"You want to question the employees directly?"
Hols’s large eyes widened in surprise.
But only for a mont.
She quickly signaled to the man beside her without objection, and he quietly left as if accepting a silent order.
Her swift response exuded confidence that there was nothing to hide.
Soon, Hols t Kissinger’s gaze again, her expression shifting between disappointnt and regret.
"Are you really suspecting that article was targeting ?"
"Of course not. This is rely a standard verification process."
The one who answered was forr Secretary of State, Schulz.
He was the one who first discovered Hols and the person who frequently advised her the most.
Schulz looked at Kissinger while defending Hols.
"Henry, you don't really believe this to be true, do you?"
"I just want to make it clear that this is a company issue, not a personal matter."
Kissinger’s voice was firm.
However, his inner thoughts were a tangled whirlpool of emotions.
Kissinger’s affection for Theranos and Hols was no less than Schulz’s.
Helping Hols with the influence he had built over ti gave him deep satisfaction, and watching Theranos grow day by day brought him a unique sense of joy.
It felt like watching a carefully nurtured plant flourish beautifully.
Of course, Hols was not the only such presence in his life, but among them, she was particularly precious.
And for good reason.
If all the plants received similar care, yet one of them stood out and grew noticeably faster every day—
Naturally, one would develop a special attachnt to it.
In that sense, Theranos’s rapid growth had given Kissinger an indescribable sense of accomplishnt and exhilaration.
But…
Hols, a dictator?
Hiding behind a mask of humility and goodwill, acting like an angel in front but a tyrant behind the scenes?
The sincerity in her eyes, the burning passion for the future, the unwavering determination to change the world—
Was all of that rely an elaborate act?
For Kissinger, who took great pride in his judgnt, this was difficult to accept.
But.
A problem far greater than his pride lood before him.
‘If this article turns out to be true…’
He would be branded as an ‘accomplice to a dictator.’
Ninety-one years old this year.
At the twilight of his life, his final legacy could not be marred by such disgrace.
He wanted to leave behind sothing beneficial to the world.
That was the very reason he had nurtured his ‘plants’ all these years.
But if such a stigma were to be placed on him in the final chapter of his life—
A lifeti of effort would be reduced to nothing in an instant.
"As I’ve said before, this reporter is maliciously slandering …"
"That’s exactly why we need to verify it. If, as you claim, the reporter distorted the facts, this article will serve as an opportunity to discredit him. This is nothing more than an investigation to uncover the truth."
At Kissinger’s firm response, a suffocating silence fell over the conference room.
Since he frad it as sothing that could help Hols, Schulz had no grounds to object, and the other board mbers remained silent, sensing that sothing was amiss.
Amidst the tense silence, the conference room door opened again.
Two n entered.
Kissinger checked his watch.
Eleven minutes had passed.
He imdiately showed the newly arrived Theranos employee the article in question and asked,
"Do you think the startup ntioned in this article refers to Theranos?"
The employee looked montarily bewildered but quickly scanned the article before answering.
"It appears completely unrelated to Theranos. I have worked here for four years, and I have never once encountered such rumors."
Though the employee spoke with conviction, Kissinger scrutinized him sharply.
His eyes suddenly narrowed.
"What departnt are you in?"
"Excuse ? I’m in the Sales Departnt, but…"
"Where is your departnt located?"
"It’s… on the fourth floor."
Kissinger slowly turned to face Hols.
Lowering his voice, he firmly questioned her.
"We are on the second floor. There are employees right in front of us—so why did they go all the way to the fourth floor to bring soone? And why did it take a full eleven minutes?"
From the very beginning, Kissinger’s goal had been to asure the ti.
Because the article contained the following statent:
—This place is no different from a dictatorship. If you want to survive, you have to beco a ‘yes-man.’
If they were truly innocent, they could have brought over any nearby employee imdiately.
Yet, the fact that they took ti to select soone suggested they had deliberately chosen a ‘yes-man.’
As Kissinger pointed this out with sharp precision, all the board mbers turned their gazes toward Hols.
"Bringing soone from the fourth floor does seem suspicious."
"In a situation like this, it’s not a very wise move."
Voices of doubt arose.
The speakers were a forr senator and a forr defense secretary, both board mbers.
