Record of a Thousand Lives

Kang Yoon-Soo and his party went up to the upper floor. Some of the Black Tiger Clan members had brought fire retardant shields as they fought off the remaining fire;staff-wielding Magicians had alsoarrived, spreadingice magic to quell the fire. They were quite orderlyfor a criminal organization.

Henrick clicked his tongue andsaid, “It seems like we didn’t inflict much damage to these guys.”

The headquarters of the Black Tiger Clan was vast and wide, but there was nothing else special about it.

A sweet and addictive fragrance flowed out from somewhere, ticklingtheir noses. Iris asked as she sniffed it, “What is this smell? It doesn’t seemlikea normalcigar.”

“They’redrugs,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

A few of the clan members were doing drugs at the scene of the fire. Aman who was rolling up some kind of dried leaves approached them and asked, “Hey, you guys! You just came out of the basement, right?”

Kang Yoon-Soo and his party stoppedupon hearing those words, but it seemedthe man hadn’tnoticed them, as their faces were covered with the makeshift masks and they hadthetattoo of the Black Tiger Clanonthe backsof their hands.

“I can tell you guys are newbies. What happened in the basement? What caused the fire?” the man asked.

“I was near the gas chamber. Some guy was smoking, and it seems an ember flew from hiscigar,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

The man shruggedandasked, “Really? Well, it’s not my responsibility anyway. It seemsthey’ll kill a few of the guys and getover it. More importantly, it seems something interesting is happening;let’s go to the main hall.”

“Sure,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied. He and his party followed the man.

The main hall was decorated with luxurious chandeliers, but the place was filled withthe smoke from drugs. It was a relief that theparty memberswere wearingmasks,as it would have been difficult for them to even breatheotherwise.

“It's a requestto assassinate the family of Earl Amorkan! It’s thirty gold coins per head this time, and even a baby is included! It’s an easy job!”

“Any fleet-footed guys? We’re planning to steal the necklace of theOrkanicFamily! Who knows? Maybe you’llget to lick the ass of their widow!Kek!Keke!”

The clan members were all gathered in the main hall, planningall sorts of crimes. Thewindows were covered in shutters, suchthat it was difficult for even a ray of light to enter the place, but the wilderness outsidewas barely visible through small gaps. It seemed this place was definitely far away from populated areas.

“Sit here. Do you want a smoke?” the man asked, extendingthecigar he had been rolling previously.

‘It’s been a while,’Kang Yoon-Soo thought as he looked at the drug-filled cigar, before taking it and placing it in his mouth.

“What are you doing?” Shaneth asked in surprise, snatching the cigarfrom his mouth.

Kang Yoon-Soo stared at herindifferentlyand asked, “Why?”

“You don’t even smoke, but now you’re suddenlytryingto smoke drugs?” Shaneth argued, her brow creasing.

“It’s to empty my head,” Kang Yoon-Soo answered.

“You’ll end up addicted! What will you do if you turn into an addict who can’t live without drugs?” Shanethexclaimed, glaringat Kang Yoon-Soo.

“I was able to stop takingitwithout issues,” Kang Yoon-Soo said indifferently.

“Says the bastard who drinks every chance he gets?” Henrick chimed.

The man cackled at Henrick’s words and said, “You can’t quit drinking, butyou’retelling me that you quit taking drugs? You’re crazy.”

“It’s harder to quit drinking,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“How so?” the man asked.Kang Yoon-Soo’s wordshadpiqued his curiosity.

“Your head will hurt because of withdrawal symptoms if you quit drugs, but drinking will give you a headache immediately. That’s why it’s harder to quit drinking,” Kang Yoon-Soo explained.

“Hmm… that’s a deep answer someonenormallywouldn’t provide,” the man said, lookingat Kang Yoon-Soo with interest.

Suddenly,cheerscame from the center of the main hall, and the man clapped his hands as if hehad been waiting for that very thing. He exclaimed, “It’s starting!”

A masked man pulled a tall, shackled womanontothe stage. The woman’s neck was in chains,but her eyes were filled with rebelliousness.

“They say she’s a member of the White Lion Clan. She joined our clan to spy and collect information on us, and five of our guys died to that bitch,” the man explained.

“What do they plan to do on stage?” Shaneth asked.

