Humanity Protection Company

Illustrations: None.

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The lodge was a two-story building. On the first floor, there was the owner\'s room, a small convenience store, and a storage room. The second floor had four rooms.

Lee Yeonwoo went straight up to the second floor via the stairs.

He never stopped walking because finding Researcher Seo Peonho\'s room was not difficult.

“Ah, I’m so sleepy….”

A man who looked like a graduate student to anyone.

The man, with a haggard complexion, hugged a bunch of experimental tools like flasks and cylinders and staggered into a room.

The door opened and closed roughly.

\'That must be it.\'

Yeonwoo stood in front of the room the man had entered and knocked on the door.

“Is anyone there?”

-Who is it?

A tired voice responded from beyond the door, a voice mixed with curiosity.

Yeonwoo answered.

“Is Mr. Seo Peonho in? He called for me. Did I find the wrong room?”

-No, you’ve come to the right place. Just a moment.

He sensed someone moving busily behind the door.

The sound of hurried footsteps and a middle-aged voice scolding the graduate student-like man.

-I told you someone was coming. How can you forget so easily? How do you conduct research with such a memory?

-Oh, right…. I keep forgetting….

The voices grew clearer as they approached the door. Then, the door opened.

A man, somewhere between middle-aged and elderly, greeted Yeonwoo with a wide smile.

“Mr. Lee Yeonwoo?”

“Yes. I came because you requested support. Are you Researcher Seo Peonho?”

“Yes, yes. That\'s me. Thank you so much for coming. Your assistance is crucial for our research.”

An excessive welcome.

Yeonwoo, harboring some wariness, scrutinized Seo Peonho from head to toe once more.

Hair beginning to gray, horn-rimmed glasses, an intellectual face. Neither thin nor fat.

\'He doesn\'t look dangerous at first glance.\'

Seo Peonho gestured inside the room.

“Don\'t just stand there. Please come in. I’ll explain everything.”

“…Alright.”

Yeonwoo entered the room. Seo Peonho walked ahead, smiling kindly.

“We have rented all the rooms in this lodge for long-term use. This room is our temporary lab.”

“That’s quite thorough.”

Yeonwoo quickly scanned the surroundings with his eyes.

Beyond the entrance was a spacious living room filled with various desks and complex tools resembling those in a chemistry lab. There were three computers set up.

The graduate student-like man was typing on a keyboard in front of a computer, while a woman who seemed similar to him was working with some experimental tools.

“That graduate student, no, assistant researcher is Choi Hyunsang, and the female assistant over there is Gong Yuna. They are good helpers for my research.”

Despite being mentioned, they remained hunched over, focused on their work.

Seo Peonho, as if not needing to worry about them, led Yeonwoo to an inner room.

A small room attached next to the bathroom.

“This is where I sleep. Haha. I didn’t prepare a separate room to receive guests.”

“That’s fine.”

The small room had a single bed and a round table near the window.

Seo Peonho sat in the chair in front of the table and gestured to the chair across from him.

“Sit down. I don’t have anything to offer you to drink.”

“No need. I’m not thirsty.”

“Oh, that’s good. That’s great.”

“More importantly, can you explain why you called for me?”

After pulling out the chair and sitting down, Yeonwoo watched as Seo Peonho turned to grab a few documents haphazardly lying on the bed and placed them on the table.

“I’ve heard about you, Mr. Lee Yeonwoo. They say you bring anomalies and accidents. Personally, I think it’s just superstition.”

“…Does it have anything to do with that?”

“I’m willing to believe even in that superstition. Look at these documents.”

Seo Peonho slid a sheet of paper over. Glancing down, Yeonwoo saw it was some investigation into ancient documents.

[Instances of Anomalies in Meorigol Found in Literature]

-…Based on these records, it is presumed that an abnormal phenomenon known as "hair-loss rain" occurs irregularly in Meorigol.

"It is estimated that this hair-loss rain occurs every few years, or every few hundred years at the longest. We don\'t know when it will happen."

