Humanity Protection Company

TL/Editor: raei

Schedule: 5/week

Illustrations: None.

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The interrogation proceeded in a relaxed atmosphere.

Agent Kim Gapdong, tied with a belt, was communicating through an earpiece, muttering something. Lee Seoyeon, with her prosthetic leg, smiled and sat on a chair.

"Yeonwoo, long time no see."

"Indeed."

They hadn't met since the new employee training. They hadn’t kept in touch, and now they were meeting as the interrogated and the interrogator.

"You got a prosthetic."

"It's equipment supported by the Intelligence Department. Isn't it cool? Look at this."

Stretching her leg, Seoyeon placed the prosthetic on the desk and rolled up her suit pants. The flesh-colored prosthetic was revealed, and with a few gestures, Seoyeon opened her thigh.

Click-

Inside the thigh's hollow space was a square explosive, packed tightly, obscuring the framework.

"I requested this myself. Feels like a real secret agent, doesn’t it?"

Yeonwoo's eyebrows twitched as he looked at Kim Gapdong. The look asked where his bomb was. Finishing his communication, Kim Gapdong wiped his cold sweat and shook his head.

"I don't have anything like that."

"But you said earlier you had a bomb implanted in you."

"That was a lie, just bluffing. Even for an Intelligence agent, putting a bomb in the body is..."

Kim Gapdong and Yeonwoo's gazes shifted to Seoyeon. She blushed, looking embarrassed. She quickly closed her thigh and pulled down her pant leg.

"Ahem! Anyway, Yeonwoo, you are here under suspicion of being a spy for a hostile group, right?"

"...Yes."

When Yeonwoo answered, Seoyeon looked around the desk and tilted her head.

"Didn't we have a report? Where did it go? Was it stolen too?"

"Everything was taken. We lost them too."

"Oh... that's not good..."

Seoyeon stomped her foot in frustration. Kim Gapdong looked at Yeonwoo with a tired expression.

"Just interrogate this guy. At least we can finish this properly and get less scolded."

"But Yeonwoo was tentatively concluded not to be a spy."

Unlike the two, who were worried about punishment, Yeonwoo's expression relaxed. It turned out he was already cleared of suspicion.

Kim Gapdong grimaced.

"I was going to do it half-heartedly, but if I do it like that now, they'll find fault. Do it by the book."

"Even if it's by the book..."

Seoyeon looked at Yeonwoo. He sat comfortably, blinking, showing no signs of resistance or deception.

"I feel like he'll answer everything if we just ask."

"Of course. Ask me anything. What are you curious about? The dice? Dimensional shifts? Or what happened while you were sleeping?"

Yeonwoo quickly offered, seeing no reason to be uncooperative.

Kim Gapdong sighed deeply and leaned against the desk leg. He muttered softly.

"I don't know. We're already screwed. Do as you please, Trainee Agent Lee Seoyeon."

"Then I'll think of this as interrogation practice!"

Kim Gapdong turned his head away completely and took out his phone, tapping it habitually. He searched for post-retirement businesses like a chicken restaurant.

Seoyeon accessed the company's information network on her laptop and pulled up the report on Yeonwoo's investigation.

Seoyeon spoke.

"I'll just ask a few questions. Don’t worry. Wow, Yeonwoo, your achievements are amazing?"

She had heard about the capture of the Director, but after that, his contributions to resolving error expansions, encounters with a demon-worshipper who contracted with a great demon, delivering Investigator James Kong's report from another dimension, etc.

"You've dealt with so many anomalies...!"

Seoyeon's eyes sparkled, and her voice rose with excitement. In contrast, Yeonwoo's expression soured.

"It wasn't what I wanted... And it wasn't good. I almost died every time."

"Even so, thanks to that, the Intelligence Department doesn't suspect you of being a spy anymore. They judged you to be a dedicated investigator. Instead..."

Swoosh-

She moved the laptop aside. Calming herself, Seoyeon met Yeonwoo's eyes.

"They suspect you might be an anomaly. Specifically, one that attracts other anomalies."

"Ah."

Yeonwoo sighed, slightly bowing his head. It made sense, given how frequently he encountered anomalies. Even today, he was supposed to have a simple investigation, but ended up clashing with what seemed to be members of the Goldberg Club.

"I don't think I am... but I'm not sure anymore. Could we find out if I'm an anomaly or just affected by one through an investigation?"

Whether it was a curse, twisted fate, or something out of a legend or fairy tale.

"That's not the Intelligence Department's job. You'd need to go to the Anomaly Inspection Department for that. Anyway! Let's continue with the questions!"

Yeonwoo lifted his head, waiting for Seoyeon to speak.

"When did you get the dice?"

"As I wrote in the report, I got it when the error spread calmed down."

"Not around the time of the Human Qualification Exam? You can be honest. Right now, we're in the period for voluntary anomaly possession declaration, so minor lies won't be a problem."

"No, I'm not lying."

