Chapter 4

On New Year's morning, I stood at the top of an expert ski slope. Soft, thick snow lay beneath my feet, and ahead of me stretched rolling hills covered in forests and snow. Just as I was adjusting my ski goggles, the phone in my pocket suddenly buzzed.

I pulled it out and looked. It was a push notification from a news app. "Breaking News! Starhaven Technologies' flagship product was found to have serious quality issues. Multiple consumers report that carcinogenic substances in core components exceed safety limits."

I checked the time. It was 7:30 am. At that hour, most people were still asleep, and the news hadn't spread yet.

If the issue had been handled within the golden two-hour window before public opinion exploded, the crisis could have been contained before it escalated, or even turned into a successful public relations case study.

But…

I instinctively switched to the company group chat. The chat was completely silent. Not even a single emoji had been posted.

That made sense. Last night was New Year's Eve. Bryan was probably still sleeping soundly with his arms around his girlfriend after spending the night watching fireworks at the theme park.

Angela had posted photos of her family dinner on Instagram yesterday, and she had obviously been drinking quite a bit. By the time she sobered up, the sun would likely already be up.

I chuckled softly and switched off the screen without hesitation. What did it have to do with me?

I was on vacation, and Bryan had already taken over the project. If something went wrong, it wouldn't be my responsibility anymore.

Taking a deep breath of the crisp, cold air, I pushed off with both ski poles and shot down the slope like an arrow. The rush of adrenaline instantly swept away all the frustration from work.

This was amazing! This was how life was meant to be!

After I finished two more runs, I sat on the chairlift, resting with my clothes soaked in sweat. By then, two hours had already passed. The sun was already high, and the sunlight was blinding.

I casually took out my phone and opened the news again. Just as I expected, the story that had barely attracted any attention that morning was now trending across social media.

"Starhaven Technologies Carcinogen Scandal" and "Starhaven Technologies Is Ruined" were both trending topics.

I clicked on the trending topic to take a look. It turned out that in the middle of the night, an authoritative testing agency had released an evaluation report directly stating that Starhaven Technologies' core product had serious quality issues.

This issue had actually shown signs of trouble two weeks earlier. Back then, I had noticed a handful of isolated user complaints through the monitoring data.

I had immediately prepared an early warning plan, recommending that the company take steps to contain the issue in advance or at least draft public statements and compensation plans.

That plan was included in the folder I handed over to Bryan. I didn't need to guess. He definitely hadn't read it.

I opened the company group chat again. It was absolute chaos by then.

Angela tagged me and wrote, "Where the hell are you? Answer your phone! Something major happened! Get back to the office right now! Immediately!"

Bryan wrote, "Damn it! What do we do? The client has been calling nonstop, and they're cursing us out."

Bryan tagged me and wrote, "Did you do this on purpose? Why is there so much data in the file you gave me? Where did you hide the actual plan?"

Ms. Powell wrote, "What is the PR department even doing? Why hasn't a statement been released yet? This has been trending for eight hours already! Do you all want the company to go bankrupt?"

By then, the pinned "Starhaven Project VIP Coordination Group" already had over a hundred unread messages.

I could sense the client's anger even through the screen. "Where the hell is everyone from your company? Something this big happened, and not a single person has responded. Are you trying to make us terminate the contract?"