Tokyo Mystery Writers

Chapter 218 Aiming for 500,000 in Sales

January 1980, 2, afternoon.

The "hard-boiled mystery showdown" between Maijo Kyosuke and Nishimura Hisayuki has been going on for five days.

As of the afternoon of February 28th.

Kyosuke Maijo's "Never Sleeps" sold a total of 490,000 copies!

Nishimura Juuki's "Devil's Fang" sold a total of 430,000 copies!

The difference was as much as 60,000!

Although the seventh issue of Top Hat magazine paved the way for this, the terrifying popularity of Maijo Kyosuke and the record-breaking sales in five days are still astonishing!

The Takarajima-sha Building in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo.

Hosho Shirakawa looked at the sales report handed to him by the sales manager, Matsushima Shunma.

His ashen face grew paler the more you looked at it.

Hosho Shirakawa thought that Nishimura Juko's "The Devil's Fang" would sell 430,000 copies in the fifth day, breaking the record for "hard-boiled mystery novels"!

But no one expected that Maijo Kyosuke's "Never Sleeps" would sell 490,000 copies in just five days!

It sold 60,000 more copies than "The Devil's Fang"!

Although this gap may not seem large, it is actually very bad!

In particular—when Hosho Shirakawa saw the news published by Kodansha in the Asahi Shimbun, he knew that the gap of 60,000 copies would only widen!

Because of that fat bastard Genjiro Noma, I don't know if he was really celebrating or just trying to provoke me by publishing a celebratory banner in the Asahi Shimbun.

Congratulations to Kodansha's "Top Hat" magazine for surpassing 1200000 copies in circulation!

"Congratulations also to Mr. Keisuke Maijo for his masterpiece of hard-boiled mystery, *Sleepless Town*, which broke the five-day sales record for hard-boiled mystery novels! A total of 490,000 copies were sold!"

The announcement published in the Asahi Shimbun also featured a huge illustration drawn by Ryoichi Ikegami for "The City That Never Sleeps"!

This infuriated Hosho Shirakawa even more!

Because whether it's marketing ability or talent management, I'm no match for Kodansha's Noma Genjiro!

Hosho Shirakawa never expected that Noma Genjiro, in order to pave the way for Maijo Kyosuke's work, not only forced an additional 200,000 copies of the "Top Hat" magazine to be printed.

They even paid a penalty for breach of contract and poached manga artist Ryoichi Ikegami from Shogakukan to create a manga version of Kyosuke Maijo's "Night City"!

This almost reckless approach made even Hosho Shirakawa feel ashamed!

What made Hosho Shirakawa even more terrified was that he was about to die!

"Fine! Fine! Fine! You fatso, you're going to play these games, huh?!"

"Then I can't lose to you!"

"Minister Matsushima!"

Matsushima Shunma, standing beside Hosho Shirakawa, immediately replied, "President Hosho, I'm here! What are your instructions?"

Hosho Shirakawa tapped impatiently on his desk with his right index finger, making an irritating "thump! thump!" sound. "Manager Matsushima, I remember you used to work in the public relations team of a famous celebrity, didn't you?"

"I'll allocate some funds for you. Hire all those PR team members for me. If we can't win openly, we'll resort to underhanded tactics!"

"Have these guys dig up Maijo Kyosuke's past, his history with that editor-in-chief of 'Top Hat' magazine, and any immoral behavior he's ever done—get it all out!"

"I'm going to drag this guy into the stinking ditch and make him stink!"

"I don't think his rubbish book, 'The City That Never Sleeps,' will sell a single copy!"

Hosho Shirakawa's words caused Matsushima Shunma to look troubled: "President Hosho, what you're saying might require a large sum of money—"

Baosheng Shirakawa was clearly out of his mind with rage, and had become irrational: "Give me the money you need from the finance department, and say it was approved by me!"

"I have to beat that fat bastard Noma Genjiro no matter what! I have to win no matter what!"

"If I lose to him this time, I might as well not live!"

"Not only do I have to pay Maijo Kyosuke 30 million yen in compensation, but I also face the cancellation of 'Fictional Mystery' magazine and countless subsequent troubles!"

Matsushima Shunma looked at Hosho Shirakawa's hysterical and completely insane state, a cold glint flashing in his eyes, but his tone still carried respect and obedience.

"President Hosho is right. I will do as you instructed and gather the previous public relations team to conduct an in-depth investigation into Maijo Kyosuke's background."

