Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Is the Author Omnipotent?
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‘It's trembling.’
Modern society.
In other words, in a world with science and technology similar to the present, he had never once tried drawing a picture.
He had been too busy looking for other work.
The fortunate part was that he was familiar with LCD tablets.
‘Good thing I worked at a company.’
The design company where he currently worked had decent welfare benefits.
LCD tablets were provided to designers as a standard upon joining.
Thanks to that, there were no issues using it.
It took time to get a feel for it.
After all, the style of drawing was different.
‘First, I need to grasp the characteristics of webtoons.’
Novels have their own characteristics too.
Pure literature and genre novels follow different paths entirely.
Genre novels pursue entertainment, while pure literature preserves traditions passed down from the past—the ways of writing them are completely different.
There were also characteristics unique to the medium.
In the era of physical books, long breaths were fine.
People would read a book cover to cover once they started.
But with the shift to smartphones as the medium, the breaths had to become shorter.
Each episode needed to contain a full arc of introduction, development, turn, and conclusion, while drawing in the readers’ interest.
The same went for drawings.
Comic books and webtoons were drawn differently.
Accurately capturing and rendering that was essential for drawing webtoons.
‘Above all, the work I’m doing is adapting the original novel into a comic.’
What’s important in a novel?
Descriptions that paint a picture in the mind even without seeing it.
Since it’s conveyed through the medium of text, different readers interpret the same words differently.
But comics are different.
The author can directly convey exactly what they envision to the reader through the medium of images.
‘The key in webtoons is the characters.’
There are authors who believe that, in terms of conveying the story, plot is what matters most in webtoons too.
But Tae-seong thought differently.
‘Most readers focus on characters before the story. That’s why creating compelling characters comes first.’
Tae-seong moved his pen.
He drew his character, Choi Seong-o, just as he had imagined him in his mind.
What’s the hardest thing for a comic artist?
It’s bringing the character imagined in their head into reality.
Surprisingly, materializing what’s been imagined is difficult.
But the Choi Seong-o in Tae-seong’s mind was a person who had actually existed.
At least within his own experiences.
Tae-seong focused his mind on the pen moving across the monitor.
Soon, the surrounding noises that had been reaching his ears faded away.
It was extreme mental concentration.
Tae-seong was a being who had already surpassed the state of flow in his past life.
Even with a changed body now, his mental faculties were already complete, so slipping back into that trance-like state was not difficult.
Before long, forgetting even the flow of time, he concentrated solely on drawing.
* * *
Three days later.
Representative Kwon received an email.
‘This is getting scary now.’
The sender wasn’t a debt collector.
It was from an author.
His name was Jeong Tae-seong.
It was an email from the blockbuster author bringing massive profits to the company.
It should have been a joyous occasion.
Yet Representative Kwon felt fear first and foremost.
It was because of the subject line.
[Sending Webtoon Episode 1 Manuscript.]
He had proposed trying webtoons exactly three days ago.
And now the first episode’s manuscript had already arrived.
‘Did Representative Park lie?’
That wouldn’t happen.
He wasn’t the type to spout nonsense.
It was a fact he knew.
And yet doubts arose.
Because of this surreal event unfolding before his eyes.
‘Let’s check it first.’
Fast is good.
No pressure from deadlines.
But it couldn’t be just fast.
Content without quality would be ignored by readers.
‘If it feels lacking…….’
He planned to send it right back.
Jeong Tae-seong was a top-priority author.
He had no desire to upset him.
That said, he had even less intention of passing a subpar manuscript.
Coldly.
With that resolve, he opened the manuscript.
* * *
The scroll stopped.
“Haa…….”
He exhaled the breath he had been holding.
“What is this…….”
It was an unbelievable level of immersion.
Just one episode.
And yet he had been sucked in.
He already knew the story’s progression.
Nothing had changed.
Even so, he had been immersed in the manuscript, scrolling down without pause.
‘The characters, the directing, everything is outstanding. And the backgrounds too…….’
Representative Kwon wasn’t a webtoon specialist.
But through hands-on experience, he had encountered countless manuscripts and pieces of content.
Among them, he could confidently say this was the best.
‘This…… it’s a hit.’
It brought back the feeling from first reading the novel [Return of the SSS-Class Hunter].
He immediately picked up the phone.
He called the person in charge at Grape Books.
He needed to schedule a meeting right away.
To get this work out to the public.
* * *
-The webtoon manuscript has received the OK sign. Now just stockpile some buffer episodes and set the serialization schedule.
He had received Representative Kwon’s call a day ago.
Grape Books had approved serialization.
