Chapter 6: The Monster Youngest (5)

To be honest, I talked a big game, but it wasn’t like I had a specific reason to be so confident. It was just a… feeling? A feeling that I could do it. I wasn’t sure if this baseless confidence came from being in a teenage body again. Regardless, the words were out, so now there was only execution. Thinking about it, I probably looked like the textbook definition of a reckless, delinquent teen.

First, I moved the three ink-ruined pages to my desk and stared at them intensely. I fell into thought, glaring at the scenes except for the parts obscured by the ink. If this were a digital manuscript like a webtoon, I could just hit Ctrl+Z to my heart’s content, but that wasn’t an option here. There was the tedious method of cutting out only the ink-splattered parts and pasting in new paper to fill them, but if I did that, the word “restoration” would lose its meaning. It might not be a problem when it eventually becomes a printed book, but the physical manuscript itself would look messy. And using that kind of method didn’t sit well with my personality.

Hmm. No matter how much I pondered, there was only one conclusion. I had to draw them again from scratch.

I opened the closet where the manuscripts were stored. I saw several types of paper with holes poked by awls to mark the specific sizes required by different publishers. I found the same dimensions as the current manuscript, took out three sheets, and brought them to my desk. I clasped my fingers together and slowly stretched them out.

Alright, shall we begin?

I kept checking the original drawings while busily moving my hand, copying the manuscript exactly with a pencil. As I drew at a rapid pace, the drafting—except for the parts obscured by ink—was finished before I knew it. Fast, so fast. I couldn’t help but be surprised every time. After finishing, I did a light comparison; they looked almost identical. No, even looking closely, there was barely any difference. At this point, I wondered if I was a human photocopier. I never knew I had such a talent for copying drawings. And the fact that it wasn’t even difficult was surprising.

What’s really going on? I tilted my head and thought deeply, but there was no way to know. Eh, let’s stop worrying about it. There’s no answer no matter how much I think, so I should just consider it a good ability I’ve gained. Since coming here in the first place didn’t make sense, it wasn’t strange to have a talent like this. I accepted it quickly and nodded.

Next, I placed the second manuscript in front of me. In the meantime, I glanced back; Go Ju-bong was frantic trying to finish his own cleanup. He seemed to be worrying about me every now and then, but he was probably overwhelmed just by the work right in front of him. I checked the wall clock. It was almost midnight. I wasn’t exactly sure, but I felt like I had a decent amount of leeway.

I moved my hands even faster. I had been cautious the first time to be precise, but having done it once, I felt more confident. So, I increased the speed even more. My hand flew across the paper. I was amazed by a speed that made me wonder if this was really my hand, but on the other hand, I was curious to see the result. Soon, the second manuscript was completed—excluding the spots hidden by the ink. Checking it again, this one also felt almost identical. Good, my intuition was right. I hurried through the third manuscript as well. It was finished at an even faster pace.

Whew. Doing three pages back-to-back was quite exhausting. Part of it was likely because I was rushing. Now, the most important task remained. What should I do about the obscured parts?

I looked closely and could faintly see the indentations of the pen lines. When I held the manuscript up against the light, I could see other parts that were previously invisible. It was lucky the ink had been mixed with soot. I felt like I could do it. Comparing it again with the copy I was drawing, I filled in the missing parts. Looking at it after completion, it looked almost exactly the same.

“Whew, one’s done.” “What?!”

Startled, Go Ju-bong jumped up from his seat and rushed over. He was stunned when he saw the completed draft.

“Wh-! This is…”

He held the ink-ruined original and my new draft side by side, looking back and forth with a shocked expression.

“How is it? Does it look similar?” “It’s not just… similar. It’s identical. And… how did you fill in the parts where the ink smeared?” “Well.” “What?”

Apparently, that kind of humor didn’t translate well in the 70s. I cleared my throat awkwardly. Then I steadied my voice and spoke.

“I just filled them in well. Is there something strange?” “No, it’s so natural that it feels like the original drawing must have looked exactly like this.”

I was probably more surprised than Go Ju-bong, but outwardly, I acted like it was no big deal, leaning back in my chair and speaking naturally.

“Is that so?” “Seriously, h-how did you do it?” “How? I just copied it and filled in the blanks appropriately.” “…….”

It was a useless joke after all. Ahem.

Go Ju-bong’s eyes moved rapidly as he compared the drawings, then he looked at me again. This time, he checked the other two pages and his jaw dropped.

“Wait, you finished… a-all three?”

This reaction is quite fun. There’s a certain thrill in surprising someone. It’s exhilarating. Chuckling inwardly, I managed my expression and spoke.

“The other two aren’t fully copied yet. And it’ll take a while to add the ink lines.” “We can ask the Hyungs for help with that somehow…” “I’ll do that too.” “What?” “I’ll do it, so you just focus on finishing what you’re doing.”

