RBCT Chapter 156 A Quantified Life
Chapter 156 A Quantified Life
Chapter 156 A Quantified Life
"Miss Jiang Liu, are you alright?"
Looking at Jiang Liu Meili's pale face, Maishiro Kyosuke asked with concern.
Jiang Liumei pressed her hand to her chest, looking as if she had a fishbone stuck in her throat.
He grabbed the blueberry ramune soda from the table and drank every last drop.
He slowly opened his mouth and said, "As for what I just said, it's really hard to comment."
"All I can say is that the aftertaste was terrible, and it was far too strong in flavor."
"Although that's my assessment, I feel like this guy really put effort into designing the plot."
"Although I had a vague feeling that something was wrong in the first few pages of the story."
"And they became even more aware of what would happen next."
"But when the strange reversal happened at the end, it still sent chills down my spine."
Maijo Kyosuke understands Eri's beautiful feelings.
Because I had the same feeling when I first read Hirayama Yumeaki's book in my previous life.
Moreover, this story, "Just One Bite and —," is relatively less graphic than Hirayama Yumeaki's other short stories.
I really wonder what would happen if Jiang Liumei saw "Other People's Affairs," "The Cat Who Wears Letters," and "The Troublesome Barbecue."
What will you think afterward?
Jiang Liu Meili experienced the real-life fear presented in Maijo Kyosuke's "Plunge", and also went through the physical discomfort described in Hirayama Yumeaki's "Just One Bite and ————".
My heart felt like a jumbled mess of emotions, like a spilled spice jar.
The five judges on the panel shared the same sentiment as Jiang Liumei.
After more than three hours of rapid reading, I read twelve short stories.
The five judges did not look too pleased.
"Like a fishbone stuck in my throat" is probably the best way to describe the feelings of the five judges after reading the twelve "unconventional mystery novels".
Toru Miyoshi, chairman of the Japan Mystery Writers Association, was the highest-ranking and most authoritative of the five judges. He stood up first and addressed the attendees of the Tatara Used Bookstore's centennial celebration: "After three hours of reading..."
"I have already selected the top six in this competition."
"The rankings are as follows: 'The Plunge' by Professor Kyosuke Maishiro, 'Just One Bite and...' by Professor Yumeaki Hirayama, 'The Unbearable Fear' by Ms. Mizuho Yoshihara, 'The Disappearance of J' by Ms. Chichi Yasuda, 'The Take-Off Head' by Mr. Kenji Daigo, and 'The Witch Mansion Incident' by Mr. Mikio Morioka."
These six short, unconventional mystery stories all leave one with a lingering, unsatisfying feeling, like a fishbone stuck in one's throat.
Miyoshi Toru scratched the back of his head, a wry smile on his face: "As everyone knows, I am the chairman of the Japan Mystery Writers Association, and also one of the regular judges for the Edogawa Ranpo Prize, an award awarded by the Japan Mystery Writers Association."
"If these six stories were submitted to the Japan Mystery Writers Association Award or the Edogawa Ranpo Award, I would definitely submit all six of them."
"Because they don't fit either the currently popular social realism or traditional mystery genres."
"It's actually a variant of reasoning that has long been rejected by many."
"Such works will naturally not be included in the list of award recipients."
"But the situation is different now."
A look of discomfort mixed with admiration crossed Miyoshi Toru's face as he pulled out two manuscripts and continued, "Because this competition, initiated by Mr. Maishiro, is a 'Variegated Mystery Novel' that pays homage to Mr. Edogawa Ranpo."
"Because all the entries are unconventional mystery novels," it leaves one with a lingering sense of unease, a feeling that's hard to describe, but that's actually a compliment!
"Here, I have two articles that I want to focus on."
"Because these two stories are so well-made, they're more than just for entertainment."
"Even if it's compiled into a book and published, there shouldn't be too much of a problem."
Miyoshi Toru took out the thinner of the two manuscripts and waved it in front of everyone: "Let's talk about this one first, the runner-up in this 'Unconventional Mystery Novel' competition, Mr. Hirayama Yumeaki's 'Just One Bite and...'"
"Although leaks are a fatal blow to mystery novels."
"But this statement does not apply to unconventional detective novels."
"The novel 'Just One Bite and...' is one of the best examples."
"This story tells of a man seeking revenge after his daughter is murdered."
"The story is simple and straightforward; listening to it alone is as dry and boring as reading a newspaper."
"But Mr. Hirayama Yumeaki used his writing skills to turn the mundane into the magical, packaging it into a chilling and bizarre story."
"Mr. Hirayama Yumeaki first turned the murderer's wife into the victim of the case."
"Then they turned the original victim's family members into kidnappers who had kidnapped the murderer's daughter."
