Chapter 113: Let me deliver this final blow today!
Chapter 113 Let me deliver this final blow today!
Ichiko Sadaji, the Dean of the Faculty of Literature at Kyoto University, unexpectedly fainted in a movie theater, and the scheduled literary exchange meeting had to be postponed for a few days.
The principal didn't know the details of the matter, so he called him and told him that if he was really unwell, he should not come and that it was important to take care of his health.
However, as soon as Ichiko Sadajiro, who is lying on the hospital bed, closes his eyes, he can see Kitagawa Hide's work "The Akuji Literature Prize Serial Murder Case" and the protagonist Nakajima Ichiko Baka who deliberately mocked him!
I have no grudge against him and have always cared for him and given him advice as a senior. Yet he dared to do such a disgusting thing!
Ichiko Sadaji couldn't stand it, absolutely couldn't stand it!
Therefore, he immediately called the president of Kyoto University and said that he would return to school on time on November 11 and that the literary exchange meeting would be held as scheduled without postponement.
Not only that, Ichiko Sadatsugu also made several phone calls for the first time to many old friends he hadn't seen for a long time, including some of the top figures in the Japanese literary world.
For example, there is the "Tenka Unique" Naoki Hyakuta who lives abroad, the right-wing female scholar Junko Miyawaki who is the mistress of the famous historian Hidehiro Okada, and the great-great-grandson of Emperor Meiji, Tsuneyasu Takeda.
He cordially invited these people to attend the literary exchange meeting he was hosting, and vowed to let Mutsuro Takahashi praise the Tokyo University Haiku Master to the sky, and then use her to launch a dimensionality reduction attack on Kitagawa Hide, returning all the humiliations he had just suffered!
Kodansha, which was also severely ridiculed, also held its breath. Noma Airi confirmed that she would attend the literary exchange meeting in person this time, and asked the bald executive director to prepare two suitcases full of banknotes. As long as the Tokyo University haiku master nodded, Kodansha would hand over the money, plus a contract to sign a top writer.
These guys made such a big fuss that most of the Japanese literary world was alarmed.
Everyone has seen clearly this time that the Akutagawa Prize and the people at Kodansha are determined to fight Kitagawa Hide to the death. The final outcome will be that the Akutagawa Prize will become a rubbish award that everyone despises, as shown in the movie, or Kitagawa Hide will be trampled into the dust from a famous writer and lose all his halo.
More and more people from the literary world came to watch the fun, while people in the outside world focused their attention on "Hear the Wind Sing" and "The Agarwood Literature Award Serial Murder Case", two films written by the same author, released at the same time, but with completely opposite reputations and box office results.
The epic masterpiece of the year that Nikkatsu and Kodansha put all their efforts into creating has become the shitty blockbuster of the year. The box office suffered a continuous Waterloo in the first week after its premiere. By November 11, the total box office for five days accumulated to only 30 million yen, which was a huge loss in the trouser pocket.
On the other hand, after "Akumizu" achieved an astonishing result of 4790 million yen on the first day, as word of mouth spread, the physical book of the same name became a hot seller, and wave after wave of moviegoers flocked to the film.
Soon, Tokyo's single-theater theaters could no longer handle so many moviegoers, and single-theater theaters across the country, like cats smelling fish, flocked to sign cooperation contracts with Kitagawa Entertainment Co., Ltd.
At 11 o'clock in the morning on November 30, just after Kitagawa Hide had packed his luggage and poured out all the cat food that Pete would eat in the next few days, he received a fax from the Data Analysis Class of Kawaide Shobo.
"The cumulative box office after five days of screening is 2.12 million yen, and Hear the Wind Sing is 1.66 million yen. It's a great victory! From this point of view, there is even a chance to hit the total box office of 5 million yen."
Beichuan Xiu breathed a sigh of relief while holding the fax. This invisible game had come to this point, and it could be said that it ended with a complete victory for him, no, for everyone in Beichuan Entertainment!
No wonder Ichiko Sadaji and Noma Airi were so anxious. It was like a butcher's knife was hanging on their necks. How could they not be anxious?
Kitagawa Hide gently placed the fax on the table, and then his eyes suddenly became stern. He raised his right hand and slashed at the air, and something seemed to fall to the ground.
Let me deliver this final blow today!
This time, Kitagawa Hide went out and took a taxi for the first time, then met up with the disguised Kawaide Shizuko and Saito Rena in front of the Kawaide Shobo Shinsha headquarters building, and headed for the Shinkansen Tokyo Station together.
Today, Shizuko Kawaide changed out of her usual OL suit and put on a lavender hip skirt, revealing her feminine charm and looking like a mature young woman who had just finished her honeymoon with her husband.
Rena Saito wore a black polo shirt and a denim skirt. Her twin ponytails, which had not been seen for a long time, returned, exuding a youthful and beautiful aura.
