Chapter 141 – A New Era
Inside a small conference room in a corner of the Jump Comics office.
Tap! Tap!
Choi Jung-an nervously tapped the table.
Shin Yo-seop, sitting across from her, quietly sipped his drink in silence.
- Ah, I’m sorry! The meeting Director Oh is currently in is running a little late. Please wait in the conference room for just a moment!
This awkward situation had arisen because Director Oh Han-cheol, who had called the two of them, was delayed.
Jung-an’s lips felt dry.
She also wondered why the two of them had been called together.
But more than anything……
‘Comic artist Shin Yo-seop…… is so awkward.’
Jung-an glanced at him.
Pale skin, a slim build, and clothes covered in chains that reminded her of goth or rocker fashion.
He had good style and could be called handsome, but the overall aura he gave off was somehow intimidating.
She had met and become acquainted with many comic artists over the years……
But she found it particularly difficult to get close to Shin Yo-seop.
While the silence continued,
“Comic artist Choi Jung-an.”
“Yes?”
Yo-seop suddenly spoke.
“Did you come for a meeting about your new work?”
“Ah, yes. Director Han-cheol called me. He said there were some things he wanted to discuss regarding the new manuscript.”
Yo-seop gave a gentle smile and replied,
“That’s nice. I’m looking forward to your new work. As a fan, I have high expectations.”
“Umm… you’re a fan?”
“Yes. I really enjoyed ‘Hello.’ I could relate a lot to the protagonist Mina’s love-hate feelings toward her hometown.”
“Really?”
When Jung-an’s voice rose in pitch, Yo-seop lightly placed a hand on his chest and continued naturally,
“Since I’m also from the countryside…… there were quite a few overlapping parts. And the scene at the end where she strokes the cat. The unique indifference felt there…… really got to me.”
Jung-an swallowed hard. Yo-seop kept speaking,
“This artist is really good at directing. Very delicate…… that’s the feeling I got.”
“Umm…… I see.”
A strange mix of excitement and embarrassment swirled in her head.
“Why? Did I say something rude?”
“Ah, no, it’s not that. It’s just unexpected. Based on your image, Comic artist Shin Yo-seop, I thought you wouldn’t like my kind of work. So hearing that you enjoyed it is surprising.”
Yo-seop leaned forward slightly.
“What kind of image do I give off?”
At that moment,
The characteristic cold, handsome gaze with a hint of chill stared straight at Choi Jung-an.
Yet, perhaps because of the teardrop mole at the corner of his eye, that gaze felt strangely intense.
Jung-an awkwardly avoided his eyes and scratched her cheek.
“Well… your fashion style, and Crow King too. I thought you’d prefer darker or action-heavy works like post-apocalyptic stories.”
“Ah, that. I do like those too. But…… those are things I can already do to some extent as an artist. I prefer works that have parts I don’t have.”
Yo-seop answered with a bright smile.
‘Ah, so he can smile like that.’
Honestly, she was a little surprised.
She had seen him smile slightly at the corners of his mouth, but this bright, open smile was something she had never seen before.
Thump!
For some reason, her heart beat a little faster.
Jung-an vigorously opened the can of drink in front of her and gulped it down……
“Cough! Cough! Cough! Khhh!”
The carbonation hit her throat hard, and she choked.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah, I’m fine. Completely fine. Ha, haha……”
……Embarrassing.
Once she had calmed down, Choi Jung-an steadied her breathing and asked.
“Um… then, have you recently enjoyed any female-oriented works?”
“If we’re talking female-oriented, I really enjoyed ‘Ipari Princess’, the one that won ‘This Comic Is Amazing’.”
“Ah, that new work by Karekuu! It’s really fun! Maybe because I’m an otaku, but all the characters there felt so lovable to me.”
“The caretaker character is also charming. It felt like they found a way to convey that harmless, innocent feeling.”
“Yes! It’s like they intentionally added a somewhat asexual vibe. You know, that feeling like a gay best friend.”
Suddenly, the conversation caught fire.
What started as talk about female-oriented comics……
“Have you seen the creative behind-the-scenes of Bratz Jack? That one is seriously amazing.”
