“The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists. In storms, the rigid tree is the first to break, while the flexible one endures. Strength does not lie in hardness, but in the ability to yield and return.”
-Japanese Proverb-
Chapter 137: Competence deserves recognition
Morning did not ask permission to arrive; it arrived as it always did.
Light crept over Dock-07 in pale layers, washing steel cranes and stacked containers in a dull silver glow. Engines coughed to life one by one, trucks forming lines that moved with the slow certainty of routine.
To an outsider, the dock looked unchanged...
But the air carried unacknowledged weight now.
Workers spoke in a slightly quieter and more swift manner. Eyes lingered a second longer on unfamiliar faces. Even the rhythm of footst
