Record of a Thousand Lives

The man who knew everything there was to know about this world has now forgotten everything.

-Iris

The man’s daily routine was quite simple. He moved around for four hours a day, and spent the rest of his time asleep. He felt that his head would split open if he did not sleep for that much time each day.

‘It’s morning…’the man thought as he got up.

He had forgotten his name. He had forgotten his past deeds. He had even forgotten his companions. He could not remember any of those things.

However, he had a set schedule for himself, and he lived by it every day.

“Are you going out for a walk?” a red-haired woman, who was lying on the bed, asked.

The man nodded in response as the woman got up, rubbing her eyes. She was a very beautiful woman, but she had a small burn mark on her face. However, the man had never thought that the mark was a problem at all.

“Shall I go with you?” the woman asked.

The man shook his head in response.

Creak…

He opened the door and left the house. Outside, the weather was so cold that he could see his own breath. He turned around and looked at the house, which was a decent-sized mansion; it was neither big nor small, neither new nor old.

‘Where should I go today?’the man asked himself as he continued walking.

The man spent most of his four waking hours walking, as he felt that he would somehow remember things if he continued to do so. This time, he wandered aimlessly for a while and eventually found himself at the marketplace.

“Hey there, young man. Come and have a juicy pomegranate,” a vendor said, calling out to him to attract his attention. The vendor continued, “These red seeds look like jewels, right? Hehe, this is a rare variety that only grows during winter. You wouldn’t be able to buy this anywhere else even if you had the money to.”

The man suddenly remembered the woman with the burn mark back home. He wanted to buy a gift for her, as she always took care of him. His voice cracked, resembling metal grinding against metal as he asked, “How much… is it…?”

The seasoned vendor scanned the man from head to toe before quickly replying, “Hmm… This isn’t an ordinary pomegranate, you see, and fruits tend to be worth more than gold during winter as well… You’ll have to pay at least two silver coins for three.”

The man took out the coin pouch his caretakers had given him. He tried to take two silver coins out from it, but his hands would not stop trembling.

“Aigoo. How come you can’t even take out your own money at your age?” the vendor said, clicking his tongue and looking at the man with pity.

The man tried his best to take out two silver coins from his pouch, but he ended up dropping the entire thing onto the ground. Then, his legs shook before he fell to the ground and ended up puking all over it.

“Aigooo! What is this!?” the vendor cried.

The other people present in the marketplace turned to look at the source of the commotion. The man lay trembling on the ground, frothing from the mouth as if he were having a seizure.

The vendor was at a loss for what to do. His face crumpled and he lashed out at the onlookers. “What are you looking at?! Do you see something nice?! Huh?!”

The people hurriedly scattered when the vendor berated them. The vendor then took the man somewhere away from the public and lay him down on the floor.

The man regained his consciousness and muttered, “Thank… you…”

He stayed awake for four hours a day, but during that time, he was always haunted by excruciating pain. Not only did he experience migraines, he also suffered from seizures and vomiting from time to time.

The vendor looked at the man for a while, then let out a sigh and cleaned the man’s dirty clothes. He then put several pomegranates in a basket and handed it over.

The man looked up at the vendor and saw him glaring down, grumbling, “Hey, you stupid man. These pomegranates don’t even cost a silver coin for ten pieces. I tried to take advantage of you because you seemed to be out of it. Just stay at home and rest, and don’t come crawling out only to get taken advantage of by bastards like me.”

The man thanked the vendor and took the basket with his right arm. That arm was a prosthetic, but he was able to move it freely as if it were his own hand. As for why he was missing an arm, that was something he could not remember.

When the man returned home, he found the woman cooking; there was another person at home as well. She was a beautiful woman just like the one with the mark, and she was writing something as she sat at the table.

“Did you have a nice walk?” the woman with the burn mark asked upon seeing him.

The second woman looked up and exclaimed, “Kang Yoon-Soo is home early today!”

The man felt awkward when the other woman called out his name.

Kang Yoon-Soo? Was that his name?

The other woman walked over and hugged him tightly before asking, “Did you have fun today?”

