Chapter 3: I’m a Civil Servant (2)

After being kidnapped by the Demon King called Minister, the Princess, in the form of the Executive Manager, managed to escape on his own and return. “I’m home.” “Welcome. You came earlier today.” “It seems like the old man’s stamina has gone down. That’s why he shouldn’t get that angry so often.” While I was replying to the Senior Manager, the three managers who were sitting with him tried to stand up. However, I waved my hand and made them sit again. “It’s fine. There’s no need to stand up.” “You’ve been scolded by the minister instead of us, so this is the bare minimum.” “You son of a bitch, stand up.” The 2nd Manager provoked me, the Executive Manager, as I applied pressure on him with my power. It was a complete mess. But since we were familiar with each other, we settled down while laughing. After I sat down at the head of the table, the five people present saluted me. I also nodded while checking out the members present there. The Senior Manager, 1st Manager, 2nd Manager, 3rd Manager, and 5th Manager. Good, everyone’s here. “Good, my dear fellow slaves. I apologize for calling you out when the time to get off work is right before us.” “I have a date. Is it urgent?” “Just because of what you’ve said, you will be on duty.” “Fuck.” As the 2nd Manager, who shouldn’t have talked that much, closed his mouth while making a depressed expression, I waved a piece of paper. This was the reason why I was called to the room of the Minister and why I called the managers right before it was time to get off work. While coming here, I tried to control my desire to tear it down. “Can you see this?” “I’m not sure what that is, but I can see that it’s a ministerial post.” “What is it about? It’s been a while since we all gathered here.” “It’s the beautiful piece of art you guys did that made me waste 2 hours of my time.” I threw the documents. As if they represented my entangled heart, they danced in the air but ended up falling exactly at the center of the table. The managers checked the contents of the documents and looked around. The Senior Manager sighed, while the other Managers either coughed or did their best to avoid looking at me directly. “Who took the lead on investigating Count Yorun?” I opened my mouth after looking at them. I resembled one of those parents who seemed to be saying, ‘If you tell me the truth, I won’t punish you.’ “I… I did it.” The 3rd Manager carefully raised his hands. I smiled gracefully while looking at the culprit as he spoke. “Listen while banging your head into the ground.” “Yes…” Everyone knows that I wouldn’t let it slide even if they answered the ultimatum. But if they didn’t recognize their mistake, then they probably wouldn’t be able to handle the aftermath. The 3rd Manager stood up and banged his head into the ground, tearing up. Meanwhile, the other managers did their best to avoid being burned. Although it was something that the 3rd Manager had executed, it didn’t change the fact that everyone had taken part in it. So, I glared at them and sighed. “Dear fellow slaves. Our job, indeed, is to become a hunting dog. But if you bite anyone without thinking about it carefully, then I’ll have to call you ‘dear son of a bitches’ instead of fellow slaves.” This was the department I was in charge of. The Prosecutor’s Office was in charge of controlling the imperial treasury. On paper, it was an organization whose only higher-ups were the Minister of Finance and the Emperor. And just like I had said before, we were like hunting dogs. We had to control the flow of money, keep an eye on the Empire’s budget, and stop if something illegal was detected. The Prosecutors were so important that one couldn’t help but wonder if it was okay for such an organization to be under the control of the Minister of Finance instead of the Emperor. So, if we picked the wrong target, we would receive criticism from all directions. “This month, after Yorun’s Count’s hand was cut, many higher-ups have also been affected.” “That’s too bad.” “Because of that, the Gold Duke has expressed his concerns to the Minister.” “…” The Senior Manager, who’d been silent, flinched after hearing the name Gold Duke. Then, he glared at the 3rd Manager. He’d heard that a Count had become affected because they’d selected the wrong target. He would’ve stopped them before the Minister could call me if he knew that the Gold Duke was also involved. “What did the Gold Duke…?” “You know he’s crazy about money, right? Rather than punishing the person in charge, he wants monetary compensation.” “I have a list of families that compete against the Gold Duke’s faction. To what division should I give this?” “The 3rd.” After I said that, the 3rd Manager stood up. I wasn’t looking at him with merciful eyes. But what else could I do? The 3rd division was the perfect one for this job. “Shouldn’t you clean up your shit by yourself?” “Yes. Yes, of course.” “The Gold Duke isn’t someone who cares as long as we can cover his losses. So do your best.” “I won’t forget what happened today, and be more careful from now on.” “Good, you’re free to