Chapter 147

"Mr. Furukawa, what are you planning to talk about?" Akiwara Yuto held the phone and replied.

Looking at the current public opinion situation, although Asano Aiko's television interview did not achieve the expected effect, many people still chose to support him. After all, after a series of foreshadowing, many things had been exposed—including Mantanshe's blacklist, the relationship between Menxie Youzhen and Kihara Daigo's daughter, and so on.

And these facts were difficult for Mantanshe to cover up, and even more difficult to justify.

So he could also understand Mantanshe's willingness to "reconcile."

"Mr. Akiwara, regarding the series of events before, we express our apologies." Furukawa Kento replied, "So we hope to provide you with some compensation."

"What kind of compensation?"

"Regarding the future publication of your works, no one in Mantanshe will hinder the promotion; besides this, in the name of reputation compensation, we will compensate you 80 million yen."

Furukawa Kento paused and added: "There will be no legal problems with this money, but it will be transferred to you privately. I hope you can keep it confidential."

"If I accept this compensation, what do I need to do?" Akiwara Yuto thought for two seconds and replied.

"If you can accept it, Mantanshe hopes that you can publish a personal statement on a newspaper page with a certain influence, proving that many aspects of the previous events were a misunderstanding between the two parties."

Akiwara Yuto did not indicate whether to accept or not, but asked again: "Regarding Kihara Daigo and Takei Kohei, are there no corresponding disciplinary measures?"

Furukawa Kento gave a wry smile, "Sorry, regarding personnel in this regard, we will give certain disciplinary measures internally after a period of time has passed."

In his view, Kihara Daigo and Takei Kohei had caused such a big mess this time; even if they were sent to other positions, they deserved it.

But because of Akiwara Yuto's remarks at the press conference before, it was actually not suitable to punish them at this time.

Otherwise, after being reported by the outside world, would it be considered that it was indeed Mantanshe's responsibility?

Otherwise, why punish Kihara Daigo and Takei Kohei?

The public would probably think, is it Mantanshe itself that has a problem!

To tell the truth, up to this point today, Furukawa Kento himself couldn't have imagined that Mantanshe, one of the four giants of the publishing industry, would actually have to bow and compromise to a newly debuted writer.

It could simply be called a fantasy.

But the public opinion caused by this incident had now reached a point where it was difficult to get off the tiger.

Although Mantanshe had carried out a series of crisis PR, most people believed that Mantanshe was at fault first.

After all, in terms of size, Akiwara Yuto could only be called a "weakling" compared to Mantanshe.

Besides this, in this process, other competitors, the Detective Writers Association, and some writers also came out to add fuel to the fire, making voices from various channels.

These factors mixed together had formed a force that could not be ignored, and had even caused a setback in some of Mantanshe's businesses.

Taking literary works as an example, the sales of *Tokyo Literature* and *New* this week had dropped by about 30% due to these negative impacts.

Although Mantanshe was not without other countermeasures, no matter how you look at it, dragging it out would be more than the loss.

Instead of taking a large amount of money to give to the media, it would be better to directly buy off Akiwara Yuto and let him "be quiet."

Akiwara Yuto heard the series of conditions opened by Furukawa Kento and fell into silence instead.

Up to now, in fact, his original expected goal had been achieved, which was to completely lift Mantanshe's blacklist on him.

After all, after such a storm, if the other party blacklisted him again, it would be tantamount to confirming its name of "bullying."

Besides this, the 80 million yen fee was not a small number; he could completely buy a luxury apartment in the Port District, which was more conducive to the development of his future career.

But if that happened, it would be difficult for Takei Kohei and Kihara Daigo to receive too much punishment.

And his act of publishing a "statement of understanding" would make some people disappointed, thinking that he had "surrendered" to a large publisher.

However, if he refused, maybe Mantanshe would use some other means in public opinion. After all, as a capital giant, the other party had too many cards to play.

Compared to the other party, his foundation was still too weak...

Akiwara Yuto weighed the pros and cons and decided to think about it carefully.

He picked up the phone and responded: "Mr. Furukawa, I need to think about it here, and I will reply to you later."

"Understood, Mr. Akiwara, but I hope you can be as soon as possible." Furukawa Kento was not surprised; he believed that Akiwara Yuto was a smart person and would eventually accept his proposal.

Akiwara Yuto put down the phone, turned around, and walked back to the living room, his brows couldn't help but wrinkle.

Should he accept Mantanshe's reconciliation proposal?

But honestly, it's so unwilling!

While Akiwara Yuto was burdened with worries, Anju Jin Gangyi was full of joy.

After Akiwara Yuto won the Detective Literature Newcomer Award, because of the storm between Akiwara Yuto and Mantanshe, Akiwara Yuto was reported by many media outlets.

This storm made his works also get a good wave of promotion.

For a time, many readers in the market who were not interested in detective works also went to major bookstores out of curiosity and asked about Akiwara Yuto's works.

This also caused bookstores in various places to replenish their stock and even increase their purchases.

"Satake, how much are the sales this week?" Anju Jin Gangyi put down the phone and asked Satake Maki, who was processing documents on the other side.

Satake Maki stood up and handed over the documents in her hand.

"According to the feedback from bookstores and distributors, 50% of the 60,000 copies of the reprint of *The Devotion of Suspect X* have been sold. If nothing unexpected happens, a reprint can be arranged next week. As for *Death of a Detective*, which has been released for less than 2 weeks, although the current data has not been statistically fed back, major bookstores have also increased their orders."

Anju Jin Gangyi smiled and nodded. Looking at this week, just from the revenue of *The Devotion of Suspect X*, Anju Bookstore had gained more than 10 million yen.

I really hope the war of words between Mr. Akiwara and Mantanshe will continue.

However, he thought about it carefully and felt it was unlikely.

After all, whether it's the public or readers, it's difficult to maintain interest in one thing for a long time.

Presumably by that time, these two books will be difficult to sell as well as they are now...

While he was thinking, a "creaking" sound of stairs sounded outside the door, and immediately after, Nishijima Zongtai, who was in charge of sales and promotion, walked in and loudly told a piece of good news.

"*Death of a Detective* has been reprinted!"

The other few people in the office, although they were mentally prepared, were still a bit excited when they heard this news.

After all, all signs were indicating that Anju Bookstore's business this year would get better and better!

But neither Akiwara Yuto nor Anju Jin Gangyi knew that this book *Death of a Detective* they published had caused a great stir in a special social group...