Chapter 10
Chapter 10
“Insu, I’m not someone who knows that much about comics. But my daughter takes after her father and is basically a comic expert. She’s good at drawing too, so go play with her and ask her whatever you want.”
“Ah. Okay.”
A little later, the person who emerged from the closed room looked like an older elementary school student, or maybe a middle schooler.
...The word “noona” just came out automatically.
In his previous life, he probably would have simply thought she was a cute girl. But now, his first instinct was slight caution instead. When you were young, older boys and girls just a little above your age often felt scarier than actual adults.
“What is it, Mom?”
“Play with him a little. He’s my friend’s son, Insu. Insu, I heard he’s really interested in comics.”
“...Okay.”
At first, the girl called Eunha looked annoyed about suddenly being called over. But the moment she heard he liked comics, the irritation in her eyes seemed to shift slightly into interest instead of complaints.
Of course, maybe she just did not want to get smacked on the back by her mother.
“Hey. Come here.”
Without realizing it, Insu glanced back toward his mother and the ajumma. Seeing both women smiling at him reassuringly, he relaxed and followed Eunha.
The first thing he noticed upon entering the room was a comic poster. Since he knew almost nothing about the comics of this world, he had no idea what series it was from. But unlike Masked Avenger, the art style looked closer to Japanese manga.
Since this was exactly the kind of style Insu wanted, he could not help becoming interested.
“Are you interested in Empire of Sand?”
For a moment, Insu wondered what Eunha was suddenly talking about before realizing it was the title of the comic.
“Huh? Ah, yes. The art looks pretty.”
In truth, by Insu’s standards, it still looked old-fashioned. It was simply far better than the realistic dramatic style of Masked Avenger. But considering the era, that was unavoidable, and it was closer to his tastes.
Eunha reacted strongly to his words. So strongly that the sudden intensity startled him slightly.
“Right?! Japanese manga art is way prettier after all!”
Only after hearing her say it did Insu realize this was Japanese manga. Still, swept up by her energy, he nodded. Eunha immediately launched into a flood of words.
“Realistic dramatic styles are way too heavy! And the expressions are super limited too! If you’re gonna do that, what’s even the point of drawing comics?”
She definitely was still young. It felt like she had a lot bottled up inside, but considering that Insu was supposedly only five years old, this was still the kind of conversation a normal child his age would struggle to follow. She was basically just saying whatever she wanted without thinking about that at all.
Fortunately, however, Insu was not a normal five-year-old.
“Well, Japanese manga art is easier to look at.”
“Exactly!”
Eunha’s expression brightened even more. At first, she had given off a somewhat prickly impression, but the moment she felt their tastes aligned a little, she changed instantly. It seemed that attitude had simply been the mask she wore during first meetings.
Still, her tastes felt slightly unusual. Disliking realistic dramatic styles was understandable. Those kinds of comics generally did not appeal much to girls.
By now, shoujo manga art styles had already become extremely popular. Insu could confirm that simply by passing bookstores and seeing shoujo manga covers displayed in their windows.
But the art Eunha liked felt different even from typical shoujo manga.
The art styles used in Empire of Sand and the other posters hanging around the room mostly resembled Japanese shounen manga instead.
Though somewhat outdated, they still felt familiar to Insu because they resembled the styles he remembered from his previous life and had been searching for all this time.
Huh? Did she draw that herself?
One of the drawings hanging on the wall was not bad at all, but it also felt slightly questionable as something made by a professional.
“Ah. That...”
“Noona, did you draw this? Wow! You’re really good!”
The moment he spotted it, Insu cheered internally. And anticipating Eunha’s reaction, he immediately struck first.
She faltered briefly, but apparently, she was not especially timid. She quickly abandoned her defensive posture and returned to her energetic attitude.
“R-Really?”
“Yes. Are you trying to become a manhwa artist, noona?”
“Yeah. Well. Something like that.”
Eunha answered with a slightly complicated expression. Maybe she still lacked confidence in herself, or maybe there were other circumstances involved.
Either way, Insu immediately felt that she might actually become someone useful to him. Carefully gauging her mood, he spoke again.
“Noona, could you maybe show me more drawings you made?”
“Hm? My drawings?”
Eunha looked briefly conflicted. But she had never particularly hated showing her art to others. More importantly, the other person was only a five-year-old child, so her hesitation quickly faded.
Instead, she worried for a moment about whether he might accidentally damage them.
But he doesn’t really seem like the type, does he?
They had only spoken briefly, but unlike a normal five-year-old, he felt incredibly smart. Honestly, conversation flowed much better with him than with her classmates at school.
“Here. Be careful with them.”
She pulled out a sketchbook from her desk drawer and handed it over.
Insu opened it with the excitement of someone uncovering treasure.
Oh...
Inside were various characters and backgrounds. The quality was even better than he expected. The skill level varied quite a bit. She clearly drew familiar compositions and things matching her tastes much better than subjects outside her comfort zone, but considering her age, she was undeniably talented.
Of course, compared to a professional, she still fell short, and calling her a genius would probably be a stretch. But she was unquestionably better than Insu. More importantly, she had artistic sense.
Since the current limitations of computer performance made it impossible to perfectly reproduce real artwork anyway, artistic sense mattered more than anything else.
“Noona, are you interested in games too, by any chance?”
