October 12, 2011.
Auspicious: visiting relatives and friends, funerals, consecration, relocating graves, acupuncture.
Inauspicious: opening a business, breaking ground, digging.
…
It was a real old almanac.
No slander possible.
Fuuka Shirayuki tore off the wall calendar—marking the start of a new day.
But the calendar had a red circle, and beside it, handwritten in Japanese: "Interview." She searched her memory and it seemed… today was the original owner's interview for a telephone customer service job—the first day of her new work?
Fuuka Shirayuki didn't quite get it.
She didn't owe 16.8 billion. She wasn't a blue-haired twin-tailed girl.
So why become a call center agent?
Calmly, she sat back down at the screen and pressed the power button. The old laptop's fan creaked as it spun up…
She tossed the idea of wage labor out of her head and logged into her account to check her new story's stats and comment feedback.
As she did, she thought about the road ahead.
If this were Japan, trying to make money from novels was actually difficult.
Japan's novel industry was even more elite-gated than here.
Authors relied on "publication" royalties and revenue shares, plus selling rights for "anime adaptations." And every year, the big imprints held "newcomer awards"—the main route for talented newcomers to enter the industry. Anyone who could reach that level wasn't one-in-ten-thousand—they were one-in-a-thousand.
A true rarity.
Either you took everything… or you got nothing.
And web novels weren't like Qidian—there wasn't a giant platform like that.
Instead, there were hobbyist communities—free full-text platforms used for testing the waters. Many authors hoped that when editors scouted rankings, they'd be fished out of this gutter.
The site Fuuka Shirayuki submitted to was the same type.
Meaning she couldn't make money from this novel.
At least… not enough to cover the rent she had to pay soon.
But—
She thought it didn't matter. Because if the site's foundation was low, its traffic was anything but.
It was full of free novels. Even if quality varied wildly, there was no paywall! Naturally, the traffic was huge—packed with readers.
Right now, Fuuka Shirayuki only needed heat.
She wanted to see—
Just how far this system—one she could call the "Divine Pen Uma Musume"—could rewrite history.
Then—
The data appeared before her.
[The Me Everyone Looked Down On Reverses Everything and Becomes the World's #1 Uma Musume!?]
[Bookmarks: 31]
[Comments: 88]
"…?" Seeing the comment count, Fuuka Shirayuki admitted—she froze for a second.
Bookmarks being lower than other stats… was actually rare.
But comments being so much higher than bookmarks was even rarer.
Either it was a famous author launching a new work… or the cringe points were so plentiful that everyone was roasting it.
She clicked into the comment section immediately, curious what the Japanese readers were saying.
[Huh? Has the author ever been an Uma Musume? What is this nonsense?!]
[I hate you I hate you I hate you! Why are you messing up Lady Donna's personality?!]
[When I first heard there was a fanfic about Lady Donna… I was happy! But why is the noblewoman a villain? Die die die wwww!]
[I want to see what other ridiculous stuff you can write. Bookmarked. Update faster.]
[This is totally because you know Lady Donna is about to run an "Maiden Winless" race and you're messing with her mental—this is "professional" even for a hater…]
[Trash.]
Fuuka Shirayuki looked at the sea of negative reviews and calmly wanted to laugh.
Japanese people's aggression was… so small it was cute.
She didn't even know who they thought they were acting spoiled for.
Who are you acting spoiled at?
The cool-faced cute girl sat before the monitor, the corner of her lips lifting into a barely noticeable curve.
Go on, curse.
Curse.
It's all traffic anyway. One day, I'll write the black into white.
Right now, you can curse me and I won't hold it against you—
But when I really become the "Divine Pen Uma Musume," what will you call me then?
Next, Fuuka Shirayuki opened the system panel and saw her popularity value had just reached [16/100].
She fell into thought.
How was this popularity value calculated?
The system popped up with an explanation:
"This popularity value is a comprehensive evaluation."
"The two most important factors are: first, the overall heat of the series; second, how much readers anticipate future developments. If they anticipate it, the popularity value rises."
…So people weren't that excited for what came next, huh?
Fuuka Shirayuki thought—
And immediately replied in the comment section.
[Just because you've never seen it doesn't mean it doesn't exist!]
[Do you want me to personally ask Lady Donna herself?!]
[Should I post a video of Lady Donna stepping on me and humiliating me before you'll be satisfied?!]
She went to war in the comments.
Talk to me like that—are you getting your guts wholesale or what? .JPG
There was also one person replying like crazy—the "taste-tester" who had originally called the story [Trash] in the simplest possible way.
The two of them practically stacked a hundred-floor thread… until it ended with that person exploding in rage.
"Holy crap, you're rotten to the core! You insist on writing garbage and still claim it's real!"
"Lady Donna is running her 'Maiden Winless' race today! I'll personally interview her and slap you in the face!"
After posting that, the person vanished.
Fuuka Shirayuki, meanwhile, felt oddly unsatisfied…
It had been a long time since roasting someone felt this good, but no! No! A beautiful girl can't talk like that!
She quickly typed her final six words—"If a dog keeps barking, don't chicken out." When no reply came, she closed the page.
But that guy wanted to ask Lady Donna herself…?
Fuuka Shirayuki noted their Japanese ID. Literally translated, it meant "Reporter."
She didn't really care.
Even if they asked Lady Donna and got an answer—so what if it was fake? So what if it was real? Fuuka Shirayuki would keep writing as usual. As long as it generated heat, she'd take it all.
There was just one thing she didn't understand.
Fuuka Shirayuki thought—
"Maiden Winless"…? What was that?
Why wasn't it the debut race?
Knowing nothing about the field, Fuuka Shirayuki opened a search engine and looked it up.
"'Maiden Winless' refers to the pool an Uma Musume enters after her debut race if she fails to take first. The Uma Musume there are all those who didn't win their debut. Only by winning this kind of race can they qualify for later events."
Lady Donna had failed to win her first debut race—so she'd ended up here.
…So that's how it works.
Fuuka Shirayuki nodded as she thought.
Then she checked the time again.
Seems like…
Lady Donna's "Maiden Winless" race was today?
Interesting.
If that person's job matched their ID, she might get an answer very soon.
-------
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