The Promotion
The mayor and the chief of staff had spent the entire procedure calculating how to weave their way through the official steps. Outwardly, it had to look like a completely normal promotion.
The whole thing wrapped up past nine in the evening.
I stepped out of the office like nothing had ever happened…
“Do you feel scared?” she asked in her deadpan voice. “Even though you’re the mayor.” (7 / 238 / 8 hours ago)
My secretary, Yoon Seo-young, called my name with a hollow expression.
She was nothing like the type of woman who would strike up a conversation in the office with her boss who looked old enough to be her father. She just gave the impression of someone who studied hard.
Since it was harmless, I decided to answer her.
“I have never ignored Mayor Min Sung-bae.”
“But your tone just now was too…”
“The mayor started it first. …I’m sure you know about the man who owned a ready-mix concrete company and the lawyer who both ‘slipped’ on the stairs recently. Both ended up half-paralyzed. If I had responded to the mayor’s request, I might have ended up the same way.”
Kim Ho-chang, who had been too tight with the lawyer who introduced the escort and the man suspected of being a hole-digger…
The mayor could have done something just as rotten if he really wanted to.
Annam City was a little rougher than most cities in Gyeonggi Province.
Everyone knew it was famous for the large number of Chinese-Korean residents, but if you actually lived here, those people were only part of the problem. There were even neighborhoods where the police had simply given up. A man who ran for mayor in a place like that couldn’t possibly be purely innocent.
“But if you touch me, the mayor will be finished too.”
“….” (7 / 238 / 8 hours ago)
“You can get as much fame as former councilor Han Chae-kyung in one week. For example… oh. I noticed you have a lot of silicone-based lube in your desk drawer. It’s very viscous, so it must be hard to handle.”
“How can you say that kind of thing so casually right in front of someone? It’s insane, really.”
“I’d be willing to bet there’s extra panties and feminine cleansing tissues in Secretary Yoon’s bag.”
If the frequency was high, she would have brought baby powder too, but considering Mayor Min’s age, he probably wouldn’t have done it that often. Likely he would have finished with a gentle handjob or fellatio the moment they were alone.
If the mayor was a romantic type, he might even have had me suck him under the desk.
If used properly, the two of them could become the perfect raw material for a living, breathing erotica story.
“As long as it’s just acceptable, please.”
“I’ll think about it.” (7 / 238 / 8 hours ago)
Secretary Yoon looked at me like I was a lost cause.
She didn’t seem to be carrying a proper blackmail kit…
She was probably imagining what would happen if I hadn’t compromised, how the two of them and her old boyfriend would have been disgraced. How terrifying it would be to become the protagonist of a nationwide sexual harassment scandal.
The advantage I had gained, however, had nothing to do with the two of them being depraved.
“Mayor Min Sung-bae really cares about Secretary Yoon.”
“That’s… hah.”
“Even though it started as whatever it was, it now seems like a relationship where she emotionally relies on him. So instead of taking my anger out on Secretary Yoon, I think he would have chosen to protect her. After all, it wasn’t just his own honor on the line.”
If Mayor Min had thrown both his own and Yoon’s social lives under the bus just to vent his rage at me…
I might have chosen a different path too. Maybe I would have been approaching Yoon right now, trying to convince her to have the mayor surgically altered with me.
“The important thing isn’t the whore power itself, but human relationships.”
“Are you talking about whore power now?” (7 / 238 / 8 hours ago)
“Yes.”
What I had gained was an official promotion.
And that couple would be able to fuck happily in a sex room for years to come. Since they had been caught this time, they would probably enjoy it safely in the attached room instead of the office.
“I was suddenly summoned and was honestly shocked, but thanks to Secretary Yoon, everything ended smoothly.”
After exchanging polite pleasantries, I left the office.
Three days later, I ran into the illicit couple again.
“Public Affairs Bureau Section 3 Manager Joo Sung-hyun. In the midst of the unfortunate incident that recently surfaced in the city council, he quietly performed his duties and contributed to maintaining the discipline of the city council. Because Annam City pursues an organizational culture that makes use of clean talent…”
I received a commendation from the mayor.
It was formally a commendation submitted by the Public Affairs Bureau and approved by the General Affairs Division.
In reality, it was the result of Mayor Min’s effort to keep his promise to me. I needed at least a commendation like this to be promoted.
The illicit couple’s relationship still seemed good.
“For this reason, this commendation is awarded.” (12 / 919 / 21 hours ago)
“….” (7 / 243 / 21 hours ago)
Perhaps their bond had actually grown even stronger.
Several days had passed and it was already +5. Considering Mayor Min’s age, it was an incredible effort. Fucking, fucking, and fucking again…
Did they fuck to ease the humiliation I had caused them? Or had they confirmed their love for each other and deepened their relationship?
“I congratulate you.” (12 / 919 / 21 hours ago)
“Thank you. Mayor.”
I didn’t know what would happen, but as long as I didn’t touch them, their relationship was supposed to be preserved.
***
The day of the promotion. The day I left the Public Affairs Bureau.
====
Annam City Personnel Transfer Announcement
Public Affairs Team Section 3 Manager Joo Sung-hyun
From the General Affairs Division, Records Management Division.
(Transferred to Local Administrative Officer)
Mayor Min Sung-bae of Annam City
====
The reason for the promotion was clean record and no accidents.
