24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 199

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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 199

Episode 199. Blue Sky (8)

I thought it would take at least several hours to complete the map since it was an infinitely vast space.

But the time it took to complete the dimensional rift map was only 1 minute.

When the detection writing tool displayed a notification saying “1 minute required,” I briefly suspected whether this was an item capable of lying.

I know that the larger the space, the longer it takes to draw a map.

But after pushing my upper body into the rift and entrusting myself to that strange sensation for just 1 minute, the map was anticlimactically completed.

And now I’m holding it.

“…!”

I seriously examined the map.

I thought that since everything was connected like a Mobius strip, a proper map wouldn’t be completed.

I expected a strangely shaped map that would make me wonder if it was even a map, but this was unexpected.

On the A4-sized map, only two squares were drawn.

[Checkpoint]

[Observation Room]

But the problem is that there are two words written there whose meaning I can’t grasp at all.

At most, I thought words like ‘entrance’ or ‘exit’ would be written, but what is this supposed to be?

Since all I had to work with was imagination, I spread my wings of imagination with all my might.

Even if I generously assume the checkpoint is a passage that inspects all sorts of items flowing in from the destroyed dimension.

‘But what’s an observation room?’

If there’s an observation room, it means someone is observing, but what are they observing there?

Are they observing Brother’s stretched-out underwear?

I burst into hollow laughter as I imagined people gathering together to watch Brother’s underwear.

“…Hae-won!”

Another question arose, and I didn’t learn anything satisfying.

My joy at discovering that the dimensional rift could be recognized as a single ‘area’ for map drawing became meaningless.

I frowned deeply and glared at the map.

If it was going to be like this, shouldn’t they have made it impossible to draw a map in the first place?

I’ve been staring at it for hours, but the more I look, the more irritated I get.

Just two squares on an empty piece of paper, plus names that are hard to even guess the meaning of.

After completing the map, I turned my head frantically to look for spaces like checkpoints or observation rooms inside the rift, but there were no other suspicious locations.

I just floundered helplessly among all sorts of miscellaneous items floating endlessly.

“You there!”

“Huh?!”

I was startled by the voice calling me and looked up.

Alessandro, who was sitting across from me, was shaking his head disapprovingly with a displeased expression.

“You should focus on eating when you’re at the dinner table. Are you going to keep thinking about other things like that?”

Clicking his tongue was a bonus.

Kang Yeon-hee, who was sitting next to Alessandro, smiled awkwardly and agreed.

“That’s right, Sister. We have a guest too.”

Kang Yeon-hee’s glance was directed at Nam Pu-reum.

Nam Pu-reum, who really ended up eating with us, was concentrating on burying her head and fishing out marbled beef.

She had the concentration of someone receiving a meal for the first time.

“How is it? Is it delicious?”

Kang Yeon-hee casually threw out a question while pretending to be nonchalant.

But anyone could tell her voice was trembling with nervousness.

It was natural.

The first guest we suddenly brought to the 3rd floor of Babel Square, a safe zone that didn’t allow visits from outsiders, was none other than Nam Pu-reum.

We never planned to have guests in our home forever, but it happened to be the day Nam Pu-reum grew by overcoming her wistful past.

As if she couldn’t even hear Kang Yeon-hee’s question, Nam Pu-reum took a big spoonful of steaming mixed grain rice.

I answered on behalf of Kang Yeon-hee, who was pitifully waiting for a response.

“She says it’s delicious.”

“…I suppose so? Sister, you should eat quickly too.”

Embarrassed Kang Yeon-hee smiled awkwardly.

“The hot pot will get cold. And it’s been really long since we all had dinner together.”

“That’s right. You there, keep in mind that focusing on your meal is proper etiquette toward those eating with you. Don’t eat in small bites, and don’t forget to eat heartily.”

I was dumbfounded by Alessandro’s solemn nodding.

Where on earth did this man learn words like “small bites” and “heartily”?

As I stared at Alessandro with a serious expression due to my complicated feelings, the man scolded me with a serious face.

“Tsk tsk.”

Where did he learn that “tsk tsk” interjection too….

Never mind, I can’t blame him for adapting quickly.

I deliberately organized my thoughts and put the map into my inventory.

Only when I picked up my spoon did Alessandro smile with satisfaction.

“The seasoned vegetables are freshly prepared and the deodeok is also newly made, so eat well.”

I barely swallowed the laughter that was about to burst out at the dialogue that didn’t match his Western appearance at all.

The dining table became quiet quickly.

A time when only the bubbling sound of the hot pot and the movement of utensils broke the silence.

It was such a peaceful moment that it was hard to believe I had been inside a Gate.

As the warm broth went down my throat, I naturally let out a groan.

‘This is life.’

Of course, nothing has been resolved, my head is complicated, and my life doesn’t seem to be going well, so I only feel gloomy!

But the taste of the hot pot that Alessandro carefully prepared is amazing.

It felt like my muscles, which had been tense all day from running around outside even though it wasn’t fieldwork, were completely relaxing.

Alessandro must be enjoying cooking. Both I and the guest are eating so enthusiastically.

Alessandro, who had been looking at me fondly, asked casually.

“So, where did you go today?”

But from my perspective, it wasn’t a question I could answer casually.

I struggled to swallow the marbled beef that suddenly seemed tough.

I was planning to ask Alessandro properly anyway, but I hadn’t intended to bring up the topic with Nam Pu-reum present.

But seeing the face looking at me with bright, sparkling eyes, it seems right to ask now.

‘Strike while the iron is hot.’

After steeling myself for a very long 5 seconds, I put down my spoon.

