Chapter 1: Dominic Rosenfeld

As the title suggests, it’s a political story about the protagonist leading a revolution.

And it was the first web novel I ever wrote.

Suddenly, I came to my senses and found myself inside that novel.

And….

‘Dominic Rosenfeld’.

A character who never appeared in the novel, and didn’t even exist in the setting, not even an extra.

I had become him.

‘Why did I have to be someone like this…’

The moment I realized everything.

I complained more about becoming the person Dominic Rosenfeld than about suddenly being dropped into the novel.

Dominic Rosenfeld was the youngest son of a chaebol family.

He was handsome.

He was smart.

In a word, he was a perfect person.

Transmigrating into such a person might seem like great luck at first glance.

But looking at the reality, it was nothing short of a curse.

According to the contents of <I Will Revolutionize>.

After the revolution succeeded, the revolutionary forces carried out a ‘Great Purge’.

In that process, a large number of nobles, bourgeoisie, and officials were dragged to the guillotine.

Even if they hadn’t done anything wrong, just because they were nobles, because they were bourgeoisie, because they were officials.

As I mentioned earlier.

Dominic Rosenfeld was the youngest son of a chaebol family.

Meaning he was bourgeoisie.

That alone was enough risk to be targeted for execution.

“We will now begin the second round of the High-Level Civil Service Examination!”

Dominic Rosenfeld was even in the process of becoming an official.

The High-Level Civil Service Examination, equivalent to the administrative bar exam in this country, is held in two rounds, first and second.

He had already passed the first round.

With excellent results.

If he even passed the second round?

Appointment as an official was confirmed.

Being dragged to the guillotine was also confirmed.

The revolutionary forces would never leave a person who was both bourgeoisie and an official alone.

‘Now that I think about it, maybe it’s fortunate that my memories returned at least now…’

If the memories from before I transmigrated hadn’t suddenly returned on the way to this exam hall, what would have happened?

Dominic Rosenfeld, or rather, I now, would have diligently taken the exam without knowing anything.

Considering my abilities, I would have likely passed and become an official.

But fortunately, because my memories returned not too late, that didn’t happen.

Ah.

For your information, if you pass the exam here, you must become an official.

There’s no giving up the appointment or anything like that.

And once you become an official, you cannot resign voluntarily.

Unless you contract a severe illness or something similar.

That is the law of this country.

‘So I have to fail this exam no matter what…!’

I looked at the exam paper placed on the desk.

The second round was an essay exam.

The king himself would pose questions about policies and political matters, and the applicants would write down their thoughts on them.

The king also graded them himself.

In many ways, you could think of it as similar to the Goryeo or Joseon dynasty’s civil service exams.

The question posed by the king written on the exam paper was as follows.

[What is the path the Kingdom should take in the current world, which is facing a time of unprecedented change?]

As the question said, this world was changing rapidly.

Magic was developing by leaps and bounds, enough to be called a ‘Magic Revolution’.

Great powers were fiercely competing for hegemony, and the international diplomatic landscape was changing by the day.

Naturally, it is during such times that the international order is reorganized and new powerful nations are born.

The Kingdom was a peripheral country both in terms of location and national power.

It was a country looked down upon as a ‘backward island nation’ by countries located on the continent across the sea.

How to escape from such a situation.

What strategy the Kingdom should adopt to seize the changes in the world as an opportunity and grow into a strong nation that even the great powers of the continent could not easily ignore.

The king was asking that.

At that moment.

A very good idea came to mind.

It was to argue that reform must precede development, and to scathingly criticize all sorts of problems in the Kingdom.

That too very strongly worded.

Criticism of the Kingdom had a high potential to be interpreted as a criticism of the King himself.

Even if there was no direct criticism of the king, everyone would think that it was ultimately criticizing the king.

The king himself too.

That’s exactly what I was aiming for.

The current king was a person who wouldn’t tolerate even minor criticism.

He had banished loyal retainers who spoke honestly and only favored sycophants who only flattered him.

