Chapter 90: Accept? Refuse?

Hearing these words from Akiwara Yuto, Anjiutsu Goichi was a bit surprised and said, "Akiwara-san, this is not a matter to joke about."

"I am very sorry, but there are reasons for this." Akiwara Yuto bowed, then said politely, "Could you listen to the specific reasons?"

Hearing this, Anjiutsu Goichi could only set aside the doubts in his heart for now. To be honest, he still had some misgivings, but since Akiwara Yuto had put it that way, he decided to hear the other party's explanation first.

Guided by Anjiutsu Goichi, the two walked along the stairs to the second-floor office and sat down on the sofa.

"President Anjiutsu, I will not make excuses for the specific reasons, but I truly have no way to pay the remaining 6 million yen fee at this moment. Therefore, I would like to use another form of cooperation so that your publishing house can pay this sum first."

Hearing this, Anjiutsu Goichi frowned. Although he admitted that the other party's work, *The Devotion of Suspect X*, was a good piece of writing, this request seemed a bit too rude in his view.

He was silent for a moment, then said, "Other forms of cooperation? Please explain, Akiwara-san."

Akiwara Yuto took out his briefcase and pulled out two documents, handing them to Anjiutsu Goichi. "President Anjiutsu, this is the copyright certificate for *Suspect X* issued by the Kitaoka Law Firm. I would like to use this as collateral as proof for deferred payment."

Anjiutsu Goichi took the documents and examined them carefully. As a professional in the publishing industry, he quickly understood the other party's intention after reading them—that is, to use the copyright as collateral to print a batch of books for the market first, and then offset the 6 million yen from the recovered funds.

But in that case, wouldn't all the risk be borne by Anjiu Bookstore? This Akiwara-san was thinking a bit too idealistically.

Seeing Anjiutsu Goichi's expression, Akiwara Yuto guessed that the other party might not agree, so he decided to persuade him indirectly: "President Anjiutsu, how do you view the work *The Devotion of Suspect X*?"

Anjiutsu Goichi thought for a moment, then answered honestly: "It is a good work with high value."

Akiwara Yuto continued to press: "Then, based on your many years of experience in the publishing industry, how high do you think the sales of this work can reach?"

Hearing this, Anjiutsu Goichi fell silent. When he looked at this work, he guessed that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it could sell 500,000 copies.

But in reality, a guess is just a guess. What if the market turned cold?

If his guess was wrong, even by the most conservative estimate, he would lose over 4 million yen, not counting the extra costs wasted on proofreading and plate-making for the book.

Over 4 million yen was equivalent to nearly one-third of the publishing house's profits for this year. If it came to that, he would inevitably have to fire one or two employees.

After weighing it for a while, Anjiutsu Goichi replied: "Akiwara-san, I'm sorry. Although I think this is a good book, I still hope you can follow the previous process. After all, our publishing house is small and cannot afford the risk."

After saying this, he looked up at Akiwara Yuto, preparing to wait for him to give up. But to his surprise, there was no look of disappointment on Akiwara Yuto's face as he had imagined.

Akiwara Yuto took a sip of tea and said, "President Anjiutsu, do you not want to change your publishing house's business? As far as I know, with the economic downturn, the volume of self-publishing business has also declined. When that time comes, your publishing house will still face huge risks."

Anjiutsu Goichi frowned and replied, "Akiwara-san, that has nothing to do with your proposal today. Even if I accept your proposal for deferred payment, I don't think it will be of any benefit to Anjiu Bookstore."

"No, I can concede 5% of all sales to your publishing house, even for subsequent reprints. If this work sells well, we could even return to the original, normal publishing business model."

The figure of 5% sounded small, but it was a result Akiwara Yuto had considered for a long time; after all, this only counted the sales portion and did not include certain costs.

Upon hearing this proposal, Anjiutsu Goichi couldn't help but think it over and weigh the pros and cons.

If this Akiwara-san were still using the initial argument of using the copyright as collateral, he would naturally choose to refuse, as it would be a bit like working entirely for the other party—even if it sold like wildfire, he would only receive a bit of pocket money for his hard work.

But if he obtained 5% of the sales, it would be different. In the best-case scenario, if it could sell 500,000 copies at a price of 2,500 yen, even with only a 5% sales share, the publishing house could receive 62.5 million yen.

Even considering the worst-case scenario, where only the initial 30,000 copies were sold, he could still receive 3.75 million yen.

Compared to these profits, the risk to be borne was only over 4 million yen.

Seeing Anjiutsu Goichi deep in thought and assuming he was still struggling, Akiwara Yuto said in a very sincere tone: "Are you content with only publishing books that have little value?"

In his previous research at the library, Akiwara Yuto discovered that this Anjiu Bookstore only transitioned to self-publishing after the economic crisis broke out, which could be considered very late among all small and medium-sized publishing houses.

This proved that this President Anjiutsu was a person with aspirations, and he must be unwilling to accept the current situation of his publishing house.

And what he needed to do was to stir up that bit of unwillingness in the other party's heart, beyond the benefits.

"President Anjiutsu, this is my entire plan. Please give me your answer?" Akiwara Yuto looked up, meeting Anjiutsu Goichi's gaze.

Anjiutsu Goichi sighed, a helpless expression appearing on his face. "Akiwara-san, you have convinced me. If these are the terms, I am willing to accept."

Akiwara Yuto also breathed a sigh of relief. If this hadn't worked, he would have had to think of other ways.

Anjiutsu Goichi also took a sip of tea and asked a question: "Akiwara-san, may I ask you a question? After all, this is your first time publishing a work, so why are you so confident in yourself?"

Akiwara Yuto didn't know how to answer for a moment. Should he say he had memories from his past life and knew that *Suspect X* had sold millions of copies?

If he said that, the other party would probably think he was crazy!

He thought for a moment and brushed it off by using his status as a debut author and the popularity of his *ZOO* series as a reason.

Hearing this explanation, Anjiutsu Goichi was stunned. He really didn't know that Akiwara Yuto was already a published author.

After all, although he was a person related to the publishing industry, the types of books he managed were mostly business and home-related, and he didn't know much about the literary world.

But his expression also became strange.

You should have stated your identity earlier! That would have increased my confidence in the book's sales!

Also, as a debut author, why aren't you cooperating properly with the publishing house you debuted with, instead of running to my small publishing house?