Chapter 34: That Time I Endured the Arduous March in South America.

TL: Skye

The education reform was a massive success. Schools were bursting at the seams with children, and teachers conducted their lessons with passion.

Parents who had previously shown no interest now sent their children to school without fail, and students freed from grueling labor grew healthier with each passing day.

Everything was perfect. Or at least, it looked perfect.

"...Is this for real?"

That is, until I received Isabella's report.

"Unfortunately, it is."

Every single item in the expenditure settlement report was nothing short of shocking.

(1) School expansion, renovation, and facility procurement budget: $22.31 million.

(2) San Marcos National University construction costs: $32.29 million.

The numbers were staggering.

Fine, up to this point, these were initial investment costs, so they were understandable. It wasn't money that would keep flowing out indefinitely.

The problem was the fixed monthly expenditures.

(3) Free meal program costs: $1.7 million.

(4) Teacher salaries and school operating expenses: $16.5 million.

Costs had ballooned to 150% over projections. My jaw nearly hit the floor.

"...Isn't the operating expense line far too high?"

"More students than expected have been pouring in, which has driven operating costs up significantly."

"Wasn't that supposed to be $10 million?"

"It was at first... but students from rural areas started flooding in late, and our projections fell apart. On top of that, far more students than anticipated turned out to be unregistered residents, which threw off our cost estimates as well."

"This is a disaster. We prepared the budget down to the last dollar..."

"It seems we'll need to secure a separate source of funding for the $6.5 million overage."

"Hmm..."

Once the Northern Oilfield started producing and Korean companies began running their factories in earnest, an amount like this wouldn't be a burden.

But that was at least half a year away at the earliest.

With the U.S. government shutdown blocking the incoming loans, there was simply nowhere to pull money from right now.

"Why not charge at least a small tuition fee? Even just $10 would give us some breathing room."

"That's not an option."

I shook my head firmly.

"For ordinary families, $10 a month is not a small amount. The moment we start charging tuition, students we barely managed to gather will leave in droves."

"Then there's no choice. We'll have to use Tortilla's funds."

"Actually, that's the real problem."

"...Pardon?"

"Tortilla has no available funds."

Of course, the money existed. We had spent a great deal, but thanks to steady earnings, over $6 billion still remained.

The problem was that every last dollar of it was already earmarked.

"Even accounting for the nickel mine and refinery plant investments, I was under the impression that over $1 billion would remain?"

"Well... we agreed to build petroleum storage facilities and processing plants as well, so the investment amount has ballooned."

For an instant, a chill flickered through Isabella's eyes.

"...This is the first I'm hearing of this."

"I forgot to mention it."

In all fairness, it was an opportunity too good to pass up.

A one-stop chemical industry encompassing crude oil refining, storage, and raw material production from the resulting byproducts, all for just $11 billion.

With Hyunhwa covering half and Tortilla covering half, the Tortilla Company could secure half the rights for just $5.5 billion.

'If I'm being honest, we need to hold at least half the stake to avoid getting pushed around.'

No matter how favorably Chairman Jung viewed me, when it came to money, only a signed contract could be trusted. Holding less than 50% of the shares could cause problems down the line, so I decided to put in an equal amount.

Well... I hadn't anticipated cash getting this tight, though.

"What about spending the money first and then replenishing the investment funds once the loan comes through... That won't work, will it?"

"No. The U.S. Agency for International Development's loan conditions stipulate infrastructure development, so if it's discovered that the funds were used for equity investment, the entire amount becomes subject to full recovery."

"Then how about negotiating to delay the investment?"

I shook my head at Isabella's suggestion.

"We can't change the terms before the venture has even started."

The investment had to proceed on the promised date, no matter what.

San Marcos already had rock-bottom international creditworthiness. If I, as the head of state, couldn't even keep my word, who would choose San Marcos as a business partner?

In the end, there was only one option.

"Isabella."

"Yes, Your Excellency."

"Effective immediately, we are entering emergency austerity."

Scrimp, save, and hold on for dear life until the loan came through.

"Emergency austerity...?"

I declared with a solemn expression.

"As of today, all unnecessary expenditures are prohibited. Slash every department's discretionary funds, dining allowances, executive maintenance stipends, everything except the education budget, and redirect it all to school operating costs."

"Everything... you say?"

"Yes. And the Presidential Palace will lead by example."

I cleared away the premium whole-bean coffee sitting on the desk and pulled an instant coffee mix stick from the drawer.

"From now on, all beverages in the Presidential Palace will be standardized to this. Whole-bean coffee? That's a luxury. Clear out all the break room snacks too."

"But that's actually more expen..."

"And the air conditioning. What's it set to right now?"

"25 degrees."

"Raise it to 28. Actually, just turn it off entirely. Nobody's dying from a little heat. Use a fan. Since when did humanity need air conditioning anyway..."

Isabella's expression turned peculiar.

"Official vehicles are also banned for the time being. Tell everyone to ride bicycles; it's good for their health. I rode a bicycle myself back when I was Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism."

"There may be complaints."

"If anyone complains, tell them they can be sent to Tortilla Farm. There are people out there breaking a sweat with honest labor, so how can anyone justify wanting comfort for themselves alone? We save money and educate the children."

Estimated time remaining until the U.S. loan came through: approximately three months. A desperate grueling march had begun.

***

The day after Yu-jin declared the grueling march, at the Ministry of Education offices. Senior Secretary Sergio stormed in with the look of a predator clamping down on its prey.

"Freeze!"

Civil servants who had been peacefully filling out approval documents jolted to their feet in surprise.

