Humanity Protection Company

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: posted in discord

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In reality, it was all excessive worry stemming from misunderstandings. The higher-ups had analyzed the incident thoroughly, and most realized it had happened because of crossed wires.

The result of a collision between the dice that could break the Oracle system of a 50-person shelter and the child's luck. The result of not understanding the child's perception. The child's misunderstanding of employees trying to catch them as they ran away.

Mark Jung swallowed hard.

'Objectively speaking, it's not really a problem. The child's perspective was exaggerated and distorted by prejudice. Looking at just the facts, it's something to laugh off. But.'

He tried to control his trembling eyes as he glanced at Yeonwoo.

Although he'd lost about a month of memories after drinking the memory eraser because of the Artist Association President, he'd still spent a considerable amount of time with Yeonwoo. Mark Jung thought he knew Yeonwoo to some extent.

'Dislikes danger, a bit naive and sloppy, a fresh graduate.'

But at this moment, a stranger was sitting in front of him. Yeonwoo with his survival instinct activated.

The person's aura had completely changed. Emotions like indignation or guilt had evaporated, and his relaxed attitude had become taut.

Yeonwoo, wearing an expressionless face, thought to himself.

'Headquarters is scary...'

In Yeonwoo's perception, headquarters was closer to a mechanical device than people. Something cold that could throw out ethics or morals if it meant humanity's survival, seeing people not as individuals but as numbers.

If such an entity had the power to control the anomalous world and saw him as a dangerous entity...

"I understand headquarters' concern. It feels like I bullied a young child, so they might suspect there's a problem with my character."

Yeonwoo calmly poured out words to clear up the misunderstanding.

"There's no need to worry. Why would I bully a child?"

"Why did you sing that song? The 'Hide and seek, hair' song?"

Since Yeonwoo had noticed the company's suspicion, Mark Jung asked directly.

The company couldn't relax because of that one song. Chasing after a crying child while singing such a song seemed a bit abnormal.

Yeonwoo rolled his eyes. The song was certainly inappropriate behavior. His voice flowed out, tinged with indignation.

"To make it feel like a game, like hide and seek... I just thought the kid disliked me..."

Mark Jung focused intently. He observed Yeonwoo's expressions and voice, analyzing even the slightest body movements.

Yeonwoo was truthful and plausible. The final judgment would be made by the profilers, but for now, Mark Jung lowered his guard.

Though unfamiliar, he was a company employee who had been through thick and thin. He couldn't be completely naive.

"I understand. I'll report it to the higher-ups like that. I'm sorry if this suspicion made you uncomfortable. It's because you're such an important asset that the company was overly sensitive."

Mark Jung bowed his head slightly, and Yeonwoo smiled broadly. It seemed the suspicion had been cleared.

"Not at all. I understand. The company can be like that."

A warm atmosphere filled Yeonwoo's room, which had been permeated with subtle tension.

'As long as I'm not marked by headquarters.'

With the tension gone, Yeonwoo relaxed his posture. Since it was just his room with a hastily laid out blanket, he leaned against the wall.

Then he suddenly looked up at Mark Jung. Mark Jung, who was preparing to leave, turned his head curiously.

"What's the-"

"When are you going to find me a house?"

"Ah."

Since the shelter had been destroyed, Yeonwoo had been staying temporarily in the investigation team's building. Just a blanket spread out in an empty room.

'I didn't really look. I didn't want to find a good shelter or a house in the city only for an accident to happen.'

Mark Jung rolled his eyes, then quickly came up with a plausible excuse.

"Wouldn't it be better for you to keep staying here?"

"What?"

Yeonwoo's expression instantly crumpled. There was a shower room, and he could cook with a gas burner, so there weren't any major problems, but he still didn't like it.

Mark Jung quickly spat out an excuse.

"Listen, do you know the artist's theory? If you move the world, it becomes art."

"I know that, but..."

"There's no limit to that artwork. It can be a person, a space, or an object. So, couldn't this building be a work of art?"

"What do you mean..."

Yeonwoo listened to Mark Jung's sophistry with a confused expression.

"It's a building that investigators have used for a long time. As a base for survival artists, it might have become an anomalous entity where accidents don't happen. You've been staying here for a while now, and there haven't been any problems, right?"

"Um..."

Is that so? Yeonwoo floated question marks above his head. It did sound somewhat plausible.

"Actually, you didn't need to go looking for the blessed child. This building is what you wanted. Well then, I'll be going."

Mark Jung confidently spouted nonsense and hurried out of the room.

Yeonwoo remained dumbfounded for a while, then suddenly had a thought.

'If you move the world, it becomes art. The Artist Association President. The most beautiful monster in the world, favored by the world.'

Then, if you move the world with survival instinct...

'Even if survival instinct isn't an anomalous entity, couldn't it become one, and if it is one, couldn't it level up?'

Yeonwoo sank deep into thought.

