1. The Supervisor Descends
The Supervisor Manual Spirit did not roar.
Its pages folded outward like carnivorous wings, revealing a lattice of pulsing bureaucratic circuitry.
Four arms of sharpened parchment unfurled, each wielding a different divine implement:
A ledger-spear
A compliance chain
A stapler the size of a coffin
A pen that dripped molten ink
It floated above the staircase, voice echoing with machine clarity.
> REVISION PROTOCOL INITIATED.
ELIMINATE THE INTERN.
RETAIN THE WITNESS.
Ne Job gulped.
"You know," he said, raising a tremoring finger, "you could just… fill out a complaint form?"
> NON-FATAL PROCEDURES ARE INEFFICIENT.
"Well, so is your personality!"
The spear launched downward.
---
2. Yue's Calculated Mistake
Yue tackled Ne Job aside.
The ledger-spear pierced the stair stone, carving a line of sizzling numbers.
Ne Job scrambled up. "They can cut with accounting?!"
"Yes!" Yue hissed. "Don't let the decimals touch you!"
The chain lashed next.
Yue caught it with her clipboard, divine runes flaring—
Until the chain reshaped around the board, locking like a seatbelt.
> CLAUSE BINDING: 47-K.
Yue gasped as the chain pulsed, extracting divine authority directly from her spine.
Ne Job lunged. "LET HER GO!"
He struck it with the paperclip coil—
Sparks flew—
The coil collapsed into a flattened spiral.
The Supervisor tilted its head.
> FLEX-TECH OBSOLETE.
Yue fell to her knees, breath shallow.
"Ne… Job… run—"
"No."
"Don't be stupid."
"I'm always stupid."
"EXACTLY," Yue snapped, "use it strategically!"
---
3. The Intern's Strategy
Ne Job had never strategized in his life.
He defaulted to instinct: He threw the ruined paperclip coil at the Supervisor.
It bounced off harmlessly.
The Supervisor didn't even acknowledge it.
> DESTRUCTION CONFIRMED.
ERROR SOURCE ELIMINATED.
Ne Job blinked. Then smiled slowly.
"Oh.
You think I'm the error."
The spirit paused.
Ne Job pointed to Yue.
"She's the fixed product."
He jabbed a finger to the door where the Princess waited beyond.
"And she's your goal."
He pointed to himself.
"I'm the leftover trash data you can't categorize."
The Supervisor's pages tremored.
> EXPRESSION UNCLASSIFIED.
QUERY: WHAT ARE YOU.
Ne Job grinned.
"A bug."
The Supervisor tried to respond—
and Ne Job sprinted at it.
---
4. Bug Methodology
The speartip sliced the air where his head had been.
He ducked.
The compliance chain snapped toward him.
He tripped over his own robe and fell face-first.
The chain missed.
The stapler descended like a meteor.
Ne Job rolled purely because his brain screamed not again.
The stapler cratered the floor—
cracks spiderwebbed across the stone, and the staircase shuddered.
Yue stared in disbelief.
"Are you dodging… on accident?!"
Ne Job gasped while crawling behind a pillar.
"That's not a strategy—
that's my entire life!"
The Supervisor recalibrated, pages fluttering violently.
> MOVEMENT PATTERN: UNREADABLE.
ACTION CLASS: MALFUNCTION.
"YES!" Ne Job screamed.
"WELCOME TO MY BRAND!"
---
5. Yue Rewrites Herself
Yue's hands trembled as the compliance chain drained her divine power.
Her clipboard cracked down the middle.
Her eyes blazed gold.
"Ne Job," she whispered, "cover me."
He peeked from behind the pillar.
"With WHAT?! My personality?!"
"Yes," she croaked, teeth clenched.
"That's exactly how the Bureau breaks."
Yue tore the clipboard in half and slammed the shards together, forming a new sigil.
Ink bled from her nails.
She carved words into the air:
> CLAUSE OVERRIDE:
IF AN INTERN IS TOO STUPID TO FOLLOW THE RULES,
THE RULES MUST ADAPT.
The chain recoiled, sparking.
Ne Job pointed at her. "THAT'S NOT REAL POLICY!"
"It is now!"
---
6. Supervisor vs. Amendment
The Supervisor lunged.
Pages twisted into blades.
Ink sprayed like black blood.
Yue raised the override sigil— The blades bent.
The Supervisor faltered.
> UNAUTHORIZED AMENDMENT.
INVALIDATING—
"Invalid this," Yue spat,
and slammed the sigil into its chest.
