IDWM 01

CHAPTER-01

Chapter 1

When is an office worker happiest?

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

Or perhaps when they receive a pathetic bonus after working themselves to the bone and shout something like, “For the eternal glory of the Empire and our proud department!”?

Ha. Wrong. Neither.

The answer is—

Quitting your job.

“I can finally… hand in my resignation!”

I grinned as I looked at the resignation letter I had carefully prepared according to the official Arfelt Imperial Palace format.

I’ve endured everything just waiting for this day.

My name is Layla Lowell.

I’m a bottom-of-the-ladder office worker in a romance-fantasy world.

For an entire year, I’d worked myself to death in the toughest department of the Imperial Palace—the Department of Dark Magic Retrieval and Prevention.

I’d saved enough money to spend the rest of my life swimming in piles of gold coins.

I’d twisted every dangerous development from the original novel.

I’d saved characters who were supposed to die.

I’d even resolved the final incident!

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

I’m off to the land of happiness!

I’m throwing away all the chains and shackles of this miserable world!

And to take that glorious first step, all I had to do was submit this resignation letter…

…to my senior.

Who also happened to be the male lead of the original novel.

Hmm. I’m a little nervous.

My steps grew heavier as I approached his desk.

Now that I was actually leaving, perhaps I felt a little reluctant to say goodbye.

There was the minister, who always smiled and told me to speak freely even though he’d already made up his mind about everything—the secret mastermind of the original novel.

Then there was my fellow recruit, the Master of the Magic Tower, whom I’d practically had to raise myself because he dressed like a delinquent and had negative social skills—the second male lead of the original novel.

And then….

“What is it, Lowell?”

There was my workaholic senior, the future Grand Duke of the North.

The original novel’s male lead.

I suppose working together for so long made me attached to them. Even if there were times when he acted like a complete bastard….

I gazed wistfully at my senior, who was quite literally the most handsome man in this world.

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

A cold, sculpted beauty with just enough softness to make him beautiful as well as handsome. His physique looked perfect in his sleek black suit.

But….

To me, he was just another government slave suffering alongside me.

Ignoring the dark circles beneath his eyes, I politely held out my resignation letter.

“Senior Carlisle, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”

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

Then the male lead looked down at the document in my hand.

He froze.

“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. Our department has accomplished the objective it was established for, so I don’t think there’s any particular reason for me to remain anymore.”

“Lowell….”

I delivered my carefully prepared explanation as neatly as though I were giving a presentation.

An icy silence descended.

Yeah. I suppose this is a bit shocking.

When a junior employee announces they’re quitting, the usual response is surprise followed by an attempt to convince them to stay.

But after reading my resignation letter, the male lead’s eyes suddenly gleamed.

Wait.

Why are your eyes gleaming?

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

“…?”

Excuse me?

I almost said it aloud.

I quickly shut my twitching mouth.

He’s been waiting for the day his junior quits?

Sure, I’d talked about quitting almost as naturally as breathing, but actually hearing him say that was a little….

Wow. That kind of hurts.

Still, I forced my facial muscles under control.

Whatever.

Why expect anything from workplace relationships?

Fine. Tell me never to contact you again. I don’t care either.

Soon I’ll be free!

At last, even in this damned romance-fantasy world, I’ll finally quit—

“Layla Lowell.”

“Huh? Yes?”

I snapped back to attention.

Wait.

Had this man ever called me Layla even once before?

“You are truly the perfect junior.”

“Ah… yes. Thank you?”

“Every time I looked at you, I was so deeply moved that my heart would race. I genuinely thought I might suffer a heart attack. After all, it’s difficult to find another civil servant as responsible and flawless as you.”

“What? Uh… thank you?”

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

The male lead, Carlisle Lupesque, turned red and exclaimed,

“Please date me.”

“…What?”

On the day I declared I would finally quit my job in this romance-fantasy world—

my senior confessed his feelings to me.

“I want us to become the kind of people who can contact each other on weekends even when it has nothing to do with work.”

“But, Senior….”

I barely managed to move my trembling lips.

