Chapter 118 – Last Breath (1)
After the picnic at SECAF.
Kang Min-hyuk’s steps had become much lighter.
“Let’s do our best again today.”
“Oh, Min-hyuk-kun. You look cheerful.”
“Ah, really? That’s good then.”
Unlike the gloomy, depression-filled days not long ago, he was now full of lightness.
To anyone looking, it was clear that something good had happened.
And seeing Min-hyuk like this,
“…Somehow, it pisses me off.”
“Your words are harsh.”
For some reason, Han Yu-ra was in a sulky mood as well.
And so, the self-directed drawing time arrived.
‘Let’s go.’
Kang Min-hyuk began drawing the storyboard as if possessed by something.
The classmates of Kim Bin-woo, the protagonist of Brave King, right before the final battle.
He recalled what kind of emotions these kids held.
What kind of resolve they would enter the last episode with.
Unlike last time, the characters, their relationships, and the situations hammered themselves into his mind like nails and quickly began to interact with each other.
And the reason it wasn’t as difficult as before was simple.
‘It’s not that different from the resolve I made on Namsan.’
The emotions he had felt on Namsan before the Bucheon Comic Awards and this……
Had a similar texture to some extent.
All he had to do was transform that feeling and unfold it to fit the content of Brave King.
Scratch scratch.
Throughout the entire drawing session, Min-hyuk drew the storyboard on his sketchbook with the corners of his mouth raised high and a murderous level of focus.
Then,
‘Looks like it’s going well.’
‘Idiot.’
‘Min-hyuk-kun, ganbare!’
Han Yu-ra, Kim Rok-hee, and Oh Dong-gyo.
The three of them looked at Min-hyuk and lifted the corners of their mouths.
Because it was written all over his face.
That the blocked part had been cleared.
That something… was finally flowing smoothly.
And so, break time arrived, inside the lounge on the lower floor.
“Here, I’ve made the storyboards. Take a look.”
“This is all… storyboard?”
Everyone’s mouths hung open at the mountain of storyboards piled on the table.
Completed storyboards were laid out.
The problem was that there wasn’t just one version… there were at least four.
“M-Min-hyuk-kun. Did you really do all of this in one day?”
“…Are you… even human?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I’m asking if it’s normal to bring this many storyboards after just one day.”
“Ah, that?”
Min-hyuk scratched his head and smiled as he answered,
“I had been organizing it in my head for a while, and I just drew whatever my hand wanted to draw. It’s nothing that impressive.”
“Whew… Fine. Let’s just look at the storyboards.”
Everyone began reading through the storyboards.
Then……
‘What is this?’
‘The quality… doesn’t make sense?’
Everyone’s eyes widened.
Contrary to his claim that he had just scribbled whatever his hand felt like, each storyboard had a completely different direction……
And the quality of each individual storyboard was by no means low.
Moreover, now that they were seeing them like this,
‘Which one is he planning to go with?’
‘They’re all good?’
It only made them more confused.
Because each storyboard had different details and points of emphasis……
They couldn’t get a clear sense of which one to choose.
By the time everyone had finished reading the storyboards,
Min-hyuk stroked his chin and asked,
“How are the storyboards?”
“They seem… pretty good.”
“They all look usable. Which one are you going with?”
When everyone asked carefully, Min-hyuk answered calmly.
“I’m going to use all of them.”
“Huh? What do you mean…”
“I’m going to combine the good scenes, mix them together, and create one optimal storyboard based on these. So I’d like all of you to give me your opinions. Anything… is fine.”
“You’re making the storyboard again?”
“You’re going to combine five of them… into one?”
“Are you serious?”
“Of course I’m serious.”
Kang Min-hyuk raised the corners of his mouth and widened his eyes.
To the others, he looked like…
‘A comic slaughter machine.’
‘He’s a maniac. A total maniac.’
Because he didn’t seem sane at all.
***
Around sunset, inside comic artist Yang Jae-han’s studio.
Scratch scratch!
Yang Jae-han and his assistants kept their eyes fixed on the manuscripts, concentrating intensely on their respective tasks.
The atmosphere was so tense that there wasn’t even room for a needle to fit through.
It was only natural……
The ‘School of Deadline’ team, led by Yang Jae-han, was currently racing toward the Our Comics Awards.
With quality, serialization volume, and a major episode underway……
Everyone was working at a tight pace.
While everyone was deeply focused on their work with tremendous concentration,
Clunk! Clunk!
The studio door opened, and a woman walked in from the other side.
It was the youngest assistant, Kang Min-ji.
“Food’s here, food!”
In her hands were sandwiches and drinks.
Because the work schedule was extremely tight and there was no time for proper meals or eating out……
They were having a simple meal like this.
“Here you go.”
“Thanks.”
“Is this the tuna sandwich for you?”
“Thank you, Min-ji.”
Kang Min-ji smiled kindly and quickly and skillfully distributed the sandwiches to everyone.
And finally,
“Here you are, artist!”
“Thank you.”
A sandwich and drink were placed on Yang Jae-han’s desk.
And as a bonus……
“Here’s the magazine you asked for.”
“Oh, nice.”
New Chance and Jump Comics.
When he saw the covers of the two magazines, the corners of Yang Jae-han’s mouth lifted slightly.
And coincidentally, the two works decorating the covers were……
[Brave King finally preparing for the final episode?]
[Crow King, final boss Infra Black appears!]
