Original Sin (MewGulf AU)

🌻Chapter 5

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"Hey, Gulf. You're here early," Makihara called out as Gulf arrived at work, amazingly, for the first time that afternoon. Gulf was in a wonderful mood and carried a rolled up magazine and a tall coffee cup with cappuccino in it. The smell of cinnamon began to permeate the office.

"You're just late, Sir."

"How dare you talk to your boss like that! Anyway how's it going with that thing we talked about?"

"That thing? Oh, you mean finding new authors?" Gulf looked up from a document he'd been working on to smile at Makihara. It had been two weeks since their talk. The time had passed in a flash, lost in the crushing stress of work.

"Did you find anybody who looks promising?"

Gulf was glad to be asked about that again. It was at least better than Makihara broaching the topic of Mew's next book.

"I made an appointment with a man named Bright Vachirawit. Have you heard of him?"

"Bright, huh? I've never heard of him. What does he write?"

Gulf wasn't surprised. Since Bright wasn't a major writer like Mew. It wasn't shocking that Makihara wouldn't know a freshly published author. So Gulf handed Makihara the novel.

"It's got a good twist and his style is really easy to read." Gulf said as Makihara leafed through the novel with interest. "It reminds me a little of the way Mister Mew writes. The reviews I found online looked relatively good. At first I thought I'd heard his name somewhere before, but I was wrong."

"Online, huh? So he's already got a fan base?" Makihara snapped the book and looked at Gulf dubiously.

"He might, but I'd still like to talk to him."

"But he's a novice, right? Does he have any contacts?"

"He runs his own website, so I sent an e-mail. He replied immediately. We made plans to meet today."

Bright's website hadn't been very up-to-date, so Gulf had tried e-mailing him. Luckily, Bright lived in the city and it had been easy to make an appointment.

"Well then, I look forward to hearing more."

Appearance had resonated with Gulf much more deeply than he had expected. It had gone on sale three months earlier. The sales data he'd received showed that it wasn't selling spectacularly, but there was something unique about the writing. Gulf believed that Bright had devoted fans, and if the company marketed him well, he could be a big success.

The imprint that published Bright's first book had put him in the wrong category. If his books were beside other mysteries, they were sure to sell better. Bright focused on logical structure and detailed psychological descriptions in his writing, his work was much closer to real literature than pulp mystery stories, but his books still worked successfully as a mystery.

After becoming an editor, reading books had become inescapably intertwined with work and it was hard for Gulf to read like a normal person. But Mew's Emergence and Bright's Appearance had both easily sucked Gulf in as a casual reader. That was why he wanted to meet Bright so much. What could he be like?

Heart racing, Gulf finished his paperwork, reminded his authors of their deadlines, and did all his other little task. The hour of his meeting with Bright drew closer.

Yaya called him at his extension and exclaimed, "Gulf! There's someone at reception named Bright here to see you."

Gulf thanked her. Bright was right on time.

Gulf gathered a few reference copies of Sozan Publishing's books, including a copy of Emergence, then hurried to the elevators. It would take only moments to get to the front desk on the first floor, but Gulf didn't want to keep Bright waiting.