Record of a Thousand Lives

Yu Si-Do was a complete lunatic; he was a man common sense did not apply to. He asked seriously, “You… Have you fallen for me…?”

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“No,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied emotionlessly.

“What? That’s disappointing.
Then why are you so intent on working together with me?” Yu Si-Do asked.

Yu Si-Do was the type who enjoyed killing as a sport.
If he were given a choice between receiving a ton of gold or killing somebody, he was the type of person who would choose the latter; he could not resist the ecstasy he felt from taking someone’s life away.

“I told you.
I intentionally got kidnapped to join hands with you,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Why do you want to work with me?” Yu Si-Do asked again.

“You’re the best of the best if we’re talking about assassination, murder, and infiltration.
Although your personality is crooked, you’re the best to bring along if I can only bring one person with me,” Kang Yoon-Soo explained.

“What if I refuse?” Yu Si-Do asked.

“I won’t set you free,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

Kang Yoon-Soo seemed to have piqued Yu Si-Do’s interest, as the man just stared at him with an intrigued gaze. Yu Si-Do snickered and replied, “I felt it the first time we met.
You and I are the same, aren’t we?”

“What?” Kang Yoon-Soo nonchalantly replied.

“What do you mean, what? I’m saying you’re a sociopath just like me, you crazy bastard,” Yu Si-Do replied.

Yu Si-Do stared at a ray of moonlight that entered through a gap in the window and collected on the floor, muttering, “People call me crazy, but all I want is to be loved! Why does nobody understand me? Boohoo…” He faked a cry as he continued, “Sniff… It’s hard to be like us, right? Only a few people understand people like us.
This is all because of people like Han Se-Hyun who think they’re the normal ones, and they’re just making our lives difficult.”

Kang Yoon-Soo quietly stared at Yu Si-Do, and Yu Si-Do turned and stared back at Kang Yoon-Soo.

“If you admit you’re a crazy bastard, I’ll gladly help you. Because you’re interesting, and you’re the same kind of person as I am,” Yu Si-Do said with a smirk.

“A truly crazy person wouldn’t admit that they were crazy,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Wow!” Yu Si-Do exclaimed in admiration, trying to clap, but the shackles restrained him from doing so. He exclaimed excitedly, “You! I’m starting to like you now! Ah, what was your name again?”

“Kang Yoon-Soo,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Alright, Kang Yoon-Soo, why aren’t you a woman? I would’ve instantly fallen in love with you if you were one,” Yu Si-Do said excitedly.

Kang Yoon-Soo ignored the man’s ramblings as he inserted his pin set into the shackles that were binding Yu Si-Do.
Yu Si-Do seemed to have taken a liking toward Kang Yoon-Soo, as he was giggling the whole time while Kang Yoon-Soo was working on his restraints.

‘I feel this whenever I regress, but this guy is always a pain to deal with,” Kang Yoon-Soo thought. He could not openly express how annoying the madman was; this was going to be a long night.

***

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Yu Si-Do had been stripped down when he was caught, with only a loincloth covering his privates, and all of his possessions had been taken from him.
However, he did not seem to mind being naked at all and said, “I’ll just take it back on the way, I guess.”

The two went up from the basement. Yu Si-Do, who was usually quite rowdy and noisy, walked quietly through the hallway, since he was aware that if they were spotted by anyone, things would get very messy.

“Wait,” Kang Yoon-Soo said, stopping in front of Iris’ room. ‘The White Shadow who knew about my regression was inside Iris.
It might be a good idea to bring her along to the royal palace,’ he thought, quickly deciding to open the door. Inside, a beautiful woman lay on the bed; her breath made her voluptuous chest move up and down.

“Iris,” Kang Yoon-Soo called out.

“Mmmmh…? Kang Yoon-Soo…?” Iris exclaimed as she rubbed her eyes and got up from the bed. She asked, “Yawn… What’s the matter?”

“Wake up.
We’re going to the royal palace,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Alright; let us go,” Iris obediently replied, starting to get.

However, Yu Si-Do, who was watching from behind them, grumbled in discontent, “What is this? Wasn’t it going to be a date just between the two of us?”

“We need her for this plan to work,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Tsk… if she’s just going to get in between us, I might as well as kill her here on the…” Yu Si-Do suddenly trailed off as his eyes shot wide open.
He said more seriously, “Wait a minute, this woman.
I didn’t notice because her mouth was covered, but isn’t she the royal princess?”

“Have you ever met the princess?” Iris asked.

