At that moment, it sounded like the whole office took a collective gasp. Nobody pretended to be busy anymore, nobody tried to hide—they all stared straight over, eager for drama. After all, a spectacle like this was a once-in-a-lifetime treat.
Only the people around Jack Young instinctively backed away. No one spoke up for him, no one tried to break it up, and definitely no one wanted to get involved—everyone was scared of getting caught in the crossfire.
The Ogre was burning with rage. In the office, he was used to ruling the roost—when had he ever been pushed into a corner like this? Forget some lowly employee; thanks to his family ties with the big boss, even department heads treated him with kid gloves. When had he ever suffered such humiliation?
"Jack Young, are you looking for trouble?" The Ogre, furious and embarrassed, stormed forward and shoved Jack Young in the chest. He didn’t believe Jack would actually dare fight back!
Throwing a punch would get you fired, even if The Ogre started it. If Jack hit back, he'd be out the door—there's no way the company would side with a nobody like him.
But Jack Young didn’t move at all—he just sat in his chair, calm as ever. Still, The Ogre suddenly felt a force shoot up his arm, not too strong, but somehow he ended up tumbling backward, landing with a solid thud on the floor. The coffee he’d been clutching went flying, soaking his face and hair.
And that wasn’t the end of it—Jack Young’s cup of green tea followed suit, splashing over with a loud splash. Half brown, half green, The Ogre was drenched from head to toe, looking like a walking abstract painting—absolutely disgusting.
"Look at you—your shove made me drop my tea. But come on, you’re really overacting here. I didn’t even move, and you just flopped over by yourself. Good thing there are cameras in the office, or you’d probably try to pin this on me." Jack Young set his cup on the desk, looking genuinely sorry about the wasted tea.
Jack Young shrugged at The Ogre, who was still sprawled on the floor, and tossed out, "Do whatever you want about the absence thing." Then he spun back to his chair and opened a webpage: "Hmm, split personality—that’s different from dissociative identity disorder. You can have two totally different personalities, but at the core, it’s still one person. Actually, split personalities are pretty common. Like in movies, when you’ve got an angel and a devil whispering in your ears—that’s textbook split personality..."
The Ogre stormed out, not wanting to see Jack Young ever again. He was furious, a little scared, and completely humiliated in front of everyone—he couldn’t stay in the office another second. At that moment, The Ogre was so ashamed he was almost ready to burst into tears.
After The Ogre left, the office erupted into chaos. Everyone started whispering and gossiping, and for a moment it sounded like a vegetable market. Jack Young knew exactly how much of those looks were friendly and how much were malicious—but he didn’t care at all.
For the rest of the day, The Ogre didn’t show his face in the office. Jack Young just went about his business as usual. Ever since he mastered the second layer of the Insight Technique, he found himself bursting with energy—everything he did was faster, more accurate, and way more efficient than before.
Stuff that used to take a whole day to finish now took him just half an hour.
Of course, everyone knew that most of that "whole day" was wasted thanks to The Ogre’s constant nitpicking and pointless revisions.
Once the paperwork was done, Jack Young sat quietly at his desk, closed his eyes, and tried to train the third layer of the Insight Technique. He’d named this layer "Listening to Raindrops," because it mainly boosted his hearing. According to the manual, once you mastered it, you could pinpoint the exact spot where every single raindrop landed—just by listening.
Just then, he heard someone quietly call his name. Jack Young opened his eyes and saw Nick King, his coworker from the desk across. Nick was his closest friend in the company—not the type to cozy up when things were good and run away when there was trouble. He was a stand-up guy. Nick was the first to greet him that morning, and he’d suffered plenty under The Ogre’s tyranny, too—a real comrade in arms.
"Hey, Jack, you thinking about quitting?" Nick King scooted over. "You were a total beast today—looks like you’ve made up your mind to burn your bridges, huh?"
"Quit?" In this ordinary society, quitting was a pretty serious move. If you didn’t have serious skills or luck, quitting meant unemployment. But right now, Jack Young wasn’t scared at all: "I haven’t really thought about it, but whatever. If I want to go, I’ll go."
