Humanity Protection Company

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: posted in discord

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'That's insane. Why would I fight?'

The parking lot was literally in shambles. Even at a glance, everything from space to rules seemed shattered. The Warrior who caused this destruction was at least as dangerous as that doomsday cultist who wielded the Eraser.

Fight someone like that? When he didn't even know how headquarters viewed him?

Yeonwoo made a quick decision.

'Dice. The possibility of me being in the investigation team's office.'

Maybe because it was like his home, or because it was his workplace, this possibility had the highest chance of success. With a little more effort, he could almost guarantee it.

Yeonwoo made a gesture as if grabbing the air.

Clatter-

The dice rolled. Threads of probability gathered and writhed in one place. The approaching future shook chaotically.

The Warrior felt those threads too. His expression instantly contorted.

'Ugh. What is that? It's disgusting.'

The sight of thin, long threads tangling together looked like worms or parasites squirming. It was truly repulsive.

Judging by the power shaking the world, it was strong, but its appearance was utterly off-putting.

The Warrior spread his palm. As if swatting a mosquito or flying insect.

"Get that away!"

His palm swung lightly. That casual gesture unleashed a storm.

Crash!

Space crumpled and shattered along the path of his palm. The world couldn't withstand it. The threads of probability summoned by the dice couldn't resist either.

The tangled threads burst and scattered, carried away by the shockwave.

And then, Yeonwoo reached out his hand.

'No!'

The aftershock whipped his hair around. The fierce wind stung his eyes. Tears welled up in his wide-open eyes, but Yeonwoo desperately moved his gaze to follow the scattering possibilities.

'Bring me success!'

His hand moved with his gaze, grasping at possibility.

The possibility of Yeonwoo being in the investigation team's office.

The moment that possibility was about to manifest.

The Warrior swung his hand once more. He didn't know what it was, but it was an enemy action, so he blocked it.

Bam-!

His palm, swung down as if crushing a cockroach, shattered the manifesting possibility. The dice stopped. It couldn't produce any result.

This was the first fundamental blockage Yeonwoo had experienced since the Eraser.

"..."

"..."

A brief silence fell between the Warrior and Yeonwoo. They had different thoughts.

The Warrior wore an uncomfortable expression. How to put it, his fighting spirit was fading.

'Fighting something like that isn't cool.'

Why did he want to fight and defeat the world, to prove he was the strongest? Because it was cool. Because it was romantic.

But this... Fighting something bug-like seemed a bit messy. He imagined the scene of the Eraser fighting Yeonwoo.

'Did he scatter those gross threads, and the boss erased them, and eventually died to the threads he couldn't erase?'

The Warrior stepped back in horror. This wasn't the kind of fight he wanted.

Above all, Yeonwoo, seen up close, was weaker than him. At best, he could shake the world? He had no interest in fighting and beating someone weaker.

'A weak and disgusting guy. Let's avoid him. There must be plenty of strong enemies in headquarters, no reason to fight this kind of thing.'

That's when it happened.

Yeonwoo, who had been looking down for a while, raised his head. Something like madness glinted in his eyes. Thread-like possibilities, symbolizing potential, slowly unraveled and rippled around Yeonwoo.

Yeonwoo spoke in a low voice.

"Headquarters. Are you watching? I'll deal with this doomsday cultist for world peace. So please consider the accident I caused as a mitigating circumstance."

His escape route was blocked. It was just like when he faced the Eraser.

'If I want to live, I need to eliminate this danger.'

A life-threatening enemy. Kill him.

While also building up a justification to cover his own accident.

Yeonwoo wrapped himself in threads of probability and lunged at the Warrior.

------

His mind spun wildly. His high-speed thoughts formed the optimal battle strategy.

'The basics are the same as when I faced the Eraser.'

Keep rolling the dice. Attack like crazy, don't give the enemy a chance to strike back. Offense is the best defense.

Clatter-

The dice rolled. The possibility of the heart stopping, the possibility of the Warrior not being an anomaly, the possibility of the Warrior losing his purpose. And that wasn't all.

He drew out the chaotic nature of the dice. All sorts of threads of possibility unraveled wildly.

The Warrior responded simply.

Rapid strikes. He quickly threw punches in succession, hitting all the disgusting threads. He shouted angrily.

"It's pointless!"

All the writhing possibilities were struck and vanished.

But Yeonwoo, playing the role of a devoted company employee, didn't give up and shouted with a sense of duty:

"Doomsday cultist threatening humanity! Die!"

Bang-!

