"Yes, yes... I'm notifying the typesetting department right now..."
"Right, for this issue's Newcomer Grand Prix, place it on the magazine's frontispiece. For the inside front cover, we need to dedicate that to the promotional spread for Akino-sensei's current serialization."
"Ensure the primary interview for this month's Mangaka Spotlight goes to Kiyoshi-sensei! Don't let there be any printing errors!"
"Old Lee, you need to increase the print run for your department's sector!"
...
Editorial Department, Manga World Publishers.
Whenever a magazine's final layout was officially confirmed and the deadline for printing approached, the entire company would inevitably descend into a state of chaotic, high-energy busywork.
At the moment, Ayumi Ito was actually the most relaxed person in the office. As a rookie editor, she was currently responsible for exactly one solitary author.
And that author was Hayashi Aoyama.
Sitting prominently on her desk were the 'Edgerunners' manuscripts that Hayashi had recently provided.
Currently, she had the completed drafts for Chapters 1 through 6, and she had already finished reading every single one of them.
After completing those first six chapters, Ayumi's heart was absolutely overflowing with confidence in both Hayashi Aoyama and the phenomenal potential of 'Edgerunners.'
In terms of plot, the first six chapters meticulously followed Hayashi's carefully paced narrative, focusing on David's first meeting with Lucy and the very beginning of their professional collaboration.
Due to the sheer amount of essential world-building and background lore that had to be seamlessly integrated during this phase, the actual progression of the main plot felt significantly slower than average.
However, in terms of pure visual artistry, Hayashi had achieved a near-perfect, one-to-one recreation of the original anime's scenes, pouring an incredible level of detail into every single panel.
In reality, achieving such spectacular results didn't actually require much effort on his part.
The existence of his Master-level 'Drawing Kaleidoscope' ability practically allowed his pen to move with a divine, effortless grace. His technique and speed were both terrifyingly precise.
But since this was Ayumi's absolute first time managing the serialization process for a rookie mangaka, she couldn't help but feel a lingering sense of nervous anticipation.
"It will definitely... Aoyama-sensei, and me... we will definitely succeed!"
She stared intently at the manuscripts spread across her desk, her eyes burning with fierce determination as she whispered the silent vow to herself.
...
Soon enough, the newest issue of 'Manga World GoGo' finished its massive printing run and was swiftly distributed to every major city across the Federation.
Weekend, Linden.
"Han! Go downstairs and grab the newspaper for me! Oh, and your magazine is here too!"
"Coming!"
Han Fumito, a high school student who had been sitting intently in front of his computer, immediately perked up. He dashed downstairs and personally signed for the day's newspaper and a crisp, brand-new manga magazine from the postal carrier.
After returning inside and dutifully placing the newspaper on the dining table for his father, Han excitedly carried his precious magazine back to the privacy of his bedroom.
He was a fiercely loyal reader of 'Manga World GoGo,' having followed the magazine religiously since middle school, usually buying copies from local bookstores or newsstands near his school.
Once he reached high school, he had struck a firm deal with his father: as long as he maintained a rank within the top ten of his class on every major exam, his father would pay for a weekly subscription to 'Manga World GoGo.'
Needless to say, Han studied incredibly hard. In this current era, where smartphones weren't yet a ubiquitous part of daily life, high-quality entertainment options were still relatively limited.
While Han's family did own a desktop computer, as a high school student, he wasn't allowed to waste too much of his precious weekend time playing games or surfing the web.
Consequently, reading his favorite manga magazine had become one of his few cherished ways to relax and decompress during his time off.
And for that privilege, he was more than willing to put in the academic effort.
"'The Blade of Brilliance'! 'The Blade of Brilliance'! And 'The Curse King'! Finally, I can read the latest chapters!"
Han's current favorites are those two specific series. During every official popularity poll, he consistently cast his votes for them, and they always took the top two spots on his personal ranking list.
In reality, he was just like the vast majority of 'Manga World GoGo' readers; they primarily subscribed to the magazine specifically to follow one or two blockbuster series.
Only after they finished reading their personal favorites would they bother to flip through the other serializations in the magazine.
Han followed this exact routine, aggressively consulting the table of contents to devour the latest chapters of 'The Blade of Brilliance' and 'The Curse King' first.
"The next chapter should be the final confrontation with the Demonic Arch-Bishop, right?! I'm so hyped!"
"'The Curse King' was such a filler chapter this week. A-Zu still hasn't even arrived to rescue the hostage; is he seriously still stuck in another flashback?!"
After finishing the latest installments of his two favorites, Han couldn't help but voice his irritation with a few choice complaints.
However, after getting that out of his system, he casually flipped to the next section of the magazine.
"Huh? A Newcomer Grand Prix entry? Another serialization for a rookie author, I guess..."
Han didn't have any particular expectations, but he decided to dive in and give it a read anyway.
