Chapter 249: The Earth System Delivers a Message (1)

Kim Ki-Rok slowly opened his eyes, staring blankly at the sky above.

"What...?"

It wasn't the dark, oppressive sky of Hell, but a clear blue expanse.

Sprawled out, gazing upward, Kim Ki-Rok turned his head. The trucks hauling rampart repair materials and expendable gear had vanished. The buildings and barracks, constructed by magic and skills, were gone as well.

All around him were trees within a dense forest. After taking in his surroundings, Kim Ki-Rok slowly sat up and looked around more closely. There was a tiny, whimsical hut so small, even a child might struggle to enter. Next to it, a small field suggested someone gardened here as a hobby.

"A hut..."

This definitely wasn't inside the Gate, nor was it Hell.

"What is this place?"

He'd fought the Hell King. In the endless cycles of regression, he'd lost count of how many times he'd faced that monster.

"Let's see, let's see..." he muttered.

He remembered regaining consciousness to the urgent shouts of the Time Rabbit and the operator at headquarters.

"The moment I retreated from the Hell King... I used that artifact."

He had tricked the Hell King with illusion and teleportation magic.

"And then I let out a string of curses as soon as I returned to headquarters."

He'd regressed again and again, his memories blurring together.

"Hm?"

That was it. No matter how hard he thought, he couldn't remember what happened after cursing. He tilted his head in confusion. As he mulled it over, the door of the tiny hut opened, and its owner stepped outside.

"You're awake?" came a voice.

"Oh! Why on earth..." Kim Ki-Rok trailed off.

"Hm?"

"Why aren't you hopping?!"

A small, adorable rabbit waddled toward him with uncharacteristically heavy steps. It wore a straw hat and clutched a pocket watch. With a frown and a deep sigh, the rabbit looked him over and said, "As expected of the Crazy Bastard."

"

Hahaha!

This is the first time we're meeting!" Kim Ki-Rok exclaimed.

"Yeah."

"Why is that?"

"Because we formed a bond through a trade."

With that simple explanation, Kim Ki-Rok didn't need to rack his memory to find the answer.

"The carrying pouch, right?"

"That's right. You made a trade with me. You bought a skill to gather information about the Hell King, to spread that information, and to help those struggling to focus as the Gate clear approached. That's how our bond was formed," the Time Rabbit said.

"I always thought I was close with Tabbit, even before I bought the skill. Wasn't that true?" Kim Ki-Rok asked.

"Tabbit?"

"Time Rabbit. Tabbit."

"Tabbit..." The rabbit nodded approvingly, evidently liking the nickname. "But you didn't get the luggage through a direct trade with me," it added.

"Aha! So the bond formed because, unlike the luggage, I got the carrying pouch skill in a direct trade with you?"

"Correct. This was the first time we've dealt directly, and because of that bond, I could call you here."

Despite its small, adorable body and gentle voice, the rabbit spoke with the gruffness of an old man.

"I'll kill you if you say something about unexpected charm," the Time Rabbit warned.

"As expected of a time-traveling rabbit," Kim Ki-Rok praised as it muttered under its breath. "So, why am I here?"

"Because if you rested like normal, your brain might explode."

"Excuse me?"

"You never let yourself rest, not with regression, not with dying, either."

His neck had been severed, his heart ripped out, his torso flung away. He'd even smashed headfirst into the ground once.

"And, what's it called... flow state? Before you could reach it, you just walked up and offered yourself to the Hell King," Tabbit continued.

"Oh!"

"Your brain won't literally explode, but if you stayed in that state, you could have ended up an idiot. That's why I brought you here."

"You brought my body?" Kim Ki-Rok asked.

Tabbit nodded. "Yeah."

"Uh... isn't that dangerous?"

If someone who should have been resting disappeared from the Gate, it would worry a lot of people. Vanishing inside the clear team's area would cause chaos.

Seeing his concern, Tabbit shook its head. "No. Our species can time-travel. We can move to the past or the future. We may not be strong, but we can survive and escape from any enemy."

Though Tabbit was tiny and adorable and its voice had an oddly charming, old-fashioned gruffness, that did nothing to soften the force of its murderous glare. "I told you I'd kill you if you say 'unexpected charm.'"

Nonetheless, Kim Ki-Rok was immune to it. "Ah, how adorable... So, the Time Rabbits can even stop time?"

Tabbit let out another sigh and nodded. "Yeah. But if you touch anyone in the frozen state, time resumes."

"So I can't pet you, Mr. Tabbit."

"Yeah."

"Got it. Will we meet again?"

"It's possible, but I won't. I'm busy," Tabbit replied.

"Right. You said your species records and observes, right?"

"Mhm."

Time Rabbits observed the beginnings and ends of dimensions. Remembering that Tabbit had stopped showing up at some point,

Kim Ki-Rok fell briefly into thought, then smiled faintly. "Hell?"

"

Tsk.

Still sharp, just as I thought," Tabbit remarked. "Hell periodically invades other dimensions."

"Just like this time with Earth," Kim Ki-Rok stated.

"Yeah." Tabbit said as it trudged over, plopped down in front of Kim Ki-Rok, and looked up at him.

