24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 197

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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 197

Episode 197. Blue Sky (6)

I blinked slowly and let out a quiet sigh.

“Uh…”

It was a sigh that came out because I doubted whether what I had said was actually correct, even after saying it myself.

I tend to be a bit slow at assessing situations when I’m flustered.

After staring at the Sweet Dew Pill for several seconds, unable to look away.

Only then did I notice that countless items were floating in the infinite space behind it.

The floating objects were diverse.

A cup with bizarre patterns I’d never seen anywhere, a giant sculpture with ornate relief work, a long cloth with holes whose purpose was unknown, a pitch-black helmet that seemed to have lost its original color to soot, and so on.

All sorts of objects were floating there, but they had a clear common trait.

‘Remnants of destroyed dimensions…’

Perhaps among them were items from Alessandro’s dimension, Falcon, the last escapee and sole survivor.

Considering that Dan Woo-rin’s Sweet Dew Pill was found without the ‘Performer’ label, those objects would probably be the same.

Things that existed in dimensions before their destruction.

Items used by beings who were truly alive, not Performers.

I exhaled deeply and stared at the dimensional rift.

This wasn’t just some junkyard where random objects floated around.

This space was probably closer to a passage that dimensions pass through when they’re destroyed.

More precisely, a transit point where everything spills out as dimensions collapse.

A kind of river of oblivion connecting destroyed dimensions to living dimensions that would accept them as stages.

‘Alessandro was also trapped here, wandering around.’

The reason Alessandro was the sole survivor of a destroyed dimension was because he performed the bizarre act of opening the door to the Tower of Babel and entering it at the moment his dimension collapsed.

‘But wait, there are no living beings inside here right now.’

I frowned and pondered deeply.

Are living creatures not targets originally?

Well, Babel isn’t particularly kind, so there’d be no reason for it to deliberately save dimensional refugees.

If that were the case, instead of reconstructing scenarios, it might have created separate refugee dimensions…

It makes sense to think that Alessandro was an unexpected error that occurred during the process of accepting everything within a dimension as it warped and disappeared.

“Ah, overload.”

My thoughts had gone on too long, and my head was starting to throb.

So is the reason dimensional rifts occur because of bugs in the extinction process?

…Though saying that, there’s one right in front of me now.

I had been assuming that the dimensional rift opened here because ‘the Gate reached its limit due to Nam Pu-reum’s runaway magic power.’

But it’s too early to conclude with just these two reasons.

When Brother escaped from the Gyeonghyeon-dong Gate, there was also a dimensional rift there.

If there were scientific reasons for all this, I’d at least try writing a sloppy paper about it and sending it to some research lab.

“Babel isn’t science to begin with…”

I let out a deep sigh and glared at the rift, still monotonously colorless.

The object passing right in front of me this time was a bizarrely shaped chandelier.

It had the frame of a chandelier, but instead of light bulbs, it had squishy seaweed-like things hanging from it—a hideous object.

I stared at it for a while, then shook my head.

Regardless of the cause or whatever, the part I should be most suspicious about right now was already decided.

“Don’t tell me Brother is in there too?”

Usually, “don’t tell me” scenarios end up being true.

And when I think like this, I’m usually right.

I couldn’t see a single living creature inside right now, and the only dimensional rift survivor I knew was Alessandro.

But Brother was most likely an awakened person with the overpowered title of director, so couldn’t he become another unique dimensional rift survivor?

‘…But if that’s the case, why isn’t he coming home?’

It’s not like he ran away from home.

He was lost in the Dimensional Market, but Alessandro also passed through here.

I don’t know what Alessandro’s title was, but anyway, he was someone who escaped from here.

‘Wait, then how did Alessandro escape from here?’

Once I started worrying about one thing, questions just kept arising.

Even though our house-husband who loves cooking was once a knight commander of a kingdom.

That kingdom was such a mess that they couldn’t even find a single Tower of Babel.

How on earth did Alessandro escape this infinite space and flow into the Dimensional Market?

It was then, as I was resolving to have a serious conversation with my first subordinate employee.

“Huh?”

Among all the objects floating against the colorless background, something incongruous caught my eye.

I stared at that object with my eyes, nose, and mouth all widened.

It was a very ordinary short-sleeved shirt.

A common short-sleeved t-shirt that had a slightly murky color, as if faded by time or color-bled.

Well, that was something even Anton wore, so it was definitely a design used throughout all dimensions.

The t-shirt was so worn that it couldn’t even be put in a used clothing collection box—the sleeve ends were slightly frayed from long wear by its owner, and there was a large hole where the ribbing was about to separate from the fabric.

But the reason I thought it was incongruous wasn’t because it was particularly worn out.

It wasn’t because of the t-shirt’s appearance either.

I narrowed my eyes.

I thought I had seen wrong, but my vision was working too well.

I moved my lips and read the words written on the back of the t-shirt.

“…Seon Won High School.”

No way.

I doubted my own eyes.

Even though I had Mongolian-level eyesight, I doubted it again.

But I had no choice but to doubt this!

Fine, let’s say other dimensions also have something like high schools.

Since it’s “Long Live King Sejong,” let’s say that dimension also happens to use Hangul.

Really making concessions, let’s say the high school name is Seon Won High School…

‘No, I can’t concede this.’

Of all things, Seon Won High School!

