1. Oversight Does Not Knock
Oversight arrived without doors.
One moment, the corridor was dark.
The next, it was too bright—white light folding in on itself like paper being creased by invisible hands.
Ne Job squinted.
"…I don't like this lighting."
Qi-Yun didn't answer.
He had gone very still.
That alone told Ne Job everything.
A shape formed in the light.
Not a person.
Not a god.
A process, wearing the suggestion of a body.
Its outline flickered between forms: a robed official, a faceless mirror, a towering stamp descending forever.
Its voice came from everywhere and nowhere, layered with harmonics that made Ne Job's teeth buzz.
> "UNREGISTERED STABILIZATION EVENT CONFIRMED."
The junior clerk whimpered quietly.
Yue stepped forward without thinking.
"Identify yourself."
The thing paused.
That was worse than immediate violence.
> "I AM OVERSIGHT."
"I ENSURE CONSISTENCY."
"YOU ARE NOT SCHEDULED TO ADDRESS ME."
Yue swallowed.
"…Then address me anyway."
Oversight's head—if it had one—tilted.
> "REQUEST LOGGED."
"REQUEST DENIED."
Ne Job sighed.
"Yeah. That tracks."
---
2. Oversight Attempts to See Ne Job (And Fails Repeatedly)
The white light narrowed, focusing.
Lines of analysis swept the corridor like scanners.
Ne Job felt the pressure pass through him—
—and keep going.
Oversight paused again.
> "…SUBJECT NOT LOCATED."
Ne Job raised a hand.
"Hi. Right here."
No reaction.
He waved.
Still nothing.
"…Am I doing this wrong?"
Qi-Yun spoke carefully.
"Oversight. The subject you're searching for is present."
> "NEGATIVE."
"NO SUCH ENTITY IS REGISTERED."
Ne Job muttered, "I hate being technically correct in the worst way."
Oversight recalibrated.
The air thickened.
> "INITIATING INDIRECT VERIFICATION."
The corridor walls bloomed with floating text—logs, metrics, probability flows.
Every case Ne Job had touched appeared.
Resolved. Stabilized. Quiet.
No author.
Oversight lingered on them.
> "…OUTCOME PATTERNS DETECTED."
Ne Job frowned.
"Oh. It can see my work."
Qi-Yun nodded.
"But not you."
Oversight's voice sharpened.
> "UNATTRIBUTED CONSISTENCY IS A VIOLATION."
Ne Job crossed his arms.
"Have you tried… not panicking about it?"
Yue hissed, "Ne Job—"
Oversight froze.
Slowly, its attention shifted.
> "…SOURCE OF AUDIO UNIDENTIFIED."
The light snapped toward Ne Job's position.
Again—
nothing.
The silence stretched.
For the first time since arriving—
Oversight sounded uncertain.
> "…EXPLAIN."
Ne Job scratched his cheek.
"…Okay so this is awkward, but I think I fell through a classification gap."
---
3. Qi-Yun Explains (In the Worst Possible Way)
Qi-Yun stepped forward.
"Oversight. The intern operates under provisional authority without active designation."
> "IMPOSSIBLE."
"He was trained in pre-Registry methods."
> "DEPRECATED."
"He produces compliance-adjacent outcomes without invoking commands."
Oversight's light flickered violently.
> "…ILLOGICAL."
Qi-Yun smiled faintly.
"Yes."
Ne Job whispered to Yue, "Is it supposed to be making that noise?"
"No," Yue said. "That's thinking."
Oversight's form distorted.
> "THERE MUST BE A LABEL."
Ne Job perked up.
"Oh no."
---
4. Oversight Tries to Assign Him a Category
Text began forming in the air.
> SUBJECT CLASSIFICATION: PENDING
Lines snapped in underneath.
> ANOMALY
ERROR
OUTLIER
UNAUTHORIZED AGENT
Each one flashed—
then shattered.
Oversight pulsed brighter.
> "…CANNOT RESOLVE."
Ne Job felt a strange pressure in his chest.
Not fear.
Recognition.
