Chapter 21 I will not agree to publish it like this

Chapter 21 I will not agree to publish it like this

Chapter 21 I will not agree to publish it like this
Saito Rena's sudden stubbornness surprised Muramatsu Tomoshi.

In his impression, this girl who joined the editorial department after graduating from the University of Tokyo last year is pretty and smart. Although she has always been at the bottom of the list due to poor performance, her hard work attitude and high emotional intelligence are in line with the needs of the editorial department.

She is also the type of working woman that Muramatsu Tomoshi needs.

Everything has been said, and the party exerting pressure is a senior official from the Ministry of Culture, so the conditions put forward are not completely unacceptable.

Whether for the company, the editorial department, or herself, Saito Rena should understand that persuading the newcomer Kitagawa Hide to agree to this matter is the best outcome for everyone.

On the contrary, it would be unwise to openly disobey your superiors in such situations, regardless of the reason.

A smart girl like her shouldn't make such a mistake.

Muramatsu Tomoshi sighed in his heart and wanted to say something else to her, but he saw Saito Rena had already stood up and bowed to him at a ninety degree degree.

"Sorry, I can't agree to this. I'll take my leave now." Saito Rena's mind and heart were in a mess. The only thing she was clear about was that she couldn't let down Kitagawa Hide who had pulled her back from the edge of the cliff.

She is an employee of Kodansha and the editor-in-chief of Kitagawa Hide!
Muramatsu Tomoshi had a complicated expression as he watched Saito Rena leave the conference hall, but the seminar was still held as planned.

An Yuanxian, who was sitting far away, witnessed all this and came over with a smile and said, "Editor Saito is still too young to keep his composure."

"She's not wrong." If it weren't for the pressure from the company's top management, Muramatsu Tomosuke would not have agreed to such an excessive request.

However, this time the Ministry of Education directly put pressure on Kodansha, and as everyone knows, the husband of Kodansha's current boss Noma Sawako is a senior official of the Ministry of Education's Cultural Affairs Bureau. Muramatsu Tomomi dared not even think about the various conflicts of interest involved.

"You are still too naive. The person who came here is Section Chief Amuro, who is in charge of cultural supervision. The attitude of the Cultural Affairs Agency is very clear."

In the past few days, Akira Yasuhara has been angry about Kitagawa Hideo's sudden fame. For the purpose of this group portrait newcomer award, he spent a lot of money on the disabled man Yomiuri Okamoto, but in the end, he was robbed of his money by a security guard who showed up halfway.

The editor-in-chief is Reina Saito, whom he has coveted for a long time.

Originally, the matter was going to be revealed after "Group Portrait" sold well this month, and he accepted the loss.

I didn't expect that at the most critical moment, Saito Rena would make such a low-level mistake, giving me an opportunity to take advantage of. It was really unexpected!
Why did she resist so resolutely?

Could it be the so-called bond and friendship between editor and author?

Come on, that's from the last century.

In An Yuanxian's eyes, editors and authors are equivalent to bosses and employees, and only interest relationships can be lasting and eternal.

He invested money and effort to promote many new writers, and used this to gain a foothold in Kodansha and quickly become famous.

Now he and his writers are like an old tree with tangled roots, their interests are tightly bound together, and both sides benefit from each other. This is the correct way of editing!
In his eyes, it was extremely stupid to offend the Ministry of Culture, the company boss, and the superiors for the sake of a new writer whose future was still uncertain!
But it is these fools who can highlight one's own extraordinaryness, isn't it?
"Is there any benefit for her to speak so hard for a completely new writer?" An Yuanxian paused, lowered his voice and laughed, "Could it be that she has already conducted 'pillow business'?"

"Yasuhara! It's not the behavior of a boss to speculate on the private lives of his subordinates without reason." Muramatsu Tomomi immediately interrupted his fantasy.

This kind of conversation is heard by everyone, and if it spreads in the company, Saito Rena's editing career will be ruined.

An Yuanxian paused, laughed, and said nonchalantly: "I know, I know. Anyway, the matter must be resolved as soon as possible, right?"

"I'll talk to Saito-san after she calms down," said Muramatsu Tomoshi.

Yasuhara Akira tapped the table with his fingers and suddenly said, "Actually, at this point, it doesn't matter whether Saito is the editor of this project or not."

