Surviving a Shounen Manga

Actually, what I was trying to do right now was not a very positive action for the manga itself. It was almost the opposite.

So far, I’d changed the plot crafted by the author several times, but all of them were for the sake of ‘complementing’. I didn’t just act to preserve my presence, I had proper justification to modify the plot development to make it flow in a better direction.

Moreover, the rationale had also been clear. I was already aware of the readers’ negative reactions about the original plot development, and I had in fact been among those readers who gave that feedback.

In other words, all my actions had been in the aim of improving the quality of the work itself.

But now was a little different.

Why?

Because there was no particular problem with how the plot was currently developing.

It was true that the chapters on the mafia side had been a bit sluggish in the original. After all, identical waves of those insignificant bastards had continued to appear and hog valuable screentime. 

But the Black Shadow side was different.

The enemies were clearly ranked in stages of difficulty, and the routes and methods of attack were different for each stage, so there were quite a few interesting scenes. Simultaneously, as Leo’s sense of crisis gradually heightened, the narrative tension also steadily rose.

In fact, unlike the mafia portion, the Black Shadow part never really offended the readers. On the contrary, it had calmed them down.

In other words, looking at the story, there was no need to touch it. Because it was already going quite well.

However.

“Yeah, not my problem.”

I was in a hurry.

Currently I held points worth 24,273p.

Although I got a lot of points from the rise in awareness, about 2,000p was probably deducted due to the decreased favourability.

In order to purchase [Mimic Acrobat], I needed about 6,000p more.

Currently, my character had already gained some significance, so it wasn’t that points were difficult to earn.

The problem was time.

The [Mimic Acrobat] chapter was slated to begin shortly after this Black Shadow chapter finished. The one or two chapters in between them had no place for me to earn points.

In other words, it meant that I had to earn the difference within this chapter.

Besides,

‘I need at least 10,000 points.’

I needed an additional 6,000 points, but I had to have more than that. Because it was clear that the author’s favourability would decrease once more with my intervention. Possibly by a huge amount.

Considering that, I had to earn at least 15,000 to have any room for leisure.

So, I, too, had no choice but to act like my future depended on it.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Once you’ve made up your mind, there’s no point in hesitating.

I went straight to the boy who was standing around in front of the ice-cream parlour.

“Hey.”

“…?”

“You aren’t going to go in?”

A look of embarrassment appeared in the boy’s eyes.

Seeing that, I dared to add another word.

“Yan.”

Then,

“Uh… a Black Shadow… member?”

The boy’s lips, which had been glued together, moved slightly.

“Yeah, so let’s talk while we eat. Come in.”

I went into the ice-cream shop first, and he followed me in soon after.

“What would you like?”

“Well…”

“What, can’t decide? Want to have the same as me?”

“Ah, no… Then just one… Papa-and-Daughter flavour[1] …”

We went to our seats after ordering, and Yan started speaking again.

“Really, are you…? I don’t remember ever seeing your face…”

“Then how could I know your name? Your father has quite a few minions that you don’t know about. Well, once you rise to be the First Seat, you will know everything.”

“… Is that so.”

I looked at the boy, who was now silent.

Yan.

A boy with zero social capability, who had never left the assassination corps, except for only two nights out so far. A fifteen-year-old with a fiercely introverted personality, and yet a heart filled with the stormy gales of adolescence.

His nickname among the readers was nothing short of ‘pure cancer’[2], because of how angry and suffocated they’d feel from annoyance and frustration every time this guy appeared.

He had a cute appearance, a 180-degree change in actual battle, and even a cheat unique ability. A character that had no shortcomings at first glance, and yet the readers’ reaction towards this guy was always cold.

The reason was simple. Because the character itself was that frustrating.

First of all, this guy couldn’t talk to people he didn’t know. Currently, the only people who could talk to him were the Black Shadow members, and the setting dictated that even with them it didn’t go smoothly. Even after joining Leo’s party, for a long time, he couldn’t communicate properly with anyone other than Leo.

Add to that his severe indecisiveness, shilly-shallying, lack of self-confidence, etc…

It was so incredibly bad that he couldn’t even enter an ice cream shop by himself. The very ice cream that he ate for the first time during his last night out, that he couldn’t forget the taste of, and had suffered from withdrawal for weeks.

