Chapter 70 Sorry, I'm not interested in meeting Noma
Chapter 70 Sorry, I'm not interested in meeting Noma
Kitagawa Hide and Saito Rena were in a good mood and walked easily to the office area of the "Gunzo" editorial department.
The editors were gathered together, chattering like excited little sparrows, discussing the once again popular "Group Portrait" main issue and supplement, and speculating on the subsequent plot of "A Wild Sheep Chase".
Hearing the footsteps, the people who had gathered around suddenly stood up. Seeing that it was Saito Rena and Kitagawa Hide, they breathed a sigh of relief and greeted them one after another.
"Good morning, Deputy Editor Saito, Mr. Kitagawa!"
"Teacher Kitagawa, can you give me an autograph?"
"Wow, is this really Mr. Kitagawa? I must be dreaming!"
The editorial department was instantly in an uproar.
Several interns came running over with "Group Portrait" in their hands, but they were interrupted halfway by a stern reprimand.
"Isn't it working hours now? Have you finished your work? Why are you all leaving your workstations and chatting together? Does the company pay you just to come here to chase stars?"
The person who spoke was a thin man wearing glasses. As soon as he opened his mouth, everyone immediately scattered and returned to their workstations. They secretly blocked their sight with the "Group Portrait" in their hands, and then observed the situation here through the gaps.
Kitagawa Hide looked at Saito Rena and asked with his eyes: "Who is this? Such a powerful official."
"Deputy Editor-in-Chief Saito. You are one hour and seven minutes late today. As one of the middle-level leaders of the editorial department, you..." The thin man with glasses looked at her coldly and was about to launch into a long speech.
"Editor-in-Chief Noma, please move aside. I'm here to submit my resignation letter to Deputy Editor-in-Chief Muramatsu." Saito Rena had suffered enough under this new editor-in-chief who was parachuted in. Now that she had the confidence, she interrupted him directly, raised the envelope in her hand, and walked past him inside.
Kitagawa Hide followed behind and secretly gave her a thumbs up.
Domineering!
Seeing that the two men ignored the new editor-in-chief, the "super-ear" editor Sada immediately pricked up his ears, feeling that something big seemed to be happening!
"Saito Reina, are you crazy?! You know."
The voices behind were still chattering, but Kitagawa Hide and Saito Rena were too lazy to pay attention to them. They walked over and knocked on the door of Muramatsu Tomoshi's office.
A few days ago, they called Muramatsu Tomoji, submitted their respective resignation and contract termination applications, and refused all communication.
The door opened.
It was Muramatsu Tomoshi who opened the door himself. He looked tired and weathered, and there was a faint smell of alcohol on his body.
After the promotion, Muramatsu Tomosuke has been busy socializing with the directors of Kodansha, either drinking or singing, and has never been able to find time to properly manage the editorial department with a new editor-in-chief.
The new editor-in-chief is from the Noma family, a "sea turtle" who graduated from a prestigious university and is the kind of "peach-picking" player commonly seen in large companies.
After he came, the deputy editor-in-chief Saito Rena was sidelined and lived a very uncomfortable life.
Originally, Muramatsu Tomoshi was planning to reorganize the editorial department in a few days, so that at least his former comrades would no longer have to fight alone. However, he received a call from the two men just after returning home from drinking a few days ago.
One wants to terminate the contract, the other wants to resign. Even Jesus can't stop them.
This bolt from the blue made Muramatsu Tomoshi feel a little lost. After reporting the matter, he was scolded for at least ten hours in the past few days and had no chance to talk to the two people in detail.
"Ah, what happened? Is there no room for easing up?" Muramatsu Tomoshi asked them to sit down, took the initiative to make tea, and said with a sad face, "After you called, I couldn't sleep for several days."
"It can't be eased." Kitagawa Hide shook his head and told him everything.
In fact, he still felt a little guilty towards Muramatsu Tomoshi.
When Yasuhara Hideki was trying to use the hardcover paperback edition to mess with her, Saito Rena decided to take a desperate measure and launch the supplement in advance to fight back. Without the support of Muramatsu Tomoshi, it would have been difficult to proceed so smoothly.
But the other party was the deputy editor-in-chief after all, and had worked at Kodansha for many years, so the bond between the two was not that deep. After much consideration, Kitagawa Hide gave up the idea of inviting him to Kawaide Shobo.
It's embarrassing enough for Saito Reina alone. Now Muramatsu Tomosuke has an annual salary of at least 800 million yen. We can't let Kawaide Shizuko add another deputy editor-in-chief to "Bungei", right?
"Is that so? This is too much! Customizing a personal project for a writer like an idol star? They don't even ask for your opinion. This is too much of a blasphemy to the profession of a writer!"
Muramatsu Tomoshi looked indignant, then looked at Saito Reina and said apologetically,
"I have my reasons for this, Saito-san. If I had argued with editor-in-chief Kashiwamura, maybe you wouldn't have been assigned the embarrassing haiku column, alas."
"This is not your problem. You have already taken good care of me." Saito Rena shook her head.
"Alas, how did things get to this point?"
Muramatsu Tomoshi paced back and forth in the office, looked outside for a while, then turned and walked towards Kitagawa Hide. After hesitating for a few times, he still said, "Actually, this matter is not as serious as you said, Mr. Kitagawa. We can overturn the problem of private planning through the editorial department's re-examination. As for the film adaptation of "Hear the Wind Sing", although Nikkatsu is now in decline, it is more than enough to shoot an art film with simple scenes and special effects.