That brought one dilemma.
‘Serializing a webtoon will require time.’
It had taken three days to complete one episode.
Unbelievable to others’ ears.
Even investing a week, finishing one episode is tough.
Especially at the quality Tae-seong produced.
It was a level where teams working two weeks per episode were the norm.
And Tae-seong had done it solo in three days.
‘It took longer than I expected.’
But it was longer than Tae-seong had anticipated.
Because it was his first time tackling the webtoon format.
He couldn’t go faster than his current pace until he got used to it.
‘It’s about time to wrap things up.’
When he returned to this body.
Tae-seong had thought deeply about the company.
And reached a conclusion.
Once his path was set, he would quit.
And now was the time to act on that decision.
* * *
He submitted his resignation at the company.
There was fierce opposition from the representative.
As expected.
Recently, 30% of Hanul Design’s revenue came from Tae-seong.
The packages he designed enjoyed high popularity.
Reservations were still fully booked.
It wasn’t just visible sales.
Companies that failed to commission him passed work to other designers.
Thanks to that, the company’s revenue had soared.
Losing such a golden goose, opposition was inevitable.
“Couldn’t you reconsider?”
“I’m sorry. My mind is made up.”
“Hmm…….”
Kim Yong-seong, the representative holding the resignation letter, let out a sigh.
“Hoo-! Not even a headhunt for a job switch, but changing careers entirely.”
If it were a job switch, he could at least try to retain him.
He could match the salary somehow.
But a career change was different.
Quitting design work meant there was nothing to hold onto.
“What on earth are you planning to do, quitting the company and all?”
Tae-seong answered with a smile.
“A novelist and a cartoonist.”
* * *
One month later.
Tae-seong quit the company.
It was a short time, but enough to finish all commissioned tasks.
There had been a farewell party the night before.
The employees genuinely regretted his departure.
‘They were good people.’
Recalling the fond memories from last night, Tae-seong smiled.
If he had found more joy in design work, he might have stayed.
“From today, it’s full-time.”
Novelist and cartoonist.
Doing both professions at once was tough.
Especially the time pressure.
Drawing one comic episode took a long time.
‘This is my job from now on. No more excuses about lack of time like before. Full throttle starting today.’
It would shock others to hear.
He had finished a webtoon episode in just three days.
And that wasn’t even full effort?
An astonishing story, but true.
Leaving home, Tae-seong headed to a nearby officetel.
A studio bought with royalties from his novels.
He could work from home.
But it might lead to mental slack.
Above all, Tae-seong believed business and private life should be separated.
A habit maintained through repeated lives.
In fact, separating work and life had boosted his efficiency.
That’s why he got a separate office.
Beep-!
The door lock disengaged, and he opened the door.
The officetel’s interior came into view at a glance.
The studio-type officetel was equipped with all necessary furnishings for living.
He could move in immediately without issue.
But there were no personal living supplies.
He hadn’t bothered with them.
To Tae-seong, this place was an office, not a home.
“Shall we get started?”
Without a moment’s rest, he sat down at the computer.
From today, he needed to seriously stockpile manuscripts.
The webtoon serialization date had been set.
“Two months from now.”
Three months ago.
Representative Kwon had gotten a firm serialization schedule from Grape Books.
Three months of leeway had been given.
During the month wrapping up company life, he had stockpiled a total of five episodes.
Slower than expected.
Unavoidable.
Before quitting, he had focused all his energy on finishing received tasks.
That slowed manuscript progress.
But now it was full-time.
He could pour everything into the manuscripts.
For serious manuscript work, Tae-seong looked at the tablet monitor.
He loaded the manuscript worked on the previous day.
[Return of the SSS-Class Hunter] was a hunter story set in a city.
The 21st-century cityscape was taking shape under his hands.
Tae-seong gripped the stylus and completed the world.
Skyscrapers filling the city, people walking its streets.
And in the sky, a massive black sphere.
It resembled a black hole but wasn’t absorbing surrounding objects—it was spewing them out.
Crimson lightning bolts erupted in streaks.
From the rift precisely crossing the center, an ominous red glow emanated from within.
The rifts common in hunter stories were being born from his hands.
It wasn’t mere imagination.
He had seen countless rifts in reality.
With a real model, the rifts drawn by his hands felt even more vivid.
On top of that was Tae-seong’s skill.
Once called a genius, a painter blessed by the gods.
The tool had changed from brush to tablet, but his skill hadn’t vanished.
Tae-seong slipped into a trance and began drawing the manuscript.
Cuts filled up one by one, and life was breathed into the characters.