If I hadn’t just spoken to him, he probably would’ve given up and turned back. Because that was how he usually behaved.

Of course, Yan’s timid personality was one of the essential clichés for a shounen manga. It was a kind of growth flag, to show that he could gradually change for the sake of his colleagues.

The author seemed to expect the readers to be enthusiastic about Yan’s change, but this was a mistake. Readers did not welcome Yan’s change. Because all the frustration he’d caused so far had already clogged up their throats.

In any case, he was a character who was difficult to work with.

However, there was a reason why I’d approached this guy so confidently.

Because I knew ‘how to use’ this guy, which Leo and his party would have found out after going through a very long and difficult process.

First steps first. Poking his pride.

“Is it delicious?”

“Yeah… but did father really send you here?”

“Right.”

“… He didn’t have to.”

“Debatable. You couldn’t even buy an ice cream by yourself, after all.”

“I was going to buy it, I just hadn’t decided the flavour yet…”

“So you needed an hour to decide that?”

“It wasn’t a full hour…”

“If it takes an hour to choose an ice cream flavour, would it take you a year to plan an adventure? Are you going to skip the adventure assignments if you want to finish the successor’s education on time?”

“Well, that’s…”

The setting was that this guy was currently in the midst of taking succession classes. And ‘adventure’ was included in the syllabus.

I didn’t know why he had to carry out such a task to take over an assassin organization, but that’s how it was. It might just have been a convenient setting by the author to incorporate this guy into Leo’s party.

The second step was to encourage.

It was an important step. Because this guy could be pushed around extremely easily. It was this step that mostly separated the successful attempts from the failures.

“Anyway, do you know the current situation?”

“What do you mean, the situation?”

“Did you forget why you came here?”

“… Ah.”

“Don’t forget. You came here with an order for support.”

“But there was no specific emergency signal…”

“But that doesn’t mean you can play around here by yourself without even thinking about your mission.”

“…”

“How about making a visit yourself?”

“Me, moving first?”

“Did you not declare that you were going to prove your worth? At the last succession ceremony?”

“But… I haven’t gotten any specific request yet, so moving first in this situation…”

“Tsk, have some self-confidence. Why do you think the First Seat sent you alone to this place? It means you shouldn’t just listen to the people around you, but take care of things by yourself.”

“Ah…”

I saw it.

His ears just twitched.

“Besides, you didn’t even scope out the enemy even after coming all the way here, just because you didn’t get a signal to do anything? What if all the executives get defeated?”

“Come on, how could the executives…”

“Even if that doesn’t happen, wouldn’t they be more energetic if you are with them? If even the successor himself goes to support and encourage them?”

“Is that so…?”

Next, the third step, sprinkle a spoonful of curiosity.

“Besides, they seem to be adventurers.”

“Really, adventurers?”

“The leader is your age, even.”

“…”

“Aren’t you curious? What kind of guys are they? You seem to think that you are the strongest in your age bracket, but the world is wide.”

“Oh, no, I don’t think like that at all…”

“And don’t you know? They are enemies now, but who knows if you will meet again in the future. Perhaps today’s enemy might even become tomorrow’s comrades, going on an adventure together?”

“Oh, I hope that really happens…”

Now the fourth and last step, just tell him to do it.

“Alright, now move quickly. Before it’s too late.”

“But the ice cream is still…”

Even while saying that, Yan slowly got up from his seat. Suddenly, the boy’s eyes were emitting a strange light.

‘Done!’

The process sounded easy, but it wasn’t. If these steps were not followed properly, this guy would end up rejecting it with some weird excuse, like ‘Oh, I don’t think that’s going to happen’ or ‘Well, I still need to get a signal…’. And once rejected, he’ll never overturn his decision. So all the readers were so frustrated that they wanted to die.

Only when these four steps were organically combined –

“Then do you know where they are now?”

Only then would this guy move.

The battle was continuing fiercely.

The mid-level assassins were all down, and even one or two of the executives were wounded and strewn around. There were still about five or six executives left.

Kiriko and Leo weren’t unharmed either. Both of them were bleeding all over, breathing heavily as if they were quite exhausted.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too late. Now was the right time.

At a time when no one was conscious of us yet, I shouted with all my might.

“Everyone, stop! From now on, the successor…”

That was then –

[Warning!]

