Humanity Protection Company

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: posted in discord

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It was a massive world. A giant's house, and a window.

Doomsday cultist Yeonwoo stood blankly in front of the shattered window, then assessed the situation.

'A dream.'

It had to be a dream. A memory of falling into the giant's world. The moment he helped Dandelion break the window.

A cold wind blew in through the window. The falling moonlight glowed softly, and the glass shards from the broken window frame sparkled like stars.

Then, something brighter than the stars poked its head out from below the window frame.

Blonde hair. A mixed-race appearance with indistinguishable ethnicity. It was Dandelion, who had lived as a pet human in the giant's house. She said,

"Hey. You really not gonna escape?"

What had he answered back then?

He must have hesitated. Whether to stay in the giant's house and roll the return dice, or follow her out to find the human city.

At the end of that hesitation...

The Yeonwoo in the dream said,

"No. Let's escape together. We should look for the human city. That seems more certain."

Dandelion grinned broadly and held out her hand. Yeonwoo took it.

"You're weak, so I'll help you. I've lived on the streets for a long time. I can definitely take care of someone like you."

"No, let go of my hand first. I can at least climb down a rope by myself."

"With that strength?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The doomsday cultist Yeonwoo calmly observed the two bickering.

And the dream flowed on. Quickly, like a replay of his memories, like a kaleidoscope.

**

They went through a lot.

They ventured into the wild, onto the giant's streets, facing countless dangers. Even tiny bugs or cats were as huge as monsters, and they couldn't ignore the giants either.

Humans living in this massive world were far too small; everything was dangerous.

That's why the two of them leaned on each other to overcome the dangers. Sometimes Yeonwoo saved Dandelion, and sometimes Dandelion saved Yeonwoo.

The number of times they saved each other was countless, and at some point, it felt like their lives had become intertwined. When one was hurt, the other felt the pain too.

The flowing dream suddenly stopped.

"Ah, we barely escaped. Crazy rat bastard."

"Is your arm okay?"

Yeonwoo, hiding under a leaf after escaping a vicious rat, asked quietly.

Dandelion's arm had a deep wound from the rat's claws. She shrugged.

"This is nothing. We still have some of that honey we stole before. If we put that on, it'll heal. More importantly, aren't rats really small in the world where people normally live?"

As they spent more time together, Yeonwoo had revealed that he came from the human world and possessed the dice.

Since then, Dandelion's eyes would sparkle with curiosity and hope whenever she asked questions.

"Just think of humans being as big as giants."

Yeonwoo couldn't take his eyes off Dandelion's wound. His heart ached, and he fidgeted with his fingers as he pondered.

'Should I roll for recovery? No. It's too dangerous. If it fails, she could die.'

Dandelion looked at Yeonwoo like this, then suddenly asked,

"Don't you roll your return dice anymore? Are you still getting only failures?"

"Ah. Yeah. I keep getting nothing but failures."

It was a lie. He couldn't even remember how long it had been since he'd rolled for a return judgment.

He couldn't bear to leave Dandelion alone, but he was too scared of a critical failure to suggest returning together.

Dandelion noticed that lie too, and she turned her head slightly, muttering,

"How can you keep getting nothing but failures."

"What's that? You don't even have dice, what do you know?"

"Oh, come on!"

The doomsday cultist Yeonwoo watched this faintly glowing memory. Once, these memories had been painful, stabbing his heart, but now he felt numb.

And the memories flowed on again.

**

It was a journey to find the human city. Perhaps they had lost their purpose halfway through, but they kept moving, searching for the human city.

And they reached the truth.

"There's no human city..."

"It's all gone..."

The two muttered gloomily in front of the ruins.

There was no human city. Even if there was, it was different from what they had imagined.

The human city, the salvation of the human world, was just a hopeful legend created by street humans wandering the roads and pet humans being raised in captivity.

Some humans had acted to make the legend a reality, even creating a human city, but it had all been destroyed by the giants' human relief efforts.

They stayed in the ruins for a long time.

Until the sun set and their shadows, merged into one, lengthened and blended into the darkness of night.

Yeonwoo said,

"Do you want to return with me? Even if the dice critically fails, I think we could survive somehow if it's you and me."

