A Handsome K*nky Gangster Reporter - Chapter 16

#16

“Ugh! Oh, no, Noona, I didn’t mean to see this. This isn’t mine. …”

When Haley turned her gaze to the red book in Claude’s hand, he tried to get out of the situation by blabbering excuses.

“No, you know Jay, right? He’s my coworker. He’s usually a bad guy, but when I refused and said that I didn’t need it, he forcefully put this book into my hand. I didn’t even know what this was about! I didn’t know that this book contained such things. However, you know it doesn’t mean anything right? I’m not the kind of person who likes this kind of thing.”

“H-ehmm. I got it.”

Haley squinted as if she already knew everything, then raised the corners of her mouth to taunt Claude.

“Has our Claude grown up already? That’s why you know about these kinds of things.”

“Seriously! Oh, it’s not mine!”

“Yes, yes. I’ll believe you. Hm.”

“Huft. No, It’s not …. like that.”

“Well then, have fun reading the book. Make sure to lock the door.”

Claude rubbed his face out of embarrassment and tried to go with his excuse. However, Haley quickly left his room and even closed the door.

“It’s just because of this a**h*le, Jay!”

Claude had planned to confess his feelings to Haley today. The discovery of this weird book had ruined that plan. Due to Haley’s personality, it was obvious for now that she would tease Claude endlessly about the book.

“Ha! I must be going crazy.”

He was intending to confess about his feelings to Haley today. He was not clear-headed. He prayed that she believed him. Unlike those dangerous wolves out there, he would confess to her and give her the ring. He was doomed now.

If Claude had known this would happen, he wouldn’t have come to her house today, but to the Lischer mansion in the capital.

“Noona. This really isn’t mine ….”

He felt like crying from embarrassment.

* * *

Phew. I entered Claude’s room a moment ago and almost created an embarrassing scene.

I was glad he came back early. No, I shouldn’t pretend to know anything earlier at all.

I leaned my back against the door of Claude’s room while trying to relieve my pounding heart. I thought he was a little brother who didn’t know anything. He had become a man.

Gloria has been living with me in my house for one month. When viewed from the side perspective, Gloria and Claude haven’t made much progress. My younger brother has put up too many iron walls against her.

“Claude. Hey, why don’t you join me for dinner in the city tonight?”

“No, I’m busy.”

“Well, what about tomorrow?”

“If you want to go downtown that badly, why don’t you go with someone else?”

That was the reason I felt a little doubtful of my younger brother’s sexual orientation.

Should I say that the relationship between them seemed as if it was just Gloria who had feelings? The man who doesn’t fall for the charm of the female lead. Did it even make sense in a fictional world?

However, he read the book.

‘The Red’.

It was the best-selling book in bookstores among the Morris Kingdom lately.

And it was the first book I ever published in the ‘Golden Goose Daily’.

“Damned brother. If he wants to read it, he should just ask me to give it to him. Why does he have to buy it himself?”

Through this incident, I realized that my younger brother was not someone who was suffering from a sexual disease, and I also realized that he too had grown into an ordinary man. I felt proud for some reason.

If even Claude, who was known to be brusque, owned this book, then this must be really a bestseller.

Due to that book, the initial funds to run the newspaper company came easily into my pocket. The distributor was already asking me about the release date for the second volume. Of course, there were a lot of requests to print more episodes, so the printing press was currently busy.

Let me tell you what happened. We were about to return to the last month.

* * *

I started negotiating with Thomas Dunger, who was already conscious.

“That’s it? You want me to give you the exclusive right to use the wet plate camera for 3 years in return for curing me?”

“Yes, if it breaks while I’m using it, I’ll have it repaired in the US.”

Thomas frowned at my suggestion. It didn’t seem that he didn’t like my proposal, but he reacted that way. He was more concerned if I was a philanthropist.

“How do you think people of the temple will criticize you and take advantage of it?”

“The false rumors about the camera will disappear within three years. I guarantee it.”

Our beautiful Rwan took my side and helped reassure Thomas Dunger, who seemed hesitant.

“Father, this unnie is a good person. Please do what she asks you.”

When his daughter seemingly showed infinite trust in me, Thomas began to waver and eventually gave me exclusive access to the camera. Of course, in the process, I wrote a contract to pay him the fee later.

After obtaining the wet plate camera, I immediately returned to the alley where the nightlife bar was bustling in life.

While wandering through the back alleys of the district where entertaining places were everywhere, I came across a shabby and strange shop named, ‘Madame Arete.’

‘I found it!’

The bar was operated by Viscount Irmalisant Paulette, who had changed her name before, and she used to work as the nanny for the imperial princess. Currently, Empress Fionia is working behind the scenes to get rid of the people who were on the princess’ side. As if sensing the crisis, the nanny changed her name and surname for several years, and made a living by doing business in this back alley.

Not even the empress would have imagined it. A noble and morally viscountess would run a bar and even hire a servant. She was able to survive by changing things in her life.

Viscountess Paulette lived in the underworld in this back alley as she hoped that someday she would be able to assist the princess. In fact, she would help the princess later according to the novel. She was the one who became the leader of the demonstrators and rushed to the front of the imperial palace.

