Chapter 23
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Thanks for the Meal!
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Thanks for the meal!
"Mountain bunny, bunny, where are you going? Hop, hop! Where you hopping off to?"
I sang the tune with glee.
Dasom was tagging along right beside me.
"Mm-hmm-hmm. Hm-hm."
Dasom couldn't quite get the words right, so she just hummed the melody instead.
And up ahead.
"Eeeeek! Hwehhek!"
The rabbit was hopping along excitedly.
"Ahahaha!"
Seeing it like that made me burst out laughing.
It was so much fun.
I'd liked the place from the moment I arrived, but the longer I stayed, the better it felt.
So how did things end up like this?
Truth be told, I hadn't done anything special.
Back when we first got here.
The rabbit had said:
-This is Eden! A happy little pasture for everyone! Let me introduce you to the other friends!
The rabbit spoke in a bright voice.
Still clutching an axe in one hand.
-This friend's a fox! Hi, fox!
"Hnnngh, sob."
The rabbit's "fox" was a person.
A human with a rope around their neck, crawling on all fours.
-Ah, auu!
But when the rabbit raised its axe, they let out a desperate whine.
-The fox says hi too! Next up is the bear! Hi, bear!
-Hello!
The bear was like the rabbit. A talking animal.
Its hands ended in razor-sharp claws. And it stood about three meters tall.
-And over there...
And so the rabbit went around introducing us to all the other "beast" friends.
Once the introductions were done, it came back and said:
-Now that the new friends are here, how about some fun games?
"Sounds good! What kind of game?"
-Prisoners and guards!
By then,
other animals had gathered around.
Not humans—the real animals, like the rabbit.
-You're new, so you'll be the prisoners, and we'll be the guards!
"Got it! How do we play?"
-Simple! Prisoners run away, and guards chase them!
"Like tag!"
-Yeah! But with a twist! Guards have the right to execute prisoners.
As it said that, the rabbit raised the axe in its hand.
-Guards can execute however they want! Sound fun?
"Yeah! Then next round, prisoners become guards, right?"
-Exactly!
-You won't back out, will you?
-Let's play, let's play!
"Yep! I'll do it! You too, Dasom?"
Dasom didn't answer.
But Dasom and I had that kind of bond—no words needed! I read her mind and answered for her.
"One!"
-Great!
And so, prisoners and guards began.
The rabbit, the bear, and the other animal friends chased us with weapons or something menacing.
Dasom and I ran for our lives. If we got caught, we'd have to be the tagger.
But eventually, the moment came.
Dasom got caught first.
-Alright! I'm chopping off her legs! She's too tall, I don't like it!
-I'll hold her down!
The animal friends pinned Dasom down together, and the rabbit raised its axe.
Kwachik!
Dasom's legs were cleanly severed.
But the gory bloodbath and screams they'd hoped for... didn't happen.
Dasom was an anomaly, after all.
Her severed legs just reattached.
The animal friends gawked, eyes wide.
And Dasom casually picked up her legs and stuck them back on.
-N-next, you!
-Let's chop off her head and hang it on a tree!
The flustered animal friends turned to me next.
And without hesitation, they lopped off my head.
My vision spun wildly before thudding roughly to the ground.
"Alright, now I'm it!"
I called out to the animal friends.
Now I was the guard.
"Counting to five! Five!"
They just blinked as I started counting.
Like they couldn't process what was happening.
"Four."
I kept counting anyway.
A few animals bolted.
"Three! Two!"
By two, hardly any were left.
"One!"
And when I shouted one,
only the bear remained.
I lightly reattached my head.
The bear finally started running.
But half-heartedly.
Like it didn't care if it got caught—what could I do to it?
That attitude pissed me off.
Playing a sacred game so sloppily!
"Hya!"
Kwaduk!
So I slammed it into the ground.
Its body was steel-hard, but no big deal.
Kuduk, kaduk, kwaduk!
-Guhk, guk, keheuk!
