24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 234

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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 234

Episode 234. Semi-Collapse (1)

Kang Yeon-hee rushed to speak before Alessandro could even set me down.
“You never mentioned you’d be gone for this long.”
“…I never planned to be gone this long either.”
I answered hesitantly, sensing the gravity of the situation, but Kang Yeon-hee’s eyes widened as if to say I shouldn’t make excuses.
The murderous intensity in her gaze alone made me flinch involuntarily.
But when I think about it, a staggering year and three months have passed—what exactly did she expect me to do about that?
This was a situation I never anticipated and couldn’t have anticipated, so shouldn’t the person most confused be me?
But this didn’t seem like the right moment to calmly voice my grievances.
As Alessandro slowly lowered me to the ground, Kang Yeon-hee’s gaze grew even more intense as our eyes met.
I opened and closed my mouth like someone at a loss for words, swallowing sighs several times.
Kang Yeon-hee spoke quietly, forcing her voice to remain composed.
“You should have contacted us, sister.”
“But from my perspective, less than a month passed there…”
I mumbled my response, overwhelmed by the intensity of both their presences.
There wasn’t a shred of dishonesty in what I said, yet both of them seemed to be holding something back, as if that wasn’t the answer they wanted.
Alessandro, who had been staring down at me, pressed his hand to my shoulder and asked.
“Why did you block messages?”
“Block them? I never did anything like that.”
“We didn’t refrain from contacting you all this time to avoid bothering you.”
“That’s right, sister. We only kept getting return messages saying the recipient was unavailable and the messages were being stored temporarily.”
“…”
“We only found out you’d returned when a notification suddenly appeared saying all the messages from temporary storage had been sent at once.”
“Ah, I see.”
Did the 100th Floor block external messages from being received?
I hastily opened my message inbox.
Given how serious Kang Yeon-hee and Alessandro were being right now, the other Hunters who relied on me surely must have sent messages like madmen.
My prediction proved accurate.

[> New Messages: 1,385]

“…This is insane.”
I couldn’t help but let out a short sigh before rapidly scrolling through the messages.
An endless parade of names appeared—Alessandro, Kang Yeon-hee, and every S-rank Hunter I’d crossed paths with over the years.
Even skimming through them, roughly half seemed to be asking where I was, and the other half demanding I contact them immediately once I saw the messages.
No matter how far I scrolled, the messages never seemed to end.
Then my gaze snagged on one recent message that felt distinctly official in tone.

[> New Message
– Have you discovered any method to save the Dimension following the rampage of the Dimension’s strongest? | Park Ji-woon, Director (Dimension-Earth)]

