Chapter 5: Going to work is fun

Chloe’s adaptation to the atelier was simple.

“Huh? Was our studio always this bright?”
“It’s because the workshop chief’s friend’s daughter is cute.”

“What’s with that voice….”

The women of the Turing family lived up to their looks once again.

The end.

But did Chloe slack off, taking advantage of the affection she received?

Not at all.

“Chloe. Can you come here for a second?”

“Yes.”

She’d come running, politely clasp her hands, and wait.

And when our eyes met, she’d tilt her small head silently.

Wow, this is…

Seriously.

“Hehehe.”

Just looking at her made me smile.

A girl with the cutest face in the world, with such varied expressions, she was a walking model.

Plus, she worked as hard as anyone else.

“Oh, I’ll help! Give me the trash!”

Organizing brushes meticulously.

Cleaning thoroughly and running errands efficiently.

Bright and diligent no matter what she was asked to do, she was truly a gem.

She turned the atelier upside down.

It was originally a chaotic workplace, so it’s fair to say she normalized the atelier.

But that was only the external aspect.

In other words, her contribution as a mascot.

No one expected Chloe to be a competent worker.

The reason was simple.

‘She’s still a child.’

Eight years old.

The age when one can officially start working.

But not the age when one can ‘do well.’

Besides, Chloe didn’t display her drawings in the studio.

It was a matter of course for her.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“Yes. Art isn’t really my thing.”

She feigned modesty in front of Groomloc, but well.

‘It’s not like I drew those with my own skill anyway.’

They were drawings she churned out to sell.

She was afraid of the repercussions if she bragged about them.

‘It would be a disaster if I was treated like some genius.’

They were just byproducts of Clicker, who had no talent whatsoever.

Chloe had no way to live up to expectations.

Therefore, Chloe’s position was simply ‘the workshop chief’s friend’s daughter’ and a temporary apprentice.

“Anyone who bosses Chloe around is dead.”

Instead, she received more affection than others.

A lot more.

“Don’t pretend to be nice. Who would bully such a cute kid?”

“I just hope she doesn’t cry or blame herself.”
“If there’s any trash who wants to see Chloe scolded and teary-eyed, confess now. I’ll start.”

“Are you crazy?”

“I’m also very interested in your aesthetic, Teacher.”

“Are you guys crazy?”

“Our atelier is doomed.”

The Luntraval continent might lack awareness of human rights, but it’s not devoid of common sense.

Expecting an 8-year-old to perform like an adult?

Such shameless adults are rare.

It was creepy that they weren’t completely nonexistent, though.

That’s why.

“Chloe, can you get me paint number 3? Oh, number 3 is-“

“Here. The green paint used for depicting leaves, right?”

“…Huh?”

The painters were more surprised by Chloe’s competence than her appearance.

“What, what! Our Chloe, you memorized all that already?”

“Sort of. I still have a lot to learn.”

A sincere answer with no hint of arrogance.

It was the painters who started whispering.

“How did she memorize so much without forgetting a single thing? I couldn’t do that back then.”

“She seems to have memorized it instantly.”

“An 8-year-old? Really?”

The painters and other apprentices hadn’t taught her much.

They only gave her a brief overview on the first day.

They adjusted the pace, knowing she wouldn’t be able to memorize everything if they bombarded her with information from the start.

But Chloe had memorized everything.

After hearing it only once, on her first day of work.

It was as if she had a notepad in her head.

‘Beep boop. Clicker, come in.’

Because that’s exactly what she had.

[Yes. How can I help you?]

‘Show me the memo I wrote. Don’t change it, show me exactly what I wrote!’

A method of utilization that prevented Clicker from causing trouble.

Combined with her work experience from her previous life.

Her work efficiency naturally surpassed that of her fellow apprentices.

“Wow, she’s really got a knack for this.”

“I definitely didn’t reach that level until my late 20s….”

“Jiksli, you’re still 21.”

“That means there’s still room for growth.”

“You have so many ways of saying your memory sucks.”

