Chapter 114 – Just, One Step on the Stairs
Brave King
The structure of this comic, which dealt with 7 death games over 49 days, was extremely simple.
The students in Class 1 of the 3rd year at the high school the protagonist belonged to had to enter a death game once every 7 days, every Friday, kill the opposing king, and come out alive.
Depending on the results achieved there, they would gain points, and with those points, they could upgrade their own class.
After that, they would return to daily life, and a daily life part would appear showing the characters spending 6 days, revealing each character’s daily life, psychological changes, and shifts in relationships.
Then, carrying the changed appearances of the characters, they would enter the next death game again.
Daily life part, death game part.
Repeating these two while they interacted with each other was the basic structure of Brave King.
That was why puzzled expressions appeared on the faces of the other two people.
“The daily life part is difficult?”
“You’ve been doing it well so far, Min-hyuk-kun.”
In the case of Brave King, it was especially famous for creating excellent daily life parts.
It captured the directing points well regarding the characters’ subtle psychological changes and how their relationships shifted.
Because of that, fandoms for specific characters sometimes formed.
Right now, in the case of Oh Dong-gyo, he was deeply immersed in the heroine Baek Seol-hee, who had been abused by her parents.
Yet, when Min-hyuk said he was stuck on the daily life part, not the battle phase, it was natural for them to be flustered.
“This is a bit different from the usual daily life parts.”
“In what way?”
Min-hyuk let out a heavy sigh.
“It’s the final episode. From the characters’ perspective in the story, they know they are facing the final battle.”
“…Right?”
“They all know they might die, and in that state, they have to have conversations with each other. Especially, Kim Bin-woo and Jeon Gang-pae will have to play key roles in this operation.”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s what we decided.”
Min-hyuk pressed his temples firmly with his fingers and answered.
“It’s cringy.”
“…Huh?”
“The situation is too solemn and has become too big. The emotional line has to match this tone. When I tried to pull up the storyboard to fit this, nothing… came out that I liked.”
Flutter!
Min-hyuk handed over several storyboard pages he had worked on to the two people.
[I don’t want to die! Why the hell am I saying something like that, you idiot Bin-woo bastard.]
[……Shut up!]
[Do you think I want to be doing this? I don’t want to die either! Do you think I’m doing this because I want to? Why do you think I’ve kept a piece of trash like you alive until now! Haa, haa!]
[Really? Then kill me. If you’re going to be like this.]
A scene where the protagonist Kim Bin-woo and the former bully Jeon Gang-pae, who used to ostracize him, exchange punches in a fight.
After entering Brave King, the once-weak Kim Bin-woo gained power… and the ironic situation unfolded where the former perpetrator Jeon Gang-pae lost his power and became a fragile ‘king’ protected by the other kids.
A scene where the two, before the final episode, have a conversation that explodes into emotion and they start tussling with each other.
Exchanging punches on the Han River bank as the sun sets…
A blatantly intentional scene with mise-en-scène added to show that some kind of hope is fading away.
Upon reading it, subtle expressions appeared on everyone’s faces.
‘Umm…… it really does feel a bit off?’
‘It feels like the emotional line is too artificial…’
It was different.
Unlike Kang Min-hyuk’s characters, which had always been natural and stirred something in people’s hearts…
It felt overly hardened and only serious.
It was to the point where one wondered if Min-hyuk had really drawn it.
“How is it?”
“If you ask how it is…”
“What should I even say about this…”
While the two were awkwardly rolling their eyes and watching each other’s reactions to Min-hyuk’s question.
“Emotional excess, right? It’s too much?”
“…A little?”
“Whew, look at this one too.”
Min-hyuk let out another heavy sigh and this time pushed forward another set of storyboards.
‘Oi oi, just how many storyboards did you draw, Min-hyuk-kun.’
‘……You really weren’t slacking off at all.’
The next set of storyboards from Kang Min-hyuk that they received.
[Please.]
[……Please, huh. You son of a bitch, acting all cool by yourself.]
The two exchanged light conversation, their eyes meeting, and instead of several lines of dialogue… they replaced it with non-verbal expressions such as close-ups of surrounding objects or gestures.
This was the method Kang Min-hyuk frequently used, the one who always said that a character’s emotional line should not be explained through words but ‘shown.’
However, when actually looking at it in storyboard form…
“This one doesn’t really hit at all in its own way.”
“It feels like it’s trying too hard to be cool.”
People who might die…
For actions right before the final battle, it felt far too passive.
There was a sense of disconnection between the situation and their behavior — why were these characters acting so detached?
After that, Kang Min-hyuk showed several more storyboards.
‘Just how fast are his hands?’
‘I’m overwhelmed…… He really wasn’t playing around at all.’
The sheer number made the two of them feel exhausted, wondering when on earth he had drawn all of this.
But even after reading through all the remaining storyboards.
“There isn’t a single one that really clicks, right?”
“Hmmmmm, I understand what Min-hyuk-kun means.”
“I get the feeling now.”
There was no storyboard that made them think ‘This is it’ and fully satisfied their expectations.
It wasn’t that they were all bad…
If Brave King had usually delivered originals with an average satisfaction of 90~95 points, these felt like they were playing at the 80-point level.
They were generally good, but they felt unbalanced for the level of the comic Brave King, especially for such an important part.
“Do either of you have any opinions?”
When Min-hyuk scratched his head and asked, the two folded their arms and let out groans.
“How about directing this scene like this? Bring in Baek Seol-hee completely and have her go on a date with Kim Bin-woo…”
“Ehh? Isn’t that a bit off?”