The man nodded in response, then extended the basket of pomegranates he had bought. The other woman received it with a big smile. The woman with the burn mark then helped him change his clothes, and the three of them ate together.

The man suddenly grimaced, as he could feel his head starting to hurt once again.

“Are you alright?” the woman with the burn mark asked.

The man barely managed to nod in response before wobbling over to the bed.

“…”

The faint scent of alcohol filled his nostrils as he approached the bed. The woman with the burn mark always kept a cup of alcohol by the bedside table. It was very strong alcohol that made his stomach turn whenever he caught a whiff of its scent. The man was always thankful to the woman for taking care of him, but he found that one thing she did to be very annoying.

“I told you… I don’t like this…” he muttered while clutching his head.

The man’s head hurt whenever he tried drinking the alcohol, and the bitter taste it had was not to his liking at all. He thought there was no way anyone sane could enjoy such a drink

“Yes… You said that…” the woman replied with a smile. However, the smile on her face looked quite sad for some reason.

Although the sun was still up, the man lay down on the bed, and excruciating pain filled his head. It was a time of day people usually spent being active, but the man alone fell asleep while struggling with his agony.

***

A middle-aged man barged into the house in the middle of the night.

“How did it go?” the woman with the burn mark asked.

“Nothing. I went to the magic academy, several doctors, and even the black market, but none of them had any cure for someone who has lost their memories,” the middle-aged man grumbled.

The man, Henrick, appeared to be quite tired as he sat in a chair. He pointed at the man with his chin and said, “Damn it, there’s really no answer anywhere. How is that guy doing these days?”

“It’s still the same. He still frequently experiences seizures and vomiting, and he spends most of his time sleeping. Besides that, he doesn’t seem to remember us no matter how many times we explain things to him,” Shaneth said.

Twenty days had passed since the Demon Lord died, and Kang Yoon-Soo’s party members had spent those days trying to find a cure that would let him regain his memories. The summoned creatures had wanted to tag along as well, but they would only have stuck out like a sore thumb if they did.

The party members had to lay low, as they had previously massacred the Fifth Order of the Imperial Knights in the Kervas Mountains. Of course, it was the knights who had attacked them first, but regardless, it was still considered a crime to kill Imperial Knights. Those same knights would undoubtedly end up finding them if they did anything that would make them stand out.

“No! I want to stay with papa!” Sally had cried.

“No… You can’t, Sally,” Shaneth had replied.

“Hiiing… Sniff…!”Sally cried as she returned to the summon dimension.

The four party members had then found a place to stay in the capital of the Reorkan Empire, Deferon. They had then tried to search every nook and cranny to gain clues toward anything that could help Kang Yoon-Soo regain his memories. They had searched day and night, but so far, they had not had any luck.

Iris looked worriedly at Kang Yoon-Soo and said, “Kang Yoon-Soo has been going out alone these days. What if he gets caught by the Imperial Knights?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Henrick replied. He scratched his chin and continued, “They say Empress Kisifran disappeared after Rumier died. It seems that he placed a fake on the throne after all. The entire palace is in an uproar right now, as this is the second ruler they’ve lost in such a short period of time. The nobles are only focusing on gaining more power for now.”

He then took out a bottle of alcohol and chugged it down to quench his thirst, then said, “Crime is on the rise these days, as there are fewer guards going around. Besides, I already found someone who could help us with the issue of the Imperial Knights.”

“Who are you talking about?” Iris asked.

It was at that moment that somebody suddenly knocked on the door.

“He’s here, just in time,” Henrick said as he got up to open the door.

A familiar face appeared in the doorway. It was Han Se-Hyun, the leader of the White Lion Clan. He said, “Hello, how have you been? I’m sorry for coming over so late.”

“Geez. You really are intruding, alright. Why don’t you hurry up and come on in?” Henrick grumbled.

Shaneth took out a chair for Han Se-Hyun to sit in, and he did so after thanking her. Han Se-Hyun said, “I’ll get straight to the point.”

“That’s the best news I’ve had today,” Henrick said.

