Người lao công bị họ chế nhạo
The headquarters of NovaTech Solutions stood like a glass giant in the center of San Francisco. The company had grown rapidly over the last five years, becoming one of the most talked-about tech startups in the country.
Their main product was a powerful productivity app used by millions of people around the world. Investors loved it. Tech blogs praised it. And the company’s CEO, Mark Reynolds, made sure everyone knew who deserved the credit.
Romance
Every morning the office buzzed with energy. Engineers sat behind rows of glowing monitors. Designers discussed new features. Large digital screens on the walls displayed live statistics showing how many users were active on the app at that moment.
On one of those screens, the number read:
8,234,918 active users.
Mark walked confidently through the office floor, wearing a tailored suit and holding a tablet. Employees greeted him respectfully as he passed.
“Morning, sir.”
“Good morning, Mr. Reynolds.”
Mark nodded proudly. He loved the feeling of being admired.
At the end of the hallway, he entered the conference room where a hiring meeting was about to begin. Several senior developers were already seated around the table reviewing resumes.
“We’ve got dozens of applicants for the senior software position,” one of the developers said.
Software
Mark sat down and flipped through the resumes.
“Let’s not waste time,” he said. “We need someone who understands our system perfectly.”
One of the engineers placed a resume on the table.
“This one is interesting.”
Mark glanced at it.
Then he frowned.
“What’s this?”
The resume looked unusually simple. The applicant had written only a few lines.
Name: Daniel Carter
Experience: Software Architecture & System Design
Mark shook his head.
“That’s it?”
The engineer shrugged.
“He said he built large-scale applications before.”
Mark scoffed.
“Well, if he’s serious about working here, he should learn how to write a proper resume.”
He tossed the paper aside.
Just then, the conference room door opened slightly.
A janitor pushed a cleaning cart inside.
He looked to be in his early thirties, wearing a simple uniform and holding a mop. His name badge read Daniel.
He quietly began cleaning the floor near the corner.
Mark noticed him immediately.
“Hey,” Mark said sharply.
The janitor looked up.
“Yes, sir?”
Mark picked up the resume again.
“You applied for a job here?”
The janitor nodded.
“Yes.”
Several employees in the room began whispering.
Mark stared at him in disbelief.
“You’re the one who submitted this?”
“Yes.”
Mark held the paper up.
“You expect this company to hire you with this?”
The room filled with quiet laughter.
One of the developers leaned back in his chair.
“Maybe he thinks cleaning the servers counts as IT experience.”
Another employee chuckled.
“Stick to the mop, buddy.”
The janitor remained calm.
“I’ve worked on large systems before.”
Mark smirked.
“Sure you have.”
He leaned forward and pointed at the janitor.
“This company handles millions of users every day. You think someone pushing a cleaning cart understands that kind of technology?”
The janitor wiped his hands on a cloth.
“I understand it very well.”
The room grew slightly quieter.
Mark raised an eyebrow.
“Oh really?”
“Yes.”
One of the engineers laughed.
“So what did you build? A calculator app?”
The janitor looked directly at Mark.
“I wrote the code your app is using.”
For a moment, no one said anything.
Then the entire room burst into laughter.
“That’s hilarious,” someone said.
Mark leaned back in his chair.
“You wrote our code?”
“Yes.”
Mark shook his head.
“Do you even know how many engineers work here?”
“I know.”
Mark stood up slowly.
“This app was built by one of the best development teams in the country.”
The janitor said nothing.
Mark tossed the resume back onto the table.
“Security should really check who they allow into this building.”
One of the developers wiped tears from laughing.
“You should apply to comedy clubs.”
The janitor simply picked up his mop again.
“Alright,” he said quietly.
He finished cleaning the corner and began pushing his cart toward the door.
As he reached the hallway, Mark shook his head.
“Unbelievable.”
The meeting continued.
They discussed hiring plans and upcoming product updates.
But suddenly, one of the developers noticed something strange.
“Uh… Mark?”
“What?”
The developer pointed at the large screen on the wall.
The number of active users had frozen.
8,234,918
Then the number disappeared completely.
The screen turned red.
A warning message appeared.
SYSTEM ERROR — CORE SERVER CONNECTION LOST
Everyone in the room stood up.
“What happened?” someone shouted.
Another engineer grabbed his laptop.
“The app just went offline!”
Mark frowned.
“That’s impossible.”
Across the office floor, employees began shouting.
“My dashboard stopped working!”
“The servers are down!”
“Users are reporting crashes!”
Phones started ringing at the support desk.
Within seconds, panic spread across the office.
Millions of users around the world had suddenly lost access to NovaTech’s app.
