The next morning, as I stepped into the office, the atmosphere had clearly shifted. All eyes turned toward me—some curious, some cautious, and others downright hostile.
I walked straight to my office. Before I could sit down, my assistant knocked on the door.
"Director, the Planning Department has submitted their report. But Deputy Head Tran Minh called in sick today. No explanation."
I gave a faint smile. So, it begins.
"No problem. Send me the report. As for Mr. Tran Minh… I'll give him a call."
I dialed his office extension. No answer. I tried his mobile—still nothing. A minute later, a message came in:"I'm taking three days off for personal reasons. I'll report later."
I stared at the message, then calmly typed a reply:"If you have nothing to hide, there's no need to disappear so suddenly."
I knew he wouldn't respond. And I didn't need him to. The moment he panicked, he lost the upper hand.
The financial report from his department arrived. Just a few pages in, I spotted it—bonus payouts in the previous quarter had doubled, yet there were no matching contracts to justify them. Where did that extra money go?
I called the Audit Department right away.
"I need a full breakdown of the Planning Department's spending over the past six months. This is urgent."
There was a pause on the other end. "Director, should we run this through the Executive Office first?"
"No need," I replied firmly. "I was given full authority over this branch. If anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility."
I knew one thing: if I waited for upper management's approval, all traces of evidence would disappear in 24 hours.
Around noon, as I was preparing to head out for lunch, someone slid a plain envelope onto my desk.
No name. No sender.
I opened it.
Inside was a photo.
It showed me sitting in a café with a man—dim lighting, close angles, just enough to make it look suspicious. At the bottom of the photo was a scribbled note:
"Your pure little reputation? Let's see what's behind it."
I narrowed my eyes.
I remembered that meeting perfectly. The man was my private lawyer. We'd spoken for no more than fifteen minutes.
So, this was a warning. Or maybe a threat.
Someone wanted to dirty my name before I got too close to the truth.
I called Tham Du.
"Someone's trying to spread rumors about me. I need footage from that café—pull the full video from security. I want hard proof before they twist this any further."
"Got it," he replied without hesitation.
I leaned back in my chair, exhaling slowly. The closer I got to the rot, the more desperate they became.
I couldn't afford to back down.
That afternoon, I received a call from the main headquarters.
"Director Lam, this is the assistant to CEO Hoai. He'd like to meet with you tomorrow at the main office."
My heart paused for half a beat.
Hoai Trach. So he was stepping in now?
"I'll be there at 3 PM."
I hung up and began mentally preparing for every possible outcome.
If he wanted to shut me down for threatening the old power structure—I'd confront him.
If he wanted an explanation—I'd bring my evidence.
But what I didn't expect was that this meeting… would be nothing like I imagined.