24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 15
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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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Dimensional Item Specialty 24-Hour Friendly Market Episode 15
Episode 15. Bamanjang Store (4)
After fidgeting with the gold coins on the shop stall and being lost in thought for a while, I finally managed to part my lips.
“Sam-i.”
[⁕ Yes, do you need help? :)]
“Is it true that the Tower of Babel destroys dimensions?”
[⁕ I’m sorry. Access to that information is restricted :)]
“Isn’t there anything I can know as an Open Market Manager?”
[⁕ I’m sorry. Access to that information is restricted :)]
This stupid AI that clearly knows but pretends not to was incredibly annoying right now.
I know from the beginning that it was sent to me to help operate the Open Market.
Even so, unlike reason, emotions can flare up.
I glared at the notification window and took a calm deep breath.
“There’s only one answer.”
Climbing the Tower faster.
Finding traces of Brother is important of course, but if our dimension is in danger…
Even finding Brother would be problematic.
Because the place to return to might disappear.
I have to climb the Tower before Babel completely crushes our dimension.
“Meow-“
-Can you trust everything that person said?
Manti, who had come down from my shoulder and was now lying sprawled on the shop stall, asked with transparent eyes.
Even in Manti’s dimension, which should be climbing the 64th floor, that story seemed unfamiliar.
A valid doubt raised by a being from a dimension that had climbed more floors than our Earth.
But I was certain.
“Yeah, it’s not a lie.”
The possibility that Alessandro lied to me approaches zero.
‘Those eyes weren’t the eyes of someone telling lies.’
They were truly the eyes of someone who had lost everything.
“My life is getting too grand in scale.”
From an unfortunate young adult who got fired from a convenience store part-time job to a lucky E-rank Hunter who awakened, and now carrying the fate of the world?!
It’s such a grandiose narrative that anyone would call it nonsense.
“…Meow?”
-Aren’t you too weak to carry the fate of the world?
This cat, after I’ve been doting on it…
Just when I was barely managing to cheer myself on, it’s evenly sprinkling ash on cooked rice.
“I know that too. But I’m not the one fighting.”
I just need to help a little from behind.
Like an ‘Open Market Manager’, only in ways I can manage.
I shot up from my seat.
It’s unfortunate that small and frail me ended up shouldering such a big mission, but.
“I need to make them clear the 49th Floor quickly.”
I can no longer turn away from this matter.
* * *
[Met a crazy merchant on 18th Floor;; Is this supposed to be there?]
Hey, is it normal for merchants to appear on the 18th Floor too? Was this always a thing? I just experienced something spine-chilling.
I was on mob duty waiting in a corner when suddenly a boss mob popped out like a glitch and I almost died, you know?
But at that moment, a robed woman whose face I couldn’t see suddenly appeared, tanked the hit, and asked me ‘Want to buy potions?’ lololol
When I said I wasn’t buying, they started showing me all these antidotes and buff potions in a row, and they were all made by some potion master sister. The quality was insane so I just bought them lol. They’re like new releases that people line up to buy, but here they were doing door-to-door sales haha, what a steal.
But the problem is when I retried the 18th Floor again, she was gone. Is this an NPC with set spawn times? Or do you need to meet specific conditions for her to appear?
-Could be a Hunter cosplaying as a merchant
-Maybe she only appears near boss mobs? Should try different conditions
⌞But this is legit a hint. There are rumors about tradeable NPCs among field boss hints.
-If she tanked for you, isn’t she a Hunter not an NPC? What NPC on 18th Floor saves people lololol
-Was she pretty?
-Hey lololol I saw someone similar on 31st Floor too;;; What is this
-Isn’t it a field event? Seems like a hidden shop hint
-Isn’t it the owner of the new building in Bamanjang?
⌞Why would a building owner personally run around doing business lololol
-That seems to only appear near specific boss mobs? What I saw was also near a boss room
-Potion lady acknowledge lolololol Her name was Kang Yeon-hee, let’s call her Kang Yeon-geum
⌞Be careful of copyright
-100% human, I hit her thinking items would drop but she ran away, really damn fast;;
⌞Hey lololol that’s hilarious, what’s with running away after being hit lololol
“Please focus, Guild Master.”
Seo Jae-hyuk only nodded slightly without taking his eyes off the tablet.
He was barely listening to what Ahn Yeon-seo was saying.
He wasn’t particularly interested in the 49th Floor strategy that came up in today’s meeting anyway.
Seo Jae-hyuk had that kind of intuition.
Like ‘this will work’ or ‘this absolutely won’t work’.
Rather, what caught Seo Jae-hyuk’s interest was the post with the most upvotes on Hunter Net community today.
If one or two people saw it, it would be a simple incident, but if three or more people saw it, it’s an issue that can’t be ignored.
‘A merchant appearing on each floor…’
Since Seo Jae-hyuk reached rank 1, he had never seen or heard of such a thing.
He hadn’t seen it even before awakening.
There was a clue he found by reading Kim Min-soo’s memory.
B-rank Hunter Kim Min-soo, who broke Seo Jae-hyuk’s record on the 36th Floor and obtained the Sapphire Ring, then got caught and brought to Aegis.
Seo Jae-hyuk found traces similar to this issue in his memories.
‘Want to buy potions? There’s no choice anyway.’
Just thinking about it makes him angry at that tone.
Seo Jae-hyuk’s unique title is [Memory Conductor].
Through his unique golden mana, he can materialize weapons he has used before, and can even mimic attacks from opponents he has faced.
As the title that secured Seo Jae-hyuk’s unshakeable first place, it guarantees solid performance.