Dandelion turned her head. Because they were so close, her nose brushed against his cheek, and her sparkling eyes were filled with Yeonwoo.

"You said that only gives failures, dummy. Let's try a little harder instead."

Yeonwoo's eyes were also filled with Dandelion. His head was completely occupied by her. So much so that he could barely hear her voice.

Dandelion shone like a star. She radiated a light of endless hope.

"Let's create the human city ourselves. You can use your dice to contact that company? And get help!"

"Huh?"

"Let's make the legend a reality! Like the people who built this city!"

Yeonwoo couldn't refuse. He nodded blankly. Dandelion grinned broadly and hugged him. The night's chill melted away with human warmth.

Yeonwoo's heart dropped. It raced madly. Just like when he faced a crisis.

'Lo- lo-'

Yeonwoo's hands trembled. He stretched out those hands and hugged Dandelion back.

'I love her. I love Dandelion.'

When his heart first raced, he was confused. He thought Dandelion might have caught a strange disease, or that she harbored some potential danger.

But that experience repeated, and Yeonwoo recognized his own feelings. He whispered into Dandelion's ear.

"Okay. Let's build the city together."

And so they rebuilt the city.

The shining memories flowed quickly. The doomsday cultist Yeonwoo etched these memories into his mind. To not forget, he recalled them over and over.

Having repeated this hundreds of times, the doomsday cultist Yeonwoo clearly knew the future waiting ahead.

Hope was destined to fade.

**

The city was burning. Fire and death loomed over the city that Dandelion and Yeonwoo had painstakingly rebuilt. The owners of those shadows were giants.

Those who came as soon as the city was somewhat on track.

The Foreign Species Management Bureau. An organization similar to the Humanity Protection Company in the giant world.

"Burn it quickly!"

"Human species shouldn't be allowed to gather! This foreign species has the ability to build a civilization equal to ours! If you don't want to fight over dominion, throw away your sympathy and kill them!"

The city, the fruit of their labor, was crumbling.

But neither Yeonwoo nor Dandelion had the luxury to look after the city.

Yeonwoo, hidden in a burning alley corner, sat down, his hands trembling as he cradled Dandelion's head.

"No. No. You can't die like this."

She had been hit by some debris. A large stone fragment had pierced deep into her internal organs. Blood flowed endlessly. Dandelion, collapsed on Yeonwoo's lap, slightly raised her pale face.

A weak breath mixed with words.

"It's a shame... If the company had helped, we could have saved everyone."

The company Yeonwoo had contacted through the dice had coldly refused support. They said they had no resources to help humans from another dimension. Some climate anomaly? They were busy evacuating because of an impending disaster.

Yeonwoo's mind went blank, unable to give any answer. He just called upon the dice.

'Dice! Recovery, regeneration, wound removal, wound sharing, damn it! Roll for anything!'

Even if failure was scary, what use was that fear in a situation where doing nothing meant death?

That's when Dandelion reached out and cupped Yeonwoo's cheek. Her body temperature terrified him. It was as cold as ice.

Dandelion said,

"It's okay. I'm going to die soon. If you fail, I won't even have time to leave last words, right?"

"But still-"

"You said that dice only gives failures, idiot. So don't waste a chance for success on me. Use it to go back. You came from the human world, right? You should return."

"But-"

And then, Dandelion's hand fell limply.

Yeonwoo's movements stopped. With her last breath, Dandelion said,

"Enjoy the human world to the fullest for me."

That was the end. Her breathing stopped. Her body temperature grew colder than ice.

Dandelion, who died with her eyes open. The image of her corpse was deeply etched into his mind.

But he didn't have the luxury to honor her final moments. The giants who had destroyed the human city were approaching. Boom, boom, smashing buildings and setting fires.

Yeonwoo, who had been looking at Dandelion like a bowed statue, raised his head. He saw the giant. He saw the crumbling city. Dandelion's lifeless body weighed heavily on his knees.

"..."

His mind felt both empty and full of all sorts of thoughts. Emotions seemed to be boiling up, yet also disappearing.

But all of that culminated in one thing.

Revenge.

Revenge against the giants and the world that killed Dandelion.

