Chapter 124 – The Editorial Department’s Gamble
Early morning, inside the Jump Comics editorial department meeting room.
“Hmm…”
Director Oh Han-cheol read the two comics published in New Chance and Jump Comics that were placed in front of him.
Across from him, his right-hand man, Assistant Manager Kim Min-yong, also alternated between reading the two magazines.
A moment later.
“Assistant Manager Min-yong. What do you think?”
“What do you mean?”
“Between Crow King and Brave King, which one feels better to you?”
“…To be honest, I’m not sure. I think both artists have pushed their current form to the absolute limit. Brave King’s directing and pacing are extremely skillful, and while it has moved closer to a shonen comic style, its density is lower compared to Crow King. Crow King has pushed density and tight pacing to the limit, but the work itself has that non-mainstream attribute.”
From Kim Min-yong’s perspective, it was a difficult question to answer.
The sales of the two works weren’t dramatically different, and their quality was on an absurd level.
Once you reached this realm, the difference was no longer about skill but about taste.
Moreover, the battlefield where the two comics had to fight was the special stage called the Bucheon Comic Awards.
When judges made the final decision, it often came down not simply to sales figures, but to how well the subtle tone and thematic consciousness of the work matched the judges’ preferences.
Trying to guess which work would win the grand prize by looking at recent manuscripts… didn’t hold much meaning.
“To be completely honest, both comic artist Shin Pil-ho’s work and comic artist Han Yu-ra’s work feel a bit behind the two we mentioned earlier… but I also feel they could become dark horses.”
“In any case, you’re not certain.”
“Yes.”
Tap tap! Tap tap!
Director Oh Han-cheol closed the magazine and tapped the table with his fingers.
Then he suddenly stood up, took a card out of his pocket, and handed it to Min-yong.
“Assistant Manager Min-yong, there’s that butcher shop in front that does gift sets for our staff, right?”
“Ah, yes. I know it…”
“Go there and get two sets of beef. Price… two 200,000 won sets. Tell them we need it right away.”
“Suddenly? What are you going to use it for?”
“Weapons for war. No time for details, so hurry.”
“Ah, yes!”
Weapons?
Kim Min-yong immediately ran out and returned to the office with two gift boxes of premium beef.
Then……
“Ah yes, sir. I’ll visit you soon. Yes, yes! Thank you!”
Director Han-cheol was in the middle of a phone call with someone.
He finished the call at just the right moment and said,
“Call’s done. Let’s go.”
“Huh? Where to?”
“Stop talking and follow me.”
Director Han-cheol headed straight to the elevator and went down to the underground parking lot.
He loaded the beef into the back seat and got in.
Vroom!
As the car left the parking lot and merged onto the road,
Min-yong scratched his head vigorously and asked,
“Where exactly are we going?”
“To greet the Bucheon Comic Awards judges.”
“…Excuse me?”
At that moment, Min-yong’s eyes widened.
‘Did I hear wrong?’
“Um… Are you joking right now?”
“I’m not joking. We’re going to meet two of the old judges.”
“Is… is that even allowed?”
“It’s not money, it’s just a gift of beef. Officially, it’s a meeting with the artists. Well, those artists probably won’t ever serialize with our magazine anyway. In any case, there’s no legal problem.”
“But… is this morally okay…?”
Min-yong also knew very well that a lot was riding on this Bucheon Comic Awards.
And he knew even better that Director Oh Han-cheol was a bulldozer who would use any means necessary to produce results.
Still, he had thought the director had a certain line he wouldn’t cross……
So seeing him suddenly act like this left Min-yong flustered.
“You, what did you say earlier?”
“What do you mean?”
“You said you didn’t know. Which one between Brave King and Crow King would win the grand prize.”
“Ah, yes. Both works are on such a high level that… Did I say something wrong?”
“It’s not wrong, that’s the fact. Once you reach this level, works ultimately split according to taste and inclination. So what should the editorial department supporting the artists do in this situation? Pray while pouring water for each person? Or should we go find a shaman and do a ritual?”
“So you’re saying we’re going to lobby?”
“It’s not lobbying, it’s literally just greeting them. The old judges have their own tastes and thoughts too. We’re just trying to make a slight appeal in their decision-making process.”
“Haa… I still don’t know if this is right. Isn’t this harming fairness…?”
While Kim Min-yong was scratching his head, Oh Han-cheol stepped on the accelerator and said,
“What do you think an editor is?”
“The role of supporting the artists so their works come out as well as possible and sell as well as possible…”
“Yes, this is also support. This is also promotion. Think about it. Even in the same magazine, doesn’t promotion change depending on the artist and their results? Don’t the gifts and placement change? How many times have we given front color pages to Crow King? Do you think that was fair?”
“I’m not sure about that…”
“Editors don’t exist to be fair in the first place. We exist to do our best to sell even one more comic book and turn that into profit for Jump Comics. If all we’re going to do is receive manuscripts, give a few irresponsible pieces of feedback, and do typesetting, then why do we need professional editors? We could just hire part-timers.”
Oh Han-cheol’s words came out without hesitation.
Because there was no emotion in his voice, they sounded calm and matter-of-fact instead.
But Min-yong could no longer open his mouth.
He had no response to what the director had just said.
“……”
How much longer did they drive?
Screeech!
The car stopped in front of a narrow alley… in front of a slightly old hanok house.
“Get out.”
Director Oh Han-cheol immediately picked up the beef from the back seat with both hands and handed it to Kim Min-yong.
