Humanity Protection Company

Illustrations: None.

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He got into the man\'s car. Of course, he was careful not to get wet by the rain, closing the umbrella only after leaning his head into the passenger seat.

After placing the rain-soaked umbrella on the floor of the passenger seat with hands as careful as if handling acid, Lee Yeonwoo immediately started the engine and stepped on the gas.

The car accelerated rapidly, leaving the parking lot.

Vroom-

‘Let\'s just go to a place where it\'s not raining.’

Yeonwoo looked at the blurry road ahead. The world was dyed gray, rain pouring down. The wipers moved busily, sweeping away the rainwater, and the displaced rainwater rolled along the wind.

He didn\'t even think about finding a direction. Just straight ahead. Escaping the area of falling rain.

Swoosh-

As he passed through puddles filled with rainwater, the car splashed the water like waves.

How long had he been driving on the narrow, winding mountain road?

“Ah.”

Suddenly, something like a wild animal jumped in front of the car.

Yeonwoo gritted his teeth and pressed the accelerator harder instead. Whether the animal died or not, whether the car was damaged or not, escaping this place was-

Thud- Bang- Bang- Bang-!

Screech-!

He stepped on the brakes. He had no choice.

It wasn\'t just one or two animals.

Inside the stopped car on the mountain road, with the headlights broken, Yeonwoo looked at the rearview mirror with trembling eyes.

The road he had passed. The herd of animals he had hit and passed.

Squeak- Squeak-

Wild boars, deer, stray dogs, and wild cats, all boasting their rain-soaked fur, stood up. Their bodies were deeply dented, legs broken, headless.

A headless animal dragged its broken leg as it approached the car.

Yeonwoo realized.

‘The rain that makes heads fall. It\'s not just humans. Animals too.’

And also that he was surrounded.

Taking his eyes off the rearview mirror, he looked around. The rainy mountain road. High rising mountain peaks and dense trees on both sides.

A herd of headless animals was gradually approaching him through the gaps.

Large creatures like headless wild boars and deer were coming down the mountain path, while headless squirrels, headless chickens, and headless snakes were climbing up the road ahead.

Click-

Yeonwoo grabbed a gun from his bag, but his heart pounded anxiously.

‘They\'re hostile towards humans. What should I do? Advance as is? Retreat to the lodge?’

At that moment.

Bang-, with a loud noise, something black slammed into the windshield. The windshield cracked greatly.

Startled, Yeonwoo raised his gun, and beyond the cracked windshield, a headless crow flapped its broken wings. Biting his lip, Yeonwoo looked at the sky beyond the crow.

It wasn\'t just one.

Under the rainy sky, crows, pigeons, and hawks were flapping their wings. Headless bodies, all heading straight for Yeonwoo.

“…Sh*t.”

Cursing similarly to how the team leader did, Yeonwoo shifted the gear to reverse.

‘I have to go back to the lodge.’

The sky visible was all pouring rain. Running for a bit wouldn\'t escape the area of rain.

Moreover, the birds were a big problem. If the windshield broke, he would get wet by the rain. That meant losing his head.

Vroom-!

The car moved backward, running over the headless animals he had already hit once more. The car jolted as if hitting speed bumps.

At the same time, as the car reversed over the road, thud, thud, thud, headless birds plunged vertically. A fall close to bombing.

Even as a narrowly missed bird shattered the side mirror, Yeonwoo focused on driving, only looking at the rearview mirror.

‘A mistake means death.’

He didn\'t keep to the center line. With the car straddling the center line, he swerved backward along the winding road.

The birds occasionally tapped on the car roof, and the windshield, already nearly broken from multiple hits, held on barely. The messed-up car barely made it back to the lodge.

Fortunately, as he got closer to the lodge, the birds stopped attacking.

Bang-!

The car, which had made a U-turn midway, crashed straight into the entrance of the lodge. The car smashed through the lodge\'s wall and door, entering inside.

After parking, Yeonwoo pulled out a homemade pistol and got out of the car inside the lodge.

---

---

On the first floor of the lodge, there were a man and a woman, Choi Hyunsang wearing a raincoat, and the owner of the lodge. They stared wide-eyed at the completely demolished entrance and the damaged car.

“My, my car. The car.”

“My lodge! Oh no! If you break everything-”

The people who had been mumbling to themselves with pale faces suddenly shut their mouths.

It was because Yeonwoo, with a fierce look on his face, had come out holding a gun. He glared at the suspicious people and suddenly asked a question.

“Where did Researcher Seo Peonho and the headless person go?”

“They took them to the temporary lab for experiments. Dr. Seo and Yuna are in the lab.”

“Call them, please.”

“Uh… I need to go out to collect rainwater.”

As he pressed down on his raincoat, the woman who had come with the man hurriedly ran up the stairs. Trembling in fear, the woman disappeared beyond the stairs.

Choi Hyunsang, shaking a bag containing a shovel and a plastic bottle, passed by Yeonwoo and went outside through the broken wall.

‘He\'s just strong, seems like an ordinary assistant researcher.’

Yeonwoo spoke to him.

“That rain, it also pulls out the heads of animals. Be careful. The headless ones seem to intend harm to people.”

