Ayumi had just gone down to the restaurant next to the company offices. It was still working hours, and there weren't many customers in this fast-food chain.
There were only three or four diners: a young couple in matching outfits, a bald middle-aged man in a suit, and a handsome young man with messy hair.
But they had all ordered fast food and were eating, so it shouldn't have been Mr. Amamiya who asked Ayumi to treat them.
It seemed Mr. Amamiya hadn't arrived yet.
But there were still a few minutes until the agreed time, so it was fine for her to wait.
Ayumi was about to walk to an empty seat and wait for Ren to arrive.
But at that moment, the handsome young man nearby waved to her: "Is that Ayumi-san?"
Ayumi was stunned for a moment. "Uh... I am..."
Since she came to the Magic City to work, it was the first time she had been called according to the custom of her hometown.
Ren smiled happily: "You're finally here... Oh, by the way, I'm Ren!"
"Are you... Mr. Amamiya?" Ayumi asked, surprised. "Yes... I am..."
Ren scratched the back of his head and said somewhat awkwardly.
Ayumi looked at the handsome young man with slightly long hair in front of her, still with some disbelief.
After all, although age isn't as important in the manga industry, most mangaka rely on experience to survive. This
is even truer in Japan, as most mangaka didn't start creating directly, but as assistants to veteran mangaka.
Even if there are mangaka who start by creating their own works, most of their debuts fail.
But no matter what, Ren submitted his works to Akatsuki Cultural Company as a rookie mangaka.
'Isn't it right to be younger then?'
Ayumi observed the mature style of "Edgerunners" and the storyboards, almost comparable to animation production, and subconsciously thought that Ren should be a rookie mangaka who was older.
But now it seems...
the young man in front of her has messy hair, but it's quite thick and black. Under his bangs, bright, slender eyes can be seen. His jaw forms a defined V. With such a youthful figure, he's almost a young man the same age as Ayumi!
"What's wrong?" Ren asked, picking up the noodles and putting them into his mouth, with a happy smile.
Ayumi shook her head: "It's fine, but... Mr. Amamiya, do you want to order anything else to eat?... I still have some money, I can treat you to something other than vegetable ramen."
Ren had already ordered vegetable noodles to eat before coming to the restaurant and waited for her to pay.
It sounds a bit impolite, but he ordered the cheapest fast food, like vegetable noodles...
Ayumi felt that Ren was a bit unpredictable.
Ren drank the last sip of vegetable noodle soup and smacked his lips.
Then he said naturally, "It's fine. I'm satisfied with the vegetable noodles. But after all, it's your treat. I can't be too presumptuous, right? And I'm already full."
Ren has always been very clear-headed. You can't waste money just because someone is treating you.
And seeing that the Japanese girl in front of him is a member of the Magic Drift Clan, it's not easy to live in the Magic City. It's not easy for her to come here from so far away. He only needs to eat vegetable noodles to fill himself up.
But speaking of which, he's been hungry for so long that vegetable noodles taste like delicious food to him.
"Well... okay," Ayumi said, "Then let's discuss the business cooperation for "Edgerunners"?"
Ren nodded, "No problem."
"Master Amamiya, do you have your manga manuscript and your ID card?" Ayumi asked.
"Here." Ren pulled out a folder from the side and then his ID card.
Ayumi subconsciously looked at the card.
Ren Amamiya, 25 years old...
'only two years older than her...'
Then she pulled out the manuscript, but...
Unlike typical messy manuscripts, Ren's manuscripts are very complete, and people don't perceive them as manuscripts.
Generally, a manuscript is a sketch drawn by the mangaka while conceiving the manga's plot and drawing the sections.
And for this kind of sketch, the mangaka doesn't put much effort in; the characters are drawn very roughly, and they might even draw a blank puppet or a stick figure and place it there. The background is even circled, and then words are written to describe what background should be drawn.
However, Ren's manuscripts are almost perfectly finished character portraits and backgrounds. Ayumi mentally compared the final draft of "Edgerunners" and only then realized that there was still a difference between this manuscript and the final draft.
This is due to Ren's mastery of kaleidoscope drawing, which allows him to complete the picture with a simple, superficial drawing.
Moreover, he himself isn't a serious mangaka, and he's actually unfamiliar with the original manuscript. In his opinion, manga only have their good and bad parts, and he redraws them.
These "original manuscripts" are the manuscripts he drew poorly at first.
After reading them, Ayumi immediately determined that "Edgerunners" was Ren's manuscript.
But after flipping through the first twelve pages of "original manuscripts," she was stunned when she turned to the next one.
"Is this... the content of the fourth episode of "Edgerunners"?" Ayumi said.
"Well, yes, I also brought the content for episodes four, five, and six." Ren shrugged and said, "I didn't bring many original manuscripts."
Ayumi's eyes immediately lit up. "Then, may I ask, Mr. Amamiya, how many episodes have you completed of your work?"
"I've drawn up to episode 23," Ren said indifferently.
Ayumi was surprised: "Our newcomer grand prize requires mid-length works... Mr. Amamiya, you didn't..."
"I know." Ren said indifferently, "Don't worry, Edgerunners is expected to be finished after only about 40 episodes."
Since the Edgerunners anime only has 10 episodes, and each episode corresponds to 2 or 3 manga episodes, the manga adaptation is only about 30 episodes at most.
However, since Edgerunners is actually a work adapted from a video game, the audience is almost exclusively composed of players who have already played Cyberpunk 2077, and its setting practically doesn't need to be overly described in the animation.
But in this world, Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't exist, so the story background, the division of forces, and the setting need to be described, right?
That's why Ren drew more of the plot adapted from the Cyberpunk 2077 trailer in the first episode, mainly to introduce the context of Cyberpunk 2077.
Ren also introduced the definition and classification of Black Super Dream, prosthetic transformation, and the regional forces and divisions of Night City, so it can be completed in about 40 chapters.
"23 chapters!" Ayumi was greatly surprised. "And what's the next plot, Mr. Amamiya?"
"This is the story of the protagonist implanting a powerful prosthetic, joining the gang, meeting the heroine, meeting friends, and starting to reach the peak of his life," Ren said indifferently.
"No doubt! The protagonist will meet a group of very good friends!" Ayumi nodded with satisfaction.
"Then, let's sign the contract. According to company procedures, Mr. Amamiya, you will debut through this New Artist Grand Prize. Your work will be published in "Manga World Gogo." Our magazine is bi-monthly, with one chapter every two weeks. At the same time, according to the popularity of your upcoming work and the votes of manga fans, we will simultaneously conduct a comparison between the New Artist Grand Prize and works from the same period...
As for the manuscript fees, the best deal we can offer new sensei is 4,000 yen per drawing page. If you publish two chapters a month, that will be about 30 to 40 pages..."