Chapter 219: A Slap

Just as Akiwara Yuto thought, the public who believed him was only a very small minority.

Under the promotion of Wada Shin's faction, more and more newspaper columns started to add fuel to the fire—even the other three major publishers were secretly pushing, letting cooperative newspapers and periodicals publish or reprint related news more or less.

Besides that, Wada Shin even took the initiative to participate in several television interviews, talking about the cultivation and morality of writers during the program, believing that writers should not be jealous of others' talent and make wrong decisions.

Although he didn't mention a single word related to Akiwara Yuto throughout the interview, the audience watching the program basically didn't have anyone who didn't know he was referring to Akiwara Yuto.

Not only that, there were reporters who went to interview the author of *The Duet of Death*, Oonuki Masakazu, reporting his poor family background, but he was struggling and fighting for his literary career.

And the Newcomer Award he pinned his hopes on was pushed by Akiwara Yuto to be awarded to another work.

This reporter claimed that because of this blow, Oonuki Masakazu almost got depression and even wanted to commit suicide several times.

Although it looked very much like a lie, the public bought this set very much. After all, Oonuki Masakazu was just a newcomer who hadn't debuted yet, far behind a famous writer like Akiwara Yuto, and was completely in a weak position.

The matter of Akiwara Yuto suppressing him because of jealousy of his talent also sounded completely holdable.

After all, even the old writer Wada Shin said that Oonuki Masakazu was very talented and was a talented writer who could completely replace Akiwara Yuto.

The public relations company Akiwara Yuto contacted tried their best, but the reports and content they arranged to be released were drowned in the questioning.

Although he spent nearly 100 million yen in media promotion fees, it didn't have much effect. After discovering the effect was not great, Akiwara Yuto let them put the position of public opinion on the internet.

Facing the increasingly large public opinion problem, Asano Aiko proposed to take Wada Shin to court, but Akiwara Yuto stopped this move after thinking about it.

Taking it to court now, the possibility of winning the lawsuit was not very great; after all, the other party only used relevant words like "a certain young writer" throughout the whole process.

Perhaps, others might hope he would do so.

The problem of public relations and public opinion is often not as simple as who is right and who is wrong.

Akiwara Yuto suppressed the impatience in his heart, calmed down, and let people collect news from other aspects.

Impatience now is also of no help. He was still young; once he found a suitable opportunity, he would naturally retaliate one by one.

Whether it was "Wada Shin" who treated him as a soft persimmon, or those media people who kicked him while he was down!

Tokyo, *Tokyo Youth* editorial department, conference room.

"Due to the public opinion influence of Akiwara Yuto recently, the ratings of the *Furuhata Ninzaburo* series have dropped significantly, widening the gap with *Detective Kamimura*."

The person speaking was the Editor-in-Chief of *Tokyo Youth*, Ikemoto Ryosuke, and what he was participating in now was the weekly regular meeting of the editorial department.

"Originally *April Youth* could have become a big threat to us, but now looking at it, the other party's sales last week not only didn't increase but also dropped by about 10%."

He looked around at everyone and said in a relaxed tone.

After everyone present heard this news, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

After all, although the ratings of *Furuhata Ninzaburo* were still not as good as *Detective Kamimura*, more and more drama critics expressed their optimism about this show. This also made the ratings gap between the two works constantly shrinking.

Under such factors, the sales of *April Youth* were also constantly rising.

If it followed this momentum, it might be that in a few months, *April Youth* would surpass *Tokyo Youth* and become the number one magazine in the industry.

But fortunately, this kind of thing happened; it seems there is no need to worry too much.

Ikemoto Ryosuke finished speaking about this content, ordered some other work, and announced the end of the meeting.

But just as everyone was leaving, he called out to a young man in a gray suit, "Muro Akira, come to my office."

Including Muro Akira himself, everyone who heard the Editor-in-Chief's words discovered Ikemoto Ryosuke's dissatisfaction.

After all, calling someone by their full name is a form of extreme disrespect to the person being called.

Muro Akira was stunned, then paused his steps, said "Yes," and followed Ikemoto Ryosuke to the Editor-in-Chief's office.

After walking to the Editor-in-Chief's office, Muro Akira closed the door and just turned around when he suddenly received a heavy slap on his face from Ikemoto Ryosuke.

After Ikemoto Ryosuke finished slapping, he said viciously, "Kneel down."

Muro Akira just covered his face, then immediately put it down and knelt on the floor in a dogeza posture.

Ikemoto Ryosuke sat in his seat, frowned, looked at his subordinate, and lectured him.

"Editor Muro, I arranged the work of writing manuscripts for *Detective Kamimura* for you because I value you. But look at what happened now!?"

"The first requirement of a ghostwriter is confidentiality and low profile, but now that it's made such a big noise, how can he continue to be a ghostwriter!"

He slammed the table heavily, "If the outside world knows the specific situation, it will definitely be a big scandal!"

