Humanity Protection Company

Illustrations: None.

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Just past midnight, as he was about to prepare for bed, a mission came down from the Clock Repairmen.

Lee Yeonwoo lay in bed, carefully reading the chat.

-TPL: We\'ve found one of the causes accelerating the abnormal weather! Since the cause is in Korea, CHS, please investigate.

Excited by the good news, the message was a bit disjointed.

However, Yeonwoo calmly tapped the screen.

-CHS: Please explain in detail. What is the cause, and what do I need to investigate?

-TPL: With the help of an artist, we raided a company\'s server and stole data. Among the confidential documents was an anomaly called \'The North Wind and the Sun.\'

His fingers paused on the phone screen. Yeonwoo blinked, reading the words again, and then slightly opened his mouth.

"No way…."

An artist? A raid? What did I just read? Are we this aggressive…?

The confusion quickly subsided. Yeonwoo let out a shallow sigh. Compared to the Extermination Company or the Management Company, this was quite moderate.

\'This is fine, I guess.\'

Yeonwoo stopped the unnecessary thoughts and focused on the chat.

-TPL: \'The North Wind and the Sun\' is a fairy tale written on parchment. Anyone who touches the parchment enters the story and becomes a character in the tale.

-CHS: Do they become the traveler with the cloak?

-TPL: Exactly.

Yeonwoo, stroking the edge of his phone, fell into thought. \'The North Wind and the Sun\' was a story where two made a bet on who could make the traveler take off his cloak.

-CHS: How is this related to the abnormal climate?

-TPL: It can accelerate abnormal weather.

-TPL: Depending on the outcome of the bet, the real-world temperature changes. If the Sun wins, the temperature rises, and if the North Wind wins, the temperature drops.

In the dark room, the light from the phone reflected in his wide-open eyes. Yeonwoo urgently tapped the phone.

-CHS: Then we can use this to solve the abnormal weather!

-TPL: Hmm. The company thought so too. That’s why there was an accident.

TPL slowly recounted the experimental records read from the confidential document.

Realizing the abnormal weather, the company decided to manipulate the results of the North Wind and the Sun\'s bet to prevent it. They forced the North Wind to keep winning, intending to lower the temperature.

But the result was….

-TPL: It worked well at first. But then, the North Wind and the Sun noticed. They realized they were being tricked and used.

-TPL: After that, in their anger, the temperature kept rising. They don’t even make bets anymore.

The company was contributing to the abnormal weather!

Yeonwoo slapped his forehead. That was it. Despite the poor outcome, it was still an attempt to prevent abnormal weather.

-TPL: Anyway, the North Wind and the Sun are kept by the Korean Anomaly Research Society. Go investigate it.

-CHS: What exactly should I investigate?

-TPL: Well.

The chat stopped.

Yeonwoo waited, staring at the screen. TPL, choosing his words carefully, slowly gave the instructions.

-TPL: Investigate the structure of the Anomaly Research Society’s building, the location of the North Wind and the Sun, and the security status.

-CHS: Why is that….

-TPL: We need to deploy someone, whether a doomsday cultist or an artist, to steal it. It’s an anomaly that can delay the abnormal weather.

Whether to destroy it to stop the acceleration towards destruction or to persuade it to lower the temperature, it was an anomaly the Clock Repairmen could not miss.

Agreeing with this intention, Yeonwoo’s eyes sparkled. He found a faint hope.

It\'s not a difficult task. Just simple reconnaissance.

Resolutely, Yeonwoo moved his fingers and sent a brief message.

-CHS: Yes. I will do it.

---

---

Although he answered confidently, he couldn\'t act immediately. If he went there recklessly, he would definitely be caught by the security team.

Because of this, Yeonwoo stayed up all night preparing a plan. When morning came, he went to work at the investigation team, still exhausted.

The office, which he arrived at much earlier than usual.

The team leader was already there, drinking coffee mix. He looked up at Yeonwoo.

“Oh, you’re early. Good timing. Take out the trash, it’s full.”

The team leader gestured toward the overflowing trash can. Ignoring him, Yeonwoo looked around the office. Yoo Ji-yoo hadn\'t arrived yet. Considering her usual arrival time, she would be another 30 minutes.

Being alone with him was the perfect opportunity to speak.

Yeonwoo swallowed hard and spoke in a low, serious voice.

“Team leader.”

His tone suggested he had something important to say.

The team leader stiffened, then sighed deeply, as if expecting the worst, and put down his paper cup.

“You’re going to resign?”

