Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 524 Reporting In
"This is the place..."

The man glanced at the letter in his hand, then looked up at the clock tower and the buildings along the street.

310 White Oak Street, Fuller District.

This is the place.

The man swallowed hard, stepped forward, and was quickly stopped by the guard at the door.

"who?"

"I...I'm here to join the studio..."

The man reached out and handed the letter and invitation to the guard, who took the invitation, looked at it, and then looked at the 1.9-meter-tall, towering man in front of him with suspicion.

"Are you an artist here to report for duty?"

"Yes, my name is Henry Dabble."

"Your identification."

"Here."

Dabbur hurriedly took out his identification from his pocket and handed it over. The guard took the identification, looked at it carefully, compared it with the list, and then returned the identification.

"Go in, you're the last one to report."

"I...I'm not late, am I?"

"No."

"Thank you, thank you..."

Dabbur thanked him and then hurriedly carried his bag into the studio.

To Dabul, this place looked like an ordinary house, nothing special. He walked through the corridor and came to the living room. But to Dabul's surprise, it was completely different from the living room he had imagined. In the large room, there were no desks or sofas, but five tables against the wall.

On the table, there were five strange boxes, which appeared to be made of glass and were tilted.

A blackboard hangs in the very center.

Sitting there were two men and two women. The two girls were very young, looking no more than their teens or twenties, full of youthful energy. Dabul thought they were much prettier than any of the girls he had seen in his small town. The other two men were a man who was taciturn and expressionless, and a man who was already middle-aged, with some gray hair.

Everyone was startled when they saw Dabur enter—after all, it was quite frightening to suddenly have such a towering, burly man barge in.

"Hello, everyone..."

Dabul didn't know what to say, so he scratched his head awkwardly, smiled and greeted the four of them, then carefully sat down at the table at the very back.

Everyone stared at Dabbur in surprise. Clearly, his attire was out of place for a painter, and he didn't look like someone who was into art.

However… no one spoke.

Everyone else was nervous too. Dabul wanted to strike up a conversation, but he found himself in no mood for it. This was only the first round; nobody knew if Levi would choose them next, or simply send them back…

“Da…Da…”

A moment later, footsteps approached. Upon hearing the footsteps, everyone instinctively straightened up, like students being inspected by a teacher.

Then, everyone saw Li Wei walk in from the other side of the living room. He looked around and then nodded in satisfaction.

"Yes, everyone's here, that's good."

As Li Wei spoke, he walked to the blackboard and then began to speak.

"Well then, even though it's a bit old-fashioned, please introduce yourselves."

Li Wei chose these five people because their submissions were the most complete, mature, and usable among the submitted works. However, Li Wei hadn't actually investigated who these people were, so introducing himself now was a convenient way to get to know them.

However, there was one person among them whom Li Wei knew.

Looking at the expressionless Borent, Levi was speechless. This painter was one of the four he met at the Golden Mead Club; Levi's anti-crime operation was based on Borent's case. He never expected Borent to want to join his studio now… Borent hadn't seemed very interested in his comics before, had he?

Soon, in addition to Bolent, the other four were introduced, allowing Li Wei to get to know them one by one.

The towering, muscular man, who reminded Li Wei more of an NBA center than a cartoon character, was named Dabbur. The middle-aged man, exuding an air of decadence, was named Cliff. The other two young ladies were a lively girl named Claire, a wealthy heiress, and a somewhat arrogant-looking Helen.

"I am Li Wei."

Finally, Li Wei tapped the blackboard and introduced himself.

"I think you all already know that I'm here to recruit comic book assistants. You might not know what a comic book assistant does, but it's very simple: they help me draw comics."

“…………………?”

The group exchanged puzzled glances. Li Wei's statement seemed utterly shocking to them, since painters typically complete their work independently. A painting represents the painter's ideas and effort, and from sketching to completion, no one else is allowed to interfere.

And Li Wei actually wants them to help with the painting?
"I think you've all seen the comics I've drawn."

Li Wei got straight to the point and began his lecture.

"Obviously, unlike other forms of drawing, comics are characterized by telling a continuous story, rather than a single scene and story. Therefore, telling a story requires a lot of drawing, and I obviously don't have that much time and energy to put into it by myself. So, I need you to be my assistants to help me."

Just then, Claire raised her hand high, as if to say, "Call me, call me."

"Miss Claire? What is it?"

"What exactly is the assistant's job, Sir Levi?" "Simply put, I'll draft the outline, and you'll fill in the rest."

