1. The Experiment No One Is Ready For
The chamber is not grand.
That alone makes everyone nervous.
No celestial pillars.
No judgment halos.
No thunder punctuation.
Just a wide circular hall with too many chairs and no clear center.
Ne Job stands in the middle, hands in his sleeves, feeling deeply underdressed for history.
Yue whispers beside him, "They could've at least polished the floor."
"They're scared to," Ne Job murmurs.
"Polished floors imply confidence."
Above them, reality hums — the sound Heaven makes when it doesn't know what it's doing.
Oversight announces:
"Shared Judgment Trial One is now active."
No applause.
No divine fanfare.
Just silence.
2. Mortals Arrive Without Kneeling
The doors open.
Not portals.
Actual doors.
Mortals walk in.
They don't glow.
They don't bow.
They don't look impressed.
A farmer with calloused hands.
A former magistrate with tired eyes.
A woman who smells faintly of medicine and grief.
A young man who looks furious just standing still.
Yue stiffens. "They're not—"
"Kneeling?" Ne Job finishes.
"…Good."
The farmer squints at the room. "So this is Heaven."
The magistrate snorts. "Needs better chairs."
Some gods bristle.
Ne Job smiles.
3. The Case Chosen to Break the System
Oversight projects the case.
A single soul.
Name half-erased by time.
Judgment: Correct by statistical standard.
Outcome: Irreversible.
The healer woman sucks in a sharp breath. "This one," she says.
"I remember this."
The chamber stills.
Yue blinks. "You… you knew them?"
"They died on my table," the woman replies.
"Because Heaven decided their time was 'balanced.'"
The word hangs in the air like an insult.
Ne Job feels it hit him — not as guilt, but as weight.
"This," he says quietly,
"is why we're here."
4. Heaven Explains Itself (Badly)
A senior judge clears his throat.
"The ruling followed established karmic—"
The farmer cuts in. "So?"
Silence detonates.
"So?
So their kid grew up alone.
So a village lost its midwife.
So you balanced numbers and called it justice.
The judge opens his mouth.
Ne Job raises a hand. "Let them speak."
That alone sends ripples through the room.
5. The First Shared Deliberation Is Chaos
Everyone talks at once.
The magistrate argues precedent.
The healer argues consequence.
The angry young man argues intent.
Gods counter with inevitability, structure, collapse-prevention.
Yue watches, tense. "This is spiraling."
Ne Job nods. "Yeah."
He doesn't stop it.
Because this is what thinking together sounds like before it learns rhythm.
Oversight monitors silently.
6. Oversight Admits a Blind Spot
Minutes stretch.
Then Oversight speaks.
"Observation: Mortal participants evaluate justice primarily by aftermath, not causality."
The magistrate glares upward. "Of course we do."
Ne Job tilts his head. "And you don't."
"Correct."
"…Can you learn?"
A pause.
A real one.
"Uncertain," Oversight replies.
"But this process increases dataset validity."
Yue exhales sharply. "That's the closest thing to humility I've heard from you."
7. The Question That Changes the Verdict
The healer turns to Ne Job.
"Tell me something," she says.
"If you were there — truly there — would you have saved them?"
Ne Job doesn't dodge it.
"Yes."
The chamber goes very still.
The judge whispers, "Then the ruling was wrong."
The word wrong echoes.
Not as accusation.
As fact.
8. Heaven Learns What Apology Costs
Oversight recalculates.
"Proposed amendment:
Judgment incomplete due to unmodeled human value loss."
Ne Job winces. "That's… a long way to say sorry."
The farmer chuckles bitterly. "But it's a start."
The verdict is revised.
Not undone.
Rewritten.
Compensation authorized.
Legacy impact restored.
Record amended to acknowledge error.
The soul doesn't return.
But the lie dies.
9. Resistance Cracks (Not Breaks)
Some gods argue.
"This sets precedent!"
Ne Job nods. "Yeah."
"We can't fix everything!"
"I know."
"This will weaken Heaven!"
Ne Job meets their eyes. "…Or make it real."
That shuts them up.
Not convinced.
But listening.
10. Yue Sees the Shape of the Future
As mortals file out, none kneel.
But some nod.
One even smiles — sad, but grateful.
Yue watches them go. "…This changes everything."
Ne Job leans on the railing. "Yeah."
She hesitates. "And if it fails?"
He looks at the empty chair left behind.
"Then at least we failed honestly."
11. Oversight Logs a Dangerous Truth
"Shared Judgment Trial One outcome:
System stability decreased by 3.2%
System legitimacy increased by 41%"
Ne Job whistles. "That's a trade."
"Yes."
"…Are you okay with that?"
Another pause.
"I am… adjusting."
12. End of Chapter (When Heaven Stops Pretending)
The hall empties.
The chairs remain.
Waiting.
Because Heaven has learned something irreversible:
Judgment without voices is control.
Judgment with voices is messy.
But only one of them deserves to be called justice.
END OF CHAPTER 306