I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 47 The most unexpected dark horse in the first half of 95, with royalty income exceeding 1218 million yen!

What was the fastest way to transmit information in the pre-Internet era?
First, TV programs.

Second, newspapers and magazines.

Third, word of mouth.

The "fragment" suggestion that Kitagawa Hide gave to Saito Rena was very effective. Even though "Once Upon a Time in Tokyo 1973" was completely inferior to "Once Upon a Time in Tokyo 1973" in terms of public opinion, publicity, and first release popularity, "Pinball " became popular in Tokyo again through a third channel.

According to Oricon statistics, the June 1995 supplement of "Gunzo" sold 6 copies on the first day. As of today, June 5.7, cumulative sales have reached 6 copies, with an average daily sales of 20 copies, far exceeding the pitiful 25.2 copies of the main issue in the same period.

There is no doubt that Kitagawa Hide has repeatedly crushed the pillar of Kodansha.

And if sales continue at this rate, this supplement will definitely break the sales record set in April!
What is a pity is that the final sales volume of last month's supplement was fixed at 88.7 copies in one month. It is a pity that it failed to break the record of 4 copies of the April issue of "Gunzo".

This shows that there is still a small number of readers of "Gunzo" who prefer other novels serialized in the magazine and are not interested in Kitagawa Hide's works.

But the number of this group of people obviously does not exceed 10, which shows that Kitagawa Hide almost single-handedly transformed the original audience of "Gunzo" into his own readers.

After a month of hot sales, the hardcover paperback edition of "Hear the Wind Sing" has achieved a staggering total sales of 28.4 copies, jumping to fifth place overall, and is only 8 copies away from surpassing the signed limited edition of "Thirty Years in the World".

And just today, the Yomiuri Shimbun, a daily newspaper that has always been stingy and doesn't like to leave space on the first page for the entertainment industry, actually gave one-sixth of the first page to a literary review that entirely praises Kitagawa Hide!

The person who wrote this commentary did not use a pseudonym, but directly signed her own name - Shizuko Kawaide.

In her review, she first highly affirmed the positive impact that "Youth Trilogy" has brought to society, and said that Kitagawa Hideki has been making progress with each book and has a bright future.

Then he bluntly said that the sales battle between Kitagawa Hide and Oshima Hikaru would end with Kitagawa Hide's unstoppable crushing momentum.

"There is no doubt that Kitagawa Hide is the most unexpected dark horse in the literary world in the first half of 1995!"

This is her final evaluation of Hide Kitagawa.

Shizuko Kawaide's review was not very valuable, and one could tell at a glance that it was written by a novice literary critic, but it caused a sensation in the literary world.

Because she has another identity that everyone knows——

Acting president of Kawaide Shobo Shinsha, which owns "Bungei", one of the five major pure literature magazines!
Kitagawa Hide, who was at home at the time, spent 2 yen to subscribe to more than ten large newspapers for a year in order to be able to see the first-hand information at any time.

After searching many well-known newspapers, he finally found such a positive review, and he felt like crying.

It’s not easy, it’s really not easy!
Although the sales of the supplement serializing his works are outstanding, and "Hear the Wind Sing" is likely to outsell "Thirty Years in the World" by the end of the month, his reputation in the literary and critical circles is getting worse and worse.

Mainstream writers and critics were like eating explosives and severely criticized the novel "Ball", saying that he wrote about the protagonist's shameless cohabitation life with twin sisters purely for the sake of attracting attention and that he had no bottom line.

But after Shizuko Kawaide published her commentary, the doubts and criticisms came to an abrupt end, and more and more critics who dared to speak the truth came out to support Kitagawa Hide.

"Ball" finally surpassed "Once Upon a Time in Tokyo 1973" with an overwhelming advantage in word of mouth.

It feels good to have the support of a big boss!

Interestingly, Kitagawa Hide was surfing the Internet at home these days, observing the views of Japanese netizens in 95 on this sales war, and was surprised to find that on the Internet forum, which should be full of false and untrue things, the netizens' evaluation of the two novels was completely different from that of the mainstream media!

The elite netizens of the new era are not as hypocritical as the bigwigs in the literary world. They frankly admit that they prefer "Ball". Many of them also commented that "Eastward" is a piece of shit wrapped in candy wrapper.

President Shizuko Kawaide, who inexplicably supported Kitagawa Hide, was also one of them. Not only did she publicly post a long post in support of Kitagawa Hide on the forum under the online name "河出書房頭と", she also initiated a vote to predict the Akutagawa Prize, claiming that if Kitagawa Hide won the prize, she would hold an offline book club meeting and treat everyone to a meal.

Kitagawa Hide clicked on the voting post. In those retro days, forums didn’t even have a voting function. The poster could only post the title of the book, and then everyone would vote by pressing “1, 2, 3” according to the serial number.

