On the first work day after the holidays, Samuel Cooper, the department director, suddenly corners me at my workplace with an HR executive and two security guards.

"Levi Young, you are fired! Now, hand over your work badge!"

I frown instantly at Samuel. As I look at the growing crowd, I reply calmly, "Mr. Cooper, are you burning bridges now?"

The Christmas holidays have lasted for nine days. But I'm the only one who has been working throughout the holidays. As soon as work starts after the holidays, Samuel wants to fire me right away.

Samuel huffs coldly at me. "You leaked the company's core secrets! The fact that I'm not demanding compensation from you shows how kind-hearted I am! How dare you proclaim your so-called grievances before me!"

"I… leaked the company's secrets?"

I've been working at this company for five years. Sure, I've managed countless projects, but I have never made any mistakes as well.

The sight of my stunned expression makes Samuel scoff in return.

"That's enough. Cut it with the act! The security camera in the office has recorded everything clearly! On the night of Christmas Eve, you recited a long string of numbers and alphabets into your phone! What else could it be other than an encrypted message?"

I'm left feeling flabbergasted for a few more seconds before realization dawns on me.

The thing is… I was sharing the Wi-Fi password to a stray at the company that night!

As soon as Samuel Cooper finished speaking, the HR representative beside him handed over a resignation agreement that had obviously been prepared in advance.

"Mr. Cooper specifically pleaded your case with the headquarters. They're even waiving the compensation penalty for breach of contract. Just sign the resignation agreement and pack your bags."

My head buzzed from the sheer absurdity of it all.

Right before the holidays, I had practically drunk myself sick and gotten a stomach ulcer just to secure deals worth over 100 million dollars for the company.

I had planned to finally relax during the holidays, but out of nowhere, Samuel had announced that the department would draw lots to decide who would stay behind for overtime duty.

It made no sense to me at that time. We were a tech company. There was absolutely no reason for anyone to be on call during the holidays.

Nevertheless, I went along with the management's decision and joined the draw.

Of course, out of everyone there, I was the unlucky one who got picked. The luxury week-long vacation I had booked months in advance had to be canceled on the spot.

What I never expected was that the moment my nine straight days of overtime work ended, I would immediately be called in and laid off.

Seeing that I was speechless, Samuel lost his patience. He snatched the agreement from HR and slapped it right in my face. The sharp edges of the papers scraped across the bridge of my nose, drawing blood.

I took a deep breath and held my ground. "I did not leak any corporate secrets. Therefore, I am not signing anything!"

The second those words left my mouth, Samuel's expression darkened. "Looks like you won't give in until it's too late."

As soon as he said that, the chubby security guard beside him suddenly stepped forward and handed him a phone. A surveillance video of me working in the duty room was playing on the screen.

My blood instantly ran cold. I stared at Samuel in disbelief. "You installed surveillance cameras in the duty room? That's a violation of employee privacy rights!"

He reacted as if he had just heard the funniest joke of the year and burst out laughing.

"Violation of privacy? Those cameras were installed for employee safety so we could respond immediately if something happened. It's not my fault that we ended up catching a mole instead!"

That label hit me like a slap in the face, leaving me burning with humiliation.

"Watch your mouth! Who are you calling a mole?" I snapped back.

Samuel couldn't care less. "Enough already. Sign the papers. Otherwise, I'll file a lawsuit against you for leaking confidential company information and demand damages. If that happens, you won't be able to leave even if you want to."

My face darkened as I looked at the non-compete clause clearly stated in the agreement, barring me from joining any competitor in the same industry for the next six months.

I laughed. "Your go-to strategy really hasn't changed, huh, Mr. Cooper? You use someone, then throw them away the second they're no longer useful."

My words immediately upset Samuel.

We had been college classmates. Back in our senior year, we entered a business competition together and won first prize. Thanks to that project, the company directly hired both of us.

On the first day we reported for work, however, Samuel rushed ahead of me to report to management and claimed the entire project concept as his own.

Since then, he had been the management's golden boy, even though we joined the company at the same time. Thanks to the special attention he received, he climbed the ranks quickly and soon landed the position of department director.

"What the hell are you trying to say, Levi?" Samuel shot back. "You leaked corporate secrets, yet still think you're in the right. If I hadn't stepped in, the headquarters would've already launched an internal investigation against you!"

