24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 218

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. 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 218

Episode 218. A Ray of Sunlight (6)

Surprisingly, nothing had changed.
Truth be told, I’d harbored a vague suspicion since I cast doubt on Kim Seol earlier that this wouldn’t be the solution.
‘Still, I thought something would shift at least a little.’
The rain weakening, the dark clouds parting slightly, or some other transformation befalling Panco.
Surely something had to change—wasn’t that only natural?
I’d spoken as if discovering the Tears of the Divine was the canonical route, spent money repairing it, returned it to its place, and yet nothing had shifted.
This was no different from Babel’s grand deception perpetrated against Awakeners.
Of course, even if I’d fallen victim to a scam, all I could do was quietly seek a new path.
Since lingering in Panco offered no real prospect of gain, I climbed directly onto the Emerald Skywalk.
Kim Seol and I had promised to meet at the Temple if things didn’t work out.
At times like this, I truly lamented the absence of Scenario participant shared messaging privileges.
‘If Kaem truly needed to be killed, Kim Seol would handle it flawlessly on her own.’
My curse was that I possessed an iron sense of responsibility and duty, forcing me to verify how matters had unfolded—a critical blunder.
I swallowed the complaints lodged in my throat with a single sigh.
The forest path leading to the Temple was in even worse condition than before.
Could the bell’s toll possibly possess the power to intensify the rain further?
I furrowed my brow, gazing down at the floodwaters mingling with earth, overflowing beyond mere muddiness.
Once the Emerald Skywalk exhausted its strength, I’d have to wade through that mire.
Kang Yeon-hee’s aerial bicycle still retained its power, but constant use had left it hanging by a thread.
That was when it happened.

