Part 1My Ex-Boss Begged Me to Return After Blacklisting Me

Just after the New Year, as I was about to return to work, my phone suddenly rang.

"Charlie."

With just one word, I immediately guessed who it was. Franklin Wood, my former colleague and superior, who had my ex-company and the entire industry blacklist me.

We had not been in contact for three years. I did not understand why he was calling me out of the blue.

"Is there something you need?"

Hearing my response, the man on the other end of the line suddenly took a deep breath, his voice becoming a bit urgent. "Charlie, do you have a job now? What happened back then was my fault. The company needs you now. Can you come back?"

'Needs me?' I thought and laughed.

Three years ago, he was the one who told me, "The company's success depends on the connections of its employees, not on their personal merits."

'Now, he's asking me to go back?' I thought, hanging up without replying.

After all, the company I was working for now, Apex Systems, was their biggest rival.

* * *

"Charlie, who was calling you?" My assistant, Alex Langdon, walked over with freshly brewed coffee and set it on my desk.

I put away my phone and replied with a smile, "No one important."

I turned on the computer and quickly went through the work that had piled up during the New Year holiday.

Alex was silent for a moment, hesitating to speak. "Charlie, did your former company come to poach you?"

The smile on my face faded. "You know about it too?"

Alex pursed his lips and pulled up a financial news article titled ‘Once an Industry Titan, Now in Decline’. He pointed at it to show me.

"It's been spreading around the industry. Kinetix Group has been losing customers due to the delayed update of its core system and is on the verge of bankruptcy. Their boss, Franklin Wood, is a self-made man and surely won't accept this.

“But he brought this upon himself. Back then, they relied on you to become the industry leader, but they drove you out and even banned you from the industry because of salary issues.

“Well, they're about to go bankrupt. It’s time for Charlie Grey’s great revenge!"

I smiled and was about to speak when my phone rang. It was an old colleague from my previous company.

"Charlie." He paused for a moment, as if considering his words carefully. "How have you been doing recently? Is your work going well? We all miss you very much."

I remained silent.

He gulped hard and continued, "Have you seen the recent news? The company is in a tough spot right now. The new programmers we hired aren't as skilled as you. They've made quite a few mistakes.

“Mr. Wood wanted to ask... if you would come back. The company is willing to let bygones be bygones."

"Let bygones be bygones?" I repeated the phrase and laughed.

Was he saying that I was the one who had been in the wrong?

After hanging up, I met Alex's curious gaze and began to explain what had happened.

When I joined Kinetix, it was not an industry titan. It was just a small, failing company on the brink of bankruptcy. The boss, Franklin, would drink until he vomited and get kicked around like a football just to secure partnerships. However, nothing worked.

Partners dismissed their technology as outdated and abandoned them one by one, and the company was on the verge of liquidation.

At a critical moment, I saw their recruitment ad and went to see him with the program I made myself. It was a simple big-data model that quickly analyzed customer needs and identified the most suitable solutions and products. That one small program saved Franklin.

In just one year, Kinetix transformed from a tiny, failing firm into one of the industry's top players.

At the celebration party held after the move to their new downtown headquarters, the drunk Franklin patted my shoulder and spoke as tears streamed down his face. "Charlie, you've been a blessing and the hero of Kinetix. As long as you're with us, Kinetix will never let you down."