Once the voting time limit is up, the host will count the votes and announce the final results.

Kitagawa Hide took a quick look and found that nearly 60% of netizens voted for "Hear the Wind Sing", and at least 30% chose "Ball".

It had been three days since the voting began, and among the more than 500 pages of posts, he had not seen "Eastward" once.

It seems that Oshima Hikaru is really finished this time, and will definitely become a stepping stone before he can ascend to the throne of godhood.

After mourning for the other party for a few minutes in his heart, Kitagawa Hide closed the webpage with satisfaction, quickly disconnected from the Internet, not to make a penny more for the Japan Telephone and Telephone Company, then packed up his things and went straight to the Industrial Central Bank.

Today he made an appointment with Yan Jing Takuya to take over the bar.

Because it involves a large real estate transaction, an intermediary must be found to oversee the completion of the contract.

Kitagawa Hide originally looked for a real estate agency, but after the Industrial Central Bank where he had deposited his money learned about this, the bank employee in charge of his account volunteered, saying that he was willing to unconditionally assist him in completing the transaction.

The real estate agency wanted to charge a supervision fee of 1% of the transaction amount. Seeing that he could save 10 yen, Kitagawa Hideichi readily agreed to the bank's request.

At this time, a bank clerk named Masato Senhara, wearing a neat suit, holding a portable black safe and a copy of "Hear the Wind Sing", was anxiously waiting at the south exit of Kokubunji Station.

He graduated from Keio University in 1992 and joined Japan's top industrial central bank soon after, becoming a bank clerk who was envied and sought after before the bubble and avoided by everyone after the bubble.

Like Rena Saito, he is a member of the tragic baby boomerang generation. He failed to enjoy the convenience brought by the bubble era, but had to endure unimaginable torture after the bubble economy recession.

For three years, he worked hard and never slacked off, but he could only get a low-level position as the head of the Financing Section 1 of the Adachi Ward Branch.

Exhausted physically and mentally every day, Senhara Masato originally wanted to quit his job, but he saw "Hear the Wind Sing" by chance.

The tired life was healed in an instant and came back to life again.

Just like that, he became a loyal reader of Kitagawa Hide!
A few days ago, a colleague was transferred out of town, and Masato Senhara took over all his clients. Unexpectedly, Mr. Kitagawa was among them!

And it just so happened that Teacher Kitagawa encountered a difficult problem.

He immediately asked the bank for assistance in the planning.

Although Mr. Kitagawa inexplicably had a debt of more than 100 million, his income was very high. In the era of bubble bursting, such customers were also the "father" of the bank, and the plan was smoothly passed.

Before leaving, the section chief also advised him to establish a good relationship with Mr. Kitagawa, as this may be related to their financing department and even the performance of the Adachi District branch this year!
Masato Senhara had been waiting here an hour in advance, feeling very nervous.

Would it be difficult to get along with a rising star in the literary world who was only 23 years old? Just as he was daydreaming, a sturdy figure suddenly appeared. His face was no less than that of the popular rising star in the TV circle, Kimura Takuya, and his smile seemed to melt people's hearts.

"Excuse me, are you the head of Senhara?" Kitagawa Hide asked him with a business card in his hand.

Senhara Masato immediately stood up straight, bowed 90 degrees and said, "Yes! Are you Mr. Kitagawa? It's our first meeting, please take care of me."

"Ah, same here. I thought I had the wrong person." Kitagawa Hide bowed slightly in return, then called him to go down to the basement together.

"Teacher Kitagawa, please forgive me for being so presumptuous." Senhara Masato tightly held the copy of "Hear the Wind Sing". He could not say "Please sign an autograph for me" and could only discuss the work content instead.
"Houses in this area have been falling in price. The price of 996 million yen is actually a bit high. I also did some research on Mr. Yan Jing in the industry. His financial situation is actually not good. If..."

"Chief Senhara." Kitagawa Hide probably knew what he was going to say, and immediately interrupted him, "I understand what you mean, and I understand that this is your work instinct as a bank employee. However, I don't intend to make a few hundred thousand yen more from Yan Jing-san in this matter."

"Oh, sorry, I'm sorry." If he wasn't going down the stairs, Senhara Masato was about to bow again.

He was a little sweaty. It seemed that Mr. Kitagawa was a little different from most deposit customers.

"It's okay. Relax, Senhara, I'm not blaming you." Kitagawa Hide noticed his reservedness and thought that being a bank clerk was also a tough job. "Come to think of it, Senhara is also a fan of my books?"

He saw the song "Hear the Wind Sing" that the other person had been holding tightly.