That was a prime reason why this country was failing.

As the author, I knew that well because I had set it up that way.

Because he was such a person, there was no way he would put a passing stamp on such an essay.

Unless he ripped it to shreds, maybe.

‘Okay…!’

I possessed the spirit of an all-critic doll, and began writing an essay that criticized everything about the Kingdom that could be criticized.

***

My father, who was always busy with business, had abandoned all his work today and was pacing in front of the main gate since morning.

Because today was the announcement day for the final successful candidates of the High-Level Civil Service Examination.

Acceptance letters were delivered to the homes of the successful candidates.

Father was now impatiently waiting for that.

Sitting by the window of my room and watching him, I felt a little sorry.

Because what Father would receive wasn’t an acceptance letter, but a different notice.

If the goal was simply to fail the second round, I could have just written nonsense sentences or submitted a blank paper.

There was no need to write a scathing criticism of the Kingdom.

Nevertheless, I did that because I wasn’t just aiming for failure.

There was a law in this country called ‘Lèse-Majesté’.

It was exactly what it sounded like.

It was a law that punished someone when they insulted the king, when they gave the king a sense of humiliation.

A person who committed lèse-majesté would receive a fine and a punishment of being unable to hold public office.

Until the king granted a pardon, that is.

I was aiming for exactly that.

Even if I failed this time, Father would tell me to keep trying.

Because his wish was for his smart youngest son to become an official and even rise to the position of Prime Minister.

Moreover, my becoming an official and building many connections in politics and government would be a great help to the family business.

Intentionally failing is fine once or twice, but I couldn’t keep doing that.

So I was trying to get punished for lèse-majesté.

So that Father would give up cleanly.

Thinking about it again, it was a perfect plan.

Just then…

Someone came to the main gate and handed a paper envelope to my father.

As soon as Father received it, he quickly tore open the envelope and took out what was inside.

I couldn’t see from afar, but the envelope probably had the royal crest stamped on it.

That’s why he was so excited and tearing it open, thinking the acceptance letter had arrived.

But unfortunately, what was inside was.

It would likely be a notice stating that I would be punished according to the law of lèse-majesté.

Just as I expected.

Father’s face instantly turned red with anger.

He seemed thoroughly upset.

Soon, Father started running into the house.

He was probably coming to me.

I took a sip of water and braced myself.

I had already thought about what I would say to my father.

Finally, Father burst open my door.

He strode in and just stared at me intently without a word.

I spoke first.

“Sorry, Father. But I don’t think I did anything wrong.

I just wrote my honest opinion in response to a question asking how this country should develop.

I think the one at fault is the king, who can’t even accept a little criticism.”

“…….”

“It’s better this way. I don’t want to live by flattering a king like that. If that’s the case, I’d rather become a businessman like you and my brothers.”

While I was rattling off my words, Father didn’t say a word.

I thought that was a positive sign.

He wasn’t getting angry despite my shocking declaration that I wouldn’t become an official.

I took it to mean he would continue listening to what I had to say.

So I kept talking.

“Right now is an opportunity when the world is changing rapidly. We should expand our business further by entering new fields. For example……”

I combined knowledge from before I transmigrated with future knowledge and listed business ideas that would appeal to my father.

If my father, moved by my ideas, gave me permission to do as I wished, I would tell him I wanted to do business in the wider world and cross over to the continent first by myself.

Then, at an appropriate time, I would move my family to the continent under a plausible pretext.

That was my plan.

I thought my strategy was working because Father seemed to be listening intently.

But the words he uttered after I finished speaking were completely unexpected.

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“……Huh?”

“You passed so clearly, and even topped the class, and suddenly you’re talking about that?”

“Passed… what? What did I do??”

“The acceptance letter just arrived.

It says you got a perfect score on the second test and passed at the top of the class.”

‘??????????’

“Anyway, it’s fortunate. That His Majesty isn’t the person you thought he was. That you don’t have to live as an official by flattering him.”

