Record of a Thousand Lives: Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Han Saehyun brought Kang Yoonsoo to a rundown bar.

Tired, Shannette said that she will go directly to the inn to get rested.

Although Lee Kanghyun and other men insisted on coming along, Han Saehyun refused them by telling them that he wanted to have a private conversation with Kang Yoonsoo.

Sitting at a corner table, they placed an order.

 “Two glasses of lime wine.  And one order of non greasy side dish.”

 “Ah, yes, yes, right away.”

As Han Saehyun gave her a smile, the lady server turned red and ran towards the kitchen as if she was running away from someone.

Now, it was certain that the women, who were in the kitchen, would be fully engaged in gossips over handsome, strange men.

The lime wine was served in big glasses.

The order of barbeque chicken wings, as a side dish, came out looking rather moist over its grilled skin.

Untying the belt on his armor suit, Han Saehyun sat comfortably.

 “Do you enjoy doing things in roundabout ways?”

 “No.”

 “Neither do I.  So, I’ll get right to it.”

After taking a drink of the lime wine, Han Saehyun spoke.

 “I’ve heard, at the alchemist clan, that you killed Lavian, the boss monster of the top floor of the Chimera Dimension.”

Without taking his lips off of the wine glass, Kang Yoonsoo nodded slowly.

It was a very intricate movement, but Han Saehyun did not pay much attention to it.

Taking a piece of the chicken wing, Han Saehyun took a bite and swallowed it whole.

 “You probably took the possession of the non-decaying heart(core) after you killed that Homunclus.  I’d like to buy that core from you.”

 “Not for sale.”

 “If you’d like, I can compensate you enough so that you can live out your life in comfort, so that you no longer need to be obsessed with the level.”

 “Not selling it.”

 “Then I’ll have to kill you.”

Kang Yoonsoo looked at Han Saehyun in nonchalant way.

Han Saehyun smiled.

His lips were still smiling, but his eyes were cold.

 “You’re not selling.  Then I have to kill you and take it away from you.  No other way, right.”

Han Saehyun spoke informally in a natural way.

It was because Kang Yoonsoo was speaking in an informal way, first anyway.

Then bending forward, Han Saehyun approached closer to Kang Yoonsoo.

He pointed his pointer finger to Kang Yoonsoo’s neck in a natural way.

Then there formed a ball of blood on Kang Yoonsoo’s neck.

It happened as if the area has been cut by something very sharp.

The finger was sharp beyond one’s imagination.

 ‘Sword stream skill.’

It is the unique skill of Han Saehyun.

It makes even a finger to be as sharp as a sword’s edge.

It was not an over statement to say that Han Saehyun was one of the most powerful men among all the explorers in the continent.

In his past lives, there had been a number of occasions in which he was almost killed, several times, after carrying out the assassination assignment on Han Saehyun.

However, that was in the old days.

He had no intention of killing Han Saehyun in his thousand life times.

Yet, smiling lightly, Han Saehyun was still wielding his finger in a soft fashion.

 “I wish you weren’t a dimwit.  Not everyone in the world avoids killing.”

Kang Yoonsoo nonchalantly stared at Han Saehyun.

 “I know.”

 “Then give me the Lavian’s core.”

 “Don’t want to.”

Han Saehyun had an expression of not able to believe what he has just heard.

 “Then are you choosing to die?”

 “No.”

 “What are you saying?”

 “You can’t kill me.”

 “Hmm.  How can you be so sure of that?”

 “Cuz you want to be an emperor.”

Han Saehyun raised his finger in a side way as if he was holding a sword.

He looked curious.

 “I want to be an emperor?”

 “Yup.”

 “How do you know that?”

 “The white lion roars towards the king’s throne.”

It was the relevant description of what was on the cape supplied by the White Lion Clan.

Kang Yoonsoo said with firmness.

 “A beast does not kill for no reason.  It just roars at its prey.”

At that moment, the sharpness of the finger, which was touching the neck, has disappeared.

There was only the sense of a normal finger.

Han Saehyun lowered his finger.

He remained silent for a while.

 “Hahaha!”

Suddenly, Han Saehyun broke out into laughter.

On the other hand, Kang Yoonsoo remained expressionless.

However, unimpressed, Han Saehyun kept laughing as if it was his greatest day of his life.

 “This is a first!  I’ve never met anyone, so, interesting as you since I’ve come over to this place.  Really, I like you.  I’ve never seen anyone who spoke so calmly even with a knife pointed at his neck.  You know, I want to chat some more?”

 “Not what I wanted to hear.”

Kang Yoonsoo’s response was cold.

Still, Han Saehyun was full of smiles.

It was certainly different than the smiles he just had on earlier.

Kang Yoonsoo said in a quiet voice.

 “Stop the quest that you are pursuing at the moment.  You won’t complete it anyway.”

 “You’re telling me to forego Lavian’s core?  Then what are you going to give me in return?”

 “I’ll make you an emperor.”

Han Saehyun’s eyes sparkled.

 “You… You’ll be my emperor maker?”

 “Yup.”

Kang Yoonsoo nodded.

It was because with that short response, he knew that his plan and itinerary were going to be facilitated much easier.

 “How?”

 “I have a way.”

The two men talked for a long while.

