Chapter 4 — I Stopped Meeting Clients After Work

I switched my phone to silent mode. More precisely, shutdown. My phone has never been off for twenty-four hours before. Because customers can contact at any time. Time zones never care about domestic schedules. Morning in America is midnight in China. Korea is still better, just an hour difference. But Park Jung Hoon is the type of person who likes to think about work in the middle of the night. For the past six years. I've never had a proper day off. But from today... Everything will be different. Hang Dat Thuong does not encourage employees to handle work outside of working hours. That is the company's regulations. I'm just an exemplary employee who seriously follows the rules. That's all. After turning off the phone. The world suddenly became unusually quiet. It was so quiet that it made me feel unreal. I sit on the sofa. Look at the tea table in front of you for ten minutes. Don't think anything. Then get up and go downstairs for breakfast. A bowl of soy milk. Two hot stir-fries. The fried dough is golden brown and crispy. I don't even remember the last time I sat down to a proper breakfast. I stopped by the food market. Buy a sea bass. Half a pound of pork belly. Two green onions. Then take it home and cook yourself a meal. Steamed sea bass. Braised meat. Broccoli stir-fried with garlic. I ate very well. Then curl up on the sofa and watch two episodes of entertainment shows. I slept right away. When I woke up it was three o'clock in the afternoon. Sunlight filtered through the curtains, casting long streaks on the floor. Right at that moment. I suddenly remembered someone. In Hang Dat, he is the only person who can be considered my friend. He is in charge of the North China region. Not on the same team as me. So this matter has nothing to do with you. On the day of the celebration party, he was not present. But with Truong Vi's speed in getting information... Surely he already knows everything. Just opened the phone. WeChat has been bombarded by you. Seventeen messages. Starting at eight o'clock last night. It continued until this afternoon.

"Damn! Luc Vien, are you okay?"

"I just heard about it!"

"Those bastards!!!"

"Is Chu Kien Quoc crazy???"

"Don't get excited! Absolutely don't quit your job!"

"Don't make any decisions yet, I'll come drink with you tomorrow."

"I've called you six times already!"

"What do you mean you don't answer the phone?"

"Didn't something happen to you????"

"LUC VIEN!!!"

"If you still don't answer, I'll really call the police!!!!!"

The last message was sent at twelve o'clock this afternoon.

"I'm downstairs at your house. If you don't show up in ten minutes, I'll knock on the door!"

I looked at the clock. Three o'clock in the afternoon. Are you sure you're leaving? I walked to the window and looked down. Truong Vi's car is still parked in the yard. As for himself, he was squatting next to the flower bed of the apartment complex. Just smoked. Just stared towards the building. Been waiting for three hours. I called you.

"Come up here. I didn't lock the door."

The other end of the line immediately heard a scream:

"LUVYEN! YOU ARE FINALLY ALIVE!!!"

Two minutes later. Truong Vi rushed straight into the house. Her hair is as messy as a crow's nest. Eyes bloodshot from staying up all night. In his left hand he carries a barrel of beer. The right hand still holds the phone as if at any time you can dial 119.

"What's wrong with you? Why did you turn it off? Do you know I thought you..."

The words suddenly choked. Because you see me. I'm wearing slippers. In front of him was a plate of half-eaten braised pork. The hand holding the TV remote changes channels continuously. Truong Vi stood still.

"...Are you really okay?"

"I'm okay."

"Really?"

"Do I look like someone in trouble?"

Truong Vi slowly put down the beer barrel. Then sit down in the chair opposite. His eyes never left my face. He looked at me for ten seconds. Then uttered a sentence:

"What big trick are you planning?"

I laughed. As expected of someone who has known me for six years.

"No games at all."

Truong Vi opened the can of beer and took a big gulp.

"What do I know about you anymore?"

"If nothing really happened, she wouldn't have turned off the phone for a whole day."

"Is Luc Vien the type of person who gets bullied and endures it silently?"

I accepted the can of beer he gave me. Take a sip. Then look at him.

"Truong Vi, I ask you something."

"If an employee seriously follows company regulations."

"Go to work at nine in the morning."

"Work ends at six o'clock."

"Come home on time."

"No overtime."

"Do not respond to emails."

"Not seeing customers."

"So is that considered a good employee?"

Truong Vi's eyes slowly opened wide.

"Don't tell me you..."

"I didn't do anything."

I put down the beer can.

"It's just that from today onwards, I decided to seriously comply with the company's regulations."

"Be a normal employee."

"No rolling."

"No overtime."

"Go to work at nine in the morning, get off work at six in the afternoon."

"A true model employee."

Truong Vi was silent for five seconds. Suddenly it hit my thigh hard.