Humanity Protection Company

TL/Editor: raei

Schedule: 5/week

Illustrations: None.

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Three workers who had been moving cargo emerged on the rooftop. Experienced laborers, they wore thick safety gear with helmets perched loosely on their heads.

They eyed Lee Yeonwoo and the erased rooftop floor dangerously. The tall one stepped forward, his mouth stained with dark blue treatment.

"The oak barrel. You guys took it."

His voice oozed menace. As the agent gripped the eraser and the guard prepared to pounce, Yeonwoo replied calmly.

"We need oak barrels to make more treatment."

Though consumed by the desire to dose others with the treatment, their minds weren't completely gone. They assessed the situation coldly, like true office workers.

That these people had interfered with treatment production.

They approached slowly, muscles honed by labor flexing beneath their clothes.

Yeonwoo walked straight towards them. As the gap closed, thoughts raced through his mind.

'The guards are watching the oak barrel. Now I need to find out how they accidentally made the treatment and what they learned from studying the barrels. That's how we'll understand and counter the treatment.'

Even when rolling dice, it's safer to carefully identify issues and roll strategically than to roll recklessly.

Yeonwoo planned to use the infected for this purpose.

The infected came within inches. Yeonwoo lowered his head slightly and spoke softly.

"I took it too. And I plan to let more and more people taste it."

The infected stopped. They leaned in, looking at Yeonwoo like a comrade.

"How?"

"How much could we make with that tiny oak barrel? We need to analyze research on the barrel's principles and treatment production to find a way to mass-produce it."

The infected's eyes widened at Yeonwoo's words. Nodding vigorously as if enlightened, they quickly turned around.

"This is it. We need to tell the others."

They sauntered back to the rooftop door.

Yeonwoo watched quietly until they vanished, then turned his head. He had questions for the agent. But the agent and guard were several steps away, helmets fixed warily on Yeonwoo.

Yeonwoo asked, puzzled,

"What's wrong?"

"Investigator Lee. Are you sure you're okay? You sounded very sincere just now."

Suspicion arose because Yeonwoo's words seemed plausible. Yeonwoo let out a hollow laugh.

"If I was really infected, I wouldn't bother with this. I'd just find the water supply and try to turn it into treatment. Or make it rain treatment. Fog would work too."

"..."

Effortless imagination and the ability to realize it.

The agent's face hardened behind his helmet. His hand holding the eraser trembled slightly. The confidence from receiving the eraser wavered.

'Even that vicious doomsday cultist lost to this guy. If he wasn't with the company...'

Yeonwoo's next question interrupted the thought.

"More importantly, can't that eraser erase the treatment inside people? Last time, I saw the doomsday cultist erasing anomalies in his own body."

"...That's possible?"

The stray thoughts vanished. Utterly bewildered, the agent stared at the eraser in his hand before flicking it slightly.

He tried to erase only the rebar inside the rooftop concrete. But the result was simple. The entire rooftop vanished.

Staring at the new hole, the agent turned to Yeonwoo.

"If it doesn't work on buildings, how could it erase only anomalies inside a person? The whole person would disappear."

"But that guy was doing it... Even erasing probabilities and stuff..."

Muttering to himself, Yeonwoo suddenly realized.

'Though not like my future self, that bastard had also become one with the eraser.'

Well, he even managed to barely block five dice rolling together. He was far beyond simply using anomalies.

"Ugh."

Yeonwoo shuddered, newly shocked. To think he'd fought such a dangerous person. He didn't want to imagine what would've happened without that critical success.

Just then, the guard who'd been quietly looking down the hole spoke awkwardly.

"Let's go down now. All the infected down there have scattered."

Nothing more to do on the roof anyway. The three left the windy rooftop and returned to the factory interior.

---

---

Back in the factory, the infected were gone and only guards stood around loosely. They were scattered around the area with the oak barrel and plastic surgery machines.

The squad leader approached the three.

"We managed to protect the oak barrel. We almost had to fight, but they started whispering and scattered... Any idea what happened?"

"They probably went to look for research data. What are they saying upstairs? Is there a way to reverse this? And is support coming?"

Questions poured from Yeonwoo. Each one crucial.

The squad leader nodded slightly.

"They say a quarantine unit and mental purification specialists are coming. It takes time to prepare for purification, they say. At least an hour before they arrive."