Given the serious incidents he had experienced and his hair loss, it wasn’t unreasonable to think he might be considering resignation. Despite the sweet coffee mix, a bitter taste lingered on his tongue.

As the team leader was about to accept his request without much protest, Yeonwoo’s eyes widened.

“What? No. Why would I quit the company?”

Since learning about the abnormal weather, he had never once thought of resigning. Losing his status, connections, information, and memories as a company employee would make survival difficult.

Quit now?

Yeonwoo and the team leader exchanged confused looks before the team leader cleared his throat and averted his eyes.

“You’re not? Okay, then.”

“No, I’m not. I wanted to ask if you knew about the abnormal climate and the preservation plan.”

Yeonwoo went straight to the point, aiming to bring the team leader into the Clock Repairmen.

“Never heard of it. Sounds like a company project, though.”

The team leader, puzzledly, shook his head, and Yeonwoo summarized the story.

Time stop, abnormal weather, preservation plan, clock repairmen, the factions and employees split by their different approaches to saving Earth….

As the story progressed, the team leader’s expression grew darker. His mouth dried up, and he drank several cups of water after finishing his coffee mix, silently listening to the story.

When the story concluded, the team leader stared blankly into space, his eyes unfocused as if tracing past and future.

“So, that’s why the company’s….”

His voice mixed with various complex emotions.

Yeonwoo stood quietly, waiting for the team leader to accept reality.

After a brief silence, the team leader lowered his head to look at Yeonwoo.

“So. You want me to join your faction?”

“Yes. I can hardly do anything alone.”

The team leader looked at Yeonwoo with focused eyes and shook his head.

“No.”

“Team leader.”

“Listen, rookie. I’m an investigator for the company. Always have been, always will be.”

The team leader leaned back in his chair, gazing at the old ceiling of the Anomaly Investigation Team’s office. The ceiling, thick with dust and cobwebs.

Even if abnormal weather came, this reinforced concrete building would easily endure for decades.

“Even if abnormal weather comes, humanity won’t go extinct. It will be very different, but we’ll survive somehow.”

The team leader envisioned a future overwhelmed by abnormal weather. Survival would undoubtedly be challenging. Modern civilization would certainly collapse.

However, even if civilization collapsed and the Earth was ruined, humanity wouldn’t go extinct. They would revert to a primitive society, spread out in small groups, but they would survive.

And if humanity didn’t go extinct, neither would the Humanity Protection Company.

“As long as there are people, there will be the company. What is the company anyway? Protecting people from anomalies, that’s the company. I will continue living as an employee, an investigator.

I don’t know about anything else.”

The team leader had accepted the impending doom and decided to remain an employee of the Humanity Protection Company, even in a broken world.

The team leader gave a faint smile.

“Maybe it\'s because I\'m getting old, but it\'s hard to try something new. I just want to live as I always have. Although, my hair is younger than yours.”

He ended with a joke, looking at Yeonwoo, who had a troubled expression.

Yeonwoo\'s lips twitched, and he let his shoulders slump.

“Understood.”

The team leader stood up and patted Yeonwoo\'s shoulder. Then, he gripped it tightly, leaving deep wrinkles in the suit with his thick fingers.

“I won\'t say anything more to you. When you\'re young, you should challenge yourself and try new things. And, as your team leader, I’ll help you in any way I can.”

“Ah.”

Yeonwoo, who had been frowning in pain from the grip, brightened up.

“Then please help me with one thing.”

“What, now?”

“Yes. I need to go to the Anomaly Research Society, but it’s hard to go alone.”

The team leader, a bit flustered, stepped back. He meant he would overlook things and cover for him when needed.

Yeonwoo quickly laid out the plan he had thought of all night.

“Can we go together under the pretext of an anomaly inspection?”

The team leader, with a reluctant expression, finally nodded. It would be unsightly to back out after just saying he’d help.

Just as they were preparing to leave the office, the door burst open, and Ji-yoo arrived.

She tilted her head as soon as she entered.

“Where are you going?”

“Oh. I’m going on a business trip with Yeonwoo.”

“Then I’ll have to watch the office alone?”

She sounded somewhat happy. The team leader waved dismissively.

“Yeah. Leave when you’re done, tell them we went for an inspection if anyone calls, and clean up. Take out the trash and clear those cobwebs from the ceiling.”

“Why the cobwebs? Spiders catch bugs for us.”

“Oh, whatever. Do as you please.”

The team leader grabbed his car keys and left the office. Yeonwoo, carrying a heavy bag on his shoulder, gave a short nod to Ji-yoo before following him out.

Their destination was the Anomaly Research Society.