Humanity Protection Company

Illustrations: posted in discord

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Scrape-

Yeonwoo dragged an old chair to the door, then plopped down on it. He looked at the shop owner with dull eyes, like a dead fish.

"I\'ve been thinking, just taking compensation isn\'t fun."

"..."

The shop owner didn\'t reply, but eyed Yeonwoo carefully.

Yeonwoo, having lost his dream, had become an ordinary person. No particular passion, just alive because he wasn\'t dead, an adult worn down by the harsh, rough world.

Normally, the shop owner would ignore such a person, but...

\'What\'s this?\'

The shop owner unconsciously leaned back. They sensed danger from this human without dreams or passion. He had an aura closer to beings like the shop owner than to regular customers.

Yeonwoo grinned.

"Let\'s play a dice game. The stakes are everything you have."

"...Not your dream?"

The shop owner held out their hand. Yeonwoo\'s dream, the beating heart model, was placed on the counter.

But Yeonwoo shook his head.

"That\'s no fun. It wouldn\'t make me feel better either."

It was originally his dream. Betting that would just mean getting back what was his. He needed to bet something that would resolve his bad mood.

\'This isn\'t a joke or a prank.\'

The shop owner felt uneasy. This wasn\'t a simple dice game. It was real gambling with real stakes.

"Well... If I don\'t want to gamble-"

"That\'s not very polite. You forcibly took my dream, but you can\'t play one dice game? Then I might have to be impolite too."

Yeonwoo smiled. That was fun in its own way. Forcing the other into a gambling game was good, and rolling the dice against an unwilling opponent was good too.

In fact, the act of rolling the dice itself was fun. It was gambling that instantly manipulated reality, after all.

At this point, the shop owner vaguely realized the seriousness of the situation.

Swish-

They gently pushed Yeonwoo\'s dream on the counter towards him. The shop owner said,

"I\'ll give your dream back. Let\'s stop here-"

"Keep it. My dream isn\'t important anymore."

Yeonwoo refused. It really wasn\'t important. Yeonwoo, having lost his dream, felt the freedom the shop owner had talked about.

\'People die. What\'s the point of struggling to live? Just live each day happily.\'

It felt like chains binding his body had been loosened. That refreshing, invigorating feeling. Yeonwoo enjoyed life without any worries. He was true to his emotions.

Yeonwoo suddenly clapped. There was something to prepare before the fun dice game.

"Right. You need to see the dice too. Can you manifest what I see?"

Whoosh-

The hesitating shop owner waved their hand. The dice in a corner of Yeonwoo\'s mind was projected onto the counter. A six-sided die with six possible results: critical failure, failure, miss, miss, success, critical success.

"Is this...?"

"Good. Then let\'s roll it as a test? Dice, just roll once."

With those words, the dice jumped up. It rolled cheerfully, producing a result.

Miss!

The result of the projected dice. The shop owner swallowed hard, wondering what this meant, while Yeonwoo pondered.

"A miss is either 3 or 4. I like 3, so let\'s say it\'s 3."

"What does that mean? What kind of game are you trying to play with this in the first place?"

Yeonwoo held up three fingers.

"Let\'s play the dice game three times. If it lands on success, I win. If it\'s a miss or failure, you win."

The shop owner looked confused. They understood the rules, but weren\'t sure about the situation. Should they really go along with this human\'s words? Maybe they should kick him out now-

Then, Yeonwoo spoke.

"First. The possibility of the dreams in this shop disappearing."

"What-"

The startled shop owner jumped up, and the dice soared high as well. Rumble, rumble, the dice rolled across the counter.

Possibilities writhed. Possibilities manifesting into reality.

The shop owner finally recognized the power of the dice.

\'No way, this human had something like this?\'

It was too late for regrets. They had already provoked their opponent, and the dice was cast. The shop owner watched the dice with glowing eyes, and the next moment, let out a sigh of relief.

Miss!

"Ah."

The shop owner slumped down. Yeonwoo wore an expression that was half-smiling, half not.

"You won the first game. Let\'s go straight to the next one."

"What, what are you going to roll? I\'ll give your dream back, please just stop-"

The shop owner grabbed Yeonwoo\'s dream and stood up. They intended to return the dream right away. It wasn\'t difficult. Just shove it into his head or body and it would be done.

But just as the shop owner had done earlier, Yeonwoo didn\'t respond. He just did his own thing.

"For the second one, the possibility of no one visiting the Dream Exchange."

After dreams, the target was the shop.

The shop owner, who was coming around the counter, stopped moving. They quickly turned to look at the counter. The dice was rolling.

Rumble rumble-

The shop owner watched closely. Miss, failure, success, and other results flashed by chaotically. The more chaotically the results crossed, the more their heart pounded.

\'Just don\'t land on success! Please!\'

In an instant, the future of the Dream Exchange shook violently, and finally the result came out.

Failure!

"Ah..."

