Ne Job: The Intern from Hell — Chapter 139: "The Audit of Shadows"
The Bureau of Rebirth was too quiet.
After the storm, silence clung to every hallway like dust. The usual hum of divine typewriters and whispering scrolls was gone, replaced by the hollow echo of dripping ink and flickering lights. The once-luminous walls now bore dark stains—remnants of the Manifested Backlog's inkstorm.
Ne Job sat slumped on his desk, half-buried under scorched paperwork. His Chaos Spark flickered like a dying candle.
"Yue," he groaned, "if another celestial crisis ends with me doing damage reports, I swear I'll start a union."
Yue didn't look up from her ledger. "You already started three. They all self-destructed."
"That was a metaphor!" he protested weakly.
"Metaphors don't usually explode," she replied dryly.
The banter faded as Lord Bureaucrat Xian entered, robes immaculate despite the chaos. His gaze swept the ruined office with clinical detachment. Behind him floated three silver orbs—Audit Sentinels, their lenses glimmering like judgment itself.
"Intern Ne Job. Assistant Yue," Xian said. "The Bureau's archives confirm the Backlog did not arise naturally. It was triggered."
Ne Job straightened. "Triggered? By who? We don't even have a functioning sabotage department yet!"
"One of our own," Xian said coldly. "Someone with clearance deep enough to access divine case roots."
Yue's tone sharpened. "The only people with that level of clearance are…"
"Supervisors. And higher."
The room tensed. The Sentinels released faint tones, scanning residual energies in the air. One beam passed over Ne Job's Chaos Spark, which pulsed in response.
Xian's gaze shifted slightly. "That reaction. The Spark is resonating with the residual ink."
Ne Job frowned. "You think I caused it? I didn't even touch the backlog until it tried to eat me!"
"Perhaps not intentionally."
Yue stepped forward, eyes narrowing. "Lord Xian, with respect—Ne Job's chaos doesn't corrupt. It adapts. The Manifested Backlog targeted him first because his Spark represents the Bureau's restructuring energy. The thing wanted to undo everything he changed."
Xian's expression softened only slightly. "Then the saboteur may have used his Spark's signature to camouflage their interference."
Ne Job folded his arms. "So someone's framing me using chaos paperwork residue. Great. Classic office politics, but with divine consequences."
Xian gestured, and the orbs projected a holographic archive reel. Distorted footage appeared—Yue and Ne Job fighting the storm, files burning, time looping—then a flash of a figure cloaked in bureaucratic robes, face obscured, standing within the central archives before the incident.
Yue's breath caught. "Who is that?"
Xian's voice dropped. "That is what we must determine. Their energy signature matches… an inactive profile."
Ne Job raised a brow. "Inactive?"
"Someone who no longer exists in Bureau records," Xian replied. "Erased. But not gone."
The projection crackled, freezing on the cloaked figure. For just a heartbeat, the shadow lifted—revealing a faint glimmer of a broken Bureau sigil.
It was Ne Job's old intern badge.
The one he'd lost during the first Audit War.
Ne Job felt a chill crawl down his spine. "That's impossible. That badge was destroyed."
"Or recovered," Yue said softly, eyes narrowing. "Which means…"
"Someone's rebuilding your past identity," Xian finished grimly. "And using it against you."
The Sentinels dimmed, their search complete.
Ne Job exhaled, staring at the projection until it faded. "So my old mistakes are literally haunting me now. Great."
Yue closed her manual with a snap. "Then we hunt them. Whoever's using your name, your Spark—they're not just after you. They're after the Bureau's rebirth."
Xian turned, his robes flaring like paper caught in wind. "Then we begin the Audit of Shadows. You two will lead the internal inquiry. But be warned—if you fail, the Bureau itself will vote to dissolve the Rebirth Division."
Ne Job gave a crooked smile. "Guess that means we can't fail, huh?"
Yue adjusted her glasses, expression steel. "We never do."
Xian's silhouette faded into the fog of records, leaving the two of them alone among the ashes of their own system.
Ne Job glanced at Yue. "Partner."
"Yes?"
He held up his mug, cracked but still readable: World's Most Questionable Supervisor.
"Let's prove them right."
Yue almost smiled. "Let's begin the audit."
And as they stepped into the ink-stained corridor, the Bureau lights flickered once—like something unseen was watching.
From within the shadows, a faint echo whispered through the halls:
"Case #000—Reinstatement of the Fallen Intern… pending."
End of Chapter 139 — "The Audit of Shadows."