Lame Duck
Eight o'clock in the morning.
Someone knocked on the door of the quiet mayoral office. It was Kim Min-cheol.
"Congratulations on your election."
He handed Yun-hyeok a bouquet of flowers, along with a thick stack of documents.
"This is the execution report for the 15.3 billion won supplementary budget."
Back when Yun-hyeok was still unemployed, he had declared that the very first thing he would do upon becoming mayor was audit whether the supplementary budget had been properly executed.
It seemed Min-cheol had brought it for that exact reason. And then...
"And this is my resignation letter."
At the time, Kim Min-cheol had also mentioned that he would step down after undergoing that audit.
"Please review the documents and accept my resignation as well."
"I'll review the report slowly. But don't resign."
"Pardon?"
"I need many competent colleagues. Let's work together."
"But I am in a position that must take responsibility for the failures of the Baek Hyeong-guk administration."
"In that case..."
Yun-hyeok pushed the stack of documents aside.
"I'll review them slowly, so let's talk after that. Until then, please focus on your work."
"...?"
Kim Min-cheol felt as though he had been outmaneuvered, but he couldn't find a way to object.
"I have called a political affairs meeting for nine o'clock today."
Normally, political affairs meetings were held on Monday mornings, and today was Thursday.
However, since it was his first day in office, Yun-hyeok had called an extraordinary meeting. He had already contacted the political staff using the city hall messenger.
"I am aware."
Kim Min-cheol had already checked the message before coming in.
"Let's go wait together."
Yun-hyeok stood up with Kim Min-cheol and headed toward the conference room.
Eight-thirty.
There was still plenty of time. They waited, slowly sipping their coffee.
Eight-forty.
An anxious look gradually began to creep onto Kim Min-cheol's face.
Eight-fifty.
Still, no one had arrived. Even so, they decided to wait patiently.
Nine o'clock.
It was the same. The room remained empty.
"I did have a sliver of hope, though."
Yun-hyeok crossed his arms and closed his eyes.
"To think not a single person would show up."
He had many enemies.
Not just the two major political parties, but also the Gyeonggi Provincial Office, the Office of Education, the city council, the provincial council, and the National Assembly. Even the central government ministries.
And now, it was confirmed that the political staff were also his enemies.
"This... this is highly unusual. I will go find out what is happening."
A flustered Kim Min-cheol stood up from his seat.
It was nine-ten.
"Director Kim."
But for Yun-hyeok, this situation was entirely expected.
"The Deputy Mayor is still in the building, correct?"
Within the city hall, there existed the position of Deputy Mayor.
While this person was officially the second-in-command within the city hall, they were a national civil servant, not a local one.
Why?
Because the Deputy Mayor was an official dispatched directly by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.
There were three main reasons for the existence of this system.
First was to supplement expertise. For instance, when a green, young novice from a civil activist background like Yun-hyeok took office, there were concerns that his administrative expertise would be lacking. To compensate for this, the central government dispatched an elite bureaucrat.
Second was for cooperation between the central and local governments. The Deputy Mayor acted as a broker to convey central government policies to the local level and feed local opinions back to the center. They served as the practical authority in negotiations for national projects or special subsidy taxes.
Third was to monitor and control the local government. They acted as an internal watchdog to prevent the local government from colluding too closely with local power brokers, keeping the mayor's unilateral administration in check and monitoring for corruption.
So, what did this mean in short?
Unlike Yun-hyeok, the Deputy Mayor was an older, highly experienced elite bureaucrat. Unlike the independent Yun-hyeok, he belonged to the central government. And for that third reason, he could actively work to keep Yun-hyeok in check.
"Right now, the political staff must be rallying around the Deputy Mayor," Yun-hyeok said.
"That's... that's absurd. Are they really bypassing the newly inaugurated mayor like this?"
Kim Min-cheol was so shocked that his hands trembled slightly.
"They're ignoring me because I'm young and have no political background."
The political staff within the city hall were generally the heads of each department and bureau. They wielded the immense power of Grade 4 senior civil servants, reigning as the real power players within the building.
Unlike a mayor with a four-year term, they had likely been here for over a decade.
From their perspective, this must have been highly offensive.
A thirty-one-year-old greenhorn, an independent with zero political background, had blown up their previous boss and sat on their heads overnight? On top of that, because it was a by-election, he had less than two years left in his term.
In short, they thought they could push him around.
How much could a kid like him know about politics anyway? Let's just ignore him, rally around the Deputy Mayor who has real power, and do our work. If we hold out for two years, he'll be gone, and a new mayor will take office.
"...They must be thinking exactly that."
Bzzzz!
Just then, Kim Min-cheol's phone vibrated.
It was a message on the political staff's group chat.
"Those crazy bastards."
Kim Min-cheol, shaking with rage, showed the message to Yun-hyeok.
"This is practically an administrative coup. How dare they abuse their authority like this..."
"I'd like to hear what they're talking about. Could you go and let me know afterward?"
"I will tear them to pieces."
Yun-hyeok felt glad that Kim Min-cheol was on his side.
