Record of a Thousand Lives

Chapter 104

“What the hell did this guy just say?” the investigator whom Kang Yoon-Soo had accused protested angrily.

Accusing someone out of the blue was usually something that happened only in novels, but it also occurred in reality from time to time. However, it was only something a seasoned investigator would do after investigating the crime scene for days.

“What the hell is with this guy?” the other investigators exclaimed angrily.

An investigator usually had to go through multiple steps such as checking the crime scene, collecting witness accounts, and collecting evidence before accusing someone of a crime. Those were the most basic principles of investigation. However, Kang Yoon-Soo crushed the logic the investigators religiously followed.

“Repar Irakin,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

The investigator in front of him flinched, but then composed himself and said, “You must have heard my name from somewhere.”

“You’re from the same batch as the deceased, Gaffer Sirent, but he’s always been ahead of you and you were jealous of him. That’s why you plotted this and murdered him,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

Repar laughed and asked, “Sunbae-nim, are you just going to stand and watch this lunatic? This is the bastard who pretended to be a Zero Grade investigator!”

The other investigators glared at Kang Yoon-Soo as well, but Sheryl had her arms crossed over her chest and commanded, “Nobody touches that man. That is an order.”

Sheryl pointed with her chin, and Kang Yoon-Soo continued talking, “You worked alongside Gaffer while plotting to kill him. Both of you were chosen for this mission because you were of the same rank and worked together quite often. That was why you decided to kill him with magic when you got the chance.”

“Magic! Ha! What a convenient deduction! What’s there that can’t be explained with magic?” Repar retorted mockingly.

Kang Yoon-Soo pointed at Gaffer’s corpse and said, “Gaffer suddenly collapsed while riding his horse. He has a wound that shows that he was stabbed, but nobody witnessed him getting stabbed, and that is because you used magic.”

“Where’s your evidence that I used magic?” Repar asked.

Incidents involving magic were the most difficult type to investigate, and they caused a lot of headaches for investigators. The start of any investigation involving magic started with locating a magic staff. It was necessary for humans to use staves to cast magic, unless they were beings like the desert elves or a select few Archmages who had been born with the ability to cast magic with their bare hands.

“Do you want to search me? Go ahead if you want to. You can even take my pants off! Try and see if you can find a magic staff on me!” Repar angrily protested.

Kang Yoon-Soo shook his head and said, “You don’t have a staff with you, but you definitely used magic.”

.

“Are you trying to say I used magic without a staff? Are you putting me on the same level as an Archmage?” Repar replied.

“It’s because you used a saltroot magic staff,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

The investigators around them started to murmur among themselves. Saltroot magic staves were made out of the roots of saltrees, a kind of tree that could only be found on the continent. They were usually small and only required a small amount of mana to use, which was why they were commonly used by those dreaming of becoming magicians.

“It would have been washed away by the rain if he indeed used a saltroot magic staff. They are also small, so they would be easy to hide in his pocket,” Sheryl remarked.

“What are you saying?!” Repar protested. He then added, “You can’t kill someone with only the magic power of a saltroot staff! Aren’t basic magics used by greenhorn wannabes the best you can cast using that kind of staff?”

What he was saying was true. The best thing one could conjure with a saltroot staff was part of an icicle or a small fire orb at best.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo nonchalantly continued, “You used the saltroot staff to kill Gaffer. The spell you used was ‘Invisible Spear’. You created a transparent spear and used it to stab Gaffer in the side.”

“What did we even expect from a Traveler? They don’t even know the most basic things about the continent. You can’t use that kind of magic with a saltroot staff!” Repar retorted angrily.

“It definitely wouldn’t be enough—with only one staff, that is,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

The gazes of the onlooking investigators started to change.

“You used a total of two saltroot staves,” Kang Yoon-Soo continued. Repar flinched suddenly.

It was very difficult, but not impossible, to use two magic staves at once; that enabled the caster to use a vast variety of spells that would otherwise have been impossible with only one staff.

“But where is your evidence? All of those are just theories. You need to provide evidence to back up your claim that Repar used saltroot magic staves to cast magic and kill Gaffer,” Sheryl said.

Kang Yoon-Soo nodded and replied, “The evidence is on Gaffer’s body. The wound in his side will solve the case.”

