A Handsome Kinky Gangster Reporter

Gloria looked at Claude’s flawless face and his eyes that were starting to close again. His disheveled black hair, his long eyelashes, his tightly closed lips, and the regular sound of his breathing. There was nothing unattractive about him.

Gloria felt that even if she married another man, she would have him in her heart for the rest of her life.

On that day, there was only one chance to tie Gloria’s heart to that man at once.

There is nothing more futile than longing for a love that will never return.

‘It would have been better if I hadn’t received help from Claude when Father hit me.’

If so, Gloria was certain she would have lived the life she was given without feeling miserable like this.

Was it because it was cloudy? Gloria felt a little down. She let out a sniff and wiped her tears at the sound of rain. Claude still closed his eyes. Gloria even liked to see his appearance. She decided to take that into consideration for herself. She thought it would be that Claude was pretending not to know that she was crying for fear that she would be embarrassed.

‘That way, I would feel less pathetic.’

The foolish man and woman spent their time in the cramped carriage together with different thoughts in their minds.

The weather became clear shortly after, and the surrounding of the lake became a mess due to the sudden disaster. Gloria’s plan to seduce Claude at the last minute was ruined. Soon after, people who had come to play by the lake began to hear cries and screams while looking for their families.

*  *  *

“If I manage this well, I think readers will like it.”

Due to Baron Douglas Stephen, she could publish interesting news. The founding copy of the newspaper originally had to be given more attention than other parts. For the sake of publicity, I was thinking of releasing it for free at first, but I had to suppress the stimulating article by telling people to buy it if they want to see it.

‘Wow, I never expected Douglas to have such a love story. Being abandoned by his first love and even changing his last name.’

His sad first love story and slightly exaggerated successful story made me cry a little in the midst of interviewing him… It made me want to tag along when Gloria goes to the wedding tomorrow. The photo of Baron Stephen and Gloria that she would take would be a good one as she put it on the front page of the newspaper.

At first, I was going to prevent them from getting married. However, because I failed, there was nothing I could do. As a writer, I felt guilty for the female protagonist, but what could I do when Baron Stephen’s preference wasn’t me? Therefore, public affairs are public, private affairs are private.

‘As expected, I was a jerk…’ No, it seemed like the reporter’s tendencies ran down through my bones.’

Alright. I’ve become a gangster reporter. Someone who was no different from the reporters in my past life.

I just occasionally felt a sense of justice to counter the absurdity of this world. In the end, I was the kind of person who judged how much my newspaper would sell and whether it would sell well to readers, because I was a reporter and chief editor.

After the interview, I stopped by the office on my way home, it was already dark and late at night. At the end of the road, I saw my house with the lights turned off. I couldn’t see a single light through the window, so it looked like an abandoned house, making it appear creepy.

“Huh? Are they not home yet?”

Claude and Gloria should have returned home from their date by this time. Did the two of them go somewhere else? Of course, it wasn’t illegal for unmarried men and women to have fun together.

‘I’d rather see at least the two of them be together and have a happy ending.’

However, if Gloria had followed the original story, she would have eventually married Baron Stephen. I wondered just how many people have suffered because of myself, the writer of this world.

‘Oh, right. Claude can realize his love in the midst of this matter and save Gloria in a cool way, right?’

If it’s like that, it wasn’t a bad thing that would  change the story of the original novel as I previously planned. The Lischer Family wouldn’t be at a disadvantage even if they have to deal with the bank or Baron Stephen’s top brass.

However, I wondered if the Duke of Gateron Lischer would allow his son to be with a poor commoner? I didn’t know about that one.

‘I don’t want to see the female lead suffer in vain.’

I walked into the house and when I was about to light the candle, I felt someone with a cold energy behind me. Shortly after, a low-pitched female voice was heard from behind.

“Haley. What are you doing?”

“Oh my gosh!”

When I looked behind me, it was my mother, Bella. She was supposed to come home in a few days, and she looked quite tired. My mother had been away for a while because she said that she had to investigate the curse that fell upon Thomas Danger, and she seemed annoyed to see me.

“Mom, you should turn on the light if you’re home. Why is it so dark? Don’t you think it would be scary?”

“Come here and sit down.”

Mother extended her hand at the chair across the table. When I sat down, my mother suddenly said,

“Did you know that the surrounding of the lake disappeared because of what you’ve done today?”

Hmm? What did she mean?

I didn’t know what to say to my mother’s unexpected remark, so I just gaped. However, a strange remark came out of my mother’s mouth again.

“Don’t interfere with Gloria’s fate, or you’ll be punished by heaven.”

The punishment from heaven. What kind of conspiracy theory did I hear from my mother that I even doubt conspiracy theorists would come up with? Has my mother been injured in the middle of her business trip?

I asked her, while recalling my past life.

“Mom, did you happen to encounter Ill*m*nati on the street… Or, you didn’t meet and believe in the freaky words they said, did you?”

…No way. In this romance-fantasy world, there was no one that could be trusted. It can’t be. Perhaps those types of people also do that kind of job here? This world is vast, and there are many unique people around. Especially the type of people like Mother who agree on others’ opinions too easily…

Mom sighed lightly and said to me again.

