I’m Really a Superstar

Drawing.

Cooking dinner.

Washing the dishes.

Drawing again into the night.

Within a day’s time, Zhang Ye had already churned out three chapters.

Only he could do this. He had the stamina, the speed, and could bear the loneliness of it. If it were anyone else, they might get crazy tired from just drawing one chapter in two days.

Back at home.

Zhang Ye started a video conference call.

Ha Qiqi and the others were already waiting on the other end.

Everyone asked: “Director Zhang, is something the matter?”

Zhang Ye smiled and said: “Check your emails. I’ve sent something to everyone.”

Ha Qiqi was taken aback. “What’s the email about?”

Zhang Ye said: “The comics, of course. I just drew another series. Get someone to submit it immediately. Remember not to expose your identity.”

Zhang Zuo was stunned. “What? Another series?”

Little Wang stared with wide eyes. “Ah?”

Little Sun was dumbfounded. “You have the energy to do another series?”

Zhang Ye smiled and said: “I have nothing to do at home anyway.”

When Ha Qiqi heard that, she got all excited. She finally understood what Director Zhang meant when he said those words yesterday. This was the real deal. “Alright, I’ll see to it immediately. Don’t worry about it, Director Zhang!”

Zhang Ye told her: “Little Sun’s sister has represented us before. Don’t let her do it again, or she’ll get found out. Oh right, is Little Sun’s brother-in-law free to do it?”

Little Sun said: “Ah, he’s free.”

Zhang Ye replied: “Alright, then I’ll be troubling your brother-in-law for his help?”

Ha Qiqi asked: “Then what pen name will you use this time?”

Zhang Ye thought for a bit. “Let’s go with Ozawa.”

Everyone looked at one another suspiciously.

Ozawa?

Aoi?

What kinda names are those!

…

The next day.

Tokyo, Japan.

POO Studios.

This was one of the top three publishing studios for weekly comic magazines in Japan.

The mood in the editorial department was very gloomy.

The editor-in-chief pointed at everyone and said, “Why aren’t there any good comics out there? Huh? I don’t believe it! At a huge publishing studio like ours that employs so many cartoonists, how can there not even be one comic series that can compete with Shōnen Publishing’s comics? Find it! All of you find it even if you have to dig three feet underground! Find it no matter what!”

One Piece had become too popular!

And Shōnen Publishing was now ferociously leading the industry!

A gap had always existed between POO Studios and Shōnen Publishing. Whether it was their sales figures or influence, Shōnen Publishing was always ahead in first place while they placed second. So now that a national cartoon like One Piece had appeared, that lead was extended even longer. They were already finding it difficult to keep up with the pace of Shōnen Publishing. With just One Piece alone, Shōnen Magazine’s sales figures had spiked by 30%!

What was there still left to compete on?

How could they still chase after them?

This crisis of their survivability was imminent!

After the meeting.

The editors were also looking downtrodden.

“What should we do now?”

“Shōnen Publishing is so lucky.”

“That’s right, it’s a national cartoon that only appears once every few years. But somehow, those series always end up with Shōnen Publishing. There’s no justice in that.”

“Stop talking. Hurry up and go through the manuscripts.”

“Go through them for what! There are too few good comics around.”

“Titles on the level of a series like One Piece might not even appear once every five years.”

The telephone on the desk rang.

Fujiwara Koji picked it up listlessly.

“Hello?”

“Fujiwara, someone wants to submit a manuscript.”

“Is it by a newcomer?”

“Yes, they’re downstairs.”

“Alright, I’ll go down to meet them.”

After hanging up, Fujiwara wasn’t really looking forward to meeting the person and proceeded downstairs without haste.

He was an idler who was an insignificant member of the editorial department. The truly experienced editors all had big authors under them, while he was still in charge of the newcomers’ submissions after having worked here for several years. Every day, there would be these newcomers coming to submit their manuscripts. These newcomers were always unknowns who had not debuted yet, so their works were usually not very professional. The quality of their manuscripts was uneven and could not even claim to have met the criteria. There were always a lot of flow errors and mistakes that he had to point out to them one by one. It was always such a headache for him every day.

A good comic!

Where is the good comic that I am looking for!

Downstairs.

In the reception room.

In one of the partitions, Fujiwara spotted the person.

“Editor, nice to meet you.”

“Please take a seat.”

“This is the manuscript.”

“Alright, let me have a look.”

Fujiwara was not really interested and flipped through the manuscript without a care like he usually did. However, when he flipped to the fifth page, he was stunned. He sat bolt upright and breathed in deeply. Then he hurriedly flipped backwards to read it again from the beginning!

One page!

Five pages!

Ten pages!

Fujiwara was dumbfounded!

He became a little excited and was somewhat in disbelief. Then, he reread it again!

Ten minutes later.

Upstairs at the editorial department.

Fujiwara ran back here at full speed and shouted, “I’ve found it! I’ve found it!”

All the editors turned to look at him.

“Fujiwara, what’s going on?”

“What did you find?”

“Look at how excited you are. What just happened?”

Fujiwara said loudly, “Quick, come and read this manuscript!”

An editor said, “Aren’t you in charge of the manuscripts submitted by newcomers? How good of a comic can a newcomer possibly create?”

“Aiya.” Fujiwara anxiously said, “Read it before you speak further!”

At this moment, the editor-in-chief also came over. “Let me see it.”

All the other editors stood up and came over as well.

Ozawa?

Naruto?

“What sort of an art style is this?”

“It’s indeed by a newcomer.”

“The supporting characters are all designed pretty well, but what’s with the main character?”

“Yeah, Uzumaki Naruto? Why does he have whiskers?”

“The whiskers are so ugly.”

“Fujiwara, is this the good comic that you were talking about?”

At the beginning, everyone was talking as they went through the manuscript. But the more they read, the quieter they became. In the end, the entire editorial department had fallen unexpectedly silent!

They finished reading it!

All the editors were shocked!

The editor-in-chief said dumbfoundedly, “Was this really submitted by a newcomer?”

Fujiwara hurriedly said, “Couldn’t be truer!”

The editor-in-chief said, “How did you reply to him?”

Fujiwara said, “When I told him that his manuscript was quite good, he said that he was looking to serialize it. So I told him to go back and wait for the news while I discussed it with you first. I’ve gotten his contact details, though it didn’t seem like the other party was the author himself. He should be the author’s representative instead. He sounded like he was unwilling to reveal the author’s identity, so perhaps it might not be a newcomer but some well-known cartoonist who wishes to change their pen name? That could be a possibility, I don’t know.”

The editor-in-chief patted him on the shoulder, then took a deep breath and said, “Well done. From now on, you will be in charge of this cartoonist. Contact him immediately to discuss the contract. We’ll start publishing the serialization of Naruto under POO Studios this week. Tell him that we’ll give him the best recommendation and treatment. Just don’t let him go to any other magazine publisher!”

Fujiwara said excitedly, “Understood!”

The editor-in-chief looked at the other people and said, “About this serialization, I don’t think there’s a need to have any discussion about it, right?”

“There’s no need for that!”

“It’s very good!”

“If this doesn’t get serialized, that wouldn’t do it justice.”

“With it, we’ve finally got something on our hands to compete with One Piece!”

“Can it really compete with that?”

“Of course! This comic is definitely no worse than One Piece! And Naruto does the pacing of the lead-in to the main plot even faster than One Piece!”

“Our patience has finally paid off now that this work has come to us!”

“Hahaha, luck is on our side this time!”

“Ahhh! We’re gonna make a comeback with this!”