Unexpected Developments (1)
The meeting dragged on late into the night. While a rough draft had emerged, refining the details required far more meticulous attention. Once a system is established, modifying it later is a far more laborious task, making it crucial to polish it thoroughly from the start.
“So, for the final version, we’ll set the interest rate cap at no more than eighty percent of the principal per year... that should do it, right?”
Jamie and Kalisa were in charge of coordinating the specifics. It was Aiden’s decision, judging that since this was a matter of welfare but also involved money, it was only right for the two of them to work together. Thanks to this, even the officials from the Commercial Development Department, who had been preparing for an early departure after treating the matter as someone else’s business, were all summoned to the Lord’s Castle, leaving the grand conference room bustling for the first time in a while.
“Are we having sandwiches for dinner again?”
“Probably, wouldn’t you think?”
“The head chef is going to be heartbroken again.”
Before the Administrative Welfare Center was completed, all the officials used to eat at the Lord’s Castle cafeteria. Even though the work was physically demanding, the kitchen staff sometimes missed those days. When they were preparing massive amounts of food every day, the kitchen was literally a battlefield, but how rewarding it had been to see the empty, scraped-clean plates coming through the dish return. After all, people are happiest when they can prove their own usefulness.
However, after the Administrative Welfare Center was finished, the kitchen of the Lord’s Castle—which hadn’t hosted a proper party since—was practically in a state of semi-closure.
“Head Chef! How much red pepper and garlic do we have left in stock? What about the beef? Is there enough dried radish greens?”
Just then, a servant came running down, panting.
“Adjutant Jamie said he’ll be having the ‘Red Stew Infused with the Lord’s Passion’ for dinner!”
“What?”
Brikal jumped up from his chair and stared in one direction. The gazes of the kitchen staff also slowly converged on a single pot.
Gulp.
Someone’s swallowing sound could be heard.
“...The reproduction.”
Inside the pot in question was that very stew with the bizarre name. It was technically evidence brought over from Melania’s restaurant; they had recorded the ingredients, taste, and aroma, and left the cleanup to the kitchen. Brikal had been the first to pick up a spoon after a low-level official said it was fine to eat or discard.
‘It was an incredible taste.’
Even now, just thinking about it made his body shudder. Brikal’s massive muscles trembled. The taste had been that shocking. A level of pain so terrible that one could believe it was made with the intent to harm someone immediately! It was the result of bold ingredient usage that seemed to mock the ‘spicy stews’ he had made until now as if they were child’s play!
The problem was:
‘They said the Lord lost his reason and ate this ridiculous thing.’
In fact, for the past few days, Brikal had been filled with confidence, wondering if his culinary talent was greater than he had thought. It might be natural for a chef, as he had instantly captured the interest of a Lord who had no interest in eating with a spice he had only heard of and never handled himself. But to lose to a dish created intentionally to anger the person eating it?
‘In the end, was it not the stew I made that the Lord liked, but the spiciness itself?’
Nevertheless, Brikal was a man among men. It was not the job of a Northern man to be depressed or lose his motivation just because he lost to a dish made haphazardly. You have to acknowledge what needs to be acknowledged to have a next time.
“How much stock is left?”
That was why Brikal realized why the Lord was so delighted by this ridiculous food, and what he had to do now.
“Make the broth! Grind the red peppers and garlic!”
He would borrow the bold spiciness. But he intended to show the many officials in the conference hall that his nickname as the best chef in the North was not earned through fistfights.
‘The one who will ultimately capture the Lord’s palate is this Brikal!’
Flames flickered in the chef’s eyes. The assistants guarding the area were so intimidated that they quietly slipped away.
***
Late in the evening. A bowl of red stew was placed in front of the officials, who were exhausted from the marathon meeting. It contained a lump of freshly pulled flour noodles. There wasn’t a single person in this conference room who didn’t know what this red stew was made of. It was the very food that had caused the sudden overtime work.
“Heh. Most guys wouldn’t be able to swallow even a single spoonful of this.”
Jamie, who had tasted the spicy flavor that resonated with the Korean soul alongside Aiden, acted cocky.
“If you think you can’t eat it, speak up now and go down to the kitchen to eat some cream stew.”
His behavior, like an adult tossing a toy bow to children and giggling when they try to shoot arrows, caused veins to pop on the foreheads of several officials. No matter how much of a superior he was, the moment a Northern man’s pride button is pressed, the ranks are stripped away and it’s a brawl.
However,
“Cough, cough!”
“Ughhh-!”
“Water, please give me some water!”
Most of those who boldly scooped up the soup couldn’t even finish half of it, just as Jamie had boasted, and raised the white flag. Come to think of it, Jamie had been in a similar situation, but he had managed to ‘finish the bowl’ while sweating profusely, having grown accustomed to the ‘mild’ Yukgaejang the chef had been serving him previously. Even though his lips were swollen and puffed up.
“Kwahaha! This is the taste!”
“Ughhh! It’s refreshing-!”
In the midst of that, a few venomous officials also succeeded in finishing their bowls. Aiden, seeing their eyes filled with tears and their ears turned bright red, silently mourned for them, thinking they would have a rough time in the bathroom tomorrow morning.
