I am a literary giant in Japan

One Missed Call 2 tells the story of a year after One Missed Call 1.

In the opening of the novel, Yumeko uses a much more mature writing style to depict Tokyo in July, with its continuous rain.

Tokyo's weather is similar to that of neighboring Seiju City. July and August are the hottest months of summer, and also the season when many young people go on summer camps.

Thanks to the influence of countless anime, people's impression of Tokyo in July is full of events rich in Japanese elements, such as summer fireworks, swimsuits at the beach, and courage contests.

Youth, passion, and vitality are its defining characteristics.

However, Yumeko deliberately wrote an unusually rainy July in the opening of "One Missed Call 2", which reminded Kitagawa Hide of the "Endless August" in the "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" series, which was hailed as one of the most popular light novels in his previous life.

This kind of writing style would likely be criticized as clichéd by readers in the era of the internet explosion, but in the 90s when light novels were still in their infancy and development stage, this opening alone was worth a fortune.

No wonder Misa Ochiai and the editorial department of "Taipei" magazine so readily approved Yumeko's new novel—

Judging solely by the quality of the opening scene, it's even better than "One Missed Call 1"!
After a simple opening with a rainy July in Tokyo, Yumeko's writing immediately shifts to one of the story's main characters, the young childcare worker Kyoko.

I heard that before writing "One Missed Call 2", Yumeko had a terrifying research experience of spending fifteen days straight in the library without going home in order to create a memorable female protagonist like Aomame in "1Q84" who also fits the characteristics of the times!
In this respect, Yumeko follows in her husband's footsteps, much like Kitagawa Hide when he is fully immersed in writing novels.

Hard work pays off.

Her character, Kyoko, attracted Kitagawa Hide shortly after her first appearance.

Anzu is a very hardworking girl. She works tirelessly to save money while preparing for university entrance exams, hoping to change her terrible situation through studying and finding a new job.

In order to successfully get into her desired university, she always reads and studies tirelessly in her spare time.

However, because of this drive to improve herself, she hasn't had a chance to meet up with her lover, Naoto Sakurai, for a long time.

Shangren is also a young man with ideals and ambitions. After graduating from junior college, he worked part-time while studying photography, determined to become an excellent photographer.

One day, Kyoko decided to visit Naoto, whom she hadn't seen in a long time, after get off work. But on the way, she suddenly heard a sinister and terrifying telephone ringing.

The eerie ringtone sounded exactly like the "terrifying call" from a year ago.

This inevitably reminded Kyoko of a terrifying scene from a year ago: people who received “terrifying phone calls” could hear their own screams before death in the phone recording, and then died mysteriously at the predicted time!

It is said that none of the people who received the "terrifying call" last time survived; they were all killed by the evil spirits that were said to be hiding in the phones.

The place where the death knell was heard happened to be a Chinese restaurant next to Shangren Apartment.

At first, Naoto thought it was a hallucination caused by Kyoko's overwork, but soon after, the terrible curse from a year ago actually came to pass!

A restaurant chef was killed after receiving a terrifying phone call!
Even more terrifying, not long after, the death ringtone also came from Kyoko's phone.

Naoto and Kyoko were filled with despair, unable to understand why the long-lost "terrifying calls" had returned, and why they had become the "chosen ones."

Just when the two were at their wits' end, Takako, a reporter who had been investigating the "terrifying phone call" incident, suddenly appeared in front of them.
The May issue of "Taipei" magazine dedicated the best space to "One Missed Call 2," and even published a special Q&A interview with the author, Naoko Kitagawa, before the novel.

One Missed Call 1 was a huge hit during its serialization, and after the physical book was published, it easily surpassed 50 copies in total sales within a month.

The first film is currently showing in theaters across the country, and the release of the second film has indeed attracted a lot of attention.

The actual writer of this Q&A interview is Misa Ochiai. It is very engaging and well-written. Although it is just a simple Q&A, it makes you want to read the second part and learn more about the original author, Naoko Kitagawa.

"Editor-in-Chief Ochiai is trying to mold Yumeko into a beautiful young female writer."

This marketing strategy is quite advanced, but unfortunately, she'll probably stop thinking about it as soon as she sees Yumeko.