“Thanks for the information. As expected, you’re an investigator. ...Should I also take an animal while I’m out? Seems like a good test subject.”

“There’s a headless bird stuck in front of the car. Take that.”

“Oh. Thank you. I’ll take it later.”

Choi Hyunsang left with a brightened face.

Meanwhile, the owner of the lodge sneaked away to the storage room, and only Yeonwoo and the man remained on the first floor.

Yeonwoo calmly tossed the car key to the man. The man caught the key, tears welling up in his eyes. He was on the verge of crying.

“I still have a lot of payments left….”

“I’m sorry about that. But before that, who are you? Where are you from? Why did you come here?”

“Well.”

The man glanced at the gun and swallowed hard. He spoke with a voice mixed with tension, excitement, and sorrow.

“We\'re a team that produces videos tracking mysteries and urban legends. We came here after finding a document about rain that makes heads fall off.”

Then he suddenly looked up at Yeonwoo.

“You\'re from a secret organization, right? Like that incident at the Blue House, you know something real that others don’t, right? That Dr. Seo person too, you’re from the same organization. An interview, no, even just a conversation-”

“That’s not important right now. Prepare to deal with the danger first.”

Yeonwoo looked away from the man. He was just a civilian.

More important were Seo Peonho and the lodge owner.

The lodge owner had disappeared somewhere, and Seo Peonho came down the stairs with a faint smile. Even when he saw the destroyed entrance and the car that had burst through, he didn’t lose his smile.

“Mr. Lee Yeonwoo? What’s going on? I thought you were leaving.”

“Escape was impossible.”

“Even though you had a car?”

Yeonwoo sighed shortly and moved his body aside. He raised his gun and pointed at the car.

“Do you see that bird?”

“…It has no head. It seems animals are also affected.”

“It’s not just about losing their heads. The headless ones only targeted me. So.”

Seo Peonho walked to the front of the car and poked at the still wriggling crow. His back was turned to Yeonwoo.

A glint flashed in Yeonwoo\'s eyes. He moved his hand swiftly.

Click-

The gun touched the back of Seo Peonho’s head. His movements stopped immediately.

“…Why are you doing this to a fellow employee?”

“Tell me what you know. All the information you\'ve been hiding from me.”

“A civilian is watching right now-”

“Don’t you know the company has given up on secrecy?”

With his index finger ready on the trigger, he was prepared to pull it if necessary.

Seo Peonho remained silent for a moment, then slowly moved his hand to fumble with the writhing crow.

“Then the company is planning to-”

“I know. Stop the bullsh*t and give me the information. What kind of anomaly is this, and how do we deal with it?”

“There’s no need to deal with it. This is hope for our humanity.”

Seo Peonho raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and slowly turned around. With the shattered entrance and the car as a backdrop, and rain pouring outside, he looked straight at Yeonwoo.

An unknown fervor and sense of mission gleamed in his eyes.

“I haven\'t lied. The future of humanity truly depends on this research.”

Yeonwoo stepped back slightly. The distance was too close, posing a risk of counterattack.

Still aiming at his head, Yeonwoo asked again.

"Don’t beat around the—"

“If we are to go extinct due to abnormal weather, then we must adapt to it.”

Seo Peonho pulled one hand back and grabbed the crow. The headless crow twisted its body in his grasp.

“If this vitality could be given to humans, we could survive on Earth. It\'s entirely possible.”

Crack, the strong grip. The sound of air escaping and bones crushing came from the crow.

Yet the crow did not die and continued to wriggle. Seo Peonho felt the movement in his palm and smiled joyfully.

“And through the components left in the soil, the research has achieved some success. If we can just reduce the side effects like insomnia, hair loss, memory loss, increased aggression, mental disorder, and death, we can survive. So, Mr. Lee Yeonwoo.”

Seo Peonho glanced behind Yeonwoo. Yeonwoo felt his instincts sounding an alarm.

“Please cooperate with our research. If we inject you with the ‘rainwater’ and you overcome the side effects, we can perfect the rainwater.”

Whoosh-

He threw the crow at Yeonwoo’s face. Yeonwoo did not back down. Instead, he lunged forward.

‘Behind! The danger is behind me!’

Slash-!

Something sharp grazed the back of his head. From the front, the crow swept across his face.

With the momentum of his leap, Yeonwoo tackled Seo Peonho. At close range, he pulled the trigger against Seo Peonho’s stomach.

Bang, bang, bang-!

Three shots.

Simultaneously, he grabbed Seo Peonho’s arm and spun around. Their positions reversed. Yeonwoo used Seo Peonho as a shield.

A syringe, dripping a transparent liquid, stopped in place. Gong Yuna, who had descended silently, dropped the syringe.

“Doctor.”

“Ah.”

Seo Peonho clutched his abdomen with a pale face. Blood poured from the three holes in his belly.

“No. The research.”

Yeonwoo wore a bitter expression. He was just a man struggling to survive the abnormal climate.

‘But he was also someone who tried to inject me with dangerous drugs.’

Yeonwoo wiped his face with the hem of his clothes, removing the rainwater left when the crow brushed by him.