Record of a Thousand Lives

When Kang Yoon-Soo opened his eyes, he found himself on the border between life and death.

‘This place is…’he thought.

He appeared to be in a familiar place that he was sick and tired of—the smithy. It was a building so old and run-down that nobody used it anymore, and apart from that, it was his restarting point. The smithy was where he regressed whenever the Demon Lord killed him.

‘I’m not supposed to regress anymore though…’he thought suspiciously.

At first, he suspected that he had regressed once again, but he soon realized that was not the case at all. The date shown on his wrist device was the present date, and the smithy felt different from how it usually did. Everything in the smithy felt simultaneously real and surreal, and he could not help but think that it was not the same place he always regressed to.

‘I’m sure I died,’he thought.

Kang Yoon-Soo distinctly remembered that the Demon Lord’s hand had crashed down on him and squashed him. He thus inspected his body. His right arm was still severed, and his abdomen still had a large hole in it. However, he did not feel any pain, nor was he bleeding.

‘I have no idea what’s going on right now,’he thought, before deciding to start walking.

It was then that he opened the smithy door and walked out.

“…”

Kang Yoon-Soo was shocked by the sight that awaited him.

Several people were gathered around a campfire under the moonlight, and each of them had grotesque wounds on their bodies. One of them had a hole in his neck, while another had a hole pierced through his heart. All of them looked like corpses and their eyes appeared devoid of any signs of life. However, the fact that truly surprised Kang Yoon-Soo was that he knew them very well.

The largest of the men sitting around the campfire suddenly stood up and said, “I remember your face, you bastard!” The gash on the large man’s face and the hole in his neck looked quite grotesque. He glared at Kang Yoon-Soo with eyes filled with rage and said, “I’m certain. You’re the man who killed me! I’ve been waiting for the day I’d see you again!”

Kang Yoon-Soo squinted and muttered, “Hwang Yong-Ho…”

It was the perpetrator who had incited the men to kill Kang Yoon-Soo when he was alone in the smithy.

‘So these are the men I killed as soon as I regressed,’Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

Why were those men, who should have been dead, here in this place? Kang Yoon-Soo was not interested in the fact that he had reunited with the men that he killed; rather, he thought to himself that this could very well be the Underworld.

“What is this place?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.

“Shut up and die!” Hwang Yong-Ho shouted, charging toward him.

However, the large man’s movements were incredibly slow in Kang Yoon-Soo’s eyes. He raised his left arm to counterattack, but…

“…!”

Hwang Yong-Ho suddenly disappeared. The other men trembled, their faces filled with fear.

Meanwhile, Kang Yoon-Soo was perplexed as to what had just happened. He asked, “Why did that guy suddenly disappear, and what are you guys doing?”

The other men did not respond to his question. A light breeze blew, and the men all disappeared as if blown away in the wind.

As Kang Yoon-Soo stared at the scene before him, he heard someone grumbling in annoyance.

“Ah, damn it. Why are you here so soon?”

Kang Yoon-Soo turned around and saw a grimacing man walking toward him. He was a young man with black hair and light green eyes, and he was wearing a dark suit that strangely resembled the ones commonly worn back in Kang Yoon-Soo’s original world.

Kang Yoon-Soo put up his guard as he asked, “Who are you?”

“Are you really going to skip the pleasantries even though we have just met?” the young man asked.

“Yes,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“What?” the young man muttered in disbelief.

“State your identity first,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

The young man furrowed his brow in response. He looked the same age as Kang Yoon-Soo, but also looked much more innocent.

“I already knew that was the case, but you really are an unlikable person,” the young man grumbled. He explained, “Hey, look here. Hmm… I’ll just skip the formalities, since you did the same. You’re not supposed to be here.”

“What is this place?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.

“The border between life and death, the space between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Only those who died with vengeance and anguish in their hearts end up here,” the young man explained.

