"Suggestions?"
Shang Tao's fingers paused as he gently rubbed his temples. He looked at the beautiful girl in front of him, who seemed far too pretty to be an editor, and frowned in confusion.
"Mm-hm."
Tang Yao turned her chair to face him. She gathered her thoughts, then said, "About the Manga Award: because of the controversy over Girl, Boy, and Sword, angry readers have started turning on the upcoming Manga Award too, right? They're even taking out their anger on something completely unrelated and starting to boycott the award. It's giving you a headache. You don't know what this will do to the upcoming Manga Award, or, more importantly, to the website. Am I right?"
"Right."
Shang Tao lowered his hand from his temple and said helplessly, "Don't you think this is dangerous? The readers are acting as if the entire magazine is guilty... Even if we heavily promote the Manga Award and the website, the readers won't buy it, will they? The posts during the promotional campaign are full of abuse. In this situation, anyone would worry something might go wrong."
"Definitely."
Tang Yao nodded in agreement. "Those readers might deliberately downvote the Manga Award entries when the website launches... Even if it doesn't get that extreme, at this rate, there's no point launching the website. The Manga Award is supposed to bring traffic to the website, right? But everywhere you look, people are condemning the award. It'll probably be hard to attract anyone now.
"After all, Girl, Boy, and Sword is one of our magazine's flagship series. This sudden turn that feels like being force-fed crap has probably already spread throughout the readership.
"And promoting the Manga Award and the website at a time like this is basically giving readers who came to watch the train wreck even more to laugh at. People who were planning to submit their work will hesitate, while readers will naturally assume our magazine can't be trusted. Then they'll think the other entries in the Manga Award..."
Tang Yao trailed off.
But Shang Tao understood. His breath caught in his throat.
Tang Yao's words instantly snapped him out of his wishful thinking.
He was too close to the situation to see it clearly.
There really was no salvaging things now. Launching the website as planned was too risky... Teacher Ou's outrageous move had probably already spread among readers. Nothing they did would help. They were out of options. The website launch would have to be postponed.
At that moment,
Shang Tao's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally sank.
Still,
Shang Tao gave Tang Yao, who had tilted her head back to look at him, a somewhat aggrieved glance... There was something especially awkward about hearing a death sentence from an editor in the content department.
The content department was the reason all this had happened... So what had he done to deserve this?! He hadn't done anything wrong. Their flagship manga artist had suddenly lost it and caused this mess, and in the end, it was that artist's editor who had to deliver the death sentence.
"..."
Shang Tao felt his chest tighten at the thought.
Still, as awkward as it felt, he knew that things wouldn't have gotten this bad if it weren't for Ding Yilong... After all, the girl in front of him was a victim too.
So he quickly pushed aside his stray thoughts and said politely, "I understand. Thank you for the warning. I'll be going..."
Since nothing could be changed,
he needed to go back and figure out what to do next.
But just as he turned around,
"Wait, Director Shang. I haven't finished yet..."
Tang Yao sounded a little helpless. This world was just too full of martial spirit; the wartime mentality had lasted too long. She'd said all that, and he still hadn't caught on.
"Hm?"
Shang Tao turned back, looking completely baffled, as if to ask, "What else is there?"
Tang Yao sighed inwardly. She could only change her approach, gather her thoughts, and explain to the director in front of her. "Director Shang, have you ever heard the saying, 'Bad publicity is still publicity'?"
"Bad publicity is still publicity...?"
"Mm. It's true that the controversy has dragged the Manga Award and the website into the backlash. But that also means that if you take this opportunity to promote them heavily, readers who have nowhere to vent their anger will focus all their attention on the Manga Award and the upcoming website."
Tang Yao raised a fair finger and began explaining with a perfectly straight face... no, persuading him. "Think about it. Our magazine may not rank among the top three in sales, but it's still a major publication. And its flagship manga... How well known do you think it is among manga readers?"
Shang Tao replied without thinking, "Very well known, of course. Even readers who don't normally subscribe to our magazine probably know Girl, Boy, and Sword..."
"Exactly."
Tang Yao coaxed him along. "Doesn't that mean that even readers who don't follow the series have heard about what happened? A flagship series from a major magazine has gone off the rails. Plenty of manga fans will join the discussion just to see the drama, right?"
"Yeah..."
"And aren't manga readers talking about it everywhere these past few days? If you promote the Manga Award and the website now, won't the readers who've been driven over the edge by the latest developments share their feelings about it with other fans? They might say something like, 'Their flagship manga is already a load of crap, and now they're making a big deal out of some Manga Award and website? What a bunch of idiots. I wonder if everything on that website is going to be garbage that force-feeds readers crap, too.'
"After all, heavily promoting the Manga Award at a time like this is bound to make people hate it."
Tang Yao lowered her finger and continued, "Then readers who haven't even followed Girl, Boy, and Sword will hear that, see all the promotion everywhere, and get curious enough to check out the website, won't they? They're there to see the drama anyway."
"..."
At first, Shang Tao hadn't caught on.
But if he still didn't understand after Tang Yao had spelled it out like that, he'd be an idiot.
His eyes slowly widened, and he murmured, "You mean use this incident to drive traffic to the website... No, no, that won't work. Teacher Ou's reputation—uh, that doesn't matter, but the website's reputation will be awful, won't it?! What good will attracting readers do?"
"That's where the big-name authors' commissioned works come in."
Seeing that he was starting to come around, Tang Yao immediately outlined the next step. "For the Manga Award, didn't we commission a lot of successful, established manga artists to submit work and build up excitement? Most of those works are excellent. You could release some of them early through social media, various channels, and so on!"
Shang Tao was already reeling from her explanation. "Release them early...?"
