Can't Leave This Room Until I Get First Place on Syosetu Chapter 8

Loop 25

●Day 1●

Well, let’s begin posting again.
The plan is as follows.
Last time it was proven that posting other works in advance could increase the points received by the primary work.
Therefore, I’ll post other works until the 50th day to build up a following.　

Then, I’ll use 300 days to post the primary work.
Starting off, I’ll post twice daily to increase visibility.
When posting once daily, the decrease in rate that I gain points is greater than the increase.
Updating once a day averages a 700 point increase.
Twice a day averages 1000 points.
Missing a day, it becomes around 200 points.
Basically, posting twice a day gives 300 more points and missing a day gives 400 less points.[1]
Of course, these aren’t going to be exact numbers for any given date.
It just helps as a rule of thumb.

I’ve got about 400 chapters in stock to use.
There are 300 days to spread them out.
For the first hundred days, I’ll post two chapters daily.
Then, I’ll post once day for 200 days after that.
When I’ve finished the ma.n.u.script, I’ll use the monthly loop to go back and post the next scenario.
After testing scenarios 1, 2, and 3, I’ll post the one that garnered the most points.
Of course, all of the scenarios should be able to take c.u.mulative first place.
At the very least, they’ll get more points than last time.

The target is of course 350,000 points.
That was the c.u.mulative first place as of the 365th day.
Last time I reached 210,000 using 272 chapters starting around 70 days in.
Around 130 chapters and the completion boost will be added to this.

One hundred and thirty is about half of 272.
Half of 210,000 is about 100,000.
As the increase in points slows down as the story continues, the actual figure is likely 60 or 70 thousand.
However, the completion boost will definitely raise that figure, so 310,000 is still reasonable.
A figure of 300,000 is estimated.[2]
This is just a stone’s throw away from 350,000.

This time, I can see it.
This is the end. The conclusion is here.
I will leave this room.　

With that thought, I opened up my browser to post.
　

●Day 50●

For now, I’m done building up a following.
Last time, I posted three works consecutively over 70 days, but this time, I posted them simultaneously over 50 days.
Therefore, I had a higher volume of posts. Sometimes I’d update three times a day.
I don’t know how that will affect things…
At this point there aren’t any less points than last time.

Anyway, I’ll begin posting the primary work tomorrow.
It’s as planned.
Good. Things are the same as before.
It’s not at the same exact date and time, but last time it went well and it looks like it will go well this time, too.

●Day 77●

There’s no message this time.
Maybe he hadn’t started writing it, or maybe he just hasn’t seen it this time.
I don’t know which it is, but either way, nothing’s come.
His condemnation stung, so I’d prefer not to see it if possible.
Conversely, it’d be a lie to say that it doesn’t feel good to hear his praise, but I don’t intend to be so shameless as to steal his work and expect him to praise it.

●Day 150●

Circ.u.mstances are favorable.
Things are going well.
There is no way things aren’t going well.
I’ve taken the annual first place twice.
I took first place when I began posting, and from the 70th day onward I haven’t dropped below first place.
Thus, even starting from the 50th day, there’s no way not to get it.

●Day 250●

And so, it’s day 250.
I have 230,000 points.
It’s a little more than last time, but I’ve taken more time so it just about breaks even.
Last time I had stopped posting well before the 250th day…

Well, that aside.
From today onwards, I’ll be posting the chapters I’ve written myself.　

How stressful.[3]
Is this really okay?
Is this really acceptable?
Such feelings welled up within me, causing my fingers to tremble.
Looking for errors, I fastidiously reviewed the phrasing and dialogue for incongruities.

This is only for concluding the story.
I’m only doing this to earn points.
Therefore, it’s fine if the quality isn’t great.

I repeated that over and over to myself.
Up till this point, I’ve posted my work a couple of times.
Why, then, is this the only time I’ve felt so nervous?

“Su-…..ha-……”

Take a deep breath.
The time is 17:58.
The post is scheduled in 3 minutes.
Anxiety strikes.
Shall I check it once more?
No, there’s no time.
There’s no backing out.

When the clock reached 18:01, I clicked on the Submit b.u.t.ton.

●Day 251●

Comments are coming in.
I don’t usually read that many.
Even if I read them, it’s not like I can do anything.
I read some to see what readers wanted so I could write the continuation, but that was the extent of it.

However, I’m more concerned this time.
I suppose I can’t help but worry about what people have written.

I nervously click to see the comments.
From the top, I scrutinized every comment…thank goodness.

On the whole, reviews were positive.
What I’ve written has so far been connected with the style and development of the novel.
There’s also no incongruity in tone. Most of the readers seem to have accepted what I’ve written.

●Day 266●

Seeing the comments, blood drained from my face.

「Posted by: Yuubaa[4] [December 22, 2017 23:11]
▼Bad Point[5]
Recently, hasn’t Sugare’s character decayed?
When he was introduced he had a more warrior-like vibe.
Recently it seems more trashy. It doesn’t feel right.　

▼One Statement
Recent developments have been kinda boring.」

My vision darkened.
My throat felt dry, but there was no water.
I swallowed my saliva.
I felt my heart beat violently.
My face grew hot.
I looked at today’s update, to see where I went wrong.

