24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 130

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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 130

 

Episode 130. Gearsgard (1)

 

In the empty plaza, I was the only one who could be called “there.”

 

I hurriedly turned my head to find the source of the sound.

 

“Over here, you fool!”

 

A person can get confused when they’re in a hurry, but there’s no need to treat me like an idiot!

 

I turned around indignantly to see the alley I had just come from.

 

Within the pure white steam filling the alley, someone short and stocky was looking at me.

 

‘A dwarf?’

 

While I was trying to figure out their identity, another irritated shout came down.

 

“Come this way!”

 

‘Couldn’t they speak a bit more kindly?’

 

I headed in that direction obediently, harboring a small complaint in one corner of my heart.

 

Not following strangers was something I’d learned since elementary school.

 

‘But there’s no other option right now.’

 

Anyway, this was probably a good intention to rescue me when I was panicking at the alarm, not knowing anything.

 

If worst comes to worst, I could use Kienem’s watch or escape through warp, so there’s no need to refuse their kindness.

 

In the steam, only green eyes glowed strangely.

 

Soon, as I pushed through the steam and approached closer, I could recognize who the grumbler who had called me was.

 

“Going around making it so obvious you’re an outsider.”

 

The protagonist muttering as if displeased was indeed a dwarf.

 

It was the very dwarf who had been cleanly sweeping the street right in front of me with his red beard when I came to This Floor.

 

I hadn’t noticed earlier, but up close, he had quite a rough appearance.

 

Setting aside his sun-tanned copper-colored skin and carelessly grown beard, his body itself looked solid.

 

Solid, not just firm.

 

The way he walked toward me with big strides on his short legs was like a walking oak barrel.

 

‘Ah, that might be too harsh.’

 

I hastily canceled that thought.

 

“Tsk.”

 

The dwarf even clicked his tongue lightly as he looked me up and down.

 

I instinctively felt annoyed at his appraising gaze, but I barely held back and gave him a smile.

 

It was like an iron rule of otherworld social life for someone with survey duties.

 

Fortunately, my gentle smile seemed to work, as the dwarf let out a small sigh.

 

“Follow me.”

 

Then, without waiting, he began walking with big strides into the depths of the dark alley.

 

Steam leaking from pipes was thickly filling the space between the buildings lined up on both sides.

 

To make matters worse, all the streetlights were out, so it felt like walking through almost complete darkness.

 

Meanwhile, various machines and pipes that each building had put out kept tripping my feet.

 

‘Why is this guy so fast?’

 

I had to almost run to keep from falling behind.

 

“We’re here.”

 

The place we arrived at after a while was a shabby building located at the dead end of an alley.

 

A grimy sign that seemed older than the other buildings around, and walls that were crumbling here and there.

 

Similarly, parts of unknown purpose were scattered messily along the walls.

 

The dwarf nodded once and then headed toward the back of the building.

 

A single light was illuminating the dark alley.

 

An entrance barely lit by an old lantern.

 

What I could see inside were stairs leading underground.

 

‘…Isn’t this the opening of a horror movie?’

 

I’m talking about movies with stories like following a seemingly kind man who turns out to be a serial killer.

 

“Come in.”

 

The dwarf, who seemed afflicted with a disease that made him speak only in commanding tones, went down the stairs without delay.

 

Meanwhile, the alley was completely swallowed by darkness, and alarm sounds continued ringing in the distance.

 

I began slowly following the dwarf down the stairs.

 

I could never understand why horror movie protagonists would walk into such dangerous-looking places with their own feet.

 

‘So this is how it happens…’

 

As soon as we went down the stairs, the dwarf lit a candle placed on a shelf.

 

The underground space I entered with half tension and half anticipation was wider than I thought.

 

‘And dirty!’

 

I had never seen such a messy space in my life.

 

Various machine parts piled up haphazardly enough to fill more than half of the wide space looked like a mountain of trash.

