Even while working, Debbie couldn’t stop worrying about Ashley’s expression.

“I can’t concentrate on work.”

Debbie was organizing her desk and came outside the building to empty the trash can.

“…you’ll think it’s boring. You seem ungrateful.”

Debbie unconsciously headed toward the voice coming from the alley.

“When I first looked at your writing, you were an idiot who couldn’t even spell properly.”

“…I know. I was terrible.”

“You need to know your place. Just because other people give you a few compliments, you think you’re something special?”

Debbie thought eavesdropping was wrong, but the tone of the conversation sounded so unpleasant that she couldn’t just pass by.

“You approached me wanting to date so you could write, and now you’re cutting off contact?”

Evan and Ashley clearly had about a twenty-year age difference.

“I never said I wanted to date you.”

Ashley trembled as she stepped back.

“No, you looked at me with eyes that desperately wanted me. I know your type of women well. You’re incarnations of desire who wouldn’t hesitate to sell your bodies to get what you want.”

He reached out and groped Ashley’s body.

“You were the one who flirted with me. You seduced me with those wicked eyes. You deliberately showed your cleavage in front of me and acted coy when you needed something, but now that you don’t need me, you ignore me?!”

“I’ll scream!”

“Go ahead and scream. Do you think anyone cares? I can mobilize all my connections to make sure someone like you never sets foot in the literary world.”

Evan stuck his finger into Ashley’s mouth.

“Working at an adult magazine, no one thinks you’re pure and clean. They just think you’re a promiscuous woman who sleeps with anyone at the magazine. There are many others besides me, aren’t there? The men you’ve seduced.”

Bang!

Click!

Just then, a flash went off from behind with a loud mechanical sound.

“Wow. Great composition.”

Evan Simons was flustered. He hadn’t expected someone to start taking pictures right away.

Photographer Black had somehow approached and was snapping photos rapidly, while beside him Debbie rolled up paper like a megaphone and shouted loudly.

“This month’s feature article can be ‘The Two-Faced Novelist’! The sordid private life of novelist Mr. S!”

At that moment, Evan’s face turned red as he lunged toward photographer Black.

“Now!”

Black’s camera suddenly shot up into the air.

Emil pulled a rope from upstairs to snatch the camera just as Black grabbed Evan’s collar and fell backward.

It looked like Evan had climbed on top of his fallen body to throw punches.

Bang! Bang! Click! Click!

Emil captured it all and gave an okay signal with his finger.

Just as the flustered Evan pushed Black away and tried to run, Debbie quickly kicked the back of his knee.

“Ouch!”

Evan rolled around on the ground disgracefully.

“Mr. Simons, if you don’t want to become the subject of scandal, never approach Ashley again. Don’t take revenge either. You know what will happen if I show these photos to the editor-in-chief, right?”

At Debbie’s words, Evan jumped up and pointed accusingly.

“I’m the one who’ll go to the president and complain! Do you know how close I am to the president?”

Debbie stepped forward with a pleased expression.

“Great. Let’s go to the president together and tell him. Let’s see what the president says.”

“Damn! Do you think I’ll give you manuscripts after this treatment? I won’t give them even if you beg! Lead the way! Let’s go to the president! I won’t let this situation…”

Evan rambled incoherently in his excitement.

“Like a daughter, so I specially looked at her writing for free and guided her…”

“Ah, so you grope her chest because she’s like a daughter. Good thing we got those hands on camera too. Let’s go! To the president. Let’s see who gets buried in the literary world.”

“Damn! You’ll see!”

The fuming Evan instantly ran off into the alley. Debbie watched him go with her arms crossed, then turned to look at Ashley.

Ashley, whose eyes were filled with tears, kept wiping them with the back of her hand.

“Fool. If you had such troubling circumstances, you should have said something earlier.”

Photographer Black wiped Ashley’s tears. Then Ashley hung her head low and sobbed.

“What if he stops writing novels because he’s upset with me… What if he doesn’t give us manuscripts?”

“You’ve been enduring that groping just for that reason?”

Photographer Black looked incredulous.

“Then what else could I do? He’s a famous novelist with many readers and high sales numbers…”

“Ashley, our magazine is an adult magazine, not a literary magazine.”

“But his regular fans make up a considerable portion…”

“No, they don’t.”

Debbie shook her head.

“Next time something like this happens, don’t suffer alone, tell us. We’re colleagues.”

“There’s more than one or two people who touch and grope me secretly. How can I worry about all of them?”

“What did you say?”

Debbie’s eyebrows shot up. Then photographer Black smiled bitterly and said, “That’s true, Miss Debbie. There’s more than one or two people with bad hand habits. If you point out every casual touch, you won’t have anyone left to work with.”

“Mr. Black, you just stood by and watched?”

“Well, it’s an industry practice. Unless someone is being continuously harassed like Ashley, we tend to overlook small problems. People assume those working in this field are naturally promiscuous.”

“No one’s done that to me.”

When Debbie looked serious, Black shook his head.

“Miss Debbie, you’re dating the president. Who would dare touch someone like that?”

“What?”

Debbie’s face instantly flushed hot.

