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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24-Hour Friendly Market Specializing in Dimensional Items Episode 15

Episode 15. Bamanjang Store (4)

I had been lost in thought for a while, fidgeting with the gold coins on the shop stall, when 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 obviously knows but pretends not to was really annoying me right now.

I know from the start 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 would 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 unlucky 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 bullshit.

“…Meow?”

-Aren’t you too weak to carry the fate of the world?

This cat, after I’ve been treating it so nicely…

Just when I was barely managing to cheer myself up, it’s evenly sprinkling ash on my 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 handle.

I shot up from my seat.

It’s unfortunate that small and fragile me ended up shouldering such a big mission.

“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 normally there?]

Hey, is it normal for merchants to appear on the 18th Floor too? Is this originally there? I just experienced something spine-chilling.

I was on mob pulling duty so I was waiting in a corner, but suddenly a boss mob appeared like a bug and I almost died, you know?

But at that moment, a woman in a robe with her face hidden suddenly appeared, tanked the hit, and asked me ‘Want to buy potions?’ lololol

When I said I wasn’t buying anything, she started showing me all these antidotes and buff potions in a row, and they were all made by some potion master sister who’s apparently a maid. The quality was insane so I just bought them lol. They’re like new releases that people line up to buy, but she’s doing door-to-door sales haha, what a steal

But the problem is when I retried the 18th Floor one more time later, 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

-Doesn’t she only appear near boss mobs? Need to test the conditions

⌞But this is really 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 she the owner of the new building in Bamanjang?

⌞Why would a building owner personally run sales lololol

-That seems to only appear near specific boss mobs? What I saw was also near a boss room

-Potion Lady for real lololol Her name was Kang Yeon-hee, let’s call her Kang Yeon-geum

⌞Watch out for copyright

-100% thought she was human so I hit her expecting items to drop but she ran away, really damn fast;;

⌞Hey lololol that’s hilarious, what do you mean she ran away when you hit her lololol

“Please focus, Guild Master.”

Seo Jae-hyuk only nodded slightly without taking his eyes off the tablet.

He was only half-listening to what Ahn Yeon-seo was saying.

He wasn’t particularly interested in today’s meeting about conquering the 49th Floor 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 had seen 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 had never seen it even before awakening.

There was a clue he found by reading Kim Min-soo’s memories.

B-rank Hunter Kim Min-soo who broke Seo Jae-hyuk’s record on the 36th Floor, 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 me angry – that way of speaking.

Seo Jae-hyuk’s unique title is [Memory Conductor].

Through his distinctive golden mana, he can materialize weapons he has memories of using, and can even mimic attacks from opponents he has fought before.

As the title that placed Seo Jae-hyuk in the unshakeable first place, it guarantees solid performance.

However, aside from his 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 very thin threads from a target’s memories, it was particularly effective for interrogating opponents.

Since he had invested mainly in combat-oriented skills, its 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 sticking out from the gaps in 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, you haven’t listened to a single one of my briefings so far, have you?”

“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 doing potion business on the first floor of the building definitely wouldn’t be the building owner.

‘The person behind all these issues will be there.’

Unfortunately, he couldn’t go inside to look because there was a barrier around the building.

The fact that such a barrier had been set up also strongly drew Seo Jae-hyuk’s interest.

Free movement between the 26th and 48th floors, the ability to freely sell potions outside the Tower’s restrictions, and a building erected at the Intermediate Station where buildings couldn’t be built.

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 his 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.

* * *

[Awakened Lee Hae-won – Open Market Manager(EX)

> New Notification

– Title Job Quest (4) has been completed.

– The level of skill ‘Item Appraisal’ has increased.

– The level of skill ‘Anonymity’ has increased.]

A whole month after 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 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 power 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 later than me, asked nonchalantly.

I mumbled with my face buried in the table.

“I just… wonder 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 saying.”

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 given all at once, they’ll definitely have a chance of success 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 this was reality from Guk Min-seong’s expression as he looked at me like I was insane.

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 place. They don’t have a signature hunter, and since they don’t do 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 for getting 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 doing this.

“Fine.”

I nodded and got up.

It was 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 any longer.

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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