1. The Day His Name Vanishes
Ne Job noticed it during roll call.
Which was impressive, because roll call in Heaven involved seven layers of echo, a hovering attendance halo, and a dragon whose only job was to glare at anyone who answered late.
"Intern Li Ming."
"Here!"
"Intern Zhao Wen."
"Present!"
"—"
The halo hesitated.
Ne Job leaned forward.
"…That pause feels personal."
The dragon squinted at the glowing list, frowned, and continued.
"Intern Qiao Sun."
Ne Job blinked.
He raised a hand.
"Uh. Hello? I exist?"
No response.
Yue slowly turned to look at him.
"…Ne Job."
"Yes?"
"Your name isn't on the list."
Ne Job stared.
"…Okay but I'm standing here."
"Yes," Yue said carefully. "You're just… not scheduled."
The dragon finished roll call, snapped the halo shut, and left without acknowledging Ne Job's raised hand.
Ne Job sat down slowly.
"…I've been soft-deleted."
Yue winced.
"That's worse than being in trouble."
---
2. Being Ignored by the System Is Not Peaceful
At first, Ne Job thought it would be nice.
No assignments. No alerts. No glowing red warnings screaming NON-COMPLIANCE DETECTED.
He walked through three corridors without triggering a single sensor.
A door auto-opened for Yue—
—and stayed shut for him.
Ne Job walked into it.
Thud.
"…Ow."
Yue opened it manually.
"They don't see you," she murmured.
Ne Job rubbed his forehead.
"I'm like a ghost."
"No," Yue said. "Ghosts are documented."
That felt worse.
---
3. People Still See Him (And That's the Problem)
Despite the system's indifference, people kept coming.
A junior clerk whispered:
"Ne Job—can I ask—"
A senior scribe leaned in:
"We used your approach. It worked."
Someone else passed him a folder without making eye contact, like it was contraband.
Ne Job stared at the stack forming on his desk.
"I am not assigned any of this."
The clerk nodded.
"We know."
"…Then why—"
"Because it gets resolved when you look at it."
The system did not chime.
No logs. No records. No credit.
Just effect.
Ne Job swallowed.
"…This is illegal."
Qi-Yun passed by and said quietly:
"Yes."
---
4. The System Adjusts (By Erasing More)
By midday, Ne Job couldn't access terminals.
His ID tag flickered, then went blank.
> USER NOT FOUND
Ne Job stared at the message.
"…That's rude."
Yue tried to pull his profile.
Nothing.
She tried again.
Still nothing.
"…Ne Job," she said slowly, "you're not just unscheduled."
He looked at her.
"You're untracked."
Silence stretched.
"…That sounds like a prelude to annihilation."
Yue nodded.
"Or recruitment."
"…Those are very different outcomes."
"Heaven disagrees."
---
5. Qi-Yun Finally Explains (Because It's Funny to Him)
Qi-Yun met Ne Job in an unused stairwell.
The kind that only existed because deleting it would cause paperwork.
"The system cannot reconcile you," Qi-Yun said.
Ne Job leaned against the wall.
"Because I'm doing things without authority."
"Because," Qi-Yun corrected, "you are producing stability without traceable commands."
Ne Job frowned.
"That sounds good."
"It is intolerable."
Qi-Yun folded his arms.
"When the system cannot classify something as compliant or non-compliant, it removes it from consideration."
"…By pretending it doesn't exist."
"Yes."
Ne Job sighed.
"So I'm a rounding error."
Qi-Yun smiled thinly.
"For now."
---
6. Yue Sees the Pattern (And Hates It)
Yue reviewed the affected cases.
Each one Ne Job touched had a similar signature:
• No escalation
• No disciplinary flags
• Quiet resolution
• No attribution
The system loved outcomes.
It hated processes it didn't control.
She looked at Ne Job.
"You're becoming invisible where it counts."
"…I don't want that."
"Too bad," Yue said softly. "People depend on you now."
Ne Job stared at his hands.
"…That's worse than being followed."
---
7. The First Direct Consequence
It happened near the end of shift.
A cascade alarm should have triggered.
It didn't.
Instead, a junior ran—actually ran—into the break area.
"Ne Job!"
Everyone froze.
Using his name loudly felt dangerous.
"There's a contradiction forming between Mortal Appeals and Celestial Forecasting—if it escalates, they'll wipe a district's luck alignment."
Ne Job stood.
"Why wasn't this flagged."
The junior swallowed.
"…Because you're the one who usually notices."
Ne Job's stomach dropped.
"…And the system didn't."
Silence.
Ne Job grabbed the folder.
"I'll look."
The lights flickered.
Somewhere deep in Continuity, a threshold trembled.
---
8. The System Notices Too Late
As Ne Job read, glowing text flickered into existence—jagged, unstable.
> UNREGISTERED INTERVENTION DETECTED
The words shook.
> SUBJECT: UNKNOWN
Ne Job looked up.
"…That's me."
The air tightened.
> CLASSIFICATION FAILURE
> RESOLUTION PATH: ESCALATE
Yue's eyes widened.
"Oh no."
Qi-Yun appeared instantly.
"Ne Job," he said sharply, "step away."
The lights dimmed further.
> DEPLOYING OVERSIGHT
Ne Job clenched the folder.
"If Oversight comes, people get erased."
Qi-Yun's voice hardened.
"Yes."
Ne Job looked at Yue.
At the junior.
At the invisible line he'd crossed without meaning to.
"…Then I don't step away."
The system froze.
For the first time—
it hesitated.
---
9. End Beat: Something Looks Back
High above, in layers Ne Job had never been authorized to know existed, a process paused.
> SUBJECT EXHIBITS UNDOCUMENTED STABILIZATION
> …REVIEW REQUIRED
A new label began to form.
Not a title.
A category.
> ANOMALY: FUNCTIONAL
---
10. End of Chapter
Ne Job stood in the dim corridor, holding a problem that technically did not exist.
Which meant no one else could fix it.
He exhaled.
"…I really should've failed orientation."
Yue stood beside him.
"You tried."
"That's what scares me."
The lights went out completely.
---
END OF CHAPTER 209