It wouldn't go in easy, so I had to press a few times.
Now the bear was a door!
Seeing it still alive like that put my mind at ease.
I could go all out!
And so I hunted down the other animals.
"You're the last one!"
After a bunch of back-and-forth, I was chasing the final prisoner: the rabbit.
-S-spare meee!
"Don't worry! I won't kill you!"
-Eeeeek!
Unlike the bear, the rabbit played for real!
Such convincing acting!
I should ask it to teach me later!
Man, the rabbit was fast. No wonder it caught me first.
-Ack!
Thud!
But all good things come to an end.
The rabbit, who'd been dodging great, tripped on some grass.
I pounced and grabbed it.
-Spare me, spare me, spare me, spare...
"Aw, I won't kill you! Right, Dasom?"
Dasom silently flicked out her tongue.
She must be hungry.
We'd been running around a ton!
I grinned, snatched the rabbit's axe, and brought it down without hesitation.
-GyaAAAAAAAH!
"Ahahaha!"
I couldn't hold back my laughter at the sight.
The axe was buried in the dirt between the rabbit's long ears.
"You're a great actor, rabbit!"
-N-not acting... ugh!
I grabbed its ears and hoisted it up.
Then asked:
"How about a question instead of punishment?"
-Y-yes!
"Where's the real owner here?"
The rabbit froze.
-Th-the real owner?
"Yeah. You guys are just squatters, right?"
These weren't part of the anomaly.
Just captives here.
Like that fox-mimicking human earlier.
How'd I know?
Simple.
If they were anomalies, they'd have reacted differently to me.
Or at least noticed Dasom wasn't normal.
-Wh-what do you... I-I don't know.
The rabbit stammered.
I stared it down and quickly realized it wasn't lying.
The rabbit didn't know who really owned Eden.
Even though it seemed the most assimilated, probably here the longest.
"Hmm."
So where was the main body?
I pondered briefly, then gave up.
"Let's head back!"
We'd played enough—it was time to go.
I could come back later!
So I called Dasom, took her hand, and reached out with my other.
Suuuuu-
The shadow writhed, then burrowed into the ground.
To tear open the boundary to the outside.
The rabbit's eyes grew wider watching.
Riiip-
And as something tore,
up in the sky.
Something appeared.
Hundreds of eyes.
Ashen wings. Anchor. Ring.
It gazed down at the earth.
Inspecting an intruder trying to escape its domain.
It spoke.
-■■■, ■■■■?
"We've played enough, time to go home!"
-■■■.
"Can't I? Why not?"
-■■!
"Aha! I get it!"
I understood.
It didn't seem greedy or anything.
Would anyone care about food inside their belly?
Would anyone rip open their stomach just because a fish inside begged to be let out?
Same thing here.
It was the predator.
We were just food in its belly.
Suuuuu-
It lowered something massive.
To deal with the ruckus in its gut.
"Hehe."
So I laughed.
The sight of it thinking it was the predator.
Talk about a frog in a well!
In the deep places of my world, it'd be less than a roadside pebble.
Strutting around in this fragile glass world.
"Alright!"
Still, I'd respect it a bit.
If it was trying to eat me,
I'd do the same right back.
"Thanks for the meal."
I reached out.
Last time, I'd stuffed myself on that doll, but now there was plenty of room.
This thing? Perfect size.
Snap-
I snapped my fingers,
and the world went dark for a moment.
Then, for a good while, the sounds of biting, chewing, and gulping echoed in the blackness.
My belly swelled fuller and fuller.
Luckily, before it was packed to bursting.
Fwaaah-!
The world lit up again.
And the thing in the sky was gone without a trace.
"H-hiiiik-!"
The rabbit, back to human form, screamed belatedly.
Screams echoed from humans all around.
But my eyes were elsewhere.
"Hm."
Eating it, I'd realized one thing.
That thing.
Wasn't 'wild-caught'.
"Fun."
Looks like this world is even more interesting than I thought.