I, Hiroshi Nohara, the star of Japanese cinema!

"Section Chief Iwata, it is indeed a bit presumptuous. After all, our relationship was not a pleasant one before." Hiroshi Nohara just looked at him calmly without saying a word. His eyes were like he was watching a drama whose ending was already known, without the slightest ripple.

Because he guessed what Masao Iwata meant.

"I'll get straight to the point." Seeing this, Iwata Masao dropped his unnecessary politeness. He leaned forward slightly, lowered his voice, and spoke in a tone that he thought was sincere: "Nohara-kun, you are a smart person and a true genius. I've seen your 'Anshiji Residence', and it's very wonderful. To be honest, I even think it's much more creative than my 'Kibo Samurai'."

He first gave praise generously, which was the first step to winning the heart.

"But you should also know that talent alone is not enough in this place."

He changed the subject, adding a touch of experience and compassion: "Section Chief Suzuki is a good man and a visionary producer. Unfortunately, he followed the wrong person. Although Deputy Director Asumi has good intentions, he is ultimately powerless at Tokyo TV. Section Chief Suzuki's future is doomed."

He paused, carefully observing Nohara Hiroshi's expression, and seeing that he was still calm, he frowned slightly.

This was different from what he thought.

But at this time he still extended his olive branch.

"I'm here today on behalf of Deputy Director Takada to formally invite you. Deputy Director Takada greatly admires your talent and believes that a genius like you shouldn't be buried on the icy seabed with a doomed ship."

"As long as you're willing to come, the position of Vice Section Chief of Iwata's department will be yours. All resources and publicity will be tilted towards you. Together, we can work on that S-ranked live-action horror project, a truly great work that will go down in history."

"And we will promote you to a Level 4 director as soon as possible, and to a Level 3 director within five years, and you will have your own independent production team."

"Nohara-kun, you are a smart man. You should know how to choose."

After he finished speaking, he picked up his coffee cup and took a sip with an elegant posture, as if he had already won.

Because this is really a very generous condition.

He himself felt that he was being too generous.

After all, Iwata Masao only has this condition. And how old is Nohara Hiroshi?

He's just a recent college graduate!

So Iwata Masao drank his coffee while waiting for the young man in front of him to show the shock, hesitation, and ultimately the desire for power and the future that he expected.

However, he waited for nothing.

Nohara Hiroshi just listened to him quietly, then he picked up the cup of steaming Blue Mountain coffee in front of him, but did not drink it. He just put it to his nose and sniffed it gently.

"Section Chief Iwata," he said slowly, his voice as calm as if he were discussing the weather. "Do you know what the difference is between this cup of coffee and the instant coffee brewed from the vending machine in our classroom?"

Masao Iwata was stunned, not knowing why he asked this question.

"This cup smells delicious and will surely be quite rich. It comes from a noble family, carefully roasted and ground, just like your 'Ghost Shop Warrior'. It looks truly noble."

Hiroshi Nohara put down his coffee cup, and for the first time, his clear eyes truly and seriously looked at Masao Iwata.

“But it has no temperature.”

"It's just a soulless liquid brewed with hot water. Drinking it might refresh you, but it won't warm your heart."

The corner of his mouth curled up into a faint arc filled with endless sarcasm.

"And that one-dollar cup of instant coffee in our classroom, though cheap and bitter, was brewed by Kitagawa-chan for each of us every morning. It holds the flavors of the nights we endured together, the lunch boxes we shared, and the struggles we put in together for a common goal."

He leaned back in his chair, his posture relaxed.

His eyes were like a sharp scalpel, peeling off layer by layer of Masao Iwata's hypocritical disguise.

"Section Chief Iwata, the ship you're talking about is huge and magnificent, and its decks are presumably covered in gold. I'm a bit seasick, though, and I'm especially afraid of ships that smell only of copper and not of wood."

"I'm still more accustomed to my own small sampan. Even though it's a little damaged, I can control the wind and decide where to go to the sea."

He stood up and gently pushed the untouched cup of Blue Mountain coffee back in front of Masao Iwata.

"You should keep this cup of coffee for yourself."

"After all, you might...need it to refresh yourself on the road ahead."

After saying this, he turned and left without any reluctance.

"You!!!" Only Masao Iwata was left sitting there, with an extremely distorted expression on his face.

Of course, it doesn’t matter to Hiroshi Nohara what Masao Iwata is like.

He is not a child.

After being baptized by the entertainment industry news in later generations, would Nohara Hiroshi really be so foolish as to believe that such generous conditions would come to him without any other conditions?

I am already deeply tied to Seito Suzuki.

Of course, with my own abilities and the works in my mind, it doesn’t matter if I jump ship, I can still live well.

But so what?

"I'm afraid they'll be eaten up completely," Nohara Hiroshi said as he returned to TV Tokyo's production headquarters, his face sneerful. "Do you really think I'm a recent college graduate?"

Chapter 48 Jealousy

Hiroshi Nohara is not a naive college student. He sees through this kind of recruitment very clearly.

It is the other party's tentative recruitment.

If I defected, I might indeed be able to gain some resources at first, but who says that as a betrayer, I would be appreciated by the other side?

