Chapter 8: JUMP Released
Monday, it was again the day for the weekly "Weekly Shonen JUMP" to be released.
As the favorite of Japanese teenagers, many young people flocked to buy JUMP early every Monday morning.
In fact, not only teenagers, but many adults also really liked these manga, as many of them were childhood memories they had been reading since they were young.
After buying manga, teenagers would usually take them to school to read with friends, then discuss the future developments of classic manga, and also evaluate new manga.
However, Saiko and Akito did not belong to any of the above categories.
As readers, this time they were more like manga authors, wanting to see how their work performed.
"Saiko! Look! Our work really got published in JUMP! It's like a dream!"
"This isn't a dream! Akito, look, our work!"
Seeing their hard-drawn work actually appear on the JUMP stage, and being only middle schoolers, they wanted to shout with excitement in the street right now.
If they weren't concerned about the gazes of other people on the street, they probably would have done so.
After excitedly reading their work in JUMP, the two gradually calmed down.
Once calm, their attention turned to other short manga.
As the saying goes, know yourself and your enemy, and you will never be defeated. If they wanted to get serialized, they naturally needed to know the strength of their opponents.
"Everyone drew pretty well."
"But compared to us, they're still far behind!"
Just as the two were excitedly looking at the manga in their hands, fantasizing that they were already about to become serialized mangaka, the next manga made both of them freeze.
On the cover, a silver-haired girl stood atop a tall building, holding a blade that emitted a crimson glow.
Even in the blank space of the image, it read: Starring: Liloe. Director, Lighting, Photography, Makeup: ONE.
It made it look like a movie at first glance.
Next, the main story began.
Yaren, the male lead, initially claimed his real name was Yaren, and that he was actually a vampire hunter.
Just as Saiko and Akito wondered why a vampire hunter would wear a high school uniform, the next scene shifted to the protagonist being bullied by a school bully.
Even now, the male lead still insisted that he was merely enduring.
"This person, is he a chunibyo?"
"Yes, definitely a chunibyo."
Seeing the male lead Yaren's appearance, Akito and Saiko immediately understood the protagonist's setting.
He was probably just a chunibyo who blustered a lot but had no real ability.
Immediately after, the male lead's older sister appeared beside him, scolding him not to fantasize about all those imaginary things all day.
However, the subsequent plot left the two confused.
When the male lead heard his sister say she was being followed, Yaren's first reaction was to seek help from the teachers.
But the teachers seemed to not see Yaren at all, all leaving in unison, as if deliberately avoiding Yaren.
In the next part of the story, the vampire Liloe appeared before the siblings. At the same time, a priest from the church also appeared.
During this process, the male lead recalled that his sister had already died, and the one who had been by his side was merely her soul.
To save his sister, the male lead had no choice but to make a pact with the vampire Liloe. Trading all his blood, he had Liloe repel the priests.
Although the ending was still the male lead and his sister laughing happily.
However, the envelope Liloe sent, marked with the number 666, laid a foreshadowing for the story to come.
After reading this manga, Saiko and Akito couldn't help but fall into a brief silence.
They were also new manga artists, but the other person's skill was completely beyond what they could compare to.
The paneling, the artwork, the narrative structure—there was absolutely no trace of a novice.
Although the first chapter of "Bloodline" might seem a bit cliché by today's standards, at this point in the parallel timeline, it appeared very interesting.
Moreover, as a short story to determine serialization, the plot was very complete, making one feel an irresistible desire to keep reading.
Compared to "Bloodline," the manga they drew was simply like trash.
"No way! This person is just a high school student?!"
At this moment, Akito unexpectedly saw in the author's introduction that the author of this manga, ONE, was merely a high school student.
Didn't this mean that this person was roughly the same age as them?
Looking at the other person's skill, and then looking at theirs, the two suddenly felt their confidence had been struck.
And it wasn't just Akito and Saiko, these two new authors, who felt this way; many veterans who had been in the industry for two or three years or even longer also felt a sense of crisis after seeing this manga.
An unknown high school newcomer actually possessed such terrifying drawing skills; it was simply horrifying.
And this was based on his first time drawing manga; in a few more years, even if his original ability was terrible, if he just found someone to collaborate with on a manga, he could probably become a big shot.
Where did the JUMP editors find such a monster?
But what they didn't know was that Naoto's skill was entirely due to the system's cheat.
If he had drawn this manga himself, having about half the skill would have been considered good.
But no matter what, Mr. Kuniharu was already beaming with joy.
Naoto was so capable; even if his future editor wasn't him, he would still have plenty of face, wouldn't he?
Just imagine being the father-in-law of a top mangaka in the future; wouldn't that give him even more face?
Mr. Kuniharu had now completely sold his daughter without any psychological burden.
Anyway, in his opinion, there was no man in this world who would dare to dump his daughter.
Dare to provoke Kuriko? He would be dead without a burial place in minutes.
At this time, Naoto didn't know what was going on with his manga.
He had already returned to school with Kuriko after a long absence, resuming his school life.
"Yo, isn't that Naoto? What, finally decided to come back this time?"
However, just as Naoto opened the door, a troublesome friend appeared before him, making his face fall.