ok reiterating the need for this to be a feature / fix. there is no way an unlisted topic should be viewable until it is listed by staff so the unlisted status should always override the user category tracking settings.
i would also argue that unlisting an existing topic should override anyone’s category tracking. my view is that an unlisted topic is akin to a whisper post (they even use the same icons) and whispers certainly are not viewable by regular users watching topics. it should be unlisted for any user notification list as well as topic lists.