24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 17

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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 17

Episode 17. Me, an Ordinary Merchant, in Babel?! (2)

I just wanted to open the path for Wolpae to conquer the 49th Floor.

“Wow, as soon as we mentioned supply shortages in the meeting, a merchant shows up!”

“Our situation was really dire. It must be a blessing from hell!”

“He’s a benefactor, a benefactor!”

I had become a benefactor.

And a benefactor to Dark Mages who each had some part of their body rotting away…

The man who introduced himself as Necros suddenly wrapped me in Black Mist and brought me to this chaotic place.

And now, I was at a loss, overwhelmed by the goodwill of Dark Mages who were rotting in various places.

Guk Min-seong had clearly said that Dark Mages were full of murderous intent and hostile, making communication impossible…

“What’s your name?”

“Lee Hae… sir.”

“Right, Lee Hae! What an exciting name! Really nice to meet you!”

This Dark Mage who put his arm around my shoulder with his rotting, festering hand felt like an Early Morning Soccer Club president full of expectations for young blood transfusion.

Even family wouldn’t welcome me this warmly.

“You must be thirsty, have a drink. It’s our special beverage.”

Necros held out a cup filled with sticky black liquid of unknown origin and grinned.

“Drink up, drink up.”

“Chug it down!”

Other Dark Mages’ rotting hands urged me to drink quickly.

I was genuinely confused.

‘This isn’t exactly a mineral spring…’

I had never even considered this kind of development.

The Meeting Room, thick with the Dark Mages’ characteristic Black Mist, was dark and eerie.

A dark Underground prison without a single ray of light.

In contrast, the friendly gazes of Dark Mages holding worn cups, sitting in a circle and staring intently at me.

I deliberately ignored the smiling faces blooming on their rotting features and naturally set down the cup while changing the subject.

“Do, do Dark Mages originally live Underground?”

“Not really, but we are ‘Dark’ Mages, you know.”

‘…Is this supposed to be a racial trait?’

What am I even listening to right now?

I barely managed to close my mouth that was about to gape open in disbelief and asked with feigned composure.

“Then since you’re ‘Dark’ Mages, do you only work at night?”

“You! I could tell from the start, but you’re a perceptive guy, aren’t you? Well, not exactly, but everyone does prefer working at night. During the day, we usually leave things to the Puppets we’ve created.”

“Wo, wow.”

I blurted out an exclamation and even clapped awkwardly.

Perhaps moved by my soulless reaction, Necros puffed out his chest with a proud expression.

‘Aren’t they being too trusting?’

For enemies of the 49th Floor who had kept Korean Hunters struggling for 6 months, they were too cheerful, and watching them continuously gave me cognitive dissonance.

If I stayed here any longer, I felt like I’d become a strange person too.

“Well then, since you’ve found a merchant, please give me a list of items you want.”

“Why are you in such a hurry? We have plenty of time.”

Why would I want to spend that spare time with you?

…Since I couldn’t answer that, I poked Necros’s arm with a sly expression.

“A merchant can’t make money doing business in just one place.”

“Such big dreams, such big dreams!”

The Dark Mages sitting on the opposite side laughed cheerfully.

“This is Palenicus, our supply officer. And here is our benefactor, merchant Lee Hae.”

“Mm!”

The man called Palenicus nodded lightly, then grabbed my hand and shook it just like Necros had done earlier.

“Please take care of us!”

“…Uh, yes, what do you need?”

There was no way an ordinary citizen like me would know what Dark Mages needed.

Maybe they wanted Dark Magic Stones like what the Sacred Covenant believer, the Guide of Transcendence, had bought?

However, an order came from a completely unexpected direction.

“We need Health Potions, Mana Potions, and Antidotes. The more the better.”

So Dark Mages also cure poison with Antidotes…

But I couldn’t sell Potions to them.

Because I was thoroughly on Wolpae’s side!

If I provided items that would help them, that would be treason, and as a result, Earth would be destroyed when the 49th Floor couldn’t be cleared.