 

Large and small gears were stacked up to the ceiling like a tower, and hammers of various sizes and shapes hung disorderly on one wall.

 

Next to the anvil were piles of half-made machines, plus tools scattered on the floor.

 

Of course, if I had to pick the thing with the greatest presence among what I encountered here, it would definitely be the furnace.

 

A huge furnace that occupied the center of the underground had bright red flames blazing fiercely.

 

The heat was so intense that just entering made it hard to breathe.

 

Only then did I realize that the 54th floor was actually quite a cold place.

 

In just a moment, it felt like sweat was seeping through my skin.

 

“Sit.”

 

I was blankly looking around the workshop when I shifted my gaze to the sudden voice.

 

The dwarf was already lighting a candle on a small dining table.

 

In front of it was an old chair that looked like it was made by patching together unidentifiable parts.

 

I quietly sat down.

 

For entering the space of a stranger whose name I didn’t even know, I might seem to lack wariness, but I had my own reasonably grounded speculation.

 

The speculation that a dwarf so serious about his craft wouldn’t be a vicious or evil being.

 

He probably wouldn’t have much interest in a weak human anyway.

 

“What’s your name?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“What’s your name?”

 

The dwarf who had dragged a massive pipe over to sit in front of the table suddenly started interrogating me.

 

I was planning to do that first myself, but if he’s throwing out the opening line first, that’s not bad.

 

I answered calmly.

 

“Lee Hae.”

 

“Funny name. Well, I guess that’s because you’re an outsider.”

 

He didn’t seem to be ignoring me, but it was strangely irritating.

 

The dwarf rummaged through the items piled on the table and pulled out two wooden cups that looked like they could hold exactly 500cc of beer.

 

Then he suddenly stood up and started searching through a cupboard.

 

‘What’s he looking for?’

 

While glancing at the dwarf’s back with strange tension, I quickly pulled out the Midnight Cloth and hastily wiped the cups.

 

It seemed like he was going to give me something to drink, but I didn’t want to put a cup excavated from between greasy hammers and chisels directly to my lips.

 

Fortunately, the dwarf only turned around after I had stored the Midnight Cloth back in my Inventory.

 

What he held in those thick hands was unmistakably a bottle of alcohol.

 

Even his face, which had been grumpy the whole time, now had a faint hint of joy.

 

‘Wow, he’s really like a textbook dwarf.’

 

Don’t they appear in movies and novels?

 

Dwarves are heavy drinkers.

 

I almost let out a hollow laugh at the fact that I was witnessing this firsthand.

 

The dwarf slammed the bottle down with a bang and filled the cups to the brim with alcohol.

 

‘Is it beer?’

 

Just as I was managing my expression from the pungent alcohol smell, the dwarf spoke.

 

“Brozen.”

 

At the sudden self-introduction, I reflexively nodded.

 

“…Nice to meet you?”

 

I thought I was greeting him properly, but Brozen ignored my words and picked up his cup.

 

Thinking he wanted to make a toast, I subtly picked up my cup too.

 

‘Whoa…’

 

Brozen just downed it in one shot.

 

A 500cc beer in one shot – was his throat drilled straight through?

 

While I was mildly amazed, Brozen wiped his beard and asked.

 

“Outsider, why did you come to Gearsgard?”

 

Gearsgard.

 

Setting aside gaining one piece of information about this unfamiliar place name, there was one point that bothered me.

 

‘Why does he keep calling me an outsider?’

 

I am an outsider, but being called that repeatedly gave me a strange sense of déjà vu.

 

From what I saw at the Plaza earlier, this neighborhood is also inhabited by humans.

 

If that’s the case, it wouldn’t be suspicion, distrust, or hostility toward other races.

 

‘Is it that strange that I didn’t evacuate even after hearing the alarm?’

 

The veins on Brozen’s hand holding the mug were bulging, as if he would withhold judgment about me depending on my answer.

