23-year-old Jeong Yusin had been transported to another world.
It was a sudden and unexpected event.
He had just bought cigarettes and a drink from a convenience store at dawn and was heading home. It was the time when everyone was asleep. Jeong Yusin stood in the middle of the road with a cigarette in his mouth.
“Tsik, tsik.”
The lighter wouldn’t produce a flame.
“Hey! Why isn’t it working?”
Annoyed, he flicked the lighter again, and finally, a flame emerged.
He lit the cigarette, and as he inhaled through the filter, smoke filled his lungs.
“Hmm. What now?”
As he looked up and blew out the cigarette smoke, he realized something strange. He was standing in the middle of a forest.
There were beautiful women with long ears, kneeling on the ground with their hands bound. They closely resembled the elves depicted in books and movies. When he turned his head, he also saw some rough-looking humans standing nearby, wielding swords and bows, which made them appear even more threatening.
A One-Eyed Man carefully approached Jeong Yusin and asked, “Who are you?”
“Who are you? Where am I?”
“…”
The men looked at him suspiciously but didn’t move.
“Where am I? I was heading home just now…”
A crackling sound rang out, and Jeong Yusin’s head was filled with warmth. As the ground rushed up to his vision, he heard a voice behind him.
“Boss! I’ve caught him!”
“Ah, it’s some incompetent Mage. Well done.”
With that, Jeong Yusin lost consciousness.
“Clank, clank.”
The rattling woke Jeong Yusin. He was lying on his back; his mouth was gagged, and his hands and feet were bound by iron shackles. His neck ached, having presumably been in a strained position for quite some time.
“Ung ung.”
Looking around, he saw the elves, gagged like himself. Their eyes seemed lifeless as they stared at the bottom of the cart.
“Clank!”
The cart came to a stop, and a gruff voice boomed out.
“We’ll camp here for the night!”
“My back is killing me. This is too much.”
Voices around him muttered complaints.
“Creak.”
The back door of the cart opened, and the One-Eyed Man from earlier stood there.
“Bring out that Mage from earlier. We need to interrogate him.”
At the One-Eyed Man’s command, two younger men stepped forward and dragged Jeong Yusin off the cart.
They roughly pulled him to the ground.
“Ugh!”
“Swiftly.”
A sharp sword was pointed at Jeong Yusin’s neck.
“Listen, Mage. One wrong word, and it’s all over. Don’t think about casting spells.”
The gag in Jeong Yusin’s mouth was removed.
“I’m not a Mage.”
“Then what’s this artifact?”
The One-Eyed Man presented the lighter.
“This is a tool for lighting fires.”
“How does it work?”
“Spin the wheel and press the button.”
After a few trials, the One-Eyed Man managed to produce fire with the lighter.
“Wow, this is a fascinating device. And you’re not a Mage?”
“What’s a Mage? Where am I?”
The One-Eyed Man chuckled.
“You’re a funny guy.”
“Yes?”
“Friend, let’s be logical here. If you dropped out of the sky, what else could you be but a Mage? Do I look like I’m joking?”
Jeong Yusin’s head throbbed. The One-Eyed Man’s tone grew increasingly menacing.
‘Should I just tell the truth?’
Judging by the man’s expression, it seemed unlikely that he would believe him.
“Answer me.”
Jeong Yusin swallowed hard.
“I’m from another world. I don’t know how I got here.”
“Ha ha ha!”
The One-Eyed Man and his subordinates burst into roaring laughter for some time.
The laughter abruptly stopped as the One-Eyed Man grabbed Jeong Yusin’s hair and yanked his head up.
“Get on your knees.”
The subordinates kicked Jeong Yusin’s knees, making him kneel. The One-Eyed Man then placed the terrifying blade against his throat.
“Do you know what I hate the most after ten years as a Slave Hunter?”
“…”
The unexpected threat of death left him frozen in place.
“Lying. That ‘I’m this person,’ ‘I’m that person,’ with all sorts of skills. ‘Don’t kill me, please spare me.’ All lies.”
The man continued, “Liars always have this unwarranted confidence that they can fool everybody.”
The One-Eyed Man proceeded,
“Mage, if you’re going to lie, at least put in some effort.”
“I’m telling the truth! I fell from somewhere else!!”
The One-Eyed Man smirked.
“This Mage is delusional. You’re probably stalling, expecting backup to arrive. Too late. Farewell.”
“Shit.”
The blade pressed deeply into his throat. The One-Eyed Man’s remaining eye showed no emotion.
Is this really it for me?
SWISH! THUD!
An arrow flew through the air and pierced the One-Eyed Man’s head, and he collapsed to the ground without a sound.
“Boss!”
“Ambush!”
The men quickly dropped to the ground and reached for their weapons.
However, the arrows were faster. Every time the sound of them cutting the air was heard, screams followed.
THUD!
A large Elpyeon wolf humanoid landed in front of Jeong Yusin, kneeling on the ground.
“Don’t move a muscle, human.”
Jeong Yusin stared in confusion as the evening twilight deepened; a wolf humanoid with red ears and tail emerged from the forest.
