Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist

Ask for leave!

I took the kids out for the holiday, so I'll take today off!

Chapter Fifty-Nine: The Return of the Heavenly Wounded Star

"Never mind... all we can do is wait."

Ayano Kawa took the magazine off her face, took a deep breath, and flipped to the table of contents to find the serialization page of another manga.

There's also a comic she really likes that she wants to read this time.

However, when she flipped to the table of contents to see which page the manga was serialized on, she saw the pen name Aragaki Eri.

Wu Song...does not eat pears.

...Is it still a short comic?

Wu Song?

She did recognize the name; it came from one of the four great classical novels of the People's Republic of China, "Water Margin."

Moreover, as a niche actress, she prefers Wu Song and Wu Yong to the tragic characters Lin Chong, who are loved by everyone.

However, she was very curious, so she turned the pages according to the page numbers in the table of contents.

This short comic even has a color opening page marked on the table of contents, which is quite special.

In the short story section of JUMP, you can get a full-color cover at the front of the page—the highest level of recognition a short story can receive.

She knew very well that Eri Aragaki was, after all, just a newcomer who had only been in the industry for less than half a year. The fact that the editorial department had given her a frontispiece at this stage showed that the editorial department valued this short story very highly.

She turned to the corresponding page number.

The cover page features a striking image: a tall, disheveled figure standing in the center of the page.

He was dressed in coarse cloth clothes reminiscent of ancient times in the People's Republic of China. He held a broad-bladed single-edged sword in his hand, and as he swung the blade, the arc of the sword resembled a crescent moon, seemingly aimed directly at the readers outside the comic book.

The overwhelming sense of oppression and murderous intent made one feel as if they were actually there, completely frozen on that page.

Most importantly, the art style of this comic is very unique.

Completely different from the realistic and dark traditional Japanese style of Attack on Titan, this page uses lines and ink treatments that are like ancient paintings, full of artistic sense.

This art style is very rare in the Japanese manga industry. At least among the dozens of serialized manga that Ayano Kawa is currently following, she can't find another one drawn in this way.

This instantly filled Ayano with anticipation.

Because the art style and drawing skills are just too attractive.

This is the advantage of having great drawing skills. Some comic artists can make fans want to keep reading even if the plot is not very appealing, just because they have good drawing skills.

Moreover, based on her understanding of the author "Don't Eat Pears," the story of Attack on Titan has already proven that this author's ability to control the plot is definitely not bad.

Ayano Kawakami adjusted her posture, placed the magazine on her lap, held it carefully with both hands, and began to read.

Ayano Kawakami had read "Water Margin," but she had only heard of the name "Water Margin," after all, the reputation of the Four Great Classical Novels was too great.

Moreover, while it is said to be the four great classics of the People's Republic of China, the People's Republic of China is, after all, the ancestor of the East Asian cultural sphere.

Therefore, later on, many people in Japan and South Korea, especially scholars, liked to use vague concepts, claiming that although the origin was the Republic, culturally it should belong to the whole of East Asia.

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a typical example. Japan loves the Three Kingdoms theme and has adapted it into various films, television series, and games.

From Koei Tecmo's historical simulation games to Mitsuteru Yokoyama's manga, the influence of the Three Kingdoms period in Japan is no less than that of the Sengoku period in Japan.

While "Water Margin" is slightly less influential, it still enjoys considerable fame, with characters like Lin Chong, Wu Song, and Lu Zhishen having a certain level of popularity in Japan.

Just like how Eri Aragaki never actually read "Dream of the Red Chamber" in her previous life, but she still knew characters like Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu.

She also knew that Jia Baoyu was a spoiled rich kid and Lin Daiyu was a delicate woman who loved to cry—similar images.

Similarly, there are Japanese translations of the novel "Water Margin" available in Japan, but compared to the manga, Ayano Kawa felt that the written work lacked visuals, so she never specifically looked for it to read.

Ayano Kawakami also knew the name of Wu Song, the tiger-slaying hero Wu Song, the good man who killed a tiger with his bare hands on Jingyang Ridge.

She vaguely remembered seeing this scene on a TV program when she was a child, a scene of a strong man riding on a tiger and throwing punches.

However, she didn't know much about the specific story before. She didn't know what happened after Wu Song killed the tiger, or why he became the wanderer who was forced to join the Liangshan bandits.

But as the comic unfolded before her, she gradually became immersed in it, captivated by the story of Wu Song.

The young hero, having returned victorious from hunting tigers, went home to repay the elder brother who had raised him...

However, later the elder brother was murdered, and the person who killed him was still living a carefree life...

The memorial tablet of his elder brother, the weeping figure of his niece... suddenly everything became so blurry in the boy's eyes.

It also became blurry in Ayano's eyes.

