Chapter 26 — Tailor Shop at the End of Third Alley

Khoa restored the video, but did not post it himself. He created the witness version, the original version, and the masked version. Hanh checks where she appears. After checking the voice. Everyone has the right to request privacy changes.

Chau realizes this process takes time, but the affected person should not pay the price for the person's haste to tell. Ngoc added a deadline to respond, so that permission could not be delayed.

A student asked why the section Khoa had deleted was not deleted. Faculty responded because the error needed to be recorded, but did not need to be enlarged into a title. He asked permission to keep it in the internal file so he could know how to avoid it.

Tung gave a list of people with access to the warehouse. Phuc's name is under the "temporary recipient" section, not the approver. Hanh said this does not make him innocent, but helps them ask the right questions.

Ms. Van repaired a shirt that had been cut on the wrong sleeve. Chau observed and saw that she did not pull the fabric towards her but turned her shirt around. She says a wrong cut can't always be corrected by pulling harder; Sometimes you have to change your perspective.

At night, the person holding the red scissors sent a message: "I will speak at the meeting, but I don't want to be thanked." Chau replied that they did not need to thank them, they just needed to tell what they knew.

Khoa did not sleep after confessing. He sat in front of his computer, making a list of where the videos might have been backed up. Ngoc told him not to punish himself by working until morning, but Khoa said that if he didn't find it again, everyone would remember that he was the one who erased the evidence.

Chau said his fault was not his identity. Khoa replied that the affected person does not have the right to choose how to remember. She shut up, because that sentence is correct. Ms. Thao asked Khoa to write a report, then gave him a day off.

In the report, Khoa clearly stated the deletion time, reason, who knew and how to restore. You don't use the phrase "by negligence". Ngoc said it was progress. Khoa said "fear" sounded more real, but Ms. Thao added action.

They found the video from an old device. The file is compressed, the image is noisy, but the sound is clear. A worker said the order to remove the piles came from the operations room. Another person replied that it must be done before residents see it. No name, but shift code.

Hau compared the codes and realized the supervisor was a retired foreman. He once received an appendix from Phuc. Phuc sent a text message, saying he didn't want to appear because he was tired of people calling him scissors.

Chau wrote a letter to Phuc, not asking to meet, just asking him to send documents through his lawyer. Phuc replied with a photo of a bear in a red vest. The letter P is not his name; That is the symbol “appendix”. The person who cuts the hem is whoever is assigned to hold the paper.

After listening, Khoa said he was looking for the wrong person. Ms. Thao said that finding the wrong question is not a failure if you know how to correct the way you ask.

An brought a box of backed up memory cards. He labels them by date, device, and access. Khoa looked and said An was the technical manager. An said he was just afraid of losing things.

Chau asked Khoa if he wanted to return to the project. He said he wanted to, but from now on, every time he clicks delete, two people must confirm. Ngoc added that rule to the notebook.

Hanh asked to meet publicly in front of the class. She talked about cutting the video, not blaming anyone. Students asked questions, someone asked her if she regretted joining the company. Hanh said she regretted thinking that silence was neutral.

After the talk, a friend sent a photo of the red thread at the construction site. Photos show piles being removed before workers could command. Not conclusive enough, but enough to ask to see the bus schedule.

The department checked the metadata and discovered that the photo was taken with the camera of the woman in the gray shirt. Hanh said she did not know the photo was sent. She did not delete, just asked the sender for permission.

That night, the video copy was placed in the metal box of machine number three. Mrs. Van locked it with two keys. One key to Chau, one key to An.

“What if one person loses it?” Chau asked.

“Then the other person opens the door,” Ms. Van replied.

Khoa confessed to deleting the video

Khoa did not come to his appointment at the station. He texted that he had to go home, but Chau realized the voice in the message was too short. Ngoc opened the file history, discovering that an old pile video had been deleted from the class server.

Khoa admitted that he deleted it himself. In the video, there is a scene of company people removing a temporary marker before the survey day. He was afraid that if he posted it, his parents would be called by the company, and the class would have their project suspended. He thought deleting it would protect everyone.

Chau was so angry that she wanted to use red-handled scissors to cut the camera wire. She put down the scissors and asked Khoa if he had a copy. He said he deleted the trash, but sent a copy via the app to a friend and then forgot the password.