At least the Planning and Coordination Director among the existing political appointees is staying.
Now, a massive personnel purge was about to sweep through Mir City Hall.
Yun-hyeok did not have the time to persuade or coddle disloyal political staff. While his political principle was to avoid making enemies if possible, when it was time to draw the sword, he did so ruthlessly.
I'll need an event.
"Are you all out of your minds? Have you lost your sanity?"
The moment Kim Min-cheol stormed into the conference room, he unleashed his fury.
"Have you forgotten how the Baek Hyeong-guk administration fell? Public trust in our city hall is at rock bottom! Mayor Lee Yun-hyeok taking office right now is a massive opportunity for us! He is the very person who exposed the former mayor's embezzlement and won with a whopping 65% of the vote! We should be focusing our strength around the Mayor to restore trust! But how dare you commit such an abuse of authority!"
He bellowed at the top of his lungs.
"How dare you bypass the Mayor like this!"
It did not matter that the higher-ranking Deputy Mayor was present. The Planning and Coordination Director was the third-in-command and acted as a natural counterweight to the Deputy Mayor.
"He is the representative of our main office, legitimately elected by the citizens! Show some respect and cooperate!"
"Director Kim, do you really think that guy can handle political affairs properly?"
Jang Seong-woo, the Administrative Support Director, sneered.
"I admit he did well with the transit reform and the ordinances. But political affairs are a completely different story."
"Director Kim, just look at him objectively," said Seo Yeon-hwa, the Public Relations Director.
"A 65% approval rating is impressive, but he's just a thirty-one-year-old kid. He's younger than our lowest-ranking local government employees!"
"Director Kim, if we try to restructure the system around the Mayor, we'll only waste time," Lee Do-hun, the Future Strategy Director, pointed out.
"At his core, he is a 'civil activist.' If we rally under him, we'll end up doing nothing, and two years will fly by. It is far better to focus on administration under the Deputy Mayor's leadership."
Kim Min-cheol knew exactly what they were thinking.
They wanted an easy life. If they could walk all over a young, inexperienced mayor with no background, they would practically become the final decision-makers.
They could approve projects and execute administration as they pleased without being monitored, reported to, or having to walk on eggshells around the mayor. Perhaps they would even pocket a few kickbacks along the way.
"If..." Kim Min-cheol said, suppressing his frustration, "his lack of experience or young age is a flaw, isn't it our job to assist him? There is a limit to how shameless you can be while neglecting your duties!"
"Director Kim."
Deputy Mayor An Yong-dae chuckled, calling out to Kim Min-cheol.
"You're a good man, but your flaw is that you're too rigid. Because of that, even though you knew Baek Hyeong-guk was embezzling, you couldn't bring yourself to expose him first. You just kept advising him to return the budget, which is how we ended up in this mess, isn't it?"
"......"
"To staff, loyalty is morality. But you shouldn't get too bogged down in that. You have to look at the system. Our city is in such a difficult state; we don't have the time or budget to waste babysitting a greenhorn civil activist."
"Is that something the Deputy Mayor should be saying? Weren't you the one responsible for monitoring Baek Hyeong-guk in the first place?"
Just as the two were in a tense standoff...
"Aaaah!"
Suddenly, Seo Yeon-hwa, the Public Relations Director, screamed.
"What is this crazy bastard doing now?!"
She had been looking at politician Lee Yun-hyeok's YouTube channel on her phone, and she had just witnessed a shocking post.
The entire political staff turned pale.
Even Director Kim Min-cheol.
"This..."
The Deputy Mayor covered his mouth.
"What a crazy bastard."
An unimaginably wild move like this completely bypassed any attempt to freeze him out.
"Call him right now! We have to stop this!"
Jang Seong-woo, the Administrative Support Director, yelled.
"He causes this kind of trouble the moment he arrives!"
Seo Yeon-hwa, the Public Relations Director, rushed toward the door.
"I'll go drag him..."
But Lee Yun-hyeok was already standing right outside the door, leaning against the wall.
"Hello."
Yun-hyeok greeted them.
Flustered, Seo Yeon-hwa stammered and stepped back.
"Even if I didn't want to find the place where you were holding a meeting without me, I couldn't help but find it. Our Planning and Coordination Director's shouting was echoing all the way down the hallway."
Yun-hyeok walked into the room.
He approached the head of the table where the Deputy Mayor was sitting, but the Deputy Mayor did not stand up.
The atmosphere in the conference room was icy.
Now came the complaints.
"What on earth do you mean by relocating the office?"
Jang Seong-woo, the Administrative Support Director, was the first to demand an explanation.
"How can you make such a decision on your own?"
"I'm not spending hundreds of millions of won of the budget. Can I not even decide on the relocation of my own office as I please?"
"Sigh."
Seo Yeon-hwa, the Public Relations Director, let out a deep sigh.
"Mayor, since you come from a civil activist background, you clearly don't know how things work."
She continued.
"Citizens aren't just nice people like you think. You think every ordinary citizen is weak, kind, righteous, and a victim? They aren't."
