Cooperation

Although he felt The Garden of Words was right up his alley, that wouldn't matter if it didn't appeal to the magazine's editors.

Chu Yu's consciousness sank into the System Space. Seeing the many Earth Plane works floating there, all marked as locked, made his heart itch with anticipation.

Because unlocking those works required varying amounts of World Points.

According to the system, the only way to obtain World Points was for Chu Yu to become a manga artist and earn them by spreading manga from the Earth Plane. The more popular a work became, the more World Points he would earn. Of course, that was the ideal scenario.

In reality, the free beginner's reward he'd received when the system bound itself to him—The Garden of Words—had been met with the awkward silence of no one showing any interest in it for ten days after he submitted it.

Chu Yu could only sigh at that.

Whatever. If the editors at those three Manga Companies didn't like it, he'd publish it online for free.

As long as the work spread through this world, no matter the channel, anyone who read it and genuinely thought it was good would earn him World Points. But compared to serializing it in a magazine, its reach would probably be much smaller.

He sighed. The bell rang, pulling his attention away from the system, and he left the System Space.

Just then, the phone in Chu Yu's pocket vibrated.

He took it out and glanced at the screen, his eyes suddenly sharpening.

He'd received a text.

"Hello, I'm Su Ruo, an editor at Ink Fish Manga Company. Our company is interested in working with you on your submission, The Garden of Words. We'd like to invite you to meet with us at ten o'clock tomorrow morning at our office, located at..."

Although Chu Yu wanted to keep a cool, expressionless face and finish with a smug, "This was exactly what I expected,"

the smile that crept across his face gave him away. After all, someone had finally recognized the work he'd spent more than ten days copying out. There was no way he could keep his excitement under wraps.

He'd waited ten days. At last, he'd gotten a response.

A few seconds later, Chu Yu realized that every student in the class was staring at him.

And right in front of him, his math teacher—a man in his fifties—was looking at him with displeasure.

The smile froze on Chu Yu's face.

At ten the next morning,

Chu Yu arrived alone at Ink Fish Manga Company's offices, on the eighteenth floor of a building in the city center.

After he explained why he was there, the receptionist led him through the noisy office area and into an office.

It was a small room, only about ten square meters, with a desk and an office chair.

Documents and drawing drafts of all kinds were scattered across the desk. A woman wearing black-framed glasses was bent over, carefully studying the drafts in front of her.

At first, she read slowly. Gradually, she picked up speed, but in the end, she still skimmed through the entire work.

"No good. The quality is too far off!"

The woman shook her head.

"Hello!" Chu Yu interrupted her at just the right moment.

He'd seen her reaching for the next work.

She was really that focused? He'd been in here for two minutes and she still hadn't noticed him?

"Whoa!" Su Ruo jumped in surprise.

She looked up, her fair, delicate face turned toward Chu Yu, confusion in her eyes.

"Who are you?"

"Let me introduce myself first." Chu Yu didn't mind people who took their work seriously.

"My real name is Chu Yu. My pen name is... Shui Xin."

"I got your text yesterday..."

"You're Teacher Shui Xin?" Su Ruo's eyes widened. She looked him up and down, then did it again.

"You're... a man?"

A trace of embarrassment crossed Chu Yu's face.

"Uh, do I look like a woman?"

"Ah! Sorry, that's not what I meant. I just always thought Teacher Shui Xin, the person who drew The Garden of Words, would be a girl. The manga's style is that sort of thing, and your pen name is..." Su Ruo hurriedly waved her hands.

And the pen name sounded pretty feminine, didn't it?

Chu Yu knew what she was trying to say.

Honestly, it was only natural for her to think that. In the Dragon Kingdom, most male manga artists tended to draw mysteries, suspense, or battle-oriented shonen manga. Manga about youth and romance like The Garden of Words were usually drawn by women.

As for the pen name "Shui Xin," it was a play on the phrase "随性," meaning to do things as one pleased.

Chu Yu was the kind of person who agonized over choosing a pen name. After mulling it over for ages, he'd simply picked one on a whim.

"Oh, right. Nice to meet you. I'm Su Ruo, an editor at Ink Fish Manga Company." Only then did Su Ruo realize that she'd been talking for ages without introducing herself to Chu Yu.

"Please, have a seat." Su Ruo straightened her expression and pointed to the chair beside her.

