C246: Director of the Planning Department (2)
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"Leo, what's wrong?"
Aidan, who noticed that Leo had a worse expression than usual, asked carefully.
Leo stared at Aidan.
"Oh, is there something on my face?"
When he saw that fool smiling and touching his face here and there, Leo smiled without realizing it.
"He usually has no sense, but he's always fast at times like this."
"Huh? What?"
"Never mind. Anyway, it's not a big deal."
Leo had no choice but to keep it to himself for now.
'There's no way I can tell you that I'm connected to the Liberation Army in the first place.'
It was also impossible for him to ask for help. Therefore, he had no choice but to make a judgment alone.
'What should I do?'
Leo honestly doesn't like the Liberation Army.
They force the same commoners to join the Liberation Army, and if they don't, they accuse them of being pawns of the aristocrats.
Their organization is dotted solely with hatred and anger, not fighting for the cause.
In fact, the Liberation Army was defined as terrorists who caused bombings all over the world but they claim that the aristocracy is falsely accusing them to drive them away.
Leo knows that's not exactly a lie.
'But I can't disagree with them.'
Leo belongs to the Liberation Army because his family is held hostage. If it weren't for that, he wouldn't have joined the Liberation Army.
'Should I step up and help when the other students will be in danger?'
Leo thought so, but soon shook his head.
'Actually, I don't care what happens to them.'
Leo hates the Liberation Army, but he hates the pretentious nobles no less.
'I don't care how many of those guys die fighting the Liberation Army.'
Leo looked at Aidan, Tracy and even Iona.
'I can't do that.'
Leo couldn't stand it, thinking that his friends would be involved in what the Liberation Army was doing.
'These guys are innocent.'
Leo eventually had no choice but to make a choice.
'I'll have to argue with him.'
While Leo made a resolution inside.
"……."
Iona stared at Leo with an expressionless face.
* * *
While the students were excited about field trips some of the teachers were in a state of emergency.
"Damn it!"
Hugo Burtag punched his desk while his assistant trembled with anxiety.
'I can't believe he became the planning director!'
It was annoying that he couldn't stop it, but the smile the president gave him at the end still lingered in his mind. It was the mockery of the winner to the loser.
The long-held factional balance inside Theon has completely collapsed due to this incident.
'That damn bastard will definitely take action to keep the nobles in check.'
Rudger has completely joined the president's faction.
He was promoted by the president in today's meeting, and the president also worked hard on his thesis presentation in the Arcane Chamber.
Hugo, who had been struggling for a long time, swept his hair with his thick hands.
'But it's still okay. Even if he sits in a good position, he won't be able to fulfill the role of the planning director, whose position has been vacant for a long time.'
As it is a high position, the work intensity is high and the amount is large. Even as the seat was vacant, there was a high possibility that it would not be properly handed over.
'If I think about it, it will take at least a few months to move in earnest. Until then, we just need to be fully prepared for a counterattack.'
In other words, he had plenty of opportunities to get ready and take his foot out before Rudger would start biting this side.
'How well can he do his job as the director of the planning department? We can hold a committee later and force him to resign for lack of qualifications. Until then…….'
"Phew, Mr. Hugo!"
First of all, Hugo, who was trying to tell his teachers to stay safe, frowned at the person who suddenly opened the door and entered.
"Somehow all of a sudden."
"Tell me quickly. I'm actually not in a good mood right now."
"Rudger Chelici is moving now."
"What?"
Hugo thought he heard something wrong for a moment.
"He moved?"
"Yes. He is going around the lab right now to see if the budget is being spent properly……."
"Why are you telling me just now?"
When Hugo shouted, the teacher who ran to inform the situation felt unfair for no reason.
'I came as soon as I knew.'
But he didn't have the courage to argue.
"What should I do now? I think they've sharpened a lot of knives over there."
"What do you mean? Do you think we're going to stay still like this?!"
'No. What can I do if I don't stay still?'
The opponent is the one who holds the handle of the sword. There was nothing good about being emotional when it was not enough to shrink his neck and bend down.
Of course Hugo didn't know that either. However, his boiling anger could not be suppressed.
'If I bow down and step back here, he'll get even more assertive and try to bite me!'
There is nothing more dangerous to a person at the top of an organization than being belittled by someone because the moment the people below question their qualifications the strong fortress they built so far will collapse like a sand castle.
'Absolutely not like that!'
Above all, Hugo did not feel hopeless since their side also plays a role in Theon.
He thought he wouldn't be so easily bitten and that it would be enough to show that he was not an easy opponent.
"Let's go!"
"Yes, yes? Oh, yes!"
Hugo stormed out of his office.
* * *
Rudger went through the papers in his private office.
Now that he has risen to the position of director of the planning department, he has been given a new personal office, but he intends to do it at his usual place for now.
'There are many problems just by looking at it roughly.'
The documents were data that Rudger had just taken while traveling around various laboratories. Even still, Sedina was in the process of moving a lot of data while whimpering.
Rudger glanced at the contents of the paper through the rimless glasses.
'The self-audit assessment is a mess. Budget figures don't fit either. The audit won't happen anyway, so they must have done it on their own.'