"What do you mean?" Muramatsu Tomoshi frowned slightly.

"Anyway, the most urgent thing is to convince Kitagawa Hide, right?" Yasuhara Xian said with a smile, "I have someone here who may be able to help you."

"I'm so sorry I couldn't help you, Kitagawa-san."

Under the warm curtain with the words "Beihai Pavilion" hung on it, a beautiful OL (office lady) with twin ponytails picked up the large beer glass in front of her and drank it all in one gulp, her face looking decadent and helpless.

At 5 p.m., for the first time ever, Rena Saito did not work overtime and went straight to King Records to have dinner with Kitagawa Hide, who was confused when he saw her.

Kitagawa Hidehara thought it was a celebration party. After all, the sales of "Gunzo" had been so hot in the past two weeks that even they, the security guards who had little to do with pure literature, had heard about it.

No one would believe me if you say this has nothing to do with the song "Hear the Wind Sing" he wrote!

But as soon as the two arrived at "Hokkaitei", Saito Rena waved and asked for a dozen large glass cups of beer. Without saying a word, she gulped down three large glasses, which scared Kitagawa Hide so much that he almost ran away.

After three rounds of drinks, she finally told the truth while still slightly tipsy.

The sales volume of "Gunzo" broke the historical record in just half a month, but Kodansha planned to sell Kitagawa Hide, who was the main contributor, to the Agency for Cultural Affairs.

Not giving him a penny from the copyright revenue is simply not treating the new writer as a human being!
But Rena Saito couldn't help him much except sitting there and complaining to him.

After hearing this, Kitagawa Hideya, who was always optimistic and cheerful, was silent for a while, and Gululu drank a large glass of beer with her.

This is 1995!

How come there is such a thing as "Even if Hawking comes, you have to stand up and toast twice. If you can't stand up, it's a problem of ability, and if you don't stand up, it's a problem of attitude"!
I originally thought that Japan, which has a strong sense of copyright, a relatively good literary atmosphere, and a prosperous literary industry, would be better than other countries.

It seems that I was naive.

All crows are black, there is only one blacker than the other!
The Agency for Cultural Affairs, an official department, is very consistent with Kitagawa Hide's various stereotypes of the Japanese government.

When it comes to disappointing people, the Japanese government has never disappointed us!

"Why did Mr. Saito apologize to me?" Kitagawa Hide looked at Rena Saito who was still pouring wine for herself, and was quite touched. "You have done everything you can do, and you didn't have to tell me this."

"But... hiccups... I still couldn't help you at all." Saito Rena put down another empty glass. At this time, there were already six empty glasses piled in front of her, and a blush had appeared on her pretty face.

This is how Japanese workers are.

In fact, many of them have a normal alcohol tolerance, but they love drinking more than alcoholics. After such an evening party, they may have to take out a few cans from the refrigerator to drink after returning home.

Perhaps in such a depressing workplace and social environment, alcohol is really needed to numb oneself. "You have done enough, and I am very grateful. But if you reject Editor-in-Chief Muramatsu in person like this, you will get yourself into a lot of trouble. It is really unnecessary."

Kitagawa Hide grabbed her hand that was reaching for the beer glass. The action was a bit too intimate, but he couldn't let her drink like that anymore.

"Uh" Rena Saito, who was a little confused, had her hand held down, and her cheeks turned even redder, but for some reason, she didn't want to pull her hand out at this moment.

In her eyes, Kitagawa Hide's eyes were still clear and calm, without any emotional fluctuations, which made her a little confused and curious: "Kitagawa-san, you don't seem angry?"

"No, I'm actually very angry, but being angry doesn't solve the problem, does it?"

How could Kitagawa Hide not be angry?

In particular, he knows the commercial value of "Hear the Wind Sing" better than anyone else.

The Ministry of Culture's move is simply shameless.

But as he said, being angry won't solve any problems. When you encounter difficulties, the more out of control your emotions are, the more disadvantageous it will be for you.

Since his previous life, he has developed the character of keeping calm and thinking calmly when encountering things.

Talk less, do more, and stay calm are his mottos in dealing with people.

Now that things have come to this, instead of complaining, it is better to think about solutions.

"Teacher Saito, has something similar happened before?" Kitagawa Hide looked at her and asked.