Mark turned to the engineers.
“Fix it!”
One of them typed furiously on his keyboard.
“I’m trying!”
Another engineer stared at the screen.
“The core system is locked.”
“What do you mean locked?”
“I can’t access it.”
Mark’s voice grew louder.
“Override it!”
The engineer tried.
Nothing worked.
Another developer rushed into the room.
“Mark, the entire platform is down!”
“How?!”
“I don’t know!”
Mark slammed his hand on the table.
“This system was built to handle anything!”
Then one of the engineers said something that made the room go silent.
“The shutdown command came from inside the system.”
Mark frowned.
“What?”
The engineer turned his screen toward him.
“Someone with administrator-level access triggered it.”
Mark’s stomach tightened.
“Who?”
The engineer checked the logs.
Then his eyes widened.
The command had come from a username.
DCarter_Admin
Mark stared at the name.
“Who is that?”
The engineer hesitated.
“Tài khoản đó được sử dụng bởi nhà phát triển ban đầu, người đã thiết kế kiến trúc cốt lõi.”
Mark cảm thấy một luồng khí lạnh kỳ lạ chạy dọc sống lưng.
“Nhà phát triển ban đầu?”
“Đúng.”
Mark đột nhiên nhớ ra điều gì đó.
Ông ta vội vã rời khỏi phòng họp.
Đi xuống hành lang.
Ở phía bên kia tầng văn phòng.
Đi về phía thang máy.
Nhưng người lao công đã đi rồi.
Xe dọn vệ sinh được đậu gần cửa.
Mark chạy ra ngoài đường.
Bên kia đường, người lao công đứng trên vỉa hè, tay cầm chiếc ba lô nhỏ.
Mark hét lên.
“CHÀO!”
Người đàn ông bình tĩnh quay người lại.
Mark nhanh chóng bước về phía anh ta.
“Bạn đã làm gì vậy?”
Người lao công nhìn anh ta.
“Tôi đã tắt hệ thống rồi.”
Cơn giận của Mark bùng nổ.
“Các người đã đóng cửa một nền tảng được hàng triệu người sử dụng!”
“Đúng.”
“TẠI SAO?!”
Người đàn ông nhìn thẳng vào anh ta.
“Vì hệ thống này vẫn thuộc về tôi.”
Mark nhìn chằm chằm vào anh ta.
“Điều đó thật nực cười.”
Người đàn ông mở ba lô và lấy ra một tập tài liệu mỏng.
Bên trong có những tài liệu cũ.
Bản vẽ thiết kế gốc.
Kiến trúc mã nguồn.
Hợp đồng.
Ánh mắt của Mark lướt qua trang đầu tiên.
Tên được in ở phía trên cùng là:
Kiến trúc sư phần mềm trưởng — Daniel Carter
Phần mềm
Sắc mặt Mark dần dần tái nhợt.
“Bạn…”
Daniel gật đầu.
“Cách đây 5 năm, tôi đã xây dựng toàn bộ nền tảng của hệ thống này.”
Đầu óc Mark quay cuồng.
“Nhưng công ty đã mua công nghệ đó rồi!”
Daniel khẽ nhún vai.
“Họ đã mua giao diện.”
Mark trông có vẻ bối rối.
“Giấy phép hệ thống cốt lõi chưa bao giờ được chuyển giao.”
Tim Mark như thắt lại.
“Bạn đang nói dối.”
Daniel bình tĩnh chỉ tay vào tòa nhà công ty phía sau lưng.
“Hãy kiểm tra các hợp đồng gốc.”
Mark đột nhiên hiểu ra một điều kinh hoàng.
Hệ thống mà NovaTech phụ thuộc vào…
Về mặt pháp lý, tài sản đó vẫn thuộc sở hữu của Daniel Carter.
Daniel cất các tài liệu trở lại vào túi.
“Tôi nộp đơn xin việc hôm nay vì muốn xem liệu có ai ở đây còn nhớ người đã xây dựng hệ thống này hay không.”
Mark không nói gì.
Daniel nhìn anh ta một lúc.
Rồi anh ta quay người và bắt đầu bỏ đi.
Mark đứng chết lặng.
Phía sau anh, tòa nhà văn phòng NovaTech náo loạn khi các nhân viên cố gắng hết sức để khôi phục lại nền tảng hoạt động trực tuyến.
Và khi Daniel biến mất vào con phố đông đúc của San Francisco…
Một ý nghĩ cứ vang vọng trong đầu Mark.
Người đàn ông mà họ cười nhạo…
Anh ấy là người duy nhất có thể khởi động lại toàn bộ hoạt động của công ty.