July 24th, Sakura TV Headquarters – Screenwriting Department.
Early that morning, Kiyota Sanji drove his sports car to work in high spirits.
The morning breeze was warm, and as he hummed a tune and strode confidently into the office, he looked like a man who had the whole world figured out.
On paper, Kiyota was credited as the lead screenwriter of 'Pure Breeze'.
But in truth, nearly all the heavy lifting — especially the critical plotlines — had been handled by his talented writing partner, Kanzaki Yusuke.
That meant Kiyota didn't have to be glued to the set like Yusuke, who was now pulling his hair out trying to come up with a satisfying ending for the series.
But the moment Kiyota entered the office today, he felt something was... off.
Everyone was huddled around, staring at a screen intently, occasionally letting out gasps of surprise.
"What are you all doing?" Kiyota asked, walking over.
"We're watching Su Yan's 'Rurouni Kenshin'! It launched two days ago — it's incredible. No one expected it to be this good!" a female screenwriter said with a bright smile.
"Seriously, who could've guessed?" another middle-aged man chimed in. "With such a small budget and so little promotion from the network, it still managed to break into the Top 10 trending list within just two days. Over 410,000 paid views already."
Kiyota's eyes widened.
Two days… 410,000?
Su Yan was an intern at this station for two years before he was finally hired full-time. I always thought he was one of those slow types… but I guess talent really shows in action," someone added.
"At this rate, 'Rurouni Kenshin' might break a million views in its first week."
"Why stop there? The first episode already has over 50,000 user ratings, sitting at 9.3/10. That kind of word-of-mouth is insane."
"I caught up on the first episode this morning. Gotta say — Kenshin absolutely deserves the hype. Su Yan's amazing! It was his first time as a lead creator, and he managed to write this kind of script. And those action scenes — I can't believe he played the lead himself!"
"I worked on a historical wuxia drama a few years ago — trust me, the action scenes Su Yan pulled off in Kenshin? Easily the best fight choreography I've ever seen in a Xia Nation wuxia drama. Sure, the budget's low, the costumes and sets are a bit rough, and a few side actors could be better… but none of that ruins it. The brilliance still shines through."
"Do you think 'Rurouni Kenshin' could end up with a higher average view count than 'Pure Breeze'?" someone asked.
Silence fell over the room. Everyone turned to look at Kiyota. The atmosphere instantly turned awkward.
"Ah, sorry, I didn't mean it like that…" the speaker laughed awkwardly.
Relationships in the screenwriting department were complicated. Some people didn't fear Kiyota's connections and openly disapproved of how he took credit for Kanzaki Yusuke's work under the guise of a "co-writing team." No one went as far as open conflict, but the sarcasm in that question? Everyone caught it.
Kiyota was fuming inside.
But he kept up his fake smile — while mentally adding that speaker to his grudge list.
After all, they saw each other every day.
Kiyota had written off 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' as a low-budget throwaway project — that's why, when it aired two nights ago, he didn't bother to check it out.
But the others weren't so dismissive.
At first, when 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' premiered on July 22nd, it didn't make a huge splash. Sure, it climbed to the teens on the trending list — decent, but unremarkable.
Its first-day view count was just 130,000 — respectable, but hardly threatening. Based on that, analysts figured it would top out at 400,000 views in the first week, maybe a bit over a million per episode by the end.
But here was the twist:
Episode 1 of 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' completely stunned early viewers.
And those viewers went wild.
They flooded the web with glowing reviews and word-of-mouth buzz. Fans even started making clip compilations and sharing short fight scenes all over SakuraNet Blog.
The site noticed.
Once it saw the show was over-performing and had a phenomenal score, the platform quickly pivoted — and allocated more promotional space to it.
The synergy between fans and the website gave 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' a massive boost in exposure.
As a result, in just two days — by July 24th — Episode 1's paid views had exploded past 410,000.
When Kiyota figured all this out, his expression became... complicated.
He rushed to his desk, fired up his computer, and watched the first episode of 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' from beginning to end.
Afterward, he just sat there, dazed.
It took him five or six minutes to fully recover.
He had to admit — 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' was really good.
The action scenes? Su Yan had completely blown him away.
But right after that came a surge of burning jealousy.
And the more he thought about it, the worse it got.
'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal', two days after launch, had already reached 410,000 views.
He remembered that 'Pure Breeze' only hit 430,000 in its first two days.
And Kenshin's opening score? A 9.3 — far higher than 'Pure Breeze's 8.0.
You've gotta be kidding me…
The rest of the department was watching all this like entertainment, but Kiyota could clearly see the writing on the wall.
Sakura TV had invested over ten million dollars into 'Pure Breeze'. It was heavily promoted, backed by a veteran team from director to producers — all industry pros with proven success.
And 'Pure Breeze' had done great so far — top drama of the season across all four major platforms, averaging over 2 million views per episode just four episodes in. The number was still rising.
By the end, it was expected to average 3 million views per episode, with a total view count likely exceeding 40 million.
That alone meant the platform would bring in more than 40 million yuan in online revenue, and Sakura TV's production team would receive over 20 million in profit sharing.
No complaints — 'Pure Breeze' was a clear success.
But only if it stayed as the only success this quarter.
Only if 'Pure Breeze' stood alone could Kiyota be seen as the "genius first-time screenwriter" by the network's executives.
But if 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' ended the quarter with similar — or even better — numbers?
That would be a joke.
The spotlight would shift to Su Yan, not Kiyota.
The higher-ups would focus their attention and resources on him.
The more Kiyota thought about it, the tighter his chest felt. But there was nothing he could do except try to reassure himself:
"So what if Kenshin had a strong first episode? If the quality drops later, it'll all fall apart."
Before, Kiyota just found Su Yan annoying.
But now? He hated him.
This wasn't about personality clashes or petty dislikes anymore.
It was about profit and career trajectory.
Every industry has competition.
Even a nepotism hire like Kiyota could only get so far — his uncle was just a deputy director in the production department, not the overall director, and definitely not the president or a shareholder.
The biggest opportunities and best resources…
Would always go to the one who performed best.
And this year, in the entire network?
There were only two newly-promoted screenwriters.
Su Yan and Kiyota Sanji.