Chapter 4

The next morning, I arrived at the office right on time at nine.

The moment I pushed the door open, I knew something was off.

Normally, my coworkers would ignore me as if I were invisible, but today, every single one of them was staring at me.

How could I describe those looks?

It was as if the stray cat one could see every day in the neighborhood suddenly showed up with a gold necklace in its mouth.

Tina Lawrence poked her head out from her desk, her face full of gossipy curiosity. "Ethan, is it true? You really speak eight languages?"

Damn, news traveled that fast?

Before I could answer, Leo Yates leaned in from the other side. "I heard you were chatting with that client from Dravan about the online shooting game, and he wanted to add you as a friend right then and there?"

"Did Gideon really say you're one of the company's rising stars?"

"Who taught you Prixanian?"

"Can you teach me Zevanian?"

The crowd swarmed in faster than I expected.

I sat down at my desk, turned on my computer, and tried to get back to my usual routine of slacking off.

But I couldn't anymore because there were seven or eight people standing around my desk, staring at me like I was some kind of rare animal.

Mike was sitting across from me with his legs crossed. He had that smug look on his face as if he'd seen this coming all along.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "See? Told you so."

Before I could respond, a message popped up on the internal chat app.

It was from Gideon's secretary. [Ethan, Mr. Johnson wants to see you in his office right now.]

I closed the game window, no, the work window, and stood up.

As I walked past Kevin's desk, I glanced over out of the corner of my eye.

He was staring at his computer screen, looking pretty rough.

Honestly, he looked like he hadn't slept a wink all night.

I didn't stick around to check. I headed straight to Gideon's office.

I pushed the door open and walked in.

Gideon was making coffee. When he saw me, he smiled. "Come on in. Have a seat."

He poured me a cup of coffee and got right to the point. "Ethan, I'll be straight with you. You really saved the company last night.

"Grady sent an email this morning and said his impression of us totally changed. He's ready to sign the contract next week. Andrew called too and said he wanted you to handle things with him from now on."

I held the coffee cup. "Thanks, Mr. Johnson, but I only poured some drinks."

"Only pouring drinks?" Gideon laughed and shook his head. "Those clients used to be cold, barely interested in the business. But after what you did last night, they're basically all in."

He paused, his expression turning serious.

"I'm thinking of giving you a new role. Deputy head of the International Business Department," he said.

It meant a raise, a promotion, and my very own office.

The first thing that flashed through my mind was whether it meant I could slack off more easily. With my own office, I could run as many games as I wanted.

"Your salary will triple, plus project bonuses. What do you think?" Gideon asked.

That was 12 thousand dollars, three times my current salary, with project bonuses on top of that.

"No need to think about it," I said. "I'm in."

Gideon burst out laughing and shook my hand. "Great! Report for duty next Monday."

*****

When I stepped out of Gideon's office, there was someone waiting in the hallway.

It was Kevin.

He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looking pretty grim.

"Ethan," he said.

"Kevin," I replied.

"You're really something," Kevin said.

He definitely wasn't praising me.

I stopped in my tracks and looked at him.

He stared at me, and I could see that familiar bitterness in his eyes.

"You've been slacking off here for three years, never saying a word. Now you suddenly come out of nowhere and steal the spotlight. What's your deal? Trying to climb over me to get ahead?" he asked.

I froze for a moment.

"Hey, Kevin, I didn't mean it like that. About last night—" I said.

"Last night, you made me look bad in front of all the clients," he snapped.

He spoke fast, voice low, practically grinding his teeth as he spat out every word.

"Mr. Johnson asked me to translate, and yeah, I messed up. I admit it. But you had to step in and show off in front of everyone. That was humiliating," he complained.

I looked at him.

Honestly, his accusation made no sense.

He was the one who called me over to pour drinks.

I was planning to quietly play the role of a human bartender.

It was that Prixanian assistant who started trash-talking in his own language first.

But I didn't try to explain.

With someone like Kevin, the more I tried to explain, the more he would think I was making excuses.

I said, "Kevin, that Prixanian assistant was insulting our company in Prixanian. I only replied to him. The rest wasn't something I planned."

Kevin let out a cold laugh. "You speak eight languages and kept it under wraps for three years? You call that not planning?"

"I learned all those languages so I could play games," I said.

"You think I'm stupid?" he shot back.

I stared at him, lost for words.

There was no point arguing.

I had no way to explain this.

"Think whatever you want," I said. "But I wasn't trying to go after you."

I walked around him and headed back to my desk.

His voice came from behind me, soft but clear.

"Ethan, you think getting promoted to deputy head means you're safe? I used to run the International Business Department. You have no idea how deep the waters run in there," he said.

I didn't look back.

I sat back down at my desk and turned on my computer.

Mike leaned over. "So, what did Mr. Johnson say?"

"I got promoted. Deputy head of the International Business Department," I replied.

Mike's eyes went wide. "Damn, you really turned things around!"

"Yeah," I said.

"So, are you still gonna slack off?" Mike asked.

I paused, thinking it over.

"We'll see," I said.

"See what?" Mike pressed.

"See if the computers in the International Business Department are an upgrade from what I've got now," I replied.

Mike gave me a weird look, his face all twisted. "Ethan."

"What's up?" I replied.

"Are you seriously messed up or something?"

"Maybe."

I pulled up the login screen for the international server.

I would like to spend one more day slacking off.

Tomorrow, it would be a whole new battlefield.

But honestly, I couldn't shake off what Kevin said at the end.

"You have no idea how deep the waters run in there," he had said.

It sounded like a threat or maybe a warning.

Honestly, I'd never bothered to pay attention to the International Business Department before.

For the past three years, all I knew about this company was which bathroom stall had the best Wi-Fi and when the break room was empty.

I'd better do some homework.

I logged into the internal system and checked out the International Business Department's lineup.

Department Head: Vacant.

The deputy head position sat vacant, though I knew the role would soon belong to me.

The project manager was listed as Tom Reed.

while the account managers were Ava Lane, Chris Stone, and Ben Harris.

There was a single admin specialist.

So, including me, it was six people in total.

It was a pretty small team.

But then I noticed something. Tucked away in the notes in minuscule font was a line stating that Kevin, the former department head, had been transferred to another department.

Wait, Kevin used to be the head of this department?

And he got transferred out? Why?

I scrolled down and spotted something more interesting.

Over the past two years, the International Business Department lost 47% of its clients.

What did that percent mean?

If this were a game, we would've surrendered already.

I stared at the screen, my fingers tapping the desk without me even noticing.

Did Kevin get kicked out of this department because the numbers were that bad?

Was Gideon throwing me in there to help them out?

Or was there something else going on here?

"Ethan!" Mike's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Huh?" I replied.

"You look kinda off. What's up?" he asked.

I closed the window. "I'm thinking about something"

"What's on your mind?" Mike asked.

I glanced at him. "So tell me, if a department loses 47% of its clients, is that a people problem or a system problem?"

Mike scratched his head. "Dude, you're asking me? I work with backend data."

"Can you pull up the client files for this department from the last two years?" I asked.

Mike blinked. "Are you serious about this?"

I leaned back in my chair, staring up at the ceiling.

I had been slacking off for three years, playing games. It was time for a change.

"Do me a favor," I said.

"Sure. I'll get it to you before we clock out," Mike replied.

I fired up the game and played one last ranked match.

I won.

That was a good sign.