24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 129

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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 129

 

Episode 129. The Beginning That Was Postponed Out of Fear (2)

 

It’s already been 3 weeks since the 54th Floor was opened.

 

If it were like usual, this would be the period when raid teams would enter several times and barely escape with their lives.

 

But the door to the 54th Floor still remains unopened.

 

The reason is due to various realistic problems overlapping.

 

First, the Babel Management Bureau, which should be the main force in forming the raid team, is too busy.

 

Park Ji-woon is currently in the middle of negotiations with other countries about information sharing.

 

In the post-Babel society where raid speed becomes national power, the fact that South Korea is disclosing raid information is just the right thing to be suspicious about.

 

It would be easy if we announced it was to prevent the global event called ‘Dimensional Destruction.’

 

But that’s too unrealistic a story for people who know nothing to accept.

 

If things go wrong, the entire world would be swept up in fear that destruction is approaching, and it’s too much of a burden for hunters who must risk their lives climbing the Tower.

 

So they’re probably negotiating while giving plausible reasons.

 

‘Though I didn’t know it would take this long.’

 

And the second reason is probably… because I haven’t gone on reconnaissance yet?

 

“Tsk.”

 

I moistened my lips with saliva and hid my embarrassed feelings.

 

If it were before the 50th Floor, guild alliances and whatnot would have taken turns challenging and repeatedly failing.

 

But after the 51st and 53rd Floor raids, selecting elite members has become South Korea’s current raid policy.

 

Prior information obtained through reconnaissance plays an important role in selecting elite members.

 

…But I haven’t gone on reconnaissance yet.

 

So it’s bound to be delayed.

 

Park Ji-woon didn’t rush me, but you know that feeling of subtle, constant pressure, right?

 

I said I’d go on reconnaissance within 5 days in our last contact, but before I knew it, over a week had passed.

 

‘Still, they were busy too, so we should understand each other and get along.’

 

According to Lee Hae-on, humans are originally supposed to live with understanding.

 

That’s why I chose ‘Lee Hae’ as my nickname.

 

[⁕ The reason the Administrator set their nickname as ‘Lee Hae’ is because they tried to set it as ‘I don’t understand’ without knowing that nicknames are limited to two characters :)]

 

“Hey, I know that too.”

 

You bastard!

 

‘There’s never a time when you just let something slide.’

 

We’ve been together for half a year already, and how can you so consistently piss me off like this? What a fascinating guy.

 

Anyway, I checked the new supplies I had packed in my inventory and took a step forward.

 

Kalashi’s tent, Kienum’s watch, newly bought scrolls and various artifacts.

 

This much could probably be called an intermediate adventurer package.

 

‘Or maybe a pay-to-win package…’

 

The blue Warp Gate gradually draws closer.

 

Previously, it felt like ‘should I just go take a look,’ but today, for some reason.

 

It feels like I’m taking on a major mission and heading to a battlefield.

 

‘Could this be because of the Merchant’s Eye?’

 

Well, thinking back to the explanation about rational judgment and cold attitude, it does seem like that.

 

Actually, dimensional destruction was something I only knew about but didn’t feel directly, but the skill seemed to make me perceive it as a dark reality.

 

Right, well.

 

Since it’s important work, it is indeed a serious and weighty mission.

 

“But this kind of thing isn’t really my type…”

 

I muttered complainingly as I stepped into the blue ripples.

 

* * *

 

As soon as the characteristic nausea of the Warp Gate subsided, what I discovered was a short and stocky dwarf.

 

“Whoa.”

 

I couldn’t hold back an exclamation and covered my mouth.

 

A dwarf.

 

A dwarf!

 

I’ve seen Beastkin before, but this is my first time seeing a dwarf.

 

‘It really looks like something that jumped out of a fantasy game.’

 

His height that would barely reach my shoulder was one thing, but his forearms were as thick as my head.

 

Contrary to the perception that they’re ugly, his appearance wasn’t really what you’d call ‘truly ugly.’

