Chapter 309: What exactly is he trying to do?

Time flew by, and soon two months had passed.

Just as Akiwara Yuto had expected, the book *All She Was Worth* was successfully shortlisted for the Uemura Prize and announced in all the major newspapers.

However, unlike the previous nomination, while the public expressed admiration for this Uemura Prize nomination, the level of amazement was far less than before.

After all, over the past year, Akiwara Yuto had appeared in newspaper headlines so frequently that people were starting to suffer from aesthetic fatigue.

Moreover, within the circle of mystery fans, his sales figures had already cemented his status.

In fact, many people now subconsciously thought of the name Akiwara Yuto whenever they thought of mystery novels.

Therefore, upon seeing this news, a small number of uninformed members of the public were even puzzled.

That guy Akiwara Yuto hadn't won the Uemura Prize yet?

Beyond the public, many book critics were certain he would win the Uemura Prize outright.

After all, the other shortlisted works were far inferior to Akiwara Yuto's *All She Was Worth* in terms of reputation and sales.

But for some people, this was a very ominous development.

……

Keihan Publishing, Information Management Department.

Hosome Reiko looked at the news in the newspaper, her brows furrowed into a "chuan" shape, and her hand crumpled the paper.

She couldn't understand how Akiwara Yuto could be so prolific!

Generally speaking, even the most excellent writers only release one or two works a year, and not every one of them is a hit.

But Akiwara Yuto had completely shattered this common sense; in the nearly two years since his debut, he had written an amount of work equivalent to what other writers accumulated over a decade or more.

Not only that, but every one of his works was a bestseller.

One must know that a book with annual sales exceeding 500,000 copies could support a medium-sized publishing house.

Yet in these two years, Akiwara Yuto had written who knows how many books, occupying half of the mystery publishing market.

Now, he was only one step away from the highest award in the mystery literature world, the Uemura Prize.

And if nothing unexpected happened, this award would fall into his lap.

Once that happened, there would likely be another massive bestseller!

Seeing his superior's expression, her subordinate, Kakino Daisan, said, "Executive Hosome, regarding the Uemura Prize, could Keihan Publishing push for the award to be given to one of our own works? For instance, by bribing the judges?"

In Kakino Daisan's view, the Uemura Prize was, after all, a human-selected award; if Keihan Publishing pushed from the top, they might be able to sway the judges' opinions.

"Don't say stupid things."

Hosome Reiko put down the newspaper and glanced at her subordinate with disdain, wondering if he had been kicked in the head by a donkey.

She continued, "Bribe the judges?! What would you use to bribe them? If you could afford it, how much would you have to spend? Do you think those old geezers only care about money?"

As a member of the publishing industry, she knew the temperaments of certain writers very well.

For those veteran writers, prestige and the prosperity of their genre were what they truly pursued.

If one tried to bribe them with money, they might just spit in one's face.

Hosome Reiko looked at Kakino Daisan's seemingly unconvinced expression, and her anger grew.

"We aren't the only publishing house eyeing the Uemura Prize. If we did that, we would be giving the other three publishers in the Kakeokan group an excuse. Once exposed, it would be a massive scandal!"

She paused, then added, "Have you forgotten the *Tokyo Literature* incident at Toei Publishing back then?"

After hearing the reprimand, Kakino Daisan subconsciously broke into a cold sweat.

Back then, *Weekly Bunshun* exposed the ghostwriting scandal at *Tokyo Literature*, causing the magazine's sales to plummet and even leading to the cancellation of the television dramas they were collaborating on.

As the publisher, Toei Publishing had to reshuffle the editor-in-chief and deputy editor-in-chief of *Tokyo Literature* to apologize to the public.

If Keihan Publishing really bribed the Uemura Prize judges and it was exposed, their fate might be even worse.

"I was wrong!" Kakino Daisan lowered his head.

Hosome Reiko sighed and asked, "Is there any feedback from the personnel we arranged at Tsutaya Books?"

Kakino Daisan nodded, then took out a document and handed it to Hosome Reiko. After she took it, he began to explain.

"Tsutaya Books Publishing seems to be planning to open a chain of second-hand bookstores?"

Hosome Reiko was stunned. A second-hand bookstore—what was this supposed to be?

Publishing houses published new books; it had absolutely nothing to do with second-hand bookstores.

Moreover, with the two major distributors currently reducing their orders, Akiwara Yuto should be trying to find other mid-sized distributors or doing direct sales.

She had been worried for half a day, only to find he was doing something as unprofessional as running a second-hand bookstore.

For a moment, she even suspected that Akiwara Yuto was trying to concede.

Kakino Daisan looked at his superior's face, which was turning shades of blue and white, and said, "According to the people we placed inside, Tsutaya Books has provided two plans.

"First, directly participate in training and be dispatched to other regions to become a bookstore clerk under their banner, with an annual salary of about 3.5 million yen.

"Second, prove one has certain bookstore management experience to receive a low-interest loan of 5 million yen and become a partner franchise manager."

"That's all?"

Hosome Reiko pressed.

She still couldn't understand what Akiwara Yuto was thinking.

Could it be that he was optimistic about the future of the second-hand book market and wanted a piece of the action?

"Yes, that's all," Kakino Daisan nodded.

"However, one other thing has occurred: the two distributors reported back to us that they encountered some problems when ordering *All She Was Worth*."

"Problems?"

Kakino Daisan replied, "Yes. In early November, the inventory held by the two distributors was almost cleared out, but when they tried to order more from Tsutaya Books, they were told each could only order 10,000 copies."

Hearing this, Hosome Reiko's first reaction was that something was wrong.

Although giving each distributor only 10,000 copies sounded like "retaliation," in reality, it did the publisher itself no good.

After all, most bookstores could only source through distributors; if they couldn't get stock, they would just promote other works.

And as time passed, readers themselves would lose interest in the book.

"What is the take from Tokyo Hanbai and Neon Hanbai?" Hosome Reiko asked, looking at her subordinate.

Kakino Daisan shook his head. "They think Tsutaya Books wants to make this book a limited edition, so they are deliberately reducing the number of copies per printing."

Hearing this explanation, Hosome Reiko pondered for a moment.

Some writers and publishers did indeed produce limited or collector's editions for special reasons.

But since Akiwara Yuto's debut, he had never seemed to do that.

Still, it was hard to say; perhaps he was confident he would win this Uemura Prize and wanted to make a limited edition as a memento?

So, was she really overthinking it?

The more Hosome Reiko thought about it, the more confused she became, and her brows knitted together even tighter.

Damn it, what exactly is Akiwara Yuto trying to do?