115

Discipline. Hierarchy. Power. They pretend otherwise on the surface, but every company has them.

I’ve never seen a scene like this in an ordinary company. But while working as a freelance assistant director, I’d encountered something similar.

“Gather the juniors.”

They called the juniors together, forced them to bow with their heads down so they couldn’t even look up, and went on and on about whether their heads were rotten or how “in our day” things were unimaginable, never clearly stating what they’d done wrong—just harassing them. The reason for the assembly I learned later was ridiculous.

“Because they walked by without greeting?”

It had even been a day when they were so busy they missed seeing a senior and walked past—so they didn’t remember. Fortunately it wasn’t the industry’s culture, just an encounter with a strange person. It helped me leave sooner, though that was one of the reasons for resigning.

And now I’m seeing that same spectacle here. Even when I first started as an assistant clerk, there was territoriality but not this kind of petty harassment.

“The Chancellery is a line. You need to judge well which line to stand on.”

“Oh, great.”

“At least if you stick with our side, you won’t be at a loss—remember that.”

“Really?”

“He’s a figurehead Chancellor, so if you came here dazzled by the idea of being the youngest Chancellor, you should give up that expectation.”

“What a joke.”

The more I listened, the more ridiculous it became. Elysia’s expression beside me grew increasingly sour.

“Which family are you from?”

Dominic gave a slight kick to the assistant clerk’s foot with his shoe and pressed him intimidatingly, and I could no longer hold back.

“Me? The Libertas count family.”

I appeared with a cold smile.

Dominic and Eldo’s faces showed clear surprise. They hadn’t expected me to come all the way. But Dominic seemed bothered by something more than my arrival.

“…A count family? Ha, please refrain from lying. We already know you’re from a viscount family.”

I smiled thinly in response.

“I thought so too, but I went to the Imperial Household Office recently and they said you were elevated to a count. His Majesty supposedly promoted you as a congratulatory gift for your appointment as Chancellor. If you don’t believe me, go check yourself.”

“What?”

Dominic Lanchester. He’s the son of a count family. In other words, he’s not even a count himself—just a count’s heir.

When I was a baron, the count family’s prestige was higher, but now that I’m a count myself, the tide had naturally shifted. I gave a small smile to the flushed, huffing man and turned my gaze to Eldo.

“What are you doing right now? You seem really idle. If you’re short on work, say so.”

“Ah, no… that’s not it… it’s that Dominic the secretary first…”

“If you followed along and stood by, you’re an accomplice—so stop talking so much.”

“…!”

I neatly cut short the clumsy excuse.

“I never instructed anyone to carry out this kind of pathetic discipline…”

I fell silent as if thinking, then nodded as if conceding that it could be so.

“Alright, I suppose I can understand to some extent.”

“Ch-Chancellor?”

Elysia called out in a startled voice. I wasn’t finished speaking yet.

“But listen. You don’t enforce discipline like that. That’s not acceptable. I’ll demonstrate personally. Dominic, Eldo, you start first.”

“Yes?”

“…What did you say?”

The two who had been puffing with indignation now trembled as if their voices had gone out of tune.

I smiled all the brighter.

“Discipline isn’t enforced with words. It’s enforced through work.”

“Now then, the Chancellery’s elite first and second secretaries. Let’s see how well you handled things while I was away. Bring the work you’ve done.”

I felt Lukan and Elysia exchange glances but ignored it. They’d seen me speak casually to Dominic, so they could tell I was seriously angry.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and bring it.”

I smirked at them, and they hesitantly gathered the documents on their desks and shoved them forward. Even so, Eldo’s papers had neater folds than Dominic’s. As expected, Dominic was worse than Eldo.

Rustle. Rustle.

The Chancellery was filled only with the sound of pages turning. Secretaries, scribes, even the assistant clerks’ gazes were all on us. I didn’t bother to call them out. They needed to learn how insignificant those pretentious seniors who nitpicked were, and who led the Chancellery.

“Eldo, you’ve added a lot of unnecessary commentary, but you completed the tasks I assigned. And Dominic, first-class secretary… you haven’t even done half?”

He stood there arrogantly, as if daring me.

