Chapter 77: The Unrequited Plot-Hole
The Bureau was a graveyard for ideas that didn't quite make the cut, but usually, they stayed buried. At 14:00 Cycles, the Giant Silver Compass on the lobby floor spun frantically before locking its needle toward a dusty, low-clearance door that hadn't been opened since the early drafts.
The door creaked open, and out stepped The Man with the Red Umbrella.
He was a 7.5% translucent figure, dressed in a suit that was slightly out of focus. He held a bright red umbrella that pulsed with an angry, rhythmic light.
"Ne Job!" the man bellowed, his voice echoing like a hollow drum. "Remember me? Chapter 3, Page 12? I was standing on the corner of 5th and Infinity, holding this umbrella! You walked right past me to talk to the Oracle, and I was never mentioned again! I've been sitting in the Department of Unrequited Plot-Holes for seventy-four chapters, and I want my Resolution!"
The Ghost of Narratives Past
"Chapter 3?" Ne Job squinted, adjusted his spectacles, and opened the ancient ledger. "Ah, yes. 'Man with Umbrella.' Your purpose was to signify 'Impending Rain.' But the Muse decided on 'Metaphorical Sunshine' instead, so your trajectory was truncated."
"Truncated?!" The Man slammed his umbrella down, and a localized thunderstorm erupted over Ne Job's mahogany desk. "I have a family! I have a back-story involving a lost locket and a secret twin! I'm a walking loose end, Ne Job, and I'm starting to unravel the rest of the sweater!"
Indeed, where the Man stood, the floorboards were vanishing into a literal hole—a Plot-Hole—that threatened to swallow Section C-7.
The 7.5% Loose End
"He's a 'Void-Inducing Entity'!" Architect Ao Bing cried, clinging to a support beam as the hole widened. "If we don't give him a purpose, he'll consume the 'Cause' and the 'Effect' until there's no 'Result' left!"
The Muse tried to offer him a "Spark of New Purpose," but the Man waved it away. "I don't want a new job! I want the one I was promised! I want to be the 'Key to the Mystery'!"
"But there is no mystery involving a red umbrella anymore!" Pip shouted, trying to bridge the plot-hole with a stack of old memos. "We're dealing with clockwork and void-drakes now! You're... you're Retro!"
The Semicolon Pivot: Retroactive Continuity
Ne Job realized that you couldn't delete a Plot-Hole; you had to Fill it.
"Junior! Get the 'Box of Convenient Coincidences'! Assistant Yue, I need a 'Flashback-Filter'!"
Ne Job didn't try to force the Man into the present. Instead, he used the Semicolon to perform a 7.5% Retro-active Connection. He reached into the void of the Plot-Hole and pulled out a stray thread from Chapter 3—the one where the Oracle had mentioned a "hidden protector."
"You weren't ignored, sir!" Ne Job lied with the practiced ease of a 100% veteran bureaucrat. "You were In Deep Cover! That red umbrella isn't for rain; it's a Distraction Device! You've been protecting the Bureau from the shadows this entire time!"
The Staple of Purpose
Ne Job grabbed his silver stapler and KA-CHUNKED the Man's "Discarded Profile" to the current "Security Ledger."
"I hereby appoint you the Official Guardian of the Forgotten," Ne Job declared. "Your umbrella is now a 7.5% satellite dish for detecting Narrative Inconsistencies."
The Man with the Red Umbrella blinked. The red fabric of his umbrella turned a proud, vibrant silver. His image snapped into sharp focus. He wasn't a loose end anymore; he was an Extension.
The Plot-Hole in the floor sealed shut with the sound of a closing zipper.
The Archivist's Log
The Man tipped his umbrella to Ne Job and vanished back into the shadows of the rafters, looking 100% satisfied.
LOG: CHAPTER 77 SUMMARY.
STATUS: Plot-Hole filled. Forgotten character repurposed.
NOTE: Always keep a few 'Convenient Coincidences' in the bottom drawer for emergencies.
OBSERVATION: No one is truly 'Side-Character' in their own mind.
P.S.: The Oracle just sent a memo: 'I knew that would happen.' I've filed it under 'Too Little, Too Late.'
The Muse leaned over his shoulder, her hair a soft, relieved violet. "That was a nice save, Ne Job. You gave him a 'Happily Ever After' without even ending the story."
Ne Job looked at the Semicolon. It was glowing with a clever, historical violet.
"It's just good filing, Muse," Ne Job said. "Now, why is Assistant Yue sounding a 7.5% alarm and why has the Grand Lobby been filled with Giant Silver Bubbles containing Scenes from my Childhood?"