Chapter 104 – People Who Are So Alike
Min-hyuk, who attends school, does assignments, and also serializes Brave King.
And yet, in the midst of all that, he plans to finish it by December—at twice the speed he’s been working so far?
A normal comic artist already feels like they’re dying just churning out one chapter every two weeks.
But this statement means he’s going to work at a weekly serialization pace.
‘……This isn’t normal.’
To say something like that with such a calm expression, really……
Honestly, it’s to the point where it’s almost off-putting.
Han Yu-ra presses her forehead and asks.
“So I get the situation now…… but what exactly is the problem from there?”
“It’s that, in this episode, there’s an issue with the character aspects…….”
After that, Min-hyuk continues speaking.
He calmly explains step by step why he ended up in this difficulty, the process, and how it led to this result.
But.
The more he explains, the wider Han Yu-ra’s eyes grow and the more her mouth falls open.
‘……When drawing comics, he thinks about things to this level?’
She takes back her earlier feeling of being fed up.
From Han Yu-ra’s perspective, Kang Min-hyuk was, what should she call it.
‘A monster?’
Listening to the full explanation of how his own comic ended up in its current state, what problems he’s trying to solve to raise the completion level even higher.
After hearing all the details and thought processes……
The space between Kang Min-hyuk and herself felt enormously distant.
Perhaps because she suddenly felt that gap so vividly.
Her teeth clenched tightly, and wrinkles formed between her brows.
Thump! Thump!
But at the same time, her heart raced faster.
The long distance lying between Kang Min-hyuk and herself.
If she ran with all her might.
If she could just fill that empty space, maybe she could see the same view as Min-hyuk standing far ahead.
“Han Yu-ra?”
“…….”
“Han Yu-ra, you okay?”
“Ah.”
As if snapping back to her senses in an instant, her shoulders jerked.
Yu-ra let out an awkward cough with an embarrassed face and continued.
“I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t think I can help with this. Especially those two characters you mentioned…… our styles are way too different.”
“I see.”
“Delicate emotional lines like that aren’t really my specialty either.”
“Haaaa, well, can’t be helped. If even the great Han Yu-ra says no.”
Min-hyuk let out a heavy sigh and shook his head slowly.
At that moment, Han Yu-ra closed her eyes tightly then opened them and said.
“Why are you making it so hard? There are people who would know these characters’ emotional lines really well.”
“Who?”
“You’re seriously asking because you don’t know? Oh Dong-gyo and Kim Rok-hee. Those two are exactly the people who would know these characters best, aren’t they?”
“……Huh?”
The moment he heard that, Kang Min-hyuk’s eyes widened round.
Now that she mentioned it, she was right.
‘The two of them…… kind of resemble my characters, don’t they?’
Shin Dong-hyun, the character with strong otaku tendencies immersed in science and knowledge……
Ma Hee-ra, covered head to toe in cute accessories, with a bright personality that grabs hold of everyone around her as the mood-maker.
Not a 100% match, but there were parts where the codes of the two characters overlapped with Dong-gyo and Rok-hee.
Now that Han Yu-ra had pointed it out, asking those two really might help.
If the characters shared similar ways of thinking or codes with them, naturally they would be able to catch the narrative and subtle emotional lines well.
Above all.
‘Both of them draw comics.’
Oh Dong-gyo and Kim Rok-hee had drawn a lot of comics.
And even within Animation High Comic Creation Department—where the nation’s most talented kids gathered—when it came to pure skill, they were easily within the top five.
Kids like that would surely have their own answers.
Even if Min-hyuk couldn’t use them exactly as-is in the work, they had a high chance of becoming clues.
But to do that……
‘I’d have to reveal to the two of them that I’m the writer of Brave King.’
Well, he could make up all sorts of excuses to ask for advice.
But he didn’t want to do that anymore.
At the very least, to Min-hyuk, those two were definitely people he could call friends.
He already felt uneasy just for having hidden that he was a comic artist until now.
