I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 283: The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland is a half-good book? I don’t think so!
"Why are you back?" The store manager stood on tiptoe and looked outside the bookstore. In addition to the gradually gathering group of readers, the huge "Spring Fight" parade was still very spectacular.

"The March issue of Wen Yi will be released in two days. We want to finish 'Haruto' as early as possible so that we don't have to delay the release of Wen Yi."

A female clerk replied with a smile,
"Kaoru-chan also said she would come to help."

"Thanks for your care before. Please allow me to participate in the sales of "Wenyi" on the 18th!" Xunzi put her hands in front of her skirt and bowed slightly.

Seeing the massive "Haruto" parade in the Tokyo area, Kaoru is worried that the bookstore will be affected in the next few days. It would be terrible if the sales of the new issue of "Wenyi" decline.

So she decided to bring Chihaya Ruri along to Maruzen Marunouchi Bookstore that day to help sell books.

"Okay, okay." The manager glanced at them and breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn't expect that everyone was willing to give up their work on "Haruto" for Kitagawa's new novel. He suddenly felt like he had found a confidant.

This year's "Spring Fight" was more intense and lasted longer than in previous years, but it did not affect the final battle between the two major publishing houses, Kawaide Shobo and Shinchosha.

On March 3, Oricon announced the Oricon chart data first.

The March issue of "Shincho", which serialized "Foolish Love", lived up to expectations and achieved an astonishing sales of 3 copies on the first day of printing.

Although the sales volume ultimately failed to break the record of the issue of "Wenyi" which serialized the second half of "The Dancing Girl of Izu", considering the large number of readers who left due to Naoki Momota, the fact that this issue was able to sell so many copies on the first day of publication indicates that many readers have returned.

Ichiro Tanizaki is worthy of being called “the best in the world”.

"A Fool's Desire" has also received high praise in the literary criticism circle and on the Internet.

There is no mention of the role he played in the Nobel Prize scandal, nor is there any discussion of his personal grudge with Kitagawa Hide.

Judging from the quality of the novel alone, "The Love of a Fool" is indeed far superior to many pure literature works.

On March 3, it was discussed more hotly on Internet forums than any other book, and the Yahoo Japan Forum even set up a special area in the literature section to discuss the book.

Fans of Ichiro Tanizaki's books also began to gather around, discussing the plot, speculating about the sequel, and guessing about the sales of Hide Kitagawa's new book.

Shinchosha also realized that whether "The Idiot's Desire" could become popular would determine who would be the leader in the Japanese publishing industry in the next decade. Therefore, the president allocated various funds under great pressure, striving to make the novel popular throughout Japan and raise its popularity to the highest level.

Not long after, Toei, Toho and other companies came to inquire about the copyright ownership of "The Idiot's Love". The film and television industry was not doing well this year. Except for Kitagawa Hide's novel, most of the film and television dramas adapted from literature died out.

They urgently need a popular novel to stimulate the market.

On the evening of March 3, rumors were flying all over the Internet.

It is said that after several rounds of bidding, Toho won the film and television adaptation rights of "The Idiot's Love" with the conditions of 10 billion yen + film and television profit sharing + 5 years of copyright.

Just when the popularity of "Foolish Love" reached its peak, on March 3, the March issue of "Literature and Art" that more readers had been waiting for was finally released.

Since its revision and expansion, the capacity of "Wenyi" has far exceeded that of other pure literature magazines, and one thick volume is equivalent to two previous volumes.

The increase in quantity and price did not affect readers' enthusiasm for it.

On the morning of March 3, shortly after Maruzen Marunouchi Bookstore opened, the explosive flow of people almost broke the bookstore's door.

"Everyone, please line up in an orderly manner. Don't push or crowd. Please buy the magazines one by one in order!"

Kaoru and Chihaya Ruri, who had changed into their staff uniforms, shouted at the top of their lungs.

It is the first time for the eldest daughter Chihaya Ruri to work part-time, and the work in the bookstore feels very new to her.

But the novelty was soon lost due to the influx of a large number of readers!

This is too terrible!

How can there be so many people!

There was an experience in which readers stayed up all night in line but still failed to buy the magazine, so they seemed very anxious, fearing that they would not be able to buy this issue of "Wenyi" if they were late.

Who knows if "Wenyi", which serializes Mr. Beichuan's new book, will be out of stock again?
Ikezawa and Kawagoe, who were mixed in the crowd, were also frightened by the huge scene.

