Chapter 9: The Smear Campaign

But Lillian was wrong about one thing.

Derek knew perfectly well that upgrading the new system was necessary.

No matter how much he disliked me, he waited until I finished the upgrade before kicking me out.

I scrolled through the ‘exposé’ post—the comments kept piling up.

Some mocked, some jeered, some speculated maliciously.

But none of them knew the truth.

A few minutes later, the ‘exposé’ shot to the top of the company Slack.

My personal info, attendance records, and perfunctory performance reviews were all posted.

Any achievements not listed in reports were wiped away.

Normally, posts leaking private info would be deleted by the admins.

But this one stayed up for all to see—no need to guess who authorized it.

Lillian was crying on voice chat.

As long as this post stayed up, I could forget about getting hired by any decent company.

Derek didn’t want me at Vivid, and he definitely didn’t want me at a competitor.

Thinking back, Derek often dropped hints that I should keep my head down:

“Alex, you don’t understand management. This job isn’t for regular staff.”

“I have to do PR outside, take risks inside. You can’t imagine how hard it is.”

Too bad I never took the hint:

“But your salary’s a lot higher than a regular employee’s.”

His ‘work’ did have results:

He was the ‘chief engineer.’ Vivid was his creation. He had connections up and down the chain.

In the end, he found the right moment to sweep me out like garbage.

The bitterness in my mouth tasted worse than any burnt office coffee. My legacy, erased with a few clicks. I clenched my fists, knuckles turning white. But somewhere beneath the anger was a flicker of resolve.