TL: Skye
San Marcos has an absurdly small number of civil servants.
How small? Paraguay, a country on the same continent with a similar population, has over 300,000. San Marcos has just over 80,000, roughly a quarter of that.
Why?
'You need money to pay salaries.'
It all came down to poverty. The country was too poor to collect taxes, and without tax revenue, there was no budget to hire civil servants.
The result was one civil servant for every 75.6 citizens. That figure far exceeded South Korea's ratio of 53.6, the highest among OECD nations, and served as a stark indicator that welfare in San Marcos was nothing more than an empty word.
And if that was the quantity, what about the quality?
With public education in ruins, most civil servants had less intellectual capacity than a Korean high school student. On top of that, 99% were former military, which meant the organizational culture wasn't just rigid but had hardened into concrete.
They couldn't even follow orders properly like actual soldiers.
Take the tractor initiative I'd assigned to the Ministry of Agriculture.
I had instructed them to purchase used tractors from Mexico and lease them at low cost to corn and wheat farms. The Vice Minister dumped it on the Bureau Director, who promptly tossed it further down the chain. In the end, inexperienced junior staff with no authority charged ahead like an eight-ton truck with a broken steering wheel and managed to get scammed out of the entire five million dollar budget.
At this point, calling them a government ministry would be generous. They were a collective of incompetents.
One week after launching the first National Civil Service Examination to reform this disaster of an organization, Isabella came with the results.
"I have the report."
"Go ahead."
She placed a thick stack of documents on my desk.
"Of the 80,243 total examinees, 41,812 received a failing score, meaning they scored below 40 out of 100."
"More than half failed... As dismal as expected."
"Yes. 80% of senior officials fall into this category. One Vice Minister even scored 4 points."
"4 points...?"
"Yes. The questions were designed to differentiate ability levels, which is likely why we're seeing these results."
"But even random guessing should yield better than that... Are you sure there wasn't a grading error?"
"The exam was 100% multiple choice and scored by computer program. The probability of an error is extremely low."
"......"
I could only let out a hollow laugh. No wonder the country was in shambles with people like this occupying senior positions.
"What about the top performers?"
"Here's the list of the top 3%."
I scanned through the names, none of which looked familiar.
"Hmm, they're all young."
Isabella stepped closer.
"We've begun secondary verification on those who passed the written exam. The SIA is reviewing every proposal, recommendation, and report these individuals have ever submitted."
"You're investigating their track records."
"Exactly. We need to properly separate the wheat from the chaff. And once that's complete, I plan to conduct interviews."
"Interviews too? Can't we just promote the top scorers?"
"We need to verify their ideology."
"Ideo... logical verification?"
"Yes. We need to confirm whether they harbor any thoughts that could harm the nation. After all, no matter how capable someone is, we can't promote them if they lack loyalty to His Excellency."
Why was loyalty suddenly part of this?
"Well, I don't think we need to go that far..."
"It's an essential step. Please approve it."
Overwhelmed by Isabella's determination, I nodded.
"...Fine."
What choice did I have? When the real power says it's happening, it happens.
*
Isabella didn't hesitate. In a single day, she had the SIA thoroughly investigate everyone in the top 3% and brought me the report.
Their achievements as public servants, their attitudes toward work, their reputations among colleagues, their past remarks, and even the... tendencies of their close associates?
"...Was it really necessary to investigate their personal lives?"
"People reveal their true thoughts when speaking with those they're close to, which naturally leads them to befriend others with similar inclinations. We can only verify ideology by examining their personal sphere as well."
"......"
Something about it felt uncomfortable, but I figured she knew what she was doing and let it go.
'Birds of a feather flock together, after all.'
No matter how smart or capable someone was, they'd be useless if their character was garbage.
After all the filtering, 43 candidates remained, and Isabella summoned them in secret.
The interview panel consisted of me and Isabella.
She would ask most of the questions while I sat beside her to set the tone.
'She said I just need to stare with authority.'
The first interviewee for our two-person panel was Sophia, a 7th-grade junior official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Her test score placed her around the top 5%, not quite the highest tier, but Isabella had specifically recommended her as someone we absolutely had to see.
"Nice to meet you, Sophia. According to your file, you've worked exclusively at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for eight years?"
"Y-yes! Th-th-that's correct."
"No need to be so nervous. We don't bite. Please relax."
"B-but with His Excellency present, how could I possibly..."
"......"
What was I, Voldemort? Making people tremble just by looking at them.
"I understand, but if you keep shaking like that, will you even be able to answer properly? Or does this mean you don't mind missing the opportunity of a lifetime?"
"Ah...!"
At Isabella's pointed remark, Sophia gasped and began taking deep breaths.
Isabella asked in an even tone.
"It's unusual to stay in one department this long... Is there a particular reason?"
"I requested transfers to other ministries, but my superiors wouldn't let me go."
"Why not?"
"I happen to speak a few foreign languages. Because of that, I was frequently called upon as an interpreter."
"Can you tell me which languages you speak?"
"English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Russian."
"How did you learn so many languages? It's not like there were any schools teaching them."
"I love watching movies, so I learned by watching films from each country."
"You can learn to speak a language just by watching movies?"