They knew that Mr. Kitagawa's books were very popular in China, and they also knew that after being shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Mr. Kitagawa's status in the Japanese literary world should be comparable to that of Mr. Ichiro Tanizaki.

But after seeing the readers' enthusiasm for Mr. Beichuan with their own eyes, they found that they had still underestimated Mr. Beichuan's influence!

The person who went to get off work with me every day, went to the rooftop to eat with me, and talked and laughed with me the week before, is actually so amazing?

Ikezawa and Kawagoe looked at each other and became even more curious about the content of "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland".

This is a work rewritten based on Mr. Beichuan’s experience in Beichuan Network!

The two of them finally lined up in front of the booth and quickly reached out to ask Kaoru and the others for thirty copies of "Literature and Art" each - today they were allowed to be late by Kyohei Murabayashi, in exchange for bringing back a batch of "Literature and Art" for the company's employees.

"Thirty books? Okay! I'll get them for you right away!" Seeing two big brothers in suits raising their hands to ask for so many books, Xunzi was overjoyed and quickly turned around to report to the store manager.

After a while, two strong shop assistants came over with cartons full of "Literature and Art".

"The total is 45,000 yen, thank you!" The clerk took the money from them and bowed with a smile.

Ikezawa and Kawagoe each had a cardboard box, and they realized that thirty volumes of "Literature and Art" were not light. The two of them had been sitting for a long time and lacked exercise, so they felt out of breath even after carrying the boxes to the subway station.

After getting on the subway, many people's eyes immediately drifted to the two boxes of "Literature and Art".

"It's still some time before we get to the company, why don't we just read it first?" Ikezawa reached out and took out two books on "Literature and Art" and handed one of them to Kawagoe.

Kawagoe nodded and said, "That's what I was planning too."

It took a long time to get from Tokyo Station to Shinjuku District. Anyway, Kyohei Murabayashi allowed them to be late today, so they were happy to go there slowly.

It is a unique experience to read a book in a busy subway car while listening to the rhythmic rumbling of the tracks.

Ikezawa opened the transparent book cover. He usually didn't read pure literature, but his girlfriend who was in college loved it and always explained these things to him.

When I opened the pages of the book, a strong scent of ink hit me, which was very pleasant.

It was a sandalwood scent, with a cool feel, and it smelled better than many perfumes.

Japanese companies are very fond of paying attention to details.

The publishing industry has become increasingly competitive in recent years, and many companies have begun to focus on details.

After this revision, Kawaide Shobo changed the cover style, improved the paper texture, and replaced the previous ink with a new expensive imported ink.

Magazines are carriers of words. The novels serialized in "Wenyi" are all excellent, so this carrier should also be worthy of the ideological connotations that can be expressed by the words.

Words not only have content, but also have flavor. So this expensive imported ink has become a tool for outputting the "flavor of words".

For Ikezawa and Kawagoe, who were reading this type of magazine for the first time, the scent of ink was very contagious.

He couldn't wait to turn to the page where "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland" was located.

This time, Shizuko Kawaide also asked the publishing department to spend a lot of money to hire a well-known painter to draw illustrations specifically for Mr. Kitagawa's novel.

This kind of commercial behavior is very common in light novel magazines.

Many light novels are published in paperback and pocket editions, and their selling point is the "sexy" illustrations.

The illustrations, which looked like oil paintings, looked very impressive, making Ikezawa even more curious about the content of the novel.

The company described in the chapter "【Cold Wonderland】Elevator, Silence, and Obesity" is Beichuan Network, and the countless senses of déjà vu made Ikezawa read the chapter with great interest.

The plot of the novel is mediocre, but Mr. Kitagawa's writing is very powerful, and he manages to bring out a surreal science fiction feel in one stroke.

Ikezawa, who never reads pure literature, was deeply attracted and immersed in it, turning the pages one after another.

The chapter [End of the World] is a bit strange.

Golden fur beast, peaceful but strange town, unicorn skull, protagonist of reading dream.
These fanciful things completely confused Ikezawa, who dealt with programs and codes every day.

The two story lines are intertwined, and the dual narrative technique is very interesting to read, but every time he sees the chapter "The End of the World", he has the urge to skip it.

On the contrary, it was [Cold Wonderland] that made him unable to stop.

Kawagoe next to him had the same feeling.

He prefers "Cool Wonderland", which is a combination of realism and science fiction. If the full score is 10, he is willing to give "Cool Wonderland" 9.5 points, while "At World's End", which has a fantasy style and a somewhat confusing plot, can only be given 7.5 points.

