That Year, Eighteen, Standing Like a Minion

The publishing house Tang Yao worked for was called Wenxin Hall, and she was an editor for its Big Comic magazine.

It was a bi-weekly youth manga magazine, released every two weeks on Thursdays.

Its main focus was manga with fantasy and intense battle themes.

Unlike the famous Weekly Shonen Jump of Tang Yao's past life, which championed "Friendship, Effort, Victory," this magazine's three principles were closer to Young Jump's "Love, Violence, Power."

As for sales and readership... they weren't bad.

While not as illustrious as the top three, it still had a stable readership, ranking within the top four in sales, which was considered a major publication.

Logically, being an editor in such a magazine department shouldn't be too bad, nor should it be particularly terrible.

Coincidentally.

That's what Tang Yao initially thought.

Then she met the frustrating manga artists she was responsible for.

The one who had just spoken was Ou Weiquan, whose pen name was Give It Your All. His work was a fantasy manga titled Girl, Boy, and Sword.

A rather cliché name, and from Tang Yao's perspective, the setting and plot were also quite cliché...

However, this manga was the pillar of the Big Comic magazine.

What is a pillar?

Simply put, it's a dominant work that supports the magazine's content and sales in a fiercely competitive manga landscape... in other words, the magazine's lifeline, the floor for sales.

In her past life, a rookie editor like her wouldn't have been assigned such a pillar work.

So, when Tang Yao was first told she would be responsible for a pillar work, she was quite surprised.

She even entertained the thought that she was quite important...

Until... she finished reading the storyboards and, with the mindset of just doing her job for the salary, went to the manga artist to offer some suggestions, only to be thoroughly chewed out. That's when she truly woke up.

This wasn't her past life, nor was it Japan from her past life, nor was it China from her past life.

Here, manga artists held absolute dominance over editors. For successful manga artists, editors were largely superfluous.

It wasn't that editors had no say at all, but it required the manga artist to be agreeable, the editor to be sufficiently assertive, and the editor to have achieved some success, at least having discovered and promoted a hit manga, before they could have any real influence.

Otherwise, editors were just glorified storyboard tools.

The pillar manga artist Tang Yao was responsible for wasn't only strong-willed but was also poached from another magazine. Rumor had it that there was an agreement when he was recruited that his creative process would not be interfered with.

A rookie editor with no achievements, and a stubborn, strong-willed manga artist.

When the two met, one could imagine the disaster that would ensue.

Forget Tang Yao; even the editor-in-chief reportedly found Ou Weiquan a headache and couldn't do anything about him.

The only reason he assigned him to Tang Yao wasn't because he thought highly of her, but simply because... he wanted to pass the buck.

Because the entire editorial department knew that this guy completely disregarded his responsible editor's opinions.

"Editor Tang... I'm sorry, it seems Teacher Ou doesn't really want to see you."

An impatient voice came.

Tang Yao stood at the doorway. Despite being twenty-one, she still felt like a nobody.

Assistant Li even felt a bit of pity. He looked at Tang Yao, whose eyes were cast down, cleared his throat, and tried to ease the atmosphere: "Perhaps you should come back another time?"

"..."

Tang Yao was silent for a moment, then firmly shook her head. She took out one of the file bags she was holding and handed it over: "Regardless, the plot development for this issue isn't working... I can't understand why Teacher Ou wants to kill off the protagonist once and have the male lead develop feelings for the heroine. It's completely reckless, and I hope he can change it.

This is a development that intentionally hurts the readers' feelings, and I cannot agree with it. These are the revision suggestions I've compiled; I hope he can refer to them."

Initially, after learning about the state of the manga industry in this world, Tang Yao had resigned herself to being a tool. She accepted her fate.

As long as no major accidents occurred.

Then, the accident happened.

This issue, this damn author, unleashed without restraint and started pulling stunts!

Teacher Ou intended to kill the male lead once, in an extremely brutal way... that was bad enough, but he also wanted to have the heroine and the male lead engage in some ambiguous interaction.

According to him, this was to better develop the characters.

But in Tang Yao's opinion.

Is this something a sane person would think of?

As soon as she saw the storyboards, Tang Yao exploded.

Because his work was at the end of a major arc. The previous issue had been fine, with the protagonist about to confront the main BOSS head-on, the atmosphere was perfectly built up.

And in this issue, he was going to kill off the protagonist once!

Tang Yao truly couldn't understand.

Readers were expecting an exciting battle, and he was feeding them garbage. What was that supposed to be?

After reading the storyboards, she immediately contacted this Teacher Ou.

But as soon as Tang Yao started to speak, Teacher Ou on the other end of the line hung up after saying, "Laypeople don't understand."

During this time, Tang Yao visited twice more, but Teacher Ou became increasingly impatient, and by this point, he wasn't even giving her the courtesy of a proper conversation.

This was why Tang Yao was standing here now, and why she had been so reluctant to come.

To be honest, he didn't want to get involved either.

He thought this Teacher Ou had truly gone mad, but he couldn't not get involved because she knew exactly what would happen if the story developed as planned—the readers would explode!

And as the responsible editor, the criticism he would face would be unimaginable.

To be honest, the criticism was the least of his worries.

If things really blew up, his Year-end Bonus would be gone, and that was the most important thing.

This was also why she was still standing here.

A Manga Artist might be courting disaster, but don't drag your own Year-end Bonus down with you.

She really needed that money, she truly did.

"...Editor Tang."

Li Jiang, the assistant, looked at the file bag Tang Yao was handing over, hesitating, "The teacher seems to have already made up his mind."

"Please, make sure he looks at it."