“Karin-sama, I found them.”
This wolf, called Karin, flicked her tail happily.
“Remove his restraints.”
A few wolf humanoids accompanying Karin entered the cart.
TINK! TINK! TINK!
The sound of shackles breaking was heard repeatedly, and the prisoners inside were set free.
“Urgh.”
The red wolf humanoid stretched her arms, revealing that her breasts were almost bursting from her leather armor.
The situation was quickly resolved. Ten robust wolf humanoids gathered around, slicing the humans with arrows still stuck in them.
There were many screams, but few sounds of swords clashing, and no groans from the wounded.
Even Jeong Yusin, coming from the modern world, could sense the incredible skill gap between the slave hunters and these wolf humanoids.
THUD.
Human heads rolled and stopped before Jeong Yusin’s eyes.
“Black hair? What’s a Northerner Barbaroy doing here?”
Kneeling Jeong Yusin looked up to see a red-haired wolf humanoid gazing down at him, arms crossed. She must be Karin.
“Bow down.”
With a rough hand, the wolf humanoid forced Jeong Yusin’s head down into the ground.
“Graaagh.”
The blood from the slave hunters’ necks soaked the ground, covering Jeong Yusin’s face.
Their blood was metallic and sticky.
“Speak.”
The hand gripping his head tightened, pushing his face further into the ground.
“Randolph, release his head.”
“But, Karin-sama—”
“Randolph.”
“Understood.”
The pressure slackened, and Jeong Yusin lifted his head.
“So, you’re not going to talk? What’s a Northerner Barbaroy doing here?”
Barbaroy.
It meant “barbarian.”
Clearly, they had decided Jeong Yusin was from their world.
Karin observed him silently, and Jeong Yusin could not deny reality when confronted with such evidence before his eyes.
He had indeed ended up in another world.
But people had treated his explanation as if it were a joke.
He didn’t want to tread the same old path again.
He didn’t want to have his life threatened, especially by someone stronger than the slave hunters.
Providing a trouble-free answer seemed to be the best course of action.
“I was walking in the forest and got captured.”
“Hmph!”
Karin chuckled in derision and picked up the fallen One-Eyed Man’s lighter.
CLACK. CLACK.
Karin easily made fire with the lighter.
“Intriguing. Randolph, release this human’s chains.”
“Hai.”
Brief response. A sharp snapping sound followed, and Jeong Yusin’s hands and feet were freed.
“So, human, let’s go our separate ways. This artifact, I’m taking it.”
Karin inserted the lighter into her pouch and led the elves and the other wolf humanoids away from the forest clearing.
Jeong Yusin collapsed to the ground after getting up from his kneeling position. He wiped the dirt and blood from his face with the back of his hand.
Looking around, the only living thing left besides him was piles of decapitated bodies.
“Damn, it burns. What the hell kind of world is this?”
He had no idea why he was brought to this world.
Calling out for a “Status Window” brought no results.
“Stats.”
Nothing responded.
“Shit this place.”
Jeong Yusin stood up. He couldn’t just sit around. He needed to gather supplies to survive since one must be alive to solve a mystery.
He rummaged through the headless corpses and found some leather pouches containing coins, water, dried meat, and hard bread which he stuffed into his bag.
He stripped one body of the best hard leather armor and put it on. It was easier to remove since the corpse had no head.
He also picked up a bastard sword, attaching it to his waist, and carried a round shield in his left hand.
When he tried leaving the clearing, the surroundings were already enveloped in darkness. It had become night.
Though he had the fortitude to calmly look upon severed heads, he lacked the courage to wander in a headless night in the woods.
He decided to spend the night inside the cart. With that thought, he crawled into the cart.
*
By morning, Jeong Yusin pushed the cart door open and stepped outside.
Everything was the same as he had left it. The field scattered with headless corpses.
Jeong Yusin slumped against the cart wheel.
His stomach growled.
He drank from his water skin and nibbled on the last bits of cured meat to quiet his hunger.
Where should I go?
The overwhelming helplessness made it hard to breathe.
POP!
Jeong Yusin slapped his cheek.
“After leaving the woods, head to the nearest village.”
He said his plan aloud. He’d figure out the rest when the time came.
Jeong Yusin didn’t start an adventure by plunging headfirst into the thick forest.
Instead, he followed the cart’s wheel tracks, as he thought safety was more important than adventure.
The two horses pulling the cart had been ridden away yesterday by the red-haired wolf woman Karin and a giant male wolf humanoid named Randolph. He couldn’t forget the name of the wolf who had grabbed his face and covered it in blood.
Their tracks indicated they had followed the cart’s tracks back.
Jeong Yusin frowned.
He wasn’t comfortable with the idea of trailing Karin’s group, but he was confident it was still a good choice. He walked for a while — perhaps a couple hours?
Instead of the scent of grass, a sharp metallic smell now filled the air.
Jeong Yusin immediately drew the bastard sword from his waist.
The weight of the blade, unlike a kitchen knife, made his body tense with excitement.
He entered the bushes by the side of the road treaded by the cart slowly and cautiously.
The brutal scene on the road came into clear view.
