Inside the ‘Golden Wild Goose Daily’ office,
“This is really good.”
In her hand was the first newspaper published by Golden Wild Goose Daily.
Is it like this that it feels full even if you don’t eat. I was quite satisfied with the result I made with my hands.
Philip walked into the office and announced the good news.
“My friends say the distributing management is complete.”
“Yes, you did a great job. I’m so glad you and your friends helped me with the printing and distributing management.”
Starting tomorrow, my newspapers would be distributed freely to the residents of the Morris Kingdom through the big bookstores in the capital and several children in the slums. Of course, it would be offered for free only for a week. Such a large investment had to be made to promote the newspaper.
“Haley, you’ve been working so hard, are you sure you’re going to give it away for free? This isn’t a charity work…”
Philip looked at me concernedly. Then, he said in a small voice and muttered.
“What if the situation becomes difficult if we do it like this?”
Philip also said so in the beginning, because his father’s business was doing well, too and he used to be well-off. However, after his father fell ill and laid unconscious for a long time, things became difficult in a blink of an eye. He was concerned about me because he recalled his experience. Seeing Philip being so concerned, I wanted to mess with him for no reason.
“Why? If I go bankrupt, will you feed me later on?”
Then Philip’s golden eyes showed a hint of embarrassment.
“If you don’t mind …. I’ll sacrifice myself for this.”
I didn’t expect him to take so seriously about things that I intended to say as a joke. I laughed and brushed off Philip’s offer.
“Don’t worry. We won’t fail. I will only give it away for free in the first week. Later I’ll make fairytale books and sell them properly.”
“If you get such a small profit, what would be left for yourself?”
“Look at you. You won’t even get it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, no. Forget it. I’m just mumbling.”
Sell in big quantities for a small profit. That was the Chinese idiom that refererd to selling a lot product at a low profit. It’s something that people in this world would never understand.
I thought it that way. The cost of selling a newspaper was not important to be made into a proper profit. To make money from newspapers, things that matters were how much advertising you get in the end. The more important thing that I needed to worry about for now was to build popularity for my newspaper.
Fortunately, Philip’s acquaintances were able to help us with shipping and printing as it was their part-time job, as well as decided to collaborate with Baron Stephen for the distribution released to the other provinces. Baron Stephen refused to hold the circulation of the entire empire, so he had to pay a certain fee to go through. However, it wasn’t too disadvantageous for me. It was better to expand the scope of the newspaper’s influence, rather than solely focusing to the capital.
Not that I didn’t know how Philip thought about my business. I stroked Philip’s blue hair gently as an attempt to relieve his anxiety. Staring at Philip’s face while stroking his head, there were traces of black ink on his cheeks.
“Huh? Philip. Be quiet for a moment.”
“?”
“Here. There’s something here. Wait a moment.”
Have I been keeping Philip too preoccupied? Somehow I feel like a bad manager to him.
I took out a handkerchief and wiped Philip’s cheek. It couldn’t be gotten rid of easily, and accidentally wiped his saliva. His long suddenly eyelashes trembled slightly. He stepped back.
“Stop it. This handkerchief is getting dirty. It looks expensive.”
“Never mind. It’s fine as long as the stain on your cheek can be wiped off properly.”
It wasn’t even my handkerchief, so I wouldn’t have cared about it.
For some reason, Philip triggered my maternal soul and kept me paying attention to even the smallest things about him. He was clearly the child who would become the head of the underworld in the future. It was shocking how Philip’s personality that seemed very pure and clean to be able to become such a person later on.
‘I thought you’d be mad at me for being dirty. I feel somewhat sorry.’
Philip stared at the handkerchief for a moment, then rubbed his lips with the back of his hand. The black diagonal line was drawn above his lips, and it seemed that there was a lot of ink on his hand.
“Oh? Philip. You have some on your chin and lips, too.”
I laughed and wiped Philip’s lips with a handkerchief. Philip’s ears seemed to turn red, as if he was about to explode in any moment.
“Are you going to continue treating me like a child?”
“Ah, am I treating you like a child? Maybe it’s because you’re just too cute.”
Philip widened his eyes while tilting his head.
“Do you like cute boys?”
“Huh? Hmm…. Aren’t they more interesting than the other?”
Philip smiled again when he heard me. No wonder that he was so cute that I even unconsciously brushed his blue hair again. I was sure Philip was the same age as me. How could I treat him as if I was treating my brother?
‘I want to have a cute little brother like him.’
Not the blunt man who was ignorant and didn’t care to me at all after he grew up.
Claude was gorgeous when he was little. Why did he grow up to become so mischievous?
I look outside and time was passing by quickly. Today was the full moon, so the night street was bright, but I was sure that if I went home today, I wouldn’t get enough sleep tomorrow. Having a separate break on the side and the room in the back of the office were the great options to solve this problem.
“Philip, it’s getting late. Would you like to sleep in the office tonight?”
Philip’s golden eyes looked at me strangely.
“Then, you and I will spend the night together here?”
“What?”
For a moment, I thought I had misheard. I corrected his words by touching my ear.
“No, no. You’ll sleep in the night watch room, and I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
Philip looked at me, who shook my hands and he seemed to be blushing as I felt awkward at his remark. He covered his face with his hands and made an embarrassing excuse.
