Chapter One: Never Eating Meat Again in This Lifetime

"Ulalala~ (Gobuta, guess what I found—it's a human, a lone and unconscious male human!)"
"Walala~! (Really? We finally won't go hungry tonight!)"

Strange voices echoed in his ears as Chu Yun opened his eyes in confusion. Before him stood short, grotesque green-skinned creatures, and his first thought was of goblins from a game.

"What’s happening? Cosplay? That can't be right—I was just slacking off at work, playing Baldur’s Gate." Chu Yun gradually recalled the events before he lost consciousness.

He worked at a construction site; the fancy title was "engineer," but in truth, he was laboring away, earning little for his troubles. He hadn't had a proper holiday since graduating. Taking advantage of the heavy rain, he tried out a new game during work hours. Yet, due to shoddy wiring at the site, sparks flew everywhere. That’s how his computer shocked him and sent him into this bizarre world.

He guessed he must have transmigrated; otherwise, he should be waking up in a hospital bed, not lying in the middle of a vast prairie.

In his daze, he felt someone moving him. The two goblins had bound his legs tightly with vines.

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

He tried to stand, but his body was weak and wouldn't respond.

"Walala~! (Gobuta, he's awake! What do we do—should we run?)"

Humans were generally stronger than ordinary goblins, so Chu Yun’s awakening startled one of them, who instinctively wanted to flee.

"Ulalala~ (No need to be afraid. He looks weak.)" Gobuta, the smarter one, sized up Chu Yun’s condition.

Goblins excelled at bullying the weak and fearing the strong. Hearing his companion's words, the other goblin quickly regained courage.

Under Chu Yun’s helpless and anxious gaze, the goblins bound his arms and legs and began calling for their comrades.

For the first time in his life, Chu Yun was carried away by others. He sensed trouble. Judging by the goblins' behavior and his knowledge of this wicked race, something dreadful was about to happen to him.

"What now? These creatures don't speak my language, so communication is impossible. I can't fight them, and I’m tied up." Chu Yun was frantic.

As he was carried along, he felt his strength slowly returning, but it was pointless; he couldn’t break free from the vine ropes. There were now five goblins, all armed with sticks and blades—he wouldn’t stand a chance even if he managed to escape.

After about half an hour, when Chu Yun was brought to the goblin camp, all hope vanished.

This goblin squad was merely a small part of the camp; dozens of goblins were bustling about.

As for what they were busy with—it was so horrifying that Chu Yun nearly fainted. These vile creatures were actually eating humans from this world!

From the tents came repeated screams of women. He couldn’t understand their language, but he could distinguish their cries from the goblins’ voices—they sounded much more human.

Chu Yun’s face turned ghostly pale. He remembered an anime called "Goblin Slayer." The goblins here might not be as clever, but their cruelty was no less.

"My fate is sealed!"

Chu Yun felt a deep resentment. He must be the unluckiest transmigrator alive.

"Sorry to have embarrassed my predecessors…"

"Damn it, I never asked to transmigrate! Why throw me here without warning?!"

"Fine, if I die, so be it. I was already electrocuted anyway."

"But wait, how do I remember what happened after death? If I die again, will I transmigrate to another world?"

"If I could transmigrate to an R-rated world, wouldn’t that be…"

Chu Yun’s mind wandered wildly. He didn’t want to die, but faced with this dead end, he could only comfort himself.

Clearly, the goblin camp had a fruitful day.

The screams from the tents and the open-air slaughterhouse chilled him to the bone. The most brutal thing he'd ever witnessed was his gentle mother slaughtering chickens and ducks in their backyard.

"Is this how they felt? In my next life, I’ll never eat meat again." Chu Yun’s stomach churned; he barely managed not to vomit.

Gobuta and his companions brought Chu Yun before a goblin unlike the rest. This goblin was as big as a human—three times the size of an ordinary goblin—and wielded a club bristling with animal teeth, a real wolf fang bat.

"Galawala? (Chief, how should we eat this human? Steamed or roasted?)" Gobuta asked, drooling.

This was their team's trophy, so they would get more meat.

The goblin chief finished gnawing on some unknown roast and thought for a moment. "Ulala~ Galawala. (Boiled. We finally got a pot today; let's use it. I hear that's how they eat seafood in the south.)"

Gobuta’s eyes lit up. He and his subordinates eagerly set up a large pot, stolen from somewhere. There was a river nearby, making it easy to fetch water.

Many hands made light work. After half a day, Gobuta the chef and his team managed to light the fire and boil the water. Excitedly, they carried Chu Yun to the pot.

"I didn't expect them to know to boil the water before throwing me in. I thought it’d be like dying in lukewarm water, but this way, at least I'll die quickly," Chu Yun thought with bitter relief.

"Sorry to all the crabs I’ve eaten… In my next life, I’ll never eat steamed crab again." He wanted to cry. These beasts couldn’t even give him a quick death, nor did they bother to clean his innards before cooking him.

The goblins suddenly realized a problem: they weren’t tall enough to toss him into the pot without burning themselves. It would be better to throw him in while the water was still cool.

Seeing their dilemma, Chu Yun rolled his eyes in exasperation: "Just hurry up already! I’m about to lose my mind!"

Fortunately, the "clever" Captain Gobuta didn’t bother to pour out the water and start over, but came up with a solution that didn’t trouble the chief.

"Yi, Ni, San, Ulala~ (One, two, three, throw~)"

Though small, the goblins weren’t weak. With combined strength, they hoisted Chu Yun high and hurled him toward the pot.

As he was thrown, Chu Yun stared at his blurry reflection in the boiling water, resigned to such a humiliating end.

But just as his body was about to touch the water, his reflection began to blur and fade, then vanished completely.