Record of a Thousand Lives-Chapter 105

Sheryl wiped her wet blonde hair, exuding a very fragrant scent as she put on a gown. She then lit a cigarette before asking, “Want one?”

“No,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied. He shook the handcuffs on his wrist and asked, “Don’t you have some booze?”

“Do you want to lick it off a plate?” Sheryl replied. Kang Yoon-Soo just stared at her, and she crossed her bare legs in front of him before adding, “Just kidding.”

Sheryl leisurely puffed out smoke, and she looked quite different from how she acted when she was outside. She looked more like an ordinary, beautiful girl, compared to her usual cold and business-like demeanor. Her tone and way of speaking also differed from when she was wearing her uniform.

“Is it awkward?” Sheryl asked.

“No,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“You’re the first man to reply like that,” Sheryl said.

Kang Yoon-Soo looked at Sheryl’s hand that was holding onto the chain connected to his handcuffs. He said, “Release me.”

“I don’t trust you yet,” Sheryl said as she sat on the sofa and rubbed the chain in her hand. She then added, “You’re quite skilled, so it wouldn’t be difficult for you to run away. That’s why you won’t be released until you solve all the cases.”

Kang Yoon-Soo was no different from a slave at the moment. He could not even put on his clothes by himself due to the handcuffs, and it was Sheryl who helped him do so. Both of them had already seen each other naked, but they had no special reaction toward each other.

“Don’t you see me as a woman?” Sheryl asked.

“It’s the same as the way you think of me,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“You really are a strange man…” Sheryl said.

Kang Yoon-Soo looked around the house once more. Sheryl’s house was a building located on the outskirts of the city. It was too small to call a mansion, but at the same time, it was larger than an average house.

“It’s the only thing I inherited from my family,” Sheryl said as she went over some documents. Her bare skin was visible through her thin gown.

Kang Yoon-Soo asked, “How many cases do we have to solve today?”

“Three,” Sheryl replied, bringing three folders over to him.

Kang Yoon-Soo thoroughly went over the files.

[Horamelk Camp Murder Case]

[Case of Viscount Hemelt’s Missing Child]

[Phantom Thief Ryan’s Jewel Heist]

Each case file contained the pictures of the witnesses, their testimonies, and even the evidence, arranged in order. They were something Sheryl had compiled herself, and she had arranged them in an orderly manner so they would be easier to understand at a glance.

Kang Yoon-Soo extended his hand and said, “Quill pen.” Sheryl passed a quill pen dipped in ink to him, and he got to work. Even though his hands were bound together by the handcuffs, he started to write. He drew a check on each of the witnesses’ pictures in the case files and said, “The women are the culprits.”

“And your reasoning is?” Sheryl asked.

Kang Yoon-Soo used the quill pen to write down the reasoning behind his conclusions. Sheryl could not help but be awestruck by the sight of Kang Yoon-Soo writing, and she even ended up staring blankly at him for a moment subconsciously.

“Done,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

Sheryl snapped back to her senses and went over what Kang Yoon-Soo had written on the case files. She read silently for a while before exclaiming, “Really, what the hell are you?”

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

“You solved three cases at once without even visiting the crime scene, and your deductions and reasoning are perfect on top of that,” Sheryl said in awe. That was something even a 1st Grade investigator like her could not help but be surprised by. No matter how good a person was at deducing things, was it even possible for them to be this good? It felt as if he had already known who the culprit was and was just tracing things in reverse.

“Is that all for today?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.

“These were the cases we had to finish within the month. I guess I have to request the cases from the departments located in other territories when I go to work tomorrow,” Sheryl said.

Sheryl was actually quite impressed by Kang Yoon-Soo; no, it was more accurate to say that Kang Yoon-Soo had greatly exceeded her initial expectations. This man alone was worth more than a hundred investigators, and his speed at going through the case files and pinpointing the culprit was beyond supernatural already.

‘It was worth bringing him over after making some excuses to Sir Rapentahil,’Sheryl thought.

She had already closed the investigation on the Zero Grade investigator impersonation case, having reasoned that there was not enough evidence and there was not enough manpower to continue the investigation. It was not a decision she was happy to make as an investigator, but she could already see that she had made the right choice, and she was quite satisfied with the outcome.

“Don’t you have any plans to work as an investigator?” Sheryl asked.

“No,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Even though you’re this skilled?” Sheryl added.

Kang Yoon-Soo shook his head. In truth, this could not be considered an investigation for him, as all he had done was recall the memories he had from his previous lives and identify the true culprits of the cases.