“Ah, you mean the Tezuka Osamu biography comic. It was impressive. The part at the end in the studio where the unnoticed person draws an autobiographical comic…… and when looking out the window from the production, the past colleagues overlap. It left such a strong aftertaste.”
“Exactly! And that editor character who throws apples and smokes. Isn’t his character amazing? It felt like he could really work even if he appeared in a real comic.”
“The editor who yells about sprinkling sand on the typewriter was also great. By today’s standards it feels too barbaric, but overall, the passion of people who create really permeates the work, so it can’t help but be fun.”
The conversation quickly turned into full otaku talk.
They chatted for a long time, losing track of time.
“Huuuu, this is fun. I should have gotten close to Comic artist Shin Yo-seop earlier. I thought you’d be a difficult person.”
“Really? For some reason, other artists don’t talk to me much…… Maybe it’s because of my image.”
Choi Jung-an smiled slightly and asked back,
“Then, Comic artist Shin Yo-seop, you also came for a meeting about your new work?”
“For now, I’ve passed the screening for the new work and am working on the manuscript.”
“You already submitted the manuscript?”
“Yes. I wanted to start the next work quickly. But I’m not sure why they called me so urgently.”
At those words, Jung-an also tilted her head.
‘Strange. Why did they call both of us together?’
It felt oddly suspicious.
Most feedback had usually been given over the phone……
And even when offline meetings happened, it was rare to call two artists at the exact same time.
It didn’t seem like a simple mistake — Director Oh Han-cheol wasn’t the type of person to do that.
While they were both lost in doubt,
Bang!
The door opened and a man in a suit rushed in.
“Huuu, I’m sorry I’m late.”
Sweat beaded on his forehead as he bowed his head.
It was Jump Comics Director Oh Han-cheol.
Anyone could tell he had run here in a hurry.
When Han-cheol, Jung-an, and Yo-seop all stood up and bowed, he sat across from them and said,
“Well…… I had a meeting with the platform side, and it dragged on longer than expected. I’m really, really sorry.”
‘Platform?’
What platform?
Choi Jung-an slightly tilted her head and looked at Shin Yo-seop.
He seemed to have the same question, tilting his head as he waited for Director Oh to continue.
“Since I’ve kept you waiting so long, I’ll skip the small talk and get straight to the point.”
Oh Han-cheol clasped his hands and spoke with a serious face.
“First of all…… I enjoyed both of your new works very much. Comic artist Choi Jung-an’s ‘Around the Time the Leaves Fall’ has even deeper emotional digging than your previous work…… and the immersion in the protagonist’s character was excellent. Comic artist Shin Yo-seop’s ‘Ninety-Nine Blues’ had a very commercial approach while the early buildup was nearly perfect.”
Director Oh Han-cheol poured out praise that bordered on glowing.
“Thank you.”
“Yes.”
The two nodded lightly.
“Both of you are strategically very important artists for Jump. Comic artist Choi Jung-an is responsible for the majority of our female readers…… and Comic artist Shin Yo-seop is our flagship artist. I’m confident that once these manuscripts launch, they will achieve very good results. That’s why I’m saying this……”
What kind of proposal required such a long preamble?
Just as Choi Jung-an narrowed her eyes, Director Oh’s voice lowered.
“The reason I spoke at such length beforehand is so that you would understand that what I’m about to propose is not because I don’t value the two artists sitting in front of me.”
“A proposal……?”
“Please tell us.”
When the two asked, Shin Yo-seop took a deep breath, strengthened his gaze, and added,
“Would the two of you be interested in serializing your next works not only in our Jump but also simultaneously on the webtoon platform ‘Lemon Tree’?”
“Excuse me?”
Both of them opened their mouths wide at the same time.
“Webtoons?”
Choi Jung-an asked back with a momentarily flustered expression.
“But we are printed comic artists…… we’re not webtoon artists?”
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
Director Oh spoke with confidence.
“Our editorial team will provide maximum support for editing your works into webtoon format. I can’t say there will be zero additional workload on your end, but we will do our best to minimize that burden. Lemon Tree has also promised to share various know-how with us.”
