Chapter 80 Someone is sinking in death

Chapter 80 Someone is sinking in death

Chapter 80 Someone is sinking in death (4?, extra chapter for the leader, Northern Dog, there should be more updates)

For people living in Tokyo, the last weekend of July 1995 is destined to be an unforgettable day.

Kitagawa Hide, the most famous new writer in the literary world in the first half of the year, not only broke up with his old employer Kodansha, which had awarded him the Rookie Award, but also ran away to Kawaide Shobo, the least favored of the five major publishing houses.

Then, not long after, the final work of the "Youth Trilogy", "A Wild Sheep Chase", was still being serialized in the main publication of "Qun Xiang", and he made a big move, oh no, in the eyes of industry insiders, it should be a big shit.

The biggest dark horse in the first half of 1995, Kitagawa Hide, the winner of the Group Portrait Newcomer Award, did not even start serializing his novels in "Wenyi" after he switched to Kawaide Shobo, but directly published a new book, and it was a hardcover paperback edition!
"No Longer Human" became the hottest topic in the Tokyo metropolitan area this weekend.

But what is strange is that an industry insider revealed that except for the 1 copies sold on the morning of the first day of publication, the total sales of "No Longer Human" in the following day and a half may not have been more than a thousand.

If it was just a temporary sluggish sales, there would be various excuses to cover it up, but if this happens for two days in a row, no matter how detailed the reasons are, they cannot explain it.

"Kitagawa Hide's first book after joining Kawaide Shobo died suddenly! The real reason for the failure of "No Longer Human"!"

Walking on the street illuminated by the afterglow of the setting sun, Kitagawa Hide glanced at the report about himself in the Yomiuri Shimbun daily, and then stuffed it into the trash can beside him.

Not only the Yomiuri Shimbun, but also authoritative newspapers such as Toren Keizai, Asahi Shimbun, and Nihon Shimbun have devoted sections to report in detail the news of the poor sales of No Longer Human.

Newspapers and reporters have always been like this; once they see something worth writing about, they pounce on Kitagawa Hide like a cat smelling fish, wishing they could drown Kitagawa Hide with their saliva in one breath.

Impatient newspapers, like the Yomiuri Shimbun, began to speak ill of Kitagawa Hide in their Sunday editions, while those that were willing to wait a little bit began to publish articles mocking him in today's evening editions.

Not to mention the literary critics. Kitagawa Hide knew without a second thought that someone must be secretly buying traffic behind the scenes to make these trolls attack him like crazy.

Kitagawa Hide already had some experience with this matter. He only needed to pick up the newspaper to see if there was an article by the number one anti-fan "Ichiro" to know whether the other party had started to take action.

Regarding the behavior of opening champagne at halftime, Kitagawa Hide always recommends letting the bullet fly for a while. Otherwise, when you are halfway through opening the champagne, the bullet will shoot into your head. How embarrassing is that?

In fact, the situation on Sunday was worse than on Saturday, especially in terms of sales, which almost hit rock bottom.

But after being comforted by Kitagawa Shuichi yesterday, Saito Rena and the others were no longer anxious.

Especially today, the editors of Kawaide Shobo collectively took leave and went home to "recuperate" because they had a premonition that things seemed not as reported by the media.

The simplest point.

If "No Longer Human" really dies suddenly, then the first to be affected should be "Wenyi" which poached him.

Kitagawa Hideo made a big mistake, and readers were unhappy about it, but they would never question the god in their hearts. Instead, they would vent their resentment on the "Literature and Art" that "defiled" him.

Then the mailroom of "Wenyi" would be flooded with all kinds of letters containing insults, sarcasm and slander.

But in reality, this did not happen.

For two consecutive days, no reader sent abusive letters to "Wenyi", as if nothing had happened.

The current polarization between news media and the real situation seems to suggest something.
Kitagawa Hide returned to his rental house in Fengzhiguan Apartment alone.

Yumeko is not here today. I heard that she went to the hospital with Jabami Rei to take care of the old professor named Takeuchi Osamu.

Speaking of Takeuchi Osamu, Kitagawa Hide was a little bit amused.

He learned from his young wife and the sharp-tongued woman that Professor Takeuchi, who was so old-fashioned and foul-mouthed that no one in the literary world dared to touch him, was actually his number one die-hard fan!

Ever since "Hear the Wind Sing" was selected for the Group Portrait Newcomer Award, he has been reading Kitagawa Hide's novels, praised the "Youth Trilogy" completely, and then publicly announced that Kitagawa Hide had created a "Kitagawa Hide" school.

