The place in Western Heaven that sees the sunrise first.
It was where the Agriculture Team Representative’s office was located.
The Agriculture Team Office, reminiscent of an old herbal medicine shop, was packed with baskets full of crops.
At the center, the Agriculture Team Representative was wrestling with paperwork.
Another Agriculture Team Shinsomi, who had come to see her, spoke up with a puzzled voice.
“Do you have a headache? You don’t look well.”
“It’s not that bad…”
Even as she denied it, she nervously chewed on her fingernails.
Clearly, something was stuck in her throat, refusing to go down. In the end, the Agriculture Team Representative sharply turned her head and blurted out,
“Something just feels off.”
“What is it?”
“The Cafeteria.”
A prey who got caught after snapping at the Ggotgam Officer a few days ago.
The Cafeteria was notorious even in Western Heaven for its grueling work.
She’d been glad to throw that thorn-in-the-side Promotion Team into the Cafeteria the moment the opportunity arose.
But now, the Promotion Team, once notorious for causing trouble nearly every day, had become suspiciously quiet.
“They seem to be rolling around in there just fine. Maybe they’re just too busy, since there’s so much work to do?”
“Maybe so?”
The Agriculture Team Shinsomi’s casual tone was just starting to put the Representative at ease when—
-Bang!
“Representative, you have visitors!”
“Sorry to drop in like this.”
The office door opened, and two unfamiliar celestial officials appeared.
Behind them, Sara stood with an uneasy expression.
“And you are…?”
“We’re from the Celestial Personnel Department.”
The female official, wearing a benevolent smile, presented her Celestial Official Identification. Next to her, the tense male official pulled some documents from his bag.
“We’ve received a request for work environment improvement from Seocheon Flower Garden.”
“What? Work environment improvement?”
“The content is ‘excessive interdepartmental workload, correction of imbalance’… that’s what it says.”
“Who made such a request?”
“Anonymous submission is our policy.”
Unable to hide her displeasure, the Agriculture Team Representative scowled, but the female official took over again.
Her voice was steady and calm, like the surface of a still lake, but the content was not so tranquil.
“A complaint was submitted along with some rather credible evidence. We’ll be proceeding with the audit.”
“What kind of evidence? We can’t consent without seeing it for ourselves!”
The Agriculture Team Representative pushed back stubbornly. Sara, flustered, slipped past the officials and approached the Representative, whispering confidentially,
“It’s better to cooperate for now. I caught a glimpse earlier, and they had our Western Heaven’s budget allocation tables.”
“Why…!”
“Don’t tell me you’ve been hiding something from me?”
Sara grinned, as if to say, ‘We’re on the same side.’
“If that’s not the case, you’ll be fine. Someone with a grudge in another department probably filed the complaint.”
“……”
The Representative looked up at Sara, still with a dubious expression.
But the official standing behind her spoke in a placid tone that belied the threatening words.
“For your reference, if you do not cooperate with the Celestial Personnel Department’s audit, it will be considered ‘interference with official duties’ and a separate disciplinary process will follow.”
The female official’s face, as she addressed the Representative, was nothing but gentle.
“A freeze on your budget for up to six months, a ban on personnel appointments, and even individual disciplinary action for those responsible. Of course, such measures are rarely needed.”
The Agriculture Team Representative bit her lip.
“If you cooperate, the audit will be completed within three days. If nothing is wrong, you might even receive a ‘Model Department’ award.”
The male official standing beside her shrugged.
“That almost never happens, though.”
After that, the officials made the rounds not just of the Agriculture Team, but of every department in Western Heaven.
The last interview and data collection ended with the Meal Service Team Representative Shinsomi.
Finally, on the promised third day, all the team representatives gathered in Sara’s office. The officials stepped forward.
“We will now announce the results of the audit.”
Their tone remained bland and peaceful.
“First, there is a serious budget imbalance.”
“We will cut the Agriculture Team’s budget by 20%, and the other departments must submit supplementary budget proposals.”
The Agriculture Team Representative’s face darkened ominously. But that was only the beginning.
“Second, personnel redistribution.”
“This also means reducing the Agriculture Team’s numbers and reassigning at least two to five people to other departments.”
“Third, redistribution of work.”
“Each team’s private vegetable patch will be set according to the size of its office; if it exceeds that, the Agriculture Team will take over management.”
The female official’s gentle smile met Mujae’s gaze. For the first time, the smile on her lips reached her nose as she winked.
