The Golem Mage - Chapter 184: Third Elder Of The Gordons Clan (4)

What’s the point of being reborn… if you come back in chains?Life in Kyoto was already unraveling. My dead-end job, my fading relationship—my girlfriend could barely look at me anymore. Maybe part of me knew the end was coming. Maybe part of me wanted it to.And then it did.“Oi, wake up,” a voice growled, thick with contempt.I opened my eyes to darkness—and pain.Tabata Yori. That was my name. Once. Before the world twisted. Before death spat me out into something colder and crueler.“Ugh, another worthless soul,” the voice sneered.Then came the boots. Each kick was a brutal reminder: I wasn’t in Kyoto anymore. I wasn’t anywhere safe. I’d fallen into a world ruled by shadows, where power is pain and obedience is survival.Why was I brought here? What do they want from me?I don’t know yet.But I do know this: If I’m going to suffer, someone’s going to bleed for it.disclaimer: Cover isn't mine and is temporary until I get a paid work done.Schedule: Looking for daily and will do as many chapters as I can each day.Thanks for any support that is given.

“Block him.”“He's technically still my boss.”“Then block him with dignity.”The call ended again.And then started again.I let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a sob, then finally answered with the enthusiasm of a snail crawling through salt.“Yes, Mr. Walton?”“Have you changed your mind yet?”I collapsed onto the towel and gazed at the sky as though it might consume me entirely if I pleaded sweetly enough.“Do you ever take a break?” I asked, shielding my eyes with one hand.“You're avoiding the question.”“Because it's a dumb question.”He exhaled, the sound sharp and irritated even over phone. “It's not a dumb question. It's a business offer.”“It's a weird offer-one that I already said no to.”There was a brief pause, and I could practically hear him clenching his jaw through the speaker.“You are acting unreasonably.”“ Unreasonable?” I sat up. “I'm not the one drafting fake girlfriend contracts like it's a normal Tuesday.”“Isabella-”“Certainly not, Mr. Walton.” I mimicked his tone perfectly. “I told you I'm not doing it. You need to find someone else to play pretend with.”SYNOPSISIsabella Miller thought saying no to her boss’s fake dating offer was the end of the story.But Adrien Walton doesn’t take no—especially not when he’s convinced she’s a gold digger.Suddenly, her student loans are piling up, her father’s vet clinic is on the brink of eviction and her brother is about to be kicked out of college. Coincidence? She thinks not.Adrien Walton is calm, calculating—and he's just pulled every string to corner Isabella into the perfect position.Now she’s stuck choosing between pride and survival.So she agrees to his offer: be his fake girlfriend.No feelings attached. No drama. Just business.Or so she thought.“Conference Room B. Fifteen minutes,” he said, passing by without a glance.The folder he pushed across the table landed with a thud.I opened it. The contract. All of it.---Enemies to lovers? Check.Slow burn? Hmmnyea.Banter so sharp it might file your nails? Yes.Delicious workplace tension? Of course.Tension that could melt steel?Absolutely.Smut?? Wanna find out?Welcome to corporate romance warfare. There’s no escaping this contract.

Living in this apocalyptic world full of zombies and monsters, the rich rely on technology and the poor rely on mutation.

Shen Shanwu, 13 years old in appearance but 31 years old in reality, is a mutant that can alter his own appearance. Although he looks like a child on the outside, his wisdom is not very good. One day, he was just passing by when he was suddenly forcibly adopted by a major general, whom he didn’t know where he came from.

He resisted, but when he looked up, it turned out to be an old acquaintance.

The little boy, who could only hide behind him and cry, transformed into the unsmiling, cold, and tough man in front of him. And that expression of seeing a dead beloved is really unsightly…

Shen Shanwu: Can you smile?

Jing Huan: After Shanwu died, I couldn’t smile anymore.

Shen Shanwu: …Who? Who do you think is dead?

It took a long time before he found out about it. He found Jiang Huan crying and holding Shen Shanwu’s nameplate in the middle of the night and told his adopted son how good Shen Shanwu was… All of this…was seen by Shen Shanwu himself!

Jiang Huan (raising his gun): Since you have seen my embarrassing side, then I can only marry you or kill you.

Shen Shanwu: …

Shen Shanwu: Marry, marry, marry! I will recruit 800 zombies to carry you home!

- Description from Novelupdates

“Hey, Yoshi-kun. I think you’re——”

Hearing that voice for the first time stopped me in my tracks. On my way home from school. On the playing field of our junior high, and at the bookshop in front of the station. And then in the empty lot where the white cat slept. Shiina Yuki, the strange girl who somehow knew all about me, always approached me like that.

We laughed, cried, got angry, held hands. Again and again, we repeated those disappearing memories and ephemeral promises. That’s why I never knew. I never knew the value of Yuki’s smiles or the meaning of her tears. Nor even the singular sentiment behind her many ‘Nice to meet you’s.

This is a captivating, heartrending tale of meetings and partings.