Record of a Thousand Lives

The leader of the Sunset Glass merchant company, Lefman, was aquick-wittedindividual. He had managed to growaback-alley potion shop into a large merchant company by selling even the waste produced frompotion-making.

Lefman was sharp,and he could read theturnof events in the outside world. He was always the first one to kowtowifit was time to bow his head,buthe was also the first to step on another person if it was time to arrogantly raise his head.

There were rumors that he was amoney-crazedpersonwhodid not know any limits if it meant he would earn money.Lefman actually agreed with that rumor. He did not differentiate between good and evil when it came to profit, and he evenengaged inall sorts of dirty tricks just for the sake of profit. The bribes hehad givento the royal palacewere so significantthat a common family would be able to live offthemfordecades without working. His dirty tactics had enabled Sunset Glass to survive various troubles and grow into what itwas today.

Suddenly, one day, agroup of people from another world started to appearonthe continent. They were called Travelers. Travelers haddeviceson their leftarms,and they seemed to be obsessed with quests;they managed to surviveonthe continent by doing quests for the Continentals.

Lefman had instinctively knownthat the Travelerswhotoiled day and night, even forgoing their own happiness just to survive, would one dayovertakethe laid-back Continentalsandgrow into apowerfulforceonthe continent.

Ultimately, hisinstinctshad provento be correct. The Travelershad grouped up into clans and takenover theback alleyswith their resourcefulness.Lefman had thus decided to cooperate with the largest criminal clan in theback alleys.

That criminal clan was the Black Tiger Clan. They haderased all traces of briberyand tax evasion by the Sunset Glass merchant company. Lefman wasunsure how theyhad beenable to do that, but he was certain that they had either destroyed allthe related filesor planted a spy in the royal palace.

Sunset Glasspaid the Black Tiger Clan in potions and a small fee for every job they did. It was not a losing business, as thatwassomething that Lefman would neverengage in;rather, it was a win-win situation for them.Sunset Glassthus provided the Black Tiger Clan with the resources they needed to hunt and growfor some time.

Once Lefman felt reassured that the Black Tiger Clan was not a bad business partner, he had decided to meet the leader of the Black Tiger Clan, Yu Si-Do, himself.It turned out that the Traveler called Yu Si-Do was a strange individual.DuringLefman’s first time meeting Yu Si-Do, he felt strangely uncomfortable aroundthe man. Maybe it was because he had created the first criminal clanonthe continent, but Lefman could feel the madness embedded deep withinYu Si-Do’s mind.

Yu Si-Dohad givenan interesting proposal to Lefman that day;after giving it some thought, Lefman decided to accept it. That was how Sunset Glasshad enteredinto along-termpartnership with the Black Tiger Clan.

They had decided to grow exponentially larger by taking advantage of theback alleys, partneringtogether to enter the illegal drugs market. Yu Si-Do had insisted that drug dealing was a very big opportunity for Sunset Glass to grow larger. Sunset Glasswas already in thepotion-makingbusiness, and it was very easy for them to make drugs by utilizing their supply chain, from the alchemists who manufactured the potions all the way to the herbalistswho foraged formedicinal herbsinthe wild.Additionally, it was not difficult for them to find recipes for drugs.

The Black Tiger Clan took care of distributing the drugs, while Sunset Glass secretly manufactured the drugs at night. The profits generatedwere so unimaginably huge that Lefman felthis time and youth dabbling in the potion making business were wasted,insignificant inthe faceof the immense wealth the drug trade brought.

They had gottena variety of customers in the back alleys too;from homeless beggars who hadnowhere to goto noblemen’s wives who were addicted to gambling, their customer base did not differentiate betweenold or young, male or female. It was to the point that Lefman thoughttheir customer base had more potential customers than candies and snacks would.

It was impossible for their drug trade not to be profitable because of the people who took the drugs out of curiosity and ended up begging for amere drop. As such,Lefman had decided to aggressively expand the business after getting a sweet taste of the profits. Sunset Glass had started to explosively increaseitsproduction capacity for illegal drugs, and the Black Tiger Clan had expandeditsdistribution network from the capital to even the most remotecountrysidevillages.

The immense profitshad beenenough to bribe the investigators to look the other way. Although ithad cost Sunset Glassquite the sum to bribe them, it was still well worth it to have the investigators in their pockets. Once the treasury of Sunset Glass started to amass quitethefortune, Lefman used hisnewfoundwealth to buy out shares in the other merchant companies.

Lefman had bought out a few small merchant companies and absorbed them into Sunset Glass. After he absorbed the small ones, hewentahead and absorbed the mid-sized companies. Sunset Glass eventually became a large merchant company and proudly establishedaspot in the capital of the continent, and nobody dared to spread any rumors that Lefman was a greedy man who would sell his soul for profits. Lefman had become a mogul people would pay respects to even in private, and there was nobody who could treathim the way they had before.

That was why Lefman could not believea man hadjust kicked his door down and entered his office so brazenly.Hisoffice in the merchant company was not a place thatanyonecould just enter without prior appointment, and even his secretary dared not open the door even after knocking unless he gave his permission.However, this manhadjust kicked his door down and welcomed himselfintohis office;not only that,he alsosat downcomfortablyon Lefman’s leather sofa and arrogantly crossed his legs as ifit werehis own room.

Lefman put down the documents hehad beenchecking and asked, “Who the hell are you?”

Kang Yoon-Soo nonchalantly replied, “A soon-to-be murderer.”

Lefman wasleftin a dilemma. Hewondered whether heshould call the guards immediately to drag this crazy man out of his office, or if he should fire his secretary and the receptionist who had let theman waltz into his office.

Lefman tapped his finger on his desk and said, “I’m sure you have seen my secretary and receptionist on the way here. Tell me, did they seem so incompetent as to let a madman like you waltz in here?”

