Humanity Protection Company

TL/Editor: raei

Schedule: 5/week

Illustrations: None.

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"The inside will surprise you."

Mark Jung strode forward confidently, like a realtor showcasing a prime property. His steps exuded self-assurance, his gestures unwavering.

Lee Yeonwoo followed reluctantly, his expression skeptical.

"It looks cramped from the outside. How different could the inside be?"

Up close, the house appeared even more run-down and worn.

Mark Jung grasped the cold door handle and pulled with all his might. The thick door opened with a piercing screech.

Creeeeak-!

The wide-open door looked as thick as a palm. Mark Jung smiled and clenched his fist, knocking on the door. Thump thump.

"It's a blast-proof door. The walls are built the same way. Thick and sturdy. Notice the window beside it?"

"...I see it."

Doubt faded from Yeonwoo's face. He now listened intently to Mark Jung's explanation, his eyes sparkling as he surveyed the house.

'The inside is sturdier than I expected.'

At least it was better than the disastrous first impression.

Mark Jung smiled as if he'd anticipated this reaction. He'd carefully chosen a building that perfectly matched Yeonwoo's preferences.

Killing two birds with one stone - isolating him from the general public while keeping him within the company's system.

'He's bound to like it. Especially once he sees more.'

Mark Jung entered the house and walked to the window right next to the entrance. His finger moved to a button above the window frame.

"The window itself is special, but glass has its limits. For when the glass can't hold up, we have blast-proof shutters."

Click-!

Whirr-

The moment he pressed the button, shutters descended, sealing the window completely. Mark Jung knocked on the blast-proof shutter and shook it vigorously, but it didn't budge an inch.

Yeonwoo also tried knocking a few times. The cold metal sensation against his palm. Seeing Yeonwoo's satisfied look, Mark Jung spoke.

"But this is just the wrapping. The real deal is below."

"Below?"

The features shown so far were already impressive, yet there was more below?

Mark Jung walked to the center of the house, with Yeonwoo following like a chick.

They stopped in front of a circular opening in the floor. A tank-like hatch, a vertical shaft leading underground, and zigzag footholds embedded in the shaft.

"It's an underground shelter. Let's go down."

"Oh..."

Yeonwoo's exclamation echoed down the vertical shaft. He eagerly descended, with Mark Jung following close behind, beginning his explanation.

"Before the company completed the Ark, they built numerous shelters worldwide to prepare for potential doomsday scenarios."

"So this is...?"

His voice brimmed with anticipation.

Mark Jung nodded.

"A shelter prepared for 50 people to survive. We've applied company technologies. Survival systems using anomalous entities, to be precise."

"That's really-"

Yeonwoo, reaching the bottom via ladder, briefly paused.

The underground shelter's corridor stretched before them.

Though the corridor looked run-down from lack of maintenance, appearances no longer mattered. Safety was everything. Yeonwoo grinned widely.

"I like it."

"We're not done yet. Let me show you the facilities."

What followed was a detailed tour. Walking the shelter's corridors, they opened rooms one by one. Mark Jung's explanations continued nonstop until his throat went dry and he began to cough.

"This is the electrical room. Relying solely on solar generators seemed risky, so we installed various generators. The most reliable is this cogwheel generator."

An infinitely rotating cogwheel. A generator utilizing cogwheels that rotate endlessly without slowing down.

"Air purification and water purification are standard. We've gone further by establishing a self-sustaining circulation system. Of course, we also have emergency anomalous entities."

They'd created a miniature ecosystem within the shelter itself, using miracles like the apple tree to solve potential food shortages in emergencies.

"The shelter's core: the Oracle System."

"What's that?"

"It's a safety system based on the theory that prophets don't see the future, but rather fix it. The Oracle System will maintain consistent environmental conditions around the shelter."

A system to avoid natural disasters. They'd equipped mechanisms to prevent earthquakes, floods, and landslides.

With each room they visited, Yeonwoo's eyes gleamed brighter. Eyes sparkling with excitement and anticipation. He was practically bouncing around like a child receiving presents.

"This, this is really amazing. You're giving all this to me?"

"Strictly speaking, it's a loan. You'll use it as your home normally, but if a doomsday crisis occurs, other company employees will move in too."

Mark Jung, who had been talking nonstop, frowned and massaged his throat, seemingly in pain. After clearing his throat a few times, he led the way to the final room.

"This is the control room."

Yeonwoo hurried in to find various monitors and complex machinery scattered everywhere.

"It oversees all shelter systems. It's also connected to the emergency communication network and the company's information network."

A cluster of touchscreen monitors and control devices lined one wall.

Yeonwoo quickly scanned it, recognizing the emergency communication network he'd seen at the Clock Hand Manufacturing Lab when time had stopped.

Plus, the company system he'd grown familiar with while writing incident reports and memos.

Finally, Yeonwoo's gaze shifted to an old TV in the corner. A TV with static. A sense of déjà vu, as if he'd seen it somewhere before.

"What's this...? Looks like an old TV."

Memories erased by the memory eraser.