Sergio strode between them and upended a trash can sitting in one corner.

Clatter! Clang!

Scraps of paper and used stationery spilled out. Sergio picked up a ballpoint pen from the pile.

"Who threw this away? Step forward."

At the far end, one person raised a trembling hand.

"Th-that would be me, sir..."

"Why did you throw this away?"

"It stopped writing, so I tossed it."

"Stopped writing? So you just throw it away because it stopped writing?"

"I mean, what else are you supposed to do with a pen that doesn't write..."

Sergio rolled the tip of the pen on his tongue.

It had been sitting in the trash can just moments ago, but having received orders from His Excellency, a man as lofty as the heavens, he didn't care in the slightest.

After a moment, he pressed the pen to a piece of scrap paper and made a few strokes. Ink began flowing clearly.

"See! It works! If you dissolve the dried ink, you can get two more days out of it! Is this your money? Huh?"

"S-sorry!"

"Pick it back up and use it right now! And from now on, if anyone gets caught throwing away a pen claiming it's used up, the cost comes out of that month's salary. Understood?!"

"Yes sir!"

Sergio's tirade did not end there.

"Listen up, everyone. His Excellency has ordered an austerity policy. Not a single dollar is to be wasted."

"Yes sir!"

No one dared defy Senior Secretary Sergio, who was, for all intents and purposes, equivalent to a minister.

But there existed a human being even more ruthless than Sergio...

"Do I make myself clear?"

That would be none other than the Ministry of Finance's Senior Secretary, Ricardo.

Unlike Sergio, who had been a Grade 3 deputy director, Ricardo had risen from a Grade 7 junior clerk. With his calm, measured tone, he brought his seniors and juniors at the Ministry of Finance to heel, then promptly began making rounds everywhere to catch waste in the act.

"You there! Who do you think you are, defying His Excellency's orders and wasting toilet paper?"

"Excuse me? I just finished my business and was cleaning up..."

"Why are you using toilet paper like you're wrapping a mummy?! Three sheets! Three sheets is plenty!"

"S-Senior Secretary, sir... three sheets is a matter of human dignity. What if it tears through while I'm wiping..."

"Fold it. If you fold it properly, you can get the effect of six sheets. If this happens again, I'll have you write an incident report. Is that clear?!"

Naturally, everyone was horrified by Ricardo's merciless doctrine.

'The Ministry of Finance handles money. There's no way we can let any other department outdo us in something like this.'

But... Ricardo never could have imagined that someone would approach Yu-jin's orders from an entirely different angle.

SIA Headquarters, underground situation room.

While the executive branch waged a tearful battle to save every last drop of ballpoint ink, Intelligence Director Lucio was punching numbers into a very different calculator.

"You can gather all the specks of dust you want, and it's still just dust."

Lucio's eyes gleamed.

"Is he ready?"

"Yes. We've had him hanging upside down for about thirty minutes. He should be nicely tenderized by now."

"Then let's go."

The interrogation room door opened, and there, strung up, was the rotund old man who had once served as Minister of Construction and Housing under the Juan regime.

The moment Lucio appeared, the man screeched as if crying injustice.

"What is the meaning of this! I've been retired for over ten years! You can't just kidnap a civilian who isn't even a sitting minister!"

Lucio walked over slowly and sat down in a chair.

"Minister Garua. No, wait. Should I say 'senior' now? Anyway, it's been a while. You're looking well. Must be eating nicely off all that public money you pocketed."

"Wh-what are you talking about! My conscience is clean! And even if I had skimmed something, that was over fifteen years ago! The statute of limitations has expired!"

Garua shrieked at the top of his lungs, invoking the law.

He was right.

He had a point.

A point that deserved a beating.

"Seems like he's not quite tenderized yet, doesn't it?"

The moment Lucio's words left his mouth, clubs came swinging in from every direction.

Thwack thwack thwack thwack thwack thwack!

After a while.

"Nngghh..."

Once the club massage was over, Lucio approached the drooling Garua and placed a cigarette in his mouth.

"Senior. The world has changed."

Lucio said as he lit it for him.

"Under the great leadership of His Excellency, there is no such thing as a statute of limitations. If His Excellency says you're guilty, you're guilty. If he says cough it up, you cough it up. Understood?"

"Th-that's outrageous..."

"Outrageous, you say? Watch your mouth. Do you want to spend the rest of your days in a coal mine?"

"S-sorry..."

"No need to be that sorry."

Lucio produced a pre-drafted donation pledge.

"Just stamp this. It's a pledge to make a donation to the Education Development Fund."

"If I donate, how much are we talking..."

"Adding up all the salary you received during your years as a soldier and public servant, plus your inherited assets, it comes to roughly $300,000. But when I looked at your asset registry, there was $900,000. Even accounting for living expenses over the years, at the absolute minimum, you seem to have pocketed over $700,000... Shouldn't you cough up the whole thing?"

"W-well..."

"If you'd rather not part with cold hard cash, you could always earn it mining coal and donate that instead."

"N-no! I'll pay half! I'll pay it!"

Garua burst into pitiful tears.

"Now, you'll wire the money as soon as you get home, yes? If you're late, you'll be seeing me again. Senior."

"Hnghk, yes."

After sending Garua on his way, Lucio smiled with satisfaction and scanned the list of the next targets.

"Next up is the former head of the Port Authority?"

"Yes. Based on our investigation, we should be able to collect approximately $200,000 in donations from him."

"Nice. Let's get moving."

The nights at SIA had never burned hotter.

*****

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