The Shadow Tycoon
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 56: The Office of Power
How luxurious can an office be?
It was a somewhat ridiculous question. Everyone had a different definition of luxury, and therefore there were countless forms of it. Still, this office undoubtedly qualified.
The gilded ceiling, the natural crystal chandelier, the mounted bear and lion heads on the walls, and the pair of ivory tusks standing taller than a man inside a display case. Such “simple” decorations were more than enough to demonstrate just how lavish the room was.
Yet, like most offices, almost everything inside belonged to the company. Only a handful of personal belongings actually belonged to the employee who occupied the room.
His name was Jorgreman, Credit Department Manager of the Sabine City Branch of Golden Exchange Bank.
Managers like him were an entirely different breed from the Account Managers out in the lobby.
He was only one step away from becoming a branch bank president, but that final step was extraordinarily difficult to cross.
Unlike most government institutions, where the second-ranking official could rise directly into the top position, promotion within Golden Exchange Bank worked differently. If Jorgreman advanced, he would most likely be transferred from the branch into a regional branch office or even headquarters, where he would effectively start climbing again from the middle ranks.
The title of Bank President represented much more than a simple change in name.
Of course, Jorgreman had never truly expected to become one.
The odds were overwhelmingly against it.
He lacked the necessary backing.
He had no patron in the headquarters boardroom, and those people had little interest in a credit manager from a second-tier city branch.
As a result, his path upward was long and difficult.
Fortunately, he was easy to satisfy.
He was content with his current life.
At forty-two years old, he had a successful career, a young and beautiful wife, and three lively, healthy children.
If nothing unexpected happened, he would probably remain in Sabine City until he was forty-eight before being transferred to a regional office to make room for someone younger.
The bank’s generous benefits meant he never worried about what would happen after leaving a key position.
High salaries and excellent benefits were enough to carry him comfortably through the rest of his life.
Of course, everyone had troubles of one kind or another.
Whether someone appeared successful had little to do with it.
Even the President of the Baler Federation could not be free of worries.
Jorgreman’s current headache was the steady decline in Sabine City’s lending business.
The volume of loans had little direct impact on someone at his level anymore.
If performance was excellent, senior management at the regional office might mention his branch during meetings.
If performance was poor, the people who suffered were usually the frontline loan officers and account managers.
Even so, it still bothered him.
Every year, Golden Exchange Bank held a company-funded vacation for employees.
Everyone belonged to the same corporate group, even if they worked in different regions.
At those gatherings, people inevitably compared business results.
The successful branches received praise.
Their managers gained better promotion opportunities.
One day, they might even become his superiors.
Those who performed poorly were rarely mocked openly, but comparisons naturally turned them into background scenery meant to highlight someone else’s success.
It was not a pleasant feeling.
He wanted to solve the problem.
The trouble was that he had no obvious solution.
As one of the six major banks of the Baler Federation, Golden Exchange Bank devoted enormous resources to understanding financial markets and international economic trends.
Ever since the explosive economic expansion of several years earlier came to an end, growth had become sluggish.
Financial markets remained active.
There was no obvious decline.
People continued insisting this was merely a temporary pause following the boom and that once the adjustment period ended, the Federation’s economy would experience another wave of strong growth.
People believed those predictions.
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