Ne Job: The Intern from Hell — Chapter 154: "The Audit of Origin"
The corridor did not open.
It unfolded—like a form being processed, each layer stamped into existence by unseen clerks. Thin ribbons of bureaucratic light threaded through the air, weaving shelves, floors, and entire regulations into place ahead of Ne Job and Yue as they stepped forward.
"Why does it feel like the Archive is… building around us?" Ne Job muttered.
"It is," Yue said. "This level is dynamically constructed. Fourth-tier archives only manifest themselves when the subject of record is present."
"So it's generating content based on me?"
"Yes."
His face fell.
"Then it's definitely going to blame me for something."
Yue didn't deny it.
She tightened her grip on her glowing manual and stepped forward first, her expression focused but tense. Whatever lay beyond this point was no longer passive memory retrieval.
This was evaluation.
This was judgment.
This was audit.
---
The Chamber of Standard Deviations
The hallway culminated in a wide rectangular space—too symmetrical, too exact, every dimension the same ratio as the Department of Intern Management's standard cubicle blueprint.
At its center hovered a massive scroll, vertically stretched like a judge's banner. It pulsed with ink that wasn't really ink—more like condensed intentions, the kind clerics weaponized.
Yue exhaled sharply.
"That's not a memory fragment."
"What is it?"
"A deviation report."
Ne Job blinked. "I don't think I like the sound of that."
"You shouldn't."
The scroll unfurled on its own. Symbols burned into view, forming lines of ancient bureaucratic script—older than the Bureau, older than Heaven's modern administration. Some words were so archaic that Yue's manual auto-translated them with an audible wheeze.
SUBJECT: INTERN PRIME — DESIGNATION LOST
CYCLE: UNKNOWN
DEVIATION INDEX: CRITICAL
Ne Job raised a hand. "Wait. Me? I'm the subject again?"
Yue's gaze sharpened. "This isn't about you. Not exactly. It's about the original intern—your predecessor."
He nodded slowly. "The one who left me the warning."
"The one you might be a reconstruction of."
Ne Job's eyebrow twitched.
"That's worse, Yue."
"I'm aware."
The scroll inserted a line mid-air, striking through a large block of text with a burst of crimson ink:
NOTE: SUBJECT FRAGMENT PRESENT. CYCLE CONTINUES.
The air vibrated.
The scroll turned toward them.
And from its lower edge, a figure stepped down.
No face.
No features.
Just a humanoid shape made of flickering redacted text.
Yue whispered, "…An Auditor Manifest."
Ne Job whispered, "Is it friendly?"
The Manifest raised a hand and snapped the air like a rubber stamp.
AUDIT OF ORIGIN INITIATED.
Ne Job groaned. "Yue! It's not friendly!"
---
The First Stamp
The Manifest moved with impossible speed—gliding silently across the floor. The moment its hand descended, the space around Ne Job collapsed into a square, office-like box.
A cubicle.
A perfect, bland, oppressive cubicle.
Ne Job shrieked. "YUE HELP THE CUBICLE IS ATTACKING ME—"
Yue slammed her manual onto the cubicle wall, tearing it open with a burst of luminous script.
"This audit is testing your compliance level!" she warned.
"With what rules?!"
"Audit rules!"
"That's not helpful!"
The cubicle dissolved—but the Manifest was already generating another.
Stamp.
The ground folded into a desk, a stack of forms, and a quill dripping with accusatory ink.
A glowing subtitle appeared over it:
TASK: COMPLETE FORM 0-A IN UNDER FIVE SECONDS. FAILURE = NONCOMPLIANCE.
Ne Job screamed. "NO ONE CAN DO THAT—"
His hands blurred.
He didn't even think.
He moved like he had done this exact action a thousand times.
Quill down.
Check box.
Sign name.
Flip page.
Submit.
A bell chimed.
COMPLETED IN 4.2 SECONDS. ACCEPTABLE.
Ne Job stared at his own hands.
"Yue… I've never filled that form before. Ever. How did I—"
"Subconscious procedural memory," she said quietly. "From your predecessor."
He swallowed.
"Yue… I don't think I'm just his reboot."
"No."
Her voice softened.
"I think you are his continuation."
The Manifest flared in irritation.
INCONSISTENT RESPONSE DETECTED. INITIATING SECOND STAMP.
---
The Second Stamp
Black ink exploded across the room, forming word-shackles that clamped around Ne Job's wrists and ankles, dragging him into a kneeling position.
