24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 161

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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 161

 

Episode 161. Turning Point (7)

 

The moment the potion bottles flew through the air seemed to be in slow motion.

 

Two glass bottles containing pale purple liquid flew through the space between the golden and silver magical powers respectively.

 

The moment the two people slowly blinked their eyes, the caps of the potion bottles opened.

 

But there were two things I hadn’t expected.

 

First, Silvester’s power didn’t last even 1 second, let alone 5 seconds.

 

So the moment I rushed out of the alley, Silvester’s warm and cozy power was stripped away in an instant.

 

And second, as hunters responsible for South Korea’s safety, both of them had the true character and professional ethics to immediately withdraw their attacks the moment they recognized a civilian rushing out.

 

I thought the two would be so focused on each other that they wouldn’t pay any attention to someone like me.

 

But.

 

‘Huh?’

 

The moment I rushed close to them, both people hastily withdrew their magical power.

 

The explosive situation where they seemed ready to kill each other at any moment suddenly ended.

 

Between Lee Hwa-yeon and Seo Jae-hyuk, who had suddenly become quiet, the fragile potion bottle fell and made a weak cracking sound.

 

The pale purple liquid moistened the crater floor and soaked in instantly.

 

So the current situation is.

 

The spirit’s power was torn to shreds, and I, wearing my brother’s face, suddenly dropped in front of the two people.

 

If anyone was hoping that the two would miraculously be hit by the sleeping potion and fall asleep, bringing the situation to an end, I’d like to tell them that was a vain hope.

 

‘Though I doubt anyone was expecting that.’

 

My ambitions were too grand compared to my pathetic body…

 

I tried closing my eyes tightly, wanting to deny the current situation.

 

“…Lee Hae?”

 

Lee Hwa-yeon called my name in a flustered tone.

 

It’s a situation where I can’t even escape from reality.

 

I slowly opened my eyes and glanced at the two people staring intently at me.

 

Lee Hwa-yeon, having talked with me in Florabon, seemed to be thinking ‘Why on earth did you show up here?’

 

But Seo Jae-hyuk…

 

‘Wow, he recognized me.’

 

He was staring at me intently with that same emotionless expression he had shown Lee Hwa-yeon.

 

Actually, this was the first time I’d been this close to Seo Jae-hyuk.

 

I’d only seen him in media before, and even on the Ganasia continent, I’d only watched from afar.

 

Seeing him up close, Seo Jae-hyuk definitely had the overwhelming presence befitting a Rank 1 hunter.

 

I’m not talking about his appearance, but the cold atmosphere created by his tall stature and characteristic expressionless face felt more intense.

 

Though he was looking at me dryly as if he had no interest, I could feel it in his gaze.

 

I had thought my brother’s face covered by the Mask of All Things would already be well-known among the rankers.

 

That was the look of someone viewing ‘the guy who took the 1st place in raid contribution.’

 

The golden magical power rippling in his black eyes looked aggressive rather than warm.

 

This wasn’t my paranoid delusion but reality.

 

After losing the 1st place in raid contribution to me in Ganasia, Seo Jae-hyuk had heard all sorts of slander.

 

There were quite a few people mocking him as the Rank 1 hunter who entered a scenario only to have his 1st place contribution stolen by some unknown person.

 

So it’s not incomprehensible that he’d show such a look.

 

‘I should have just let the two of them fight it out and escaped.’

 

There was nothing I could do about the belated regret washing over me.

 

I lowered my head and desperately tried to think.

 

There was no particular reason to run away from here, and having barged in, I needed to do something to resolve this situation…

 

‘Before Seo Jae-hyuk grabs me by the collar.’

 

The scariest thing at this point was not knowing what Seo Jae-hyuk, who couldn’t even communicate with Lee Hwa-yeon, might do to me.

 

Lee Hwa-yeon didn’t seem like she’d be of immediate help either.

 

If I asked Silvester to squeeze out some power to help me, could I escape from this deadly place?

 

If I waited for those two people’s sharp killing intent to soften a bit before talking, couldn’t I at least come up with some desperate measure?

 

It was while I was frantically thinking through various possibilities.

 

“…Oh my.”