He looked like he couldn’t believe his ears. Regardless, even if I didn’t care about the others, if I asked that guy Shim Kyung-chul to do it, with his personality, he would definitely flare up, saying, ‘I knew it! I knew you guys were full of sh*t from the moment you started talking nonsense!’ Of course, I could just listen to that for a bit and let it slide. It would be easier for me to ask, but this was a matter of pride. I could only do this because I believed my skills were sufficient; otherwise, it would just be an empty bluff. And even if I got fired, I didn’t care. I never planned on staying here forever anyway.

The surprising thing was that this work itself was so much fun. I guess anything is fun when it’s going well.

Using the same method, I completely finished the drafts for the second and third manuscripts. Finally, after doing a thorough comparison, I laid the three manuscripts out in front of me and looked down with my arms crossed.

Hmm. Now all that’s left is the inking. I figured the background wouldn’t be a problem even if I just made it roughly similar, but the issue was the character lines. Even if the draft is similar, if the feel of the ink lines is different, the character becomes completely different. Manga artists are quite sensitive about who they trust with character inking. Of course, many artists do it themselves from the start, but I wasn’t sure about the specifics here. I’d heard that in this era, there were even artists who specialized in professionally copying Japanese manga by forming teams. Anyway, the 80s was the period when manga started being churned out like factories.

Putting aside idle thoughts, first: the ink lines. I checked the character lines on the original manuscript and followed them slowly. Strong, weak, strong, weak. Mapping out the pattern of Shim Kyung-chul’s lines in my head, I drew the faces and bodies. After doing about three or four characters, I felt like I understood the pattern to some extent. And after following the character touches for one whole page, I could even gauge Shim Kyung-chul’s skill level.

It’s a strange feeling. Even though I prided myself on having drawn manga for a long time, it’s the first time I’ve felt this way through pen lines. I became completely immersed in the unique charm of the ink work. Before I knew it, the character inking was finished. Oh, I forgot I was supposed to make it exactly the same. While I basically applied Shim Kyung-chul’s style, it had subtly changed the further I went. I had just lost track of time for a moment. Still, at a glance, it looks similar, so it shouldn’t matter.

Now, all that’s left is the background and the final touches.

“H-how is this possible?”

Whoa, startled me! I spun around in shock to find Go Ju-bong standing behind me with wide eyes. I didn’t know when he had gotten there. His reactions are fun, but him popping up out of nowhere like this is a bit disconcerting.

Looking at the manuscript, Go Ju-bong spoke with wide eyes.

“The ink lines… they’re exactly like Kyung-chul Hyung’s. No, how should I put it? They feel a bit more… sophisticated.” “Hey, hey, this is just a copy too. Just simple manual labor.” “This is simple?”

Go Ju-bong looked at me with an ‘are you kidding me’ expression and asked. Come to think of it, maybe copying like this isn’t that easy after all.

“Hmm. Is it not simple?” “This is on the level of being printed by a machine. Do you really think this is easy?”

As he said that, he suddenly scratched the back of his head and spoke again.

“Well, you do make it look easy.” “I didn’t know either. That I had this kind of talent.” “Y-you didn’t know either?” “Yeah. I didn’t.”

At my words, Go Ju-bong let out a hollow laugh, nudged me, and spoke.

“You say it so casually, like it’s someone else’s business.” “Because I really didn’t know.” “You really are… dense.”

He said that and gave a comfortable smile.

“It’s been over half a year since we started living together, but I really can’t figure you out.”

Man, it’s uncomfortable when I’m constantly the center of the conversation. I didn’t want him to notice anything strange about my behavior, so I quickly changed the subject.

“Only the backgrounds are left, so we can wrap it up reasonably well.” “With you, I feel like you might actually restore them perfectly.”

Having seen my skills, he seemed quite confident in me.

“I’m not certain yet. Anyway, are you done?” “No, I was worried about you. But now I think I can focus.” “Good, then get to it. Let’s finish up quickly so we can get some shut-eye.” “…Got it.”

He said that and immediately returned to his seat. After watching him go, I immediately dived into the background work. The backgrounds felt much easier. The workload was a bit heavy, but they were simple and didn’t have many distinct “style” characteristics. Since the backgrounds were split between two people anyway, even if they were slightly different, there wasn’t much of a sense of mismatch while reading the manga. Of course, if you looked closely, the two had different styles. Regardless, I had to stay true to the original, so I had to be careful with the first page.

I started working with that in mind. Speed lines? I’ve drawn those until I was sick of them, so that was no trouble. Building drawings were on the simpler side, so they weren’t harder than expected. If anything, trying to make them look “the same” was more of a concern.

Alright, now only the final touches are left.

Go Ju-bong’s expression as he looked at me was finally brightening.