Tang Yao took a deep breath and pushed the file bag forward again, "That kind of development will only hurt the readers' feelings. I don't believe he can't see that."

"..."

Li Jiang looked troubled because he knew his boss's personality very well.

Just then, an impatient voice sounded from behind him again.

"Li Jiang!"

Li Jiang snapped back to attention and could only reach out to take the file bag, saying, "Editor Tang, I can only promise to try my best to talk to the teacher..."

"Thank you for your trouble."

Tang Yao bowed slightly in thanks.

Then.

The door was closed.

Tang Yao straightened up again, looked at the closed door, and turned to leave. She had done everything she could.

Next.

There was still one more of these 'clever strategists' to deal with...

At the same time.

Inside the room.

Li Jiang, holding the file bag, walked to the door of the small room where the assistant worked. He looked towards the private office on the right where Teacher Ou was, hesitating...

As footsteps approached, a voice rang out.

"Did that female editor leave? What do you have in your hand?"

Li Jiang jumped in surprise and quickly turned his head, looking at his boss who had appeared before him at some unknown time.

Ou Weiquan was a man in his early forties, in his prime, with a receding hairline and downturned lips. When he was expressionless, he looked particularly harsh.

Being stared at by him put immense pressure on Li Jiang.

So when Li Jiang heard his boss's question, he blurted out, "It's Editor Tang's suggestions for storyboard revisions..."

"Suggestions? He hasn't even grown his pubic hair yet, and he wants to tell me what to do? Heh, throw it in the trash."

When Ou Weiquan heard this, he sneered and walked past Li Jiang towards the restroom, "And then get back to work immediately."

Clearly, he had absolute confidence in his own story.

Li Jiang: "..."

He looked at Ou Weiquan's retreating back, feeling a bitter taste in his mouth.

I'm sorry.

Editor Tang.

Actually, when he took the file bag, he had no hope.

Because the draft had already been drawn. Given his boss's personality, how could he possibly change it?

On the other side.

Tang Yao walked out of the residential complex and hailed a taxi again. At the same time, she glanced back at the complex where Ou Weiquan lived and took a deep breath.

Actually, she already knew what the final outcome would be.

She needed to think about a backup plan.

Tang Yao withdrew her gaze, and while contemplating her next plan, she got into the car and headed to the next manga artist's residence.

Half an hour later.

Tang Yao stood before another residence once more, facing the young man with the earring. "Teacher Shao! I recall you promised me you'd give me the original manuscript last week."

"Coming right up, coming right up. I'll get it to you this afternoon."

"Right up? This afternoon?"

"I can't help it... Editor Tang, I've been a bit busy lately with too many events."

"I'm not interested in those, and I remember the event only lasted for one afternoon."

"Whether you're interested or not, you arranged it! One afternoon still required me to expend a week's worth of energy! Forget it... I'll get it to you this afternoon, I definitely will."

"..."

Tang Yao stared expressionlessly at the young man before her.

He flashed an impeccable smile.

Shao Changqing, manga artist of Trajectory, a fantasy work. While not a pillar of the industry, it was considered a popular series in Big Comic.

He wasn't stubborn, nor did he play any tricks.

But he was a procrastinator!

Tang Yao would never forget that on her very first day, while still adjusting to her new body and job, she was forced to spin like a top because of this Teacher Shao's last-minute manuscript submission.

Because of this.

She had repeatedly reminded Teacher Shao to submit his storyboards and subsequent original manuscripts on time.

But problems still arose.

According to the original owner's memories, Shao Changqing wasn't arrogant, but whenever prompted, he would always sincerely apologize and then do the same thing again next time.

"This is also your Editorial Department's fault! So, trust me one last time, Editor Tang."

"I hope so."

Tang Yao looked at the man before her, fell silent for a moment, then dropped a single sentence and turned to leave.

Twenty minutes later.

The last stop.

Tang Yao appeared in a villa complex in the western suburbs, standing before a detached villa and ringing the doorbell.

This time, she was greeted by an assistant with a baby face, making one doubt if he was even an adult.

Tang Yao looked at the young man before her and suddenly had a bad premonition. "Hello, I'm Tang Yao, the one who called the day before yesterday. I haven't received Teacher Tang's manuscript, so I came to confirm. The 'Wenxin Manga Award' is starting soon."

"...I apologize."

The young man, with a hint of admiration, subtly sized up Tang Yao as he said somewhat sheepishly, "Teacher Tang has too many manuscripts lately. Regarding the work promised to build hype for your company's newcomer award... it might not be completed."

"..."

The Wenxin Manga Award.

Wenxin Hall created it to better discover talent, cope with the declining generation of Manga Artists, and adapt to Internet trends. It was established in imitation of newcomer awards and would feature submitted works online.

Unlike ordinary newcomer awards, because the works were exhibited on the Internet and audiences had voting rights, this award specifically invited some established Manga Artists to submit works and build hype, both to gain recognition and to prevent awkward situations.

And Tang Yao was responsible for one of them.

But now...

"..."

Tang Yao took a deep breath.

She had visited three places that morning, and not a single thing had gone smoothly.

At this moment, even though she had been mentally prepared, she couldn't help but feel angry. She looked at the young man before her, suddenly took a step forward, and pressed close. "Does he know what a promise means? It means--no matter how the situation changes! It remains unaffected!"

"..."

The young man who opened the door was slightly taken aback, then subconsciously took half a step back, seemingly surprised by the cold gaze emanating from the excessively beautiful girl before him. "S-sorry."

"..."

Tang Yao looked at him, remained silent for a long while, then turned and left directly.

This job really can't be done!