episode_0019

“I expected that you would not miss this opportunity.”

Esteban Sanjang, who was waiting for me outside the imperial palace, laughed out loud and was happy when he heard the story with the princess.

This guy must have finally gone crazy. Now I’m doing a literacy project that I didn’t want, so what’s the point of laughing?

“Now is not the time to laugh. Suddenly things got too big.”

It’s not a joke, it’s something that involved the imperial family’s money, so even if you’re caught stealing the money, you’ll be in trouble.

Even if the results were not good, it was a critical situation where life or death could be decided depending on the emperor’s mood that day.

“No need to worry about that. Wouldn’t it be okay to give it to the princess even if it’s a public service project that has no real benefit anyway?”

Wow, that seems plausible. I’ll just draft the plan and leave the rest to the princess and pretend not to notice, right?

It was indeed a good idea because if the princess herself came forward, even if it failed, it would be covered with the grace of the imperial family.

“Furthermore, since it is a project carried out by the imperial family, we are not sure how effective it will be, and isn’t it certain that children’s books will be more widely distributed than now?”

“That’s right.”

“If so, an environment may be created to try again the ‘that’ business we talked about last time.”

Esteban’s words reminded me of the story about the ‘goods’ business that we had discussed in the past.

A business plan to make and sell symbolic items from children’s books, such as glass slippers, the queen’s mirror, or dresses worn by the main characters.

However, this plan was canceled due to lack of demand.

Unlike children’s books, all of these items had to be produced in small quantities and made by hand, which made them uncommercially viable because the price went up too much and it took a long time.

On the other hand, mass production meant that it could only be sold to a few noble daughters, and the cost of equipping the equipment for mass production meant that the belly button would be bigger than the much larger belly.

“My eldest son’s room! My Zhuge Liang! As expected from the top!!!”

I admired the wisdom of the upper class, who turned the imperial family’s merciless harassment of small-scale citizens into an opportunity to make money.

I wanted to hug and kiss Sang Sang-ju, but I had no choice but to let him go because he was extremely disgusted.

“Zhang Bang, I don’t know what Zhuge Liang is, but I think this is a good opportunity for our business to expand.”

Yes. There is no need to make a profit from the popularization of books.

We will leave the eradication of illiteracy to the princess, and we will spread books as widely as possible without causing any loss.

All you have to do is make profits through goods.

This was the core of the partial paywall that swept the Korean gaming industry.

This is an absolutely diabolical tactic of making the game free to attract a lot of children and making them make money with their 5,000 won or 10,000 won pocket money.

This smelled like a successful business, to the point where I could hear the sound of gold coins jingling in my ears.

I discussed with the owner of the merchant what products to release as goods and prepared to return to the estate.

***

“Rupert, why didn’t you draw the next part?”

After finishing an eventful work at the imperial palace, I finally returned home and was just about to take a sweet rest.

My plan went awry due to my father suddenly holding on to me.

My unfinished manuscript in my father’s hands

‘Oh, that’s the ice kingdom.’

It is one of the shortlisted works from a time when the sequel to The Little Mermaid had not yet been decided.

It’s not a children’s book, but it was inspired by one of the animations that were hit around the world, so I tried to make it because it was definitely fun.

‘It doesn’t go well with children’s books either.’

While other works are based on children’s books and animations were made based on the original works, the original was originally created as an animation.

In short, if it were made into a children’s book, its charm would be halved, so I left the manuscript unfinished and put it aside. How did I find it?

“Father, what should I do if not only Ada but also you come into the studio and do this?”

“That’s not it… No, I didn’t come in intentionally.”

“Give me that, and I need to get some rest now.”

I took the unfinished manuscript from my father’s hand and headed to my room.

From behind, I heard my father’s voice desperately asking, ‘What happens after that, Rupert!’, but I ignored it, thinking it was an auditory hallucination.

‘So, this is the first time your father has shown interest in my manuscript?’

As I entered the room and lay down on the bed, I felt something strange.

Ada might not know this, but her father looked at the children’s book and thought the pictures were beautiful! I only appreciated it to some degree, but I never reacted like this.

In the first place, all the children’s books I created were for young girls, so I had no choice but to do so.

But I wondered why reacted like that.

The conclusion was, of course, adventure and magic. Isn’t this an element that men are fascinated by?

If you think about it, considering that one of the reasons the original was a huge hit is that it can be enjoyed by people of all ages, the potential of this work was definitely great.

A work that can target male readers and even adult readers who have not been attracted until now.

‘But it’s difficult as it is.’

