Chapter 1 …

When is an office worker happiest?

Is it when they save up their tiny, precious fifteen days of vacation and finally go on a trip?

Or maybe when they receive a pitiful bonus compared to all the suffering they endured and shout something like, “For the eternal glory of the Empire and our proud department!”?

“Hah, wrong. None of those.”

The answer is resignation.

“At last, me too… my letter of resignation…!”

I grinned as I looked down at the resignation letter I had meticulously prepared in proper “Arfelt Imperial Palace formal style.”

“I’ve held it in for so long, waiting for today.”

I am Leila Lowell.

A bottom-tier office worker in a romance fantasy world.

For one whole year, I had been worked to the bone in the harshest department of the Imperial Palace, the Department of Dark Magic Collection and Suppression… also known as the “Dirt Spoon Department”!

I had saved enough money to swim in piles of gold coins for the rest of my life.

I had twisted the dangerous original plot beyond recognition. I even saved characters who were supposed to die.

And I resolved the final incident!

“There’s no reason for me to stay here anymore!”

I’m off to the land of happiness! Throwing away all the shackles and burdens of this world!

But before I could take that first glorious step… I had to submit this resignation letter.

To my direct superior.

And also the male lead of the original story.

“Hmm… I’m a little nervous.”

My steps toward his desk felt strangely heavy.

Was I actually feeling reluctant now that I was really leaving?

The minister (the original hidden mastermind), who always laughed and told me to speak comfortably even though my decision was already made.

My Magic Tower Lord colleague (the original second male lead), whom I had practically raised myself because he dressed like a delinquent and had negative social skills.

And then…

“What is it, Lowell?”

Even him—

My superior, the workaholic northern duke heir (the original male lead), who greeted me now.

“Maybe working together all this time created some kind of attachment… even if there were moments when he occasionally turned into a dog.”

I gazed wistfully at my superior, the strongest handsome man in the world setting.

Black hair and red eyes that practically screamed, “I’m the male lead.”

A cold, beautiful man whose sculpted features had just one spoonful of prettiness mixed in. His sleek black suit fit his flawless physique perfectly.

But…

“To me, he was just… another fellow corporate slave.”

Ignoring the dark circles under his eyes, I respectfully handed him my resignation letter.

“Senior Carlyle, I actually have something I’d like to discuss.”

“Why are you suddenly being so formal? Your reports are always perfect anyway—”

But the male lead froze when he looked down at the paper in my hand.

“Lowell, this… is?”

“Well, as you can see. I’m resigning, Senior.”

“What…?”

“I wanted to speak with you first before discussing it with the Minister. The Dark Spoon Department has already achieved the purpose it was founded for, so I don’t think there’s any reason for me to stay.”

“Lowell…”

As I delivered my prepared speech with presentation-level clarity, a cold silence fell.

“Yeah, this must be a bit of a shock.”

When a junior employee says they’re quitting, the usual reaction is panic first, then trying to stop them.

But after reading the whole letter, the male lead’s eyes flashed—

…Wait, why are they flashing?

“I, too, have been waiting for this day, Lowell.”

“…?”

Hold on, what?

I nearly blurted it out loud, barely managing to clamp my twitching jaw shut.

“You’ve been waiting for the day your junior quits?”

I mean, sure, I sang songs about resigning like breathing itself, but hearing that directly was a little…

“Ah… wow, that kind of hurts?”

Still, I forced my expression to hold.

Right. What was I even expecting from workplace relationships?

“Fine. That’s it. Cut contact. I reject you too.”

I’ll be free soon! At last, I’m resigning from this damned romance fantasy world too—

“Leila Lowell.”

“Y-Yes?”

I snapped back to attention.

Wait… had this man ever once called me “Leila” before?

“You are truly the perfect junior.”

“Ah… yes. Thank you?”

“Every time I looked at you, I was so moved my heart raced so fast I thought I’d eventually die of a heart attack. It’s hard to find a bureaucrat as perfect and devoted as you.”

“…Pardon? Thank you?”

“But now I know that wasn’t an illness.”