I opened the bar door and entered.

Jingle.

The bell on the door rattled and made a cheerful sound.

“Excuse me… Is there anyone here?”

The bar was deserted. Was there no one here because I came too early?

I thought about leaving the store again and waiting outside until it came alive. A woman who seemed like a receptionist came out.

“U-Uh. Our business isn’t open yet.”

The woman, who was wearing a thin, see-through chemise dress said curtly while tying her graying hair a little loosely. I hurriedly grabbed her arm and asked her before she went back inside.

“May I meet Madam Vivaroa Arete?”

“Hmm? Why do you want to see her?”

“I have some advice. It’s going to be favorable for her, too.”

“U-Uh. What should I do?”

She gave me a puzzled look, probably still half asleep, and motioned for me to follow her. When I followed the receptionist into the bar, I found a place with several small rooms attached to each other while we walked through a narrow corridor.

“Madam is resting on the second floor. Please follow me, we’re going upstairs.”

After I followed her up climbing the dark brown wooden stairs, a normal family-looking home came into view, in contrast to the one I saw below. If the first floor had a slightly red and seductive atmosphere, the second floor was adorned with ordinary interior decorations in mostly pure white colors.

The woman who was guiding me suddenly turned around and warned me with a frightening look.

“If you want to ask madam for a job, you must stop. This is no place for a little girl like you. We don’t even have a pure janitor around.”

This woman. What did she think about me?

I didn’t blame anyone for doing this. Everyone has different environments and circumstances they grew up with. I also need these people for what I was going to do. However, I have no intention of doing anything illegal. No, there was nothing illegal in this world… was it?

“I didn’t come here with the intention of getting a job. I just wanted to talk about something related to business with Madam.”

The woman who looked at me with fierce eyes turned her body around again. The receptionist stepped up to the gracefully decorated door, knocked on it, and waited for a moment.

After a while, a noble voice of a middle-aged woman came from inside.

“Come in.”

The woman opened the door and entered the room first on her own. I hesitated a little and walked into the room of what seemed to be Madam’s office. I was prepared beforehand, but I still got a little nervous at the thought of meeting Madam.

Madam Vivaroa, whose face was mostly covered except for her eyes with a fan, asked coldly.

“Who are you?”

“Hello, I’m Haley, the president of the newspaper company engaged in publishing.”

I offered the woman my business card firsthand. At least I wanted to convince her first that I wasn’t a weird person.

The lady who received my business card from the receptionist, looked at it and snapped her fingers. My business card crumpled and fell under the table.

“So, why did you come to see me?”

“I’m going to publish a book. I want to photograph some of the girls who work here.”

“Photographs? What is it?”

Oh, there were people who didn’t know about photography. Right, photography was not well-known in the Morris Empire, so it was understandable. Even high-ranking people who know about cameras have been banned from using cameras after false rumors were spread by the temple. There was no way for ordinary people to know about it. Mrs. Vivaroa used to live in the upper class society, but she escaped from the imperial palace before the camera became known, so there was no way for her to know.

“Excuse me. It’s this.”

I showed the photo I took, they were stacked in the bag.

“Oh my! This looks more real than what the artists painted!”

The female receptionist who handed over the photo was very curious and examined the top and bottom of the photo, and the madam who noticed her mesmerized expression reached out with a frown.

“Emily, give it to me. Let me see that.”

What this photography is about, Madam muttered very softly. I couldn’t hear her properly because her voice was small, but it sounded like she was cursing. Madam asked me, her face was still covered.

“Yes, I know what a photo is. You want to take pictures of our women?”

“Yes, I want to publish it in a book.”

“You can’t take pictures of their uncovered faces.”

“It’s fine to wear a mask, but I will still take pictures. I will only take pictures of some parts. Some minor parts of the body will be shown, but the major parts will be covered. It’s not fun to show them openly. It won’t feel as good as the readers imagine. Is that fine with you?”

“Okay, I won’t stop you if you’re going to do it. However, how much are you going to give me?”

As expected. It was probably because she was managing a business, she talked about the money bluntly at the negotiation table.

“Every time a book is sold, I will hand over 9% of the net profit. As you can see from the pictures, the photo book I’m going to make will be quite expensive.”

“Let’s make it 15%.”

“11%. The printing, distribution, and even the camera are purely from my technology. Madam, you are trying to make too much profit out of this.”

“12%.”

“Alright, but in exchange, Madam has to distribute half of the profits you earn to the ladies equally. Instead, I will take care of the modeling fees for the ladies separately.”

Upon hearing that, the receptionist named Emily screamed and said that she’d like that. After safely signing the contract with the madam that day, I continued to take photos of the ladies during the day for about 3 days.

All the main parts are covered, so it was just the image as in a modern lingerie catalog. The studio production unexpectedly produced results that could stimulate the imagination of readers.

And in order to make use of my writer’s talent in the past, I wrote a 19+ erotic novel in which the story was based on the experience for each picture.

“The Red” was distributed to bookstores across the country within a week. And now, in this modern age, the book became a bestseller and a lot of money filled my pockets.