24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 205

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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 205

Episode 205. A Well-Set Flag (1)

[■ Babel System > Scenario Participant Shared Message

– Clara has found the exit. Ι Seo Jae-hyuk (Dimension-Earth Ι Zone-South Korea)

– I’ll mark the path with Legato, so please join us this way. Ι Seo Jae-hyuk (Dimension-Earth Ι Zone-South Korea)]

Guk Min-seong let out a sigh of relief as he saw the message floating up in white, illuminating the darkness.

At the same time, a bright smile appeared on Park Bo-bae’s face as he confirmed the message.

“That’s a relief, isn’t it?”

“Indeed it is.”

Guk Min-seong maintained his composure while suppressing the urge to cheer three times.

Since Park Bo-bae kept showing that good-natured smile as if this space wasn’t scary at all, he wanted to maintain his pride for no particular reason.

‘Lee Hae-won would have laughed her ass off if she saw this…’

He would absolutely not let his thoughts be discovered.

Guk Min-seong made that resolution as he stood facing the direction where Seo Jae-hyuk and Lee Hae-won had disappeared.

Meanwhile, a golden cluster of light was approaching from far away, piercing through the pitch-black darkness like a bottomless chasm.

It was Seo Jae-hyuk’s weapon, Legato.

The suddenly appearing Legato emitted light in the endless darkness, like a signpost showing which way to go.

Park Bo-bae waved the lantern he was holding and whispered.

“Shall we move now?”

Following Park Bo-bae’s striding steps while expanding his sound barrier, Guk Min-seong glanced around.

Except for the direction illuminated by Legato, there was only pitch-black darkness.

If it weren’t for the lantern Lee Hae-won had given him to carry around, Guk Min-seong might have ended up groping through the air and accidentally touching Park Bo-bae.

‘How did I end up in this situation.’

This was all probably because he chose the wrong friend.

He had thought climbing the Tower was exclusively for famous Hunters, but the fact that Guk Min-seong, just an office worker, was on the 72nd floor of all places was all because of Lee Hae-won.

“Guk Min-seong, are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

He wasn’t fine at all, but that’s how he answered.

Guk Min-seong still couldn’t believe this situation.

The fact that he wasn’t planning the 72nd floor strategy but was here as part of the assault team.

‘Guk Min-seong, the guild leader is calling for you.’

A few weeks ago, when he was exhausted from working all-nighters for the second week.

That’s what Ahn Yeon-seo had said when she approached Guk Min-seong, who was barely sustaining his life with an americano with five extra shots.

He had occasionally seen the guild leader due to working in the Strategic Planning Department.

But this was the first time he’d been directly summoned, so he headed to the guild leader’s office while imagining all sorts of reasons why.

And when he opened the door to the guild leader’s office, Lee Hae-won was inside.

Lee Hae-won, the person who just exchanged jokes with him and had the effect of lowering intelligence when together.

The moment he recognized ‘Why is she here?’, Seo Jae-hyuk spoke in a calm tone.

‘Guk Min-seong, you’ll need to join the 72nd floor strategy.’

It was said in such a casual tone, like ‘The cafeteria menu is delicious today,’ that he couldn’t understand immediately.

But only after mulling over those words did Guk Min-seong realize he had received a proposal to join the unconquered 72nd floor.

‘Even thinking about it again, it seems like a lie, really.’

When people can’t understand something, they can’t react properly either.

In front of the speechless Guk Min-seong, Seo Jae-hyuk casually added.

‘Lee Hae-won strongly recommended you for the 72nd floor strategy. Ahn Yeon-seo will give you a brief explanation about the 72nd floor.’

After that, it was hectic.

No, to be honest, it would be more accurate to say he was half out of his mind…

A few days listening to Ahn Yeon-seo’s amazing briefing while his soul was gone, a few days grabbing Lee Hae-won and scolding her about what the hell she was doing, and a few more days participating in pre-strategy meetings for the 72nd floor assault team led by Park Ji-woon.

…And so he ended up here.

In a dark scenario where he couldn’t see an inch ahead.

