Serialization Decision

Su Ruo looked at Chu Yu, slightly stunned!

This young man was far too straightforward. The moment he felt there was no chance of cooperation, he got up and left without the slightest hesitation.

Yet when the opportunity for cooperation reappeared, the previously indifferent-looking man immediately broke into a smile, his attitude completely different from before.

Su Ruo smiled instead, finding Chu Yu rather to her liking.

After all, in the workplace, it was hard to tell whether the people you dealt with were sincere or fake. Someone like Chu Yu, who made no effort to hide—or rather, had no desire whatsoever to hide—his thoughts, made Su Ruo feel that getting along with him would be much easier.

The rest was much simpler. Since both of them intended to publish The Garden of Words in Ink Shadow, Ink Fish Magazine Agency's short-form manga journal, the main matters to discuss were the manga's price and copyright issues!

Although The Garden of Words had very few chapters, seven chapters were barely enough for a collected volume.

While Su Ruo did not think the odds of this work becoming popular enough after serialization to warrant a collected volume were high, it was better to put such matters into the contract in advance, lest disputes arise later.

After nearly half an hour of discussion.

The final agreement was that Ink Fish Manga Company would publish it in Ink Shadow at a rate of 220 yuan per page. If The Garden of Words were later released as a collected volume, Chu Yu would receive a 7% royalty share!

That meant Chu Yu would ultimately receive around 35,000 yuan in manuscript fees for the roughly 160 pages of The Garden of Words!

From what Chu Yu knew, this was considered a normal rate for a newcomer manga artist, perhaps even slightly above average. It seemed Su Ruo had not intended to take advantage of his inexperience with the market and force down the price.

There was also an additional condition in the contract: over the next year, if Chu Yu had any new manga, he could only submit it to Ink Fish Manga Company. Even if Ink Fish Manga Company's Serialization Meeting rejected his new serialization, he could not submit the work to any other manga journal!

As compensation, Ink Fish Manga Company would provide Chu Yu with a certain degree of financial subsidy!

But the subsidy was far inferior even to the Township Minimum Living Standard. It was better than nothing!

Chu Yu looked at that additional condition and fell silent for a long while.

"This is an industry practice. Not just manga companies like Shuoming City Big Three Manga Companies, whose influence only extends across one province—even major manga companies like the Modu Seven Greats, whose sales channels cover the entire country, require newcomers to accept similar additional conditions if they want to serialize in their journals. This isn't unique to our company," Su Ruo explained, worried that Chu Yu might overthink it.

After all, no manga company would nurture a promising newcomer through its own journals, only to let them freely jump ship and shop themselves around for the highest offer. Such terms were domineering, but the first step toward becoming a manga artist was accepting them.

Only after accepting them and gaining fame would one have the qualifications and leverage to negotiate with the capital side.

Chu Yu understood that. He had simply realized that this was the first contract he had ever signed in his life. Once he signed it, he would have one foot in society.

While earning income according to its terms, he would also be bound by them.

For a moment, he felt some fear and apprehension—but even more excitement!

Chu Yu picked up the pen. It felt slightly cold in his hand. He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, hesitated no longer, and signed his name.

Smiling, Su Ruo stood and extended her hand to Chu Yu!

"Teacher Shui Xin, I hope we have a pleasant cooperation!"

"Likewise!"

Chu Yu smiled and nodded as he shook her hand. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Su Ruo personally escorted him from the eighteenth floor of Ink Fish Manga Company all the way out of the building.

After returning to her office, Su Ruo took out Chu Yu's original submission for The Garden of Words.

Looking over the pages of beautifully drawn manga, Su Ruo took a deep breath.

To be honest, almost no one at the Serialization Meeting had been optimistic about Chu Yu's work.

First, Chu Yu had no reputation whatsoever, so the reviewers had been cautious.

Second, the style of his work was hard to define. It was neither a traditional school romance nor an adult workplace relationship story.

It could not really be called a teacher-student romance either. The male protagonist, Qiu Yue, and the female protagonist, Yukino, only poured out their feelings to one another in the end, before the story came to an abrupt halt just as the emotions of the entire work had built to their peak.

But this work truly did have beautiful art, a brisk narrative pace, and no melodramatic plot.

That was why she had pushed through the opposition. Though she had failed to secure it a serialization spot in Man Ying, she had done her best to obtain Chu Yu the chance to serialize in Ink Shadow.

This work gave Su Ruo a sense of inspiration. She could not say whether it would become a big hit, but when she read it, she felt genuinely moved!

For an editor like her, who had reviewed countless submissions, it was rare for a work to give her such a feeling!

So rather than saying Su Ruo signed Chu Yu because of this work, it would be more accurate to say that she saw potential in Chu Yu.

A high school student, and his very first manga already possessed this level of quality. Even if this work failed to become popular...

What about his next work?

Chu Yu returned home and dropped heavily onto the bed. Though he had not done any physical labor, he still felt mentally exhausted.

He had added editor Su Ruo's phone number, and they had naturally added each other on Weixin as well.

At that moment, a message from Su Ruo came through on Weixin.

"Everything went smoothly. The serialization arrangements have also been put on the agenda. A work in Ink Shadow will be ending next week, and the Editor-in-Chief has already agreed that The Garden of Words will be published the week after next to take its place."

Things were moving this fast?

Chu Yu was stunned.

But after thinking about it, most of the works serialized in Ink Shadow were short manga. It was mainly newcomers and manga artists of average talent who published their works there.

It was perfectly normal for there to be an opening available so soon.

Several missed calls from his homeroom teacher appeared on his phone.

Chu Yu thought for a moment, casually made up an excuse about being sick with a cold, and took the day off.

With no class to attend, Chu Yu was alone in the empty house. He got up and went to the memorial tablets for his parents in the living room, where he lit a stick of incense for them.

Chu Yu sighed. Maybe it was precisely because his parents had passed away early and no one was there to restrain him that he had so fearlessly done something like skipping class first and asking for leave afterward.

And because he lived alone, he had become obsessed with anime and 2D stuff.

In the end, he had somehow obtained the Mangaka System and become a manga artist!

Chu Yu looked at his parents' portrait. After a moment of silence, he suddenly said, "Dad, Mom, if souls really exist, then you don't need to worry about me. Your son used to spend all day playing games and watching anime, but now I'm a manga artist, and I've even earned thirty-five thousand yuan. I'm finally half a member of society!"

"With my grades, it'd naturally be best if I got into college. But if I don't, I'll become a manga artist in the future! I probably won't starve to death that way!"

"Mm, that's it!"

After saying those few words, Chu Yu seemed to feel much better. He pulled open the curtains and let the sunlight stream in.

At first, after obtaining the system, Chu Yu had only wanted to read more excellent manga works from the Different Dimension.

That was why the system had talked him into drawing manga.

But now...

The breeze brushed lightly past him as Chu Yu took a deep breath.

Though he was mainly copying, he could make money while also reading excellent works from countless Parallel Worlds.

Now that he thought about it, becoming a manga artist and making it his profession seemed pretty good!