I answered shamelessly.

“All Potions are sold out.”

“What?!”

Behind Palenicus, whose eyes widened as if he couldn’t believe my answer, the Dark Mages murmured.

Actually, it was ridiculous for a merchant who appeared in a place like this to have no Potions.

I put on a regretful expression and clasped my hands together.

“I’ll look for similar items. Please wait a moment.”

‘Sam-i, among health recovery items, show me three that are either really expensive or have ambiguous effects.’

[⁕ What do you mean by ‘ambiguous effects’?]

Ah, right. This one doesn’t understand implications.

‘Things that don’t noticeably boost stats but might make them think they feel energized.’

About 5 seconds after giving fairly specific instructions, a window appeared before my eyes.

[> Available Items

– Blood of Panacea 731,040G

– Essence of Ecstasy 3,900G

– Vita100 (10 pieces) 1G]

“…”

“Why that expression? Are there no items?”

“No, there’s something very suitable…”

I stared at the window with a reluctant expression for a while.

The prices of the top two items weren’t surprising.

‘Vita100?’

That Vita100 sold for a thousand won each at Convenience Stores?

No, I’m the only person on Earth with access to the Dimensional Market, so where on earth did Vita100 flow in from?

“Lee Hae, show us the items.”

Palenicus urged me to show the items without giving me time to resolve my questions.

I suppressed my bewilderment and purchased 10 sets of Vita100.

Soon, the Vita100 I took out from my Inventory looked exactly as I had seen it at Convenience Stores.

“Ooh, what’s this?”

“It’s a golden potion that enhances vitality. Please try one bottle to confirm.”

At Palenicus’s suspicious expression as he narrowed his eyes and looked back at me doubtfully, I decided to lead by example.

The cheerful sound of opening a Vita100 cap.

I drank the liquid in one gulp and shrugged my shoulders.

After hesitating for a while, Palenicus began to sip the Vita100 following my lead.

“Do you feel that unique sourness?”

“…The tangy taste is surprisingly delicious.”

I nodded seriously and began spouting nonsense.

“According to ancient alchemical texts, strong sourness awakens the nervous system and purifies the flow of mana. This is a potion made through recipes found in the ancient books of high-ranking mages and great sages.”

“Ooh…?”

“But the past and present are different. This is a potion that the great alchemist ‘Kaan Yeo-ni’ has advanced one step further with more developed modern alchemy.”

I also promoted Kang Yeon-hee’s name a bit.

“But it doesn’t seem like the effects appear immediately?”

“Of course.”

Palenicus flinched at my firm answer.

“This potion is on a different level from cheap potions. It’s a potion that works slowly from the very depths of the user’s core. While it’s impossible to reach the highest level in a single day, isn’t it possible to reach the highest level through long trials?”

“Is, is that so…?”

“Of course. Moreover, recently there was even a Magic Tower paper proving that consistently consuming ‘Vita100’ increases Mana Condensation Power. There are even research results showing the same effect occurs for Dark Mages.”

Palenicus seemed completely lost, but after I rambled on with impressive-sounding words for a while.

“I see…”

Before I knew it, Palenicus had the expression of a victim who had taken one step into a multi-level pyramid scheme.

I grabbed Palenicus’s hand with an even more serious face.

“However, the unfortunate thing is…”

I could feel crumbling skin falling from the rotting back of his hand, but I pretended not to notice and gripped the sucker’s hand even tighter.

“I’m the sole seller of this potion. Moreover, this potion takes a long time to make just one bottle, so I don’t know when I’ll be able to sell ‘Vita100’ again.”

“What?”

Palenicus’s innocent eyes wavered.

I looked down at Palenicus with a truly apologetic expression.

“You seem to be the only one who properly recognizes the value of this potion, Palenicus… How about it? The quantity isn’t that large, but I’m sure you could use it effectively.”

I could see Palenicus gulp at my serious bullshit.

“What will you do?”

After a very brief silence swept through the Underground Prison.