Yeonwoo opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish, barely managing to spit out words.

"This kind of world."

There was no warmth or emotion in that voice. Only the cold, sharpened blade of revenge gleamed dangerously.

"Should be destroyed."

Roll-

The dice rolled, and the doomsday cultist Yeonwoo woke from his sleep. He returned from the dream to reality.

**

The world was a mess.

The island where the doomsday cultist gathering had been held was filled with corpses and traces of destruction. The island had returned to a rocky state, without even a single weed left. Space was broken, erased, and overflowing with poison gas.

Yeonwoo, who had barely opened his eyes, painfully raised his hand. Blood dripped from his crushed hand.

"...It wasn't a dream, but a life flashing before my eyes."

There wasn't a single uninjured part of his body. Deep pain coursed through his entire body like an electric current. From his internal organs to his limbs and face, nothing was unscathed.

That was to be expected, given that he had fought a war against the doomsday cultists.

Yeonwoo slowly got up. His wounds were healing at a rapid pace. Limping as he stood, Yeonwoo looked around.

Not only ordinary doomsday cultists, but the Smoker, the Ghost of the electronic world, the Warrior, the Reptilian boss, and even Glasses all lay dead. They had all died by his hand.

He had killed them before they could kill him.

That's when one of the corpses trembled slightly and opened its eyes. It was the Warrior. The Warrior looked at Yeonwoo and spat out a curse.

"You, what the hell? You said you'd destroy the Earth. You said you'd take revenge on the company. Why are you trying to reveal the solution to the climate anomalies?"

"..."

That was the problem.

He had heard the solution to the climate anomalies from the Yeonwoo of a parallel world, and he was trying to reveal that solution.

The doomsday cultists had tried to attack Yeonwoo, who was trying to save a world that would perish if left alone, and Yeonwoo had raided the gathering before they could attack him.

Yeonwoo silently looked down at the Warrior. A former comrade and now an enemy.

He spoke to his enemy.

"I said I'd destroy the Earth, didn't I? Not with this stupid climate anomaly, but by my own hands, I said I'd destroy it."

If the Earth was to be destroyed, it should be by his own hands. Revenge against the company that had abandoned the humans of another dimension had to be carried out by his own hands.

The Warrior's eyes suddenly widened. Then he burst into laughter.

"You bastard. If you had such a cool reason, you should have said so. Then we would have joined you."

"No."

Yeonwoo turned his gaze away. He staggered as he walked, collecting spoils of war. Each anomalous entity possessed by the doomsday cultists was now his power.

As he moved, he spoke casually.

"It has to perish by my hands. Not by your hands, but only by mine."

Because the right to destroy the Earth belonged only to him.

And he, the one with the right to destruction, hadn't yet decided whether to destroy the Earth or not.

Dandelion's last words flashed through his mind.

Her dying wish for him to fully enjoy this world. That wish became the only shackle holding back his feet. It stopped Yeonwoo at a crossroads.

Should he destroy this world that Dandelion would never see, to take revenge on the company?

Or should he protect the world Dandelion had dreamed of?

Yeonwoo struggled with this conflict every day, unable to take a step forward at the crossroads. He stood there, pulling down anyone who tried to walk ahead of him.

'No one can destroy the Earth before I make my decision.'

The Warrior looked at Yeonwoo like this and sighed.

"Fine, you're so great. ...Maybe if I had that kind of mindset, I could have reached Level 6 too."

If he had such an inflated ego, if he had the madness to charge ahead regardless of success or failure, maybe he could have fought and won against the world.

With a final burst of life force like the light of a dying candle, the Warrior raised his hand. He extended his fist, crudely erased, towards the sky. He struck the sky.

The sky screamed in pain. The blue sky turned pale white, then black, and finally, dark clouds gathered and shed tears.

Whoosh-

Rain fell. Raindrops poured down on the corpses of the doomsday cultists.

"The world, it's nothing special."

The Warrior, who had struck and made the world cry, dropped his head with a satisfied smile.

Yeonwoo looked down at him, soaked in rain, then turned away.

The one who possessed all the legacies of the doomsday cultists walked away, swaying between destruction and protection.

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