24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 242

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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 242

Episode 242. The Barrier (1)

It was not a sensation of being crushed or suffocated.
A liberation so vivid that even I, a mere observer, could feel it distinctly.
It was as though a dam that had been sealed for eons had burst open gloriously, pouring into a vast ocean.
The density of energy filling the barrier intensified several times over in an instant.
“….”
Asmodeus… I found myself staring at her form, my mouth falling open in a daze.
For a moment, I forgot the chaotic situation unfolding around me and could only gaze in wonder at Asmodeus’s liberation.
The leisurely form that had been drifting idly above Park Ji-woon’s head transformed in an instant.
The beautiful woman’s visage remained unchanged, yet something was unmistakably different.
Her flowing black hair stretched in all directions without a breeze to move it.
Her pupils, suffused with a deep and dark crimson aura, expanded with a joy I had never witnessed before.
So clearly that I and the bewildered Park Ji-woon were reflected in them.
Asmodeus laughed softly, barely audible, and spread both arms wide.
Park Ji-woon and I could only watch in silence as the scene unfolded.
Asmodeus’s delighted smile—having cast off all restraints and seized what she desired.
‘…Is this even possible?’
I forced myself to breathe consciously, my eyes wide as I absorbed everything before me.
From Asmodeus’s very being, an energy impossible to gauge poured out in chaos.
Sinister forces extending from her fingertips crawled across walls and ceiling and floor, spreading in all directions.
From her existence itself, waves of malevolent energy rippled outward, darkening everything around her.
The space, already shattered and open from the broken glass, was consumed by such profound darkness that it seemed to sink into shadow.
Having lived for centuries and now reclaimed the full measure of centuries of power, a strange sensation pressed against my skin with a tingling intensity.
Asmodeus was, quite literally, unfolding.
‘So this is her true form.’
I understood with perfect clarity.
The Asmodeus I had seen until now had never wielded even a tenth of her true power.
Within the black waves, Asmodeus laughed joyfully and gently stroked Park Ji-woon’s head.
The gesture was so natural that I almost failed to register it in that moment.
The next instant, Asmodeus’s lips stretched into a long, wide smile.
And then.
“What….”
Leaving Park Ji-woon’s bewildered voice behind, Asmodeus leaped toward the ceiling.
The ceiling posed no obstacle whatsoever to Asmodeus.
Like smoke, like water, Asmodeus passed through the ceiling in an instant, and only then did light return to the 29th Floor.
As the darkness lifted, Park Ji-woon’s face came into view, filled with an expression of utter incomprehension.
Park Ji-woon’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly as he struggled to find the words.
‘Wow, he’s really caught off guard.’
It wasn’t as though he never showed surprise, but this was the first time it was so glaringly obvious.
Park Ji-woon furrowed his brow and spoke haltingly.
“Asmodeus cannot leave my side. However….”
“I used an item.”
“What kind of item… Lee Hae-won, is this the method?”
“Yes.”
I showed him my empty palm and shrugged lightly.
The spectacle I’d just witnessed was too shocking to discuss casually, but my nature instinctively rejected gravity, so there was nothing I could do about it.
“It’s a one-time Dimensional Item that liberates the restrictions created when Asmodeus formed a contract with you—for five minutes.”
Park Ji-woon’s eyes wavered.
“Of course, once the effect ends, you’ll have to stand before Babel’s Judgment Seat. But judging by the fact that Asmodeus already knew what the item was… it seems he doesn’t mind.”
“….”
The man who usually spoke so smoothly was losing his words frequently today.
…Well, it made sense.
Asmodeus, who’d always tap his own head playfully and joke around, who’d shown nothing but fascination and illusion despite their contract, had suddenly demonstrated a force that could even suppress Park Ji-woon himself.
If he could grasp the reality of the situation immediately, that would be the truly remarkable thing.
‘No, but he needs to snap out of it right now!’
Given the circumstances!
I tapped Park Ji-woon’s shoulder, pulling him from his shock even as the roar continued around us.
“Get your head in the game, Director. Have you thought about what’s happening on the upper floors?”
“…I’m aware.”
Park Ji-woon’s eyes settled back into composure.
The dark crimson energy churning within them seemed to contradict his words, but I chose not to point it out.
Park Ji-woon needed to regain his senses as quickly as possible and become the leader this party required.
“I gave Park Bo-bae a one-minute item. It’s a Dimensional Item that grants S-rank power momentarily, so it should be able to block Seo Jae-hyuk’s attack once.”
“When did you prepare—”
“I didn’t. It was all improvisation. And I’ve already discussed it with Nam Pu-reum, so you should know, right?”
“So using poison against Seo Jae-hyuk was your suggestion.”
“Right. When you came down, wasn’t Seo Jae-hyuk’s mana flow unstable?”
“It was. The poison’s duration is approximately one hour, I’m told.”
Park Ji-woon, now fully regaining his composure, answered quickly.
I’ve done everything I could do.
“I set up the board because I could.”
Because the Market exists, because Gold exists, and because I have a unique Skill perfectly suited for trading.
Within my capabilities, I’ve made the best choices for their victory.
But this is where my role ends.
I paused, choosing my words carefully before speaking.
“But I’ve never actually tried attacking anyone.”
I was the type to fret over getting hurt and hold back, and as an E-rank Hunter, there were domains I simply didn’t understand. Combat was one of them.
That’s where combat came in.
The person responsible for handling it was staring at me with a serious gaze.
I held my breath and quickly added more.
“That’s why the timing needs to be decided by you, Park Bo-bae, and Nam Pu-reum.”
Combat belonged to the fighters.
Park Ji-woon looked at me with complicated eyes.
Being looked at with those eyes made me want to roll on the ground and complain that I was no longer the invincible Lee Hae-won, but I held back.
I set my expression firmly and pointed toward the staircase.
“Let’s go quickly.”
Park Ji-woon moved immediately, like someone snapping out of hypnosis.
‘It’s like a spell or something.’
Footsteps too rapid to be called mere steps disappeared upward.
Soon the sound of footsteps was swallowed by the roar from above, and I stood quietly, watching the staircase.
…For some reason, I felt like I had to say this at this timing, in this space, in this situation.
“I wish you luck.”
It didn’t have the same flair as when Chae Geun-dam said it, but I understood why he would say such a thing.
‘It does sound impressive.’
I deliberately thought light thoughts and exhaled a long breath.
Now it was time to….
“Wait.”
After all, when the players are on the field, the coach sits on the bench.
At that moment, a tremendous roar—distinctly different from before—echoed from above.

