Not a barbarian warrior.

After finalizing the contract for thirty silver coins, Eugene returned to Daisy’s house and busied himself.

There was a lot to prepare to catch the monster lurehorn.

Daisy watched him and asked if there was anything she could help with.

“If you have mugwort, bring me some. The more, the better.”

“Mugwort? It’s all over the roadside, but what are you going to use it for when it’s not even edible…? Alright, I’ll get it.”

She soon returned with a basket full of mugwort.

Eugene transferred it to a wooden tub and filled it with water.

“What is it for?”

“I’ll show you tomorrow. You’ll see.”

Eugene took out all his equipment and inspected it.

He closely examined the throwing knives and sword he had used to kill the wolves, then sharpened them with a whetstone.

He also checked the condition of the crossbow. He carefully inspected whether the internal parts, including the loading trigger, were working well, and whether the joint of the bow was not misaligned.

Then he took out small bottles and checked how much of their contents remained.

By the time he finished all the inspections, night had fallen.

Eugene spent the night at Daisy’s house, and as soon as the sun rose the next day, he checked the wooden tub where he had put the mugwort.

He scooped up some of the contents and smelled it, and it had a strong grassy scent. This was enough.

He soaked a cloth in the mugwort-infused water and wiped his entire body. Not only that, but he also thoroughly rubbed it on the clothes and equipment he would wear today.

Daisy, who woke up to the rustling sounds early in the morning, saw Eugene and asked, tilting her head:

“What are you doing? Why are you applying that to your body and clothes?”

“To hide my scent. This much is necessary to deceive that monster’s sense of smell.”

At those words, Daisy approached Eugene but immediately grabbed her nose and reacted:

“Ugh…! The grass smell is overwhelming. I’d certainly believe you if you said you were a walking mugwort plant at this point.”

Eugene chuckled at her words and began to put on his clothes and equipment soaked in mugwort scent.

He wore a gambeson, a cloth armor filled with linen thickly layered over a tunic, and put on gauntlets and boots made of tough leather on his hands and feet.

He inserted a sword and dagger, as well as throwing knives, into the belt around his waist and leather straps wrapped around his thighs.

He put on a light green robe, and as he grabbed the crossbow and leather container filled with short arrows, all preparations were finally complete.

“Well then, I’ll be going.”

As Eugene turned his back and was about to step forward, Daisy grabbed the hem of his robe.

She had an anxious look on her face.

“You must come back safely.”

Only then did Eugene realize that he had a grim expression on his face.

His unconscious tension had shown on the outside.

He quickly relaxed his face and put on a deliberately casual smile.

“Don’t worry. I’ll come back perfectly fine.”

When Eugene said that, Daisy forced a smile and let go of his robe that she had been holding.

Eugene left without looking back even once. His figure grew smaller and smaller.

She stood still in her place, quietly watching him until he was out of sight.

Praying that he would return safely without getting hurt.

As soon as Eugene crossed the palisade and went outside, he headed to a grassy field a little distance from the village.

It was the pasture where the village used to graze their livestock, and he started by looking for traces of where the monster had rampaged.

Eugene tracked the monster’s movements by observing the unwiped bloodstains, marks where the grass had been flattened, deeply dug soil traces, and scattered footprints.

After wandering around for a while, Eugene discovered that the creature’s movement had crossed the grassland in a straight line.

At the end of that direction was a dense forest.

Eugene moved his steps and slowly entered the forest.

As he passed the entrance and went deeper inside, tall and lush trees blocked the sky.

Even though it was broad daylight, it grew darker as he went further in.

Shadows were cast everywhere, and dense undergrowth and straight thick trees obscured Eugene’s view.

Eugene felt as if he was walking in darkness.

His steps gradually slowed down and eventually came to a stop.

‘This won’t do.’

He lowered his posture and closed his eyes. It was an act for dark adaptation, but something else began to happen in his body.

As the information transmitted by vision was cut off, other senses that had been dormant slowly began to awaken.

All sorts of smells and small sounds entering through his nose and ears gathered and randomly stimulated his brain.

Eugene’s head began to quickly organize and decode them.

The pieces translated into information aligned as if putting together a puzzle.

After a moment, Eugene slowly opened his eyes.

As he raised his body again, a faint glow flashed in his eyes for a moment before disappearing.

‘Good. This is better now.’

The forest scenery was still shaded and dark, but now exploration wasn’t difficult. His steps gradually quickened, unlike before.

For the next few hours, Eugene found one by one the traces the lurehorn had left in the forest.

Footprints on the ground, broken twigs, excrement like feces and urine, marks where it had rubbed its body against trees, scratches where it had ground its horns against rocks, and remnants of something it had torn apart and eaten.

These clues provided Eugene with a lot of information.

‘This lurehorn is definitely a fully grown adult. It’s just entered its mating season, was it expanding its territory to find a mate? It hasn’t been long since it fed in this area. I should find and check the water source.’

He discovered a shallow stream flowing and slowly moved along the direction of the water flow.

And at some point, he instinctively stopped moving.

‘Something’s there.’

As Eugene heightened his senses, far in the direction he was heading, something with four legs was standing.

‘Lurehorn!’

Eugene immediately crouched down and quickly hid his body in the undergrowth.

He watched it while calming his pounding heart.

Fortunately, it had its back turned.

‘Whew… That was close.’

If the lurehorn had discovered Eugene first, all the plans he had prepared would have gone awry.

Eugene kept his eyes fixed on the lurehorn as he carefully moved, lying flat on the ground.

The creature was completely unaware that an assassin targeting its life was approaching.

