My girlfriend is Saiki Kusunoki

Besides, even if ONE came to this store, it's highly unlikely that I would happen to run into him, right? How could I possibly encounter something so unlucky?

"Sir, I don't think I have any reason to explain anything to you, do I? Believe me or not, if you don't get out of here, I'm really going to call the police."

"cut!"

Seeing that Naoto was really going to call the police, Qin Kou San Niao didn't hesitate; he took off running, even abandoning the manuscript on the table. He simply pushed through the crowd and left the scene.

"Hey! You just ran off like that?! Stop right there!"

Seeing that Qin Kou was trying to escape, Peng Hui hurriedly tried to stop him.

However, Sakuta stopped Tomoe from following them.

"Senior! Why..."

"Useless Tomoe, it's no use you going up there. Naoto was just trying to scare him."

"frighten?"

Tomoe looked at Sakuta and Naoto with a puzzled expression. Why did the two of them just say that they were just trying to scare him?

"Because even if we call the police, the most we can do is arrest him for causing trouble. Although the surveillance cameras can capture what happened, it would be too easy for that guy to deny it."

"So let's leave it at that for now, Naoto. Thank you for this."

"No way, be careful. That guy just now might be a bit strange. He might come back to cause trouble later."

Sakuta remained silent as Naoto returned to his seat.

By this time, Nanzi had already eaten most of her food.

"solved?"

"Yeah, it's resolved, but that guy got away too."

"Should I handle this?"

"No need. Aren't we on a date today? Let's skip that kind of thing. By the way, where are we going today?"

"Let's go see a movie. There seems to be a really good one out recently."

Qin Kou San Niao, who had run out of the store, finally stopped after running for about a dozen intersections.

"Damn it, what bad luck! I messed up today, even the manuscript I got from Yuan Kou is gone. What am I going to do now?"

Qin Kou lit a cigarette in a corner at the intersection and took a drag with a worried expression.

I had lost my job and wanted to make some money with the manuscript I stole from Yuan Kou, but I never expected to encounter this situation.

This isn't the first or second time that Qin Kou has been accused of stealing manuscripts.

In fact, it's perfectly normal for comic artists to have scrapped drafts. There are countless scrapped drafts due to things like panel revisions and all sorts of strange reasons.

These rejected drafts are usually either kept by the author or simply thrown away as trash.

Of course, it's also possible that these discarded drafts might sometimes be included in the concept art.

This is why there are always some discarded drafts circulating online.

In the past, Qin Kou often stole other cartoonists' manuscripts. For example, he had previously worked in the studios of three cartoonists, but he was usually fired within six months, mainly because of stealing discarded manuscripts.

They would secretly take the discarded drafts out, give them to others to polish slightly, and then throw them directly into a fan convention as fan comics.

Qin Kou also made a lot of money because of this.

Moreover, because Qin Kou was quite secretive, even if the previous comic artists knew that someone had taken the rejected manuscripts, they didn't know who it was. And because the authors themselves didn't care much, they simply changed a group of assistants.

This is why he was able to change cartoonists again and again, and still get away with it.

But who could have imagined that an accident would happen at the roundabout this time?

When she took the manuscript away, Yuankou actually saw it with his own eyes.

Fortunately, Yuan Kou was a sentimental guy and only fired him; otherwise, he would be in jail now.

Although he wasn't reported this time, it means he can no longer work as an assistant in the JUMP manga industry.

"Tch, this time we've really lost everything. Not only did we not make any money, we also lost an article. Sigh, we don't have many articles left."

Looking at the half-smoked cigarette in his hand, Qin gritted his teeth and decided to take a gamble.

At that moment, Qin Kou picked up his phone and dialed an unknown number.

With a series of beeps, a stranger's voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Hey, isn't this Qinkou? What are you planning to do this time?"

Hearing the voice on the other end of the phone, Qin Kou instinctively felt a sense of disgust.

If it weren't for this guy, I wouldn't be suffering like this today.

"Hey Fatty, I have a few articles I'm thinking of publishing. I was wondering if you'd be interested?"

"Oh? Not bad, kid, you even have some discarded drafts. Tell me, what were they?"

"There are also three articles titled 'Magic Armor Alpha,' two articles titled 'The Witch of Love,' and three articles titled 'Sunday.'"

Faced with the owner behind the phone, Qin Kou could only tell him what he had in his hand.

However, it seemed that this person lost interest after hearing Qin Kou's words.

"Brother, your comics aren't very good. Putting aside the fact that only 'Weekend' is still being serialized, the rest are either canceled or finished, so they're not very meaningful. If this is all you have, then I guess I'll have to leave."

