Chapter 133: The Department of Forgotten Finales
The descent was not a smooth ride. It was a 100% violation of every architectural principle Ao Bing held dear. The Bureau of Cosmic Alignment (BCA) didn't just tilt; it "Slipped its Narrative Mooring." The walls of the Lobby began to slide past the team like the pages of a book being flipped by a giant, impatient hand.
"My pillars! My beautiful, perfectly perpendicular pillars!" Ao Bing screamed, his fingers digging into the "Living Marble" as the floor reached a forty-five-degree angle. "They're becoming 'Oblique'! I can't live in an oblique universe, Ne Job! It's 7.5% too slanted for my mental health!"
Assistant Yue had transformed her feet into magnetic clamps, standing perfectly perpendicular to the slanted floor while the rest of the team dangled. "COMMISSIONER. WE. ARE. CURRENTLY. FALLING. THROUGH. THE. 'STRATA. OF. THE. SUB-TEXT'. WE. HAVE. PASSED. THE. 'SUB-BASEMENT. OF. HYPOTHETICALS'. WE. ARE. NOW. ENTERING. THE. 'DEPARTMENT. OF. FORGOTTEN. FINALES'."
With a sound like a thousand typewriters hitting a "Full Stop" simultaneously, the Bureau stopped falling. The team was thrown onto a surface that felt suspiciously like cold, damp newspaper.
The Land of "To Be Continued..."
They had landed in a place where the air was thick with the scent of "Unrealized Potential." The Department of Forgotten Finales was a vast, sprawling graveyard of "Drafts." Around them stood half-finished skyscrapers made of wireframe mesh, sunsets that only had three colors, and mountains that ended abruptly in a flat, white "Boundary of Boredom."
"It's... it's horrible," The Muse whispered, her hair a dim, mourning-lilac. She reached out to touch a nearby tree, but her hand passed right through it. The tree didn't have bark; it was covered in a repeating pattern of the words "Insert Description of Forest Here."
"These are the stories that were never finished," Ne Job said, his voice echoing in the hollow silence. He adjusted his spectacles, which were struggling to focus on a landscape that lacked "Definition." "This is where a story goes when the 'And' is forgotten. It's the 'End' that never came."
Princess Ling drew her dagger, but even the silver of her blade seemed duller here. "There is a movement in the mist," she warned. "Something that doesn't belong to a 'First Draft'."
The Cliffhanger's Edge
Out of the gray fog stepped The Glitch. He was no longer wearing the turtleneck. He was now dressed in a "Director's Chair" that had sprouted legs, and he was holding a megaphone made of "Audience Expectations."
"Cut! Print it! That was a 100% perfect landing!" The Glitch barked, his voice amplified by the megaphone. "Welcome to the Set, everyone! You're just in time for the 'Climax' of Act III!"
He pointed the megaphone toward the horizon. The fog cleared, revealing that the team was standing on a literal Cliff. But it wasn't a cliff of rock. It was a jagged edge of "White Space." Beyond the edge, there was nothing—no stars, no ground, no "Alignment." It was the place where the ink ran out.
"This is the Cliffhanger," The Glitch announced with a manic grin. "And you, Ne Job, are the 'Protagonist' who has to decide the fate of the franchise! Behind you, the Bureau is falling apart. In front of you, the Void. What's it going to be? A 'Big Twist'? A 'Sacrificial Death'? Or my personal favorite: 'Cancellation'?"
The 7.5% Solution
Barnaby the Goat trotted to the edge of the Cliffhanger and peered over. He let out a small, unimpressed bleat and began to chew on the "White Space" as if it were clover.
"The Goat doesn't care about your 'Climax', Glitch," Ne Job said, stepping forward. He held the Semicolon aloft. The violet light was the only thing in this gray world that had "Weight." "You think this is a 'Sequel' because you've forgotten the purpose of the Bureau. We don't just 'Align' the stories that are finished. We provide the 'Scaffolding' for the ones that aren't."
"Yue!" Ne Job commanded. "Scan the 'Forgotten Finales'! I want an inventory of every 'Unresolved Character Arc' in this Department!"
