Dragon Star Award

"Dragon Star Award..." Chu Yu thought for a moment, then nodded.

"I've heard of it. I think it's a manga competition held over in Modu."

"What's up? Why bring it up?"

"Good. Since you know a little about the award, it'll be easier to explain." Su Ruo ate as she spoke.

"The Dragon Star Award was launched by the Modu Seven Great Manga Companies. Its purpose is to recognize outstanding manga from across Dragon Country, excluding the Modu region."

"It's held once a year, and the requirements for entries are..."

After a while.

"So you mean... No, wait. Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal is eligible to enter the competition for this award?"

"You've got it wrong," Su Ruo said, shaking her head.

"It's not eligible to compete outright. It's eligible to compete for one of the entry slots..."

After Su Ruo explained further, Chu Yu finally understood what she was getting at!

Dragon Country had more than forty provinces and a population of over 1.6 billion. The manga industry was in its golden age, and countless manga companies, large and small, operated across the land.

But if you set aside RB Island and looked at the mainland, you'd find that, with the exception of the Modu Seven Great Manga Companies, nearly every province's manga industry published only within its own borders. Often, an outstanding manga artist would emerge in one of the provinces, but without a platform with enough reach, it was difficult for them to make a name for themselves across Dragon Country.

To keep these talented manga artists and their works from being overlooked, the Modu Seven Great Manga Companies invited influential manga from each province every year to gather for a manga awards competition.

That award was the Dragon Star Award!

"Luo Province has three entry slots. The three major manga companies here—Feng Yu, Mo Yu, and Dragon Fang—each control one."

"Usually, Mo Yu's slot goes to Magic Realm, but things are different this year..." Su Ruo said.

"After the results of the most recent Popularity Poll came out, four works from Mo Yu Manga Company stood out from the rest on Man Ying: Shen Xin's Magic Realm, Dong Yun's Secret Girl, your Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, and Wang He's Tian Shu."

"So today, the Editorial Department spent the whole afternoon discussing which work to send to compete for the award..."

"There's no need to discuss Tian Shu. It hasn't beaten Magic Realm even once in three years, and, like in previous years, its editor isn't contesting the slot..."

"The real question is our Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal and Secret Girl. Both have shown strong upward momentum, so Magic Realm's performance this year isn't enough to convince everyone."

Chu Yu understood. "Convince everyone," huh? It was probably just Su Ruo and Song Jiayu, who couldn't stand each other, refusing to back down.

"So after a full day of discussion, Editor-in-Chief Pang made the call, and we came to a decision."

"There's still a month until the new year, and the deadline to submit the entries is before then."

"Editor-in-Chief Pang said that among our three works—Magic Realm, Secret Girl, and Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal—we'll disregard this week's results. Over the next four weeks, whichever work comes first in the Popularity Poll the most times will be the one we enter."

Three works, four weekly polls. In other words, if one of them took first place three times over the next month, it would be guaranteed the entry slot.

Su Ruo didn't ask whether Chu Yu wanted to compete. Anyone who turned down an opportunity like this would be a fool.

It was a chance for his work to reach beyond its home province and catch the attention of manga fans across Dragon Country. Anyone who still wanted to make it in the industry would seize it.

The next four weeks?

Chu Yu nodded. As it happened, the chapters scheduled for January would cover the Third Section of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, the Yoshioka storyline—the part where the story began building toward its climax.

"The Dragon Star Award..."

Chu Yu let out a long breath.

"By the way, Sister Su... Are today's Popularity Poll results out yet?" Zhao Qinyin, who had been quiet until now, suddenly asked.

"They are." Su Ruo nodded, pulled up the message, and handed her phone to the two of them.

The rankings were the same as last week, when Episode 6 had been published.

First place: Magic Realm, 38,944 votes.

Second place: Secret Girl, 38,113 votes.

Third place: Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, 38,012 votes.

Chu Yu's expression turned odd, too.

The top three had kept their rankings, and all three had gained votes.

Yet the gap between first and third was less than a thousand votes.

At this point, the difference between the three works was practically negligible.

But unlike Chu Yu, who remained unruffled, Song Jiayu was at home staring at the analysis report before him, unable to calm down.

It contained a range of statistics and a line graph comparing the three works.

The graph for Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, which had shot almost straight upward, was an eyesore.

He wasn't all that concerned about Magic Realm.

But what was he supposed to make of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal? It had gone from just over four thousand votes for its first chapter, to more than fourteen thousand for its second, and now to over thirty-eight thousand for its sixth...

With every new installment, the work gained somewhere between five or six thousand votes and over ten thousand.

Who could keep up with that?

If it kept growing like this next week, it would break Mo Yu's all-time Popularity Poll record. It would also become the first work at Mo Yu to surpass forty thousand votes.

At that point, who could possibly stand against Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal at Mo Yu?

Who could compete with it for the Dragon Star Award entry slot?

At the thought, Song Jiayu's frustration only grew.

He'd come all the way to Luo Province, pulled strings, and poured in so much effort before finally getting Dong Yun to agree to work with him. He'd never imagined that Su Ruo—someone he'd never even taken seriously before—would find a freak of a manga artist like Shui Xin.

After everything, she had become his biggest enemy at Mo Yu.

How could that woman be so lucky?

He'd failed to win Su Ruo over, and she'd ignored him. His attempts to suppress her had become a joke now that Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal was on the rise. And now, she was even about to surpass him in work performance!

How had things turned out so differently from what he'd imagined?

Song Jiayu had never been one to accept defeat, especially not at the hands of a woman like Su Ruo, who dared look down on him!

Shui Xin...

It was all because of that guy.

When Shui Xin had serialized The Garden of Words, Song Jiayu should have acted decisively and crushed him. He shouldn't have given him the chance to serialize it at all. Then there would never have been a work like Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.

Song Jiayu took a deep breath.

But it was too late to do anything about it now. All he could do was trust that Secret Girl would keep up its momentum, overtake Magic Realm, and still hold off Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.