24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 228

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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 228

Episode 228. Daydream (3)

Ten months had passed since Lee Hae-won disappeared.
There was nothing I could do but wait.
Nothing but count the endless hours stretching before me.
The landscape beyond the window had already begun its descent into early winter.
The trees visible through the glass had shed nearly all their leaves.
Park Ji-woon gazed out the window with a composed expression.
Yet his mind churned with such complexity that there was no room for another thought.
Part of him longed to remove his glasses and gloves, if only for a moment, and rest without thinking of anything at all.
“Our Ji-woon sure has a lot on his mind today~?”
As Asmodeus observed, the space Park Ji-woon had reserved for peace was now overflowing with worry.
Immediately after Lee Hae-won vanished, they had progressed through new floors quite smoothly, relying on the preliminary reconnaissance reports.
Of course, they hadn’t cleared them as rapidly as Lee Hae-won had the 76th Floor herself.
Still, the scenarios from Layer 77 to Layer 79 took three weeks to clear, and from Layer 80 to Layer 82 took ten days.
It was only possible because Lee Hae-won had conducted such meticulous reconnaissance beforehand.
‘Did she anticipate it would come to this?’
But the real problem came after that.
Clearing Layer 83 took over two months.
Despite fielding five elite members—Seo Jae-hyuk, Lee Hwa-yeon, Jeong Min-gu, Nam Pu-reum, and one healer.
Even though they had studied and entered with the information Lee Hae-won had carefully gathered and organized.
The reconnaissance report was detailed, but it was filled with information that proved useless for clearing the scenario.
The Assault Team returned exhausted after two months of attempting the floor.
The four guild leaders who returned from the conquest made a single request to Park Ji-woon.
If a conquest stretched nearly a month longer, it seemed Lee Hae-won’s presence would be necessary.
Park Ji-woon agreed with that assessment, but only partially.
Before Lee Hae-won appeared, all scenarios had been tackled from scratch.
No matter how helpful reconnaissance was, he believed everyone shouldn’t rely on Lee Hae-won to solve everything.
But at times like this.
“…Asmodeus.”
“Yes, Ji-woon.”
“My head aches.”
“You’re pushing yourself too hard, Ji-woon. Humans need proper sleep~?”
Now that he thought about it, when was the last time he’d slept properly?
Park Ji-woon ignored Asmodeus’s hands creeping around his shoulders and pressed his fingers to the corners of his eyes.
Lee Hae-won probably hadn’t anticipated being away for such an extended period either.
With the 83rd Floor Scenario cleared, the 84th Floor had opened, and now the next stage was the 85th Floor.
However, Lee Hae-won had only surveyed three areas.
From the 85th Floor onward was completely uncharted territory.
What the Scenario would entail, who should enter—it was all a complete blank slate that no one could predict.
After the 85th Floor opened, I waited for Lee Hae-won for the first three months.
But knowing that the Dimension would be destroyed if we didn’t clear it within a year, I couldn’t simply waste time.
Moreover, what if the 85th Floor assault took several months?
Then we’d have no choice but to face the end without even trying.
Assuming the worst-case scenario, everyone agreed that all of us had to enter the 85th Floor.
The Assault Team was composed of members who formed a perfect hexagon, with no imbalance in any direction.
But we didn’t know how many would actually enter.
Fortunately, a considerable force of six people was deployed, but now four months had passed since then.
The Assault Team still hadn’t emerged from the Tower, and Lee Hae-won remained without contact.
I sent messages, but unlike before, the notification that appeared was unambiguous.

[Message temporarily stored due to administrator absence.]

In other words, Lee Hae-won was in a state where she couldn’t even receive messages.
I visited Babel Square and Bamanjang Store to search for any trace of Lee Hae-won.
But even Alessandro and Kang Yeon-hee, the middle managers, could only answer with gloomy faces that they knew nothing.
If even those two, who worked as Lee Hae-won’s substitutes, didn’t know, there was nothing more Park Ji-woon could do.
‘She only said she’d found a clue about Brother and would be away for a bit.’
Park Ji-woon lowered his head, recalling Lee Hae-won’s final appearance, which had seemed almost resolute.
How could she disappear without a trace for all this time?
…And how could South Korea edge closer to destruction simply because one Lee Hae-won was gone?
Park Ji-woon couldn’t hide his troubled feelings and exhaled a deep breath.
“Hae-won was pretty sudden about it, wasn’t she~?”
Asmodeus murmured with his chin resting on Park Ji-woon’s crown, his tone matter-of-fact.
It was as if he knew exactly what Park Ji-woon was thinking without him saying a word.
Park Ji-woon pressed his temples and blinked.
It was something he absolutely didn’t want to agree with, yet he found himself unable to disagree.
That was when it happened.