You have to know that in Japanese culture, betrayers are looked down upon.

This verbal promise has no legal effect at all.

It is very likely that in the end, you will be eaten up, all the information in your brain will be emptied out, and then you will be given someone else's name and used as a wedding dress for others.

Therefore, Hiroshi Nohara scoffed at this kind of recruitment.

Back at the Tokyo TV production headquarters building, Hiroshi Nohara continued to work on the production of "An Shibaju Season 2".

I was busy until the afternoon.

"call!"

Hiroshi Nohara stretched and felt thirsty, so he left the classroom and went to the public tea room in the production department.

This is a rare oasis within this high-speed steel behemoth, a place where one can take a breath. There are no rigid hierarchies or intense performance pressures, only the lingering mist and the gentle aroma of black tea.

The key is that black tea is free.

It is an employee benefit.

Hiroshi Nohara skillfully took out a clean bone china cup from the cabinet, tore open a tea bag of black tea, poured hot water into it, and the amber tea soup spread in the cup like a small warm sunset.

He was just about to find a corner to stay quiet for a while when a voice that sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember the name, sounded from behind him.

"Nohara-kun, right?"

Nohara Hiroshi turned around.

A middle-aged man wearing a plaid shirt and black-framed glasses was holding a cup of coffee with a sincere smile on his face that was a mixture of curiosity and appreciation.

He recognized the face; it seemed to be a Level 3 director from the next classroom. He had seen him a few times in the corridor and they were just nodding acquaintances.

"Hello, Section Chief Sato." Nohara Hiroshi nodded slightly, and his memory showed its due role at this moment.

"Haha, you still remember me." The director, known as Sato, was clearly a little surprised, his smile growing even more earnest. "Excuse me for interrupting, but I just wanted to tell you that my whole family is following your film, 'An Zhi Ju.' Especially my middle school-aged daughter. She's now a big fan of yours and even said...she no longer dares to go to the school music room alone at night."

As soon as he said this, it was as if a magical switch was turned on.

Several employees who were originally chatting quietly in their respective corners all gathered together like iron filings attracted by a magnet.

"Section Chief Sato is right! Nohara-kun, the concept of 'Paper' is pure genius! Several female assistants in our classroom are now so scared that they have to avoid it when they see paper jams in the copier!"

"I think the episode 'Contradiction' is the best. It's pure logical horror, that's the real high-level gameplay. I spent the whole night thinking about it, but I still can't figure out which one is the real ghost, the one outside the door or the one on the phone."

"Mr. Nohara, how did you come up with these stories? Have you really... seen those things?"

For a while, the small tea room became Nohara Hiroshi's personal fan meeting.

These directors and planners who are usually independent in their respective fields are now like a group of curious students, surrounding him and exploring the mysteries of the mysterious world called "fear".

Nohara Hiroshi just listened quietly with a gentle and polite smile on his face, and occasionally responded to the questions with a few humble words such as "These are just some useless ideas" and "You are too kind."

He was like the eye of the storm that he had created himself. No matter how noisy the world around him was, he remained unmoved.

His calmness and composure beyond his age gradually gave a hint of genuine respect to the seniors who were originally just curious.

No one dislikes such a humble and capable young man.

Just in this lively crowd, Hashijitaro and Minamimura Hoshiya walked in with cups in their hands.

Seeing Nohara Hiroshi surrounded by the crowd like a moon surrounded by stars, Minamimura Xing's young face was instantly filled with undisguised envy and admiration.

"Wow... Mr. Nohara is really a big star in our station now." He lowered his voice and sighed to Hashijitaro beside him: "I really envy his talent. I wish I could create works like him one day."

His words were very casual.

But it was like an invisible tiny needle, gently but precisely piercing Hashijita's heart.

The knuckles of Hashijitarou's hand, which was holding the teacup, turned slightly white due to the force.

He looked at the figure surrounded by the crowd, who was nearly ten years younger than him, and at the generous praise on the faces of those seniors, a nameless fire of jealousy burned quietly in his chest.

He thought of himself.

I think back to when I followed Section Chief Suzuki, from Kanto TV to the Tokyo TV headquarters, I worked diligently and conscientiously, endured countless sleepless nights, and drew countless storyboards without eating or sleeping.

But the result?

His application for promotion to Level 3 Director was mercilessly rejected. In the classroom, he was still just an executive director, a... assistant.

And how long has this young man named Hiroshi Nohara been here?

With just a tricky "slide" with a crude style like a child's graffiti, and just a few sensational ghost stories, he rose to fame overnight and became a "genius" in everyone's eyes, and became a celebrity that even Deputy Director Ming Rihai asked to meet.

Even Section Chief Suzuki, whom he had followed for so many years, now looked at the young man with eyes filled with admiration and reliance that he had never seen before.

Why?

In Hashijita Ichiro's heart, the nameless fire burned more and more vigorously.

He doesn't think "Anzhiju" is that great.

It's just a novel idea, but in terms of production and visuals, it's simply amateur level.

I participated in the production, the coloring, the editing, which one didn't have my own hard work? But in the end, all the credit, all the halo, fell on the head of that young man alone.

He and the entire classroom became stepping stones to the top of the mountain.