Becoming the Guide of the Mysophobic Villain? Absolutely Not! - Chapter 339

Before dawn had fully broken, Anton was running.

It had been about six months since he joined the editorial department of one of Arteon’s top three daily newspapers as a rookie reporter. When he received the final acceptance notice after fierce competition, Anton had no doubt that a bright future lay ahead of him.

A pure and incorruptible journalist who doesn’t compromise with reality!

It felt like the future he had dreamed of since childhood was finally within reach.

Of course, that illusion was shattered within three days of joining the company after staying up all night. The life of a junior reporter at the bottom of the department wasn’t to be romanticized at all.

He was nothing more than a machine following orders, a punching bag for senior reporters worn out by fatigue, and a social rookie subjected to rampant gaslighting and exploitation under the guise of ‘journalistic endurance’.

Within a week of joining, two of his peers quit, and by the end of the month, another one left. By the third month, the remaining ones resigned simultaneously, leaving Anton as the only one left.

With so many people quitting, wouldn’t the company at least try to improve its organizational culture? Wouldn’t they realize that they couldn’t keep losing talent with grand ideals about what a journalist should be?

But in reality, all the work left behind by his departing peers simply fell onto Anton’s shoulders. At this point, Anton reached a serious conclusion: Damn it, escaping this place might really be a matter of intelligence.

And yet, Anton was running. When he woke up with a chill and a sense of foreboding just before dawn, his pager was already burning with over thirty notifications. As soon as he grasped the situation, he rushed out the door. There was no time to think about quitting now.

Of course, by then, it was already far too late.

“I-I apologize for being late.”

When he arrived at the scene, the place was already packed with reporters. It seemed like every journalist except him had gathered for the hastily called press conference that night. Among them was Anton’s senior, Jimil.

Jimil glanced at Anton with lifeless, sunken eyes and muttered,

“You might as well have come to my funeral.”

“……”

Jimil never scolded Anton directly when he made a mistake. Instead, she would always make snide remarks like this to let him know he had messed up.

Even though he was furious, Anton knew he was at fault today. So, keeping his head down was the best strategy. In truth, he had lived like this for the past six months, even when he hadn’t done anything wrong.

“I’m really sorry. It’s entirely my fault. I was exhausted from consecutive all-nighters, but I should have been more vigilant and on guard, especially in times like these…”

“Forget it. The immediate crisis is over.”

Jimil cut off his string of excuses with a sharp retort, pressing her fingers to her temples. Anton carefully sat down next to her, nervously scanning the article she had already written for the daily newspaper.

The content was shocking.

“Is… Is all of this true?”

Unable to believe it, Anton asked. His senior didn’t bother to answer that question.

[National Hero Saves Arteon Once Again!

Claude Denhardt. Is there anyone in Arteon who doesn’t know his name? Every time a major crisis struck the nation, he stood by the people and saved the country, and once again, he’s done it. But this time, it’s far more special than any previous occasion. This time, the adversary he faced wasn’t a mutant but a human attempting to overthrow the government.]

The article, which should have been written objectively, began with dramatic praise, almost like an epic poem. Yet the following content was more than enough to justify it.