Alexandr Korol

— Well? Are we working?
— No.

In other words, he became even more frightened because he couldn’t
comprehend what was happening — he couldn’t grasp how this was even
possible. Plus, he realized that he had confessed to everything, making him
even more of a “fraud and a criminal” in my eyes. So he writes:

— No. After all, we have different paths. I want to choose my own, different
path of development.

Well, just so you understand, that was his — in quotes — ”sinful, fraudulent
path.” And he says:

— I choose this path, and it’s better if we just stay friends and have no claims
against each other. This is where we stop.
— Fine.

And that was it. After that, my battle with the beast finally came to an end.
I stepped out of that underworld. But then, something else interesting
happened.

I call Big Alexander and say to him:

— Alexander, what is this nonsense? I fell ill on December 1st; I’ve been
lying here for five days now, all sick and broken. And then on December 4th
— actually it was around the 4th or 5th — I talk to my former employee, that
fraud, I get back in touch with him, I start remembering him as if I’ve fallen
into hell. I start hashing things out with him, and what’s most interesting
is how differently I reacted. At first, it was as if I descended into the
underworld and started arguing with him again, poking at him. But then I
stepped out from under that, and I behaved so differently. Because of that, I
felt as if something inside me just clicked — as if I had finally been liberated
from something for good.