Chapter 1

My male coworker secretly replaces his name with mine on the holiday duty roster so he can spend New Year's Eve with his rich, beautiful girlfriend.

I confront him and tell him to change it back.

Yet he replies self-righteously, "You're single. Does it really matter where you spend New Year's Eve? We're all friends. What's wrong with helping me out? I've already bought tickets for the famous theme park. You're not seriously expecting me to cancel them, are you?"

When New Year's Day arrives, the company's system crashes, and a major client storms into the office. Our boss discovers the position is unattended and flies into a rage.

He calls me, shouting in frustration and begging me to cover his shift.

I don't give in to him. Instead, I post on Instagram and tag my location at the ski resort on Northstar Mountain.

The caption says, "The happiness of being single is something you'll never understand."

Chapter 1

Three days before the New Year's holiday began, the admin department posted the holiday duty schedule in the group chat. Since public relations was a special line of work, someone had to monitor public opinion and client feedback during the break.

I opened the spreadsheet and saw my name, Jeremy Crawford, listed as the person on duty.

I froze. Wasn't my coworker, Bryan Simpson, supposed to be on duty for New Year's?

I walked straight over to Bryan's desk. He was styling his hair in front of a small mirror, looking pleased with himself.

"Bryan, what's going on with the schedule? Weren't you supposed to be on duty for New Year's?" I asked, holding back my anger.

Bryan slowly leaned back in his chair without even meeting my eyes, spinning a lighter in his hand. "Oh, that. I had plans for New Year's, so I switched shifts with you.

"Tickets for that big theme park were almost impossible to get. My girlfriend had to pay a scalper extra just to grab them, and they weren't refundable.

"Besides, no one's going to ask you out anyway. You might as well use the holiday to improve yourself while nobody bothers you. You've been with the company for two years, and you're still stuck where you are."

As he finished speaking, he looked me up and down with a mocking glance.

I laughed out of sheer frustration. If anyone needed to improve, it was him.

He and I had joined the company at the same time. Instead of focusing on his job, he spent every day figuring out how to flatter the managers and undermine people who actually worked hard. Even now, he couldn't use basic Excel formulas that a middle school student could handle.

Even so, his base salary was still two thousand dollars higher than mine.

If I hadn't been handling the company's biggest public relations project of the year, the annual brand maintenance for Starhaven Technologies, and counting on it to improve my standing before asking my manager for a raise, I would have stopped working with an incompetent coworker like Bryan long ago.

I sneered. "Did you ever discuss it with me? I was already on duty during National Day and Thanksgiving. The company clearly scheduled you this time. What gives you the right to switch shifts without my consent?

"I don't agree. I want to rest during New Year's too. I'm going to talk to the admin right now and get it switched back."

At that, Bryan finally turned around and stared at me in disbelief. "Jeremy, why are you being so petty? Haven't you seen the news? The country is encouraging people to have more children and raise the marriage rate. This is a national priority. Do you even understand that?"

His sudden leap to a national issue caught me off guard. How did swapping a shift turn into a matter of national importance?

Seeing that I remained silent, Bryan thought he had intimidated me and grew even more self-righteous. "My relationship with my girlfriend is getting serious right now. This trip to the theme park for New Year's is part of preparing for our marriage down the road.

"If we don't get married, how are we supposed to respond to the country's call to have more children? How are we supposed to help with the aging population?"

He jabbed a finger at me, spittle flying as he spoke. "And what about you? You're single, with no one depending on you. What else do you do at home during holidays besides playing video games? You're not contributing anything to society, and you're not helping with the population problem either.

"If you cover my shift so I can spend more time with my girlfriend, you're indirectly contributing to the country's marriage rate. How can you be so selfish? Don't you have any sense of responsibility?"

I was completely speechless. His shamelessness reached a whole new level. According to him, if I didn't cover his shift, he wouldn't be able to get married and have kids.

"Bryan, without the New Year's holiday, are you incapable of getting married or having children? Get one thing straight. I'm here to work, not to be the security guard for your love life," I said.

