24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 226

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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 226

Episode 226. Daydream (1)

The moment I stepped into the Blue Portal, pitch-black darkness came pouring in.
A darkness so absolute that I couldn’t see even an inch ahead.
Moreover, the silence was so profound that I began to doubt whether I had truly entered at all.
Normally, I wouldn’t fear such circumstances, but being dropped into this void of darkness felt different somehow.
Though nothing was physically constricting me, an invisible weight pressed down upon my entire body, and my breath caught in my throat.
Then, the next moment.
“…Ah, that’s right.”
I realized I wasn’t alone.
It was Manti, who had been sitting motionless within my Robe, that stirred carefully.
Manti had settled obediently into the crossbody bag that he had been reluctant to enter.
I gently stroked Manti’s back, cradled against my chest.
Only after feeling his warm body heat transfer through my palm did my mind become somewhat clearer.
‘The 100th Floor must be an Intermediate Station as well, then?’
Since there had always been Intermediate Stations at every 25-floor interval, it was a reasonable deduction.
Perhaps the 99th Floor was the final scenario, and the 100th Floor would be something like the rooftop of the Tower where all trials are resolved.
Of course, with nothing visible in what appeared to be an Intermediate Station, there was nothing to confirm.
Manti whimpered softly in response to my touch.

-Is something troubling you?

The moment Manti’s translation window appeared, the surroundings brightened with a faint glow.
It was an extremely subtle light, but enough for me to discern that I was standing in what appeared to be a Corridor.
‘So it’s not just a Bottomless Chasm after all.’
That alone provided tremendous reassurance.
I rummaged through my Inventory and retrieved the lantern that had proven useful even on the 72nd Floor.
Then I swung the lantern about, surveying my surroundings.
“This place… it really does look like a Corridor.”
The interior of the 100th Floor, illuminated by the lantern’s orange glow, was nothing more than a simple Corridor.
Empty, stretching endlessly, utterly unremarkable.
Wide enough for five or six people to walk abreast, yet the ceiling towered so high that even raising the lantern revealed no end to it.
The walls, faintly tinged with gray, bore no decoration whatsoever.
I took a tentative step forward and immediately grimaced at the sticky, adhesive sensation beneath my foot.
The floor was covered with a thick carpet that muffled my footsteps entirely.
Or was it actually a carpet?

-So your Brother truly did leave a clue in this place?

Manti, who had poked his head out of the Bag at some point, surveyed the surroundings.
Manti knew that each Dimension had its Creator and Director, and that I had been searching for my missing Brother for quite some time.
So I had already given Manti a rough explanation of why I was ascending to the 100th Floor.
Manti looked up at me with his blue eyes.
“According to Nianusu, at least.”

-Is this Nianusu someone you can trust?

I nodded reluctantly at the question.
He was human enough to be hurt and hide away, but as a God of sorts, surely he wouldn’t have lied…
I ignored the sticky sensation clinging to my soles and moved forward slowly.
With nothing but a bland, featureless Corridor stretching before me, I had no sense of direction—but reckless trial and error was my style anyway.
Manti lifted the hem of his Robe with his front paws and extended himself further from the Bag, letting out a low rumble.

-I sense no magical energy in this place. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say I cannot grasp its nature. It’s as though something is blocking it.

At Manti’s words, I grew somewhat more tense.
To someone who couldn’t sense mana, it was just a wide, long corridor, but hearing that mana was blocked made it feel rather ominous.
I moved forward with deliberate caution.
The space seemed to swallow sound itself—even my footsteps made no echo.
After walking for some time, that tension gradually faded.
“But wait, how far do I actually need to go?”
No matter how long I walked, all that greeted me beyond the corridor was endless darkness!
I had no idea how long I’d been walking.
Manti seemed bored too, rumbling quietly in the bag without saying a word.
I was grateful I didn’t feel thirst or hunger, but that only made it more tedious.
There was no way the reward for overcoming the trials up to the 99th Floor was just this infinite corridor.
‘I’d be happy if the Exit appeared instead.’
Nothing unusual was happening.
I was rubbing my stiff neck and letting out a long yawn when it happened.
Manti, who had been lounging lazily in the bag, suddenly jerked upright with urgency.

-Your Majesty, the air currents ahead are most unusual.

“Unusual how?”
I looked down at Manti with renewed interest.
Manti had already poked half his body out of the bag, his gaze sharp and piercing as he stared intently at something beyond the corridor.

-Mana is concentrating in one location. It’s as if a massive vortex is forming.

The anomaly I’d been waiting for all this time!
Of course, I wasn’t going to turn back.
Without hesitation, I began running in the direction Manti indicated.
“Then something must be there!”
Even if something life-threatening awaited me, I wouldn’t die anyway.
‘So let’s stop walking aimlessly and find somewhere to sit!’
Whatever it was, it had to be better than trudging through this endless corridor.
Gripping the lantern tightly, I ran without stopping for over ten minutes.
In the silent darkness of the corridor, only my ragged breathing could be heard.
Then, in the distance, I saw something with light seeping from it.

-Your Majesty, are you well?

“Huff, huff—”
Damn this pathetic lung capacity. Seriously….
I sprint around like this constantly, yet my stamina refuses to improve.
I pressed forward with labored gasps, my body protesting every step.
As I drew closer, the outline became clearer.
“…A door?”
It was a single door in clean beige wood tones.
The smooth grain without unnecessary flourish and the subtle golden handle seemed familiar, like something I’d seen before.
…No, not just seen—it was actually in my memories?
‘Where exactly have I seen this?’
As I stood there dazed, searching my memory, Manti let out a soft cry.

