Humanity Protection Company

TL/Editor: raei

Schedule: 5/week

Illustrations: None.

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It happened in an instant.

The flowerpot shattered into pieces and scattered soil everywhere.

Covered in shards and soil, the team leader staggered and sat down, blood streaming from his head. Dizziness overwhelmed him, likely from a concussion.

He clung to consciousness as it threatened to slip away.

‘Accident? Name means nothing? A demon of absurdity? Damn it, sh*t. There’s no answer.’

Running was the answer. It wasn’t a shameful act, nor was it neglecting his duty.

There was no need to deal with the demon of sloth directly. He had stepped in because the kid had come running in panic and to observe Lee Yeonwoo.

‘Escape and report to the higher-ups. They will protect the student and deal with the demon.’

The biggest problem was escaping from that demon safely, but the team leader wasn’t worried.

An investigator’s primary skill was the ability to flee, and the team leader was confident in his own.

In that brief moment, he made his decision and acted before the blood flowing into his eyes could impair his vision.

With weakened hands, the team leader pushed away the power drill and soju bottle. The power drill slid across the ground, and the soju bottle rolled slowly.

At the same time, the hand holding Baek Ah-yoon’s phone twitched, fingers tapping the screen repeatedly.

What his fingers hit was the demon summoning link.

Summon, summon, summon.

Shwaa-!

Gray streams of water surged from the phone screen, splitting into three and forming human-shaped gray clay. The clay figures soon took on color, shaping themselves into the team leader.

While no one in the investigation team could react to the sudden incident, the team leader shouted,

“Retreat!”

“Huh, huh? Where to?”

“Anywhere! Somewhere the company can find us quickly!”

Yeonwoo was the first to understand the situation and move. Cursing inwardly, he ran towards the apartment entrance.

‘Of course! Things never end easily!’

“Run!”

Next, Choi Jae-min grabbed Ah-yoon’s arm and dragged her, following Yeonwoo. They quickly overtook him.

"Hey, hey."

No one stayed to help the team leader. It could be said they were fulfilling their duty as investigators.

The last one left, the team leader, sighed and, seeing the demon of sloth standing idly, threw his phone at him.

“Call the company.”

“I know, you idiot.”

The demon of sloth caught the phone, unlocked it with a fingerprint scan, and started dialing.

The other two demons of sloth each picked up the power drill and the soju bottle, gripping them tightly.

Four identical team leaders. Three demons of sloth silently glaring at the real team leader.

The demon of absurdity twisted its face in rage. It immediately extended its thick fingers.

“How dare you, you useless demons of sloth...!”

“Wait, demon of absurdity.”

The demon worshiper grabbed the outstretched fingers and lowered them. He looked at the team leader.

The real team leader, bleeding from his head, was using the surrounding cars to prop himself up.

“Hey…. Think again. Do we really need to fight like this…?”

"F*ck off."

“Since you’ve already summoned a demon, why not become a demon worshiper yourself...? With that girl.”

“What the hell is this guy?”

The team leader, struggling to stand, looked at the demon worshiper in disbelief. The demon worshiper continued in his lifeless voice,

“We have ears too…. We’ve heard your company isn’t what it used to be. The number of people is decreasing, they’re not hiring enough, and support is lackluster…. So why overwork yourself?”

The team leader tried to continue the conversation. The more time he could buy, the better.

But before he could, the demon of sloth holding the phone spoke up.

The sound of the call being connected came first.

"Hey. It's the investigation team leader. This is Happo Apartment, and a demon has appeared. Of course, it's in Sangpyeong City, you idiot. There's also a worshiper, a pair of them. And—"

Crackle- Bang-!

Suddenly, the phone exploded. Sparks and flames erupted. The demon of sloth holding the phone had half of his face and his hand burned and mangled by the explosion. His intact eye looked at the demon of absurdity who had extended his finger.

The demon of absurdity withdrew his finger.

"You bastard... using electronic devices?"

The demon of absurdity could bring about an absurd reality, illogical results, and extremely low probability misfortunes.

If he wished, you could suddenly have a traffic accident, be hit by a brick dropped by a child from a balcony, or die of a sudden heart attack. A phone explosion was no different.

The demon worshiper, who had contracted with the demon of absurdity, asked leisurely one last time.

"If you refuse, you'll have to die.... What will you do? Being a demon worshiper is quite fun. There are many interesting demons."

What nonsense.

The team leader slowly backed away. One mangled-faced team leader covered the real one, while the ones holding the power drill and soju bottle split off.

The real team leader, hiding, spoke.

"If I were going to do that, I would have done it long ago."

He had worked as an investigator for a long time, seeing many hostile groups. There were many days he was disappointed with the company, days he wanted to quit everything.

But the reason he didn't join the hostile groups or take the memory erasers was simply that he didn't. That's just how he lived, and that's how he would continue.

"..."

Without a signal, the real team leader hid among the cars in the apartment parking lot. It seemed like he could manage if he avoided those pointing fingers.

At the same time, the remaining three team leaders charged at the demon worshiper and the demon of absurdity.

In an instant, they closed in.

Whirr-!

The fiercely spinning drill aimed for the worshiper's heart, but the demon of absurdity reached out, placing his hand between the drill and the heart.

"You bastard..."

Crack!

The drill pierced through the palm instead of the heart. The demon's fingers clenched, twisting the drill. It bent like it was severely malfunctioning, and the battery fell out, rolling on the ground.

"..."

Simultaneously, the demon of absurdity glared at the mangled-faced team leader. His eyes burned like hellfire. The mangled-faced team leader clutched his heart and collapsed forward.

It was a heart attack.

Meanwhile, the team leader who had approached the demon of absurdity raised the soju bottle and struck.

"Die-!"

Crash!

Drip-

The demon of absurdity slowly turned his gaze. The striking team leader and the demon of absurdity locked eyes.

"Damn it..."

The broken soju bottle shattered. Despite being covered in glass shards and holy water, the demon of absurdity remained unscathed. His eyes curved like clipped nails.

"Holy water? It's useless."

A demon impervious to names and holy water.

The demon of absurdity dipped his fingers in the blood and holy water flowing from his head, then licked them. He then pressed the finger coated in holy water against the forehead of the team leader holding the broken soju bottle.

Sss-

The holy water burned the skin of the demon of sloth. The demon of absurdity, his nails forming a cross mark on the team leader's forehead, spoke.

"You will have a cerebral hemorrhage."

Bang-!

A sound of something bursting and severing inside the head echoed. The demon of sloth collapsed, turning into gray clay. The same happened to the demon whose heart had stopped.

Now, only one demon of sloth remained.

The team leader, having abandoned the broken drill, was pummeling the demon worshiper.

Thud-! Thud-! Thud-!

Mounting him, he relentlessly punched the worshiper's face. His large fists smashed the worshiper's face into a pulp. The demon worshiper, unable to even shield his face, let out helpless groans.

“Ah-, ah-, demon-, hurry-.”

“You weak bastard….”

The demon of absurdity pulled the drill out of his palm and threw it at the last remaining demon of sloth. The moment the drill struck the back of his head, he collapsed, his life extinguished.

Thud-

Floppy-

Covered in gray clay, the demon worshiper brushed off the clay as he lay on the ground. The gray clay dripped like paint. The demon worshiper raised his clay-covered hand.

“Ow, ow.... It hurts.... Demon, you should apply this, since your head is injured...?”

The demon could use the gray clay like a potion.

The demon of absurdity, with his head broken and a hole in his palm, crouched beside the demon worshiper and applied the gray clay to his wounds. The injuries healed as if he had patched them with new flesh.

He muttered in a grumbling voice,

“Those weaklings... How dare they challenge a great demon like me.”

“Ah.... But what should we do...? We lost them all….”

The demon worshiper sat up, clutching his swollen, bruised, and torn face. His vision narrowed by the swelling, he looked around.

Quite a bit of time had passed.

It was now evening in the apartment complex. Several heads peered through balcony windows. People coming home from work, startled, were hiding. Cameras, capturing everything, also watched.

But there was no sign of the companys people who had summoned the demons, nor the girl.

The small demon worshiper got up without hesitation.

“Let’s give up…. They’ve probably reported everything by now. Let’s leave before a bigger fight breaks out….”

“You’re just going to leave?”

“There’s no need to fight the company’s demon hunters or the Vatican’s exorcists….”

The demon of absurdity paused. He didn’t like the idea of retreating, but he disliked the thought of exorcists with their winged summons even more.

In the end, he took out his phone and started reading the absurd stories that overflowed in reality again.

An unspoken agreement.

The demon worshiper rubbed his face and walked towards the apartment's back gate, casually followed by the demon.

“Still, it feels wrong to just leave. Cast a curse on the company people we saw earlier. You know, Changingnamesisreallyfun-”

“I changed my name just now.”

“Again…? What is it now, no, never mind. Just do it.”

"F*ck…"

The demon lifted his head slightly from his phone and spoke briefly.

“It’s done.”

A curse was cast upon the team leader, Yeonwoo, and Choi Jae-min. A curse to bring them misfortune and accidents.

The demon worshiper and the demon walked slowly past the back gate, entering the dim alleys of the residential area.

“There’s another potential demon worshiper, let’s go there….”

They disappeared into the city’s darkness, searching for those reckless enough to summon demons, intending to bring them to the demon region and make them fine demon worshipers.

The demon of absurdity’s laughter echoed in the air before fading away.

---

---

Huff- Huff-

Yeonwoo’s heart felt like it was about to burst. He ran nonstop until he reached the main road, panting heavily, and continued running.

Trying to get as far away as possible from the demon that caused accidents.

At that moment.

Roll-

A die suddenly rolled by itself.

Success!

The result declared success, though it was unclear what had succeeded.

‘...What is this?’

Yeonwoo stopped, staring intently at the die in his mind. Then he saw Choi Jae-min running across the distant crosswalk.

Crash-

Choi Jae-min tripped badly, smashing his face into the ground.