Chapter 55: The Contest and Adult Comics (1)
The conclusion of the [Genius Magician of the Slums] series, which I had pushed through with stubborn determination despite countless people’s backlash, was—
Fortunately, it somehow wrapped up without any movie-like incidents, such as the Publishing Guild being physically set on fire or me being kidnapped and forced to continue the serialization.
“We were truly terrified, sir...
It got to the point where the staff couldn’t leave work and had to stay inside the guild, you know?”
“Hahaha... I feel like I ended up causing you trouble.”
There was the sliiightly minor issue of the Publishing Guild employees being forcibly trapped inside the guild for a week, unable to go home.
But that part was resolved by paying them special bonuses for that period.
As expected, most of the hardships of working life can be solved with extra pay!
Anyway, aside from a few issues like that.
People’s reaction to the final volume of [Genius Magician of the Slums] itself was flawless and incredible.
“Did the shock therapy I put in on purpose work?”
If it ended too honestly and blandly, I was worried people would suffer from withdrawal after the finale.
So I deliberately mixed in a fiery development in the middle where the protagonist “self-destructs together with the enemy,” giving them a shock.
‘Phew. What the hell, the protagonist didn’t really die?
I got completely fooled because of those guys going around only talking about the part where he self-destructs together with the enemy.’
‘I was so nervous while reading because of the rumor that Tian blows himself up, but this was what it was?
I got tricked by the people who read it first again.’
‘I suppose I can put away the tools I prepared for now.’
Thanks to that dramatic impact, it was used as a kind of twist or spoiler bait, creating an enormous viral effect.
It was doing a fantastic job of making this the most talked-about installment in the entire [Genius Magician of the Slums] series so far.
To the point that there was no sign at all of lethargy from post-finale withdrawal.
‘The moment I saw Tian self-destruct together with the leader of the dark mages, I thought Author Wei had gone insane.’
‘It was so shocking that the lethargy I’d felt until then did vanish completely.
But please, no more heart-pounding stuff like this next time...’
‘This looks like a threat saying that if we protest about an ending again, he’ll really kill the protagonist next time... Surely not, right?’
Maybe the effect was too strong, because beyond blowing away their lethargy.
There were also gazes that started seeing me as a genuine lunatic.
“No, if he was alive in the end, isn’t that all that matters?
This feels a bit unfair.”
Is this how Conan’s author felt when he was slandered for killing Holmes?
I even brought him back right afterward!
It was a little unfair, but I decided to endure it.
If my readers can escape their post-finale withdrawal that way, I can put up with slander against me...!
“I’m used to being the villain...”
What?
Don’t talk nonsense?
You’re right. It’s nonsense.
And the reason I have enough leisure to smoothly spout nonsense like this is because people’s reactions have been that good.
“If the response had been bad, I wouldn’t have this kind of leisure.”
Among them, the reactions from the academy students were especially amazing.
‘Headmaster! Does our academy perhaps have a grand magic spell being installed in preparation for emergencies?’
‘You don’t have anything like that? Then shouldn’t we make one now?
We never know what might happen or when.’
‘Let’s see. If we were to use the academy as our final bastion and hold out, a detailed investigation into which areas to abandon and which areas to defend...’
‘Recruiting members for the Academy Practical Combat Club!
If you want to use the academy as a battlefield and train your practical skills like Tian and his companions, please come find us!’
Perhaps because the setting in the story was the very academy they attended.
I heard they were immersing themselves in it far more passionately than ordinary readers.
When I heard that they were even exploring every corner of the academy or had made a club to use the academy as a battlefield and hone their practical skills.
I did wonder, Isn’t this a little too much immersion no matter how you look at it?
“If they’re enjoying themselves, that’s good enough.”
Though I did feel a bit sorry for Rena, who ended up being half-forced into joining because all three of her friends entered that club.
But if your friends go, you have to follow. What can you do?
When there are kids who cause trouble, there are also kids who clean up after them. That’s just how it is.
Anyway.
In roughly that fashion, I was able to successfully bring my first long-running serialization to a smooth end.
Some might ask how a situation where readers’ protests overlapped with the chaos of “the protagonist self-destructing together with the enemy” could possibly be called smooth.
“No one got hurt, and nothing was broken.”
Then it was smooth.
As expected, my readers really do know where to draw the line.
Of course, it seemed there were still a small number of people who expected me to retract the ending and continue with a sequel.
I feel sorry for those people, but I have absolutely no intention of doing that.
We already defeated the final boss, so starting Part 2 here would just be beating a dead horse.
When something is over, you shouldn’t look back. You need a progressive mindset that moves forward.
In that sense, I would normally have immediately begun planning a new work.
But something came up that made me pause that plan for a while.
