🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 1
I’m an extra.
I’m not entirely sure which novel I’ve been reincarnated into, though. It’s not like I’ve only read one or two web novels in my life.
That’s where the problem starts. Reincarnating as a minor character is only great when you actually know the plot. If you end up as a penniless, background extra with zero connections and zero knowledge of the story, you’re basically no different from an ordinary local.
Faced with the immediate crisis of starving to death, I had only one logical move:
Let’s become a stable civil servant!
Arithmetic, essay writing—taking a test in a world like this would be a walk in the park for someone with a South Korean standard education!
…Or so I thought five years ago. Now, I deeply regret that choice.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?! Marquis Willis is absolutely furious!”
Did I make a fatal blunder that caused harm to the Imperial Family, driving the Marquis to rage?
No.
Was it because I was terrible at my job?
Not at all.
It was because I refused to take a bribe from Marquis Willis’s nephew—and reported him instead. Naturally, the nephew incurred the Emperor’s wrath and was permanently banished from ever stepping foot in the capital again.
“What good is being competent when you act so high-and-mighty, holding your nose up at everyone…?”
I stood there in silence. Arguing logic with an incompetent man who treated corruption as business as usual was just a waste of breath.
“Haa… Last time, you ratted out the department head right before he retired. He was thrown out without a single cent of his pension!”
This time, I couldn’t hold back.
“He’d been embezzling money that amounted to several times his pension! The missing funds were at a level no one could possibly turn a blind eye to.”
“Is that what’s important right now?!”
My direct supervisor huffed and puffed, unable to contain his anger.
“Do you know what people call you behind your back? A villainess! They call you a villainess!”
Seriously? Refusing to go along with corruption makes me a villainess now?
Part of me wanted to show them what a real villainess looked like, but in this filthy world where having no connections was a crime, I had no choice but to swallow my pride.
And yet…
“Don’t bother coming in starting tomorrow. I’m giving your desk to Isobel.”
He had the nerve to blow his top with that nonsense.
“A imperial official with a formal letter of appointment cannot be dismissed without a court order!”
“Who said anything about dismissing you?”
I stared at him, blank-faced.
If it wasn’t a firing…?
My supervisor picked up a stack of documents and tapped them against the desk.
“I’m sending you somewhere where you can never displease Marquis Willis again. Transfer to the Child Protection Bureau.”
…What kind of bullshit is this now?
“The Child Protection Bureau?”
My jaw dropped in absolute disbelief.
“My specialization is arithmetic.”
Even before reincarnating, math had been my favorite subject. Naturally, arithmetic was the area where I truly shone during the Imperial Civil Service Exam. The examiners had practically awarded my paper a score beyond a perfect mark.
That was the exact reason I managed to pass top of my class and enter the prestigious Ministry of Finance without a single backer.
Back then, they called me the ace of the Ministry of Finance. Now, I was the “Finance Villainess.”
What a bizarre world.
“Maybe dealing with those brats will fix that nasty temper of yours. If you don’t pack your things right now, I’m throwing all that clutter into the trash.”
Son of a bitch.
Curses flew through my head as I quickly packed up my desk. Since my personal belongings amounted to only five or six items, it all fit into a single small box.
Carrying the box, I walked for a long time until I finally arrived at the Child Protection Bureau—only to completely doubt my own eyes.
This… is the Child Protection Bureau?
