24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 108

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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24-Hour Friendly Market Specializing in Dimensional Items Episode 108

Episode 108. Adding Insult to Injury (3)

What on earth had my brother been doing, wandering around while hiding such extraordinary abilities?

Don’t tell me he was shouldering some grave duty that had to be kept absolutely secret from me?

‘Something like being responsible for the fate of dimensions…?’

My brother was already a young head of household who raised his younger sister alone without parents – wouldn’t that be too great an additional burden to bear?

During the few seconds the search results were loading, I let my imagination run wild.

Of course, unlike my efforts to maintain a positive attitude until now, my imagination was filled only with negative thoughts.

After a brief wait, text filled the screen.

‘Please, let there be nothing strange.’

I swallowed dryly and stared at the monitor.

[Search Target: Lee Hae-on (3481-0072-1163)

> Basic Search Results

– Hunter Grade: D-rank

– Title: Access Denied

– Hunter License Issue Date: 20XX. 01. XX

– Date of Death: 20XX. 06. XX

> Tower of Babel Entry Status

– Total Entries: 195 times

– Entry Record by Floor: Floor 1(1 time), Floor 2(1 time), Floor 3(1 time), 25th Floor(192 times)

> Sudden Gate Entry Status

– Total Entries: 17 times]

As expected, it’s strange.

No, more than strange – it’s suspicious.

I read through the search results several times with a strangely sinking feeling.

Well, I had been certain that my brother possessed something extraordinary.

But seeing it confirmed through official government data made it feel more real, I suppose.

If my brother had truly been an ordinary hunter, there’s no way such records would exist.

I stared blankly at the monitor, then turned around and asked.

“Director, how were these records calculated? Surely employees didn’t follow him around recording everything one by one.”

Park Ji-woon, who had been standing guard like a gatekeeper, flinched as if he hadn’t expected me to ask about the information gathering method first.

With my brother’s activities that even I didn’t know about quantified so precisely, how could I not ask?

Park Ji-woon opened his mouth readily, then quickly closed it again.

Seeing the hesitation reflected on his calm face, I pressed him firmly.

“At this point, there shouldn’t be anything left to hide, should there?”

He’d already revealed all his abilities and even brought me, an outsider, into a government security facility – what could possibly be bothering him to make him hesitate like that?

‘That’s just his habit.’

I wanted to click my tongue but held back out of courtesy.

Park Ji-woon blinked slowly, then finally confessed.

“The archive’s search system is linked to Babel’s system. You could say it’s automatic recording.”

Oh… now that I hear it, his hesitation makes sense.

I widened my eyes and asked back.

“This is a search interface created by Babel? You said before that the data was created by Management Bureau staff skills?”

Park Ji-woon’s eyebrow tilted at a very subtle angle.

That subtle expression seemed to say ‘I can’t believe you remembered that.’

Sure enough, Park Ji-woon opened his mouth very calmly, pretending nothing was wrong.

“Actually, it’s one of the authorities granted to the one who undertook the management proxy of the Tower of Babel.”

“That’s you, Director.”

“I never mentioned it directly.”

“You mentioned it all indirectly.”

“…Anyway, you can consider it data directly registered by Babel. I can’t explain in detail, but the content is accurate.”

What do you mean, stopping your explanation halfway?

Pure Lee Hae-won’s curiosity remained unresolved.

“Couldn’t you have just searched for me when you were looking for me?”

It’s about time you remembered that you can’t just brush me off with feigned ignorance when talking to me.

“That’s…”

Park Ji-woon, who failed to escape, trailed off with a reluctant expression.

Then he stared at me quietly with eyes tinged with a reddish aura.

It felt like he was asking me to let it slide once, but I returned his gaze with an even more pure and clear look.

Soon Park Ji-woon let out a short sigh.

“Because I didn’t know your name. The archive can only search for awakened individuals whose names are known precisely.”

“Just knowing the name is enough? That’s easy.”

“It would be misleading to say it’s easy. Since the system converts Babel’s internal data only when a search is performed, you can’t receive data from Babel without knowing the name.”

“So it’s only possible if the searcher can accurately identify the target.”

“Exactly. Moreover, it’s only possible if the target has cleared floors other than the Tutorial Floor. Even if I had known your name initially, Lee Hae-won, you wouldn’t have been searchable.”

So the search itself was impossible until I ranked first in contribution on the 51st floor.

I naturally asked the question that came to mind.

“Have you tried searching for me?”

“I haven’t been able to.”

“Why not?”

I naturally assumed you would have.

If it were me, I would have searched for Park Ji-woon, tried Asmodeus once, and maybe even tried ‘Lee Hae’ just in case.

Park Ji-woon hesitated for a moment, then answered in an embarrassed tone.

“Only people with the same qualifications can search. Since I’ve never cleared the Tower either. It would probably be possible now.”

‘…Seriously?’

My eyes nearly popped out at this unexpected fact I’d never considered.

Wait, Park Ji-woon, ranked 3rd in our country, has never cleared the Tower?

Isn’t this big news that would get me promoted if I reported it exclusively?

“You really never have?”

“Yes.”

“But then how… no, why?”

At my question containing multiple meanings, Park Ji-woon averted his gaze.

Come to think of it, when I think of Park Ji-woon, what comes to mind first is his role as the Management Bureau’s spokesperson or handling Sudden Gates.

“So, have you finished reviewing all the data?”

At this obvious attempt to change the subject, I shook my head from side to side.