 

…It would be better to honestly break through head-on rather than trying to avoid suspicion.

 

“This is my first time in Gearsgard. What was that alarm sound just now?”

 

“…Hmm.”

 

Even though I answered honestly, Brozen’s expression was strange.

 

He seemed to be pondering whether he should answer or not.

 

Soon Brozen roughly stroked his beard and explained.

 

“It’s an alarm announcing curfew time.”

 

This isn’t the 1980s, what kind of curfew?

 

Brozen immediately resolved my question.

 

“Gearsgard is a city floating on engines. Every night, all the power for city operations is cut off and restarted without overloading for flotation. That’s why there’s a curfew time like this.”

 

At his quite kind answer, I blinked blankly.

 

It was because content that was hard to easily pass over had gone by in the explanation that swept past.

 

“…Floating, you said?”

 

“That’s right.”

 

I just thought it was some interesting steampunk-themed city, but it’s a giant city floating in the sky!

 

Then if I go to the edge of the city and look down, I should be able to see the sight of floating in the sky.

 

I was already excited about the unfamiliar cityscape as a new experience, but how amazing would it be to see something like that.

 

Then Brozen stood up.

 

“I’m going to work, so leave when the curfew ends.”

 

Despite his blunt tone, the content was surprisingly kind.

 

Even if I appeared to be an innocent foreigner who knew absolutely nothing about Gearsgard, to tell me to rest when he didn’t know me at all.

 

‘Could that also be a racial trait?’

 

Having a thought that would make Brozen tell me to just leave now if he heard it, I sipped the beer that filled the mug.

 

The bland, flat, lukewarm taste was the worst.

 

Meanwhile, Brozen positioned himself in front of the furnace and muttered.

 

“Well, even if you go out now, the soldiers will catch you anyway.”

 

Oh, a worldview with soldiers too.

 

Steadily accumulating content to write in the Gearsgard report, I asked casually.

 

“How long does it take?”

 

“Usually an hour, at most two hours.”

 

It’s longer than I thought.

 

I can’t go outside anyway, and Brozen isn’t particularly wary of me or anything.

 

‘This is the optimal timing for map drawing.’

 

I took out the map I had been drawing earlier in the Plaza.

 

The map with a little over half of Gearsgard’s territory drawn hadn’t even filled a quarter, let alone half.

 

My hand naturally began moving over the paper again.

 

Brozen, who had been subtly glancing at what I was doing, also refocused on his own work.

 

A peaceful scene for someone who didn’t know much about Gearsgard.

 

Moreover, since the map drew itself automatically just by holding the detection writing instrument, it was a moment when I could properly rest without effort.

 

However.

 

“Hueeeup-”

 

I forcibly lifted my heavy eyelids and yawned so wide my mouth felt like it would tear.

 

The small metallic sounds of gears meshing together, the rhythmic noise of Brozen hammering, and the warmth from the furnace wrapped around me comfortably.

 

No matter how peaceful this moment was—peaceful enough that Kienem’s watch wouldn’t react—absolutely not!

 

I had absolutely no intention of falling asleep.

 

But wasn’t this exactly like those ASMR videos with titles like ‘Machinist’s Workshop’?

 

I forcibly straightened my neck that kept drooping.

 

But my neck kept headbanging, and my body was gradually collapsing onto the table.

 

The urge to sleep is truly terrifying—my mind, already conquered by the demon of sleep, had reached its limit.

 

What does that mean?

 

It means I fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

Some time later.

 

Awakening from my sweet slumber, I checked the map that had been automatically completed in the meantime.

 

This map would be the most significant supporting material I could show off to Park Ji-woon.

 

Just looking at it should fill me with satisfaction…

 

“…Huh?”

 

Satisfaction should have filled me.

 

I examined the map with a surprised expression and muttered.

 

“…What is this?”

 

The completed map was strange.

 

Very strange.

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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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