They didn’t seem to understand. Living as K-office workers had exposed me to so many humiliating and degrading moments. Firing isn’t always the answer. Reluctantly, I decided to try something of that sort.

“At this rate, the new assistant clerks who joined today will catch up to you quickly.”

I watched Dominic flinch and clench his fist tightly.

“Lukan, secretary.”

“Yes, Chancellor.”

“I think we should add one more experienced hire. There’s someone in our department who’s not doing even one person’s worth of work.”

“No way. Still, this is the Chancellery, the face of the central ministry.”

Lukan, without being told, obligingly played along.

“Dominic, secretary.”

“…Yes.”

“From now on, before you leave, have me inspect the work you’ve done. There’s too much nonsense, so I need to see it from the start. Also, every week report to me what tasks you’ve done and quantify—numerically—what and how much you’ve achieved. And as a first-class secretary, explain what tasks the second-class secretaries are handling and their progress.”

“…”

I saw Eldo’s lips twitch as if he wanted to speak, but my gaze stayed fixed on Dominic.

Of course. He wouldn’t know. I pulled a pile of unfiled documents from the storage and set them on his desk.

“There’s nothing like repetitive practice. From last time, it seems you haven’t adapted to the new format yet. Reorganize the previous documents here into the new format and report back. Lukan, Elysia, double-check what Dominic has written.”

It’s the scene of a first-class secretary being checked by second-class secretaries. These types often do terrible work and lack motivation, yet care a lot about appearances and pride.

“If you’d at least kept the basic standards, I wouldn’t have gone this far.”

Would I, in his position, prefer being called out in front of everyone? But his disregard for me as Chancellor had gone too far to ignore.

Those kinds of people aren’t swayed by performance reviews or pay. They’d come under the Crown Prince’s orders, so their motives are unrelated.

‘They probably want to tank the Chancellery’s evaluation to have me replaced.’

So I chose this method. Enforcing discipline through work differs from the old one-on-one tutoring. I’ll inspect tasks down to the nano level and harshly reprimand any deficiencies. I wouldn’t have been able to do this if I hadn’t done every job from assistant clerk to first-class secretary myself.

“Use this opportunity to shape up. Otherwise, you might end up clinging to my coat tails and regretting it later.”

It was his last chance. We were at the line between whether we’d still be able to run the department together in a hostile environment. A workplace isn’t a place to work only with people favorable to me. So far I’ve watched closely and tried to treat things professionally.

‘But it’s not only the Crown Prince who’s scheming—I’m scheming too.’

Even I couldn’t predict exactly how I’d take down those who crossed the line.

I’m sorry for the assistant clerks, but the Chancellery’s atmosphere was downright brutal.

But if such absurd discipline went unchallenged from the start, I would have seriously considered quitting on day one. It’s important for a boss to clearly assert control over the team.

‘Come to think of it, Eldo seems quiet.’

Dominic was making so much of a scene that Eldo felt relatively subdued. To give the new hires some breathing room, I stepped out of the stifling office. Lucan and Elysia would sort out the rest.

I slowly headed to the third-floor Ministry of Finance to report that I’d been and to check with the Minister of Finance whether there were any special issues with the royal household.

At that moment, I came face to face with a familiar face in a mage’s robe across from me.

“Hello, Chancellor Cornelia.”

He was a subordinate mage trailing closely behind Aidan.

“Hello. How have you been?”

I used the topic-change skill because I couldn’t recall his name. His expression wasn’t bad, but he looked fairly drained.

“Congratulations on your promotion to Chancellor. We should have sent something to the Chancellery, but we’ve been too occupied lately and missed it.”

Is something happening at the Magic Tower?

“No. I don’t even know if I deserve congratulations for taking on such a burdensome post. The Magic Tower seems very busy.”

“Oh, don’t say that. We’re a complete mess.”

“What’s going on?”

“Well… since you’re close to that person, I suppose I can tell you this.”

He glanced around a few times then stepped closer to me. For a moment I was about to step back, but I noticed his gesture to speak quietly and leaned in.

“The Magic Tower Master has announced his retirement. Soon Aidan will become the Magic Tower Master.”