If he kept piling on lies, the guilt from his conscience would crush him.
“Ughhhhh. I get what you mean.”
Perhaps she caught that subtle expression.
Han Yu-ra closed her eyes tightly then opened them and said.
“Aren’t you trusting those guys too little?”
“……Huh?”
“I get what you’re worried about. But maybe something like that won’t happen at all? I think trying to trust them once wouldn’t be so bad.”
They were just words, yet they carried conviction.
Perhaps because it was Han Yu-ra saying them, it felt even more that way.
The very Han Yu-ra who had built walls against others and refused to mix in throughout the entire semester.
“At first, I also thought that mixing clumsily with kids who lacked skill would only get in the way of making comics.”
“……Huh?”
When Min-hyuk tilted his head as if asking what she meant at her continuing words, Han Yu-ra let out a sigh and went on.
“I’m talking about myself. That’s what I used to think.”
“……You, I knew, but…… your personality really is awful.”
Somehow, the aloof atmosphere Han Yu-ra had always exuded wasn’t just a vague impression—she actually thought of herself that way too.
“So now you don’t think like that anymore?”
“Yeah. Everyone’s skilled too. Talking to people who have different ways of thinking from me has actually helped quite a bit. Including you. And surprisingly…….”
“Surprisingly?”
“Being called a friend…… isn’t so bad after all.”
“…….”
Min-hyuk and Yu-ra’s eyes met.
Until now, it had felt like he was giving advice from an adult’s perspective, but now……
‘Have I been pretending to be too much of an adult?’
Hearing those words, somehow…… Min-hyuk suddenly became aware that there was also a wall inside his own heart.
Not as the high school freshman Kang Min-hyuk……
But the awareness of being a 34-year-old who lost his arm to Kienböck’s disease and became a failed comic artist.
It wasn’t simply because he was afraid of annoying things happening.
Because he was an adult.
Because he was someone who had luckily gotten a second chance—he had been unable to look at his friends at the same eye level.
And he was certain.
This kind of attitude would undoubtedly have a negative impact on drawing comics going forward as well.
At that moment, Han Yu-ra said lightly.
“Well, the choice is yours anyway.”
“……Thanks, Han Yu-ra.”
“Ugh, saying useless stuff again. If you understood, stop whining and go work already.”
As Yu-ra turned and left the lounge.
“Maybe I should whine properly for once.”
A smile rose on Min-hyuk’s face.
***
A few days later, lunchtime.
In one corner of the playground, four kids gathered and sat in a row on a bench along the nearby walking path.
“……Huh? What did you just say, Min-hyuk-kun?”
“Did I hear wrong?”
Oh Dong-gyo and Kim Rok-hee both widened their eyes and asked back.
“That I’m David, the writer of Brave King.”
“…….”
Then the two blinked their eyes, staring straight at Min-hyuk, before……
“Puhahahaha! Min-hyuk-kun! If you’re gonna joke, at least make it a good one!”
“I thought something serious happened since you suddenly called us…… I’m heading to the school store?”
Dong-gyo burst into loud laughter, and Rok-hee shook her head.
They clearly didn’t believe it at all.
“It’s not a joke, it’s real. I really am David.”
“Min-hyuk-kun…… take it easy, take it easy. If you keep going I might actually get a little upset. Even if I look like this, I’m quite the ardent fan of Writer David, you know.”
“Right, right.”
As Dong-gyo adjusted her glasses and spoke seriously, Rok-hee nodded vigorously.
“Yu-ra-san. Say something over there too.”
“He’s telling the truth.”
“The truth?”
Rok-hee spun her fist in the air with a grin.
However, Yu-ra pressed her forehead with her hand and answered.
“No, not that—he really is Writer David.”
“What the hell, April Fool’s was ages ago. Are you two teaming up to mess with us? Ahaha! This is fun, really fun.”
They were completely unreachable.
Yu-ra let out a shallow breath.
“You remember back during Reverse Heaven’s Monarch? You clearly saw that armor he drew back then appear exactly the same in Brave King, right?”
