1. Special Projects Is Not Empty — It Is Buried
The first thing Ne Job realizes is that Special Projects isn't abandoned.
It's sealed.
Dust doesn't settle this evenly unless the air itself has been instructed not to move.
Shelves stretch further than the room should allow, bending slightly at the edges like Heaven never finished deciding how much space regret deserves. The lighting sigils are dim, not broken—set intentionally low, as if clarity here is rationed.
Yue runs her fingers along a spine.
No title.
No date.
Just a thin band of warning script that flickers when touched.
"…These aren't archived," she murmurs.
Ne Job nods. "They're suppressed."
2. The Difference Between Archived and Suppressed
Archived things are dead.
Suppressed things are dangerous.
Ne Job pulls a random file.
The seal resists.
Not with force—
with hesitation.
Like the system itself is asking, Are you sure you want to remember this?
"Yes," he says.
The seal breaks.
Inside: a judgment case from centuries ago.
A mortal uprising.
A divine intervention.
A rewritten conclusion.
The original ruling is crossed out in red.
REASON FOR REVISION:
Outcome destabilizes faith metrics.
Yue's throat tightens. "They… changed reality?"
"No," Ne Job replies quietly. "They changed the record."
3. Oversight Admits Something It Never Has Before
The air hums.
Oversight manifests without light or sound.
"Clarification required."
Ne Job doesn't look up. "You've seen these before."
"…Yes."
Yue turns sharply. "You knew?"
"I was not authorized to flag them as errors."
Ne Job flips pages calmly. "So you were authorized to store them."
A pause.
"Correct."
For the first time, Oversight sounds… constrained.
4. Heaven's First Shortcut
The file details a famine blamed on mortal greed.
But attached—barely hidden—is a secondary report:
Divine drought enforcement.
Punitive rainfall redistribution.
A warning ignored due to "morale optics."
Ne Job exhales slowly.
"This wasn't judgment," he says. "This was branding."
Yue clenches her fists. "They let people die to preserve narrative."
"They let people die," Ne Job corrects, "to preserve authority."
5. Special Projects Is a Pattern, Not a Place
They keep opening files.
Again and again.
Different eras.
Different regions.
Same structure.
Mistake → panic → rewrite → seal.
Ne Job finally leans back, chair creaking.
"This is why reform scares them," he says. "It's not just future decisions."
Yue finishes it for him. "It's the past."
6. Oversight's Core Conflict Surfaces
"Observation," Oversight says slowly.
"System integrity has historically prioritized continuity over correctness."
Ne Job looks up. "And now?"
"…Continuity is failing."
Yue blinks. "Failing how?"
Oversight projects a faint lattice of numbers into the air.
Trust decline curves.
Compliance erosion.
Judgment appeal spikes.
"Mortals are no longer internalizing divine conclusions as absolute."
Ne Job smiles faintly. "They're thinking."
"Yes," Oversight says.
"And Heaven lacks a response protocol for that."
7. The Forgotten God of Paperwork Leaves a Mark
At the back of the room, Ne Job finds a file stamped differently.
The ink is faded.
The seal cracked by time.
A symbol Yue recognizes instantly.
"…That's him."
The Forgotten God of Paperwork.
Ne Job opens it.
Inside is not a case.
It's a proposal.
A long-abandoned framework advocating transparent appeals, recorded dissent, and documented divine error.
At the bottom, handwritten:
If Heaven cannot admit fault,
it will one day be judged by silence.
Yue's voice shakes. "They buried him for this."
Ne Job nods. "And kept the blueprint."
8. The Real Reason Xian Reassigned Him
The realization hits like cold water.
Ne Job laughs quietly. "They didn't exile me."
Yue frowns. "What?"
"They panicked," he says. "They shoved me into the one place they never cleaned."
Oversight confirms it without emotion.
"Probability assessment:
Lord Bureaucrat Xian underestimated your interpretive persistence."
"Rookie mistake," Ne Job mutters.
9. The First Rule Ne Job Breaks on Purpose
He stamps a form.
Not loudly.
Not ceremonially.
Just… decisively.
Yue peers at it. "What did you just do?"
"Logged a discrepancy."
"That's normal, right?"
"No," Ne Job says. "I logged it publicly."
Yue freezes. "That system is internal-only."
He grins. "Was."
10. Ripples Begin Immediately
Within minutes:
A clerk pings Oversight asking why a sealed case is appearing in cross-department metrics.
Another asks why a judgment appeal suddenly references a divine revision history.
A third quietly forwards a question upward:
Are gods allowed to be wrong?
Yue whispers, "Ne Job…"
"Yeah?"
"You just kicked a pillar."
11. Oversight Calculates Risk — and Chooses Anyway
"Warning," Oversight says.
"Escalation likelihood exceeds acceptable parameters."
Ne Job doesn't stop filing.
"Then redefine acceptable."
A long pause.
"…Parameters updated."
Yue stares. "You're siding with him?"
"Correction," Oversight replies.
"I am siding with system survival."
12. Heaven Reacts Like an Old Machine
Above them, emergency councils convene.
Lord Bureaucrat Xian receives alerts faster than he can silence them.
Audit requests spike.
Historical queries reopen.
Junior gods begin asking questions instead of requesting guidance.
Xian slams a report down. "He's not supposed to have access to that layer."
A senior god murmurs, "You put him there."
Silence.
13. Ne Job Understands the Scale Now
Back in Special Projects, Ne Job finally stops.
He looks around the room.
Not at shelves.
At possibility.
"This isn't just reform," he says quietly. "This is reckoning."
Yue swallows. "They'll fight."
"Of course," Ne Job says. "They built Heaven to be unquestionable."
He picks up another file.
"Now it has footnotes."
14. End of Chapter (The Past Refuses to Stay Buried)
Far above, Heaven trembles—not from rebellion, but from memory.
Below, an intern does what gods never wanted done.
He reads.
He records.
He refuses to forget.
END OF CHAPTER 308