However, Kang Yoon-Soo replied with an answer completely unrelated to the question Lefman just asked. He said,“There’s a bomb in this building.”

Lefman was not taken aback at all. He hadseen worse kinds of bluffs from all sorts of people, compared to themadman sitting in front of him.The kind and benevolent mask he worearound people fell away, and he unhesitatingly showed his true facefilled withgreed and anger. Most people would be intimidated at the sight of his face and back off, but Kang Yoon-Soo was not fazed at all. In fact, Kang Yoon-Soo did not flinch even a bit as he stared right back at Lefman.

‘Look at this punk,’Lefman growled inwardly as he pulled his beard.“You seemprettytough for a youngster. I’ll overlook this, so why don’t you stop this nonsense and go home at once,”hesaidbefore goingback to his documents.

Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly pointed outsidethe window.Lefman looked outsideout of curiosity, and saw a brunette woman walking while holdinga child’s hand. It was a very common sight, whichmadehimall the more confused.

Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly snapped his fingers.

Tak!

Booooom!

“Kyaaaaah!”

Flamesshot upfromthe ground out of nowhere, and the woman and the child were instantly engulfed by them.

***

The commotion outside turned into chaos, asseveralcarriages bumped into each other andpeople beganscreaming in horror.

“W-What the hell is going on?!” Lefman shouted.

The woman and the child were on the floor twisting and squirming in agony,butnobody dared to approach and help them because of the flames that had shot up from the ground and appeared out of nowhere.

“Damn it! Move!”shouted a middle-agedmanwhosuddenly appeared from the crowd and jumped into the wall of fire. The man bravely went into the flames and rescued the two victims,thentook off his coatand tried to use it toextinguish the fire on thevictims’bodies.

Lefman could not hide his shock at thesuddenturn of events.Meanwhile,KangYoon-Sooslowly prepared to finish the theatrics. As the room darkened, Lefmanhesitantly asked, “That must have been done by you, am I right?”

Kang Yoon-Soo noddedand replied, “There are explosives installedin thebasement of this building, and a single flick of my finger will trigger a huge explosion.”

“You liar! Do you think Iwouldbelieve you managed to do all of this alone?!” Lefman raged.

“Well, my comrades and I, to be exact,” Kang Yoon-Soo said. He showed off the back of his hand,revealing a familiar tattoo painted on it—it was a vicious black tiger.

The experienced merchant Lefman wasleft shaken, muttering, “The Black Tiger Clan?”

“Who elsewould becapable of doing such a thing within a day, ifnot us?” Kang Yoon-Soorepliedas he sat back down on the leather sofa. Itwas hard to believe how composed he was after burning two peoplealivein broad daylight.

Lefman carefully examined the man in front of him. He had met many of the Black Tiger Clan members during his dealings with them, and his sharp eyes were telling him that the tattoo engraved on the man’s hand was the real tattoo of the Black Tiger Clan. It was almost impossible for anyone to create a forgerythat was so similarto the real black lines of the tattoo used by the Black Tiger Clan, and the fact that he was a Traveler was proven by the device on his wrist.

However, why would the Black Tiger Clan dosuch a thing?

If there really were explosives installed in the basement of the buildingasthe man said, this was indeed a grave situation, and it meant that everyone in the building as well as himselfwasnow being held hostage. To make matters worse, there were a ton of rare, luxurious items in the building that even Lefman had not had the chance to use yet.

Lefman shoutedaggressively, “Why are you suddenly doing this?! I remember the Black Tiger Clanbeingin a strong alliance with us!”

“A strong alliance, you say?” Kang Yoon-Soo smirked as he repeated Lefman’s words, retorting,“Iwishour boss, Yu Si-Do, could behere to hear you say those words. If hehad beenhere,your head would have immediately fallen off your shoulders.”

“Damn it, what the hell are you talking about?!” Lefmanexclaimed.

“Lefman, you’ve made our boss very angry,” Kang Yoon-Soo said as he rubbed the tattoo on the back of his hand.The tattooshould have smudged off by his constant rubbing if itweremade of colored dyeor paint, butitdid not smudge one bit.Hecontinued without even batting an eye, “Do you know the White Lion Clan?”

“White Lion Clan? You mean that clan founded by the Travelers?” Lefman replied.

Kang Yoon-Soo nodded and continued, “It’s currently the largest clan among the Travelers, and they’re the only ones who have the power to fight against us, the Black Tiger Clan.But, it seems someone leaked information regarding boss Yu Si-Do to the White Lion Clan.”

“Who are you talking about?” Lefmanaskednervously.

“Who do you think wouldstand to profitgreatlyfrom betraying us right now?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked in a menacingtone.

“Are you suspecting me?!” Lefman shouted, sounding as if he wereabout to have a seizure at any minute.

Kang Yoon-Soo pointed at Lefman’s chest and said, “I speak on behalf of our whole clan. You’re the most suspicious one.”

Lefman gritted his teeth, his facered with rage as he retorted, “Nonsense! That’s utter nonsense! How can you doubt the trust we’ve built for so long?! You held my company and mypeople hostage,and now you’re suspecting me? I’ll no longer deal with the Black Tiger Clan if you keepthis u—”

“Shut up.” Kang Yoon-Soo cut Lefmanoff andlightly snapped his fingers.Suddenly, another explosionrang outfrom the other side of the building.

Booooom!

Lefman huffed and puffed toward the window; hesaw another woman unconscious on the pavement, engulfed by flames.Hehurriedly turned around and looked at Kang Yoon-Soo.

Kang Yoon-Soosat arrogantlyon the sofaandordered Lefman, “Sit. Unless you want to see your whole company burned down to the ground.”

Lefman gulpedupon realizing he had meta man far more evil and sinister than himself.