“We already live in the same house, don’t we?”

About One Year Earlier — A Beautiful Spring Day

“Ah… damn it.”

I stared up at the magnificent golden gates and muttered a curse.

Was the novel called Beyond the Golden Gate because of the color of the Imperial Palace gates?

They seriously used a commute to work as the title of a romance-fantasy novel?!

Considering I’d just recovered the memories of my previous life in another world, surely I was allowed to curse a little.

And I was an office worker back then too?

An office worker who absolutely loved office romances, no less.

Modern office stories gave me PTSD, so instead I’d become obsessed with the romance-fantasy workplace novel Beyond the Golden Gate.

It’s so lighthearted and easy to read!

Admittedly, the romance progressed so painfully slowly that I sometimes wondered whether the novel had any readers besides me.

Still, it had suited my tastes perfectly.

The company I’d worked for back then had been absolutely hellish.

Reading that novel had been one of the few ways I could relieve my stress.

The next meeting is Monday at 9 a.m. Assistant Manager Lee, you’re responsible for preparing everything!

Why is someone as young as you so uncreative? Ownership! That’s the problem—you don’t have a sense of ownership!

I’d spent my days in that hell living like a machine programmed to say, “I’m sorry.”

And then….

Damn. I can’t believe I died on the very day I received my severance pay.

When punishments for drunk driving are too lenient, people like me end up becoming the victims.

…And all those memories returned on the very first day I reported to work as a member of the 218th class of Arfelt Imperial Palace officials.

I remembered that I was Layla Lowell, someone who had beaten odds of 1,500 to 1 to get this position.

And more importantly—

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 absolutely no idea who my parents were.

And in the rigid class system of this romance-fantasy world, I was at the very bottom:

A commoner.

On top of that, when I checked myself in a hand mirror, my pink eyes—which should have sparkled brightly—somehow looked dull.

I had platinum-blonde hair and was fairly pretty, so what was wrong with me?

Is it because I suddenly recovered the memories of a mentally exhausted office worker?

Tap, tap.

Someone gently tapped my shoulder.

“Um… hello?”

“Hm? Ah!”

“Aren’t we fellow recruits?”

Good heavens.

How could someone’s voice sound like flower petals gently falling?

Cherry-blossom-colored hair and blue eyes.

In a romance-fantasy world where being beautiful was practically the default, there was only one person who could possess this kind of radiant beauty.

“Oh, right! Are you perhaps Yuriana Crosswell?”

“Ah! You know my name?”

“Of course. You ranked first.”

And, my cheerful female lead, you’re also wearing a name tag.

In the original story, Yuriana was the very definition of a cheerful and kindhearted heroine.

The fact that she’d approached someone standing around looking as dazed as I did proved it.

Yuriana smiled brightly.

“You looked about the same age as me, so I wanted to talk to you! We might even end up in the same trainee group!”

“….”

At those words, I quietly pulled out my Imperial Palace acceptance documents.

You will undergo a three-month training period.

During this period, you will experience several departments and have the opportunity to determine which department you wish to join.

Your final department assignment will be determined according to your performance during the training process.

My PTSD immediately returned.

I’d already worked my way up to assistant manager and quit in my previous life.

And now—

A training period?

I had to go through another internship before becoming a permanent employee?!

“Let’s work hard together from now on… Huh? W-wait, are you crying?”

“Sniff….”

“Oh! You must have worked so hard preparing for this! You poor thing, it must have been exhausting….”

No, heroine.

These are the miserable tears of someone who has just realized she’s been thrown back to the very bottom of the corporate food chain.

Even while crying, however, my thoughts remained painfully practical.

I’ve lived in an orphanage until now, but I can’t keep living there forever.

I hated companies.

But I certainly didn’t hate money.

Starting from the bottom of the pyramid again is horrifying, though!

Fine.

Let’s accept reality quickly.

But if I really had to start over from the bottom of the workplace hierarchy, there was one thing I was absolutely determined to accomplish.

I was going to get assigned to the easiest, cushiest department possible.

No matter what it took.