The audit took three days.

She picked one up—Elias’s coffee consumption map. She read it. Then she looked at Elias.

Elias Thorne, Senior Logistics Coordinator (Grade 7), stared at his screen. His inbox was empty. His calendar was a white void. For the past eleven months, he had arrived at 8:47 AM, brewed a single-origin pour-over, and spent the next seven hours and thirteen minutes perfecting a spreadsheet that no one had ever asked for.

She smiled for the first time. “A real one. I want you to map the actual waste in this company. The inefficiencies everyone is too busy to see. You’ve spent a year doing nothing. I suspect that makes you the only people here who truly understand how everything works.”

On Friday at 4:55 PM, the results were broadcast company-wide. Total headcount to be reduced: 12%. Elias scanned the list of names. His was not there. Cara’s was not there. Neither were Marcus’s nor Linda’s.

“No.”