24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 23

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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 23

Episode 23. Word of Mouth (2)

At that very moment when Chae Geun-dam was promoting my market’s name on a national scale.

“Huh?”

Sitting on a chair in front of the convenience store eating ice cream, I made a dumbfounded expression at Chae Geun-dam’s nationwide broadcast promotion, unable to even think about swallowing my ice cream.

Since it felt awkward to share in the touching moment of breaking through the 49th Floor while pretending to be a wandering merchant, I had come outside the Tower entirely.

‘But for such an absurd thing to happen.’

Questions were still continuing on my phone screen.

-What is this ‘Friendly Market’ you just mentioned?

-They sold bundled items needed to clear the 49th Floor scenario. Everything from lacking potions to items necessary for scenario clearing. Thanks to that, we saved a lot of time.

-Are you referring to an Awakener market?

-No. It’s different from the Awakener markets we commonly use. ‘Friendly Market’ is a kind of… personal trading platform. It seemed you could even purchase items from other dimensions.

I stared blankly at the screen with my mouth agape.

The Chae Geun-dam I had met in the Tower was definitely someone who carefully chose each word he spoke, wasn’t he?

Now his mouth was so loose it seemed like it might fly up to the sky.

No, what wind suddenly blew to make him act like someone who can’t help but explain everything!

Since I was watching through a screen and couldn’t stop him, I just blinked my eyes.

-Did you know about such a market even before the strategy attempt?

-I cannot tell you that much.

At Chae Geun-dam’s words as he firmly shook his head and touched his eyes, the reporters closed their mouths tightly again.

His attitude seemed to say not to bring up any more words.

I licked my ice cream again and muttered.

“Phew, at least he seems to have some sense.”

If it stops at this level, I’ll have somewhere to hide.

However.

-I’ll add just one more thing

“What more are you adding, stop talking…”

Just as I was muttering at the ominous beginning.

-Wolpae was able to conquer the 49th Floor thanks to ‘Friendly Market’. I’d like to use this opportunity to express our gratitude to ‘Friendly Market’.

-Is ‘Friendly Market’ by any chance a market operated by a Hunter?

-I will not take any more questions.

“…”

Are you kidding me, really.

He just didn’t give a definitive answer, but isn’t he basically openly telling everyone it’s a market operated by a Hunter?

My connection with this person called Chae Geun-dam was just a transaction from a few hours ago.

Right now that guy is publicly putting a bounty on me.

I finally realized my mistake.

While it was important to keep secret that the person called ‘Lee Hae’ was a Hunter, I should have specifically asked him not to mention Friendly Market.

Regardless, Chae Geun-dam on screen had the face of a swallow repaying a favor.

At his somewhat proud expression, I squeezed my eyes shut.

Since it has the name ‘Market’, that’s probably what he thought.

He seemed to think that promoting it so it could become famous and create results would be repayment…

‘That’s not what I wanted!’

Of course, the possibility of finding someone called Lee Hae-won is zero, but still my spine went cold.

If I, living as an ordinary citizen, were to fall into the grasp of a major guild.

‘Won’t they confine me and use me as a guild-exclusive market?’

The problem is I’ve had an exceptionally good imagination since childhood.

I was now imagining a future where I’m trapped in a torture chamber made by a guild, eating only frozen dumplings three times a day.

“That absolutely cannot happen.”

I shook my head vigorously and put the half-melted ice cream back in my mouth.

It’s dangerous to even enter the Tower without a single stat.

Besides, I’m satisfied with my current life.

Living in Ba-man-jang’s cozy if somewhat noisy house, quietly completing side job Quests.

Just following Brother’s traces is overwhelming enough right now.

A situation where I become famous and have restrictions on my actions is absolutely unwelcome.

“Right, let’s not worry. They won’t be able to find me anyway.”

Having said that out loud, I hesitated.

“…Or not? Did I just set up too big a flag?”