Muro Akira lowered his head and said, "It's all my fault! I didn't expect that guy Oonuki Masakazu would go and submit to some Newcomer Award."

He was also very helpless; after all, he wasn't a Yakuza and couldn't control everything Oonuki Masakazu did.

If the other party wanted to secretly hide from him and do something, he could only know passively.

Ikemoto Ryosuke said disdainfully, "Your apology is useless. I just want to know how to remedy it now!?"

As an Editor-in-Chief, he had dealt with so many writers and understood the minds of some writers clearly.

Now Oonuki Masakazu had become famous, and it is estimated that he was not willing to be a ghostwriter anymore. In fact, even if he was willing, *Tokyo Youth* didn't dare to use him anymore.

Otherwise, when another thing happens, it might bring a great negative impact on the reputation of the editorial department.

Muro Akira pursed his lips, "I plan to go and have a good talk with Oonuki Masakazu to end the relevant cooperation. Besides that, I will also scout for a new writer to take over."

Ikemoto Ryosuke stared at him for a while and then said, "Stand up."

After Muro Akira stood up, he stared at Muro Akira's line of sight and said, "No matter what, this matter of Oonuki Masakazu being a ghostwriter must not be exposed to the media. If something goes wrong, you won't have to come to the editorial department to work later."

Hearing the Editor-in-Chief's threat, Muro Akira broke out in a cold sweat. He bowed deeply and said, "Subordinate understands!"

Leaving the editorial department, Muro Akira drove his car and headed straight to Adachi Ward.

After confirming that there were no reporters near Oonuki Masakazu's home, he put on a mask and sunglasses and knocked on the door of the target's house.

After being welcomed in by Oonuki Masakazu's mother, he didn't even say any polite words and headed straight to Oonuki Masakazu's room.

"Teacher Oonuki, what exactly do you want to do!"

After seeing Oonuki Masakazu, Muro Akira questioned the other party for the first time. If it weren't for the other party's submission behavior, how could he have received a slap from the Editor-in-Chief.

Oonuki Masakazu was reading the newspaper and didn't even lift his head, "I just did what a newcomer writer should do."

"Teacher, this is different from what we agreed on back then, right!" Muro Akira gritted his teeth, "Didn't we agree to help *Detective Kamimura* serialize for 3 years?"

"Do I have to spend 3 years for that kind of boring article?" Oonuki Masakazu responded disdainfully, "If my signature was added, I could consider it."

Muro Akira was so angry he couldn't speak and could only play the emotional card: "Don't forget, if it weren't for us providing you with this opportunity back then, it's estimated that you wouldn't even be able to walk the path of the literary world."

"Yes, yes, yes," Oonuki Masakazu put down the newspaper and said to Muro Akira, "But the manuscript fee requirement I raised was cut by one-third by you, right?"

"But you agreed to it, didn't you?"

"So what? We didn't sign any agreement; it was just a verbal agreement." Oonuki Masakazu was still disdainful, "If *Tokyo Youth* is dissatisfied, they can go to court to sue me."

Muro Akira took a deep breath, telling himself that he wasn't here to quarrel today.

He sat opposite Oonuki Masakazu and said, "As you wish, *Tokyo Youth* is prepared to end the cooperation with you. State your requirements!"

Oonuki Masakazu laughed and proposed a sum of money.

Muro Akira hesitated for a while, discovered that this sum of money was not excessive, and still agreed to it.

Subsequently, the two officially agreed that after this week, the two would end any contact, and even if they met, they would pretend not to know each other.

After all, this matter of being a ghostwriter would not be good for anyone if it spread out.

After saying these words, Muro Akira took his leave. He was afraid that if he stayed any longer, he would be so angry he would have a cerebral hemorrhage.

Watching the other party's departing back, Oonuki Masakazu laughed.

At the beginning, he just held a casual attitude and submitted a manuscript, not having any high expectations.

After all, an award like the Modern Detective Literature Newcomer Award, whether in scale or status, could only be considered a small award compared to the Detective Literature Newcomer Award organized by the Detective Association.

Even if he won the grand prize, it is estimated that not many people would pay attention.

But what surprised him was that Akiwara Yuto, who snatched his honor of the Detective Literature Newcomer Award, would be so confused as to be jealous of his talent during the award selection and award the prize to someone else.

And this behavior caused Teacher Wada Shin's dissatisfaction and made the outside world make a big noise.

Under the attention of the media, the benefits he gained far exceeded the significance of winning the award itself.

One was successfully getting rid of the cooperation with *Tokyo Youth*, two was attracting media attention and laying the foundation for his debut, and three was being accepted as a disciple by Teacher Wada Shin.

Besides that, it also made Akiwara Yuto, whom he had always hated and been jealous of, fall into a miserable situation!

Thinking of this, the corners of his mouth turned up.

Heh heh, Akiwara Yuto, I want to see how you end this! The title of talented writer should also be changed to someone else! ===== CHAPTER 220 =====