"'Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners'... That's an incredibly long title. And a weird one at that. What the heck is a 'Cyberpunk' anyway? And 2077? That must be the year. A sci-fi setting taking place in the future year of 2077... so I guess it's a science-fiction manga?"
He couldn't help but critique the title as soon as his eyes landed on it.
However, as he actually began reading the manga's contents, a look of genuine amazement slowly began to spread across Han's face.
"This rookie's art... it's incredibly sophisticated."
By meticulously recreating the anime's visual style and leveraging the massive power of his 'Drawing Kaleidoscope' ability, Hayashi had ensured that every single panel of 'Edgerunners' was breathtakingly detailed.
The story opened with a hauntingly atmospheric monologue from the protagonist, David Martinez, as he rode a high-speed maglev train.
"In 2077, the city I live in was officially voted the absolute worst place to live in all of America."
"Why? Because violent crime is an everyday occurrence that never seems to end..."
"The number of people living below the absolute poverty line is the highest in the entire country..."
Accompanying his words were several wide-angle panels showcasing a hauntingly beautiful, high-tech cityscape from the far future. Magnetic levitation vehicles zipped through the air, massive holographic advertisements shimmered in the neon-lit sky, sleek trains hurtled through the urban sprawl, and then...
There were the people themselves, cyborgs with clearly visible mechanical limbs and artificial organ replacements.
"It's a harsh, undeniable truth, but people still continue to flock here in droves. Because this city... it always manages to dangling a faint, flickering glimmer of hope right in front of your eyes..."
"Whether it's a blatant lie or a beautiful hallucination, it always feels so close, as if you could reach out and snatch it at any moment... tempting people to throw their entire lives away just for a chance to grasp it!"
The chapter then transitioned into a visceral, high-octane scene of a 'Cyberpsycho' losing their mind and going on a violent rampage, followed by a brief but crucial explanation of cybernetic augmentations and the terrifying concept of cyberpsychosis itself.
Finally, the story concluded with the protagonist, David Martinez, finishing a high-intensity braindance recording, an expression of pure, exhilarated exhaustion on his face as he dialed a black-market ripperdoc. "That was spectacular! Doc! This braindance was absolutely legendary!"
"End of Chapter."
Compared to a full twenty-minute anime episode, the actual narrative content provided in a single manga chapter was naturally quite limited. This was especially true since Hayashi had to dedicate a significant portion of this first chapter to an atmospheric recruitment of scenes from the original promotional trailers and providing essential explanations for Cybernetic Implants and Cyberpsychosis.
Therefore, the first chapter of 'Edgerunners' had to stop right there.
In reality, Hayashi found that it took him a full four chapters to properly adapt the entirety of the original anime's first episode.
Regardless, the overall visual impact and atmospheric storytelling of this debut chapter left Han feeling remarkably impressed. He was especially fond of the visceral opening sequence featuring the high-stakes battle between the Cyberpsycho and the Night City police.
"This rookie's work... it's actually pretty good! Futuristic technology, cybernetic body modification, cyberpsychos... This is honestly the first time I've ever read a manga with a concept like this."
Han remarked with a hint of admiration.
He mentally committed the title 'Edgerunners' to memory before moving on to read the other serializations in the magazine.
This reaction was, in fact, representative of how the vast majority of manga enthusiasts felt after reading the first chapter of 'Edgerunners.'
After all, it was merely the introductory chapter, and Hayashi Aoyama was still a total newcomer who had only just debuted.
The idea of a rookie manga artist immediately causing an absolute worldwide sensation with their very first chapter was the kind of ridiculous fantasy that only happened in light novels.
Not even the most legendary mangaka in history had managed to become an overnight global phenomenon based solely on a single debut chapter.
All of those iconic, world-renowned manga masterpieces had only achieved their legendary status over the course of a long, dedicated serialization run. Their worlds were gradually expanded, their plots grew increasingly intricate, their popularity slowly but surely snowballed, and finally...
They became beloved by millions of fans all around the world!
(End of Chapter)
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]
T/N: Linden (临安) - Localized as Linden to maintain a Japanese-sounding aesthetic for the city name.
T/N: Han Fumito (范思伟 - Han Fumito) - Localized to a more typical Japanese name.
T/N: Akino-sensei (叶枫 - Ye Feng) - Localized.
T/N: Kiyoshi-sensei (苦选 - Kuxuan) - Localized.
T/N: The Blade of Brilliance (光能裁决 - Guangneng Caijue) - A fictional popular manga title.
T/N: The Curse King (咒术王 - Zhoushu Wang) - A fictional popular manga title, clearly a playful reference to 'Jujutsu Kaisen'.
T/N: A-Zu - Protagonist of 'The Curse King'.
T/N: America - The setting of the story is specifically stated to be America in the original Cyberpunk lore, which the manga accurately reflects.