As Han Saehyun listened more to Kang Yoonsoo, his expression grew more serious.

What began as a blurry objective began to take on a firm shape.

The adversary clan’s head-quarter.  The plan to place a mole.  A way to infiltrate himself!

The highly classified intelligence information flew out of Kang Yoonsoo’s mouth.

The way that Han Saehyun looked at Kang Yoonsoo has changed.

*****

By the time their conversation came to an end, it was already twilight.

After exiting the bar, Han Saehyun extended his hand out.

 “From now on, I’ve decided to trust you.  I’ll mobilize my members at your appointed time, and launch an attack against that clan.  Of course, I’ll be there, too.”

His voice was filled with absolute confidence.

 “From now on, we are silent partners.  I’ll support you whatever you do from now on, and you, too, will help me.”

 “Don’t want to shake hands.”

 “Oh?  You must be a germophobe.”

Han Saehyun awkwardly withdrew his hand.

In fact, he hasn’t withdrawn his sword stream skill, yet.

Although he said they were in a silent partnership, he was cautiously testing Kang Yoonsoo’s foresight.

He made a proposal.

 “By the way, do you have an intention of joining the White Lion Clan?  For someone like you, I can immediately promote you to a lieutenant level.  I’ll support you with the highest quality items at each level, too.  It is a special treatment which no one else gets the benefit of.”

 “Not at all.”

Han Saehyun simpered.

 “Can’t believe you declined such an offer so quickly.  You must really be senseless even more than a wooden statue?”

 “And you are an annoying bastard.”

After laughing hawkishly, he tapped on Kang Yoonsoo’s chest with his fist.

It was a way to telling Kang Yoonsoo that he has withdrawn the sword stream skill.

Han Saehyun said in a friendly tone of voice.

 “Look for me first when you come to the capitol.  I’ll treat you to a much better drinking establishment, unlike this old place.  Ah, and bring the pretty girl, too.”

Kang Yoonsoo nodded slowly.

After putting on a smile, he extended out his right arm.

 “Summoning Gryphon Armyan.”

A gold winged gryphon appeared with a flash of light.

The people’s attention was immediately drawn to it.

Before attracting too much attention, Han Saehyun quickly got on top of the gryphon.

He spoke, looking at Kang Yoonsoo.

 “Like I said earlier, I’ll wait for you to come to me.  I’ll not forget the conversation we had.  The promise we’ve made, hope you never forget.”

 “Right.”

Kang Yoonsoo gave a terse reply.

Flapping its wings, the gryphon rose up high into the sky.

Han Saehyun soon disappeared.

Kang Yoonsoo went directly to his room as soon as he got back to the inn.

With unorganized hair, Shannette was drooling over her pillow as she slept.

It was because her stamina has run out due to the adrenaline potion’s side effect.

When Kang Yoonsoo came into the room, she raised her head, half asleep.

 “Slurp…  You’re back?  How was the talk?”

 “Too long.”

As if he was falling down, Kang Yoonsoo fell forward onto the bed which Shannette was sleeping on.

Shannette, being too exhausted, did not even realize that he was lying next to her, either.

 ‘Tired.’

Kang Yoonsoo fell asleep right away as if he had lost his consciousness.

*****

The morning sun ray came in through the window.

Shannette woke up.

And she was in shock.

Just next to her was Kang Yoonsoo who was sleeping with his face so close to hers.

The sound of  his breathing was tickling her ear.

That wasn’t everything.

From Kang Yoonsoo’s knapsack, a wet chunk of meat was coming out of it.

As if it was a snail, the chunk of meat was crawling around the floor as it colored the floor with blood.

Chrrr… Churrrr….

The core was moving as if it was alive.

It was a strange scene.

 “Eaaaahk!”

Shannette began the day by screaming in the morning.

 “Kang Yoonsoo!  Kang Yoonsoo!”

 “What.”

Although he might have just woken up, he spoke with the same usual tone of his voice.

Startled, Shannette pointed to the knapsack.

 “Look, look at that!  That heart, that heart jumped out by itself!”

With a messy hair, Kang Yoonsoo slowly got up.

When he stood up, the slurping heart quickly hardened.

The blood vessels on the heart changed into pointy needles, and flew towards Kang Yoonsoo.

Tup-!

Kang Yoonsoo caught the heart of the needles with one hand.

And he immediately tore it up.

Blood splashed all over the place and Shannette was covered with blood.

 [You’ve destroyed Homunclus Lavian’s Heart/Core, its life force.

You’ve discovered the clue left by the great alchemist Minerva.

As you’ve been given the secret writings of Necron, the last necromancer, you have been verified as a qualified executor.

Do you want to carry out the legendary quest associated with the ancient hero?]

 “Yes.”

 [The executor must plow through countless, deathly dangers in the process of executing the legendary quest.  Your choice will determine the life of death of the future continent.  Also, you cannot stop executing once it is started.  The choice to this quest must be made after careful consideration.  Do you really want to pursue?]

 “Said, I will.”

Without even wiping off the blood, he fell back onto the bed.

He immediately fell back asleep.

After looking at Kang Yoonsoo who just fell asleep, Shannette played with her blood soaked hair.

Shannette murmured disturbingly.

 “What a disaster, at this early in the morning….”