Chapter 140 – To Complete Horror (1)
One day in January, in front of the monitor.
Kang Min-hyuk sat with his arms crossed, staring intently at the screen.
How much time had passed……
[Han Yu-ra: How on earth did you use this effect?]
[Kim Rok-hee: N-n-n-n-no, I’m s-scared! Stop sending stuff like this!]
[Oh Seung-heon: ……Kang Min-hyuk, since when did you learn how to program?]
Messages from the group chat flooded in.
[Me: Anyway, it’s at least watchable, right?]
[Oh Dong-gyo: Watchable? That’s an understatement, Min-hyuk-kun. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a horror comic like this.]
Overall, the reactions were not bad.
The horror webtoon <Gangryeong>, which added various directing effects using Flash commands.
Besides the effects, the overall art quality, the way characters were built up, and the flow that started from an occult club story and expanded into the pseudo-religion ‘CSP-9’ secretly manipulating Korea’s behind-the-scenes world.
He had tried to pour almost every skill he had learned as a comic artist to the limit into this work.
And the reason it had been surprisingly easy to do was……
‘There’s quite a lot of overlap with Brave King.’
The “Reverse Heaven’s Monarch” episode that emphasized a terrifying atmosphere.
The scene where Coup-ler, who had always appeared cute, suddenly transformed into a hideous monster.
The emotional lines and directing when characters felt despair.
Although Brave King was “superficially” called a royal road story, it had actually borrowed quite a few clichés and techniques from the horror genre, so it helped in many ways.
Anyway.
‘The launch manuscript…… I think I’ve pushed it to the limit of what I can do right now.’
He had spent the entire month of January working only on the manuscript.
He had already completed up to episode 3 at the highest quality Kang Min-hyuk could produce at this point in time.
Even in his own eyes……
When he imagined how this work would develop in the future, his heart pounded with excitement.
Tap tap tap! Tap tap tap!
Min-hyuk chatted with the kids in the group chat.
He explained that he had worked using Flash, what concept he wanted to carry the work with, and where he had placed the most emphasis.
Especially Han Yu-ra asked persistently, question after question.
Each question was sharp, and he could feel how keenly honed her senses were.
[Han Yu-ra: Did you use that silhouette treatment for the hanging neck scene on purpose to give the feeling of the neck being cut off when scrolling down?]
[Me: Yes, you caught that well.]
[Han Yu-ra: So this is how you use scrolling……]
Especially with Han Yu-ra, she asked about Min-hyuk’s intention for almost every cut and every scene, exchanging opinions.
‘She wants to steal even one more technique.’
Honestly, he was impressed.
For a normal high school student at that age,
Or rather, for someone with Han Yu-ra’s background and personality,
It would normally be difficult to do this even if pride was hurt.
But it was obvious she was doing this to polish herself even a little more.
[Han Yu-ra: Then, are you going to serialize this manuscript as it is on Bluehouse? Starting at the end of February?]
[Me: Yeah, the serialization will start then, but I’m planning to touch up the manuscript a bit more.]
[Han Yu-ra: Touch it up? In what parts?]
[Oh Dong-gyo: It already looks almost perfect to me.]
[Me: There’s something. I’ll tell you after I do it.]
[Han Yu-ra: ……A secret weapon?]
[Me: Well, something like that.]
Min-hyuk smirked.
Then he took his hand off the mouse for a moment, twisted his wrist, and stretched.
“Now, I need to go meet that person.”
Honestly, he had reached his personal limit in raising the quality of this webtoon any further by himself.
After finishing his stretches, Min-hyuk logged into Bluehouse.
Tap tap tap! Tap tap!
Then……
He typed a person’s nickname into the search bar.
The first blog that appeared.
[Trivia Maniac ‘Horror Tiger’s Maniac House]
The artist who had caused a sensation in Korean horror comics and was the first to come up with the idea of utilizing “Flash.”
Later, he would gain fame by creating famous indie games.
His blog was filled with mountains of his evaluations and secondary creations about various comics, animations, games, etc.
