Department XXX.

Emily Hayes was standing in front of a huge black door. If she were asked the first thing that came to her mind at the moment, she would answer "the gate to hell."

The door was covered with varnish, under which the silhouette of Osiris was depicted. This detail did not surprise the girl. As far as she understood, the Pharaoh publishing house expressed its name in the interior details.

But it was this door, behind which she had to work, that made Emily tremble inexplicably.

She did not immediately find the entrance to her department, she had to return to the reception and ask the guards to explain where this secret department 30 was located, to which there was not even a sign!

She also noticed the strange look of the guards when they asked if she really needed to go to section 30, not 03. After Emily showed her pass, the guard thoughtfully looked at it, then at the girl again, snorted and waved his hand for Emily to follow him.

"Good luck," he said goodbye to her, and Hayes felt sarcasm or sympathy in his reply. In general, he left, and she had been standing in front of the door for five minutes, not daring to take the last step.

The girl straightened her skirt, jacket, glasses on the bridge of her nose and leaned her pass against the electronic lock. Above the door flashed the inscription "Department XXX. Forget yourself, everyone, who is about to step in here."

"What the hell? Who thought of such a greeting?" Emily frowned and went inside. The door slammed shut behind the girl.

Her subconscious guessed the trick in the first two seconds, as she crossed the threshold of the department. But the brain resisted and sent encouraging signals that her best friend could not frame Emily so hard.

The corridor was drowned in darkness as if someone had turned off the light. The only hope of salvation - to open the front door again - was irretrievably lost, since Emily could not even find where to attach the key card.

"Is anybody here?" she hesitantly threw the question into the void. After standing for about a minute in complete silence and darkness, the girl took a step.

At that moment, the lamps on the ceiling flashed, and the light from them sparkled along the walls. The sparkles gathered into bright balls and took the form of goldfish. The sound of waves was heard.

Emily realized that the walls and ceiling were nothing more than huge displays on which the picture was broadcast.

The fish dived into the depths, disappearing under the floor, and instead of them dolphins jumped out and, cutting through the water, swam along the corridor, indicating the direction.

"I don't even want to imagine how much it all costs. A terrific waste of money," the girl was amazed at the detail in the picture. The image was at least 4K, or even 8K - everything seemed so real and alive.

And although the installation of conventional lamps would save a huge share of the budget for the interior, it would not have caused such surprise and smile from Emily, as this unexpected performance at the very beginning of the working day.

If she sees such a show every time she crosses the threshold of XXX department, then this alone will compensate for all possible shortcomings that Emily was not aware of yet.

"Welcome to your domain, my queen."

In surprise, Emily Hayes jumped to the side and crashed into the wall. She was so staring at the dolphins that she did not notice the man standing at the end of the corridor.

The shock of the dolphins' appearance now seemed like an ordinary advertising block, before the start of a real blockbuster.

A man was standing in front of Emily. Tall, handsome, and... naked. Well, 99 percent naked. He was naked in comparison to her.

On the stranger's thighs was a piece of cloth that looked like a piece of a torn-off Roman toga, since the only thing it held on was a thin string thrown over the man's shoulder.

In one hand he was holding a spear, the other was stretched out along the strong torso.

A real gladiator, the girl thought, frozen on the spot and not knowing what to do next.

The stranger looked at her, not taking his eyes off, and obviously tried to suppress the grin that was almost about to escape from his lips.

"My queen?" the man's low baritone echoed down the empty hallway.

Emily swallowed and gently backed away, "S-sorry, I guess I got the wrong door after all," she muttered. This naked (amendment: half-naked) gladiator was a head and a half taller than her. And she was in heels, by the way!

The man raised an eyebrow, scanned his guest again, and broke into a mocking smile, "Are you new or something? Where do you need to go to, fearful bird?"

"My name is Emily Hayes. Starting today, I work in department 30, but apparently, I did not get there. Sorry."

"Why not there? You are indeed there," he grinned and took a step to the side, pointing to the door that was behind him, "The entrance is here."

"Are you sure?" the girl asked with hope in her voice. Somehow she no longer wanted to know what was hidden behind the next door. She remembered the anticipant face of Justin Evans as Emily left his office.

"More than. And I advise you to hurry up, Miss Hayes, if you do not want to stand in my place tomorrow in a mermaid costume and meet your colleagues. We do not welcome lateness."

This argument was enough for Emily to immediately sneak past the formidable giant, strike the keycard on the door, and dive into the rabbit hole called Section 30.

Everything about this place was wrong. Not the way Emily Hayes imagined. The department of a publisher respected throughout the country and abroad simply could not look like this!

