The plot arrived, the plot arrived, uh, and then it left

"Sigh." The hotel staff member in charge of operations shook his head again, muttering to himself, "I wonder whose kid that is. I hope he wasn't sent by one of your publishing house's rivals to stir up trouble..."

Other big shots were also huddled together in groups of three or five. It was at this moment that Sogo Doma realized he still couldn't break into their conversations; discussing a few classic works before a meeting was simply an unspoken rule for posturing in literary circles.

Some unspoken rules are better left unbroken, but once they are shattered...

In fairy tales, The Emperor's New Clothes only highlights a child's innocence and courage to speak the truth, but in reality, all that would await him is the cold, hard gallows.

Do you really think there are no smart people in stories? Smart people understand, but they don't say anything; they keep their heads down and bide their time.

A short while later.

Quite a few authors began to eye Sogo Doma, seemingly attempting to discern his identity from his appearance. Some of the bolder ones even started whispering bets with those they knew nearby.

Faced with this situation, Sogo Doma was incredibly excited: It's here, it's finally here! The moment for a literary plagiarist to show off and slap faces. Could it be that I was wrong before, and I'm actually the protagonist after all?

How should I carry out this act of showing off in a smooth, rounded way?

If I haven't guessed wrong, if I follow the plagiarism route, I should develop ACG... No, I should establish the persona of a great literary master and walk toward the pinnacle of life from here on out.

However, three minutes later.

"Ah, what a hassle. Why must I establish the persona of a great literary master? Isn't it just as good to copy a few things and collect royalties? And isn't it even better to take those royalties and play the stock market, big fish eating small fish?" Sogo, whose enthusiasm lasted only three minutes, had already begun to overturn his previous hypothesis.

Subsequent facts proved that Sogo Doma had overthought certain aspects.

After all, before the situation was clear and Sogo Doma's identity was verified, anyone who jumped out to shout and wildly question everything would likely only exist in novels.

In fact, don't let the fact that these guys seemed to be slacking off fool you; if you really look into it, every single one of them is a highly educated intellectual with plenty of degrees.

Everyone here makes a living by their writing and their imagination—no one is going to let anyone else pull a fast one on them. To appear at an internal publishing house gathering and blatantly break the unspoken rules? If you said they had no status, even these guys wouldn't believe it themselves.

Those with more vivid imaginations had already figured out how to turn this into a suspense drama.

Those with less vivid imaginations guessed: "I heard people from XX Publishing House were invited today. Could the little guy have been brought by them?"

It couldn't be helped; they were all mystery novelists. If their imaginations weren't active enough, they'd starve. Some even began to weave a tale of grudges and entanglements between the major publishing houses based on Sogo Doma's appearance.

Regardless of what they imagined, these inter-publishing house affairs had nothing to do with them. Gossiping was fine, but as for sticking their necks out for a publishing house—with all the major ones present, who knew whose toes they might step on?

Besides.

He was just a child, after all. If his status were high, a simple "children say the darndest things" would brush it off. Didn't you see how many people hadn't stepped forward? Only a few big shots had asked a few questions: "Whose child is this?"

They weren't stupid; they'd rather wait and see how the publishing house handled this emergency.

However, it had to be said—this kid was a real troublemaker. If their own children had offended so many industry big shots, they would have broken their legs.

A few minutes later, the hotel staff member who went to look for someone didn't return, but Editor Yamagami did.

"Yo!" Finally seeing someone he recognized, Sogo Doma raised his hand to greet him.

He felt like he had a light-attracting constitution; the moment he spoke, he once again drew the attention of the entire room.

Looking in the direction of Sogo Doma's greeting, a group of authors also turned their heads.

"Is this kid from Editor Yamagami's family?"

"What kind of trick is Editor Yamagami playing?"

"Is the publishing house preparing to interfere with established customs?"

"I heard that Matsumoto-san's Blue Moon Era had a sharp drop in sales because it was too close to traditional literature..."

"Could this be a warning from the publishing house?"

"Heh, pushing out an insignificant child..." someone sneered.

"The publishing house only cares about sales. I heard traditional literature hasn't been doing well lately."

"Nonsense! Although I love mystery novels, I know better than anyone that only traditional novels can save the Japanese literary scene!" An older author glared at the person next to him.

"That's right, especially now that someone has actually created that trash known as light novels..."

The more they talked, the angrier they became, and some even stared daggers at Editor Yamagami.

Completely unaware of this, Yamagami felt a chill run down his spine. He walked over to Sogo Doma in two quick strides: "Gyojin-san, what happened?"

"Hmm!" Sogo Doma put his hands behind his head: "Basically, it's just a bunch of guys who want to enter the traditional circle but can't find a way in, and then, looking at who's behind them, they feel superior to everyone else and are just grumbling..."

Editor Yamagami broke into a cold sweat. Enough, Gyojin-sensei! I knew you had a nasty personality over the phone, but why are you even worse in person? Can you just say things like that?

Before Sogo could finish, the guy who had just asked whose child he was interrupted.

"Editor Yamagami, I want to know, is this your intention? Or the publishing house's?"

"Kimura-sensei, I don't quite understand what you're saying," Yamagami said, standing at attention.

"This child's words—are they your intention, or the publishing house's?"

"Uh!" Yamagami, his head full of confusion, was completely bewildered. However, he quickly wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead: "Kimura-sensei, I forgot to introduce him. This is Gyojin-sensei, and he is also the publishing house's..."

"Absurd!" Another arrogant interruption; the big shot spoke again: "Editor Yamagami, this is not a place for light novel writers who only write a couple of essays to come to."

"Yes!" Editor Yamagami bowed repeatedly: "But Kimura-sensei, the mystery novel Gyojin-sensei is about to release is a real mystery novel!"

Kimura: "??"

Everyone: "@_@"

Hey, hey, we've all heard of genius light novel authors, but a genius mystery novelist...

Unlike light novels where romance takes precedence, the structure of a mystery novel requires not just plot, but also setup and clues. You could say that publishing a mystery novel is a battle of wits with the reader.

And now you're telling me a twelve or thirteen-year-old kid is going to engage in a battle of wits with readers? Does he even know all his characters?

"Beep beep beep..."

Before anyone else could finish their shock, a piercing phone ring sounded.

"Sorry, I need to take this call." After glancing at the caller ID, the great Kimura bowed apologetically and hurried out the door.

At this moment, the assembled authors snapped out of their shock. No commotion ensued.

However, people occasionally whispered to editor Yamagami, "Yamagami-san, has the publishing house gone mad? They'll publish a twelve or thirteen-year-old's mystery work?"

Think about what they were doing at twelve or thirteen. Probably playing soccer. Forget mystery, they'd blush just looking at a girl from the next class.

"Bang!"

As they were inquiring...

The lobby doors were suddenly pushed open roughly. The great Kimura, who had just left, returned with a thunderous expression: "Editor Yamagami, I have something I need to ask you."

Yamagami felt a terrible headache coming on. He should have just helped Gyojin-sensei decline these gathering arrangements from the start.