When Hosho Shirakawa heard that Matsushima Shunma had agreed to his request, his pale face regained a bit of color. He took a bottle of whiskey from the liquor cabinet next to him and waved it at Matsushima Shunma.

Then he took out two wine glasses, filled them with wine, and said, "Minister Matsushima, you really are my right-hand man."

"The only person I can trust right now is you."

"Come on! Have a drink with me, as long as we can get through this."

"I will definitely lead Takarazuka to restore its former glory!"

With a smile on his face, Matsushima Shunma raised his wine glass and clinked it against Hosho Shirakawa's, then drank the wine in one gulp.

Matsushima Shunma put down his glass, and seeing Hosho Shirakawa about to pour him another drink, he quickly stopped him with his hand. Then he tapped the watch face on his wrist with his fingers and reminded him, "President Hosho, please excuse me. I still need to gather the team from before. After all—now is a time when we need to race against time."

Upon hearing Matsushima Shunma's words, Hosho Shirakawa smiled and nodded, then poured himself another drink.

Matsushima Shunma looked at Hosho Shirakawa's expression, shook his head helplessly, and left the president's office.

He then pulled a voice recorder from his suit pocket and walked downstairs with a sharp look in his eyes.

Matsushima Shunma left the Takarajima-sha building and drove from Shibuya Ward to a villa in Nakano Ward, Tokyo.

I rang the doorbell of the villa with the words "Du Mansion" written on it.

After waiting a short while, a middle-aged female housekeeper dressed in a kimono jogged over and opened the villa gate for Matsushima Shunma.

Matsushima Shunma nodded to the housekeeper, loosened his taut tie, and walked seriously into the villa.

The roads inside the Du residence are winding and meandering; it took Matsushima Junma five minutes just to walk from the main gate of the villa to the entrance hall.

After passing through the long entrance hall, Matsushima Shunma entered the villa's living room.

There were about a dozen men and women gathered in the living room.

Among these people were Daisuke Kamiyama, the editor-in-chief of the literary magazine department of Takarajima Publishing House; Masayuki Kobayashi, the head of the personnel department; Sung-ki Kim, the head of the comics department; and many members of the board of directors of Takarajima Publishing House.

As soon as everyone saw Matsushima Shunma enter the living room, they all fixed their eyes on him.

But he didn't say a word.

Although Matsushima was extremely nervous at the moment, he forced himself to remain calm and kept his expression unchanged.

He then took out a voice recorder, turned the volume up to the maximum, and played back everything that Hosho Shirakawa had said in the president's office.

After listening to the entire recording, everyone frowned deeply.

The elderly man sitting in the center of the living room, the owner of the villa and a veteran member of the board of directors of Takarajima Publishing House, Du Yongde, crossed his arms and stared at everyone present, slowly saying, "I think Hosho Shirakawa has gone mad!"

"Taking advantage of his position as president, he bypassed our decision-making body and privately asked Nishimura Hisayuki to issue a challenge to Maijo Kyosuke!"

"If he could figure it out and win gracefully, I wouldn't say anything, but look at him now? He's made a complete mess of the Takarazuka Company!"

"Although he inherited his father's shares and is the largest shareholder in Formosa Publishing, he can't ignore the rest of us shareholders!"

"Especially since they didn't even bother to inform us of this decision, which would severely damage Takarajima Publishing if they lost!"

"This is absolutely outrageous!"

Du Yongde's words prompted all the shareholders and department heads around him to nod in agreement.

Upon seeing this, Matsushima Shunma immediately took out the reports he had collected from his briefcase and distributed them to everyone present.

"Please look at the report I sent out. Although the hard-boiled mystery competition between Maijo Kyosuke and Nishimura Toshiyuki has only been going on for five days..."

"But Kyosuke Maijo's *The City That Never Sleeps* has already surpassed Hisayuki Nishimura's *The Devil's Fang* by a whopping 60,000 copies!"

"At the same time, total sales reached a staggering 490,000 units!"

"Although this difference may not seem significant, everyone should be aware of it."

"This kind of sales competition boils down to the total sales in the first five days. If the total sales in the first five days create a gap of 60,000 copies, then unless something unexpected happens, the sales gap will only widen, which is almost like a slow death!"

"Therefore, our most urgent task now is to preserve the core of the Takarajima Society and cannot allow Hosho Shirakawa to continue squandering its resources!"

Du Yongde was a major shareholder behind Formosa Publishing House from its inception.