The male lead, Carlyle Rupesque, blushed bright red as he declared:

“Please date me.”

“…What?”

The day I cried out for resignation in a romance fantasy world—

“I want us to become the kind of people who talk casually even on weekends.”

My superior confessed to me.

“But Senior.”

I barely managed to move my trembling lips.

“Aren’t we already living in the same house?”

About one year earlier.

On a beautiful spring day.

“Ah… crap.”

I muttered a curse as I stared up at the dazzling golden front gates.

“So that’s why the novel was called Beyond the Golden Gate?”

Was the title really just describing the commute to work?!

Well, considering I had just remembered my previous life from another world, I figured I was allowed this much.

“And I was an office worker back then too?”

Not just any office worker—a devoted fan of office romances.

Modern office settings gave me PTSD, so I had become deeply obsessed with the romance fantasy office novel Beyond the Golden Gate.

[It’s such an easy read! So comforting!]

The romance progression was painfully slow—so slow I often wondered if there were any readers besides me.

Still, it was exactly my taste.

The company I worked for back then was truly like a fa. mi. ly.

So much so that I needed that novel just to relieve my stress.

[The next meeting is Monday at 9 a.m. Assistant Manager Lee is responsible for preparations!]

[Why aren’t young people more creative? Ownership! This is all because you lack ownership!]

And while I lived in that hell as an “I’m sorry” robot…

“Ugh, dying on the very day I got my severance pay.”

Drunk driving penalties were too light, so victims like me kept piling up.

…And all those memories returned on my very first day reporting to work as the “218th Imperial Palace Bureaucrat of Arfelt.”

I was Leila Lowell, the woman who had beaten 1,500-to-1 odds to get accepted—

And I was living inside the world of Beyond the Golden Gate.

However…

“I think this life might be screwed too.”

At twenty years old, I was an orphan.

I had no idea who my parents were, and in this romance fantasy world, my social class was rock bottom: a commoner.

And when I looked into a hand mirror, why did my pink eyes—which should’ve been bright and sparkling—look so dull?

Why was this platinum blonde beauty like this?

“Is it because I regained the memories of a mentally exhausted office worker?”

Tap, tap.

Just then, someone gently tapped my shoulder.

“Um, hello?”

“Huh? Gah!”

“We’re fellow recruits, right?”

Good heavens, how could a voice sound like flower petals falling?

Cherry blossom-pink hair. Blue eyes.

In a romance fantasy world where beauty was the default, this level of halo practically meant—

“Oh, right. You’re Yuriana Crosswell, aren’t you?”

“Eek! You know my name?”

“Of course. You’re the top recruit.”

And also, dear heroine, you’re literally wearing a name tag.

In the original story, Yuriana was the very definition of a cheerful, kind-hearted heroine.

As proven by the fact that she approached a spaced-out stranger like me first.

Yuriana smiled brightly.

“You looked about my age, so I wanted to say hi! We might even end up in the same trainee group!”

“……”

At that, I quietly pulled out my Imperial Palace acceptance document.

<You will undergo a three-month training period.
During this time, you will observe various departments and directly experience the work before choosing where you wish to apply.
Your final department assignment will be determined based on your trainee evaluations.>

The PTSD came flooding back.

I already made assistant manager and resigned in my past life, and now what?

“A training period?”

I have to go through another intern-to-full-time conversion process?!

“Let’s… work hard together… Huh? A-Are you crying?”

“Sniff…”

“Oh no, preparing for this must’ve been so hard! What do we do? You’ve really suffered…!”

No, heroine.

These are the miserable tears of someone who has fallen to the absolute bottom of the corporate food chain…

But even as tears streamed down my face, my mind remained brutally realistic.

“I’ve been living in an orphanage until now, but I can’t keep doing that forever.”

I may hate work, but I don’t hate money.

“Starting from the very bottom of the pyramid is horrifying, but!”

Fine.

Let’s accept reality quickly.

But if I really had to start over at the bottom of the corporate pyramid again, then there was one thing I absolutely had to make sure of:

I was getting into an easy department.

No matter what.