-The source of the vortex lies beyond this door.

“Yeah, I figured as much.”
I couldn’t sense any magical energy, yet it possessed an odd magnetism—as if urging me to open it and step through immediately.
Then Manti’s translation window appeared again.

-How strange.

“What is? A lone door in the Corridor?”

-That’s not it… That door is from my Homeland.

“…Huh?”
I looked at the door again.
An ordinary door that fit modern specifications perfectly.
So Manti’s Dimension had modern interior design like this…?

-I’m certain. That lattice pattern, and even the small blemish—it’s exactly as I remember it.

Only after Manti added his remark did I realize we were looking at something different.
“A checkered pattern?”
I murmured quietly to myself while gently stroking Manti’s head.
My eyes couldn’t be deceiving me—clearly, Manti and I were seeing different doors right now.
“How strange….”
The Tower of Babel was always a strange place, so I could let that slide.
But this wasn’t something I could simply overlook.
Manti and I weren’t Scenario participants—we’d entered as outsiders with Merchant’s Mark activated.
So how could we be seeing different things?
If we’d entered with the same authority, we shouldn’t be seeing different visions.
‘Is it showing each of us what we want to see?’
Perhaps when we opened that door and stepped through, we’d witness entirely different landscapes.
Or maybe we’d end up heading toward completely separate spaces altogether.
Either way, it wasn’t a comforting thought.
I worried about how pitifully Manti would cry if we were separated, given his separation anxiety, and I wasn’t thrilled about being parted from my beloved cat either.
But as always, I wasn’t really given any other choice.
“Manti, listen to me.”
Hoping that intelligent Manti would truly hear me out, I spoke in rapid succession.
“We might get separated once we go inside, okay? But really! Truly! I’m going to come find you, so don’t worry and just wait quietly for me. You understand, right?”
“….”
“You trust me, don’t you?”
I’d delivered it like some anachronistic, corny pickup line, but I meant every word.
Well, what else could I do?
When a pet gets lost, the owner goes searching for it—that’s just how it works.

-If I cannot trust the one who entrusted me to their care, then who could I possibly trust?

He was polite and courteous, pretending nothing was amiss, though I could sense a faint tremor beneath the composed facade.
Manti’s paw pads, resting on my forearm, had grown damp with nervous perspiration.
For all his measured words, the tension was unmistakable.
He spoke like a mature cat, yet Manti gazed up at me with an intensity that betrayed his anxiety.
Even in the darkness, his brilliant azure eyes were transparent with worry.
I gently scratched the bridge of Manti’s forehead with my fingertip and whispered softly.
“Nervous?”
What, should we turn back now?
…Manti simply blinked, offering no other response.
‘Even jokes need to be calibrated to the right dimension, apparently.’
I’d thrown out the remark to lighten the heavy atmosphere, but his silence left me feeling like a foolish adult trying too hard.
I feigned composure and moved toward the door without hesitation.
“Let’s go.”
Either way, I had to open this door to uncover something new.
Whatever clue Brother left behind, it had to be inside.
I steeled my resolve and grasped the handle.

* * *

The moment I stepped through, brilliant light cascaded down upon me.
Dazzling, warm, and oppressively humid light.
Though it didn’t quite feel like sunlight….
As I instinctively squinted, a nauseating sensation swept through my entire body.
Simultaneously, a sharp vertigo seized me—as though something were being physically extracted from my mind.
I staggered but managed to regain my balance.
“…Where am I?”
I pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose and blinked repeatedly.
As the disorientation faded and I looked around, I realized I was somewhere unfamiliar.
The entrance to the Old Apartment Complex.
…An apartment?
‘Why am I here?’
Confusion washed over me suddenly, and I blinked blankly.
Cherry blossoms, freshly fallen from the withered trees, carpeted the ground, and the delicate fragrance of lilac drifted through the air.
A gentle breeze stirred my unusually long hair, tickling my face.
…Had my hair always been this lustrous?
Ah, that’s right.
‘I got a perm done yesterday.’
I brushed aside my hair, which still carried the faint scent of the salon.
That was when it happened.
“Haewon.”
My name, called out in a warm and affectionate voice.
I turned my head toward the sound.
A middle-aged woman stood before me.
Her hair was neatly tied back, fine wrinkles naturally etched around her eyes.
Though I’d never seen this face before in my life, it felt strangely familiar.
I found myself gazing at her in a daze.
The woman accepted my stare as though it were the most natural thing, offering a gentle smile before naturally linking her arm through mine.
…Wait, did I know a middle-aged woman who stood this close to me?
My mind swirled in confusion, and I could only blink helplessly without pulling away, when the woman spoke with a puzzled tone.
“Why are you standing there in a daze again?”
Her words carried both concern and a hint of teasing.
Her manner was far too familiar for a stranger—who exactly was this woman to me?
I stood frozen, uncertain how to respond.
“Oh, Father’s here.”
At the woman’s murmur, my mind suddenly cleared.
‘Ah, that’s right.’
I’d promised Mother and Father we’d go furniture shopping today.
“How could I forget that?”
I laughed softly and naturally shifted my gaze.
A familiar SUV was emerging from the narrow parking lot exit of the Old Apartment Complex.
Through the car window, I could clearly see Father’s face, his brow furrowed against the sunlight, and I couldn’t help but smile.
‘I’m not an idiot.’
How could I forget this apartment where I’d lived for twenty-eight years since the day I was born?
Truly, forgetfulness at this level was a disease.
“Let’s go, Haewon.”
Mother smiled and pulled my arm.
I grinned in return and clung naturally to her arm.
“Ah, the weather really is beautiful.”
A perfect day for a family outing.

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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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