It was an absurd reason, but it wasn’t completely unbelievable.
The city council wasn’t the only place Han Chae-kyung’s scandal had blackened the image. In fact, the entire city of Annam was being dragged through the mud. The rumor that local bigwigs had been sharing sponsor girls and had passed one on to the city council had already been taken as gospel.
In this murky atmosphere, I was the civil servant who had kept his spine straight.
At least officially, that was how it was supposed to be presented. The basis was a recording file I had obtained from Han Chae-kyung (the one where she had refused to investigate her husband’s background).
The promotion brought congratulations from my colleagues.
“Whoa. Joo Sung-hyun? I didn’t know former councilor Han Chae-kyung would ask you to investigate her husband’s background. That woman is really something.” (1 / 681 / 4 days ago)
“I’m sorry I couldn’t inform you in advance, Team Leader.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for.”
The section leader who had been with the same wife since university days simply gave a normal reaction.
“Are you leaving now? It’s a shame. Still, congratulations.” (12 / 15 / 1 day ago)
The opaholic who had recently bought another woman gave a bitter smile. It probably had something to do with the fact that the person who would have talked about escorts had disappeared.
“But Manager Joo Sung-hyun… is this really a transfer? Something feels off.”
“Record management is a desk job, after all.”
“If it’s a desk job, that would be the vehicle management team or the environmental management team, right? Record management is basically just throwing you into the warehouse?”
“You must have been thinking about fairness.”
“Really…?” (33 / 248 / 8 hours ago)
The virgin sitting next to me showed her skepticism.
Promotion from regular civil servant to administrative officer.
If the new department had been a good one, everyone would have looked at me with disgust. They would have thought the promotion was excessive as compensation for simply refusing one improper errand from the city council sponsor.
But instead of looking down on me, the jealousy disappeared the moment I was transferred to the warehouse.
Records Management Division, General Affairs Division, Manager.
My predecessor had been a man who had gotten into trouble for drunk driving and been disciplined. That alone was explanation enough.
“Either way… does that mean I can celebrate?” (33 / 248 / 8 hours ago)
“Yes. It’s a promotion, so yes.”
I had wanted the promotion, and I had wanted the department.
The life of going around as the city councilors’ road manager, scouting out restaurants, waiting outside while they ate, and even listening to complaints that the ingredients were lacking, had come to an end.
While receiving my colleagues’ vague congratulations, I packed my things.
And I headed to the new office.
Basement 1F of the annex. The records management team office.
“Warehouse.”
It really was just a warehouse. About twenty pyeong.
The desk assigned to me had only a computer for network connection, a landline phone… and a barcode scanner.
There was a records assistant who helped with data entry, but he only worked mornings. In reality, I was working in an office by myself.
It wasn’t just called a warehouse; it was also called a dead-end place.
But my mood wasn’t bad at all.
When I added my base salary and allowances, my monthly pay rose by about 250,000 won and my workload dropped dramatically.
The records assistant’s starting date was 1 / 1 / 3 years 2 months ago. There were twenty messages congratulating or worrying about my transfer.
Everything was too normal.
I didn’t need any adaptation period.
It was simply because the only task given to me was to quietly pass the time.
I faithfully performed my only duty.
My main task was cleaning.
Day 1. Wiped the dust off the stacked paperwork with a rag.
Day 2. Borrowed a ladder from the supplies room, wiped away the spiderwebs, and replaced two fluorescent lights.
Day 3. Rewrote the messy index labels with a black pen, collected the neglected paper boxes, and sent them out for recycling myself. One colleague who worked in the main office looked at me sadly while hugging a box.
And on Day 4, the phone rang.
“I heard roughly. I’ll tell Mayor Min you can rest easy. And… thank you.”
It was Secretary Yoon Seo-young, a woman who was sincere about her support even though she was a mistress.
She must have considered my action of being locked in the warehouse and only cleaning as a deliberate gesture. Or perhaps as a declaration that, since she had promoted me, she would shut up and live obediently.
In reality, it was something else.
It was probably just checking whether they were monitoring me or not.
In any case, the objective had been achieved.
I had also confirmed that the illicit couple had been observing me from a distance and that they had decided to keep their distance and watch after calming down.
They were quite a communicative couple… there probably wouldn’t be any tampering.
I still had to finish the cleaning. I cleaned the cabinets, pressed down the warped floorboards (there really were wooden floors) and fixed them to normal.
I threw away all the rags I had used for cleaning. Rags must always be thrown away.
After that, I sat at my desk, scrolled through shorts, and relaxed.
[We Are Getting Married!]
A mobile wedding invitation arrived.
The wedding was four weeks later, and the venue was the Grand Ballroom on the 36th floor of the Palace Gangnam.
It was a very expensive wedding. At least 15 million won minimum.
Wedding invitations had been arriving every month or two.
About forty percent were weddings where I would almost certainly have to make time to attend, and the rest were weddings where I would either send cash gifts or just ignore them.
But this time the invitation I received was a little unusual.
“Another one directed at me?”
The person who had sent me the mobile wedding invitation was, of all people, my ex-girlfriend.
University days. The relationship lasted two years.
It had nothing to do with the way we had parted on good terms just because I had been invited to her wedding.
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