“That’s because Min-hyuk-kun was Writer Shin Pil-ho’s assistant, so he got the design through that connection…….”
“Do you actually believe that?”
“Huh?”
“Do you really think a writer of David’s level would hand over the design of the villain who runs through the entire episodes of his own work to someone else?”
“But…… even so, it makes even less sense that Min-hyuk-kun is David.”
“Right. Kang Min-hyuk does all his assignments, does year projects, and participates in everything—sports day, Comic Land, you name it. How could he handle serialization on top of all that?”
The two kept questioning back and forth.
But when you thought about it, it was perfectly understandable for them to think that way.
No matter how you looked at it, on a common-sense level, handling that much workload alone was impossible.
No matter how much of a genius Kang Min-hyuk might be, there were limits to what a high school student could handle……
However—whether it made realistic sense or not—it was the truth.
In the midst of that, Min-hyuk felt like he was talking to a wall, so he squeezed his eyes shut then opened them again.
‘Well, it’s my own karma.’
He had built a wall in front of himself and treated those kids that way.
After putting up the wall, saying now that he had torn it down and asking them to see him as he really was—did that even make sense?
‘Well, I never expected them to believe me with just words anyway.’
Min-hyuk let out a long breath.
Then he pulled forward the paper bag he had brought with him, took out one file folder from inside, and held it out.
“Can you take a look at this?”
“What…… is it?”
“You’ll know when you see it.”
Dong-gyo and Rok-hee took the file folder and slowly flipped through it.
Their eyes immediately widened round.
Inside the folder……
[Kyaaaaak!]
[Ru-run away!]
[Crazy! If you guys run, how am I supposed to fight?!]
[Then you want me to fight against humans? I can’t! If you wanna fight, do it yourself, you bastard!]
It was the manuscript for Brave King.
The current chapter of the ‘Cannibalism among Kin’ episode, which hadn’t even been published in a magazine yet.
The scene unfolded where the protagonist’s party was being torn apart by attacks from state players who had appeared as villains.
Flip! Flip!
The two turned page after page with dazed expressions, as if they had seen a ghost.
The pencil marks, eraser traces, and the distinct pressure lines from the pen were vividly felt.
Anyone could tell at a glance—this was the real manuscript drawn by David.
“Uh, uhh…….”
“What the…….”
At that moment, Han Yu-ra spoke.
“I was shocked too when I found out. This guy was handling assignments, year projects, and still sitting there drawing this. I thought he was just pretty good at drawing comics. Turns out he’s a complete lunatic.”
“Min-hyuk-kun…… is really Writer David?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“…….”
While everyone stood frozen, unable to find words, Min-hyuk spoke again.
“Sorry for not telling you. Before we got close, honestly, I was afraid it would just become annoying if I said it. After that, I kept missing the timing to bring it up. I always thought I should tell you someday, but I kept putting it off and ended up here.”
Rok-hee scratched her forehead and asked.
“So back then, the armor design for Reverse Heaven’s Monarch…… was because it was your own work?”
“Yeah. Back then, Rok-hee, you helped me a lot and it was a huge help.”
“How did Yu-ra know?”
“She caught me a while ago. She saw me working on the cover.”
“……So that’s how it happened, huh? Haha, ahahahaha.”
“Min-hyuk-kun is Writer David? My David is Min-hyuk-kun?”
Dong-gyo gaped with a blank face, while Rok-hee’s shoulders shook as she let out laughter.
How much time passed like that.
“Yaaaah!”
“Min-hyuk-kuuuun!”
Thwack! Smack!
“Aaack!”
Kim Rok-hee’s kick flew into Min-hyuk’s shin, and Oh Dong-gyo’s palm slapped across his back with a crisp sound.
“That’s something he deserves to get hit for.”
Han Yu-ra watched the two’s punishment toward Kang Min-hyuk with her arms crossed.
With the corners of her mouth slightly lifted.
**************
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