By the time sunlight slipped through the blinds again, Michatsu's stomach had decided he was alive. The rest of him wasn't convinced.
The screen of his battered laptop glowed in the dim room. He'd typed "Manga Jump competition" into the search bar, and results flooded the page instantly.
"...Okay, that's…a lot of people."
Each link led to forums already buzzing with entries. Artists with portfolios, creators with millions of followers, even a few indie legends from the webtoon scene were joining in. Their teaser panels looked so polished he could see his own self-doubt reflected in the shading.
He scrolled.
"First prize ¥500,000, second ¥200,000…ten chapters max, all unpublished work." He read aloud, mostly to convince himself it was real. "Deadline in…two weeks."
He slumped back. "Great. Two weeks. Sure. No problem."
The cursor blinked at him like it was judging.
[Observation: Host's confidence level—rapidly declining.]
"Yeah, well, maybe don't announce it like a stock report."
He clicked open the competition rules again. Submissions had to include between one and ten chapters of an original manga; at least thirty pages total. The work had to be self-created, drawn by the applicant, and never published before.
He exhaled through his nose. "So basically, make a masterpiece overnight."
Outside, traffic hummed faintly. Inside, the silence pressed on his skull. He tapped a pen against the desk, then tossed it aside.
Explosive opening. That's what they all have, he thought, eyes flicking between the trending submissions. Something that grabs you in ten seconds.
One entry showed a giant demon bursting through a city skyline; another opened with a tearful confession in a high-school courtyard. Every first page screamed for attention.
Mine has to do that too.
He groaned, dropping his forehead onto the desk. "But what the hell do I even draw…"
***************
The system must have sensed his creative death spiral, because a soft chime echoed in his head.
┏──────────────────────────────┓
[New Quest Unlocked!]
Submit a Supernatural-Genre Manga to a Popular Magazine.
Reward: Random
┗──────────────────────────────┛
He stared at the glowing box, face still pressed to the wood. "…Supernatural? Seriously?"
[Affirmative! Analytics indicate supernatural series have a 63 % higher initial engagement rate!]
"So you're telling me to copy trends."
[We prefer the term "strategic alignment."]
He lifted his head and rubbed his eyes. "Fine. Popular magazine, supernatural genre. Got it."
Another window opened automatically:
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
[Recommended Magazines]
• Manga Jump Plus Online
• Weekly Shonen Burst
• Neo Comic Wave
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
He clicked Manga Jump Plus Online. The logo spun cheerfully before loading a contact page.
"Figures," he muttered. "The one everyone's already targeting."
His gaze drifted back to the open Shop tab still hovering in the corner of his vision. Rows of titles shimmered—some familiar, some forgotten.
If I'm going to do this, I need something that hits hard right away…a story that punches people in the face by page one.
He scrolled through Action, Romance, Supernatural categories lazily. His finger stopped on a title that made his pulse hitch.
Jujutsu Kaisen.
He remembered the name faintly from his last life—a story about curses, chaos, and unreasonably cool fights. Exactly the kind of opening that grabbed you by the throat.
"…Explosive enough," he murmured.
The price tag blinked:
[Vol 1 Ch 1 – 50 Points]
[Vol 1 Ch 2 – 50 Points]
[Vol 1 Ch 3 – 50 Points]
Total: 150 Entertainment Points.
**********************
"System," he said. "Confirm purchase of Jujutsu Kaisen Volume 1, Chapters 1–3."
[Purchase request acknowledged! Deducting 150 Entertainment Points.] [Remaining balance: 9 850 Points (¥9,850,000 equivalent).] [Integrating content directly into host memory.]
The room pulsed with pale blue light. For a heartbeat he thought the floor had vanished; then images exploded behind his eyelids—panels, dialogue, ink strokes, emotion, motion.
Every brush line burned into his mind, every sound effect echoing as if he'd drawn it himself.
When the light faded, he was sitting back in his chair, heart racing.
He exhaled slowly. "...Okay. That was… intense."
He reached for his sketchpad without thinking. His hand moved on its own, tracing shapes he hadn't practiced in years—fluid, confident strokes. The first panel of a cursed-filled world appeared in faint pencil.
The system pinged softly:
[Quest Progress: Supernatural Manga — 0 % → 5 %]
A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
[Congratulations, Host! New data integrated successfully.
Would you like to preview storyline flow?]
He shook his head. "Nah. I already know it now."
[Understood!]
The window dimmed, leaving only the quiet scratch of pencil against paper and the faint glow of morning creeping across the desk.
**************
By noon, pages littered the floor—rough thumbnails, half-formed dialogue, messy but alive.
Michatsu leaned back, stretching until his joints cracked. "So this is what a cheat feels like."
Outside, sunlight shimmered over the rooftops; somewhere in the distance a train wailed, the same sound that had carried him into this world.
He tapped his pencil against the desk rhythmically. "Supernatural. Explosive. Popular magazine. Fine."
The system chimed approvingly.
[Spirit detected: mildly motivated!]
He laughed under his breath. "Don't push it."
Another notification blinked into existence:
┏──────────────────────────────┓
[Quest Update]
Objective 1: Publish 3 Manga and Gain 50 000 Views
Objective 2: Participate and Win Manga Jump Competition
Objective 3: Submit Supernatural Manga to Popular Magazine Current Progress: In Motion┗──────────────────────────────┛
He stared at the list, then at his hand still clutching the pencil.
"Guess I've got my first move."
He turned back to the blank sheet in front of him, lines of cursed energy already forming in his head. The world outside buzzed faintly, oblivious to the lazy young man about to redraw its stories.
"Alright," he muttered, a smirk creeping in. "Let's see if I can make some noise."
The system hummed happily in his ears as the first real stroke of his new life began.
End of Chapter 3 — Next: "Drafts, Deadlines, and Digital Demons"