Record of a Thousand Lives

“Aaack!”

Lee Min-Chan was about to scream, but Kang Yoon-Sooraineddown punch after punch on his mouth. His lips were ripped open and blood poured out, and his front teeth were smashed in by Kang Yoon-Soo. Kang Yoon-Soo’s punches were very efficient in inflicting pain;every punch inflicted such excruciating pain onLee Min-Chanthat he could not scream, and instead, hecould only whimper and moan.

“Eu…ukk…”

Kang Yoon-Soo did not stop punching Lee Min-Chan.The reason why hewas assaulting Lee Min-Chan tosuch anextent was not because of someself-righteousjust cause, however.

‘If I didn’t do this, Shaneth would have died.’Shaneth had been killed in this inn the first time he had met Lee Min-Chan. Thatwas why Kang Yoon-Soo had relentlessly killed Lee Min-Chanevery timehe met him, and this life was noexception.

“Spare…Spare me!” Lee Min-Chan pleaded, his face bloodied.Kang Yoon-Soo merely raised his greatsword without any hesitation, and Lee Min-Chan’s face turned pale white.“Do…Do you really plan to kill me?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Someone is coming,”Shaneth said as she looked outside the door.

The person whohad come upwas none other than the innkeeper.“I don’t want to intrude, but can you please keep it down? You seem to be having fun, but we can hear it all the way downstairs,”hecomplained.

“I’m sorry, we were trying to catch an insect and caused a ruckus.” Shaneth apologized to the innkeeper while sticking her head outof the door.

The moment theinnkeeper headed down, Lee Min-Chan got up and made a run for the doorwith a scream.“Aaaaaack!”

Shaneth tried to stop him, but he took out a dagger and tried to stab her. Sheeasily avoided the dagger, butitleft an opening that he used to bolt out of the door and escape.Shetried to go after him, but Kang Yoon-Soo grabbed her shoulder and stopped her. He said, “I’llgo alone.”

“Do you really plan to kill him? You just plan to catch him and hand him over to the investigators, right?” Shaneth asked nervously.

“Yeah,”Kang Yoon-Sooanswered…

Of course, he was lying.

***

“That son of a, that son of a, that son of a bitch, I’ll kill him,”Lee Min-Chan mumbled to himself whilecoveringhis bloodied face.The glass shards embedded in his face hurt terribly.He slowly pulled out each shard one by one while trembling and cursing. It wasdifficultto pull each shard out by himself, andeach onecaused immense pain.“That son of a bitch. I’ll kill him! I’ll kill him like a dog!”

His parents had never hit him. Kang Yoon-Soo was the first person in his life tohave beatenhim nearly to death.

“That asshole.”Lee Min-Chan stomped as hecursedKang Yoon-Soo under his breath. The pedestrians around him looked at him in a strange way, but he did not care at all because of his anger.The youth looked around at the pedestrians around him and thought,‘Fuck! Ihave torelieve my stress today. I’ll kill anyone and everyone!’

He decided to pay no heed to the investigators after him, andstarted to look for his prey. He found a girlwalking aroundwith a basket full of apples;she was not that pretty, but she was not half bad.‘It’s that bitch’s unlucky day. Heh.’

It was his first time seeing the girl, but he looked at her as if she werehis nemesis. He caught up to her and grabbed her shoulder from behind, saying,“Hey.”

“Who are you?” the girl asked.

.

“You don’t have to know.Come here,” he replied as he manhandled her into an alley.

“Ouch! Why are you doing this to me!?”Thegirl was stricken with fear and could not resist against him.

Lee Min-Chan raised his right hand once they were in the dark alley.

[Do you wish to manipulate Hanna the apple vendor?]

[The skill will activate if you recite the activation phrase embedded deep within the mind of the target.]

[The spell for Hanna is ‘I heard your parents abandonedyou, and that’swhy you have to sell apples?’.]

[The manipulation skill is more effective on emotional and weak-willed people.]

[On the other hand, the skill will be less effective on less emotional or older people.]

“I heard your parents abandonedyou, and that'swhy you have to…Euk!” Just as Lee Min-Chan was reciting the spell,he suddenly feltablunt forcestrikethe back of his head. The force that hit him was so strong that his eyeballs almostfellout. He turned around and glared at the person who had hit him, but saw that it was Kang Yoon-Soo.

“What?! Fuck! How did you find me?” Lee Min-Chan started to retreat backward.However,Kang Yoon-Soo liftedhis greatsword and started to walk toward him. Theman’s gaze, as emotionless as a puppet,gaveLee Min-Chanchills, and the darkness of the alley amplified his fears.

Lee Min-Chanhad not even sensed him, but howhad the man foundhim here? What was his purpose? Whilehewasthinking, however, theman suddenly spoke.

“To kill you,”Kang Yoon-Soosaid.Again, he spoke as if he could read minds,making cold sweat run down Lee Min-Chan’s back.Helightly swung his greatsword, and a bloody line formed on Lee Min-Chan’s neck.

“Heo… Heok!”Lee Min-Chan gasped as he lowered his hand. He stopped his attempt to manipulate the girl and ran away.“Go away! Isaid getaway from me!”he exclaimed,filled with fear. The pain inflicted by Kang Yoon-Soohadcemented itself in his memorylike atraumatic experience.

Soon afterward, hewas covered in sweat andleftout of breath.“Haaa…! Haaa…!”Hepanted, stoppingfor a while to catchhis breathbefore lookingback.

He saw a manwalking toward him from behind—it was Kang Yoon-Soo.

“Aaaack!”he screamed as he ran away, and the people around him looked at him as if he werecrazy.The man wielding the greatsword looked even scarier and creepier to him now.

“Don’t come! Don’t come closer!” Lee Min-Chanexclaimed in terror,runninginto a narrow alley.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo was at the end of that alley, as if they had agreed to meet there.“You’re late, as always,” he said.

“Aaaaaaaack!I’ll manipulate you!” Lee Min-Chan glared at him and raised his right hand.He gathered all of his mana andprepared to unleash the most powerful manipulation skill he had ever used. However, a message popped up on his device.

[The target’smindcontains 20,004 years’ worth ofmemories.]

[Itwould beimpossible to manipulate the target even if you mastered the skill.]

“What…?”Lee Min-Chan was stricken with fear, and hefell on his butt.‘Hismindis 20,004 years old…? How long has he lived? Is he even a person…!?’hethoughtin disbelief.“You! What the hell are you? Are you even human?!” he asked the man.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo did not reply, and just silently approached him.At the verymoment Lee Min-Chan was about to turn around and run away, he hit the back of Lee Min-Chan’s head with the blunt side of his greatsword.

Pukeok!

Lee Min-Chan’s vision turned dark.