“Author Wei! Preparations for the contest we discussed before are all finished!”
“Oh.”
The news that preparations for what would become this other world’s first contest were finally complete.
***
A contest.
As the word suggests, it refers to an event or competition where something is publicly solicited.
It allows you to gather many ideas or works all at once, and simply holding one has marketing and promotional effects.
If used well, it can be called a competition where both the organizers and participants can win.
And I was in the middle of trying to hold that very contest for the first time in this other world.
“Mr. Shylock. Did many participants gather?”
“Of course! Perhaps because you kindly allowed us to use your name, Author Wei, the submitted works are pouring in! Kehehe!”
The reason for holding it?
Obviously, to draw more works out into the world!
I’ve been sowing seeds for the cultural revolution all this time, so I’m itching to see the results.
However, unlike in my previous life, this world has no serialization websites where you can immediately start publishing your own work without any special procedures as long as you set your mind to it.
So in order to debut the hidden future authors out there, we needed to set the stage so they could come forward publicly like this.
It was exactly the same reason I spread newspaper serializations to lower the difficulty of publishing.
The difference was that this would be much larger and more public, with a huge amount of prize money on the line.
“Oh, come on. If the Commercial Guild hadn’t helped, it would have been impossible for me to hold a contest on this scale.
I’m the one who should be more grateful.”
“Kihihihit. Then let us say both you and our Commercial Guild are grateful, Author.
Ah, and also to the few individuals who personally sponsored this for the development of culture.”
As such, this contest was naturally being held together with the well-funded Commercial Guild, just like when we unveiled the game.
To be precise, all I did was lend them the idea for the contest and my name.
The capital and operations were all handled by the Commercial Guild and a few of the sponsors I had met before.
So it was a little embarrassing to say we were holding it together.
“Kuhihit. This was a competition we wouldn’t even have thought of if not for you, Author Wei.
And on our side, we are not simply taking a loss. We are holding it under the calculation that there is something to gain.
So please do not feel burdened, and you may proudly call yourself one of the organizers.”
Well, Shylock, the guildmaster of the Commercial Guild, encouraged me to confidently claim the title of organizer too.
All while letting out that goblin-specific, sinister-sounding laugh.
...His laugh is a bit strange, but despite how he looks, Shylock is a trustworthy merchant.
To begin with, goblins are a natural-born merchant race that thoroughly upholds any trust placed on gold coins.
‘Because of that weird laugh and my memories from my past life, I did misunderstand them when I’d just reincarnated into this world.’
But now I know very well how trustworthy and capable goblins are as merchants, especially Shylock.
That’s why he rose all the way to become the Commercial Guild’s guildmaster, and why I entrusted him again this time after the game.
Well, enough digression. Let’s get back to business.
“The contest categories are proceeding as originally planned: novels, comics, and games.
Is there anything you would like to add or exclude?”
“No. Ah, you did make the theme free, without setting anything in particular, right?”
“Of course. Kuhuhu.
I am well aware that the purpose of you holding this contest, Author, is that you hope more juniors will take on the challenge.”
Shylock laughed sinisterly once again, saying he had no intention of needlessly restricting the variety of works that could enter.
Mm, I still can’t get used to that laugh.
In any case, as long as there was no particular problem, that was enough.
“Then what should I help with?”
“We would like to borrow your name for a while, Author.
We plan to gather the works that have been filtered once from among the submissions, publish them as a magazine, and check the public’s evaluation.
At that point, we will have you, Author Wei, guarantee these works under your name and draw people’s attention all at once.”
Ah. So they intend to have the works that passed the preliminary screening within the contest management team undergo full-fledged market evaluation.
The method is a little different from the contests I experienced in my previous life, but I roughly understood what they were going for.
If it’s something like that, then I should gladly help by lending my name for promotion.
“However, since they’ll be guaranteed under my name, I should be able to take a look at the selected works first, right?”
It definitely wasn’t because I wanted to see the contest entries in advance.
I was only checking whether any strange works had slipped in. Mm-hmm.
“Of course! I brought them like this precisely to show you, Author.”
Saying that, Shylock neatly stacked the selected works that had passed the preliminaries in front of me.
‘Now then. I wonder how many works there are that will entertain me?’
Like someone going on a treasure hunt, I began looking through the works with anticipation and excitement.
“Huh?”
Then, in the middle of it, I discovered one work and momentarily blanked out.
“Why is this here?”
Because, you see.
I had seen something I had never expected to see here at all.
Something I thought I might never see again after reincarnating into this other world.
Something that had become nothing more than a memory from my previous life, making me occasionally shed tears of regret!
“...Isn’t this an adult comic?”
I had unexpectedly succeeded at an actual treasure hunt.