Faced with this person's words, Qin Kou knew this was his last chance. He was desperately short of money and had to sell what he had.

"No, I actually have a discarded manuscript of 'The Bloodline' here, I wonder if you..."

"Vampires?! You mean those?"

"Yes, that's it."

Upon hearing Qin Kou's words, the person behind him finally showed some interest.

Chapter 196: The Development of the Gray Area

"Mr. Kitagawa, that kid Qin Kou has arrived. Shall we go out and see him?"

"Just wait a moment."

Inside an inconspicuous little shop, a man named Kitagawa was sitting on a sofa, with several staff members in suits standing beside him.

At some point, the buying and selling of discarded manuscripts and their transformation into fan comics has become a gray industry chain.

This industry chain includes many cartoonists struggling to make a living, or people like Qin Kou who steal manuscripts.

These discarded drafts are then taken out and given to professional illustrators for revision, and finally transformed into high-quality comics for sale at doujinshi conventions. This kind of thing is common at doujinshi conventions.

Moreover, because such doujinshi are of extremely high quality, they often fetch a very good price.

Although there will be a lot of trouble after it is exposed, many people still flock to it.

This unassuming little shop is currently the largest scrap paper recycling company in the Tokyo area. Approximately two-thirds of all scrap paper in Tokyo is sent to this place.

At this moment, the man called Kitagawa was constantly scrutinizing Qin Kou, who was sitting uneasily in a chair, through the camera that had crashed into the room.

"Mr. Kitagawa, do you really think that Qin Kou has any discarded manuscripts of 'Bloodline'? So far, he has never produced any discarded manuscripts."

At this moment, the person standing next to Kitagawa asked Kitagawa in a low voice.

It's worth noting that Naoto is currently the most popular manga artist, but none of his manuscripts have ever been leaked.

Even the first story to be completed, the vampire clan, has not had a single scrapped chapter so far.

Moreover, even completed comics are incredibly popular, unlike comics that have already ended.

Such treatment is probably only available to characters of the same caliber as those in Naruto, Bleach, and Sea of ​​the Dead.

These days, Naoto Manga's manuscripts are completely unavailable; you can't buy them even if you want to. It's hard to imagine how this guy named Qin Kou managed to get them.

"It's impossible that guy drew it himself to scam money, right?"

Thinking about that guy from Qinkou, it seems like this is the only possibility now.

"It's unlikely. After all, ONE's paintings have a very strong personal style. If Qin Kou really had the skill to imitate ONE, he wouldn't still be an unknown assistant."

"So how exactly did he obtain the manuscript?"

"Presumably, the only way to get this information is through Mr. Yuankou. It is said that Mr. Yuankou is ONE's top disciple."

Upon hearing Kitagawa's words, his subordinates understood.

"I see, Mr. Kitagawa. I think I understand now. It's probably because Ms. Enguchi and Mr. ONE have a good relationship, so she happened to get Mr. ONE's manuscript, and then this guy stole it?"

"That's about it. But stealing ONE's manuscript is a hot potato. It's hard to imagine that when Enguchi finds out about this, he won't get back at this guy."

"Then let's..."

"Forget it, I'll go see the good stuff. After all, I've never seen ONE's rejected drafts yet."

"Tch~ Why isn't that fatso here yet? Is he just playing games with me?"

Qin Kou, who had been sitting in the room for almost half an hour, stared at the door with a grim expression.

If he could, he definitely wouldn't want to come here.

But now he was helpless. He had to pay off his gambling debts soon, and if things continued like this, those loan sharks would definitely kill him.

Rather than dealing with those black-clad mafia members who were always ready to kill you, he chose to confront this fat man.

Although in his eyes, the fat man's heart was also black, pure black.

If he hadn't learned from this person that Naoto frequented that store, he wouldn't have gone there today to try his luck.

In fact, Qin Kou's original plan was to meet Naoto by chance and see if he could become Naoto's assistant.

After all, among comic artists these days, the most sought-after are straight people.

If you could get a manuscript from a straight person, that would truly be a meteoric rise to fame.

But who can blame them when Naoto never needs an assistant to draw? Qin Kou has been staking out the place every day for a while, but he still couldn't find anyone who looked like Naoto.

With the repayment date fast approaching, the fat man came up with another wicked idea, trying to extort money from him.

Qin Kou initially refused, but after hearing that the shop's employee's girlfriend was none other than the famous Mai Sakurajima, and that she was also Naoto's classmate, he changed his mind.

He then had a wicked idea.