Kang Yoon-Soo looked around at his surroundings once again. The area seemed similar to the Sylphia Continent, but it felt different in some way. He thought of the trials in the library and the world they were set in, but it also felt different from that.

“Did I die?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.

“You’re dead as of now, but you could still be alive,” the young man replied.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.

“Anyway, you aren’t supposed to be here, and I had to come here because of you. We’ll be moving together from now on,” the young man said.

Kang Yoon-Soo instinctively raised his guard as he asked, “Are you taking me to the Underworld?”

“What? Do you think I’m the Grim Reaper or something?” the young man replied, seemingly taken aback.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo strangely felt that he should listen to what the man was saying, and it was more than a mere gut feeling. It was only logical to have a companion in a foreign place; that was why he decided to go along with the young man for the time being, and separate from him if he was untrustworthy.

“Your name was Kang Yoon-Soo, right?” the young man asked, seemingly already knowing Kang Yoon-Soo’s identity.

Kang Yoon-Soo asked in return, “Who are you?”

“That’s none of your business,” the young man nonchalantly replied.

Kang Yoon-Soo raised an eyebrow and asked, “Then what should I call you?”

“Just call me Death. To you, I’m something similar to that anyway,” the young man said, dodging the question.

The young man’s way of speaking reminded Kang Yoon-Soo of the Demon Lord, but he decided to ignore it and follow Death regardless.

***

Kang Yoon-Soo began traveling together with Death. They walked all day and camped at night. A whole week had passed since he had arrived in this place, but the time and date on his wrist device stayed the same. There was no way that the wrist device was broken, but it was also impossible for time to remain frozen that way in real life.

“Where are we going?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.

“Just shut up and follow me,” Death replied, then continued walking without saying anything else.

This place was similar to the real world, but everything seemed abstract and things changed quite often. That was why it was difficult for Kang Yoon-Soo to keep track of where they were going.

Death asked the same question every night. “How did you end up dying?”

Kang Yoon-Soo would have ignored such questions normally, but he strangely felt like opening up to the young man. Whenever the young man asked, he replied, “I died at the hands of the Demon Lord.”

“Demon Lord? Tell me what that is,” Death said.

Kang Yoon-Soo explained everything that had happened to him. He told the young man about how the Demon Lord had repeatedly killed him, how he had regressed every single time he was killed, and how he had lived his life over and over again for a thousand times.

Death showed no reaction to Kang Yoon-Soo’s story. He had neither a hint of pity nor sadness on his face as he sat and listened. All he would say was, “It’s morning. Let’s start walking.”

The night always passed quickly as Kang Yoon-Soo told his story, but fortunately, they did not have to sleep in this place, so they could immediately start walking once the sun was up.

“Why aren’t we walking at night?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked at one point.

“The vengeful spirits that wander around without being able to go to the Underworld roam at night looking for you because of the hatred they harbor toward you. The ones you saw the other day were some of them,” Death explained.

Kang Yoon-Soo had killed many people in his numerous lives. It was fine if they had died without regret like Kartheon or Argoric, but just the monsters he had killed for rewards or experience points numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

‘I should be careful at night then,’Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

The two walked for quite a long time, and they exchanged a lot of stories in the process. Whenever Kang Yoon-Soo felt thirsty, Death passed him a bottle of alcohol. Kang Yoon-Soo was curious when he first saw the young man suddenly pull a bottle out of nowhere, but he decided to ignore it and not ask about it.

“I couldn’t protect anyone in the end,” Kang Yoon-Soo said before taking a sip of alcohol. He added, “I failed. The only thing I could do was leave a small scratch on the Demon Lord’s body. That’s it.”

He took two sips. Soon, two became three, and three became four, and the bottle of alcohol slowly emptied. As he completely drained the bottle, he said, “My self from my ten thousandth life told me to break my destined fate, but I couldn’t find an answer as to how.”

Death suddenly asked, “Was it the death you wished for?”

