A Handsome Kinky Gangster Reporter

On the next day after the rain stopped, I went to the newspaper office to do some work. I assumed that there would already be readers’ opinions in the mailbox. Contrary to my prediction, surprisingly there wasn’t a single piece of paper received in the mailbox on the front of the building.

‘He said the response was good. It’s strange.’

Was Philip’s friend just telling a lie to make me satisfied? I tilted my head in confusion and wondered if I should write another provocative manipulation story today. When I went up to the office on the second floor by walking through the bakery, I found a large cloth bag in front of the office door.

“Huh? What’s this?”

When I untied the rope that tied the cloth bag, there were many postcards and letters inside. I read the one on top, which was closest to my reach. Inside the postcard, there was a valuable reader’s opinion about the made-up story.

“Please tell me where your husband’s grave is, I will pull out his head and put it in the hole. I will go and light a fire ….”

Was this a world-class malicious comment?

I couldn’t put it in the newspaper, so I threw it straight into the trash. After groaning and moving the bag to the office, I immediately began to sift through the contents to be added into the newspaper.

If the story comes out, I’m thinking of putting it in tomorrow’s newspaper. I couldn’t even straighten my back for a few hours and busily picked up useful contents which led to a painful groan that eventually slipped out my mouth.

“Oh my god, my back. I can’t do this on my own.”

However, I couldn’t ask Philip to help me now. He had been willing to go to the office early in the morning even though I paid him a low wage. That angelic kid would obviously come right away if I asked him to. How could I ask a favor from a kid who had been helping with shipping work until late at night.

When taking over the printing office, I decided to employ the existing employees, so the workforce there was settled. Nevertheless, I was more than desperate to recruit employees to work in the shipping department and office. Heaving out a small sigh, I thought about posting a job vacancy at the newspaper office in the still-empty advertising section for the position of journalist and my secretary.

‘Although I can’t probably look for new people with experience. If I choose a woman who is in dire need of work, at least she won’t have the intention to resign early.’

I knew because I was in and out of other newspaper offices to get a job at a newspaper company in the capital. There were no jobs for women in the Morris empire, at least as a newspaper reporter. It must be time to write, “favorable treatment for women” on the job posting advertiser.

“Excuse me. How are you?”

A girl with fluttering brown hair and innocent brown eyes stood at the open door.

“Who are you?”

“Ah, a tenant. Nice to meet you. I’m the daughter of Tom Baker, the owner of the bakery on the first floor.”

As soon as I heard she introduced herself as the daughter of the building owner, I got up from my seat and shook out my skirt while fixing my posture. She wasn’t going to inform me that the rent was raised because there was a mistake in the contract, was she? For a moment, I pondered what would happen to this Commercial Lease Law in the Morris Empire. I thought I signed a five-year long-term contract when I signed it for the first time. What if the landlord changes his words now?

When my head was spinning with all sorts of concerns, she suddenly introduced herself.

“My name is Mary. Mary Baker. Sixteen years old.”

“?”

“Oh, yes. Nice to meet you.” 

The girl named Mary grinned and spoke right to the point.

“Please, I want to apply for job here.”

What kind of random occurrence was this? I really thought I’d picked someone in my imagination a while ago. I couldn’t believe it was granted unbelievably fast. I quickly looked up and wondered for a moment if someone in the sky, in the high chair that I heard from my mother last time, was watching over me.

Then I cupped my hands together.

‘Please drop a rain of gold coins on this office. I want to be showered with gold coins.’

I closed my eyes and prayed fervently. Unfortunately, the wish didn’t come true right away. Mary, who had noticed my behavior, dropped her head.

“Pardon me, boss?”

Oops, I just remembered there was a visitor.

When I hurriedly turned to the girl named Mary, I extended my hand to her as if asking her to shake hands. I almost acted like a stranger in front of the building owner’s daughter. My ears somehow felt hot.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Haley Mertes, the president of ‘The Golden Goose Daily’. Is this your first time working at a newspaper company?”

Of course it was her first time. I intentionally asked this even though I already knew it. Then, Mary carefully shook hands with me and blushed slightly. She muttered shyly.

“Yes, I only ever worked at the bakery.”

“You can read, can’t you? How long have you been working at the bakery?”

“Well, I’ve been working throughout growing up. I guess it’s been more than eight years that I’ve been helping my father?”

This girl has eight years of experience in the service profession. She must have been good at interacting with people. However, I still should be careful at choosing people. Even if this person is the daughter of the building owner, I have the right to refuse as president of the company…

“Alright, then you’re not much different than a newbie. I’ll get you started with less salary for new employees. Do you have any objections?”

There was no such thing as a veto. We have to hire the landlord’s daughter immediately to secure the lease.

Mary’s eyes lit up at my attempt to negotiate her salary.

“Yes! If you choose me as an employee, I will work hard!”

“When can you start working?”

“I can start from today!”

I pointed at the fabric after believing Mary’s enthusiastic answer.

“Then, choose a story and opinion that can be added in the newspaper. I’ll put the story you choose today in tomorrow’s paper.”