"You should assume that thirty percent of the complainants are completely unhinged," Lee Do-hun, the Future Strategy Director, added.
"There's a reason why the Mayor's Office has that level of security."
"What reason?"
"To put it bluntly, what will you do if some protest group comes and occupies the Mayor's Office?"
"If there are people in our city with that much grievance, isn't that all the more reason for me to meet them in person?"
"Hahaha."
Deputy Mayor An Yong-dae burst into laughter.
"Your head is truly filled with flowerbeds. There's a limit to having a poor political sense."
Actually, Yun-hyeok knew this.
Citizens were not always righteous.
The Mayor's Office could be attacked.
That was exactly what Yun-hyeok wanted. That was why he was doing this.
Screeech!
Yun-hyeok grabbed the back of the Deputy Mayor's chair and pulled it away, dragging him out of his spot.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
"This is my seat."
Yun-hyeok pulled up a new chair and sat down.
He could read the dumbfounded expressions of the political staff.
What a psycho! they must be thinking.
"I cannot stand high-ranking public officials who wash their hands of practical work, put on airs, and just enjoy their power from behind the scenes," Yun-hyeok said.
"If you keep acting like this, you will find it very difficult to work with me."
Lame duck.
Kim Min-cheol, the Planning and Coordination Director, broke into a cold sweat at the bleakness of the situation.
The Lee Yun-hyeok administration had fallen into a lame-duck state the moment it started. Leadership did not come from the election certificate handed over by the National Election Commission. It came from subordinates trusting and following you.
The political staff had rebelled, and Lee Yun-hyeok had made a mistake. He should not have moved to the 2nd floor. He had given the political staff an excuse not to follow him.
This is a disaster. What should we do!
...But soon, Kim Min-cheol witnessed a shocking scene.
At the 1st-floor Civil Service Office.
As in any public office, troublesome, abusive complainants occasionally appeared.
For example, like this:
"Get the mayor out here! You f-fucking bastards! I can't talk to you, so get the mayor out here!"
An old man who had been harassing a poor local government employee at the counter for thirty minutes suddenly found his anger miraculously managed when the real deal appeared.
"The Mayor is here."
"Uh... Uh..."
And the civil servants at the counter were thrown into an uproar.
"Mayor!"
Being treated as a Grade 2 official was equivalent to a division commander in the military. If a division commander suddenly appeared in a company or battalion, chaos was inevitable.
"Shh. Go back to your work."
Yun-hyeok sat the terrified employees back down and escorted the old man to the 2nd floor.
"What brings you here today? I will listen to you directly."
"Well... it's nothing major, really..."
Yun-hyeok gently coaxed the old man and sent him on his way.
Next troublemaker:
"Hey, you bastards! Why is the area in front of my house the only place you don't clean? I'm going to report this to the media! Huh? Should I upload it to YouTube?"
"Shall I upload it for you?"
Lee Yun-hyeok appeared again, pulling out his phone.
"I have about three hundred thousand subscribers, so it should have quite an impact. I'll start a live stream, so please go ahead and speak."
"No, well... wait a minute! Don't record..."
Next, a lunchtime troublemaker:
"You haven't gone to lunch yet! You bastard! You should serve me!"
"It's the lunch shift rotation! Please use the next window, sir, please!"
An older man who arrived at 12:01 PM and spent ten minutes harassing a staff member trying to go to lunch was approached by Yun-hyeok.
"Tell me about it. Let's have lunch together. Let's go."
"Huh? Uh..."
Most abusive complainants were strong against the weak and weak against the strong. Just the appearance of a high-ranking official like the mayor was enough to cool their anger.
Of course, occasionally there were those who could not control themselves.
"Are you the mayor? Hey, you bastard! Look at this map. This land was bought by my great-great-grandfather! Why are you saying it isn't? I clearly heard it from my mother!"
"I understand. In that case, I will take civil action through our legal team, so let's go to court and contest the ownership together. Please prepare the supporting documents you have."
Then they immediately tucked their tails.
"Well... there's no need to go that far..."
As this happened a few times, a strange atmosphere began to form among the working-level staff.
"Wow, today felt like a refreshing glass of cider."
"My constipation is cured."
"Moving the office wasn't about being citizen-friendly; it was about being staff-friendly!"
Kim Min-cheol agreed with the last statement.
Lee Yun-hyeok had simply abandoned the disloyal political staff. Instead, he was winning over the working-level employees.
"Division heads."
And that afternoon.
Lee Yun-hyeok called the division heads, who were the working-level leaders of each department, and was handing out coupons.
This pass entitles the bearer to transfer one (1) extremely difficult complainant directly to the 2nd-floor Mayor's Office.
*Limit: One pass per employee per month.
"If this is abused too much, it will interfere with my work. So I will give one pass per employee per month. If there are complainants who harass you too severely, just send them up to the 2nd floor. I'll handle them."
Leadership did not come from an election certificate.
It did not come from political party backing, experience, or age.
Its only source was the will of the people.
Now, the ones falling into a lame-duck state were not the mayor, but the political staff.