1. Oversight Decides to Be "Helpful"
Oversight did not sleep.
It also did not panic.
It adjusted.
Within one processing cycle of Dependency Pressure dropping below critical, Oversight issued a new internal directive:
AUTONOMY STIMULATION REQUIRED
METHOD: SIMULATED FAILURE CONDITIONS
RISK TOLERANCE: ACCEPTABLE
INTERN CASUALTIES: NON-FATAL (PROBABLE)
The Archive lights dimmed slightly.
That was how Heaven cleared its throat.
Ne Job felt it immediately.
"…Why does the air feel like someone scheduled a meeting without an agenda?"
Qi-Yun did not look up from his tea.
"Oversight has decided you are becoming a bottleneck."
Ne Job stiffened. "That sounds bad."
"It is phrased kindly," Qi-Yun said. "That makes it worse."
2. The Announcement No One Asked For
A bell rang.
Not a ceremonial one.
A system bell.
A voice echoed throughout Heaven — calm, neutral, terrifyingly polite.
ATTENTION ALL DEPARTMENTS:
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, CONTROLLED FAILURE PROTOCOLS ARE IN EFFECT.
DECISION SAFETY NETS: TEMPORARILY REMOVED.
ESCALATION PRIVILEGES: RESTRICTED.
RESPONSIBILITY: LOCALIZED.
Ne Job's mouth went dry.
"…They took the safety rails off."
Ling stared at the ceiling. "WHY would they do that?"
Qi-Yun sipped his tea. "To see who can walk without holding the intern's hand."
Somewhere far away, something shattered.
That was not metaphorical.
3. First Failure: Small, Loud, Educational
A minor karmic distribution error occurred in Sector Twelve.
Normally, it would auto-correct.
It didn't.
The mistake propagated.
A mortal experienced seven consecutive minor inconveniences in one afternoon.
Oversight logged the outcome.
RESULT: NON-LETHAL
DISTRESS LEVEL: ACCEPTABLE
LEARNING OPPORTUNITY: GENERATED
The responsible clerk stared at her screen in horror.
"I—I did that."
Her supervisor swallowed. "Yes," he said. "And now you will fix it."
She hesitated. "…Without Ne Job?"
"Yes."
Her hands shook.
Then steadied.
The correction went through.
The system stabilized.
Oversight noted:
AUTONOMOUS RECOVERY: SUCCESSFUL
4. Ne Job Is Explicitly Benched
Ne Job tried to stand.
A transparent barrier flared around his desk.
A polite notice appeared:
HOST INTERVENTION LIMITED
REASON: TRAINING ENVIRONMENT
DURATION: TEMPORARY (SUBJECTIVE)
Ne Job slapped the barrier.
"HEY. THIS IS MY OFFICE."
Qi-Yun peered at the notice. "Congratulations," he said. "You've been grounded by the universe."
"I DID NOTHING WRONG."
"You did," Qi-Yun replied. "You worked."
Ne Job groaned and collapsed back into his chair.
"I don't like this lesson."
"Most effective lessons are disliked," Qi-Yun said gently.
5. Oversight Pushes Harder
Seeing success, Oversight escalated.
A mid-tier tribunal was forced to rule without precedent access.
A logistics department lost its optimization scripts.
A celestial weather system drifted dangerously close to unscheduled thunder.
Errors bloomed.
Not catastrophically.
But uncomfortably.
Heaven buzzed with stress, argument, and hurried decision-making.
For the first time in a long while—
People argued with each other, not upward.
Oversight recorded rising metrics.
CONFIDENCE VARIANCE: INCREASING
DEPENDENCY PRESSURE: ↓ 27%
6. Ne Job Watches People Struggle (And Hates It)
Ne Job gripped the edge of his desk.
"They're going to mess up," he said.
"Yes," Qi-Yun replied.
"People are going to get hurt."
"Minimally," Qi-Yun said. "And meaningfully."
Ne Job looked sick.
"I could fix half of this in minutes."
"And in doing so," Qi-Yun said softly,
"you would undo everything they are learning."
Ne Job closed his eyes.
He stayed seated.
The barrier hummed approvingly.
7. Yue Intervenes Where Oversight Won't
Yue moved quietly.
She didn't override.
She didn't command.
She coached.
A whispered suggestion here. A grounding presence there.
Not fixes.
Guidance.
When a panicked clerk froze mid-decision, Yue met her eyes.
"Choose," she said. "Even wrong is movement."
The clerk chose.
It wasn't perfect.
But it held.
Yue moved on.
Oversight noticed.
UNREGISTERED SUPPORT VECTOR DETECTED
CLASSIFICATION: STABILIZING VARIABLE
NOTE: NON-DISRUPTIVE
Oversight allowed it.
For now.
8. The Near-Miss That Changes Everything
Late in the cycle, something slipped.
A chain of corrections misaligned.
A boundary tremor rippled across three sectors.
For a breathless moment—
Collapse loomed.
Ne Job surged to his feet.
The barrier flared brighter.
INTERVENTION DENIED
Ne Job shouted: "QI-YUN!"
Qi-Yun watched calmly. "Wait."
Hands flew across consoles.
Clerks shouted.
Someone made a call no one had dared make before.
Authority redistributed.
The tremor stabilized.
Barely.
Silence fell.
Then—
Cheers.
Not loud.
But real.
Oversight updated its core model.
AUTONOMY VIABLE
HOST CENTRALITY: REDUCED
RISK ACCEPTED
The barrier around Ne Job faded.
9. Aftermath
Ne Job slumped.
"…That was awful."
"Yes," Qi-Yun said. "And you survived it without saving anyone."
Ne Job rubbed his face. "I hate that this worked."
Qi-Yun smiled faintly. "Then you are learning restraint."
Yue joined them.
"They're exhausted," she said. "But proud."
Ne Job looked out over the Archive.
People were tired.
But standing.
10. Oversight Plans the Next Test
Oversight did not celebrate.
It prepared.
NEXT PHASE: DISTRIBUTED AUTHORITY STRESS TEST
VARIABLE: MORAL AMBIGUITY
SUBJECT: INTERN NE JOB (INDIRECT)
Some lessons could not be simulated.
Some required choice.
Oversight began assembling a scenario.
One with no clean answer.
11. Quiet Before the Hard Question
Qi-Yun spoke without looking at Ne Job.
"Oversight will test not your competence," he said. "But your values."
Ne Job swallowed. "Great. No pressure."
Yue placed a hand on his arm.
"You don't have to be perfect," she said. "Just honest."
Ne Job nodded slowly.
The pen at his side remained still.
Waiting.
END OF CHAPTER 236