 

A strange voice echoed languidly, and then feet wearing dark green boots landed softly before my eyes.

 

As if ignoring gravity, without even the sound of footsteps, quietly without stirring even a breeze.

 

There had been no sign of anyone’s presence at all.

 

The moment I hurriedly raised my head to check the owner of the boots, I clamped my mouth shut.

 

A body so thin that the bones showed through, sunken eyes and a face that created an ominous atmosphere.

 

Hair longer than his ankles, dragging on the ground, was dark green like a deep swamp.

 

In contrast, his bright light green eyes looked cloudy and dim as if stained with murkiness.

 

His expensive-looking, patternless purple shirt and cream-colored pants seemed to prove that this stranger held quite a high position.

 

I could tell who it was without asking.

 

‘Quentin?’

 

Aetheria’s strongest, Quentin Ixion Berylsha.

 

He was also the performer I had marked as this dimension’s final boss.

 

The back of my neck reflexively stiffened with tension.

 

Quentin blinked very slowly while looking around the crater, then muttered in a carefree tone.

 

“There seems to have been some commotion…”

 

A slow way of speaking that felt completely devoid of any sharpness.

 

It could be seen as leisurely, but to me, it sounded like a melancholy voice.

 

A voice that seemed to echo from deep within a swamp, creating the illusion that just hearing it made one feel somehow dejected.

 

I could instinctively recognize that he was a dangerous opponent.

 

Quentin slowly turned his head to look alternately at Lee Hwa-yeon and Seo Jae-hyuk, then fixed his gaze on me.

 

His murky light green eyes looked at me as if finding me interesting.

 

“Who are you?”

 

A direct and straightforward question.

 

With Seo Jae-hyuk and Lee Hwa-yeon present, it was difficult to reveal the truth as it was, but the opponent was too formidable to brush off casually.

 

Though Quentin’s eyes were murky, his gaze was incomparably sharp.

 

Then Lee Hwa-yeon glanced at me and opened her mouth.

 

“This person is, uh…”

 

Is she trying to help me?

 

She hadn’t believed me until now and didn’t particularly like me either, but was that Lee Hwa-yeon finally going to help me?

 

But Lee Hwa-yeon only drew out the end of her words, frowning as if she didn’t know what to say.

 

Well, from Lee Hwa-yeon’s perspective, she had wanted to beat up Seo Jae-hyuk, but I was an unwelcome intruder who had barged in out of nowhere and ruined the whole atmosphere.

 

‘Besides, except for Chae Geun-dam, she doesn’t even know I’m the market owner.’

 

In the end, I decided to speak up myself.

 

“I am a colleague of you four.”

 

“…A colleague? I heard there were four people…”

 

Quentin’s eyebrow rose slightly.

 

I nodded as if it were natural.

 

“Yes, I’m reinforcement dispatched as a follow-up unit. I arrived late and was trying to assess the situation when I saw these two fighting, so I intervened without thinking about anything else.”

 

I let out a deep sigh of relief like someone who was truly glad the fight had stopped.

 

Quentin narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.

 

Anyway, Quentin didn’t know the fact that only four people were assigned to the scenario.

 

If Seo Jae-hyuk would keep his mouth shut here and Lee Hwa-yeon would cleverly play along, this could pass naturally.

 

Fortunately, before Seo Jae-hyuk could drop any bombshells, Lee Hwa-yeon launched a preemptive strike.

 

“A reinforcement unit, how fortunate. We didn’t know. I’m acquainted with this person.”

 

Lee Hwa-yeon’s face as she said this was so slyly cunning that her previous expressionless demeanor was hard to believe.

 

‘Thank goodness, really.’

 

I only thought Lee Hwa-yeon was always reckless, but sometimes she does have some sense.

 

With Lee Hwa-yeon’s appropriate assist, Quentin opened his eyes normally again.

 

Right, how much better you look when you open your eyes properly and wide?

 

Making people’s skin crawl by squinting and staring like that.

 

Having pointlessly resented Quentin, I subtly glanced toward Seo Jae-hyuk.

 

‘…Ugh, gives me the chills.’

 

Seo Jae-hyuk didn’t say anything, but he was staring intently at only me with an expression whose meaning I couldn’t understand.

