Humanity Protection Company

Illustrations: None.

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As he stepped outside, the signal returned. Lee Yeonwoo immediately contacted the company, and the Planning Department staff who had been on standby nearby rushed over.

Though exhausted from climbing the mountain trail, the Planning Department employee greeted Yeonwoo with a broad smile and a deep bow.

"You\'ve worked hard," he said.

He\'d heard the gist of the situation during their call.

As an employee who knew why Yeonwoo had been dispatched, he was thoroughly satisfied with the outcome.

A high-ranking member of the Goldberg Club and three teams had been wiped out, and all their resources seized.

He was confident they could evacuate the anomalous city before the Club noticed, and the city\'s value was immense. A death-harvesting demon and immortal people.

\'We\'ll reinforce the seal on the demon to create an anomalous entity that harvests death, then use it to establish an immortal army. We can also incorporate the villagers into a department or unit.\'

This was the epitome of minimal investment for maximum return.

He gazed at Yeonwoo with pride for a moment.

Then the employee suddenly said, "You can keep all the Club\'s resources, Mr. Yeonwoo. They\'re your spoils of war."

Using the eraser to control Yeonwoo had too many uncertainties.

This case alone proved it. The moment he crossed the line of a survivalist, his eyes had completely changed. They\'d sent him to cause trouble, but he\'d become the trouble himself.

To prevent the company from suffering losses, they needed to offer an equal incentive.

But Yeonwoo\'s expression wasn\'t pleased. He was staring silently at the eraser.

After contemplating outside for a while, he realized something.

"Hey, is the eraser famous? I mean, do other groups want it?"

"Of course. It\'s probably one of the most famous anomalies in this world. That doomsday cultist must have caused quite a stir."

The employee nodded as if it were obvious.

"There must be countless people who want it."

"Ah."

Yeonwoo scratched his head irritably.

When he\'d only had the dice, he\'d lived a relatively peaceful life. Hardly anyone had targeted him specifically.

But the moment he acquired the eraser, he felt like he\'d been thrown from a calm stream into a treacherous sea. A sea where various predators were after the eraser.

\'The risk is too high.\'

Yeonwoo, a weak and small fish, began to sense the danger.

The eraser wasn\'t invincible. Bluntly put, if a sniper shot Yeonwoo, he could die. And those after the eraser would surely be more subtle and dangerous than a sniper.

Recalling the rock and fluorescent vest, Yeonwoo\'s lips drooped.

\'This could drive me insane.\'

Any roadside stone could be an enemy after the eraser. Suddenly, it might rain scalp-ripping drops, or someone might transform into a close friend to approach him. He could get hit by a truck while walking down the street.

The infinite dangers were as vast as the infinite possibilities of the anomalous.

If he had to suspect each and every one of them...

"Ah... the eraser..."

He rolled the eraser in his hand. It felt too precious to give up, yet too dangerous to keep.

Witnessing this hesitation, the employee panicked internally. If he gives up the eraser, how can we issue commands?

Clearing his throat, the employee hastily said, "It would be good to keep both the dice and the eraser. Humans can master up to two anomalies."

"Master? You mean becoming one with them?"

"Yes. Some anomalies become one with a person after prolonged use. You gain senses related to that entity and can use it beyond its limits. The doomsday cultist and the Intelligence Department\'s ghost are prime examples."

Yeonwoo listened with an intrigued expression.

"Of course, two is difficult. But it\'s easier than surpassing the limits of a single entity."

Gaining two senses was easier than fully merging with one. And the synergy from just two senses was beyond imagination.

Yeonwoo quickly thought of potential applications.

\'Erasing failure probabilities. Expanding the eraser\'s targets. Erasing the opponent\'s probabilities?\'

This might be worth the risk...

\'Ah, it\'s not clear. Too ambiguous.\'

Take the risk? What if he dies? What if he dies before gaining the eraser\'s senses?

The employee watched Yeonwoo anxiously, and Yeonwoo made his decision.

\'Let\'s leave it to the dice.\'

Both choices had pros and cons. Unable to choose, Yeonwoo decided to rely on luck.

"Dice. I\'m not asking for a judgment roll. Just roll once. If it\'s a success, I\'ll keep the eraser. If it\'s a failure, I\'ll discard it."

The dice, which had been quietly lurking in a corner of his mind, cautiously made its presence known. Then, leaping fiercely, it began to roll with wild momentum.

Clatter clatter clatter!

Critical failure!

Yeonwoo smacked his forehead. It felt like the dice had injected its own bias.

Still, a result was a result.

Yeonwoo handed the eraser to the employee as if passing a grenade. The employee, looking bewildered, tried to return it to Yeonwoo.

"Mr. Yeonwoo-"

"Where are you pointing that eraser?!"

Yeonwoo leaped sideways with a horrified expression. For a split second, the eraser\'s tip had been aimed at him. Thankfully, it wasn\'t swung.

As Yeonwoo glared fiercely at the employee, the latter lowered his eyes, face pale. He carefully wrapped his fingers around the eraser.

