As a newly serialized work in Dream Comic, Hikaru no Go naturally drew massive attention across Japan's manga industry.
Not only did the Dream Group's internal staff have their own review metrics, but the six major manga publishers in the surrounding prefectures, were all keeping a close eye on this new title.
These companies competed fiercely, so they watched everything that appeared in Dream Comic's flagship magazine.
At first, everyone treated a Go-themed manga like a joke.
It wasn't that Go manga had never appeared before, several second- and third-tier magazines had tried, but history showed the same conclusion every time:
Go manga never worked.
How could readers who didn't even know the rules of Go possibly follow Go matches in a manga?
But after two chapters of Hikaru no Go, the situation the five rival publishers had hoped for simply didn't happen.
Instead, online discussion about the series kept growing hotter and hotter.
Logically, the reaction should have been:
"I don't understand Go, so why is Shirogane-sensei making a manga about something I can't understand? He clearly doesn't understand the market!"
But in reality…
Readers became strangely patient.
They ignored the absurd learning barrier and simply enjoyed the story.
Even if they didn't understand the matches, Go experts on Dream Comic's official forum began taking screenshots of the boards in the manga and breaking down every move, opening joseki, key turning points, shape efficiency, even variations several moves ahead.
Especially the match in Chapter 2 where Hikaru accidentally revealed Sai's reading during someone else's game, several high-level amateur Go players made analysis threads, and some gained over ten thousand comments.
A whole crowd of readers who knew nothing about Go ended up: staring at diagrams, reading breakdowns, thanking Go masters for "teaching them," and learning Go completely unintentionally.
Readers who opened a manga to relax ended up, working overtime to learn Go.
The rival publishers were stunned.
Could a Go manga actually succeed now?
Journalists also jumped on the trend, releasing article after article starting Thursday morning.
After all, even if Go is niche, it is elegant, refined, and part of traditional culture.
Among the ancient arts, Go had always been a symbol of culture and intellect.
So even if a Go manga didn't attract a massive fanbase, its "cultural value" gave it prestige.
And with Hikaru no Go's rising reputation, the media quickly picked up the scent.
This became even more obvious when Rei, stepping out for breakfast that morning, found several reporters waiting with cameras at the entrance to his apartment building.
They weren't manga reporters.
They were Go industry reporters, the kind whose segments appear on cultural TV programs on secondary national channels.
They didn't interview him long, just guided him gently toward the statement they wanted.
And Rei understood exactly what they needed, so he delivered:
"The reason I chose Go as the theme of my new manga is simple, I hope more young people in Japan can discover this elegant, deeply competitive sport."
Just like that, the "purpose" of Hikaru no Go suddenly sounded noble, refined, even educational.
The reporters left satisfied.
"Something's not right."
Rei finally sensed the shift.
Ever since his identity as Shirogane was revealed, he had become a daily spectacle.
But now even reporters were coming to find him.
He remembered the reports from his previous life: In Japan, before the original Hikaru no Go manga, the Go-playing population was around 3 million.
After serialization ended, within just a few years, the Go population exceeded 4 million.
A single manga had increased the Go population by one-third.
In Taiwan and other East Asian regions, Go academies and children's Go classes exploded in popularity, operating at full capacity.Youth tournament registrations doubled.
Right now, Hikaru no Go in this world was still only two chapters in.The true wave of popularity hadn't even begun.
Once the plot fully unfolded, Rei realized something troubling, if Hikaru no Go became as explosively popular in Japan as it had in his previous life, then wouldn't he soon be surrounded every day by fans, crowds, and reporters pressing their cameras inches from his face?
He thought about it for a moment and quickly gave up.
There was no solution.
He had already chosen the path of a manga artist.
He couldn't expect to enjoy the fame, money, and influence without also enduring the chaos that came with it.
There's no such thing as a one-sided blessing in this world.
When the time came, the school's security team would be the ones losing sleep.
At most, Rei figured he'd pay for a few "compensation snacks" out of his own pocket.
During winter break, Miyu often invited Rei to her home.
Of course, she only had one motive: Get Dream Comic insider information from him.
When both of them were serialized in the same magazine,
Misaki never hid anything from her, and Miyu could freely hear all sorts of internal details face-to-face.
But now?
Now that Rei serialized in Dream Comic and Miyu serialized in Amatsukage Weekly, Misaki refused to leak anything.
That was her professional ethics.
Whether Rei chose to tell Miyu privately was something Misaki didn't care about.
Dream Group's executives hadn't forbidden editors from sharing minor rankings with close acquaintances.
"This week's second chapter of Hikaru no Go didn't get any of the special promotion it had in the debut week," Miyu muttered anxiously.
"I'm worried the ranking might fall."
"I told you, you don't need to be nervous at all," Rei replied calmly, drinking tea in Misaki's living room.
"It's not for nothing!" Miyu protested.
"If your ranking tanks, I'll feel awful."
"You're the one I recommended to my sister. You're the goal I'm chasing. You're Misaki's biggest achievement.
And right now, out of all the manga artists our age in Japan, you're the only one I feel is still ahead of me. If your new work suddenly does poorly, it'll hit me hard."
Then Miyu narrowed her eyes.
"And the way Akira chases after Hikaru in your manga, doesn't it look exactly like me chasing after you?
Rei, did you base Akira's character on me?"
"Uh…" Rei stiffened.
Because, yes. She wasn't wrong.
Sai was crushing Akira with thousand-year divine skill.
And Rei was crushing Miyu with the experience and memories of an entire previous life's manga industry.
It was a dimensionality-reduction attack.
He cleared his throat.
"Fine, let me quote a line from a future chapter of Hikaru no Go."
Rei looked at her and said softly:
"Stop chasing my shadow. You won't catch it."
"You...!"
Miyu's eyes widened.
"You're seriously too arrogant!"
To Rei, he was simply stating the truth.
To Miyu, he sounded like he was teasing her.
"Hmph! Don't get full of yourself. Sakura Rain is less than six thousand votes away from second place in this week.
Just wait! When my manga reaches the top, and once it finishes, my next work will definitely run in Dream Comic, and I'll crush your ranking and laugh at you!"
"Yes, yes, I know," Rei replied with a lazy smile.
He could tell she wasn't truly angry, just frustrated and competitive.
Just then, Rei's phone rang.
He answered.
On the other end, Misaki spoke quickly, excitement obvious in her voice:
"It moved up one spot from last week, fourteenth place!"
...
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