At first, they only talked about her looks, but now there were more compliments about her work!

Everyone gradually realized Chloe’s abilities, and Groomloc especially.

“So, is the work manageable?”

“Yes. Today I only cleaned the permitted areas. For the warehouse, I can organize it if you assign someone to help with item classification.”

Whenever he asked his friend’s daughter how she was doing, it turned into a regular report session.

Groomloc blinked his thick eyelids.

“Organize the warehouse?”

“Yes. While doing chores, I want to check the quantity of supplies like brushes and paints.”

After a moment of thought, Groomloc asked his chief apprentice.

“…Jiksli. Do you keep track of the inventory?”

“Keek, kehak!”

“Stop acting like a goblin.”

“Sorry. I don’t know.”

“It’s okay. I don’t know either. I’ve never counted.”

Chloe was thinking, ‘What are these people?’ when she suddenly realized.

They are 100% pure artists.

She shouldn’t look at them from the perspective of a trading company employee.

‘That’s right. Even in my past life, the artists’ studios I saw on TV weren’t exactly clean.’

A messy studio is an artist’s characteristic.

And inventory checks?

Probably even rarer.

‘Well, so what if I don’t get a proper handover.’

Such troubles were commonplace when she worked at a company.

Instead of clicking her tongue, Chloe smiled brightly.

“Understood, I’ll check! I’ll count and report to you whenever there’s something!”

“O-Okay. Understood. Don’t overwork yourself, okay?”

Chloe answered cheerfully, thinking to herself, why are they acting like this?

As if they’d heard something strange.

‘Even so, they must have some basic administration like inventory checks, right?’

Even Joseon had this much, didn’t they?

I’m not sure.

I’m not a humanities major.

“Chloe! Come here for a second!”

“Yes~.”

But a busy bee has no time to ponder.

Chloe immediately forgot her doubts and proceeded to normalize the atelier.

In the style of a 21st-century South Korean musical instrument import company.

In other words, ‘normal’ by the standards of centuries into the future.

“Senior Gallon! Why is that shelf empty?”

“Because younger apprentices like you and me find it annoying to get things without a ladder. So, we only put spare brushes there.”

“Then which do you use more often, the glass powder or…?”

“Huh?”

First, ask questions about unfamiliar art supplies.

It’s an essential procedure for establishing accountability.

She only considered organization and efficiency in areas she could safely touch.

“If I had to compare, I guess it’s the glass powder? The teachers make their own paints, right?”

“Uh, hmm. I suppose so?”

“Then I’ll move the spare brushes to the drawer. Since there are so many brushes taking up space, I’ll divide them… including the items in the warehouse, I’ll figure out the total inventory…”

Chloe scratching her head, writing on the paper.

It wasn’t just the apprentice she was talking to who was bewildered.

“W-Wait! What are you talking about?”
“Oh, thank goodness. I thought I was the only one who didn’t understand.”

“Don’t worry. Everyone except Chloe has the same expression as you.”

Chloe tilted her head at the apprentices’ reactions.

And then, as if she’d realized something, she clapped her hands.

“Oh, I’m not very good at explaining, am I? I was talking about this format.”

Chloe drew a simple form on the paper.

As simple and easy to understand as possible.

“How about this? Is it too rough?”

“…What is this?”

“An inventory ledger.”

Inventory? Ledger?

The apprentices stared at the paper, mouths agape, and Chloe bit her lip, then looked away from them.

She misunderstood the reason why they were dumbfounded.

“What? Is it that hard to understand? I even wrote the chart title….”

It was Chloe’s once-in-a-lifetime hand-drawn masterpiece.

That’s why it looked like a chart made by a child.

Isn’t this good enough for a current elementary school student?

So stop looking at me like that.

This is child abuse.

‘Geez…’

Chloe, feeling unjustly offended, crumpled the paper.

“It’ll be a hassle to erase and rewrite every time, so let’s divide the table into left and right, and write separately on the right side whenever we take something out. And then, only change the left side when the inventory increases, that way it’s much easier-“

“Wait, stop! Memo, let me write a memo!”