Mary looked quite excited when she heard my request. She clenched her fist and cheered, “Yes!” before she started reading the letters in the big cloth bag.

I watched her for a moment before immediately turning my gaze to my desk. I had to focus on editing tomorrow’s papers. Today’s luck was a coincidence made by a self-proclaimed wizard. After finishing several parts of the work, I was very concerned about the blank space in the next part. I checked the time and looked at the window.

“It’s almost time.”

There was still no script for the ‘Etiquette Tips of the Day’ section for tomorrow.

In order to learn about noble manners that ordinary people usually don’t have any idea about, I had to ask Madam Arete. Because she was the governess of an imperial lady prior to changing her status and name. She was better than anyone else when it came to noble manners. Madam Arete promised to give me a manuscript every day if I gave her enough money, and the manuscript for tomorrow hadn’t arrived at the office yet.

“Is it too late?”

I have to start with printing in the afternoon. If the script came late, the etiquette tips would be empty tomorrow. I stared at the empty spot in the newspaper while wondering if I should write another article to replace it. At that moment, Mary approached me.

“What do you think of this story, president? This is the most interesting one.”

Mary handed me a white letter. This story was written on letter paper.

Hello, I’ve been married for one year. Unlike other couples, I got into a relationship with him through a love affair, not a political marriage arranged by our family. He is a very good person who only saw me before marriage and always gave something to me. Therefore, despite my parents’ opposition with our relationship, I trusted him and insisted on getting married with him. My parents said that they were worried about marrying me off to a poor man, and they also didn’t know if he could give us a pretty comfortable honeymoon.

“Wow, there are people who marry for love like this.”

In this age, I thought everyone should marry a life partner which was arranged by their family.

In the beginning, he also worked hard in construction to express his gratitude to my parents. He said he would pay off all my parents’ debts one day and be a reliable son-in-law. Perhaps because the fervor was too much, he injured his leg and rested at home for about three months. I took care of him diligently and stayed by his side, and due to the lack of money for living expenses, I ended up working as a waiter at a nearby restaurant.

It was then that my husband started to become a little strange. When I was home alone, he drank a lot and shouted, ‘You said you were going to make money!’ and used violence against me. One day, he hit me so hard that I couldn’t even go to work the next day.

Now, of course, my husband had returned to his original construction job. My body has recovered and I also started working again. However, he was drinking more and more and hurting my body again. He didn’t even try to hide the fact that he drank alcohol. He started drinking outside as well.

There were times when he came home and suspected me, insisted that I was cheating on him and beat me up. Husband, how can I recover his common sense? I cry every night at the thought of the times when we were still dating long ago. Please have mercy on me, and please give me advice.

It was a story titled, ‘Lonely Mrs. A’.

I became frustrated by someone who was still thinking of writing story about her husband.

“Wow, does this woman still love her husband after being beaten around like that?”

Mary replied while hitting her chest with her hand as if she was angry.

“That’s it! I don’t know what to say. Mrs. A must be out of her mind. If I were her, I would kick my husband out of the house!”

“Mary. You shouldn’t say that to the victim.”

This was a common misunderstanding among women’s mind who experienced domestic violence. Their husband must have beat them because he loved her. If she did well, their men would come back to their senses. However, the husband is at fault in their relationship. We should never blame the victim.

I thought about how to tell this poor woman about the harsh reality, and finally decided to publish this story in tomorrow’s newspaper without adding or subtracting the original content. I believed a thoughtful reader would probably give a better opinion. If this woman read the reader’s opinion, she would realize the right decision for herself.

“President, I think I’m enjoying this job. It suits me perfectly.”

Less than an hour after working, Mary brought her hands together and placed them on her chest while showing a sense of satisfaction. Wasn’t it what they do when they leave for another job, or they would be disappointed later on and resign right away? I coughed and alleviated her expectations.

“When you get used to this job, there will be days when you have to do things you don’t want to do. If you have the ability one day, you might have to risk your life to go to a dangerous place to cover it.”

Of course, Mary wouldn’t risk her life to cover it. However, I couldn’t guarantee that she will only do what she loves. Perhaps, I would be the bad boss someday, who urges her to make a commercial. I don’t know about her, though.

However, upon my warning, Mary gradually rose her cheekbones.

“Wow! I want to do something thrilling. A journalist risking her life to cover justice?! Isn’t that so cool?”

No, did she just say risking her life was cool? I knew it from my past life. Because I also died for this job.

Mary seems to be romanticizing journalism too much. The reality was not like that.

Actually, when I worked as a reporter in my previous life, I have gone through a lot of dirty and disgusting things.

The seniors at the newspaper wrote articles regarding the administration’s criticism, that the district office was poorly managed when the district office in charge didn’t return their money. Then, as if it were a natural thing, illegal money would be issued in the name of promotion expenses. Of course, that was before the law of anti-corruption* was enacted.

[e/n: *In Korean, The Improper Solicitation and Graft Act or also named as ‘Kim Young Ran Act, is an anti-corruption law in South Korea which was passed in 2015 and started being enforced on September 28, 2016 -Wikipedia.]