Chapter 3

The next morning, as soon as I arrived at the office, the boss called me into his office amid my colleagues' strange looks.

"Hazel, I saw the video Rosemary posted last night. The public opinion right now is really bad."

The boss looked troubled.

I was an original employee he'd hired when he started the company, and I'd been with the company as it grew to its current size.

Rosemary was currently the agency's biggest streamer with the most followers and revenue.

"It's okay, Mr. Lee. I'm not..."

I sympathized with the boss's headache over the conflict between a veteran employee and his cash cow. I thought he was concerned about me as his long-time employee being wronged, but he cut me off mid-sentence.

"Go apologize to Rosemary."

The boss stood up and patted my shoulder.

"And don't be so strict about attendance. It's not like our company is about to go under and needs to dock employee wages over attendance. After you go back, adjust the attendance policy. Remember—prioritize employee care!"

Back in my office, I clearly understood I was the only sacrificial pawn in this farce.

After spacing out for a while, I stood up to get coffee from the break room.

At the break room door, I clearly heard a discussion among three people inside.

"Rosemary, you did the right thing! People who block leave requests like that deserve to be publicly criticized! Just because she didn't approve my leave last time, my girlfriend fought with me and broke up!"

That was Jerry from the team streaming group.

But that time, there was an important work assignment and no one could be absent, which is why I didn't approve the leave.

Plus, during that period, Jerry had used up all his monthly time off trying to appease his long-distance girlfriend.

"Right, Rosemary! I support you too! Once I requested sick leave and even brought hospital documents to get the leave verified, but she threw the documents in the trash and marked me absent! I've never seen anyone like that!"

Another voice chimed in.

This time it was Kiera from business development.

But that time, she'd brought a badly Photoshopped fake hospital diagnosis for a perforated gastric ulcer, trying to fool me into approving sick leave.

When she'd actually had surgery and been hospitalized before, not only did I approve her leave, but I also proactively offered to extend it a few days as employee care from the company.

My hand froze mid-air, about to open the door.

I suddenly felt that being conscientious and responsible about my work was such a thankless task.

I opened my phone and sent a message to the headhunter who'd been trying to recruit me to a new startup.

Then I opened my computer and started revising the new attendance policy.

Since everyone wants time off so badly—fine, from now on I'll approve all leave requests unconditionally.