Humanity Protection Company

191 - Ending

TL/Editor: raeiStatus: 5/week mon-fri

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As Yeonwoo grasped the threads, his surroundings changed in an instant. It was his first visit home since starting work. The scent of childhood memories wafted through the air, and the house looked exactly as he remembered it.

The living room was cluttered with drying vegetables - a stereotypical countryside scene.

But there was no time for nostalgia.

Groans of pain echoed from the main bedroom. Yeonwoo rushed to fling open the door.

"Mom!"

"I'm dying, I swear."

His mother, her leg in a cast, lifted her head slightly from the bedding. Her wrinkled eyes widened at the sight of her long-absent son.

"Am I seeing things? Is it my time already?"

There was no way her wayward son would suddenly show up like this. It wasn't like him at all.

'Is he the Grim Reaper?'

She quickly grabbed a nearby water glass, ready to throw it.

Yeonwoo noticed the cast and medicine packets, signs of medical treatment. He relaxed a bit and sat down beside his mother.

"What happened?"

"Is it really you, Yeonwoo?"

"Of course it's me, who else..."

It could be someone else. A doppelganger or some anomalous entity manifesting memories, or hostile groups trying to take a Level 6's family hostage.

Yeonwoo pushed those thoughts aside and changed the subject.

"How did you get hurt?"

"A wild boar got me. I dodged quickly enough that it only got my leg. I'm lucky to be alive. Don't worry. But why did you come all the way here?"

"Ah. A wild boar."

Yeonwoo recalled his childhood memories.

The rural village where he grew up. A battlefield between humans and wildlife.

Packs of feral dogs roamed the streets, hungry for blood. Wild boars and deer raided crops, while snakes lurked in the grass like assassins.

That wasn't all.

In the sky, magpies, sparrows, and birds of prey circled,

"I'll be counting on you in the future as well."

Yeonwoo grasped the threads to bestow a weak blessing of luck. Having said his piece, he was about to leave when the man quickly grabbed his sleeve.

"Mr. Yeonwoo. There's something suspicious about this incident. Our agents are searching the mountain."

"...Something suspicious?"

Yeonwoo stopped. If it was a simple accident, there was no need to worry. But if it was a plot targeting him...

A strange light gleamed in Yeonwoo's eyes, and the man gulped.

"It's not the season for wild boars to come down the mountain. But not just boars - many wild animals fled down as if escaping something."

"Did something happen on the mountain?"

"It's definitely suspicious. For now, the agent we stationed near your father is scouting the area."

Yeonwoo turned his head. The dim evening light was falling. His gaze swept over the darkening mountain.

He grasped the wriggling threads of probability in his hand. Unlike before, when he'd only roughly checked his parents' survival, he now examined all related probability threads in detail.

When that wasn't enough, he sometimes manifested the possibility of gaining knowledge, mixing in abilities like clairvoyance or past viewing.

Yeonwoo's eyes darted about, probing the air as he clumsily imitated omniscience with his omnipotent power. A moment later, his expression changed.

"A magician?"

Someone had clumsily opened a two-dimensional door in the mountains. Not quite a magician - more like an amateur who caused an accident while imitating magic with a spellbook they'd stumbled upon.

The man was startled.

"A magician is involved?"

"Not exactly, but something similar. I'll handle this. We should resolve it quickly."

In the past Yeonwoo had seen, the amateur magician had turned a clearing into a mass of flesh. That door was still open. In the future, the contamination would spread, turning the entire mountain into flesh.

'Ah, why another incident?'

Yeonwoo clenched his fist irritably and teleported.

An amateur magician who'd taught themselves from a spellbook without a proper teacher. He'd have to kidnap - no, arrest them and hand them over to the company. Let them manage dimensional portals or something.

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