Chapter 143 – Ghost ‘Like’ (2)
Ho Tae-yeon tilted her head as she mulled over Min-hyuk’s sudden request.
“Help? From me?”
Min-hyuk gave a careful smile.
“Yes, just like I wrote in the guestbook. I’m currently preparing a new series.”
“But… I’m really bad at drawing comics. I don’t think there’s anything I can help you with…”
To be honest, she was bewildered.
She did like comics and drawing as a hobby and occasionally uploaded doodle-like comics to her blog.
But knowing Kang Min-hyuk’s skill level, she couldn’t easily accept his words.
Then why had she agreed to meet him in the first place?
‘Because I’m a fan.’
Ho Tae-yeon was a huge fan of Brave King.
The unique despairing atmosphere mixed with game-like elements.
The solid character emotions and overwhelming mood…
The strong fundamentals were one thing, but—
‘Reverse Heaven’s Monarch… that was so damn cool.’
The Reverse Heaven’s Monarch was grotesque to the point of being repulsive… a character that felt like it had been created solely to deliver ‘horror’ to the readers.
In the episode where that character appeared, intimidating and tearing apart the players, Ho Tae-yeon had nearly cheered out loud.
It was a royal genre comic, yet this was the first time she had seen horror elements blended in so naturally.
‘Plus, Brave King itself has cosmic horror vibes… The relationship between Kim Woo-bin and Jeon Gang-pae is great too. The directing style that connects the heroine characters through the game element is really high-class. Yeah, it’s good… From an occult enthusiast’s perspective, it’s quite a masterpiece. That scene with Reverse Heaven’s Monarch especially gives off an atmosphere reminiscent of Hino Hideshi’s hellscapes…’
Ho Tae-yeon stroked her chin, her mind drifting off into space for a moment.
At that moment—
“Hot Tiger-nim?”
“…Hehe, hehehehehe.”
“Hot Tiiiiiger-nim?”
When Min-hyuk clapped his hands, Tae-yeon, whose dark circles had deepened again, snapped back to reality and looked forward.
“Ah, sorry. Anyway, I’m terrible at comics, so even though the offer is an honor, I don’t think I can actually help!”
Then, Min-hyuk lifted the corners of his mouth into a slight smile and said,
“It’s fine even if you can’t draw comics. What I want to ask from you, Hot Tiger-nim, isn’t about drawing the comic itself.”
“…Huh?”
As she tilted her head again, Min-hyuk quickly pulled a laptop out of the bag he had set aside.
Then…
He opened one screen and held it out toward her.
“This is the rough draft for the first episode of my new series. Would you take a look?”
“Ooooh! Of course!”
She was getting to see David artist’s new work first! This was pure gold!
Hot Tiger grinned with her signature ghostly…
No, with her uniquely eerie smile and moved the trackball.
“Hmm… It’s a webtoon?”
“Yes, I’m planning to serialize the next work on Bluehouse.”
“Ah… I see.”
Not print comics, but a webtoon?
That’s strange… Did he really need to do that?
Ho Tae-yeon tilted her head as she scrolled down.
She occasionally read slice-of-life webtoons on Lemon Tree, but…
She couldn’t imagine webtoons suiting Kang Min-hyuk’s style.
However, after scrolling a little further, the situation changed.
‘This is an occult story?’
The opening where the protagonist, who belongs to an occult club, goes to perform a necromantic ritual.
Her interest was already starting to spark.
As she kept scrolling rapidly and the story built up to its highlight,
[Where do you think you’re running off to?!]
The highlight of episode 1 appeared — the scene where the ghost charges forward and the scroll is forcibly pulled down.
A dynamic directing using optical illusion, as if the ghost was about to burst out of the screen.
Any normal person seeing this would have screamed or fainted.
But Ho Tae-yeon looked at it calmly and…
A wide grin spread across her face as she shouted.
“Whoa! This is awesome!”
After scrolling all the way through episode 1, Ho Tae-yeon looked at Min-hyuk and said,
“This is incredible! Did you do this with Flash?”
“You noticed right away. That’s correct.”
“Waaaah, seriously. What a great idea. Horror, it’s horror… David artist-nim, are you a genius? How did you even come up with something like this?!”
Ho Tae-yeon spread her arms wide and once again charged straight at Kang Min-hyuk.
In response, Min-hyuk braced himself.
‘Ghost evasion.’
Tap!
In an instant, he took a quick side step and smoothly let her pass by.
It felt a bit harsh, but he had no choice.
How could anyone fight against basic human instinct when sensing fear?
Ho Tae-yeon wiggled her fingers in disappointment before asking again.
“This is really fresh. I was wondering why you’d bother doing a webtoon… but if you’re using this kind of directing, then there’s definitely merit in doing it as a webtoon. Ufufu.”
Min-hyuk cleared his throat and answered in a serious tone.
“That was only possible thanks to you, Hot Tiger-nim.”
“Huh? Because of me? But… I’ve never done anything like this.”
“Don’t you remember the post you wrote on your blog a while ago? The one where you listed ideas about messing around with scroll effects using Flash.”
“Diary, diiiary… Ah! I remember now!”
Because Ho Tae-yeon’s thoughts tended to run wild in all directions, she often wrote random posts—no, diary entries—on her blog.
Among the jumble of ideas she poured out, there had indeed been content about playing around with Flash functions.
Tae-yeon had just recalled it.
“I’m so moved! To think I actually helped with one of your works, artist-nim!”
The corners of Min-hyuk’s mouth lifted slightly.
‘Total lie, though.’
The reason Min-hyuk knew about this function was simply because he was someone who had come from the future.
That was why…
He felt indebted to Hot Tiger.