The spirit recoiled as its pages began rewriting themselves against its will.
Ne Job saw his opening.
He sprinted, leapt—
And tackled the Supervisor Manual Spirit in the face.
He expected paper.
He hit steel.
The impact flung him backwards and drove all air from his lungs.
He slid across the stairs, coughing.
The Supervisor stood over him.
> YOU ARE NOT WORTHY OF REVISION.
Its pen arm lowered like an executioner's blade.
---
7. A Director's Shadow
The pen descended—
—and stopped.
Not because Ne Job blocked it.
Because something willed it.
A pulse of soft golden light rippled through the staircase.
Yue's eyes widened.
"Ling…"
The Supervisor bowed its head.
> DIRECTOR PROTOCOL ACKNOWLEDGED.
Beyond the Summit Office door, a heartbeat echoed—
slow, certain, sovereign.
A voice whispered like a law being signed.
"He is not to be erased."
Ne Job's skin prickled.
"Ling?"
The Supervisor rose, trembling.
> DIRECTIVE RECEIVED.
USER: NE JOB IS TO BE… PRESERVED.
Yue blinked.
"That's good, right?"
The Supervisor continued:
> FOR DISSECTION AND CASE STUDY.
Ne Job screamed, "THAT'S NOT GOOD!"
---
8. The Override Collapse
The Supervisor swung its stapler arm—
Yue hurled the override sigil.
It struck the pen, snapping its tip.
Ink sprayed everywhere.
The Supervisor howled in corrupted binary.
> REVISION FAILURE.
ADAPTIVE AI REQUIRED.
INITIATING AUTO-CORRECTION.
It began converting its own pages into new protocol.
Yue's face paled.
"It's rewriting itself."
"How is that worse!?"
"Because now it doesn't need rules."
The Supervisor finished its evolution:
A grotesque amalgam of instructions, staples forming ribs, chains forming tendons, ink dripping like acid.
> NEW OBJECTIVE:
SURVIVE.
Ne Job whispered, horrified:
"That wasn't even an intern-level idea…"
---
9. Desperation Tactics
Ne Job and Yue backed up the stairs.
The Supervisor stalked forward, heavy steps shaking the architecture.
Ink trails burned the stone like contagion.
Ne Job clutched Yue's arm.
"We can't beat that."
"We're not supposed to."
"WHAT?!"
Yue grabbed him by the collar and shoved him toward the Summit Office door.
"We only have to outlive it!"
"That's the worst pep talk I've ever heard!"
"THEN STOP MAKING ME GIVE THEM!"
The Supervisor lunged.
Yue spun, raised her hands to block—
Too slow.
Chains wrapped around both of them, binding them back-to-back.
Ne Job felt the metal constrict his ribs.
Yue's voice was strained:
"Ne Job… what do you have left?"
"Panic! Tears! A resume with no references!"
"What about your mouth?"
He blinked.
"…what?"
"Use it."
---
10. Weaponized Communication
Ne Job inhaled.
He screamed:
> "HEY SUPERVISOR!
ARE YOU TECHNICALLY A GOD OR MORE LIKE A GLORIFIED OFFICE SUPPLY?!"
The spirit froze.
> QUERY: UNDEFINED
Ne Job continued:
"I MEAN YOU LOOK LIKE A PRINTER THAT ATE A SHREDDER AND GOT TRAUMATIZED BY TAX SEASON!"
Yue's eyes widened in horror.
The Supervisor's body trembled violently.
Words flashed across its pages:
> OFFENSE DETECTED
INSULT CLASSIFIED
UNCATEGORIZED INPUT
OVERCLOCK—OVERCLOCK—OVERCLOCK
Ne Job roared louder:
"YOU'RE A POWERPOINT WITH ANGER ISSUES!"
The Supervisor screamed.
Ink detonated outward like a bomb.
The chains cracked.
Yue ripped them apart.
She grabbed Ne Job and dragged him toward the final seal.
Behind them, the Supervisor spasmed, tearing itself apart with its own feedback.
---
11. The Door that Ends Careers
They collapsed against the Summit Office gate.
Golden light spilled through its seams, warm as sunrise and cold as an execution chamber.
Ne Job pressed his ear to it.
He heard her voice.
Princess Ling.
Softer than memory. Sharper than judgment.
Like a ruler against a knuckle.
"Don't knock.
Enter."
Ne Job's breath caught.
Yue grabbed his wrist.
"We go in together."
He nodded.
They pushed.
The gates parted—
—and the Bureau's new sky greeted them.
---
End of Chapter 176.