Hwashin Wedding (3)
"Looks like this one's settled for the cover."
Albedo, the womb tattoo Opus now dwelling within her through the Wedding, standing alone against the final thrashing of the Erosions—that final battle was going to be the cover for this volume.
Truth be told, I'd had something else in mind at first and had already drawn a different piece intending it for the cover. But that one felt like far too heavy a spoiler, so I shifted it over to goods illustration instead.
Yeah… Albedo bound and held by the gods' flames just doesn't sit right for a cover.
It was the scene where Albedo had struck down every last Erosion and brought peace to the world, then offered herself up in the Wedding exactly as she had promised the gods. Because it was the core moment of this volume, I'd originally thought it had to be the cover. In the end I held back—it felt like overkill.
Even if someone saw it, they wouldn't immediately understand the full story, so it wouldn't spoil that badly. Still, the gods' flames didn't look friendly toward Albedo in that image. Anyone who only knew the previous volume and hadn't yet gotten the additional early explanations about the gods would probably just feel confused.
"Good work."
"Ack!? Oh—thanks."
The sudden cold touch of a cup against my cheek made me jump. Nia had gotten up at some point and was holding out a glass of water.
Had it gotten that late already?
"You pulled an all-nighter finishing the art?"
"Pretty much. Honestly, stopping halfway would've felt weird."
"Then you're heading out right away? It's Saturday soon enough."
"You know me a little too well, don't you?"
"Last work was the same. You're the kind of artist who goes completely insane for a single manga, Siwoo."
"Ugh…"
Hearing her call me that felt strangely off. Still, that was exactly the plan, so I started packing up the manuscript and getting ready to leave. Once the paint on the illustration I'd just finished dried, we could head out.
"Right—have you put in the reservation yet? I've been so scattered I still haven't done it."
"Want me to slot one under your name? Our club handles the final processing anyway. I can at least do that much."
"Then thanks."
Once I'd locked in the ending for Hwashin Wedding, I'd immediately drawn the nude illustration of Rubedo and gotten the reservations rolling as fast as possible before diving into the main work. A solid pile of pre-orders had already stacked up; it was time to go deliver the manuscript.
"You really don't have to come with me."
"But going to the gallery's fun. I do feel a little bad leaving Yuria out, though…"
"Why worry about her? By now she's probably off somewhere alone, using those massive monster tits for nipple play."
"Hah—sounds nice."
Orca and Rosaria, who'd somehow already figured out my work status, trailed after me. My original plan of going alone completely fell apart, and the three of us ended up heading to the gallery together. They had no intention of getting in the way while I worked, though, so they wandered off on their own to look at the new releases and gave me space.
"The manuscript's finally coming in? Honestly, everyone's been going crazy asking when the release date is."
"Ahaha… Master put a lot of care into it. He changed the plan for the cover illustration once, so it took a bit longer."
"The cover?"
"The one he first had in mind wasn't right for a cover, so he said he'd release it for a different purpose."
I handed over the illustration that would serve as the cover along with the manuscript, which had grown quite a bit longer than originally planned. Honestly, I didn't have much confidence that spending more time would produce anything better. I'd worked hard to keep the intense battle expression unique to shonen manga while still pouring in the desperate sorrow that belonged to magical-girl stories. I'd managed to hit roughly the level I'd aimed for.
"Wait—this is…"
"You recognize it, right? It's Opus, the one that was pre-released as the womb-tattoo sticker."
"Ah, so that was Albedo's."
Anyone who'd managed to pull that tattoo through its absurd gacha rates would probably feel fantastic the moment they saw this cover. Of course, once they finished reading, that good feeling might flip into sadness, which left me a little uneasy…
It had been the same when I released The Path That Walks Through Time. Every time I used a tragic ending like this, I couldn't help feeling a bit nervous.
"It's a little thick. At this rate you'll need to adjust the box size you mentioned earlier by a small amount."
"Ah, sorry. Please take care of it."
