The Shocking Eunuch, Reborn as a Literary Girl

Chapter 21 She's Better Than Me (10,000 words a day, please vote!)
After all, the one who starts the fight is the one who loses.

The person who starts the trouble will be dealt with even more severely if it turns out that they are the one who is in the wrong.

There is nothing to say about this.

Even though it was my friend who was being cyberbullied.

But Isshin Iruma didn't feel uncomfortable at all; on the contrary, he found it very funny.

to be honest.
In her opinion, this person deserved to be scolded long ago.

Isshin Iruma always felt that his good friend, Shia Koma, was only so-so in terms of book sales.

In terms of popularity and public opinion, it's not exactly top-tier.

Basically, within the light novel community, their niche is somewhere in the middle—enough to survive, and slightly better off than the average salaried worker.
How rich?
No.

As for how high his status is...
nor.

Even Isshin Iruma has two works that have been adapted into anime, but Shia Kuma doesn't have a single one yet.

And yet, he thinks he's a great writer every day, and he's incredibly arrogant.

"What exactly is he bragging about? What makes his writing so impressive?"

"Compared to when we first debuted, our skill level has even declined. Shouldn't we be more humble and have a sense of urgency?"

"Shouldn't we try to read more books, gather more materials, and find ways to improve our skills?"

She always had this question in her mind.

The saying goes, "Teach someone once and they'll learn it."

This lesson is clearly one that "Little Bear Xia" deserves.

Instead of calling to comfort the other person, she sent a sarcastic LINE message.

"I noticed that VTuber you were skeptical about before, but his stuff seems to be incredibly popular on 'Let's Become a Novelist,' with high popularity, high buzz, and rave reviews. It looks like it's only a matter of time before it's published as a light novel. What are your thoughts on this?"

The message was sent and quickly showed as read.

But there was no reply.

It seems the other party is in a state of extreme anger.

Realizing this, Iruma Isshin became even more energized.

She then went to the comment sections of Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms and took a bunch of screenshots.

These are all pictures that the other person doesn't want to see.

Most of the comments were either praising Chiya Umehara or humiliating Shia Koma.

Anyway, it's all content that will make this guy's mentality explode after watching it.

The so-called lies will not hurt people, the truth is the sharpest knife.

She carefully selected the most hurtful and insulting comments from among them.

This includes comparing the works written by 'Arisa' and 'Sia the Bear'.
This includes directly insulting 'Little Bear Xia' by saying her writing is garbage, yet she's incredibly arrogant.
After taking screenshots for a while, she sent over her carefully selected content one by one.

This time, Little Bear Xia, who had been pretending to be dead, finally couldn't hold back anymore.

She called me right away.

Upon receiving the call, Isshin Iruma answered it without hesitation.

Then, the other person couldn't help but start cursing as soon as they opened their mouth: "Iruma Isshin! Are you sick?! You know perfectly well that I'm in a bad mood!"

Isshin Iruma chuckled mischievously: "Why would I send you these if you were in a good mood? I only sent them to you because I knew they would make you feel bad."

On the other end of the phone, Little Bear Xia was so angry she laughed: "I really want to take the subway to your house right now and have a duel with you! You're such an annoying person!"

These two people have known each other for a long time.

Iruma Isshin has always understood the threshold of this girl's temper, and knows how much to tease her and when to stop.

For example, right now, in her opinion, that's about right.

Before the other party could completely explode, she chose to stop being so rude.

Instead, she smiled gently and changed the subject: "So, have you read any of her novels?"

The person on the other end of the phone was speechless upon hearing this question.

But after a moment of silence, he finally answered, "I saw it."

Iruma Isshin pressed on, "How are you feeling?"

The other party said, "Although I really don't want to say this, actually, I clicked on it and read it the day she posted it."

After reading it, I immediately regretted what I had said online.

But by then it was too late to turn back.

"Last night, I was also watching her live stream, and I couldn't resist the urge to wait for the next update, so I stayed up until 3 a.m. before I finally went to sleep."

"Then this morning, I read through all the updated content."

Iruma Isshin: "So? What are your thoughts?"

"I have been completely defeated."

Little Bear Xia's voice sounded very unwilling, but she was undoubtedly convinced.

The reason is simple.
Her latest serialized work, which was just published last month, is also a "reincarnation in another world" novel.

