The Beginning After the End’s Artist Leaves Series Due to Unfair Pay

Update on June 23 at 10:45 AM PST: Additional information has been added from a Q&A conducted by Kisai Entertainment on June 23.

The artist for The Beginning after the End will not illustrate Season 6 of the popular webcomic series.

Fuyuki, the artist for The Beginning After the End, announced they will no longer be the artist for Season 6 on their personal Instagram account. The artist revealed the decision to leave was mainly due to Tapas Entertainment’s sudden decision to change the payment structure, which the artist and their production house Kisai Entertainment believed was “no longer fair and made us feel undervalued.”

“What happened with the deal was a tremendous disappointment,” Fuyuki continued in their notice. “I assembled the best team for season 6. I was excitedly working on pre-production, fully believing that this would be the best season of [The Beginning After the End] with a lot of action and darker storylines, but unfortunately, it will only be a wish of mine.” In an Instagram story, they further revealed the deal had been non-negotiable, saying it was “a ‘take it or leave it’ deal […] therefore me and my agency chose to leave.”

The artist thanked the writer TurtleMe for wanting to work with them, saying the series had “changed my life,” despite the often challenging demands and getting overworked to the point where they rarely had any breaks. Fuyuki urged readers to continue to support the webcomic. “From now on, I will only continue as a reader, just like everyone else,” they wrote. Fuyuki illustrated a few pages to say goodbye to TurtleMe and the series, ending with a heartbreaking finality.

Fuyuki also revealed they were in the midst of working on another work, described as an epic adventure. Asking for their readers’ support, the artist promised to “present the best action fantasy for all of you.”

Written by TurtleMe with illustrations by Fuyuki23, The Beginning After the End began in July 2018 and is one of the most popular action fantasy series on the Tapas platform with over 27 million views and 444,000 subscribers. Season 5 concluded in January 2023. Based on the novel of the same name, the series follows the powerful King Grey who reincarnates into Arthur Leywin after he gets mysteriously assassinated. At the age of three, Arthur awakens his powers as a mage and vows to live his life avoiding his past mistakes.

There has been no announcement of a new artist nor the status of Season 6 of The Beginning After the End. Tapas nor TurtleMe have issued a statement around Fuyuki’s departure.

Update: June 23, 2023 at 10:45 AM PST

On June 23, Kisai Entertainment conducted a Q&A, via Instagram Stories, where fans of The Beginning After the End sent in questions regarding the status of the series and what happened. According to Kisai Entertainment, the dispute happened in May, making it unlikely for them to resolve the payment issue and have Fuyuki continue as the artist. “As far as we know, there is a possibility that they already have a new artist/studio on board for [The Beginning After the End,]” the studio wrote.

The Q&A continued with additional information, stating TurtleMe reached out to the CEO of Kisai Entertainment and Fuyuki following the fall-out between them and Tapas Entertainment. Prior to the fall-out, Fuyuki had completed the pre-production, cover and the first chapter of Season 1 and according to the studio, it is likely Tapas will continue to use Fuyuki’s character designs, stating, “After all they already paid for it.”

Kisai Entertainment elaborated on the change in payment structure: “The platform has been unstable for quite some time. Last year, three of our titles were suddenly cancelled due to financial issues. We didn’t think that [The Beginning After the End] would be impacted, especially since we believe we are one of the main sources of income for our original content. However, with the recent news of the giant parent company laying off a lot of people, we believe that they need to minimize spending as much as possible.”

In March 2023, Kakao Entertainment shut down the Korean branch of Tapas Entertainment in an effort to “improve business efficiency and competitiveness.” Eight months prior, 30 per cent of the workforce had been laid off including the CCO, CFO and Head of Publicity. Numerous creators have come out to speak about the unfair pay, resulting in some artists such as Sound of Bread‘s miqin to announce they will no longer publish with the platform.

Due to Tapas owning IP, publishing and distribution rights, The Beginning After the End will remain on the original platform and will unlikely be published on a different one for the foreseeable future.

When asked if Fuyuki would return should Tapas return to the original pay structure, the studio said “The answer is both yes and no.” Kisai Entertainment continued, saying it would only be out of a “deep attachment” to the webcomic that Fuyuki might consider returning as “he loves creating [The Beginning After the End] more than anyone else.” In the meantime, Fuyuki will be working on a new project. While the artist and studio had received numerous offers from other countries including Korea, Japan, the US and Germany, the studio and artist opted to create their own story and IP, thereby giving themselves sole control over their creative rights, making it impossible for them to “be at the mercy of someone else’s decisions again.”

Source: Instagram