They're Not Even Pretending Anymore! Isn't This Even More Ridiculous?

Shin-Ei Publishing.

Although it was the weekend.

There were still some people working here.

After all, publishing houses generally did not have two-day weekends.

They operated on a rotating day-off system.

After all, there were countless submissions every day.

If no one was at the publishing house to handle the work, the accumulated submissions would pile up to a truly terrifying amount.

But regardless.

Most of the time, the editor-in-chief would remain in his office, handling work.

Editor-in-chief Miura Shinsuke glanced at the time in the bottom-right corner of his computer screen and saw that it was already six in the evening, right when bookstores would send their sales figures back to the publishers.

He remembered that today was the release date for new books by two bestselling authors, Natsume Chikage and Yukimura Suzune.

So he wanted to see how the two were selling.

Especially Natsume Chikage's.

After all, he had made a wager with Natsume Chikage.

If the young man's new work sold a hundred thousand copies within a week, the publishing house would have to give him a hefty fifty percent royalty share.

Only authors of master-level standing received royalties like that.

Even a bestselling author like Yukimura Suzune, who had won the Gunzo New Writers Award, could not receive as much as fifty percent.

As for whether Natsume Chikage could fulfill the terms of their wager, Miura Shinsuke felt that it was still unlikely.

Because Natsume Chikage's work was serious literature.

Not popular fiction like The Devotion of Suspect X.

Although both were niche genres.

The audience for serious literature was actually even smaller!

To most people, serious literature was rather dull and difficult to get through.

Most people would rather read mysteries, light novels, erotic fiction, or other novels that stimulated the senses than this kind