The moment I finished speaking, the coworkers who always acted like Bryan's best buddies immediately gathered around us.

Chapter 2

Aidan Rios, a senior employee, said sarcastically, "Jeremy, Bryan is right. His girlfriend comes from a wealthy family. Who knows, the company might end up counting on her to bring in some big deals down the road!

"Have you been single for so long that your mind has become twisted and you can't stand seeing other people happy?"

A male intern who had just graduated chimed in. "Exactly, Jeremy. If I were you, I'd volunteer to help. You're single anyway. You'll just go home and sit there by yourself. How miserable. Why not stay at work and keep yourself busy instead?

"No wonder you can't find a girlfriend. With such a petty personality, what woman would ever want you?"

They kept talking over each other, their voices ringing in my ears like a swarm of flies. At that moment, I finally realized there was no point in trying to reason with these people.

I slammed my palm down on the desk, and the sudden noise made all of them flinch. "Shut up, all of you! Since you care so much about the bigger picture and want to boost the national marriage rate so badly—"

I pointed at Aidan and the intern. "Fine. Aidan, since you're so enthusiastic, you can cover Bryan's shift. You already have kids, so you don't need to help boost the marriage rate anymore."

Then I turned to the intern. "And you. You think being single is so miserable, right? Then you can stay behind and work during New Year's too. Maybe one of the cafeteria ladies will see how hardworking you are and fall for you.

"Since this is such a great opportunity, you two should be fighting over it. Why push it onto me?"

The noisy crowd instantly fell silent. Aidan's face darkened, while the intern shrank back and didn't dare say another word.

Seeing that no one was backing him up anymore, Bryan kicked a chair in frustration. "I don't care. Ms. Robertson has already signed off on the list. It won't do you any good even if you go to admin!"

I grabbed the duty schedule off the desk and looked at him coldly. "Fine. Then let's go see Ms. Robertson."

The moment we walked into the office of our director, Angela Robertson, Bryan immediately put on a pitiful expression.

He sighed and said, "Ms. Robertson, I didn't mean anything bad by it. I just noticed Jeremy doesn't really have plans most of the time, so I thought I'd give him a chance to earn some extra overtime pay.

"Besides, I've already bought the tickets. They cost several hundred dollars. Not only did Jeremy refuse to help me, but he even yelled at me."

Angela was a strong, capable woman in her fifties. She had always had a soft spot for young guys like Bryan who knew how to put on a convincing act.

She frowned, tapped her desk, and looked at me. "Jeremy, it's such a small issue. Did you really have to bring it all the way to me?"

I took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. "Ms. Robertson, this isn't a small thing. It's a matter of principle. If anyone who wants to slack off can simply put someone else's name on the schedule, then what's the point of the company's attendance system?

"Besides, I already booked my own trip, and it can't be refunded either."

I lied. I hadn't actually booked anything yet, but there was no way I was backing down now.

Angela's frown deepened, clearly annoyed that I wasn't giving in. "Jeremy, you need to learn to be flexible. Team spirit is very important. By refusing to cooperate, you're putting me in a difficult position."

Bryan chimed in beside her, his words a mix of threats and bribery. "Jeremy, how about I pay you an extra five hundred dollars? I'm begging you. Stop being so selfish, okay? We're both men. Don't be so petty about it."

The two of them worked together perfectly. I was the one being wronged, yet somehow I became the troublemaker.

I had thought Angela, as the leader, would be reasonable about an issue clearly covered by company policy, like holiday duty, but she turned out to be just as disappointing as Bryan.

I took another deep breath and looked at Angela and Bryan seriously. "Ms. Robertson, if the company is mandating that I work the shift, please issue a written notice and cover the losses from canceling my trip. If this is simply Bryan's personal request, then I'm sorry, but I won't agree to it."

The office fell silent for a few seconds. Angela probably hadn't expected that someone like me, who usually kept my head down and worked quietly, would push back so firmly today.