Yeonwoo was called here in the desperate hope that the rain might fall if he came. Being treated like a totem, Yeonwoo frowned slightly.

"Is hair loss all there is? Then what about the talk about the future of humanity?"

That was the only reason he came, but hair-loss inducing rain? At best, it sounded like some enhanced form of acid rain.

There was no real reason to have come all this way.

Seo Peonho slyly brushed his hair back.

"Isn\'t hair loss the enemy of humanity? If we can analyze this anomaly, we might be able to combat hair loss. It’s certainly a cause worth pursuing."

Yeonwoo sighed softly. His enthusiasm had completely vanished. He thought about just taking it easy at the lodge for a while.

"Then how long should I stay? If it\'s not urgent, I\'d like to return to my duties as an investigator soon."

"Let\'s see. Chuseok[1] is coming up. Please stay with us until the end of the Chuseok holidays."

Yeonwoo frowned sharply at that.

Staying here for the entire Chuseok holiday? It was his first holiday since getting employed, and he had planned to go back home.

However, Seo Peonho\'s next words made Yeonwoo\'s expression relax.

"I\'ll give you a generous travel allowance. I\'m thinking of starting with ten million won. Is that enough?"

"No, that\'s plenty. What should I do? Just stay here?"

The holiday would only be about four days.

If he could spend that time at the lodge and get ten million won? That was irresistible. A smile spread across his face.

‘Instead of going home, I can just give my parents a generous gift.’

As Yeonwoo smiled broadly, Seo Peonho laughed as well. He nodded lightly.

"Yes, just being here is enough."

"Understood. If there\'s anything you need, just let me know."

"If we need more help, I\'ll ask. For now, you can unpack and rest."

Yeonwoo lightly stood up and opened the door to leave, then turned around. His gaze met Seo Peonho\'s, who had been watching him.

Seo Peonho tilted his head.

"Is something wrong? Is the travel allowance not enough?"

"No. I just wanted to know which room I should use."

"Use any empty room. The assistants are using one room, so just avoid that one."

Out of the four rooms, one was an experimental lab and Seo Peonho’s room, another was the assistants\' room.

He could choose one of the remaining two rooms.

Yeonwoo left the room with a spring in his step.

Seo Peonho watched the door close behind him and twisted his lips into a smile.

"Easy. We\'ll get good results."

---

---

A night passed.

In the late morning, Yeonwoo woke up late, rubbing his sleepy eyes as he stepped out into the lodge\'s front yard.

Under the cloudy sky, the green lawn stretched out. Sitting on a wooden bench, Yeonwoo turned on his phone and called his mother.

"Hello?"

-Why are you calling at this hour?

"I\'m not coming down for Chuseok. I wanted to, but I have to work."

He heard his mother grumbling on the other end.

-What kind of company makes you work during the holidays?

"They pay a lot of money."

-Making money isn\'t easy. I don\'t understand why they pay you so much. It must be dangerous work.

Her sharp intuition made Yeonwoo break out in a slight cold sweat.

"Ah, it\'s a little dangerous, but not that much. Uh, uh. I have to go. Bye."

Yeonwoo deliberately made busy noises. He stood up, stomped his feet loudly, and tapped the wooden bench.

Yeonwoo immediately hung up. It was still difficult to explain what kind of work he did.

Taking a deep breath, Yeonwoo suddenly saw someone.

“Ah, I\'m so tired….”

It was Assistant Researcher Choi Hyunsang.

Blinking his bloodshot eyes, Choi Hyunsang walked over. From what he had been doing since morning, his clothes were covered in dirt and grass.

He was dragging a shovel and a large sack of rice.

Yeonwoo quickly approached him.

“That looks heavy. Can I help you?”

“Ah, it\'s fine. It looks heavy, but it\'s actually light.”

Choi Hyunsang, letting the shovel hang, lightly shook the swollen sack of rice with one hand. A quick glance showed it was filled with wet soil.

