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!"

"Hey, Levi! You were the one in charge of this product line—and the first person to know the pricing strategy! Now, Mr. McGrath's company suddenly releases a nearly identical product priced just a cent lower than ours.

"You expect everyone to believe that's just a coincidence? If that's not leaking our information, I don't know what is!"

Samuel's accusation immediately made the others feel like they had finally found concrete evidence. They started echoing him.

"That's right! We have proof now! Stop trying to argue your way out of this, Mr. Young!"

"Mr. Cooper is being way too merciful. If it were me, I'd make him compensate the company for its losses!"

Samuel let out another theatrical sigh before continuing in the group chat, "Forget it. Considering he did contribute plenty to the company in the past, I can ask headquarters not to pursue the matter, as long as he resigns voluntarily."

I bit down hard on my lip and immediately called Declan. To my surprise, that call led to an unexpected revelation.

A few minutes later, I reopened the group chat and saw hundreds of messages demanding that I issue a public apology.

After a brief silence, I replied, "Fine. I'll attend the product launch conference and apologize to Mr. Cooper in person."

The moment the message appeared, Samuel jumped out to put on another fake act of generosity.

"Well, that won't be necessary. We're not unreasonable people here. Of course, former employees are welcome to return and attend the product launch."

With that, he instantly painted himself as the understanding and magnanimous leader in everyone's eyes. But I knew he understood better than anyone else just how much effort I had put into that launch.

Not only did he want to steal all the credit, but he also wanted to snatch it right before my eyes.

I ignored the smug arrogance dripping from his words and contacted Declan again to make sure he would attend the event and coordinate with me from the inside.

Two days later, it was finally time for the company's new product launch event.

Dressed in an impeccable suit, Samuel stood onstage, looking polished and successful as he passionately introduced the company's newest product to the crowd.

Then, I appeared in the audience.

After receiving a signal from Samuel, Justin immediately pointed at me and shouted dramatically, "Hey, look! Isn't that Levi Young, the former employee who leaked corporate secrets? How do you still have the nerve to show up here?"

The second he yelled that out, guests all around us turned to scrutinize me.

I took a deep breath and pointed toward Samuel, who stood under the spotlight onstage. "Mr. Cooper, we talked about this before. What exactly will you do if I can prove I never leaked corporate secrets?"

His expression shifted. Under many watchful eyes, he answered without hesitation, "If you didn't leak corporate secrets as you claimed, how did Mr. McGrath's company release a product priced just a cent lower than ours?

"I even have photos of you meeting privately with him, plus surveillance footage of you reciting a string of encrypted numbers into your phone while on overtime duty, which you volunteered for!"

The moment those words came out from the loudspeakers, the entire venue erupted. The way people looked at me changed from initial doubt and suspicion to sheer contempt and disdain.

I didn't rush to defend myself. Instead, I glanced toward the staff member controlling the presentation screen and gave him a subtle signal.

He immediately understood and played the surveillance footage from my New Year's Eve shift on the giant screen.

At first, Samuel had still been wary that I might actually produce some kind of evidence to fight back. When he saw me replaying the same surveillance footage as the one he had, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Levi, are you seriously trying to hammer the final nail into your own coffin? I was actually planning to leave you a little dignity, but clearly, you've got a death wish."

I ignored his mockery and coldly addressed everyone present. "Mr. Cooper, as well as all my tech colleagues here, why don't you listen carefully to what I was actually saying in that recording?"

In the silent conference hall, my voice rang out clearly from the speakers, accompanied by faint little meows in the background.

"Hey, Snowball. Here to steal our Wi-Fi again? Remember this, okay? The new password is 'Welcome2026'!"

The audio ended, leaving the venue pin-drop silent.