After Chu Yu sat down,

"I won't beat around the bush. Let's get straight to the point," Su Ruo said, looking at Chu Yu.

"Mr. Chu Yu, our company received your submission of The Garden of Words eight days ago, and I was the one who reviewed it."

Su Ruo glanced at Chu Yu, gathering her thoughts.

"Honestly, after reading the work, I personally felt that the story, structure, and art style were all good enough for it to be serialized in Man Ying, the manga magazine published by Ink Fish Manga Company!"

"Mm-hm!" Chu Yu nodded repeatedly on the surface, but inwardly he was grumbling.

Wasn't she supposed to get to the point? Why was she going on about all this?

Wasn't she asking him to come sign a contract? Then where was the contract?

"But..."

Su Ruo's tone suddenly changed.

Chu Yu's breath caught slightly.

Had something changed?

"At the Serialization Meeting three days ago, I proposed this to the editor-in-chief... but he rejected it."

"Rejected it?" Chu Yu's brows furrowed slightly.

"Why? Does the editor-in-chief think The Garden of Words isn't good enough?"

"It's not that he thinks it's not good enough," Su Ruo said.

"It's too short!"

Not good enough?

Too short?

For a moment, Chu Yu's expression turned a little awkward.

"Our company publishes several periodicals, but the most famous one is the manga magazine Man Ying."

"Man Ying, Tian Yin Comics' Tian Yin Manga, and Fire Dragon Comics' Fire Dragon Manga are known as Luo Province's Three Great Manga magazines."

"Their sales channels cover cities of all sizes across the province, and each issue sells more than three hundred thousand copies."

"The comics serialized in them are at least twenty chapters long."

"But Teacher Shui Xin, The Garden of Words only has seven chapters and is already finished."

"So..."

"So your company feels The Garden of Words, being a short story, doesn't have much commercial value, and that's why it rejected the serialization?" Chu Yu's furrowed brow gradually relaxed as he let out a quiet sigh.

He'd known it wouldn't be that easy!

Chu Yu wasn't unreasonable. Though he believed The Garden of Words was a very good manga, he couldn't complain if the Manga Company rejected it for business reasons. After all, he wasn't the company's owner.

Once he thought it through, he was able to take it in stride.

It was just a shame about the work...

"Then, Miss Su Ruo, did you ask me here today just to tell me in person that my work had been rejected?"

"You could have sent me a text. Then I wouldn't have had to skip class and come here for this meeting!" Chu Yu shook his head and said.

"Skip class?" Su Ruo paused. She could tell from Chu Yu's age that he was a student, but she hadn't expected him to skip class to come here.

But Chu Yu had only been complaining offhandedly. He didn't mean to blame Su Ruo; after all, she had tried to get him a chance, even if it hadn't worked out.

"In that case, let's call it a day." Chu Yu didn't drag things out. He stood up, ready to leave.

"Wait..."

"I haven't finished!"

Su Ruo's voice came from behind him.

Chu Yu turned and looked at her.

"Teacher Shui Xin, you're way too impatient!"

Su Ruo gave him a helpless look.

"Although the editor-in-chief wouldn't agree to serialize The Garden of Words in Man Ying..."

"I still think it's an excellent work. After discussing it with the editor-in-chief, he agreed that we could publish it in Mo Ying, another periodical under our company."

"I invited you here today to discuss this with you."

"You submitted The Garden of Words to Man Ying for serialization, but if you're willing, our company would be happy to serialize it in Mo Ying..."

"I just wonder what you think, Teacher Shui Xin!"

Su Ruo's expression was serious as she faced Chu Yu.

Mo Ying?

Chu Yu thought it over.

It was another manga periodical under Ink Fish Manga Company, one that specialized in short manga. But the works published in it were generally mediocre. Compared to Man Ying, the flagship magazine under Ink Fish Manga Company, Mo Ying had far less influence, with only a few tens of thousands of copies sold per issue.

But did Chu Yu have any other choice?

He smiled bitterly.

Right now, he was sitting on a treasure trove but had no key to open it.

The works in the Manga System were all locked, waiting for him to earn World Points through the reach and popularity of The Garden of Words so he could unlock them.

Although Mo Ying didn't sell many copies, serializing The Garden of Words there was still much better than uploading it online for free and hoping to gain exposure!

So Chu Yu took only three seconds to return to his seat.

He looked at Su Ruo with a smile.

"I think we can discuss the details of our cooperation!"