“Everything discussed today will be re-audited in one month, three months, six months, and a year to make sure it’s being followed.”
“It’ll be an undercover audit, of course.”
The male official shrugged again.
When the officials finished their business and left the office, the various department representatives—still nervously watching one another—trailed out after them in a group. Only the Promotion Team and Sara remained.
“Ha!”
Sara snorted in disbelief, and that was the cue—they all burst out laughing.
“Ahahahahaha!”
“Father, what if someone hears you outside?”
Hallakgoong slapped Sara’s back sharply. But Sara, unbothered, kept laughing until tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Hey, did you see the looks on their faces? Hahaha! I’ve never been through an audit before, but if I’d known it was this fun, I’d have called for one sooner.”
“Oh, so it was you who called them? Wasn’t it me?”
That’s right.
Three days ago.
The Promotion Team, exhausted from working in the Cafeteria, gathered in the office.
Hallakgoong, who had somehow claimed the largest computer among the now-crowded desks, was replaying today’s footage from the Cafeteria. Mujae and Zack, faces drawn, were watching the footage too.
“……”
Even when the video showed Mujae and Zack collapsing together while pushing a cart, neither said a word.
A long silence stretched, until Hallakgoong finally spoke first.
“Now I get why Father told us not to do live broadcasts.”
Mujae and Zack both nodded. Hallakgoong fast-forwarded to the final section: the interview with the Meal Service Team Representative, squeezed in only when they were about to finally get off work.
‘We’ve always said we’re short-handed.’
She pressed her temples, her face heavy with exhaustion.
It looked like she had a splitting headache.
‘The Shinsomis sent by the Celestial Personnel Department always get sent straight to the Agriculture Team.’
Mujae’s voice could be heard.
‘Celestial Personnel Department?’
‘It’s the department that manages the Celestial Fairies. They assign the fairies where they’re needed… kind of like an HR team.’
This time, it was Hallakgoong’s voice.
‘But if you have more people working, don’t you need more people to cook for them, too?’
‘Right, but… there’s no one left over.’
The Meal Service Team Representative’s wan smile was heart-wrenching.
‘Still, they say if the Agriculture Team ever has spare people, they’ll send some over then…’
Hallakgoong paused the video. At some point, his expression had become…
“Awful.”
…completely sour.
Just ten people, coming in at 4 a.m. to prepare meals for hundreds, then immediately tending the vegetable patches without rest? The Promotion Team, having experienced it firsthand, was furious.
Part of them wanted to upload the video to GoddoG (GoddoG, the Celestial video platform) right then and there.
-If you do anything to damage the prestige of Seocheon Flower Garden, I won’t let it go, either.
Ggotgam Officer Sara’s words held them back.
Hallakgoong ground his teeth.
If they posted the footage as-is, it would tarnish not only the Agriculture Team, but Sara as Ggotgam Officer, and the whole Seocheon Flower Garden’s reputation.
Mujae spoke up again.
“What if we tell Sir directly? Show him the video, too.”
“Father probably already knows everything.”
Hallakgoong shook his head wearily.
“He knew, so he sent us there and banned live broadcasts. We can’t air family squabbles to the public.”
“So what do we do?”
Silence again. Then Zack raised his hand.
‘But the Ggotgam Officer sent us.’
“So?”
‘Doesn’t that mean he wanted us to solve this problem?’
Zack’s hand gestures, now so familiar, moved rapidly.
‘We filmed the truth, but public release isn’t the solution. So—’
Zack was more passionate than ever.
‘We need to find another way.’
“That’s it!”
Hallakgoong’s eyes sparkled with realization.
“Let’s create external pressure.”
“?!”
The Promotion Team pulled an all-nighter.
Along with their own vivid footage of the Meal Service Team’s reality, they submitted a formal complaint to the Celestial Personnel Department.
The next day, the moment Sara saw the auditors, she knew it was the Promotion Team’s doing.
“Who else would do it, if not you?”
Sara giggled, saying all the departments must have figured it out by now. But Hallakgoong thought differently.
“Even if you know, you gotta pretend you don’t~! Besides, Father’s the only one who knows the video was submitted.”
“Oh, right, I need to give you this.”
Sara rummaged in her sleeve and handed something to Mujae.
Mujae’s eyes went round.
“The Audit Team’s business card…?!”
“Yep, they said to contact them right away if anything else seems off from now on.”
Sara burst out laughing again, as if a blockage built up for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years had finally cleared.
Meanwhile, Mujae couldn’t tear his gaze from the business card.