Chapter 142: Don't You Go Spreading Rumors!

Thank Mantan Publishing?

Hearing these words, the many guests from the Mystery Writers Association in the audience revealed expressions of confusion.

According to routine acceptance speeches, writers generally focus on thanking the association, their families, or their editors; it is rare to specifically name a company.

Because doing so often makes people feel the writer is overly utilitarian, which can create a bad impression...

Furthermore, if one specifically thanks a certain publishing house, it is often viewed by other publishers as being a lackey for that company, making it harder to deal with them in the future.

Moreover, if a collaboration goes poorly and one decides to jump ship, they might be viewed by some as ungrateful for having provided such ammunition.

This is not a wise decision, or perhaps, did Mantan Publishing do something that could make this award-winning Akiwara-san do this?

For a moment, many guests sitting near the partner section turned their gazes toward the three people from Mantan Publishing who had come to attend the award ceremony.

However, in the eyes of some insiders, a hint of "watching a show" emerged.

"Department Head Kihara, I remember you saying that this Akiwara-sensei had already canceled his collaboration long ago and even repeatedly hurled abuse at our editors?"

Mantan Publishing Vice President Hika Ken turned his head and raised his doubts to Kihara Daigo, who was beside him.

Although he was the Vice President of Mantan Publishing, due to the separation of management and operations, he was not very clear about specific affairs and administrative situations.

At Mantan Publishing, there are four major departments: the Editorial Bureau, the Public Relations Bureau, the Printing Bureau, and the Distribution Bureau. Even within the Editorial Bureau, there are two categories: books and magazines, and magazines are further divided into manga, fashion, and literature.

And Kihara Daigo only manages two literary journal editorial departments.

Because the volume is not large and this part of the business is not Mantan Publishing's primary concern, Hika Ken's understanding of literary journal affairs is generally provided by subordinates during regular meetings.

He was not very clear about the grievances between Akiwara Yuto and Mantan Publishing.

Hearing the Vice President's question, cold sweat broke out on Kihara Daigo's forehead.

At this moment, he also realized that Akiwara Yuto's intentions were not good, and regarding the matter of blacklisting the other party, he had only mentioned taking some "measures" when reporting to his superiors, without explaining in detail.

How should he answer the Vice President?

He hesitated for two seconds, saw Takei Kohei beside him, and immediately found an excuse.

"This matter was handled by Deputy Editor-in-Chief Takei and me; as for dealing with the other party, he was solely responsible."

Hika Ken, as Vice President, was no fool and immediately understood the loophole in his words.

As a member of "New," why was Akiwara Yuto dealing with Takei Kohei, the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of "Tokyo Literature"?

However, now was not the time for questioning; he frowned and looked at Takei Kohei, who was sitting on the other side, waiting for his answer.

Takei Kohei did not expect to be sold out by his superior so quickly; he wanted to explain, but hesitated after seeing Kihara Daigo's gaze.

If he offended the Department Head, his fate would likely be no better than Kikuchi, who was exiled to Shikoku.

Takei Kohei hesitated for a moment, then faced Hika Ken's probing gaze, gritted his teeth, and said, "Regarding the specific situation with Akiwara Yuto, this subordinate will report it clearly after the award ceremony ends."

Now is not a good time to answer; later, he would carefully make up a reason to gloss over it.

No matter what, he must push all the responsibility onto Akiwara Yuto...

Hika Ken's heart was full of doubts. Although he wanted to ask clearly, he knew this was not the best time for questions, so he nodded and did not continue.

Just as the three were talking, Akiwara Yuto had already been speaking for a while. After expressing his gratitude, he briefly described his insights on writing.

He paused again, cleared his throat, aimed his gaze at the partner section where the publishers were located, and continued.

"Besides the Mystery Writers Association and my friends and family who supported me, the one I am most grateful to is Mantan Publishing. If Mantan Publishing hadn't accepted my submission back then, I might have ended up homeless because I couldn't pay the rent. And after I debuted, the relevant resources have always been..."