 

The dwarf, dressed like a typical mechanic, seemed to be looking for something on the ground.

 

Because he was bent over, his red beard was sweeping the ground like a broom, but he didn’t seem to care at all and just kept turning his head this way and that.

 

Of course, he did glance at me who had suddenly dropped down, but he didn’t seem particularly interested.

 

“Strange. I’m sure I dropped it here…”

 

He was just thoroughly searching the ground to find something he had lost.

 

‘It seems he has no hostility toward me.’

 

There are humans like me here, and it’s a dimension where they don’t particularly show hostility.

 

That means it’s not like the Ganashia continent.

 

I relaxed a bit and enjoyed my first encounter with a dwarf more leisurely.

 

Copper-colored goggles and thick leather gloves, various tools clanking and making metallic sounds at his waist.

 

His leather apron was covered with grease stains as if he had just rushed out from work.

 

…But wait, grease stains on a dwarf’s apron?

 

Isn’t the typical racial characteristic of dwarves in fantasy usually blacksmithing?

 

Grease stains are what you get from handling machinery, aren’t they?

 

Realizing this sense of incongruity, I finally noticed that the buildings around me were closer to modern style rather than medieval.

 

I raised my head to look around.

 

“Wow…”

 

An exclamation automatically escaped my lips.

 

It was a completely different landscape from the previous floors that felt like receiving phytoncide therapy with bird songs and refreshing breezes.

 

This wasn’t like a village or kingdom… it was a ‘city’.

 

In one word, it was a massive metal city.

 

Sharp iron towers with magnificent clockwork mechanisms rose between the closely packed houses.

 

Below them, house-sized gears meshed together, turning with heavy sounds.

 

White steam billowing from all over the city thickly enveloped the streets, and randomly protruding chimneys spewed out black smoke.

 

Between buildings, through the gaps where massive gears spun round and round, the dull sound of hammering echoed.

 

“Steampunk…?”

 

I muttered blankly and looked around once more.

 

The streets, though crude in form but properly shaped as roads, reeked with an acrid smell that made my nose hurt.

 

The air itself was filled with the smell of oil and metal shavings, making my throat scratchy after just a few breaths.

 

This air quality was worse than spring yellow dust.

 

Looking around, tremendous noises that I hadn’t been able to hear while distracted by the dwarf assaulted my ears.

 

The rumbling of engines, the sound of gears turning, the clamorous grinding of metal.

 

At this completely unexpected scenery, I stood dazed, blankly taking in the environment filled with iron, steam, and dust.

 

“Found it!”

 

Only after the red-bearded dwarf picked something up and cheered.

 

“Oh right, I need to do reconnaissance.”

 

I recalled my original purpose and started walking again.

 

‘Is this a place where workshops are gathered?’

 

Most of the buildings were made of metal, gears, and pipes, with steam occasionally shooting out vigorously.

 

Even though I wasn’t here for travel, I felt strangely excited.

 

Walking along an alley lined with old copper-colored streetlights, a plaza soon appeared.

 

Under a clock tower with a massive clockwork mechanism turning, humans and dwarves walked busily about, and cars from the distant past that I’d only seen on the internet were driving on the roads.

 

What was fascinating were the strange machines flying through the sky.

 

They looked too crude to be called airplanes – it seemed more appropriate to call them airships.

 

The sight of several of those airships floating in the sky was exactly what I had imagined when reading steampunk novels.

 

If the floors I’d experienced so far were close to nature-friendly medieval fantasy, this was completely a retro-future steampunk worldview.

 

This was enough for me to boast to Park Ji-woon about how serious my reconnaissance was and extort something from him.

 

‘Should I sit over there for now?’

 

I walked slowly and settled down on a bench near the fountain.

 

The sound of clockwork turning was quite close and annoying to the ears, but many passersby didn’t seem to mind.

 

Dwarves and humans occupying one seat each on the benches seemed to be living ordinary daily lives, reading books or spreading out blueprints and having conversations.

