Master of the Machete Style Manga

Chapter 9 is not as good as the Chainsaw Man next door.

After the interview with Haruna Mikazuki ended, the live stream continued, but Ken Sakamoto stopped watching.

It's almost 7 p.m., and he's about to go out to work.

The convenience store where I work is right next to the bus stop. The night shift is from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m., a total of six hours, and then a colleague who works the all-night shift will come to relieve me.

After entering the convenience store, I first took my uniform from the employee locker and changed into it in the changing room.

During this time period, he was in charge of organizing the shelves, so he went directly to the storage room behind the freezer to restock the beverages that had been sold out.

Just then, an elderly woman in her sixties walked by, also wearing a convenience store uniform, and Ken Sakamoto quickly stopped her.

"Manager, excuse me, I have something to tell you."

Ken Sakamoto followed the store manager to the staff room behind the convenience store. There was a table against the wall with a computer on it used to manage various matters in the store.

Ken Sakamoto didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point: "Manager, I've decided that I won't be coming to work here anymore at the end of this month."

The elderly shop manager sat in her office chair, smiling as she looked at Ken Sakamoto: "Is it because Ken is going back to school?"

“Yes.” Ken Sakamoto nodded and said, “And there are already solutions for the economic issues.”

Ken Sakamoto has been working at this convenience store since he moved here, and he's the one who's been there the longest.

The store manager knew about his family situation and usually took good care of him, such as letting him take the unsold bento boxes home in the evening.

Including last week, he and Natsume Mio worked together at this store for a period of time.

This convenience store, the closest to his apartment, is his main source of income.

Ken Sakamoto told the shop manager directly about how he was already earning royalties.

The store manager put on his reading glasses, looked at Sakamoto Ken's phone, and said in surprise, "JUMP? The one that's serialized alongside Naruto and One Piece?"

“That’s right, but it’s currently only published on the web. I estimate it will take at least another month before it appears in a magazine,” Kenjiro Sakamoto said.

"That's great! Ah Jian is a cartoonist now," the shop manager said. "I don't know how to use a smartphone, so be sure to let me know when Ah Jian's comics are published in a magazine."

"Of course, I'm very grateful for the care you've given me over the years," Ken Sakamoto said sincerely.

The store manager chuckled and said, "Even if Ah Jian doesn't come to work anymore, he can still come and visit the store often."

“I’ll come back to buy bento boxes again,” Ken Sakamoto nodded and said.

The agreement with the store manager was to end next month, but he still has to work now.

……

Mio Natsume sat at her desk in her room, practicing in front of the mirror.

Twist your head left and right, relax your shoulders, and open and close your mouth.

Then make exaggerated facial expressions, move your facial muscles, puff out your cheeks as much as possible, and then contract them.

Finally, stick out your tongue and move it left, right, up, and down.

Ever since she decided to become a voice actress, she has been practicing with tutorials.

Now her tongue is very flexible, and the tip of her tongue can touch her nose slightly.

After all, for voice actors, their own bodies are their musical instruments.

Especially the mouth, which requires precise control of every muscle to produce a variety of sounds.

It wasn't just his voice acting skills; in that strange dream, Ah Jian also liked...

Suddenly feeling distracted, Natsume Mio quickly took a deep breath and focused her mind on the training.

After a set of facial exercises, the muscles were slightly stiff.

She rubbed her face and did it a second time.

This kind of practice looks really strange to outsiders, like she's constantly making funny faces, so she always does it in her room.

She then lay flat on the tatami mat and placed her hands on her abdomen.

Inhale slowly through your nose, letting your abdomen expand like a balloon, while keeping your chest and shoulders still.

"hiss--"

Make a steady sound from your mouth and keep the airflow out at a uniform speed.

This is practicing abdominal breathing, which can enhance the control of the diaphragm.

Finally, the entire basic training was completed. Natsume Mio continued to lie on the tatami mat, her arms and legs spread out in a starfish shape.

Move your right hand slightly and pick up the phone that's next to you.

Thinking of the female writer she had met by chance that day, she opened her photo album and looked at it.

By her standards, this female writer named March Spring was definitely a beautiful young woman.

She's beautiful and a great comic artist; she's incredibly talented.

But her breasts are small, not Ah Jian's type... Wait, why did my mind go that way...?

But what she cared about more was the name of the comic, which he had arranged for Ah Jian in her dream.

It seems I hoped that Ah Jian would also become a bestselling comic book author, which is why I subconsciously made this arrangement.

She downloaded the JUMP+ app and searched for the manga titled "Young Lady, Sniper Rifle, and Pantyhose!"

It's already been teased in the new game overview, but the release time is midnight.

She was already asleep by then, so Natsume Mio decided to wait until tomorrow to watch it.

Just as she was about to close the app, she casually swiped the page, and a name suddenly caught her eye.

Ken Sakamoto?!

After confirming several times, I found that these three words appeared below the title of a comic book, and they were the author's name.

Is "Chainsaw Man" a work by Ah Jian? He used his real name as a pen name.

The surname "Sakamoto" is quite common, and "Ken" is also a very popular character for boys' names.

And today she saw that A-Jian went to Shueisha. She knows that A-Jian's dream is to become a manga artist, so his manga must have been accepted by Shueisha.

Natsume Mio suddenly felt a sense of comfort, as if the child she had raised had finally achieved their dream.

Although she had only been silently observing Ah Jian.

The official update time for the comic is midnight tonight, and she plans to stay up all night to be the first to read A-Jian's comic.

but……

Natsume Mio tucked her legs in, nimbly changing from a lying position to a cross-legged one.

While scrolling through her phone in her right hand, her left hand instinctively grabbed her toes, her thumb and forefinger gently prying open her right big toe.

This comic will also be updated at midnight tonight, at the same time as Ah Jian's.

Wouldn't they be in a competitive relationship?
Mio Natsume had some knowledge of the relevant rules.

JUMP believes in "investigation first".

Most magazines only use readers' opinions as a reference, but JUMP is different. JUMP places special emphasis on reader surveys and regards them as the most important indicator of popularity. Each issue's reader survey can determine the fate of a serialized work.

The layout, order, and other aspects are all determined by the readers.

The candidate with the lowest number of votes each month is very likely to be ruthlessly cut in half.

Although JUMP+ is an online serialization platform, works still need to compete for popularity, and only the best ones can be serialized in the print magazine.

This is equivalent to an upgrade system.

Popular works serialized on the web are promoted to its supplementary magazine, while the most popular ones are featured in the main magazine. At the same time, works that perform well in the supplementary magazine also have the opportunity to be promoted to the main magazine.

After successfully serializing in the main magazine, each issue also requires participation in a large-scale reader survey, making the competition extremely fierce.

After all, every time a comic is published in the main magazine, it means that another comic will be canceled or demoted to a supplement.

This female writer named Mikazuki is definitely not simple. She can get a poster to be put up on the bulletin board of Shueisha's headquarters and even have a live broadcast to promote her.

After taking a shower that evening, Natsume Mio set an alarm to ring at midnight.

The first thing I do after getting up is open JUMP+.

All the works scheduled for today have been updated. "Miss, Sniper Rifle, and Pantyhose!" takes the top spot, while A-Jian's "Chainsaw Man" is at the very end.

Although web-based comics don't have a hierarchy based on page order, I inexplicably feel a little jealous...

Natsume Mio clicked directly into the page, glanced at it without looking closely, flipped to the last page, entered the comments section, and quickly typed:
"It felt so-so, not as good as the chainsaw guy next door."

(End of this chapter)