The daily views on the blog had already surpassed 5,000.
Even before he became famous as a webtoon artist and game developer……
He had already been well-known.
Min-hyuk clicked on the guestbook, set it to private, and……
He began typing the message.
“Huuuu……”
Tap tap tap! Tap tap tap!
[Hello, Horror Tiger. My name is Kang Min-hyuk, and I draw comics……]
His fingers moved busily as he filled in the content.
***
Mid-January, inside a taxi on a bitterly cold winter day.
“Hmm-hmm, hmm-hmm~”
Choi Jung-an hummed a tune while staring out the window.
Scratch scratch!
She drew on a small sketchbook.
She was doing croquis to loosen up her hand.
At that moment, perhaps seeing it through the rearview mirror,
When the taxi stopped briefly, the driver asked,
“Young lady, are you an artist?”
“Ah, yes… well, sort of. How did you know?”
“Hehe! My daughter does the same thing these days whenever I take her somewhere — she’s always holding a sketchbook. Croquet? Croquis? Something like that.”
“Ah, I see.”
Jung-an smiled faintly.
“What’s your major, young lady?”
“I draw comics. I also teach them.”
“Comics? Oh my, so you’re a real comic artist? No wonder the destination was a publishing company!”
“Yes, that’s right.”
The taxi’s destination was Daewoong Media, where the Jump Comics editorial department was located.
It seemed the driver at least knew that Daewoong Media was a comic publishing company.
‘Does he like comics?’
While Jung-an tilted her head, the driver glanced at her and spoke again.
“By the way, this is quite a coincidence. My daughter also draws comics.”
“Oh, really?”
Jung-an’s eyes widened as she tilted her head again. The driver continued, slightly excited.
“Yes, yes. She’s going into first year of high school soon. Do you happen to know that friend named Kang Min-hyuk? The one who won the Presidential Award this time.”
“Ah, yes, I know him. He’s quite famous.”
He’s also my student, after all……
Jung-an slightly lifted the corners of her mouth. The driver kept talking.
“Ahem, this is a bit of bragging on my part, but… my daughter passed the entrance exam to the school that friend attends.”
“Huh? Korea AniGo?”
“You know that school too?”
I’m a teacher there…… I probably shouldn’t say that.
Jung-an waved her hands and said,
“It’s just such a famous school. It has good teachers, and as you mentioned, it became even more famous this time because Comic artist Kang Min-hyuk attends there. Congratulations on your daughter passing.”
“Hehe, right? It’s something to celebrate, isn’t it? Honestly, I was shocked when my daughter Mi-na suddenly said she wanted to draw comics in her second year of middle school…… You probably know the image people have. That you can’t make a living drawing comics.”
“Yes, that used to be the case.”
Jung-an smiled and nodded.
- How long are you going to keep doing that kind of thing?
- Mom, I told you I’ll take care of it.
- Take care of it? Do you think life is a joke? Even with talent, that’s something only a few can succeed at!
Although Choi Jung-an was now living a fully adult life, she had experienced the same ups and downs that every comic artist goes through.
At that moment, the driver asked again,
“So, do people who draw comics actually make a living? Well, if you become really successful, anything is possible, but… on average, I mean.”
“Well… If your daughter truly loves drawing comics, I think she can live a very happy life.”
“Really?”
“Yes. And besides…… from the moment she passed the Korea AniGo entrance exam, your daughter is already way above average.”
“Hehe, hearing you say that makes me feel better. Oh, should I call you ‘Comic artist’ instead?”
“It’s fine. I’m not serializing anything right now anyway.”
“Huh? Then why are you going to the publishing company?”
“I’m going for a screening of my new work. Today is the day the results come out.”
“Oh, is that so?”
While they chatted like that,
Screeech!
The taxi stopped in front of the building where Daewoong Media was located.
“Wow, we’re already here. Thanks for listening to me brag about my daughter, young lady… I mean, Comic artist.”
“Here, card payment please.”
When Jung-an held out her card, the driver waved his hands vigorously.