I jumped up and started walking toward the Tower of Babel.

Since being in an open place keeps making me imagine anxious things, I should hurry home.

Fortunately, nothing happened until I entered Babel.

It was the moment I entered Ba-man-jang with relief, taking quick steps.

Suddenly a blue window appeared before my eyes.

[You have new notifications. Would you like to check them?]

[Awakener Lee Hae-won – Open Market Manager (EX)

> New Notifications

– As the 50th Floor of the Tower of Babel in user ‘Lee Hae-won’s’ affiliated area ‘South Korea’ has been opened, some permissions for Open Market Manager ‘Lee Hae’ of that area are being unlocked.

– You can enter as an Offline Market on the 50th Floor of ‘Area-South Korea’ Tower of Babel.

– You can expand the ‘Dimension-Earth’ Open Market.

– You can additionally designate middle managers for the ‘Dimension-Earth’ Offline Market.]

The countless windows that appeared before my eyes were telling me.

This wasn’t the time to just stand there with my mouth open, shocked by Chae Geun-dam’s bombshell statement.

“…There’s a lot of work to do.”

I let out a deep sigh.

Right. Whether Chae Geun-dam makes me sad, or whether I end up eating frozen dumplings.

“I should just work.”

Because going to work even when disaster strikes is the Korean way of life.

In the distance, I could see the Friendly Market building standing firmly in Ba-man-jang.

There were still suspicious people loitering around as if keeping watch, but I’m someone who can easily break through that level of barricade with the Fifth Shadow’s Veil and ‘Anonymity’ skill.

Pulling down the now-familiar robe, I hurried my steps.

That’s when it happened.

[ Title Side Job Quest (6)

Establish Market Branch 2 on the 50th Floor of the Tower of Babel and complete the following:

1) Put up a sign for the Offline Market.

2) Have a Repair specialist company set up shop.

3) Establish a specialized item appraisal company.

4) Designate an intermediate manager for the offline market store.

5) Establish companies in all stores of the shopping complex.

Reward: Additional sales slot opening, ‘Open Market’ function unlock]

“Whoa, what is this.”

What… Why are there so many conditions attached to this Quest?

I stared at the notification window in the air for a long time with a displeased expression.

Not that staring at it would change the Quest contents.

‘What’s this Open Market function again?’

(

[⁕ With the opening of the 50th Floor of the Tower of Babel in ‘Zone-South Korea’, some of the Market Manager’s permissions have been unlocked 🙂 You can now expand the Dimensional Market, which was previously only available in your current zone ‘South Korea’, to access all Towers of Babel within that dimension :)]

“…Hey, Sam-i, feels like it’s been a while?”

You call yourself a guide but appear after such a long time, like roughly after 3 episodes.

[⁕ I am ‘Sam-i’. Please pay attention to the pronunciation :)]

“Do you get incentives for being so stubborn about that?”

I frowned and shook my head.

Such stubbornness, whether it’s Sam-i or Saemi.

Anyway, right now I can only sell items to buyers with transaction history, Open Market managers from other dimensions, and awakeners I’m looking at face-to-face.

And if I had to add more, only items directly registered to the Bamanjang building.

It couldn’t be more troublesome.

I don’t know how much I cursed when doing the Quest to visit every floor and sell items.

“If I do this, I can sell without having to move around myself, right?”

[⁕ That’s correct. You’ll be able to operate the market much more conveniently, Manager :)]

It’s definitely a good update for me.

I grumbled as I opened the back door of the Bamanjang Store.

“You should have done that sooner.”

“Done what?”

At the casual response, I looked up in surprise.

Kang Yeon-hee, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, was staring at me with a pale face that looked like she hadn’t slept for a week.

Her appearance, as if a Dementor had sucked out her soul, left me speechless.

“…Didn’t you go home?”

“I just came to work.”

Her eyes looked tired as Kang Yeon-hee roughly rubbed them several times.