He asked, “Where’s my backpack?”

“There,” Sheryl replied, pointing at a backpack that was on the sofa. A white sword and a red crossbow were peeking out of the backpack. Thankfully, Sheryl had brought all of Kang Yoon-Soo’s belongings to her house.

“There’s some red wine in the backpack,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“Is it from Vulpehin?” Sheryl asked.

Kang Yoon-Soo nodded and said, “You can have some, so why don’t you release me from these handcuffs?”

Sheryl hesitated for a moment. It was not something she would normally agree to, but some of the coldness in her heart seemed to melt whenever she looked at Kang Yoon-Soo.

“Only for a while,” Sheryl said.

Clack!

Kang Yoon-Soo rotated and stretched his wrists. He contemplated whether he should knock Sheryl out and run away, but he decided against it, thinking, ‘She will be quite useful.’

Some words had popped up on his wrist device after he solved the three cases.

[You have identified the culprit behind the Horamelk Camp Murder Case.]

[You have advised a 1st Grade investigator on an ongoing case.]

[Your notoriety threshold has gone up.]

[You have identified the culprit behind the Case of Viscount Hemelt’s Missing Child.]

[Your comprehension will increase if the real culprit is arrested and turns out to be the same person you identified.]

[You have identified the culprit behind the Phantom Thief Ryan’s Jewel Heist case.]

[You have found the culprit despite lacking any evidence.]

[You will obtain twice the experience points the investigator receives if your deductions turn out to be correct.]

Combat classes usually gained experience points by killing monsters, but other classes such as production classes usually gained experience points in a different way. The Investigator class gained experience points by solving cases and apprehending the suspects.

‘I don’t have a class, so I won’t get any benefits even if the culprit gets caught, but….’Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

It would be a different story if he were just advising Sheryl. Anyone would be eligible to receive these sweet rewards if they gave any advice to an investigator that led to the case being solved. There were also some cases of investigators reducing the notoriety of the person who had helped, or even outright turning a blind eye to a crime the person committed.

‘I’ll be able to get more rewards than hunting all day if I solve all thirty cases,’Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

He would have to go around to each crime scene and pinpoint each culprit if he were working by himself, but he had Sheryl with him and she brought all the cases to him, which made it easier for him to solve all the cases in one place.

‘It’s more efficient than I expected,’he thought. He had actually been worried that he was going to have to live together with Sheryl in this strange and bizarre arrangement for a whole month, and that was something he could not afford to do.‘I can’t delay going to the vampires’ossuary. I don’t have enough time on my hands.’

“What are you thinking so seriously about?” Sheryl asked.

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

Sheryl poured the red wine into a wine glass, and Kang Yoon-Soo was about to take a sip from the glass when he noticed that Sheryl was glaring at him. He was confused for a moment before realizing what she meant and extending his glass toward her.

Clink!

The red wine sloshed as the two wine glasses clinked against each other.

Sheryl took a sip of the red wine, and her eyes opened wide in surprise. She said, “It’s fragrant. It’s been quite a while since the red wine of Vulpehin lost its fragrance.”

“I took it from the farm after I killed the vampire,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“So you know how to joke as well, huh?” Sheryl replied.

.

The red wine was very fragrant, and it took only a few drinks before Sheryl’s face flushed red. She had a low tolerance to alcohol despite her cold and tough personality.

“You don’t seem to get drunk at all,” Sheryl said.

“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Were you born with a high tolerance to alcohol?” Sheryl asked.

Kang Yoon-Soo pondered for a moment. Had he been strong against alcohol from the start? He could not remember. He eventually replied, “I don’t know.”

“What a strange answer…” Sheryl said, putting the wine glass on the table. The wine was not that strong, but she could already feel her vision spinning. She struggled to put the handcuffs back on Kang Yoon-Soo, but she tried again and again.

“Put it on properly,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“S-Shut up,” Sheryl retorted with a blush.

Kang Yoon-Soo looked around and saw that there was only one bed. He said, “I should sleep on the floor, I guess.”

“No, you’ll sleep on my bed,” Sheryl replied matter-of-factly.

Kang Yoon-Soo stared at her before saying, “Don’t do anything strange to me.”

“Isn’t that something I should be saying?” Sheryl grumbled.

“I don’t want to do that with you,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“The same goes for me, stupid…” Sheryl muttered, blushing furiously. Her face had already been red for a while, but it got even redder; perhaps it was because she was tipsy, but the way she had used to speak when she was a little girl subconsciously came out.

