24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 22

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

Dimensional Item Specialty 24-Hour Friendly Market Episode 22

Episode 22. Word of Mouth (1)

The Wasteland swept by the fifth monster wave was so thick with dust that visibility was nearly impossible.

I probably can’t even maintain A-rank condition now.

If that’s the case, blocking the sixth wave alone would be impossible.

Chae Geun-dam acknowledged this fact while forcing his constantly buckling legs to stand and steadying his breathing.

Having too many stats stolen made even maintaining balance difficult.

At least he could endure a little longer thanks to the Great Sword’s Hidden Ability that the self-proclaimed wandering merchant ‘Lee Hae’ had taught him.

‘Just a little more.’

Chae Geun-dam gathered his remaining strength, gritted his teeth, and raised his Great Sword.

The main scenario had opened, so he just needed to hold out a little longer.

If he gave everything he had here and endured, his guild members would somehow reach the clear.

Chae Geun-dam gripped the handle of the Great Sword planted vertically in the ground and gathered his mana.

However, the faint white light of the wide-area protection field couldn’t even last a few seconds before extinguishing.

“Hah…”

Chae Geun-dam let out a despairing sigh and squeezed his eyes shut.

‘Is this the end?’

That was the moment.

“Guild Leader!”

At first he thought it was a hallucination.

“Geun-dam hyung!”

But the voice was too clear to be a hallucination.

Chae Geun-dam slowly turned his body with a glimmer of hope.

“……”

They were crazy bastards.

He knew they were crazy from spending so much time together, but he didn’t know they were this crazy.

Guild members were gathering one by one before Chae Geun-dam’s eyes as he blinked in bewilderment.

Only after facing the vice guild leader Lee Min-jung, who stood before him with a resolute expression, did Chae Geun-dam stammer out words.

“What are you doing…?”

“What do you mean? We came to back you up, Guild Leader.”

The answer came as if it were nothing.

But Chae Geun-dam’s exhausted mind couldn’t understand it.

While Han Bo-ra, Wolpae’s youngest and healer, treated Chae Geun-dam’s wounds, Lee Min-jung playfully added:

“Hyun-jun and Seol-hee went to handle it. The main scenario isn’t boss conquest but sealing, so the situation changed. They infiltrated the Royal Palace to get the sealing item, so we just need to hold the front line in the meantime.”

Chae Geun-dam frowned at those words.

Sending only a healer and mage wasn’t something to discuss so lightly.

The monsters coming next would number at least a thousand.

That was just the average derived from experience blocking five waves.

Since the structure made monsters stronger and more varied with each wave, the approaching sixth wave would be much more painful.

Knowing this made his guild members’ help all the more frustrating.

“Guild Leader, you must have been pretty bored being alone for hours, right?”

No, was he feeling sorry for secretly thinking he was glad?

Judging coldly, he should order them to leave him and quickly go solve the main scenario, but Chae Geun-dam found himself muttering:

“You idiots…”

Foolish and stupid, but exactly like the people Chae Geun-dam had trusted and relied on.

Han Bo-ra smiled brightly and chattered:

“Fortunately, Lee Hae unnie said she has Dark Mage acquaintances. If it weren’t for unnie, we wouldn’t have even thought of entering the Royal Palace, right?”

“Lee Hae did?”

Chae Geun-dam flinched at the unfamiliar yet familiar name that suddenly appeared.

Having Dark Mage acquaintances and being able to freely enter the Royal Palace.

No matter how he thought about it, it was extraordinary.

“Yes! She got us sub-quest items too, and isn’t it funny how a Kingdom citizen’s name is Lee Hae?”

“When did you decide to call her unnie?”

“I asked earlier if I could call her unnie and she said to go ahead?”

“Amazing, just amazing.”

Han Bo-ra and Lee Min-jung exchanged banter in peaceful tones that contrasted with the current situation.

While the guild members’ pure nature of not suspecting anything despite everything being suspicious was amazing, Chae Geun-dam kept his mouth shut.

He had promised to keep secret that ‘Lee Hae’ was a fellow Hunter.

‘But how does a Hunter make Dark Mage acquaintances?’