I remember that Mr. Kitagawa seemed to have a high mortgage, right? Even if the physical books of "Ball" and "A Sheep Chase" are published later, the royalties won't arrive so quickly. If it's a movie adaptation, it won't be a box office dividend or a buyout."
"Please stop talking like that! Mr. Muramatsu!"
Saito Rena interrupted him before Kitagawa Hide. She clenched her fists and her eyes were firm and resolute.
The last time such "lower-ups" happened was in order to persuade the other party to agree to sell the supplement in advance. At that time, they were in the same camp.
But this time, it was a true case of "the lower class overthrowing the upper class"! It turned out that Muramatsu Tomoshi, who had been taking good care of her for a year and a half, had slowly moved to the other side.
What he said was obscure and implicit, but the "lobbyist" vibe in his words could no longer be concealed.
This was something Saito Rena had once refused, but she never thought it would come out of the mouth of her most respected senior.
"Saito." Muramatsu Tomoshi felt a little embarrassed.
"Muramatsu-sensei! When they asked Kitagawa-san to become a 'disciple' of Ishihara Shintaro, there was no way to undo this!"
Saito Reina slowly stood up and shook her head firmly.
"There are obviously better places than Kodansha for Kitagawa-san to go, and as his editors, we shouldn't stop him for our own selfish desires.
This is the editorial professional ethics that you, Mr. Muramatsu, taught me when I first joined the company, and I will stick to it!
Sorry, let’s stop here!”
After saying that, she bowed 90 degrees to Muramatsu Tomoshige, put down the resignation letter, and nodded slightly to Kitagawa Hide.
The two men stood up and walked out without looking back.
There was actually no need to talk much with Kitagawa Hide. Since he planned to go to Kawaide Shobo, no matter what he said, Kodansha would sue him for unilateral breach of contract.
Liquidated damages must be paid, and matters such as subsequent novel serialization, physical book publication, and film adaptation of "Hear the Wind Sing" will also be brought up repeatedly.
When he decided to leave Kodansha, these matters could no longer be properly resolved, and the lawsuit would definitely continue until the end of the year, but it didn't matter.
Because these issues will naturally be followed up and resolved by Kawade Shobo’s legal department.
I came here today purely to meet Muramatsu Tomomi and to accompany Saito Rena to hand in her resignation letter.
Muramatsu Tomoshi didn't expect that these two people were really stubborn. When he saw them leaving the office, he remembered that Managing Director Noma and others who were on their way had not arrived yet. He was about to say a few more words to keep them and delay time.
But when the words reached his throat, Saito Reina's words just now suddenly echoed in his mind.
"This is the editorial professional ethics that you, Mr. Muramatsu, taught me when I first joined the company. I will stick to it!"
He suddenly realized that this was probably the last time the other party would call him "Teacher Muramatsu". He was overwhelmed with emotions and his raised right hand suddenly fell down weakly. The words of retention that were on his lips could not be uttered.
"Ugh"
After a long sigh, the office door was slammed shut.
Kitagawa Hide and his companion strode away, looking refreshed and full of energy. They disappeared around the corner of the elevator amid the curious and surprised gazes of a group of editors.
"Oh my God! This may be the most explosive insider news of Kodansha this year!" Sada, the "super-ear" man, was burning with gossip, and felt that there would be explosive news throughout the second half of the year that he could brag about to his colleagues in various departments!
Kitagawa Hide and the other man walked out of the headquarters without looking back, and then ran into Executive Director Hanamori who was running towards them breathlessly at the door of the security room.
The bald executive was really panicked now.
After the literary salon that day, with the mentality of hiding it from Noma Airi while persuading Kitagawa Hide, he kept putting pressure on Muramatsu Tomomi and Saito Rena, hoping to control Kitagawa Hide with one hand and the other.
I didn't expect that Kitagawa Hide, the newly popular new writer, didn't play by the rules at all!
Faced with his actions, Kitagawa Hide simply read the messages without replying, and ignored all plans. Then, after holding it in for a week, he directly gave him a big move!
How dare he breach the contract and terminate it?
No matter how popular his books are, he is just a new "dirty" writer who became popular only in the first half of this year!
You are not a "best writer in the world", so how dare you run away and start your own business?
In his opinion, no matter how talented Kitagawa Hide was, he was still a lucky writer with narrow vision who had transformed from a low-level security guard, especially since he was short of money.
Many things can obviously be discussed slowly.
If he jumps out, can it be guaranteed that his new book will be a big hit?
Will the new club definitely push him?
Could the resources be better than what Kodansha gives him?
He thought Kitagawa Hide was just a time bomb. No matter how powerful it was, it would explode after the countdown ended.
did not expect!
Kitagawa Hide is actually a landmine. He doesn't care about anything. If you step on him, he will explode in front of you!
"Teacher Kita, Teacher Kitagawa, wait a minute, Noma and Managing Director Noma are already on the way!" The bald executive manager put his hands on his knees, bent over and gasped for breath.
He had been running all the way here, and because he was so weak, his words were incoherent. He was sweating profusely and trying hard to reach out and grab Beichuan Xiu.
Kitagawa Hide dodged easily.
"Sorry, I'm not interested in meeting Noma."
He is a very vengeful person.
Before, from negotiating contracts to discussing adaptations to literary salons, the elusive Executive Noma had never appeared in front of Kitagawa Hide once.
Once or twice, you said you were busy and Kitagawa Hide accepted it.
But it's like this every time, until the contract is about to be terminated, and then you rush back in a hurry.
Sorry, I won't accompany you!
This time, let me let you experience the feeling of being stood up!
(End of this chapter)