“Oh no, it’s fine. I got to brag about my daughter so much. Consider it payment for listening and just go.”
“No, still, the fare is…”
“Ehey, it’s fine, really. Go on and do your work. I hope your project turns out great.”
The driver gave a warm smile.
Jung-an scratched her cheek awkwardly, then bowed her head.
“Thank you, sir. I’ll take that energy and make something really wonderful.”
“Hehe! Do that. And if you ever meet my daughter in the industry later, don’t forget her!”
Clunk!
With the door half open and one foot already outside, Jung-an turned her head back and asked,
“By the way, sir… may I ask your daughter’s name?”
“Huh? Why do you need my daughter’s name?”
“So I can treat her well later. I should at least know her name.”
“Ah, right. Hehe! It’s Mi-na. Kim Mi-na. ‘Mi’ from beautiful, ‘Na’ from elegant — Mi-na! Remember it well.”
“I’ll remember.”
“Then fighting!”
Thud!
As soon as she closed the door, the taxi smoothly pulled away into the road.
After the taxi disappeared,
“Seriously, what a coincidence.”
Choi Jung-an let out a small laugh and turned around.
Right in front of her stood the building with the large signboard “Daewoong Media.”
“Well, I even got some encouragement. Let’s go in with fighting spirit.”
Slap! Slap!
Jung-an lightly slapped both cheeks and walked toward the entrance of the building.
The reason she had come here today was……
- Comic artist Choi Jung-an. If you’re free next week, could you come to the Daewoong Media headquarters?
- Huh? Why? Did I fail the screening?
- No, it’s not that. There are a few things I’d like to discuss regarding your manuscript.
It was because of Director Oh Han-cheol’s sudden summons.
Being called all the way to the headquarters meant the conversation wouldn’t be short……
So Jung-an couldn’t help but feel nervous.
‘Don’t be nervous. I did my best.’
The new work Jung-an had prepared was ‘The Woman Who Knows the Language of Flowers.’
It was a romance comic about a woman who runs a flower shop and a man who opens a café across the street. They bicker, gradually understand each other, and develop their relationship.
She had expressed her signature emotional lines through metaphorical imagery — the scent of flowers and the language of flowers — in a very deliberate directing style.
To draw this work, she had visited many flower shops and café owners for interviews, revised the manuscript over and over, and carefully selected only the best dialogue and directing.
She had no choice but to put so much effort into it because of several overlapping circumstances.
‘For a female-oriented work, I have to do even better.’
The magazine she had submitted to was ‘Jump Comics.’
Jump Comics was basically a boys’ magazine, so her style was somewhat mismatched.
In the past, she would have aimed for pure romance or female-oriented magazines like ‘Party Days’ or ‘Ladies’…… but the problem was that those magazines had all gone under, leaving only New Chance and Jump Comics.
With no other options, she had to break through the genre limitations, which meant she had no choice but to focus even more on quality.
And more importantly……
‘If I do it half-heartedly, I’ll get overtaken by Yu-ra too.’
Her own student was already serializing in Jump Comics.
In many ways, it was a situation full of pressure for Jung-an.
But even so, she had decided to take on the challenge.
Because when she saw her student Kang Min-hyuk and Han Yu-ra winning awards at the Bucheon Comic Awards and happily drawing comics……
Her own heart pounded so hard she thought she would go crazy.
She wanted to feel that excitement again — the thrill of drawing comics and meeting readers.
“Huuuu……”
Jung-an entered the first-floor lobby of the building and pressed the elevator call button.
Then……
“Huh? Aren’t you Comic artist Choi Jung-an?”
A familiar voice came from behind her. She turned around.
Standing there was……
“Huh? Comic artist Shin Yo-seop?”
The author of Crow King, Shin Yo-seop, was looking straight at her.
_____________________________________________
TL Note:
This novel is fully completed.
You can either:
- Unlock this novel individually through its Collection "Comic Artist" and access all remaining 60 Chapters for only $3
- Or join the Premium Tier ($7) for access to all 6 novels and ongoing updates
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/cw/Vritratls
____________________________________________