“No,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied. He added while staring at the empty bottle, “I didn’t want to die like that.”

He continued staring and said, “No, I shouldn’t have died like that.”

More clarity and certainty began to enter his voice as he said, “That’s right. I have to go back. I have to go back and fight against the Demon Lord. I don’t have time to waste here.”

It was only when Kang Yoon-Soo had that sudden realization that Death asked something unexpected. “Then why did you come here?”

“What do you mean by that…?” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered in confusion.

It was then that the campfire suddenly died, and hundreds of vengeful spirits suddenly appeared as darkness fell upon them. It was difficult to make out the vengeful spirits shrouded in darkness, but Kang Yoon-Soo could feel that they harbored intense hatred toward him.

“Grrr…!”

“That’s the evil swindler who killed me!”

“We have to kill him this instant!”

Kang Yoon-Soo slowly stood up, but he had no weapon with him and he was missing his right arm.

Just as the vengeful spirits were about to come rushing toward him, Death suddenly stood up and took a step forward. The young man’s green eyes suddenly turned blue as he waved his hand.

Pukeok!

The vengeful spirits suddenly disappeared.

Kang Yoon-Soo stared at the spot they had vanished from and asked, “What did you do just now?”

“I forcibly sent them to the Underworld. I don’t really enjoy doing that… Well, they were supposed to end up in the Underworld sometime soon, so I was technically still maintaining my neutrality,” Death replied with a shrug.

The sun started to rise once again, and Death grimaced as if he found it annoying. He began walking and said, “It’s morning. Let’s start walking.”

Kang Yoon-Soo silently followed him. They walked for quite a while before eventually reaching the edge of the desolate wilderness, a place which looked quite different from the rest. In fact, it resembled a blurry version of a different world altogether.

“So, this is as far as we’re going together. Whatever happens from here on out depends entirely on you,” Death said.

Kang Yoon-Soo looked at Death and asked, “What did you mean by what you said before? Do you mean I came to this place of my own volition?”

“You accepted your own death, and that’s why you ended up here,” Death said.

Kang Yoon-Soo had accepted his own death. That was right. Even though he had gritted his teeth and shouted that he was going to kill the Demon Lord, deep inside, he had accepted the fact that there was no way for him to win against the Demon Lord. He had ended up admitting his defeat in the end.

“I finally realize who you are,” Kang Yoon-Soo said while staring into the eyes of Death. The young man’s eyes had a green glow to them that seemed familiar to him.

“I have borrowed your powers once before through your summoning bone, oh King of the Underworld,” Kang Yoon-Soo said respectfully.

Silence fell for a while, before the King of the Underworld smiled. However, the smile on his face was a chilling one. He said, “Who you decide to believe I am is your own choice to make, you who have lived for the thousandth time.”

“Why did you help me?” Kang Yoon-Soo calmly asked.

“What do you mean by help? Far be it from me to help you. I am always fair, and death is always fair to all,” the King of the Underworld said. He pointed in a certain direction and added, “However, you came here despite still being alive, and that is why I have accompanied you for a short while to send you out of this place.”

“What do you mean, I’m still alive?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked. He was certain that he had seen the Demon Lord’s hand come crashing down on him.

However, the King of the Underworld shook his head and replied, “Am I not trying to kick you out of this place because you are still alive?”

Kang Yoon-Soo was skeptical for a moment before asking, “Oh King of the Underworld. Are you the being seated at the pinnacle?”

Sylphia had mentioned in the past that the truly ‘omnipotent’ being was not a god, but rather the one seated at the pinnacle.

However, the King of the Underworld shook his head once again and replied, “I am simply a being who oversees the deaths occurring across all of the dimensions. Of course, you are one of the seven people I have been keeping my eye on.”

