Humanity Protection Company

Illustrations: posted in discord

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Yeonwoo returned to his car. Sitting in the driver\'s seat, he stared blankly into space. Various thoughts flashed through his mind.

The child who had run away crying.

\'Did they run because of the dice? Because of the risk of critical failure? Or is it really because I attract accidents? Was I born with such an unlucky fate?\'

Yeonwoo suddenly rubbed his face. The cold winter air had chilled his skin. He coldly recalled his past and came to a conclusion.

"I\'m actually pretty lucky, aren\'t I?"

He\'d been through many accidents but survived well. Even with the dice, though there were many misses and failures, critical successes had outnumbered critical failures. Wasn\'t this close to good fortune?

\'No. But still, the accidents-\'

That was when it hit him.

A light gleamed in Yeonwoo\'s eyes. Putting aside the cause, he recognized the reality. Accidents. Requests. Work.

He muttered in awe,

"The job\'s done. Without any accidents."

The work that always blew up spectacularly had ended without issue. No attacks, no anomalous entities running wild, no unexpected incidents.

It was truly lucky. A peaceful job and daily life.

He got goosebumps at this unfamiliar reality. It felt very strange. Is it right to end like this? Is this really the end? Really? Nothing\'s going to blow up?

Yeonwoo fidgeted restlessly in the driver\'s seat, but time passed peacefully.

The quiet, calm countryside. Nearby birds and stray cats were calling, there wasn\'t a human shadow in sight, and no anomalous phenomena appeared.

At that moment, Yeonwoo realized.

\'I\'m not unlucky! That\'s why so many accidents happened!\'

He also saw hope. Yeonwoo\'s mind raced. Through the foggy window, he could faintly see the shadow of the Bird Migration Center.

The luck that would offset accidents waiting to happen.

Yeonwoo muttered with a mischievous expression.

"Happiness shared is doubled, sorrow shared is halved."

That saying transformed appropriately in Yeonwoo\'s mind. Luck shared is doubled, misfortune shared is halved.

\'Let\'s share some luck.\'

The scene of the child crying in terror flashed through his mind, but it passed meaninglessly in the face of Yeonwoo\'s self-justification.

\'If luck is being offset, it\'s good for that kid too. They can live as a normal person instead of an anomalous entity.\'

How hard must it be to live under surveillance, isolated, and educated as an anomalous entity? This was a chance for the child to experience a normal daily life.

It was good for both of them. Yeonwoo twisted his thoughts to reach this conclusion, and immediately called Mark Jung.

To find a way back into the Bird Migration Center after being practically kicked out.

"Yes, it\'s me. We\'re using the investigation team building as a temporary office now, right? I\'m thinking of moving the temporary office to the Bird Migration Center, could you get me a visitation permit?"

- That\'s easy. But are you really going to move?

Mark Jung asked, sounding puzzled, and Yeonwoo replied briefly.

"I\'m planning to stay for a few days for now."

Yeonwoo\'s eyes suddenly turned to his thigh. The thigh the child had hit while flailing their arms as they ran away.

\'I was attacked by an anomalous entity. I should check for aftereffects, I mean, consequences, here.\'

He felt a bit uneasy in a corner of his mind, thinking he might be taking this too seriously with the child. But Yeonwoo needed that luck, so he ignored the feeling.

"I\'ll come back if it doesn\'t work out after staying a few days."

- Okay. I\'ve just gotten you visitation permission under the pretext of office relocation. You can go in. Ah, about the experiment...?

"The child ran away, so we couldn\'t do it. It probably won\'t work for dice doping."

If the dice risk management succeeded, the child would likely be dragged along with Yeonwoo to dangerous areas.

Mark Jung sighed in disappointment, and the call ended.

Yeonwoo immediately got out of the car and walked towards the Bird Migration Center.

------

It was evening, and the sun was setting.

Yeonwoo entered under the suspicious gaze of the security guard and saw various staff members bustling about.

The staff were carrying large basins full of bird feed into different cages.

"Time to eat."

"Oh my. Were you hungry?"

Flocks of birds came running, surrounding the staff. Suddenly encircled, the staff looked at the birds fondly as they skillfully distributed the feed into feeding troughs.

Some birds flew up energetically and plunged their bodies right into the feeding troughs. Feed scattered everywhere.

Just then, the researcher who had greeted Yeonwoo earlier approached him with a dark expression.

"Office relocation. What\'s your real motive?"

He asked bluntly. Yeonwoo put on a harmless smile.

"I just liked this place. The atmosphere is nice, and the air-"

"Cut the crap. You\'re trying to use the blessed child, aren\'t you?"

"Well, \'use\' is a bit strong..."

Yeonwoo muttered quietly, but the researcher glared at him.

"Honestly, I don\'t like that kid. It\'s not even our department\'s responsibility, but they dumped the kid here because they like birds. Still."

His voice was firm, his gaze steady.

"A child is a child. I won\'t stand by and watch them be used like a tool or weapon."

Yeonwoo met the researcher\'s gaze squarely. Their unabashed and wary gazes crossed.

\'I\'m not headquarters. I won\'t use them like a child soldier.\'

Yeonwoo, who had a strange image of headquarters, spoke confidently.

"I\'ll be honest too. Yes, luck is my goal. But wouldn\'t it be safer here?"

"...Safe?"

The researcher looked bewildered. He hadn\'t expected that response. His guard dropped for a moment.

Until now, many people had tried to use the blessed child. Using their luck for stocks and cryptocurrency when budgets were tight, making them pick lottery numbers, having them do game gachas, using them in experiments.

