Chapter 2

After getting home from work, a video notification suddenly popped up.

The sensational headline screamed:

"My Salary vs. Their 'Mandatory' Luxury Retreat: Is This a Blessing or a Curse?"

On the thumbnail, it was Chloe's face, a picture of pure, forced misery.

My stomach lurched, and I clicked on the video.

It opened with a promotional video for a six-star Maldives hotel, but it was desaturated to a gloomy black and white, set to somber music.

Text overlay appeared:

"The boss's sugar-coated promises sure *look* good."

The scene switched to Chloe's desk, with a close-up of a regular spreadsheet.

New text:

"But I'm just a regular employee, all I want is to clock out and go home."

Then a close-up of her looking tearfully wronged, with the text:

"Being told my precious personal weekend would be eaten up by some huge, forced group performance? Yeah, no thanks."

She slyly twisted "extra paid time off" into "eating up our precious weekends."

Finally, she addressed the camera, accusingly:

"Forget the Maldives. All I want is to sleep in on my days off. If this is a 'blessing,' you can have it."

The comments section, predictably, blew up.

"Gen Z knows how to live! Name and shame! We'll help you cancel them!"

"Hate bosses like this, just patting themselves on the back! Get it straight, my job is to work, not to perform for some 'team-building' charade."

"Introverts hate team building! Give us back our peace and quiet!"

My blood ran cold with fury.

Three days of paid leave, spun as "eating up our precious weekends."

A several-thousand-dollar luxury benefit, framed as "blackmail."

The next morning, the company atmosphere felt off.

Several employees clustered around Chloe, verbally chastising her for being "too bold" while their faces gleamed with excited curiosity.

Gary Thompson, the office veteran, even walked directly into my office with her.

Gary began with a phony sigh.

"Alex, don't be mad. While Chloe's approach was a bit extreme, she did speak for a lot of young people. Maybe... you should just go with the flow?"

Chloe stood beside him, arms crossed, a smug, defiant expression on her face.

She wiggled her phone. "Alex, see? This is what everyone wants. It's the current trend."

I said coldly, "The company's traditions and rules will not change because of anyone's childish antics."

Chloe let out a dismissive scoff. "Traditions? Traditions are meant to be broken.

If you don't find a way to make people happy, I can't guarantee this won't go viral nationwide tomorrow."

Just as she finished, my assistant burst through the door, pale as a ghost.

"Alex, it's bad! Chloe Reed's video is already trending!"

I refreshed my phone, and it was true.

What chilled me even more were a few anonymous comments below the video, the IP addresses traced back to *this very building*.

"Ugh, tell me about it. They call it a luxury trip, but last year's hotel room was smaller than my bathroom."

"Benefits? Just empty promises. They say 'thousands per person,' but that dump barely cost a few hundred."

These lies made my head swim.

They wanted the company's lavish benefits, yet they wanted to push all the risk onto an intern. They fantasized that if things blew up, the trip would be directly converted into cash.

This sophisticated yet greedy self-interest shattered years of my goodwill.

I looked at the two triumphant figures before me and suddenly felt utterly hollow.