From the establishment of the department that went over the budget, there were many things that were done in a fist-fighting way.
The organization of personnel was a mess, and most of them were handed over without proper deliberation of regulations.
'Even if the position was empty this is a mess.'
He understood why President Elisa tried to fill this position somehow.
'Obviously, these are minor problems.'
But if those little things are scattered everywhere they will become a big problem.
It's not like there's a drop of water leaking from one place, but there were holes everywhere, so it was a problem.
From the president's point of view, the disasters that took place in various parts of the country must have been unbearable.
'This is why I can't simply close my eyes and move on.'
He tried to be decent as long as he was in this position but he wasn't brazen enough to stay still in the face of such a multitude of problems.
'No. Rather, it worked out.'
It may be at the level of a needle thief now, but there is no guarantee that it will be like this in the future. It would be better to pluck out all the buds in advance.
'The president will like it if I work hard at times like this.'
This audit was a kind of 'sincere' show so Rudger was going to pick out the particularly severe ones from the list and punish them.
'Although I only selected people who are relatively evil.'
It was when he stared at the familiar names on the list.
"Bang!"
"Mr. Rudger Chelici!"
The door popped open and Hugo Burtag came inside with a gallant face with about three aristocratic teachers behind him.
"Oh? Now, wait a minute! You can't come in without permission……!"
"Get out of the way!"
Hugo pushed Sedina out of the way and she fell slightly back and spilled the documents.
"Oh, no!"
Sedina shouted and the documents that had fallen to the floor floated in the air, and soon flew to Rudger's desk and piled up one by one.
'Piling paper with the wind.'
It was a level of mana control that she couldn't believe even when she saw it.
How many people could handle wind magic in such detail?
It was the same with Hugo. He was trying to argue about something, but was speechless at Rudger's mana control.
"So."
Rudger, who piled up the documents neatly, stared at Hugo and other teachers with a sharp gaze.
"Why did you come into my office without permission?"
Under indescribable pressure, Hugo swallowed without realizing it. He soon clenched his teeth at the fact that he lost his momentum.
"……I came here to tell teacher Rudger something!"
"If you had anything to say, you could have asked someone else to do it."
"It's because it's something I have to tell you in person."
"You even brought people with you?"
Rudger said so and looked at Sedina who quickly stepped down and went to the assistant's office.
Rudger took off his rimless glasses, took out his handkerchief, and carefully wiped the glasses.
"You didn't show basic manners."
"What?"
Hugo didn't understand what Rudger was saying for a moment. Soon after, his face turned red.
"Now how dare you……!"
"How dare you."
Rudger's powerful voice interrupted Hugo.
"How dare you. Then say what you want to say."
"……."
"I know that Mr. Hugo Burtag and others behind him worked longer than I did."
After wiping all his glasses, Rudger folded them gently and placed them on the desk.
One of the aristocratic teachers standing behind Hugo opened his mouth as if he was displeased.
"Then we should at least get treated accordingly……."
"Are you talking about proper treatment? Aren't I doing this right now?"
"What…"
"If I didn't treat you as industry seniors, I would have used harsher words."
The faces of the teachers, who were already harsh at Rudger's almost provocative answer distorted miserably.
"If it wasn't for that position, you wouldn't even have been able to respond so brazenly!"
"It's naturally my own ability to take the position. You're Median Maureen, who's in charge of the 2nd year implementation class, right?"
When Rudger correctly pointed out his name, Median widened his eyes with a shocked face.
Rudger wordlessly picked up one of the papers on the desk, then a breeze was felt and the paper flew towards Median.
Median accepted it naturally and opened his eyes wide when he saw what was written on it.
"You ordered a special metal with low magic conductivity required for the class, but the amount and number written on it did not match."
"That, that……."
"You also play the role of a club advisor, but the club is made up of only aristocratic students."
"……What's wrong with that?"
"Originally, it wouldn't be strange if it was closed down immediately because it didn't produce results, but it was strangely well maintained. In addition, it seems that the budget audit wasn't done properly.
At those words, cold sweat broke out on Median's back. The other teachers were appalled by the sight, but relieved that it wasn't them in his place.
"Are other people relieved that their names haven't come out yet?"
However, Rudger had no intention of being considerate of the people who came here.
When he pointed out, those who breathed a sigh of relief inside trembled as if they had been stabbed.
"Did you think the papers piled up here were just a show-off to show that I was working?"
"Well, that's……."
"There are many things that are trivial enough to be called corruption, which do not need to be pointed out and overlooked but all the things are small."
The teachers who came to protest were appalled. It was the same for Hugo who felt something was going wrong.
"Mr. Rudger."
"Mr. Hugo Burtag, watch your language."
"……."
"Now I'm sitting here as the director of the planning department."
Rudger, who said so, stood up just.
"I happened to have all of you on my list of people to keep an eye on."
It wasn't exactly so since Rudger only picked out the ones with the most serious crimes but surprisingly, all the teachers who came to him were on the list.
"Look forward to it."
Rudger spoke in a heavier voice.
"I don't know how to act in moderation."