Humanity Protection Company

TL/Editor: raei

Schedule: 5/week

Illustrations: None.

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[Introduction to Topology]

…The universe we live in is not the only dimension. There are adjacent dimensions surrounding us.

(A picture depicting various dimensions.)

There are numerous dimensions inhabited by unknown beings with unknown characteristics, including the hellish realms of demons, the afterlife, and many other second dimensions.

These dimensions generally have no connection to our world, like parallel lines, but they can intersect with our world through certain interactions called magic, shadows, and light from parallel dimensions, or astronomical coincidences.

(Three illustrations: a magician communicating with the dead, a farmer turning into a hunk of meat, and a traveler falling into the world of fairies.)

When dimensions intersect, the unlucky person at the intersection may communicate with beings from the other dimension, transform into one of them, or sometimes be entirely transported to that dimension.

The study of these dimensions is called topology—

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Lee Yeonwoo never wished for things to escalate to this extent. He only wanted to avoid the company’s examination.

In a vast world where blades of grass grew as tall as trees.

“Damn dice…”

Tiny as a mouse, Lee Yeonwoo held his face in his hands, recalling the recent past.

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The move had been quick. There wasn’t much to move in the first place. He had long since discarded the high stacks of civil service exam prep books, and he didn’t have many personal belongings.

He moved everything in one trip with his car.

The move was finished in no time.

A sunlit duplex studio.

Though it was empty now, he could fill it with things he bought with his earnings. It was a solid proof of escaping the life of a civil service exam student. How rewarding and fun that would be.

“….”

But Yeonwoo’s expression as he stood in the middle of the studio wasn’t good. In fact, it was rather gloomy. The time for the company’s thorough examination was approaching.

He paced around. He couldn’t stand still and circled the studio.

‘No matter how I think about it, I shouldn’t get tested….’

Thinking about the man who got caught makes it even clearer. His treatment only improved after he gave his life for the company. Before that, they didn’t even feed him, they just locked him up and experimented on him.

With the strange dice in his possession now, he was worried about what might happen. At the very least, he’d be imprisoned and subjected to numerous experiments. They’d try to figure out what kind of anomaly he had….

‘Repeating experiments would surely lead to dangerous situations. It’s better not to get tested.’

Moreover, doesn’t the thorough examination by the company feel very different from what a shaman would do?

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Despite deciding not to get tested, canceling the examination was also problematic.

Thud-

“Ah…. What should I say….”

Yeonwoo sat on the floor, staring at his phone. There were two messages.

One from the team leader, wishing him luck with the examination.

Another from the anomaly examination department, stating what time they’d come to pick him up today.

“Aaagh-!”

His groan echoed through the studio. Yeonwoo lay back, staring at the high ceiling of the duplex studio.

“Simply refusing the examination would be like admitting I have an anomaly.”

And he couldn’t think of a clever way to delay the examination either.

…Time passed without any good ideas, and the phone rang. It was from the same number as the text, the anomaly examination department. With a gloomy expression, Yeonwoo answered the call.

“Yes, that’s correct. You’ve arrived? Ah…. Yes, I’ll come down.”

The anomaly examination department had come to pick him up.

Yeonwoo sluggishly got up, dragging his feet as he left the studio.

As soon as he stepped outside, he saw a sedan parked on the roadside.

The person from the anomaly examination department, waiting with all the windows down, waved at him. It seemed they already had his personal information, recognizing him immediately.

"Here you are."

"...."

Yeonwoo approached silently, glancing at the person from the examination department and the car's interior through the window.

The person looked more like a combatant than a doctor or researcher. It seemed they were ready to subdue him if necessary, with a baton and a Taser placed on the passenger seat.

Yeonwoo hung his head low.

'Did they come to pick me up or arrest me?'

He already had a bad feeling. As he reached for the car door, he hesitated.

'Oh, please. I really don’t want to take this examination. I wish I could avoid it somehow—'

Roll-

Yeonwoo lifted his head. He met the eyes of the examination department staff, but his attention was drawn to the dice that had started rolling.

The dice stopped.

Critical success!

And then, the world changed.

Into a vast world. A dimension where humans were small and weak.

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"Damn dice.... Please, send me back...."

Yeonwoo whimpered, but the dice remained silent. Perhaps it meant that continuous use for similar requests was not possible. Yeonwoo squeezed his eyes shut, holding back tears.

'I asked to avoid the examination, not to be sent to some strange world....'

Understanding the situation wasn't difficult.

Just as someone who had summoned a demon of sloth and then gone to hell after thirteen days, the dice had transported Yeonwoo to this giant world.