"Right."
Tang Yao nodded earnestly. "Readers don't actually have a problem with the Manga Award. If anything, making it easier for them to read excellent manga does them no harm at all. Publishing manga online is the trend. Before long, it'll become one of the most important ways for readers to enjoy manga.
"The problem I mentioned earlier exists mainly because of Ou Congquan's work. The website and the Manga Award have just been caught in the crossfire... All we need to do is show readers that the Manga Award is the Manga Award, and Ou Congquan is Ou Congquan. They're not the same thing. Release some excellent works that will be published on the website early, and readers will understand that. Then all the problems will be solved.
"Of course, to achieve that, the works we release early can't be mediocre. Even among the big-name creators, we need to choose carefully. We need works with buzz, works that make an impact, the best-drawn ones..."
"..."
Shang Tao's expression changed. Delight gradually surfaced in his eyes.
That's right!
How had he not thought of this? They could absolutely do it!
The readers weren't targeting his website, and they weren't targeting the Manga Award. He just needed to make them realize that!
Releasing some excellent works early was a perfect choice! It would help readers see at once that Ou Congquan and the Manga Award were two entirely different things.
This controversy might not only spare the website and the Manga Award any damage—it could even build anticipation for the website!
He could use Teacher Ou's outburst to promote his website!
"Editor Tang, this might actually work!"
The more Shang Tao thought about it, the more convinced he became, and the more excited he looked. "You really are our website's lucky star..."
But as he spoke,
he suddenly stopped, remembering something. His expression stiffened.
Tang Yao noticed his change of expression. "What's wrong?"
After a moment's silence, Shang Tao said, "...The approach you just suggested means heavily promoting the Manga Award, right?"
Tang Yao nodded. "Mm-hm."
Shang Tao hesitated before speaking. "If things really go the way you expect, won't Girl, Boy, and Sword end up in the hot seat? Promoting the Manga Award entries is fine, but what about Teacher Ou's next update...?"
He didn't finish,
but Tang Yao knew what he meant and nodded.
It was inevitable. The better the Manga Award entries were, the worse Ou Congquan's latest developments would look by comparison.
"Then I don't think that'll work."
Shang Tao gave a bitter laugh. Thinking of the deputy editor-in-chief's face, he shook his head. "At the magazine... content is everything. That's the most important series we have. We can't do that. The deputy editor-in-chief would never agree."
After all,
an online manga platform was just an experiment.
Taking a gamble on the future was fine.
But sacrificing one of the magazine's biggest-name creators for that future...
There was no way Zhao Fang Sheng would agree.
"..."
Tang Yao was taken aback. Then she lowered her head slightly and fell silent.
She seemed torn and hesitant. After a long while, she looked up, wrinkled her delicate nose, and spoke as if she'd made up her mind. "Then let me make the line I wrote in AORI come true. This issue's developments aren't a sign he's lost it. They're just taking the long way around to set up an explosive turn later."
Shang Tao blinked. "You mean...?"
"Mm. I'll do everything I can to change Ou Congquan's mind."
Tang Yao stood up and said seriously, "I'll take responsibility as the editor in charge."
Seeing Tang Yao's expression and hearing her righteous declaration, Shang Tao straightened up and regarded her with deep respect.
He really hadn't been wrong about her.
Compared with Ding Yilong... this editor was incredibly reliable! She was thinking so carefully about the company and the upcoming website! Even if she had to put up with all kinds of grievances, she was still willing to fight for them!
At that moment,
Shang Tao wanted nothing more than to run up to Ding Yilong, point at his nose, and yell, "Look at yourself! Now look at her!"
"But..."
Just as Shang Tao's thoughts were starting to wander,
Tang Yao looked at the new media director in front of her, narrowed her eyes slightly, and suddenly added, "I have one condition... This has nothing to do with Ding Yilong. I'm only doing it because Director Shang asked me to, for the sake of the Manga Award."
"...I understand."
Shang Tao came back to himself. He glanced in the direction of Ding Yilong's office and said with some disgust, "Don't worry. I'll report everything that happened this time exactly as it happened, including what he did... This was a request from the new media department. The editor-in-chief of the content department had nothing to do with it and only knew how to shirk responsibility."
"There's something else..."
Tang Yao nodded. Then her expression turned serious, and she spoke with utmost solemnity. "For the manga works we release early, I'd like to recommend two of them. I've read both, and they're excellent and sure to get people talking! As an editor, I can't bear to see them go unnoticed. I'll give you the manuscripts to look over. If everything goes smoothly, could you include these two works among the ones released early? I promise the readers won't be disappointed!"
The map of Yan had finally reached its end.
Now the dagger was revealed.
"No problem. I trust your professional judgment."
Shang Tao heard that and regarded her with deep respect once more, then agreed without hesitation.
He even wanted to run up to Ding Yilong again, point at his nose, and yell, "Look at yourself! Now look at her!"
In a situation like this, she was still thinking about the manga artists under her! What about him?
"Then I'll thank you on behalf of the manga artists."
"It's no trouble. What genres are the two manga?"
Tang Yao let out a gleeful YES in her heart, but her expression didn't change at all. "Horror and... fantasy."
"Horror and fantasy."
Shang Tao seemed surprised, but he still nodded. "As long as the quality is good, there'll be no problem."
At that very moment,
Director Shang still hadn't realized that Tang Yao had only asked for the two works to be among those released early... She hadn't said they would enter the Manga Award, whose rights belonged to the magazine.
Nor had she mentioned that one of them was an ongoing series.
All he could say was,
beautiful women knew how to deceive people.
Tang Yao might think of herself as a tough guy deep down... but she was beautiful.
Before you continue