"The story begins from such an absurd starting point."
"The story gets really interesting after that. The people who were originally the victim's family broke into the murderer's wife's house and started cooking meat. Until we see the ending, we have no idea what this guy is up to."
"As a result, when the real killer returned home, he only tasted one bite of the stew on the table."
"Then I discovered that the stewed meat was my daughter's."
"A discerning reader will surely understand."
"But Mr. Hirayama Yumeaki seems to possess a kind of self-confidence that he can convey through his writing, which is what is called madness."
"Just when everyone thought the murderer would be brought to justice and that justice should be served."
"The result was that the victim's family members committed suicide by poisoning, while the real culprit gained popularity because of this case."
"Although the murderer's wife knew that her husband was a killer, she hid the truth for the sake of her family."
"This unique perspective, and the ability to structure and manage the story, is truly enviable!"
Takao Tsuchiya, who was standing nearby, nodded in agreement when he heard Miyoshi Tetsu say this: "Miyoshi is right. In my heart, this work, 'Just One Bite and...' is second only to 'The Plunge'."
"Mainly, 'Just One Bite and...' really fits the theme of this competition perfectly."
"Rather than saying that he resembles the style of Edogawa Ranpo, it would be more accurate to say that Hirayama Yumeaki inherited the style of Ran Ikujiro."
"It's a variation within a variation!"
Chen Shunchen glanced at Miyoshi Toru and Tsuchiya Takao, opened his mouth, and then winked at Gonda Manji and Kasai Kiyoshi: "Mr. Gonda, Mr. Kasai, you two go first."
Gonda Manji nodded, unusually sparing with his words: "It makes one feel physically uncomfortable."
After finishing his sentence, Gonda Manji turned to Kasai Kiyoshi, who was standing beside him, and asked, "Kiyoshi, how would you rate the story 'Just One Bite and...'?"
Upon hearing Manji Gonda's question, Kiyoshi Kasai held up the manuscript of "Just One Bite and —" and said with a smile, "If you ask me to comment, it's an incomprehensible way of thinking."
"An amazing work that I couldn't write."
"Although this piece, 'Just One Bite and...', is ranked second among these twelve works."
"But honestly, it's quite upsetting to watch, and I would find it hard to watch it a second time."
"Because it's so bizarre, completely negative," it shatters the notion of karma, making people feel extremely painful.
"However, for this kind of story, the more people vilify him, the more it sounds like praise."
"Because Mr. Hirayama Yumeaki simply wrote down the strange things in the newspaper in the form of a novel. If you can't accept this, it means you're still a human being."
"If you can accept this, you should examine whether there's a psychological problem."
After Kiyoshi Kasai finished speaking, everyone turned their attention to Chen Shunchen, who had been speechless, eagerly awaiting his comments.
As a result, Chen Shunchen seemed to be hurt by this story.
They completely avoided commenting on the story "Just One Bite and ————": "I have nothing to say about 'Just One Bite and ————'."
"If I absolutely have to give an evaluation, then I can only say I abstain."
"Shall we talk about Teacher Wucheng's 'Plunge' instead?"
"Although the aftertaste of Ms. Mai Cheng's 'Plunge' is also terrible."
"But relatively speaking, it's more acceptable to me."
When Miyoshi Toru, Tsuchiya Takao, Gonda Manji, and Kasai Kiyoshi heard Chen Shunchen's words, they all smiled knowingly.
Let's begin evaluating the plot of "The Plunge".
The first to speak was still Miyoshi Toru, who held the highest position.
Although Miyoshi Tetsu wanted to suppress Maijo Kyosuke's "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders" and promote Izawa Motohiko's "Sarumaru's Vision" at the "Edogawa Ranpo Ryusho".
But ever since seeing the book "A Bellflower" handed to him by Jiang Liu Meili, he has greatly admired Mai Shiro Kyosuke.
In fact, after watching "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders", I clearly felt the genius of Kyosuke Maijo.
The subsequent works, "Convergence" and "The Mystery of the Death Row Inmates," brought him indescribable joy!
Therefore, Miyoshi Tetsu greatly admired Maijo Kyosuke.
He even considered sending an invitation to Kyosuke Maishiro to join the "Japan Mystery Writers Association" on several occasions.
.
However, the Japan Mystery Writers Association requires authors to have a single book with sales in the millions in order to join.
Therefore, Miyoshi Toru's idea was blocked by many members of the association.
Miyoshi Tetsuya now only hopes that Maishiro Kyosuke can put in a little more effort.
Write a mystery novel that sells millions of copies.
That way, I can legitimately invite Kyosuke Maijo to join the "Japan Mystery Writers Association"!