"So small and huggable, as always."

"Shut your mouth," Tabbit snapped.

"Yes, sir."

"So, where were we?"

The rabbit remained silent.

Feeling impatient, Kim Ki-Rok continued. "You said, 'Hell periodically invades other dimensions.'"

Tabbit shook its head repeatedly, exasperated. "Ah, I really hate this... Hell periodically invades dimensions, and each time they do, they destroy a total of four."

"And one of those is Earth?" Kim Ki-Rok asked.

"Yeah."

"But no Gate tied to Hell actually appeared on Earth," Kim Ki-Rok noted.

"Earth blocked it," Tabbit answered.

"Why?"

"Humans couldn't withstand it, and Hell can use bridges it's already built on other invaded dimensions. They immediately leap to new targets through the Gates."

Kim Ki-Rok crossed his arms, thinking. After a short pause, he asked quietly, "Earth decided it was impossible?"

"Yeah."

"Then what about the Hell Gate that appeared this time?"

"As I said, Hell invades other dimensions," Tabbit repeated.

"Hell invades other dimensions... I see."

Realization dawned, and Kim Ki-Rok's expression hardened. "So Hell isn't invading Earth through Gates, the doors to other worlds."

Tabbit nodded and raised its right paw. It paused for a while, staring at Kim Ki-Rok, then asked, "Are you going to ask why I raised my paw?"

"Because you walk on two legs?"

"Yup. So the invasion goes like this," the rabbit said quickly, refusing to let his jokes sink in.

"This is Hell." Tabbit wiggled its right paw, then raised its left.

"This is Earth." The left paw shook, and the right paw moved closer.

"They collide. The dimensions merge through impact."

"And that's why Hell shows up on Earth," Kim Ki-Rok concluded.

"Exactly."

"That's horrifying."

"Exactly. So Earth opened the Hell Gate first, before the dimensional collision could happen," Tabbit said.

Now, Kim Ki-Rok understood why he was talking with the Time Rabbit, and why Hell had manifested on Earth.

"There were a few things I wanted to ask..."

"Our species went extinct in Hell's invasion. You're not a regressor, or in Earth terms, not a 'regressor rabbit,' huh?"

"I'm not?" Kim Ki-Rok asked.

"No."

"Ah, what a pity."

"Pity?" Tabbit echoed.

"Yeah."

Tabbit, recognizing that he was dealing with the infamous Crazy Bastard, let it slide.

"The reason you can use the species' power is because you're special," Tabbit explained.

"S-special?" Kim Ki-Rok stammered.

"Yeah. Special."

"How am I special?"

"You have no talent, but you're absurdly persistent."

"Uh..." Kim Ki-Rok was at a loss.

"Our species' power requires a very special condition: you must be utterly without talent."

"Is that because Time Rabbits can cross time and space freely?"

"Yeah. Imagine giving even a little of that power to a talented human. What do you think would happen?"

"They'd ruin everything."

"Exactly. That's why only the talentless can use it."

Kim Ki-Rok fell silent. He blinked, looked at Tabbit, then laughed hollowly. "So I can use the Time Rabbits' power because I'm incompetent?"

"Yup."

"What about people in other worlds? What happens to those who get the species' power elsewhere?"

"You're persistent, and always quick on the uptake. Well, spoilers, but none of their stories end well," Tabbit replied.

"They commit suicide?" Kim Ki-Rok asked.

"Yup. The only power granted to the talentless is returning to the past. Sure, going back is powerful, but none of them manage to live out a good, full life."

"Why not?"

"Because they have no talent."

"Even if they know the future?"

"They try to use their future memories to make money, but get scammed or robbed. Sometimes, people in power just take it from them."

It was a plausible story.

"They fail, go back, and correct their mistakes over and over. But they always fail. In the end, they end their own lives."

"Why?" Kim Ki-Rok pressed.

"Hey."

"Yes, Tabbit-jjang[1]?"

"It's not that they're short on talent. They have none. Even after fixing their mistakes dozens, hundreds of times, they still fail."

"Why not just keep trying?" Kim Ki-Rok asked.

"They have no talent for memorization, either. Sure, you can try to improve, but what's the condition for using the Time Rabbit's power?"

"Deaths other than natural causes or suicide."

"Right. They have to suffer accidents, or be killed, to return. And each time, they carry all the memories of those lives, including the pain of dying."

Kim Ki-Rok nodded. "I get it."

Across hundreds of deaths, the pain was sometimes unbearable. Other times, it ended so quickly there was no time to feel it.

Kim Ki-Rok guessed most wouldn't survive even ten cycles and he started to say something, but suddenly paused. "Huh? I lasted through thousands of regressions, though," he realized.

"That's the thing. You're weird. You feel the pain too," Tabbit said.

"I do."

"But you keep going."

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"I do."

"Besides, your odds of success were higher than others'. So even when you failed, your despair was less than theirs."

"My odds were higher?"

"Your skill, Record."

"Ah!" Kim Ki-Rok exclaimed.

1. An informal Korean honorific used to mean "the best" or "awesome," added playfully to Tabbit's name to show admiration or affection. ☜