Saito Reina was still in a daze. It took her a while to realize that he was asking about the copyright being taken away. She quickly sat up and answered, "Yes, but it wasn't that excessive because the Ministry of Culture basically doesn't interfere with the internal work of our publishing house. If there are writers we like, we contact them through official channels."

"Then, in this case, does the Ministry of Culture actually have the final say?" Kitagawa Hide frowned, and then asked, "What were the previous cases like?"

"Yes, it should be because of a lot of pressure from above. At least Editor-in-Chief Muramatsu has no right to ask." Saito Reina sighed and gently rubbed her temples with her fingers. "In the past, at least some profit would be given, not as excessive as this time."

"One last question, do I have the right not to give it to me?" When saying this, Kitagawa Hide slowly sat up straight with a bright look in his eyes.

Feeling his aura change, Saito Reina also suddenly woke up from her drunken state, unconsciously sat up straight, and nodded: "Of course. The contract you signed with us is an ordinary new writer contract, which does not include any treaties related to copyright."

After a pause, she immediately added: "Even if "Hear the Wind Sing" wins the Newcomer Award, we only have the right to publish it and pay you the corresponding royalties. As for the subsequent publication and copyright operation, all must be negotiated with you, the original author. At least that's the legal requirement."

"I see. I understand." Kitagawa Hide nodded, and then said, "That is to say, things are not completely irreversible. As long as we can convince the head of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, even if we can't get all the benefits, at least we can still fight for some of what is due to me, right?"

"That being said, the other party is after all under the Ministry of Education." Saito Rena felt a kind of "vitality" from Kitagawa Hide that most writers at this stage do not have.

He sat there like a blazing fire, giving warmth to people while also warning others not to approach or touch him easily, lest they get burned!
"Everything depends on human effort, right? As long as there is a glimmer of hope, we should not give up. Mr. Saito, before writing novels, I was just a failed man who graduated from high school and worked as a security guard in a record company.

No one can associate the author of "Hear the Wind Sing" with someone like me, right?

Even so, I still won the award. If such a miracle can happen, what else is impossible? "

Kitagawa Hide used these words to encourage her, hoping that Saito Rena would not give up on herself. Only if she cheered up would the copyright issue have a chance of being negotiated.

But his real thought in his heart was, if even a miracle like time travel had happened, then what else could not be overcome?

"You're right. I was rude!"

A word to awaken the dreamer.

I don’t know if it’s because I have too much negative emotions from society, the workplace and life, but Rena Saito feels that after working for a year, the “smell” of a human being on her has become weaker and weaker.

But Kitagawa Hide, who was able to write works such as "Hear the Wind Sing", is completely different.

Although his life was a mess, he seemed to owe a lot of money and his job was unstable, but he was very positive and optimistic and never got discouraged.

When they wanted to disqualify him, he didn't react much and just got over it.

The same is true now.

"In fact, I'm worried that Mr. Saito will lose your job because of me. If that happens, I will be blamed for it."

Beichuan Xiu smiled at her and found that she had cheered up, and he felt much better.

A conscientious and responsible editor should not suffer such unfair treatment.

"How could that be? If it weren't for you, I would have left Kodansha with the cardboard box long ago." Saito Rena regained her smile and felt her motivation come back.

"General, please take away the remaining beer, sorry. Um, give me ten more servings of fried squid!" Kitagawa Hide raised his hand and shouted loudly.

"Ten copies?!" Saito Rena felt her wallet aching.

"Okay!" The tall middle-aged barbecue master came over with a smile and quickly took away the unfinished beers. He was not angry, but instead teased him with a smile, "What? Did you finally make peace with your girlfriend?"

"No"

"I know, I know. Well, life is always like this. There are sunny days and rainy days, but as long as you live, the days will pass, right?"

The barbecue master winked at him.
"But you have to know one thing. Life is full of ups and downs, but it's rare to find a girl who is willing to go out to eat at a roadside stall with you after the bubble bursts."

“Remember to cherish it.”

"Yes, I will. I will make this new life, which I have finally obtained, exciting and interesting." Kitagawa Hideya did not explain any more, but smiled and echoed the barbecue general's words.

"So, Mr. Saito, if possible, I would like to go directly to Kodansha tomorrow. At least tell me my needs in person, otherwise, I will not agree to publish the paperback edition like this."

Kitagawa Hide turned his head and looked at her, his expression serious and his goal clear.

(End of this chapter)