the speech bubbles with dialogue, but it still didn’t hit right.
He thought, thought, and thought again.
But no answer came.
It felt like facing a massive wall.
And it was inevitable.
‘I’ve already used up too much of the character traits and narratives on the other characters.’
Because within Min-hyuk’s patterns and perceptions, he had exhausted almost all the character depth he had.
It was like running out of bullets in his pocket—no matter how much he wanted to shoot, he couldn’t.
“Damn it…….”
During free drawing time.
Normally, Min-hyuk would be pouring his soul into drawing, but now he slumped against the desk and let out a heavy sigh.
‘This kind of helplessness…… it’s been a while.’
Did he run too fast and veer off the lane?
This was the same feeling of being completely stuck that he had experienced back in his previous life, in his 30s when he was an aspiring comic artist.
Well, exiting these two characters at an appropriate level wouldn’t be bad in itself.
‘But no, that won’t do. This time…… I really have to do it properly.’
He just couldn’t bring himself to settle for that.
Of course, he hadn’t done nothing to solve it.
- Ughhh, you’re saying the emotional lines for these characters feel lacking?
- Yes, if you could give me any feedback or advice, I’d really appreciate it.
- Hmm…… I can’t think of anything right now either. I’ll think about it and get back to you if something comes up, Artist Kang.
Starting with Editor Go Gwang-jin.
- Feedback? I think this part…… looks like it could be fun, though?
- Hmm, I’m not really in a position to give feedback on this. I understand you’re not satisfied with it, but if I give clumsy advice it might make things even weirder.
- I’ll think about it a bit too, Teacher.
Oh Seung-heon, Artist Shin Pil-ho, Teacher Choi Jung-an.
He threw the question at anyone he could comfortably ask for advice……
But none of them gave him any particularly useful hints.
Of course, Min-hyuk knew that too.
The emotional lines of characters were such an extremely detailed aspect that giving feedback on them was inherently difficult.
In the end, what Min-hyuk could do was.
‘Just…… hammer it with sheer volume.’
Scratch! Scratch!
He frantically poured out storyboards, wrote dialogue, repeated the process, and waited for something good to emerge.
They say the most important thing in creation is your “butt.”
If he glued his butt to the chair with that kind of determination to destroy it……
Something would come out, surely……
“Would it? Haaaaaaa.”
In the lounge one floor below.
Min-hyuk, face pale, let out heavy sighs while pressing hard on his temples to rest.
He chugged coffee, but neither sugar nor caffeine showed any sign of toppling the towering wall piled up in front of him.
‘I can’t keep going like this.’
He had boldly declared that he would finish by December no matter what.
On top of that, he had gotten approval from New Chance to partially increase the weekly serialization pages.
He had stubbornly insisted on aiming for the Bucheon Comic Awards, and they had graciously accepted it with big hearts.
To be late on deadlines after going this far would be completely unacceptable.
In other words, even with saved manuscripts……
The time limit was slowly approaching.
‘Should I compromise? ……But I really don’t want to.’
While wrestling with various worries, as if adding insult to injury, another piece of news reached Min-hyuk.
“What? Crow King is entering the Bucheon Comic Awards? Why on earth?”
<<Uh, I don’t know the details either. I just heard it got submitted. I don’t know the internal situation.>>
The news came that Writer Shin Yo-seop—who Min-hyuk had naturally assumed would go head-to-head with Writer Yang Jae-han—had suddenly changed course and aimed for the Bucheon Comic Awards instead.
The moment he heard that.
‘Is this also part of the butterfly effect?’
Everything clicked into place.
Everything from Crow King increasing its serialization volume to the sudden change in the story content.
All the things Min-hyuk had felt while reading Jump Comics must have been deliberate changes aimed at targeting the Bucheon Comic Awards.
In other words, Writer Shin Yo-seop had sharpened his blade in his own way and thrown down the gauntlet this time.
And that meant the one who would now have to face him in a real sword fight…… wasn’t Yang Jae-han, but Min-hyuk.
Realizing this, Min-hyuk thought again.
‘From now on, compromising on quality is absolutely out of the question.’
He had never intended to do so in the first place.
But now, the option of doing it half-heartedly had completely vanished.
Because that might end up losing to Crow King.
But.
Thump! Thump!
Why did his heart beat even harder at a moment like this?
With half his face soaked in exhaustion and the other half smiling from excitement, Min-hyuk clutched his head again.
No matter what, the fact that he still had to find a way out in this current situation remained unchanged.
“You’re sulking here again, huh.”
“……Huh?”
He tilted his head back at the voice coming from behind.
Han Yu-ra was holding a canned coffee and letting out a deep sigh.
“What, something not working out?”
“How did you know?”
“Try not making it so obvious, at least.”
“Was it…… that obvious?”
“Everyone’s noticed.”
“Ah…….”
Hearing that, only now did the recent moments flash back into Min-hyuk’s mind.
-Min-hyuk-kun! If the contest prep isn’t going well, come consult me anytime!
-Ah, yeah. I’ll talk to you if I need to.
-Kang Min-hyuk, don’t you have anything you want to consult with me about?
-It’s fine, it’s fine.
Oh Dong-gyo and Kim Rok-hee had been relentlessly bringing up the contest topic every single time they saw him.
‘So that was…… their way of worrying about me.’
Back then he had just thought they were being annoying.
But thinking about it now after hearing her words, he felt a little embarrassed.
And the fact that it was Han Yu-ra of all people saying this to him made it even more awkward.
“Ughhh. Sorry for making you worry. I’ll be more careful from now on.”
“……Haaaa.”
Was that the answer she wanted?
Han Yu-ra frowned, let out another deep sigh, and asked back.
“So, what exactly is the problem?”
“Ughhh…… well, it’s like this.”
Min-hyuk crossed his arms and spoke with a serious face.
“I’m planning to finish Brave King by December to aim for the Bucheon Comic Awards. So I’ve been pulling the manuscripts ahead and speeding things up.”
“……You’re going to speed up even more from here?”
The moment Min-hyuk laid out his current situation first.
‘Has this guy Kang Min-hyuk lost his mind?’
A look of bewilderment crossed Han Yu-ra’s face.
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