He stood there looking so righteous and principled that it was almost comical.

"Very well, then," I said calmly. "I'll resign."

Samuel froze for a second, clearly caught off guard. "Y-You will?"

Even the two security guards beside him were stunned. They had obviously been planning to drag me out by force if I refused to resign voluntarily. No one expected me to agree so readily.

"What's wrong, Mr. Cooper? You don't look too happy. Or should I change my mind and stay?"

Samuel's face turned gloomy. "Cut the crap! Just pack your things and get out!"

With that, he turned and left, leaving the two security guards behind to watch me clear out my desk. Before leaving, I asked if I could make one more trip to the duty room.

"What do you need to go back there for?" they questioned me, tensing up as if they were facing a major threat.

"I just remembered I left my power bank there. I'm only going to grab it. If you're worried, you can come with me."

They exchanged glances. Figuring I couldn't possibly cause trouble under their watch, they eventually let me go in alone. I walked into the duty room and called out a few times.

Soon, a tiny snow-white furball waddled over to me. I filled up its food and water bowls before finally turning around and leaving.

The moment I walked out of the company building carrying my things, I saw a new message from Samuel pop up in the work group chat. He had tagged everyone.

"Notice—former employee, Levi Young, has voluntarily resigned effective immediately due to serious violations of company policy. I will fully oversee all projects previously under his management."

The second I read it, I felt like everything clicked. Samuel had been in such a rush to force me out because he wanted to take over my 100-million-dollar accounts.

What he didn't know was that those projects were far too much for him to handle alone.

The instant his announcement went out, my phone exploded with notifications. Dozens of former clients and business partners started messaging me for clarification.

"Mr. Young, what happened? Why did you suddenly resign?"

I gave all of them the same response.

"I've resigned. Thank you all for your continued support and trust over the years. I'm sure our paths will cross again in the future."

After sending that message, I immediately exited most of the company group chats. At the same time, I also canceled every new contract I had negotiated during the holidays.

There weren't many people returning to work after the holidays, so a commute that normally took over two hours surprisingly only took 20 minutes.

That reminded me that I had originally planned to rent an apartment near the office because I had heard the company offered a three-thousand-dollar housing allowance.

Yet, after I joined, Samuel took the initiative to propose to management that the housing allowance be canceled in the name of cost reduction and efficiency optimization.

The management loved the idea and approved it on the spot.

To save money, I had no choice but to move somewhere much farther from the office.

Over the years, I worked overtime without complaint. Even when I was burning with a 104-degree fever, I still sat there revising project proposals, all while hooked up to an IV drip.

In the end, all I got in return was a layoff notice.

The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. I switched on my laptop and organized every single overtime record I had accumulated over the past three years before forwarding them to HR.

I added one final note underneath, addressed directly to the CEO, Alfred Langley.

"Dear Mr. Langley, attached are my overtime records totaling 1232 hours over the past three years. Please process overtime compensation based on my hourly rate. Thank you."

Not long after I sent the email, my phone started ringing.

"Levi, have you lost your damn mind? How could you demand compensation from the company? You only worked overtime because your work efficiency was terrible.

"You had to stay late just to finish your tasks. How does that qualify for overtime compensation?"

Samuel's shrill voice blasted through the phone. "And besides, I haven't even gone after you for leaking corporate secrets. Now, you're demanding money from us? Do you hear how ridiculous that sounds?"

I forced myself to stay calm. "Mr. Cooper, I'll say this one more time—I did not leak any corporate secrets!"

That is, unless chatting to the company's stray cat during downtime somehow counted as leaking confidential information.

Samuel hung up immediately, then turned around and started updating the company group chat with text messages.

"Attention, everyone. To set an example for the company, I've decided not to cover for Levi Young anymore. The reason for his termination is simple. He leaked confidential company information."

That reveal instantly blew up the group chat. Many chimed in immediately.

"Shit. It's that serious?"

"No way! Mr. Young always seemed super honest and down-to-earth. How could he do something that reckless?"

Samuel let out a mocking snort before replying in the chat, "That's because all of you were fooled by his looks! People who look the most honest are always the most calculating deep down. I hope this serves as a warning to everyone."

The moment he said that, the others piled on.

