I am a literary giant in Japan

On the morning of May 5, 1999.

Having just arrived at St. Petersburg State University by bicycle, Igor received a detailed setting guide and the complete manuscript of "Childhood" from the gatekeeper.

Kitagawa Hide initially wanted to deliver the manuscript to Igor via encrypted mail or a private car delivery, but unfortunately, in Tsarist Russia, state universities had extremely strict controls on private vehicles, and even parking lots near the campus were off-limits.

This incident dates back to a case in the late 70s where a private car drove into a university campus and the driver shot and killed dozens of innocent students.

Since then, the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Education have jointly issued this decree, which has remained unchanged for nearly 20 years.

Holding the heavy manuscript in his hands, Igor couldn't wait to return to his office. He didn't even have time for breakfast. As soon as he sat down, he opened the package and took out the manuscript to read it carefully.

At the very beginning of the setting book were Kitagawa Hide's translation suggestions to Igor, which he read word for word and deeply agreed with Kitagawa Hide's ideas.

While an excellent translation must be based on an excellent original work, an excellent original work alone is not enough to make the translation equally popular.

There are countless details involved, and what Igor raised is just one of them.

Inspired by him, Kitagawa Hide racked his brains to recall all the potential pitfalls in translating works that he knew from his previous life, and provided them to Igor for reference.

After his initial surprise, Igor immediately began studying the thick set of settings in his hands.

after an hour.

"So this isn't a purely autobiographical trilogy after all!"

The story begins with Alyosha's unfair childhood experiences, gradually shaping the image of this independent, perfect, self-reliant, and deeply sympathetic 'progressive fighter' to the ordinary people of Tsarist Russia!
Alexei and his colleagues had previously worried that the novel was too 'inappropriate,' that 'Childhood' depicted too much of the dark side of society and could easily provoke the displeasure of the authorities.

In retrospect, "My Apprenticeship" not only deepens the sense of suffering and despair in "Childhood," but also consciously expands to a broader social structure, allowing readers to truly experience the full picture of Tsarist Russian society during that period.

The last book, "My Universities," focuses on Alyosha's activities and growth during his time in Kazan.

Alyosha arrived in Kazan at the age of 16 with the dream of going to university, but his dream could not be realized. The slums and docks of Kazan became his university of life.

This idea is brilliant!

Kitagawa Hide's concept art for Igor does not include the main text, or even detailed plot details.

But just from the positioning and concept of the trilogy, Igor could fully sense that this was the prototype of a masterpiece series. As long as he continued to write along this line of thought, once it was finished, it would surely cause a sensation in the entire Tsarist Russia, no, it should be said that it would be the entire world literary scene!

This series of setting materials also gave Igor a completely new approach to translation.

"No, I have to start translating 'Childhood' right away!"

63-year-old Igor suddenly felt a sense of urgency that time was of the essence.

Driven by strong motivation, he immediately opened the manuscript of "Childhood" and began to read and study it word by word.

Just as Igor was working tirelessly on translating "Childhood," another wave of "ghost phone calls" swept through distant Tokyo, Japan.

Yumeko, using the pseudonym Kitagawa Naoko, completed the serialization of the entire "One Missed Call 1" in the April issue of Taisho magazine.

Even Misa Ochiai, the editor, knew very little about this mysterious new female writer.

She once tried to secretly find Kitagawa Naoko by investigating the mailing address, and was shocked to discover that the address shown as 110-0001 Kikugaki, Chiyoda-ku, was a super villa area that gathered countless wealthy Japanese families and upper-class people.

Even with Tokyo land prices at an incredibly low level, the average house price in Kikugaki 110-0001 remains strong. A villa that was just sold last month cost approximately 15.7 billion yen!

Such a villa area certainly wouldn't allow people to investigate it casually, so Misa Ochiai gave up on the idea.

Unexpectedly, she received an anonymous letter from a private investigator shortly after returning to the editorial department of "Dazhong" magazine!
The letter sharply warned her not to do such pointless things anymore, or she would have to bear the consequences!
At this point, Misa Ochiai finally understood that it was true when Naoko Kitagawa said in her letter that she had no interest in money!
Who knows, this might be the playful life of some rich heiress!
After clarifying Kitagawa Naoko's situation, Ochiai Misa stopped worrying about her true identity and devoted all her time to "One Missed Call 1".

This hit novel is the first new author's hit novel she signed. Judging from the market response, subsequent adaptation plans will likely be implemented quickly.

After Ishida Taijun left, the editorial department of "Taipei" magazine underwent three more changes. Now, the editorial team is managed by a "performance-based bonus" model. Even the editor-in-chief, Ochiai Misa, has to work hard to achieve results, otherwise the bottom-ranking elimination system will not be able to "laugh and joke" with her.

