Her desk alone was evidence of this. Despite living in an age where magic no longer existed, magical artifacts remained—a fountain pen imbued with residual magic, self-cleaning desk covers, magical reagents used by the photography team, and photo-sensitive solutions that transformed black and white shots into color.

Somehow she had fallen for Editor-in-Chief Gray’s persuasion and become a cub reporter, but waking up the next morning left her with a bitter feeling in her stomach.

“If I’d known it was an adult magazine publisher, I wouldn’t have even shown up for the interview.”

Adult magazines. Not only owning them but merely reading them was considered so vulgar and decadent that schools threatened expulsion. The devil’s books that corrupted people. Recalling the implications of adult magazines made her face burn red, causing her to repeatedly bang her head on her desk.

A large white hand appeared on the desk. Debbie quickly raised her head and straightened her posture.

“Miss Debbie, is something troubling you? If you want to breach your contract, just say so. I have no intention of keeping someone who doesn’t want to work here.”

Editor Gray smiled with a kind and gentle voice. Contrary to his title as an adult magazine editor, he was a handsome, benevolent-looking man with slightly drooping blue eyes behind silver-rimmed glasses.

Had she met him by chance on the street rather than as her workplace superior, she might have forgotten what she was doing and stared blankly at him. But reality differed from first impressions.

The meaning behind his sweet voice implied: “Pay back ten times your promised annual salary, including the signing bonus you received when signing the employment contract, and leave this place. But your remaining reputation will fall with it, making it difficult to find another job in the publishing industry.”

The words from his mouth were thorny and sharp. Even simple conversation with him felt difficult for the newly hired cub reporter.

Gulp.

Debbie forced a bitter smile. His mere presence drained her energy. She had already spent the signing bonus on renting a room in the capital.

“I should have been suspicious when the publishing house offered a signing bonus to a newcomer.” The terrifying implications hidden in signing a contract—and not just any contract. It was one written with magic-infused ink that guaranteed penalties for violations.

“No, no, I’ll work hard since I struggled to get this job!”

Debbie said with a forced smile, her lips trembling slightly.

“However…”

“However?”

After much hesitation, Debbie finally voiced what she had been holding in her heart.

“Do I really have to be in charge of the s*x column?”

“The s*x column is traditionally handled by the newest member of the publishing house. Do you think your senior reporters would take over a column assigned to a newcomer?”

Gray’s expression shifted slightly, the corners of his mouth curling up in what looked like mockery.

“But still…”

Debbie lowered her head.

“I truly have no experience whatsoever and haven’t even dated anyone. There’s a limit to what I can guess through imagination.”

Her face burning red, she fidgeted while staring at her fingers resting on her knees. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Gray’s face.

This was her first time working at a magazine. She didn’t know if other publishing houses operated similarly, but she couldn’t understand why they would hire her as a cub reporter, then treat her like an experienced employee by throwing work at her and pressuring her about deadlines without proper guidance.

The more she thought about it, the more embarrassingly overwhelming it felt. Having never dated anyone, even the thought of asking someone about their “s*xual experiences” mortified her to death.

Without personal experience, she had no basis for comparison—no way to determine what questions to ask or what was good or bad.

Moreover, asking such questions outright might get her slapped. There’s a saying that no one should interfere with matters below another person’s navel. Requesting to hear about such intimate, secret experiences and then publishing them as articles seemed like a tremendous insult to the other person.

With few acquaintances, asking for interviews would likely end friendships, while interviewing strangers felt like an impossible challenge.

After a brief sigh and adjusting his glasses, Gray spoke firmly in a cold voice.

“I already gave you a hint. Who said you should share your own experiences? I told you to interview other people and write based on their experiences. Wasn’t this practically spoon-fed to you as a project?”

Debbie’s head drooped further.

“Of course, keep the subject’s information vague so they remain anonymous, but present them as believable enough that people won’t think it’s fiction—create something readers can relate to.”

He crossed his arms and looked Debbie over with a disapproving gaze.

“These days, even when hiring newcomers, we choose people with experience, not those who need to be taught from scratch. Miss Debbie, the fact that you crossed the threshold of this publishing house is already extraordinary.”

The fact that she couldn’t refute a single word of what he said made the situation even more disheartening.

“Why did you want to work at a publishing house in the first place? What did you tell me?”

He asked coldly.

“To… to build a reputation and never have my writing stolen again.”

Gray’s cold gaze swept over Debbie once more.

“Since the deadline is approaching, I’ll help you just this once.”

She bowed her head deeply, not knowing what else to do. The memory of having her original poems completely plagiarized by someone she had trusted as a close friend painfully pressed against her heart again.