A spacious light room with palm trees and hammocks appeared before her eyes. Birds chirped, artificial mini-waterfalls murmured. The desks were brightly colored: crimson, lemon, fuchsia, azure. On one side of the wall was a tall bookshelf, lined with at least a couple of hundred books. At the opposite end was a large dressing room with clothes and shoes.

People scurried back and forth, dressed in colorful outfits as if they were going to a party. The women were in tuxedos and trousers, the guys in... tight dresses and heels? Emily blinked several times, the picture did not disappear. She closed her eyes and counted to five, opened them.

A thin, tall guy walked past her, limping on his left foot and talking on the phone. Heels with a height of ten centimeters clearly did not add grace to his gait.

"Who do we have here? A fresh duplicate of Mrs. Parkinson?"

Emily turned around and saw a stunning blonde, staring at the girl with interest in return. If there were people in the world who could attract others, regardless of gender, this individual was one of them.

Emily caught her breath as if she were standing on stage with Miss Universe and handing her the tiara. The blonde was lovely in all places. For the first time, the girl saw such a beautiful person near her.

"Oh, are you that Emily girl?" the beauty pointed her finger at the girl's badge, "Kelly recommended you, right?"

"Yes, it's me," Emily suddenly felt embarrassed. What the hell is this? It was the first time with her. Even her ex-boyfriend didn't provoke such a reaction from her as this super-model did with one glance.

The blonde narrowed her eyes, looked at the new one with an appraising glance, and exclaimed, "Awesome! She didn't say you were such a beauty! This month the room bonus will definitely be ours! Ho-ho-ho, I'm already looking forward to Gregor's face being green with anger when he sees you!" she grabbed Emily's hands and squeezed them, the grip of the fragile-looking girl was very strong.

"Excuse me, who?"

"Gregor! Acting editor-in-chief of the magazine!" the blonde nodded, "Oh, you don't know him yet! Sorry, I'm being dumb a little in the morning. Ha, life without coffee is just creepy, do you agree? By the way, my name is Catherine Joyce. You can just call me Kat," the new colleague winked.

"Nice," Emily smiled back. The girl's name seemed familiar to her, but she (of course) could not remember where she heard it. By the law of the genre or the Murphy's law, to be exact, Emily had to strain her brains or just call Kelly and ask her friend.

In the end, thanks to this very friend, she ended up here, not yet knowing where.

"Today is my first workday, and I'm a little late."

"Oh yes, we have already heard about the reason for your lateness," Kat mysteriously grinned, "What a nice thing you did - to kick your own boss out of his own workplace is quite something!"

She leaned over to Emily and in a conspiratorial tone clarified, "Can you tell me why he didn't eat you on the spot? Justin Evans is a wolf, especially for cute little red caps like you, Emily."

Emily flushed with embarrassment and indignation. She had not yet crossed the threshold of the department, and was everyone already aware of her morning incident? And she got angry when Evans mentioned the gossiping?! Yes, such things scattered here faster than the speed of sound!

"It just happened by accident," she managed to say, no longer overjoyed at the friendliness of her new colleague.

"Come on, I was joking, just take it easy," Kat slapped Emily on the shoulder, "But I will warn you right away: if something happens, don't come to me to cry."

"Why would I have to worry about that?" the girl did not understand.

"What do you mean, why?" the blonde threw back her golden curl behind her back, raised her index finger, and nodded her chin up, "Justin Evans is a high-flying bird. And it hurts to fall from above."

Emily looked at the girl seriously. There was no malice or mockery in Catherine's tone. The usual statement of fact, which was obvious and so. Hayes harbored no illusions about princes on white horses or in black Maybachs.

The boulevard romance novels sparked wild outbursts of imagination among the infantile high school girls, to whom Emily had not considered herself for a long time. Sobering adult relationships alone were enough to take off rose-colored glasses and put on tighter lenses.

She adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose and calmly replied, "Catherine, whatever you think, there is nothing like that between me and Mr. Evans. I came here to work."

"Darling, whatever I and others think about this, this does not concern us. Remember this. And about work - you're damn right! Let me give you a quick tour, introduce you to the guys and get down to business. I suggest you wipe Gregor's nose with the best sales of the quarter!"

Kat grabbed Emily by the elbow and dragged her to the hammocks, where several girls swayed imposingly, reading books. If this was a work environment, it was very unusual.

"Catherine, my question sounds stupid, but," Emily paused, holding her colleague. Hayes thought it was strange getting to know the others when she didn't really understand exactly where she was working. "What does our department do? What books does it publish?"

"Books?" the blonde raised her eyebrows in surprise, and then laughed out loud, "We don't publish books. We publish Pharaoh magazine. A magazine for adults."

That's what it is. A magazine for adults.

"I see," Emily put on an innocent smile, but a fire-breathing dragon was already raging inside her.

It seems that one of her best friends will soon be killed. Emily Hayes will take care of that.