Chapter 5: Meeting With The Big Boss
Amy yawned as she strode into headquarters. Last night's dungeon runs left her quite a bit more tired than she expected. Before heading to the elevator, she stopped at the coffee shop on the first floor for some breakfast.
"What'll it be?" The barista looked up at Amy, "Ah, Director Amy, will you be getting the usual?"
"Yeah," Amy replied with a single word before yawning.
"You seem pretty tired this morning, late night?"
"I was running dungeons in the new game with some friends." Amy paid for her coffee and cinnamon rolls and headed towards the elevator. Out of habbit she stopped on the third floor and walked towards her office. Outside her door, her secretary called out to her.
"Director Amy, aren't you supposed to have a meeting with the big boss this morning?"
"Oh right! Thanks Jane, I completely forgot." Amy returned to the elevator and went up to the eighth floor. Upon arrival, she went to Mr. Quinn's secretary to inquire about the meeting. "Secretary Moore, I have a meeting with Mr. Quinn, is it in his office or in the board room?"
Secretary Moore glanced up from her screen and frowned. "I'm not showing a meeting in the schedule miss, are you sure you have an appointment?"
"She does," a voice called from behind Amy. "I booked the appointment myself." Robert who happened to be passing by spoke up.
"Sorry, I was unaware, it's really not on the schedule Assistant Jones." Secretary Moore's face went pale as she tried to explain.
"Enough. Director, come with me. You can wait for Mr. Quinn in his office with me."
Amy followed behind Robert unsure what was going on. "If I may ask, how could something you put in the system yourself suddenly not be there this morning?"
"Mr. Quinn and I have recently discovered there are some saboteurs in the company. We're attempting to track them down, but I have my suspicions on who they might be. Until I get further proof, please do not discuss this with anyone."
"Understood." Amy and Robert entered Mr. Quinn's office and Robert immediately scowled.
"Robert, do you know when Xavier will arrive?" A petite woman dressed in an elegant red dress was sprawled on the couch.
"Assistant Jones, should I wait somewhere else?"
"Yes," the woman on the couch replied instead.
"Director you may stay, this woman has no business here."
"No business? How could you say I have no business here? Are you purposefully trying to keep me and Xavier apart?"
"Miss, I don't know who you are, but I have an appointment with Mr. Quinn this morning. Please be more reasonable."
"You don't know who I am? My song Ice Queen is currently at the top of the charts. How could you work here and not know who I am? Not to mention, everyone in this company knows I am the future Lady Quinn."
"Forgive me for not recognizing you, but it's rather hard to since you don't even show up in your own music video. How can you be so proud of a song you didn't write, you barely sang with the help of post-recording edits, and couldn't even perform the dance for? You're a disgrace to female idols."
"You!" The woman was about to retort when Xavier Quinn opened the door. "Xavier! This woman is bullying me, I think you should fire her."
Xavier walked in frowning but he had a rare spark hidden in the depths of his eyes. "I heard what she said just now, Director Ming seems to have a good grasp of the music industry. Everything she said is true. You know you only have this job because your parents begged me to give you a chance. However, if I find you had any involvement in replacing the dancer I had picked for the music video, your career will be finished. Now if you're done making a scene in my office, I suggest you leave before I have security throw you out. Robert have maintenance dispose of this couch after my meeting with Director Ming is finished."
"Understood sir. Miss Lynn, will you be leaving or do I need to contact security?"
"Fine! This isn't over, I'll let my daddy know how you treated me today!"
As the door closed behind Robert and the unruly Miss Lynn, Amy bowed to Xavier. "Mr. Quinn I am terribly sorry for my actions just now, but I couldn't stand her pretentious attitude."
"Think nothing of it, truth be told I think you handled yourself pretty well given the circumstances. I'm actually in the process of looking for a new vice president, are you interested in the job? George is getting old and looking to retire."
"Me? I don't think I'm qualified sir."
"Nonsense, I need a vice president who won't be pushed around, you've proven yourself more than capable of handling the job. I would have you start training next week if you're willing to take the position."
"If you think I'm capable, I'm willing on the condition that my secretary comes with me."
"Well, there's already a trustworthy secretary working for George, how about I just have your current secretary become your assistant?"
"That is very generous sir, then I guess I will report to Mr. Davis for training on Monday."
"Very good. Now on to why I called you here. Please come have a seat, just not on that couch over there."
"You seem to dislike Miss Lynn quite a bit Mr. Quinn."
"I do, it's a long and complicated story that I don't feel like sharing."
"I understand."
"Anyways, I called you here for a few reasons actually. The first is to ask about a friend of yours. I've heard two rumors about her recently. The most important rumor is that she might be the former idol trainee that was wrongfully terminated a couple of months back. I've been trying to track this trainee down ever since I was informed that she was terminated. She was actually the dancer I had picked for Miss Lynn's music video. It would have been the perfect first step for her in the industry regardless of Miss Lynn's lack of musical talent. Could I ask whether your friend is the person I've been looking for?"
"I, uh, actually had wanted to bring that situation up during this meeting, but my friend didn't want me to jeopardize my job to inquire about what happened. I guess since you brought it up yourself, I technically won't be going against her wishes. She was indeed terminated from the company's idol training program about a month after the auditions for Ice Queen. During the month in between, she was given no company resources as if someone was intentionally trying to shut her out. There is a high possibility that the trainee you mentioned is my friend."
"Good, on to the next rumor. It's been said around the game store I frequent that the boss' friend has a 20 minute faster time than Mr. X on Finale of Fantasy 8. I looked into the information on who runs the store and discovered it was you. The reason I bring this up is that Mr. X caught wind of it and wants to issue a challenge to this person at the speedrun competition two months from now. Can you verify the rumor?"
"That's an easy one. Yes, my friend does indeed have a completion record 20 minutes faster than Mr. X's record. She was very stubborn about the idea that the current method for speedrunning Finale of Fantasy 8 is wrong so she spent an entire year researching a better method."
"Good, invite her to the competition then, let her know all expenses will be paid by the company. There is one more person I would have you invite. The current record holder for the fastest max level character in Finale of Fantasy Online, White Tiger."
"Ummm Mr. Quinn, are you that desperate to get in touch with my friend?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that all three people you have brought up are the same person."
"Really? I had the feeling that the first two were probably the same person, but even White Tiger is her too?"
"Yeah, apparently she got really attached to that user id, I made it for her a long time ago and she uses it for all online platforms now. If you go review her recent dungeon activity, the character Amy Chan that ran with her is actually me."
"I see, that's good then. This way it will be easier on you. Next time you see her, discuss the things I've talked to you about today. Do it in private though. I still haven't discovered who all is involved in terminating her from the training program. I'm preparing something big for her as an apology in the upcoming competition, please do everything in your power to ensure that she comes."
"Understood boss, I'll do my best. Is there anything else that you wanted to discuss?"
"Just one more thing, if anything happens with your store contact me immediately. That store holds sentimental value for me and I don't want to see it go away. Along with that, Miss Lynn won't play nicely. She won't be able to touch you within the company due to your promotion, so she may make problems for your store."
"I understand boss, thank you for your offer of support. That store also has sentimental value for Julie and me, which is why I bought it when it was about to go under. If that is all, then I'll head back to my office now."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
GabrielKross
GabrielKross This chapter ended up a lot longer than I thought it would. I originally wasn't going to bring in Marilyn Lynn's character this early, but it kind of fit with everything else I wanted to address in this chapter.
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