Chapter 57 Only a fool would take the blame! Isn't it better to make money honestly?

Chapter 57 Only a fool would take the blame! Isn't it better to make money honestly?

Chapter 57 Only a fool would take the blame! Isn't it better to make money honestly?

The morning breeze in Tokyo in July has a slightly sweet smell in the air. Beautiful hydrangeas bloom on both sides of the road, like geishas in kimonos, shyly waving to passers-by, and quietly waiting to be picked like flowers.

In a few days, the weather will turn into the rainy season, and Kitagawa Hide is preparing to move into his new home with his young wife before the frequent rainy days come.

Walking on the muddy road after the rain, he didn't want to dirty his new leather shoes, so he stepped left and right, searching for dry areas among the puddles on the road, moving forward slowly like hopscotch.

He thought he would be late, but thanks to the road in front of the Kodansha headquarters having been repaired by the government, he arrived at the Kodansha building on time.

There was a new security guard at the door, but he was also someone he was familiar with. After the two greeted each other, the security uncle bowed 90 degrees and shouted, "Good morning, Mr. Kitagawa!", a group of Kodansha employees immediately rushed over to ask for autographs.

But this time, before they could make any excessive requests, they were scared away by a figure that suddenly appeared.

The bald executive stood at the gate with a smile on his face, bowed slightly to him, and then said, "Good morning, Mr. Kitagawa, I finally saw you."

"Ah, good morning, Guang." Kitagawa Hide was still immersed in the affairs of Yan Jing Takuya and the depressed mood of writing "No Longer Human". When he saw him for the first time, he suddenly couldn't remember the other's name.

Because the first word that popped into his mind was "bald executive", his greeting became extremely awkward.

".Mr. Executive Director."

Kitagawa Hide finally braked in time and didn't utter the word "bald".

See, this is what happens when you secretly give others nicknames in your heart!
"Hanamori, my name is Hanamori Yasuji." The bald executive manager continued to maintain a cheerful and smiling expression, which could be said to be very professional. "You can just call me Hanamori. Mr. Kitagawa, please come this way. I will be in charge of signing your new contract today."

"You're welcome. I'll leave it to you, Executive Director Hanamori." After bowing in return, Kitagawa Hide immediately followed the other party into the building. When the employees along the way saw the bald executive director, they all moved away and did not dare to get close.

The division of positions in Japanese companies is similar to that of their neighbors. The highest leader of a company is usually the chairman, but the chairman is basically a hands-off boss who is only responsible for appointing the president and appearing in major events. In some companies, the chairman is the "former boss" who has retired to the second line, equivalent to the emperor.

The president is the No.1 of the company, commonly known as the chairman, and the group of members centered around him is the so-called board of directors.

In Japan, the board of directors is called the board of directors, which means that the directors are equivalent to the directors.

This group of powerful senior managers surrounding the president are collectively referred to as executive officers (executive directors). They are headed by a special executive officer who assists the president in the overall corporate development strategy and a managing executive officer who assists the president at the daily business level. They are accompanied by a group of executive officers who serve as heads of various departments.

This group of people are the highest decision-makers of the entire company.

Generally speaking, the status of a senior managing director is slightly higher than that of an executive managing director, but there are exceptions, such as Executive Managing Director Yamatoda in "Hanzawa Naoki".

No matter how famous Kitagawa Hide is, he is just a contracted writer of Kodansha and is under the responsibility of the editor-in-chief.

The editor-in-charge is a low-level worker, and the big brothers above him are the deputy editor-in-chief and the editor-in-chief, whose position is on the same level as that of the section chief of other departments.

Above the editor-in-chief are the chief editor and the deputy chief editor. These two are equivalent to the director and deputy director of the editorial department, and are already the company's middle and senior level powerful managers.

The real leader of the editorial department is a general manager whom Kitagawa Hide has never met before, and he is also one of the executive officers.

The smiling Hanamori Yasuji in front of you who looks like Kitagawa Hide’s personal assistant is actually the managing director!
Approximately equal to his immediate supervisor × 4.

That's why other employees immediately fled when they saw him.

Can you not be afraid?

A big guy who is equivalent to the boss level is here.

Kitagawa Hidekazu was polite to him, but he was not stupid enough to call the other party "Hanamori". The Japanese are very taboo about "the lower class rebelling against the upper class". It is because of this strict and cruel class system that the lower class has a strong desire to "revolt against the upper class".

But if you don't have some great skills, don't even think about challenging this rule, otherwise you won't know how you will be sunk into Tokyo Bay in the future.

After the two entered the elevator, the people around them automatically cleared out instantly.

"Teacher Kitagawa, I heard that you are already preparing a new book?" asked the bald managing director with a smile.

