Chapter 3
The male lead lightly nodded.
“Sorry, I didn’t explain well. You have a good eye.”
“Ah, no, it’s nothing.”
“Yes, it is. Anyway… the format for this paperwork is…”
Listening to his explanation, I quietly made a decision.
‘Damn it. I should never ask questions again.’
Asking this time was unavoidable—I didn’t want to do work twice.
But being competent just means more workload, not anything good.
When I’m in the Black Underpaid Department, I’ll stay quiet like a mouse and only do what I’m told.
Then I casually turned my head—and through the crack in the door I saw something…
‘Is that… a LaXlaX bed?’
In typical romance-fantasy fashion, it was decorated with gold trim and looked fancy, but it was still basically a folding bed.
In an office, anything like that is basically LaXlaX.
I silently rolled my eyes back into place—and met the male lead’s gaze.
We said nothing.
I stared at his eyes for a long moment.
‘Please explain what that is.’
What exactly is that disgusting-looking mattress?
Then the male lead averted his eyes.
“It’s not used all the time.”
“Ah. Yes.”
“It’s just there for when things get extremely busy and staying here is more convenient.”
“Y-yes…”
How proud of him.
Still… heroine, sub-male lead—please.
Stick to the original plot’s firm resolution and go join the Black Underpaid Department!
Carlisle honestly had zero expectations for the 218th batch of new officials.
Not even a speck.
Why?
‘Because they’ll all run off to easier departments.’
It was true that the Black Underpaid Department paid the highest salary.
But it was also infamous for hell-level workload.
Since its establishment three years ago, every batch of rookies had transferred out to other departments…
‘The bigger issue is that there are barely any qualified people to begin with.’
To fight “black magic,” exceptional magical ability was required.
On top of that, strong mental resilience was necessary.
Requirements impossible to expect from brand-new rookies.
…Because of that, Carlisle was constantly overloaded, handling both fieldwork and paperwork at the same time.
Every day, he ground his teeth at the minister, Edgar Crow.
[We don’t have capacity to train rookies. Send experienced staff.]
[Stop dreaming, Luphex.]
[Then at least increase manpower.]
[Also impossible. At most, we can only take two rookies.]
Creating the Black Underpaid Department was Edgar’s idea…
But since qualified bureaucrats were already rare, getting skilled personnel was a bloody competition.
[This time the “Top-and-Bottom Group” will come to our department first. Pick from them.]
Who even came up with that group name?
Anyway, Carlisle’s first impression of them was neutral.
‘None of them are particularly special.’
The top student was too stiff and over-primed.
The second ranker…
‘He’ll leave soon anyway. No need to comment on his outfit.’
Pointless criticism would only give him a headache.
That left Layla Lowell, the lowest-ranked.
His first impression of her was…
‘Her gaze doesn’t feel youthful like the others.’
Normally, rookies at this stage had bright, proud eyes full of ambition.
But Layla Lowell was… hm.
‘It’s dead. Is that why she’s last?’
However, her true value appeared in an unexpected way.
[What writing style should we unify under?]
The moment he heard that question, Carlisle felt like his heart stopped.
Not a heart attack—he was too young for that.
It was pure emotional shock.
‘We’ve got someone who understands details.’
What hurts a perfectionist bureaucrat the most?
A mountain of paperwork?
The elusive mastermind behind black magic?
Those are problems, yes.
But…
Inconsistent, poorly formatted documents were the real nightmare.
‘No matter how many times you teach rookies, they still mess it up.’
Not long after, Layla handed him her documents for a mid-check.
Neatly organized by category for readability.
He hated how moved he felt, but he couldn’t help it.
‘Last year’s trainees submitted everything mixed together.’
And he had wasted hours sorting them manually.
Layla looked at him cautiously.
“How is it?”
“Hm. Just a moment…”
Carlisle slowly flipped through the pages.
‘Yes, there will be mistakes. Definitely.’
Don’t expect too much.
Then there will be no disappointment.
But with every page he turned, his throat went dry.
His heart even started pounding with emotion.
“…Perfect.”
“Thank you.”
Layla simply returned to her work as if nothing happened.
Seeing this, Yuliana Crosswell leaned toward her and whispered.
“Layla… can you check mine?”
“Huh? Yeah. Yuliana, your spacing is off.”
“Spacing? What’s that?”
“The distance between letters. If it’s inconsistent, the document looks messy.”
“O-oh! I’ll fix it!”
“And this kind of document is better as one page.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. So the reader doesn’t need to flip pages. Shorten the sentences a bit.”
“Wow, got it!”
She was even correcting her teammate’s mistakes.
Was this low-ranked rookie some kind of divine talent sent to save him from paperwork hell?
‘No. It’s too early to judge based on that alone.’
Still, Carlisle closed the door that showed the folding bed.
‘Even though they’re only here for a week of observation…’
Maybe he should pay a bit more attention this time.
By Friday late afternoon—the last day of the team’s departmental observation—
Carlisle clicked his tongue sharply at a sudden order from above.
“So they dropped another annoying task on us.”
The emperor’s order was brief.
<By tonight, report the trend of black magic artifact incidents over the past three months.>
‘Should I just rebel?’
The Arphelt Empire had once lost authority 300 years ago.
The “Mad Emperor’s killing of the Saint.”
Originally, the empire had three powers: the imperial family, the church, and the nobles.
But 300 years ago, the emperor killed the Saint in an act of insanity.
With the only person capable of purifying black magic gone, the empire fell into crisis.
In the end, the nobles had no choice but to restructure the system—
Leaving the imperial family as a symbolic figurehead, while governance was handled by the chancellor.
‘And now they occasionally try to remind everyone they still exist.’
The emperor sometimes issued these useless, annoying orders.
“Haa…”
Any imperial command required the entire department to drop everything.
But Carlisle already prepared himself to take full responsibility.
‘A meaningless report like this… they’ll probably be useless anyway.’
He sighed and looked at the three rookies.
“All three of you. I have something to ask of you today.”
The three looked at him at once.
“Normally we don’t assign overtime to rookies, but this is urgent.”
Layla Lowell spoke first.
“Overtime?”
“Yes. I’ll send you back before me, but I need your help.”
Yuliana raised her hand confidently.
“Yes, sir! It’s fine!”
The second-ranked boy stared silently.
And Layla Lowell…
‘That look is definitely murderous.’
It was 4 PM.
Carlisle quickly gave instructions.
“Check all investigation files from the past three months. Categorize incidents from rank 1 to 3 and summarize any unusual patterns.”
But before they started—
“Senior Luphex.”
Layla raised her hand.
“Hmm?”
“Are we only looking at the past three months? Don’t we need comparison data, like last year or previous quarters?”
“…!”
At that moment, his heart pounded violently.