 

It was a gaze that seemed to know something, making me inwardly anxious, but he didn’t seem inclined to speak up.

 

Then Quentin shrugged his shoulders to draw attention.

 

“Then since you’ve joined us like this, how about we have a calm conversation in the main building…?”

 

‘Why?’

 

Fortunately, I swallowed it without letting it slip out of my mouth.

 

“If you’re reinforcements, you probably don’t know much about this place yet, and you’ll need to hear explanations…”

 

‘That’s not wrong.’

 

Since I had just lied about being reinforcements who just arrived, in Quentin’s eyes I would look like an innocent resource who doesn’t know about Berylsha’s plan to conquer Aetheria.

 

He would think I don’t know about other cities at all in the first place.

 

Quentin, who had crossed his arms again, casually muttered.

 

“And this is in front of the City Hall. The citizens are getting agitated, so let’s move somewhere… somewhere quiet where we can talk.”

 

When I turned around after hearing those words, the surrounding scene was a mess.

 

The broken glass windows from when Seo Jae-hyuk and Lee Hwa-yeon clashed, collapsed building debris, and the giant crater created in the ground.

 

And I could feel Berylsha’s citizens, gripped by fear, watching the atmosphere from very far away.

 

Quentin, who had quickly looked around, asked in a light tone of voice, shrugging his shoulders as if he didn’t care at all about the citizens’ fear.

 

“Shall we go?”

 

Well, even if I said I didn’t want to go, I had no other choice in my current situation.

 

*   *   *

 

The study room that Quentin guided us to was gloriously selected as Lee Hae-won’s pick for this year’s most uncomfortable seat.

 

The main building I followed to while being careful not to step on Quentin’s long hair, not knowing what he was thinking.

 

With warm wood-toned interior and soft lighting, elegant paintings decorating the walls, it looked like a luxury hotel’s reception room rather than a study.

 

And in the very center, a low table and six plush-looking sofas were arranged at precise angles.

 

“Please sit.”

 

Quentin sat in the seat of honor and gestured gently.

 

On the table, prepared at some point, were steaming hot tea and carefully prepared refreshments.

 

But the atmosphere was so uncomfortable I wanted to evaporate.

 

Quentin, Seo Jae-hyuk, Lee Hwa-yeon, me, and even Chae Geun-dam and Lee Ja-gyeom who had hurriedly come down from the Emerald Tower.

 

Six people were sitting there, but none seemed inclined to open their mouths.

 

‘No, even if we were to talk, that guy needs to leave before we can talk.’

 

I thought it would be nice if Quentin would tactfully step aside so we could talk among ourselves, but he was a mage without tact.

 

Quentin just kept looking back and forth between us with a suspicious smile, as if telling us to speak comfortably.

 

That’s when it happened.

 

Knock knock knock-

 

With a brief knocking sound, the study door opened, breaking the chilly atmosphere.

 

I wondered who this benefactor was who broke this atmosphere with such good timing and secured me breathing room, so I looked up.

 

“I brought the materials.”

 

It was Green who entered, carrying an armful of documents.

 

Green, who had the research to save Aetheria, who would be the key to the scenario!

 

I had told him to stay in the corridor in front of Quentin’s secret research lab, but it seemed he had received Quentin’s summons in the meantime.

 

When Green, who had been emotionlessly handing documents to Quentin with an official face, casually looked up.

 

“…”

 

I witnessed Green’s professional expression crack.

 

It was a face asking ‘Why are you there?’

 

Green unconsciously opened his mouth, then closed it tightly again.

 

A bamboo grove sitting together with the boss he had enthusiastically badmouthed – no wonder he was flustered.

 

But Green was a competent worker with tact, unlike his boss Quentin.

 

Green set down the remaining documents in front of Quentin and stood behind him as if nothing had happened.

 

I stared at Green acting calm and started thinking again.

 

If Green’s research was completed, the scenario could end peacefully.

 

But for that to happen, I had to stop Quentin, or rather, I needed to explain the situation to the attack team without that person present…

 

“Now, so… I’d like to hear an explanation of why you caused such a scene in front of the City Hall.”

 

Sadly, Quentin, who really had no tact, seized the high ground.

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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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