“Who… who said such a thing?”

Then photographer Black made a mischievous expression.

“You don’t read competing magazines, do you? The rumor has already spread throughout the office.”

With trembling hands, Debbie opened the latest issue of ‘Hartist’ that Black had given her.

Under the title ‘The Playboy’s New Hobby,’ there was a very clearly taken photo of Debbie and Blake.

Though the area around the eyes was covered with a black strip, anyone with good eyesight could tell it was Debbie.

Just like Evan Simons had been photographed by Debbie, Debbie had been photographed by someone else.

“The president of ‘Troublesome’ magazine, which claims to be a free and sophisticated magazine for gentlemen’s s*xual behavior, and the Empire’s scoundrel Count Blake L. Barnabas has revealed his new lover. After suffering from scandals with married women, he had been quiet, but the woman he brought along after ending his reclusive life is Miss D, a trainee reporter at ‘Troublesome’ magazine. His taste still seems to be for partners who are n*ked, cheap, and easily disposable. According to sources…”

Only then did Debbie realize.

That there were so many eyes following him that even a single date would draw attention.

She knew dating him would create unfavorable rumors, but she hadn’t anticipated that just one date would make her a n*ked, cheap, easily disposable ‘trash can woman.’

‘Why does even one trivial date become news material?’

She had only held his hand, gone to eat, and returned, just one wholesome date.

Thud.

Debbie banged her forehead on the desk.

‘He didn’t tell me I’d become gossip magazine material too!’

People like Vivian and Rose were part-time workers, but expecting Debbie to handle changing Blake’s image was too much for her to bear.

‘The president needs to know too. I’m not a celebrity, I’m a regular person! How much I’m losing! I need to add this part to the contract!’

* * *

Debbie felt like everyone was whispering about her, so she was leaving work with a scarf wrapped around her head and sunglasses on.

People had encouraged her not to worry since such rumors were common in this business, but it wasn’t consoling at all.

The shocking part was being photographed without knowing it. Just as she was about to leave the publishing house with her face covered, someone called from behind.

“Miss Debbie Jones?”

Debbie turned around. An unfamiliar young man with gray hair and a serious look approached.

“I came because I have something to ask. I am…”

The man wore practical clothes and carried a fountain pen and notebook. Thinking he was obviously a gossip reporter who had been lying in wait, Debbie hurriedly fled the scene.

“Please stop!”

The man started running.

“Eek!”

Debbie began running with all her might, but the man was too fast. In desperation, Debbie ran into a narrow alley.

Before running from the alley to a wider street, while hesitating whether to go left or right, something running at full speed crashed bluntly into Debbie’s elbow.

Thwack!

“Argh!”

Debbie was startled to see him sprawled backward, bleeding from his nose.

“I’m sorry! Are you okay?”

The man covering his nose looked at the blood on his hand and became furious.

“Does this look okay to you?”

“You were following me menacingly.”

“Does that justify hitting people like this?”

“I was just surprised and trying to run away because someone was chasing me.”

“Do you want to be arrested for obstructing official duties and injuring a security officer?”

The gray-haired man pulled out a security officer’s badge from his jacket.

“I’m Inspector Jerome Dublac from the Central Investigation Unit. I came to investigate because questions arose while reviewing the death case of Miss ‘Lorraine Everett.’ Please cooperate with the investigation.”

Inspector Jerome spoke with the most solemn expression possible.

However, the blood flowing from his nose kept increasing, grotesquely staining his clothes.

“What should we do! I think you need to go to the hospital first!”

“This level just needs temporary hemostasis. More importantly, on the day Miss ‘Lorraine Everett’ disappeared…”

Jerome opened his notebook to record, but his nosebleed dripped onto it as well.

Debbie took out her handkerchief and tried to help stop his bleeding somehow.

“Mmm!”

However, before Debbie’s handkerchief could even touch his nose, he staggered and reached out to feel for the wall to avoid falling, then fainted.

“Hey!”

Debbie thought he was pretending to collapse as a joke. But he was unconscious even when shaken.

“What to do! What to do!”

Debbie stamped her feet, then got help from people to take him to the hospital.

“It’s a nasal bone fracture. If left untreated, the nose could become crooked or the tip could turn up. Fortunately, you came quickly, so if we treat it properly, there shouldn’t be major problems with recovery.”

Debbie’s heart sank at the doctor’s words.

“Does he need to be hospitalized for several days?”

“Same-day discharge is possible. But you’ll need to come several more times to monitor the progress.”

After the doctor left, Jerome gave Debbie a cold look while she didn’t know what to do, then spoke.

“Investigation is really difficult, isn’t it?”

“I’m sorry!”

Since Debbie was the culprit who had swung her elbow wrong, she could only bow her head and apologize repeatedly.

“Tsk.”

Inspector Jerome clicked his tongue bitterly and took out his blood-stained notebook.

“Now will you sincerely cooperate with the investigation?”

“I already did enough by going to the security office to give a statement.”

Debbie recalled the security officers who had investigated half-heartedly.

Having experienced them conducting leading interrogations as they pleased and producing terrible results, she had no expectations whatsoever for the security officer before her.