Seoyeon pulled the laptop closer and skimmed through Yeonwoo's records. The cursor stopped at the paragraph where Yeonwoo reported the dice.

"There are five outcomes from the dice: Critical success, success, miss, failure, and critical failure. Have you ever encountered anomalies because of bad dice rolls?"

The question implied that failed dice rolls led to containment failures, the Free Artists Association attacks, and encounters with demon worshippers.

Yeonwoo shook his head slowly.

"I wish it were that simple."

"Then the likelihood of you being an anomaly increases... because you've encountered these things without doing anything."

"That's right."

Tap, tap, tap-

Seoyeon typed on the laptop, her lips moving slightly as she muttered the words she was writing. Yeonwoo, nervous, focused on her muttering.

"Interrogation complete... no suspicion of being a spy... suspected anomaly that attracts other anomalies... further inspection recommended..."

Yeonwoo swallowed dryly.

'Suspected as an anomaly. What will happen now? Laboratory? Confinement? Detention?'

Click!

She hit the enter key forcefully, as if delivering a verdict. Seoyeon stretched and then smiled.

"Okay, the interrogation is over! Yeonwoo, you can return to your investigator duties now!"

"...What? Is that it? No dragging me to a lab or transferring me to another department?"

Yeonwoo looked at her, relieved yet confused. Seoyeon nodded with bright eyes.

"That's not our job from here on out. Proving and managing anomalies isn't our department's responsibility. So, as for follow-up measures..."

Yeonwoo listened closely as Seoyeon tilted her head.

"I'm not sure."

"But isn't there a similar case or any expectations?"

"I'm just an trainee agent... Senior Agent, what do you think?"

Kim Gapdong, looking at his phone, raised his head. He had been checking his bank account and savings, then looked at Yeonwoo with a somber expression.

"There won't be any follow-up measures."

"None?"

"The head of the investigation team covered for you a lot. Plus, your abilities are perfect for investigation work. There's no reason to transfer you elsewhere."

Anomalies gather around you naturally. Especially around an investigator like you.

From Kim Gapdong's perspective, Yeonwoo would continue to work as an investigator, like a parental figure for anomaly detection.

"Aren't you going to get an anomaly inspection?"

"The Inspection Department won’t take you now. They can't control that dice of yours. What if they brought you in for inspection and something happened?"

Yeonwoo couldn't purely rejoice and had a puzzled expression. It was good to avoid the inspection, but it seemed the company already half-treated him as an anomaly.

"It’s already spread among the employees. There's someone you shouldn't work with in the investigation team—no, never mind."

Kim Gapdong cut off his rambling. It wasn't something to say in front of the person involved. He looked away awkwardly.

Yeonwoo didn't seem to care and focused on the dice he could distinctly feel in his mind.

"...What about the dice? It's definitely an anomaly."

"Oh! I know this! Based on Yeonwoo's report, it’s been recorded in the anomaly list, and since it's the voluntary reporting period, there won't be any penalties."

"They won’t confiscate it either. They’ll consider it equipment used for investigation work."

Equipment that helps an investigator survive. The company wouldn’t take away gear obtained by a loyal employee.

Even the annoying experiments were blocked by the team leader. He had made it very clear that no one should mess with Yeonwoo or the dice.

'And...'

Above all, the company wasn't in a state to micromanage each employee and anomaly.

As an experienced Intelligence agent, Kim Gapdong felt the company's operations had become quite strange.

'The headquarters took away all the high-level and core personnel, cut the budget, moved essential resources to unknown places, and hardly respond to hostile groups.

What on earth is happening to the company—'

Creak—

The sound of a chair moving interrupted his thoughts. Kim Gapdong looked up.

Yeonwoo stood up from his seat.

"The interrogation is over, right? I'll be going now. Oh, and I’m not going to chase the Goldberg Club."

"No need to stop you."

It was a statement to avoid the restraint of the gold bar.

Seoyeon waved cheerfully.

"Next time, let’s have a meal with Sergeant Kang Yeol too! All of us!"

"Sure. But what's Sergeant Kang Yeol doing?"

"Still in basic training, I think? They said he’d be training for several months after enlisting in the Special Forces."

"Then, see you later."

Without looking back, Yeonwoo hurried up the stairs. His quick footsteps faded away, as if he couldn't wait to leave this place.

Watching the stairs, Kim Gapdong shook the hands tied to the desk leg with the belt. The desk rattled.

"Untie me now."

"Yes, sir."

Seoyeon untied the belt that had tightly bound him, and he rotated his wrist, which had turned pale from the tight binding, a few times. Agent Kim Gapdong reached under the chair and retrieved a recording device.

"Collect the other surveillance devices too. Let's check what happened while we were asleep."

After all, Yeonwoo could have been recruited during their sleep and staged a play with the Goldberg Club.

Seoyeon and Kim Gapdong retrieved the cameras and recorders from the corners of the basement and reviewed the contents. They reported to their superiors that Yeonwoo was a loyal employee.

Thus, Yeonwoo returned to his duties as an investigator.

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