After all, this idea didn’t originally belong to him…
It was something Hot Tiger had thought of and implemented first.
While the storytelling style, character design, and underlying comic techniques were completely different…
The directing that served as the kick for this work was, without a doubt, centered on her idea.
Just taking it and using it as-is?
No matter how shameless or irresponsible Min-hyuk might be, he didn’t want to do that.
So, the reason he had come to find Ho Tae-yeon was not only to raise the quality of the work, but also to pay a proper, justified price for using her idea.
Letting out a breath, Min-hyuk continued,
“Anyway, while working like this, I’m still not satisfied with the webtoon quality. Since I don’t fully understand Flash, the timing feels slightly off in some places… I also want to try adding sound input or spatial audio, and experiment with other functions for directing, but I don’t even know where to start.”
“…”
“And since my knowledge of the occult is lacking, I’d appreciate it if you could also act as an advisor — helping with historical accuracy, enhancing the atmosphere, and sharpening the horror points.”
Ho Tae-yeon stood there blankly, staring at Min-hyuk.
‘A high schooler… is going this far?’
To be honest, the first episode of <Gangryeong> she had just read was quite… no, extremely interesting.
She wanted to immediately ask for the next parts.
But…
Even after drawing something this good, he still wasn’t satisfied and had come to find her?
Even though she was just an ordinary university student, despite attending Korea University?
‘He’s persistent.’
Honestly, she felt a sense of awe.
She had always thought she was one of the most persistent people around, but seeing a high schooler like this made her feel like her own efforts were nothing in comparison.
“Um… Do you really think it’s okay for me to participate? It does look fun, though…”
“Yes, I believe there’s no one more suitable than you, Hot Tiger-nim, to help with my project. Of course, if you accept the offer, I’ll pay you a proper fee and properly credit you for directing and story consultation. If you need anything else, feel free to tell me anytime.”
Kang Min-hyuk spoke with such clarity and confidence that he gave off the aura of a full-fledged adult.
‘Is he… really a high schooler?’
Is this the level you need to reach to win the Presidential Award?
Ho Tae-yeon blinked a few times, then waved her hands and replied.
“W-well, okay. It sounds fun and good. I won’t take any money.”
“…Why won’t you take the money?”
“Ahem, it might sound a bit funny to say this, but…”
She pointed at herself with her thumb, then lifted her chin slightly and said,
“I’m… your noona, after all.”
“…Huh?”
“I really like your work, artist-nim, but how can I take money from someone when I’m the older one? I may not look it, but I’m a Korea University student. I can cover my tuition and living expenses just with tutoring.”
Was that… supposed to sound cool?
Ho Tae-yeon smiled brightly while checking Min-hyuk’s reaction, but he answered firmly.
“No.”
“Huh?”
“Paying you a fee is the bare minimum respect I can show you, Hot Tiger-nim. If you don’t accept it, then I won’t make the request at all… and I won’t launch this webtoon either. Because this webtoon wouldn’t even exist without you in the first place.”
“Ah, no… That’s too extreme…”
No, if she didn’t want money, then she just wouldn’t take it.
But canceling the entire webtoon? What was that about?
While a flustered Ho Tae-yeon was panicking, Kang Min-hyuk handed her a sheet of paper.
“Here’s a simple contract. Please read through it.”
“Uuuugh, it’s really fine though…”
Ho Tae-yeon took the A4 paper and slowly lowered her gaze to the contract.
Almost everything Min-hyuk had mentioned earlier was written there exactly.
If there was one slightly off-putting part…
‘Huh? The number of zeros looks a bit weird… It feels like there’s one more zero than I expected…?’
In the section for the ‘amount’ of the service fee, the unit seemed different from what she had in mind.
“Um, M-Min-hyuk artist-nim? Can I ask you one thing?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“The amount here… I think the unit might be written incorrectly?”
“Just a moment.”
Min-hyuk checked the content, then handed the contract back and answered,
“It’s written correctly.”
“Uh… Then this amount…”
“Yes, it’s the sincerity I can offer you, Hot Tiger-nim.”
“…Ahem.”
Ho Tae-yeon cleared her throat and straightened her clothes.
Then she stood up from her seat, took a few steps backward, and—
“Uhehehe, uhehehehehehehehe!”
—suddenly burst into manic laughter.
The dark circles under her eyes deepened again, and around her body, it almost felt like…
Some kind of ghostly aura was swirling.
“…Why are you acting like that? Is something wrong?”
When Min-hyuk cautiously asked,
“Thank you sooooo much!”
Thud!
Ho Tae-yeon dropped to her knees and immediately performed a deep, formal bow right there on the spot.
“…”
Min-hyuk blinked.
‘This person… is really impossible to predict.’
Even including his previous life, he had never met anyone with such a distinct, larger-than-life personality.
“P-please get up. There’s no need to thank me. I’m the one making the request, so why are you—”
“But! This is enough to cover one semester of my tuition!”
“Um… You’re going to use it for tuition?”
“No, my mom pays for tuition! I’m going to use this money… to go to Japan! I want to visit the Thrill Labyrinth — it’s one of the things on my bucket list!”
“…”
Just as Min-hyuk was starting to think it was his fault for asking,
“Haaaaah… Let’s take a break…”
“Geez… What are we even doing here during winter break?”
Two male students walked into the lounge, only to freeze the moment they saw them.
“…”
They caught sight of Kang Min-hyuk sitting in a chair and Ho Tae-yeon with her hair wildly disheveled, kneeling on the floor.
Without a word, they slowly backed out of the lounge exactly the way they had come in.
‘…I think they misunderstood something.’
An awkward smile appeared on Min-hyuk’s face.