Humanity Protection Company

Illustrations: None.

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Her glare was fierce. She wore a dress that looked like something a princess doll might wear, likely put on by the young giant, but it didn’t look ridiculous—her demeanor was too menacing.

Yeonwoo recoiled and raised his hands defensively.

“It’s not that I don’t want to escape. We just met, right? Shouldn’t we introduce ourselves first-”

“Forget it, get lost. Live your life as a pet human.”

She glared at Yeonwoo, then walked toward the key lying on the floor. As she approached, she stopped briefly in front of him.

Suddenly, she grabbed Yeonwoo by the collar and pulled him close. He was dragged helplessly, their faces so close they could see their reflections in each other’s eyes.

She bared her teeth and growled.

“I don’t care how you live, but if you interfere with my escape, I’ll bite you. Got it?”

“Okay, just let go of my collar.”

Yeonwoo calmly tapped her hand holding his collar. He had faced too many threats to be scared by such intimidation.

Real danger comes without warning.

She scoffed and let go, then bent down to pick up the key. The giant’s key was as long and large as a person’s arm, hefty enough to be used as a tool.

As she slung the key over her shoulder and headed for the wire mesh door, Yeonwoo followed.

“Have you heard of the Humanity Protection Company?”

“No.”

She wasn’t a company employee.

“Where are you from? Earth? America? Europe? Asia?”

“What are you talking about? Hey! If you’re going to interfere, get lost! Stop babbling!”

She wasn’t from Earth either.

She yelled and thrust the key like a spear into the rusted part of the wire mesh. The mesh easily bent, and the key got wedged in.

“Ugh-!”

She sweated profusely, gritting her teeth and straining until her veins bulged as she moved the key.

Screeech-

Using it like a lever, she wiggled it up and down, back and forth like a saw. The hole in the mesh slowly widened, the rust flaking off bit by bit.

But her stamina gave out before the mesh could be cut through. Drenched in sweat, she gulped down the remaining water in the cup model and slumped against the wall.

Her eyes turned to Yeonwoo.

While she had been working hard to escape, Yeonwoo had been leisurely wandering around the room, examining the human-sized miniature furniture.

Her eyebrows rose in frustration.

“Hey. Are you really not going to escape? You’re planning to live as a pet human here?”

“Mind your own business-.”

“Don’t lie.”

Yeonwoo turned a model chair around and sat on it. He met her annoyed gaze with his own frown. He was irritated by her continued informal speech, so he decided to drop formalities too.

“I don’t plan on leaving the house. Why should I go out? It’s just dangerous.”

“So you’re going to live like an animal here? Eating scraps they throw at you, wearing the clothes they force on you, having babies when they tell you to, and then having those babies sold off. Is that how you want to live?”

“That’s not it.”

Yeonwoo shook his head. He didn’t intend to live like that. He also had the dice as a means of escape.

Therefore, he casually asked, with the mindset of a traveler exploring a foreign land.

“But what’s your plan after escaping? Honestly, if you leave the house and run into a cat or a dog, or any kind of animal, you’ll get killed.”

This wasn’t just a world of giants, but a gigantic world. Humans were the size of hamsters, and there were countless bugs, wild animals, and birds that could easily hunt creatures that small. Even an army of ants was terrifying.

Escape wasn’t the end, but the beginning.

She wiped her sweat with the frilled hem of her dress and looked out the window. The setting sun cast a twilight glow through the window. She spoke.

"...I heard before. There\'s a city of humans. A city made by humans, for human survival."

Screeech-!

Yeonwoo sprang to his feet, the chair scraping against the floor. She looked at him puzzledly, but Yeonwoo quickly addressed her.

"Tell me more about that."

Could it be a trace of the Humanity Protection Company?

Even if it wasn\'t, it sounded like something from Earth. The phrase was reminiscent of "of the people, by the people, for the people." It felt similar.

She looked at Yeonwoo and then nodded towards the wire mesh.

"I\'ll tell you, but while I rest, you saw through that."

Yeonwoo silently went to the wire mesh and grabbed the handle of the key with both hands.

\'Even if I have the dice, it\'s better to know about any group that seems like the company.\'

You never know when the dice will roll a critical success. Preparing a backup plan seemed wise, so Yeonwoo began sawing with the key.

---

---

Huff- Huff-

Yeonwoo looked up at the ceiling, exhausted. The ceiling spun around. When he closed his eyes, he could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears.

He placed his trembling hand on his chest. His voice, as shaky as his hand, came out.

"Now, tell me... what you know."

She looked at him with astonishment. How could he be this weak after so little effort?

"How did you get so weak...? How did you survive? You don\'t have the body to survive out there."

With such low stamina and strength, it was doubtful how long he could survive in the wild, where the weak perish.

She sighed and approached Yeonwoo, patting his head.

"You shouldn\'t escape. You\'ll die as soon as you leave the house. You really are suited to be a pet human."

With each pat, his head wobbled, worsening his dizziness. Yeonwoo tried to push her hand away with his trembling hand but only swiped at the air.

"Just tell me."

"Alright, alright."

Thud-

She sat down next to Yeonwoo\'s head, taking a moment to choose her words. Then she began speaking as if recounting legends and myths passed down orally.

"There aren\'t many humans like us, but there are not too few either. Sometimes, while wandering, you might meet other humans."

"..."

