I am a literary giant in Japan

"No guessing."

As a fellow woman, Victoria deeply understands the logic behind the "guess what" trick.

So when Olivia said, "Guess what I'm looking at?", she directly rejected her best friend's attempt to lure her in.

"Hmph!" Olivia's little trick failed, so she had no choice but to hand the MPMan Japan 1 directly to Victoria and let her read the classic opening line herself.

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my desire."

My sin, my soul.

This monologue by the protagonist, Henry Humbert, before his death, moved countless viewers and readers in the original story.

That deep-seated fascination with Lolita has influenced generations.

After the turn of the millennium, with the rise of Gothic culture, a wave of Lolita fashion swept across the country.

However, the girls dressed in Lolita fashion may not know its origin and story at all.

"Is this... Kitagawa-sensei's new book that hasn't been published yet?" Victoria asked in surprise.

Olivia put her hands on her hips, proudly raised her little head, and nodded emphatically.

"This novel is called 'Lolita,' and it was written especially for me by my brother Kitagawa!"
I will be fully responsible for the French translation and subsequent publication!

"Lolita... doesn't that seem to be Kitagawa-sensei's new book to counter the leftists? Did he write this specifically for you?!"

Victoria immediately realized that this must have been the request that Kitagawa-sensei's best friend made to him when they were having dinner alone in Stockholm.

In an instant, emotions of envy, jealousy, and hatred flashed across her face, but her exceptional composure allowed Victoria to quickly regain her composure and immerse herself back in the world of the novel.

"Hehe, yes, that's right." Olivia was very pleased with her best friend's expression, and sat back on the bed with a smile, crossing her little feet and laughing sweetly.

Victoria knew that Olivia and Kitagawa-sensei were very close friends; she herself had met Kitagawa-sensei through her best friend's introduction.

But she never expected that her best friend would be able to persuade Kitagawa-sensei to write a book specifically for her!

Kitagawa is one of the few literary giants in the world today!

Not to mention that his writing is worth its weight in gold, even political bigwigs would find it extremely difficult to obtain a single novel.

The world's top literary figures are historical figures who will be recorded in human history!

Perhaps countless people in the future will not recognize a certain US president or Japanese prime minister, or know who the world's richest person was at a certain time, but they will never forget a top writer who is worthy of being recorded in the history of human literature.

A person like that could write a novel on their own.
Victoria quickly read through the book and soon discovered that "Lolita" was indeed a literary work tailor-made for Olivia!

Annabelle and Lolita was clearly modeled after Olivia. Although the male protagonist, Henry Humbert, doesn't resemble Kitagawa-sensei at all, what does it matter?

Olivia must have already identified Kitagawa-sensei with Humbert!
"How about it? Isn't it a masterpiece that's just as good as 'Norwegian Wood'?" Olivia, who loved reading romance novels, said with a satisfied smile.

Victoria put down MPMan Japan1, sighed, and nodded, saying, "Yes. It is extremely well-made and artistically excellent, a work worthy of being recorded in literary history."

"Hehe, I plan to translate a French version myself first, and then find a well-known translator to do another version. We'll publish two versions in France, one called 'Lolita's Heartbeat Version' and the other called 'Official Translation Version'. What do you think?"

Olivia has many hidden agendas, but what she really wants is to connect this work more deeply with herself.

Victoria didn't have any objections: "As long as Kitagawa-sensei agrees, that's fine with you."

"Hehe, let's do it!" Olivia took back the MPMan Japan1 and discussed the latest MP3 player with her best friend, wondering if they could make a European or American copy.

Victoria was destined to become Queen of Sweden, and once her fate was sealed, many things were no longer within her control.

Before accepting that kind of life, she hoped that life could be more colorful, so she was very willing to do these small businesses.

However, as the two chatted, they started talking about how Pete Dimon and his son disgusted Kitagawa-sensei.

The left-wing forces are at their zenith in the West, and it is clearly going to continue to expand. Naturally, their families also hope to catch up with this trend and get a piece of the pie.

But Olivia and Victoria are typical rebellious teenagers who simply cannot accept or understand that kind of overly maternalistic thinking.

Now this group of people may be targeting Kitagawa-sensei, and the two of them have become interested in doing bad things again.

The Arnault club had acted inappropriately before, and the two of them taught the Arnaults a good lesson.

