Tokyo Literary Masters: Starting from the Late 1980s

At this moment, Sato leaned forward dramatically, almost touching the manuscript paper.

Moreover, he turned the pages faster and faster, his fingers gripped the edge of the manuscript tightly, his breathing became heavy, and a fine layer of cold sweat seeped from his forehead, but he didn't bother to wipe it away.

The composure and experience of a seasoned editor-in-chief in the industry vanished at this moment.

He used to use his professional eye to evaluate the plot structure and market selling points, but now he is no longer a high-ranking reviewer, but a helpless reader dragged into the quagmire by words.

At this moment, Editor-in-Chief Sato was like a diver who had accidentally entered the deep sea, struggling to breathe under the immense and dark water pressure, knowing that hell lay below, yet unable to stop descending.

As he turned the pages, Editor-in-Chief Sato reached the final chapter.

Chapter title: The Preacher.

In this chapter, female teacher Yuko Moriguchi tears away the victim's disguise.

When confronted with the arrogant and self-important genius boy, A, Watanabe Shuya, who wanted to detonate a bomb at school to gain his mother's attention, Moriguchi Yuko revealed the final mystery on the phone in the calmest yet gentlest tone.

This passage pierced Editor-in-Chief Sato's eyes like an icicle:

"Watanabe-kun, I not only defused the homemade bomb you planted at the school, but I also repositioned it elsewhere. I prayed you wouldn't press the detonator. But you did. It wasn't a dud. I don't know how large the explosion you envisioned, but the bomb has the power to partially destroy reinforced concrete buildings."

"If I hadn't believed in your abilities and sought refuge far away, I might have suffered the same fate as you now."

"Third Research Lab, Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, K University"

"That's where I reset the bomb. You were the one who made the bomb and pressed the detonation button."

Sato's hand suddenly trembled.

It wasn't about calling the police or giving a lecture; it was about exploiting the boy's twisted longing and love for his mother, making him press the button himself and shatter his only pillar of support in the world.

This is a complete destruction from the depths of the soul, ten thousand times more cruel than killing him.

When he read the last words of the book, Editor-in-Chief Sato felt as if he were hearing the whispers of the devil:

"Hey, Watanabe-kun."

"Don't you think this is true revenge, and the first step for you to start anew?"

Snapped! !

Sato slammed the last page of the manuscript shut, the movement so forceful it was as if his hand had been burned by the paper.

He slumped back in his chair, gasping for breath, his chest heaving violently, his face as pale as paper, and his eyes still filled with extreme terror and shock.

After a long while.

Sato slowly raised his head and stared intently at Kitahara Iwa, who was calmly drinking coffee, with an expression as if he were looking at a monster.

"Teacher Kitahara..."

Sato took a deep breath, then slowly said, "You...you're a madman. A complete madman."

Upon hearing this, Kitahara Iwa put down his coffee cup and retorted, "As the editor-in-chief of Shincho-sha, is that considered a compliment?"

"This is no longer a matter of praise or criticism..."

Sato lowered his voice and stared at Kitahara Iwao across the table, saying, "Kitahara-sensei, do you understand what you've done? You've removed the safety net for the readers."

Sato's eyes were filled with complex emotions at this moment.

"In traditional detective novels, no matter how bloody the process is, there will always be a detective who comes out to uphold justice and tell the reader that the bad guys have been caught and order has been restored."

"But in your book... there are no detectives, no police, and not even any so-called justice."

Sato took a deep breath, his voice trembling with barely concealed fear: "Only one female teacher, who should have been a priestess, used the calmest and most rational methods to drive two underage students into hell. That's the most deadly thing."

"Once this book is released, the PTA will absolutely be in an uproar."

"Even those old fogies on the ethics committee will bombard our phones with calls. They'll accuse us of inciting juvenile delinquency, saying we're throwing acid in the face of the education sector..."

At this point, Sato suddenly stopped.

He stared at the manuscript and remained silent for a full five seconds.

Then, the fear that had filled his eyes gradually faded, replaced by an almost fanatical, professional intuition characteristic of a top publisher.

"but……"

Sato swallowed hard, his fingers gently stroking the manuscript paper, his voice hoarse with excitement: "That's why... it's not just a bestseller. It's going to be a phenomenon."

"The PTA will criticize it, the ethics committee will hate it, and moralists will see it as a monstrous threat. But so what?"

Sato pressed his hand heavily on the manuscript, his gaze towards Kitahara Iwa radiating a mad, almost manic light:

"The essence of literature is not to make people feel comfortable, but to sting them."

"Teacher Kitahara, you have written a knife. A knife that can pierce into the hypocrisy and restlessness of everyone in this era."

"Those repressed readers, those who are tired of the 'you're nice to me, I'm nice to you, everyone's nice' attitude, will love this suffocating feeling like moths to a flame."

Then, Editor-in-Chief Sato took a deep breath and made a decision that could jeopardize his career: "Teacher Kitahara, I've decided..."

"The initial print run is a whopping 30,000 copies!"

"I want every bookstore in Japan to be filled with this book. I want everyone to know that the landscape of mystery novels... has changed."

Next, after discussing the plot with Kitahara Iwao, Editor-in-Chief Sato rushed back to the publishing house with the manuscript.

In order to expedite the release of "Confessions," Editor-in-Chief Sato even skipped the regular topic selection review meeting and used his privilege as editor-in-chief to forcefully jump the queue, listing "Confessions" as a key S-class project of the year.

Then, fueled by this ever-growing fervor, Editor-in-Chief Sato, like a bulldozer at full throttle, swiftly crushed all obstacles in the publishing process.

Just three days.

The storm stirred up by Sato, along with its overwhelmingly low pressure, swept into the third conference room of the Shinchosha headquarters building.

Shincho-sha, Third Meeting Room.

The air in the conference room was stale and the smoke from dozens of cigarettes burning at the same time hung like stratocumulus clouds below the ceiling.

This place brings together the elites from Shincho Publishing's publicity department, sales department, and design class.

However, Kitahara Iwao, the author of the book "Confessions," did not appear here.

Just an hour ago, Editor-in-Chief Sato made a special call to Kitahara Iwao to ask if he would be attending the publicity meeting.

But Kitahara Iwao on the other end of the phone only replied with one sentence: "Sato-san, writing novels is my job."

"As for how to throw this novel into a crowd and cause the biggest panic... that's your area of ​​expertise. I won't give unsolicited advice to an expert."