Kang Yoon-Soo had not even taken a look at the body when he made his deductions; that irritated Repar all the more, as he scoffed with a disgruntled expression before objecting, “You didn’t even check the body, but you’re making assumptions now?”

“Go take a look,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

Sheryl gestured to one of the investigators with her eyes, and the investigator pulled away the mantle that was covering Gaffer’s corpse. There was a sharp wound in his side, appearing as if he had been stabbed by something; the wound appeared to be wet from the rain.

“Try stabbing that wound, after covering it so the rain won’t enter it,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

Sheryl drew a dagger as the other investigators surrounded her and the corpse while covering them from the rain with their mantles. Sheryl then skillfully stabbed the wound. When she withdrew the dagger, crystals that appeared to be made of salt emerged along with it.

“This…” Sheryl muttered with a frown. The crystals would have melted away from the blood and rain if she had pulled out the dagger a split second too late.

“‘Invisible Spear’ summons a transparent spear and allows the caster to use their mana to stab the target. However, it always leaves behind a mana crystal that’s closely related to the attribute of the magic staff used,” Kang Yoon-Soo explained. He then added the final nail in Repar’s coffin, saying, “You’ll find out who cast the spell if you investigate the mana crystal.”

It was a very clean way of delivering the conclusion to his investigation.

The investigators looked for a dry handkerchief, and carefully wrapped the mana crystal in it. Then, all of them looked toward Repar.

Repar trembled uncontrollably as he tried to protest, “I’m not an idiot, you know! Do you think I would take such a risk and commit a crime while being surrounded by investigators?! I would have committed the crime when nobody was around if I really did it!”

“You decided that today was the perfect day to carry out your plan,” Kang Yoon-Soo said, collecting a handful of rain in both of his handcuffed hands. He then added, “The rain is the evidence.”

The clouds above started to clear up, and sunlight started to shine down again. Kang Yoon-Soo stared up at the sun through his wet hair and said, “You paid off a weather scholar to give you the weather forecast, and planned to kill Gaffer on the day it rained.”

“You’re accusing me of paying off a weather scholar to get the forecast? Where’s your evidence?!” Repar objected.

Kang Yoon-Soo looked at Repar as if he found him bothersome before saying, “Adaltan Renjex, from the top weather forecasting station of Vulpehin. You requested the forecast from that weather scholar two days ago. We can find out if we check later.”

Repar’s face turned pale white, and he collapsed to the ground on his knees. The other investigators approached him and handcuffed him.

Kang Yoon-Soo turned to look at the transportation carriage, saying, “I guess I have someone to accompany me on the way.”

***

The carriage stopped when they reached the Vulpehin Investigation Headquarters. Repar was dragged away by the investigators, and Kang Yoon-Soo was left alone in the carriage.

“You were quite amazing,” Sheryl said as she entered. She then sat down in front of Kang Yoon-Soo while crossing her legs.

Kang Yoon-Soo stole a glance at the documents that were atop Sheryl’s thighs.

“I managed to avoid getting demoted, and even caught the culprit thanks to you. You have my gratitude,” Sheryl said.

“Then release me,” Kang Yoon-Soo responded.

“No,” Sheryl replied. She then continued, “You caught the culprit without even investigating the crime scene. How is that even possible?”

“None of your business,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“You become more mysterious the more I get to know you,” Sheryl replied, and the corners of her mouth slowly rose.

Kang Yoon-Soo looked out the window; it was still raining outside.

“It would be a waste to let you live as a criminal,” Sheryl said as she lifted the document. It was the document she had to submit to the headquarters to finalize Kang Yoon-Soo’s criminal record. Then, she took out a lighter and burned the document.

Fwaah…

“I am not saying that I will be giving you freedom,” Sheryl said as she opened the cage door and pointed a sword at Kang Yoon-Soo’s neck.

Kang Yoon-Soo’s brows furrowed as he asked, “What are you doing?”

“Your handcuffs look quite old,” Sheryl said. She unlocked his handcuffs and immediately replaced them with new ones.

Kang Yoon-Soo’s eyes twitched at the sight of the new handcuffs. They were made of pure mana, and they were a type even he could not free himself from.

“You will have to wear those for quite a while. I will immediately release you from them when you fulfill all of the conditions I set,” Sheryl said.