"It's possible."
When Sophia answered in English, Isabella switched to French.
"Pouvez-vous me dire comment? (Can you tell me how?)"
"Я посмотрел более 100 фильмов из каждой страны. (I watched over 100 films from each country.)"
Watching her respond in Russian, I couldn't help but be impressed.
'How can someone like this exist in a country like this?'
She was like a flower blooming in the Arctic.
Moreover, her record was spotless.
Despite being a rare case of a female veteran turned civil servant, she had such a good reputation that her colleagues genuinely respected her.
I made eye contact with Isabella.
'This one's a pass.'
She nodded, confirming she felt the same.
"Sophia, if you were promoted, do you think you could handle it?"
"Excuse me? A promotion...?"
"Yes. A promotion."
Sophia pondered the meaning for a moment, then caught my authoritative gaze and shot to her feet.
"I'll give it everything I have!"
"Just giving it everything won't be enough. His Excellency has high expectations, so you'll need to approach this like your life depends on it."
"Yes! I'll do my absolute best, even if it costs me my life!"
*
The interviews continued. And I discovered that San Marcos wasn't entirely without hope.
'There are actually competent people here...'
While none quite matched the first interviewee Sophia, there were quite a few with outstanding abilities.
For example, the fifth interviewee, Mateo from the Ministry of Science and Technology, knew exactly where every piece of telecommunications equipment in San Marcos was installed, what type it was, and what function it served.
The fifteenth interviewee, Diego, had spent ten years at the Customs Office catching over 1,500 smuggling cases before being demoted after he couldn't withstand the gang threats and pressure from his superiors.
The thirty-second interviewee, Arn, Safety Bureau Director at the Ministry of Construction and the only senior official among them, was an expert among experts who had even obtained a licensed structural engineer certification in the United States.
But there was one person who stood out above all the rest.
"I am Ricardo, 7th-grade junior official at the Ministry of Commerce! It is the honor of a lifetime to be in the presence of His Greatness!"
Ricardo from the Ministry of Commerce.
A young man so tense his shoulders were stiff. His eyes behind those horn-rimmed glasses darted nervously, but personally, he was the candidate I was most excited about.
'Graduated top of his class in economics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico...'
He had returned to San Marcos only to spend five years doing nothing but making copies and fetching coffee because he wasn't former military, but that actually made me like him more.
'At least it means he hasn't been corrupted.'
Isabella seemed to share my thoughts, a smile playing at her lips as she began the questions.
"Ricardo. According to the records, you submitted a proposal for establishing an industrial bank three years ago?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"Why was it rejected?"
It was a question with an obvious answer, but a necessary one nonetheless.
What mattered was how he had thought through that experience and how he had overcome it.
After a moment's consideration, Ricardo's lips twitched before he spoke carefully.
"I believe my proposal was inadequate."
"Inadequate? Why do you think that?"
"I overlooked the fact that the country has no money."
"As poor as San Marcos is, there's still enough money to establish one bank."
"Let me clarify. As you say, the nation does have the capacity to establish a bank. However, I had forgotten that even if we created a bank, the citizens who would deposit money there are poor."
"...That's a fair point."
He was right. A bank was meaningless if it couldn't attract deposits.
"Have you thought of a solution?"
"Yes."
"Let's hear it."
Ricardo spoke as if he'd been waiting for this moment his entire life.
"We bring in branches of foreign banks."
"You're suggesting we let foreign banks into the country so they can profit from net interest margins?"
"Precisely."
"Hmm... I don't think they'd just walk in willingly."
"If we promise high interest rates, entering San Marcos would become attractive enough."
"Wouldn't the cost be too great?"
"San Marcos can't afford to fear interest payments right now. What we should fear is remaining trapped in poverty."
"......"
He raised his index finger.
"Right now, you can hardly find any products stamped 'Made in San Marcos' in the market. Why? Because there's no industrial base. Even if someone wants to open a textile factory, they have to import every single machine, but the banks won't lend to them."
"The government could fill that role..."
Ricardo shook his head at Isabella's suggestion.
"That won't work. State-led enterprise may be large-scale and stable, but it can't reach the capillaries of the economy. True economic development must start from the private sector."
His voice grew increasingly passionate.
"But look at the private entrepreneurs in San Marcos today. They have nowhere to borrow money. Their only options are to pay murderous interest rates to loan sharks or give up on their business entirely. In this environment, even if Steve Jobs were born here, he'd starve to death in his garage."
"So you'd bring in foreign banks to inject capital?"
"Yes. Foreign banks have abundant capital. If we guarantee them high net interest margins and ease regulations, they'll gladly open branches in San Marcos. The funds they bring will flow into the private lending market, which will lead to startups and investment."
"A lot of national wealth could leak out."
"Initially, it may look like money is flowing out in the form of interest payments. But in the long run, the taxes and employment generated by companies that grow with that money will far exceed the interest leaving the country."
A crystal-clear explanation. An insight that cut straight to the capital trap that plagued poor nations.
"Most importantly."
Ricardo paused to catch his breath, then concluded with conviction burning in his eyes.
"My view is that San Marcos has no national wealth to lose in the first place."
"......"
We had found our top candidate of the day.