"Ha, you’re really chill about it!" Nick King nodded. "But you’ve got it all—great education, international company experience, killer skills, and you’re good-looking too. You could go anywhere! Coming to this dump only to get picked on by The Ogre—if you want to leave, just do it. I’m tempted to quit myself."
Jack Young wasn’t the only one who’d been bullied by The Ogre—plenty of people in the department had suffered. The only difference was, nobody else had ever stood up to him.
"Jack, I think you’re right—if someone doesn’t appreciate kindness, stop wasting it on them. If nobody listens to The Ogre, what power does he have?" Nick King sounded like he’d finally made up his mind. "Yeah, I need to make some plans and bring that guy down a notch. Whether we leave or not isn’t the point—making sure The Ogre can’t survive in this department is the real win."
Jack Young gave Nick King a surprised look. "You seem pretty fearless yourself."
"Ha! I’m no martyr—I wouldn’t risk everything unless I had a backup plan." Nick King jerked his chin, subtly gesturing at the silent coworkers. He whispered, "Those folks have nowhere else to go. It’s either put up with The Ogre here, or go out and struggle. That’s why none of them dare speak up. That’s reality."
Nick King sighed and patted Jack Young on the shoulder. "Jack, you’re tough, loyal, and a stand-up guy. Why don’t we start something on our own? I’ve got some contacts in Jinan—if we seize the moment, we could open a matchmaking agency. That business is booming right now; we could make a killing! What do you say, want to team up?"
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"Haha, you really think highly of me! Sure, I haven’t figured out where I’m headed yet, but if nothing else comes up, playing matchmaker with you doesn’t sound half bad!"
The Ogre didn’t show up for the rest of the day. The office spent a whole day without him, and everyone seemed to wear a relaxed smile. The Ogre was like an iron curtain pressing on their hearts, and today Jack Young had finally torn it down, letting everyone breathe a little easier.
But if you asked them to stand up for themselves, they definitely wouldn’t. Just like now—Jack Young was usually pretty popular, but no one came over to chat with him today. Everyone knew Jack wouldn’t stick around for long, but The Ogre would. Maybe The Ogre couldn’t do anything to Jack, but when it came to them, all they could do was grit their teeth and endure.
Getting too close to Jack Young right now? That’d be asking for trouble.
After a few years in the real world, nobody’s stupid. Everyone’s smart enough not to stand up. The more people settle for "ordinary," the stronger that "ordinary" becomes.
In the end, it was Nick King who dragged Jack Young out for drinks, the two of them walking off with arms slung around each other.
At the bar, they drank together, letting loose and enjoying themselves.
"Those people are idiots. Someone finally stands up, and they don’t even know how to ride the wave. If everyone had the guts, The Ogre would be the one out the door! All that ‘the company runs fine without you’ talk? Total crap! Who’s that supposed to scare? We all know how important our work is—if the whole department walked, the company would be in chaos! Honestly, they're a bunch of hopeless losers..." Nick King wasn’t much of a drinker. After two glasses, his tongue was already getting heavy.
"Heh, don’t be too hard on them. Weren’t we the same not long ago? I used to be just like them. I hated it, but without confidence, I didn’t dare speak up." Jack Young thought of his own past.
"No, we’re not the same! We’re different!" Nick King slurred drunkenly. "I knew from the start—you and me, we’re not like them. They resent it, but they keep quiet, and eventually they just accept it, give in, kneel down. That’s what people call reality, maturity, being ‘steady’ and ‘polished’! Even if another chance came along, they’d be too lazy or scared to try—completely brainwashed!"
Jack Young was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. So what makes us different?"
"We’re different because we never settle!" Nick King threw an arm around Jack Young’s shoulder, eyes bleary with drink. "I just refuse to give in—always have, always will! Sure, if you don’t have confidence, you keep your mouth shut. But while you’re holding back, you can go looking for that confidence! Because you refuse to settle, you’ll grit your teeth and fight, even if you get knocked down. That’s what people call ‘unrealistic,’ ‘immature.’ So yeah, we’re the naive ones, and honestly, you’re the only person I respect in this whole company." (If you’re still in school, you might not get this yet. Once you’ve worked for a while, you’ll understand.)