Unlike the urgent tone of the earlier messages desperately searching for me, this one felt like it had been sent with the confidence that I’d respond whenever I got around to it.
For someone like me, still carrying the unread “Records of the Apocalypse’s Observation” in my Inventory, this was a question I couldn’t simply brush aside.
Park Ji-woon’s final message was essentially a one-line summary of the current situation outside.
This confirmed it for me.
‘Seo Jae-hyuk has ultimately fallen under the influence of the Babel Tower.’
At the same time, reality crashed down on me like ice water poured over my head.
I quickly closed the message window.
There was no time to fumble around trying to understand the situation.
“I need to know exactly what’s happening right now.”
I asked in a calm voice.
“Is it safe outside? Why are there so few people in Ba-man-jang? Who came looking for me while I was gone? Did anyone die out there?”
Admittedly, I was asking a lot of questions at once.
Unlike Alessandro, who was bound to the Babel Tower, Kang Yeon-hee could freely leave the Tower and answer these questions.
As a South Korean citizen, she would have a clearer understanding of the current crisis.
But then.
“We don’t have time for that, unnie.”
Kang Yeon-hee didn’t answer—she simply replied coldly.
I countered, recalling the gentle smile she’d abandoned. “I need to understand what’s happening so I can take this seriously and give it my full effort.”
“You’ll see for yourself.”
Of course I’ll understand if I see it myself!
Why would she search for me like I was some savior, only to refuse to tell me anything now?
I get that it’s serious, but shouldn’t I at least know what kind of situation we’re dealing with?
I grabbed Kang Yeon-hee’s wrist as she tried to move forward.
Apparently my strength still exceeded that of a self-employed potion maker working out of a workshop.
Kang Yeon-hee, who had been walking without looking back, stumbled in the direction she’d been heading.
“I don’t know anything about the current situation. I’m just anxious, and I don’t like being kept in the dark. Tell me quickly.”
When I hardened my expression and spoke firmly, Kang Yeon-hee finally relaxed and came to a proper stop.
Now she seemed willing to actually tell me something.
Kang Yeon-hee exchanged a brief glance with Alessandro.
Kang Yeon-hee and Alessandro exchanged glances for a moment.
Despite her urgent appearance, Kang Yeon-hee took several minutes to gather her thoughts before speaking.
“…Seo Jae-hyuk has become strange.”
The emotion that crossed Kang Yeon-hee’s face was closer to resignation.
Yes, that’s something I already knew.
I recalled Yaern’s merciless slaughter from the observation records of destruction and asked carefully.
“What do you mean strange? Did he kill someone?”
“No, he didn’t commit murder… It’s just….”
Kang Yeon-hee continued calmly.
“About half a year after my sister disappeared, Park Ji-woon and Ahn Yeon-seo came to find me. They asked when my sister would return. When I asked why, they said that something my sister had been worried about seemed to have actually happened.”
If there was something I was worried about, it would naturally be the destruction of the dimension and Seo Jae-hyuk’s fall.
“They said Seo Jae-hyuk’s words became noticeably fewer. He’s already famous for being taciturn, right? I didn’t think it was strange, but when I heard him speak, they said his way of thinking itself had changed.”
“His way of thinking?”
“No, to be more precise, it would be better to say that the way he sees the world has changed.”
When I frowned because I didn’t understand what she meant, Kang Yeon-hee added in a tone that seemed somewhat bitter.
“Seo Jae-hyuk is denying reality and insisting that what isn’t true is correct.”
“What exactly do you mean by that?”
“It means he believes that everything he’s accomplished is an illusion, and that this peaceful present is all fake.”
“He’s lost his mind.”
“That’s right.”
It wasn’t I who said he’d lost his mind—it was Alessandro.
Alessandro seemed to have also heard roughly about the outside situation from Kang Yeon-hee during this time.
“He believes that the fact we’re currently climbing the Layer 80s is a lie. And he thinks the Management Bureau is a den of evil, and he doesn’t believe that Hunters have united to attempt a conquest.”
“…He’s completely insane?”
“Honestly, before my sister disappeared, our country was quite stable. So he says the current results are impossible, that we’re all being deceived….”
Kang Yeon-hee trailed off and shook her head.
From just this much, it was certain that South Korea’s proud number one ranked Hunter, Seo Jae-hyuk, had become a fallen power hunter.
“So he’s seeing reality in a distorted way.”
“That’s how I understood it too.”
Alessandro nodded.
Kang Yeon-hee looked between me and Alessandro alternately, then opened her mouth calmly.
“Seo Jae-hyuk cannot accept the death of his lover.”
“He died?!”
My reflexive response came out too loudly, causing Kang Yeon-hee to furrow her brows slightly.
But I was truly shocked just now.
Though not self-proclaimed, Jang So-min is what could be called the reason for Seo Jae-hyuk’s life.
That Jang So-min whom I went through all sorts of trouble to obtain in order to get the Spirit King’s Summoning Circle.
I confirmed she survived intact, and I even heard that she’d become somewhat healthier, so why would she be dead?
…Could it be that the real reason Seo Jae-hyuk fell was truly because of Jang So-min?
But Kang Yeon-hee calmly shook her head.
“She didn’t die. She’s alive and well, and she even went to find Seo Jae-hyuk and attempted to convince him. But….”
Kang Yeon-hee’s expression grew momentarily regretful as she continued.
“I think he’s trying to attack himself by fashioning that form into his already-dead Lover.”
“…You’re saying you think Jang So-min is undead?”
“Something like that. And then he tried to attack Jang So-min, so…”
“That bastard’s insane.”
“I heard Park Ji-woon is protecting her. He made Jang So-min appear as if she were a hallucination in front of him and moved her to the Safe House.”
A stroke of incredible luck.
With Park Ji-woon contracted to Asmodeus, conjuring hallucinations would be child’s play.
I recalled the image of Seo Jae-hyuk weeping like a child when he saw Jang So-min awaken, and I shook my head.
Though Seo Jae-hyuk is said to be out of his mind now, once he regains his senses, this incident might trigger another rampage.
‘Then is restoring Seo Jae-hyuk’s sanity the priority?’
I furrowed my brow and contemplated seriously.
But considering what I learned through the Observation Records of Destruction, could merely restoring his sanity truly stop the strongest being in the Dimension?
“…Anyway, after that, Seo Jae-hyuk began attacking everyone who tried to persuade him. Fortunately, Ahn Yeon-seo knows all of his attack patterns, so there haven’t been any deaths yet, but…”
“Were there many injuries?”
“There were quite a few casualties. It’s unavoidable, given that it’s Seo Jae-hyuk.”
“…Right.”
There was nothing more to say.
Because it’s Seo Jae-hyuk. Resolving the situation without anyone getting hurt would have been impossible.
“So the Tower is still being climbed right now?”
“It is. But something went wrong—it’s been several months since anyone came out of the Tower.”
I started to ask who entered, then realized that wasn’t the important question right now.
Though Seo Jae-hyuk hasn’t killed anyone yet, as Babel’s power grows stronger, crossing that line is only a matter of time.
If I happen to enter to assist the Scenario and miss the moment…
‘It would be a catastrophe.’
I don’t harbor any particular feelings toward Seo Jae-hyuk, but I can’t bear to watch him become a living calamity.
Perhaps I should meet Park Ji-woon first to assess the situation.
Just as I was straining to organize my tangled thoughts, I felt Kang Yeon-hee’s gaze upon me.
Her eyes, looking up at me quietly, revealed anxiety that had been carefully concealed until now.
“Um, but…”
“Hmm?”
Kang Yeon-hee’s lips moved as she hesitated for a long moment.
Despite her urgent demeanor, her reluctance to ask kindled an inexplicable unease within me.
“Is it true that the Dimension is going to be destroyed?”
“…How do you know that?”
My expression turned cold as I questioned her back.
The Dimension’s destruction is classified information in all its aspects.
Though not just one or two people know of it, all of them are bound by contract with me and cannot speak of it elsewhere.
Yet the way Kang Yeon-hee asked me wasn’t out of suspicion—it was seeking confirmation of a fact.
“Seo Jae-hyuk told me.”
“…What did you just say?”
I reflexively echoed her words back.
I knew Seo Jae-hyuk had fallen, but the rational Seo Jae-hyuk—who had only ever shown composure—was the one who revealed it?
Yet Kang Yeon-hee’s shocking confession didn’t end there.
“Not just our country. The entire world.”
In that moment, I understood.
‘We’re screwed.’
South Korea or not—the whole Earth must be in absolute chaos.

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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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