The History of an Evil CEO

Chapter Ⅴ A change of life Part 3

Now I was heading to where my work area was and I met Matteo Lata who had only started working here for 8 months and he was an industrial designer. We only talked for about 3 minutes and one of the things that Ludwin told me was that he had been trying to make a plan with the government for a long time because he didn't know what it was about since he had only mentioned building a subway, -subway?- I said, he answered me -yes, I think he plans to expand the factory downwards, although I don't know what projects he will have- From there we went to our work areas... 

And so it's been nine months since we joined Playtime Co. and looking back, it's been a whirlwind of ideas and topics. The work is fascinating and intense, a strange mix of creativity and secrecy. We've been immersing ourselves in everything from concept sketches by Matteo Lata to prototype testing, and every day we bring back a new, out-of-the-box idea.One of my proudest contributions was pitching the idea of ​​bringing skateboards into production. 

I thought, why not bring some of my own passions into the factory? Skateboarding by 1974 had taken off in popularity and there's something about the freedom it represents: rolling, finding balance in other people, the exhilaration of a smooth ride on other people's silly ideas. After a few demos and a little persuasion, Ludwin gave the green light and before long Playtime Co. was producing our first line of skateboards. Seeing the final product on the shelves was a strange, proud moment. It was a small victory, but it felt important, like I was bringing a bit of my world into this larger, more complex machine.

Of course, there's always that undercurrent. Ludwin is tight-lipped about some projects, especially those involving government "collaborations" and the Underground. Those things, he says, are best left unrevealed, for the greater good, he assures us. I must admit it's a little unsettling, but for now, we're just focusing on the work, trying to push new ideas without asking too many questions.

But since that time I had already felt such a strong need to find out all the secrets; maybe it was those weird visions I had where that voice similar to mine told me to "do some research and that it would be quite necessary" and I started thinking so much about what his secrets were, or maybe it's just that nagging feeling about Ludwin. Either way, that was until I decided to talk to Red who knows a lot about breaking into houses and stuff (Don't ask me why he told me).

So we decided to go in the night/morning and sneak in through the back of the factory secretly and we slowly crept through the factory halls unseen by the cameras until we reached his office, tiptoeing on the cold floor, heart pounding as we approached the filing cabinet.

I began digging through documents, expecting to find the usual boring paperwork. Instead, I stumbled upon files that made my hair stand on end. There it was, in black and white: evidence of Ludwin's involvement in the Watergate cover-up, letters and memos exchanged with officials linked to the president's administration. Every detail painted a picture of corruption and deceit, hidden beneath the Playtime Co. facade as a "harmless" toy company.

But that wasn't the worst of it. Digging deeper, I found records of something even more horrifying. Ludwin's name appeared in documents related to radiation experiments conducted on humans in the late 1930s, shady experiments in which lives were used as disposable objects and suffered rare mutations. Then another experiment caught my eye: the "Little Poppy" experiment. I had read about Little Albert's experiment but never about Poppy's. The experiment was a psychological one that at first seemed innocent enough to turn into something terrible, and it left scars on its subject, a little girl, whose whereabouts are unknown.

It's almost surreal to think that this man, the one who smiles at us and guides us through toy designs, could be linked to horrors like these. But now I know. So I took all the papers and left the factory thinking that would be the end of Luwing. That's how the Watergate scandal made the criticism so strong in the United States that Nixon resigned from office but there was nothing of Luwing. Despite this, he never suspected me because he thought I was so good that I couldn't even kill a fly.