“Yeah, I failed to assassinate her in her bedchambers once, but why are you here?” Yu Si-Do stared at Iris with sparkling, innocent eyes.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo knew that Yu Si-Do was currently contemplating which angle he should twist Iris’ neck from to maximize his pleasure. He interrupted Yu Si-Do’s daydream and said, “She’s the doppelganger of the princess.”

“Really? No wonder she felt different from the princess,” Yu Si-Do said.
It was surprising how quickly he accepted that fact.

Kang Yoon-Soo continued, “The royal palace has secretly placed an order to have you captured, Yu Si-Do.”

“Me? Why?” Yu Si-Do asked with an innocent expression.

“To torture you and find out the perpetrator who requested the assassination of the princess,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Aha… No wonder that Han Se-Hyun bastard kept me alive.
He planned to hand me over to the royal palace and secure a spot for himself,” Yu Si-Do said angrily. His voice turned rough at the mention of Han Se-Hyun as he continued, “I really don’t like that bastard.
I hate him! I want to rip him apart from head to toe! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

Yu Si-Do had severe mood swings.
He was usually laid back and relaxed, but he could immediately turn and kill anyone in front of him if he felt agitated. Kang Yoon-Soo was well aware of Yu Si-Do’s temperament and quickly changed the subject.

“We’ll go straight to the royal palace, but we have to cover our faces,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“Ack! You aren’t telling me to wear a mask, are you? That’s not my style at all.
It makes me look like a criminal…” Yu Si-Do said in a playful tone. Kang Yoon-Soo did not feel the need to point out to Yu Si-Do that he was a criminal.

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Iris suddenly pointed at some things hanging on the wall and asked, “What if we use those?”

The objects were party masks. Yu Si-Do carefully checked the masks before choosing one of a brightly smiling angel, saying, “I’ll use this.”

“Iris, don’t wear a mask,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
He pulled out the Body Crafting Kit and reverted Iris’ hair color back to blonde. Then, he chose a mask that allowed him to move freely.

Iris gently smiled and said, “That mask suits Kang Yoon-Soo well.”

It was a mask of a cute bunny. Kang Yoon-Soo looked at Iris with the mask on and asked in a low, emotionless voice, “Which part of it suits me well?”

***

“I’m now hesitant to hold my sword…”

“I know the mission’s failure wasn’t your fault.
Don’t blame yourself.”

“That isn’t the problem right now.”

Lenox, the captain of the Third Order of the Imperial Knights, sighed. He and his knights had returned from the Hatar Mountains four days ago in a pitiful and haggard state.
Of course, they were ridiculed and blamed, and there were some who had wanted to revoke his knighthood.

“Even a dame[1] captain such as myself has fought through various prejudices thrown at me by the sword.
I noticed this since we were doing our apprenticeship, but your uptight attitude is the problem.
You should take a walk and get some air once in a while, you know?” the captain of the Second Order of the Imperial Knights, Seyra, said while yawning.

The dame, who was famous for her flashy, fiery swordsmanship, slowly sipped on her red tea.
She asked in a playful tone, “So, was the reason you called me out this late at night to receive life advice, sir knight?”

“Ah, no.” Lenox hesitated for a moment before saying, “Seyra, something dangerous is brewing within the royal palace.”

“Lower your voice,” Seyra warned, stirring her tea with a spoon. Lenox felt a chill run down his spine as Seyra warned him sternly, “Everyone knows there’s something going on in the royal palace that we aren’t aware of, but never, ever mention that anywhere.”

“Why is that?” Lenox asked.

“We might be killed, but nobody will even notice our deaths,” Seyra replied.

Lenox quickly understood what she meant. That meant there were high ranking officials involved in the secret of the royal palace. A warm breeze blew through the terrace they were sitting in, but that breeze felt ice cold to Lenox.

He sighed and changed the subject. “That isn’t the only reason it’s been difficult to pick up my sword these days.
I met someone who reached the pinnacle of the sword while I was carrying out my mission.”

“That someone’s right in front of you right now,” Seyra said with a smirk.

“Hey, I’m not joking.
He really reached the pinnacle of the sword.
Even Sir Helkin might lose if they both clashed,” Lenox said with all seriousness.

“Hmm? What was his name?” Seyra asked.

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“I don’t know.
All I know is that he is a Traveler,” Lenox replied.

“A Traveler?” Seyra exclaimed in surprise.
She stopped stirring her tea and continued, “Lies.
How can the baseless swordsmanship of those Travelers win against a knight captain of the continent?”

“I couldn’t believe it as well, but I’m certain.
It might seem like a baseless assumption, but I could never catch up to that guy’s skills even if I trained my sword for a thousand years,” Lenox replied seriously.