After summarizing it all, "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland" is probably around 8.5 points.

He had also watched "The Foolish Man" before, and personally would give it a score of 9.

With this comparison, it seems that Mr. Kitagawa's new book is not as good as Mr. Tanizaki Ichiro's?
Kawagoe read all the way to the end, and after seeing the words written by Mr. Kitagawa himself in pen, "I dedicate this book to Watanabe Yasuko who died unjustly," he became even more confused.

At least for now he didn't see any connection between the novel and the Watanabe Yasuko incident.

After closing the magazine, the two of them arrived at the station and immediately picked up the cardboard box and walked out.

At the subway station, many people were whispering about the new issue of "Literature and Art" and Mr. Kitagawa's book "The End of the World and Hard-boiled Wonderland".

Everyone still likes Mr. Beichuan’s new book very much.

Especially the "Cold Wonderland" part, which is generally rated higher than "The Foolish Love".

It's just that when it comes to the "End of the World" part, there are different opinions, with mixed reviews.

Some people think that the fantasy style of "At World's End" is similar to "Killing Commendatore", which is groundbreaking and has literary value.

But many people feel that the plot of this storyline is messy and a bit too illusory, like reading a light novel.

As for the mention of Watanabe Yasuko at the end, everyone was confused and speculated whether the plot of "Cool Wonderland" was reflecting this case?
After all, [Cold Wonderland] is easy to understand.

Combined with Mr. Beichuan’s field research activities on the Beichuan network, the companies in the story naturally refer to those large enterprises, and the computers are office workers.

That afternoon, reviews and analysis posts about "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland" dominated the literature section of Yahoo Japan Forum.

By the evening, Kitagawa Hide's new book had surpassed "The Desire of a Fool" in popularity, and all discussion indexes ranked first on the entire network.

Only this time, the reviews for his novel were no longer overwhelmingly positive.

The higher the evaluation of "Cold Wonderland", the deeper the dissatisfaction with "At World's End".

Mori Tetsutaro, who had also finished reading the novel and was hesitating about how to write a review, also fell into deep thought.

"Is Mr. Beichuan in a bad state?" He flipped through the "Literature and Art" with his hands unconsciously, with "New Trend" placed next to it.

The literary quality of "The Idiot's Desire" surpasses the previous books by Naoki Hyakuta and Yoriyoshi Arima. Ichiro Tanizaki is undoubtedly the number one rival of Mr. Kitagawa.

No matter how popular the previous books were, people would definitely compare "At the End of the World" and "Hard-Known Wonderland" to "The Foolish Man."

In this comparison, one is a top-notch book of excellent quality from beginning to end, which lives up to Ichiro Tanizaki's reputation as "the best in the world", while the other is only a half-good book?

Tetsutarou Mori kept scratching his head.

Even if [The End of the World] is lame, he can't say it out loud.

Literary reviews will also indirectly affect readers' perception of the novel. He is the No. 1 Beichuan fan, and he can't do anything to undermine him now.

So you just focus on and brag about Cold Wonderland?
This doesn't seem to work.

Mr. Kitagawa obviously wants to use a novel dual-line narrative and science fiction style to challenge new themes and content.

To ignore this point is to completely deny Mr. Kitagawa's innovation.

But if you mention "The End of the World" and just blindly praise it, you will definitely be criticized and will not get the support of readers.

"It's really a headache." Mori Tetsutarou didn't think that Mr. Kitagawa had run out of talent and his days were numbered.

It should be said that most writers will always have peaks and troughs. Mr. Kitagawa has been at his peak for such a long time, so what's wrong with him occasionally falling off a trough?
This is a normal person!

If only I were invincible.

So what about other writers?
This is the truth, but when it came to Mr. Beichuan's delay, he was really embarrassed.

After flipping through the magazine carefully again, his eyes finally fell on the last row of small print.

Maybe it would be good to use the murder of the Toden OL to distract attention from the plot?

“【The End of the World】is definitely not a simple irrelevant storyline. With Mr. Kitagawa’s ability, he would not write something so irrelevant. Although I can’t see it or guess it, there must be someone who can get a glimpse of it. Why not just direct the comments here and let everyone discuss Mr. Kitagawa’s true intentions?”

After making up his mind, Mori Tetsutarou immediately opened his notebook and wrote down a catchy title:

"The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland are half-good books? I don't think so!"

(End of this chapter)