“What are they?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.

“Help me solve my cases,” Sheryl replied.

“I don’t want to,” Kang Yoon-Soo responded.

Sheryl dangled a small key in front of Kang Yoon-Soo, and he stared at the key for a while before reluctantly asking, “How many?”

“A total of thirty cases. I would be able to surpass the others and eye a spot as a Zero Grade investigator with that many. I will make sure to overlook your crimes if you solve the agreed number of cases,” Sheryl replied.

Kang Yoon-Soo started calculating in his head. Sheryl was someone who would definitely keep her word even though she looked cold and unforgiving. Additionally, he did not need a lot of time to solve all of the cases.

‘Sheryl is definitely going to hunt me down and turn me into a fugitive if I run away,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought. ‘It’s not going to take long for me to solve thirty cases. It’s also not a bad idea to obtain some rewards before going to the ossuary.’

Kang Yoon-Soo nodded in agreement, and Sheryl opened the cage door for him.

“I will claim that I had to release you on the grounds of insufficient evidence. Of course, I am not giving you your freedom yet. You have to stay in one place until you solve all thirty cases,” Sheryl said.

“Where?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.

“My house,” Sheryl replied.

***

“Shaneth, try to smile…” Iris said as she pulled both ends of Henrick’s mouth upward.

Henrick, whose mouth felt as if it were about to be ripped off, lashed out against her and exclaimed, “Hey, you punk! Use your own face if you want to make someone laugh!”

“But Henrick looks funnier than me,” Iris replied while tilting her head.

“You do realize you’re getting quite rude these days, don’t you?” Henrick grumbled.

Shaneth, on the other hand, felt depressed. She hugged her knees as she said, “I’m getting too worried…”

“It’s not as if I don’t understand you. I’m worried too. All of the red wine from Vulpehin is with him,” Henrick said.

“I meant Kang Yoon-Soo, not the red wine!” Shaneth cried, her voice filled with fury.

Henrick trembled before Shaneth’s sudden outburst. After a while, he composed himself before replying, “What are you getting all worked up for? If it’s him, he’ll have gotten away by now.”

“No, he’s different these days. I can see that he’s pushing himself lately,” Shaneth said, scraping a fork across the table with a gloomy expression.

The trio had booked a room in an inn; it was the second day since they had been separated from Kang Yoon-Soo.

“Do you think something happened to him?” Iris asked.

“Well… He could be bothering someone right now while leisurely taking his time,” Henrick said, gulping down a cup of alcohol.

Shaneth started crying and exclaimed, “Think about it! Think about how much he would be suffering right now if he got captured by the investigators in this rain! I’m sure he wouldn’t be able to eat or even take a bath! Really… Really…!” She suddenly snatched the cup from Henrick and gulped it down.

Henrick flinched and looked at Iris before remarking, “Why is she so immature today…?”

“Hmm… I have heard that a woman who has lost her lover goes through immense agony and pain,” Iris said.

“It’s not as if this is the first time he’s done something strange on his own,” Henrick said as he poured another cup for Shaneth. It was the remedy an alcoholic would prescribe for the pain of separation.

Shaneth immediately gulped down the cup of alcohol and asked, “Did Henrick ahjussi and Iris unni not feel it? Kang Yoon-Soo has a lot of secrets that he tries very hard to hide from other people, but it’s gotten a lot worse these days.”

“It doesn’t happen these days, but he used to be in a lot of pain at night,” Henrick said.

“That’s right! Why do you think he was in such pain? And why do you think he tried to hide it as well? Why do you think he isn’t telling us anything?!” Shaneth cried out, her face flushed.

Henrick frowned and said, “There’s nothing more annoying than being on the receiving end of someone else’s drinking habits.”

“Drinking habits? What are those?” Iris asked.

“You are looking at it, aren’t you?” Henrick replied.

Shaneth was still depressed. Her heart ached when she thought of how much pain and suffering Kang Yoon-Soo must be going through.

***

Meanwhile, Kang Yoon-Soo was soaking in a hot tub, and all the fatigue and cold his body had accumulated while being drenched under the rain was being washed away. Life where he was was not bad at all, except for one thing.

“Release my handcuffs,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“Nope,” Sheryl replied as she poured hot water over her slender body.