Against the Algorithm

Chapter 47: More Than Enough

To: Hierophant
From: ZGDX_TinyBossBunny

Because of your betrayal, I will not be making anything extra for a while.
That includes stuffed rice balls.
The ones I always send over for you and Ai Jia?
Gone. Withholding privileges activated.
Enjoy listening to Ai Jia's whining alone.
You've brought this upon yourself.

Send.

Satisfying.

She placed her phone facedown on her desk and turned toward Ai Jia, who had just finished opening one of the food bags and looked entirely too hopeful for a man who was about to receive tragic news. Yao gave him an apologetic—yet entirely unrepentant—look. "Oh. Ai Jia?"

He blinked. "Yeah?"

"No rice balls. Not for a while."

"Wait—what?" Ai Jia froze mid-unwrapping.

She smiled, sweet and calm. "You can thank your ADC."

His jaw dropped, lower lip jutting out with Olympic-level pouting. "That's not fair! I didn't do anything!"

"You carried the boxes in and enabled it," she replied without even looking up.

"But I suffer enough!"

"That's not my fault."

"I was a pawn!" he cried dramatically, turning to Jinyang. "Tell her I was a pawn!"

Jinyang, already halfway through her tofu soup, shrugged with zero sympathy. "I told you this would happen."

Ai Jia groaned and slumped over the table, sulking.

Meanwhile, a soft ping sounded from Sicheng's pocket.

Then another.

Then a third.

He pulled out his phone and sighed when the notifications rolled in rapid-fire, lighting up the screen.

Kun Hyeok [Best Idiot]

1:16 PM: WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S MAD?!

1:17 PM: I CAN HEAR AI JIA SULKING ALL THE FROM YOUR BASE!

1:17 PM: FIX THIS FOR ME BEFORE SHE BANS THE PAN-FRIED DUMPLINGS TOO

Sicheng's lips twitched—just a little.

Yao, still seated primly at her desk, didn't look up. "Let him suffer."

More pings.

1:18 PM: TELL HER I'LL BAKE A CAKE. I DON'T KNOW HOW TO BAKE. I'LL STILL DO IT.

"Your number one fan is panicking." Sicheng exhaled slowly and set the phone down.

"Good, Maybe next time they'll think twice." Yao replied, sipping her tea like a queen atop her throne of calm vengeance.

Sicheng watched her for a moment longer, the quiet flicker of amusement in his amber eyes deepening.

Yeah.

She might be sweet.

But she was still terrifying.

Yao didn't even glance at her phone as it buzzed again with another desperate flurry of messages—clearly Kun Hyeok had entered full panic mode—but she calmly stirred her tea, expression serene, eyes steady on the screen in front of her like she hadn't just enacted a punishment that would ripple through an entire team. She sighed as her best friend and Ai Jia had gone back to their base.