At Akiwara Yuto's words of gratitude, the people in the audience nodded one after another.

But just then, Akiwara Yuto suddenly changed his tone.

"However, a series of unexpected things happened to me."

Amidst the confused gazes of the crowd, he continued.

"When I was about to publish my stand-alone book, the Editor-in-Chief of 'New' was transferred to the Shikoku region. At the same time, my editor was also arranged to be moved to another department. And the relevant personnel at Mantan Publishing demanded with a tough attitude that I move from 'New' to 'Tokyo Literature,' and even gave a series of high-sounding reasons!"

Hearing these words, everyone in the audience was shocked. These were no longer words of gratitude, right?!

How did it sound like an attack on Mantan Publishing?

The reporters crouching under the stage to take pictures all became excited and started taking photos one after another; for a time, flashes went off continuously.

Mystery Literature Newcomer Award winner receives unfair treatment from Mantan Publishing!

Big news, this is big news!

If it weren't for the fact that it was award acceptance time, they would have swarmed up to interview him long ago.

The three from Mantan Publishing sitting in the audience also had different reactions: Hika Ken's brow furrowed deeper and deeper, Kihara Daigo's cold sweat kept breaking out, and Takei Kohei was even gritting his teeth.

Bastard, who demanded with a tough attitude that you go to "Tokyo Literature"!?

Akiwara Yuto, don't you go spreading rumors!

After Akiwara Yuto finished this part, he fell silent for a moment, making his expression look a bit "sad."

In this way, his expression could be captured more clearly by the newspapers, thereby further arousing the public's sympathy!

By that time, not to mention whether Mantan Publishing's blacklisting of him was still useful, at least under the effect of the attention economy, the two books "Suspect X" and "Death of Mystery" could at least sell very well!

Seeing that the time was about right, Akiwara Yuto continued: "Faced with these unreasonable demands, I decided not to collaborate with Mantan Publishing for the time being and self-published two works, but to my surprise, Mantan Publishing actually threatened me again to continue publishing articles in Mantan Publishing's magazines."

"After I refused again, they even used business cooperation as a threat, demanding that relevant media and newspapers not report on my works at all, and implemented a blacklisting campaign against me!"

Hearing these words, most of the people in the audience could not sit still.

A significant proportion of the guests who came to the award ceremony today were members of the Mystery Writers Association.

And one of the criteria for becoming a member of the association is being a mystery writer who has already debuted.

As writers themselves, they were undoubtedly angered by the "series of facts" described by Akiwara Yuto.

If one is to be suppressed just for changing publishers, wouldn't the profession of writer become a slave to the publishing house?

And if other large publishers also learned to do this, the purity of literature would undoubtedly be tainted by commerce!

Damn Mantan Publishing, what exactly are you trying to do?

Are you trying to join forces with the other three to further squeeze the interests of writers!

While the writers were angry, the reporters in the audience also became more and more excited; some even wanted to rush onto the stage to take pictures and ask questions, but were stopped by the staff maintaining order.

Some peripheral reporters, seeing that they couldn't take any useful photos, rushed to the partner's seats and took pictures of the three people from Mantan Publishing who were sitting there.

Never mind their status, big news is what matters!

After taking pictures for a while, staff members ran over and chased the reporters back.

By this time, Hika Ken's face had turned livid, Kihara Daigo's face was pale, and as for Takei Kohei, he was so angry he wanted to tear Akiwara Yuto apart.

Using conspiracies and lies had always been his own method.

He didn't expect that he would be played by this trick today.

But he discovered that he was unable to refute that series of words from Akiwara Yuto; after all, although the other party had lied, the personnel changes and the blacklisting were ironclad facts.

As long as one has the intention, they can find out very quickly!

Bastard, this matter is not easy to handle now!

Just as there was a commotion, a reporter wearing a black shirt quietly walked to the side of the auditorium.

He took a black, "brick-like" mobile phone out of his bag, dialed a number, and said in a low voice into the phone: "Reporter Sakaguchi, that article of yours can be published!"