Li Wei drew a simple draft on the blackboard.

"That's it, it's very rough, but you should be able to tell what kind of image it is."

"………………………"

Everyone nodded. Li Wei had drawn a person sitting in the cockpit, though the person was just lines and circles like a stick figure, without even facial features, and the cockpit itself was only a rough outline. But they could all understand what the sketch was trying to represent.

"Then what you need to do is fill in this part. Some people are responsible for drawing the characters, some are responsible for drawing the mecha, and some are responsible for adding shadows. By working together, you can complete the painting in the shortest amount of time."

At this moment, Helen also raised her hand.

"In that case, I can do it all by myself."

"Well, that's true."

Li Wei nodded.

"But what if I ask you to draw thirty pictures a month?"

"………………………"

Helen's face immediately tensed up.

"You see, this is the problem. And this is why I need you as my assistants. As you know, I have a lot to do, and I can't just sit at my desk drawing every day. But since everyone enjoys watching, I don't want to disappoint them, so I've brought you here... Mr. Cliff, please go on."

What can we get?

The dejected middle-aged man stared at Li Wei and asked a question.

"First, of course, is the salary, £20 a year, which I believe is a reasonable price. Second, I will naturally teach you how to draw comics. In addition to completing your own work, you can also draw your own comics and show them to me. If they pass my review, I will publish your comics in the magazine."

"Magazine?"

"That's right, I plan to publish a magazine that specializes in comics."

Li Wei also explained directly that this was a troublesome matter he had been dealing with. Previously, Li Wei's comics were mainly published in the Exploration Newspaper, but the Exploration Newspaper was, after all, a newspaper used to publish investigations of mysterious events, and constantly publishing comics was completely overshadowing the main purpose.

Therefore, Li Wei decided to start his own magazine. He acquired a publishing house and connected with MI7's distribution channels. In the future, "Betty the Dog" and "Iron Legion" would be published in this magazine.

Upon hearing Li Wei's answer, everyone's eyes lit up, and the dejected middle-aged man asked again.

"So... what about the attribution?"

"My comics are naturally written by me. Your comics are naturally written by you, or you can come up with a pen name."

As Li Wei spoke, he looked again at the dejected Zhongdeng.

"Any more questions?"

"……………No."

Dejected, Deng shook his head, remaining silent as if deep in thought. The others, though their expressions varied, all had a gleam in their eyes.

After all, they came to Li Wei hoping he could pull some strings, since the art world had completely ignored them. But unexpectedly, Li Wei had started his own magazine. Now, if their paintings were good, they could gain Li Wei's approval and even be featured in that magazine.

At that time, their comics will be seen by other people!

Then, I can become famous too!

but………

"Lord Li Wei."

Helen raised her hand again.

"What about our payment for our work?"

"Um……………"

Faced with Helen's question, Li Wei thought for a moment.

"We'll pay based on the number of pages. Of course, this doesn't mean you can draw a hundred pages at once. The magazine has a limited number of pages. Therefore, your work will initially be divided equally among the remaining pages. As for payment, it will naturally be based on the standard rate."

However, after that, we will conduct a reader survey. Comics that readers like will receive more compensation and more pages. Comics that readers don't like will naturally receive less compensation and fewer pages. If the results are really bad, then... it will be cancelled.

Li Wei wasn't particularly fond of this approach, but unfortunately, this was the only way in the era of print media. This wasn't the internet age, where you could draw as many as you wanted. As Li Wei said, in the print media era, comic magazines had a limited number of pages. If a comic story wasn't popular with readers, it had to be cut; otherwise, it would be a waste of pages.

The magazine isn't a charity; they won't pay you to publish my comics.

Others didn't react much to this—what's news if a painter can't sell his paintings? It's freaks who paint so many hits like Li Wei.

"Furthermore, if your work becomes very popular, you can publish it as a standalone book, that is, a separate art book. At that time, the royalties will be yours."

Li Wei explained it to them again, and everyone immediately became excited. Of course, they had seen the collected volumes of Li Wei's "Betty the Dog" and "The Steel Legion," which were quite popular. Although these picture books themselves weren't expensive, the sheer number of buyers made them all worthwhile!
If I could paint a picture book that would become a sensation throughout the entire empire, just like Sir Levy, then...wouldn't I be rolling in money?

"All right."

Li Wei tapped the blackboard, drawing everyone's attention back to the main topic.

"You can dream about it when you go to sleep. Let me teach you how to draw comics first."

(End of this chapter)