Chapter 147: Should There Be a Compromise?

"Mr. Furukawa, may I ask what you are prepared to discuss?" Akiwara Yuto held the receiver and replied.

Looking at the current state of public opinion, although Asano Aiko's television interview did not achieve the desired effect, many people still chose to support him. After all, following a series of build-ups, many things had already been exposed—including the ban by Mantan Publishing, the relationship between Mamiya Yuma and the daughter of Kihara Daigo, and so on.

And these facts were difficult for Mantan Publishing to cover up, and even harder to justify.

Therefore, he could understand Mantan Publishing's desire for a "reconciliation."

"Akiwara-sensei, we express our deep apologies regarding the series of events that occurred previously," Furukawa Kento replied. "Therefore, we hope to offer you some compensation."

"What kind of compensation?"

"Regarding the future publication of your works, no one at Mantan Publishing will obstruct your promotion; furthermore, we will compensate you 80 million yen in the name of reputation damages."

Furukawa Kento paused, then continued, "There will be no legal issues with this money, but it will be transferred to you privately. We 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, Mantan Publishing hopes that you can publish a personal statement in a newspaper with a certain level of influence, confirming that many of the previous events were a misunderstanding between both parties."

Akiwara Yuto did not indicate whether he accepted or not, but instead asked, "Regarding Kihara Daigo and Takei Kohei, are there no corresponding disciplinary measures?"

Furukawa Kento gave a bitter smile. "I'm sorry, regarding personnel matters of this nature, we will implement certain disciplinary measures internally after some time has passed."

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

However, because of what Akiwara Yuto said at the previous press conference, it was actually inappropriate to discipline them at this moment.

Otherwise, if it were reported by the outside world, wouldn't people think that it was indeed Mantan Publishing's responsibility?

If not, why would they discipline Kihara Daigo and Takei Kohei?

The public would likely think, is it possible that Mantan Publishing itself is the one with the problem!

To tell the truth, at this point, Furukawa Kento himself could not have imagined that Mantan Publishing, one of the four giants of the publishing industry, would actually have to bow and compromise to a newly debuted writer.

It was simply like a fantasy.

But now, the public opinion caused by this matter had reached a point where it was difficult to get off the tiger's back.

Although Mantan Publishing had carried out a series of crisis public relations, most of the public believed that Mantan Publishing was at fault first.

After all, in terms of scale, compared to Mantan Publishing, Akiwara Yuto could only be called a "weaker party."

Besides this, during this process, other competitors, the Mystery Writers Association, and some writers also came out to fan the flames, voicing their opinions through various channels.

These factors, mixed together, had formed a force that could not be ignored, and had even caused setbacks to some of Mantan Publishing's businesses.

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

Although Mantan Publishing was not without other countermeasures, no matter how one looked at it, dragging it out would do more harm than good.

Rather than spending large sums of money on the media, it would be better to simply buy off Akiwara Yuto and let him "quiet down."

Akiwara Yuto fell into silence upon hearing the series of conditions offered by Furukawa Kento.

By now, his original expected goal had actually been achieved, which was the complete lifting of Mantan Publishing's ban on him.

After all, after such a storm, if the other party were to ban him again, it would be tantamount to confirming their reputation for "bullying."

Besides, the 80 million yen was not a small sum; he could easily buy a luxury apartment in the Port District, which would be more conducive to the development of his future career.

But if he did this, it would be difficult for Takei Kohei and Kihara Daigo to receive any significant punishment.

And his act of issuing a "statement of understanding" might disappoint some members of the public, who might think he had "yielded" to a large publisher.

However, if he refused, who knows what kind of public opinion tactics Mantan Publishing might use next; after all, as a capital giant, they had too many cards to play.

Compared to them, his foundation was still too weak...

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

He picked up the receiver and responded, "Mr. Furukawa, I need to think about this further and will get back to you later."

"Understood, Akiwara-sensei, but I hope you can do so as soon as possible." Furukawa Kento was not surprised; he believed Akiwara Yuto was a smart man and would eventually accept his proposal.

Akiwara Yuto put down the receiver, turned around, and walked back to the living room, his brows furrowing involuntarily.

Should he accept Mantan Publishing's reconciliation proposal?

But honestly, it was so frustrating!

While Akiwara Yuto was preoccupied, Ankutsu Goichi was full of joy.

After Akiwara Yuto won the Mystery Literature Newcomer Award, the storm between Akiwara Yuto and Mantan Publishing led to Akiwara Yuto being reported by numerous media outlets.

This storm served as a great promotion for his works.

Suddenly, many readers in the market who were not interested in mystery works also went to major bookstores out of curiosity, asking for Akiwara Yuto's works.

This caused bookstores everywhere to restock and even increase their orders.

"Satake, what are the sales for this week?" Ankutsu Goichi put down the receiver 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 feedback from bookstores and distributors, 50 percent of the 60, 00 copies of the reprint of 'Suspect X' have already been sold. If nothing goes wrong, we can arrange another reprint next week. As for 'The Death of a Mystery Writer,' which was released less than two weeks ago, although we haven't received statistical feedback on the current data, major bookstores have also increased their orders."

Ankutsu Goichi smiled and nodded. Judging from this week alone, Anku Bookstore had earned more than 10 million yen from "Suspect X" alone.

He really hoped the war of words between Akiwara-sensei and Mantan Publishing would continue.

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

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

Presumably, by that time, these two books would be hard-pressed to sell as well as they were now...

While he was thinking, the sound of "creak, creak" footsteps echoed from outside the door. Immediately after, Nishijima Sota, who was in charge of sales and promotion, walked in and announced a piece of good news loudly.

"'The Death of a Mystery Writer' has been reprinted!"

Although the others in the office were mentally prepared, they were still a bit excited when they heard the news.

After all, all signs indicated that Anku Bookstore's business this year would only get better and better!

But neither Akiwara Yuto nor Ankutsu Goichi knew that the book they had published, "The Death of a Mystery Writer," had caused quite a stir among a special social group...