CHAPTER 128: CHAPTER 127. ADVANCE INFORMATION NEEDS ADVANCE GADGETS

As promised, Kang Jun gave Sarah a free rein for that art exhibition stuff. She was given the number of one of Jun’s trusty subordinates, and she spent several days in an online meeting with that person for a basic outline and the fundamentals.

Only after she was done stacking her bullets did she return to her office in the consulting company, wearing a casual sundress as if she had just returned from a vacation. The slight tan line she got from playing golf with Mirae’s royalty made it seem like she was spending the end of summer at the beach.

"How are you doing, everyone?" Sarah waved the wide-brimmed hat she brought to enhance the image. "Not defeated by summer yet, I hope?"

"Oh--you’re here, Young Miss?"

The employees gathered near the entrance with a bright expression, very different from how they were the first time Sarah was there. They were even comfortable enough to joke around with her--that was, until the clingy bodyguard glared at them to keep in line.

"Has it been a while?" Sarah looked around. It was clear that she was the only one enjoying a vacation--although she wasn’t really. "Did you miss me, guys?"

"Yes, Miss!"

The answer came quickly, almost like a reflex, and Sarah laughed. "Lies!"

"It’s true, Miss!" the employees shook their heads at her accusation.

"Liars! You missed my treats, didn’t you?"

Sarah jutted out her lower lip, making a sulky face. The employees smiled sheepishly at getting caught. Well...what could they do if their boss asked that kind of question? Saying no and getting fired?

But they also knew that Sarah was only jesting--if anything, she already knew it was ridiculous for an employee to be truly liking their bosses. That was why they could reply with an awkward chuckle instead of cowering in fear.

"Hmph!" Sarah scoffed and walked away with her chin up as if she were angry, but her bodyguard placed a big chiller box on top of the meeting table before following his master.

The closest employee carefully opened the box and saw a bunch of expensive, limited edition ice cream from an artisan boutique--the kind that only celebrities and the wealthy went to for a sweet treat. The others gathered around the box and looked at the contents with sparkling eyes.

"Woaah! You’re the best, Miss!"

"Hmph!" Sarah scoffed again at the erupting cheer, looking back before turning to the hallway leading to her office. "Oh, have you done what I asked about the last time?"

"Yes, Miss," one of the employees nodded with an ice cream tub in hand. "The information about Starling and Daesung’s collaboration project, isn’t it?"

"Uh-huh," Sarah nodded and snapped her fingers. "Please send them to my room, okay?"

"Ah, we gave them to CEO-nim yesterday, Miss..."

Sarah rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively. "Then you take it, Sunny."

The secretary replied quietly, devoid of energy. "Yes, Miss..."

"Enjoy, everyone!" Sarah waved before disappearing into the hallway.

"Thank you, Miss!"

Sarah wondered if there was a time the employees had to choose, would they choose her or the CEO? These people weren’t her target, so while her objection was to destroy this company, she had no intention of making those people lose their jobs. But that was only if they wanted to stay after she destroyed this company.

Well...that was for the future.

Sunny came not long after Sarah settled in her chair, bringing a stack of printed documents. Was it not in a digital form because they didn’t want to get found out using tricks and copy-pasting things from somewhere? Who knows. It didn’t matter anyway, since it was only a ruse to get Sunny in the office without any suspicion. They should have had a bit of time while the others enjoyed the ice cream.

"Help her, Puppy."

"Oh, thank you."

Hajin took the stacks of paper from the secretary’s hands, wondering how much was actually substantial in this report. He still had to make a decently readable proposal since the Chief Secretary really asked Sarah to produce something this time, so he hoped they at least had some materials for him to work with.

"Do you have anything to report?" Sarah asked the secretary. "The CEO is not here, right?

Sunny scooted closer to the desk while nodding. "He only comes in the afternoon these days, Miss, and..." she took out a small flash storage and put it on the desk. "I managed to take a picture of his messages--you said you wanted to see his communication with Director Seo, didn’t you, Miss?"

"That’s right."

"I took a picture of it as much as I could, but..."

Sunny looked hesitant, like an employee who wanted to ask for additional funds but wasn’t confident they would get it. "Speak," Sarah nodded.

Sunny bit her lip for a second to gather her wits before opening her mouth cautiously. "The thing is, Miss...I didn’t have much time to search, and I don’t know what kind of stuff you want me to look for. I was taking those pictures while he was in the bathroom, but there wasn’t enough time to open anything more than the messaging up and taking pictures of one conversation," she said, adding quietly in the end. "Even when I made him stay in the bathroom for a long time..."