"Yes. I have an idea of ​​what to write." Kitagawa Hide nodded. It seemed that Saito Rena had told the top management the new news early in the morning, which saved him a lot of trouble.

"That's great!" The bald executive smiled even more brightly. "After this issue of the supplement finishes "Ball", although the main issue will start serializing your "A Sheep Chasing Adventure", it won't work if the supplement is always empty. It will be good if there is a new book to follow."

"Considering the content of this book, I would like to publish it as a single volume directly and skip the serialization stage."

"No Longer Human" is a very depressing book. The whole story tells the story of a person's journey of destruction.

Although after seeing the end, thinking deeply and interpreting the story, people like Takuya Yanjing can find spiritual comfort and redemption, the process is torturous and long.

Dazai Osamu committed suicide right after writing this book. The book was officially released in 1948, which happened to be the period when Japan was experiencing the most severe post-war trauma. The overall social atmosphere was very depressing for a time, so it was indeed not suitable for serialization and had a certain negative impact.

However, this book does not have such a powerful power that it would make people want to commit suicide after reading it.

Many self-media like to attract attention with gimmicky headlines such as "It has triggered a suicide trend", "People who have not established their values ​​​​are strongly advised not to watch it", and "An extremely depressing work that has gone viral", which is really inappropriate.

But I can’t explain this to the bald executive now.

After hearing what Kitagawa Hide said, his smile froze obviously, and he didn't quite understand what he was thinking, but his face soon returned to normal.

"Well, there's no rush anyway. The supplement won't be released until the 20th, so we can discuss it later."

The idea of ​​the bald executive is simple and utilitarian. From the perspective of the company's interests, a process such as serialization, single volume, hardcover paperback edition, collection edition, signed pre-sale edition, and signed limited edition can maximize the commercial value of the book.

Especially the first step of serialization, which can not only test the potential of the book, but also warm up the market and increase magazine sales, killing two birds with one stone.

Kitagawa Hide's actions meant that Kodansha lost a huge amount of profits, which he could not accept. However, he did not dare to offend Kitagawa Hide before the book was written, so he could only put the matter aside for the time being.

The two chatted as they walked and went straight to the top floor of the company building.

This time the signing was not done in the signing department on the third floor, but directly in the executive office on the sixth floor.

"Mami-chan, hurry up and make tea for Mr. Kitagawa. Remember to take the best tea leaves in the cupboard. Yes, the one sent from China."

As soon as they arrived at the office, the bald managing director pushed Kitagawa Hide to sit on the sofa with both hands and went about his business.

"Does Mr. Kitagawa smoke?" When his figure appeared again, he was holding a cigar that looked very expensive.

"Well, I've quit smoking recently." Kitagawa Hide took the teacup from the female secretary whose name was engraved with "Sakurai Asami" on her chest nameplate, and was almost dazzled by the other party's majestic "headlights".

It is said that Japanese male executives like to keep female secretaries with "perky buttocks" and "baby faces and slim waists". It seems that the rumors are true.

Even though there was a third party in the company, the bald executive director directly called the other person by his nickname. Isn't that too careless?

I took a sip of tea and it tasted pretty good. The bald chief executive's shiny big head popped up again.

"How is it, Mr. Kitagawa?"

"Ah, it tastes good."

"No, I mean Mami-chan." The bald executive took the opportunity when the female secretary ran to get the contract and sat next to him. He leaned in and laughed softly, "Great, right? I heard that when you writers run out of inspiration, you like to go to hot springs and visit some customs. No, go to some geisha shops to collect materials. I have a lot of resources here, take a look."

"Let's talk about this later!" Kitagawa Hide quickly stopped him from speaking. Since entering the door, he gradually smelled a familiar and unpleasant smell from the bald executive director.

"Oh, okay, okay, I'm sorry for being rude." The bald managing director sat up straight and asked Sakurai Asami, who had just returned, to briefly explain the details of the contract. After confirming that everything was correct, Kitagawa Hide signed his name readily.

Because he has signed more and more autographs recently, he has spent the past three days staying at home either writing books and surfing the Internet, or practicing calligraphy while listening to his young wife singing. His handwriting has finally improved a little.

But it still shocked Sakurai Asami, who admired him so much at first sight, and her idol filter was shattered again.

After signing the contract, the bald executive asked the female secretary to send all the documents to the archives immediately. After she left, he smiled and said, "Teacher Beichuan, the adaptation plan for "Hear the Wind Sing" has been drawn up. When do you have time to meet with the people from the film and television company?"

"After this weekend, I'll be free anytime." When talking about the profitable movie adaptation, Kitagawa Hide suddenly became energetic. "There's just one thing I hope Executive Director Hikaru Hanamori can talk to the top management for me."

"Please go ahead." The bald executive sat up straight, "I will definitely convey the truth."