[Intention to violate plausibility has been detected]

[Acts are prohibited by preceding plot]

[Silence is enforced for 2 minutes as a cumulative penalty]

[The author’s favourability has decreased by 20]

[Character’s rank has decreased slightly]

And at the same time, my body began to be crushed under an intangible pressure.

‘He must be a little angry.’

But it was still fine. Because I’d been expecting even more severe penalties.

Even so, the reason I stopped at this level was probably because I was barely this side of the ‘line’.

The point I’d been most worried about while planning this operation was the restraint of the preceding plot. It was totally unavoidable.

So I’d looked for ways to reduce the penalty as much as possible, and the result was, ‘let’s not cross the line’.

The line was self-evident. Preservation of the story ending.

In other words, even if the development process changed, the ending did not change.

The original development was that a few days after the fight with the executives, Leo clashes with Yan without having completely recovered from his injuries.

However, my intended development was to omit the scene of the final fight with the executives, and instead put Yan directly in its place.

In order to achieve the same ending as the original with such a development, the timing of inserting Yan had to be calculated carefully. If Leo had not lost his strength to a certain extent, or if he had completely lost his strength, the result would not be the same as the original.

Anyway –

‘It’s already spilled milk…’

Things began to change rapidly.

I remained silent and looked around the battlefield.

Everyone was looking at me.

Leo’s party, as well the executives.

‘Now this can’t be stopped anymore.’

Besides, Yan, who was next to me, was also slowly stepping forward.

“Hey, it’s Yan!”

“How could the successor be here!”

“From now on, I will take over.”

Yan didn’t stutter. It could be seen that he was determined to fight.

Fortunately, the only times this character, Yan, received favourable reviews were the moments he entered battle. As if a switch had been flipped, cold reason took the place of fragile indecision.

Then,

“Tell me what’s happening here.”

The senior executive who I’d parted with at the Skeleton House, approached me.

His brows were furrowed, giving an impression of burning anger.

Seeing him like that naturally made me nervous. If that guy attacked me, I would have no choice but to stand and get hit.

‘Two minutes is a long time…’

Silence.

At first, I’d thought it was a minor penalty, but that wasn’t the case at all. Depending on the circumstances, this was a restriction that could put even my life at risk.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking me straightaway.

“Hey, tell me! Where did you get Yan from? Who the hell are you!?”

I tried to speak as much as I could, but it wasn’t easy.

So, I counted the seconds instead.

30, 29, 28…

“Hey, if you’re going to keep your mouth shut like that… I can’t help it either.”

18, 17, 16…

The guy pulled out the sword from his waist.

Sreung –.

“Actually, I wanted to shave that chin off a little from the first time I saw you. It’s too pointy.”

10, 9, 8…

“This is the last time, answer me. If you don’t, you’ll end up with that chubby chin in two pieces.”

4, 3, 2…

“Timeout.”

And just as his sword arced towards me,

Bump –.

“Whoa, let’s talk first.”

I managed to block his sword.

“So you weren’t mute after all.” 

“I was thinking about something else for a while.”

“Okay, explain.”

“If it’s an explanation… Hmm, that’s it. Shall we go somewhere quiet and talk, just the two of us?”

“A quiet place with just the two of us?”

I activated a power.

‘Activate. Mafia’s Secret Room.’

Then,

“Now… what? Something happened just now…”

A private space was created for me and him.

Looking at him, I smiled.

Thank you for coming to me yourself, saving me the trouble of finding you and getting you alone. From the beginning, my purpose was to get these executives out of the fight.

Of course, just bringing Yan and suddenly starting a new phase of battle wouldn’t raise my presence. It could only stimulate curiosity for a moment, but it wouldn’t elicit admiration from the readers.

To stand out, I had to do something worthy of it.

“Do you know what this is?” Saying that, I took out one of the rings that I had taken from ‘Seven Rings’.

Editor’s Notes:

[1] 아빠는 딸바봉 (lit. daddy’s daughter) is a Baskin Robbins ice cream flavour in South Korea. A rather tame name compared to some of their other picks (My Mother is an Alien, for example).

[2] 암 유발자 (lit. cancer trigger), however 암 is also used, for example in 발암 (causing cancer/cancerous), to mean making you feel short of breath due to annoyance and frustration.