24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 28

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

24-Hour Friendly Market Specializing in Dimensional Items Episode 28

Episode 28. Friendly Appraisal (1)

Did you know that when people get too nervous, they develop habits they never had before?

“Why are you shaking your leg like that?”

I didn’t want to know.

“I’m anxious.”

“Hmm, this place seemed peaceful. What exactly are you afraid of?”

“A civil servant.”

“What’s a civil servant?”

I looked up at the questioner.

A middle-aged man with a semi-bandit look, having neatly shaved his bushy beard and tied his long hair back, was looking at me with pity.

“It exists, like the captain of our country’s knight order.”

“Hmm, then you must be involved in some trouble. It’s not easy for a knight captain and an ordinary merchant to get entangled.”

‘Tell me about it.’

I just wanted to do some F2P gaming because of my title, was that so offensive to you, South Korea?

South Korea, which I curse but can’t leave, really made me want to leave today.

“Is that knight captain strong?”

“Strong, very much so. If he pressed down with his finger, I might become as flat as a sheet of paper.”

I let out a deep sigh, recalling the gaunt face of Park Ji-woon, the 3rd-ranked ranker.

While other S-rank Hunters all formed guilds and filled their own pockets, he was someone who voluntarily chose to work as a government civil servant – a shocking move.

His past is completely unknown, so no one knows what he did before Awakening.

His combat records from scenarios or Sudden Gates aren’t public either, so no one knows how he fights – South Korea’s hidden master.

But since the top-ranked guilds never oppose the Babel Management Bureau’s decisions, that alone proves Park Ji-woon’s abilities.

Such a person ‘personally’ sent me a summons, and I’ve been ignoring it for over a week.

‘And I’m still ignoring it now.’

I couldn’t go because I was scared.

I never had any intention of getting involved with an S-rank Hunter!

I want to live thin and long, not thin and short.

“Don’t worry. I can protect you.”

The knight captain of a ruined country boldly declared he would protect me from such a person.

Unable to crush such kindness, I looked up and smiled.

“Thank you, Alessandro.”

Alessandro gently patted my shoulder as if telling me not to worry.

This middle-aged man, who seemed three times bigger than me, was the person I had designated as the middle manager of Store #2.

He was Alessandro Hale, the knight captain of the Falcon Kingdom, which had been the stage for the 49th Floor.

Alessandro looked much neater than when we first met.

After receiving the comfortable bed and quality meals I provided, his health was slowly recovering too.

As for the question of how I brought someone who wasn’t even from our dimension here… I can only say that our capable AI Sam-i found a strategy for it.

Anyway, unlike Kang Yeon-hee who had lived humanely in Korean society, Alessandro had watched his country fall and lived as a drifter in dimensional rifts, so he immediately accepted my offer to give him a place to settle.

He even said he would dedicate his life to work for me first.

Of course, I never asked for his life.

‘What would I do with someone’s life anyway.’

He probably felt that way after seeing his own house that I arranged as middle manager benefits, thinking he could really end his drifting life.

Then Alessandro hung his head and muttered weakly.

‘Someone like me, who stands on the corpses of countless others, doesn’t deserve to stay in such a warm place.’

With a miserable expression, Alessandro quietly shed tears.

Alessandro, who had lost everything and was left alone, probably didn’t even have time to cry.

Alessandro, who wanted to end his life but endured all that time with his exhausted body because there was no one left to remember his homeland.

As someone who usually doesn’t get swept up in others’ emotions, I couldn’t guess what feelings made Alessandro cry.

I just silently offered clumsy comfort and stepped back.

‘What did I say back then.’

[⁕ You answered, ‘If Alessandro’s friends or family are watching from heaven, they’d be happy. Friends and family are supposed to be glad when you’re doing well. Here, it faces south with a wide view.’ :)]

…Huh, how did Alessandro hold back from hitting me?

Puzzled, I turned my head to look at Alessandro again.

“Do you have something to say?”

“No. Shall we continue working?”

I shook my head and turned my gaze back to the numerous documents in front of me.

Alessandro, who had been staring at me intently, also didn’t add anything more and started shuffling through documents again.

“This store looks decent too.”

“Hmm… it’s a weapon specialty shop. But there are many weapon specialty shops. Look, there are already 12 here.”

I compared all 13 sheets including the one I just received, then pulled out one and held it up.

“Weapons for long-term use are often traded on other platforms. What people want to get from places like this are usually consumables, so places like this that handle a lot of bullets, arrows, and bombs would be better.”

“That makes sense too.”

Alessandro quietly agreed.

I pushed the approved application to one side and buried my head in the remaining documents again.

It’s been 3 days since the 50th Floor opened, and this is the second day of screening applications for 50th Floor tenants, but I still haven’t finished deciding.

Only 13 companies have received approval stamps, meaning there’s still a lot of work left.

This is all because nearly a thousand tenant application documents came in.

‘I need to do this to complete the side quest.’

Who knew everyone would be so interested in our building.

‘How honored.’

Just as I unconsciously opened my mouth wide to yawn, Alessandro said in a caring voice.

“If you’re tired, go get some sleep. I’ll handle the basic sorting.”

This person sometimes treats me like a young nephew even though he knows I’m his superior.

But.

“Should I?”

Lee Hae-won is an opportunist who doesn’t miss chances like this.

I put down the documents and stood up abruptly.

Maybe because I couldn’t sleep and was buried in documents all day, I was tired enough to collapse at any moment.

That’s when it happened.

My vision turned bright white, so I squeezed my eyes shut.

Our Sam-i had definitely come with new work without caring about the administrator’s fatigue.

But I couldn’t keep my eyes closed forever, so I opened them with the feeling of crawling into hell.

“Huh?”

I was a little surprised.