It's almost December, and the daytime temperature in Tokyo is about 11 or 12 degrees Celsius. Kitagawa Hidetoshi is dressed in long sleeves, long pants and a jacket. One can't help but admire the Japanese women's persistence in showing their legs.
Not to mention the weather now, even in Tokyo during the snowy winter season, you can see all kinds of white legs everywhere. No wonder most Japanese women have cold legs when they get older. It would be strange if they weren't frostbitten!
Catching a glimpse of Kitagawa Hide's gaze, Saito Reina shrank back a little embarrassedly and said with a smile: "Kitagawa, congratulations to you again! It seems that it is not a problem at all for the total box office of the movie to exceed 4 million!"
"This is all thanks to everyone." Kitagawa Hide waved his hand modestly. He really did not do anything in the production of the movie this time. He just provided a script and then provided funding. He basically let Iwai Shunji, a professional, operate the whole process alone.
The script is a good one, but without the efforts of this makeshift crew, it would not have been such a great success.
The two began to exchange polite greetings at the door again. Unable to bear it any longer, Shizuko Kawaide quickly picked up Rena Saito's hand and walked out.
She came out secretly without telling the board of directors. In order not to be recognized by the employees, she changed her clothes and wore sunglasses.
If Kitagawa Hide and the other man continued to be polite and attract attention here, there was no guarantee that the "incognito visit" of the acting president would be exposed.
The three of them chatted and laughed as they arrived at Tokyo Shinkansen Station. It was near noon on a weekday, so there were fewer people around. Kitagawa Hide ran to the ticket window to buy a ticket. The cumbersome process made him miss the convenience of buying tickets directly through mobile apps in the Internet age.
In Japan today, not only the Shinkansen, but also major transportation hubs such as airports and subways require people to queue up to buy tickets, and they are extremely crowded during holidays and major events.
Oh yes, Shinkansen is the abbreviation of Shinkansen Railway, which is Japan’s high-speed rail. However, the ticket purchasing mechanism here is similar to the subway next door. It does not require real-name registration and is more convenient and faster, but the ticket price is expensive!
The straight-line distance from Tokyo to Kyoto is about 300 kilometers. Even if Kitagawa Hide bought a car, he was too lazy to drive the long distance. He took the Shinkansen from Tokyo Station to Kyoto Station. The whole journey only took 2 hours and 20 minutes, which could be accomplished in a nap.
After paying the high ticket price of 13080 yen, Kitagawa Hide and the other two followed the crowd into the train.
Shizuko Kawaide looked around curiously. After some chatting, Kitagawa Shucai learned that this was her first time riding on civilian transportation!
In the past, when traveling, drivers would arrange pick-up and drop-off services for short distances, helicopters or private planes for long distances, and our own yachts for sea trips.
If this trip to Kyoto had not been concealed from the board of directors, Shizuko Kawaide would have arranged a private helicopter with a wave of her hand.
Kitagawa Hide couldn't help but secretly ask about the price of the private helicopter. Kawade Shizuko smiled and replied, "I bought a private helicopter produced by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It's relatively cheap and easy to use. It can carry eight seats, has a range of 770km, a speed of 250km/h, and the unit price is 300 million US dollars."
She tilted her head to think about the price, and realized that it was not 300 million yen. She almost blurted out "If Mr. Kitagawa wants one, I can give you one," but immediately swallowed the words back.
According to the current exchange rate between the Japanese yen and the US dollar, 1 US dollar is approximately 101 yen, and 300 million US dollars is 3.04 million yen.
After a simple mental calculation, Kitagawa Hide's smile froze.
3 million yen is not completely out of his reach, but Kawade Shizuko later said that after owning a private helicopter, you also need a matching helipad villa, a corresponding management team and a pilot, etc. The additional cost of this big toy is about 1000 million yen a year.
Evil chaebol!
We should use works like "I Am a Cat" and "芥廾" to satirize and criticize them!
Kitagawa Hide, who felt that his life was getting back on track step by step, suddenly suffered a huge blow from the rich second generation!
He originally thought that he was making money at a very fast speed, so he deliberately didn't look at the money in his account or do any careful calculations, just to give himself a little surprise around Christmas time.
Looking at it now, there is still a huge difference between them and those truly rich people.
"Sorry, Mr. Kitagawa, did I say something wrong?" Shizuko Kawaide saw that both Kitagawa Hide and Saito Rena had a confused look on their faces, and couldn't help but ask in a low voice.
"No, please continue!" Kitagawa Hide sat up straight, and together with the equally curious and amazed Saito Rena, he pricked up his ears to listen to the secret stories of the chaebol families that they would never hear under normal circumstances.
Shizuko Kawaide talked on and on for more than half an hour, which opened the eyes of Kitagawa Hide and the others. Then, as the train entered the long tunnel, she yawned and fell asleep leaning lightly on Rena Saito's shoulder.
