Record of a Thousand Lives

o 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 had seen worse kinds of bluffs from all sorts of people, compared to the madman sitting in front of him. The kind and benevolent mask he wore around people fell away, and he unhesitatingly showed his true face filled with greed 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 seem pretty tough for a youngster.
I’ll overlook this, so why don’t you stop this nonsense and go home at once,” he said before going back to his documents.

Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly pointed outside the window. Lefman looked outside out of curiosity, and saw a brunette woman walking while holding a child’s hand.
It was a very common sight, which made him all the more confused.

Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly snapped his fingers.

Tak!

Booooom!

“Kyaaaaah!”

Flames shot up from the ground out of nowhere, and the woman and the child were instantly engulfed by them.

***

The commotion outside turned into chaos, as several carriages bumped into each other and people began screaming 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, but nobody 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-aged man who suddenly appeared from the crowd and jumped into the wall of fire.
The man bravely went into the flames and rescued the two victims, then took off his coat and tried to use it to extinguish the fire on the victims’ bodies.

Lefman could not hide his shock at the sudden turn of events. Meanwhile, Kang Yoon-Soo slowly prepared to finish the theatrics.
As the room darkened, Lefman hesitantly asked, “That must have been done by you, am I right?”

Kang Yoon-Soo nodded and replied, “There are explosives installed in the basement of this building, and a single flick of my finger will trigger a huge explosion.”

“You liar! Do you think I would believe 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 was left shaken, muttering, “The Black Tiger Clan?”

“Who else would be capable of doing such a thing within a day, if not us?” Kang Yoon-Soo replied as he sat back down on the leather sofa.
It was hard to believe how composed he was after burning two people alive in 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 forgery that was so similar to 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 do such a thing?

If there really were explosives installed in the basement of the building as the man said, this was indeed a grave situation, and it meant that everyone in the building as well as himself was now 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 shouted aggressively, “Why are you suddenly doing this?! I remember the Black Tiger Clan being in a strong alliance with us!”

“A strong alliance, you say?” Kang Yoon-Soo smirked as he repeated Lefman’s words, retorting, “I wish our boss, Yu Si-Do, could be here to hear you say those words.
If he had been here, your head would have immediately fallen off your shoulders.”

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

“Lefman, you’ve made our boss very angry,” Kang Yoon-Soo said as he rubbed the tattoo on the back of his hand. The tattoo should have smudged off by his constant rubbing if it were made of colored dye or paint, but it did not smudge one bit. He continued 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?” Lefman asked nervously.

“Who do you think would stand to profit greatly from betraying us right now?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked in a menacing tone.

“Are you suspecting me?!” Lefman shouted, sounding as if he were about 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 face red 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 my people hostage, and now you’re suspecting me? I’ll no longer deal with the Black Tiger Clan if you keep this u—”

“Shut up.” Kang Yoon-Soo cut Lefman off and lightly snapped his fingers. Suddenly, another explosion rang out from the other side of the building.

Booooom!

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

Kang Yoon-Soo sat arrogantly on the sofa and ordered Lefman, “Sit.
Unless you want to see your whole company burned down to the ground.”

Lefman gulped upon realizing he had met a man far more evil and sinister than himself.