Chapter 1
When is the happiest moment for an office worker?
Is it when you gather your small, precious 15 days of vacation and go on a trip?
Or when you receive a pitiful bonus compared to all the suffering you went through and shout, “For the endless glory of the Empire and our proud department!” or something like that?
“Hah, wrong. None of those are right.”
The answer is quitting.
“I finally get to submit my resignation letter…!”
I grinned as I looked at the resignation letter I had neatly written in the “Arphelt Imperial Palace Format.”
‘I’ve been holding on just for today.’
Me, Layla Lowell. I am a bottom-tier office worker in a romantic fantasy world.
I’ve been grinding for one year in the toughest department of the palace—the “Dark Magic Collection and Suppression Department,” also known as the “Black Underpaid Department.”
I’ve saved up enough money to swim in piles of gold coins for the rest of my life.
I even changed all the dangerous developments in the original story. People who were supposed to die were saved.
I solved the final incident too!
‘There’s no reason for me to stay here anymore!’
I’m going to the land of happiness! I’ll throw away all the chains and bonds of this world!
But first, I had to hand in this resignation letter… to my supervisor, who is also the original male lead.
‘Hmm, I’m a little nervous.’
My steps toward his office felt heavy.
Now that I was actually leaving, maybe I felt a bit sad.
The minister who always smiled casually and told me to speak comfortably, even though he had already decided on the answer (the original hidden mastermind).
My colleague who looked like a delinquent, had negative social skills, and whom I basically raised from scratch (original sub-male lead and mage tower lord).
And…
“What is it, Lowell?”
Even my workaholic northern duke deputy supervisor (original male lead) who greeted me.
‘We must’ve built some kind of attachment while working together. Even if he sometimes acted like a dog…’
I looked at my supervisor, who was the most handsome man in the world, with a slightly emotional gaze.
Black hair and red eyes that clearly screamed “I am the male lead.”
A cold, sculpted beauty with a hint of elegance. A perfectly tailored black suit that fit his tall frame flawlessly.
But…
‘To me, he was just… a fellow corporate slave.’
I ignored the dark circles under his eyes and politely handed him the resignation letter.
“Senior Carlisle, I actually have something to tell you.”
“Why are you suddenly being so formal? Your reports are always perfect anyway…”
But he froze the moment he looked down at the document I handed him.
“Lowell, this… is?”
“As you can see. I’m resigning, senior.”
“…What?”
“I came to talk with you first, then I planned to discuss it with the minister. Now that we’ve achieved the goal of establishing the department, I don’t think I need to stay anymore.”
“Lowell…”
As I poured out my rehearsed words like a presentation, a heavy silence fell.
‘Yeah, this must be a shock.’
When a junior quits, the usual reaction is surprise, then trying to stop them.
But after reading my resignation letter, the male lead’s eyes suddenly sharpened—
No, why are they sharpening?
“I’ve been waiting for this day too, Lowell.”
“…?”
Wait, what?
I almost blurted it out loud, but I quickly closed my trembling mouth.
‘He was waiting for me to quit?’
I did sing about quitting like it was breathing, but hearing that kind of response was… a bit—
‘Ah, that’s kind of hurtful.’
Still, I forced my facial muscles to stay calm.
Fine. What do you expect from workplace relationships anyway.
‘I’m done. Let’s cut contact. I don’t care either.’
I’m free! Finally, I can quit this damn romantic fantasy world too!
“Layla Lowell.”
“Ah, yes?”
I snapped back to attention.
Wait. Had he ever called me “Layla” before?
“You are truly a perfect junior.”
“Oh… thank you?”
“Every time I saw you, I was so moved my heart started racing. I thought I might get a myocardial infarction. It’s rare to find an official with such responsibility and perfection like you.”
“Uh… thank you?”
“But now I understand that wasn’t a disease.”
Carlisle Luphex, the male lead, said with a flushed face.
“Go out with me.”
“…Pardon?”
The day I declared my resignation in a romantic fantasy world—
“I want us to be a relationship where we can even contact each other on weekends.”
My supervisor confessed to me.
“But senior.”
I barely managed to move my trembling lips.
“We already live in the same house.”
About one year ago. On a beautiful spring day.
“Ah, damn it…”
I muttered curses while looking up at the shining golden palace gate.
‘Was the novel titled Beyond the Golden Gate because the palace gate is gold?’
Did they name the novel after my commute?
Now that I had remembered my past life in another world, I guess I was allowed to curse a bit.
‘Was I a salary worker even back then?’
Yes. A corporate worker who especially loved office romance stories.
Modern settings gave me PTSD, so I was completely obsessed with this romantic fantasy office novel, Beyond the Golden Gate.
[So soothing! Very easy to read!]
The romance progression was painfully slow, so I wasn’t even sure if there were other readers besides me.
But it suited my taste perfectly.
The company I worked for back then was truly hell. I needed that novel just to survive.
[Next meeting is Monday at 9 AM. Deputy Lee, you are in charge!]
[Why are young people so lacking in creativity? Ownership! You need ownership!]
While living in that hell as a constant “I’m sorry” robot…
‘Ugh, I died on the day I got my severance pay.’
Drunk driving sentences are too light. Victims like me suffer instead.
…And all these memories returned on the first day I arrived as a “218th Arphelt Imperial Palace Official.”
I had passed a 1500-to-1 competition.
I was Layla Lowell, and I was living inside Beyond the Golden Gate.
But…
“This life seems messed up too.”
At age twenty, I was an orphan.
I didn’t even know who my parents were, and in this romantic fantasy world, my status was the lowest of the low—commoner.
And looking into a hand mirror, my pink eyes that should have been bright looked strangely dull.
Why did I, with platinum-blonde hair and decent beauty, look like this?
‘Is it because my mind is still that of a burned-out office worker?’
Tap. Tap.
Someone gently tapped my shoulder.
“Hey, hello?”
“Eh? Huh!”
“We’re classmates, right?”
How could a voice sound like falling flower petals?
Cherry-blossom-colored hair and blue eyes.
In a world where beauty is the default, this person was glowing like a protagonist.
“Ah, yeah. Are you Yuliana Crosswell?”
“Eek! You know my name?”
“Of course. You’re the top student.”
And yes, bright heroine, you are also wearing a name tag.
In the story, Yuliana was the perfect example of a cheerful and kind heroine.
Even the fact that she approached a dazed person like me proved it.
Yuliana smiled brightly.
“I wanted to talk to you because we seem close in age. We might even be in the same trainee group!”
“……”
Hearing that, I silently pulled out my acceptance letter.
<You will undergo a 3-month trainee program.
You will rotate through various departments and experience them firsthand.
Your final department assignment will be decided based on your evaluation during training.>
My PTSD returned again.
I had already survived corporate life and quit once, and now what?
‘A trainee program?’
So I had to go through internship hell again?
“We’ll work hard together from now on—huh? A-are you crying?”
“Sniff…”
“Ahh, you worked so hard preparing! Oh no, this must have been so hard for you…”
No, heroine.
This is the pathetic tears of someone who has fallen to the lowest rung of the corporate food chain…
Even while crying, my thoughts were brutally realistic.
‘At least I’m currently living in an orphanage, but I can’t stay like that forever.’
I may hate work, but I don’t hate money.
‘Starting from the bottom of the pyramid is awful, but…!’
Fine.
Let’s accept reality quickly.
But if I had to live at the bottom again, there was one thing I had to make sure of.
I would go to the most comfortable, easiest department.
No matter what!
