Humanity Protection Company

Illustrations: posted in discord

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The Green Association clashed with Synth Dynamics.

Plants and mechanical humans tangled together, competing to see which had the greater vitality. Elsewhere, all manner of anomalous entities engaged in repeated cycles of destruction.

At the doorway opened by a deranged magician, the afterlife transformed into a world of meat chunks. Strange insects devoured the flesh, and concert-like singing could be heard...

Mark Jung\'s superior and the person in charge of this war, the Director, nodded while looking at the screens covering the wall.

"Everything\'s breaking apart nicely."

"Yes, the Black River is being destroyed smoothly, and the magicians have finished their preparations as well."

The secretaries constantly checked numbers and times, occasionally making calls to assess the situation.

The war was progressing according to plan, close to the objectives.

But the Director wore a meaningful expression. Though anxious, he couldn\'t show it, so he put on a suspicious look.

\'Those hostile groups. They\'re not the type to end like this.\'

Though they had made an agreement, the groups could have hidden motives, their members could have different thoughts, or they might suddenly go berserk.

And then, the war situation began to flow in a direction different from the company\'s goals.

The Director blinked. He looked at the screen showing the airspace of the afterlife.

The shadow of a city loomed in the dim sky of the afterlife. A pitch-black city with buildings erected haphazardly, without uniform standards.

Bats flew about, and black energy wafted through the air. Strange statue-like objects glowed with red eyes, and bizarre humans with distinct personalities looked around in confusion.

"...Isn\'t that the demon self-governing region? Why is it there?"

That\'s the demon worshippers\' headquarters? We agreed not to use group headquarters or danger level 6 anomalies in this war, didn\'t we?

No, more importantly, if that descends on the afterlife now, won\'t the afterlife become heavier?

The secretaries panicked and started making calls, but before the calls connected, the truth was revealed on the screen.

All sorts of demons wailed.

"Hey, this is a battlefield?"

"Which bastard! Which bastard brought the demon self-governing region here!"

"Bastard... A compliment!"

"Find the culprit quickly! No, let\'s go back! Is there a friend who can send this back..."

"Can\'t do it alone!"

At that moment, several demons on top of the highest building in the demon self-governing region cackled.

"Ah. Yes. I did it. I, the Demon of Betrayal."

"I, the Demon of Tragedy."

"I..."

Anyway, demons who enjoyed causing chaos joined hands to backstab everyone. Because it was fun.

Boom-

The demon self-governing region began to descend. The translucent shadow of the city gained substance. That mass. That overwhelming weight of existence.

The afterlife seemed to tilt. The ground rumbled, and the battlefield shook. A subtle feeling of falling, like being in a descending elevator, swept over them.

The Director spoke calmly.

"Can the prepared banishment magic handle this now?"

No matter how screwed up the demons were, he never thought they\'d bring down the demon self-governing region, but now wasn\'t the time to panic.

The magic circle prepared to send the afterlife back was similar to a missile\'s propulsion system; if the afterlife became heavier, problems would arise.

A secretary versed in magic fluttered his eyelids, calculating something, then shook his head.

"We must use the banishment magic immediately. The afterlife is falling into our world even now."

"Any problems with using the banishment magic?"

"The afterlife will explode."

So, the afterlife was falling like a meteor, and he was saying to intercept it with banishment magic.

Then the afterlife would shatter and scatter debris, but that was better than it falling in one piece.

The Director remained still for a moment, then spoke.

"Calculate the time remaining until the fall is complete. Send out requests to stop the war, and prepare to evacuate the afterlife. Tell the magicians to get ready."

If they stopped the war and lightened the afterlife, they might buy time and perhaps even prevent the fall.

Just then, a phone call came in.

The Director looked at the number and immediately answered.

"This is the Director. I request a stop to the war."

"This is the Club President. I\'ve grasped the situation. We\'ll evacuate the afterlife first."

It was the Club President\'s voice.

When the Director looked at the screen, the Club, which had been inconspicuous, began to move.

Suddenly, they started shouting with megaphones.

"1+2, 1+2. Fresh graphics cards straight from the factory, buy one get two free!"

"90% discount opening in 10, 9, 8, 7!"

"Cryptocurrency prices predicted by Golden Omnipotence for one week from now! We\'ll tell you in 30 seconds!"

Anomalous entities rushed through the doors created by the Club. They had fallen victim to mental manipulation.

The Director felt slightly relieved. Emergency measures were being implemented quickly.

"Thank you for your cooperation."

"Just pay us the gold value for destroying those things."

With that, the call ended-

The Director\'s pupils dilated. A camera observing the Artists\' Association captured a rippling space. This wasn\'t a simple spatial movement.

Space connected itself. Even without the being beyond emerging, the afterlife began to transform.

The twilight afterlife.

The afterlife, existing only in darkness, a hazy sky, and faint light, sensed the being beyond the space and changed.

Darkness hastily retreated. Dim light gathered to become illumination. Wind blew in, pushing away the debris of battle scattered in that space, and green grass bloomed like a red carpet from the barren earth, waiting for it.

