Humanity Protection Company

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: posted in discord

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'Think, think, think.'

Yeonwoo's hands and feet trembled. His reliable safety device, the survival instinct, had shut off. It felt like bungee jumping without a rope. A dizzying vertigo.

After staggering for a moment, Yeonwoo bit his lip hard and took a step to follow Abaddon.

'I came here as a guest, so there's no danger. And... I can't die here anyway, right?'

If he couldn't die anyway, was there any reason to feel this anxious? In a way, wasn't this place optimized for survival? You could live through starvation, there was no natural death, and accidents didn't matter.

'Besides, even if something dangerous happens, I still have my dice and equipment.'

Even without his Level 6 survival instinct, he could still twist his body somehow. His experience and abilities were completely different from when he first started working for the company.

As his mood changed, so did his perception of the environment.

The hellfire burning alone nearby looked like a single flower blooming in the wasteland, and the dark clouds swirling in the sky seemed like a clear autumn sky.

Yeonwoo took a deep breath of the sulfur-scented air and said cheerfully:

"Nice weather, isn't it?"

"...The weather?"

Abaddon glanced up at the sky, then looked back at Yeonwoo.

'What's with this guy?'

There was no way this weather could be nice. The environment outside, with bright sunshine, clean air, and abundant crops, was much better.

Of course, some demons might like hell, but...

"Are you a demon by any chance?"

"What? No, I'm human."

The two beings stared blankly at each other before hurrying on their way.

------

All sorts of demons and worshippers were wandering around inside the demon self-governing region. It looked somewhat similar to a street in the ordinary human world, but upon closer inspection, it was utter chaos.

Abaddon and Yeonwoo stopped walking. A demon pushing a barricade blocked their path.

"You can't pass!"

"Get out of the way, you idiot!"

"You can't pass!"

The large demon clicked on a headlamp. A red light like a traffic signal turned on. Abaddon and Yeonwoo's feet froze.

The demon said:

"I'm the demon of red lights and traffic jams! You can't take a single step-"

"Shall we play a dice game?"

Yeonwoo casually reached out his hand. The traffic jam demon blinked. Its eyelids trembled.

As a demon governing red lights and traffic jams, it had a sense for these things.

'Aaagh! This guy's crazy!'

Someone who ignores signals and pushes through like a tank when the road is blocked. Something beyond its authority.

Click! Rattle-!

In an instant, the demon turned off its headlamp and dragged away the wheeled barricade. As it ran off, the demon shouted:

"Please go carefully!"

"Don't curse us! ...Geez. This really isn't a place for people to live."

Abaddon shouted angrily, then shook his head with a tired expression.

Yeonwoo tilted his head.

"Can that demon actually cast curses?"

"Yeah. It can make you hit red lights every time you go out, or cause traffic jams."

It was a truly petty curse. Yeonwoo found it rather amusing. The dice seemed to like this environment too, squirming slightly.

Yeonwoo looked around.

"I like it here."

Maybe because there was no risk of death, the chaos felt like a fun game. Like visiting an amusement park or theme park?

Abaddon waved his hand dismissively. The eyes of the locust in his grip rolled around.

"You'd get sick of it after living here for a few days."

Indeed, it was similar.

In the short distance they walked, Yeonwoo was accosted by several demons.

A demon that wanted to gamble before letting them pass, a demon scattering Lego blocks on the road that could cause pain even through shoes, a demon of getting lost and stranded - all sorts of obstacles blocked their way.

Finally, Abaddon's face turned red as he raised his hand.

"You crazy bastards! Just, please, let us through!"

A black storm gathered beyond the wall. It was a swarm of locusts. Buzzing loudly, the flying locusts swept through the street.

The nearby demon worshippers hurriedly took shelter in buildings, while the demons pointed at Abaddon, cackling.

"He's getting angry!"

"Are you mad? Are you mad?"

"Aaargh!"

Following Abaddon's irritated shout, the locust storm blew away the surrounding demons. The street emptied.

Abaddon, still panting, quickly ran ahead.

"Let's go before those guys come back!"

"...Okay."

Yeonwoo followed, looking utterly exhausted. Dark circles had formed under his eyes.

'I'm dead tired. This place isn't for me. It's mentally draining.'

------

Perhaps because the troublemakers were gone, the two soon arrived at a tall tower in the center of the city. The tower, built with black bricks, had its door open.

Abaddon entered without hesitation, and Yeonwoo swallowed hard before climbing the stairs.

'The demon worshipper. I hope they're not too unpleasant.'

The Level 6 entities he had met so far were more or less human-like. Feeling it was about time to meet someone strange, Yeonwoo remained cautious.

Abaddon opened the wooden door without knocking.

"Worshipper. Do something about my locusts. They went into the Seven Deadly Sins' area and went crazy."

"That's annoying."

An irritable voice came from inside. Yeonwoo, standing behind the door, peeked his head in.

At the top floor of the tower was a room like a studio apartment, where a man with a neurotic expression was flipping through a newspaper. The man, scanning the newspaper with gloomy eyes, ignored Abaddon's request.

Abaddon jumped like a locust.

"Come on, is that what the king of hell should say? When a demon living in your land complains of discomfort, you should listen!"

"I'm a worshipper, an ordinary human. I'm not going to do anything."

"Oh, please. Do you know how hard I worked to breed those guys? Just this once-"

At this point, the worshipper frowned. His face reflected an emotion of utter annoyance.

Just as Abaddon was about to get his hopes up, the worshipper spoke:

"Abaddon. I demand you return in exchange for the domain I sacrificed as an offering. Go!"

It was a contract using true names. The domain had been in the form of a loan, and the most basic demonic contract forcibly expelled Abaddon in an instant.