Suddenly, the sound of quick, hurried footsteps approached them. Eric, the newbie, ran into the terrace Lenox and Seyra were sitting in and exclaimed urgently, “Captain! T-there’s a problem!”

“What is it?” Lenox asked.

“I’m here to relay a message from the scouts.
The Centaurs are invading the royal palace! They’re currently invading through the back of the garden as we speak!”

“The back of the garden?” Lenox repeated. The two knight captains looked at each other before both breaking out into laughter.

Seyra looked at the anxious Eric before asking Lenox, “Can’t you educate your recruits properly, Lenox?”

“I’m sorry about this,” Lenox replied.

“W-what’s going on?” Eric asked, as he had no idea what was going on.

Lenox lowered his teacup onto the table and got up.
He said leisurely, “The captain of the First Order of the Imperial Knights, Sir Helkin, takes a walk every night in the garden at this hour.
I hope some of them are at least alive by the time we reach them.”

***

The reason why Kang Yoon-Soo wanted to assassinate the emperor of the Reorkan Empire, Ranford Reorkan, was simple. ‘It’s better to kill that senile old man as early as possible,’ he thought to himself.

It was normal to suggest retirement to a senile elder, but it was a different story if that senile elder held the most authority on the entire continent.

‘The emperor is the master of misjudgments,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought to himself.

Emperor Ranford’s political finesse had been truly great in his younger years, and he had been able to protect his power and authority from the nobles who had challenged him.
However, the once astounding emperor could not stand the test of time and his judgment and discernment started to fail him, which would throw the continent into chaos later on.

‘He’s still sane at the moment, but he’ll definitely be a hindrance to me in a few years' time.’

A huge choice such as assassinating the emperor had originally not been in his plans, but Kang Yoon-Soo had to make the most out of his choices as this would be his last life. That was why he planned to assassinate the emperor tonight.

‘Looking at it another way, it might be better for the emperor to die now.’

However, Kang Yoon-Soo’s opposition this time was the highest authority on the continent, the emperor.
Was it possible for just three of them to go through the security of the royal palace and assassinate the emperor? Anyone else would consider it entirely impossible. But he was confident, because he had successfully done it before.

‘They’ll slowly start appearing around this time.’

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Kang Yoon-Soo watched the surroundings of the royal palace from the darkness. After some time passed, space suddenly distorted and a group composed of hundreds of black-robed figures suddenly teleported into the place he had been watching.

“Who are they?” Iris asked.

“Shhh.” Kang Yoon-Soo signaled his companions to be quiet.

The largest among the hooded figures said in a low, eerie voice, “Finally! Today is the seventh time the ring of the moon has set! It’s time to put our long awaited plan into motion!”

A low cry rose from the group as they took off their black robes and readied their weapons.

Clop! Clop! Clop!

The sound of hooves rang throughout the place; the hooded figures were none other than the Centaurs.
However, these ones looked different from normal Centaurs, as they had dark black eyes and bluish skin.

Yu Si-Do remarked, “It’s the Centaurs from the Raukel Forest, but what are those guys who are more obsessed with black magic than cocaine doing here?”

The Centaurs of Raukel Forest were a race that boasted monstrous strength and fast agility. The leader of the Centaurs roared excitedly, “The humans are destroying our forest and taking our lands! Today, we’ll show them the anger of the ones who have lost their homes by destroying the royal palace!”

The Centaurs prepared their dark black spears and bows, preparing  to charge in. Meanwhile, Kang Yoon-Soo slowly nodded and thought, ‘Yes, keep attracting attention just like you’re doing right now.’

Even a lowly guard standing watch over the royal palace possessed very high combat power, and Kang Yoon-Soo needed to take advantage of the invasion of the Centaurs to slip through the heavily guarded palace.

‘However, only death awaits if we end up getting caught up in the battle.’

They needed a secret weapon to successfully assassinate the emperor and leave this place alive.

Kang Yoon-Soo pulled out an old, worn-out book from his backpack.

‘The codex personally written by the Ultimate Necromancer, Nakron.’

It was the item he had received for completing a legendary quest. The recipe to create a high-ranking undead being was written in it, and a normal necromancer would never even be able to dream of possessing it.

Kang Yoon-Soo quickly turned the pages…

Recipes to create undead beings such as the Big Skeleton, Twin-Headed Zombie, Necro Wyvern, and other vicious creatures were written in the codex.

Kang Yoon-Soo opened the last two pages of the codex.

[Recipe: Skeleton Lich]

1. The term used to refer to female knights. ☜