Intuition

Bang—

Tang Yao hadn't gone far when she heard the sound of papers, folders, and other things being swept off a desk behind her.

Ding Yilong had obviously lost it.

But Tang Yao didn't even look back. To be honest, even though she'd been prepared for this and knew the editor-in-chief was a despicable person,

she still hadn't expected him to be so shameless.

She'd personally reported Ou Congquan's problem to him just two days ago. He'd ignored her then, and now he had the nerve to make her take the fall.

He'd even put on the attitude of, "What the hell did you write? Explain yourself, then come up with a solution."

As the editor-in-chief,

he'd let the readers eat shit.

Now that he was under pressure, he'd finally thought to solve the problem.

What a joke!

Meanwhile,

Shang Tao looked at Tang Yao's retreating figure, then turned to look at Ding Yilong, her face full of shock. It was hard to tell whether she was more shocked by Tang Yao's defiance or by Ding Yilong's attitude—he hadn't read the original manuscript, and even after an editor had informed him, he'd still ignored the issue completely.

"See that?"

Ding Yilong seemed to notice Shang Tao's gaze. He stiffened, then slowly turned around, panting. "That's the kind of editor who works under me! Completely out of control! I don't know why HR arranged for someone like her to join the Editorial Department, but Teacher Ou drawing that kind of plot definitely has something to do with her! My biggest regret is putting her in charge of the magazine's flagship manga artist. I'll start the process to fire her immediately.

"People like her are a blight on the entire Editorial Department! When problems arise, they don't think about solving them first. They just shift the blame, then act like they're entitled to talk back to their superiors. If the vice president saw an editor like this for himself, he'd probably understand at once why something like this happened."

"..."

Shang Tao looked at Ding Yilong, still panting, and frowned at his words.

She could understand him trying to protect himself.

After all, people were selfish.

But he'd just been thoroughly put in his place, unable to get a single word in, reduced to impotent rage. Now that she'd left, he was immediately shifting the blame, acting as if nothing had happened.

It just felt... ridiculous.

Did he really think everyone else was blind?

Shang Tao couldn't help saying, "I thought you'd met every editor before they joined."

No legitimate company would bring someone into a department without even asking the department head.

"Then I misjudged her."

"..."

Shang Tao stopped paying attention to him.

Because, after hearing what Tang Yao had just said, she'd realized something.

Ding Yilong might be the least reliable person in the entire Editorial Department!

So Shang Tao no longer wanted to deal with him. Instead, she looked toward where Tang Yao had gone and fell into thought.

She'd poured a great deal of effort into this website. She couldn't pretend she wasn't furious about what had happened.

She could have killed Ding Yilong and Ou Congquan right then and there!

And they'd chosen this exact moment to publish a controversial plot, stirring up the readers. What was wrong with them?

They could've waited a week! Just one week!

But it had already happened. There was no point dwelling on that now. The question was how to fix it.

She really, really didn't want to delay the website's launch. Not everyone at the company supported the new-media initiative... If Vice President Zhao Fang Sheng hadn't pushed it through despite the opposition, the website wouldn't just have failed to launch—the whole project might have been stillborn.

If they really delayed this time, too many variables could come into play. Who knew what might happen next?

But she also knew... At a magazine publisher, content came first, and profit came first. She had neither the means nor the authority to interfere with the work of the manga artists under the content department. Nor could she simply ignore the problem and, without knowing what Ou Congquan would draw next, follow President Zhao's idea to heavily promote that AORI line and reassure the readers.

If the story really did develop in line with AORI, that would be fine.

But what if it didn't? If they promoted it heavily now, readers' expectations would be sky-high, and the next issue could still serve them another plate of shit.

Then she'd be the one left hanging.

She'd come to the Editorial Department hoping to get the answer she wanted from the editor in charge.

Instead, she'd witnessed that scene...

Come to think of it,

could one line of AORI really calm the readers down and get them to focus on the Manga Award and the new website launch instead?

It didn't seem likely.

Maybe they really should delay things, wait for the uproar to die down, and then reconsider...

Shang Tao rubbed her brow, ready to give up.

But as soon as the thought came to her,

she pictured the faces of those executives who'd strongly opposed the online manga website.

"...No."

Shang Tao immediately lowered her hand and steeled her resolve again.

The launch of the website and the Manga Award absolutely could not be delayed.

She looked once more toward where Tang Yao had disappeared. Ignoring Ding Yilong, who was still talking, she strode after her.

She didn't know much about the Editorial Department, and she'd never met the editor named Tang Yao before.

But she knew Ding Yilong... Just as Tang Yao had said, when you worked with people long enough, it was easy to figure out which colleagues were capable, which were devious, which coasted along, and which were useless pieces of shit... And Ding Yilong was undoubtedly one of the last kind!

What had just happened had also shown Shang Tao exactly what a piece of shit Ding Yilong was.

She wasn't deaf or blind. She didn't want to hear another word from him. By comparison, she found Tang Yao, the supposedly irredeemable editor Ding Yilong had described, much more trustworthy.

After all, compared with the useless Ding Yilong... Tang Yao had spotted the problem at the storyboard stage and had even tried to change Teacher Ou's mind. Considering that, along with the AORI line, perhaps... she might have a solution? Whether it was changing Teacher Ou's mind or something else, it was worth a try.

It was just a hunch, but there was nothing else she could do now.

Thinking this, Shang Tao strode toward Tang Yao.

Meanwhile,

Ding Yilong was still shifting the blame when he suddenly noticed Shang Tao had left. He froze, then turned around and saw her striding toward Tang Yao. His face instantly darkened.

He immediately realized that Tang Yao's words had affected Shang Tao.

And Shang Tao had been sent by Vice President Zhao...