Unfortunately, although he has a high status in the industry, his influence and appeal are almost zero. He worked hard to help Kitagawa Hide for an entire afternoon that day, but was refuted by Ichiko Sadaji with just one sentence.

However, Kitagawa Hide was still very grateful to the old professor, so he asked Mengzi to bring a handwritten thank-you letter for him.

It’s not easy for the old man. He almost died at such an old age just because he watched "No Longer Human"!

I hope that my thank-you letter filled with my own interpretation of "No Longer Human" can help him quickly get out of his "discouraged" mood.

Sitting in front of the computer, Kitagawa Hide no longer had the urge to continue writing "I Am a Cat" and organizing new haiku today, because tomorrow is the official opening ceremony of "Peter Cat" and all the preparatory work has been prepared.

In other words, this is his last night living in this old nest. Looking back on the past five months, he is quite emotional. With his unremitting efforts, he has finally moved from the rental house to a new home, which can be regarded as a major breakthrough in his life!

It’s a pity that Mengzi is not here with me tonight, which makes it a little incomplete.

Thinking of Takeuchi Osamu's situation, Kitagawa Hide guessed that many people might still be trapped in the pain brought by "No Longer Human" this weekend, so he planned to go online to the forum to see the development of the new book.

To some extent, the Internet in 95 was closer to the real social situation than television and newspapers, and should have been able to obtain more accurate feedback.

Open the Qiwu.com forum.

Shizuko Kawaide's post about searching for the haiku master is still pinned to the top, with more and more people replying praising the "Tanka of the Thunder God". Many of the replies are obviously the leading figures in the literary world.

People at this level have begun to praise Kitagawa Hide's haiku, which shows that the haiku market has been completely revived and has officially entered the eyes of senior industry executives.

Kitagawa Hide took note of this and decided to find a time to confront Saito Rena and consider how to use haiku to improve his status in the literary world!
Otherwise, it would be too tragic to be always mocked by these trolls for no cost.

Going further down, there are countless posts related to "Youth Trilogy", which shows that even after leaving Kodansha, Kitagawa Hide is still very popular.

There is basically no one who can refute the fact that he is a "middle-class" writer.

But the number of these posts pales in comparison to those related to No Longer Human.

Just as Kitagawa Hide expected.

The poor sales do not mean that people are no longer paying attention to "No Longer Human", but that most readers are "silent audiences" who will not speak out actively and there is no place for them to speak.

On various forums, posts related to "No Longer Human" are overwhelming, dominating the screen.

Kitagawa Hide browsed through it casually and then clicked on a hot post titled "After watching "No Longer Human", I just want to commit suicide to apologize."

The post was published early this morning. The poster claimed that he had the good fortune to buy a signed limited edition and couldn't wait to read it that same day.

He is a typical fan of Beichuan. He bought not only one issue of the main issue and the supplement of "Qun Xiang", but also both physical books.

“After reading No Longer Human, I burst into tears at home.

I am not Oba Yozo, nor do I have a hard life like Yan Jing Takuya. On the contrary, I am very happy and have money and status that ordinary people can hardly achieve.

But do you know that I have everything I have by exploiting people like Yan Jing Takuya?

His life was so beautiful, but it was lost in despair.

And I was one of the executioners who killed him.

So, sorry.

As a human being, you don't need to apologize. I should be the one who should apologize.

Bye now. "

The strong pessimism and dejection in the words of the poster infected all those who read and replied to the post. They all advised him not to be depressed. Although "No Longer Human" is a depressing book, as long as you persist in reading it to the end, you can be redeemed!
This was exactly the fermentation that Kitagawa Hide needed. He read on with great interest and turned to the last page, wanting to see the ending of the poster.

Then the last reply from the original poster made him feel mixed emotions. "Thank you everyone. But I deserve to die. I just want to commit suicide to make amends. Because I am a member of that damn cult."

Just one simple sentence, and no one responded afterwards.

As the popularity of this hot post continued to grow, discussions about Aum Shinrikyo began to spread in various forums.

"Damn the cult!"

This is the most profound memory that "No Longer Human" has conveyed to a large number of readers in these two days.

They began to discuss and delve into the plot of the book, what Mr. Kitagawa really wanted to convey.

More precise conclusions were subsequently drawn.

"Not everyone will be saved by this book, but Mr. Beichuan's original intention was to use it to save those who would have been forced to death by these damned people!"

Seeing this, Kitagawa Hide knew that his original intention of plagiarizing this book had been achieved.

