The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success Chapter 5

How much time had passed?

“Ughhhh…”

With a groan, I snapped my eyes open.

‘What the—what, what?’

I bolted upright. My whole body felt unusually light.

‘What is this?’

As I gathered my senses, my thoughts raced in panic.

‘The only thing that can bring about such sudden vitality is… money. What is this radiant aura of wealth flowing through my body?’

As expected. There was an IV needle in my left arm. The soft drip, drip of fluid—no, money—filled the room.

I glanced around.

‘This is… the Imperial Palace’s medical ward… and a private room for VIPs at that!’

I understood instantly. Kiaros had granted me extraordinary treatment.

An IV like this was outrageously expensive—even high-ranking nobles rarely got one!

“This is… amazing…”

Outside the window, the sky was a pale violet—still early morning.

I sank back into the bed. It was soft and enveloped my body like a warm cloud.

“I should go straight to work from here.”

Just as I closed my eyes to catch a bit more sleep—

“You’re awake?”

The door opened.

A young man with brown hair and green eyes—Luka—walked over to my bed in a doctor’s coat.

“You woke up faster than I expected. Must be the IV.”

He began checking my IV line. I looked up at him urgently and asked,

“You used the good stuff, right?”

“…What?”

“You know how royals say stuff like, ‘Give them the best’ at times like this. I couldn’t miss that chance.”

I continued, face dead serious.

“If it was just average, change it now to the best you’ve got.”

“…What?”

“This is your chance to build karma for your next life. While spending the royal family’s money. How about it?”

Luka gave me a look of utter disbelief.

Luka Klass—he’d been my classmate at the Imperial Academy.

Second-highest score on the entrance exam.

First place all throughout the academy, top score on the graduation exam, top of the civil service exam.

Unlike me, who didn’t even get a single mention in the original novel, Luka was competent enough to be a background character with actual presence.

‘Honestly, he was the kind of talent the Finance Department should’ve fought to recruit…’

But instead, he’d chosen the Health and Medical Department.

As a commoner, he felt that departments relying on connections would limit his promotions.

‘In the Health Department, ability comes first. So in the end, he made the right call.’

Though Luka and I joined at the same time, he was soaring.

While I, a fourth-year civil servant, still hadn’t received even a single subordinate.

‘Oh, right. There was that intern who ran away after one day.’

As I thought bitterly, Luka said in exasperation,

“Unbelievable. This is the most passionate I’ve ever seen you.”

He shrugged and added,

“I used a lot of the best stuff. Stuff they usually reserve for royals.”

No wonder I felt so refreshed!

As my mouth curled into a goofy grin, Luka tilted his chin and said,

“By the way, I’m also the one who casually mentioned your poor nutrition in front of His Highness.”

“Wow… Luka Klass, who knew you were so loyal?”

Luka crossed his arms with a pout.

“You and I aren’t close enough for that. I didn’t do it out of loyalty.”

“Oh… okay…”

When I replied, Luka snapped.

“Hey, don’t normal people usually ask, ‘Then why did you do it?’”

“I don’t have the energy for that…”

“……”

Luka looked like he was about to explode.

Not surprising. We’d always been like this at the academy.

Luka would yell, hopping mad, while I gave lifeless, vague replies.

“Namia Roapia. You’re practically malnourished. Seriously… ha.”

He stared at me in silence for a moment, then burst out as if he couldn’t hold it in.

“Your family… they’re still like that, aren’t they?”

“…Huh?”

“The Roapia barony.”

Even though I didn’t respond, Luka kept going.

“You work at the palace, so you get good lunches. And even then, for you to be this way means you’re basically living on one meal a day…”

His eyes were full of rage as he spoke.

Clearly, my health had really shocked him.

“Your salary… you’re not using it, are you? That rumor’s been all over.”

“Oh, come on.”

I muttered flatly.

“Who the hell is out there spreading people’s personal family matters like that?”

“They say your damn parents brag about not worrying about debt, because your salary’s got them covered.”

Well, shit.

I knew the civil service world was small, but how could rumors spread this fast?

‘Wait… debt? They’re in debt now?’

A bad feeling surged up, but I didn’t want to show it in front of Luka.

So I forced a casual tone and said,

“Well, at least the overtime pay’s all mine. That’s paid out in cash at the end of the month.”

“Like that amounts to anything…”

“It’s a decent chunk, actually. Oh, and Juan doesn’t report his overtime either. Guess he wants to stash some money too.”

At the mention of Juan, Luka’s eyes narrowed into sharp triangles.

Juan Roapia.

On paper, he was my twin brother. We’d attended the academy together and taken the civil service exam together too.

“Namia Roapia. Since we’re here, let me ask you one thing.”

Luka asked in a low voice.

“I’ve wanted to ask for a long time, but I’ve held back.”

“Ah… then keep holding back.”

“Hey! Don’t you usually ask what someone’s going to say?!”

“I don’t have the energy for that…”

Once again, my consistent line of reasoning was ignored. Luka stared into my eyes and asked bluntly,

“You wrote Juan’s civil service project report for him, didn’t you?”

“……”

“It was a two-person team project, and your report was overwhelmingly the best. Juan got full marks, you got the lowest. He claimed he did all the work.”

The civil service exam scoring was split: 50% written test, 50% project report.

Juan had average scores on the written portion, but a perfect score on the report—landing him a spot in the prestigious Finance Department.

“But you, working with Juan—there’s no way you did nothing.”

Luka’s gaze was sharp as a blade.

“Just like you always did Juan’s assignments at the academy… You did it again for the civil service test, didn’t you?”

As he barraged me with questions, I lazily cleaned my ears and replied dully.

“Why are you so obsessed with me? Do you… like me or something? Have I just been oblivious to your years of unrequited love…?”

“Are you insane?!”

Luka shouted, flustered.

“You’re my rival, dammit! My rival! Of course I care about you! Ever since the entrance exam, you’ve been burned into my brain!”

Ah, here we go again.

I waved my hand dismissively, exhausted.

“Luka, can you please forget about the entrance exam already…”

“How can I?! You were the first perfect scorer in fifteen years! You beat me—second place—by nearly forty points!”

“…Mmm.”

“Can you at least give a proper answer?! Why can’t you ever say anything clearly? Ugh, you’re so frustrating!”

Sigh… seeing him getting all worked up made me feel like I should earn my IV fluids.

So I decided to answer him properly this time.

“It wasn’t fifteen—it was seventeen years. And that year, due to poor difficulty calibration, there were fifty-six perfect scorers. So I’m considered the only true perfect scorer in the Academy’s history. Also, you were 42 points behind me, not ‘nearly forty.’ And though your overall score was higher in the physical test by 23 points, if we go by written exams alone, I beat you by 65. If you’re going to keep obsessing over the entrance exam, could you at least remember the correct numbers?”

“……”