The moment Chae Geun-dam had this question.

“They’re coming.”

The air instantly turned cold and rigid.

Even the brief respite disappeared in an instant, and battlefield scenery was already overlaying everything around them.

Thunder-like ground tremors and thunderous roars were approaching from beyond that wasteland.

But this time was different.

“Get ready.”

He wasn’t alone.

Chae Geun-dam corrected his posture and stared straight ahead with sunken eyes.

Even if their name wasn’t greatly known to the public, Wolpae were comrades who had crossed life-and-death lines together countless times.

They were ready.

“Now, everyone knows what to do, right? Dong-yoon, buff rotation in exactly 30 seconds.”

“Yes!”

“When Seong-gyu puts up the barrier, Gyeong-min follows with area attacks. Hye-ji and I will cut down the ones that get through. Jun-ho and Su-hyeon will cover the ones we can’t cut from behind. Si-yeon, cast enhancement the moment Hye-ji and I charge in, everyone else backup!”

“Yes!”

Responses came back without hesitation to the cold, sharp instructions.

The stamina that seemed completely depleted just moments ago felt like it was rising, and Chae Geun-dam finally smiled for the first time in hours.

These were people who supported him enough to make him ashamed of trying to handle everything alone.

The moment the loud rattling of bones approached right in front of them.

Chae Geun-dam abandoned the wide-area protection field that wouldn’t deploy properly and shouted, fueled by his comrades’ faith:

“I trust you!”

That was when it happened.

Whoooosh-

“…What?”

All the monsters’ movements stopped.

It was as sudden as if someone had pressed a pause button.

Before Wolpae could understand what had happened, the monsters’ silhouettes began to waver unnaturally.

And the next moment, the monsters scattered in all directions as dust.

As if they had never existed in that place from the beginning.

That empty space was filled with the clear notification everyone had been waiting for.

[■ Babel System > 49th Floor Notification

– Main scenario ‘Lord of Darkness’ has been completed.]

Everyone stared into empty space with bewildered faces.

A brighter window appeared in succession.

[■ Babel System : Guild ‘Wolpae’ has cleared the 49th Floor.]

[■ Babel System : 50th Floor ‘Intermediate Station’ is now open.]

A global notification that would be lighting up the sky even outside the Tower of Babel.

“This easily?”

“We, we cleared it!”

For over 7 months, countless guilds had struggled without finding a single clue on the 49th Floor, yet here they were, achieving the clear themselves.

Never having imagined they would achieve such results, the guild members erupted in cheers.

Though it was a somewhat anticlimactic clear, this was the first time there were no casualties among the guild members who participated in the conquest.

As Wolpae’s guild members bumped shoulders in their excitement, Chae Geun-dam quietly pondered.

……Just what exactly was the identity of that person called ‘Lee Hae’?

* * *

At the entrance of the towering Tower of Babel, countless crowds had gathered.

Under the scorching midsummer sun, everyone’s faces were flushed red from the heat, but not a single person showed signs of leaving their spot.

Oh Tae-sik, the PD of the current affairs program Hunter Everyday, was no different.

Wiping away the sweat streaming down his neck, Oh Tae-sik asked the reporter who had followed him.

“Shouldn’t they be coming out around now?”

“They should be out soon. The clear notification appeared around 7 or 8 o’clock.”

Oh Tae-sik wiped the sweat from his philtrum and checked his smartphone.

1:12 PM.

It had been over 5 hours since the news of the 49th Floor being cleared was delivered through Babel’s message in the morning.

Generally speaking, considering it takes about half a day for hunters to rest and collect various loot before returning.

“It’s about time for them to come back……”

It was at that moment when Oh Tae-sik looked up while fanning himself meaninglessly with his hand.

“Oh, they’re coming out.”

“They’re coming out!”

Thunderous cheers and applause, along with loudly popping flashes, obstructed his view.

Through the portal formed at the Tower of Babel’s entrance, Guild ‘Wolpae’ was walking out proudly.

Amidst the bustling reporters, Oh Tae-sik gestured to his cameraman to capture this important moment.

Hunter Everyday was a program that gathered and broadcast daily hunter-related issues.

