CHAPTER 159: CHAPTER 158. SPREADING VIRUS

It was a whirlwind. No--a tornado.

Honestly, Sarah didn’t need to work so hard on spreading the gossip because an angry ex could be very vicious if they wanted. The news of the breakup came from Denise herself before Sarah even needed to do anything.

Of course, she would be angry. Anyone in her position would have broken off the relationship a long time ago after being ghosted by their fiancé. The least he could do was take the decision calmly if he didn’t want to even apologize--but what? He even reacted aggressively as if she were the one in the wrong?

Denise and her friends wasted no time telling everyone that she had broken up with Mason. Of course, the ones who acted the angry part were the friends, while Denise just sat down looking sad and hurt, saying her assistant had to be treated and that she was scared.

This kind of news, naturally, spread easily. This was no longer gossip, but an actual statement from one of the involved parties. It became one of the main dishes within the high society, trickling down from the youngsters of the Circle to their parents and the circles of those parents.

Not only that, but Denise was also a celebrity. Nothing sort of an A-list or anything, but she still had media presence. The story that would usually only circulate the high society also got published in mainstream media.

Naturally, Sarah didn’t just watch everything unfold. She picked one of the media making a story about it, and sent the CCTV recording through one of Sol’s channels. With even more damning evidence, even HS’s side couldn’t deny it anymore.

It didn’t stay afloat much, however. Obviously, HS had its own connection to the media and could prevent the topic from circulating even more.

But that didn’t matter. The public could be blindsided, but the shareholders couldn’t.

"Oh~ look at it falling!" Sarah clapped her hands while she watched the market on the screen.

The graph had been unstable since the old rumors circulated, but after Denise came out with the breakup, the stock had been on the reverse candle for a while. With the CCTV clip?

It was a waterfall.

"Keep going! Keep on selling it! Let it go!" Sarah laughed.

Of course, it wouldn’t amount to much even if Austin managed to buy everything, but if he could tempt the people who were still holding on to their shares in the middle of this confusion, they would have enough to be in the major shareholder pot.

"I haven’t seen you this elated in a while, Master," Hajin smiled happily.

Sarah laughed again, even twirling her chair around. "Isn’t it nice seeing people jumping around after you throw in a fused firework?"

"Now you sound like an arsonist," Hajin chuckled.

"I do want to light them on fire," Sarah said with a shrug, and Sunny could only look at them as if they were a pair of psychopaths. Thankfully, Sarah was kind enough to explain. "Don’t worry, it’s just figurative stuff."

"O-oh..."

"But you don’t really mind for some of them to be burned for real, do you?" Hajin commented with a smirk.

Sarah chuckled, not at all giving Sunny much assurance. The only assurance she got was the assurance that she should never, ever betray the young miss.

"Don’t scare her like that, Puppy. How’s the hard drive going?"

It was longer than expected, but Sunny finally told them that she managed to successfully copy the CEO’s phone memory and the computer’s hard drive--which was why Sarah finally came to the office again. While Sarah was having fun watching HS’s stock go down, Hajin was busy checking the content of copied data.

"It’s good, safely transmitted," Hajin reported his temporary assessment. "I’ll take a look at the actual content later."

"What about you?" Sarah shifted to Sunny, who kept standing near her desk as usual, as if she were Sarah’s secretary rather than the CEO’s. "Did you do it safely?"

"Yes...I guess?" Sunny replied vaguely. "He doesn’t seem to suspect anything."

Sarah wanted to ask how she did it, but Sunny was already averting her eyes as if she didn’t want to be questioned, so Sarah kept her curiosity to herself. Well...the method didn’t matter for her anyway.

"It’s fine as long as you’re not in danger," Sarah shrugged, swaying her chair again as she leaned back. "How’s his financial situation? Has he drowned in debt yet?"

The secretary’s otherwise dull eyes lit up. "Oh, yes. Did you introduce him to more gambling sites, Miss?"

Was that how she looked when she talked about revenge? Sarah chuckled. "Not directly."

"Whatever it is, it must be a very shrewd one since he keeps staring at his phone," Sunny reported; her lips twitched as she tried to suppress the urge to snicker. "If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was doing some day trading on the side."

"Is that why you have a leeway to stay longer in my office like this?" Sarah smirked.

Sunny smiled sheepishly. "Yes, Miss. He barely registers my presence these days, and doesn’t give any specific instructions anymore."

Sarah arched her brow. "Nothing at all?"

"Just what the higher-up gave him, Miss."

"By higher up...was it Director Seo?"

"Maybe?"