“You will see soon enough,” the man replied.

The crowd sent unimaginable insults and curses toward the woman on the stage, throwingfood wasteand booze bottles. However, the woman remained steadfast despite the insults hurled at her.

“Listen! A show you would never be able to see in the outside world will soon start!” the masked man said in a high-pitched, squeaky voicethat resembled a clown’s.

“Our lives are difficult, and everyone has it bad. Both our minds and our bodies suffer whenever we kill and steal. But doyou guys know?Do we havea body part that never feels pain?” the masked manasked. He rolled up his sleeveand pinched his elbow, adding,“Look! Even if you pinch the flesh on your elbow, all you feel is a little sting and that’s it! Hmm…Maybe it would if you cut it with a knife though… Ah! Here’s a better example. You don’t feel any pain whenyou cutyour nails, right?”Hewas quite talented at getting thecrowd’s attention.

“But! What if we couldmake someone feel pain even from those body parts? Theywouldfeel their flesh being torn apart whenever we cut their nails one by one! Doesn’t it excite you just hearing about it?” the masked manexclaimed, takingout a small jewel from his pocket.The jewel had a bright orange glow, just like a lamppost.He gleefully announced,“This is a magic stone that can manipulate the pain people feel! It’s a very rare and expensive item, and we’ll focus all of the pain points of this bitch into one place!”

“Pain point? What the hell are you talking about?” one clan member shouted.

The masked man smiled as he explained, “It means we canmakeone part of her body very sensitive and feel immense pain!”

The crowdbecame excited upon hearing about thenew style of torture, andtheir murmursfilled the entire hall.

“Where should we make this bitch feel pain from? Shall we focus allher pain points into her feet soshe can’t walk ever again?Or should we focus it allin her eyelids so she’ll get a taste of hell whenever she blinks? Which part do you guys want?!”Themasked man fired up the crowd.

The crowd was now hyped up, andvarious shoutssuggestingdifferent body parts filled the hall with all sorts of shameful and vile suggestionsthat were sure to affect the woman.

“Everyone here is… crazy…” Shaneth said, lookingat Kang Yoon-Soo with pleading eyes. Her eyes conveyed herdesireto immediately runover tothe stage and rescue the woman. However, Kang Yoon-Soo just stared at the stageindifferently.

“There,there, calm down! There are plenty of good suggestions, but don’t you think the breasts or the ass are far too common? Will you be excited and satisfied if we use this rare magic stone on somethingasobviousasthat?”the masked man asked. He clicked his tongue and let out a laugh as he took out a steel pair of scissors from his pocket.

A quick-witted clan member cheered loudly. All of the veins on his neck stood upashe shouted, “The hair! The place to focus allher pain intois her hair!”

The masked man gently brushedthe woman’shair and said, “Exactly! What do you think would happen if she feltpain whenever her hairwas cut? It wouldhurtas if she wereon the verge of deathifI cut her hair strand by strand. Hmm…If wewere tomake a comparison…Maybe it wouldhurt like having a finger chopped off? But did you know? Hundreds of strands of hairwould becut every time the scissorsareused.That means she wouldfeelpain equivalent tohaving hundreds of her fingers getting chopped off! Oh my! It’s gonna hurt!”

The masked man gripped the magic stone and crushed it with his hand. Ared hue flowed out of the stone and sank into the woman’s hair.For the first time, thewoman’s face turned pale.

“Now, welcome to our salon! You’re now going to get your hair cut in front of hundreds of audiencemembers. Can you tell us how you feel?” the masked man asked the woman as he grabbed a handful of her hair.

The woman closed her eyesandtrembled, saying, “I will definitely… pay you back for this shame…”

“Hahaha! Look at that bitch trembling! She’s already tamed and it makes me want to torture her more!”

“Just shave her already!Kehehehe!”

Shaneth could not bear to watch the horrific show anymoreandstood up from her seat, but the man suddenlyasked, “Miss, why don’t you take a seat?”

“Are you telling me to keep watching this and stay still?” Shaneth retortedsharply.

“Then why did you burn down someone else’s clan’s basement? You should’ve just quietly stayed asleep,” the man replied.

