Humanity Protection Company

Illustrations: None.

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Lee Yeonwoo flipped through the thick stack of documents, his eyes darting up and down as he scanned for important paragraphs.

Records of full-scale experiments with the oak barrel.

[Materials humans hate, results harmful to humans... The theme is clear. Experimenting has become easier.]

[A disease that attacks people? Good. I should stockpile it as a weapon for later. Let\'s create a system to fill fire water tanks with this and activate sprinklers only in desired areas.]

[There\'s a lot of leftover food from the company dinner. Ice cream, pickled radish from the chicken, pizza... Who chose the menu? Anyway, it\'s a hassle to throw away as food waste. Should I put it in the oak barrel?]

[Why did a drug to treat mental issues come out? Does only one of the materials or results need to match the theme? I\'m not sure. I don\'t know.]

The records of experimenting with the murder disease and its cure ended. Yeonwoo frowned as he quickly flipped through the papers, but there was no useful information.

Just a list of ingredients and results nauseating to read about.

\'Ugh. How could anyone think to mix these things? Feed them the cure to make them realize the value of food... No. This isn\'t my thought.\'

Correcting his strangely twisted thoughts, he continued flipping through the papers.

Rustle-

The rapidly passing papers stopped near the end. Yeonwoo muttered in a low voice as he read the hastily scrawled writing on the last page.

"This seems to be about today\'s incident."

The story of injecting the command to find the dice, resulting in the person at the door causing an accident.

The company\'s swift proposal upon learning of the accident, and the Association President\'s uncontainable fury.

[They want me to hand over not just the plastic surgery machine, but even the oak barrel and bed? I can\'t take it anymore! I\'ll start by spraying the sprinklers and use every means available! ...But first, I should take the cure.]

[It\'s terrible! My tongue is dead! This hasn\'t strayed from the theme of human suffering!]

The shaky handwriting, likely from taking the cure, became neat and tidy from the next paragraph.

[...I\'ve been thinking, there\'s no need to split from the company. Carrot and stick. How about we put on an act of accidentally spraying the disease and providing the cure?]

[It would feel so good to see those company bastards suffering after taking the cure.]

The record ends with what seems to be a distorted, naive idea of the accident.

No more records, no more papers to flip through. Yeonwoo turned the stack of papers over, returning to the front.

He looked down at the meaningful sentence written there, then put down the stack of papers with annoyance. The record returned to the safe with a thud.

\'This desires suffering? Damn it. There\'s nothing written about how to reverse the infection.\'

Meanwhile, the agent was recording other documents page by page with his helmet camera, and the security guard, while keeping an eye on the researcher and other infected people, asked a question.

"Did you find out anything? It doesn\'t look like they\'ve found anything over there."

Peeking over, he saw the researcher furiously searching through data, nearly smashing the keyboard. Fingers slamming down on the keys, accompanied by an irritated voice.

"This, this! Human worse than a monkey! How can they record such stupid nonsense and call it research?"

It\'s research data falsified by the Association President, knowing the company\'s surveillance. No matter how much the researcher searched, there was no way he\'d find the information he wanted.

That frustration mirrored Yeonwoo\'s own feelings, causing him to let out a deeply exasperated sigh.

"I\'ve grasped the situation, but there\'s no way to reverse this."

The situation was simple.

Unable to figure out the oak barrel\'s combination method, the Association President had given it a theme, and the oak barrel came to desire human suffering.

The result was the murder disease and its cure. An anomaly that torments not just one infected person, but many more through the infected.

There seemed to be some conflict between the company and Creating A Better World Association, but that wasn\'t particularly important.

"That\'s it. Only the company\'s experts or the dice can fix this."

Both methods had their problems. Experts who might not be able to cure it, and dice with inherent risks.

Just then, the agent suddenly looked at Yeonwoo. Yeonwoo\'s face reflected on the surface of the enhanced reality helmet. An expression of genuine frustration.

Unlike the researcher or other infected people.

"Why are you unaffected, Investigator Yeonwoo?"

"I\'m not unaffected. I want to shove that cure down the throats of the Association President and his people who caused this mess. I\'m just holding back."

Yeonwoo\'s eyes flickered down slightly, looking at the agent\'s eraser. The eraser, which had first blocked the dice itself, had unknowingly left a deep mark on his psyche.

Just like trauma, the mere sight of the eraser brought back the shock of that time, putting his survival instinct on edge.

"Without the eraser, I couldn\'t have resisted the murder disease. And the cure, well, I probably would\'ve only realized after a long time."

Thinking those words, the agent tilted his head slowly.

"So, you\'re saying that when feeling extreme threat, one can regain their senses?"

"At least that\'s how it was for me."

Is that even important right now? Puzzled, he turned to look at the agent, but the helmets of both the agent and the security guard were fixed solely on the researcher.

The researcher had taken his hands off the keyboard. Unable to find the information he wanted, just like Yeonwoo, the researcher was muttering to himself while straightening his disheveled clothes.

"...I was stupid too. Fixating on just one thing, like those friends looking only for the oak barrel."

Unable to find a mass production method, the researcher found a solution in another direction. His superior intuition leapt diagonally.

"There are many other anomalies here too. We can bring the cure using the bed that brings part of dreams into reality. We could also apply the computer that gives commands."

The researcher turned and stopped, trampling the papers scattered on the floor as he advanced. In front of him, the infected people were looking at him with eyes full of hope.

The researcher spoke.

"There are no clues for mass production."

As if slapped, the infected people\'s heads turned in unison. They looked at the security guard who had gathered the factory\'s anomalies, and at the oak barrel among them.

