Chapter 1 The Fall of the Cybersecurity Department

"It's nothing serious. Don't take it to heart. I'm busy—gotta go."

Julian Fraser's voice came through cold and clipped, though I could tell from the background noise he was already on his way over. The secretary obviously heard it too; he rolled his eyes so hard it was almost theatrical before finally letting me into the conference room.

I thought that little act of pettiness at the door would be the end of it. But the moment I stepped inside, I could feel the air change. Everyone avoided me as if I were contagious. Wherever I sat, the people nearby would shift their chairs within seconds.

I raised a brow but didn't bother to react. I'd never been popular here anyway—people whispered, pointed, and sneered behind my back all the time. I was long past caring.

"Thank you all for attending this management meeting. Since Mr. Fraser hasn't arrived yet, I'll begin with a brief introduction on his behalf."

The secretary who had stopped me earlier took the stage, launching straight into the agenda—routine business adjustments, personnel changes, and a few other minor issues. I listened half-heartedly, scrolling through my phone from time to time just to stay awake.

"As company profits have dropped by 3% compared to last quarter, the board believes that reasonable budget cuts are necessary," he continued. That was when I noticed everyone suddenly turning to look at me, their eyes gleaming with glee that I couldn't quite understand.

Then, the secretary faced me directly. "Skye Solen, the Cybersecurity Department will be dissolved first. You haven't brought in any profit all these years, and you're the only one in that department. What's the point of clinging to a title and coasting on the company's dime? It's been a terrible look for us!"

So, that was why everyone's attitude had been off that day. I couldn't help laughing under my breath at how absurd it all was. "Are you sure? You're actually shutting down my department?"

The secretary snorted, as though I were too dense to understand human language.

That was when a few of my colleagues jumped in to pile on.

"Give it up, Solen! How much clearer does it need to be?"

"If you can't handle it, maybe you should start with some self-reflection. You've been on your phone since the meeting began!"

"Disrespecting the secretary means disrespecting Mr. Fraser—you know that, don't you?"

I could only stare at them, speechless. "I was checking the firewall logs to make sure no malware breached our core systems while I was away. How did that turn into me being disrespectful to Mr. Fraser?"

Did none of them even understand what I did for this company?

However, my words only stirred another wave of mockery.

"What's the point of monitoring? When has the company ever been under that much threat?"

"Exactly. You probably sit in your office daydreaming half the time. Suddenly, you're pretending to work hard now that Mr. Fraser's on his way?"

Looking around the room, I finally realized just how many of them despised me. I'd never noticed it before. The irony hit me hard—after years of keeping the company's systems airtight, I was now being ridiculed for doing my job too well.

It reminded me of a joke I'd once seen online: a programmer, afraid people would think he had nothing to do, secretly created bugs so others would call him to fix them. That way, at least he looked useful.

Maybe I should've done the same. Staying quiet and just doing my work clearly didn't earn me any respect.

Well, fine. If that was how they wanted to play it, I wouldn't bother being polite either.

I rose slowly to my feet, letting my gaze sweep over every one of them. "If it weren't for me, this company would've gone under a long time ago. You think you can talk down to me? Let me make one thing clear—the Cybersecurity Department is the most important department in this company. Got it?"

The secretary scoffed even louder. "And what gives you that confidence? Mr. Fraser? Don't be naive, Skye."

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could, the conference room door swung open—and a sharp voice cut through the air.

"Enough!"