At the thought,

Ding Yilong's breathing hitched, and his face twisted into a grimace. After glaring at Tang Yao's desk, he lowered his head and snatched up his phone.

Then,

he unlocked it, opened his contacts, and stared at Ou Congquan's name, his expression shifting unpredictably. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Meanwhile,

after returning to her desk, Tang Yao first took a moment to compose herself, pushing aside the unpleasantness before pulling out her drawing paper.

She'd run into plenty of this kind of bullshit in her previous life, just not on such an extreme scale, and her bosses hadn't been such idiots.

Maybe it was because this parallel world had the Sakura Prefecture Autonomous Region?

Tang Yao couldn't figure it out, and for now, she didn't want to waste any effort thinking about it. It would only confuse her. After all, she'd lived for over twenty years in her previous life... And the geography there didn't match up with this world at all, so it was better to accept things little by little. Otherwise, she was afraid she might one day say something completely at odds with common knowledge.

Besides, she didn't want to waste any more time on that idiot editor-in-chief. She'd just reached a stopping point in her work, and she might as well use the time to keep drawing Fate Zero.

After all, even the magazine publisher was embracing new media. Tang Yao was genuinely worried this parallel world might come up with gacha games too. It wouldn't be fun if she lost the first-mover advantage.

Fate Zero really wasn't easy to draw.

What many people didn't know was that Fate Zero had a manga adaptation too. But honestly... perhaps because the anime had set such a high bar, and because manga was a different medium that needed to distinguish itself from the anime, the overall experience wasn't as good as the animated version.

Most importantly, it was too long...

Tang Yao didn't have that much time to draw fourteen whole volumes and slowly unfold the story.

By then, forget about gacha games—the moment would have passed.

So she was more inclined to follow the anime's example: introduce the main characters as concisely as possible at the beginning, then have them summon their Servants together.

But that was incredibly difficult.

There was no helping it. Fate had too much lore, and too many characters. There was a reason the first episode of the Fate Zero anime ran for over forty minutes. Many longtime viewers probably still remembered the anime's famous "two-person stage play" scene... They'd had no choice but to do it that way to explain the setting.

Just thinking about it that day had given Tang Yao a headache, but luckily she had the anime to use as a reference.

The manga in her previous life came out after the anime. There was no reason to adapt the anime into a manga, and with Fate Zero's popularity, who would read it if she just drew it exactly like the anime?

But this was different. There was no Fate Zero anime here.

There was a lot more room to work with.

That said, manga couldn't move... The anime could have two characters carry a scene, but what was she supposed to do in a manga?

Tang Yao was struggling with that too, though she'd tentatively decided to go with two people carrying the scene...

"Editor Tang?"

Tang Yao was staring at her drawing paper, thinking about the manga.

Suddenly, a voice called out.

"..."

Tang Yao came back to herself and saw Director Shang Tao standing beside her. "What can I do for you, Director Shang?"

"I wanted to ask about how Teacher Ou's work will develop from here."

Shang Tao hesitated and gathered her thoughts before saying, "If you can, I'd appreciate it if you could tell me."

"...Sure."

Tang Yao only had a problem with that editor-in-chief who never did his job. She had no particular dislike of Director Shang, who was quite polite, so she didn't hesitate. She told her about Teacher Ou's plans for the story.

In short, it was still going to be a disaster.

"..."

Shang Tao fell silent when she heard the outrageous plot Teacher Ou planned to draw next. After a long while, she finally asked, "So what do you think about that final promotional line?"

"Someone asked me the same thing not long ago. If I'm being honest, it was out of a sense of responsibility as an editor, and a bit of sympathy... I felt sorry for the readers."

Tang Yao replied casually, "I think there's a better way to handle this plot. Without changing Ou Congquan's ideas, it could be presented in a more suitable way. But unfortunately, Ou Congquan didn't look at any of the revision suggestions I sent him, or anything else.

"And warning our editor-in-chief didn't help either.

"That's how we ended up here.

"That AORI line was a last resort. I knew the readers would blow up, but there was nothing I could do to change things. So I added AORI to give them a little hope, while also leaving a reminder and some room to turn things around. If Ou Congquan pays attention to the readers' feedback and sees how badly he's handled the story, then maybe seeing that final AORI line will change his mind. After all, a biweekly magazine gives us plenty of time, even if the odds are extremely slim."

"..."

Shang Tao was slightly taken aback by Tang Yao's words, then sighed. This Editor Tang... was indeed much more reliable than Ding Yilong.

And Ding Yilong really was a piece of shit.

But she quickly had no time to dwell on that. She wilted all over. "Slim odds... Do you think he won't change his mind?"

Tang Yao scribbled on the drawing paper as she casually replied, "It'll be difficult. He's a stubborn, arrogant manga artist."

"Then I suppose we really do have to delay things..."

Shang Tao couldn't help rubbing her brow again. "So all the effort we've put in up to now will be wasted? The website and the Manga Award are about to launch. We've prepared everything across all the channels, and then this happens..."

"..."

The pen tip on the drawing paper suddenly stopped.

Hearing Shang Tao's offhand remark, Tang Yao suddenly realized something.

She looked at the word "promotion" at the top of the page, tilted her head, and inspiration struck. Her eyes lit up.

"Director Shang."

Tang Yao's thoughts churned. After a long moment, she finally managed to suppress her excitement and slowly looked up. "You're the new-media director, right?"

"Hm? Yes."

Shang Tao looked down at the young, beautiful woman in front of her, puzzled by the sudden question.

"Actually..."

A smile slowly appeared on Tang Yao's flawless, fair face. "I have a suggestion. Would you be willing to hear it?"

The promotional window!

The channel problem!

The copyright problem!

The answer to all of these problems was right in front of her.