Of course, if a top-tier blockbuster novel like "One Missed Call 1" were to be published, the bonuses the editors would receive would be astronomical!
Misa Ochiai herself read the entire book "One Missed Call 1" and even read the ending several times carefully when she received the final manuscript from Naoko Kitagawa.

Prior to this, there had been much discussion online about whether the "ghost" in "One Missed Call 1" was real or fake, what its purpose was, and what its methods of killing were.
What will be the fate of the female protagonist Yumi and the male protagonist Yamashita?
A while ago, the concept art for One Missed Call 1 was circulating wildly on the internet, and many of the mysteries that everyone was discussing seemed to have been answered. However, some readers who couldn't accept the "unfinished" answers angrily bombarded the editorial and customer service departments of "Popular" magazine with phone calls.

As the situation escalated, the editorial department of "Dazhong" magazine soon issued a clarification and severely punished the netizens who spread the rumors.

This is probably the first case in Japanese internet history where a rumor has triggered social unrest.

However, thanks to the popularity of these posts, the magazine sales brought by "One Missed Call 1" also soared, allowing "Taipei" to regain the glory of the "Hanzawa Naoki" and "The White Tower" serialization period.

These questions also kept lingering in Misa Ochiai's mind.

She was completely upset after finally watching "One Missed Call 1".
A large number of readers who had been waiting outside the bookstore for the April issue of "Popular" magazine were also horrified by the ending of "One Missed Call 1".

Meanwhile, in a luxury car parked near the Maruzen Marunouchi Bookstore next to a Tokyo subway station, the driver, Mr. Kagawa, saw through the rearview mirror Chihaya Too's forced composure and Chihaya Ruri's beautiful face, which had turned deathly pale with fright.

Since Chihaya Too also started paying attention to literary works and became a loyal fan of "One Missed Call 1", the relationship between the father and daughter has become much more harmonious.

Every weekend, Chihaya Ruri would drive home to spend the holiday with her father, chatting about her experiences at school and her favorite literary works.

Today is the final day of "One Missed Call 1". For the first time ever, Chihaya Too suggested going to the bookstore to buy books together, and then the two of them would read magazines together in the car.

Chihaya Ruri readily agreed.

She also longed to spend a wonderful weekend with her father.

The two of them arrived at Maruzen/Marunouchi Bookstore in high spirits, and happily each bought a copy of the April issue of "Taipei" magazine. After that...
"This should be a happy ending, right?" Chihaya Ruri looked at her father uncertainly, her hand holding the magazine "Various" trembling involuntarily.

Chihaya Too sensed the fear emanating from his daughter. He wanted to comfort her and agree with her wishes.

But whenever the words were about to come out, he couldn't help but think of the scene at the end of the novel where the heroine, Yumi, fed a piece of candy to the battered and bruised protagonist, Yamashita.

In this serialized storyline, Naoko Kitagawa has revealed all the mysteries and suspense of the novel, and has not given up on it or simply ignored it as many had predicted.

First question: Who is the ghost in the novel that ignores everything, can locate the victim through a phone call, and kills the victim while facing a large group of psychics?
The answer is Nanako Mizunuma, who was constantly abused by her mother and eventually died from asthma.

In the novel, the female protagonist, Yumi Nakamura, learns about Nanako Mizunuma from the male protagonist, Yamashita.

Nanako Mizunuma is the eldest daughter of Marie Mizunuma. Marie Mizunuma, a single mother, has two daughters; when she is away working, her eldest daughter, Nanako, takes care of her younger sister.

But every time Marie returns home, she finds various small scratches on her youngest daughter's body.

At first, she thought her daughters had accidentally bumped into things while playing and didn't pay much attention.

But one day, she unexpectedly returned home early and discovered that her eldest daughter, Nanako, was "abusing" her younger sister.

From then on, Marie began to show complete favoritism towards her two daughters.
Nanako died unexpectedly from asthma at the age of 10.

However, later, the male protagonist Yamashita finds a notebook at the children's service center about Nanako Mizunuma, which records various instances of abuse against her.

Rumors circulated within the service center that Marie was the abuser, but Marie's attitude was good, and she actively cooperated with the treatment each time.

The male and female protagonists visit the staff at the children's service center, who suspect that Mari Mizunuma is suffering from maniacal proxy, a mental illness in which a person gains attention by harming children and making others believe that he is a loving mother.

Therefore, they overturned their previous conclusion that Nanako abused her sister and believed that Nanako was also a victim.

Nanako, who watched her mother die beside her, became a vengeful ghost and began spreading the "Oni Call Virus" from Musashino Hospital, thus beginning a brutal massacre.

The second question: What were its methods and motives for killing?
On this point, Naoko Kitagawa gave everyone a very shocking yet very Japanese answer.