“Haley. You know about the grumpy witch, right?”

“Yeah, I know. It’s the story you’ve been telling me since I was born, Mother.”

My mother was a witch but couldn’t understand gold coins and had no basic concept of economics. Therefore, whenever mother referred to herself as a witch, I’d brushed it off. I didn’t even believe her. When she managed to break the curse in Thomas Dunger’s body, I just thought that there were symptoms of such a disease in the world.

“Ever since I helped Emperor Royan combine the Morris Empire, I’ve come to know that there were people in this world that I shouldn’t have contact with. There was someone who had a very interesting destiny for me.”

“Wait! What did you just say?”

“Among the messengers of heaven, there are people who take interest in the humans’ fate.”

“No, I mean, you said Emperor Royan. So… are you that legendary red witch?”

The story of Emperor Royan remained a legend, and was so widely-known that even a 3-year-old child in the Morris Empire knew about it. The story told that the first emperor who merged the empire had gone mad and was deposed when the red witch who was always with him disappeared. Due to this story, people in the Empire used to say that people who have red hair are unfortunate. It was said that they were so beautiful that they could destroy a country. The word that referred to the red-haired woman was Siren, or Helen of Troy. I used to brush it off as superstitions.

When I asked my mother, who claimed that she was the red witch, she slowly nodded.

Oh Gosh.

As I grew up over the years, I somehow felt that my mom hadn’t aged at all and still remained young despite the years that passed by. I thought she had some special beauty tips because she was a doctor. It turned out that she didn’t grow old because she was a real witch.

For some reason, I had a feeling that this night would be long.

“Mother. Meanwhile, you didn’t come home and said you were looking for Father, who was reincarnated. Could it be that my father is Emperor Royan?”

“You’re ridiculous!”

Mother was angry at my words and messed up her hair. My mother remained beautiful even when she was angry.

“Well, how could someone from a thousand years ago be my father? Hahaha.”

“He’s younger than Royan. He’s also from that era.”

“…”

There couldn’t be frozen sperm technology during that era. I was born long after my father died. The secret of my birth was even more complicated than believing that my mother was a witch.

“Mother, are you sure you gave birth to me by yourself? You didn’t kidnap me from someone else, did you?”

“What do you think you’re saying? In that case, would you have been born this beautiful?”

Right. After being reborn, I looked just like my mother. To the point that people think we were twins. However, how could she conceive me after my father died? My mother was a witch, not a saint who could conceive on her own. My head was filled with a lot of questions.

‘Wait a minute. Did the story about the witch mentioned in the novel I wrote?’

Later, Gloria would receive help from the witch. Although Empress Fionia was also born as a witch, the witch who helped Gloria was not Fionia, but another witch, which must be my mother. Therefore, my mother was the red witch who appeared in that scene for a brief moment.

A question appeared in my mind.

“Mother, you said you were a cruel witch in the past.”

“Right.”

“However, what happened to you?”

My mom blinked at my words. It seemed that she didn’t understand my question at all.

“I mean, why are you so weak now?”

All this time, Mother had only shown her weak side to me. She spent all her living expenses and buys expensive artworks. There were also cases where Mom didn’t want to get paid from people who came here for treatment. I mean, she said that she was a cruel witch. Why was she only showing me one side of herself all this time?

Then, my mother’s answer came like a spectacle.

“Haley. Love changes people.”

Huh?! Did she know anyone who never fell in love in their previous life? Does love really change people?

Well, my mother was right to some extent. However, I was certain that I’ve never seen someone in my entire life who has changed their personalities because of love.

It was as if I was seeing my close friends in my past life. I mean, those gentle unnies became very powerful after they got married. Most of them eventually chose to divorce.

‘Hey, you should never get married. Living on your own is the most comfortable thing I’ve ever chosen.’

The marriage, the love and drama that came together were incomparable to living alone. Moreover, I had experienced death in my past life. There was no way I could believe in love.

“Oh! I have a great idea!”

I suddenly had a great idea about what story to write in one of the sections inside my newspaper. I was thinking it would be a good idea for people to share opinions and concerns about marriage anonymously. Since the internet community didn’t exist here, I assumed newspapers would be the only place to converse anonymously.

I even thought about switching to gossip magazines instead of newspapers.

First of all, I could fill it with the story I wrote myself.

I hurriedly took a pen and reconstructed the stories I’d seen in my past life, in which I jotted down some ideas with the pen in my hand. My mother, who was staring at me, coughed and gave me a clue.

“Ehem! Haley. I’m not done yet.”

Right, we were talking.

I continued to stare at the paper and scribble down ideas while asking my mother.

“What do you want to talk about, Mother?”

While asking her, I wrote a note on the paper. “The cheating husband, the mother-in-law’s harassment, and the divorce as the end of the suffering are so important to be spoken about!”

My mother took a deep breath and spoke firmly.

“I’m talking about Gloria. Don’t meddle in her business anymore.”