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HELIO SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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Chapter 15: Can We Really Finish This?
After submitting the storyboards for D Note’s finale and Fullmetal Alchemist to the editorial team, I was finally able to return to a more relaxed pace.
Not that I was running around like I was about to drop dead while preparing ‘Fullmetal Alchemist,’ but I definitely lacked peace of mind.
A full day had passed since I handed over the final ‘D Note’ storyboard and 15 chapters of ‘Fullmetal Alchemist.’
Now that my work was out of my hands and the decision was left to the editors, there was nothing more for me to do.
It’s like submitting an exam and just waiting for the results.
If I had been a nervous, immature kid on the outside like I was inside, I’d probably be biting my nails in anxiety.
But with the complicated life I’ve led, this kind of thing doesn’t even register as stressful.
I stayed calm and laid out my mental strength like it was nothing, showing Matsuda I was solid.
Then he goes—
“Why are you shaking like that?”
Shiver. Shiver.
“Huh? Me? No way, I’m not shaking at all!”
Matsuda gave me that worried look, so I hit him with a classic tsundere clapback, like, ‘I don’t even like someone like you anyway!’—you know, to throw him off.
“Am I really shaking?”
“Oh yeah, big time.”
“Dude, it’s freezing! Master, turn on the heat!”
“It’s summer, and guess what? You’re the boss here, Master.”
“Master? Matsuda, seriously? Dropping cheesy lines in the middle of the day now?”
Honestly, with all this drama, it felt like we were about to dive into some epic holy grail battle or something.
When a laugh slipped out of me before I could stop it, Matsuda looked at me with a bit of sympathy.
“It’s almost evening, not exactly midday, and you’re the Master too—wait, forget it.”
Normally, after a meeting with Matsuda, we’d grab a bite to eat together. But maybe I looked worse than I thought because he just told me to rest and stepped aside.
Left alone suddenly, I tried to calm my nerves by doodling with a pencil, but then picked up my phone.
Drrr—
The international call tone rang out, and a familiar voice came through the receiver.
- Hello?
“Dad, it’s me.”
＊ ＊ ＊
When I was in third grade, my mom passed away.
It was cancer.
My little sister Jinhee was too young to really remember.
But even now, years later, I remember it all vividly.
It wasn’t sudden.
Mom had been battling the illness for a long time, and the doctors had warned us to start preparing ourselves mentally.
Dad did everything he could.
He even took our family to Japan, a foreign country, because he heard there was a famous professor there who specialized in cancer treatment.
After Mom passed, Dad kept doing his best.
He took care of Jinhee and me with everything he had.
He quit his stable corporate job and started a business, trying to spend more time with us.
But unfortunately, Dad’s generation was one that worked late into their lives.
He worked well past his fifties.
Then, something terrible happened.
SCREECH—!
Dad died on the spot after a truck collided with him because the driver was drowsy.
I was 21. Jinhee had just started middle school.
I don’t remember the details well, but I do remember being furious.
The truck driver also died at the scene, but I couldn’t contain my anger. I even went to the funeral of the driver’s family.
There, I saw a woman who looked like his spouse, slumped in front of his portrait, crying quietly.
And a young girl about Jinhee’s age who had fainted.
I saw them and couldn’t say a word. I just left.
Everything felt so unfair.
In the end, it all came down to money.
The truck driver had pushed himself without rest to pay for his daughter’s tuition and made the fatal mistake of driving drowsy.
And Dad had gone to work for his family.
“Dad, you can retire now.”
I swore nothing like this would ever happen again.
Though I wanted to draw manga, my first goal stayed clear.
- Hey, Jinhee hasn’t even started elementary school yet. Retire? No way.
“I’m making good money.”
- That’s your money, not mine.
“My money is Dad’s money, and Dad’s money is mine.”
- Alright, alright. Stop sending me money and just buy yourself something good.
“If I took this money to McDonald’s, I wouldn’t just be buying a burger, I could rent the whole place.”
Lately, I’d been so busy with the storyboards for ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’ that we hadn’t talked much. But I caught up with Dad a bit.
Then he suddenly asked—
- Are you holding up okay?
I froze for a moment, caught off guard by the sudden question.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just realized I hadn’t called in a while, so I wanted to check in.”
- Mhm, alright.
He didn’t say much after that.
Maybe there wasn’t more to say.
- You’ve grown up, my son. Going abroad, publishing books, making money.
“Guess I got lucky. Oh, and by the way—”
Then the call ended, just like that.
Somehow, the anxious feeling I’d been carrying just vanished.
＊ ＊ ＊
[‘D Note’ Nominated for Bookstore Popularity Award]
[What’s the Appeal of ‘D Note’ That Captivates Teens and Twenties?]
[What Is Justice? ‘D Note’ Sheds Light on the Dark Side of Humanity]
With the release of the second volume of ‘D Note,’ the response has been way hotter than anyone expected.
