24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 14

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

Dimensional Item Specialty 24-Hour Friendly Market Episode 14

Episode 14. Bamanjang Store (3)

“Haah…”

The man who hastily downed the potion let out a deep sigh with exhausted eyes.

‘Is it okay to talk to him?’

I had grabbed him after seeing Falkon’s emblem, but he was just sighing deeply with a face worn down by fatigue, so I missed the timing to speak.

To think I’m reading the mood in my own store.

After hesitating for a while, I carefully opened my mouth.

“Um, are you feeling a bit better now?”

“Thank you. My stamina had dropped quite a bit.”

His casual speech made me a little uncomfortable, but I managed to smile kindly without showing it.

The man, completely unaware of my inner thoughts, stared at me intently and asked.

“What’s your name?”

“Lee Hae… is what I’m called.”

I almost said my real name without thinking and barely managed to stop myself.

The man nodded and extended his right hand to me.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Alessandro Hale, the last knight commander of the Falcon Kingdom.”

The moment I grasped that hand and shook it warmly, it felt like a light bulb went on in my head.

‘Knight commander!’

I had noticed from the iron armor that seemed useful for defense but problematic for mobility, and indeed he held an extraordinary position.

Moreover, if he was the last knight commander who fought for Falkon, he would definitely know information necessary for conquering the 49th Floor.

I asked while trying to hide my joy.

“You came from Falkon?”

“Do you know about Falkon?”

“Yes, I know about it.”

“I didn’t expect to meet someone who knows about Falkon in a place like this. You don’t seem to be from our continent.”

Alessandro smiled weakly while fiddling with the potion bottle.

I found it strange too.

‘To think Falkon was a real place, that’s odd.’

I had only thought it was imagination created for the scenario.

Having a living, breathing human sitting in front of me talking about his homeland made my feelings complicated.

…Right, it was more so because he had a human appearance.

All the other beings coming and going through the Dimensional Market had unfamiliar appearances, but this person looked human like me.

He could even communicate.

‘This person speaks Korean.’

It was completely incongruous with his blonde hair that reeked of foreignness and pale skin.

“And you seem to know the continental language well too. It’s really fortunate we can communicate.”

But he calls it the continental language.

What’s coming out of my mouth is definitely Korean.

Maybe in other dimensions, Korean could be the continental language.

Or perhaps King Sejong had been reincarnated… over there?

While I was buried in useless thoughts, Alessandro spoke up.

“But how did you come to know about Falkon?”

“Ah, well.”

I hesitated for a moment.

‘Is there really a need to mention that there’s a story about Falkon in the Tower of Babel scenario?’

Whether this person was really the last knight commander of Falkon or not, he looked so tired and weary.

Even putting myself in his shoes, it didn’t seem like something he’d want to hear.

But then Manti, who had been quietly watching the situation, suddenly jumped onto my shoulder.

“Oh, what’s wrong, Manti?”

Manti settled comfortably on my shoulder and meowed very softly near my ear.

“Meow…”

-It would be wise not to speak falsehoods to this one. Though he may appear weary, his internal energy is by no means shallow. Rather, conveying the truth would be received more favorably, I believe.

“…”

The internal energy invisible to my eyes must be visible to Manti’s.

Moreover, hearing those words, Alessandro’s gaze as he looked at me intently seemed to show insight.

“Actually.”

I swallowed once and continued.

“In our dimension, there’s something called the ‘Tower of Babel’ erected. But many people happen to be stuck on Falkon.”

“Ah, so that’s how it was.”

So that’s how it was?

This was a different reaction than I had expected.

I had worried he might get angry asking what nonsense I was spouting or go berserk threatening to kill me.

“Falkon had a Tower of Babel too.”

“…Falkon too?”

This was a story of a different nature.

Moreover, I had an intuition that I shouldn’t just listen casually and let it pass.

When I silently hardened my expression and stared, Alessandro calmly lowered his eyes and spoke.

“We were in the midst of a massive war with the Dark Mage. The Tower of Babel appeared in the middle of Falkon’s Northern Mountains. But no one could focus on the tower.”

“Why? When a tower appears, Awakened ones appear too, and people should be curious enough to enter at least once.”

“Because the kingdom’s capital fell before we could take interest in the tower.”

“…”

“It was because of a spy. We weren’t prepared for anything. I still remember that day. The day the Dark Mage standing atop the spire broke through the audience chamber ceiling. His Majesty the King’s final moments are still vivid in my eyes. We must have discovered him too late… When I came to my senses, a week had passed. I couldn’t do anything.”

‘Oh no.’

I, who had been quietly listening and looking for an opportunity, shut my mouth tight.

Because my decision to seat this person at the stall with the purpose of obtaining Quest information felt like complete trash.

‘I was just thinking of listening to his story and extracting something useful.’

If I asked ‘Did you notice any weaknesses after fighting the Dark Mage?’ here, I’d be irredeemable trash.

Alessandro continued his story.

“Before we could understand what the Tower of Babel was or why it appeared, Falkon completely collapsed. I desperately tried to save those who somehow survived, but in the end, I couldn’t save anyone.”