After that, all you have to do is wait for things to continue to develop.

As for the matter of the netizen who was suspected to be a cultist, he hoped that it was just an empty talk.

But if it's true.

Beichuan Xiu wanted to say to him, "You deserve to die in this life, but death also washes away your sins. You don't need to apologize for being born as a human being!"

"I finally saved enough money to buy Mr. Beichuan's new book. I hope it won't be out of stock~"

A beautiful woman wearing a purple stepmother skirt and a dangerous "wife-style" hairstyle walked into the Kokubunji branch of Kinokuniya Bookstore nervously.

Her name is Mayumi Aso. She is a single mother, 30 years old, raising a daughter who is in elementary school.

She originally had a happy family. Although her husband was just an ordinary company employee, he loved her and her daughter very much.

Last year, she was lucky enough to win the Group Portrait Newcomer Award, and editor Kenri Yasuhara published a physical book of her own, giving her the opportunity to escape the embarrassing situation of being a housewife with no income.

Just when she thought her life was getting better and better, fate suddenly played a joke on her.

First, due to the poor performance of the company, her husband was transferred to Hokkaido. Then he inexplicably joined the Aum Shinrikyo cult. Not only did he want to divorce her, he also sold all the valuables in the house!
Immediately afterwards, the sales of the highly anticipated single volume plummeted, and not even 1000 copies were sold.

In an instant, she fell from a rising star who was praised by everyone to a flop who no one cared about.

When she was at her lowest point, editor An Yuanxian stayed with her, encouraged her and helped her, which deeply touched her.

Then when she mentioned whether she could continue to serialize her novel in "Gunzo", Yasuhara hesitated, and then suddenly invited her to dinner.

Right in his car, An Yuanxian suddenly said to her, "Lick me."

When she turned around, she found that An Yuanxian's pants had been pulled down below his knees!
Mayumi Aso refused in shame and anger, and was then kept in the dark, slandered and bullied, until one day she was suddenly assigned to be the deputy editor-in-chief of Rena Saito.

These days, in order to earn money to support her family, she works at a construction site during the day and does odd jobs at a convenience store at night. She always gets home at two in the morning and only sleeps four hours a day.

Because she had no work experience and had a child to take care of, no company was willing to hire her as a full-time employee, fearing that she would take frequent breaks and leave early.

She was also fired for taking sick leave to care for her sick daughter.

If you don't work you can't make a living, and if you damage your health you can barely get by.

"Work hard, even if it's hard, you have to persevere."

"Even if my health is ruined in ten years, my daughter will have grown up."

“It felt like my life had gone from being a shiny place to being dark.”

This is how Mayumi Aso evaluates this period of her life.

Sometimes I really want to die.

If I didn't have a daughter, perhaps death would be the best destination.

It was in such a bleak moment that it was Mr. Kitagawa's "Youth Trilogy" that pulled her out of the quagmire.

Unfortunately, she didn't have any extra money to support Mr. Beichuan's physical book.

Because she had seen "Hear the Wind Sing", she resisted buying it.

But this time, "No Longer Human" was not serialized in magazines, and she really couldn't hold back.

Entered the bookstore.

I thought "No Longer Human" might be sold out.

But on the bookshelf, there are rows and rows of brand new copies of "No Longer Human".

"Eh? Did they just arrive? That's great!" Mayumi Aso reached out to grab it excitedly, and then suddenly the conversation of a young high school couple rang in her ears.

"Hongjun, please buy me a copy of No Longer Human! I heard from some seniors that this book is very depressing."

"Mourning? What is that?"

"Despair? Pessimism? Anyway, it means it's very uncomfortable!"

"So this book is not good? Then why did you ask me to buy it?"

"No, no, no, the seniors who told me about it all said it was very well written! But..."

"what?"

"They said that you must watch it to the end to appreciate the profound meaning of Mr. Kitagawa. Anyway, I don't understand what they said, but I am very curious and want to watch it."

"I see. I'll buy a copy and read it. It seems that other seniors in the school have mentioned it as well."

Suddenly, two copies of "No Longer Human" were missing from the bookshelf.

Mayumi Aso became more and more curious, so she also took out a book and looked at the price.

5000 yen, fortunately, it is within the budget and I can still afford it after cutting back.

She paid, picked up the book excitedly and left the bookstore.

And behind her, more and more people began to slowly move towards the bookstore.

There was curiosity, calmness, and sadness on their faces. When the bookstore was about to close, they silently formed a long queue hidden in the darkness!

(End of this chapter)