I am a literary giant in Japan

Under the gaze of nearly two thousand pairs of eyes, under countless spotlights, at the awards ceremony for the world's largest literary award.

Arnault is like the clown in a DC movie, holding a microphone in one hand and a ball of waste paper in the other, smiling awkwardly but gracefully.

He saw with his own eyes that one after another celebrities who supported Kitagawa Hide stood up, and heard with his own ears that they followed Olivia in reciting the last few paragraphs of the preface of "Kafka on the Shore" in voices that resounded throughout the concert hall.

For the first time, he felt that time was too long, so long that one second seemed like a lifetime.

Talina below was also dumbfounded.

She was still immersed in the intoxication of the drug and felt that her world was about to collapse.

No wonder these celebrities who had previously said categorically that they would not attend the award ceremony suddenly changed their tone!

They didn't come here just to give face to themselves and Arnault!

They are just here to watch the fun and have fun!

The sudden scene also made the journalists nearby stop what they were doing.

They come from well-known TV stations and broadcasting companies around the world and were specially called in to film the entire award ceremony.

"Oh, God! This must be the most explosive news of the year!"

“They didn’t even know that Kafka on the Shore was a novel written by Kitagawa Hide!

Isn't this novel very popular in many Western countries these days? "

"Yeah. That's why I said this would be the most explosive news this year, even though there aren't many days left in the year."

The reporters were chattering about it, and did not forget to record this classic scene with their cameras and video cameras.

Nowadays, most countries in the world are still in the videotape era. Such a videotape that records the entire process of Arnault and the Nobel Prize officials being slapped in the face will surely sell like hot cakes around the world.

After waiting for a long time for the celebrities who supported Kitagawa Hide to finish reading the "Preface", Arnault on the stage let out a long sigh.

He made some casual concluding remarks, and then told everyone in the official tone of the Nobel Prize that Jose did not come to receive the award, and that the official would make an announcement later, and then he left the stage in disgrace.

What he didn't expect was that as soon as he stepped down from the stage, a bunch of celebrities stood up and applauded enthusiastically towards Kitagawa Hide in the first row, as if he was the one who won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Arnault, extremely depressed, returned to his wife and whispered a few words with a bunch of celebrities from the Arnault Club. Then he picked up a glass and began to numb his nerves with alcohol.

Seeing her husband like this, Tarina felt helpless and had to accompany him and "suck the bitter wine in his throat".

When she thought about the even more difficult dinner that was coming up, Talina felt like fainting immediately.

But neither she nor Arnault expected that things were just beginning.
After the award ceremony, Kitagawa Hide and his friend were kindly invited by Olivia and Victoria to sit in the room together.

Due to their tight schedule, in order to rush back to Tokyo to write "1Q84" as soon as possible, Kitagawa Hide and Saito Rena had to give up attending the more fun dinner and prepare to fly back to Japan at 7 o'clock in the evening.

Olivia, who had planned everything and was just waiting to "present treasures" to Kitagawa Hide in the evening, suddenly became upset. She looked depressed and absent-minded during the conversation.

"Brother Beichuan went back so early. I don't know when we will meet again. Humph!"

Olivia has changed the way she addresses him from "Teacher Kitagawa" to "Brother Kitagawa".

It can be said that anyone with a discerning eye can see her admiration for Kitagawa Hide.

It's a pity that the flowers are intentional, and the water is ruthless.

As early as when he traveled through time, Kitagawa Hide had decided to be together for the rest of his life with his childhood sweetheart, Yumeko Agatsuma, who had always been with him.

Saito Rena was quite tolerant of such things happening to Kitagawa Hide.

After all, there are countless talented and romantic men in the Japanese literary world. Since the pre-war era, visiting prostitutes has been a common hobby among literati and it is nothing big.

On the contrary, she felt that it would be strange if such an outstanding man as Kitagawa Hide was not admired by other women.

However, even though she tacitly agreed, Saito Reina still secretly kept it in her heart, and planned to tell Yumeko-chan as soon as she returned to her country——

Several of these women had already formed a "wives club" and agreed that after they got married, they would "monitor" each other's husbands.

Now only the beautiful Yumeko has a boyfriend, so Saito Rena and others have to fulfill their obligations first and enjoy the same rights later.

Of course, these are just little interests between women. No one will really interfere in their best friend’s family affairs, nor will they get too close to each other’s husband.

Only fake sisters would do such dirty things!

"When you graduate from Yale University, you can come to Japan to visit me anytime, anywhere.