In fact, he is a senior executive, but judging from Kitagawa Hide's tone, he might have to report to the chairman or the president, and that is not something he can decide.

"As for the income after the adaptation, I want the copyright buyout income, not the movie box office dividends." Kitagawa Hide said truthfully.

The movie "Hear the Wind Sing" was a flop after it was released. It should be said that no matter what era, things like pure literature and art films can only be viewed from afar and not played with.

Movies are a popular entertainment program, while pure literature is a relatively niche but stylish text carrier. The two are incompatible.

This type of movie is often used to win awards and to improve the quality of the screenwriters, directors and actors.

You get dividends from the movie box office, but unless someone else helps you to boost the box office, you won't make any money if the movie fails.

Kitagawa Hideichi has always been open-minded about these things and has a firm will that never wavers.

"Shouldn't Mr. Kitagawa first understand the companies and actors involved in the adaptation?" The bald executive was stunned. He didn't expect this. "In fact, this project was personally initiated and promoted by General Manager Noma Airi."

Airi Noma is the only daughter of Chairman Sawako Noma. Her idea is to use the popularity of "Hear the Wind Sing" to make a critically and commercially successful movie.

This will not only boost the IP adaptation business of the company's subsequent works, but also bring out some new actors, new creative teams and so on.

In the opinion of Bald Executive Director, Managing Director Noma made a great determination and spent a huge amount of money on this project, and the writer made a huge profit by getting a share of the box office revenue.

Why is Kitagawa Hide still thinking about buying out?

He remembered what an employee named An Yuanxian once said, "The young security guard is a frog in the well. All he cares about is the cash that can be earned immediately."

If Mr. Kitagawa is really such a person, it would not be a bad thing for Kodansha.

That’s it. How is he going to explain this to Managing Director Noma?
The other party is the "Witch General Manager" with an extremely bad temper!

She must think that Kitagawa Hide is ungrateful.

"I still want to buy it out. Isn't it written in the contract we just signed? Regarding the adaptation, my wishes will take precedence." Kitagawa Shucai doesn't care whose plan it is or who will participate!

It turns out that the "Hear the Wind Sing" in that world was directed by Kazuki Omori and released in 1981. It cost a lot of money, and the idea was to use it to make Kobayashi Kaoru, who had been tepid before, famous.

Unfortunately, the film failed miserably in the end both at the box office and in terms of reputation, and it was so bad that even the fucking people didn’t recognize it.

The film received controversial reviews after its release: the camera language was full of beauty, but it failed to fully concretize the spirit of the original work, and turned it into a pure youth film.

It was only decades later that Kaoru Kobayashi became famous with the drama "Midnight Diner". He was already in his fifties at that time.

In fact, Murakami's books are not suitable for adaptation because their stories are not strong, especially his early works, which are even more difficult to adapt.

Kitagawa Hide doesn't believe that you can do it well by changing the film company and finding new actors.

The reason why Kodansha has such high expectations now is simply because it has seen the terrifying reading wave it has created and its judgment has been influenced by Kitagawa Hide's personal appeal.

If Kitagawa Hidema wants to get a share of the box office revenue, then he has to participate in the film adaptation. If it fails, not making any money will be a small matter, but taking the blame will be a big deal!
He never does business at a loss.

In comparison, the book that is more suitable for adaptation is "No Longer Human", but this book has not even been started yet.

"It's like this. If you insist, I have to report to the higher-ups before making a decision." The bald executive said with embarrassment, but he didn't want to offend him.

Kitagawa Hide nodded and said, "Then I'll trouble Executive Director Hanamori!"

"By the way, Mr. Kitagawa, are you free tonight?" the bald executive suddenly asked. "There is a literary salon organized by Noma, and I hope you can attend. The participants are all well-known writers and celebrities in the literary and publishing circles. This kind of literary salon will be very helpful in improving your reputation and connections in the industry."

"Tonight? No problem, I will be there on time." Kitagawa Hide thought for a moment and felt that this kind of salon would most likely be just a bunch of old men and women flattering each other and urging them to drink, which would be meaningless.

Originally, he was planning to invite Rena Saito, Keigo Higashino and others to have dinner at his own cafe tonight, and to discuss how to hold a farewell party for Takuya Yan'ai's family.

But then he thought about it and realized that the executive manager Noma Airi, whom he had never met before, seemed to be very supportive of him. He had just refused a share of the box office profits, so he had to consider her face. So he simply postponed the party to tomorrow and decided to go out and see the world tonight!
"That's great. I'll report to Managing Director Noma right away." The bald managing director was obviously relieved, smiled and stood up to see him out.

After Kitagawa Hide left, his eyes suddenly turned cold. He walked to the table, picked up the phone and dialed a number.

(End of this chapter)