That was the name of the high school Brother and I attended.

If it were just that, I wouldn’t have been this shocked.

The hole in the back of the neck, large enough to fit twelve fists, was too familiar.

That was definitely the glorious wound I had made when I angrily stuck my hand in and tore it apart by pulling both sides, telling him to please throw away that old thing.

The class t-shirt Brother made during the high school sophomore sports festival.

And the t-shirt that survived even after I tore it and became Brother’s pajamas.

Though I explained it in detail, to summarize in one line: I could bet Sam-i that this was Brother’s t-shirt.

Before my thoughts could even organize themselves, I reached out my hand as if possessed.

Before the t-shirt floating at a distance of less than a step could disappear from my sight.

The moment my fingertips entered the dimensional rift.

“Uhhh.”

A strange sensation flowed through my entire body.

It didn’t hurt, but it was a bizarre feeling as if my hand wasn’t my own.

It felt like it was twisting and distorting, and also like it was becoming distant.

It was similar to the feeling of noise spreading across your vision from keeping your eyes open too long in a room where fluorescent lights were flickering.

The difference was that this feeling was touching my skin.

It seemed like I could reach it if I stretched just a little more.

I stretched my arm straight inward while precariously placing my foot on the edge of the cliff.

That was the moment.

[⁕ Manager, you must not approach any further :)]

Though he wore his usual annoying smile, his tone was more resolute than usual.

I unconsciously pulled my hand back and stepped away, then frowned.

“Why?”

You don’t even act in a way that pleases me, yet you’re trying to control my actions at such an important moment?

Who knows when the dimensional rift will open again?

[⁕ It’s dangerous :)]

“Stop smiling and tell me the reason properly, you bastard.”

I muttered while glaring at the particularly annoying emoticon today.

I have a clue about my only blood relative that I’ve searched for so desperately right in front of me.

…Even if it’s just shabby, embarrassing pajamas with attachment issues.

Sam-i, who I expected to answer immediately, was unexpectedly silent for quite a while.

After about a minute, just before my patience ran out, the screen brightened.

[⁕ If the Creator enters a bit deeper into the space you’ve named ‘Dimensional Rift,’ you could be sucked in instantly. In that case, you would leave your home dimension ‘Earth,’ which would greatly affect the safety of the current dimension 🙂 In the worst case, it could lead to dimensional collapse :)]

I was reading carefully because it was a long explanation, but I doubted my eyes at the last sentence.

There’s a lot to doubt today.

“The dimension will collapse?”

I just want to grab Brother’s t-shirt, and that leads to dimensional collapse?

Meanwhile, the t-shirt came a bit closer, almost within reach.

As I frantically looked around in urgency, Sam-i added:

[⁕ The Creator is one of the most important roles bound to a dimension 🙂 If the Creator leaves the dimension, the dimensional balance could rapidly collapse. Of course, it’s dangerous for you personally too, but it’s a problem for this entire dimension 🙂 The current dimension doesn’t seem very stable either :)]

Perhaps because it was the secret of the ‘Creator’ that I uncovered with my own hands, Sam-i’s explanation became quite specific.

I kept my mouth tightly shut and read the notification several times.

[⁕ Also, the flow of time inside the dimensional rift doesn’t match the outside 🙂 Moreover, the internal structure has no directional orientation of up, down, left, or right, so if you enter without magic power, you might not even be able to move :)]

Every single thing he’s saying is negative.

So I’m not the strongest in this dimension, but I’m equally important to this dimension, and if I go in there, I’ll cause dimensional destruction.

Without even a one-year grace period or anything.

“Ha, really.”

A hollow laugh escaped.

[⁕ Attempting to enter now would put too many things at risk :)]

“I know.”

I know, but Brother dropping his t-shirt in a place like that means Brother might be inside there.

Sam-i is programmed to be unable to tell lies.

Everything he’s saying must be true.

It must also be true that if I really go in there, I’ll leave the dimension, and Earth could be devastated.

After talking with Asmodeus, I roughly knew I was in an important position.

‘But I didn’t know it would be to this extent.’

Wasn’t modern society supposed to be callously functional even without one person?

Anger and futility intertwined complexly, tickling my throat.

I want to just pour out anything to Sam-i, but it would all just be venting.

Because I know that realistically, leaving here to find Brother without any plan is impossible.

If I find Brother but there’s no dimension to return to… I don’t want that either.

‘It’s not like I’m asking for much.’

I just want to find Brother and go home together, but is that really such a difficult thing?

My emotions, having lost their direction, surged chaotically, so I just squeezed my eyes shut.

At that moment, a light breeze blew from behind me.

“Sister.”

It was Nam Pu-reum.

No different from when she stubbornly left earlier, Nam Pu-reum arrived with her hair still disheveled and looked up at me intently before speaking.

“Boss is dead. Want to go eat?”

I was speechless at such an innocent question.

I know she’s also in an extremely fragile mental state and I should act like an adult.

But I can’t easily give an answer.

I opened and closed my mouth but couldn’t bring myself to answer, just staring quietly at Nam Pu-reum.

That’s when Nam Pu-reum’s eyes moved.

Nam Pu-reum, who had been staring intently only at my face, suddenly seemed to realize something and shifted her gaze behind me.

Then she asked dryly in a flat voice.

“…Sister, are you going in?”

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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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