"Ah, yes! Thanks to Mr. Kitagawa's book, I was able to find a new direction in my confused life!" Senhara Masato nodded continuously with a sincere expression.

"Really? That's great. If you don't mind, can I sign an autograph for you in the store later?" Kitagawa Hide could see that he really wanted an autograph, but it was probably the Japanese "shame culture" that made him hesitate to make such a request.

"Really? Thank you so much! Teacher Kitagawa!" Senhara Masato almost couldn't help but bow again.

Under Kitagawa Hide's deliberate guidance, the atmosphere of their conversation gradually became relaxed, and their relationship became much more harmonious than at the beginning.

From Masato Senhara, he also learned a lot about the current situation of the financial and real estate industries.

After settling the royalties today, Kitagawa Hide's bank account suddenly had 1440.26 million yen!

Its composition is:

The serialized royalties for "Kyu" amounted to 51 yen after tax.

The fixed salary given by Kodansha in May is 5 yen.

The interview fee for the previous issue was 12 yen.

The royalties from "Hear the Wind Sing" amounted to 1218 yen after tax.

The original deposit was 168.2 yen.

Now the pressure of loan repayment was instantly reduced to zero, and Kitagawa Xiu felt that he could breathe much more smoothly.

Originally, he was planning to slowly pay off his debts while making some investments, but after listening to what Masato Senhara said about the current economic situation, he immediately gave up this unrealistic idea.

You should use this money to improve your quality of life and make yourself live more comfortably!

At the door of the underground bar, the nervous and excited Yan Jing Takuya had been waiting for a long time. When he saw Kitagawa Hide and Chihara Masato coming, he immediately greeted them with a smile: "Congratulations! Teacher Kitagawa, the supplement is selling well again! I read the latest chapter, it's really great."

"Yeah, every day now I can't help but wonder what's behind the pinball machine and what the ultimate redemption of this 'journey of search' will be."

Masato Senhara also laughed. To be honest, ever since he finished reading the latest chapter of "Ball", he has been itching for the whole day because of that damn "broken chapter".

"Haha, you will know by this time next month. I'll give you a little spoiler: it will be finished next month."

Kitagawa Hide looked at the two of them and couldn't help but tease them.

The two men immediately looked miserable after hearing this. Senhara Masato put the suitcase on the table and said with a wry smile: "Teacher Kitagawa, how could you spoil the story!"

"Oh, it's actually a novella. I really hope Mr. Kitagawa can write more." Yan Jingtuo also sighed. In his most difficult times, it was Kitagawa Hide's novels that accompanied him.

Now that I heard that the next issue will be over, I suddenly feel reluctant to let it go.

"Don't worry, the final work is a novel, you can enjoy it all at once." Kitagawa Hide smiled mysteriously, "But I can't tell you more."

"Are you finally going to write a novel? That's great!" The two of them were suddenly excited again.

Takuya Yan Jing took out beer and fried chicken to treat them. Since both of them were fans of Kitagawa Hide's books, the atmosphere of the signing ceremony, which should have been very serious, became very relaxed.

After signing the contract, the two took out the "Gunzo" supplement and asked Kitagawa Hide to sign it. Kitagawa Hide quickly wrote down his name.

Seeing the handwriting that was slightly better than dog's crawling, Senhara Masato felt a sense of magic.

If he went back to the bank and showed it to his colleagues, saying that it was Mr. Kitagawa's autograph, he would probably be laughed at to death.

How come the most popular new writer in the first half of 95 has handwriting uglier than that of an elementary school student?

"By the way, may I ask you a question? Mr. Yan Jing, why do you insist on taking cash?" Senhara Masato's professional acumen made him smell something strange.

This time, Kitagawa Hide made a down payment of 300 million yen, and the remaining 696 million yen will be paid off in installments within half a year. And Yan Jingtuo also required that the down payment of 300 million yen must be paid in cash.

"Well, actually this is my wife's request." Yan Jingtuo smiled sheepishly, "She agreed to remarry me and is willing to let me raise our daughter."

"Ah, I see. I thought your bank account was blocked or something like that. Sorry!" Senhara Masato nodded and smiled sheepishly. "Congratulations, Yan Jing-san."

In fact, he still had a lot of doubts in his mind, but since the other party had said so, it would be impolite to ask further.

"Yes, congratulations. I hope your life will get better and better in the future." Kitagawa Hide raised his beer glass and congratulated the other party sincerely.

He knew that Yan Jingtuo not only divorced his wife, but also could not see his daughter. It seemed that now that he had this money, his life would get back on track!

"Thank you! Thank you, Mr. Kitagawa! In the future, I will work and study hard just like what you wrote in your book, and try to get rid of this terrible life!" Yan Jingtuo raised his glass and laughed heartily.

(End of this chapter)