"It's a TV that broadcasts near-future anomalous events. More precisely, the broadcast itself is an anomalous entity, and the TV is just a medium. The company has secured several-"

Beep beep-

A small alarm sounded. The two men, mid-conversation, quickly turned their heads to see one of the monitors glowing red.

A mechanical voice spoke.

- Oracle System neutralization confirmed. Shelter administrator, please check immediately.

"What, why suddenly-"

Mark Jung, flustered, went to the monitor and tapped it repeatedly. Detailed problem information appeared. A graph trending upward suddenly broke through a limit point.

He muttered softly.

"Future volatility amplified? Why?"

After a moment's thought, Yeonwoo sighed. His voice tinged with disappointment.

"Ah."

"No, Mr. Yeonwoo. This shelter isn't normally like this. There shouldn't be any problems-"

Mark Jung hastily offered excuses, but Yeonwoo shook his head.

"It's probably because of my dice."

The dice that manipulate probability at will. The Oracle System, designed to fix the future in a safe direction, seems to have broken down unable to withstand the dice's existence.

Mark Jung, tapping the monitor with trembling hands, suddenly stopped and let out a short exclamation.

"Ah. Indeed. This won't work."

Scratching his head, he turned off the Oracle System. The faint alarm that had been ringing in their ears disappeared, and the shelter's unique silence settled heavily.

As Yeonwoo peered around curiously, Mark Jung pulled out a thick book from his jacket.

"This is the shelter manual and basic maintenance guidelines."

"I'll read it."

He couldn't let such a shelter fall into disrepair. Yeonwoo flipped through the book, his head bowed so low his nose nearly touched the pages. Any initial dissatisfaction had completely vanished.

"I like it. I'll live here."

Having fulfilled the order to move Yeonwoo into the shelter, Mark Jung bowed his head.

"I'll be going now. Your access card and keys are on that table over there."

"Yes, yes."

"I'll be back a few more times for additional cleaning and furniture arrangement."

Mark Jung departed, his task complete.

And so, Yeonwoo, his home erased, came to live in the shelter as his new home.

---

---

In the shelter's control room.

Yeonwoo sat before the largest monitor, watching video recordings sent by the agent. Memories erased from his mind.

- That helmet records everything, right? Show me the recording after I drink this.

The sped-up playback of compressed voices ended. He didn't need to watch what happened after, as he remembered it.

'So that's why I drank it. ...Watching this doesn't bring back the contamination, though.'

Yeonwoo rubbed his tired eyes and stretched his legs. Sitting for so long had left his entire body stiff. Or maybe he just hadn't fully recovered from fatigue.

"Maybe I should sleep. Where should I sleep?"

The shelter had plenty of bedrooms. Yeonwoo opened the shelter user manual to choose a room when-

Crackle!

The static from the old TV grew louder, and suddenly a blurry image began broadcasting.

On the old TV screen was a desk, and behind it, a static-filled image of a news anchor.

- Today's news.

"Ah, what now."

Irritation welled up immediately. How much had he been through in just one day? Yeonwoo scowled at the monitor as the anchor continued fluently.

- Today, we have a precious guest visiting our dimension from a parallel world. The visitor is the last survivor of an extinct Earth and-

The words cut off.

Then, a voice spoke from behind. A voice identical to Yeonwoo's.

"You shouldn't say all that."

A hand suddenly appeared behind Yeonwoo, clenched into a fist. Then, the anchor in the TV let out a death cry and collapsed.

The broadcast cut off. The TV returned to emitting static.

Yeonwoo froze stiff, then slowly turned around. There stood a future Yeonwoo, with a scruffy beard, looking even younger than the present Yeonwoo.

"Looks like you handled the climate anomalies well."

"Wh-what brings you here?"

His voice trembled uncontrollably.

Future Yeonwoo grinned.

"To kill you and take your place. Everyone's still alive here, right?"

Yeonwoo's mind went blank at those words. He might stand a chance against the Eraser, but against his future self? No way. His clenched fists turned white.

'If I use the dice for self-destruction-'

Future Yeonwoo laughed and patted Yeonwoo's shoulder.

"Just kidding. If I were really going to do that, I'd have done it ages ago. I don't do such dangerous things anyway."

"Ah. Ah."

Ignoring Yeonwoo, who still hadn't regained his composure, Future Yeonwoo leaned against a random spot. He beckoned to Yeonwoo.

"I told you how to solve the climate anomalies. I'm here to collect my payment."

"...What kind of payment?"

Yeonwoo spoke as calmly as possible, but his mind was in utter chaos.

Showing up suddenly and playing heart-stopping pranks. Of course he'd have to pay, but couldn't his future self accomplish anything on his own?

"There's nothing I can help with, right? My abilities-"

"The Ark. Find the Extinction Defense Device called the Ark and show it to me. I've solved almost every other problem, but I can't find that. I don't even know what it is."

Future Yeonwoo stared into space. Even with his ability to gauge countless probabilities and draw out desired possibilities, he couldn't locate the company's final hope, the Extinction Defense Device.

He muttered, almost to himself.

"I need to rebuild my world too."