“…”

“Babel kept talking. Telling us to climb the tower. But there was no one to climb the Tower of Babel anywhere. Everyone was busy running away from the Dark Mage, and the Dark Mage was also obsessed only with the conquest before his eyes. Until Babel’s set deadline ended…”

As if the bitter feelings from that time came back to him, Alessandro’s expression twisted painfully.

“I realized I should have climbed the tower only when Babel was withdrawing the opportunity. I entered the tower belatedly, grasping at straws, but what awaited me was just a dimensional rift.”

‘Dimensional rift…’

“When I opened my eyes, it was a completely different dimension. I became Falkon’s sole survivor, and my world… no longer exists.”

From Alessandro, who finished his story through gritted teeth, came the smell of terrible pain.

So this person had been wandering other dimensions alone?

‘…For how long?’

My head felt numb from hearing such a difficult story to bear.

However, the next moment, I realized I had heard a story I shouldn’t miss.

“Wait, the deadline?”

Alessandro had definitely said that Babel’s set deadline had ended.

‘Our world’s Tower of Babel doesn’t have anything like a deadline though?’

This is completely new information to me.

It’s been 10 years since the Tower of Babel began being erected on Earth, but such a story has never come up even once.

But if I think carefully about what he just said, I arrive at a very chilling conclusion.

‘If the deadline set by Babel passes, the dimension will be destroyed?’

The destruction of a dimension?

For someone who lived as an ordinary citizen, this is something I’ve never even thought about.

However, Alessandro, who brought up this tremendous story, asked nonchalantly.

“Didn’t you know?”

“Know what?”

“If you fail to climb the Tower of Babel, the dimension will be destroyed. A destroyed dimension becomes a stage, eternally repeating cycles of regeneration and consumption. Like a playground.”

“Crazy, damn it…”

A curse slipped out without me realizing it.

The strange uneasiness I felt upon learning that Falkon actually existed was probably because of this.

Manti, who had been wrapping her tail around my neck, let out a soft cry.

“Meow.”

-There was a similar tragedy in my dimension too. Fate is truly cruel beyond measure.

…What?

-A being who was once revered as an Archmage succeeded in Inter-dimensional Communication. But he received the tragic news that the other dimension was walking the path of destruction due to the Tower. And the story of that declining world came to be performed on the stage of our dimension.

The place where a friend from another dimension lived became a scenario that had to be destroyed… that’s what this is.

I felt a chill run down my spine.

If South Korea, no, if Earth fails to clear, it could become another dimension’s scenario, and a ‘Korea’ stage might appear.

At the thought that Earth scenarios might also appear in Manti’s dimension, I urgently asked Alessandro.

“How can you know the deadline?”

“I don’t know that either. However, since no one entered our Tower for a year after it was erected, if we’re going to speculate, it would be good to start from there.”

At Alessandro’s additional words, my mind began racing rapidly.

Earth’s Babel had stood firm for the past 10 years.

Then…

‘Do they consider the Tower abandoned if clearing a floor takes more than a year?’

Our country has been stuck on the 49th Floor for over 6 months, slowly approaching the 7th month.

I remember other countries’ situations being similar, so it’s no different from the entire world being covered in time bombs.

“Wow, this is dizzying.”

“If you have time to worry, it’s better to give it your all. Everything ending happens in an instant.”

So, the fact that I, an E-rank Hunter without even stats, have become the subject of this concern is an absurd situation…

Unaware of my insides turning upside down with complexity, Alessandro slowly rose from his seat.

“I’ll be going now. The potion was good.”

Instead of using the automatic transaction method commonly used in the Dimensional Market, Alessandro placed a worn gold coin on the shop stall and bowed politely.

“At least my world hasn’t been completely forgotten, so I should consider it fortunate.”

No, how can you possibly reach such a positive conclusion?

I think I’d be furious knowing the place I’ve lived my entire life is being treated as a Quest by other dimensions, but Alessandro’s expression remained calm.

Rather, he muttered with a sunken face as if he had given up on everything.

“Thank you for listening to my story. I hope your dimension succeeds in climbing the Tower. The life of a wanderer who has lost their homeland and drifts about is not easy.”

Behind Alessandro as he headed out to the street, Falkon’s faded cloak fluttered.

I had only meant to ask for information about the 49th Floor…

In the end, I couldn’t ask anything.

Instead, I only learned about Babel’s terrible ending and one person’s despair.

Perhaps Alessandro had never been able to tell anyone about his destroyed dimension.

I stared blankly at his weary retreating figure and found myself shouting without realizing it.

“Wait, Alessandro!”

Alessandro turned around with a face asking if there was more to ask, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask what I was curious about.

Instead, I hurriedly pulled out a business card and handed it to him, adding.

“Please contact me if you ever need anything.”

A wanderer drifting through dimensional rifts.

To be honest, I had an uneasy feeling that my missing brother might be in the same situation as Alessandro.

Alessandro smiled faintly and took the business card.

Then he fiddled with the business card for a long while before slowly raising his head.

“Thank you… There’s nothing I can do for you… Ah.”

Alessandro muttered as if something had occurred to him.

“Just knowing the Dark Mage’s true name should be of great help in dealing with him.”

Then, as if telling me to never fail, he provided important information with a voice filled with strength.

“That Dark Mage’s name was ‘Pernichies’.”

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