Humanity Protection Company

Illustrations: None.

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Along the walls of a quiet alley in the heart of the city, murals depicted animals frolicking in green fields - rabbits, deer, cats, dogs, and more.

The Living Statue examined each painting slowly as it walked, then stopped in front of one particular image.

A large door, out of place among the animal scenes. This crudely painted brown wooden door was the entrance to the Artists Association\'s hideout.

After checking for people, the Living Statue strode purposefully into the painting. With a creak, the door opened and the world changed in an instant.

The interior resembled an art gallery.

"You\'re back. How\'d the negotiations go?"

An employee\'s head popped up from behind the desk. Covered in paint from whatever he\'d been working on, he glanced at the Living Statue.

The Living Statue\'s gloomy demeanor said it all.

"Failed. It was a wasted trip. The company has no intention of lending out the Eraser."

"Figures. What do those bastards know? They just keep great art locked away in storage."

The Living Statue sighed softly at the gruff response. Perhaps their approach had been wrong from the start.

It turned and headed for Spatial Art Room 2.

"I\'ll write a song for you."

"Sure. Don\'t go changing things and calling it \'artistic expression\', and don\'t smash stuff claiming \'destruction is art\'. Just follow the guidelines, alright?"

Ignoring the employee\'s halfhearted warning, the Living Statue entered Spatial Art Room 2. Unlike Room 1 used for transport, this exhibition hall housed communication devices.

Passing by stationery, mirrors, blank canvases, and clay, it grasped a microphone under warm lighting.

Before speaking into the mic, the Living Statue recalled its creator. Then it spoke:

"Master, negotiations have failed. Our only remaining option is to steal it. Please provide further instructions."

The emotionless voice flowed into the microphone. It would become a melodious song in the sculptor\'s ear.

The Living Statue waited in that position.

Until the scratching of a quill pen could be heard.

Words appeared on the stationery. The Living Statue carefully set down the microphone, stood before the paper, and bowed its head.

[To my most human-like creation.

If that\'s how things stand, we have no choice. We can\'t pass up the chance to create a colossal statue.

I\'ll ask my friends for information on the Eraser. I\'ll also send you knight, combat, and thief statues.

Move out as soon as preparations are complete.

The Sculptor.]

The Living Statue\'s gaze reached the final word. The writing on the stationery vanished on its own.

It raised its head, expressionless, and left Spatial Art Room 2 with heavy footsteps. Time to prepare for battle.

---

---

It was a dark night. Rain fell steadily and cold winds howled.

Lee Yeonwoo was sound asleep in his shelter room when an incessant ringing woke him up.

"What... what is it...?"

He struggled to open his eyes and looked at his phone. It was past midnight. But the company was calling. Not a good sign.

As soon as Yeonwoo answered, a frantic voice burst through:

"Investigator Yeonwoo! The Eraser\'s been stolen!"

"...And?"

"You killed that doomsday cultist too! Come out right away and help us recover it! You\'re the only one who can handle the Eraser-"

"No."

Yeonwoo hung up. Then he pulled the blanket up to his chin and rolled over.

\'Why should I deal with the Eraser?\'

He didn\'t mind other tasks, but the Eraser was a hard pass. It was far too dangerous. Unless there was a critical success, you had to be prepared to die once.

\'And they said they\'d make and return a statue.\'

A mountain range coming to life and moving would be dangerous, but the company could handle that much.

Yeonwoo\'s eyes slowly closed. But his phone kept vibrating relentlessly, making it impossible to fall asleep.

Finally, he sat up abruptly and answered the phone irritably.

"I said no. It\'s not even part of an investigator\'s duties, and even if you force it on me, I\'ll use my special investigator authority to refuse. And what department are you from? Do you want an internal audit?"

"Then at least know this."

"What?"

A voice filled with irritation and anger.

The sound of someone swallowing came through the phone.

"You\'re also a target, Investigator Yeonwoo."

"...Me? Why?"

"You killed the doomsday cultist wielding the Eraser, didn\'t you? The Artists Association has deemed you their biggest obstacle."

At that moment, red lights lit up in the shelter. A siren wailed. It meant an intruder had been detected.

Yeonwoo leapt to his feet and rushed to the control room. He shouted into the shaking phone:

"Send me the information on the Eraser theft!"

"I\'ll send it right away. And joining the recovery operation would be-"

"Too late. The attackers are already here. Requesting backup."

Boom! Yeonwoo burst into the control room.

Panting, he looked at the CCTV screens. The rainy ground above. The dark night. Two shadowy figures could be seen in the blurry footage.

Yeonwoo narrowed his eyes.

"Two hostiles. One is the Living Statue that came to negotiate. I can\'t identify the other."

The Living Statue tore through the barbed wire, and the two walked through the gaping hole. They were getting closer to the house.

Thoughts raced through Yeonwoo\'s mind.

\'I should prepare to confront them... No. I could probably just say I won\'t interfere.\'

It was better to avoid a fight. You never knew what anomalies they might use.