Sunny shrugged. While she was the one who copied the data, she drew her boundary by not reading it. She protected herself by not knowing anything, just a simple employee doing what was told.

"Hmm..." Sarah looked at the ceiling, swiveling her chair in contemplation. She stood up abruptly after a few seconds, startling both Sunny and Hajin. "Well, why don’t we go and see him?"

Both Sunny and Hajin blinked and asked together. "...yes?"

"I’ll go see our dearest CEO," Sarah announced while skipping toward the office door.

"H-huh? Now, Miss?"

"Of course," Sarah threw her hands. "I don’t know how often I’d come to the office anymore."

"Should I--" Hajin started to stand up when Sarah turned and raised her hand to stop him.

"No, Puppy; you stay and organize that," she said, pointing at the laptop. "You don’t think I’ll need protection from the poor man, do you?"

Hajin sat back down, looking up in contemplation. "I guess..."

If his princess could punch and kick a healthy, young adult male, she wouldn’t have any problem taking care of someone whose only form of workout was walking to a cafeteria in the next block for lunch. Besides, it wasn’t like the CEO could do anything in the office.

Haa...did he become too obsessive with her security? This was all because of that damn bastard.

Sarah chuckled as she saw Hajin suppressing his own urge with an inaudible grumble in front of the laptop. "Let’s go, Sunny."

"O-oh, yes..."

Confusedly, but also curiously, Sunny followed the young miss to the CEO’s office. She stayed at the door while Sarah strolled inside, calling the CEO loudly.

"Uncle!"

Despite the volume, the CEO didn’t respond; his eyes glued to his phone screen while biting his nail. If he moved his anxious leg any harder, he might be able to summon an earthquake.

Sunny was right--this old man was sinking even deeper into addiction.

Sarah strolled to the desk and slammed her hands. "Uun~cleee!"

The CEO flinched and gasped, eyes widened as he finally looked up. It took him a full five seconds before gathering his wit. "O-oh--Young Miss?" he quickly slipped the phone behind his back, as if afraid someone would see what he had been concentrating so hard for. "Why are you here? Do you...do you need anything?"

Sarah put on a sweet smile. "Are you alright? You seem very busy."

"H-huh? Oh, w-well..." his eyes darted around for a while as he swallowed hard. "Y-yes, I’m quite busy."

"I see...maybe that’s why you don’t look too good?" Sarah sighed, looking all worried and sympathetic. Honestly, Sunny felt like the young miss was good enough to act in a movie. "You need to sleep well, Uncle. How will this company function if you get sick?"

The CEO blinked a few times before waving his hand dismissively and laughing nervously. "D-don’t worry, Young Miss; I’m not sick."

Sarah pulled back and tilted her head, as if assessing the CEO’s condition. "Mm...that’s good, then. But make sure you stay in good shape, okay?"

"Of course, of course..."

"But...are you really alright? You don’t have any trouble?"

"Oh, no--what trouble might there be, Young Miss?" the CEO laughed with a wry expression, which was probably why he choked on his saliva and spent half a minute coughing.

Sarah gasped. "Are you alright?"

The CEO nodded profusely. "It’s just age, probably."

"Well, if you say so..." Sarah pursed her lips in concern, exhaling heavily while stepping back. "But if you have any problem--I mean in the future--don’t hesitate to tell me, okay? I’ll try to help you if I can."

The CEO widened his eyes slightly in surprise, nodding slowly as if in a daze. "Oh, yes...thank you, Young Miss."

"I’ll leave you with your work, then. Bye bye~"

Sarah waved cutely and walked out of the office. Sunny closed the CEO’s door carefully before following the young miss back to the hallway. The cheeky expression and doll-like eyes had disappeared from Sarah’s face by the time she reached her office door.

"Make sure to remind him to come to me if he looks like he’s about to lose it," Sarah said quietly.

"Yes, Miss."

Sunny nodded and returned to the CEO’s office while Sarah opened her office door to Hajin holding up her phone.

"The Chairman is calling you, Master."

"Oho?" Sarah arched her brow, taking the phone and staring at the screen for three seconds before answering it in a bored tone. "Yes, Chairman?"

[Sarah, be honest--do you have anything to do with this news spreading?] The question came without any greeting preamble.

Sarah paused, and then laughed the next second. It was a hearty laugh as if she had just heard the funniest shit ever.

And to be fair, it was funny as fuck.

Funny because...she knew this question would come, just like the time the rumors about Mason no longer being appointed as the heir circulated. But, as much as she wanted to say yes, she was behind everything...the one who spread the news was neither her nor her team this time.

With a deep smile and an equally deep sarcastic tone, Sarah replied mockingly. "Maybe I am."