Boom—

I flinched for a moment, then quickly composed my expression.
Then I muttered calmly.
“…The bench should be somewhere safe.”
I’d celebrate their victory on Floor 1….
Of course, I had no idea what the outcome would be.

* * *

A corridor where the signpost pointing to the 32nd Floor lay shattered across the ground.
Amid the eerie swaying of ceiling lights, a single fluorescent lamp that had miraculously retained its glow flickered, casting irregular shadows.
And in the corner where that light did not reach—shadow.
Nam Pu-reum was there, holding their breath, melting into the darkness.
With breathing reduced to the absolute minimum and heartbeat suppressed, they remained perfectly still—imperceptible to anyone.
Cold sweat had dampened the nape of their neck despite the tension, yet Nam Pu-reum’s eyes never blinked as they fixed their gaze on the far end of the corridor.
The corridor’s end—walls, ceiling, and floor completely devastated.
Seo Jae-hyuk stood there.
The lightning spear-shaped Legato he had wielded against Park Ji-woon moments ago had transformed into something entirely different.
Filling the frigid corridor were thousands upon thousands of golden threads.
Radiating from Seo Jae-hyuk’s wrists, the threads spread in all directions, undulating gently as if awaiting the approach of prey.
Not a spear—threads.
The form Seo Jae-hyuk had chosen to face Nam Pu-reum.
A spear has a direction of penetration.
Thrust forward, strike to the side.
There are always gaps.
But threads are different.
In any direction, at any angle, within the range of Seo Jae-hyuk’s will, a single movement of his wrist transforms the entire space into a trap.
The thousands of golden threads had spread throughout the space, becoming a colossal snare that restricted the enemy’s every movement.
‘What was that called again.’
The Dance of Strings, was it.
Nam Pu-reum searched their memory, recalling Seo Jae-hyuk’s Skill.
With the Dance of Strings layered across this floor, the Legato was nothing less than an extension of Seo Jae-hyuk’s nerves.
Having remembered this, Nam Pu-reum simply waited.
Waited for Seo Jae-hyuk’s mana—already fracturing from the poison—to become further destabilized.
Waited for the moment when Park Ji-woon returned from his brief absence, creating the optimal opening to strike.
Nam Pu-reum bit their lip silently, without a sound.
When they first engaged, they had thought it was over.
Despite possessing overwhelming S-rank power, they understood all too well that this battle was one they would lose precisely because of that power.
It wasn’t as though Nam Pu-reum possessed any particular heroic delusions or sense of justice.
Yet they seriously accepted that only a handful of people—themselves included—would endure until the very end.
So they had suspected today would be their last.
‘But Lee Hae-won….’
Nam Pu-reum recalled Lee Hae-won’s face—the trustworthy smile she had offered while looking at them.
Not a trustworthy impression, exactly.
Rather, a fierce countenance that would not make a favorable social impression.
‘Yet I can trust her.’
Regardless of what kind of person Lee Hae-won was, Nam Pu-reum could trust her.
The Friendly Market and its suspicious nature aside, it didn’t matter that she was a defenseless opponent in comparison.
Lee Hae-won was the one person who had treated them like an ordinary child, unlike everyone else.
And he’s not the type to lie either.
‘…Or is he?’
Nam Pu-reum’s eyes suddenly turned fierce as he paused, startled by the overwhelmingly positive assessment he’d just made of himself.
‘It’s here.’
The golden thread flowing along Seo Jae-hyuk’s wrist trembled faintly.
It was the change I’d been waiting for so desperately.
Not a gentle undulation following the wave’s rhythm.
A distinctly irregular rhythm.
The 「Virulent Manifestation」 that Nam Pu-reum had deployed ten minutes ago was finally beginning to take proper effect.
The poison that disrupted the flow of magical energy was slowly, unmistakably establishing its presence within Seo Jae-hyuk’s body.
Seo Jae-hyuk seemed to perceive it as well, his brow furrowing.
It was more definitive proof.
The gap was not large.
A very small, shallow fracture.
A difference so trivial that Seo Jae-hyuk couldn’t abandon the premise that he could overwhelm all other S-Rank Hunters.
But that alone was sufficient.
Nam Pu-reum steadied his breathing with utmost composure and gripped the dagger tightly.
And in that moment, unhurried footsteps echoed from the direction of the stairwell.

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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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