1. Yue Does the One Thing She Swore She Would Never Do
Yue stood in the auxiliary processing wing long after everyone else had left.
The lights hummed. The air smelled like dust, old paper, and decisions that ended careers.
Ne Job was asleep at his desk, cheek pressed against a stack of unfiled anomalies, drooling slightly onto a report titled LOW PRIORITY: STATISTICAL IRREGULARITIES (IGNORE).
Yue watched him breathe.
"…Idiot," she murmured.
Then she turned to the terminal.
And logged in.
Not with her badge.
With her name.
The screen hesitated.
A warning bloomed:
> ACCESSING NON-ASSIGNED REGISTERS MAY TRIGGER OVERSIGHT REVIEW.
CONTINUE?
Yue didn't blink.
"Yes."
The system complied.
Somewhere, something noticed.
---
2. Making the Invisible Loud (But Correct)
Yue pulled up the deepest ledger layer—records not meant for clerks, not even for mid-tier adjudicators.
Visibility Requests.
Rare. Dangerous. Usually career-ending.
She opened a blank entry.
The cursor blinked.
She hesitated—just once.
Then began typing.
> SUBJECT: NE JOB
CLASSIFICATION: INTERN (DISPUTED)
CURRENT STATUS: FUNCTIONAL ANOMALY
REQUEST: TEMPORARY VISIBILITY ESCALATION
JUSTIFICATION: PREVENTATIVE STABILIZATION OF SYSTEMIC ERRORS
Her fingers flew.
She didn't embellish. Didn't flatter. Didn't lie.
She cited facts.
Luck cascades resolved. Death-layer instability corrected. Archive entities neutralized without collateral.
Each entry timestamped. Each correction cross-referenced.
She ended with a single line:
> FAILURE TO ACKNOWLEDGE SUBJECT HAS RESULTED IN INCREASED INDIRECT DAMAGE.
She hovered over Submit.
"…Forgive me," she whispered.
And pressed it.
---
3. Heaven Reacts (Poorly)
The response was immediate.
Alarms did not blare.
Which was worse.
The lights dimmed by half a degree. The air pressure shifted. Every terminal in the wing refreshed at once.
A golden insignia bloomed across the screens—
OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: NOTICE OF INTEREST
Yue exhaled slowly.
"…So that's how it feels."
A new message appeared.
> SUBJECT NE JOB HAS BEEN FLAGGED FOR REVIEW.
OBSERVERS ASSIGNED.
PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
Assigned.
Plural.
Yue closed her eyes.
She had succeeded.
And just painted a target on an intern who didn't even know he was in a war.
---
4. Qi-Yun Is Not Pleased (But He Understands)
Qi-Yun appeared beside her without warning.
She didn't jump.
She had known he would come.
"You escalated him," he said quietly.
"Yes."
"You made him visible."
"Yes."
"You understand what that invites."
Yue met his gaze.
"I understand what not doing it invites."
Qi-Yun studied the screens.
The new monitoring layers. The subtle reclassification threads weaving themselves around Ne Job's name.
"…They will test him now," Qi-Yun said. "Not with monsters. With responsibility."
Yue's jaw tightened.
"He already carries enough."
Qi-Yun's voice softened.
"He carries it because no one else will."
---
5. Ne Job Wakes Up to the Worst Kind of Promotion
Ne Job woke up sneezing.
Something prickly crawled over his skin.
He blinked.
"…Why does the air feel judgmental?"
Yue turned.
"You're awake."
He smiled groggily.
"Hey, Yue. I had a dream where the system—"
He froze.
The terminal behind her glowed.
His name was on it.
Big. Centered. Highlighted.
Ne Job sat up slowly.
"…Why is my name glowing like that?"
Yue inhaled.
"I made you visible."
Silence.
"…You WHAT."
---
6. Explaining the Unexplainable
Yue told him everything.
The predators. The shadows. The indirect audits crushing innocent clerks.
She didn't justify herself. She didn't apologize.
She explained.
Ne Job listened.
Quietly.
When she finished, he rubbed his face with both hands.
"…So now Oversight knows I exist."
"Yes."
"And they're watching."
"Yes."
"And if I mess up—"
"They will not erase you immediately," Yue said carefully.
He looked up.
"…Immediately?"
Qi-Yun answered.
"They will first see what you break."
Ne Job laughed weakly.
"Great. Fantastic. Love being a stress test."
He leaned back in his chair.
"…You could've warned me."
Yue met his eyes.
"You would have said no."
"…Yeah," he admitted. "I would've."
They sat in it.
The hum. The glow. The weight.
Then Ne Job sighed.
"…Okay."
Yue blinked.
"…Okay?"
"If being invisible was killing everyone around me," he said quietly, "then being visible and targeted is… marginally better."
Qi-Yun smiled faintly.
"Spoken like a true Auditor."
Ne Job scowled.
"Do not make that sound noble."
---
7. Oversight Makes Its First Move
The terminal chimed.
A formal summons rendered itself into existence.
> OVERSIGHT REQUEST:
SUBJECT NE JOB TO PERFORM OBSERVED CORRECTION
LOCATION: CAUSAL DISTRICT SEVEN
ISSUE: PROBABILITY LOOP — ACCEPTABLE LOSSES PROJECTED
Ne Job stared.
"…Acceptable losses?"
Yue's hands curled into fists.
"They want to see if you'll follow protocol."
Qi-Yun nodded.
"Or if you'll disobey publicly."
Ne Job stood.
The room seemed smaller now.
"…If I do what they expect," he said, "people die."
"Yes."
"If I don't…"
Qi-Yun finished the thought.
"You will officially become a problem."
Ne Job picked up the pen.
It felt heavier.
"…So either way, I'm visible."
Yue's voice was tight.
"I'm sorry."
Ne Job shook his head.
"…No. This was coming."
He glanced at the glowing request.
Then at Yue.
"…You'll back me up?"
She didn't hesitate.
"With everything."
He smiled.
"Cool."
Then grimaced.
"Let's go disappoint Heaven."
---
8. End Beat: Something Else Watches Too
As they left the wing, unseen sensors locked onto Ne Job's signature.
Not Oversight's.
Older.
Hungrier.
A ripple passed through the deep Archive layers.
A notation updated itself without authorization:
> SUBJECT CONFIRMED: NE JOB
STATUS: ACTIVE CORRECTION NODE
ACTION: OBSERVE — DO NOT INTERVENE (YET)
Somewhere beyond Heaven's jurisdiction, something smiled.
The game was no longer quiet.
---
END OF CHAPTER 212