"Report any information on the intruders as soon as you identify them!"

"Understood. I\'ll handle things here for now."

Yeonwoo quickly hung up. He grabbed the microphone in a hurry. When the intruders reached the house with the speakers, he could resolve this through dialogue.

Tracking the intruders through the rotating CCTV feeds, Yeonwoo finally heard their voices through the microphone installed at the house\'s main entrance.

"Horrible! How can a house be like this? This is unacceptable!"

"I don\'t care about that. Just keep that investigator from coming out for a while."

"You don\'t need to ask! I can\'t stand by and watch this!"

Their voices mixed with the sound of rain. At that point, Yeonwoo blew into the microphone.

"Can you hear me?"

...

...

The two figures on the CCTV froze.

"I have no intention of interfering with your plans, so just leave. I don\'t care who has the Eraser as long as it\'s not used on me."

"...That certainly fits your personality. Very we-"

"No! I can\'t just walk away after seeing this!"

The Living Statue turned to the human beside it with a bewildered gesture. The neatly dressed middle-aged man was in a frenzy looking at the nearly derelict house.

"Architecture is art, and so is interior design! I can\'t leave this garbage as is!"

Yeonwoo rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. Seemed to be some kind of architectural artist.

Artists were all missing a few screws. From that director he\'d encountered before to the sculptor stealing the Eraser.

Yeonwoo picked up the microphone again.

"If you try anything stupid, I won\'t stand idle either. You don\'t really need to fight me, do you?"

"No need to thank me. I won\'t accept payment either. I\'ll add some zest to your life with a little interior design."

The architect was about to do something.

In that moment, sparks flew in Yeonwoo\'s eyes.

\'What are you trying to do to my shelter?! Not happening! Dice!\'

He couldn\'t allow his pristine, safe shelter to be damaged. He couldn\'t let dangerous anomalies be added.

\'Stop whatever that bastard\'s doing!\'

The dice rolled.

As it tumbled-

Time seemed to stretch out. Yeonwoo\'s pupils dilated and his heart plummeted. A terrible anxiety gripped his mind.

\'Something\'s gone wrong!\'

His instincts screamed a warning. A dreadful accident was about to happen.

In the elongated moment, Yeonwoo watched the dice roll slowly, until he saw the fateful result.

Critical failure!

The architect\'s anomaly spiraled out of control, beyond his grasp.

---

---

Text appeared all over the shelter, the house above ground, and throughout the property.

A house that kills you if you ██.

The blacked-out text strangely couldn\'t be seen, so while it was clear there was only one condition, it was impossible to guess how many characters it contained.

Yeonwoo stared at the text with trembling hands. He wanted to deny the current situation, but he couldn\'t ignore his survival instincts ringing alarm bells.

\'Stay calm. One wrong move and you\'re dead.\'

His mind raced, instantly becoming cold and calculating.

\'My heart\'s beating but I\'m not dead, and being alive isn\'t killing me. Breathing, thinking, blinking - all fine.\'

A situation where one small action could lead directly to death.

Yeonwoo became as still as a statue, not moving a muscle. He just kept thinking and maintaining a wide field of vision to gather information.

The CCTV screens remained in view, so looking at them wasn\'t fatal. Yeonwoo observed the intruders outside.

"...We\'re f*cked."

"What? What did you do?"

The text written on the house\'s surface and all over the property.

The architect and the Living Statue spoke in hushed, panicked voices as they moved cautiously.

\'Speaking is okay. Slow movement is fine too.\'

Yeonwoo watched them with cold eyes and reached for the microphone, then hesitated. He\'d meant to question them and get information, but that wasn\'t a good idea.

\'Using the microphone might kill me.\'

It was maddening. Like having a madman pointing a gun at your back, not knowing why or when they might pull the trigger.

Cold sweat beaded on his palms. An instinctive bodily response.

\'Sweating doesn\'t kill me either. So it\'s not a trivial condition? Can\'t be sure though.\'

"I don\'t know. I only meant to set up a few deadly traps. It suddenly went beyond my control."

"Can\'t you cancel it? Or overwrite it?"

"I can\'t. And what if I die trying that sh*t!"

At this point, Yeonwoo suddenly came to a conclusion.

\'...Is this not as bad as I thought?\'

The single condition was certain. That provided some reassurance.

\'If using dice or anomalies is the condition...\'

Then any other action should be fine.

\'If dice and anomalies aren\'t the condition...\'

He could act freely, then use a prepared die to defend himself if needed.

\'Dice. If I\'m about to die from breaking the condition, roll for resistance.\'

Of course, he couldn\'t rely solely on the dice. What if it failed? Or got a critical failure like just now...

For now, Yeonwoo cautiously brought his mouth to the microphone, intending to find the condition himself.

\'Come to think of it, the microphone should be fine. Their voices are coming through it.\'

Yeonwoo spoke calmly:

"Are you listening? Bring the Eraser here first. If we erase the house from the outside, we can all survive, can\'t we?"

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