It not only holds a large share in Takarajima Publishing, but also a significant share in Bungei Shunju Publishing and Tokuma Shoten.

Du Yongde originally did not want to know how these companies operated, nor did he want to participate in the so-called power struggle; he only wanted to get his share of the profits.

Under such circumstances, it's natural to feel annoyed by this, because as long as Takara-sha continues to operate, it can bring them a continuous stream of profits.

Du Yongde was completely unconcerned about Hosho Shirakawa's so-called struggle to become one of the top three publishing houses in Japan and to restore Takarajima Publishing's former glory.

In Du Yongde's view, whether the short story mystery magazine "Fiction Mystery" was discontinued or the magazine department of Takarajima Publishing was cut, these were all irrelevant matters.

As long as Takarajima Publishing exists, even if it can't become one of the top three publishers in Japan, it can still earn a considerable amount of money every year from the copyrights of its books and comics.

Hosho Shirakawa's actions were tantamount to cutting off one of his own sources of income!

Thinking of all this, Du Yongde said, "Junma, the reason I arranged for you to join the Treasure Island Society was because I valued your abilities and talents."

"Since you were able to discover Hosho Shirakawa's problem and knew to contact me immediately, it means you must have your own ideas."

"So, now that things have come to this, stop hiding your plans and tell me your strategy."

"But I have two conditions, and you must remember them well."

"First, although Hosho Shirakawa is a muddle-headed idiot, he still holds the largest share of Takarajima Publishing. The most important thing is to get him to give up those shares!"

"Secondly, whatever method you use, the copyright of Takarajima Publishing House absolutely cannot be transferred, because the most valuable part of Takarajima Publishing House is the copyright it has accumulated over the decades!"

After Du Yongde finished speaking, he gestured for Matsushima Shunma to speak.

Matsushima Shunma bowed to Du Yongde and then spoke up, saying, "Mr. Du has already made himself very clear."

"I don't think I need to explain the issue of shares and copyright any further."

"I'll just state my opinion directly."

"I want everyone here to completely sideline Hosho Shirakawa and conceal all information that is favorable to him."

"After all, that guy is a complete waste. As long as he knows that in this ultimate showdown of hard-boiled mystery, he will inevitably lose to Noma Genjiro, and will not be able to shake Maijo Kyosuke's position."

"He will naturally seek my help. All I need to do is come up with a plan to sell off his shares and deceive him, and he will lose his position as the largest shareholder!"

"Once everything settles down, you major shareholders can jointly acquire his shares and squeeze Hosho Shirakawa out. Then, Takarajima-sha will be completely saved!"

Although Matsushima Shunma's plan was despicable, it was very practical.

In particular, the second largest shareholder, Du Yongde, simply doesn't care about the future development of Formosa Publishing House.

He only cares about the copyright royalties from Formosa Publishing House!

So after Du Yongde agreed to Matsushima Shunma's plan.

The countdown switch for Hosho Shirakawa has been activated by Matsushima Shunma!

While Hosho Shirakawa was still immersed in the illusion that he had won by smearing Maijo Kyosuke with Matsushima Shunma's abilities,

His power has been completely undermined.

After all, many people at Takarajima Publishing don't care whether Takarajima Publishing will soar to the top and become one of the top three publishing houses in Japan.

They only care about whether they can keep their current jobs.

Make sure you don't lose your job!

Under these circumstances, almost everyone at Takarajima Co., Ltd. began to obey the orders of the sales manager, Matsushima Shunma.

Regarding Hosho Shirakawa's attitude, the main approach is to listen but not act!

However, Hosho Shirakawa's business acumen was simply too poor; all he did was hide in his office and drink.

He was completely unaware that his rights had been usurped by Matsushima Shunma.

When Matsushima Shunma was sidelining Hosho Shirakawa's power.

Kodansha is celebrating the upcoming milestone of 50 million copies sold for "Sleepless Town"!

Because the total sales of "Never Sleeps" reached fifty copies in about five years!

This almost means that Wu Chengjing's "Never Sleeps" is very likely to break 100 copies in a month!

If a single product can still achieve a loss of over 100 units, it means that Wu Cheng Jing has already stepped from the "well-known" level to the "bestselling" level!

However, at this moment, Maijo Kyosuke was not paying much attention to what was happening outside.

At this moment, Maijo Kagaki is working hard to write "Nobody Dies," preparing to compete for the "Japan Mystery Writers Association Award"!