Besides, your company has in-depth cooperation with us. If you want to come to Tokyo, just tell your sister Yumeko in advance, and she will help you arrange all the itinerary."

Kitagawa Hide rubbed Olivia's little head like an older brother.

The latter enjoyed his caress like a little kitten, shaking his little head up and down and responding with “hmm”.

Looking at Olivia's face that had lost its childishness, Kitagawa Hideya felt a little emotional.

It is said that the flowering period of French women is very short, but when they are in full bloom, women from other countries have to temporarily hide from the spotlight.

This sentence is really true.

When I first met Olivia in 1996, she was just an -year-old girl about to enter the University of Paris.

Now, more than two years have passed. The little loli of the past has become a young woman, and in two years she will graduate from Yale University.

Thinking of her help along the way, Beichuan Xiu touched her head and said with a smile: "How about this. On your birthday next year, I will prepare a small gift for you, how about it?"

"Is this the little gift that Brother Beichuan prepared carefully?!" Olivia, who was a little unhappy just now, suddenly had starry eyes and immediately counted on her fingers to calculate how long it would take for her birthday.

"Yes, you can look forward to it a little." Kitagawa Hide was thinking about writing a script to make a movie for his little sister.

Olivia is young and energetic. She is at an age when she loves beauty the most and wants to be the center of attention. It is most appropriate to prepare a movie script as a birthday gift for her.

But Kitagawa Hide hasn't decided which movie script to use yet.

Anyway, it’s always a good idea to draw the cake first to comfort the little girl’s wounded heart.

"Okay~ Then I want Brother Beichuan to bring it to me personally!"

Olivia put her hands on her hips and looked at Victoria proudly, as if saying to her best friend, "See, I told you that Brother Beichuan hasn't forgotten me."

Victoria was envious and wanted to laugh. She felt that her best friend who was like a little devil at Yale University had completely fallen into the trap of Teacher Kitagawa and there was no hope for her. The four of them then talked about "Kafka on the Shore" written by Kitagawa Hideki. Victoria, who was eager to learn, asked a lot of questions about literary creation techniques. It seemed that she really wanted to cultivate literature as a hobby.

For a member of a small country's royal family like her, whose life trajectory has basically been determined long ago, if she does not have one or two hobbies to relieve her worries and problems, her life will completely lose its meaning and fun.

Many royal family members are not happy in their later years because they are too tied up in politics and family throughout their lives and have never been able to live the life they want.

Victoria did not expect to live freely, but she could still pursue spiritual freedom.

Feeling her determination, Kitagawa Hideya put away his smile and began to teach Victoria the way a teacher treats his disciple.

Time flies, and soon it is half past six.

Kitagawa Hide and Saito Rena quickly got up and said goodbye, preparing to take a car to the airport.

After the two of them left, Victoria and Olivia smiled at each other slyly, changed into rare sexy clothes in the room, and prepared to give Arnault a "fatal blow" at tonight's dinner!
After boarding the plane, lying in the soft seat of the first-class cabin, Kitagawa Hide completely forgot about the Nobel Prize.

Whether it is the Nobel Prize in Literature or other literary awards, they are just passing clouds to him.

Every time he climbed a high mountain, Kitagawa Hide would only stop for a while, look at the scenery below at the top of the mountain, and then continue to move towards higher peaks.

Life is movement.

His sport is literary creation.

He wants to, must and should continue to give back to readers with high-quality works, constantly improve his own creative level, and then one day truly possess the strength to match "the best in the world" or even "the best in the world". This is what he wants to do, must do and should do.

Seeing that he was resting with his eyes closed, Saito Reina, who was standing by, stopped talking and disturbed him, and used her notebook to list the matters that needed to be dealt with recently.

One thing that has been bothering her recently is that a huge commotion broke out inside Kadokawa Bookstore, which Kitagawa Hide had previously asked them to invest in.

This incident, known as the "Kadokawa family riot," originated from some young members who were dissatisfied with Kadokawa Bookstore's "outdated management model."

The struggle and ideological conflicts between new and old members in Japanese companies have become a well-known social problem.

Today, most of the senior executives of Japanese companies are still middle-aged people in their 50s and 60s who were born before the war or during the war.

The fresh blood in the company is mainly composed of the "baby boomer generation" born in the 60s and the "new generation" born in the 70s.

This group of young people born in the post-war era have relatively advanced ideas and are very resistant to the relatively backward concepts of hierarchy and traditional wolf-like management model in Japanese companies.