‘Stars...’
Seeing the behavior of his subordinates, who had seemed so reliable during the meeting, made him feel troubled again. Outside the window, snow was falling heavily. It was winter.
***
The loan shark who had instigated the mischief with the Lord’s food using usury as bait was sentenced to forced labor in the mines.
“He needs to be hung up for two weeks, but it’s winter. We’re planning to bring him back and hang him once spring comes.”
“Ah. You don’t do it in the winter?”
“Yes. If you do it wrong in the winter, they freeze to death.”
“......”
He didn’t bother asking why it was ‘they freeze to death’ instead of ‘they might die.’ He felt that hearing the reason would only increase his distress.
“We’re planning to implement the interest rate cap system starting today as well.”
“You should apply it retroactively, right?”
“Of course. We’ve finished all preparations to take measures so that those who have used usury until now will also have their contracts changed so that the annual interest does not exceed eighty percent of the principal.”
“Don’t forget to deduct it from the principal if the interest paid so far exceeds the interest rate cap.”
“Yes, Administrative Officer.”
Kalisa finished her report and smiled with relief.
“But won’t there be any backlash?”
“Is there anyone who would dare to oppose you, Administrative Officer?”
In the North, Aiden was the Lord in name and reality. Not only the officials but also the territorial army were loyal to him. There were no factions divided to fight for power. There was no room for outside intervention. The North had originally been an alienated land, and now that exchanges had increased, everyone had seen with their own eyes the Northern territorial army that had swallowed Lontes in one go. There was no fool who didn’t know that it was their own loss if they took bribes from money lenders and spoke carelessly in the current situation.
“If any problems arise, report them immediately. I intend to put a leash on those who play with money this time.”
With this, the land had become one where one could pride oneself on having at least a minimal safety net, even if misfortune were to strike in life.
‘It’s still very lacking, though...’
In Aiden’s eyes, it was still a rudimentary level of social safety net, but it was something that could be changed one by one.
“The next agenda is...”
Roland began to report the next items immediately. One task had ended, but work piled up the moment he turned around.
‘Right. Work is something that never ends.’
When one task ends? Another one appears. And when that one ends, a new one appears again. The world of civil servants was spinning like a treadmill today, just like that. Familiarly, as usual.
Bang-.
“...I don’t want to be familiar with this, really.”
Jamie had smashed the door again.
“Felix.”
“Yes, Administrative Officer!”
“You still can’t make something like an automatic door, right?”
“...Pardon?”
“Never mind, just a thought.”
Jamie, holding only the doorknob awkwardly and scratching his head while spouting nonsense like, ‘No, that’s not it, but doesn’t the office door seem particularly flimsy? Why does it keep getting smashed?’, was a sight to behold.
“What is it this time?”
“Something strange happened at the Administrative Welfare Center.”
“Something strange?”
Even without that, today was the day the new standards for loan sharks were set, as reported by Kalisa earlier. Unless they wanted to be branded as illegal and enjoy a winter vacation in the dungeon, all the money lenders had to go to the Administrative Welfare Center and register their lending business first.
“...Did they all refuse, by any chance?”
Aiden’s expression turned cold. While he doubted they would, he had expected some resistance since they were people close to the shadows.
“Immediately, Sir Viyan-.”
“That’s not it!”
Aiden, who was about to order them to be brought in and hung on the castle wall regardless of whether they froze to death or not, paused.
“It’s not? Then what?”
“That is...”
Jamie’s expression looked quite troubled. It was a face that couldn’t find its footing, as if he himself was confused about whether this was right.
“What is it, why are you stalling?”
“Actually, as soon as the doors to the Administrative Welfare Center opened this morning... That is...”
“?”
“People flocked in in droves to register for the lending business!”
“...Were there that many loan sharks in the North?”
“No, how could that be? Even including those who earn pocket money by lending money to neighbors in the village, there couldn’t be that many loan sharks. If that were the case, would our Northern economy have already collapsed?”
“True.”
Come to think of it, that was true. Until a few years ago, there wasn’t even a proper market in the neighborhood, so how many money lenders could there have been?
“But people flocked in to say they would do the lending business?”
“The interest rate of eighty percent must have been quite attractive. The fact that the government steps in if the debt isn’t recovered is also a factor.”
“......?”
“For now, should I try to stop them a bit?”
Jamie looked at Aiden. Aiden only let out a dry laugh in disbelief for a long time before coming to his senses and giving instructions.
“For now, tell anyone who wants to do the lending business to prove their asset scale. If you don’t want to see every Northerner playing with money, we need to set proper standards. Kalisa, set the standards with Jamie.”
“Yes.”
“How long will it take?”
“Five days, no, give me three days.”
“Too long. By tomorrow.”
“...Yes.”
Kalisa tied her hair back tightly. It was the combat stance of a public servant who knew that sleeping in a bed today was out of the question.
“Roland, you find out why things turned out like this.”
“Yes...”
Roland, who was about to go out for fieldwork while heavy snow was pouring down outside, sighed deeply and put on the leather boots that reached his knees, which he had kept neatly by his desk.
‘What on earth is happening?’
Aiden’s head was also complicated. Wasn’t the North running well?