The shop owner felt their strength drain away. Without realizing it, they leaned on the counter with both hands, letting out a long sigh.

It was just one die, but reality changed according to its result. And it was a reality where their shop was at stake.

How tense they had been in that short moment...

Just then, a voice came from behind the shop owner. Yeonwoo had chosen the third judgment.

"Last one. The possibility of you not existing."

"No, wait!"

The shop owner\'s loosened tension snapped tight again. This time, their very life was at stake.

\'Will luck be on my side again?\'

Maybe because they had won the previous two times. Overwhelmed by a feeling that they would lose, the shop owner reached out towards Yeonwoo. They had to stop this judgment!

But no matter how quickly they moved, it was slower than the speed of thought.

Rumble rumble, the dice began to roll. With the shop owner\'s life on the line.

"Ah!"

The shop owner stopped halfway between the counter and Yeonwoo, unable to move either way. They watched the rolling dice, their body trembling.

Perhaps because they were extremely focused, they could see in detail the flying dust and the tumbling dice.

Failure came up, then rolled to the side showing miss, bounced to show success on top, then spun to show miss again.

With each moment, their heart plummeted, then soared, over and over.

\'Please, please.\'

And, the result came out.

Miss!

"I\'m alive..."

The shop owner collapsed to the floor as if falling. Their hands sprawled limply, brushing the ground. Though they didn\'t particularly have a lifespan, it felt like their lifespan had been shortened.

Yeonwoo\'s shadow fell over them. Yeonwoo congratulated the shop owner.

"You\'re lucky. You won all three times."

"Ha, haha. Yes. Here, I\'ll return your dream. If you want any dreams, I\'ll give you a few, so let\'s not run into each other anymore..."

The shop owner raised their hand shakily. It was the hand holding Yeonwoo\'s dream, which they intended to just give back.

"..."

But there was no answer. The shop owner suddenly felt a terrible premonition. They looked up, trembling. Through the shaking hood, they saw Yeonwoo.

Yeonwoo, who was smiling.

"Well then, shall we roll for the fourth judgment?"

"...You said only three times!"

"I changed my mind. And this is more fun, isn\'t it?"

A promise? Why should he keep that? It\'s not fun anyway.

At that moment, the shop owner realized what they had done. Survival. The one who had lost that dream, and thus lost the line that restrains people.

\'I need to return this dream quickly!\'

If not, the shop owner would be played with until Yeonwoo\'s mood improved. Perhaps until death.

The shop owner jumped up and threw themselves forward. They thrust out Yeonwoo\'s dream, the beating heart model, in front.

At the same time, Yeonwoo spoke.

"The possibility of you losing your dream."

Rumble-

Success!

They crossed. At the same moment Yeonwoo\'s dream in the shop owner\'s outstretched hand returned to him, the shop owner lost their dream.

"...Huh?"

"Ah?"

Both of them wore confused expressions at the same time. Yeonwoo was quicker to judge. The dream that had been taken once before put his mind back in place.

On the other hand, the shop owner\'s eyes trembled wildly at this first experience of loss.

"My dream...?"

Yeonwoo felt the shop owner\'s confusion right in front of him. Their body shook wildly, strange cries were heard, and the shop rippled back and forth.

Yeonwoo called upon the dice with a terrified expression.

"Move, no, wake up from sleep!"

As soon as he called for a judgment that seemed likely to succeed, success came out, and the Dream Exchange began to blur.

The next moment, Yeonwoo sat up in the investigation team\'s office. He wiped his forehead, drenched in cold sweat.

"No, damn. Didn\'t I want to live? How could I do something like that?"

The memory of rushing in recklessly because he felt bad.

Yeonwoo shuddered at the memory of acting so unlike himself. He couldn\'t accept such a careless behavior.

------

Dream Exchange.

Crash!

The shop owner knocked over a shelf. The neatly arranged wooden shelf shattered with a crack, and the carefully displayed dreams rolled around on the floor.

"My dream, where is it?"

The shop owner crouched down, looking at each dream. Then they threw them far away.

"No, no. This isn\'t it either."

This wasn\'t it. They had dreamed of something more beautiful, more noble.

They had passed on the dream of a pianist with a broken arm to a talented child, and given the dream of a terminally ill patient with a pure thirst for life to someone who had lost hope in life. Sometimes they had passed on a father\'s dream to his son, sometimes the dream of someone without talent, sometimes...

But they had lost the reason why they had acted that way, why they had enjoyed acting that way. Only an empty life remained.

"No, no. This can\'t be. I can\'t live like this. I have to find my dream."

Just then, ding-a-ling, the bell rang and a customer\'s voice was heard.

"Um, where is this...?"

The newly arrived customer\'s eyes widened at the doorway. The interior of the Dream Exchange had turned into a mess like a garbage dump. And the shop owner standing in the middle of it all.

The shop owner turned only their head.

"You. You have a dream. Could that be my dream?"

"No, uh, ah!"

And so the shop owner pounced on the customer, searching for their dream.