NEET Receives a Dating Sim Game Leveling System
chapter-264

"Brother Monogatari," Seiji confidently told her his novel’s planned name .

"This name . . . isn’t quite as eye-catching as I’ll Die if I Don't Become Handsome," Saki remarked . "I hope that its contents are as outstanding as you say . "

"You’ll have to see for yourself," Seiji said with a chuckle . "I’m going to call my home now and have Shika-chan . . . my relative send you the draft . "

"Alright, I’ll be waiting . "

They ended the call on that note .

Seiji instantly called Shika-chan and had her email a copy of his draft to Editor Yoshizawa .

All he could do now was wait . He was confident that Editor Yoshizawa would definitely call him back again today!

Saki instantly received Seigo Harano’s draft . She immediately began perusing it .

As a professional editor, Saki had strict standards for story drafts . If it couldn’t attract readers within a set word count, she would unhesitatingly give up on it, no matter who the author was .

And if she finished reading a draft from start to finish, then that basically meant the draft had passed her standards, and she would objectively give a review based on her impression .

She had given Seigo’s Become Handsome short story a review of "quite an attractive story" after one quick read-through .

Very few stories could actually receive such a good review from her on the first read-through!

Saki Yoshizawa’s strict standards were by far the highest in Thunderbolt Literature’s editing department .

When she was still a newbie, she had the astonishing feat of having criticized a young, formerly successful author to the point of making them break down in tears . And after she became more familiar with the line of work and increased her standards, she received the exaggerated nickname of "Wall of Disappointment . "

All her coworkers had witnessed her rejecting newcomers’ drafts before and criticizing them to the point of despondency or leaving them in tears .

Even veteran authors would be nervous when sending her their drafts, and some even went to the point of specifically requesting editors other than her if possible .

The head editor had lectured her several times about it—he had tried to tell her to be "gentler" with the authors, and not break them .

At any rate, the nickname of "Wall of Disappointment" was no joke . If a draft could successfully get past this "Wall," it was considered a type of glory in the authors’ circle, just slightly behind that of receiving the head editor’s praise .

All the drafts that successfully passed this "Wall" would have good results after publication, better than the average results of drafts that didn’t pass this "Wall’s" standards . That’s why even though the authors always complained how Saki was too strict, she was still viewed as an important employee by the editing department .

All her coworkers believed in her ability and believed that she would eventually become an editor team leader, although this would depend on luck—the luck of receiving an excellent draft .

Saki had processed many good stories, but none were wildly popular hits yet, so she lacked absolutely convincing result . This meant that she was right on the border between an excellent editor and a famous editor known by everyone—she was barely on the wall .

Saki herself didn’t mind too much . She was just going through Seigo’s draft as per normal, using her own standards .

After she quickly read through the first page, she paused for a moment .

Instead of reading the next page, she started over again from the beginning and read again while paying closer attention to detail!

This was something she had never done before .

Saki didn’t even notice the change from her normal behavior, because all she could think of was the story she was reading right now .

This story was completely different .

It had a totally different writing style from Become Handsome , but it was just as excellent . . . no, even better!

The writing quality was quite high, and compared to Become Handsome , the part where it stood out the most was that it was something "fresh!"

The writing quality was quite high, and compared to Become Handsome , the part where it stood out the most was that it was something "fresh!"

At the very least, Saki felt that it was a fresh type of story, as she had never read such a style of light novel before .

This story seemed like a real-life romantic comedy at first . However, it was also mysterious and mystical, and there were also serious and elegant elements in the novel .

"Monsters; the abnormal; the unexplained; mystery . . . Brother, which word do you prefer?"

"The world may not be pure black and white, but black and white do exist and will always exist . "

"Those that wear masks are humans; those that don’t wear masks are inhuman . "

"Sister, don’t run around, something bad will happen . "

. . .

Saki was drawn to sentences like these . As she quickly skimmed through the draft, she felt a strong compulsion to read further .

And when she read it again in more detail, she got addicted and lost herself in the words .

She was so lost in the story that she didn’t even hear one of her coworkers calling out for her, as her eyes were glued to her computer screen .

Saki’s female coworker thought it was rather strange . Just what was the famous "Wall of Disappointment" so busy reading?

She got curious and went over to Saki’s side to take a look at Saki’s computer screen .

A novel . . . when she tried reading it, Saki’s coworker also got lost in the story .

Who wrote this story? It was so well written .

Amazing!

Saki’s coworker forgot what she originally wanted to do and stood next to Saki, dazed, and read the story together with her .

Saki’s coworker forgot what she originally wanted to do and stood next to Saki, dazed, and read the story together with her .

This attracted another coworker’s attention .

Several editors came over as well, looked at the screen in curiosity, and were likewise attracted by the story .

When the head editor arrived at the office, he was astonished to see so many editors clumped together in one spot .

What was going on?

He walked over to the gaggle . "What are you guys doing?"

There was no response .

The head editor frowned at this and repeated his question in a louder voice .

The editors finally regained their senses and were sheepish to notice that their boss was standing beside them .

"Head editor, we’re reading a draft . . . it’s incredibly well written! The author is . . . "

The editors looked at Saki, unsure .

"The author is Idle Dimension by the Shore," Saki said, giving Seigo Harano’s pen name .

"Idle Dimension by the Shore . . . The person who wrote Become Handsome?"

"That author!? This is a totally different style from Become Handsome!"

"Can he change styles? Or is this his real style!?"

Idle Dimension by the Shore was a brand-new author who managed to rank #6 with his first short story .

This was an excellent result, so all the editors in the department had remembered this author’s pen name .

Idle Dimension by the Shore was a brand-new author who managed to rank #6 with his first short story .

This was an excellent result, so all the editors in the department had remembered this author’s pen name .

This might be an incredible newcomer . . . no, not might—this was definitely an incredible newcomer!

There was no doubting it anymore: his stories would definitely become bestsellers! All the editors who'd just read his draft shared this belief .

How long was it since the last time that all the editors would crowd together in front of the same computer screen to read a draft together?

The newer editors didn’t have such a memory, and only some of the veteran editors could recall . . . that the last time must have been about five years ago?

"Let me take a look," the head editor said in a solemn voice .

Saki stood up and let the head editor sit down in her seat .

The head editor’s name was Souzo Hattori . He was about fifty years old . His hair was greying, and his face was lined with deep wrinkles . He wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses and had dark gray eyes .

He went to the beginning of the draft and began reading with a sharp expression .

He read one page, two pages, three pages . . .

And stopped right there, took off his eyeglasses, and rubbed his eyes .

"Ten years . . . it’s been ten years since I’ve last had this feeling while reading a light novel . " Souzo sighed as he put on his eyeglasses again .

Ten years . . . could it be, Souzo was comparing it to that story!? All the editors were astonished .

They all believed that this story was quite good, but they didn’t expect that Head Editor Hattori would actually compare it to that story from ten years ago .

That story not only became a huge hit in Sakura Island, it even became popular in many other countries and began a new legend for its generation!