Humanity Protection Company

Illustrations: None.

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Creak-!

The door to the luxury display room opened.

Beyond the door, a fireplace cast a warm glow, and luxurious wooden display cases adorned the walls. The cases held fewer cages than outside, each displayed with some space in between.

Yeonwoo took a sharp breath when he saw those cages.

‘Humans? Are those humans?’

In one cage, an abnormally tall and thin human was crouched inside the small space. The plaque beneath read:

[First Place in the Tall Human Breeding Competition]

In the next cage, a human with long, thick fur that made them look like a Yeti or Bigfoot lay sprawled, panting heavily.

[Second Place in the Hairy Human Breeding Competition]

Another cage held a human with purple skin, scratching themselves until their skin bled.

[Nominee for the Naturally Impossible Skin Color Category]

Each cage contained a human with some strange feature. One had the most hair, another was the heaviest, another the lightest, and so on. As Yeonwoo stared blankly at their appearances and read the plaques, suddenly he felt a lurch.

With a sudden increase in gravity, his view lifted. The giant had hoisted Yeonwoo’s cage high, scanning an empty spot on the display case while muttering to himself.

“Since I have a human with a certification, it’s best to place him here.”

Thinking it best to group similar themed items, the giant placed Yeonwoo’s cage on the top shelf with a thud.

Yeonwoo staggered from the impact, but the giant left the luxury display room, turning back once more.

“I’ll bring food for you all, so wait quietly.”

Creak-!

The enormous door closed. The sound of the giant’s footsteps faded away, leaving only the sound of human breathing in the room.

Yeonwoo reached out and grabbed the bars of the cage. Clang, clang, the metal bars shook. The rhythm was rapid and urgent.

‘I have to escape!’

He had been captured by a monster that modified and bred humans. There was no telling what might happen to him. He couldn’t stay idle.

He pushed and pulled the bars, even tried squeezing his body through, but the seemingly flimsy bars didn’t budge.

‘Is escaping with bare hands impossible…?’

The firmly fixed bars frustrated him. Yeonwoo scanned his surroundings, hoping to find a tool or a weak spot in the cage.

Then he saw it.

In the adjacent cage, a human was swinging back and forth, clinging to the bars.

Yeonwoo called out.

“Hey, can you hear me? Do you understand me?”

The long-haired man with brown hair and eyes climbed the bars, touched the ceiling of his cage, and then jumped down. He spoke.

“I understand you. My name is James Kong. I’m an investigator for the company.”

The man, holding a Human Qualification Certificate, scratched his chin awkwardly. Yeonwoo was relieved.

“Oh…!”

Though he didn’t know what kind of world this was, he saw traces of the company. Even though James, an investigator from an overseas branch, was also captured.

---

---

Bang, bang-!

Yeonwoo pounded the floor of his cage repeatedly. The frustration was suffocating. The unyielding floor felt more stifling than James.

“No…! Which branch are you from? Where are we?”

“I don’t know. I was just told to keep walking forward.”

“Forward? To where?”

“I don’t know. They said the paths overlap.”

“No…!”

It was impossible to get any useful information from someone claiming to be a fellow investigator. Whether he was pretending or genuinely clueless, Yeonwoo glared at James in frustration, but James didn’t seem to care at all.

Running around the cage the size of a studio apartment, grabbing the bars and moving up, down, left, and right, he muttered to himself.

“I want to eat a banana.”

“No, listen. Please, let’s talk. Bananas aren’t the issue here. We’re in a dangerous situation, right? We’re in a world where people are being modified! Understand?”

Despite Yeonwoo’s desperate voice, even as he clung to the bars and jumped up and down, James shook his head.

“It’s not dangerous. You and I can live here. And I wasn’t human. I’m used to cages.”

“What…?”

Yeonwoo looked up at James, dumbfounded. James met his gaze for a moment.

“I was a monkey. Took the Human Qualification Exam and became human.”

Then James resumed moving around, holding onto the bars.

Yeonwoo was speechless. He scanned James from head to toe. Apart from his strength, which allowed him to move around the bars with ease, he looked completely human.

And he spoke like one too.

But thinking about how those who failed the Human Qualification Exam turned into animals….

‘He passed the exam?’

Could it be that despite being a monkey, James was recognized as human because of his voice and behavior? So much so that the giant believed he was a genuine human.

A human from another world, an ex-monkey, and Yeonwoo himself.

‘What should I do…!’