The title is "Superpowered Girl's Endless Otherworld Reincarnation".

In the past, she always looked down on all sorts of "otherworldly toilet paper," thinking that "this kind of stuff is meaningless and boring." She believed that if she were to write it, she could definitely write something countless times more interesting.

She believes she can "transform" the market.

With this in mind, she wrote this new publication.

But as for the result...
Sigh, it's just not very good.

He wrote with great ambition, but the sales were a dismal failure.

In fact, before she even started writing this book, her editor had told her, "You probably won't get much market acceptance."

However, she confidently stated, "Market acceptance cannot be based on past experience! I want to write something innovative, and of course, I will only know whether readers will like it after it is published."

She was full of confidence and believed that the editor must have misjudged her.

结果
The result was a crushing defeat, just as the editor predicted.

It's been a month since the book was released, and the first volume has only sold 5000 copies.
Moreover, among the 5000 copies sold, the vast majority of readers who read them said they were "uninteresting," "not good," and "strange."

Reader feedback was terrible.

Compared to her past achievements, this is undoubtedly a major failure.

Why do innovations fail?

Why is it that despite putting so much effort into my writing, I don't get any recognition?

She kept thinking about this question throughout the month since her new book was released.

Just when she was feeling lost, she took a look at what Chiya Umehara had written.
Her creative approach is almost the complete opposite of what she writes.

I'm seeking novelty in the plot setting and storyline conflicts.

However, what Chiya Umehara writes are the most traditional and conservative stories.

This is clearly the type of creative work that I most reject and despise.

But
Why is it so beautiful?
Why does it have such a strong attraction?
Clearly, there's nothing innovative about the story structure, plot design, or character design.

But why does the plot seem to have such a strong driving force, making me want to read it chapter by chapter?
While watching, she really tried her best to deny it.

'This kind of story is incredibly corny and not interesting at all.'

'This plot development is so unoriginal; I could guess what they're going to write after reading the first chapter.'

'This woman is definitely just there to highlight the protagonist's abilities; she's so tacky, I could totally guess that.'

'The formula is in crisis; the formula has been won over by the protagonist's personal charm, and every step of the plot unfolds exactly as I predicted.'

Yes, they can guess anything.

They can think of anything.

Therefore, she could try to deny the novel.
Some say this is a very corny and boring novel.

This is a completely unoriginal novel.

But no matter how much she denied it, she couldn't deceive her own heart.
"I really want to keep watching."

"It's so corny, but I just want to keep watching."

It should be said that it is precisely because the setting and plot are so incredibly cheesy that the source of its appeal becomes all the more obvious.

It's about the pacing of the plot.
It's about attention to detail.
It is due to the author's powerful writing skills.

At this point, she basically realized why her new book had been such a failure.

"I found that while reading this book, I was actually looking forward to the parts that I could completely guess. Even though I already had a clear idea of ​​how things would develop, the feeling was still different when the plot was actually presented in written form."

"It's not that I'm bored because I guessed the plot; rather, because I guessed the plot, I look forward to seeing those anticipated events unfold in an even more exciting way."

"In fact, I would want to keep watching just because I guessed the plot."

"Unexpected plot twists can sometimes be exciting. However, predictable plot twists can sometimes be more captivating than unexpected ones."

"Known things don't mean they're uninteresting."

"She can make the known interesting, and she can make me look forward to the actual outcome of the known future. But I can't do that."

"I was only focused on creativity, but I neglected the basics."

"After reading this book, I realized what I'm really lacking right now."

"I just realized what I really needed to do."

"Why did I fail? Why is my new book not good?"

"I shouldn't keep pursuing novelty. What I should do is improve my basic abilities as an author. I need to have the ability to write a basic story well."

Listening to his friend say these words to him on the other end of the phone, Iruma Isshin smiled contentedly.

This is what she's been waiting for.
What I've been waiting for is this moment when my friend realizes his mistake and turns back to the right path.

She had tried many ways to stop Little Bear Xia from indulging in meaningless self-satisfaction, but none of them were very effective.

The other person's personality shaped her behavior.

I never expected this.
At this moment, at this very time, for this very reason, she finally came to her senses.

'Arisa, you're quite the remarkable woman.'

　P.S.: I also made 10,000 today, although not 60,000, but it feels pretty good.

　　Please vote! The new book really needs votes and readers to follow along.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)