Chapter 81: Who is Threatening Whom?

"Teacher Akiwara, aside from the 7-year condition, the manuscript fees and royalties remain at the standards I previously proposed. Please consider it."

After finishing this sentence, Hideki Awazu stared intently at Akiwara, waiting for his reaction.

To be honest, the 7-year requirement was something he had added on the spur of the moment, but he believed that even if this condition was a bit harsh, the probability of Yuto Akiwara agreeing was still very high.

First of all, after this awards incident, Yuto Akiwara had already broken ties with *New Novel* and was unlikely to continue publishing there; furthermore, it was rumored that he had been rejected by *Tokyo Literature* in the past, and his relationship with them was not harmonious either.

Moreover, due to the contract, his standalone books could not be published because of copyright issues, and the only ones who could help solve this were the other three major publishing houses.

But the conditions other publishers could offer might not necessarily be any better.

Yuto Akiwara looked at the look of conviction in Hideki Awazu's eyes that he would agree, and began to laugh. Although he was smiling, there was not a hint of mirth in his eyes.

He felt a bit disappointed.

He had originally thought that Hideki Awazu was someone worth befriending, but he hadn't expected that upon learning of his predicament, the other party would instead make such a demand.

Although the copyright issue meant he couldn't earn 20 million yen from his standalone books, he was only slightly troubled and didn't take it to heart.

After all, with the many works he remembered in his mind, many could easily sell millions of copies and earn hundreds of millions or even over a billion yen.

So, this 20 million yen was a loss to him, but it was not unacceptable.

Three years later, he could still contact other publishers to have the *ZOO* series of works published.

Conversely, if he agreed to Hideki Awazu's request and tied himself to *April Youth* for seven years, it would undoubtedly be a case of the loss outweighing the gain. In fact, he rarely heard of authors signing such long contracts with a single publisher.

Since the other party had this attitude, there was no need for him to be polite anymore!

Yuto Akiwara sneered, then looked at the "full of confidence" Hideki Awazu and posed a question: "The person who provided the information to Editor Awazu must be an insider at Mantan Publishing, right?"

Hideki Awazu raised an eyebrow and replied, "Teacher Akiwara, that has nothing to do with today's topic, does it?"

He wasn't surprised that Yuto Akiwara would guess this; after all, he had just said so much content that anyone could guess he had an informant at Mantan Publishing.

But he didn't want to discuss the topic of corporate espionage too much.

Yuto Akiwara ignored him, picked up his coffee, took a sip, and said, "May I guess who it is?"

"Teacher Akiwara, we..." Hideki Awazu tried to steer the conversation elsewhere.

Although he didn't believe Yuto Akiwara could guess who it was, he couldn't be bothered to play such games with him. After all, in his view, Yuto Akiwara's current situation meant he would most likely have to accept the conditions he offered.

Before he could finish, Yuto Akiwara interrupted him: "Your informant is the other deputy editor-in-chief at *Tokyo Literature*, right?"

Hearing this, Hideki Awazu's mood was instantly thrown into turmoil, but he immediately calmed himself down, forced a composed smile, and said, "Teacher Akiwara, your imagination is truly rich; you are indeed a writer."

Yuto Akiwara ignored him and continued on his own: "Because of the confidentiality principle regarding an author's identity, my address is something ordinary editors and staff cannot know. From this point of view, only three types of people could know my address: first, editors I have worked with; second, staff in the legal department; and third, relevant personnel with a certain level of authority."

He glanced at Hideki Awazu: "So, may I ask where you learned my address?"

Yuto Akiwara had learned from Aiko Asano that to prevent contracted authors from being poached by personnel from other magazines, an author's address was generally only known to the editor-in-charge and the editor-in-chief; even other editors at *New Novel* were unaware of it (though this could not be fully guaranteed).

But later, Kohei Takei, as a deputy editor-in-chief at *Tokyo Literature*, had visited his address after he moved, proving that personnel at the level of deputy editor-in-chief could obtain the relevant information and resumes of contracted authors.

Finally, because of the contract, his address after moving also needed to be updated in the contract, so staff in the legal department could also potentially know.

