Chapter 10: Leaderboard (Part 1)

Mark - "All right then, let's start. In the tenth position, we have..."

Mark then clicked the mousepad on his laptop, and a name appeared on the ppt slide at the bottom of a top 10 table.

Mark continued, "Race to death with a flat 3,600 collection by Janice."

"Now I request, if Miss Janice is present in this lecture, to stand up and introduce her manga to the rest of the class."

A decently pretty young lady in a light blue dress stood up and replied, "Hello, everyone. I am Janice."

Mark - "Okay, good you are here. I was worried the first one I pulled up would be a no-show."

"Please go on and introduce us to your subject matter which I assume has something to do with cars."

Janice - "So my subject matter is indeed about cars, or to be more precise, about racing cars."

"My story follows an mc who tries to make it into the racing world starting from the rock bottom illegal street races."

Mark - "Ah, that seems like an interesting read, and I assume your story will focus heavily on developing background characters who help the main lead get there."

Janice - "Yes, in regards to my future

plans, I plan on first having my mc get caught and jailed, then bailed out by who will be his future master."

Mark - "And how do you plan on having this ex-retired racing master find out about the mc?"

Janice - "I am still working on it, as the master just appearing nearby seems far too cliche."

Mark - "Well, how about this? Have the car chase appears on TV, and the master is talking with someone about a new racer and goes I want him or something."

Janice - "Would he be able to get out of prison if it is a nationwide broadcast police chase?"

Mark - "How about no prison to start with, and the old master finds out about the mc through some old underground contacts?"

Janice - "That would work. Thank you for your suggestions."

Mark - "No problem, I am here to help, and if you have any doubt, this includes everyone. You can always ask me for advice."

While this discussion was going on, David had become somewhat relaxed as Janice's collection was 3.6k, which was fifty more than his.

Although there was a chance his collection might have increased, and he was still in this top 10, David felt it was unlikely.

However, David had clearly indulged himself in self-delusion as he had forgotten the 24-hour recommendation rule.

Mark - "I see you are publishing on Race plus, which makes total sense as it is a specific mid-tear racing manga website."

"Still, it was a risky move, as although they have readers looking for your type of manga. They also have more direct internal competition."

Janice - "I know, but I had confidence in my work, and clearly, the results aren't bad."

Mark - "I didn't mean to say that, as the collection is indeed pretty high for a rookie, I was pointing out that it was a risk."

"After all, you might have succeeded, but it is not necessarily a learning example for the rest of the class."

Janice - "Oh, sorry about that. It's my first manga, so I feel slightly defensive about it."

Mark - "No, it's completely understandable. Now, let's move on to the number 9, as time is running out fast."

"School wars at 3.8k collection by Lucas. Interesting, only a difference of two hundred from the tenth place."

A young, thin, fragile-looking pale boy stood up and said, "I am Lucas, the creator of School wars."

Mark - "I see, so Mr. Lucas, what is your manga school wars about?"

In a slightly low voice, Lucas said, "It's about a school where different classes are at war against each other."

Mark - "I get that. What I am asking is like, what genre is this? Urban?"

Lucas - "It is an action comedy. Like the students use real weapons on each other and fight among themselves."

Mark - "Oooh, interesting, so is this like some sort of assassin high school?"

Lucas - "Yeah, like a secret assassin training high school."

Mark - "I see, but they are using heavy weapons against each other?"

Lucas - "Yes, it is a gag manga, to be honest."

Mark - "I see, so the future plan depends entirely on inspiration?"

Lucas - "Yeah, anything can happen at any time."

Mark - "Not having a proper direction is always risky, but in some cases, it gives you a chance to explore different options."

Lucas - "Yes, that's why I selected a gag manga as anything and everything runs which gives me tons of freedom."

Mark - "Okay then, thank you, please have a seat."

Lucas sat back down in his seat.

Mark - "Okay, let's now look at number 8, Gone Missing, with 4.2k collections by Tyler."

A young man in a vivid green shirt stood up and said, "Hi, I am Tyler."

Mark - "Hello, Tyler. So from what I can tell, this should be a detective story in the thriller category?"

Tyler - "Yes, the story follows a man who one day wakes up and finds his family has gone missing. Now he must do all that is possible to find clues about their whereabouts."

Mark - "That sounds quite fascinating. Where do you plan on taking this premise."

Tyler - "Well, eventually, he links up clues to a certain gang, and then the manga turns into an action sequence."

"Then he finally defeats the gang leader and finds a family. It turns out they aren't his."

Mark - "Oh my, talk about a turn of events. It is risky, however, as this payoff will make the audience seem lost."

Tyler - "You see, my whole plan is that he doesn't have a family, to begin with, and is just delusional."

Mark - "Oh my, looks like you are one of those mangakas who thrives on the audience's sufferings."

Tyler - "Well, I certainly aim to be one."

Mark - "Well, in that case, I would suggest doing it in moderation."

Tyler - "Don't worry, sir. I know exactly where the boundaries are."

Tyler then had an evil grin on his face and sat down.