Knock, knock—

A knock interrupted Park Ji-woon’s tangled thoughts, and he lifted his head to respond curtly.
“Yes, come in.”
The one who entered through the door was Ahn Yeon-seo, the Strategic Planning Department head of Aegis.
Ahn Yeon-seo, her face rigid and tense, dispensed with pleasantries and cut straight to the point.
“Still no contact from Lee Hae-won?”
“None.”
How many times had he given this same answer now?
As if she’d anticipated it, Ahn Yeon-seo promptly seated herself directly across from Park Ji-woon.
Not on the comfortable sofa reserved for guests, but on the small chair placed directly in front of his desk.
There was no time to sit on a comfortable sofa, then.
The toll of recent struggles was evident—her pallid complexion and wan lips mirrored Park Ji-woon’s own haggard appearance.
In that moment, Park Ji-woon realized something was gravely amiss.
‘Why?’
Countless people had visited due to Lee Hae-won’s absence, but this was Ahn Yeon-seo’s first time.
As the head of Aegis, Ahn Yeon-seo was someone who calculated every possible scenario and devised strategies accordingly.
With South Korea’s situation spiraling into complexity, Ahn Yeon-seo would be swamped with work every single day.
For someone like her to seek him out for a private meeting meant….
Just as Park Ji-woon was engulfed by inexplicable dread, Ahn Yeon-seo quietly withdrew a tablet and placed it on the desk.
The tablet screen displayed numbers and charts so intricate that even Park Ji-woon, seasoned by data, couldn’t comprehend them at a glance.
Before Park Ji-woon could ask, Ahn Yeon-seo spoke first.
“The situation we feared has occurred.”
“…A situation we feared?”
Park Ji-woon found himself slowly rising from his seat without realizing it.
He’d desperately hoped it wouldn’t come to this.
“Yes, our Guild Master….”
The moment Park Ji-woon heard the opening Ahn Yeon-seo presented, his face turned cold.
Ahn Yeon-seo spoke with eyes devoid of any deception, her gaze hard and unwavering.
“Seo Jae-hyuk is acting strange.”

* * *

Before leaving the house, I exhaled deeply while staring at my reflection in the mirror.
A neat skirt that fell to my knees, paired with a blouse featuring billowing sleeves.
I, who rarely wore such formal attire, glared at my reflection with obvious displeasure.
If Mother hadn’t called three times yesterday, I would have dressed as casually as I do for work.
‘Does she think I walk around looking like a beggar?’
She’d been so insistent that I relented to her wishes, but wearing clothes that didn’t fit my usual style felt nothing short of uncomfortable.
And those five-centimeter heels sitting by the entrance—what about those?
Boots are always my go-to choice.
Soft leather, waterproof, comfortable on the feet.
With those, I could run easily, ride my bicycle without issue, and not worry about rain at all….
As I naturally continued this train of thought, my expression suddenly darkened.
“Ugh, I’m still doing this.”
Strange memories kept surfacing, so much so that I’d even visited a hospital for an examination, yet I still seemed out of my mind.
I don’t even own a single pair of boots at home, so why was I rambling about them?
I forced my feet into the unfamiliar heels and sighed heavily.
Brother had mentioned “the weekend after next” a few days ago.
That was today.
“Hmm.”
I left the house in the uncomfortable heels.
At first, I’d simply hailed a taxi without much thought.
But the moment I stepped into what was unmistakably an upscale Korean Traditional Restaurant, I began to feel nervous.
The subtle scent of wood drifting from the entrance, the woven straw mats covering the floor, the individual rooms with sliding doors.
‘I was right to listen to Mother.’
Now I understood why she’d been so adamant about dressing nicely.
I smoothed the pleats of my skirt and stepped into the private room.
Mother and Father were already inside.
The moment they saw me, their faces lit up with such warmth that I momentarily forgot the pain of my heels rubbing against my heels.
I sat in the empty seat and asked casually.
“Where’s Brother?”
“Lee Hae-on? He said he’d be here soon.”
It was rare for our family to dress up and dine out together, so being late would be unfortunate.
The fact that Brother, who never gave anyone reason to criticize him, might actually be late eased my tension somewhat.
“Are you nervous?”
But Father asked me this question.
‘Why would I be nervous?’
Rather than admit it, I simply shrugged my shoulders.
“I’ve never been to a place like this before.”
“That’s right, our daughter. But today is an important day, so try not to be so tense.”
Mother smiled warmly as she naturally adjusted the collar of my blouse.
It was the same tender, gentle smile I’d always known, and yet….
‘Why does this feel so unsettling?’
I pushed aside the strange sense of déjà vu and asked in a casual tone.
“Mother, what day is today anyway?”
“…What?”
Mother’s eyes widened as she stared at me.
The meaning in her gaze was unmistakably clear.
How could I not know?
Even Father, who had been maintaining his poker face until now, wore a bewildered expression.
‘What day are we talking about?!’
Was I the only one left in the dark?
Brother had only mentioned it was an important day, but he never actually told me what it was.
As I blinked with genuine confusion, Mother let out a hollow laugh.
Then, with a reproachful look, she dropped a shocking revelation on me.
“It’s the day of your formal meeting with your fiancé’s family.”
“…A formal meeting, you say?”
Wasn’t that supposed to be a major life event?
So Brother was showing up late to his own formal meeting without a care in the world?
At least the other family hadn’t arrived yet—thank goodness for that!
I resolved to give Brother a proper scolding for being almost here while still not showing a single hair.
“But what if the main person is late?”
“The main person?”
“Brother hasn’t arrived yet.”
But then Mother and Father reacted even more strangely than before.
As if asking what on earth I was saying, their bewilderment was so genuine that I found myself flustered instead.
“What are you talking about, Lee Hae-won?”
Mother frowned and added words that struck like a bolt from the blue.
“It’s your formal meeting.”
“I beg your pardon?”
I have a fiancé?!

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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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