novelraw Chapter 123 The Challenge of the Hard-Boiled King
Chapter 123 The Challenge of the Hard-Boiled King
Chapter 123 The Challenge of the Hard-Boiled King
Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo.
Inside Kinokuniya Bookstore.
At this moment, inside Kinokuniya Bookstore, Kyosuke Maijo is furiously signing the title pages of "Collector's Edition" copies of "The Tokyo Zodiac Murder Mystery".
"Ms. Jiang Liu, Mr. Yu Shan, and President Noma, have you considered my feelings?!"
"The Astrological Murder Mystery" – a collector's edition with a print run of 50,000 copies!
"Although I'm a 'fast writer,' I'm not an octopus!"
"At this rate, I reckon I'll be worked to death here before I even finish signing these 50,000 documents!"
Although Maijo Kyosuke didn't stop working, he didn't hide his dissatisfaction at all.
Jiang Liu Meili used a cool towel to wipe the sweat from Maishiro Jingjie's face as he was writing furiously.
Although Jiang Liumei didn't say anything, the look of heartache on her face was enough to show her feelings at that moment.
Uyama Hideomi was fanning Maijo Kyosuke with a fan, noticing that Maijo Kyosuke had been signing autographs at his desk for a long time.
His shirt was soaked through as if he'd been drenched in rain, and he looked somewhat apologetic: "Ms. Mai, how should I put this—"
"Normally, for a book to be eligible for a collector's edition, the production rights for a collector's edition are granted only after the combined sales of other versions, including the paperback edition and single-volume edition, have reached 400,000 copies."
"For most authors, it may take a year or even more than ten years to sell 400,000 copies of their works. Even for the faster ones, it still takes a few months."
"Under these circumstances, many works have already accumulated a considerable number of fans, so when a book needs to be produced as a 'collector's edition,' the president usually chooses to produce around 10,000 to 50,000 copies for loyal fans to purchase and collect."
Since the primary purpose of "collector's editions" is for collection, most of them will come with a signed copy.
"After all, this is a book that sells for five thousand yen a copy. Without a personal signature, it will definitely reduce the number of people who want to buy it."
Upon hearing Hideomi Uyama's words, Kyosuke Maijo asked, "But normally, 'collector's edition' books are usually signed by me in advance, right?"
Upon hearing Maishiro Kyosuke's words, Uyama Hideomi nodded: "Normally, that's how it is, but—Maishiro-sensei, you should know that you're a bit abnormal."
"Your sudden rise to fame is a groundbreaking, phenomenal exception!"
"We have almost never encountered a situation where someone suddenly becomes popular and their popularity skyrockets in just a few days."
"Therefore, in order to prevent this popularity from being interrupted, we ultimately had no choice but to quickly arrange for you to sign in person."
"However, this is also good. This will not only increase the popularity of Teacher Wucheng, but also bring her closer to the readers and increase her popularity among casual readers."
"But... even President Noma probably didn't expect that."
"Mashiro-sensei has so many fan clubs, and they've been signing autographs for two days straight, it's like they have to sign all 50,000 copies."
Maishiro Kyosuke didn't listen to a word of Uyama Hideomi's explanation.
Right now, all I want to do is speed things up, finish signing these "collector's edition" copies of "The Astrological Murderer" as soon as possible, and then get some rest.
"Next one————"
"Snapped!"
A “collector’s edition” of “The Tokyo Zodiac Murders” was slapped in front of Maijo Kyosuke.
The clapping was so loud that the table Maijo Kyosuke used for autographs shook.
Kyosuke Maijo signed his name here for two consecutive days.
Most of the fans I encountered were enthusiastic, polite, and courteous.
They handle their books with care and would never slam them onto the table.
Faced with this situation, Maishiro Kyosuke frowned and looked at the man in front of him.
As he looked up, Maijo Kyosuke smelled a strong aroma of alcohol, a unique scent with a hint of malt, clearly the whiskey that detectives in "hard-boiled mystery novels" love.
The man standing in front of Maijo Kyosuke was about forty-seven or forty-eight years old. He was wearing sunglasses and his face was flushed.
There's not much difference between them and the drunkards lying at the bar entrance.
Since the last attack, Maijo Kyosuke has felt that there are few good books published by Japanese publishers.
Engaging in vicious business warfare is one thing, after all, people die for money, and birds die for food.
However, the fact that someone hired someone to cut off another person's arm was somewhat unexpected for Kyosuke Maishiro.
At this moment, he saw the drunkard staring straight at him, looking like he had come with ill intentions.
Without wasting words with the other party, Maishiro Kyosuke turned his head and gave Uyama Hideomi a look, and Uyama Hideomi immediately waved to the security personnel in the distance.
They planned to have security personnel take this strange drunkard away.
Just as the security personnel separated the readers who were queuing up for autographs and were about to take the drunkard away...
The drunkard suddenly laughed and said to Maishiro Kyosuke, "You must be Mr. Maishiro, right?"
"Please don't worry, I'm not here today to cause trouble for you, Mr. Mai."
Upon hearing the other person's words, Maishiro Kyosuke reached out and stopped the security personnel who were about to grab the drunkard.
He then looked at the drunkard and asked, "Excuse me—sir, who are you? What are you doing here?"
The drunkard extended his slightly trembling hand, took off his black sunglasses, and smiled at Maishiro Kyosuke, saying, "Mr. Maishiro, it's a pleasure to meet you. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Nishimura Toshiyuki."
"Like you, I am also a mystery novelist, but the difference is that my works belong to the hard-boiled genre," which is significantly different from your "orthodox mystery" style.
"I'm here for no other reason than to issue you a challenge!"
When Maishiro Kyosuke heard that the other person was Nishimura Toshiyuki, he was slightly taken aback.
Because regardless of whether Maijo Kyosuke was a time traveler or not, he had heard of the name of "Hardcore Mystery King" Nishimura Hisayuki.
When Maijo Kyosuke heard that Nishimura Hisayuki was going to challenge him, he was even more surprised.
I have absolutely no idea what happened.
Looking at the somewhat tipsy Nishimura Toshiyuki, Maishiro Kyosuke asked with a puzzled expression, "Nishimura-sensei, I don't know how I offended you?"
"You're a writer who leans towards hard-boiled mystery, while I'm a writer who leans towards classic mystery. We don't interfere with each other at all; we're not even in the same league. Why are you challenging me?"
Upon hearing Maishiro Kyosuke's words, Nishimura Toshiyuki smiled slightly, pulled out a flat sake bottle from his pocket, took two sips, and said, exhaling the smell of sake, "Maki-sensei, to be honest, I really disliked your arrogant remarks on the Edogawa Ranpo Ryu-chō Award stage at the beginning!"
"Because I think you're an arrogant, attention-seeking jerk."
"But when you published 'A Lisianthus' in Top Hat magazine, I knew that you, Mr. Mai, were talented."
"After reading 'The Tokyo Zodiac Murders,' my dislike for you lessened considerably, and I felt that the classic mystery genre had found a worthy successor."
"However, these two points alone are not enough to eliminate my dislike for you. What truly made me stop disliking you was this morning."
"This morning I bought a copy of the second issue of 'Top Hat' magazine, and Professor Wu Cheng's article 'Convergence' really gave this old guy a refreshing feeling!"
"Others may not know how exquisite your work is, but as a writer who has been writing for more than ten years, I am truly in awe of your talent, Mr. Wucheng."
"So, let's act like men and have a real showdown?"
"Only battles, challenges, and—and whiskey!—can unleash a writer's true potential!"
"Ms. Mai, please accept my challenge!"