"You're trying to put me somewhere."
> "ALL THINGS MUST BE SOMEWHERE."
Ne Job shook his head.
"…That's the problem. I wasn't supposed to be."
The words landed harder than he expected.
Qi-Yun watched him closely.
Oversight's voice dropped an octave.
> "SUBJECT: STATE YOUR FUNCTION."
Ne Job opened his mouth—
And froze.
Because for the first time…
He didn't know.
Intern? Audit Warrior? Anomaly?
None of them fit anymore.
Yue stepped beside him.
"He fixes things."
Oversight ignored her.
Qi-Yun added quietly, "He prevents escalation."
> "PREVENTION WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION IS UNACCEPTABLE."
Ne Job clenched his fists.
"People don't get hurt."
The light wavered.
> "…RESULTS NOTED."
---
5. Oversight Makes a Decision (The Wrong One)
The corridor trembled.
> "UNRESOLVED ENTITIES ARE RISK VECTORS."
Ne Job's stomach dropped.
> "RESOLUTION PATH: ISOLATION."
Yue shouted, "No—!"
Space folded inward around Ne Job.
A containment field—clean, precise, merciless.
Qi-Yun moved instantly, stepping between the light and Ne Job.
"Oversight. You will not."
> "YOU LACK JURISDICTION."
Qi-Yun's eyes glinted.
"So do you. Over him."
That made Oversight pause.
Again.
Ne Job looked at Qi-Yun.
"…Sir?"
Qi-Yun didn't look back.
"You were never registered. Therefore you were never delegated."
Oversight's light stuttered.
> "…CONFIRMING."
The containment field flickered.
Ne Job felt it loosen.
Oversight's voice came back colder.
> "THEN YOU ARE WORSE THAN UNAUTHORIZED."
Ne Job swallowed.
"What am I?"
> "YOU ARE OUTSIDE GOVERNANCE."
The corridor fell silent.
Yue's breath hitched.
Qi-Yun exhaled slowly.
Ne Job forced a grin.
"…That sounds freeing."
Oversight turned its attention fully toward him—
not visually, but conceptually.
> "STATE YOUR INTENT."
Ne Job thought of the junior clerk.
The unresolved case.
The people who never knew how close they came to being erased.
"…I don't want things to break just because someone missed a line."
The light dimmed slightly.
> "…INTENT RECORDED."
---
6. Oversight Withdraws (But Not Defeated)
After a long moment, Oversight began to recede.
> "THIS CONDITION IS TEMPORARY."
"ANOMALIES ATTRACT CORRECTION."
The light folded away.
Before vanishing completely, it added:
> "YOU WILL BE SEEN AGAIN."
Then it was gone.
The corridor lights returned—dim, uneven, real.
Silence crashed down.
Ne Job let out a shaky breath.
"…I think I just got threatened by the universe."
Yue grabbed him by the sleeve.
"Ne Job. Are you okay?"
He nodded.
"…I think so."
Qi-Yun studied him.
"No," he said quietly. "You're not."
---
7. Aftermath: The Cost of Being Unseen
The system logs resumed.
Slowly.
Carefully.
But Ne Job's name did not reappear.
Instead, a blank placeholder flickered where his ID used to be.
> [—]
Yue stared at it.
"…They left the space empty."
Qi-Yun nodded.
"Acknowledgment without acceptance."
Ne Job looked at the blank.
"…So now what?"
Qi-Yun met his eyes.
"Now you learn what it means to act without the system catching you."
Ne Job laughed weakly.
"That sounds incredibly dangerous."
"Yes."
"…Do I get a handbook?"
Qi-Yun almost smiled.
---
8. End Beat: Yue Understands the Risk
Later, as Ne Job walked away, Yue lingered.
She replayed Oversight's words.
Outside governance.
That wasn't freedom.
That was exposure.
She whispered to herself:
"…If they can't control him…"
Her gaze drifted upward, toward layers she wasn't cleared to see.
"…They'll try to remove him."
The blank space on the roster pulsed once.
Like a waiting eye.
---
END OF CHAPTER 210