As he said that, I felt like I could hear the words ‘Will you be an official? You have to be, right?’ coming from my father’s eyes.

But I couldn’t back down here.

“No. Even so, I’m an official…”

“I’ll cut off your allowance and kick you out of the house? I might not even leave you any inheritance.”

It had only been a few days since I realized I had transmigrated, but I had lived in this body and this status for over 20 years.

Meaning I was thoroughly used to the life of the youngest son of a chaebol family.

So my father’s threat was very effective.

“…I will work hard.”

***

“So, how much time do I have left?”

Klaus II, the King of Amelia Kingdom, directly asked the royal physician, who had been diligently explaining the examination results.

“A, At most, you won’t live past a year……”

“Understood. You may leave now.”

After sending the physician out, Klaus sighed deeply, as if the earth had collapsed.

He had expected to live for at least 10 more years, but a serious illness had occurred.

He had thought he would still have a few years left, but the deterioration speed was getting faster and faster, and they said he had less than a year left.

‘It would have been better if I had come to my senses sooner……’

Klaus regretted the past days.

He had been a tyrant and an incompetent ruler.

Was it because his legitimacy was unstable?

He had only focused on how to strengthen the royal authority.

He wouldn’t tolerate even minor criticism, fearing it would harm his royal power.

If his ministers spoke even slightly harsh words, he would immediately dismiss them, claiming it was lèse-majesté.

Thanks to that, he had obtained strong royal authority.

But because of that, talented individuals disappeared and only flatterers remained.

Moreover…

He did nothing with that strengthened royal authority.

He just enjoyed it.

He only had the goal of strengthening royal authority; he had no vision of doing anything with it.

Strong royal authority was the objective itself, not a means.

Naturally, the country declined.

Looking at it after coming to his senses late, the Kingdom was clearly on the path to ruin.

Klaus shifted his gaze back to the document he had been reading before the physician visited.

It was the second-round exam paper of the top candidate from this High-Level Civil Service Examination, Dominic Rosenfeld.

Klaus had been reading it over and over again.

Because it was his writing that had made him come to his senses.

It was his writing that had made him reflect on the person he had been and realize the kind of king he was.

The essay written by Dominic Rosenfeld was filled with sharp criticisms.

Saying that there could be no development without reform, and reform could not happen without clearly confronting the problems, he meticulously pointed out and sharply criticized all the piled-up problems in the Kingdom.

Unlike others who were busy praising the king for fear of failing or being punished for lèse-majesté, his writing was imbued with an unyielding conviction.

Furthermore….

He saw the overall situation of the Kingdom, and even the international political situation, as if he held them in the palm of his hand.

He also predicted the future very plausibly and persuasively.

‘Like a god.’

It was insight so outstanding that it was hard to believe his age, making one wonder what his true identity was.

Integrity that didn’t fear criticism, and insight that even a great minister would admire….

Now, when countless talented individuals had left and disappeared due to his own mistakes.

That’s why he gave him a perfect score.

He was the first person to receive a perfect score on the second round since the High-Level Civil Service Examination began.

Klaus picked up another document placed on the table.

It was the document submitted by the General Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, deciding the departmental assignments for those who passed this time.

Among them, only Dominic’s workplace was left blank.

Normally, it was customary to assign the top candidate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Ministry of Finance.

But somehow, he felt that Dominic might have a place he specifically wanted to go.

So he had ordered that his workplace not be decided yet.

He planned to meet him in person, first ask him where he wanted to go, and then decide.

The place where his will for reform, as strong as his criticism, would want to go first.

That meant…

The first step he needed to take for the reforms he spoke of was right there.

Klaus was curious.

Where exactly that place could be.

And….

Whether he could show the wisdom and sharpness he displayed in his writing in reality as well.

In Klaus’s mind, the anxiety about death and worries about what came after had already disappeared.

Instead, expectations for the talented individual, Dominic Rosenfeld, filled that space.