In the first place, I gave up on the children’s book genre because it was difficult to fully capture the charm of . Some new method was needed.

Adventure, magic, and even great battle scenes.

This is a work that needs to emphasize its dynamic appearance.

“For a moment, if we connect this with how to lower the illiteracy rate… ”

Suddenly a good idea occurred to me. A work that played a groundbreaking role in teaching letters to young children in a previous life.

‘Burn up! Dissension!’

This book, which consists of cartoons, gained sensational popularity even though it was based on Chinese characters that children disliked.

I hated it because it was difficult, but when it was combined with action battles, it turned into something interesting.

“The original version of The Ice Kingdom was an animation in the first place, so it fits much better as a comic book than a children’s book.”

Additionally, because comics consist of only short lines, they are much easier to read than children’s books that contain stories in sentence form.

If the unfinished were made into a comic book and popularized, it would be a much better book for illiterate people to read for learning.

In particular, while children’s books so far have been created for young children, comic books have the advantage of being able to interest even adults.

“There must be a lot of things to prepare for that, right?”

This is where the help of merchants and craftsmen is needed.

Unlike children’s books, comic books are completely different books, so different tools and items were needed from those made so far.

As soon as inspiration struck me, the desire to create work soared.

I opened the drawer next to the bed, took out the vitality potion I had stored, and immediately gave it a shot.

An amazing effect that will completely relieve today’s fatigue!

I rushed out of the room, ready to go to work right away.

***

“So the handle is made of wood and the ink comes out through this strange metal nib at the end.”

A metal craftsman who can understand even when you talk nonsense. I nodded, saying that the explanation was correct.

“I think it will definitely be much easier to express thin lines using this method compared to a feather pen. However, the durability is… .”

Even I only know the shape of the metal pens I used in my past life, especially the G-pen and spoon pen, which are the most basic when drawing comics, but I don’t know the structure or principle, so I gave a rough explanation.

The craftsman, who figured out how it worked in an instant, even discovered its shortcomings.

‘Of course, even though G pens and spoon pens are made of metal, the nibs get damaged quickly.’

However, it was an essential tool for drawing comics. Unlike children’s books, comics lose their liveliness if the thickness of the lines is not expressed.

Comics that lost their liveliness became so messy that it was difficult to watch, so I had to make them at all costs.

While the metal craftsman was in agony after receiving a special mission, the paper craftsman was now having a hard time with his mission.

“I think it would be okay to use recycled paper for the inside paper, but the cover is made of paper.”

Unlike a children’s book where you read the text and look at the illustrations by flipping through each page, a comic book is a book that you read in quick succession.

In other words, if the cover is made of leather like it is now, portability will decrease and it will be difficult to see.

It’s not for nothing that all comic books on Earth are made of paper.

However, unlike Earth, in this world, there was no paper that could be used as a cover, so this part had to be created anew.

“In that case, how about using the essence of the ‘cassava tree’?”

“Why didn’t I think of that? That’s right, there was a way.”

When the leather craftsman, who was watching the paper craftsman’s agony, taught him the method he used to coat leather, the paper craftsman was astonished like Newton who discovered gravity.

“Cassava tree?”

“Yes, master. It is a tree that only grows in the southern region, and the sap is sticky. It does not get on your hands, but if you apply it to something like leather, the leather absorbs the sap and becomes smooth.”

The smooth leather is said to be a widely used material because it repels raindrops and maintains its luster for a long time.

“If you want to apply it on paper, you need to research ratios and times, so you need a bit more budget than you think… .”

“You don’t have to worry about your budget.”

“Yes?”

The craftsmen were all shocked to hear that my budget was not needed.

Why are you so surprised?

“The imperial family will cover the research costs for this book anyway, so don’t worry, use the materials to your heart’s content and focus only on producing the best results.”

This is clearly an activity for the imperial family’s project to eradicate illiteracy among citizens, so the invoice can be sent to the imperial family.

Wait, emperor. I will repay my family’s grudge through this matter.

The craftsmen who finally understood my words became excited and began discussing among themselves what materials to use.

Clap.

And everyone’s eyes turned to the sound of the door closing.

“No, why does the door close by itself?”

Shake!

The craftsmen, who were puzzled by the suddenly closed door, tried to open it again, but the door seemed to be blocked by something and was stuck tightly.

“Please note that no one can leave this place until a satisfactory product is produced.”

“Boy!!!”

“ Instead, I brought a box of the Alchemy Guild’s new Vitality Potion in advance! Let’s all do our best!!!”

Today too, happy chords resonated in the studio. It was mainly focused on high notes, but what did you learn? I want to make a comic book quickly.