Shaneth flinched as she lookedather surroundings. That was when she realized that they were surrounded by people glaring at them with murderous intent. A few of the other clan members started to slowlylooktoward theparty, and the man leisurely crossed his legs as he took a puffof his cigar.

“Ha, I was surprised too. The ones we kidnapped actually ended up blowing up the gas chamber and came all the way up here. You were bound up in chains if I remember correctly. Well,aren’t you guys masters of escape?” the manremarkedas he took another puff.

Henrick observed the man with his keen sight, as the man lightly dustedoff theashes from hiscigar and said in a chilling voice,“The name is Yu Si-Do, and I’m the leader of the Black Tiger Clan, but you don’t have to remember that. You’ll die by my hands anyway.”

The man’s words gave the partychills and goosebumps. They had finally managed to escape, but to think that they had met up with the boss of the enemy instead.The shouts of the crowdgrewlouder, and the chilling atmosphere engulfed the table.

“Why did you decide to impersonate us? I had no choice but to take care of you because you made the leader of Sunset Glass come all the way here. Especially that expressionless guy… It sounds likewe would’ve gotten along quite well. It’s a shame,” the man saidcalmlyas he took another puff.

“…Why didn’t you capture us immediately, instead choosingto casually approach us first?” Shaneth askedwith a grimace.

“No reason. It’sjust more fun this way. It feels awesome to see the faces ofotherpeople when you hide your identity and revealthat you’re the clan leader later,you know?” Yu Si-Do playfullyremarkedas he hummed and threw away thecigarhe was smoking. He resumed his habit ofbiting downon his finger—literally consuming his own flesh.The sight of Yu Si-Do munching his own finger despite the blood dripping from it made him look like a madman.

“You…You’re mad,” Shaneth said, watching Yu Si-Do eat his own finger with disgust.

“Munch…Me? Why? There are a lot of mad people in the world,sodon’t you think someone like me can be considered normal? Ah, this finger? You don’t have to worry about it. My body regenerates even if I munch on it,” Yu Si-Do saidcasually.

“Hmm… then is it the same for your heart?” Irisaskedas she stretched her hands out, staringat Yu Si-Do.

Yu Si-Dokept eatinghis middle finger as he stared at Iris and asked, “Have we met somewhere before?”

“Yu Si-Do,” Kang Yoon-Soo interruptedhim. He said,“The reason why I let myself get kidnapped was to cooperate with you.”

“You’re the mad one. It wasn’t enough that you impersonated us and burned down our clan’s basement, but now you want to cooperate?” Yu Si-Doreplied, staringat Kang Yoon-Soo.

“We had no choice but to burn the place down, or else you would’ve killed all of us,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“I plan to kill all of you anyway, so why should I agree to that?” Yu Si-Do asked.

“Because you can’t overcome this crisis without my help,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

Yu Si-Do stared at Kang Yoon-Soo with a confusedexpressionand asked, “Crisis?”

Thecrowd’s boosgrew louderandsome of them shouted, “When is the torture going to start?!”

“Are you planning to start after we all die from waiting? Damn it!”

However, the masked man did not use his scissors;rather, he threw themaway from the stage and shouted, “Ladies and gentlemen! The real show begins now! I want you all to pay attention to your surroundings!”

The clan members confusedly looked around them. Suddenly, some other clan members drew their weapons and stabbed theircomrades.

“Kuheok!”

“Why? Why are you attacking us?!”

“He’s not one of us! It’s a spy!”

However, it was too late. The clan members could not differentiate betweenfriend or foe, but the spies could. The Black Tiger Clan members started tobeone-sidedly massacred as the situation spiraled down into chaos.

It was at the verymoment that everything was descending down to madness that the masked man took off his mask. The face that revealed itself was impossible for anyone who was a member of the Black Tiger Clan to not recognize.

“H-han Se-Hyun?!”

“It’s the leader of the White Lion clan?! Why the hell did that guy appear on the stage?!”

Han Se-Hyun smirked as he looked at Kang Yoon-Soo.‘Everything wentaccording to your plan,’hethought to himself.

“There’s no special reason,” Han Se-Hyun replied to the crowd as his eyesmet Yu Si-Do’s, while the latter’s face crumpled with anger. He continued, “No reason. It’s just more fun this way. It feels awesome to see the faces of other people when you hide your identity and reveal that you’re the clan leader later, you know?”