She narrowed her eyes, a hint of malice appearing in her expression. "Fine, Jeremy. Since you refuse to go along with the arrangement, hand over the Starhaven Technologies project you've been working on."

I froze. "What did you just say?"

Angela picked up her coffee cup and spoke casually. "I said, transfer the project to Bryan. This project is important, and it needs someone who understands the bigger picture and knows how to handle things flexibly.

"Someone as petty as you isn't suited to working with major clients. Bryan has been performing well lately. Let him take over. You can use the opportunity to get some rest."

Chapter 3

The blood rushed straight to my head in an instant. I had been working on this major project for three months!

Over those three months, I never left the office before 10:00 pm. I had revised the proposal more than ten times, pulled countless all-nighters, and lost clumps of hair.

Now the proposal was finalized, the client was satisfied, and we were about to sign the acceptance documents so I could receive my commission and year-end bonus. Making me hand over the project at this point was obviously an attempt to take credit for my work.

Sure enough, the moment Bryan heard the news, he dropped the pitiful look he had been putting on, and the corners of his mouth curled up despite his efforts to hide it.

He shot me a smug glance. "Ms. Robertson, don't worry. I definitely won't let you down! I'll do a far better job than certain people who only know how to work blindly without thinking!"

I trembled with anger. When I spoke again, my voice cracked with emotion. "On what grounds? Aren't you worried that doing this will discourage those of us who actually do the real work? This is unfair. I'm going to appeal to higher management!"

Angela simply let out a cold laugh. "Who are you going to take this up with? Ms. Powell? She's so busy every day, and even I rarely get to see her. How are you going to reach her?

"Also, don't even think about quitting. The company spent a fortune training you and had you sign a five-year contract. If you leave before it expires, you'll have to pay millions of dollars in penalties for breaching your contract."

As soon as she finished speaking, my heart sank.

I walked back to my desk, completely disheartened. The moment I sat down, Bryan dropped a stack of documents nearly as tall as my waist onto my desk with a loud bang.

Even though he was clearly thrilled, he put on a helpless expression. "Look at you. You just had to make a scene. Now I have to clean up the mess you left behind.

"Forget it. I'll just treat this as repayment for you switching shifts with me. Since you're free now, you can take care of all the invoices and reports I've piled up over the past two weeks."

I was furious. I couldn't believe that Bryan actually made stealing my credit sound like he was doing me a favor. Some people really had no sense of shame.

What made it worse was that quite a few coworkers who didn't know the truth actually fell for his act and praised him for being generous.

I took several deep breaths and reminded myself not to get angry. If I let my anger affect my health, nobody would pay the price except me.

But as soon as I opened the company group chat and saw the announcements Angela had posted, I nearly crushed my phone from anger.

Angela tagged everyone in the group and wrote, "Formal reprimand. Employee Jeremy Crawford has shown a negative work attitude, a lack of team spirit, and insubordination toward a superior.

"By management's decision, he has been removed from his position as project leader. Let this serve as a warning to all.

"In addition, Jeremy is required to submit a 30,000-word self-reflection before the end of the New Year's holiday and will no longer be eligible for this year's year-end bonus review."

The group chat was silent at first. Bryan was the first one to reply, saying, "I support the company's decision!"

Right after that, the sycophants followed suit.

By then, I was so worn down that I didn't even have the energy to be angry anymore. Instead, I felt a slight urge to laugh. I really shouldn't have been so lenient with these people.

I opened the company's system and submitted an annual leave request right away. I had saved up 30 days of annual leave because I had been so busy that I hadn't taken a single day off in the past two years.

Then I booked a flight to Northstar Mountain. According to company policy, an annual leave request would be approved automatically as long as it was submitted in the system in advance and didn't conflict with any major projects.

I took a screenshot of the approved request, saved the recording I had made in Angela's office, and backed up both files to cloud storage. After that, I compiled all the files related to the Starhaven Technologies project and sent them to Bryan.

I really wanted to see how this group of useless people, who cared more about appearances than real work, was going to finish this major project without someone like me, someone they could push around and rely on to handle all the hard work.

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?"