Kitagawa Hide smiled gently, increasingly appreciating Ochiai Misa's business acumen.

This era of widespread depression will soon usher in a period of explosive growth for new idols. At that time, underground idol groups will gradually move from the underground to the mainstream, transforming from peripheral elements of the entertainment industry into mainstream market groups.

It can be said that the idol culture that emerged in Japan during this period completely changed the Southeast Asian entertainment market for the next thirty years, presenting both huge business opportunities and challenges.

The publishing industry, which has been declining due to the rise of e-reading and the internet, wants to get a piece of the pie, and Misa Ochiai's approach of cultivating author personas and fan groups is one of the right solutions.

Unfortunately, no matter how much she planned, she couldn't have foreseen that Mengzi might be a well-known figure.

After silently grumbling about Ochiai Misa's bad luck, Kitagawa Hide returned his attention to the novel.

In addition to the pre-launch Q&A interviews, prime magazine placements, and abundant exposure, Misa Ochiai also helped Yumeko secure Junji Ito, the most famous horror illustrator under the Kitagawa Bunko label.

When Kitagawa Bunko was recruiting illustrators, Junji Ito was successfully selected with his illustration of "Sadako crawling out of the TV," which has been hailed as the only true god by countless internet users.

With his solid foundation in horror illustration and his unique understanding of the horror genre, Junji Ito became the illustrator for two major horror novels, "Ring World" and "Ju-on".

His highly expressive and terrifying illustrations have become popular works among readers, and his standalone illustration collections have sold an astonishing 300,000 copies.

Misa Ochiai immediately took a liking to Junji Ito's style and decided to have him draw the cover and illustrations for Yumeko's "One Missed Call 2".

Unfortunately, although "One Missed Call 1" was a huge hit, "Taipei" was still a bit too weak compared to the thriving "Kitagawa Bunko". "Kitagawa Bunko" was not very willing to lend Junji Ito's almost fully booked schedule to "Taipei".

In order to win over Junji Ito, Misa Ochiai used a two-pronged approach: on the one hand, she kept brainwashing the higher-ups, and on the other hand, she personally visited Junji Ito's home for a casual chat.

Her relentless "poaching" activities soon reached the ears of Yumeko and Kitagawa Hide.

Then in early April, Junji Ito and a large group of executives at Kitagawa Bunko received a call from Hideaki Kitagawa. Upon learning that it was Kitagawa-sensei's idea, Junji Ito immediately put aside his work and began creating the cover for One Missed Call 2.

The exquisite illustration that Kitagawa Hide saw at that moment, as well as the rare and terrifying cover of the May issue of "Taipei" magazine, were both the work of Junji Ito.

It must be said that with the support of these powerful resources, "One Missed Call 2" has indeed shown the potential to be a blockbuster.

He used to not quite understand why some top-tier original works were adapted into terrible works, while some adaptations could remain famous in history just like the originals.

Now he understands.

The adaptation of a work involves many details, just as a good popular novel needs various high-quality promotional resources. It is the culmination of a group of people's efforts and the final result, and it would be irresponsible to attribute it to a single person or a small group.

Although everyone likes to push a household name to take on this title, in the eyes of most people, they can probably only see the person who was pushed out. But as a creator and company manager, Kitagawa Hide cannot be deceived by this illusion.

These excellent marketing resources certainly reduced the possibility of "One Missed Call 2" being a flop, but its quality was the final deciding factor.

For this serialization, Misa Ochiai and Yumeko chose a completely different approach—reducing the length and increasing the plot to make the novel more compact and faster-paced.

Kitagawa Hide felt this way while reading the novel.

If it were Yumeko from the past, or one of her other disciples, they would definitely postpone the storyline of Kyoko receiving the "terrifying phone call" to a later, less popular period in the series, in order to reignite the readers' emotions.

However, Yumeko chose to accelerate the plot in the first five chapters, directly hanging the sword of Damocles over the heroine's head, speeding up the story's progress and deepening the sense of crisis.

At first glance, many readers may find it difficult to adapt, feeling that it is hasty and too fast. But once they get used to the pace, they will be thrilled and will find that some popular literature and pure literature in the past were like the old lady next door's foot binding cloth, long and smelly.