The King of the Underworld’s body was set ablaze by a green flame, and his dark suit burned to ashes. His body transformed into a skeleton covered in a dark robe. He said, “There are many interesting people among the different dimensions, and you are probably the craziest one of them all. I am just here to spectate and oversee things, but I hope the day will come for all of you to gather in one place.”

“You have my gratitude, King of the Underworld,” Kang Yoon-Soo said with a respectful bow. The confusion in his mind had slowly been resolved as he talked to the King of the Underworld.

“All I did was listen to you,” the King of the Underworld replied.

“That was more than enough to help me,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

The King of the Underworld snickered and said, “I never imagined I would see you, who acted so arrogantly in front of Sylphia, to act so respectful and modest. Hurry up and get lost. This is not a place where you belong.”

After speaking those words, the King of the Underworld disappeared. Kang Yoon-Soo was left alone, and he took a step beyond the edge of the wilderness.

***

Kang Yoon-Soo found himself in a vast and dark place. He could not see anything, but he remained calm as he walked onward into the darkness without stopping.

It took quite a while, but his surroundings suddenly brightened by a tiny bit as he took a step.

‘My first life,’he thought, stopping momentarily and watching as the life he had lived as a blacksmith and suffered tremendously before dying flashed before his eyes.

He took another step.

‘My second life,’he thought, recalling the life he had lived as a mercenary leader and fought bravely before dying on the front lines.

Kang Yoon-Soo continued walking. His previous lives flashed in front of him each time he took a step.

‘My third life, my fourth life…’he thought, recalling the anger, happiness, depression, regret, and emptiness he had felt in his previous lives.

‘My 72nd life…. My 73rd life…’he thought, recalling the happiness he had felt while exploring the unknown regions of the continent with his companions.

‘My 198th life… My 199th life…’he thought, watching himself use the knowledge from his previous lives to reach the pinnacle of his classes.

‘My 341st life… My 342nd life…’he thought, recalling the bad memories as well.

‘My 466th life… My 467th life…’he thought, recalling the numerous near-death experiences he faced and the pain others had caused him.

‘My 617th life… My 618th life…’he thought, recalling the pain he had inflicted on others that time and the murders he had committed.

‘My 729th life… My 730th life…’he thought, recalling the pain he had felt from losing the ones he loved after failing to protect them from the Demon Lord.

‘My 834th life… My 835th life…’he thought, recalling the emptiness he had felt when he regressed after the deaths of his companions.

‘My 920th life… My 921st life…’he thought, watching those lives flash before his eyes.

However…

‘My 998th life… My 999th life…’he thought, as the last two lives he had lived flashed before his eyes.

All of those memories were precious to him, no matter what form they came in.

Kang Yoon-Soo stopped, and did not take the final step. A familiar voice spoke to him from behind. “So you still haven’t forgotten about me.”

However, Kang Yoon-Soo did not turn around. The shadow of a person began to approach him from behind. He was certain that it was the child he had with Shaneth, whom he had lost when he failed to protect the world from the Demon Lord. It was a fragment of his memory that disturbed him, no matter how much he tried to forget.

He suddenly remembered what that being had told him when it appeared in his dreams before.

.

‘Give up…’

‘You have to give up…’

He had been unable to hear the voice clearly at that time, but it now sounded clearer than ever before as it spoke.

“Give up on being happy.”

“You have to let the past go.”

Kang Yoon-Soo did not turn around as he replied, “I’ve decided to do that.”

He had to defy his own destined fate to be able to kill the Demon Lord. In order to do that, he had to change his way of thinking.

Why had he kept desiring a happy life after killing the Demon Lord? Why had he even thought about such a happy ending?

He had to discard all of his desires to be able to kill the Demon Lord.

He had to do so, even if it meant he had to destroy his own happiness and sacrifice the ending he wanted in the process.

Thus, Kang Yoon-Soo decided to give up on the life he wanted.

Ironically, only after he made up his mind did he feel certain that he would finally be able to kill the Demon Lord.

‘My thousandth life…’he thought, taking the final step.