Thud—

A sound as if the ground itself were trembling—no, as if heaven and earth had been flipped upside down.
The entire world had fallen silent beneath the patter of rain, making this tremendous noise all the more overwhelming.
I reflexively pressed myself against the handlebars before lurching upright.
‘What was that sound?’
Half a beat later, realization struck.
The sound had come from the direction of the Temple.
“…What?”
I muttered blankly before immediately accelerating.
Honestly, with two S-rank Hunters and an A-rank Hunter there, it shouldn’t be dangerous, but what did that matter?
A sound like that had just erupted—surely I had some sense of camaraderie!
As I ran, rain streaked through the hood and lashed across my face, while the hem of my raincoat fluttered violently in the wind.
The moment the Temple entrance came into view, I leaped off the Emerald Skywalk as if diving.
My feet sank deep into the mud, but I pushed forward regardless.
Ignoring the rainwater splashing into my boots, I stumbled inside breathlessly, and then—
“…What in the world is this situation?”
I froze, staring at the scene before me.
It was fortunate that my breathlessness from the sprint gave me a moment to process what I was seeing.
Kaem lay on the broad stone floor, his face drained of all color.
More precisely, he was pierced through by Winterfrost, the deep-sea frost scythe.
From Kaem’s shoulder to his flank, a diagonal expanse of pristine frost crystals radiated palpable cold.
Rime spread from the surrounding stone like branches, extending far up the wall where Kaem lay, leaving it coated white with ice.
Against that frozen white surface, vivid crimson streaks stood in stark contrast.
Kaem lay within Kim Seol’s domain, breathing even more heavily than I was.
And Kim Seol….
‘She’s standing there terrifyingly still.’
From Kim Seol’s back as she gripped Winterfrost’s handle firmly, an intense killing intent radiated outward.
Whatever had happened, Kim Seol was furious.
Every strand of her pitch-black hair, scattered by the wind pressure of her mana, was frozen white at the tips.
Kaem must have done something to drive Kim Seol absolutely mad.
Of course, knowing nothing of the situation, I was simply bewildered.
‘I mean, I did say he might need to be killed.’
But I never expected to encounter an enraged Kim Seol with no explanation whatsoever.
I’d seen her angry once before in Laocoön, but when Kim Seol got that angry, she was difficult to reason with….
I wanted to ask what had happened out of curiosity, but hesitated, worried I might provoke her further.
“Oh, you’ve arrived, sir.”
A trembling voice approached nearby.
My gaze had been captivated by the overwhelming domain of ice, so I hadn’t noticed them.
“You’re here?”
Lee Taek-ju and Han Ro-mi stood rigidly in a spot untouched by Kim Seol’s mana.
“…But why are both of you soaking wet?”
His entire body was drenched, presenting a pathetic and bedraggled appearance.
Han Ro-mi’s snow-white hair clung haphazardly to her face and the nape of her neck, while Lee Taek-ju’s lips had turned a sickly blue.
Lee Taek-ju chattered his teeth together even as he managed a wry smile.
“You said you’d guide us, but then it suddenly started raining. You know, rain falling outside—it has mana resistance.”
“Rain? Inside the temple?”
“Yes, it suddenly rained only over my head and the Sinrok Guild Master’s. So I couldn’t use my mana and was trapped.”
“Why would it suddenly do that?”
“Well…”
Lee Taek-ju’s eyes darted about as he mumbled sheepishly.
“I accidentally mentioned that we’d stopped by Gontawa…”
“Good grief.”
What were you thinking, providing information that would make a suspicious person even more suspicious, Lee Taek-ju?
I forced myself to smile wryly without looking at Lee Taek-ju with contempt.
Yet my expression must have betrayed me, because Lee Taek-ju insisted twice more that it was a genuine mistake.
“I didn’t know he had the ability to conjure rain out of nowhere. And I didn’t know that rain would have mana resistance either. Oh, and inside the barrier, I couldn’t even send messages outside? He’s meticulous, that bastard.”
Han Ro-mi, blinking slowly, added in a flat tone.
“He’s insane…”
The crude language seemed incongruous with her slow, monotone delivery, yet it was a fitting assessment nonetheless.
In any case, Kaem had conjured rain indoors?
I stared intently at Kaem, who was coughing up blood.
‘He’s clever, I’ll give him that.’
If he could replicate mana-resistant rain indoors, he could have easily slaughtered all the Sleepwalkers that came from Gontawa.
Han Ro-mi and Lee Taek-ju were both individuals with tremendous mana reserves, yet they’d been completely drenched and trapped by the rain.
What would have happened if Kaem had attacked them in that state hardly needed explanation.
“Kim Seol sure didn’t fall for it.”
“Our Guild Master is intelligent, after all.”
Lee Taek-ju puffed out his chest with evident pride.
…I could appreciate the confidence, but wipe your nose, would you?
Without comment, I pulled a handkerchief from my Inventory and handed it to him.
At that moment, Kim Seol—whose eyes were currently engaged in the act of murdering Kaem—muttered in a monotone voice.
“There was a barrier at the temple entrance from the start, one made of divine power. So the moment I saw this bastard’s face, I struck him down immediately.”
“You did all this just because of that?”
“You were supposed to wait for me, and there’s no way Taek-ju would just stand by while someone blocked the entrance.”
Her trust was admirable, but her decisiveness was truly remarkable.
Then Kim Seol quietly raised her hand.
The sharp tip of Winterfrost, embedded in Kaem’s chest, slowly withdrew.
Kaem, barely managing to breathe, coughed up blood once more.
“I’ll kill him.”
She spoke of taking a life with the same dry tone one might use to say “let’s eat.”
And no one objected to that decision.
A drop of blood fell from the blade shimmering with deep blue light.
Kim Seol raised Winterfrost high, radiating an icy chill that reached all the way to where I stood.
Kaem squeezed his eyes shut as if sensing his impending death.
But in that moment.
“Wait!”
I hurriedly stepped in front of Kim Seol.
Kim Seol’s expression darkened as her execution was interrupted.
“Don’t kill him.”
“…What?”
“You want to spare him, hyung?”
“He deserves to die…”
These high-ranking individuals showed no consideration for the weak, pressuring me with sheer momentum in an instant.
I understood perfectly well that my proposal was unwelcome to all three of them.
I waved my hand frantically and hurried to explain.
“No, I’m not saying spare him. He doesn’t deserve to live.”
Even if I believed everything could be redeemed, attempting to kill a twelve-year-old child was an act I could not condone.
That’s something that would earn you stones thrown at you anywhere.
Especially after witnessing Remy, a fox Beastkin hybrid, dying right before my eyes.
Kim Seol furrowed her brow, clearly confused, and asked.
“…But why?”
“We need to ask where God is sleeping.”
“Come on, hyung, is God really sleeping? Isn’t that just a metaphor?”
“Nianusu is too human for that to be a metaphor. He fled after being wounded by human resentment. If God sleeping were merely a figure of speech, Kaem wouldn’t be guarding this temple. Nianusu has manifested, and because we can actually awaken him, Kaem has been protecting this place.”
Of course, I wasn’t certain, but I had mastered the art of presenting my hunches as fact.
If God were sleeping somewhere in the Divine Realm or some other Subspace, there would have been some mechanism to encounter that God.
Ringing the bell with the Tears of the Divine must have been that means.
But since that produced no response, at this point, directly awakening him is the way.
I knelt before the half-corpse barely clinging to life.
“Kaem.”
“…”
“Where is God?”
Only then did Kaem’s eyes roll toward me.
My reflection appeared in those eyes, which blazed with a clarity of rage unbefitting a priest.
But instead of opening his mouth, Kaem gathered his remaining strength and committed an insulting act.
“Damn it!”
He spat out blood-mixed saliva.
I immediately recoiled in disgust and snatched the Midnight Heaven that I had given to Lee Taek-ju.
“What the hell! Kim Seol stabbed you, so why are you spitting blood at me?”
“He doesn’t seem like he’ll talk. Should we just kill him first?”
Meanwhile, Kim Seol showed no signs of giving up, radiating killing intent.
I stared at Kaem, whose sharp eyes bore down on me with hostility.
A far cry from his previous composed demeanor—now consumed entirely by rage.
I could buy myself a few more minutes with an explanation, but if such time wasn’t necessary, then so be it.
“Right, there’s another way.”
I calmly crouched down in front of Kaem again.
Then I grabbed and tore off the necklace hanging around his neck.
The pendant bore Nianusu’s emblem on the front—the same symbol carved into the temple walls—and his name was engraved on the back.
It was clearly a necklace cherished for a very long time.
I stood up holding it and brought my palm down hard against Kaem’s broad forehead.
“Damn it!”
This was the only revenge I could manage.
Perhaps because my palm was wet, the slap landed with a satisfying crack.
Kaem, caught off guard by the sheer physical force, momentarily lost his venom and gasped.
“That’s enough. I’ll find the answer myself.”
My work here was done.
Without hesitation, I turned and headed toward Han Ro-mi and Lee Taek-ju.
Only then did Kaem seem to sense that this moment was his last.
He opened his mouth urgently.
“Wait—”
But at that very instant.

A sharp cutting sound.

Something was sliced by a frost sickle from behind.
Kaem could speak no further.
Kim Seol had silently appeared beside me.
“So, how are you going to find the answer?”
Kim Seol asked in a tone utterly unbothered, as if she’d simply brushed aside a speck of dust.
It was time to employ a method only I could use.
I didn’t bother responding and gripped the necklace in my hand.
No matter how worthless Kaem was, if he’d ever possessed even a shred of genuine devotion to God’s will, this necklace would carry the memory of Kaem meeting God alongside him.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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