Yeonwoo was clutching his head in frustration, trying to find an answer, when the door creaked open.

The giant returned.

The giant carried a large ceramic plate with mouth-watering chunks of meat and a pair of scissors.

“Time to eat!”

Starting with James’s cage on the top shelf, the giant began snipping the meat into bite-sized pieces and dropping them into the food bowls at the cage doors.

Yeonwoo swallowed hard.

The meat was beautifully browned, with whole peppercorns embedded here and there.

‘It looks delicious….’

Unconsciously, Yeonwoo grabbed a palm-sized piece and brought it into his cage. The grease dripped as he took a big bite, and the juice burst in his mouth, seasoned with salt and pepper and a hint of butter and herbs.

Being a prized possession meant even the food was different. It tasted better than the three meals he usually had. Chewing mechanically in shock, Yeonwoo thought to himself.

‘Maybe this isn’t so bad…?’

The giant continued to cut meat for the other cages, smiling contentedly.

“Eat well and fetch a good price.”

Yeonwoo began to eat the remaining meat hastily, thinking he needed to build up strength if he was going to do anything, including escaping.

---

---

Night came without Yeonwoo finding a way to escape or having a proper conversation with James. The moon passed the midpoint in the sky, nearing midnight.

Yeonwoo closed his eyes and spoke to the dice.

‘Earth! Please!’

This world was hopeless. Even if the food was excellent, it was still ruled by monsters that modified humans. Returning to Earth, even with the company’s suspicion, was a better option.

Roll—

Yeonwoo held his breath, waiting for the result, and the dice stopped.

Failure!

Nothing changed, leaving Yeonwoo still in the narrow cage the size of a studio apartment. He let his hands fall onto his lap and lay down as if meditating.

‘Once a day with the same wish? Today’s a bust. Might as well sleep.’

He curled up like a fetus. At least once a day, he had a chance to escape. Surviving intact and staying healthy was the top priority.

The warmth from the fireplace spread softly.

---

---

Morning came.

When the giant served breakfast, a salad mixed with vegetables and dressing, Yeonwoo rubbed his sleepy eyes and approached the cage door.

The salad was finely chopped with lettuce, cabbage, corn, tomatoes, and chicken breast, all mixed with a delicious sauce. Yeonwoo only ate the chicken breast and corn, prompting the giant to tap his cage.

“Don’t be picky. You need to eat a balanced diet to stay healthy.”

Yeonwoo paused his chewing.

‘Does he really think I’m a pet?’

He was a human with the same intelligence, intellect, and personality as the giant. Being treated like a common wild animal was—

The giant spoke.

“There’s a special guest coming today.... You look overall healthy. I hope you sell well.”

Yeonwoo put down the chicken breast he was holding. He wiped the sauce from his hands on the cold, damp lettuce.

‘A guest.... Is it better to stay here than to be sold?’

As he swallowed the meat left in his mouth, Yeonwoo pondered.

Was it better to stay here, or to be sold and go somewhere else?

‘I can roll the dice once a day to try to return to Earth. It’s safer to bide my time here, and this place seems relatively safe.’

If he were sold to a giant who might eat, abuse, abandon, or kill him, he wouldn’t survive long enough for the dice to land on a critical success.

Just as he made this decision, the giant left and returned with the guest.

Murmurs—

Thud, thud, thud—

Voices and the vibration of footsteps echoed through the thick wooden walls. Soon, the door opened, and the selling giant entered with a giant family as the guests.

Father giant, mother giant, son giant, and daughter giant.

The children, eyes wide and open mouths, exclaimed as they entered the luxury display room.

“Wow! Look at this! It looks so weird!”

“It looks so fluffy!”

Though smaller than the adult giants, the giant children were still enormous as they pressed their faces against the bars of the cages. They poked their fingers through the bars, prodding at the other humans.

Yeonwoo slowly retreated to the back corner of his cage.

The father and mother giants pretended to admonish their children while talking to the selling giant.

“You have humans with breed certification?”

“Yes, we have two.”

“Ho, are there any males?”

“Of course. Both are males. Would you like to see them?”

“Let’s have a look.”

Clank—

They pulled out the cages holding James and Yeonwoo. Both men grabbed the bars in different positions to steady themselves, facing the scrutiny of the father and mother giants who examined them like products.

The father giant looked back and forth between James and Yeonwoo, stroking his chin as he asked,

“Are they neutered?”