This deliberate use of a rougher style is like telling the reader how Wu Song's mindset has changed at this moment.

The sadness even affected readers outside the manga; Ayano Kawa felt a tightness in her chest, and her fingers slowed down when turning the pages.

Especially the niece Ying'er's next line, "If we get revenge, will Father come back?"

For a moment, Ayano Kawakami felt as if something had hit her head.

The way they asked the question, that naive logic that only children have, that doesn't fully understand death, was more painful than any adult's cries.

She felt the same "overwhelming feeling" as Wu Song in the comics. It wasn't just simple anger; it was a surge of grief, pain, and regret that got stuck in her throat, impossible to swallow or spit out.

Once these emotions have finally been processed.

Then... a deeper, more profound hatred took over his mind, burning all those previous weak emotions to ashes.

My elder brother Wu Dalang can't come back, but... I still want to take revenge.

Then Wu Song took up his knife and rose up, transforming into a figure like a demon god.

"You old pig-dog!"

In the comics, Wu Song truly resembles a weeping demon, wielding a long sword, his sorrowful eyes seeming to turn into knives.

Since then.

The Star of Heavenly Wounds... returns to its place.

With the three-inch demon-suppressing nail gone, the demon-slaying master of the mortal realm will reappear.

The following pages fully illustrate what the oppressive feeling of the Heavenly Wounded Star truly means.

In the subsequent chapters of the comic, Wu Song's face never appears again; only a blurred half-face remains, devoid of any expression, yet exuding a sense of oppression akin to the arrival of death.

What's blocking it?

Absolutely unstoppable!

When Ximen Qing tried to escape, he was frightened by Wu Song. The arrogant Ximen Qing fell into the mud, his gorgeous brocade robe stained with blood and mud.

The craze sparked by Chapter Sixty, "Wu Song"

Ximen Qing tried to beg for mercy, but it was no use. That's when the steward's head appeared in the comic.

And what followed was Wu Song's blade of revenge!

When she saw Wu Song's vengeful figure in the comic, Ayano Kawakami instinctively held her breath.

In this double-page spread, Wu Song's sword-wielding action even occupies half of the screen.

The blade was drawn as an arc of ink, running horizontally from the upper left corner of the paper to the lower right corner. The blade seemed to be about to cleave through the barrier between the two-dimensional and three-dimensional worlds and strike directly at the reader.

When Ayano Kawa saw this page, she had only one feeling.

Let alone Ximen Qing from the comics, even if a god came... he would only be able to kill Wu Song in this state!

This is not an exaggeration, not a metaphor; it simply means that Wu Song exerted such a strong sense of pressure on her at this moment.

That pure, utterly irrational will to retaliate—a man who abandoned all escape routes and room for maneuver for his only brother, turning himself into a knife that only knew how to slash forward.

But seeing the ending, Ayano Kawa felt incredibly relieved.

This is what they mean by "satisfying gratitude and seeking revenge."

Then came the scene of a despicable couple, with the severed head of the one who killed Wu Dalang placed before Wu Dalang's spirit tablet...

My revenge is complete! It feels so good, so incredibly good.

Ayano Kawa held the magazine high, looked at the last few pages again under the reading light on the car roof, and then slammed her hand on the armrest of the seat.

"Good! Great!"

Ayano Kawakami felt a deep sense of empathy.

The intense emotional rollercoaster from frustration to release brought about by the thrill of revenge is the simplest yet most effective way to create a satisfying moment in a comic.

The saying goes that classics never go out of style, and so does humanity's love for revenge.

The author gradually builds up the reader's emotions through the deaths of Wu Dalang, Ying'er's cries, the county magistrate's cold face, and the silence of the neighbors. When the emotions can no longer be suppressed, the author then has Wu Song take his knife and go out, releasing all the emotions at once with a series of revenge scenes spanning more than ten pages.

Ayano Kawabata cheered loudly, completely forgetting that the driver was still driving in front...

At the same time, her eyes were shining, and she didn't want to put the magazine down.

"As expected of the super rookie manga artist who drew Attack on Titan, Aragaki-san, you really give people so many surprises."

She commented directly.

In this situation, she was even more looking forward to the rest of the Attack on Titan storyline.

After all, the short comic "Wu Song" is already so captivating, what will the subsequent plot of the giant be like!

She became increasingly eager for the later episodes of Attack on Titan. Then, after thinking for a moment, she flipped the magazine back to the beginning and reread the last panel of the latest chapter of Attack on Titan, which showed a panoramic view of the Survey Corps marching across the wilderness, their green cloaks fluttering in the wind.

Then she turned back to the color page at the beginning of "Wu Song," and the image of Wu Song holding a knife overlapped in her mind with the image of Allen standing on the city wall.