Eunha had been feeling shy yet pleased while watching Insu admire her sketchbook and praise her drawings. Then he suddenly asked the question.
“Games? I don’t really know much about them.”
“Japan’s famous for games too, right? They use manga-style art in games a lot.”
Even while saying that, Insu briefly panicked internally. That was true in the world from his previous life, but he had not actually confirmed whether this world was the same. Fortunately, it did not seem very different.
“Well, I guess that’s true? I saw in a magazine that Endou-sensei was participating as a game illustrator. And games seem to use a lot of artwork too.”
Insu had no idea who Endou was, but apparently, he was some famous manga artist.
He immediately wanted to recruit Eunha as a teammate. But pushing too aggressively in situations like this usually ended badly. The atmosphere between them was good and conversation flowed naturally, but this was still their very first meeting.
Moreover, she did not seem especially interested in games themselves. If he pushed too hard right now, he might only create resistance. For today, this much seemed enough.
If she gradually becomes interested in games and grows closer to me, it’ll be harder for her to reject the offer later, right?
The plan felt slightly underhanded since it essentially relied on personal closeness as leverage. But he fully intended to compensate her properly in return. Besides, just because someone liked drawing did not mean they absolutely had to become a manhwa artist. Following him instead might suit her talents better and even lead to greater success.
“Noona, I’m making something too. I’ll show you next time.”
“Hm? Sure!”
Even if things did not work out perfectly, having an older girl he was close with still seemed like a good thing.
After that, Insu tried to visit Eunha as often as possible. Ideally, he would have gone every day. But since he was still only five years old, visiting somewhere fifteen minutes away alone was impossible, meaning he always needed his mother to accompany him, which made things difficult.
If this were the twenty-first century, KakaoTalk, or at least the internet, would exist. We could’ve just used computer messengers.
(Translator’s Note: KakaoTalk — South Korean mobile messaging app launched in 2010. It became known for convenient chat functions, image sharing, and a highly successful emoticon/sticker market.)
Still, meeting face-to-face carried a completely different feeling than simply exchanging messages, which made their interactions denser and helped them become close much faster.
In his previous life, or even now, if he were not this desperate, he never would have been able to visit a girl’s house this enthusiastically.
The awkwardness lessened as they became closer, but older girls, especially those with a noticeable age gap, still naturally felt awkward to him. Eunha probably felt similarly. But Insu shamelessly kept visiting anyway, and eventually they became comfortable enough to overcome that awkwardness entirely.
“Noona. Next time, come over to my house. There’s something I want to show you.”
“Mhm. Okay!”
It took about half a month before he invited her over. In truth, it only felt long because Insu himself was impatient. Considering that a five-year-old child was inviting a much older girl he had only recently met to his house, it was probably actually quite fast.
And apparently, Eunha had not merely been saying empty words, because she showed up at his house the very next day.
“Hello.”
“Oh! Welcome! Are you here to see Insu?”
His mother warmly greeted Eunha, who still looked slightly stiff and awkward.
“Noona. Over here.”
“Mm-hm.”
Although his mother treated her kindly, it was still difficult for Eunha to feel completely comfortable. So the moment Insu called for her, she immediately looked relieved and walked over.
“So this is a computer?”
“Yep.”
Eunha’s family clearly was not poor either, but computers were still so rare during this era that she apparently had never seen one before.
Well, right now people mostly just see them as strange machines. They’re still far from being considered necessities.
Feeling a slight sense of generational, or rather, era difference, Insu smiled awkwardly and pressed the power button.
“Noona, wait just a little. It takes a while for this thing to start up.”
“Okay.”
Eunha answered while glancing around the house. But when the computer suddenly began making screeching noises, her gaze instantly snapped back toward it. Then English text rapidly flashed across the screen, completely capturing her attention.
And just as the boot process finished, Insu casually spoke.
“Noona, I’ve actually been making a game lately.”
“You? Really?”
The reaction was exactly what he expected. If he had been older, he might have gotten offended. But considering he was only five, it was the most natural response possible. Honestly, he was just relieved she did not dismiss it as pure fantasy or a cute lie.
“It’s still in development, and I’m not very good at drawing, so it’s kind of rough. But wait a second.”
Insu rapidly hammered away at the keyboard and launched the sample build.
“This is it?”
“Yep.”
Compared to the version he showed his parents earlier, the sample had improved significantly. He had added more systems and several new images before packaging it yesterday.
In truth, the images were less “properly created assets” and more like the chaotic remains of endless experiments where he tested different color combinations and visual styles almost at random. Even so, the added colors made things look much more convincing overall.
“Noona, do you know what an RPG is?”
“I’ve only heard the word before. I don’t really know what it is.”
She had only encountered the term in magazines related to comics. Of course, she had seen games before. Arcades already existed everywhere during this time, and Eunha had gone a few times with friends. But she had little interest in games themselves, so she knew nothing about genres.
“It’s different from arcade games. You can save your information and load it later so you can keep continuing your adventure.”
That explanation was technically far from a proper definition of an RPG, but if he started talking like a gaming expert, he would only get blank stares. So he intentionally tailored his explanation to the perspective of someone in the 1980s who knew nothing about games.
“Mmm.”
Even after hearing that explanation, however, Eunha still did not seem to fully understand.