“Then what, do you have any ideas?”
“Hmmmmm, if it were me, instead of having the conversation by the riverside, I’d gather everyone together in the classroom to talk. And the overall emotional line would be…”
“But how is that any different from what we’ve done so far?”
However, there was no way the two of them would suddenly come up with a sharp answer.
This scene was not a simple introduction or mid-part emotional handling.
It had to serve as the period that put a full stop to the thematic consciousness that had driven the entire comic so far, the characters’ goals and deficiencies, their perceptions of each other, and everything else.
Could someone other than the author himself create a scene that naturally melted all of this together and made it explode?
If that were possible, the two of them would already be top-tier comic artists ruling the world.
“It’s not easy.”
“Haaaa……”
Especially for Min-hyuk, the taste in his mouth was bitter.
‘It really isn’t easy.’
He thought he had been pulling Brave King along well so far.
In a normal situation, Min-hyuk would have been satisfied with this level and proceeded with the original.
But now the standard was different.
Aiming for 1st place at the Bucheon Comic Awards.
As long as that was the goal, there was an opponent he had to defeat.
‘Comic artist Shin Yo-seop seems to be grinding his teeth while working.’
He knew it well because he checked Crow King every time.
Not only had the quality of the originals gone up insanely, but even the minor directing, overall mise-en-scène, and every single line of character dialogue gave the feeling that they were carved out with soul.
It felt like Shin Yo-seop’s level had risen at least two or three steps compared to the Shin Yo-seop that the previous-life Min-hyuk had seen.
That might be why.
When trying to win against such a person, this obsessive thought kept rising that this level wasn’t enough.
Moreover, through experience while working on Brave King, he had learned something.
No — including his previous life, human Kang Min-hyuk himself knew it well because he had come this far by crossing or breaking through countless walls.
‘I have to overcome this without avoiding it to move on to the next stage.’
This opportunity was the part where he realized the shortcomings he hadn’t known until now.
Because he understood that, he had to overcome it no matter what.
“Hooooooo.”
“It really isn’t easy…….”
The three of them slumped over the break room table, letting out heavy sighs.
‘It’s been a while since I hit a wall like this.’
He had shown the originals to comic artist Shin Pil-ho and teacher Choi Jung-an and asked for advice.
But……
Most of the answers that came back were the same.
- Sorry, Min-hyuk. It’s difficult for me to catch these subtle parts.
- This seems like something the comic artist himself has to solve. I feel like if I get involved, it might twist even more.
Because it was a hundred percent correct, it burned him inside even more.
‘Should I try to squeeze out more storyboards? Or look at other comics for reference…….’
While he was trying to somehow untangle his tangled thoughts like a ball of thread.
Thud!
A hand came down on the table, placing three canned drinks on it.
Cola, orange juice, canned coffee.
The usual drinks that Oh Dong-gyo, Kim Rok-hee, and Min-hyuk enjoyed.
“Huh? Yu-ra?”
“Are these for us?”
When they turned their heads, Han Yu-ra was standing there holding a coffee in one hand with a somewhat displeased expression.
Min-hyuk asked while opening the coffee can.
“Why, do you have something to say?”
“If the engine is overheated, you have to cool it down.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
When he tilted his head, Kim Rok-hee smiled brightly and said.
“Yu-ra, say it in an easier way.”
Han Yu-ra shook her head and casually sat down, then spoke.
“You’ve been running nonstop for over a month, and both your stamina and mental strength are completely worn out. In that state, you’re slamming full force into a wall — how could that possibly work?”
“…….”
“Take your eyes off it for a bit, you idiots.”
“I see.”
“That’s what you meant? You could’ve said it more simply.”
Only then did Kim Rok-hee and Oh Dong-gyo nod as if they finally understood.
However, Min-hyuk made a bitter face as if he still wasn’t fully convinced.
“I understand what you mean, but right now the time…….”
“I know too. You’re aiming for 1st place at the Bucheon Comic Awards and planning to finish by December. So there’s no time to waste…… You’re busy, right?”
“…….”
“I told you to take your eyes off it, not to rest.”
“Then what does that mean?”
“There must be some confirmed scenes behind this daily life episode that aren’t affected by it. Work on those parts first. While doing that, won’t this eventually come to mind too?”
From a third-party perspective, it was perfectly reasonable advice.
After all, even in exams, don’t you put aside the difficult problems and solve the easy ones first?
But the reason Min-hyuk hadn’t done so until now was……
‘Because a comic is an organism.’
Whatever line a character says or small action they take in this daily life part must organically connect to the later episodes.
For example.
In this daily life part, the protagonist gives the heroine Baek Seol-hee a scarf as a gift.
Then, depending on whether Baek Seol-hee appears wearing the scarf later, the relationship between the two can be redefined.
If a scene appears where the scarf is torn during battle?
It could show that something ominous is happening, and depending on how the character later handles that scarf, the direction could be twisted in any way.
But proceeding without fixing this……
Would clearly affect the overall completeness.
One of the reasons he couldn’t move forward was exactly that.
So when Min-hyuk was about to sigh and reply, Han Yu-ra snapped her fingers and said.
“The scene where Kim Bin-woo kills Coup-ler.”
“Huh?”
“The other scenes might influence and be influenced by this episode as you think, but that scene won’t receive any influence at all.”
“…….”
“Start with that. Then you can…… buy some time, right? Isn’t that so?”
The moment he heard those words, Min-hyuk’s eyes widened.
Because……
‘How does she know that?’
The words Han Yu-ra casually threw out were far too detailed for a third party to know.
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