The small noises Eugene made as he crawled on the ground were masked by the sound of branches swaying in the wind.

The faint body odor from his body mixed with the intense mugwort scent, disguising itself as a natural grass smell.

‘Just a little more…’

As Eugene narrowed the distance with the lurehorn sufficiently, he entered the nearby undergrowth.

The light green robe he was wearing blended with the surroundings, deceiving even the creature’s eyes.

‘Good. Now half the job is done.’

Eugene, in a prone position, hooked the ring at the end of the crossbow with his foot.

After very carefully moving his arms to finish loading, he picked up an arrow.

The tip of the arrowhead was coated with a paralytic poison he had applied beforehand.

Made by mixing a poisonous plant called curare with the mucus of a poisonous toad, it was the most expensive consumable item he had.

Eugene placed the arrow on the crossbow without making a sound and raised the crossbow towards the lurehorn visible through the undergrowth.

The crossbow was aimed at the area just behind the shoulder where the lurehorn’s front leg met its body.

This was the optimal vital point that could target both the lungs and heart simultaneously.

Eugene slowly steadied his breath.

As his heartbeat slowed down, at some point his breathing naturally stopped.

Then even the slightest trembling in his hands disappeared.

‘Calmly… Three… Two… One…’

The slowly pulled trigger finally lowered the catch holding the bowstring.

The taut bowstring was released, and with a “twang!” sound, the arrow flew.

‘Please…!’

From here on, it was in the realm of luck.

The result would depend on how quickly the creature reacted.

And Eugene realized that today was his lucky day.

The streak of light fired from under the undergrowth hit the creature’s body without any variables.

Blood gushed out from where the arrow had struck.

The lurehorn belatedly jumped in place, twisted its body, then stopped moving.

Then it looked in the direction the arrow had come from.

The creature had noticed Eugene’s presence lying in the undergrowth.

Eugene examined the lurehorn’s face.

Soon, blood mixed with bubbles poured out of its nose and mouth.

‘Judging by the foam, the arrow must have pierced the lung.’

Although it was a slightly disappointing result, Eugene thought this was the end.

Even though the arrow hadn’t pierced the heart, the creature was already as good as dead.

Soon its lungs would fill with blood, and the poison that had entered its bloodstream would paralyze its organs and entire body.

The time left for the creature was no more than a minute at most.

Eugene stood up and revealed himself from the undergrowth.

‘Now, let’s see you try to run away. Not that you’ll get far.’

His expectation was a very natural one, drawn from the experience and information he had accumulated so far.

Usually, when it came to this kind of situation, ninety-nine out of a hundred beasts or monsters would struggle to survive somehow.

Instinctively, they would try to flee from the opponent they perceived as dangerous.

Eugene shook off his body to chase after the lurehorn that was about to flee.

At this moment, contrary to Eugene’s expectation, the creature stood facing him directly.

Then it lowered its head and took a stance.

Eugene was horrified as soon as he realized what this meant.

“…No, you crazy thing!”

This monster had unhesitatingly abandoned hope for life and chosen revenge.

It was literally a one-in-a-hundred occurrence.

Eugene thought that he wasn’t lucky after all and quickly drew his knife, but that was the end of it.

The lurehorn’s horns vibrated, and soon a beautiful and enchanting sound spread out.

At that moment, Eugene’s vision turned completely white.

When Eugene, who had lost consciousness, opened his eyes, what he saw in front of him was a wall built of gray concrete.

‘…Where is this? Am I dead?’

There was an iron door on the wall, which seemed to be firmly closed.

1209

Above the door was a sticker with familiar numbers engraved on it.

In place of where a handle should have been, something square was attached instead.

A lock with ten buttons numbered from 0 to 9.

Eugene realized after a moment that it was a door lock.

He unconsciously pressed the buttons.

0509

May 9th. It was his birthday that he had forgotten for a while.

The door lock made a mechanical sound and then opened with a clicking sound.

“Ah…”

As Eugene entered through the door, a woman with a wrinkled face came out of the living room to greet him.

“Is that you, Eugene? Son, where have you been?”

The person he had missed so much for the past three years.

She asked Eugene with a nonchalant face.

“Have you had lunch? I was just about to set the table. If you haven’t eaten, let’s eat together. Come in quickly.”

Eugene silently followed her and sat down at the table.

Steaming rice, soybean paste stew, fried egg, stir-fried anchovies, and kimchi.

All were things he used to like.

“Let’s eat.”

Eugene didn’t take a single spoonful of the food he had wanted to eat so badly.

He just quietly looked at her in front of him.

Seeing Eugene just sitting still, she said with a worried face:

“Eugene, are you sick? You don’t look well.”

Eugene, who had been silent for a while, repeatedly pressed and parted his lips.

Something he couldn’t suppress churned inside him.

Finally, he opened his mouth.

His wet voice trembled finely.

“Mom… I actually know… That this is all an illusion created by that creature. This house, you…”

“…An illusion? What are you talking about?”

“I’m… fighting the lurehorn right now… I need to get out of here quickly…”

Eugene stood up and looked at the mirror hanging on the wall.

In it was not the 30-year-old hikikomori Kim Woo-jin, but the game character Eugene.

“Still, it was good to see your face after so long.”

He walked to the kitchen and picked up a kitchen knife.

“I’ll definitely come back. I’ll come back as Kim Woo-jin, not Eugene.”

Then he gripped the blade backwards and stabbed it into his own chest.

Eugene’s vision gradually blurred.

He looked at her face until the end.

As if trying to imprint it in his eyes as much as possible, even if just a little more.