To welcome the most beautiful one in the world.

To praise its beauty.

The Director cried out as if screaming.

"Cut the connection immediately! It\'s the Artists\' Association President!"

Too late.

Its bare feet appeared. Stepping on the soft grass. The filter turned off. The security system stopped. For its beauty must not be concealed.

Everyone\'s eyes, faces turned toward the screen. Tears flowed.

In an instant, transcendent beauty captured their souls. The command post watching became paralyzed. In the afterlife, the war stopped.

---

---

Lee Yeonwoo and Mark Jung were observing the battlefield, rotating through various observation equipment.

Far more anomalous entities than Yeonwoo had seen during work. Yeonwoo focused intently on the screen, imprinting each group and their characteristics in his mind.

\'So things like that exist. To deal with that, I\'d need to prepare this judgment, and even without dice, act like this...\'

It wasn\'t just terrifying danger level 5 anomalies; he could learn from seeing the main anomalous entities of various groups.

Mark Jung spoke offhandedly.

"Group headquarters or danger level 6 anomalies weren\'t supposed to appear according to the negotiations... Huh."

"...That looks like the demon worshippers\' city."

Mark Jung hurriedly zoomed in on the screen. The demon self-governing region was descending. The demons in the self-governing district were also panicking.

"No, uh. Why bring their headquarters to the battlefield."

Yeonwoo quickly grasped the situation. He hadn\'t seen many demons, but how should he put it? They seemed crazy, or rather, true to their concept.

"Looks like they got backstabbed too. Probably just some demon causing trouble."

"Even so, their own headquarters..."

Yeonwoo rubbed his flushed face. His heart pounded, and a sense of unease swept over him.

\'Something feels wrong.\'

It was more than simple psychological anxiety; it was intuition. Like the feeling of being on the brink of a major failure, or danger standing right behind you.

And then, it happened.

Suddenly, the screen changed. Though they hadn\'t touched the laptop, it switched to the screen of another observation device.

To where the Artists\' Association President was walking out. To show her beauty.

It happened in an instant. Before they could react or be on guard, the most beautiful being in the world revealed itself.

There was no interference. Everything, living and non-living, moved to praise her beauty.

"..."

"..."

They couldn\'t speak. Couldn\'t move. They just looked at the screen, tears streaming down their faces.

Art that moved the soul, art that captured the soul - no, art bordering on violence against the soul was there.

"Ah..."

Mark Jung let out a groan mixed with weeping, ecstasy, and love.

Yeonwoo was no different. That was beauty courted by the world itself.

Look, all the anomalous entities on the battlefield kneeling before it. The sight of the afterlife contorting its body for it.

The war stopped, and those who had been fighting became its slaves. All the light in the afterlife shone down on it, and all darkness retreated to the ends of the world, lest it obscure its beauty.

The Association President spoke.

"Come with me."

Even sound could become art. Its voice, too, as art courted by the world, shook their souls.

All the anomalous entities rose. They staggered forward. Towards the passage the world had opened for itself.

Yeonwoo stared blankly at them. He wanted to go too.

"..."

Survival instinct was paralyzed in the face of this shower of beauty. Self-awareness was erased. All senses and thoughts focused solely on it.

\'Dice. Let\'s go too. Movement, no, movement might fail.\'

How could he get closer to that? What judgment should he roll?

As he thought this.

A chilling sensation crept up his spine.

Bang, a thunderous sound exploded. When Yeonwoo looked blankly at the screen, the afterlife was being torn apart.

Even amidst this, the most beautiful one remained completely unaffected, but Yeonwoo gradually broke free from its influence.

Survival instinct screamed.

Yeonwoo\'s eyes remained fixed on the laptop screen, but in the corner of his vision, through the window across from the laptop, he sensed something like a meteor falling.

The afterlife was plummeting, shattered into pieces.

"Uh..."

Just then, as if the observation device had been destroyed, the screen went dark. Mark Jung was still captivated by it, weeping, while Yeonwoo rubbed his face vigorously.

\'Wake up, wake up, wake up.\'

The afterlife is falling. Will it be okay? We\'re screwed. A major accident has occurred. I need to survive. It\'s... right now I\'m in danger, shouldn\'t I be the priority? I need to live to see it again anyway.

His wavering eyes painfully tore away from the laptop.

---

---

In the center of a certain road.

People wearing strange conical hats or robes looked up at the sky. The two oldest among them muttered.

"It blew up spectacularly."

"I don\'t know if this is okay. We acted on our own without orders."

"What else could we do? The command post was paralyzed."

The two old men simultaneously looked at a young magician. He had been watching on a laptop but lost his mind upon seeing the Association President.

We\'ll have to extract his soul and put it through the wash once.

"The demon self-governing region started the fall, the Association President accelerated it, and the command post was paralyzed."

"It was the best we could do. If we\'d been late, an even bigger disaster would have occurred."

The two old men suddenly looked at each other. Then they grinned.

"And, well. If the company or anyone else complains, we can just run away."

"It\'s not like this is the only world out there."