Kitagawa Hide took advantage of this time to take out a pile of newspapers he brought and started reading them.
Nowadays, there are no portable devices such as mobile phones and tablets. He is isolated from information and can only keep up with the society through newspapers and magazines.
In this era, if you are not careful, you may miss out on a trend and miss out on the opportunity to become rich.
Moreover, reading the newspaper can also obtain the latest information about various publishing houses and writers from the literature section, which will be of great benefit to him in writing this book.
The discussion of "I Am a Cat" is still very high. As long as the "US Military Incident" does not reduce its popularity, Kitagawa Hide's novel will continue to sell like crazy. Counting "Youth Trilogy Collection", "Hear the Wind Sing", "No Longer Human" and "Akadashi", maybe by the end of the year, Saito Rena's "delusion" can really be realized -
The top five of the annual physical book sales list are occupied by Kitagawa Hide alone!
The movie "Akira" was also featured in the film and television sections of many newspapers. The box office of 5 million yen in 2.12 days can only be considered a mediocre result among all the movies of the year. The fact that it was only shown in a single theater added a lot of points to it, and the fact that the script was written by Kitagawa Hide also made these newspapers willing to spare some space to write about it.
Otherwise, with this result, you are totally unqualified to be listed in these recommended positions. After all, the Japanese film market is now a meat grinder. Except for those big film production companies, whoever comes will die.
Interestingly, some film critics also praised the acting skills of Jabami Rei and Aso Mayumi.
The roles of literary girls and housewives they played did not have many parts, but they gave many eye-catching performances. Jabami Rei had participated in a drama version of "No Longer Human" during an open class at the University of Tokyo, and this was also dug up by the paparazzi.
It seems that Mengzi's long-legged best friend might be going astray in her career plan.
Mayumi Aso gained a lot of male fans thanks to her mature figure and face, especially her charming and pure style, which is rare for Japanese women.
She won the Gunzo Newcomer Award last year, and it was also revealed that she wrote her most famous new-style haiku this year.
Overnight, she was adorned with many halos including talented woman, single mother, and new actress. It seemed that she would not be short of money for a long time in the future.
The new director Shunji Iwai was also mentioned, but it was just a few lines of text. However, because he was a former employee of Nikkatsu, people could smell a hint of gossip.
A movie is just a movie after all, and it is the original novel of "芥廾" that really sparked a sensation in the literary world.
20 copies were sold out on the first day of printing, and 5 copies were sold in 30.7 days after being put on the shelves. This semi-original and semi-plagiarized novel achieved a brilliant result that was enough to make Kitagawa Hide enter the ranks of "upper-class" writers.
What makes him happiest is that his adaptation and hard work have been accepted by readers.
No matter how hard a plagiarist tries, he will never be able to truly win the crown in the literary world. What's more, the era he lives in is a bit special. If he just copies popular works, he may end up in failure if he is not careful.
Kitagawa Hide has been engaged in the literary industry for quite a long time in his two lifetimes. He has been plagiarizing while working hard to improve himself. His ultimate dream is to combine the two.
The experimental work "芥廾" at least allowed him to see a glimmer of this possibility.
This is a joy that cannot be bought with any amount of money!
In addition, due to the popularity of "Akadashi", the war of words between Tetsutaro Mori and "Ichiro" that had been arguing fiercely in major newspapers will finally come to an end.
Because this critic kept bragging about himself, Kitagawa Hide went out of his way to look up his information.
Tetsutaro Mori is well-known in the literary criticism circle. He used to be a professional troll, but for some reason he suddenly changed his personality. Since the release of "Hear the Wind Sing", he has become a die-hard fan of Kitagawa Hide.
We have been clear-cut all the way to the present, without a single act of rebellion.
What is most commendable is that when Kitagawa Hide was not selected for the Akutagawa Prize and when he was being questioned a while ago, he was the first to take the lead and speak well of Kitagawa Hide.
"Ichiro" is a pseudonym, but judging from the text and resources, it is obviously a pseudonym of a great critic, and it is definitely not someone that a younger brother like Tetsutaro Mori can copy.
The two are like "the best in the world" and "an obscene writer", there is no comparison at all.
But Tetsutaro Mori won just by blasting away!
After "Akira" became popular, Kitagawa Hide and his victory were finalized, and "Ichiro" lost his edge, and the number of his posts has dropped sharply recently.
Mori Tetsutarou finally uttered a killer move: "If you don't agree, you can just publish an article in the newspaper using your real name like me!"
Kitagawa Hide smiled when he saw this. He actually also wanted to know the true identity of "Ichiro". He had no other intention, he just wanted to send some of his family's specialties to the other party to try!
This troll, Tetsutarou Mori, is very interesting. I must get to know him when I have the chance!
Thinking of this, he closed the newspaper, tilted his head and fell asleep.
Then, an hour and a half later, we finally arrived at Kyoto Station!
(End of this chapter)