This incident also made them famous, and Olivia's nickname "Little Witch" became widely known.

Since there are successful precedents, shouldn't we also be able to do the same in this case?
The two exchanged a smile, and countless wicked ideas immediately flooded their minds!
After sending out "Lolita", Kitagawa Hide shifted his writing focus entirely to "July 22" and "My Universities", the last book in Alyosha's autobiographical trilogy.

He hasn't received any feedback on "Lolita" and "My Apprenticeship" yet, so he's temporarily putting those two works out of his mind.

"My University" mainly tells the story of Alyosha, an adult, who goes to Kazan alone to study and struggles in the "university of life" after failing the exam.

With the groundwork laid by the first two books, plus a trip to Kazan, Kitagawa Hide was able to write with ease, making the writing difficulty incomparable to the first two books.

Alyosha's autobiographical trilogy was key to his Nobel Prize bid and to quell the final doubts. Kitagawa Hide wrote it with utmost care, almost perfectly replicating Gorky's spirit, and even making improvements and advancements based on the original work.

He believed that this time, even if the King of Heaven himself came, he wouldn't be able to stop him from winning the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Of course, winning the award was just a trivial matter in his long literary career.

Sir Peter Cat's Café is still in operation, and it has become a gathering place for countless writers, where a new literary star emerges from time to time, shocking the nation.

On the wall of honor that everyone can see, the highest title, "Number One Under Heaven," has been changed to "Number One Under Heaven." Below it are countless trophies and medals, which have long proven Kitagawa Hide's excellence to the world.

The Nobel Prize is just icing on the cake.

What Kitagawa Hide wanted was more, to be better, and to be more authentic.

In the process of writing Alyosha's autobiographical trilogy, he fully realized the gap between himself and top writers.

What used to be a bottomless chasm now seems to be slowly becoming a measurable gap.

His writing skills and abilities were improving rapidly, and his extensive writing and reading were also enhancing his aesthetic appreciation. One day, Kitagawa Hide felt that he could finally reach the threshold of the world's literary pantheon.

With this belief in mind, he hopes to further break through his own writing constraints with "July 22nd," a work with a higher degree of originality.

Previously, in order to prevent the novel from being resisted in the Western world, Kitagawa Hide specifically asked Saito Rena to go to the West to make some connections.

After finishing her company affairs, Saito Rena took Riko Kawada, a former disciple of Akima Raiyoshi and now the head of the public relations department at Kawade Shobo, to Norway.

On May 18th, the May issue of "Bungei" was released as scheduled. However, this issue did not feature any novels by Kitagawa Hide or works by any well-known literary figures, resulting in a relatively lukewarm market response. Nevertheless, thanks to its long-standing reputation, the first-day sales figures were still impressive, and the magazine quickly dominated various bestseller lists upon its release, showcasing its status as Japan's premier literary magazine.

"The May issue of 'Literature' magazine pre-sold 150,000 copies online, and on the first printing day, it sold a total of 692,000 copies offline. Sales in the Tokyo metropolitan area decreased by about 1.2%, while sales in other metropolitan areas decreased by about 0.8% overall, and sales in remote areas increased."

With a notebook on her lap, Riko Kawada reported to Rena Saito while checking the reports sent by the data and finance departments.

As Kawade Shobo has gradually expanded, "Literature" is no longer the company's only pillar industry.

Games, anime, music, film and television are all territories that Shizuko Kawade is striving to expand.

With the booming development of these cultural and entertainment industries, "Arts" magazine, which is still regarded as the company's benchmark product, has also faced more pressure and attention.

If "Literature" ceases to be outstanding, these departments and leaders related to the cultural and entertainment industry will jump out to challenge its position, and as the head of the editorial department, Saito Rena's burden will naturally become even heavier.

"With great power comes great responsibility," a famous line from Marvel Comics #15 in 1962, was later widely quoted as Uncle Ben's dying words to Spider-Man Peter Parker, and is now the personal motto that Hideki Kitagawa provided to Rena Saito.

"It is normal for sales to decline. What we need to do is to make 'Literature and Art' desensitize itself to Mr. Kitagawa so that one day it can still stand at the top of the pure literature market even without Mr. Kitagawa."