While they would use the broadcasting station’s influence to arrange a proper interview later, they had to vividly capture the return of these heroes who had cleared the 49th Floor after 8 months of stagnation.

Microphones were thrust forward beyond the press line set up by the Babel Management Bureau.

Even though the people who should answer weren’t even close to the press line, reporters began raising their voices and throwing questions first.

“How many casualties did Wolpae suffer in this scenario?!”

“Did you open the 49th Floor?!”

“A notification appeared saying the 50th Floor was opened – did you visit the 50th Floor?”

“How does it feel to clear the 49th Floor that all guilds failed?!”

Past the questions pouring out randomly without order, the man at the front approached near the press line.

The man with short-cropped sports hair and a sturdy impression was Chae Geun-dam, the leader of ‘Wolpae’, ranked 7th among domestic guilds, and South Korea’s 7th S-rank ranker.

Having just returned from clearing a scenario, his sharply honed aura radiated in all directions, causing the exposed reporters to flinch and step back in tension.

Chae Geun-dam ran his hand through his short hair and pointed to one reporter, telling them to ask their question.

“We understand that a total of 15 people were deployed for this conquest – how many casualties occurred?”

“There are 2 injured. No deaths.”

At his firm answer, the questioning reporter and other reporters who had been eagerly waiting for their chance widened their eyes.

And for good reason – the 49th Floor boasted such extreme difficulty that it earned the name “Wall of Wailing.”

Even South Korea, which had quite a few rankers for a small nation, had been struggling with it for months already.

But this very morning, the cursed 49th Floor was cleared and South Korea became the first in the world to reach the 50th Floor.

“We received a Babel message that the 50th Floor opened – did you visit the 50th Floor?”

“We haven’t been there yet. Although it opened, other awakened ones besides our guild members who cleared the 49th Floor can only enter starting a week from now.”

Chae Geun-dam’s answer sounded negative at first glance, but it was the answer everyone wanted to hear.

50th Floor, ‘Intermediate Station.’

The modern era was a Tower of Babel-centered society where the speed of tower conquest led to national development.

When the 25th Floor’s Intermediate Station opened, truly tremendous benefits poured forth.

Blocked inter-floor movement was opened, the awakened market became usable even outside the Tower, and various unfamiliar items that had never been accessible before were released.

How many benefits this 50th Floor opening would bring was obvious without even seeing it.

At that moment, Chae Geun-dam’s finger pointed at Oh Tae-sik.

Oh Tae-sik, who wasn’t a reporter, was momentarily flustered, but this was a golden opportunity to get at least one scene for the Hunter Everyday broadcast.

Oh Tae-sik tried to calm his trembling heart and asked what he had been curious about all along.

“How did you break through the 49th Floor scenario that everyone else failed?!”

At Oh Tae-sik’s question, the reporters’ eyes sparkled.

Breaking through the 49th Floor that all the upper guilds failed was certainly not a fluke.

If Wolpae’s power had rapidly increased, South Korea’s guild rankings, which hadn’t changed for years, could be completely overturned.

“Was there perhaps a re-awakened individual?”

“Did an error occur in the scenario?”

Even though Chae Geun-dam hadn’t pointed at them, reporters competed to throw questions.

It meant they were dying of curiosity.

What exactly was the method for breaking through the 49th Floor without a single death?

Hearing that question, Chae Geun-dam stroked his chin and pondered something deeply.

“The reason we were able to safely break through the 49th Floor this time is……”

The reporters’ microphones gathered close to Geun-dam’s mouth.

The secret behind Wolpae’s successful clear, ranked 7th among guilds, was about to be revealed right here.

Chae Geun-dam opened his mouth slowly with a very serious and heavy expression.

“Thanks to ‘Friendly Market.'”

“Excuse me?”

“What? What did you say?”

Everyone reflexively asked back at the unheard-of name.

……Did this person get exhausted from conquering and lose his mind?

It was reasonable to suspect.

However, Chae Geun-dam absolutely did not have a joking expression.

Without resolving others’ doubts, Chae Geun-dam said once more with emphasis and a solemn face.

“‘Friendly Market.'”

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