Ngoc told him to find it himself, no one would do it for him. An didn't scold him, just gave him a list of places where the video could exist: phone, memory card, messages, cloud storage. Khoa searched all night and finally recovered the compressed file from an old computer.

Video has blurry image, but clear sound. The person who removed the mold said they were ordered by the person in charge of the scene. Can't see the face, just the logo on the shirt. Tung confirmed that the logo belongs to a subcontractor, not the main company, but cannot use that to conclude who gave the order.

Khoa wants to post immediately. Ms. Thao requested to check the legality and also invited the cameraman to appear. The person in the video is a worker named Hau. He admitted that he removed the mold according to verbal instructions, without knowing it was wrong.

“I'm afraid of losing my job,” Hau said.

Chau said they didn't need to make him the culprit. They need to know who gives directions and where the landmarks go. Hau remembered the car carrying the mold and wrote down the partial license plate number.

Ms. Van recognized the license plate as belonging to the car that used to transport fabric to the shop in 2014. The driver was Khai.

The information is not enough to explain what Khai did, but it makes the story more complicated. Maybe he helped move the landmark, then changed his mind. Maybe he left because he was afraid of being blamed.

Khoa apologized to the group. He didn't turn around to apologize. Ngoc made him write it down in the minutes, with signature and date. Khoa said that for the first time, he saw an error corrected with paperwork, not with the words "let it go".

That night, they went to the station again. The motel door is still closed. Chau placed a small sewn shirt in front of the door. An placed a piece of paper with a survey schedule. Mrs. Van placed her old letter with Khai.

When they turned their backs, the door opened slightly. An old hand took the shirt, but did not accept the letter.

The man's voice rang out very softly: "I'm not the one holding the key."

An returned. “Who are you?”

The man did not answer. He pointed to the roof, where a blue shirt was drying. The inside of the shirt has a purple thread running in a T shape.

Chau understood the message. The person they were looking for was not in the motel room. Khai left a mark on someone else's shirt.

The next morning, the inspection unit sent the survey schedule. They will arrive at seven o'clock, the day the company plans to clean up the machine. If the mark is not protected, all evidence will be destroyed before measurement.

The project warehouse is located behind an old gas station, The rolling door is covered with dust. The security guard recognized the receipt, but said the file box had been transferred to the administrative office. The room only has a desk, two iron cabinets and the smell of damp paper. Tung must sign the guest book; Ms. Thao clearly stated the purpose of her visit.

They found the crate behind a shelf of drawings. The lid of the box is locked with a sealing wire, and the serial number on the receipt is still intact. Inside is a copy of the number 32 shirt, three shift handover books and an envelope with Lien's name written on it. The envelope contained no letter, only an expired train ticket.

“Where is she going?” Chau asked.

The guard looked at the ticket and said the train was headed to a coastal town. Lien sent the box two days before leaving. He didn't ask because he thought she was just changing jobs.

An took out his phone and tried to check his calendar, but Chi stopped him. She said that finding someone must go through the authorities, not turning a memory into a chase. Chau understands. She put the train ticket in the file bag, and everyone took pictures of each page.

In the shift transfer book, the day Khai left the project, there was a note: **The red scissors have been returned. Do not hand over the shirt 32.** The signer is Duc's brother. Duc bowed his head and said his brother had tried to protect Mr. Khai but then changed his mind.

A noise echoed outside the warehouse. The rolling door vibrates slightly. Tung asked everyone to go back inside, and the security guard called the ward police. Just a few seconds later, a motorbike sped away. On the background is a torn piece of purple cloth.

Chau picked up the piece of cloth with her gloves. Ms. Van said it was lining fabric number 32. Maybe the person who came didn't want to get the file; They just want to know where the records are.

On the way back, Chi sent the minutes to the supervisory agency. She said it was the first time she saw Lien's name standing next to the truth without being crossed out.

That night, Chau sewed a piece of cloth into an evidence bag. She didn't know where Lien was still alive, but at least her story had a way back.

An placed the old train ticket next to the cloth bag and closed the file. He said that if one day they find Lien, they will ask her which part she wants to tell, not which part. Chau agreed. Preserving a story is also preserving the choice of the person who experienced it.