Sugare was a villain.
Thinking that, I included more unpleasant actions in the latest update.
It was meant to connect to later developments so there wouldn’t be any incongruity.
I wondered if it was out of character, so I looked at the other comments.
Looking through each of the comments, there was the sentiment that “some of Sugare’s actions were strange.”
However, there were also comments that they weren’t particularly out of character.

This was unavoidable.
Later on, he schemes to cause a sudden reversal of their situation.[6] That’s why he kept Clover at arm’s length this chapter.
The incongruity came from him planning something outside of his usual behavior.

However, was it in his character to develop such schemes in the first place?
Perhaps it wasn’t something Sugare would have come up with, in the first place.
Maybe that’s where the incongruity lies.
Or maybe the readers just aren’t comprehending the intention?
So far, more readers have found it interesting than incongruous.
But, even if they don’t mention it in the comments, perhaps there are readers who find it out of character.

What should I do? Do I fix it?
How would I fix it, though?
I can’t develop the plot if I remove this part.

For now, let’s just make some small adjustments to tone.

●Day 297●

The ratio of praise to criticism is about 9:1.
I think that’s pretty close to what it was originally.
Even if the proportion is slightly different, it’s pretty close to that for every work.
There seems to be a certain number of critics, even for the c.u.mulative first and second place novels.

Then, why?
Why am I so worried?

Comments pour in every day.
I am thankful for that.
This didn’t happen when I was only posting my own work.

There’s some criticism every few days.
There’s never a ton.
Some opinions are patently false.
They give specious arguments that don’t hold up under scrutiny.
However, I’m the only one who knows that, and other readers may not realize it.
In any case, I can’t be sure the criticism is wrong unless I examine it thoroughly.

After all, they are the opinions of at least one reader.

I wonder if what I’m writing is correct.
Have I greatly deviated from the story so far?
It’s fine at the moment.
However, I wonder if some day I’ll make a big slip up.　

If that happens, all I have to do is undo it with the daily loop.
That’s all.
That’s all, but…
I didn’t feel convinced.

●Day 330●

It’s the climax.
This is the moment of greatest excitement.
More than 200 comments have come for the day.

The points have experienced a corresponding increase.
1500 in a day.
This was outside of my expectations.
Honestly, after the beginning, I hadn’t thought that the contents would greatly affect the rate of increase.
However, it seems that reading something exciting makes people want to leave their impressions, after all.
It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this happy.

●Day 350●

I was able to finish posting the story without any hiccups.
The comments section is full of well wishes for the conclusion of the novel.
The points have increased nicely.
Today it’s at 280,000.
It’s a little less than expected.

However, within me was a sense of accomplishment.
I finally did it.
It’s over. The novel is complete.
That sort of feeling.
However, there was a nagging voice within me.
You shouldn’t be so complacently self-satisfied.
This isn’t your achievement.
After all, this novel….

●Day 364●

The final score is 290,000 points.
c.u.mulative 3rd place.
There were fewer points from the completion boost than I had planned for.
I thought that I could expect a little more, but it seems I was being naive.
There were a modest amount of points.
However, I want a little more.
Sixty thousand more.
That’s basically 50,000.[7]

Either of the two remaining scenarios might be able to achieve that.

Loop 27

●Day 364●

Scenario 2 got 280,000 points.
Scenario 3 got 300,000 points.

There’s about a 10,000 point difference from Scenario 1 either way.
Seeing as there were around 130 chapters, that’s pretty much within the margin of error.

How disappointing.
I thought that this would be able to take first place.
That was my hope.
However, it was clear that I can’t get it.
Fifty thousand is not insignificant.
It’s not a figure I can make up no matter how I look at this.
I’m not going to be able to fix this by changing bits of the plot.

300,000.
It feels a bit low, but it is barely within my expectations.
It was within the antic.i.p.ated range.

The remaining 50,000…
We’ll fill it up with Scenario 3 in the next loop.

[1] …..Maybe I missed something in translation, but I think that should have been 500. Numbers are kept as they are in the raws, though.
[2] The author uses a phrase here (大台に手が届く) which I thought sounded kind of like a stock trader.
[3] I’m fairly sure most readers would know what *Doki Doki* means, but it seems a little lax to leave it untranslated.
[4] I’ve transliterated it because it was in hiragana (as opposed to roman characters or katakana usually used for loanwords), but it should be noted that “Yuubaa” is itself probably a transliteration of “Uber”.
[5] Lys’ explanation at http://ebisutranslations.com/2017/10/08/syosetu-101/
[6] The phrase used is 一発逆転の作戦に出る. Context seems to suggest 一発逆転 (a sudden reversal of the situation) implies a “betrayal”, but I wasn’t certain so I didn’t want to translate it that way.
[7] A weird phrase is used here, 鯖読んで, which literally translates to “mackerel reading”. In j.a.panese, this is an idiomatic way of referring to a number that has been over- or understated. In my understanding of j.a.panese Wikipedia, this may have come from the days before refrigeration, when fish merchants farther inland would understate how long it had been since the fish was caught to give the impression that it would be fresher than it actually was; however, this is a disputed etymology.