Ne Job: The Intern from Hell — Chapter 140: "Shadow Archives Protocol"
The entrance to the Shadow Archives was not on any floor map.
It wasn't supposed to exist.
Yet here Ne Job and Yue stood, at the end of a corridor that looped back on itself unless one walked with deliberate uncertainty—exactly as Yue instructed.
"Left, right, left, hesitate, second-guess your life choices… and there," Yue said.
The walls rippled like wet ink. A doorway appeared, bordered by black vellum seals fluttering with whispers.
Ne Job gulped. "You sure this place won't eat us?"
"No," Yue replied. "But it will spit us out before digesting us. The Bureau's legal stomach is very slow."
Comforting.
They stepped inside.
---
The Shadow Archives
The room was massive—an atrium of floating ledgers, shifting staircases, and shelves that rearranged themselves when stared at too long. Every book was ink-black. Every page pulsed with forbidden case histories.
Sentinels were not allowed here. Supervisors rarely entered.
Only two categories of people were granted access:
1. Those with explicit clearance.
2. Those already entangled in a shadow case.
Ne Job's Chaos Spark flickered as they passed through the threshold.
"Feels like déjà vu," he muttered. "Like I've been here before… or almost been here."
Yue glanced at him. "That would match Lord Xian's theory. Someone's reconstructing your erased identity. If your past self had access to this archive…"
"…then the saboteur is reviving old permissions," Ne Job finished.
They shared a grim look.
---
The First Clue
Yue approached a towering pillar of translucent stone—the Index Obscura.
"Archives," she said, voice calm. "Show us all entries connected to Intern Ne Job, designation pre-rebirth cycle."
The pillar pulsed. Pages rustled. Books rotated in orbit. Then—
Nothing.
Just silence and static.
Ne Job frowned. "Is it refusing?"
"No," Yue said, adjusting her glasses. "It's trying to retrieve something that no longer exists."
A crack formed along the pillar's surface.
The archive was straining.
Then—
A single torn page materialized, drifting down, landing between them.
Ne Job picked it up. The ink was smudged, the header incomplete:
Case #000 — Reinstatement…
The rest was burned out.
Yue froze. "This is the same case ID that whispered in the halls earlier."
Before they could examine further, the page reacted. Ink bled through the text, swirling, forming a shape—
A silhouette.
Hooded. Familiar.
Wearing his missing intern badge.
The Shadow Archives rumbled.
Then the silhouette spoke, voice distorted like warped parchment:
"Ne Job. Return what you took."
Ne Job staggered back. "What I took? I can barely keep track of my current workload—why would I steal in a past life?"
The silhouette ignored him, instead turning its head to Yue.
"Assistant Yue. You are a variable. You must be… removed."
Ink tendrils shot from the page like spears.
Yue didn't flinch. Her manual snapped open, and divine text burst out, forming a geometric barrier of light.
The tendrils hit the barrier—
Crackled—
Splintered the floor—
Ne Job grabbed Yue's arm. "We need to move!"
They dove behind a shelf as ink exploded across the archive floor like shrapnel.
The torn page spiraled upward, unfolding into a monstrous paper construct—
A Shadow Case Remnant, fueled by whatever fragment of his past identity someone had revived.
"Yue!" Ne Job shouted. "Plan! Please tell me you have a plan!"
Yue ripped out a glowing form from her ledger. "I have three! All of them terrible!"
"Pick one!"
"Fine!"
She hurled the form skyward. The text ignited, bursting into chains of light that wrapped around the creature's core.
"Ne Job, hit the seal!" she yelled. "Your Chaos Spark can disrupt shadow bindings!"
Ne Job sprinted forward—
Chaos Spark blazing—
And slammed his palm into the glowing center.
Light and shadow detonated.
The paper creature shredded apart.
The torn page disintegrated into ash.
Silence fell.
Barely catching her breath, Yue whispered, "This confirms it. Someone is feeding your erased identity pieces into the Archive to rebuild it."
Ne Job stared at the fading ashes. "But why resurrect… the old me? Who would even want that?"
Yue looked at him, mask of composure cracking.
"Someone who wants the Bureau to collapse."
Ne Job's stomach dropped. "You think my past self—"
"No," she said firmly. "But someone is impersonating him. And if they finish reconstructing Case #000…"
She didn't finish.
She didn't need to.
The Archive lights dimmed. A chill swept through the room.
And from deeper within the stacks, a new whisper answered their fears:
"Cycle incomplete. Preparing next fragment."
Ne Job tightened his grip on his Spark.
Yue raised her manual, eyes hardened.
"The audit," Yue said, "has officially escalated."
And together, they stepped deeper into the dark.
End of Chapter 140 — "Shadow Archives Protocol."