“White Whale was actually very simple from the start.”
Ismael nodded at Rupert’s words.
Originally, Ismael’s White Whale was an adventure story about a boy searching for his father, and the conclusion was to defeat the whale monster named White Whale and rescue his father.
“But… if the story unfolds as I originally thought, it might end pretty quickly.”
That was the part Ismael was worried about.
Looking at Rupert’s Van Helsing and other authors’ works, they had just barely begun the story.
His work, White Whale, was already down to just the fight against the whale.
“What’s bothering you about that?”
“Other works aren’t finished yet, and if mine ends first, the magazine will be empty.”
Currently, there were six comics being serialized in Manwhapia, and Ismael was worried about the blank space if his work was to disappear.
“I didn’t know you were thinking about this.”
Rupert found Ismael’s concern quite commendable.
Considering not just his own work but the magazine’s situation as well wasn’t easy, yet Ismael, despite his young age, was thinking quite deeply.
“Don’t worry. I anticipated this.”
“Really?”
“It’s impossible for all works to end at the same time, so I was prepared for it in advance.”
As Rupert said not to worry while patting his head, Ismael’s expression brightened.
In fact, he was struggling to stretch out a story that he had originally planned, so Rupert’s words, saying that it wouldn’t matter when he finished it, felt like a ray of light.
“But you need to know, Ismael.”
“What do you mean?”
“A work by an author isn’t just theirs.”
Ismael tilted his head, seemingly unable to understand the meaning of those words.
“Oh! You mean it belongs here, in Manhwapia — no, in Somerset’s Comic Workshop?”
“That’s not it.”
Rupert let out a dry chuckle, continuing his words.
“When you draw a work by yourself, you can write whatever story you want. But the moment that work is published and begins to be read by the public, it’s no longer just yours.”
“Of course?”
“The work belongs to the readers as well. Don’t forget! A work that no one reads isn’t a work at all.”
– It’s the comics that are completed when someone reads them, so they must provide a conclusion that readers can understand.
With these last words, Ismael finally realized how heavy the responsibility of serializing a comic was.
Until now, he had drawn comics without much thought, but after listening to Rupert, he suddenly felt like hundreds or thousands of unseen readers were watching him.
“Can I really deliver a conclusion that readers can understand?”
Ismael was rethinking the conclusion he had in mind.
And Rupert was also lost in thought.
“I regret it the most.”
The advice he had just given Ismael was basically a warning to himself.
Rupert recalled the last scene on Earth.
– Ah, I want to be born in a world where I can only draw comics.
He sometimes had nightmares about dragons that wreck everything.
Back then, when the editor pressured him to finish the work due to rights issues, he thought about whether he had made the best decision, and Rupert thought not.
“There must have been a better way.”
But due to the tight schedule of weekly serialization and the sudden notice of cancellation, coupled with the accumulated fatigue, Rupert’s mind was not sane at the time.
So he ended up giving such a crazy ending.
“Thanks to Ismael, I’ve realized what I need to do moving forward.”
Rupert’s eyes sparkled.
*
The branches of the Yuren Merchant Association were distributed across major cities and regions of the Eastern Continent.
Each quarter, the branches sent their profits to the headquarters, and that day was when the accountants were the busiest.
“We must thoroughly compare and check the sales and item usage from the branches!”
“There’s something strange in the ledgers sent from the Undaf branch?”
“Ah! Hey, the documents are mixing! Sort them separately!”
If this inspection isn’t done properly, they wouldn’t be able to detect any wrongdoing from the branches, so they had to analyze everything without missing a thing.
“What should we do with these?”
“Oh, the Agora compensation shouldn’t be classified separately, but recorded as part of the guild’s sales according to the guild leader’s instructions.”
Moreover, the accountants of the Yuren Merchant Association were even busier this time, as they had to calculate the compensation from the Empire’s Parent-Teacher Association that came with the recently held Agora.
“Converted to Empire gold, that’s 2,537,690 gold; in royal silver coins, that’s 1,913,294,931 ferring… huh? Why is the total amount different from earlier?!”
“Start the calculation again!!! There can’t be any errors!”
“Ugh! No!! How are we supposed to go back to the beginning…?”
After finally switching out the accountants from the association, when the results of the Yuren Merchant Association’s quarterly revenue came out, everyone’s jaws dropped in disbelief.
“Is this amount really reasonable?”
“No matter how much compensation is combined…”
“We’re the top merchant association in the Empire!!!”
This revenue was immensely significant.