------

Yeonwoo listlessly browsed through the request list. His eyes were on the text list, but he wasn't reading the words. His mind was full of other thoughts.

'Survival art? Is it possible? If it is, how would I do it? Twisting my body and surviving in danger? I don't like that.'

Clatter, the mouse wheel kept turning. He had already reached the end of the request list without realizing it, but Yeonwoo kept moving his finger.

'Danger Level 6, Level 6, survival instinct, Human Qualification Certificate, dice.'

The mountain peak was clearly visible, but there was no path to the summit. Yeonwoo sighed deeply, feeling frustrated.

Just then, it was lunchtime.

The team leader got up.

"What do you want for lunch?"

"I don't have much of an appetite..."

Yeonwoo shook his head, and Yoo Ji-yoo also took out her lunchbox while wearing a mask. She had bought porridge on her way to work.

"I've got a cold, so I'll eat something light."

"Hmm, okay."

Hearing her hoarse voice, the team leader nodded and went out to eat alone. Yoo Ji-yoo also left to heat her lunchbox in the microwave, and Yeonwoo busily played with his mouse.

"Maybe I should look up some information."

If thinking on his own didn't work, he could search the internet, look up records, or get ideas from elsewhere.

Since his security clearance had increased, Yeonwoo could freely browse all sorts of confidential materials.

"Danger Level 6, anomalous entity evolution..."

Searching with various keywords brought up a lot of interesting materials.

Yeonwoo found a document that caught his eye. More precisely, a document that made his chest tighter and scared him.

'Danger Level 7?'

He immediately opened the document.

[Proposal Regarding Danger Level 7]

Until now, we have assigned danger levels based on the scale of accidents and victims.

6 for Earth destruction, 5 for national collapse, 4 for city annihilation, and so on.

But as technology has advanced and the company has acquired more anomalous entities, we've redefined Level 6.

Even Earth destruction-level dangers were too easily destroyed when their weaknesses were exploited, and the company could manage them with ease.

So, omnipotence and absoluteness became the criteria for Level 6.

Then what about dangers beyond that? How should we define those dangers that we've never seen, that are hard to imagine, that exist only as hypotheses?

Many people are debating this.

In the distant past, they argued whether the danger of solar system destruction or universe destruction should be the standard, but after the discovery of two-dimensional spaces and parallel worlds, the argument intensified.

I propose a simpler standard.

A danger we cannot manage. A danger level that exists only as a hypothesis.

The danger of human extinction. Human extinction regardless of Earth, our universe, two-dimensional spaces, or parallel worlds.

It's just imagination anyway, so let's set it on a grand scale until something definite is discovered. We can always adjust the criteria.

The response was simple.

Approved.

Some researchers should stop obsessing over unproductive things and focus on their main work.

Yeonwoo, who had been staring at the document without blinking, let out a hollow laugh.

'It's just a hypothesis. It doesn't even exist.'

The scale was so large that it didn't feel real. He didn't think something like that could exist in the first place. Was it even possible? Human extinction regardless of world?

'With a calamity like that, dying would be the polite thing to do... No, wait. Survival art.'

An idea flashed through his mind. Yeonwoo quickly sank into contemplation.

'Maybe if I survive in a situation where I should die, the world would be moved?'

But it wasn't a good idea. Yeonwoo's expression darkened, and soon he changed his mind like a child.

'Danger should be avoided in the first place. This won't work. The risk is too dangerous, and it's not certain either. I'd rather level up to 6 with the dice.'

If a problem with no visible answer was blocking the way, you could just take a detour. Even in exams, you put unsolvable problems off until the end. Or give up on them entirely.

"Contamination, maintaining self-awareness."

Yeonwoo changed direction.

Even if it was survival instinct, it wasn't as good as the dice. The dice were still the best. With that near-omnipotent power, survival wouldn't even be an issue.

Yeonwoo put the requests aside and looked up various anomalous entities.

He looked into soul-related ones, psychology and mental ones, resistance and survival-related ones. He got so absorbed that at some point he strayed from his original goal, as if browsing a wiki.

During this, Yeonwoo discovered one fact.

'Does the company not know that the Human Qualification Certificate resists contamination?'

There were no experimental records related to contamination resistance.

Yeonwoo, who had been staring at the monitor, stroked his chin. Human Qualification Certificate.

'Nothing resists better than this. Can you get multiple certificates if you take the test several times? No. What if the dice takes the test and gets a certificate? Ah, would it become independent then?'

A method of calling for the Human Qualification Exam after being contaminated to the point of manipulating possibilities, and then manipulating the results.

'It might be worth trying.'

After all, he could lower the dice's contamination level again.

Yeonwoo suddenly found enthusiasm and wrote one report and one proposal.

The Human Qualification Certificate's resistance to contamination. And a request to experiment on whether multiple Human Qualification Certificates could be obtained, and if so, whether there was a difference in contamination resistance based on the number.