‘It looks incredibly heavy.’

Yeonwoo grabbed the sack with both hands, as if to take it away, and staggered heavily. His forehead veins popped, and he clenched his teeth tightly.

“Ugh!”

“Give it to me.”

Choi Hyunsang took the sack back with one hand, and Yeonwoo made an embarrassed face.

“You’re really strong.”

“No, it’s light…. Maybe you’re just weak?”

No, the sack was marked as 40KG. It was filled with soil instead of rice.

Yeonwoo looked puzzled for a moment. His eyes quickly scanned Choi Hyunsang up and down.

‘He doesn’t have visible muscles. What\'s going on? Is he naturally strong?’

Yeonwoo\'s gaze finally settled on the sack of soil.

“…What is this soil for? Is it for research?”

“Oh, right. I need to move it quickly. Yes, the soil is for research. The components of the hair-loss rain remain in the deep soil. I have to go now. If I\'m late, the professor will scold me.”

Mumbling like that, Choi Hyunsang wobbled into the lodge.

Yeonwoo also headed back to the lodge to get some breakfast and lunch but then stopped.

At the end of the road, he saw the lodge owner and some strangers.

“Sorry. I’m not good with computers, so I must have made a mistake.”

The lodge owner, bowing his sparsely-haired head repeatedly. Behind him, three men and women followed, looking very annoyed.

“Excuse me, how could you make such a mistake? Even if we get a refund, we spent time coming all the way here! And now you\'re telling us there are no rooms available!”

“I’m really sorry. I must have pressed the wrong button and thought the room was empty. For now, you can use my room on the first floor.”

The distance between them closed.

Yeonwoo frowned slightly.

‘The lodge owner must have made a mistake and accepted guests. ...I have a bad feeling about this.’

When he had looked it up, this lodge had been operating for at least ten years.

Would they really make such a basic mistake?

At that moment.

Plop!

A raindrop hit Yeonwoo’s cheek and trickled down.

Plop!

Another raindrop fell on the lodge owner\'s sparsely-haired crown.

Both of them tilted their heads back to look at the sky. The sky was filled with dark clouds. Raindrops fell one by one, tracing blurry lines as they descended.

The lodge owner\'s face hardened.

“…So soon? No, this can\'t be.”

Leaving the disgruntled guests behind, he quickly started running. With an incredible burst of speed, he ran like the wind.

Yeonwoo didn\'t hesitate either. He turned around and ran back to the lodge.

‘I don’t know what this is, but it feels ominous. Is it the hair-loss rain?’

Even though he had no hair loss, it wouldn\'t hurt to be cautious.

The two quickly disappeared into the lodge.

“What’s with those people?”

“Do they have something urgent-”

The three remaining guests stood in bewilderment. Suddenly, a man and a woman with light luggage chased after the lodge owner in a hurry.

The running man’s eyes flashed as if he had realized something. He grabbed the woman’s wrist and forcibly pulled her along.

“Ouch! Why are you doing this!”

“Run faster!”

So, in the place where people had disappeared, only one man carrying a lot of luggage was left.

Plop, plop, plop-

Swoosh-

The rain started pouring down like a sudden shower.

"Ah, rain. Everything\'s going to get soaked. I should split up the luggage."

He struggled to move, holding two large shopping bags, getting drenched in the rain. His head jutted forward like a turtle\'s.

Crrrk- Crack-

His neck stretched. The sound of bones twisting, the sound of skin tearing.

As if someone were pulling, his neck stretched until, finally, his head fell off.

Thud-

The head of the nameless man rolled on the wet ground. It rolled through rain-soaked grass, muddy soil, and puddles filled with rainwater until it came to a stop.

Splat-

Next to the two wide-open eyes, the headless man stepped.

A headless human approached the lodge.

---

[1. raei: Chuseok, also known as Hangawi, is a major mid-autumn harvest festival and a three-day holiday in South Korea]

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