Have you investigated the reasons for the increased sales in remote areas? Is it due to sales lag, or have reader tastes changed?

Rena Saito was also holding a laptop.

Riko Kawada, who was well-prepared, immediately replied: "The data department and our public relations department have investigated, and the overall sales increase of one percentage point is not a normal fluctuation."

The findings of frontline investigators indicate that the reason remote areas prefer *Wenyi* (Literature and Art) is due to *Dazhong* (The Masses).

"Dazhong? You mean Dazhong, which is under Kitagawa Entertainment?"

Saito Rena took off her black-rimmed glasses and turned to look at Kawada Riko.
"I recall that the only recent serialized work in *Dazhong* magazine was *One Missed Call 2*, right? What does that have to do with our *Wenyi* magazine?"

"To be precise, what affects the aesthetic appreciation of readers in remote areas is the remote location of the editorial office of 'Taichi' magazine." When Riko Kawada first saw the survey results, her expression was even more astonished than Rena Saito's.

But that's the truth.

Taishi is the only leading literary magazine in Japan that has set up editorial offices in remote areas.

As is well known, Japan's population is rapidly shrinking due to the severe impact of aging and declining birth rates. People are concentrated in a few major metropolitan areas, such as Izu, Hokkaido, and Shikoku, where few new people are joining the country except for the original inhabitants.

This market is almost dried up; there's no need to expand it.

But now it seems that these depleted markets are actually showing signs of recovery!
Rena Saito remembers that the person in charge of the remote base station of the Taisho magazine editorial department was Yasuaki Ishida, the boyfriend of her good friend Tomoyo Kobayashi, who was once hailed as the most likely new editor to become the next "Rena Saito".

His willful departure from the headquarters of "Dazhong" magazine, giving up the possibility of becoming deputy editor-in-chief, once made him a laughing stock in the industry.

Today, the ultimate question of dreams versus money seems to have been answered.

Taijun Ishida provided the answer with his own hands.

Dreams or money? Dreams and money!

"How did he do it? With such a small readership in those regions, how did he attract new readers?"

The fact that the benefits of "Dazhong" magazine could extend to "Wenyi" magazine shows that the market activity in these regions far exceeded Saito Rena's expectations.

"The specifics are still under investigation, but based on feedback from some industry insiders and our contacts at Dazhong, the main factor in the success was that editor, Taijun Ishida."

He seems to be an extraordinary person.

When Riko Kawada mentioned Taijun Ishida, a rare look of admiration appeared in her eyes.

At the height of his career, he proposed to go to the suburbs to reclaim wasteland, even at the risk of losing everything, just to carve out a place for himself.

There are many people in the Japanese workplace who get stuck on trivial details, but very few of them succeed.

It's already remarkable to dare to do something amidst skepticism, but he actually succeeded.
"Kobayashi-san has found the right person," Saito Rena murmured in admiration.

She still remembers that when Kitagawa Hide announced his intention to recruit Ishida Taijun, many people were against it.

It is clearly not a wise move for "Dazhong" magazine, which has only just been launched, to introduce students who have failed their doctoral entrance exams.

But Kitagawa Hide said, "You can't have your cake and eat it too, but I believe Ishida-san can."

He proved his judgment right once again!

Saito Rena subconsciously took out her phone, wanting to send a congratulatory text message to Kitagawa Hide, but when she turned her head and saw the clouds outside the window, she realized that there was no signal at all, so she had to put her phone back, then took out her MPMan Japan1, put on her headphones, and listened to Izumi Sakai's classic song "Don't Give Up".

Everyone is striving for a better life.

I need to work harder too.

Thinking about the important task of this trip to Norway, Saito Rena quietly raised her little fist to cheer herself up.

Eighteen hours later.

Rena Saito and Riko Kawada arrived safely at Oslo Airport, the capital of Norway.

Norway is bordered by Sweden to the east, Finland and Russia to the northeast, Denmark across the sea to the south, and the Norwegian Sea to the west. With a total population of about 500 million, it is a typical small, developed Western country.

Because Norway shares the Nobel Prize in Literature, the most prestigious award in literary history, with Sweden, the Norwegian literary world enjoys considerable renown in the West, and the Norwegian people have a great passion for literature.

As soon as the two got off the plane, they were immediately drawn to the towering billboards advertising literary works all around them. (End of Chapter)