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 soone 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 tis he'd faced that monster.
"Let's see, let's see..." he muttered.
He rembered regaining consciousness to the urgent shouts of the Ti Rabbit and the operator at headquarters.
"The mont 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 mories blurring together.
"Hm?"
That was it. No matter how hard he thought, he couldn't rember 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?" ca 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 ti we're eting!" Kim Ki-Rok exclaid.
"Yeah."
"Why is that?"
"Because we ford a bond through a trade."
With that simple explanation, Kim Ki-Rok didn't need to rack his mory to find the answer.
"The carrying pouch, right?"
"That's right. You made a trade with . 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 ford," the Ti 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?"
"Ti Rabbit. Tabbit."
"Tabbit..." The rabbit nodded approvingly, evidently liking the nickna. "But you didn't get the luggage through a direct trade with ," it added.
"Aha! So the bond ford because, unlike the luggage, I got the carrying pouch skill in a direct trade with you?"
"Correct. This was the first ti 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 sothing about unexpected charm," the Ti Rabbit warned.
"As expected of a ti-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 ?"
"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 soone 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 ti-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 Ti Rabbits can even stop ti?"
Tabbit let out another sigh and nodded. "Yeah. But if you touch anyone in the frozen state, ti resus."
"So I can't pet you, Mr. Tabbit."
"Yeah."
"Got it. Will we et again?"
"It's possible, but I won't. I'm busy," Tabbit replied.
"Right. You said your species records and observes, right?"
"Mhm."
Ti Rabbits observed the beginnings and ends of dinsions. Rembering that Tabbit had stopped showing up at so 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 dinsions."
"Just like this ti 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 dinsions.'"
Tabbit shook its head repeatedly, exasperated. "Ah, I really hate this... Hell periodically invades dinsions, and each ti 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 dinsions. They imdiately 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 ti?"
"As I said, Hell invades other dinsions," Tabbit repeated.
"Hell invades other dinsions... 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 dinsions rge 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 dinsional collision could happen," Tabbit said.
Now, Kim Ki-Rok understood why he was talking with the Ti 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 stamred.
"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 Ti Rabbits can cross ti 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 Ti 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 mories to make money, but get scamd or robbed. Sotis, 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 tis, they still fail."
"Why not just keep trying?" Kim Ki-Rok asked.
"They have no talent for morization, either. Sure, you can try to improve, but what's the condition for using the Ti Rabbit's power?"
"Deaths other than natural causes or suicide."
"Right. They have to suffer accidents, or be killed, to return. And each ti, they carry all the mories of those lives, including the pain of dying."
Kim Ki-Rok nodded. "I get it."
Across hundreds of deaths, the pain was sotis unbearable. Other tis, it ended so quickly there was no ti to feel it.
Kim Ki-Rok guessed most wouldn't survive even ten cycles and he started to say sothing, 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."
"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 exclaid.
1. An informal Korean honorific used to an "the best" or "aweso," added playfully to Tabbit's na to show admiration or affection. ☜
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