[> ‘Friendly Appraisal’ Inquiry 1 case

– ‘Weapon (Unknown)’ Appraisal Request Ι Client: White Sword (Region-South Korea)]

For the first time since the 50th Floor opened, an inquiry came to the appraisal company.

* * *

‘Friendly Appraisal’.

The appraisal business I opened on Floor 1.

For reference, the repair business is also called ‘Friendly Repair’.

It’s obviously a quick fix, but what can I do about my terrible naming sense?

Giving up my honey-sweet afternoon nap, I headed to Floor 1 properly wrapped in my robe, mask, and Anonymity skill.

“There really are a lot of people.”

Three days since the 50th Floor opened, this place had already emerged as a new hot spot following Ba-man-jang.

Everyone seemed curious about the towering building, unlike what Chae Geun-dam had mentioned, and were busy looking around the businesses on Floor 1.

‘Should I call this the Babel Square branch?’

Anyway, even though it was a business the system made me create, I was still somewhat nervous since my first inquiry had come.

This was my first time properly appraising someone else’s weapon since Chae Geun-dam’s weapon.

Moreover, Chae Geun-dam’s weapon was S-rank so I spent a ton of Gold appraising it, but I couldn’t ask for money in that solemn atmosphere, so that doesn’t count.

This would truly be my first official appraisal.

[⁕ You’ve already appraised the ‘Fifth Shadow’s Veil’ and ‘Gab’s Horn Statue’, so this would be your fourth appraisal :)]

“Ugh.”

Please, tactless AI, keep your mouth shut.

Following the secret passage I had built separately on Floor 1, I opened the back door of ‘Friendly Appraisal’.

I had set up the repair and appraisal businesses so that when inquiries came in at the entrance, I could immediately go down and meet them.

‘So that person must be my first customer.’

Seeing the figure lurking in front of the closed shop finally made it feel real.

‘I have no idea what kind of customer this will be.’

With Chae Geun-dam, I wasn’t scared because I knew his public image.

But I had no way of knowing what kind of customer had come.

‘Sam-i, no one can harm me inside here, right?’

[⁕ That’s correct 🙂 No approach whatsoever is tolerated on the 3rd floor of this building, and in ‘Friendly Repair’, ‘Friendly Appraisal’, and the ‘Information Desk’.]

If you’re going that far to reassure me, I guess I can go meet my first customer with peace of mind.

I took a light deep breath and opened the door.

“Welcome, are you ‘White Sword’ who just made an inquiry?”

The person who quickly turned their head was wearing a pure white robe pulled deep over their face, making it impossible to guess their gender or age.

Their tall height, easily over 175 centimeters, was the only information I could gather.

Since so many people were curious about my market, I was starting to feel wary that they might be targeting me, when—

“Ah, yes yes. Are you the owner?”

They replied in a gentle female voice with quite a kind tone.

My philosophy is that people who are nice to strangers, especially employees, are good people.

I responded in an equally kind tone, pointing toward the inside of the shop.

“Please come in.”

What I had prepared inside was just a table and two chairs where we could sit facing each other.

After gloriously losing the design war over the past 5 days, I had given up on interior design for the repair and appraisal businesses.

White Sword seemed a bit flustered by the interior that wasn’t just lacking in extras but was downright bleak, looking around and letting out an awkward laugh.

Even shameless me was starting to feel embarrassed.

‘But having just what’s needed is enough.’

Customer chair, my chair, table for weapons, and me, the appraiser.

I equipped my shamelessness again and asked nonchalantly like a merchant.

“You came for weapon appraisal? You didn’t specify the weapon type in your inquiry.”

“Ah, since you’ll see it directly. But what’s different about this place compared to other appraisal businesses?”

I flinched involuntarily at the question that strayed from the main topic.

‘Does this person have a purpose other than just appraisal?’

Since they were blatantly asking about the shop, I had a faint suspicion they might know something.

Judging by their question about differences from other appraisal businesses, it seems Chae Geun-dam hasn’t been blabbing about it outside.

Actually, Korea has quite a few various appraisal businesses.

But this place is like the swallow from the folktale that finds hidden abilities in weapons even their owners don’t know about.

Since this would be a question I’d keep hearing while running Friendly Repair and Appraisal, I tried to suppress my suspicions and answered.

“Here, we appraise hidden abilities in addition to basic grades and descriptions.”

“Really?”

What I felt in her voice mixed with laughter was closer to interest than expectation.

“Shall I take a look at the weapon?”

“Here. Oh, but is it possible there might be no hidden ability?”

‘That voice sounds strangely familiar somehow.’

I ignored my intuition setting off warning bells again and nodded.

“That’s possible.”

The woman placed something wrapped in cloth on the table.

From the dull sound it made, it seemed to be a fairly heavy weapon.

I tried to think nothing of it and unwrapped the cloth around the weapon.

Soon a mace with a pale golden handle and white orb revealed itself.

The light emanating softly was the same golden color as the handle.

Except for the white cloth tied in a knot at the bottom of the grip, probably for better grip, it looked like an extremely expensive weapon.

‘This weapon looks strangely familiar somehow…?’

It can’t be.

I pushed my anxiety far away and slowly placed my hand over the handle.

However, as soon as I confirmed the weapon’s name through appraisal, I froze solid.

[‘Judge of Holy Light’ (S)]

An S-rank weapon worth hundreds of billions that an ordinary person could never possess was before me.

And I knew very well who the owner of this weapon was.

‘It’s Lee Hwa-yeon.’

Lee Hwa-yeon, leader of ‘Baekdan’, the 2nd ranked guild.

“Does my weapon have a hidden ability too?”

Whether she knew my feelings or not, Lee Hwa-yeon asked in a sly tone.

I swallowed my burning anger.

‘That bastard Chae Geun-dam told her.’

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————