Humanity Protection Company

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: posted in discord

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'I'm being bugged! There's a listening device on my body!'

It was a moment when a somewhat reasonable suspicion escalated to the level of paranoia. Yeonwoo quickly came to his senses.

He had been jumping around, twisting his whole body, but suddenly stopped. His hands, which had been roughly shaking his clothes, fell limply to his sides.

"No, that's not it."

Cold reason returned to his wild eyes.

They wouldn't have implanted any mechanical devices. The company wasn't stupid enough to use such an easily detectable direct method on an elite agent.

If they were monitoring him, it would probably be through some bizarre anomaly, satellite surveillance, or phone tapping.

'What should I do now?'

Yeonwoo fell into deep thought.

The sculptor looked at him with terror-stricken eyes. Yeonwoo had been fine just a moment ago, but suddenly became agitated and started acting like a madman. The sculptor couldn't understand his train of thought.

"W-what's the p-problem-"

"Please be quiet for a moment. I need to think."

The sculptor clamped his mouth shut. He slowly backed up towards the back door, ready to animate the statues if necessary.

The owl statue, knight statue, and wolf statue displayed in the atelier slightly tensed their bodies.

"..."

"..."

Silence fell for a few seconds.

Then, Yeonwoo suddenly lunged forward and rummaged through the trash can. He retrieved the phone he had just thrown away.

'Right. Let's check the mood among the company directors first. This might just be my paranoia.'

The phone had cracked when he threw it. The screen kept registering false touches, but after fiddling with it for a while, Yeonwoo finally managed to call Mark Jung.

"This is Yeonwoo."

"Yes, Yeonwoo. What can I do for you?"

Mark Jung answered the phone in his usual voice.

Yeonwoo stared intently at the simple call screen on his phone, held close to his face. He didn't want to miss even the slightest clue. Voice, emotion, any hint.

Yeonwoo spoke carefully.

"Well, I suddenly got an uneasy feeling. Is something going on with the company?"

"Let's see. Apart from the experiment failing and the device exploding recently... Ah. The board of directors has been meeting for several days."

A board meeting? Yeonwoo's eyes started to roll again. Clenching his fist tightly, he barely maintained his composure and managed to continue speaking.

"Did this board meeting happen after the device exploded?"

"Yes. Chronologically, that's correct, but..."

A note of suspicion crept into Mark Jung's voice as well.

"A single device exploding shouldn't warrant such a long board meeting. Did something serious really happen?"

"Do you know what was discussed at the board meeting-"

"I don't have that kind of authority. That's a secret only the directors know."

Yeonwoo closed his mouth. His hand holding the phone trembled.

Suspicion turned into certainty. A scream echoed in his mind.

'They must have found out about the alteration! No, they probably knew from the start and are now planning a new future! The company's brain has returned to being the Humanity Protection Company!'

It was over. Really over. It wasn't just one department, but the entire board of directors. The worst-case scenario had taken a big step closer.

Yeonwoo managed to speak in his usual voice.

"Well. If there's anything I can help with, please let me know. I'm a company employee after all. The company's problems are my problems."

"Alright, I understand. I'll contact you as soon as I know more about the situation."

With Mark Jung's voice trembling as if the unease had been transmitted, the call ended.

Yeonwoo immediately threw his phone back into the trash can. He looked down at the rattling trash can with an expression close to tears.

"Can't I just live quietly and peacefully? Why is this happening to me?"

He wasn't asking for much. He just wanted to live without dying. But the whole world seemed to be tormenting him.

The next moment, an eerie light gleamed in Yeonwoo's eyes. His only wish was survival. He couldn't leave alone anything that threatened that wish.

'The company is scarier than the world. This means the Club will have to act too. No, we need to form an alliance among all Level 6 entities.'

Whether it was taking out the directors or blowing up the company, he couldn't do it alone. He needed to form an action plan.

Yeonwoo rolled his eyes. His gaze swept over the tense statue-like sculptures and the sculptor who was quietly opening the back door.

The sculptor froze like a statue himself.

"If, if the conversation is over-"

"You came as the Association President's proxy, right? Let me ask you one favor."

Yeonwoo spoke quickly.

"Please ask the Association President to talk with the Club Chairman. Share what the President knows and suggest a meeting among the Level 6 entities. ...I'll contact the demon worshipper's side myself."

"I'll definitely relay the message. Now, I'll be going!"

The sculptor fled hastily. The back door swung open roughly, clattering, and Yeonwoo immediately turned and left the atelier.

'The demon worshipper. I've only heard about them a few times. I should be able to persuade them.'

Attacks should happen unexpectedly. He had to save every minute and second. While the Artist Association President persuaded the Club Chairman, he would persuade the demon worshipper.

And then, the four Level 6 entities would join hands to bring down the company that threatened their survival.

"I've got to kill them before they kill me."

Yeonwoo muttered as he walked down the street.

The dice seemed to faintly reflect in his eyes, and his steps seemed to tread on time and possibility, heading towards a future of survival.

------

Yeonwoo rolled the dice as he headed towards the demon self-governing region. He shortened distances and moved spatial coordinates.

When he arrived at the domain of the demon self-governing region.

Yeonwoo frowned deeply.