Kitagawa Hide was proud of Yumeko for being able to figure it out and develop this writing technique on her own.

Besides, what impressed Kitagawa Hide the most was that Yumeko was able to let go of the burden of being a top student in the Faculty of Letters at the University of Tokyo, and no longer confined herself to the most difficult pure literary creation. Instead, she openly admitted that she was an ordinary novelist and worked hard in the direction that suited her!

Why do I say that?

Because in this era, pure literature remains the brightest and most dazzling pearl in the crown of literature, an existence that no other genre can rival.

If you write pure literary novels, even if you are just a nobody writer who has been unknown for many years after your debut, wherever you go, people will respectfully call you "teacher".

But you're supposed to write mystery novels, popular literature, light novels, and the currently trending horror novels.

Then I'm sorry, no matter how well you write, everyone will only consider you a novelist who "makes a living by selling words".

The difference between a writer and a novelist is vast.

Like Yumeko, many professionally trained writers in the field have a deep disdain for all genres other than pure literature. They only want to write pure literature and only want to stick to this path until the end.

But the truth is, pure literature is the most difficult subject to write, and the subject that tests talent the most.

Those who can write are those who can write; those who can't, like Keigo Higashino, can only occasionally produce works like "The Miracles of the Namiya General Store," which receive mixed reviews, throughout their lives.

Yumeko clearly lacks the talent to write pure literary novels.

She understood this, accepted it, and then quickly and wisely stopped putting all her eggs in one basket.

Kitagawa Hide believes this is Yumeko's greatest growth during this period!
Hideaki Kitagawa learned all of this from "One Missed Call 2".

This work reflects the influence of countless other works.

For example, the unsolvable descriptions of ghosts and monsters, and the fatalistic portrayal of Kyoko and Kyoko, who have done nothing wrong but still receive "terrifying phone calls," are very similar to the core theme of "Ju-on."

What makes Japanese horror so terrifying is its lack of solutions and its disorder.

Their ghosts don't talk to you about logic, reason, or humanity.

The novel's writing style and plot conception clearly draw inspiration from Hideaki Kitagawa's "Ring World".

All of this suggests that before writing "One Missed Call 2", Yumeko must have read other books of the same type and learned a lot from them.

She doesn't reject being a "Frankenstein's monster," and she doesn't have the so-called intellectual's aloofness.

If this had happened in the literary world dominated by figures like Tanizaki Ichiro, it would have been considered rebellious and unconventional.

In this era, she would be sought after and praised.

"It is indeed a great work!"

"It is indeed a great work!"

After transitioning from intelligence to security service, Vladimir, who had just been appointed Secretary of the Security Council in March, couldn't help but murmur this praise after reading "Childhood" in his office.

With the full support of all sectors, Alyosha's autobiographical trilogy has now swept across the entire Russian literary world, winning every award it could and deserved.

"The New World" surpassed "The Modern Man" with "Childhood" to become the most popular literary magazine among readers in Tsarist Russia, without exception.

Yevgeny's "Exile," relegated to the background, is no longer mentioned and has become the most pathetic foil of this era.

However, Yevgeny quickly regained his confidence shortly after the blow and continued to conceive new books and advance his literary career.

Yevgeny was Vladimir's favorite new generation of Tsarist Russian writers.

He even used official power to try to meet with Yevgeny.

But now, Vladimir believes that the best and most outstanding new generation of writers in Tsarist Russia should be, uh, the Japanese writer Kitagawa Hideaki, who wrote "Childhood".

“Why isn’t he a Tsarist Russian?” Vladimir asked with deep regret. “Perhaps he has some Tsarist Russian blood?”

Just as he was becoming curious about Kitagawa Hide's background, there was a sudden knock on the office door.

"Secretary-General, Professor Igor from St. Petersburg State University has arrived," the young female secretary said in a low voice as she entered.

“Professor Igor? I don’t recall ever making an appointment with him.” Vladimir was taken aback.

The secretary quickly added, "Professor Igor brought a new translation of his novel, saying he hopes you can take a look at it."

“A translated novel? What novel?” Vladimir’s heart suddenly began to pound violently.

Could it be...? (End of Chapter)