What If?

Chapter 10 - My Stupid Boss

Glenn let out a long sigh, putting his hands on his hips right in the middle of the cubicle area. A faint, mischievous smirk played on his face. His gaze was cold yet amused as he watched dozens of staff members on the 12th floor suddenly running around like headless chickens, looking like a colony of ants whose nest had just been stepped on.

Something seemed to have just crossed his scheming mind.

"What crazy stunt are you planning now, Bro?" Jerry chimed in out of nowhere. His personal assistant was leaning against an empty staff chair in the corner, having quietly observed Glenn’s behavior the entire time with a look that was a mix of boredom and curiosity.

"You’ve officially been in office for barely a few hours, and you're already screwing with this entire place," Jerry continued, folding his arms across his chest.

Glenn strolled casually toward Jerry, his expression completely nonchalant. "Screwing with them? Nah. I’m just testing the waters," Glenn replied, raising both eyebrows in an annoying, provocative manner. "I just want to see the extent of their compliance or more accurately, just how terrified they are of me."

"Meaning what, exactly?" Jerry asked, baiting him.

Glenn let out a soft scoff, staring straight at the most chaotic area. "Honestly, I just want to see how deeply embedded the 'brown-noser' mentality is in this building. I mean, you know it yourself, Jer, this world has been unfair from the very beginning. I just want to see what kind of masks they'll pull out when they're backed into a corner like this."

"And once you’re satisfied watching them squirm? Do you actually get some twisted sense of fulfillment out of this?" Jerry challenged again.

Glenn glanced at Jerry for a moment, then briefly stretched his muscles. Without warning, he dropped his weight onto the clean desk, using his own arms as an impromptu pillow. He lay back, staring out at the bustling, frantic office.

"Who knows." Glenn fell silent for a moment. His mind drifted, flashing back to the scene in the archive room earlier. That girl with the headband. Oh, no. More accurately, the disgusting way that woman named Costa had treated her subordinate.

A cynical smirk carved its way back onto Glenn's face as he muttered, "So that’s how it is. A high-ranking position is only ever used to oppress powerless subordinates... and to put on a show just to brown-nose the bosses with real power."

Jerry let out a soft chuckle, the sound breaking the silence in the quiet cubicle and prompting Glenn to look over, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"What's wrong with you? Losing your mind?" Glenn snapped, giving Jerry an odd look from his resting position.

"Ahaha, no," Jerry waved his hand, trying to brush off the remaining laughter on his lips. "I’m just confused. I don't know whether to be impressed or just weirded out by your attitude just now."

"Why?" Glenn narrowed his eyes, demanding an explanation.

Jerry shifted his posture from leaning against the chair, looking down at Glenn with a gaze that seemed much more serious this time. "Well... it’s just wild. Out there, everyone thinks you're just some reckless, power-tripping only child of the CEO who only got in here by riding on your mom’s coattails. But it turns out, your head is screwed on way straighter than those senior managers who’ve been slaving away in this building for over a decade."

Jerry smiled faintly, shaking his head in sheer amazement. "You’re a bastard, Glenn, and your mouth is incredibly foul when you speak. But you know exactly when to be fair. I honestly didn't expect you to be that sensitive toward a subordinate who was being stepped on."

Glenn fell silent upon hearing that. Instead of getting a big head over the compliment, he just let out a dismissive scoff and averted his gaze.

"I don't give a damn about your assessment," Glenn muttered softly, closing his eyes once more in a nonchalant gesture. "I just hate seeing vulnerable people used as shields for someone else's incompetence. It’s disgusting."

Suddenly, Glenn snapped out of his resting position and sat straight up. He clapped his palms together with a resounding smack! that echoed through the area.

"Alright! Time for the grand finale," Glenn suddenly shouted, causing Jerry to furrow his brows in confusion at his lightning-fast shift in attitude.

Glenn swept his hawk-like eyes across every corner of the 12th-floor office. Then, without warning and with zero regard for corporate etiquette, he stepped up and stood tall right on top of the desk. That extreme move successfully left several staff members who saw it utterly slack-jawed, their eyes nearly popping out of their heads.

"Alright, guys! Eyes on me for a second!" Glenn shouted from atop the desk, clapping his hands again.

And just like that, as if under a spell, all movement on the 12th floor ground to a screeching halt. The clacking of keyboards stopped, staff members running around with folders froze in their tracks, and every single eye snapped straight to Glenn.

Glenn made a hand gesture, signaling all the employees to close in around him. "Come on, bring it in, everyone. You at the edge of the cubicles, or whoever's by the restroom get over here to the center right now."

Once the entire 12th-floor staff was huddled beneath his desk, their faces a mix of tension and utter confusion, Glenn flashed the most obnoxious smirk he could muster.

"Okay, so for today... we're good," Glenn said casually, folding his arms across his chest. "As for that report file? Screw it. Stop looking for it. Honestly, the draft has been sitting on my office desk since this morning anyway."

A suffocating silence instantly fell over the room. In that exact second, the employees' faces dropped completely. Some turned bright red, fighting a twitch in their eyes; others were breathing heavily, holding back tears after being scared half to death, and most looked ready to throw a punch straight at Glenn’s handsome face, if they didn't have mortgages to pay. Glenn knew perfectly well that the entire room was cursing his name and hating his guts right now. But to him, that only made it all the more satisfying.

Glenn leaned down slightly, looking at the crowd of staff members beneath him with a cocky smirk. "If anyone wants to get mad or push back at me, go right ahead. I'm listening right here, right now. Just don't let me catch you running your mouths or slashing my car tires behind my back later. Let's just consider that little drama from earlier... a warm-up."

The room remained dead silent, not a single person dared to utter a word, even though they were practically fumes-out-of-the-ears furious.

"You're suuure... no one?" Glenn asked in an incredibly annoying drawl. "Ah, what a shame. And here I thought I really needed some constructive feedback on my very first day in office."

Glenn shot a cocky glance at Jerry, checking in on his best friend for a split second. Jerry could only shake his head. He wanted nothing more than to kick his friend right off that desk.

Seeing that no one dared to stand up to him, Glenn stood up straight again. "Alright then. Happy working, everyone," Glenn concluded in a tone he intentionally made sweet but was incredibly nauseating, before hopping down from the desk with effortless agility. Free as a bird, he strode out of the cubicle area as if he had just wrapped up a circus performance.

Jerry, left behind in his wake, instantly put on an expression of pure, mortified agony. His face flushed red, bearing the brunt of the shame from his boss’s bizarre antics. Walking backward to catch up with Glenn, Jerry was forced to bow repeatedly toward the employees who had just fallen victim to Glenn’s psychological warfare.

"I am so sorry, everyone... truly sorry... Please forgive my boss," Jerry whispered frantically with a strained smile, feeling his own dignity sink right through the floor.

The exact moment Glenn and Jerry’s backs disappeared behind the elevator doors, the staff's composure completely crumbled.

"Ugh!!! That guy is completely insane! I literally want to claw his face off!!" one of the senior female staff members whined, stamping her foot furiously against the floor, finally letting out all the pent-up frustration she had been forcing down her throat.

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