Manager’s Pride Collapses
Manager’s PoV
I followed Aono-kun into the café.
The seats were pretty empty, so I moved closer to Aono-kun so that he wouldn’t recognize me.
I ordered a sandwich and a coffee. I wondered if I could eat in this state. …
A thin, bespectacled man, probably in his 20s, took Aono’s place after a delay. He ordered only an iced coffee and started talking quickly. He spoke excitedly,
“I apologize for keeping you waiting, Aono-san. I’m Nogi, the editor of XX Publishing. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today… But you really were a high school student, weren’t you? And you were able to write like that? To be honest, I’m very surprised…”
A man dressed in a cool office worker’s outfit continued to speak hurriedly. I knew it was a meeting with the editor.
Someone who usually seems so calm becomes quite passionate. That must be how amazing his talent is.
“No, I just got here early. You’re also early 10 minutes before the meeting time.”
“No no, I’m sorry, I got excited. Actually, I wanted to meet Aono-san as soon as possible, so I wanted to wait for you. But instead, I made you wait… Sorry, I was a little nervous.”
Aono-kun, you really are appreciated. If not, would he go that far for a mere rookie? …
“I’m nervous too.”
“Right? Haha, I’m older than you, I should be firm. I’m still the younger one in the editorial department… I’m really excited about Aono-san’s web novel, including the editor-in-chief. The novel was really interesting. The writing is youthful and fresh, but the content makes you cry and feel happy. Novels like that are hard to find. It was also a novel that is a minor genre on a site where otherworldly fantasy is the mainstream, and surprisingly it made it to the top of the rankings. It was truly a gem of a talent. If we can work together, nothing would make me happier.”
It was just the kind of seduction that set my teeth on edge. The food I had ordered was brought to me. But, I couldn’t bring myself to take it.
“No, I was just lucky.”
Aono-kun humbly denies it. Normally, this act would be considered a virtue, but to me, it’s disgusting.
“It’s not just luck. You know, your follower base is really growing, too… But unfortunately, other novels besides Aono-san’s have failed to attract people. Like this one by Tachibana…”
That was the novel I posted an hour ago.
I have a bad feeling about it.
“Actually, the writing is good, maybe even more refined than Aono-san’s. But the content is a degraded copy of the original. Maybe it’s rude to say this to the author. But your work is so interesting that no matter how hard others try to imitate it, they cannot…”
Even a professional editor said that I was a degraded copy of Aono-kun.
Humiliation, disgrace, and shame. Tears welled up in my eyes as I realized that the gulf between us had grown so wide that there was nothing I could do about it. I knew this would happen, so I destroyed him before.
“Ah, thank you. …”
He looked embarrassed.
“So, Aono-san, we were going to include your novel in the anthology, but we changed our minds after reading the other novels you sent. Oh, I don’t mean that in a bad way. On the contrary, in a good way. The other stories were really good. Even the editor-in-chief was surprised. So we want to include them in the anthology, but we also want to make a book of Aono Eiji’s works alone. That’s what we’re thinking about. If you like, why don’t you do a short story collection with us?”
It was like a death sentence for me.
I was confronted with the objective fact that my junior has a talent that surpasses my own…
Aono-kun is about to make his professional debut and has a bright future ahead of him.
Where was the difference? Impossible!!!
If that happens, I’ll give the publishers a bad name and …
Ah, I realized how far I had fallen when I thought that. I found myself admitting defeat and almost cried with pity.
I managed to leave the place with a sandwich in my mouth as I cried.
I paid the bill unnoticed and left the restaurant feeling miserable. Little did I know that this act would bring me closer to my doom.