Yeonwoo listened quietly while catching his breath.

"Once, I met an old human in an alley. The old man told me."

She looked out the window, not at the high brick walls outside, but with eyes that seemed to see a wider world.

"He said we originally weren\'t from this world. People who fell from a world where only humans lived, struggling to survive in this giant world, left behind descendants."

She spoke, and Yeonwoo understood.

\'So, this world originally had no humans... The humans who accidentally fell here survived and occasionally new ones arrived, leading to the current situation...\'

Perhaps the reason they couldn\'t communicate with the giants was similar. It felt like trying to communicate without special translation between beings from different dimensions.

She continued.

"And he said, humans from our world will come to save us. There is a city of humans gathered together, for that day when they will come. A city just for humans."

With those words, she slowly blinked, as if erasing a vision only she could see.

Now, the room for raising humans, the wire mesh that blocked any passage, and the high stone wall beyond the window came into view.

She suddenly stood up and chuckled.

"I\'m going there."

"...Do you even know where it is?"

Yeonwoo looked up at her. She smiled confidently.

“I don’t know! But it\'s better than being raised here and dying. If I keep walking, I\'ll get there eventually. And when I find the city.”

She turned and grabbed the key again, moving her whole body to cut through the wire mesh. Her energetic voice echoed.

“I’ll come back to save you too.”

Yeonwoo closed his eyes and then opened them.

“No need. I\'ll find my own way out.”

“What are you talking about? You think you can survive out there alone with that body? Just say thank you.”

“I said, no need.”

She let out a sarcastic laugh.

“Fine, try living on your own. Even if I rescue all the other humans and take them to the city, you can stay here by yourself.”

At that moment, there was a thudding sound, someone climbing the stairs. The woman quickly pulled out the key and threw it far away, then dashed to the pile of toys. She disappeared in an instant.

While Yeonwoo just blinked, the mother giant opened the wire mesh door with her free hand, the other holding a plate.

“Time for dinner-. Huh?”

She looked down at Yeonwoo. He was exhausted from the hard labor of sawing, covered in sweat and fatigue, looking as if he had just completed a huge task.

The mother giant smiled slyly.

“Already working? Good, keep it up and have babies soon.”

Despite Yeonwoo’s bewildered expression, she hummed a tune and poured the food from the plate into a dish for humans.

Fried eggs, bacon, and bread. The food, cut into small pieces for humans, filled the dish.

The mother giant said,

“You look very weak... Maybe I should feed you something nutritious…”

Muttering to herself, she checked the water bowl and the toilet before leaving the room. The door closed, and silence filled the room.

The woman crept out from her hiding spot, grabbed some bread, and stuffed it into her mouth, avoiding Yeonwoo’s gaze while holding out some bread to him.

“What are you doing? Eat.”

Yeonwoo struggled to his feet and went to the dish. With trembling hands, he shoved the food into his mouth, feeling her pitying gaze.

---

---

Night came.

Past midnight.

Lying on a soft handkerchief, Yeonwoo blinked and thought.

‘Return. Go back. Somehow.’

Rumble-

Thud!

Nothing changed. Yeonwoo closed his eyes and sighed deeply. He was starting to feel anxious.

‘When will the critical success come up…? It won’t not come, right? If it\'s as rare as winning the lottery or getting struck by lightning….’

If the odds of a critical success or a critical failure were that low, he couldn’t rely on the dice alone. He was also worried about what might happen if a critical failure came up.

But it was also difficult to blindly follow the woman and escape.

‘I’m not sure if that city is related to the company. I don’t know its location. I don’t even know if it really exists. Even if it does, there\'s no guarantee that the city has a way to return to Earth.’

His confidence in returning was wavering.

The stillness of the deep night suddenly felt ominous. Yeonwoo pulled the handkerchief blanket over himself and curled up. The moonlight streaming in from the window was chilly.

He felt abandoned in the vast ocean, like being alone in a foreign land where he couldn’t speak the language.

‘I don’t know a sure way to return. There’s nothing I can do….’

This was different from the anomalies he had faced before.

This wasn’t a danger he could overcome with his own strength. He couldn’t blindly trust the dice, and there was no support or contact from the company. He wondered if he would have to live here as a pet human for the rest of his life.

As these anxious thoughts gnawed at his brain, suddenly he felt a tap.

Yeonwoo opened his eyes wide. The woman called Yellow was in front of him, her eyes shining in the moonlight.

“Hey. I’m leaving.”

“Right now?”

When Yeonwoo sat up, she handed him a bag made from a toy bag and some strings. It was filled with bread and makeshift tools poking out.

Proof that she was already prepared to leave.

“I’ve cut through the mesh and checked the escape route. We need to escape now while they’re all asleep.”

“…I’ll help.”

Yeonwoo hesitated, then threw off the blanket and stood up.

‘I can’t sleep anyway. If I stay still, I’ll just think bad thoughts. I might as well move. Escape…’

Stay with the giant family, or follow her.

Rely on the dice and endure, or take the risk and seek out a city whose existence is uncertain and whose connection to the company is unknown.

He couldn\'t decide.

“You?”

She looked at Yeonwoo with disbelief. It wasn’t so much mockery as it was doubt about what he could possibly do with his physical abilities.

Ignoring her, Yeonwoo approached the wire mesh.

After dinner, the cut wire mesh had a hole large enough for a person to pass through.