Chapter 07
“Ugh, I don’t want to work!”
The next day.
Once again, my morning started with a pile of demand letters.
I looked through the ledger Sofia handed me, gulped down a cup of coffee, and focused on the chaos in front of me.
Wow. As expected.
“It’s even more of a disaster than I imagined…”
If this were a company, they’d have fired the accountant instantly. Clearly, this is what happens when no one supervises.
“They said Viscount William was in charge of accounting.”
Did this guy drop out of the academy? Or just sleep through every class?
The more I looked at the ledger, the more I wanted to ask him that myself.
‘I knew something was off.’
The Renesti family used to be in business — so losing their entire fortune this badly didn’t make sense.
There had to be someone helping Xavier.
‘There’s definitely an accomplice.’
And that accomplice was probably William.
The past three years of records were atrocious.
Annual budgets were bloated beyond belief, while spending was full of nonsense — luxury goods, parties, personal indulgence.
Even when I first woke up in this body — drowning in 20 billion won of debt — the books had been overflowing with luxury expenses.
“It reeks of corruption.”
Everywhere I looked — another sewer.
“At this rate, even cleaning this mess will be impossible…”
I rubbed my aching forehead and pulled the rope to summon Sofia.
Moments later, she entered.
“Bring Viscount William here.”
“Yes, my lady.”
About five hours later, the door opened — and in stumbled a man who hadn’t even fixed his clothes properly.
“Ahem! You called for me.”
“…You’ve been drinking, haven’t you?”
Unbelievable. The man who caused this disaster was doing his work drunk.
‘What a bold kind of insubordination.’
Truly an innovative work style. I had to admire the confidence, at least.
It wasn’t my first time seeing him. I’d run into him before — though I’d missed the stench of trouble back then.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Do I smell that bad?”
“Apologize.”
“…Excuse me?”
“In situations like this, you don’t ask if you smell bad. You apologize first.”
I didn’t care how the original Aria would’ve responded — I was the one on the verge of ruin here.
‘I don’t have time for polite nonsense.’
If something’s rotten, you fix it immediately — leave it, and maggots grow.
“You should bow your head first. Like this.”
I lowered my head slightly.
“I was wrong.”
“W-what! My lady, your jokes are unusually harsh today.”
“I’m serious.”
He flinched.
I wasn’t an expert, but I was a business major in my old life.
People thought that meant literature and essays — but no, you had to be good with numbers if you wanted to survive.
And my first job had been at a startup, which meant endless struggle.
I’d had enough of messy numbers to last a lifetime.
‘Even the worst companies don’t run this badly!’
Strange. If it was this bad, the royal auditors should’ve stepped in long ago.
And yet — three years had passed without anyone interfering.
‘Something smells fishy again.’
Another government-level scandal, maybe.
‘Right. Rot doesn’t start from the bottom.’
The top leaks poison, and it trickles down.
‘This is bad.’
The debt itself wasn’t even the biggest problem.
Even if we somehow got money, it would just leak away — the entire system was broken.
No matter how much gold you poured in, you couldn’t rebuild a reputation on a hollow foundation.
‘We’ll have to cut everything rotten out.’
Which meant firing people — and hiring new ones.
And while reorganizing every failed business, I’d also have to rebuild the ones that still functioned…
‘God, please save me.’
“Damn it.”
I’d sworn I’d never live like my old bosses — overworked startup leaders drowning in caffeine — but here I was, doing exactly that.
The early signs of burnout were already showing.
“Why are you looking at the books, my lady? Those numbers are complicated. Can you even make sense of them?”
‘He’s trying to change the topic.’
A seasoned scammer’s move. I considered calling him out but decided not to waste energy.
“Yes, I don’t quite understand them.”
“Well, that’s natural. You grew up sheltered, after all—”
“It’s hard to understand because they’re so disorganized.”
“…Excuse me?”
I opened a bottle of red ink and dipped my pen.
“So, I’d like to reorganize everything from scratch.”
“R-reorganize?”
“I can’t do it alone.”
I ignored his stammering and twirled the pen in my fingers.
“So I’ll need your full cooperation, Viscount.”
Before he could run, I asked Sofia to bring an extra chair.
‘Don’t even think about going home tonight.’
Nine-to-six? Not today.
By the time dawn approached, I finally let him go.
“Ah… you’re a devil…”
William stumbled out on shaking legs, not daring to look back.
I drained my last cup of coffee and shivered.
‘Unbelievable.’
He’s the one exhausted?
‘I did all the corrections!’
Actually, it wasn’t correction — it was reality repair.
“Corporate corruption is terrifying.”
Internal rot is always worse than external threats.
When insiders eat away at the structure, collapse is inevitable.
This ledger was proof of that.
‘He stole so much.’
After hours of grilling him, I finally got some facts straight.
The Count and Countess were naïve.
They had too much affection for their family.
Xavier had been spinning his web for years.
All the luxury expenses listed in the ledgers? They all led back to him.
‘Wow. What a piece of work.’
‘Alright, let’s start with these four points.’
There were more, but those were the biggest ones for now.
Still, even these were huge — I had no idea where to start fixing them.
‘At least I’ve got a rough plan. That’s something.’
Finding 20 billion right away was impossible.
Even using the original novel’s knowledge to make money had its limits.
So I wasn’t planning to pay the debt back at all.
More precisely — I planned to return it to its rightful owner.
‘If I can prove that the guarantee was forced, it becomes invalid.’
Even if the Count and Countess signed willingly, it wouldn’t matter.
‘Missing evidence? Then I’ll make some.’
And really, it wasn’t like there was no basis for it. Xavier was running a slave ring.
‘He even falsified records and laundered money.’
Would he really have just saved that money? No. He’d invested it.
Probably in the slave trade.
He’d even taken clients to expensive restaurants — that alone said plenty.
‘He threatened the Count couple into signing as guarantors, then poured all that money into illegal slave trading!’
I smirked and clapped once.
Anyone would find that suspicious enough.
‘Why would I pay that debt back?’
I’ll make him taste his own medicine…!
“My lady, it’s Sofia.”
“Come in!”
Feeling refreshed for the first time, I stretched my arms.
Sofia entered the office, pushing a trolley.
Morning light was already seeping through the curtains — she’d brought washing water.
I stood up and walked to the sofa as she placed a silver bowl on the table.
She looked at me worriedly.
“Are you alright? You drank so much coffee last night.”
“I’m fine. My heart’s racing a bit, but it’ll calm down soon.”
In my past life, my body could handle caffeine.
But this one preferred milk tea and mild black tea — no wonder my heart was pounding.
“You’ll make yourself sick! Debt is important, but don’t overwork yourself.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be careful.”
I’d probably keep doing this for a few more days, but I stayed quiet to avoid another lecture.
After splashing cold water on my face, I took the towel she offered and asked,
“How’s Matthias?”