“I obtained this from the information network of the White Lion Clan. The captain of the fifth order, Sorden, immediately retired as soon as he came back from the Kervas Mountains. The deaths of the fifth and fourth order were ruled to be an accident, so you no longer have to worry about being charged with anything,” Han Se-Hyun said.

The party members let out a sigh of relief.

Han Se-Hyun smiled and continued, “The next thing is about the way to regain a person’s lost memories that you asked for.”

“How did it go? Did you find anything?” Shaneth asked, looking desperate.

“We did find something related to it in certain ancient texts, which stated that one could regain their memories if they held onto something that contained their memories. It said that even the Dragon of Destruction would wake up from its hibernation and look at the paintings it made to recall its memories. However, the definition of something that ‘contained their memories’ is really vague, and it hasn’t been proven yet whether this method really works or not,” Han Se-Hyun explained. He added, “We didn’t find anything aside from that. There wasn’t any magic written in any ancient texts that could help someone regain the memories they lost.”

The atmosphere became heavy.

Shaneth hesitated for a moment before saying, “Perhaps… It would be better for Kang Yoon-Soo if he didn’t regain his memories…”

“What do you mean by that?” Henrick asked with a grimace.

Shaneth sounded more certain as she continued, “Think about it. Kang Yoon-Soo has lived a thousand lives, and the twenty thousand years he lived was a very lonely time for him. Anyone who experienced that would go mad from just having those memories.”

She caressed Kang Yoon-Soo’s hand as he slept before continuing, “That’s why… Maybe it would be better for us to just let him stay like this. Of course, he’ll continue to be in pain, but he can finally live like a normal person for a change.”

Silence ensued. None of them could offer a rebuttal to the argument Shaneth made.

It was Han Se-Hyun who eventually broke the silence, asking, “Can I say something?”

Shaneth looked at Han Se-Hyun, who had been made aware of Kang Yoon-Soo’s regression from Henrick. The others in the room focused their attention on him.

/p>

“All of us received this message when we were summoned to the continent. ‘Killing the Demon Lord is the only way back to reality’. In fact, quite a few of the Travelers disappeared after the Demon Lord was vanquished. I’m certain that they all returned to where they came from, but there are quite a few of us who decided to stay on the continent,” Han Se-Hyun said with a smile. He continued, “People like Yu Si-Do and I didn’t return to reality even after the Demon Lord died. Why do you think that is?”

“I don’t know…” Shaneth muttered in response, shaking her head.

“Because this is reality for us,” Han Se-Hyun said, and his expression turned serious.

Shaneth’s hands trembled as she said, “So the Travelers who remained on the continent chose this place as their home. Not their own world, but this place… The Sylphia Continent…”

Han Se-Hyun firmly said, “I wish to become the emperor. Nobody knows what that crazy bastard Yu Si-Do has in mind, but I’m certain that he had a reason to stay as well. It’s the same for everyone else. Anyone who stayed accepted the continent as their home, and they had a good reason for it.”

He pointed at Kang Yoon-Soo, who was sleeping soundly, and said, “I’m certain that he had a reason as well. A reason to stay on the continent.”

Shaneth took Kang Yoon-Soo’s hand.

“I would never want to forget it if I were him, and that wouldn’t change even if I lost my memories. I would most likely want to remember it,” Han Se-Hyun said with a tone of absolute certainty.

The others were stunned, as if they had just realized something.

As Han Se-Hyun got up from his seat, Shaneth said, “Thank you for helping us.”

“Don’t mention it at all. I’m a selfish person. I’ll definitely ask you to pay me back for this,” Han Se-Hyun said with a smile. He added, “Most of our clan members returned to reality, so we’re just barely scraping by with the help of the Continentals. My patience is running low, so please tell me if Kang Yoon-Soo ever regains his memories. I’ll rush here to ask him to make me the emperor even if I will have to threaten him to do it.”

He thus bid them goodbye and left.

***

Some time passed.

