Chapter 1: The Silent Dream
I have never attended an award ceremony. But I often wonder what that day would be like. A magnificent hotel, a super-luxury car pulling up to the entrance, and countless fans surrounding me, calling out my name with excitement. And me... I would simply look at them and give a small smile. That day would be nothing less than a dream. But for now... it is still just a dream.
Hi, I’m Je Ho, a manga artist. I often dream about moments like these because my real life is nothing like my dreams. To be honest, my life is quite terrifying. I have Social Anxiety Disorder. I stay away from people—not because I hate them, but because I’m afraid of facing them. It may sound strange, but that’s the truth of my life.
When I was in the ninth grade, one day my teacher asked me a question in front of the entire class. It wasn’t that I didn’t know the answer. I did. But my fear kept me silent. I had always been alone. Slowly, being alone became a habit, and maybe that’s why I’ve never been able to make a single friend. Ever since I was a child, I was never good at talking to people. As I grew older, I think I even forgot how to have a conversation.
I was afraid that people would judge me. I was afraid they would laugh at me. I was afraid of embarrassing myself in front of everyone. And little by little, that fear pushed me further away from the world. My classmates mistook my silence for weakness. They bullied me constantly. For an entire year, they made me do their work. I wanted to say something, but every time, fear stole my voice before I could speak. And then, one day... I stopped going to school.
After leaving school, I moved to a place where very few people lived. I stayed away from everyone and lived completely alone. For several months, my parents did everything they could to help me. They even took me to a psychologist. They tried to give me everything I needed, but I could never open up to anyone. Even after all their efforts, nothing in my life changed.
I needed to find a way to survive and support myself. That’s when I discovered manga creation. There had always been an artist inside me, but I had never paid much attention to that talent. Now, that same talent began turning my imagination into stories. I published my first online manga,The Silent Man’s Voice.
My first manga received an overwhelming response from readers. For the first time, I felt that maybe my voice could reach people, even if I couldn’t speak to them in person. After that, I published two more manga. Slowly, people in the manga industry began noticing my work. But during those six years, I earned only enough money to buy groceries every month.
Every time I published a manga, people would read it for a few days. But after two or three days, a new manga from a major company would be released, and everyone’s attention would shift toward it. My readers gradually disappeared until there were almost none left. Still, I kept writing. I kept drawing. Sitting alone in my small room, I continued creating entire worlds through my imagination.
Then I published my fourth manga,The Echoes of Silence. For the first time, I turned my own story into a manga. My silence, my fear, and my loneliness... everything I had never been able to tell another person found its way onto those pages. Maybe that manga was destined to become the turning point of my life.
Because one day, I received something I had never even imagined.
An offer letter.
And it wasn’t from an ordinary company.
It came from the biggest manga company in the entire industry—the company that ruled the manga world.
To Be Continued...