"COMMISSIONER. THE. DATA. IS. OVERWHELMING. THERE. ARE. MILLIONS. OF. THEM. THE. 'KNIGHT. WHO. NEVER. FOUND. THE. GRAIL'. THE. 'LOVERS. WHO. NEVER. MET. AT. THE. TRAIN. STATION'. THE. 'DETECTIVE. WHO. NEVER. SOLVED. THE. LOCKED-ROOM. MYSTERY'. THEY. ARE. ALL. HERE, WAITING. FOR. A. 'RESOLUTION'."
"Then we give them one," Ne Job declared. "Muse! Give them the 'Spark'! Ao Bing! Give them the 'Foundation'! Princess Ling! Give them the 'Conflict' they've been missing!"
The Reconstruction of the End
The Muse flew into the air, her hair exploding into a blinding, celebratory gold. She didn't just spark; she rained "Inspiration" down onto the wireframe trees and the half-finished mountains.
Ao Bing slammed his golden rod into the "Newspaper" ground. "If this is a 'Finale', it needs 'Structure'! I define this Void as a 'Garden of Recursive Patios'!"
The "White Space" beyond the cliff began to fill. It didn't become a "Standard Ending." It became a "Living Epilogue." The Knight found his Grail, but it was a "Cup of Infinite Coffee." The Lovers met at the station, but they decided to "Travel the Void" together instead of going home.
The "Plot Hole" that had followed them from the Lobby began to shrink, filled by the "Substance" of these new, improvised endings.
The Director's Meltdown
The Glitch's Director's Chair began to splinter. "No! That's not how a 'Sequel' works! You're supposed to have a 'Climactic Battle' and then a 'Teaser for Part III'! You can't just... Finish things! It's bad for the 'Revenue'!"
"We aren't finishing them, Glitch," Ne Job said, walking toward him. "We're 'Aligning' them. A story that is aligned doesn't need a 'Sequel'. it just needs... a Semicolon."
Ne Job touched the Semicolon to the Glitch's megaphone.
The "Sequel Virus" didn't explode. It simply Edited. The megaphone turned into a "Polite Suggestion Box." The Glitch himself flickered, his "Corrupted Data" settling into a stable, if slightly eccentric, "Character Profile."
"I... I feel like a 'Supporting Actor' now," The Glitch muttered, looking at his hands. "I have... a 'Backstory'. I used to be a 'Printer Driver' who just wanted to be a 'Screenplay'. This is... 7.5% less chaotic than I expected."
The Archivist's Log
The Bureau of Cosmic Alignment began to "Level Out." The Lobby returned to the ground floor, the pillars straightened, and the "Living Marble" hummed a song of satisfaction. The Department of Forgotten Finales remained in the sub-basement, but it was no longer a graveyard. It was a "Lounge of Happy Conclusions."
LOG: CHAPTER 133 SUMMARY.
STATUS: Sequel neutralized. Cliffhanger resolved.
NOTE: A story only ends when you stop adding "And."
OBSERVATION: The Glitch has been "Re-Indexed" as the "Assistant Director of Unlikely Scenarios." He is currently teaching the "Faceless Detective" how to wear a hat.
P.S.: Barnaby the Goat has eaten the "White Space" cliff. We now have a "Seamless Transition" between the Sub-Basement and the "Ocean of Possibilities."
Ne Job sat at his desk. The Semicolon was resting in its velvet-lined box, glowing with a soft, steady violet light.
"Well," The Muse said, leaning against the mahogany pillar. "We survived the 'Sequel'. What's next, Ne Job?"
Ne Job looked at the Great Ledger. The final page was no longer blank. It contained a single, perfectly aligned sentence:
"And they all lived... for a very, very long time, with a 7.5% margin for error."
Suddenly, the "Great Clockwork" below the floor emitted a sound like a tiny, silver bell.
"COMMISSIONER," Assistant Yue reported, her voice full of 100% genuine warmth. "THE. ORACLE. HAS. JUST. SENT. A. 'INTER-DIMENSIONAL. POSTCARD'. SHE. SAYS. THE. 'CAREFULLY. CALIBRATED. DISASTER'. IN. NOVUS. AETHEL. IS. PROCEEDING. 'ACCORDING. TO. PLAN'. AND... SHE. WANTS. TO. KNOW. IF. WE. WANT. TO. COME. OVER. FOR. TEA."
Ne Job smiled and picked up his pen. "Tell her we'll be there. But tell her to make sure there are no goats. Barnaby is currently on a 'Strict Paper-Only Diet'."