Then, Park Bo-bae, who had been walking ahead, suddenly stopped and whispered quietly.

“Guk Min-seong, there’s a Tulmona up ahead.”

“…Oh, yes. Let’s take a detour.”

Guk Min-seong spotted the slowly moving strange lifeform over Park Bo-bae’s shoulder and gulped.

When he learned that Lee Hae-won, who had become the bane of his existence, had specifically pointed him out to be brought to the 72nd floor assault team, Guk Min-seong had decided to cut ties with Lee Hae-won.

However.

“I’ll extend it long to the right.”

“I’ll stick close.”

He couldn’t deny that Lee Hae-won’s designation had been accurate.

There would be no skill more useful in this place than the skill to block sound, ‘Sound Barrier.’

Guk Min-seong deployed his skill to an area that wouldn’t collide with the ‘Tulmona’ that was scratching the floor with its long claws.

The sound barrier that had been deployed forward slowly moved.

When the translucent barrier positioned itself next to the Tulmona blocking the direction where Legato was, Park Bo-bae gave a thumbs up.

‘That’s not comforting at all.’

Working overtime would be better.

But there’s no way there would be a choice.

Guk Min-seong quickly moved his steps while watching the Tulmona’s claws, over 30 centimeters long, leave deep scars on the floor.

This was the first time in his life he had continuously poured out mana like this, so he almost collapsed from exhaustion.

Actually, he had slightly hoped that he could rest when his mana ran out.

‘Drink. Drink and don’t turn off the skill.’

That dream was shattered when Lee Hae-won coldly shoved a potion bottle into his mouth and scolded him.

She had even randomly stuffed Kang Yeon-hee’s special potions into his inventory, so Guk Min-seong was now putting all his energy into maintaining the sound barrier with the help of potions.

Those crazy strange lifeforms called Tulmona would frantically swing their claws and chase after them the moment they stepped even slightly outside the sound barrier.

“If Clara hadn’t been there, we still wouldn’t have seen anything.”

Park Bo-bae, who had been walking silently, spoke with a voice mixed with laughter.

“That’s right, it’s fortunate.”

“How did Seo Jae-hyuk know and recruit such a person? It’s really fortunate that there are living humanoid lifeforms here besides the Tulmona.”

“That’s right, it’s fortunate…?”

Guk Min-seong couldn’t bring himself to reveal the truth and awkwardly agreed.

Park Bo-bae thought the person currently with Seo Jae-hyuk was a helper named ‘Clara’ who existed within the scenario.

Wouldn’t he feel betrayed if he knew that the true identity was Lee Hae-won, who was just an E-rank Hunter yet owned Friendly Market?

He didn’t know how she had done it, but when the face of the physics teacher famous for making high school classes boring appeared in the darkness, he was truly startled.

When he realized that was Lee Hae-won, he was twice as surprised.

He had just thought she had gained an amazing title when she awakened, but the fact that she had entered the 72nd floor without even being a scenario participant was also puzzling.

There wasn’t just one or two things he couldn’t understand.

‘…No, from the beginning, the fact that Seo Jae-hyuk treats Lee Hae-won respectfully is incomprehensible, so what’s the point of understanding other things.’

Guk Min-seong quickly stopped thinking and stuck close behind Park Bo-bae.

It seemed like his friend was doing something more amazing than he thought.

‘Just shut up and stay put.’

He had noticed that Lee Hae-won’s authority was unexpectedly large when she decided to push him into this place.

Not that it changed anything, but whatever.

Then, Park Bo-bae spoke in a noticeably bright voice.

“I can see it over there.”

Guk Min-seong followed Park Bo-bae’s gaze and stared into the darkness.

Far away, under a softly lit lantern, the familiar face of the physics teacher was waving her hand.

[Main Scenario ‘The Unreachable Escape Route’ (Zone-Wacknol Ι Dimension-Aktem)

+

500 years ago, the Creator God decided to annihilate Wacknol due to dissatisfaction with the world he had created.

The Creator God shot a lead arrow toward Aktem, and the arrow pierced through the light that had illuminated Wacknol.