Yeonwoo was now no bigger than a hamster, in a world full of creatures that could easily devour a hamster. There were swarms of bugs that seemed as large as big dogs, birds as big as airplanes, and countless other creatures.

A world where survival was uncertain. A world where taking the examination would have been better.

It was then.

Thump! Thump!

The ground shook in a steady rhythm. Yeonwoo hurriedly grabbed onto a blade of grass as large as a tree and fixed his legs, looking up. The sky darkened.

He thought a cloud had covered the sun. But no, it was a giant casting a shadow.

Thump! Thump!

With each step, the giant's massive body moved, leaving deep footprints in the ground.

A giant foot, descending like a meteor, cast a dark shadow over Yeonwoo. The sole of the shoe grew larger and larger. With his limited strength, Yeonwoo couldn't run far enough to escape. He let out a desperate scream.

"No-!"

"...Hmm?"

The foot stopped mid-air. The massive sole, shedding dust, slowly retreated.

The giant, balancing on one foot, looked down at Yeonwoo.

"Oh. It's a human."

Thump!

The giant carefully set his foot down and crouched. Even from a distance, the face was immense, like an impending collision with a meteorite. Yeonwoo stepped back.

Simultaneously, the dice rolled again.

Roll-

Success!

Yeonwoo’s Human Qualification Certificate fluttered to the ground beside him.

Of course, Yeonwoo, focusing all his attention on the giant who could crush him with a finger, didn’t notice it was the certificate.

The giant carefully picked up the certificate with his fingernail, squinting and reading its text aloud.

"What does it say? This entity is certified as a human. Oh."

The giant removed his finger and looked down at Yeonwoo. His crescent moon-shaped eyes and thunderous voice were intimidating.

"You're lucky. A human with a certification. I can sell you for a high price."

The giant's hand reached out slowly, and Yeonwoo, the size of a mouse, was helplessly caught. The grip was loose, but the strength was such that even a slight squeeze could crush him.

Huuu- Hic-

Yeonwoo exhaled softly, closing his eyes.

'Why did the Human Qualification Certificate appear here? What kind of world is this…?'

Not only was it giant, but also… Yeonwoo opened his eyes and gasped. He let out a shout with all his strength.

“Hey! Where is this, and who are you—”

“Oh, listen to you whine. You’re full of energy. I’ll make sure to sell you at a high price. I’m a successful seller of pet humans, you see.”

The giant pocketed the Human Qualification Certificate and lightly flicked Yeonwoo’s head. His head jerked as if his neck would snap.

But it wasn’t the pain that bothered him; it was the talk about selling humans as pets.

Feeling the vibrations and rough wind as the giant walked, Yeonwoo screamed internally.

‘Damn dice! Send me back now!’

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The giant crossed the field and entered what seemed to Yeonwoo like a massive castle but was just a large hut to the giant.

As soon as they entered, the giant pulled out a cage lined with iron bars and shoved Yeonwoo inside. The cage, about the size of a small room, confined Yeonwoo, who rubbed his numb arms and legs.

His entire body tingled from the lack of blood flow while being held tightly.

“Hmm, hmm. I’ll feed the others first, then move you to the room with the valuable humans.”

The giant stomped around the hut. Yeonwoo, regaining his composure, watched him carefully.

‘First, let’s understand the situation.’

He realized he had come to a giant’s world where humans were bought and sold as pets. The giant couldn’t understand human speech, hearing it as barking, while Yeonwoo could understand the giant’s language and writing.

Still, he needed a more detailed grasp of this strange world.

Thud!

The giant lifted a large bowl and scooped out round pellets from a container-sized sack.

Humming a tune, he approached cages stacked against the hut’s wall like a chicken coop.

“Time to eat, products.”

Yeonwoo saw them then: numerous humans crowded inside cages, each marked with various tags.

[Clearance! Five humans for the price of one!]

[Collars included!]

[Ask for prices! Friendly service!]

[Mixed breed. Male. Young. Healthy.]

[Mixed breed. Female. Old. Sickly.]

[Mixed breed. Male. Young. Energetic.]

[Mixed breed… Female…]

[Mixed breed… Docile…]

Countless naked humans pressed against the cage bars. The giant poured handfuls of pellets into bowls attached to the cages. The humans reached through the bars to grab and eat the pellets.

Yeonwoo’s face turned pale, but this was just the beginning.

“Let’s move the precious ones to the luxury room.”

The giant picked up Yeonwoo’s cage and carried it deeper into the hut. Clinging to the bars of his shaking cage, Yeonwoo made eye contact with other humans in the adjacent cages.

Creak—

The door opened.