Not only in online communities but also on the newly popular Twitter among young people, discussions about ‘D Note’ exploded—and even news outlets started covering it.
Of course, the excitement online hasn’t died down either.
[Wow, no idea where the ‘D Note’ story’s gonna go next.]
[Predictions for the ‘D Note’ storyline ahead. (Spoilers beware!)]
[Anyone buy volume 2? I ran to the bookstore this afternoon, but it was already sold out… It was the biggest store in my town…]
ㄴLOL, should’ve rushed there first thing in the morning.
ㄴI got there an hour before opening, and there was already a line. Turns out, everyone was there for ‘D Note.’
ㄴOur local bookstore decided to do pre-orders.
ㄴI’ve seen game launch craziness, but a manga volume launch? First time.
ㄴThe author’s autograph and a special first-edition illustration probably did it.
(Photo of the special illustration)
ㄴThey said there are multiple versions. I got the J one.
ㄴSeriously, the art is insane…
ㄴWow…
ㄴJust… speechless.
ㄴI’d buy it just for the extras.
Every Monday, the release day for Weekly Shōnen Jump, news sites, online communities, and social media would explode.
The hype was so intense that some community sites even crashed from too much traffic.
The frenzy actually starts on Saturday, before Jump’s release, and by Sunday, people forget their Monday blues and can’t wait for Monday to come—when things truly go wild.
On Tuesday, readers gather to analyze the latest chapter, and Wednesday is for comparing theories.
By Thursday and Friday, the buzz dies down a bit—but in the fast-changing world of the internet, dominating five out of seven days is still huge.
Then July rolled around.
With the release of chapter 30, some readers began to wonder—
[Feels like it’s about to end soon, right?]
ㄴCome on, it’s still running in Jump.
ㄴYeah, they gotta keep it going until it strangles itself with long serialization.
[Why ‘D Note’ Can Never End Now]
ㄴI’m gonna kidnap the author.
ㄴLOL
The question of whether it would really end has popped up from time to time but faded quickly with Weekly Shōnen Jump’s usual rhythm.
Readers just scoffed at the idea of ‘D Note’ ending and erased it from their minds.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Hey, did you read this week’s ‘D Note’? Wasn’t it insane?”
“Don’t even say anything! I haven’t read it yet!”
“I ran to the convenience store and bought it the moment it dropped this morning.”
From the start of the school day, the classroom was buzzing with ‘D Note’ talk.
It made sense, Weekly Shōnen Jump was a male-targeted magazine, so of course it was popular with the guys.
“Isn’t J so cool? I think I might be into those dark, brooding types…”
“Pretty sure you’re not his type, though.”
“I’m team Luke.”
“”What?””
Didn’t expect teenage girls to be into it too.
Maybe our class just happened to have more female readers than usual, but either way, seeing girls into a Shōnen manga? Kind of uplifting.
“They’re all obsessed—do you really think it’s ending?”
While I was quietly eavesdropping on all the fan reactions—yes, like a total creep—Kanna suddenly showed up at my desk and blew my cover.
I glanced around. Nobody else was nearby.
The usual crew who wouldn’t leave me alone even if I begged had apparently drifted off, now circling the girls like hawks. ‘You read D Note too? Isn’t it amazing?’ they chirped—blatantly trying to flirt.
To use sacred manga as a tool for sleazy flirting...
How dare you defile the holy text.
Your names will be the first I write in... “The Notebook.” Yeah. ‘That’ notebook.
“Hey, Minegawa—your sister’s in college, right? Didn’t Jun say he’s into older women? Think you could introduce them?”
...Wait a sec. This guy might actually be kind of decent?
I’ll make an exception for you. In ‘my’ version of the Death Note, I’ll write—’Lives happily for 100 years.’ You're welcome.
“I only came over because no one was around. Don’t get the wrong idea.”
Kanna said, puffing out her cheeks.
“So, do you really think it’s ending?”
“For the sake of the story and the readers, it has to.”
“But seeing fans this into it, doesn’t it make you think it should keep going just a bit longer?”
“No way. Watching them go, ‘Is it really ending?!’—that’s the real payoff. Hehehe.”
“You’re insane.”
Kanna stared at me like I was crazy.
This is why authors and readers need a healthy buffer zone. Gotta keep that illusion intact.
“Not really. I separate the work from the creator. Like, even if a director’s a jerk, they can still make a decent film.”
“That former child actress, Director H? She’s a nightmare, but her stuff’s watchable, so I’m gonna—koff!”
As I was jotting down ideas for future material, Kanna karate-chopped me in the neck.
Still wheezing and coughing—
Bzzz—
A call came in from Matsuda.
He never calls while I’m at school, so if he’s calling now, there can only be one reason.
“It’s happening!”
I bolted out of the classroom and picked up the phone in a quiet spot. Matsuda’s panicked voice came through—
- The publisher rejected the ending!
“What?”
We're so fucked.
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HELIO SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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