Yeonwoo's eyes brightened at "purification."

"If they're specialists, can they cure it?"

"Can't be certain. It's an anomaly, after all."

Anything could happen. Unable to trust only the specialists, Yeonwoo sighed softly and looked around the factory.

Guards loosely watching the surroundings.

Strange that only guards were present. No way they'd let Creating A Better World members roam free, but they were nowhere to be seen.

"Where are the Creating A Better World people? I was hoping to get info from them."

"We killed them all in the conference room."

"...What?"

Yeonwoo turned quickly, but saw only expressionless helmets.

The squad leader spoke matter-of-factly.

"This is enemy territory. We have to protect the infected since they're company employees, but eliminating enemies who might launch another anomalous attack takes priority."

"That..."

Yeonwoo blinked quietly, then nodded.

"You're right. Safety first. Shame we couldn't get information though."

Who knew what other devices might be installed besides murder disease sprinklers. Understanding the squad leader's judgment, Yeonwoo was about to join the search when a shout echoed through the factory. An infected person waved urgently from a door in the corner.

"Found it! Looks like a research lab! Researcher, come check it out!"

Yeonwoo hurried over, the guard and agent following.

---

---

The infected gathered instantly but didn't enter the lab. They had no connection to research. They wouldn't understand if they looked, and messing with it would only cause trouble.

A crowd murmured around the lab entrance.

"Excuse me, coming through."

Yeonwoo pushed through to the lab entrance and gaped at what he saw.

'This is a research lab?'

Bare concrete like ruins, papers strewn everywhere, and a dead plant in a pot. The sprinklers didn't even work.

If anything, only the large monitor looked lab-worthy.

'Let's go in.'

Yeonwoo ducked his head.

Rustle-

Carefully pushing papers aside with his slippers to clear a path, he glanced over them. What looked like cooking recipes were scrawled all over in pen.

[Experiment Log]

- 200 liters whiskey: No result.

- 50 liters soju, 150 liters beer: No result.

- 200 liters vodka: No result.

- 200 liters wine: No result. Why?

No result, no result, no result! An oak barrel should react to alcohol! Why no change? What's the rule?

Such papers were everywhere. Each discarded sheet was a precious experiment record.

'They wrote all this by hand?'

While Yeonwoo marveled, his feet moved steadily to the monitor. He tapped the nearby wireless keyboard, and the screen unlocked automatically.

A voice suddenly spoke up.

"No password? Security's a joke."

Turning calmly, he saw the researcher who first took the treatment. His hands still stained blue. He wiped them on his clothes and pushed Yeonwoo aside.

"Move. I'm the researcher."

Typing away, the researcher glanced at Yeonwoo.

"Your suggestion was brilliant. Of course we need a mass production factory. Those idiots just wanted the oak barrel, so frustrating. They really lack insight."

"...It's nothing."

"You'll survive long. People who grasp the core survive in this field."

During this pointless chat, someone tapped Yeonwoo's shoulder.

"...Investigator. A moment."

The agent turned his helmet slightly. There was a safe the eraser had passed through. Hidden discreetly, full of document stacks.

Yeonwoo stepped back quietly, but the researcher didn't notice, focused on the monitor. The guard stood strategically, blocking sight lines with his body.

Yeonwoo picked up the top paper.

It was covered in frantic handwriting.

[Damn company! Barging in and what? Management? Confiscation or supervision? It's a factory I bought! A treasure I found! Bastards!]

The company-cursing document continued with intense research on deceiving the company.

The paper was indented along ink trails, as if pressed hard while writing.

[They're monitoring all my computers and phones. I'll just work analog then. Looks like they didn't install surveillance equipment.]

[I need freedom from company interference. The oak barrel and bed are the only hope. They control the plastic surgery machine using people as test subjects entirely.]

The agent skimmed a document stack, then handed it to Yeonwoo.

"Looks like oak barrel experiment records. Not the fakes on the floor, but only the truly important stuff."

"Let's see."

Crouching unnecessarily under the desk, he flipped through documents in the guard's shadow.

Not meaningless experiment logs. A record capturing the association president's thoughts, intentions, and actions fully.

[No rules for the oak barrel. So, let's impose rules. We can use the command-giving computer.]

[I ordered rules, but can't find them! The command was inputted properly! What are the rules?]

[Found the rule. This wants people to suffer.]