A courtroom took shape around them—except instead of judges, there were stacks of unsorted files hovering like predators.
Yue stepped forward, manual glowing in defense mode.
"Ne Job! Don't let it force a confession!"
"I'm not even guilty—probably!"
From the ink-cloud overhead, lines of scarlet text rained down.
CHARGE: DERAILMENT OF CELESTIAL ORDER
CHARGE: UNAUTHORIZED ARCHIVE ALTERATION
CHARGE: EXISTENCE WITHOUT RECORD NUMBER
Ne Job shouted, "I didn't do any of that!"
But the Manifest slammed a stamp onto the air:
REDACTED.
His memories flickered.
For a heartbeat—just one—he saw:
A burning administrative hall.
A shattered directive sigil.
A hand—his hand—pulling a clerical seal apart until the sky cracked.
Then it vanished.
Wiped.
Erased.
Stamped out of reach.
Ne Job gasped. "Yue—I saw— I think— I think I actually did something catastrophic—"
Yue grabbed his face between her palms, forcing him to look at her.
"Ne Job. Listen to me."
Her voice trembled, but her grip was steady.
"You are not responsible for actions you don't remember. You are not responsible for a version of yourself that may not exist anymore. An audit doesn't get to define your identity."
Ne Job swallowed, throat tight.
"…But what if the audit is right?"
"Then we fight it anyway."
The Manifest lunged.
Yue slammed her manual open—
And the world detonated into light.
---
Assistant Override
The explosion wasn't an explosion exactly.
It was protocol.
Yue's manual unfolded into dozens of overlapping pages, forming a dome around them. Divine script raced across each page like soldiers charging into battle.
Ne Job blinked. "Is that—"
Yue nodded, sweat forming on her brow.
"Assistant Override Protocol. I'm inserting myself into the audit."
"Is that allowed?!"
"No."
He stared.
"I love you but also that is a terrible answer."
Pages snapped shut one by one as the Manifest pounded against them. But Yue stood firm, forcing new pages open faster than the Manifest could destroy them.
Her voice was tight, low, urgent:
"Ne Job. This audit isn't reviewing your past."
She opened a final page—one glowing like a mini-sun—slamming it directly into the Manifest's chest.
"It's determining your future."
The Manifest recoiled, ink dripping like blood.
Text rippled across its body:
ASSISTANT INTERFERENCE DETECTED
ESCALATING AUDIT TO TIER 0
Ne Job froze.
"T-Tier 0?! Yue, what's Tier 0?!"
Yue looked pale.
"It's the origin level. The baseline rule from which all other rules arise."
"So… the boss of all audits?!"
"Yes."
"And it's coming here?!"
"No."
A rumble echoed through the archive.
Walls split. Shelves shattered. The floor cracked into a spiral pattern around them.
Yue's manual shook violently.
"It's not coming here," she corrected.
"It's waking up."
---
The Audit Core Rises
A circle opened beneath their feet—ink swirling upward like a vortex. From its center rose a colossal figure, far larger than the Manifest.
It was shaped like a towering bureaucrat, its head a blank scroll, its limbs made of interlocking stamps and seals.
Its voice boomed like a decree recited at the dawn of administration:
TIER 0 AUDITOR ONLINE.
IDENTIFY: INTERN PRIME.
Ne Job whimpered. "Please let that be someone behind me…"
But the giant lowered its head.
Text scrawled across its scroll-face:
SUBJECT FOUND.
Ne Job's heart stopped.
Yue moved instantly, manual raised.
"I invoke Assistant Protection Clause—!"
The Tier 0 Auditor raised one finger.
And with a single gesture—
It deleted her clause.
Not attacked. Not countered.
Deleted.
Her manual flashed red.
Yue staggered. "Ne Job… it just erased an entire clause from existence—!"
The Auditor spoke, voice final and absolute:
BEGIN ORIGIN VERDICT.
DETERMINE WHETHER SUBJECT IS TO BE REINSTATED… OR TERMINATED.
Ne Job paled.
"Yue."
"Yes?"
"I think the audit is about to kill me."
She stepped in front of him, manual trembling but raised high.
"Then it will have to get through me."
The Auditor lifted its colossal stamp.
The world dimmed.
Everything shook.
And the Auditor brought the stamp down—
Straight toward Ne Job.
---
End of Chapter 154 — "The Audit of Origin."