Seeing that the other party had no intention of answering, Yuto Akiwara continued: "Furthermore, according to the news you mentioned, the other party was able to learn of the trouble Kohei Takei encountered and tried to make up for it, which shows that the person is a member of *Tokyo Literature*."

Hideki Awazu laughed and said, "Teacher Akiwara, you are wrong about that. It wasn't just people inside *Tokyo Literature* who knew Kohei Takei was in trouble; even some people in other departments knew."

Yuto Akiwara nodded and replied, "You are right, but Editor Awazu, please explain how you knew that Tai Kikuchi's attitude toward Kohei Takei was very respectful?"

"It was just something I heard," Hideki Awazu replied.

Yuto Akiwara shook his head. "As editor-in-chief, if Tai Kikuchi were to act respectfully toward a deputy editor-in-chief of another editorial department, it would inevitably be discussed by many people, but Editor Asano has never mentioned this to me. Therefore, Tai Kikuchi must have behaved this way in private or in a relatively hidden setting."

Yuto Akiwara's voice became more certain. "So for your informant to know this situation, they must have been observing Kohei Takei continuously to get this news, which requires their position to be close enough and for them to have the motive for continuous observation."

Yuto Akiwara paused and continued: "Looking at it this way, only the other deputy editor-in-chief at *Tokyo Literature* would have both the motive and the conditions to obtain this intelligence."

His guess actually included a certain amount of speculation; after all, he had never been to the *Tokyo Literature* editorial department and was not very clear about the layout of the positions.

However, based on his understanding of the *New Novel* editorial department, he believed the layout of the two editorial departments should not be much different. The offices of personnel at the deputy editor-in-chief level should naturally be next to each other.

Hideki Awazu waved his hand. "Please, Teacher Akiwara, I can understand your creative desire as a mystery writer, but all your guesses are nothing more than wishful thinking."

Although he appeared lighthearted, he was actually very unsettled inside. He had thought he could use copyright as a threat to make the other party back down, but he hadn't expected that even his informant would be exposed.

Yuto Akiwara smiled and said, "You are right, I indeed have no evidence."

Hearing this answer, Hideki Awazu felt a sense of relief, but then he immediately heard: "But does this kind of thing need evidence? If it gets out that that deputy editor-in-chief is a corporate spy, the losses for Kejiaoguan would surely be huge, right?"

Hearing this, Hideki Awazu couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.

Just as Yuto Akiwara said, once the information that the informant was suspected of being a corporate spy was exposed, even if Mantan Publishing wanted to dispel the rumors, they would inevitably conduct an investigation, and many things simply could not be hidden.

If the higher-ups learned that he was the source of the leaked news, they would probably send him off to that dump in Shikoku, right? By then, he would probably be even worse off than Tai Kikuchi, who was at least a branch deputy president.

He lowered his voice and said, "Teacher Akiwara, this doesn't benefit you, does it? Can you tell me what exactly you want?"

After finishing this sentence, he stared closely at Yuto Akiwara's eyes and found that the other party's gaze was much firmer than when they first met, as if his entire temperament had changed.

Could it be the influence brought by this awards ceremony?

He felt a moment of regret; if he had known this, he shouldn't have opened his mouth so wide to ask for the 7-year requirement and should have just stuck to a normal, standard serialization contract.

Yuto Akiwara saw that he had softened his stance and said, "The favor mentioned before is wiped clean. Additionally, you must also provide me with a copy of the internal news regarding Mantan Publishing. Finally, you must help me with some things within your power."

He had no interest in helping Mantan Publishing catch a corporate spy, let alone that the spy was Kohei Takei's biggest rival; he was eager for the other party to trip Kohei Takei up.

Moreover, although Hideki Awazu had engaged in coercive behavior, he had also told him quite a bit of internal news.

On the other side, Hideki Awazu hesitated for a while but still agreed. However, he was still somewhat puzzled: what did the other party want with this news?

Yuto Akiwara had no intention of clearing up his confusion; he was still holding back a fit of anger inside.

He had originally just wanted to write his manuscripts properly, but ended up encountering these messes again and again.

So, even if he couldn't take revenge on the other party immediately, he should at least cause him some trouble!

Thinking of this, Yuto Akiwara raised his head and made a request: "Editor Awazu, I hope that deputy editor-in-chief can do me a favor..."