SBO’s viewership drop

It became rather chilly the next day as a new week commenced. Such unfathomable weather, probably nature mishandling the month. Thick clothing ruled the day as Ryan walked into the Editorial office, sighting the same particular scene since leaving home.

Pleasantries were exchanged with the junior workers before he headed over to the heads section which had only two occupants, making it a three with him, at the moment.

"Hey Megan," He greeted the lady who looked all freezed up with the extra thickened leather jacket she had on.

She raised her beanie-filled head up and forcefully replied, "Hey."

"Where's Matthew? The idiot hasn't arrived yet?" He asked, taking a seat in the process.

A groan escaped the lips of the lady as she shunned him, "Urrgh... leave me alone, Ryan!"

"Oh, sorry..." He bent to have a better glimpse of the man sitting at the far end. "Morning Cole,"

"Good morning," an indefinite mutter came as a reply from the glass eyed man, leaving Ryan with a teasing smirk.

"You should go sit near the heater you know," He took out a pair of gloves from his briefcase as he spoke. "I'm not going to help you out if something goes wrong with you, honestly."

She tried forcing a glare but the cold got the better of it. Instead, she snarled. "Never asked you to..."

The gloves were placed firmly on both hands with a smugness attached to his face. "Even if you did, I still wouldn't," He adjusted a part of the finger.

The lady scoffed and looked away from him. She was in no mood to carry on with the conversation.

BANG!

A slam from the door could be heard all of a sudden, grabbing everyone's attention in the process. All eyes were turned to the entrance and a man came rushing through, heading over to the heads section.

... Matthew!

The first assistant chief editor looked all panicky as he arrived in front of his direct superior and his colleagues.

"Who gave a goose chase, Matthew Holmes?" Ryan spoke while leaning back on the chair, unfazed by the worried expression on his best friend's face.

Matthew tried to calm himself down as he panted excessively. He held onto his chest before replying, "No one Stones, but I just found something out. Something serious... something really serious,"

"Okay?"

The spiky haired man dipped his hand into his pocket as he fetched out something. "Take a look at this," He stretched his phone towards Ryan who collected it.

"What's this about? Can't you speak without handing over the phone to me?"

Ryan took a look at the screen of the phone to read the content. He carefully read through and what he could see was a set of graphic statistics data of probably ratings or so with red and blue lines denoting a rise and fall.

"What's that?" Megan asked in a low voice as she went over to sit on Matthew's space in an attempt to take a glimpse at the phone.

"I don't know." Ryan looked up from the phone to stare at the spiky haired man. "Can you please explain what this is, Matthew?"

"Now, listen," Matthew bent to their eye level. "So, I gained access to the company server—"

"You WHAT?" Ryan yelled with every form of authority, "Who gave you permission to? How did you even gain access into it?"

Matthew quickly beckoned for him to keep his voice low, "Keep your voice down stupid, you wouldn't want Cole to hear what we're saying— Ouch! I forgot he's heard already,"

He took a look at the far end, viewing the third assistant. Although the man wasn't looking at their direction, he was obviously listening in to their conversation and his body language didn't say otherwise.

"Give me the d*mn answer Matthew! How did you gain access into it?" Ryan stated, bringing his voice down but still maintaining the authoritativeness in it.

"Okay, okay. I kind of hacked into the server... But before you call me an idiot or anything, I have a great reason for that..."

"D*mn you Matthew! You really are an idiot..."

"Are you just knowing that?" Megan chipped in with a scoff, getting a hang of the cold by the moment.

"...what do you think would happen to you if the management finds out?" Ryan questioned him.

"Listen guys, you see that data in your hand," Matthew pointed to his phone in Ryan's hand, "It's the present viewership rating of the company for the past week."

"And what about it?" Ryan switched his gaze from the man to the phone and back to the man.

"You guys really won't believe what I'm about to say... you really won't believe,"

"Just spit it out already!" Megan let out in annoyance.

"For the first time in three years," Matthew indicated with his fingers as he stood upright, "We've had a viewership drop, taking us out the state media number one ranking and out the top five in the whole country!"

Megan widened her eyes in surprise. "You're not serious, are you?"

"See for yourself," He told her and she immediately grabbed the phone from Ryan, becoming more surprised as she realized he was telling the truth.

"How in the world did this happen?" She let out in incredulity. This was a feat that has not been achieved in a long time... falling off the viewership rankings.

Among the three, Ryan fell silent. His expression at the moment was neutral, not giving anyone the chance to know what he was thinking. Was he surprised? Non?

"Why aren't you saying anything, Ryan?" Matthew brought him back to planet earth.

He cleared his head with a shake as he stared at his best friend. "What's there to say? You think I would be bothered with the thing or what?"

"Shouldn't you? Okay, what were you thinking of then?"

"Me? I had my mind wrapped around something else. Don't worry about me. It's nothing important,"

Megan suddenly popped a question. "Are we supposed to inform the management about it?"

Matthew snapped his head towards her direction. "Seems like you got me a new job already, right?"

"What's this got to do with you?"

"Weren't you listening, Meg!? I 'hacked' the company server to get the details. No way the management's gon get all smiley with me if they find out..." He made sure to keep his voice as low as possible, even bending to make it a possibility.

"Do you think the company will not eventually find out?" Ryan suddenly asked.

"What do you mean? Are you planning to tell on me? Go ahead, sell me out and watch how I'm going to murder you in your sleep..." Matthew sheepishly laid a threat.

The black skinned man leaned back on the chair as he focused on the man whose skin was in contrast to his. "How well did you make your IP hidden?"

It suddenly dawned on Matthew. "Oh my God! I'm done for!"

"So you mean you kept your tracks open? How stupid of you, Matthew! Well, I'll gladly wait for the social security team to detect an unknown entry into the server," Ryan stated nonchalantly.

"Unfortunately for you and fortunately for me, the detection can not be traced back to me. How? I made use of an unknown IP address, creatively forged by me. Do you think I learnt the mode of hacking for nothing?" A tone mixed with arrogance and confidence escaped Matthew's mouth as he spoke.

"Good for you!" Ryan commended. "And about the ranking, it's very possible the management knows about it already. But, it will definitely take a while before we get informed, watch and see. So minutes have gone past seven so it's about time we begin the editing for today. Matthew! Get to your seat now!"

"You don't have to shout before saying anything..." Matthew protested with a sneer, unwilling to move.

He turned to look at Megan who still had her eyes fixed on the phone. "Megan, can you please hand over the jerk's phone to me. I'd like to meet with the director reg—"

"Hell No!" Matthew immediately rushed to Megan and snatched the phone from her. "Kindly get back to your seat, will you!" He pleaded with the lady sitting on his seat. She grumpily accepted and stood up immediately.

"I might still end up informing the management about it," Ryan said with a smirk, teasing his best friend.

Matthew turned to look at him. "You wouldn't dare!"