Thinking of all this, Miyoshi Toru held up the manuscript of "The Crash" in his hand and said, "The Crash is the last manuscript I will read."
"To be honest, the story of 'The Plunge' is not particularly outstanding. Simply put, it's about a person who, because of certain things, becomes more and more miserable, and eventually gets tricked into becoming meat on the chopping block, at the mercy of others, yet unable to speak out."
"But it was such a simple story that Ms. Maishiro turned into a masterpiece of unconventional mystery."
"Because Ms. Maishiro introduced a very interesting setting, this story became incredibly engaging!"
"This setting is like stocks."
"In the story of 'The Crash,' Teacher Wu Cheng tied a stock to each person, and the price of this stock was closely related to the person's social level."
"Doing good deeds will increase your stock price, doing bad deeds will decrease it. When the stock price is high, you will have a better job. When the stock price is low, you will only become someone else's plaything. If it goes down even lower, it will be delisted and made into biofuel for power generation."
"But—is this really the right thing to do?"
Is such a society perfect?
"Obviously not! Because such a world has been quantified."
"Some people will surely say that a quantified world must be better, since quantification will make distribution more equitable."
"Doing the right thing will bring the right feedback, and doing the wrong thing will bring the right punishment."
"I believe that some people definitely hold this view."
"But what I want to say is that people are not stocks. Just because I have a very high value doesn't mean I'm a good person."
"Just because I have extremely low value doesn't mean I'm a piece of trash that society should discard."
"Ms. Wu Cheng's essay 'The Plunge' begins within this framework."
"Because everything can be quantified and valued, the whole world has naturally become one where efficiency and money reign supreme."
"The meaning of success as a person has become the only hard indicator: a high stock price."
"As a result, people lose the most important part of themselves as human beings. Those things that seem useless but are actually very useful are ruthlessly cut off and taken out to be valued and quantified separately."
Ultimately, family ties need to be valued, romantic love needs to be valued, friendship needs to be valued, relationships need to be valued, but what happens in the end?
"Dignity also needs to be valued and calculated. When a person's dignity needs to be measured by value, then everything in the world needs to be valued and calculated."
"Legs, hands, eyes, internal organs—I can calculate them all."
"In that case, one truly loses one's self-worth as a human being."
Miyoshi Tetsuya paused for a moment, then waved the manuscript of "The Plunge" in his hand: "There's still a lot to discuss about the plot of this manuscript, but I'll leave that to the four judges later."
"What I want to say is that, based solely on the 'stock market world' setting presented by Ms. Maishiro, winning first place today is well-deserved!"
"With such high quality and such a novel subject matter, I believe Kodansha will not let this opportunity pass them by."
"So when this story hits bookstores, I hope everyone will buy a copy and take a look."
"Because of the story 'The Plunge,' it's not just a masterpiece of unconventional mystery fiction! It's also a treasure trove for every thoughtful person!"
After Miyoshi Toru finished speaking, he handed the microphone to Tsuchiya Takao, who was standing next to him.
Takao Tsuchiya took the microphone, looked at the audience, and smiled kindly: "I completely agree with Chairman Miyoshi's evaluation of 'The Plunge'."
"Because Ms. Maishiro used a very short space to construct an incredibly absurd yet very realistic world."
"Stocks are life itself; everything can be quantified by stock prices."
"Evil can be quantified, courage can be quantified, enthusiasm can be quantified, even kindness can be quantified—in short, not only bad virtues can be calculated and quantified, but good virtues can be as well."
"Under such a terrible and distorted system, everyone will place great importance on their own numerical values."
""
"The protagonist of the story 'The Plunge' is the same as Yuji."
"He gave up his seat to the elderly on the tram not out of kindness, but because he wanted to boost his stock price. He rode his bicycle at breakneck speed not out of concern for the victim, but because he was afraid that someone else would steal his credit and prevent his stock price from rising."
"He studied hard from childhood to adulthood in order to increase his stock price and break away from his original circle. He broke off his engagement with his childhood sweetheart because she would lower his stock price. And he was with Emi not because he liked her, but because being with Emi would allow him to take over Emi's father's company and become the president."
"In short, everything is for the sake of increasing the stock price."
"Although Yuji only lost his right to be a human being at the very end of the story."
"But I believe that from the very beginning, Yuji was no longer human; he was merely a machine that obeyed the stock market, lacking independent thought and the ability to make his own choices!"
"Regarding the situation described in the book, I don't know how to draw a conclusion, let alone how to evaluate whether Yuji's actions were right or wrong."
"But that's exactly what made me feel even more powerless."
"Because Teacher Wucheng used an abstract and absurd approach to tell us where everyone's fate would ultimately lead if the world really became like this."
"To this, aside from feeling a chill run down my spine, I have nothing more to say —"