Before the security guards could react to the strange atmosphere, before the infected could rush forward, the researcher continued.

"But I\'ve thought of another method."

"What method?"

"The bed. We can all dream of that terrible cure, can\'t we?"

The infected nodded in unison.

"If we sleep now, we\'ll surely dream of that cure. It\'s a taste we can\'t forget even in dreams."

"That\'s enough. The oak barrel is too heavily guarded by the security, so let\'s act normal, pretend we\'re moving other anomalies, and try using the bed. What do you think?"

The researcher\'s voice was a soft whisper. The infected leaned forward, listening intently to his words, then one by one turned their bodies, saying they understood.

Just as they started to move, their footsteps pouring out in a rush-

Swish-

Suddenly, sunlight poured in. The eraser had swept across the ceiling. A cold wind rushed in like a gust, and a clear threat stopped them in their tracks.

"Stop right there, colleagues. Let\'s pause for a moment."

"The eraser? What are you doing?"

The infected glared at the agent with identical emotions in their eyes. The agent swallowed dryly and raised the eraser straight up.

"Don\'t move any further. If you take even one more step, I\'ll erase you. You\'re all contaminated by that cure right now."

The eraser swept across the ceiling once more threateningly. Under the ceiling, now more erased than intact, the infected closed their mouths.

But it didn\'t seem to have the effect the agent wanted.

"..."

"..."

Gleaming eyes. Someone spoke.

"...You\'re wearing a helmet. You haven\'t taken the cure. That\'s why you\'re spouting such nonsense."

"Contaminated? If you\'d tasted it, you wouldn\'t say such things. We\'re purely trying to feed it to more people. And that\'s a drug that solves mental abnormalities."

"I said don\'t move."

Sensing the strangely shifting atmosphere, the agent raised his hand again, but it didn\'t work.

They smiled.

"Hey. You look like a newbie employee. You can\'t kill us. Even if you\'re right and we\'re contaminated, it\'s not grounds for immediate execution."

"How about this instead? You try the cure too. If you still say the same thing after tasting it, we\'ll listen to you."

"That\'s right. How dare you give orders with a mouth untouched by the cure! You should taste it too!"

The situation was taking a strange turn.

The scene of the agent threatening them had transformed into the infected urging the agent to take the cure. Faced with those heated voices and gazes, the agent stumbled back.

That\'s when it happened.

Yeonwoo, who had been inwardly sighing, stepped forward. He snatched the eraser from the agent\'s hand, gripping it in one hand, while holding the memory eraser he\'d taken from his bag in the other.

\'Is that supposed to be a threat?\'

All eyes focused on Yeonwoo as he stepped forward, pushing the agent aside. Yeonwoo spoke.

"I\'ll erase the oak barrel and the bed with the eraser."

"Haha, go ahead and erase them. There are many other methods for recreation, so it\'s meaningless-"

"Then I\'ll make you drink the memory eraser and feed you the cure."

"What?"

The infected\'s eyes widened. Yeonwoo continued nonchalantly.

"I\'ve tasted the cure too. It\'s a flavor you\'d regret tasting just once. If we erase the memory of taking the cure and feed it to you again, wouldn\'t it be fresh every time?"

As he spoke, he realized.

\'Does the influence remain even if the memory is erased?\'

If there\'s no memory of taking the cure, wouldn\'t the desire to feed it to others disappear too?

Whether it\'s a thought induced by the cure or not, it sounds plausible for now.

Yeonwoo\'s eyes sparkled as he found a solution, while the gleaming eyes of the infected regained their clarity.

"Cr-crazy talk! Feed it to others-"

"Come here. Let\'s experiment."

"N-no!"

They tried to run away, but it was too late. The security guard quickly rushed over and grabbed them by the collar, dragging them over. Struggling with arms and legs was pointless.

Yeonwoo poured a sip of the memory eraser into their mouth. The infected\'s eyes clouded over, then blinked a few times before regaining consciousness. He asked calmly.

"...My memory\'s cut off. I must have taken the memory eraser. What\'s the date and time now?"

"How do you feel? Do you want to feed anything to others or share any suffering?"

It was an odd question from the perspective of someone whose memory had been erased, but the company employee who had been infected answered readily.

"Not really. I don\'t have such thoughts."

"Then what do you want to do now?"

"I want to check the date and find out what happened during the time I lost my memory."

Yeonwoo nodded, then pulled close the water container attached to the security guard\'s back. A container with something blue sticking to it viscously.

The company employee\'s gaze wavered.

"What is that?"

"Don\'t you remember?"

"I must have taken the memory eraser, so why-"

"Try tasting it. See if your memory comes back."

Action faster than words. Scraping together the little cure left in the water container, he shoved it into the man\'s mouth. The company employee\'s eyes widened, and he screamed, "Gueeek, guaaak!" before dry heaving.

"Uuurgh, what the hell is this."

"Do you want to feed it to others?"

"It\'d be a shame to eat it alone. ...Wait a minute. Memory eraser, could it be."

The desire to share suffering with others quickly cooled. The company employee shook his stiff neck forcibly.

"No. There\'s no need to feed it to anyone."

"Right? So, what about the rest of you?"

Having gotten the answer he wanted, Yeonwoo turned around contentedly, but the infected were busy waving their hands.

"Oh no. We\'re fine."

"Isn\'t the cure delicious? So much that you want to feed it to others. Shouldn\'t you have more?"

"No, no. We\'re really fine."

Yeonwoo nodded contentedly.

\'Using the memory eraser first removes the influence. No need to rush.\'

Even if the company\'s experts fail to cure it, there\'s a method. Having suppressed the infected\'s aggression and found a solution, Yeonwoo smiled easily.