"That was it…?" I told myself quietly.

That was it.

Not ten minutes later, they assigned whoever on whatever job, and everyone, one by one, immediately logged off for the night. No more protest and no arguement, not even the "Why should I do it? Let Brian do it!" type of bickering I often imagine in siblings

I sat there as Eirlys closed the video call while around 12 people (who were probably away from keyboard) stayed in the call with their webcams off. She turned off the projector, wrapped up her documents, stuff her laptop back into her private workspace.

I had officially, successfully, convinced the team to initiate a 30 hour rollback, counting from the end of the meeting, at 9:34PM.

Eirlys was about to turned of all the electronics after she had done packing up all her stuff just as an old lady, the janitor, opened the door and they exchanged a nod.

The janitor entered the room, and Eirlys gestured for me to follow her.

And so we climbed: floor 42 to 50, one slow staircase after another.

I barely registered the echo of our footsteps. My soul wasn't really in my body, more like it was hovering somewhere a step behind thine flesh, watching the loser who had just pressed a big, terrible domino that would make a few dozens exhausted developers start working overtime because she was too lazy to create a new account, grow a pair of balls and deal with the consequences of her action.

And now that everything was over… All I could think was: That was it? That's all I had to do to ruin the day of a bunch of high status individuals with top-level jobs? Just open my mouth and talk nonsense?

I don't even know what I was thinking, I don't even know why I was feeling down all of a sudden, this was a win, a win is a win, no one has to care about how I achieved it. And frankly, I don't even know what the heck I was even feeling moody and sad and bitchy about.

But I feel like throwing a tantrum and butt my head against Eirlys' shoulder.

But I am a grown adult who didn't have the privilage to act out like a stupid brat.

When we reached the roof, the wind greeted us first. Cooler than I expected for a late, hazy night in the industrial district.

Not refreshing, not liberating, just wind.

A hand brushing past me without care or intention. Eirlys walked ahead, I didn't even realized I overtook her on the stairs without even realizing it.

Eirlys was already raising a hand toward the helicopter pilot, ready to lift off. But after the pilot gave her a brief nod, he gestured for her to come over and pointed at something on a small tablet… Was there an error on the plane? Was there a problem with the weather we're going to be flying?

Whatever the case was, I got a small chance to be alone. I just drifted away—two, three steps—until I stood at the very edge of the rooftop, hands lightly on the guard rail as if I needed proof the world was still physical.

I leaned against the railings of the roof and just looked downwards fifty flights of stairs.

I hopped over, plummeting to my death.

Of course, that was a lie, I have no intent, no wish, and no reason to. I just looked for now.

Below me stretched the industrial park; a long geometric rows of warehouses and loading docks.

The sky above me didn't even have stars, sadly… Just a smeared, light-polluted bruise of a sky, of course, this place didn't even get real night, just a dim, strained version of it.

Perhaps this park was the reason why I never saw a star for the last… 15 years already? Of my life, the last time was on a hiking trip.

My chest felt hollow, just a dull, useless feeling like someone scooped out whatever was supposed to be inside me and forgot to put anything back. I wrapped my arms around myself because… I don't know.

Maybe I thought it would help me feel like more of a person.

I did this.

I caused this.

I pushed for the longest, most disruptive rollback possible just to secretly resurrect my dumb character.

Now people have to stay up tonight, they have to redo entire segments of code or babysit servers or double-check logs because I wanted something nobody else cared about.

Players… God, 30 hours of progress, it meant nothing to me, but imagine someone like Hailie, that's practically 2 days for her, since she plays for 2 hours per day.

Who would sabotage the progress of a greater humanity like that?

I pulled out my phone and messaged Ann Murphray.

[I regretted it. But what's done is done, thank you for your cooperation]

Who would sabotage the progress of humanity like that, you may asked? A terrible, bratty girl, that's who.

If they knew—if even one of them knew—that the "assistant" sitting quietly in Eirlys' office was the reason those ancient relics were duplicated in the first place…

I exhaled shakily, while the wind kept brushing over me, patient and indifferent.

I stared at it all, feeling like the smallest and most shameful person in the world.

Ann didn't respond to my message after fifteen seconds, which probably meant she was online… Though I should not expect any response that fast from anyone, since they got their own life to worried about, she could be cooking up a feast for an entire village in an charity event right now for all I know.

I distinctly remember she saying something about today being an important day for her, but couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I scrolled through my phone as Eirlys and the pilot talked, just trying to stimulate myself basically.

Then, I came aross a name.

"..." I sighed, turning around "Hey Eirlys?"

That caught her attention.

"Yes, Cory?" Eirlys answered.

"I will not be home tonight, I want to visit… Um, a friend." I gulped, "I think I'll call a cab, can I take the elevator down the first floor?"

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