"W-well, Special Investigator Yeonwoo. While carrying the eraser might be dangerous, the company will provide equal support. We can inform you about hostile groups\' movements-"

"That\'s enough."

Just look at that agent who was attacked by the Sculptor. What nonsense.

He had already made up his mind. To give up the eraser.

The employee\'s hands trembled.

"No, really. It\'s better to have two."

"I already have more than two anomalies."

This attempt at persuasion only solidified Yeonwoo\'s resolve.

He already had plenty. The dice, the bag. Things he\'d been with for a considerable time. Add the rainwater, and it might even be three.

Suddenly, Yeonwoo\'s eyes widened. Three? Three? Didn\'t that employee say humans could only master up to two?

"Hey, is there a problem if I have three? Will my body not handle it and explode or something?"

"It\'s not quite like that. It just becomes much harder to gain even one sense. There\'s a sensory overload. It\'s like playing multiple songs simultaneously - it just becomes noise, doesn\'t it?"

"Ah."

In that case, it was better to focus solely on the dice. No need to attract unnecessary attention and attacks. If he fully merged with it, he might even be able to use deletion like the eraser.

\'I should look into information about becoming one. The company must have some data.\'

With that, Yeonwoo left.

---

---

On the way to the investigation team\'s office.

Walking down the street, Yeonwoo was lost in thought. The eraser\'s power was so immense that he still felt a lingering attachment.

\'Would keeping the eraser really be that dangerous?\'

Wouldn\'t people avoid attacking precisely because the eraser was so dangerous? And even if someone targeted the eraser, couldn\'t he handle it?

\'If I were to target the eraser- no, why would I target it? Let\'s think about it this way: what if someone with the eraser attacked me? I knew about it and planned to deal with the enemy in advance. No restrictions on methods.\'

Yeonwoo tried to shift his perspective. A topic that stimulated his survival instinct.

\'Assassination.\'

First, the eraser was too dangerous. You must not give them a chance to wield it.

\'Shoot after equipping perception-distorting gear.\'

Other groups might be able to turn invisible or snipe from afar.

Yeonwoo suddenly looked at the windows of the buildings lining the cityscape. He would have to suspect each and every one of them. You never knew when or where an attack might come from.

His gaze shifted to the cars on the street.

\'Traffic accident.\'

He\'d heard that the doomsday cultist brat once possessed a controller that could manipulate vehicles.

If Yeonwoo had that, if an enemy held the eraser, they would move a car to hit him. They might crash a plane into the building where he slept.

Yeonwoo\'s steps suddenly stopped. He was about to enter a hamburger joint for breakfast.

\'They could target this too.\'

After analyzing data to discern consumption habits, they could use frequently visited restaurants or delivery places.

Whether through infiltration, perception distortion, or simply poisoning food discreetly, it would be all too easy.

"Tch."

His appetite suddenly gone, Yeonwoo shook his head and quickened his pace.

In the distance, he could see the investigation team\'s office.

\'A fixed location. An office I go to every day.\'

This, too, was an easily exploitable weakness. Planting a bomb would be simple, or they could kidnap Team Leader Hong or Yoo Ji-yoo and approach him in disguise.

\'Though I doubt Team Leader would fall for that.\'

At the very least, they could smear poison on the keyboard or install a fatal image on the computer that kills upon viewing.

\'And if they add in an entity that can curse remotely like the dice...\'

Yeonwoo suddenly shuddered. The weather was cold, but he felt a chill from the methods he\'d thought up himself. And this was just what someone who knew nothing about assassination could come up with.

To live suspecting everything in the world?

"I made the right choice giving it up."

The thought of giving it up transformed into the realization that he\'d discarded a major headache. If he\'d kept the eraser, his mind might have unraveled.

Having completely abandoned any lingering attachment, Yeonwoo entered the investigation team\'s office with a light step.

Team Leader Hong, who had arrived early, stared blankly at Yeonwoo before urgently grasping his gun.

"You, you. Weren\'t you on the expedition? Why are you here?"

Could a hostile group have infiltrated in disguise? It was entirely possible. Team Leader Hong swallowed hard and subtly aimed his pistol at Yeonwoo.

Even with a gun pointed at him, Yeonwoo nodded and smiled.

"The expedition went sideways. Remember I took the eraser? The Club was after it."

"Huh?"

Team Leader Hong tilted his head. That made sense. Come to think of it, with Yeonwoo involved, there was no way the expedition would have proceeded smoothly.

"You\'re not hurt? How did you escape?"

"Well, here\'s what happened-"

He provided a concise summary.

Finishing his explanation about how he nearly got shot or trapped in that city, Yeonwoo shook his head with a nauseated expression.

Only then did Team Leader Hong believe it was truly Yeonwoo and clicked his tongue.

\'Why did they have to poke a quiet investigator and create trouble?\'

Just because someone specialized in survival didn\'t mean they only ran away. To win in the survival competition, there was no telling what they might do.

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