After I Rescued a Beautiful Woman From a Stalker, She Started Spoiling Me and Turning Me Into a No-Good Freeloader - Chapter 21 - Editor’s POV 2

Chapter 21 – Editor’s POV 2

Our work is wide-ranging.

For editors working on magazine publications, it involves constantly searching for new content ideas and engaging in daily information gathering and magazine production.

For editors working with novelists, it includes brainstorming with the assigned novelist, conducting meetings for writing purposes, scouting for new talents through contests or web novel rankings, and responding to submissions that come in.

There are also various other ways to search for new novelists and find new topics that will sell.

I work as an editor for manga artists, which involves arranging meetings between the manga artist I’m responsible for, illustrators, and assistants, discussing the manga’s storyline, consulting on print runs during editorial meetings, presenting selling points to sales teams, making requests to printing companies, and so much more.

Moreover, even while handling regular tasks, it’s essential to continue discovering new talents and securing new assistants and illustrators, as the industry is prone to constant staffing shortages.

“Oh my? This is impressive!”

“What is it, Senpai?”

“Check this out, Junior-chan.”

I showed my junior the pixiv illustration I found.

There are only two posts so far.

In one picture, a maid that looks like a character out of a fantasy novel is pouring tea.

It may look like an ordinary illustration, but the background is exceptionally well-crafted and the detail is amazing.

The illustrator’s ability is amazing, I can see it from the love he has for the character.

“That’s incredible!”

“Yeah. This illustrator is going to be in high demand from now on.”

“Should we schedule a meeting?”

“Many people prefer just direct messages nowadays. If they agree to meet, we’ll persuade them, but what do you think?”

“We should definitely secure this artist!”

“Agreed. I think so too.”

I looked at another picture.

The background is a lot of modern buildings, with a black-haired woman wearing a one-piece dress standing on the road as the center.

I wonder who meticulously crafted this? I can only count on one hand the number of people who can do this kind of work.

One of them, I lost recently.

Himoda Youichi-san was an illustrator with a bright future ahead of him.

I tried searching for him with all my editorial power, but I couldn’t even find him.

What’s worse, his residency card seemed to have vanished.

Thinking he might have returned to his family home, I asked a legal professional to request his residency registration, only to find it had disappeared.

Furthermore, Himoda-san’s parents had passed away, and he had no siblings. 

Although I restored the contacts of his friends from his smartphone and tried reaching out to them, none of them had been in touch with him.

Where on earth has Himoda-san disappeared to? At one point, there were even rumors that he had died in an accident, or that he had gone missing due to strange phenomena.

But for some reason, I feel like he’s alive.

If he were to become a homeless person on the streets, I’d want to pick him up and bring him home.

As always, Ijichi-sensei is busy writing her manga’s manuscript, but it’s no longer as powerful as before.

It had the power of its original background, but now Himoda-san’s careful and detailed work is missing, and Ijichi-sensei’s original drawing ability alone is not enough.

The characters are good.

However, the background and detailed descriptions are always lacking.

“Sigh… I wonder where he could have gone. Anyway, we should try to find this new illustrator and negotiate for them to become Ijichi-sensei’s assistant. If that doesn’t work out, perhaps they could handle illustrations for some other project. We need to catch this artist while he’s still a rookie.”

I decided to send a DM right away.

First, I’ll reach out to this artist to be Ijichi-sensei’s assistant, but if they turn down the request, I could pitch him to the novelist’s editorial side.

Anyway, I want this artist to remember me as an editor and keep the communication going.

“Oh, it looks like I got a reply right away. Hmm?”

I sent a DM directly to the artist’s pixiv, including the details of our company and job description.

The reply was not good.

“Hah… It seems this artist doesn’t want to work as an assistant, it’s a shame~ I’d love to hire someone who can do this much. They might accept illustration requests if their workload isn’t full. But it seems difficult to get them on board. Nowadays, illustrators’ skills are improving, so it’s crucial to have as many illustrators and manga artists as possible.”

Even so, this mysterious illustrator’s name was etched into my checkbox.

Skilled and creative illustrators are very valuable in this day and age.

Moreover, if they can create new characters by text material, they will develop talent as a manga artist.

In that case, it might be worth commissioning someone else to handle the manga adaptation.

“Sigh, securing the necessary talent for the future is more important than anything.”

With that in mind, I kept searching to discover the next big illustrator.