An inventory ledger.

An unfamiliar format.

The concept of a document format itself was unfamiliar.

Honestly, the apprentices had never seen a ‘chart’ before.

It would be the same even outside Groomloc’s atelier.

In the Luntraval continent, only accountants directly under the lord would use charts.

However.

‘It looks complicated at first glance, but…’
‘It’s easy to understand.’

They are apprentices of the City of Arts.

Their education might be limited, but they’re not stupid.

The value and efficiency of this format were intuitively grasped.

“Give that back! I didn’t get a good look!”
“I’ll just draw a new one. Properly this time- Ah, don’t take it! Don’t, really! I’m telling you to throw it away!”

“It’s fine. Even if it’s a little poorly drawn, it’s cute enough.”

“But isn’t it ‘ledger,’ not ‘lezar’?”

“Let it go, let it go. You’ll make the kid sulk again.”

In any case, its usefulness was undeniable.

It didn’t take long for them to go beyond simply listening to Chloe’s opinions, to practically following her instructions.

It was as if the apprentices’ representative had changed in just a week.

‘It’s manageable. Even if it’s unpaid labor.’

Work she started semi-forced, against her will.

But she didn’t intend to slack off.

Unnecessary obstruction of work goes against her principles.

It would also be a betrayal of her loyalty to Groomloc.

And above all.

‘This is a decent workplace.’

It would be better if they paid her.

Then she wouldn’t have to do the AI commission.

‘But let’s not be too flashy. A parachuted newbie shouldn’t act up.’

It would be unfair to be scolded on top of not getting paid.

Therefore, Chloe firmly established her policy and course of action.

No touching private and sensitive matters.

Instead, optimize logistics and workflow.

Naturally, report and record any relocated materials.

It was truly ‘tame’ office work for Chloe.

However, the problem was that even this much brought noticeable changes.

‘What is this?’

‘Why is it so convenient?’

An unfamiliar change in the work environment.

Normally, it would be irritating.

Yet, the painters couldn’t complain.

Because it was too comfortable.

“…Was our studio always this spacious?”

“Chloe and the kids moved things around, and it became spacious.”

“What’s that shelf over there?”

“Chloe and the apprentices built it. They call them personal lockers. They said to tell them if we need more.”

It was easy to find the necessary tools when needed.

Less frequently used materials were moved to the warehouse.

As a result, the atelier felt more spacious by that much volume.

So much so that one might mistake it for a different building.

‘This isn’t just being good at work, is it?’

She must have learned this systematically somewhere.

At a workplace so advanced that even Groomloc’s atelier couldn’t compare.

“Hey, Chloe. Your father is a court musician, right?”

“Yes. Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no! It’s not that, it’s just that your way of working is incredibly organized.”

The young painter who was rejected by Chloe when she offered her a modeling job.

She cautiously presented her hypothesis.

“Did you learn how to work in a studio from your father? Is this how they usually work in the palace….”

“I don’t think so? My father’s atelier back home is messier than this.”

…Then what are you?

The question she couldn’t bring herself to ask.

It probably represented the thoughts of every painter present.

Neither Chloe nor they knew, but in a way, this change was only natural.

There’s an expression called anachronistic thinking.

It refers to an opinion that lags behind the development of the world.

Even in the 21st century on Earth, there were miraculous training methods like ‘your shoulders get stronger the more you use them.’

This was a separate issue from an individual’s level of intellect.

Even a genius can cling to outdated methods, and a fool can use new inventions created by geniuses.

The standardization of intelligence and productivity.

That’s what makes the modern era.

Conversely.

The introduction of pioneering ideas promotes technological advancement.

Even in fields the innovator didn’t anticipate.

Moreover.

“Bow your heads! Behold the divine painting!”

“Get rid of that hideous scribble!”

“I am not hideous. This painting can be independent art.”

“What? This filth is independent art? What are you talking about!”

The art world of Yaltesance, directly hit by that ‘innovation,’ was in even greater turmoil than Chloe’s immediate surroundings.