Palenicus suddenly pulled out gleaming gold coins and shouted.

“I’ll buy them!”

The Dark Mages behind him, who had been listening from who knows when, also shouted competitively.

“Hey, Palenicus! Let’s buy all of those!”

“If it’s Mana Condensation Power, doesn’t that mean our dark magic condensation power will increase?!”

Jackpot.

I didn’t know what to do with myself at their enthusiastic reaction.

“How much is it?”

“It’s priced at 100 Gold per bottle, but since you’re all so kind… I’ll give you 98 bottles for a clean 7,000 Gold.”

“Lee Hae, my friend! You know how to do business!”

Palenicus beamed and began pulling out more gold coins.

I counted the numerous gold coins piled on my hand one by one and sighed.

It’s not like I’m that smooth with words either.

‘How did such naive kids survive for 6 months.’

At this point, I couldn’t understand why Falcon was conquered by these guys.

Alessandro, what exactly were you fighting against…

After finishing the exact gold coin count, I finally remembered what I had forgotten.

‘But how do I sell items to NPCs?’

As a Dimensional Market manager, all the targets I had traded with were Awakened.

Since I can’t trade with NPCs, do I have to take out all the items and do physical transactions?

Just as I was thinking it would be a bit troublesome and was about to take out 98 bottles of Vita100 from my Inventory.

[> Trade Notification 1 item

– 100 ‘Vita100’ have been sold. Ι Buyer: Palenicus (Dimension-Earth I Zone-South Korea I 49th Floor Performer)]

At the same time, 98 bottles of Vita100 appeared neatly on the table next to me.

“Thank you! Now, everyone drink one bottle of this ‘Vita100’!”

Wait, NPCs count as Dimensional Market buyers too?

‘Is this right?’

That wasn’t the only strange thing.

‘Performer?’

Behind Palenicus’s name in the trade notification was the word ‘Performer’.

Is it called Performer because he’s an actor in the scenario?

Just how far does this Dimensional Market’s authority extend?

Just as I was continuing my rather serious contemplation, someone suddenly grabbed my hand.

It was Palenicus with his rotting forehead and Necros with his rotting left face.

Very transparent emotions were rising on their faces.

“Thank you so much, Lee Hae. You’ve been a great help to us!”

Palenicus and Necros each grabbed my hands and expressed their gratitude.

Looking at their faces, I answered seriously.

I don’t dislike this heartwarming atmosphere.

“I’m truly grateful as well.”

This is sincere.

* * *

“We couldn’t even welcome you properly and you’re leaving. Come visit us again next time.”

“Of course!”

I answered with the most energy I’d had since entering this Underground Prison.

Finally escaping from here.

Without providing much help, making a good profit and getting out very safely.

I did something against my conscience, but it couldn’t be helped.

Well, anyway, next time I come, Wolpae will have taken over the 49th Floor and the scenario will be reset, so they won’t even remember me!

I packed the items I had laid out into my bag and asked casually.

“Don’t you have monster waves here? It’s quiet.”

It was just a comment I threw out without any particular intention.

Well, maybe I had some hope that Wolpae would hold out well since the monster waves keep getting stronger.

“Ah, we go out once every hour. We sent the first unit earlier, so the second unit will depart soon.”

As soon as Necros’s casual answer ended, a bell rang.

Ding-

When I frowned at the heavy bell sound that could be heard even underground, Necros added with another half-smile that I still couldn’t get used to.

“They’ve departed?”

And the next moment, I covered my ears.

Rumble rumble rumble-

A thunderous roar as if the ceiling had collapsed.

Unidentifiable bizarre howling sounds mixed chaotically and seeped down to the underground.

Due to countless monsters advancing on the Surface, making the ground tremble, dirt and dust were noticeably falling as if an earthquake had struck.

‘This is unsettling.’

“How many… are heading out?”

Necros answered lightly with his still-unfamiliar cheerful expression.

“Probably a thousand?”

Holy crap.

Save our Wolpae.

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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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