Then……
He walked to the front door and spoke with a rather solemn tone.
“Watch carefully what I do from now on. I don’t know what direction you want to take as an editor, but this is Oh Han-cheol’s way, and what a weapon looks like. It won’t hurt to see it.”
“Ah, yes!”
When Min-yong nodded,
Ding-dong!
Oh Han-cheol immediately pressed the doorbell.
The door opened right away.
“Oh my, hello! It’s been so long since I last visited, artist!”
“Oh ho ho! It has been a while, Team Leader Oh Han-cheol — or should I call you Director now?”
“Haha, call me whatever is comfortable!”
An elderly comic artist with graying hair walked out from across the yard.
The two exchanged warm greetings as if they were father and son.
At that moment, Han-cheol pointed at Min-yong with his palm and said,
“This is Assistant Manager Kim Min-yong. He’s going to become very big later, so please look after him kindly. Min-yong, say hello. This is artist San-beom. I’ve mentioned him to you often before, right?”
Then……
Gulp.
As if steeling himself, Kim Min-yong put strength into his eyes and
“Hello! I’m Assistant Manager Kim Min-yong!”
He bowed deeply and vigorously toward the other man.
***
Around the end of lunch time, New Chance editorial department.
Tap tap tap! Tap tap tap!
“Should the spacing between this cut and the next one be like this?”
“Hmm, it would be better if it was a little further apart.”
This place had truly become a battlefield.
Book editing, promotion, external publicity, and so on.
Because year-end award ceremonies were approaching, various tasks had to be handled accordingly.
The results produced here would affect next year’s magazine sales and future performance……
So no one could even dream of enjoying the year-end atmosphere and were all buried in work.
Especially the editor in charge of Brave King, Editor Gwang-jin……
“I’m back…”
“Oh, you’re back, Assistant Manager Gwang-jin? You went to see Editor Ki Cheon-yong, right?”
“Yes… Comic artist David said he really didn’t have time for an interview, so I went in his place.”
Since the only Korean comic criticism magazine [We, Comics] wanted to do a feature on Brave King, he had gone instead of Kang Min-hyuk.
On top of that, various promotions, wholesaler management, and more.
Because they had to control every single thing needed to prepare for the big December battle, he barely had time to stay in the office these days.
Thanks to that, he had even skipped lunch.
It was then.
“Drink this first.”
Team Leader Song Mi-hyeon handed Kwang-jin a glass of milk and said.
She herself didn’t look much better — her hair was messy and her skin was oily.
“I was going to drink coffee.”
“On an empty stomach? It’ll ruin your body. Drink this properly first.”
“…Yes, yes.”
She really nags like a mom.
Gwang-jin chuckled and gulped down the milk.
“Team Leader, what do you think the Jump Comics guys are doing right now?”
“Who knows. If it’s that Oh Han-cheol guy… he’s probably meeting the old judges and handing out beef or something.”
“Huh? Is that even allowed?”
“Well, officially it’s a ‘meeting with the person in charge.’ Legally, there’s no problem. ‘Legally.’”
“…Team Leader, don’t you know any of the judges?”
Song Mi-hyeon frowned and answered,
“Do I look like the kind of person who would do something like that?”
“No.”
“Then, do you think Brave King is going to lose to Crow King?”
“That… I don’t think so.”
“Then don’t even joke about it. What an editor should do is prioritize raising the quality so that good works can come out as well as possible. Everything else is secondary. In the end, the influence you can have through lobbying is limited, and if you slip even once, you fall straight into the abyss.”
“Ugh… Yes.”
Still, wouldn’t it be okay to at least say “please take care of us”?
Gwang-jin briefly had that thought, but he also felt that such words were very much like Team Leader Song Mi-hyeon.
‘She’s the kind of person who reached that position by acting exactly like this from the beginning.’
‘Fade Away’, the work that once created a basketball craze in Korea.
He had heard that countless companies had contacted them to localize that comic.
Yet the one who secured the distribution rights, pushing through powerful promotion and rebate offers from big companies, was Team Leader Song Mi-hyeon — and the method was simple.
‘She showed them an almost complete localization plan.’
How the character names would be localized.
How parts that didn’t fit Korean sensibilities would be modified and delivered by the publisher, and so on.
She had delivered a thick, detailed plan, and it worked.
She had approached the work with the most serious attitude, and that had touched the original author’s heart.
And……
As a result, Fade Away became a huge hit domestically, even got an animation aired, and laid the foundation that allowed New Chance to reach where it was today.
A person like that naturally held such convictions, and she had every right to say those words.
That was also why Gwang-jin respected Team Leader Song Mi-hyeon.
‘She does lack a bit of flexibility though… that’s her only flaw.’
Just as their casual conversation was about to end,
Vrrrr! Vrrrr!
A call suddenly came to Gwang-jin.
The caller was……
“Comic artist Kang Min-hyuk?”
For some reason, tension appeared on everyone’s faces.
They all knew that a call from an artist at this hour was usually not good news.
Team Leader Song urged him,
“Answer it quickly.”
“Ah, yes.”
Gwang-jin pressed the call button and spoke.
“Ah, yes, artist. What’s the matter? Ah, yes. Yes, yes. I see. Yes, yes. Hmm…… Yes, I understand.”
After the call ended a moment later,
Gwang-jin took a deep breath and said to Team Leader Song,
“Comic artist Kang Min-hyuk wants to push back the deadline.”
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