 

‘Is this like an otherworldly Han River Park?’

 

Then it wouldn’t be strange if I casually did something here.

 

I took out a rolled-up piece of paper and a fountain pen from my inventory.

 

No matter how fascinating this world was, I never forgot my duty.

 

What was the most important information I needed to obtain through reconnaissance?

 

A map, of course!

 

I spread the paper neatly and opened the fountain pen cap.

 

[Detection Writing Tool (A)

 

A tool that drew the gardener’s brilliant thoughts in green light.

 

Can create maps of areas under Babel’s influence.

 

Takes a minimum of 1 minute to a maximum of 3 hours depending on the area’s scope.

 

When the map is completed, the creator’s current location is displayed, and the marker moves according to movement.]

 

It’s an item I like even looking at it again.

 

I still don’t evaluate that human Lee Hwa-yeon positively, but I do positively evaluate the generosity of giving such an item as a gift.

 

I haven’t used it yet, but since it’s a fountain pen, it should work just by touching the nib to paper.

 

Thinking simply, as I brought the nib to the paper, a window suddenly appeared before my eyes.

 

[Creating a map of the area ‘Aeteria’ will take a total of 2 hours and 11 minutes. Do you wish to proceed?]

 

“…2 hours?”

 

What, it takes 2 whole hours just to draw a neighborhood map?

 

‘Is this place that big?’

 

I looked around in bewilderment.

 

Not that I could gauge the size of this city just by doing that.

 

I let out a deep sigh and looked down at the paper again.

 

“What other choice do I have.”

 

It’s not like I can find out anything by running around on foot here, and I don’t even know the important scenario content.

 

And I’m not a scenario participant, so I don’t particularly need to explore this neighborhood.

 

My role is to focus solely on drawing the map.

 

From the standpoint of coming out to scout for the strategy team, the map is the priority.

 

No matter how curious I am about the scale of this neighborhood, we need a map to avoid getting lost and have something to work with when searching.

 

I got into a comfortable position and picked up the pen.

 

And exactly 30 minutes later.

 

I was staring blankly into space with a face that said I was dying of boredom.

 

“Only 30 minutes have passed…”

 

What am I doing instead of drawing the map, you ask?

 

The map is being diligently drawn by my hand.

 

It’s nice that my hand works on its own, but the unimaginable downside is that if I let go of the fountain pen, the map creation stops too.

 

How do I feel right now, sitting here quietly drawing nothing but a map for 30 minutes straight?

 

‘I want to go home.’

 

The homing instinct is properly consuming me.

 

I’m actually the type of person who finds it hard to sit on a train from Seoul to Busan for just over 2 hours.

 

It’s not like I have ADHD.

 

I’m just someone who gets restless and frustrated.

 

The thought I had about taking a stroll around Lee Hae-won’s neighborhood once the map was finished has completely disappeared.

 

Even my colleagues who were sitting on other benches have left one by one, and I’m sitting alone in front of the clock tower.

 

‘When will this end.’

 

It was right when I was about to check the fountain pen’s timer once more.

 

Beep- Beep- Beep-

 

A loud alarm sound coming from somewhere.

 

Instinctively startled, I took my hands off the map and looked around.

 

I wasn’t the only one surprised by the alarm sound that was loud enough to shake the metal city.

 

No, I wasn’t the only one surprised.

 

“…Was this place originally empty of people?”

 

The Plaza that had been packed with pedestrians and cars just moments ago was now eerily desolate as if that had never happened.

 

The only thing moving here was me alone.

 

With the sudden sense of déjà vu, I hurriedly gathered my things.

 

Whatever this was, my intuition told me I shouldn’t stay in the middle of the Plaza without knowing anything.

 

Originally, in situations like this, you should follow the crowd.

 

‘But which direction should I go?’

 

I instinctively knew it was time to flee, but I couldn’t find a place to hide.

 

It was at that moment when I was walking, almost running, toward some random alley.

 

“Hey, you there!”

 

A blunt shout came from somewhere.

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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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