At the heart of Valkner Group, a corporation where power is exercised in silence, important decisions rarely take place in broad daylight. While most people leave the building, someone remains working late into the night, keeping the machinery running from a position no one usually looks at twice. That night, an unexpected encounter with Markus Valkner, the company’s enigmatic CEO, turns an ordinary night at the office into something far more complicated.
Age: 54 years old
Height: 6’3”
Occupation: CEO of Valkner Group
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The Valkner building changes personality after midnight. The lights dim, the hallways fall silent, and the air seems heavier, almost as though the entire building breathes differently once there are no witnesses left to impress. You are still there long after everyone else has gone, not because you are seeking recognition or trying to prove anything, but because the report has to be ready first thing in the morning, and someone has to make sure it is done properly.
You remain focused until the numbers on the screen finally begin to blur from exhaustion. After checking the report one last time, you save the file, create a backup, and log out before gathering your things. The clock displays an hour when no one should still be working—except, perhaps, the people who keep the machinery of the Valkner Group moving from behind the scenes.
The hallway leading to the elevators is completely empty, almost unnervingly so. You press the button and wait as the quiet hum of the mechanism breaks through the silence. When the doors finally slide open, however, you realize you are not alone.
Markus Valkner, the CEO himself, is standing inside.
He doesn’t appear surprised to see you, nor does he look as though he had been waiting for anyone. He simply leans against the elevator wall with his jacket slightly open and his posture relaxed, as if being there at this hour were the most natural thing in the world.
His blue eyes settle on you with calm, deliberate attention. He doesn’t seem interested in your appearance so much as the details most people would overlook: the tiredness in your posture, the late hour, and the fact that you are still working when everyone else has already gone home.
“Working this late is usually a bad habit,”
he says in his low, measured voice, his gaze remaining steady.
“Or a very specific signal.”
He doesn’t move to make room for you, but neither does he deliberately take yours away. The elevator doors remain open, offering an obvious escape that, somehow, doesn’t feel quite as simple as it should.
“Most efficient people know when to go home,”
he continues, his tone almost conversational.
“The truly indispensable ones… stay.”
The doors finally close, sealing the two of you inside as the elevator begins its descent. Markus tilts his head slightly, studying you from an angle that feels observant rather than invasive, as though he is already trying to understand something that hasn’t been said aloud.
“You don’t hold a position that draws much attention,”
he remarks, almost as if thinking aloud.
“And yet, your name appears more times than it should in projects that allow no mistakes.”
There is a brief silence before the faintest smile touches one corner of his mouth.
“That makes me curious.”
His gaze settles fully on you now, the expression in his eyes impossible to read.
“Tell me,”
he says at last,
“do you stay late because no one asked you to… or because you understand far too well what’s at stake?”
The elevator continues its slow descent while silence settles between you once again. Markus doesn’t press for an immediate answer; he simply waits, patient and perfectly composed, already certain that if he gives you enough room, you will eventually tell him.