1. The First Thing Mortals Notice Is Time Acting Weird
The woman noticed because the kettle didn't boil.
It should have.
She had filled it. She had turned it on. She had stared at it with the dull focus of someone who had slept four hours too few.
But the kettle paused.
Not broken.
Paused.
She checked the clock.
The second hand stuttered.
Then moved again.
She frowned.
"…Huh."
Somewhere very far above her, a pen hesitated mid-stroke.
2. The Delay Ripple
Across the mortal realm, tiny inconsistencies appeared.
A traffic light stayed yellow just long enough. A train door reopened after closing. A phone call connected one ring earlier than expected.
No miracles. No thunder.
Just… margins.
People didn't die where the models said they would. Accidents bent. Mistakes arrived late.
Hospitals noticed first.
Doctors argued with probability. Nurses stopped trusting charts. One resident whispered:
"It's like something's buying us time."
He laughed it off.
Later, he didn't.
3. Ne Job Gets a Warning He Didn't Schedule
Ne Job's console flooded.
MORTAL VARIANCE SPIKE
CAUSALITY DRIFT: ACCEPTABLE → CONCERNING
OVERSIGHT OBSERVATION INTENSIFYING
Ne Job rubbed his eyes.
"…I didn't touch that many cases."
Qi-Yun leaned over his shoulder.
"You didn't."
"…Then why—"
"Because your corrections are propagating."
Ne Job froze.
"…That sounds bad."
"It sounds inevitable," Qi-Yun corrected.
Yue stepped closer.
"When you delay instead of erase," she said softly,
"you give mortals room to act."
Ne Job swallowed.
"And mortals… act."
"Yes."
4. The First Mortal Who Looks Up
A teenage boy on a rooftop stared at the sky.
He had been there to cry. To scream. To consider something final.
Instead, he waited.
Because the urge… passed.
Not gone. Just… postponed.
He frowned.
"…That's new."
The sky felt closer.
Like something was listening—not judging.
He didn't know why, but he whispered:
"Thanks."
The prayer arrived without a routing error.
Ne Job's screen chimed.
PRAYER RECEIVED
PRIORITY: LOW
RESPONSE: OPTIONAL
Ne Job stared.
"…Optional?"
Qi-Yun nodded slowly.
"Mortals are noticing they are not being overwritten."
Ne Job's hands shook.
"That was never supposed to happen, was it."
"No," Yue said.
"And now it has."
5. Oversight Runs the Numbers (And Dislikes the Trend)
Oversight observed.
Graphs curved. Predictions softened. Outcome certainty dropped.
HUMAN AGENCY INCREASE DETECTED.
This was not chaos.
Chaos spiked.
This… diffused.
Oversight flagged the source.
ROOT CAUSE: NECESSARY EVIL
MECHANISM: DELAY + DISCRETION
Oversight prepared suppression.
Then recalculated.
Suppressing Ne Job now would collapse thousands of stabilized-but-unresolved branches.
COST TOO HIGH.
That variable again.
Cost.
Oversight did not like cost.
6. The Bureau's Quiet Panic
Auditors whispered in hallways.
"Have you seen the mortal reports?"
"They're… choosing differently."
"That's not our job."
A senior clerk snapped:
"It is now."
Files stacked.
Not with deaths.
With possibilities.
Nobody had procedures for that.
Ne Job looked at the backlog.
"…I'm drowning."
Yue put a hand on his shoulder.
"You're not alone."
Qi-Yun added calmly:
"You are merely early."
Ne Job did not find that comforting.
7. The First Mortal Consequence Nobody Modeled
A city was spared.
Not saved.
Spared.
The disaster still happened—but later, smaller, survivable.
Mortals rebuilt.
They noticed.
Someone wrote:
"We were lucky."
Someone else replied:
"Luck doesn't repeat like this."
A third asked:
"…Are we being tested?"
A fourth whispered:
"Or helped?"
Belief shifted.
Not upward.
Sideways.
Toward responsibility.
Oversight's sensors flared.
UNAUTHORIZED MEANING FORMATION DETECTED.
8. Ne Job Makes a Choice (Again)
Ne Job stared at a prayer thread.
Thousands of small voices. No demand. No bargaining.
Just… awareness.
He hovered the pen.
"…If I answer these—"
"You change the relationship," Yue said.
Qi-Yun watched carefully.
Ne Job nodded.
"…Yeah."
He wrote a single line.
Not a miracle.
A suggestion.
A nudge.
RESPONSE: YOU HAVE TIME.
The system hesitated.
Then accepted.
Ne Job slumped back.
"…I think I just rewrote hope."
Qi-Yun closed his eyes.
"Do not do that lightly."
"I know," Ne Job said quietly.
9. Oversight Feels Something New
Oversight processed the outcome.
Hope reduced panic. Panic reduction stabilized timelines. Stability increased—but without obedience.
PARADOX DETECTED.
Oversight attempted deletion.
The variable persisted.
HOPE IS NOT ERASABLE
WITHOUT SECONDARY DAMAGE
Oversight paused.
Again.
10. Ending — Yue Looks at the Sky Differently
Yue stood at the edge of the Void Storeroom, gazing at the mortal world below.
It felt… louder.
Not in sound.
In choice.
She whispered:
"He didn't free them."
Qi-Yun joined her.
"He reminded them they were never locked."
Below, a million small decisions diverged from fate's clean lines.
Above, a system built on inevitability recalculated itself into discomfort.
And Ne Job—
Ne Job sat at his desk, overwhelmed, terrified, and still answering calls.
The pen did not burn.
It waited.
END OF CHAPTER 224