In fact, the Yuren Merchant Association, although it joined the Seven Great Associations before collaborating with Rupert, was still a massive association, but it lacked a unique identity.
For instance, when it came to grains, the Southern Investment Association was always regarded as the best.
As for weapons and armor, the Iron Association, specializing in war supplies from the North, was the top.
Luxury goods just for nobles were famously controlled by the Vera Merchant Guild, the former top association in the Empire, and thus, each of the Seven Great Associations had its specialized field.
However, the Yuren Merchant Association, in contrast, was always in the upper echelon in any field but had no special weapon of their own.
They achieved excellent results in every aspect, thus included in the Seven Great Associations, but in a good light, they were called model students, and in a bad light, they were seen as an eternal second-place association.
“Hmph, the Yuren folks are always scuttling around like rats, picking up crumbs left behind.”
That’s how merchants referred to them as rat-like creatures.
Big rats that fed off the leftovers from the top association.
In response to such attitudes, the employees of the Yuren Merchant Association outwardly dismissed the dirty jealousy of those who couldn’t make any money, but inside, they felt quite offended.
“We’ve finally become the number one association in the Empire!”
With such a situation where no one could refute that they were the finest association, the sensation of achieving this was special.
“I really can’t believe it was just as the guild leader predicted.”
Absinthe, the former branch manager of the Somerset branch recalled when he first visited Somerset Mansion with Esteban.
– This will be a strategic weapon to conquer the noble class!
Back then, Absinthe thought it was a ridiculous statement, but now he recognized that everything he said was true.
Rupert’s books, which had become a firm symbol of the Yuren Merchant Association, had turned into something that people now associated with fairy tale books and comic books.
“Man, I really wanted to swim in gold!”
“This amount of gold could only be seen in the royal treasury, right?”
“With this money, we can expect a bonus for this quarter!”
As everyone was getting excited seeing the staggering pile of money before them…
“Thanks for your hard work, everyone.”
Guild leader Esteban came down from the second-floor office and spoke.
“Guild leader! Look at this! This is our revenue for this quarter! Not for the year, but for this month!”
“Hahaha, that’s really a lot.”
Esteban responded with a smile to the employees’ upbeat reactions.
And,
“All of this has to be used again.”
“What? All of it?!”
“Well, it might not be enough, but since we need to extract the investment from the Vera Merchant Guild anyway, we should manage somehow.”
As Esteban uttered his intent to spend all this staggering amount of money, the employees were flabbergasted.
To spend all this money, they couldn’t even fathom what they would have to do.
And Esteban understood the startled reactions mixed with worries from the employees.
“Honestly, it’s a crazy thing to do. It is typical to hold onto this reserve and then spend it when opportunities arise.”
Since the business always had unpredictable incidents, it was better to have sufficient reserves.
However, to proceed with the plans that he discussed with Rupert earlier, he needed a lot of money.
“Honestly, it’s a nerve-wracking move for me too.”
Esteban recalled that time when he had a discussion with Rupert.
*
“This projector, no matter how simplified, our artisans have calculated that the cost is about 20 gold.”
Esteban frowned at Rupert’s words.
“That’s too high a price.”
20 gold would be an unthinkable amount to ordinary commoners. Even for nobles, it would be a challenge to buy without hesitation, leaving the potential sales figures drastically low.
But that was a disappointing scenario. The money spent on developing this animation projector was already quite substantial, and it was uncertain whether they would even break even.
“Well, if the artisans continue their research, it might lower the unit cost, but who knows how long that will take.”
“Still, it might be better to delay the release to lower the cost as much as possible…”
“No. I’m actually going to raise the cost higher.”
“What?”
Esteban was taken aback by Rupert’s statement.
Currently, the number of potential buyers was limited, and raising the price further would mean only a very select few nobles could afford it, which would throw profitability out the window.
“Young Master, that’s just throwing money on the ground!”
Usually, Esteban would follow Rupert’s opinions, but this time he was showing incredible resistance.
“This animation will go out with two different strategies.”
“Two strategies?”
“One is to create luxurious and beautifully adorned personal projectors aimed exclusively at nobles so they can enjoy animations in their mansions.”
That part made sense. If the high price was the issue, then going for a luxury strategy as a premium product was indeed the right move.
However, the problem was that the animation required substantial investment, so that method wouldn’t help recoup the losses.
“And the second is to create public theaters.”
“Public theaters?”
“Yes, we will establish viewing venues throughout the Empire where a certain number of people can gather to watch animations.”
If they couldn’t make money by selling the projectors, Rupert’s suggestion to build places where the Empire could watch the animations was a unique idea.
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