"You already warned us it might happen, so we've been waiting as long as we could. It's fine."
"And about that box…"
For the previous work in the Hwashin series, Hwashin Conception, we'd sold the womb-tattoo stickers as extra goods. We were doing official goods again this time. What I'd prepared was a paper storage box that could hold every volume of the Hwashin series up through this one—sold as if the entire series had been made into a single set.
And on the side there are four slots for cards.
If someone had reserved every volume and received the promo cards, they could slot all four into place. When the illustrations drawn on the spines lined up, they formed a nude Albedo piece in a similar concept to the Volume 1 cover. Storing everything in this box let you view the matching-concept illustrations of all five Hwashin vessels at once.
"Any extra features you want to add?"
"Not so much a feature as a design element."
"…This?"
"The piece Master originally planned for the cover and then abandoned."
"Whoa…"
"I want this placed on the inside of the box."
"…The inside!?"
If there was something you could only see once everything was installed, I also wanted something you could only properly see once everything was removed. You'd take all the books out so the interior of the box was visible, pull a few cards free to open the holes they normally blocked, and let light in. With just that simple action, the illustration inside would become viewable.
"…We'll need to check that part more carefully. Those holes will require design revisions too, after all."
"Yes. Just find a suitable value and pull a sample."
Aside from that, nothing else was particularly problematic. The storage-box goods took longer than expected for the sample to come through, but no one said it was impossible the way I'd feared. The design came out exactly as I'd wanted, so I was satisfied and green-lit mass production.
"At this rate, though, the reservation price might leave us with a slight loss."
"Hmm. We won't charge any extra. Cover the loss with the profits from Hwashin Wedding for the people who bought during reservation. When we do the regular sale after the official release, raise the price."
"Understood."
Manuscript submitted, samples for the work and every piece of goods confirmed normal. All that remained was to wait for release day.
In a World Where Erotic Comics Are Legal
"…What is this?"
The woman, receiving the Hwashin Wedding she had reserved, stared in no small amount of confusion at the large box that came with it. It was wrapped so the interior couldn't be seen, and a note said to open it only after finishing the entire volume of Hwashin Wedding.
Just what had they sold as an extra this time that it was this big?
"Ah, it isn't actually heavy or anything. Would you like to try lifting it?"
"…You're right. What on earth is this?"
"Who knows. I could give you a rough idea if you really want, but wouldn't it be more fun to open it yourself and enjoy the surprise?"
"…That's true."
Come to think of it, the stickers sold as extras with the previous work had been similar. Reading the whole thing first and then opening them had delivered a certain kind of emotional payoff. Artist Siwoo really was thoughtful about these things. He treated every little detail as if it were part of the work's charm, and that often left readers with a deep impression.
"That aside—the cover is gorgeous…"
Albedo with Opus drawn on her, raising multi-colored flames in spectacular fashion as she cut down the Erosions. It carried the same overwhelming combat power she'd shown when she first conceived the Soul Chain on the Hwashin Battlefield. In particular, the various flames that until now had only ever been used by the other characters moved as freely as if they had always belonged to Albedo. That alone made it feel as though she had become five people while still being one, leaving an incredibly strong impression.
Just what kind of story is this?
Unable to hold back her curiosity any longer, she hurriedly opened the comic and began reading. She stayed focused even through the characters' lewd actions that continued from the previous volume—until the repeated glimpses of the gods started to leave her slightly unsettled.
"Their souls… are being offered up?"
The happy pleasure was merely a side effect of their souls being subordinated to the gods. The gods had never moved with the intention of making the hard-working Hwashin girls happy. They had simply coveted them and wanted to claim them.
"No way, right? They're gods, after all…"
As Albedo began to grasp the situation, the woman too drew closer to the truth, still telling herself it might be a misunderstanding and trying to deny what she was seeing. But the cruel truth paid no attention to that hope and continued to reveal itself. When she finally understood everything, there was nothing left for her to do but feel the same despair as Albedo.