“Blow the candle out for me,” Kang Yoon-Soo said while lying down on the bed.

Sheryl shook her head and thought, ‘What the hell am I doing right now…’

She had brought home a man to the house she always lived in alone. It was something she would not normally do, even though she had done so under the pretext of solving cases and getting promoted.

‘…So what?’Sheryl thought as she extinguished the candle.

***

By the time morning came, Sheryl had already gotten dressed up in her uniform.

Kang Yoon-Soo extended his cuffed hands and said, “Release these before you go.”

“No,” Sheryl replied.

Kang Yoon-Soo furrowed his brows and said, “I’m not going to run away.”

“I don’t trust you,” Sheryl replied. She stuffed a piece of bread in her mouth before leaving the house.

Afterward, Kang Yoon-Soo was left all alone in Sheryl’s house. The mana handcuffs on him would electrocute him if he attempted to leave.

‘I hope the others are doing alright,’Kang Yoon-Soo thought, wondering about Shaneth, Henrick, and Iris. They were probably staying at an inn somewhere nearby.

‘Sheryl will be back in the evening. I’m going to get a lot of rewards later on for solving the cases anyway, but I wonder what I should do right now…’Kang Yoon-Soo thought as he walked around the house. This was the first time in a long while since he had regressed that he had spare time on his hands. Of course, he could not afford to waste a single minute or even a second if he wanted to kill the Demon Lord later on, but he had no choice but to stay in the house for the time being. He was aware that it was meaningless to feel pressured, as it would only make him anxious.

‘I should assess the situation first,’he thought, taking a quill pen and a piece of parchment. He then started writing something down. It was a little uncomfortable for him to write because of the handcuffs, but he still managed to jot down everything on his mind.

Current Goal: Kill the Demon Lord.

+The Demon Lord gets weaker every time I regress.

The variables that have occurred in the 1,000th life:

+This is the final life.

+The Demon Lord will appear earlier.

+The White Shadow.

+Goddess’ Request—The One Who Should Not Exist in This World.

Kang Yoon-Soo stared at the words he had written down for a while. The fact that this would be his final life, on top of the Demon Lord appearing earlier than before, made the whole situation look grim and daunting.

‘The journey has become even more difficult.’

The White Shadow and the goddess’ request were problems too. Those two lacked any details and information, and Kang Yoon-Soo still had a hard time getting a hold of information related to them. How did the White Shadow know about his regression? Who was ‘the one who should not exist’? He had no clue at all.

‘There’s no answer to these. I just have to risk my life and face things head-on.’

Kang Yoon-Soo added one final line to his list.

+I have to go to the magic tower of the Colossi to prevent the disaster.

Kartheon had mentioned that the only way to prevent the disaster from happening was to go and find answers at the Colossi’s magic tower. Therein lay the person who would provide the answers to everything that had been happening to Kang Yoon-Soo.

‘The King of All Beings, Sirian…’

Would Sirian finally give him an answer in this life?

Kang Yoon-Soo pondered what the best way for him to grow stronger would be, and he spent the rest of the day planning the journey ahead. It was quite normal for someone who had lived the same life for the 1,000th time to be sick and tired of everything.

‘I can’t give up,’Kang Yoon-Soo reminded himself again and again. He composed himself and strengthened his resolve.

‘I was too lazy. To think I tried to take it easy just because I had some time on my hands.’

He altered his plans, and by the time the sun started to set, the paper was filled with words.

‘I know almost everything about the continent,but thatactually makes it more difficult to make an efficient plan.’

Kang Yoon-Soo crumpled the paper up and ate it. As soon as he swallowed it, the door opened—it was Sheryl.

“You’re here,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“You look like a pet, now that I think about it,” Sheryl remarked with a smirk.

“Then remove my handcuffs,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“No,” Sheryl replied as she threw a stack of documents toward Kang Yoon-Soo.

There were seven large stacks of documents, unlike the previous day.

“I brought a lot today. Do you think you can solve all of them?” Sheryl asked.

Kang Yoon-Soo nodded. Sheryl nodded as well with a smirk, thinking, ‘Anyonewould havea limit, even if it’s that guy.’

“There aren’t enough cases,” Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly said.

“What did you say?” Sheryl asked.

“Three hundred cases,” Kang Yoon-Soo said. He continued, “I’ll solve three hundred cases for you while we live together.”