go.” The 3rd Manager quickly walked out. Despite being big and muscular, he was quite fast. It made me wonder if he’d put all his stats into Agility. Was it because he received less resistance from the air because he was hollow inside? “Everyone else should be careful, too. If something like this happens again, you’re all also going to be blamed equally.” After I waved my hands, the other Managers could finally walk away from the room. They were probably going to unleash their anger against others after they reached the office. However, that was not my concern. If they’d done their job properly, something like this wouldn’t have happened. When I first entered the Prosecutors’ Office, I was careful even about falling leaves. But the new ones were too careless. I didn’t like how they did their job… “Fuck.” “What’s wrong?” “No, I just remembered something from the past.” The Senior Manager, who was about to walk out, turned around and asked as I cursed; I smiled and just told him to leave. He must’ve been surprised by my sudden outburst. Four years of working as a civil servant had ruined the vibrant person I once was…! I was only 21, and yet I was already having such dreadful thoughts about how much darker the next few decades would be! ‘Should I take the money and escape?’ That would certainly end my career as a civil servant, but it would also end my life. Even if I had a good family background, a Prosecutor escaping with money was a huge crime. Ending up with a death sentence for embezzlement after possessing this body was just too pathetic, no matter how you think about it. I didn’t endure all this time just to face such an ending. Looking back at the window behind me, the sun was already setting. Although the meeting ended faster than expected, it went past quitting time because it started just before the end of the workday. Thanks to this, I had successfully failed to go back home on time for 40 consecutive days. With whom should I share this happiness? Since it was a matter involving a duke, the situation was smoothly resolved thanks to the tearful efforts of the 3rd Manager and the voluntary cooperation from other divisions, who were feeling the pressure. The Minister even said that the Gold Duke was pleased after four families who were competing against his faction were eliminated. I had been waiting for the right time to get rid of them, and now that I had a reason, there was nothing to hold me back. Hearing about it felt like slicing through a lifelong enemy, making me feel exhilarated. Why didn’t those capable guys handle it properly from the beginning? “So… Most of the money we confiscated was given to Count Yorun. We gave it to him after washing it a couple of times, so it’s not going to cause any problems in the future.” A few days later, I clapped after hearing a satisfying result. Yes, our kids could do a good job when they tried. “As expected. The brilliant intellect of the 3rd Manager is admirable.” “Executive Manager, you said you wanted to cast him away because the only thing that shone from him was his head.” “Shut up.” “Sob…” I quickly interrupted the 1st Manager mid-sentence, who was trying to break the trust and friendship between a higher-up and his subordinate. The 1st Manager suddenly revealed internal stuff, and the 2nd Manager laughed while touching his hair. Meanwhile, the 5th Manager was looking at the 3rd Manager’s shining head—I mean, intellect. All the while, the 3rd Manager trembled, clenching his teeth after suddenly becoming the center of mockery. Only the 1st Manager tilted her head in confusion while looking at the 3rd Manager. The worst part about her was that she didn’t harbor any ill intentions. The topic of the meeting seemed to be shifting to ‘When did the 3rd Manager start going bald?’, so I knocked on the table a few times to refocus the attention. “Stop making fun of the guy who came here after working hard.” “But it was just the Executive Manager and the 1st Manager who talked. We didn’t say anything.” “You have so much hair that just your presence is like making fun of him.” “I didn’t know that.” “Then…” Oops, I was supposed to stop this. “Anyway, 3rd Manager, good job. You know you were lucky this time, right?” “Yes. Well, all the necessary documents to execute the plan were already prepared, so I was able to do it quickly.” “Not that. But if you’re going to have some issue with a Duke, it should be with the Gold Duke.” “Ah…” The 3rd Manager nodded in agreement. It was best not to get entangled with dukes, but if they must, then the Gold Duke was the best option. Among the five dukes of the empire, the Gold Duke was the closest to being sane. The other four were truly inhuman in various ways. “Don’t worry. If one of you got into trouble with another Duke, I will offer you to that Duke with my own hands.” “Eh? That’s worrying…” “If you don’t like it, then change to another department if you can.” I heard them cursing me, but it didn’t matter; I also cursed the Minister a lot. But of course, I did that in a place where I couldn’t be heard. 2nd Manager, you’re doing overtime again today.