Right, I’ll interrogate him about this later.

‘It’s not my business anyway.’

I focused on the monitor again.

Setting aside the fact that the great Park Ji-woon has never cleared the Tower.

“Director.”

Since there’s one more person here, let’s put our heads together and think about this.

“Could you take a look at this?”

Park Ji-woon adjusted his glasses and peered at the monitor.

Park Ji-woon, who was staring at the screen over my shoulder, let out a thoughtful sound.

“That’s strange.”

“Right?”

“The number of entries to the 25th Floor is… a lot.”

“Incredibly so.”

Since the 25th Floor serves as an intermediate station, it’s natural for it to have more entries compared to other floors.

But as the name suggests, the 25th Floor is an intermediate station, a transit point for entering other floors.

Yet excluding the Tutorial Floor 1 and the beginner-exclusive floors 2 and 3, there are only records of visits to the 25th Floor.

And 192 times at that!

After Brother awakened, he normally accessed up to the 3rd Floor, but after that, there’s a high probability he only visited places that weren’t recorded in Ba-man-jang for some reason.

For example, he might have entered floors that weren’t yet open, so they couldn’t be recorded…

‘He probably visited Ba-man-jang to move to unopened floors.’

But still, shouldn’t there at least be records of which floors he went to?

If you’re going to be helpful, be completely helpful – don’t be half-heartedly helpful.

Of course, seeing these records doesn’t tell me what Brother did on other floors.

‘What did Brother say back then?’

I think he said something about needing to observe a lot to prepare.

Thinking about how Brother skillfully handled the Gryphon Feather on the 67th Floor, he probably wandered around various other floors doing similar things.

What exactly was Brother preparing for?

Unable to guess any of it, I was lost in thought when Park Ji-woon spoke up.

“The number of Sudden Gate entries is also suspicious. There’s no way they’d grant a D-rank awakener permission to enter Sudden Gates.”

True, when I was first trapped in a Sudden Gate, the rescue team that came was at least C-rank.

“Then he must have entered secretly.”

Park Ji-woon looked at me for a moment before nodding.

“Well, Lee Hae-won, you’re also going out on reconnaissance missions.”

At this point, he must have noticed that not only I but also Brother have something suspicious about us.

Unless Park Ji-woon is somewhat stupid, but since he’s smart, he would have naturally noticed.

Anyway, having checked Brother’s records, Brother has become even more suspicious.

Though Park Ji-woon, who inadvertently reviewed the records with me, isn’t the type to go around talking about it.

Then Park Ji-woon checked his wristwatch and said.

“Time’s up. The archive staff will be returning, so we should leave.”

“I’ve seen everything I needed to see.”

Fortunately, there wasn’t much data.

It was just enough for someone like me, whose memory isn’t exceptionally outstanding, to roughly remember.

I got up from the chair and straightened my back, which had become stiff in the meantime.

Park Ji-woon guided me with a naturally flowing attitude.

Walking back through the corridor we had walked down for quite a while, I asked casually.

“Why are titles displayed as unavailable for viewing?”

“There are two cases. First, when they’re not registered with the Management Bureau.”

“What about the second?”

Park Ji-woon adjusted his glasses with his gloved hand and answered quietly.

“When Babel judges that it shouldn’t inform us about it.”

* * *

Returning to my studio apartment with the external materials Park Ji-woon had compiled for me, I let out a long sigh.

Brother had never belonged to a guild, but surprisingly, he had left his mark here and there.

Since the external materials themselves were compilations of records from various guilds, most of them weren’t properly documented.

But there was an even bigger concern than that – Ahn Yeon-seo, who was originally my biggest problem.

Ah, I really hate being stuck in this frustrating situation without finding a solution.

If I were the protagonist of a novel, readers would probably be commenting about how frustrating this situation is.

I crunched on moist and crispy cream cheese sweet potato latte-flavored truffle butter potato chips while thinking.

Let me put aside all the anxiety and everything else, and carefully retrace everything from the beginning with just the facts.

While it’s true that Ahn Yeon-seo finds me suspicious, she doesn’t know anything except the fact that I’m an E-rank Hunter.

I didn’t give her any clues to connect me with the 1st place contribution or Friendly Market.

‘I’m just being too specific with my worries.’

Unless Guk Min-seong stirred up trouble while I was away.

Then there’s a point worth reconsidering by coldly returning to square one.

Does Seo Jae-hyuk really know about this?

Would that meticulous Ahn Yeon-seo have spilled everything about me to Seo Jae-hyuk when she hasn’t confirmed anything yet?

‘The probability is low.’

Rather than suspecting and probing just because something seems suspicious, she would only report after getting solid evidence.

Ahn Yeon-seo has a personality that likes things clean to an obsessive degree.

But since I was away precisely during the time the 53rd Floor strategy team entered, Ahn Yeon-seo could probably make the connection.

However, just because I didn’t give her any clues doesn’t mean I can be at ease.

Since I was away for a whole month due to the 53rd Floor issue, Ahn Yeon-seo could make new inferences connecting to that.

Then it might just be a matter of time.

Before Ahn Yeon-seo realizes I’ve returned.

Before she reports about me to Seo Jae-hyuk.

‘I need to meet Ahn Yeon-seo.’

But the moment I made up my mind and boldly pulled out my phone, my vision flashed bright white.

[An Open Market Manager exclusive Quest has arrived. Would you like to check it?]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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