"That… I didn’t order them to do that…"
Hols’s gaze shifted toward the man who had brought the employee.
She was right.
It wasn’t Hols who had given the order, but rather the man who had read the situation and acted on his own initiative.
Kissinger continued to stare at Hols as he firmly spoke.
"Let’s check one more person. This ti, imdiately—bring soone from the closest departnt."
With a resolute tone, Kissinger’s sharp eyes turned to his secretary.
The secretary nodded silently and quickly left the conference room, returning within just two minutes with another employee.
Amid the tension, the sa procedure was repeated.
"Does this article seem to be referring to Theranos?"
In truth, Kissinger desperately hoped.
He hoped that this article had nothing to do with Theranos.
That Hols was still the passionate young genius he had once known and trusted.
The employee nervously glanced around but eventually spoke.
"It’s hard to say for sure. But the part about ‘secrecy’… does seem sowhat relevant. This place does have particularly strict security policies. USB usage is completely banned, and interdepartntal information exchange is strictly controlled."
However, considering Hols’s obsessive tendencies, this was entirely plausible.
This alone was not enough to call her a dictator.
"What about the part about surveillance?"
"I’ve never heard of such a thing before."
Kissinger secretly felt relieved.
However, his unease was not entirely dispelled.
Even if Theranos did surveil its employees, they wouldn’t be tracking every single one at all tis.
The most likely targets would be forr employees.
In that case, current employees would have no way of knowing the reality.
But.
At the employee’s next hesitant words, Kissinger’s eyes widened.
"I don’t know about surveillance… but resignations happen very frequently. Many people find it strange how employees keep disappearing. Normally, even after submitting a resignation, it’s customary to stay for two weeks, but here… people vanish overnight without a trace."
In that mont, a single word flashed through Kissinger’s mind.
The very word Ha Si-heon had told him.
"Do people here ever use the phrase ‘disappear’?"
"Well…"
The employee’s hesitation was answer enough.
There was no denying that bizarre disappearances were a frequent occurrence.
Kissinger’s brow furrowed.
After all, this was the exact reason why Ha Si-heon had compared her to a ‘dictator’—these abnormal resignations that were closer to disappearances.
After dismissing the employee, Hols stepped forward to explain.
"This is purely a asure for information security. So employees leave after being scouted by competitors. We only wanted to prevent the risk of leaking confidential information during the customary two-week notice period…"
"I understand that. Maintaining confidentiality is critical here, isn’t it?"
Schulz once again defended Hols.
However, Kissinger’s expression remained stern.
"Bring in the HR manager next."
"What?"
"If there are unusually frequent resignations, HR should have detailed records. Ask them to bring the resignation rates and relevant data from the past three years."
Hols fell silent, seemingly at a loss for words.
As a board mber, Kissinger had the authority to access such internal data, leaving her with no grounds to refuse.
A short while later, the HR manager entered the conference room cautiously, carrying the requested docunts.
Upon reviewing the records, it was evident—Theranos’s turnover rate was abnormally high.
"More than half of the employees have left the company."
"Startups naturally have high turnover rates."
"Even so, the industry standard is around 20-30%, but this is more than double that. Isn’t that suspicious?"
"That’s… actually, we’ve been struggling due to aggressive scouting from competitors…"
The board mbers clicked their tongues at the alarmingly high figure.
Hols continued to make excuses, but her explanations grew less convincing by the mont.
Kissinger’s sharp gaze turned to the HR manager.
"Bring the personnel records of the most recently resigned employee."
"What?"
"Did you not understand my request?"
"No, it’s just…"
The HR manager, flustered, glanced at Hols, but under Kissinger’s commanding presence, he finally relented and pulled out his smartphone.
Just as he was about to send a text ssage to his subordinate—
"Call them instead."
Kissinger’s voice cut through the air.
Texts and emails could be manipulated, and he wanted to eliminate any such possibility.
Through text, the HR manager could secretly instruct them to fetch the record of a ‘specific individual’—perhaps soone who would provide only favorable feedback.
"Uh… Could you bring over the personnel file of the most recently resigned employee… to the second-floor conference room?"
In the end, the HR manager made the call.
Before long, the requested file arrived.
Kissinger turned to his secretary.
