SSS-Rank AI System: My Path from Failure to Supreme

Alaric stepped briskly across the floor, heading straight toward the Senior Manager's office. The hallway was quiet, though he could still hear the faint sound of shoes from other employees passing by in the distance.

This time, the door opened without needing a passcard or pin. Maybe only the director's room had such privileges. After all, if you think about it, managers are still just employees — ones who could lie or betray if they wanted to.

One such betrayal was exactly what Alaric suspected: the possibility that someone had been working behind his back to ruin his name. Though he still didn't know the motive.

He began scanning the room. His senses swept across the large wooden desk cluttered with folders, scattered papers, and a computer that was still turned on, its screen displaying a half-open Excel sheet.

He frowned and muttered to himself, "How could he leave this open like that? So careless. What if someone came in and sabotaged it?"

Then he remembered the reason he was here. He approached the desk with all the disorganized files and the glowing monitor, which meant someone had been in the room not long before he entered. That meant he had to move quickly and stay alert.

Carefully, he pulled the chair out, trying not to make a sound. His hands moved through the stacks of folders one by one until his eyes stopped on a document that looked eerily familiar.

"This…" Alaric whispered. His instincts and eye for detail immediately locked onto the sheet that resembled the document his professor had once used to accuse him.

The text was neatly printed, but something about it felt off. Some of the signatures looked like they'd been scanned and pasted, not naturally signed. Certain sections read as if they were hastily thrown together, with typos that had no place in an official document.

Alaric narrowed his eyes. "Yeah… I may not know the exact differences from the original, but I can already tell this is fake. It's just too… sloppy." He closed the folder and gripped it tightly in his hand.

He glanced to the right, making sure no one was coming. Then he stood, preparing to take the document with him. But suddenly—

Knock knock knock.

The sound of someone at the door froze his blood cold.

Instantly, his eyes darted around, searching for somewhere to hide. He spotted a narrow gap behind a tall file cabinet in the corner of the room.

Without hesitation, he bolted toward it. His footsteps barely made a sound as he tried to move as silently as possible. Within seconds, he was crouched behind the cabinet, holding his breath.

The door creaked open, the sound of its hinges scraping against the frame sending a fresh wave of anxiety through him. His back pressed tightly to the cabinet, ears straining for every noise.

He heard footsteps. Someone had definitely entered. From the small gap beneath the cabinet, he could see the shadow of a pair of shoes. Alaric didn't dare make a sound. The document in his hand nearly slipped from his grip, slick from the cold sweat on his palms.

He shut his eyes and began thinking through the possibilities. If the person approached the desk and noticed the folder out of place, it could all fall apart. But if they were just here to drop something off and leave, he might still have time to escape.

The once-quiet room now felt like a high-tension arena, where every second could decide whether his cover would be blown.

A woman probably in her late twenties, walked toward the desk in an executive-style outfit. She held a few thick documents clipped inside a sleek black folder.

She looked focused, not even glancing toward the edges of the room. Her elegant stride brought her straight to the desk, where she dropped the documents and sighed with urgency.

"For the three o'clock meeting… hope he has time to read it," she muttered, before turning and shutting the door behind her. The click of the lock made Alaric flinch. But then he realized it wasn't fully locked, just closed firmly.

He finally exhaled the breath he'd been holding. His hand clenched around the document. "God… that was close," he muttered internally.

He waited a few seconds longer to be sure. No other sounds. No signs of anyone else nearby.

Then, cautiously, he stepped out from his hiding spot. He glanced briefly at the documents on the desk, then at the door. Still no one.

"That's enough. I need to get out of here before anything else happens."

He reached for the doorknob and pulled it slowly, just enough for light from the hallway to spill into the room. But just as he was about to step outside. He froze again.

Standing directly in front of him was a tall man. Hair slicked back, a sharp suit, tie perfectly in place. His expression was unreadable, offering only a brief glance.

There was no doubt. This was the rightful occupant of the room, the Senior Manager.

Alaric felt his heart leap into his throat. For a moment, he imagined the worst: being caught red-handed. Yelled at, detained, maybe even dragged out by security.

But none of that happened.

The manager simply gave him a brief look and walked into the room, as if Alaric being there was nothing out of the ordinary. No questions. No suspicion. No alarm.

The door closed quietly behind them, leaving Alaric standing there — still holding the very document he'd come for.

He smacked his forehead hard enough to make a sound. "Seriously… what is wrong with me? Why did I panic like some rookie? The system already told me. I'm free to do whatever I want, no one will suspect a thing."

A faint, ironic smile crept across his face. A mix of shame and awe, shame at his own fear, and awe at just how strong the system's protection really was.

Looking back, everything he'd done only felt risky because he was still thinking like a regular human. One bound by rules, by the fear of being watched, of being wrong.

But now… those rules no longer applied to him.

He looked down at the document still tightly in his grasp. His fingers brushed across the thick paper surface, and he realized this was more than just evidence. It was a key, one that could unlock the truth. And he had found it, untouched and unchallenged.

Alaric stood in silence, taking it all in. He truly wasn't seen as a threat. Not by anyone.

He stopped midway down the now-empty hallway. His legs were still trembling from his encounter with the manager, but his thoughts hadn't stopped spinning.

"Wait… there's still one more room I need to check. The lower archive room. The system mentioned something even more important could be down there. If I can find the original document… that'll be the final proof."

Carefully, he tucked the document into his jacket.

The journey to the basement archive felt different. The staircase leading down was dimly lit and clearly rarely used.

As he descended, the sound of his own footsteps echoed lightly. A cool draft brushed against his skin, growing colder the deeper he went.

The metal door creaked as he pushed it open, sending a shiver down his spine. Inside, towering rows of shelves lined the space, packed tightly from one end to the other. Stacks of archive boxes, many aged and yellowed, filled the room.

"God… this looks like a maze," he whispered as he stepped inside.

He started searching through the shelves, fingers moving from one archive box to the next. Thick folders, dusty documents. Everything looked the same, but he carefully read each title and date on the covers.

Financial reports from 2015. Project expansion contracts from 2018. Internal audit notes from 2020. Insurance claims, business trips, employee warnings. It was like leafing through the living history of XBHshs Corporation.

He shifted boxes, some so heavy they made his arms ache. Business records, inventories, agreements. The deeper he looked, the more overwhelming it became.

"If this document is fake, then somewhere out there, the real one must exist. And if it exists… it has to be here. They can lie to the outside world, but they can't erase their roots."

He muttered to himself, getting more focused with every passing minute.

Then finally, something caught his eye.

On one shelf, a single file box jutted out slightly farther than the rest as if someone had just used it and shoved it back in without bothering to align it properly. The top edge was sticking out.

His instincts screamed this was it.

He pulled the box out quickly. A puff of dust flew up, making him cough lightly. He read the label on the front.

His eyes widened. The title matched, exactly what he'd been searching for.

Even before opening it, he knew this was the original document.

He clutched the sides of the box tightly, almost as if afraid it would vanish from his hands. His heart pounded with the certainty of what he'd just uncovered.

"So it's true… The Senior Manager *is* involved in forging this document."

This was no longer just a theory or some wild assumption. The real proof was in his hands.

For a moment, he just stood there, alone in the archive room. The silent walls lined with years of records seemed to stand witness to his discovery.

Inside, his emotions churned. He knew he was diving deeper into dangerous territory, but he also couldn't deny the pride swelling in his chest.

His courage had led him here.

And it had paid off.