There had been countless other experiments, but this was the first time someone wanted safety.

At this point, the researcher became interested in Yeonwoo.

"What\'s your background?"

They don\'t put just anyone in a department head position. No matter how unique the anomalous entity, they make you build up experience and trust from the bottom first.

Yeonwoo answered honestly.

"I was an investigator. Actually, my current department is temporary, so if my performance is poor, I\'ll go back to being an investigator."

"Ah, an investigator."

The researcher completely lowered his guard. If he was from the investigation team, it made sense that he would want safety. He probably wouldn\'t think of using the child like some other mentally unstable researchers.

\'If he just wants to be around, then whatever.\'

The researcher looked at Yeonwoo with slightly relaxed eyes.

"Try to persuade that child. It\'s the first time I\'ve seen them dislike someone so much, if the kid says no, you won\'t be able to relocate your office."

"Alright."

It would be good enough if they didn\'t interfere. Yeonwoo looked around.

"Is the child in their room?"

"They should be playing after dinner-"

Just then, an employee came out of the building entrance and shouted with a tired expression.

"The child is missing! They must be hiding somewhere!"

As if they had instinctively sensed Yeonwoo\'s approach, they had hidden. The researcher responded quickly.

"Make sure they don\'t run away! And."

As the security guards and surveillance systems heightened their alert, the researcher glanced at Yeonwoo. Only now did he feel suspicious.

\'The child is this averse?\'

It meant there was something threatening the blessed child.

\'The dice? Or are they cursed, or being chased by an anomalous entity? Is that why they fled here? No, if that were the case, they would have been hospitalized or protected somewhere.\'

At that moment, Yeonwoo hummed softly.

"Hide and seek..."

It was like a game of hide and seek. He needed to find the blessed child and let them know it was okay to be near him.

\'I hadn\'t thought about how to persuade them, but let\'s find them first.\'

Receiving the researcher\'s wary gaze, Yeonwoo started walking.

------

Night had fallen.

The child peeked out from their hiding place in the shadows. The corridor, which seemed enormous to the still small child, was covered in eerie shadows.

The shadow of a tree, clearly cast by the bright moonlight, swayed beyond the window.

The child\'s face crumpled. They had never been this scared before. It was all because of that monster.

"Bad person."

To the child, the world had been bright and shining, soft and warm. Everywhere was fun, surrounded by a warm energy.

But the moment that monster arrived, everything changed.

The warm energy disappeared. The world became unstable. Ordinary dangers they had never felt before lurked everywhere.

Tripping while running, choking while drinking water, having trouble with games.

It was the result of the dice\'s random nature and Yeonwoo\'s fate-like quality colliding with luck, but to the child who didn\'t know this, Yeonwoo seemed like an evil monster. A monster ruining their world.

\'I need to run away...\'

The child hesitated.

They had been educated, almost to the point of brainwashing, to always go outside with an adult. This perception, manipulated by pure psychological manipulation without anomalous entities, chained their feet.

Just then, a voice was heard. The monster\'s voice.

"Where are you? I\'m not a dangerous person. I don\'t intend to do anything bad to you. I\'m just going to live in the same building. Here, I have a gift card, don\'t you want it?"

Clumsy words. Awkward words Yeonwoo blurted out, not knowing how to deal with children.

To the child, those words sounded like a promise to ruin their world forever.

It shattered the psychological chains the company had created. Moonlight gleamed in the child\'s eyes.

\'I have to run away! Adults can\'t be trusted!\'

The uncles and aunties they lived with had already been fooled by the monster. They talked with that monster, and even when the child directly shouted that it was dangerous, they smiled and tried to catch the child.

Meanwhile, Yeonwoo was getting closer.

Gasp, the child covered their mouth with both hands and curled up. They hid in the shadows, not making even a breath of sound.

Yeonwoo approached without a sound. He had unconsciously learned to mask his presence after experiencing various dangers.

"Where are you? Are you sleeping in a corner? Should I roll the dice?"

Yeonwoo, muttering to himself, came out in front of the moonlit window. The tree shadows wrapped around his face and body like tentacles, and the gift card he held out swayed like a monster\'s tongue.

The child\'s heart pounded loudly, and their pupils dilated.

The moment Yeonwoo reached for the dice, the world became more broken. That terrible sense of loss and pain.

Fortunately, Yeonwoo didn\'t notice the child. His mind was dull as he didn\'t sense a threat to his life, and his senses were deeply asleep.

Yeonwoo, unnecessarily feeling a sense of childhood, wondered if this was what it felt like to play with a child and hummed.

"Hide and seek..."

The singing voice, growing more distant, echoed in the eerie corridor before finally fading away.

The child exhaled deeply. Then they dashed out.

\'Run away!\'

They boldly stepped outside, a place they normally couldn\'t go alone. At this moment, all the education about not going out alone disappeared without a trace.

The child\'s eyes sparkled as they headed straight for the cages where their bird friends stayed.

\'I can\'t escape alone! All the adults here have been fooled by the monster! I need my friends\' help!\'

Luckily avoiding the patrolling security guards, the child luckily found an unlocked cage door and flung it open.

"Wake up!"

The birds, scattered about sleeping soundly, woke up with a flutter. They looked at the child with dumb eyes.

"We need to run away quickly! Come out fast!"

In an instant, a wild look returned to the birds\' eyes. They immediately spread their wings and flew towards the door.

An alarm sounded in the Bird Migration Center.