Then the worshipper slowly turned his head. Towards Yeonwoo, the mysterious guest.

Yeonwoo smiled awkwardly.

"Hello. I'm Lee Yeonwoo, Level 6. I've come to discuss something important."

"Company? I didn't hear anything about this in advance."

"No. It's a personal- well, a matter to discuss among us Level 6 entities."

The worshipper wore a sour expression. But since Yeonwoo was also Level 6, he couldn't just chase him away like a demon.

"Sit wherever you like. There's no water or tea. We don't have that stuff in hell."

Indeed, the teacup on the table was filled with sewage.

Yeonwoo quickly sat down in a chair beside the table. Then he spoke immediately:

"Let's change the world and blow up the company."

"...Are you in your right mind? I think my presence might have messed with your head."

"I'm perfectly sane. I'll tell you the facts. Our world has been altered. Originally, it was a world that allowed anomalies, but the Humanity Protection Company rewrote it."

Yeonwoo carefully laid out the information. The original world and company.

And the new goals the company might set, and the crisis that anomalous entities like themselves would face.

The worshipper listened seriously. A faint light of hope secretly rose in his gloomy eyes.

"This isn't a delusion. The company directors have already returned to their pre-alteration state, so an attack will soon-"

"That's great. It's a good thing. A very good thing."

"...Pardon?"

Yeonwoo stopped abruptly. Something was off. This wasn't the expected reaction. The worshipper was smiling.

"It's better if things like anomalies don't exist in the world. People can live peacefully that way."

His meaning was clear. An ally of the company. Yeonwoo's enemy.

Yeonwoo's mouth went dry. He swallowed hard and continued speaking, trying to persuade:

"You won't exist in the future the company wants either. You'll die."

The threat of death. But even this fundamental threat didn't work on the demon worshipper. The worshipper looked down at the teacup filled with sewage.

"I turn the world into hell just by existing. I can't help it. Do you know how many people suffered because of me before I became a worshipper?"

Yeonwoo slowly stood up. The situation had twisted strangely. He needed to run away.

The worshipper continued his monologue:

"In the world before the alteration, I probably went to the demons' dimension. I didn't want to hurt people. Now I'm just protecting this demon self-governing region for the worshipper and demons who helped me."

"...The worshipper and demons who helped you will also be annihilated by the company."

As Yeonwoo clung to a faint hope, the worshipper looked up.

His shoulders, which had been slumped with depression and despair, straightened. Brightly shining eyes looked at Yeonwoo.

"That's a small sacrifice. For them, for me, it's not worth stopping a world for humans. So..."

Hell began to stir. Through the small window, the sky was visible. The dark clouds that had been flowing freely began to swirl around the worshipper.

The demons who had been playing around all raised their heads at once. The time to pay the price for their contract with the worshipper was approaching.

"I should help the Humanity Protection Company. You can't leave here."

A calm before the storm settled over hell. All according to the worshipper's will. And just as that calm was about to explode.

"Wait!"

Yeonwoo raised both hands high. His hands spread out neatly, pointing towards the sky. It was a surrender pose.

"What are you going to do with me? Are you going to kill me?"

"I can't kill you. You're Level 6 too, and there's no death here anyway."

It meant he would tie Yeonwoo down with endless fighting.

"Then I surrender. Please treat me properly as a prisoner."

Yeonwoo surrendered immediately.

'Why fight in someone else's home base when even my survival instinct is asleep?'

Honestly, he might be able to handle the worshipper alone or a few demons, but escaping from all of them was impossible. Why get hurt fighting unnecessarily?

The worshipper looked at Yeonwoo suspiciously, then waved his hand.

"...Don't do anything strange and stay put."

Clank-

Iron chains sprouted from the floor, binding Yeonwoo's wrists and ankles. Then, following the worshipper's downward hand gesture, the floor crumbled with a rumble.

Beyond the floor was an underground prison lit by torches. Yeonwoo fell into a cell with a thud.

"Ow."

Yeonwoo, who had landed on his backside, rubbed the sore spot pointlessly before slumping down. He scratched his head.

"So, the current situation is."

Both the worshipper and himself were sealed. The worshipper couldn't do anything else while watching him. At most, he might contact the company directors to share information.

If he stayed still, the company would either act to create a world without anomalies or team up with the worshipper to assassinate him. Either way, it was dangerous.

Yeonwoo glanced up at the cell ceiling.

'The Artist Association President and Club Chairman won't just sit around. They might come to rescue me, or they could deal with the company while I keep the worshipper tied up here.'

The war with the company had already begun. Unexpectedly, the worshipper had sided with the company, but it wasn't the worst-case scenario.

"I'll just act according to the situation."

At least there was no immediate risk of death for now.

Yeonwoo took out his phone to pass the time, but seeing that communication was blocked, he wore a bored expression.

Just then, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching.

A demon holding a torch slowly came closer.

"I'm the demon living in the prison domain. The worshipper told me to watch you closely, so I'll be next to you for a while."

"What kind of demon are you?"

To Yeonwoo's curious question, the demon with a soldier-like appearance answered:

"I govern concepts like restraint, restriction of freedom of movement, and prisons."

"Ah, I see."

Silence fell for a moment. The demon stood stoically, watching Yeonwoo, while Yeonwoo rolled his eyes in boredom.

The prison was so quiet that even the crackling of the torch could be heard. Beyond the torchlight, heavy darkness settled.

Suddenly, Yeonwoo reached out his hand.

"Let's play a dice game."

With nothing else to do, he might as well roll the dice for fun. Whether he got a critical failure or a critical success, there was no reason to hold back when he couldn't die.

---