Shin Yo-seop stroked his chin and said,
“Still, this is very sudden. I’d appreciate a more detailed explanation.”
“I believe…… that Jump Comics has now reached its limit in the form of ‘paper books.’”
“Limit?”
“Yes. People are gradually buying fewer and fewer paper books. Comic books were holding up relatively better…… but that’s actually just learning comics masking the reality. Thanks to the hard work of many excellent artists, we’ve somehow managed to keep going…… but I see this as an unstoppable trend.”
“……So the alternative you found is webtoons.”
Almost simultaneously, the same face flashed through both Choi Jung-an’s and Shin Yo-seop’s minds.
‘……He has similar thoughts to Min-hyuk.’
‘He has a similar view to Comic artist Kang Min-hyuk.’
The recent interview with Editor Ki Cheon-yong of <We, Comics> had been so noisy that it naturally came to mind first.
At that moment, Director Oh Han-cheol opened his laptop and displayed a file.
“This is the data I just received from the meeting.”
“This is……”
“It’s the view count trend of one of the top-ranking works currently on Lemon Tree’s webtoon service.”
Oh Han-cheol pointed at the numbers on the chart and continued speaking rapidly.
“320,000 views for episode 1, 130,000 for the latest episode. Considering that Jump Comics’ sales currently hover between 3,000 and 5,000 copies…… this is roughly a hundred times larger in scale.”
Both Choi Jung-an and Shin Yo-seop’s mouths opened slightly.
They knew webtoons were becoming active recently……
But they had never imagined that webtoons could pull in this much traffic.
“Lemon Tree, currently the leading webtoon platform, has decided to push hard into the webtoon business. They seem to have concluded that they need works of sufficient quality for that. So…… Lemon Tree contacted us first, and after discussion with the person in charge, I suggested that the two of you would be perfect for this.”
Choi Jung-an licked her lips.
‘Then the meeting he just had…… was with Lemon Tree?’
Lemon Tree.
Along with Bluehouse, one of Korea’s two major portal sites.
Lemon Tree had started its webtoon service earlier……
And thanks to that, it had a relatively high number of works and higher activity on its webtoon pages.
“……Then what about physical volume sales and page rates?”
“Of course we will pay them. Jump and Lemon Tree will each cover half, so you will receive at least 30% more than the existing page rates. Physical volumes will continue to be sold as before, and you will receive the same ratio of incentives. In addition, Lemon Tree seems interested in trying IP businesses such as movies or dramas.”
“……”
A massive amount of information poured out suddenly.
Both Jung-an and Yo-seop swallowed and closed their mouths.
“I believe this will create tremendous synergy.”
“……”
“I have no intention of forcing a choice. If you want to continue serializing only in the magazine as before, that’s fine too. However, personally…… I think this will be a very good opportunity for both of you artists and for our Jump, so I’m bringing it up first.”
A brief silence fell over the conference room.
‘What should I do about this?’
While Choi Jung-an was stroking her chin in thought,
“I’ll do it.”
Comic artist Shin Yo-seop looked straight at Oh Han-cheol and answered firmly.
Jung-an asked in a small, cautious voice,
“Comic artist Yo-seop…… are you sure it’s okay?”
“I think the conditions are good. And…… Comic artist Kang Min-hyuk said he’s doing webtoons.”
“Excuse me?”
“I also want to repay the loss I suffered to Comic artist Kang Min-hyuk once…… and that smart friend probably didn’t choose webtoons without any thought. I think it might be good to try this kind of adventure at least once.”
He seemed to have made the decision without much hesitation.
Oh Han-cheol asked again,
“Then what about you, Comic artist Choi Jung-an?”
Lemon Tree.
‘If I do this…… I’ll end up in a competitive relationship with my students.’
The faces of Kang Min-hyuk, Oh Dong-gyo, and Kim Rok-hee, who were preparing to serialize on Bluehouse, flashed through her mind.
After thinking for a moment, Choi Jung-an looked straight ahead and answered,
“……I’ll try it too. Webtoons.”
She lifted the corners of her mouth into a bright smile.
Perhaps it was just her feeling,
But for some reason, Choi Jung-an looked as joyful as a child.
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