Having lost its sun, Wacknol was shrouded in darkness.

All the various life forms that lived under the sun perished, and only the unknown life form ‘Tulmona’ with degenerated sensory organs remained in Aktem.

The highly aggressive Tulmona indiscriminately massacred the residents of Wacknol who were wandering around in confusion after losing the light.

However, there were those who did not lose hope even in the darkness and dreamed of a new beginning.

Those who tried to flee to other regions of Aktem made countless attempts to escape.

But no one escaped from Wacknol, which was submerged in darkness.

+

Scenario Objective: Carry on the will of the residents who tried to escape from the darkness-shrouded Aktem, and find their belongings.]

* * *

After the 72nd Floor scenario, ‘The Unreachable Escape Route’ was cleared.

The Tower of Babel generously opened floors 72 through 74.

You might wonder how big Wacknol could be when you can’t see anything, but in fact, besides the dark space where the scenario takes place, it was connected to escape routes and even new cities that had been escaped to.

There hadn’t been any particular gains from the re-exploration, but it turned out to be a goldmine.

Since this was something only discovered while progressing through the scenario, Park Ji-woon was quite surprised too.

‘Though he was probably more surprised than me, who went from selling donut cushions to helping with scenarios.’

Naturally, where else would you find someone more helpful for finding paths than me, who has detection writing tools?

I had just returned from being dispatched to help the assault team that got lost inside Wacknol.

No, honestly, saying I had “just returned” would be inaccurate.

I clearly saw the 72nd Floor clear notification, came home, and fell asleep like collapsing.

“Wow, you’re finally awake, unnie.”

“What time is it?”

“It’s not about what time it is, two days have passed. You must have been really tired, unnie…”

I had slept for two straight days.

Kang Yeon-hee shook her head as if feeling sorry, then placed a tray by my bedside.

Carefully lifting the steaming mug, I yawned long.

“Unnie, do you remember what you said to me when you woke up in the middle?”

“…No?”

“You suddenly laughed and said ‘galteyateya’ to me. It was a bit scary, but you seem fine now.”

“There’s a reason they say people go crazy when they can’t sleep.”

Kang Yeon-hee’s sullen face even showed an inexplicable sense of injustice.

While I straightened my back and stretched, Kang Yeon-hee spoke up.

“Oh, by the way, the 75th Floor opened, didn’t it?”

As Wacknol opened straight through to the 74th Floor, naturally the 75th Floor, which is an intermediate station, was also opened.

Normally, I would have gone to check the 75th Floor once before other people entered.

‘Ugh, I really needed to sleep.’

Due to the accumulated fatigue from being tense in the darkness, and the irritation from ignoring Guk Min-seong’s glaring eyes that seemed to demand an explanation, I chose sleep immediately.

Besides, I had been to the 75th Floor often, so there wasn’t really a reason to go scout it out.

“And it’s completely different from when I visited before! It became much cleaner.”

…Or not?

The 75th Floor, which I had visited under the name of Irregular Dimensional Market, had changed to permanent opening.

That meant it could be different from what I knew.

“The Friendly Market stalls also became cleaner! But there’s no staff there…”

Kang Yeon-hee added hesitantly.

Since I only opened the stall when the market was operating, the shabby stall was probably left abandoned and crying.

After resting and waking up, more work was pouring in.

“I’ll go organize it.”

“Ah, right? People are posting about the Friendly Market all over the internet. Saying no one’s there, asking if the monopoly is over.”

“As if.”

I got up from bed and replied firmly.

There’s no way I, filled to the brim with greed, would miss an opportunity for monopoly.

I suppressed my reluctant feelings and added nonchalantly.

“I’ll eat and then go to the 75th Floor.”

“Ah, yes! Then I’ll call Alessandro! He was really worried about you.”

Kang Yeon-hee smiled brightly and quickly left the room.

Hearing the front door click shut, I yawned until my mouth nearly split.

Right, whether it’s the 75th Floor, the market, or whatever, the problem right now is.

‘…Who should I entrust with managing the 75th Floor?’

The once-in-a-lifetime dilemma that the Title Quest had given me remained.

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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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