The gun he'd pulled out somehow fired a bullet. Yeonwoo's shout and the gunshot echoed through the parking lot.

The Warrior, grimacing, extended his leg. The curved trajectory knocked away the bullet and went on to catch Yeonwoo's neck.

Yeonwoo's eyes flashed. His senses sharpened. Not the sense of the dice. Survival instinct.

'Survive!'

He sensed the danger and felt the path to survival.

His reaction speed transcended limits. In an instant, Yeonwoo's body bent bizarrely. His upper body and head tilted sideways, and the Warrior's foot grazed past his ear.

Swish!

Though the leg just brushed by, it sounded like a blade cutting through air. And it wasn't just once. The Warrior didn't miss the chance to go on the offensive.

'Die!'

Out of habit, he kept his mouth tightly shut to maintain steady breathing. The Warrior moved his legs as if dancing. His two feet became a storm.

Horizontally, vertically, in curves, diagonally, his blade-like legs extended endlessly. Sharp wounds were left in space.

Yeonwoo dodged them all. Crouching, rolling sideways, leaping up, bending his body. His reactions were far from normal.

'Why won't he die? How is he dodging all this?'

The Warrior kicking out his feet wore a strange expression. Gritting his teeth, he frowned.

Yeonwoo seemed to be seeing the future. Like a skilled fighter predicting attacks just by sensing posture and muscle movements, he was already dodging before the attacks extended.

Even if his posture looked ridiculous, the Warrior couldn't hit Yeonwoo. Finally, the Warrior opened his mouth.

"You cockroach-like-"

"I won't tolerate those who threaten humanity's survival!"

A momentary opening as he spoke. Yeonwoo charged in.

The dice rolled, and bullets poured out. Like mealworms spilling from an overturned container, writhing threads gushed out in a torrent.

Thin threads twisted their bodies and densely filled the space. It looked like a swarm of insects descending.

"This is driving me crazy!"

The bullets weren't a problem. They wouldn't even scratch him if they hit.

The problem was the threads that kept coming no matter how many he destroyed. And when he tried to attack Yeonwoo, the source of the threads, he dodged frustratingly well. Not just direct hits from fists or feet, but even the aftermath of shattering space was easily avoided.

On top of that, Yeonwoo's voice grated on his nerves.

"As long as I don't fall, you won't bring down headquarters, doomsday cultist!"

His exaggerated and awkward voice sounded like someone who couldn't act trying to force it.

The Warrior gritted his teeth. His impression of Yeonwoo changed in his mind. From a weak and disgusting guy to a weak, persistent, and disgusting guy.

'I should avoid this kind of guy. Even if I win, I'll feel gross.'

He really wanted to smack him hard on the head, but it wasn't worth it.

What he wanted was a life-or-death battle with a strong enemy, not this kind of petty, dirty fight.

"Damn it! Alright, I'll-"

"A company employee doesn't listen to a doomsday cultist!"

"You son of a bitch!"

Finally, the Warrior cursed and swung his fist forcefully. The approaching threads scattered. The Warrior didn't miss that moment.

He pulled back his clenched fist to his waist and then thrust it towards the sky, the parking lot ceiling. His full-power strike hit headquarters.

Screech-!

Headquarters screamed. Space and the world shattered, and a round hole opened in the ceiling. Not just one. As if a laser had passed through, it penetrated from the parking lot to several floors above.

And then, plop, plop, it began to rain.

A rain of mealworm heads.

The mealworm heads, which had already multiplied to their limit, flowed down through the path the Warrior had opened.

The Warrior, about to leap up, stared blankly into space and then brought his hand to his face. He grabbed a mealworm head stuck to his face.

"This is."

Mealworm heads multiplying between his fingers. Looking closely, they weren't even alive. Just the heads of dead mealworms dividing.

The Warrior, watching with dull eyes, clenched his hand. Squish, the multiplying mealworm head was crushed. As if in response, more mealworm heads poured down. Looking up at them, the Warrior cried out:

"Headquarters! Are you saying you won't give me the fight I want?"

He finally understood headquarters' intentions.

The reason why he couldn't see even a shadow of a person despite breaking into headquarters. Instead of the resolute battle the Warrior wanted, they had prepared a meaningless and petty mud fight that he hated.

To stop the Warrior with a wave of cockroach-like Yeonwoo and mindlessly dividing mealworm heads.

'This isn't even a fight!'

Whoosh-

The mealworm heads fell like a rainstorm, engulfing the Warrior. A brown waterfall poured into the parking lot. Both the Warrior and Yeonwoo were swept up in the waterfall of mealworm heads.

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