Abstract

A ""super realistic"" suspense based on the author's harrowing real-life experience!

A strange flyer found on the bulletin board at her part-time job:“Free Seminar on Magnetic Therapy and Health”But it was a door to hell――.

She just wanted to be recognized.That was all she ever wanted when she started,
so how did it come to this?

A nonstop suspense that vividly depicts the tumultuous life of a woman caught in a multi-level marketing scheme!

Shimikazu Maruko is a woman who lacks confidence and has low self-esteem. She constantly compares herself to her brilliant older sister and charming younger sister, which leaves her feeling out of place and inadequate.

After graduating from high school, she worked as an office clerk at a supermarket but quit after a year due to poor relationships with her coworkers and remained unemployed for a while.

When she finally found a job at a music studio, she met Nikawa, a 30-year-old man who invited her to join HTF, a startup company and multi-level marketing business selling health products. In an attempt to satisfy her desperate need for validation, Maruko became Nikawa’s downline.

Wearing her red-framed glasses, she felt as if she had become someone else and enjoyed speaking at the seminars. Being the center of attention, she experienced a rush of pleasure.

With her downlines praising her as “talented,” her desperate need for validation grew stronger and stronger—unaware that she was trapped in a never-ending cycle of hell.

One day, to become the youngest “Gold Member,” Maruko needed three more people to join the business, and all of them had to pay or pass a loan application. With one person short, she resorted to a dangerous method — buying it with her own money, which dragged her into debt hell.

Author’s Information

Born in Osaka and graduated from Osaka Prefectural Kogei Senior High School. She works as a hair and makeup stylist. In 2018, she won the 2nd Ooyabu Haruhiko Newcomer Award. She made her debut in 2019 with Orakamono no Mibun (BAKA's Identity), which included her award-winning work.
Her 2021 novel Multi no Ko (The Slave of MLM), based on her own experiences, gained wide media attention. It was nominated for the 24th Ooyabu Haruhiko Award and won the 4th Hosoya Masamitsu Award.