Chapter 126

Before reading this novel called "The Death of a Detective Novelist," Sakaguchi Keito had assumed that this work would be mediocre.

After all, truly excellent works are invariably published through publishers to earn high manuscript fees and royalties.

If serialized online, a work usually earns zero income, which can be said to be more trouble than it's worth.

Besides that, if the work is not written well, it might be torn to shreds by some trolls.

But Sakaguchi Keito found that as he continued to read, he completely overturned his previous thoughts.

The detective novelist's suicide, the complex relationships of the deceased's family, the accusations from all sides after the will was announced, the absolute reversal of the final plot... all of this made Sakaguchi Keito completely addicted.

After finishing all the stories in the 6-part serialization, he began to ponder deeply.

Sakaguchi Keito is not a detective fiction fan, but because of the special environment of Japanese society, he has more or less watched some detective TV dramas and movies.

And "The Death of a Detective Novelist" is not very complex in its trick design; compared to some other fantastic honkaku works, it can only be considered upper-middle level.

But behind the tricks, it is a satire on society, class, and human nature!

The detective novelist's son nominally helps his father manage the company, but in reality, he just publishes two of his father's books every year.

The eldest daughter claims to have started from scratch, but in reality, she relied on a 100 million yen interest-free loan from her father.

The eldest son-in-law expresses his friendliness toward the female caregiver with his words, while at the same time handing her dirty dishes, subconsciously still treating the female caregiver as a servant.

After the matter was exposed, the eldest grandson roared at the female caregiver in a rage, trying to stop this outsider from taking away his family's inheritance, but was pointed out by the detective that the land of this house was forcibly confiscated and auctioned by the government from the Burakumin.

Compared to these people, the protagonist of the book, the female caregiver, was born into an Ainu family in the Kuril Islands and belongs to the "former natives," but her kindness and sincerity far surpassed all the "Japanese people" in this family.

By the end of the story, under the author's arrangement, the female caregiver successfully accepted the detective novelist's inheritance and drove that group of hypocritical and ugly vested interests out of the house.

In Sakaguchi Keito's view, this story is simply satisfying!

It not only represents the oppression of the Burakumin, including the Ainu, by the mainstream Japanese society, but also implies that this oppression will sooner or later be overthrown!

This "The Death of a Detective Novelist" can no longer be measured as a detective novel, but should be seen as a social satire novel!

Thinking of this, Sakaguchi Keito became more and more curious: who is the author of this work, and is he really an Ainu?

He continued to scroll down with the mouse and saw a line: "Author: Akiwara Yuto."

Akiwara Yuto? This name seems familiar?

Sakaguchi Keito frowned, resting his chin on his hand, lost in thought; it seemed that previous newspapers had reported on him.

Thinking of this, he said hello, left the editorial department, and went to a reading room on the second floor of the newspaper office. In this reading room, there were various newspapers from other media.

After more than 20 minutes of searching, he finally found information about "Akiwara Yuto" in several newspapers published a few months ago.

Looking at the words "Thriller Genius" in the newspaper, Sakaguchi Keito couldn't help but mutter: "Akiwara Yuto, from Hokkaido, born in a welfare academy in the suburbs of Hokkaido."

He lowered his head and began to think.

If it's Hokkaido, maybe he really is my compatriot? Even if not, he might be a related person who sympathizes with the plight of the Ainu.

Never mind, let the next newspaper interview subject be him!

It just so happens that this week's manuscript task hasn't been completed yet.

After making this decision, Sakaguchi Keito clenched his fist, put the newspaper he had taken back to its original place, and then returned to the office.

Next, he needs to write an interview outline and report his topic to the chief reporter in the afternoon to obtain reporting and interview permission.

At 4:00 PM, the enthusiastic Sakaguchi Keito took the interview outline, returned to the social news department, and knocked on the chief reporter's office.

At "Adachi News," due to different reporting directions, all pages are divided among different reporters, and the chief reporter and editor-in-chief are responsible for finalizing relevant reports and topics.

After a short while, upon hearing "Come in," Sakaguchi Keito walked into the office, bowed, and handed the manuscript in his hand to the chief reporter sitting in front of him.

"Chief, I want to report a topic: to interview a writer named Akiwara Yuto."

The chief reporter in a loose suit raised his eyebrows. He didn't look at the interview outline immediately but asked, "Is there any news angle?"

Sakaguchi Keito nodded, "As a debut writer, he recently serialized a novel of over 100,000 words for free on a website. I think it has a certain reporting significance."

The chief reporter thought for a while and replied, "As social news, the highlight of this news is not enough."

He paused and continued to ask, "Is there anything special about this writer and his work?"

Sakaguchi Keito cleared his throat and replied, "The other party was previously called a genius of thriller works by some other newspapers, and the article he published online closely fits the current social situation."

"Social situation?" The chief reporter was a bit puzzled.

Sakaguchi Keito explained, "The 'The Death of a Detective Novelist' he published online satirizes the treatment and discrimination of Burakumin in mainstream Japanese society, and thousands of people have responded to this article."

His voice became firmer, "I think it is very worthy of reporting!"

He didn't say that this work was speaking up for the Ainu, but expanded the represented group to the Burakumin, because the Burakumin are a large group, occupying 1/30th of the total population of Japan, and have always been "discriminated" against by mainstream society.

However, he didn't lie; the Ainu are one of the many classifications of Burakumin.

The chief reporter looked at his subordinate a few times and understood what he meant.

He knew that his subordinate was a graduate of Tokyo University and only failed to pass the final screening of those large newspapers because of his Burakumin status.

So this report might have some personal motives from his subordinate.

However, he didn't really care about personal motives.

In his view, as long as the newspaper can sell well, it doesn't matter if the article's viewpoint is unfair.

However, he felt the name Akiwara Yuto was a bit familiar; had someone discussed it within the newspaper office before?

He thought for a moment and said to his subordinate, "How about this: you go and interview the other party first. If it's suitable, I will arrange it on the B5 page next Wednesday."

"What about the length of the article?" Sakaguchi Keito asked.

"A quarter of a page..." The chief reporter hesitated, but seeing Sakaguchi Keito's firm eyes, he changed his words and said, "Then let's make it half a page."

"Understood!"

Sakaguchi Keito received this reply that satisfied him and clenched his fist tightly.