"Ugh, the smell."

A strong sulfur smell wafted through the air. Acrid smoke floated in the sky, which was pitch black. Occasionally, sparks rained down like fire, and lightning struck randomly.

In the distant wasteland, glaciers jutted out, and next to them, a lava lake boiled furiously.

"No way, this is insane. What kind of place is this?"

It wasn't just the natural environment that was strange. Yeonwoo clutched his head. His mind felt clouded. Various emotions rushed in.

Who dares to kill me, pride. Anger towards everything that threatened his survival. A craving for hamburgers. The desire to live without doing anything and just be protected. Envy towards people who lived well without experiencing accidents, and so on.

Seven sins boiled like an active volcano. If an ordinary person stepped into this domain, they would become a slave to sin and live as a resident of hell.

Yeonwoo shook his head vigorously, clutching it.

'No. These emotions don't help with survival. Emotion cut.'

After cycling through his thoughts a few times, the emotions receded.

Yeonwoo looked at the distant demon self-governing region with clear eyes.

It was like a black fortress.

Beyond the high walls, the peculiar roofs of various buildings poked out, and bats and demons flew through the air, cackling.

"This place is the best!"

Seeing some demons shouting like this, Yeonwoo slowly took a step forward.

He was a visitor, after all. If he suddenly barged in using the dice, it might be seen as an attack. He had to maintain the etiquette of a guest.

'Judging by the state of this domain, they seem like a somewhat dangerous person, so I should be extra careful.'

Yeonwoo walked across the wasteland. A wasteland full of dried, twisted weed corpses from drought.

After walking for a while, he heard someone yelling angrily. A voice mixed with fury and pleading.

"You damn locusts! You're my minions! Just, please, listen to me!"

A man in farmer's attire, with somewhat insect-like features, was gesticulating at the locusts scattered around.

Crunch crunch-

The locusts were eating each other's bodies, attacking each other, mating, and sometimes just sprawling out to sleep as if they knew nothing.

The man in farmer's clothes, Abaddon, the demon of pests, stomped his feet.

"Why is the plague of locusts like this! Wake up quickly! ...This is driving me crazy."

Yeonwoo stared blankly at the demon. It seemed okay to ask him for directions.

Just then, Abaddon let out a deep sigh.

"Stupid locusts. Why did you leave where you were living... Hah. I'll have to ask the worshipper."

"Are you going to see the Level 6 worshipper?"

"I need to ask that friend to handle this quickly. ...Ah! You, you, you, what are you!"

Yeonwoo had approached without a sound and was suddenly standing right next to Abaddon.

Abaddon fell backwards with a thud, looking up at Yeonwoo from an awkward sitting position. Confusion flashed in his eyes.

The possibilities Yeonwoo subtly scattered.

"You're not the demon of confusion, are you? No, you're not even a demon? What are you?"

"I'm Lee Yeonwoo, Level 6. I've come to discuss important matters with the worshipper. Could you show me the way?"

As Yeonwoo spoke matter-of-factly, Abaddon scratched his head. His bangs waved like an insect's antennae.

"Is that so? It's been a while since we had a visitor looking for the worshipper. Follow me."

Abaddon started walking ahead without much caution.

He walked at a leisurely pace, so it would take a while to reach the fortress of the demon self-governing region. Yeonwoo followed, asking curiously:

"It's my first time seeing this demon worshipper in person. What kind of person are they?"

He had only heard a few snippets of information and didn't even know what kind of anomaly they were. Judging by this domain, they seemed quite powerful.

Abaddon shook the locust in his hand vigorously and spoke thoughtlessly:

"The one who turns the world into hell. That friend created this whole domain. For the demons to rest well on Earth."

"...This entire domain?"

Yeonwoo turned his head. Some parts were an ice hell, others had hellfire blazing, and some areas embodied the seven sins.

He had thought the demons had helped create it all.

Abaddon nodded.

"Demons like me come and go in areas like famine or disaster, the Seven Deadly Sins live in that wasteland you just saw, and demons of war or plague live in their suitable areas."

"..."

Yeonwoo fell silent.

And then, belatedly, he realized something was wrong. The variety of domains wasn't the problem.

His survival instinct, which had been on high alert in the face of the company's threat, had turned off. It probably happened after entering this domain. Even though he was clearly in a dangerous environment, his survival instinct was sleeping like it was just another day.

'What's going on? Why has my survival instinct turned off?'

His fingers trembled. Cold sweat beaded on his skin. With his survival instinct off, a terrible anxiety swept over him.

He hastily changed the subject.

"Is, is it not dangerous here?"

"Of course it's dangerous. It's hell. But you don't need to worry. Even ordinary people don't die when they come here."

Abaddon raised his hand. He clenched his fingers. The locust in his grasp was crushed with a squelch.

Yeonwoo stared intently at the locust. The fatally injured locust didn't die. It struggled with its legs and slowly recovered after a few minutes.

Abaddon spoke casually:

"Death is an escape, a blessing. There's no such thing in hell."

A domain where death doesn't exist. A domain where survival is guaranteed. The survival instinct had fallen asleep.

"Ah."

Yeonwoo felt his sharp senses dulling and his thought processes slowing down dramatically.

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