"Call them."
"What?"
Hols’s face instantly turned pale, but Kissinger remained firm.
"Most of the testimonies in this article co from forr employees. The only way to verify the truth is to hear directly from them."
So far, all they had was circumstantial suspicion.
For undeniable proof, they needed firsthand testimonies from those who had left.
The secretary switched the phone to speaker mode and dialed the number.
As the ringing tone echoed through the tense room—
Ring… ring…
[Hello?]
"Amara Sterling?"
[Yes… Who is this?]
"This is the secretary of Henry Kissinger, a board mber of Theranos. My apologies for the sudden call, but we need to ask you sothing."
The person on the other end seed too shocked to respond imdiately.
Kissinger took the smartphone from his secretary and asked directly.
"What was your position?"
[I was a lab researcher.]
"I’d like to ask about your reason for resigning."
[I… I’m afraid I can’t disclose that due to my NDA.]
Kissinger’s eyes flashed sharply.
He had heard this exact line before.
Ha Si-heon had already warned him about this.
And the conversation continued exactly as he had anticipated.
"I am a mber of the board at Theranos."
[Yes, but… The NDA explicitly states that even board mbers cannot be privy to this information.]
There it was again.
The NDA that even barred disclosure to the board.
"Does the NDA really classify the board as third parties?"
"For what possible reason?"
"Doesn’t this make it obvious that there’s sothing being hidden?"
Several board mbers shot Hols sharp glances, but Kissinger raised a hand, signaling for silence.
Then he continued.
"Were you scouted by an external company?"
[No.]
"Then why did you leave without even serving the customary two-week notice? Normally, employees remain for that period before departure. Because of this, rumors have spread that the company is ‘making people disappear.’"
[That… was not my choice. The mont I expressed my intent to resign, security ordered to pack my belongings imdiately… I didn’t even have ti to properly say goodbye to my colleagues.]
"If you had at least made a phone call, there wouldn’t be rumors of disappearances."
[If I had called, people would have asked why I was leaving… And due to the NDA, I wouldn’t have been able to answer. So I avoided contact altogether.]
"Have you ever felt like you were being followed?"
A tense silence filled the room.
[I can’t say for certain… but there were suspicious instances.]
"Then what do you believe was the reason for the surveillance?"
[Well…]
The person hesitated but soon continued.
[I had forwarded so work emails to my personal account, and I was threatened that if I didn’t delete them, I would be sued for violating the NDA. I hired a lawyer to fight back, but Theranos’s legal team was too aggressive… That was when I started suspecting surveillance.]
Kissinger’s breath caught.
This testimony was undeniable.
It was clear evidence that Theranos had used its power to intimidate vulnerable employees.
"I understand. Thank you for your ti."
But just as he was about to end the call—
An unexpected statent ca through.
[About the reason I resigned… It was because… sigh… it went against the Hippocratic Oath.]
The voice on the other end trembled, but the words carried firm conviction.
[Theranos decided to add an HIV test to its device. But the accuracy of the test was severely flawed. I raised concerns that this would lead to false HIV test results, but they refused to reconsider… I couldn’t be part of sothing like that, so I resigned.]
The employee was finally voicing the tornt they had kept buried inside.
Sensing the board mbers' involvent, they found the courage to speak up, spurred on by Kissinger’s relentless questioning.
However, the employee had misunderstood the situation.
Kissinger’s goal had only been to find evidence of Hols’s ‘dictatorial managent style.’
But the revelation was steering the discussion in an entirely unforeseen direction.
[There’s sothing called a validation report. It’s a test to confirm whether a product functions properly. Every single validation test I conducted failed. Yet, those numbers were not reflected in the official report.]
Kissinger’s eyes widened.
The eyes of the other board mbers also grew large in shock.
The sound of dry swallowing echoed throughout the room.
The employee’s revelation… pointed directly to data falsification.
This was no longer just a managent issue.
It was a fundantal flaw in the very technology that had propelled Theranos to the forefront of ‘innovation.’
But this was only the tip of the iceberg.
[The federal governnt conducts a proficiency test three tis a year. The test must be conducted in the sa manner as handling actual patient samples. But Theranos used third-party devices for the test. Not once did they use their own Newton device for the examination.]
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