“…Doesn’t it taste good? You there, eat more. You’re too thin-.”

“Alessandro.”

Cutting off Alessandro’s nagging like an old man, I cast a serious gaze.

I don’t know how many times I’ve mentioned this, but Alessandro is a former knight commander of a proper kingdom, so he seemed to have guessed the seriousness of the story I was about to tell from the brief signal I sent.

Alessandro also put down his chopsticks.

I hesitated for a moment.

When I first discovered Alessandro in the Dimensional Market, this person was filled with exhaustion.

He had the expression of someone who had lost the king and country he had to protect, lost his own world, and had nowhere to place his heart as he continued wandering.

He did brighten up a bit after finding Babel Square as a place to settle, but his festering wounds might not have fully healed.

‘But that doesn’t mean I won’t ask.’

Alessandro is also family in a different form, but this is really a matter involving blood relatives.

I deliberately opened my mouth in a calm tone, pretending to be nonchalant.

“A dimensional rift appeared in the Gate today.”

“….”

“This thing I was looking at is a map of the inside.”

I quickly took out the map from my inventory and showed it to Alessandro.

It was a map with just two squares that wasn’t worth looking at, but Alessandro’s expression had grown seriously grave.

Alessandro silently picked up the map slowly, and I opened my mouth.

“Alessandro, you said you fell into a dimensional rift the moment you opened the Tower of Babel’s door. Do you remember where and how you entered?”

“…I remember, vividly.”

“How did you enter?”

A silence followed as he seemed to carefully choose his words with his mouth closed.

Against the background sound of Nam Pu-reum’s enthusiastic spoon clattering, completely oblivious to this atmosphere, Alessandro slowly blinked his eyes.

I waited for Alessandro’s answer with plenty of patience.

Alessandro opened his mouth after what felt like several minutes.

“You remember that I opened the Tower’s door at the same time as my dimension was being destroyed, right?”

“Of course.”

“But I couldn’t enter the Tower. To be precise, the moment I opened the Tower’s door, I felt something violently pulling me. It felt like my feet weren’t touching the ground.”

“What happened next?”

“I think I lost consciousness for a moment. When I came to, I was already inside. A colorless space with buildings and stairs extending in all directions, but I couldn’t tell where to step. That space you call the ‘Dimensional Rift.'”

Alessandro’s face looked complicated as he muttered this.

“At first, I thought that was death. It might have been more comfortable if it had been.”

His tone was calm, but I couldn’t miss the weight contained within it.

No, to be precise, I probably don’t understand.

I don’t have a past as desperate as Alessandro’s.

In that sense, I didn’t have the right to react unnecessarily, so I decided to just listen quietly to his story.

“There was no direction, no time, and I didn’t particularly feel hungry. I thought I was stepping into empty air, but I didn’t fall.”

“If you didn’t fall…”

“I just kept walking. Not because I thought it would lead somewhere, but because I felt like I’d go crazy if I didn’t do anything.”

“You must have felt like going crazy, I can imagine…”

“You don’t need to force a reaction. It breaks my concentration when I’m speaking.”

“…Ah, yes.”

Alessandro, who smiled lightly despite discussing such heavy matters, nodded silently.

Though it was a story from over a year ago now, it seemed that revisiting those gloomy circumstances made one corner of his heart feel complicated.

“I don’t know how long I wandered around. It felt like a week, a month, maybe 10 years. Then suddenly a piece of paper appeared in front of me.”

“What kind of paper?”

That last question wasn’t from me, but from Nam Pu-reum.

It seemed Nam Pu-reum, who had appeared completely uninterested in the story, had been listening intently in a gloomy way.

Perhaps surprised by Nam Pu-reum’s question when she had been focused only on her rice porridge, Alessandro, who had been taking a breath, answered calmly.

“Should I call it an advertising flyer?”

“…An advertisement?”

Ah, that question was from me.

We were in the middle of seriously discussing the dimensional rift, and suddenly the word “advertisement” popped up, causing cognitive dissonance.

I doubted my ears, but Alessandro nodded naturally as if it made perfect sense.

‘There were really advertising flyers floating around in the dimensional rift?’

I couldn’t hide my bewilderment and immediately asked.

“What kind of advertisement was it?”

Come on, surely not.

It was probably just a flyer that had accidentally drifted in from a destroyed dimension.

“It was a Broker.”

“…What kind of Broker?”

“Someone who helps people escape from dimensional rifts.”

My thoughts stopped for a moment at Alessandro’s answer, delivered as if it were obvious.

However, Alessandro didn’t wait for me to organize my thoughts and continued speaking.

“You’ve been to the Irregular Dimensional Market before, haven’t you?”

“Occas… occasionally?”

The sudden mention of the Irregular Dimensional Market brought confusion once again.

When I stammered in response, wondering why he was suddenly talking about that, Alessandro shrugged his shoulders.

Then he dropped a bombshell with an attitude as if it were obvious.

“The Broker’s office was there.”

“Huh?”

“So the place I arrived at after escaping the dimensional rift was exactly that market.”

An attitude of calmly providing information.

But as soon as I heard that, I kicked back from the dining table and stood up, roaring.

“Why are you only telling me this now!”

No, if you had that kind of experience, shouldn’t you have told me everything when we wrote the contract?!

Even if knowing this content wouldn’t have changed anything, at least my perception of dimensional rifts would have been somewhat different!

I glared at Alessandro, fuming with absurdity.

But Alessandro shrugged his shoulders as if he felt wronged.

Not stopping there, he gave an answer that made my already complicated head burst with frustration.

“You didn’t ask, did you?”

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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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