Gray, arms still crossed, tilted his head and called Debbie to attention. Her face turned pale.

“Since it’s your first time, I’ll designate an interview subject for you. I’ll also provide an example proposal.”

After delivering these words coldly, he placed his written proposal on the desk and entered the editor’s office, leaving a chill in his wake.

Debbie recalled when she first came for the interview. Back then, she had been disarmed by Gray’s kind face. Entranced, she had merely nodded along before signing, only to discover the terrible poison clauses afterward.

When she belatedly realized and pointed this out, he whispered languidly in an elegant, restrained voice:

“Ah, one year, just one year. This industry has high turnover rates, so it’s to prevent people from quitting before a year passes. But think about the signing bonus. Isn’t it tempting?”

As he said this with a slight smile, she must have momentarily lost her mind, distracted by his white teeth.

No, she hadn’t lost her mind from the beginning. Her worn-out luggage had spilled open, causing her poetry notebook to roll out. While Gray picked up the notebook, he glimpsed its contents, and as they discussed poetry, she completely fell for his charm.

He was eloquent. After complimenting her writing sense with a few words of praise, her wariness completely vanished. So she ended up revealing facts he hadn’t even asked about.

While attending Alobachia’s prestigious school, a friend had copied from her notebook of practice writings and published a poetry collection first.

“I showed my practice notebook to her out of friendship, but I never dreamed that right after graduation, she would debut in the literary world with my writing. I had only shown it to her, so I had no way to prove I wrote it first. My parents passed away early, so unlike her, I don’t have parents who could help me publish, nor do I have the financial means. It’s frustrating, but I have to let bygones be bygones. I’ll save money while working and publish my own poetry collection. That’s why I came here.”

He expressed deep sympathy for Debbie’s situation and smoothly presented the contract.

Looking back, she could only say she had been crazy. She signed that contract in a trance, and only afterward did she hear about the “s*x column.”

Sigh.

When she asked to withdraw from the contract, he consistently replied with a smiling face, “No, that’s not possible.”

All that remained was to comfort herself by repeating, “I have A who writes poetry and B who writes s*x columns for adult magazines—they’re separate.”

After Gray entered the editor’s office, the sound of people inhaling sharply could be heard from various corners. Team Leader Louis, second in command of the editorial department after Gray, seized the opportunity to nag.

“You heard the editor, right? The magazine hits bookstores mid-month. So, Miss Jones, don’t forget the deadline.”

Louis tapped the calendar. Only a week remained until the deadline. Debbie’s notebook contained only repeated scribbles of “I can do it!” and “I can’t possibly do it!”

“Can’t do it even when it’s spoon-fed to her.”

Senior reporter Benjamin clicked his tongue in apparent disdain.

“This is why newcomers are such a headache. Having to teach everything from scratch, and honestly, teaching doesn’t increase my salary.”

Deliberately showing off, he threw his research materials onto his desk with a loud noise.

“I criticized the person they recommended and this is who they brought in? Ugh. I really don’t like this. No experience, no education, doesn’t even know what this place does. Since when did our publishing house lower its standards like this?”

Team Leader Louis responded to Benjamin with a remark.

“Ashley isn’t particularly high standard either.”

Benjamin erupted in anger.

“How long has she been in a supporting role? You should promote someone like her. What does it mean for Ashley when you hire someone we’ve never heard of as a regular employee?”

“If you’re upset, take it up with the editor. You can’t say a word to him directly.”

Thump.

Emil, the proofreader, roughly stacked magazines on Debbie’s desk at Louis’s gesture.

“If you don’t know anything, at least look through our past issues. See them and try to imitate.”

At Louis’s words, Debbie reluctantly opened the back issues. A feast of flesh gleamed in full color throughout the magazine.

Everywhere she looked were G-strings and b*ttocks. Each month had a special feature, but no matter what she opened, Debbie couldn’t discern the supposed differences between the monthly articles.

Crash.

Benjamin brought over different magazines and placed them on Debbie’s desk, causing the already stacked magazines to topple over. His spiteful intention was obvious.

“These are competitors’ magazines. I grabbed them randomly, but compare and analyze. Our unique characteristics should be immediately apparent.”

Wait. Why does something supposedly grabbed “randomly” look like more than a year’s worth of issues?

“I’ve helped this much, so figure out the rest yourself. In my day, there weren’t even seniors who offered this kind of help.”

Benjamin shrugged his shoulders smugly, acting like he’d done her a great favor before returning to his seat.

Excuse me, but I don’t think there’s enough time to read all these magazines before the deadline?

Debbie’s eyes widened in disbelief.