“Last time, Rwan slept with you in his arms, and he said it felt warm and cozy like a mother’s embrace. That’s what I thought. Oh, don’t get me wrong! I was suddenly missing my mother who died, so I just didn’t know what I was thinking about.”
Oh, yes, right. I’ve misunderstood. Philip was so embarrassed that even after speaking he swept his bangs down to cover his face. How come I almost had a strange misunderstanding with such an innocent man?
“Well, don’t say anything unnecessary, go to the night watch room.”
“… yes. Hey. How about we have a drink before having a rest to celebrate the first publish of the newspaper?”
Philip took out a bottle of champagne adorned with a silver ribbon. I thought I was going to be sad after such a long day.
“When did you prepare it?”
He’s smart and greatly sensitive of others.
Dude, please grow up well and become a powerful underworld boss in the future. That way, you’dl be stuck in Gloria’s charm later as well. Philip was one of the sub-male lead characters, and I guessed that Claude was the remaining sub-male lead character in this situation.
When I wrote this book in the past, I had the belief that there were at least three useful people who were supposed to stay around the female lead. What was clear in my previous book was that the male lead was the crown prince and the female lead was Gloria.
‘I think the black-haired peacock is also the sub-male lead.’
It was probably because years has passed. Surprisingly, I couldn’t recall their name as well as the black-haired sub-male lead. Anyway, they were either the duke who lived in the metropolitan area, or my younger brother Claude. I was quite suspicious of my younger brother looking from his appearance.
I thought that if I insisted to stay beside Gloria, I would meet the second male lead who I coldn’t remember properly.
“Here, take it. Let’s have a toast.”
While I was daydreaming, Philip came over with glasses of champagne. A clear amber liquid glistened inside the champagne glass.
‘Yes, have a drink.’The clinking sound was heard as we had a toast.
‘The first drink must be in one sip.’
As I learned from my seniors in my previous life, I poured the amber liquid straight into my mouth. The alcohol was stronger than I expected.
“Why is this so strong?”
Champagne has a low alcohol concentration, so we could casually enjoy it. It was more like a white wine that contain a high alcohol higher than champagne. When I drank had a frown on my face, Philip looked sorry.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t know much about alcohol. I thought it was a low-alcohol champagne. You look stressful because of it.”
“Oh, you shouldn’t drink this. Put the glass down.”
Philip swiftly put down the glass in his hand upon my words.
I just had a drink for the first time in a while. The alcohol quickly spread throughout my system. Even if I didn’t look in the mirror, my face was definitely flushed by now. I laid hunched over on the sofa while trying to relieve the warmth on my cheeks with the back of my cold hands. I felt the ceiling of the room spun slightly.
“Haley, you’re having a hard time because of me.”
Philip came over to me and knelt down as if he was concerned. A faint smile lingered on his mouth as he grasped my hand. He always smiles a lot. He must have not meant to get me drunk on purpose.
“I can’t. I was worried about you, so I’m….”
Bang, bang!
There was a harsh knock on the front door. Philip slowly turned his head towards the door.
“Philip. I think there’s someone.”
“Yes. They’re disturbing us at this late hour…”
He bit his lip with a dumbfounded expression.
“You should lie down. I’ll take care of them.”
I felt dizzy for a moment and closed my eyes. Surprisingly, I also felt a bit hot. There seemed to be the sound of gritting teeth from somewhere. The door opened hastily not long after.
“Who are you?”
Hearing Philip’s words, someone stepped inside.
“Noona, I came to pick you up because you came home late. We should go home now.”
It was Claude who came to the office late at night. Claude grabbed my wrist and pulled me to my feet. My younger brother had such manly hands with bulging muscles, in contrast to his smooth face. When I saw his hands clasping mine, I felt somewhat strange. I was slightly satisfied to find a different manly appearance that my younger brother had.
‘Haa. I must have gone crazy. The side effects of yesterday’s pill still affect me.’
The side effects of the hallucination pill were excessive emotions and sleepiness. I could quickly overcame the sleepiness, but I thought the effect of pill still lingered in my emotion. After hugging Claude at dawn and falling asleep with him, I somehow felt uncomfortable when I faced his face again.
Surprisingly, I was out of breath little by little and my heart was beating faster. I definitely had an arrhythmia with these symptoms. The reason was probably because I was stressed from working at the newspaper and eating irregularly. I think I had to ask Mother to be prescribed with medicine to relieve these symptoms.
Perhaps because I was drunk, I didn’t even think to introduce the two of them to each other. I waved my hand to Philip in my delirious state.
“Philip. I’ll go first. See you tomorrow.”
“Yes. See you tomorrow.”
Philip smiled and waved me goodbye. Claude looked uncomfortable when he saw Philip.
‘It would be nice if they could get along with each other.’
If the newspaper improves in the future, I think of hiring more office workers like reporters and accountants. I felt sorry that I have somehow made Philip suffer so much.
I have to come to the office tomorrow. I have to write articles and finish editing.
If I had only focused on selling porn books, I wouldn’t have suffered this much. I hated myself for a while in the past when I just worked hard without any countermeasures.
As I walked towards the carriage brought by Claude, I suddenly realized that my wrist was still held by Claude. Realizing it, I felt even more irritated for no absolute reason.
“Hey, Claude. Can you let go of my hand?”
“You can’t, it’s dangerous. Look, it’s really dark because it’s already too late in the night.”
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