“You seem busy lately. Are you going out again today?”

I flinched without realizing it.

But to pretend I was busy when the other person looked busier, I felt somewhat guilty.

I answered hesitantly.

“I, I have something to take care of today so I’ll go out later. I’ll probably be away for a few days. How’s business lately?”

I’m not used to this kind of small talk, so I felt like I had to add a question.

But that seemed to be a good choice.

“Of course!”

Kang Yeon-hee suddenly brightened up and raised her voice.

The haggardness that seemed detached from life just moments ago disappeared, and seeing her even spitting as she spoke, business seemed to be more than just doing well.

“I’m making a thousand potions a day and they sell out completely every day. Actually, if I could get new recipes or use better materials, I think I could make better grades, which is frustrating. Sometimes when I analyze potions or byproducts distributed from the Tower, there seem to be many things I don’t know, and it’s also frustrating that I can’t find ways to process them.”

Receiving Kang Yeon-hee’s machine-gun-like praise of alchemy, I muttered stupidly.

“I, I see.”

Seeing that, Kang Yeon-hee smiled awkwardly and wiped the corner of her mouth.

“Anyway, business is fine. Good, actually.”

“That’s a relief.”

I could tell by looking at Kang Yeon-hee’s skin that had become smooth from eating well.

Of course, looking at her sunken eyes, she didn’t seem to be sleeping well, but anyway, it was certain that potions were selling like hotcakes.

That was something I could tell just by looking at my increasingly heavy bank balance.

To think that someone who spread their wings as soon as I set up this platform was getting excited about stall applications every day, wasn’t this a waste of talent…

“Oh right, I heard Wolpae cleared the 49th Floor?”

“That’s right. I was wondering when they’d break through, and they finally did.”

“The overseas reaction seems incredible too. Since our country was first to break through… there were even suspicions of cheating.”

“Ahaha, that can’t be.”

I didn’t cheat.

…Strictly speaking, it was more like strategic trading than cheating.

“When the 50th Floor opens, will it be a plaza like the 25th Floor?”

Kang Yeon-hee muttered while lifting a box of potion bottles stacked on one side.

“Probably.”

“We’ll know in 6 days. Lee Hae, you don’t have a building there too, do you?”

At Kang Yeon-hee’s casual remark to the back of my head, I let out an awkward laugh.

‘She hit the nail on the head.’

The Quest really did include opening a market on the 50th Floor.

Kang Yeon-hee, unaware of my thoughts, laughed lightly and added.

“It would be funny if there was a second branch, right?”

This time I couldn’t laugh.

Ms. Kang Yeon-hee, you’ll be opening that second branch with me…

I just laughed as if playing along and slowly moved toward the second floor.

“Oh, right.”

One of the many instructions from that Quest suddenly came to mind, and I stopped going up and turned back to Kang Yeon-hee.

Since Kang Yeon-hee spent the most time in this building, there was something I needed to share.

“We’re going to put up a sign.”

The contents of the Quest that Babel suddenly gave today came to mind, so I stopped going up and added.

“A building sign? Oh, come to think of it, there was no name. Customers just call it the blue building potion shop.”

Her tone was so casual that I was rather flustered.

To think I didn’t know there was no name after doing business for weeks.

‘I didn’t even decide on my own store name.’

Well, you’d have to be that obsessed with one thing to succeed.

“What will the sign say? Have you decided?”

“Oh, Friendly Market.”

“…That Friendly Market?”

“Yes?”

At the ominous voice, I quickly turned my head.

Kang Yeon-hee, whose eyes were wide enough to show all the whites, drove the point home in a voice that sounded like she might faint.

“You’re not talking about the market that Chae Geun-dam just mentioned in his interview, are you?!”

Oh no.

“Don’t tell me Lee Hae, you were… the owner of that market?”

Ah, right.

Chae Geun-dam had made a public declaration…

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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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