She didn't write about Nanako's real motives for killing in the novel, and her methods were all kinds of bizarre. In short, she seemed to be able to ignore all obstacles and had no taboos about day or night.

The only thing that could bind her was probably the game rule that only those who received ghost calls would die.

In other words, she is disorderly, chaotic, evil, and devoid of reason and logic.

Her motive for murder may have been pure evil and resentment.

This sense of terror, which was both unsolvable and illogical, instantly overwhelmed a large number of Japanese citizens.

In the past, no matter what the truth was, or how terrifying or bloody the ghosts were, horror works at least adhered to logic and established patterns.

But Nanako in One Missed Call 1 doesn't talk about any of these things.

It's scary.

The third question: What is the final fate of the male and female protagonists?

This is also what all readers of One Missed Call 1 most want to know.

After all, it's a novel. By the end, everyone puts themselves in the protagonist's shoes and hopes that they will be safe and sound and defeat the evil spirit.

Judging from the ending of the novel, it seems that Naoko Kitagawa was also writing the finale in this direction.

In the end, Yumi and Yamashita successfully helped Nanako pass on to the afterlife and escaped Musashino Children's Hospital.

Furthermore, at the end, Yumi and Yamashita develop feelings for each other and will obviously end up together.

But the scene at the end where she's fed candy with her mouth just feels awkward, making you feel like the story isn't over yet, and Nanako hasn't been truly saved.

Because in the past, after Marie abused Nanako, she liked to feed her candy so that she could experience some brief sweetness.

Although Nanako has become a vengeful ghost, her behavior is sometimes very similar to that of her mother, Marie.

Every time she kills someone, she leaves a piece of candy next to the victim, which is the core evidence that the male and female protagonists conclude that Nanako is the original ghost.

From this perspective, it is clear that the person who escaped from Musashino Children's Hospital was not Yumi Nakamura, but rather "Yumi Nakamura" possessed by Nanako!
This explains why Yumi fed Yamashita candy with her mouth at the end.

Because at this point, she was no longer the Yumi that Yamashita knew, but Nanako with a new body!
Similarly, at the end, there is a line: "She slowly stood up, the sharp knife tightly gripped in her right hand gleaming coldly, as if she were about to sever the unpleasant past."

This also fits Nanako's character and mindset.

She wants to start her life completely anew as Nakamura Yumi, and the object of her future sadism and affection is Yamashita, who is lying in a hospital bed.

The relationship between the two is just like that between her and her mother, Marie!
"Although I don't want to say it, I think it's most likely a bad ending," Chihaya Too said helplessly, shattering the last glimmer of hope in his daughter's heart.

At that moment, Chihaya Ruri, who had lost all sense of security, almost burst into tears!

That's terrifying! So horrifying!
Two days later.

This open-ended ending, coupled with a chilling premise, immediately sparked a huge reaction in the literary world.

In the eyes of many literary giants, "One Missed Call 1" is nothing more than a low-grade novel for ordinary people to amuse themselves. No matter how good the social response is, they are too lazy to read it.

However, this highly creative and suspenseful ending has been repeatedly mentioned, and people have been making harassing phone calls disguised as "ghost calls" to deceive their friends and family.

The persistently high level of discussion and social reaction to the topic made it impossible for literary luminaries to remain calm. So, they followed the example of ordinary people and picked up lowbrow horror literature again.

On April 7, Oricon released the first-day sales figures for the April issue of "Popular" magazine, and the fact that it sold over one million copies sent shockwaves through the publishing industry.

"The era of horror literature is coming." As Mori Tetsutaro typed these words on the keyboard, he couldn't help but look forward to the sequel to Kitagawa-sensei's "Ring 1: Bell".

It's obvious to anyone with eyes that the final chapter of One Missed Call 1 borrows heavily from and imitates Rim: The Bell.

Although "Ring 1: Bell" was published after "One Missed Call 1", it seems more like Kitagawa-sensei was following in the footsteps of Naoko Kitagawa.

However, in an interview after the novel was completed, Naoko Kitagawa specifically mentioned that she knew Kitagawa-sensei in real life, and that the inspiration for "One Missed Call 1" came from "Ring 1: Bell"!
Even "One Missed Call 1" was this good.

It's hard not to look forward to and anticipate "Ring 1: Bell".

"I wonder what Kitagawa-sensei is doing in Tsarist Russia now." Mori Tetsutaro took a sip of black coffee and, before writing his commentary, wondered a little about Kitagawa Hide, who had been missing for more than half a month.

I heard that Professor Kitagawa is preparing a major move to slap the Western literary world in the face.

But he couldn't think of anything to write about in Tsarist Russia during the 1870s and 1880s.

It's impossible for Kitagawa-sensei to write another masterpiece that surpasses "In Search of Lost Time," right?
That's too difficult. (End of Chapter)