"Agreed. I have to say, Mr. Cooper really does put the company's interests above everything else."

"Cases like this should be reported to the industry association, honestly. Those who violate company policy deserve to be blacklisted across the entire industry."

I recognized the person who sent that last message. It was my ex-mentee, Justin Moore.

Back when he first joined the company as an ordinary bachelor's graduate, no one wanted to mentor him. I was the one who took him in without hesitation and taught him everything I knew.

Not long after that, his attitude toward me changed completely. Later, I found out he had found a new backer, Samuel.

Sure enough, Samuel picked up on that comment and continued, "I don't want to make things ugly either. That's why I only had him sign a non-compete agreement. As long as he doesn't join a competitor, it's fine."

That seemingly magnanimous statement earned him yet another wave of admiration from employees who had no idea what was really going on.

Watching the entire group chat echo Samuel's words like parrots, I typed a message of my own. "If I can prove I never leaked any corporate secrets, will you publicly apologize to me?"

The second that message appeared, the group chat, with more than 500 members, fell silent.

"Apologize? Are you insane? You're the one who screwed up first. Why should Mr. Cooper apologize to you?" Justin was the first to jump out and attack me.

"So, this is what it was about. Back when Mr. Cooper asked everyone to draw lots for the holidays' duty shifts, you were unusually enthusiastic. You even volunteered to draw first. Turns out you just wanted to stay behind so you could leak corporate secrets!"

I frowned immediately. The accusation was sheer nonsense.

Back then, when Samuel proposed the overtime duty, all the staff had been complaining nonstop. It was Samuel who singled me out for being the so-called department's top performer and told me to set an example for everyone else.

Who would've thought I would end up drawing the overtime shift on the very first try? Now that I thought about it, maybe they had been setting me up from the moment that the lottery started.

Whether I had actually leaked anything never mattered in the first place. What mattered was whether everyone believed I was the mole.

That thought sent another surge of anger rushing through me. My fingers slammed against the keyboard hard enough to make it rattle.

"For the last time, I did not leak corporate secrets! And if I did, so did every single one of you here! You're all doing it every day!"

That statement alone triggered outrage among the spectators in the group chat.

"Come on, Mr. Young. Even if you want to defend yourself, you can't just start saying ridiculous stuff like that."

"Exactly! If we're all leaking corporate secrets, Mr. Cooper should fire every single one of us!"

"Seriously, this is getting absurd. He's obviously lashing out because he got caught!"

Watching one uninformed coworker after another step forward to condemn me, I felt nothing but a cold bitterness.

Before the holidays, Declan McGrath, the CEO of a rival company that had been competing with us for years, personally invited me to join his firm. Out of loyalty to my current company, I kept turning him down.

In hindsight, I had been unbelievably foolish.

As the members of the group chat continued piling accusations onto me, Samuel finally intervened at a leisurely pace. On the surface, he sounded like he was trying to calm everyone down. In reality, he was just dragging my name through the mud.

"Alright, everyone. Let's stop arguing. To be honest, Levi and I were college classmates. He was already doing things like this back then. I kept quiet out of respect for our history together, though looking back now…

"I guess my tolerance is to blame for indulging all his reckless behavior!"

The second he finished, Justin chimed back in to accuse me.

"I can confirm Mr. Cooper's telling the truth. Back when I was learning under Levi, he never let me handle contracts independently. Every single deal had to go through him first.

"He was obviously scared I'd discover he was leaking corporate secrets. That's why he guarded everything so carefully!"

My mind went blank as I read their messages. They were both pathetic and laughable.

Company policy clearly stated that junior sales staff were not authorized to sign contracts independently.

The reason I never let Justin handle deals on his own was, first, because I abided by company regulations, and second, because I didn't want him to become overconfident and forget the rules.

Somehow, in his eyes, that had become proof that I had been leaking corporate secrets.

As the accusations flooded the group chat like endless waves, I spoke up once more. "For the very, very last time, I did not leak corporate secrets!"

Samuel immediately tagged me in the chat and dropped a screenshot, showing the pricing for a new product launch from Declan's company.

"Holy crap. Am I seeing this right? Their product is the same type as ours, and their price is only a cent lower than ours!"

I froze instantly. I stared at the screenshot he posted over and over again, checking every detail carefully.

"That's impossible!"