Under the collision between the old and the new, many companies have experienced several shocks, but in the end the old members in power usually win.

But this time the commotion at Kadokawa Bookstore was a little different.

When those young members found that they could not change the ideas of the top management, they quit the company cleanly and then founded MEDIAWORKS at the speed of light.

Not long after, MEDIAWORKS launched Dengeki Bunko.

This type of small magazine, which mainly targets the lower-level popular literature market, is basically not taken seriously by the publishing industry.

Today, the Japanese publishing industry is led by the five major publishing houses, followed by newspapers backed by the five major publishing houses or foundations, and then some large-scale fashion and sports magazines, as well as derivative magazines like "MOE".

These are the first tier of the Japanese publishing industry.

The second echelon is headed by a group of Japanese entertainment gossip magazines centered around "SEVENSHOW", followed by a wave of new pure literature and popular literature magazines that followed suit.

In addition, old popular literature magazines such as "Mystery World" are also included in this sequence.

The third tier is a bunch of small magazines that are not popular but have a certain size but can only be placed in the corners of newsstands.

However, emerging magazines and newspapers such as Dengeki Bunko and Kadokawa Bunko are not even considered mainstream.

But it was this Dengeki Bunko that everyone had completely ignored, but in December 1998, it really surprised industry leaders such as Saito Rena!
Dengeki Bunko's main product in December, "Boogipop Don't Laugh" series, pioneered the world-class novel series, and "Kino's Journey" serialized at the same time even caused a stir in the literary market!
Previously, Hideyuki Kitagawa proposed a new term "light novel" at the regular board meeting of Kawaide Shobo.

Hide Kitagawa defines light novels as a genre of entertaining popular literature and popular literature that uses a popular writing style that efficiently conveys the story content to readers, usually using comic-style illustrations.

In short, "light novel" can be understood as "novel that is easy to read". It is a new literary genre that is likely to change the entire Japanese literary market and readers' reading habits.

These alarmist remarks did not attract the attention of Kawade Shobo's shareholders.

However, Shizuko Kawaide, who had suffered losses from the financial crisis before, became more cautious and thought what he said made sense.

However, just like the e-reading promoted by Hide Kitagawa, after the concept of light novels was proposed, traditional publishing houses did not take it seriously at all. No one paid attention to it and no one cared.

This is the case with Kawaide Shobo and the same is true for the publishing houses under Kitagawa Entertainment.

Editors of traditional pure literature also have their own pride and dignity, and believe that such vulgar stuff should not be called novels, let alone be widely promoted.

Kitagawa Hide, who had little time to deal with company affairs, probably didn't expect such a thing to happen!
After thinking for a long time and failing to find a good strategy to deal with Dengeki Bunko, Saito Rena had no choice but to wait for Kitagawa Hide to wake up and tell him the whole story.

After hearing this, Kitagawa Hide suddenly jumped up in shock. His reaction was much greater than Saito Rena had expected, and it also scared her.

"Beichuan, what's wrong?!" she asked hurriedly.

Kitagawa Hide gave a bitter smile, not knowing how to explain "Kino's Journey" to her.

This god-level light novel, whose first volume was only released in 2000, later had total sales of 820 million copies in Japan. In terms of commercial value alone, it is in no way inferior to the top pure literary novels.

And Kino’s Journey is just the beginning.

After the Lightning Bolt Bunko, the light novels that became popular all over Japan, such as "A Certain Magical Index", "Sword Art Online", "The Irregular at Magic High School", and "Shakugan no Shana", all sold over 10 million copies, and the anime adaptations were also very popular, completely overturning the original literary world.

Since then, the Japanese literary world has been divided into two, just like the one next door.

Half of the market is occupied by old-fashioned literary genres such as pure literature and popular literature, while the other half is occupied by light novels.

"Nothing." Kitagawa Hide shook his head.

After the shock, his emotions returned to calm.

No matter how popular light novels are, they will always be inferior to pure literary novels in terms of genre.

Just like the online articles next door, no matter how hard they try, it is difficult to gain any recognition in the serious field.

Even the martial arts novels, which were once the dominant force in popular literature, do not quite recognize this little brother who has come from behind.

But barriers are barriers. Kitagawa Hide does not want pure literature to follow the old path of serious literature, becoming complacent and self-pitying in a small circle.

"This is the inevitable struggle between the old and new factions. I didn't expect that I would soon become an old thing that needs to be defeated." (End of this chapter)