Chapter 106: Sharp Blade Drawn

Chiyoda Ward, Mantanshe Headquarters.

Songdao Kazuhiro walked out of the elevator, walked along the corridor to the entrance of an office, and knocked on the main door. After hearing a "Please come in," he pushed the door open and walked in.

Sitting on the guest sofa behind the door was his direct superior—Department Head Kihara Daigo.

Kihara Daigo greeted Songdao Kazuhiro, greeted him to sit down, poured a cup of tea for him with a friendly attitude, and then said: "Editor-in-chief Songdao, regarding those conditions on the contract, what is teacher Akiwara's meaning?"

Songdao Kazuhiro took the tea, hesitated, but still decided to relay Akiwara Yuto's opinion truthfully: "He demands... to transfer Takei Kohei."

Kihara Daigo frowned. Takei Kohei was now a member of his faction and also knew quite a few of his affairs. How could he possibly transfer him?

At this time, Songdao Kazuhiro added: "Besides that, he also hopes you can apologize publicly... admit that there was a mistake in the award result."

Kihara Daigo was stunned for a moment after hearing this condition. Me? Apologize?

Soon, he laughed out of anger!

He is the department head of Mantanshe, one of the four major publishers. He has seen countless writers. Akiwara Yuto, although he has made a little achievement, is at best a newcomer, and it's not impossible that he will exhaust his talent one day.

Instead, if he apologizes publicly, not only will he have to bear the criticism within Mantanshe, but it is also likely to attract accountability from the vice president who directly manages the Editorial Bureau.

This would waste all the efforts to cover up the award ceremony accident before, and would make the competing opponents of the other three major publishers laugh.

Kihara Daigo frowned. He stood up, walked back and forth in the office, and then thought of another thing.

Akiwara Yuto, what exactly does he have to be so confident to say this?

"Songdao, what is the name of Akiwara Yuto's latest standalone volume, and what is the estimated sales?"

Seeing his superior stand up, Songdao Kazuhiro also felt embarrassed to continue sitting, so he stood up too.

"That work is called *The Devotion of Suspect X*. According to the data feedback from the Statistics Division, the estimated annual distribution volume might be around 60,000 copies. They believe that even in the most ideal situation, it is unlikely to exceed 80,000 copies."

Kihara Daigo rubbed the stubble on his chin and continued to think.

Before this, there were some rumors within Mantanshe, believing that Takei Kohei was the culprit who led to the unfair award result.

But in fact, anyone who understands the award rules of the literary award a little bit knows that he is the person truly in charge of the literary award, deciding the final award attribution. Not to mention that the matter of Kadowaki Yuzhen dating his daughter couldn't be hidden...

In that case, if Akiwara Yuto's works can still be a bestseller after leaving Mantanshe, it will inevitably lead to some criticism of himself, such as accusations of driving away genius writers.

However, if Akiwara Yuto's standalone volume can only sell 60,000 or 70,000 copies, it can only be considered qualified, not a bestseller.

By that time, he can arrange for some people to promote "the fall of a genius"...

Kihara Daigo thought for a while and sat down again, "If the sales are only this much, don't worry about it."

Songdao Kazuhiro smiled bitterly and replied: "Department Head, forgive me for being blunt. When Akiwara Yuto joined *New Novel*, the weekly sales of *New Novel* were only less than 30,000 copies, once on the verge of being discontinued. But what was the final result? You should have some understanding."

Pausing, he used a more sincere tone: "I have read this work called *The Devotion of Suspect X* twice carefully. Out of personal opinion, I think selling 500,000 copies is not an exaggeration."

Hearing this, Kihara Daigo was surprised. He didn't expect Songdao Kazuhiro to have such a high evaluation of Akiwara Yuto's new work. Immediately after, he calmed his heart. After all, what Songdao Kazuhiro said had some truth.

A few months ago, the sales of *New Novel* were less than 30,000 copies. At the meeting to decide on the department, someone even proposed changing *New Novel* from a weekly to a monthly, or directly discontinuing it.

At that time, he had even considered arranging Kadowaki Yuzhen to *Tokyo Literature*. After all, even if he couldn't be the chief writer, it was better than the fate of being discontinued...

But he didn't expect that after Akiwara Yuto started serializing, it suddenly turned around.

Kihara Daigo struggled. If it could really be like what Songdao Kazuhiro said, Akiwara Yuto's work would be a bestseller, then some voices that were suppressed would rise again, and he would also have some trouble...

This point must be guarded against. It seems he still has to make some arrangements.

"Editor-in-chief Songdao, I have already understood the situation. Then you don't have to deal with Akiwara Yuto's work. Later, I will arrange for others to be responsible."

Songdao Kazuhiro breathed a sigh of relief. He really had no way to deal with Akiwara Yuto now. However, he thought of another problem: if Akiwara Yuto didn't restart serialization, what should *New Novel*'s sales do?

Forget it, go back and think about it properly... It's really giving people a headache...

Songdao Kazuhiro stood up, bowed to Kihara Daigo, and left. Kihara Daigo looked at his background and thought for a while. Immediately after, he picked up the receiver and dialed an internal number.

"Deputy Editor-in-chief Takei, come to my office, I have something to tell you."

While Kihara Daigo and Takei Kohei were discussing countermeasures, Akiwara Yuto was sitting at his desk, considering the idea he had at the internet cafe before—whether the method of driving traffic from the internet to physical books was feasible.

Akiwara Yuto closed his eyes, hugged his chest with both hands, turned the chair, and pondered.

The internet development in this world hasn't been many years, so there are no cases with reference significance.

But from the memory of his past life, there are actually quite a few related cases—many books became popular after being serialized online, and readers loved the house and its crow, being driven to buy the author's other offline physical books.

And in the thousands of replies under the post *Detective Taxi*, many replies said they wanted to buy *New Novel* to see the author's other works, which proved this point.

So, traffic driving in this aspect should be feasible.

Since that's the case, which work should he take out?

Akiwara Yuto stood up, walked back and forth twice, thought for a long time, and finally decided to find a foreign work and adapt it. In this way, even if it fails in the end, he won't feel heartache.

In that case, how about this one?

He sat at the desk again, took out paper and pen, and wrote down a name: *Knives Out*.

This story tells about a detective novelist who was found to have committed suicide by jumping off a building in his manor the day after his birthday.

Immediately after, a detective received an invitation and came to this manor to investigate. But this detective found that every member of the family had a suspicion of murder...

Akiwara Yuto pondered for a while in his mind about the elements that could be replaced, and then started writing. He prepared to divide this novel into 6 parts and finish serializing it in 6 weeks.

4 hours later, he finished writing the first part, which had nearly 10,000 words of content.

Akiwara Yuto checked the content in front of him, nodded with satisfaction, changed into outdoor clothes, walked out of the house, and walked towards the internet cafe.

Tonight, he is prepared to publish the first part online first... ===== CHAPTER 107 =====