The two artists who would be clashing at the Bucheon Comic Awards.
Seeing the two covers placed side by side gave him a strange sense of excitement, and at the same time……
“This is fun when it’s someone else’s business.”
Yang Jae-han let out a small chuckle.
At that moment, the youngest assistant Kang Min-ji, who was nibbling on her sandwich, asked,
“What’s so fun?”
“Those two are fighting like crazy. Both claiming they’re going to win the award. Page quality, volume, color pages at the front… What is this… It’s not something a person should do.”
“So when you say it’s fun, you mean it’s fun because it’s someone else’s problem?”
When Kang Min-ji tilted her head in confusion, Jae-han quickly nodded.
“Of course. If I were the one involved, this would be incredibly stressful. Do you know how vicious comic artist Shin Yo-seop is? Facing him really feels like you’re going to lose your mind.”
He knew it well because he had been in a competitive relationship with him for several years while serializing Aureka.
He knew how serious Shin Yo-seop was about comics and how much of a hard worker he was.
And how exhausting it was to face such an artist.
“That’s a bit harsh.”
“Harsh? Look at this and then say that.”
Flip flip!
Yang Jae-han opened Jump Comics and turned through the pages of Crow King.
Front color pages, dense pen lines, and a continuous series of highly detailed panels.
The unique action unfolded with a quality that felt like looking at an illustration collection.
The density was so high that the word “suffocating” fit perfectly while reading.
Especially for Kang Min-ji……
‘It’s terrifying. Truly terrifying.’
She knew all too well that the source of that detail and quality came from grinding both the artist and assistants like dual cores, so goosebumps rose on her skin.
And when she turned the final page.
[“I am your fear.”]
It ended with the appearance of the final boss character called Infra Black.
An overwhelming two-page spread.
The ground split apart, rocks and pillars of fire flew through the air……
The final boss’s form was filled with dense pen lines and screentones to bring out that strange texture.
It felt suffocating.
It was a manuscript that perfectly fit the word “destructive.”
“Really… it’s incredible. If you told me to do this, I wouldn’t even want to think about it.”
“Right? I agree.”
Yang Jae-han shook his head and closed the Jump Comics issue.
Then he opened New Chance.
“You’re going to look at comic artist Kang Min-hyuk’s work, right?”
“Yes.”
As soon as he turned to the first page……
A scene completely opposite to the darkness of Crow King unfolded.
A somehow gloomy, hazy gray sky.
And the characters of Brave King appeared in casual clothes.
Yang Jae-han tilted his head in surprise.
“Hmm. This is unexpected.”
“What is?”
“They filled a color-front episode with a daily life part. Usually, front color pages are reserved for high-impact episodes… Most of the time they’re assigned to highlight chapters. Plus, the color tone from the very beginning feels rather gloomy…”
“Ah, now that you mention it, that’s true.”
Yang Jae-han tilted his head again.
‘What’s the intention here? There’s no way the New Chance editorial team would make such a basic mistake…’
Well, there must be a reason.
Flip flip!
Jae-han began reading Brave King.
As expected, it was a bridge episode that took place after one death game……
And before the next episode began.
It seemed to unfold a daily life episode centered on the six surviving characters.
‘Is this a lighter, breath-catching episode?’
Even Yang Jae-han read on without much expectation.
However……
“Hmm?”
From around the middle of the pages, strength entered Jae-han’s eyes and he lightly licked his lips.
His expression was strangely tense.
Carefulness settled into his hands as he turned each page.
But from Kang Min-ji’s perspective, who was secretly glancing at him from the side……
‘It must be an episode dealing with emotions.’
It didn’t seem particularly special.
Unlike the Crow King she had just seen, the panel density in Brave King didn’t look particularly high.
While she was thinking that,
Yang Jae-han turned Brave King to the very last page.
What was unusual was……
‘What? They used color on the last page too?’
The final two-page spread was a color page depicting an orange sunset sky.
Since it wasn’t common to structure pages that way, Kang Min-ji tilted her head in confusion.
Then,
“Hmm.”
Flip!
Suddenly, Yang Jae-han turned back to the first page and began reading it again.
‘What?’
Kang Min-ji tilted her head.
She had watched Yang Jae-han for a long time, so she knew.
When he made that kind of expression and reread a work multiple times……
It definitely meant the comic had left a very strong impression.
But.
‘Such a reaction from a daily life part?’
From Kang Min-ji’s perspective, it didn’t make sense.
Even when Yang Jae-han had read the incredible Crow King earlier, he had gone back to look at a few pages again, but he hadn’t reread it with this level of focus.
Not only that.
Afterward, Yang Jae-han read Brave King three, four, five times.
Because the time dragged on so long……
“Alright everyone, back to work.”
“Yes.”
By now the assistants had finished their sandwiches and returned to their tasks.
So while Yang Jae-han kept rereading Brave King……
The assistants continued working.
How much time had passed after that?
“Whew…”
Yang Jae-han let out a long sigh, placed the Brave King issue he had been reading repeatedly on the desk, and suddenly stood up.
With an extremely serious face, he said,
“Sorry everyone, but before we start working again, could you all please read this latest chapter of Brave King once?”
“Suddenly?”
“Yes. Once you read it… I’m sure you’ll all receive great inspiration. I’ll guarantee it 100%.”
“…Uh… Yes…”
Inspiration? Out of nowhere?
Bewilderment appeared on the assistants’ faces as they looked at Yang Jae-han.
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