The party members actively went out to seek any clues that could be of use, as they were no longer wanted criminals. However, they still did not find anything helpful despite their combined efforts. They slowly became exhausted, and Kang Yoon-Soo did not get any better as the days passed. His seizures came more frequently, and he threw up four times a day.

However, something happened one morning, when they were all still fast asleep from the fatigue of running around all day. As Iris slept with her head resting on the table, her saliva mixing with her ink and creating a mess, someone picked up the thing she had been writing in when she fell asleep.

It was her diary—the record she kept of their journey, written in detail with her modest penmanship.

The reader flipped through the pages of the diary, seemingly absorbing every single word he read from it into his mind.

The journeys they had gone on…

The endless agony they had suffered…

The reason he had to stay on the continent…

The void in his mind was being filled with experiences that felt more real whenever he read the diary.

Right as he closed the diary after reading the last page, however…

“Kyaaaahk!”Iris screamed, instantly waking Shaneth and Henrick up with the noise.

“W-What’s going on?” Shaneth asked.

“Damn it, why the hell are you screaming so early in the morning?” Henrick grumbled in annoyance.

Iris exclaimed with reddened cheeks, “Kang Yoon-Soo read my diary!”

She ran over to try to take the diary back from Kang Yoon-Soo, but he did not let her take it away from him. In fact, he even read her movements in advance and avoided all of her attempts to take the diary back.

Shaneth, Henrick, and Iris were stunned when Iris eventually hit her head on a wall.

“Kang Yoon-Soo… Don’t tell me…?” Shaneth muttered.

Kang Yoon-Soo walked over to the bed and picked up the cup of alcohol on the bedside table. He downed it all and said, “My memories are back.”

The three party members’ eyes widened in shock, and silence fell for some time.

“D-Do you remember who I am?” Shaneth nervously stuttered.

Kang Yoon-Soo pointed at them one by one and said, “Shaneth Elogran, Henrick Elrickersson, Iris.”

“How do you feel?” Shaneth asked.

“Same as usual,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

They no longer had to ask anything after that.

Shaneth ran over and hugged him tightly before saying, “I really thought… that something bad was going to happen to you. Please stop making me worry…”

Kang Yoon-Soo replied in a low voice, “Thank you.”

Iris sniffled as she hugged Kang Yoon-Soo from behind, crying, “I am so happy that Kang Yoon-Soo managed to regain his memories!”

“You’re suffocating me,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

It was only then that the two women got off him.

Henrick smirked and said, “I guess I’ll finally be able to sleep to my heart’s content. How did you even regain your memories, though?”

“I read Iris’ diary,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Interesting. You couldn’t remember anything even if we told you stories of what happened, but why did the diary help you?” Henrick asked.

Kang Yoon-Soo let go of the diary, then grabbed it once again before adding, “My memories get hazy whenever I let go of the diary, though.”

It was exactly as Han Se-Hyun had said. Kang Yoon-Soo’s memories had returned when he held onto the thing that contained his memories. Iris had written sincerely in her diary the entire time they were on their journey, which was why all their memories were saved within its pages.

Iris’ eyes welled up in tears, and she blushed while muttering, “So that means Kang Yoon-Soo has to keep that diary from now on…”

“I’ll bake you a pie later, unni,” Shaneth said to console her.

“Really?” Iris asked, looking at Shaneth with sparkling eyes.

“Yes,” Shaneth replied with a smile.

“Then Kang Yoon-Soo is the new owner of that diary from now on, so you have to give it a name,” Iris said.

“Hey, who the hell names their diary?” Henrick grumbled.

Iris firmly retorted, “A name is quite important.”

“Is that why you gave those poor animals names like Whitey or Mung Bean?” Henrick retorted.

Iris glared at Henrick for a while, and then she looked at Kang Yoon-Soo and said, “I think it would be nice if you give a nice name to the diary, the same way you gave me the name Iris.”

Kang Yoon-Soo nodded, trying to think of a fitting name for the diary—a record of his thousandth life after regressing over and over again. It was a record of his life and his triumph after hundreds of painstaking regressions.

The sun shone brightly down on the diary.

“Record of a Thousand Lives,” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered.