Humanity Protection Company

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: posted in discord

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Time stopped.

Yeonwoo successfully resisted with a dice roll and woke up instinctively, sensing something was off. He quickly assessed the situation.

The hospital had fallen silent. Mark Jung was frozen mid-type on his laptop nearby, while people outside the window stood petrified like statues.

'Time stop. Must be the Broken Clock,' Yeonwoo thought.

He'd experienced a time stop before. The company had probably activated it to contain the situation.

He could confirm it by checking the emergency communication network at the Clock Hand Manufacturing Lab, but Yeonwoo didn't feel like going there.

It was too far and bothersome, plus he'd already met a company employee directly.

The door burst open-

A special agent in what looked like a spacesuit casually poked his helmet into the hospital room. Upon seeing Yeonwoo moving normally, he leapt back in shock.

"Aaargh! An anti-time anomaly! How?!"

"...Are you alright?" Yeonwoo asked awkwardly as the special agent sprawled backwards.

A dirty puddle of water had scattered into droplets, frozen mid-air in the stopped time.

"S-stay back!"

The agent frantically groped for his weapon, looking like he might accidentally discharge it.

Yeonwoo quickly raised his hands, spreading his empty palms wide.

"I'm not an anomaly, just a regular investigator. I can resist time stops. Who are you?"

"Oh."

After panting heavily for a while at Yeonwoo's calm demeanor, the special agent got up with an embarrassed laugh.

"I'm an employee drafted for the cleanup team. The company decided to preserve this hospital, so I was told to look around."

He answered while lowering his eyes and examining his spacesuit, which must have been equipment for resisting the time stop. His voice trembled, apparently ashamed of his unbecoming behavior for a company employee.

'Drafted? Did they hastily gather whoever they could use quickly instead of professional agents? Or is it just this guy?' Yeonwoo wondered.

Seeing as they sent him alone to this hospital.... Yeonwoo scratched his head and asked, "Is it the Broken Clock?"

"You know about it? I only found out recently. Apparently, they've stopped time and the cleanup team is drawing magic circles, investigating, relocating magicians, stuff like that."

It looked like they were even using the Extinction Defense Device to buy time. Yeonwoo nodded and asked another question.

"Will it take long?"

"I'm not sure about that. Oh, but let me ask you something."

The agent, who had been fiddling with his spacesuit checking for scratches, calmed down. The redness in his face subsided. He suddenly held up his helmet.

The agent's eyes sparkled as he looked at Yeonwoo.

"You've been here the whole time, right? What happened?"

"Fragments fell, ghosts and machine people went wild, company employee ghosts appeared and cleaned up..."

The agent listened carefully to the information, asking questions here and there. Once he got what he wanted, he stepped back.

"Thanks for your cooperation. I need to check the hospital once more and then support other areas. But man, I'm jealous. Resisting with just your body. We can't even take off these suits until the operation's over."

He grumbled about not being able to wash or eat anything but liquid food through a straw as he left.

The heavy footsteps faded away.

"There shouldn't be any problems- no, I shouldn't say that."

Yeonwoo slapped his own mouth repeatedly, then looked around and saw the document Mark Jung had been writing before he froze.

A department that sold dice usage rights. The new department Yeonwoo would be in charge of.

'Maybe I should think about this.'

It was his future job, the department he'd be heading. Though he could cancel if he really disliked it, Yeonwoo seriously envisioned the future.

In the midst of this, Yeonwoo suddenly had a realization.

'Do I really have to do this? Can't I just spend time under the company's protection?'

---

---

Time that had stopped began to flow again.

The magicians, who had been forcibly relocated, looked at the prepared magic circles with bewildered expressions and frowned in dissatisfaction at the company employee's urging.

"Ah. I didn't intend to dump them here."

"Don't go saying that anywhere. If people find out I dumped garbage, I'll face retaliation."

Simply put, it was littering. Taken to the extreme, it was an anomalous attack. Who knew how other dimensions might react.

Honestly, the karma accumulated by Earth-born magicians was quite substantial....

"Banish!"

In any case, the fragments were safely banished. Along with dangerous anomalies that contaminated the world.

With that, the urgent situation was wrapped up, and various groups in the anomalous world slowly began to cool down.

Tallying damages, restoring those damages, lamenting lost anomalies, planning for the future to be reorganized before and after.

Yeonwoo also prepared for the future.

"So, I was thinking, do we really need to sell usage rights? Can't I just spend time in some final shelter or something?"

Yeonwoo spoke with sincerity. His eyes shone with hope.

Just receive the company's intensive protection and spend life in a safe place. If he spent that time well, he'd reach a level where no one could threaten him.

It was the perfect future, the perfect life.

Mark Jung looked blankly between his laptop screen and Yeonwoo.

"You don't want to sell usage rights?"

"No. I don't mind if it's a secluded place. Actually, as long as there's internet and good food, I can endure anything."

As Yeonwoo spoke, a brilliant future flickered before his eyes, and he raised his voice.

"Given enough time, I'll reach danger level 6. Really. I'll be similar to the Association President or Golden Omnipotence, you know? I'm saying if you just protect me well and feed me, the company will get its best combat force."

"..."

Mark Jung made a strange expression.

He had seemed dependable when desperately denying it, but suddenly his credibility plummeted.

'Of course, it's probably not a lie, but....'

Both headquarters and the Korean branch knew Yeonwoo caused accidents. So they had planned to prevent them from happening in the company from the start, but somehow the researchers found out and collectively threw a fit.

"They say after a few accidents everyone will avoid it, that they'll sacrifice a few departments."

"Um..."

The team leader's mouth twitched, then he suddenly slammed his fist on the desk.

"Anyway, congratulations on your promotion! Let's go eat some meat!"

Why should he care about other departments? Besides, Yeonwoo was actually an employee too difficult to keep under him.

It was a good thing. He'd even be working in the Anomaly Investigation Team's office for the time being, so unnecessary worries were pointless.