The Shadow Tycoon
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 45: Behind the Director’s Door
At that moment, another conversation was taking place inside the Director’s office at the Sabine City IRS.
On one side was the owner of the office, the local Tax Bureau Director. On the other was the highest-ranking chief from the state office.
The structure of the Baler Federation IRS was fairly simple. Its highest authority was the Federation Internal Revenue Service, headed by the Director-General at headquarters. Beneath headquarters and its various offices were the Federation Tax Administration offices in each state.
These state-level administrative offices did not handle any tax-related services directly. They were purely management bodies. In some respects, they did not possess as much direct authority as the grassroots IRS offices in the various districts, but they controlled administrative matters such as performance evaluations for local tax officials. Their hidden power was, if anything, even greater.
Only one day had passed since the incident began, but in that single day it had already alarmed the Director-General at Federation Internal Revenue Service Headquarters, who demanded that the lower offices resolve the matter as quickly as possible and prevent public opinion from exploding.
“Michael’s work can be stopped. Have him disappear from public view for the time being. Also, I hear he suspects this William may have problems of his own?”
The state office commissioner’s voice carried a trace of coldness, and it made the Director’s heart pound. He was already in his fifties. Even if he did not want to give up the chair beneath him, he could not sit in it much longer.
Especially if his successor was promoted from below, he would have only two or three years left at most. After all, the successor would need time to familiarize himself with the work before he could better serve the Federation.
That left him with a small problem to solve. During the period before his retirement, should he enjoy a relaxed pre-retirement posting, or should he suffer through hard, thankless work?
They were all “promotions,” but some jobs were easy. The advisory group under the state office, for instance, did not even require anyone to remain at the workplace. One only had to show up when needed and say a few words.
Places like that existed to accommodate management personnel approaching retirement. They were relaxed, well paid, and came with better treatment. After a lifetime of laboring for the Federation, it was a comfortable old age.
But some places were far less pleasant, such as the state-level archives and evidence management office. Every kind of file and every piece of evidence from across the state eventually gathered there. Not the slightest mistake could be tolerated. Just thinking about it was enough to make a man afraid. It was truly a position that could work someone to death.
In the end, whether he was promoted, and where he was transferred afterward, would all be decided by the state office. At that moment, as he wiped the sweat from his face, he kept nodding.
“Yes...”
“Then investigate William. Investigate him hard. Investigate him properly. If you can prove William really is a criminal, perhaps it will cool down public opinion.”
“And one more thing. The higher-ups have some opinions about how you have been running Sabine City. I know you are retiring soon, but that is not an excuse for inaction. We are Federal Executive Departments, not some private firm. If you truly give people a suitable reason, removing you during this last stretch of your career is not impossible.”
Those words made the Director’s backside clench.
In the Baler Federation, the retirement threshold was fifty-six for women and sixty for men. After retirement, pensions were issued according to the standard of Social Insurance contributions.
That standard was divided into three main tiers. Different tiers paid different amounts.
If the Director could remain in the IRS until sixty, then after retirement he would receive the Federation’s highest current pension tier, at least around seven hundred and fifty dollars a month.
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