However, aside from the well-known skills, there was one skill he kept hidden from the outside world.
It was a skill called ‘Thread’ that could read fragmentary memories.
A skill that could extract and read only the thinnest threads from a target’s memories, particularly effective for interrogating opponents.
Since he had invested mainly in combat-oriented skills, the level wasn’t very high, but it was enough to briefly peek into the frightened Kim Min-soo’s mind.
He confirmed that Kim Min-soo was under some constraint that prevented him from talking about one of the members who had been with him that day.
All he managed to pick up was an irritated tone of voice and long hair that had slipped out from under a robe.
‘I can’t think of these incidents as simply separate matters.’
Seo Jae-hyuk blinked slowly.
The strange merchant who appeared randomly, the person who sold potions on the 36th Floor where potion imports were impossible, the sky blue building that suddenly appeared at the Intermediate Station.
For some reason, he kept feeling like all of this was connected as one.
And he also had a baseless conviction that all these events would work out favorably for him.
“Ahn Yeon-seo.”
“Yes.”
“You said there’s an Alchemist selling potions in the building on the 25th Floor, right?”
“Yes, I guess you haven’t listened to any of my briefings so far?”
“Look into that Alchemist.”
“You really haven’t been listening, have you?”
“I’m sure the owner of that building is someone else.”
“…I understand.”
Ahn Yeon-seo gritted her teeth and grumbled as she bowed her head.
The Alchemist who was supposedly selling potions on the first floor of the building definitely wouldn’t be the building owner.
‘The person behind all these issues must be there.’
Unfortunately, he couldn’t go inside to see because of the barrier surrounding the building.
The fact that such a barrier had been erected also strongly drew Seo Jae-hyuk’s interest.
They could freely travel between the 26th and 48th Floors, could freely sell potions outside the Tower’s restrictions, and had built a building at the Intermediate Station where buildings couldn’t be constructed.
If that person was an existence beyond the Tower’s specifications.
‘Wouldn’t some new, unconventional strategy methods emerge?’
Seo Jae-hyuk’s eyes lit up as he put down the tablet.
A method to break through the 49th Floor that had given Seo Jae-hyuk so much trouble might come from a completely unexpected place.
* * *
[Awakener Lee Hae-won – Open Market Manager(EX)
> New Notification
– Title Job Quest (4) has been completed.
– Skill ‘Item Appraisal’ level has increased.
– Skill ‘Anonymity’ level has increased.]
After a whole month of running around the Tower all day long.
I finally cleared the job Quest.
Since my robe kept getting pulled off, I used the Skill Stone ‘Anonymity’ I had purchased to roam all floors without worry of being caught.
As a result of combining Kang Yeon-hee’s potion wholesale business and ripping off the Sacred Covenant in my spare time.
I finally had the financial means to buy 20 sub-Quest items for the 49th Floor.
So what am I doing now, you ask?
“Ah, damn…!”
I’m shedding tears of blood.
“Why, what’s bothering you?”
Guk Min-seong, who was sipping yuzu tea with added pearl and whipped cream as punishment for being late, asked nonchalantly.
I mumbled with my face buried in the table.
“Just… wondering if the country is going to collapse…”
“Hey, what does this raid not being Aegis have to do with the country collapsing?”
“I’m an Aegis fan…”
“What are you talking about.”
Guk Min-seong spat out his drink in disgust, not knowing what I was thinking.
Right, this plan was based on the premise that I would sell all the Quest items to Aegis, our country’s strongest guild.
It’s not that I’m ignoring other guilds and hunters.
But there’s no hunter in our country stronger than Seo Jae-hyuk, right?
It’s a natural conclusion.
But Aegis attempted the raid the time before last, and this time it’s another guild’s turn to attempt the raid.
The damn Babel Management Bureau created a system where one guild can’t attempt raids consecutively for the sake of fairness.
That’s the problem.
If I just wait for Aegis’s turn, a year will pass without clearing the 49th Floor.
Alessandro, you cheered me on with such wistful eyes…
‘Earth is about to be destroyed now.’
I swallowed my resentment and asked.
“Which guild is attempting this time?”
Right, other guilds aren’t weak either.
If Quest items are provided all at once, they’ll surely have a chance of winning too.
“This raid… I think it was ‘Wolpae’?”
“Wow, damn!”
“Why are you acting like that? Are you crazy, really?”
I wanted to deny it, but I could tell from Guk Min-seong’s expression looking at me like I was insane that this was reality.
Wolpae, currently ranked 7th among South Korean guilds.
Guilds ranked 1st through 6th have guaranteed combat power thanks to their signature hunters.
But I don’t think Wolpae will succeed at all.
I’m not dismissing them for being 7th. They don’t have a signature hunter, and since they don’t have much external activity, there’s no information about them.
But they’re not quite at the level of hidden masters either.
They’re strong enough to be classified as an upper guild, but ambiguous to fit into the top-tier guild line… that kind of guild.
‘Of all times, it’s Wolpae’s turn.’
I stared blankly into space, but nothing would change from this.
“Fine.”
I nodded and got up.
It’s time to steel my resolve.
If I just wait for Aegis’s turn, Earth will be destroyed.
My inventory is full of 49th Floor Keys, so there’s no need to hesitate anymore.
I declared to Guk Min-seong, who was staring at me with an annoyed face.
“There’s no choice.”
“What?”
“I’ll be a Wolpae fan for about a week.”
“You’re such a fair-weather fan.”
There’s no time to wait.
Let’s give Wolpae the world’s first 49th Floor clear title.
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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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