"What did you do?" Sarah asked curiously, leaning against her propped hand. "Put a laxative in his meal?"

Sunny lowered her head and replied sheepishly. "Y-yes, Miss."

Sarah laughed at the idea--she had no pity for people who made sexual advances on their much younger employee despite having a whole ass family. "He didn’t find out, right?"

"He was eating sushi, so..."

Sarah spent a while letting the laughter out of her system. Perhaps he only came after lunch because he had a trauma of eating lunch at the office.

On the other hand, Sunny’s concern about her limitation was valid. There were too many things to look at, and even Sarah had no idea which one was needed until she read it herself.

Which was why she came prepared.

"Puppy," Sarah called out to the bodyguard, who had been busy reading the report. That did not prevent Hajin from getting up right away, however, as if he always had one ear facing his master’s direction.

The bodyguard placed a thin, almost flat box in front of Sunny. There was a USB flash drive and a smaller flash storage device carefully nestled inside; a harvest from Sarah’s visit to Little Bird the other day.

"Use this next time, the big one for the notebook and the other one for the phone," Sarah explained. "Just attach them and they’ll do the rest."

Sunny took the box with widened eyes, suddenly feeling like she was in some kind of Hollywood spy movie or something. When her eyes shifted back to Sarah and her bodyguard, she gulped quietly. Suppressing all kinds of questions she wanted to ask about them, Sunny focused back on her task instead. "How long will it take, Miss?"

"Depends on how many files he has," Hajin replied. "An hour for the notebook, probably. Less for the phone."

"Can you manage?" Sarah asked.

"I..." Sunny bit her lower lip. She had thought it would be like in the movie too, only taking five minutes or something. Even with inducing diarrhea, she wouldn’t get an hour, and she doubted she could use the same trick again. She might have to resort to tricks she didn’t like to do, but...Sunny sighed at the end of her contemplation. "I’ll try."

"Good," Sarah nodded in acknowledgment. "Anything else?"

"Umm...I don’t know if it’ll help, but..." Sunny lowered her voice. "He is currently obsessed with gambling."

Sarah arched her brow. "Obsessed? You mean addicted?"

"Well...it seems like a recent thing, so I don’t know if it’s only a temporary fascination or not, Miss."

"If he’s obsessed now, he won’t be able to get away," Sarah scoffed. In the first place, gambling was designed to trap people. "It’s getting harder too, with online gambling and such."

"Yes! That’s it, Miss. He does both the online thing and the offline one," Sunny nodded eagerly.

"Casino?" Sarah tilted her head in wonder. That would be too obvious though, since it was banned in their country.

Sunny shook her head. "No, Miss. I think it’s some kind of card thing with his friends or acquaintances."

"Hah!" Sarah snickered. The most dangerous affliction was one given by our own circle. Friends could help someone out of addiction, but what if those friends were the ones dragging them toward addiction instead? Then, there would be no escape. Sarah shook her head helplessly. "It’d be better to just gamble with stocks."

"Can it...can it be used, Miss?" Sunny asked carefully, with a sparkle of hope behind her exhausted eyes.

"Oh, definitely," Sarah curled her lips. "Good job. You may leave now."

Sunny bowed deeply and left the office right away before anyone could get suspicious. The devices were safely tucked inside the inner pocket of her blazer. Sarah, meanwhile, grabbed her tablet and connected the flash drive containing the picture Sunny had taken.

"Hmm...let’s see what he was talking about with that accursed Uncle of mine," Sarah hummed while clicking the folder open.

"Princess..."

"What?"

"Are you not going to do it like the last time?"

"Huh?"

Sarah paused and turned toward the bodyguard, who had returned to his couch to deal with the report again. The grey eyes were looking at her with the kind of sparkle a kid would have before they were going to an amusement park. That hopeful excitement Sarah unfortunately never experienced.

But she did experience it when she was at the arcade before.

"No, I’m already comfy here," Sarah turned her gaze back at the tablet’s screen, much to Hajin’s disappointment. "You come."

Hajin blinked dumbly for a few seconds, before jumping off the couch as if the leather was laced with electricity. His long stride brought him to the desk in five seconds, and in the next five, Sarah found herself gasping as she was getting lifted and put down on the bodyguard’s lap.

Circling his arms around his princess’s waist, Hajin whispered along Sarah’s neck. "Like this?"

"Just don’t distract me," Sarah said while leaning back against the bodyguard’s broad and warm chest. Hajin obediently hummed and truly did nothing but enjoy his princess spoiling him.

Sarah exhaled slowly as she clicked on the first picture. "Now, let’s see..."