24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 36

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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 36

Episode 36. 51st Floor (6)

My heart sank at Onak’s answer.

“The Tower of Babel?”

“How do you know… oh, of course you would. You’re human.”

As if he had momentarily forgotten I was human, Onak nodded his head and replied.

I already knew from Alessandro, the sole survivor of the Falcon Kingdom, that dimensions would perish if the Tower of Babel wasn’t conquered.

But there was no tower on the 49th Floor that I had seen directly.

Neither the Dark Mage faction nor the Kingdom faction seemed to know anything about the tower.

That was certainly the case up to the 49th Floor.

So I had tentatively concluded that the scenario was created with the Tower of Babel part deleted.

But if Onak on the 51st Floor knew about the tower.

‘The Hunters climbing the Tower will soon find out too.’

The fact that a tower existed even in the world we’re seeing as a scenario.

And everyone would have reasonable suspicions that this wasn’t a coincidence.

“Sister, are you okay?”

I quickly raised my head.

Echo, who had returned from the stall at some point, was standing there holding three skewers of something grilled.

The skewers were still steaming and looked deliciously grilled.

Echo was looking at me intently with eyes full of goodwill.

“Eat this, Sister.”

She pressed a skewer into my hand while mumbling.

As I held it, the charcoal scent wafted up.

Only then did I realize where I was.

‘Come to think of it, this is a chilling situation.’

The back of my neck felt cold for some reason.

On the 49th Floor, I had faithfully played the role of ‘Falcon’s wandering merchant’ and watched from a distance, so the situation didn’t really hit me that hard.

Maybe I was lost in fantasies of becoming Wolpae’s savior.

But the innocent Echo who was being friendly to me, and that rabbit warrior Onak too.

And all those countless beastkin fighting fiercely for survival.

‘They’re all beings that don’t exist in this world.’

As soon as I thought they were just traces of a dimension that had already disappeared, an inexplicable nausea washed over me.

This was why I preferred the position of a complete observer.

But I was still standing before these living, breathing beings.

“Are you alright?”

Onak asked with what seemed like genuine concern.

“I’m fine.”

I nodded calmly with effort.

I was a bit shocked, but I couldn’t afford to be flustered here.

Instead, I decided to maintain my composure by asking questions as if nothing was wrong.

“Could you tell me more details about that tower?”

Even though all I could do was sell the items I brought, as a merchant it would be good to secure as much information as possible.

Onak stroked his beard and made a thoughtful sound.

“Actually, I don’t know much about it. I understand it appeared about 10 years ago, and the Black Mist started appearing right after that tower was built.”

“Is the tower close to here?”

“No, it’s too far from here. It appeared at the edge of Ganasia, in human territory, so we’ve never been there. From what I hear, humans go in but few come out?”

“Do you happen to know how high they’ve climbed?”

“If I remember correctly, it was around the 35th or 36th Floor, I think.”

Onak added as if muttering to himself.

‘Only the 36th Floor? They didn’t get as far as I thought.’

It must have taken an enormous amount of time to climb even that far.

The rumor that humans go in but few come out was probably true.

The combat power of this continent called Ganasia seemed significantly lower than I had thought.

Turns out it was Babel powerhouse Korea after all.

“Maybe because it was strange that it suddenly appeared overnight, there were humans who studied the tower too. I heard they studied it more earnestly after they couldn’t climb it anymore? I think they were human mages.”

“They studied the tower? Then there must be research materials too? Where are those mages?”

Our country also studied the tower, but it was blocked by tight security so there was no way to verify the truth.

If there were materials from tower research left here.

‘It would help in finding traces of Brother.’

Above all, it would be a great help in preventing the dimension’s destruction.

“Hmm, those mages don’t exist in this world.”

“Why not?”

“Because we killed them all.”

Onak nodded his head as if proud while answering.

I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even respond.

‘Is that something to be proud of?’

I don’t know when genocide became a natural thing, but just when I was starting to feel some affection, I felt a bit more distant.

Onak, who had no idea what I was thinking, continued speaking.

“After that, humans stopped visiting too, and I heard it just became an abandoned tower.”

Though he didn’t seem to remember when that was.

If they hadn’t been able to climb for quite some time, and all the researchers were dead so humans stopped visiting the tower.

This dimension’s destruction was essentially confirmed at that point.

That’s probably why it became a scenario like this.

“Actually, the Black Mist is a more urgent problem than the tower. The tower is a building we don’t even know why it exists, but the Black Mist devours us every single day.”

That’s… because of the tower, mister.

Since I couldn’t say it straight out, I just swallowed a sigh.

‘I wonder if I could go there?’

Since I’m using Merchant’s Mark, wouldn’t the Black Mist have no effect on me either?

I could naturally enter human territory, so there was almost no possibility of me being in danger.

Just as my brief outing was turning into a journey.

“Onak! Onak!”

I heard someone shouting urgently from far away.

A horse beastkin with a long face was running over, sweating all over his body.

“A telegram came saying humans attacked again! They broke through the western defense line!”

“Damn it, again?”

Onak’s face contorted instantly.

“I have to go right now! Echo, go home immediately! Merchant sir, I’m sorry about this. It’s urgent, so I’ll see you later.”

Onak roughly patted Echo’s head and ran toward where the horse beastkin was.

Not just Onak, but beastkin who had been sitting around maintaining their weapons were moving urgently everywhere.

The heavy atmosphere of war flowed, with no leisure to ask anything.

‘I have a mountain of things to ask.’

Having become like a duck egg on the Nakdong River, I just stared blankly at the scene.

“Where will you go now, Sister? If you have nowhere else, how about our house?”

Echo, who had been standing quietly to one side, asked carefully.

Well, my head was too complicated since it was like a marketplace, so I did need a quiet place to organize my thoughts.

I also needed to understand the many things our dimension would experience if we couldn’t clear the 51st Floor.

‘How did I end up shouldering such a crucial mission? I still don’t understand.’

Is the combination of a frail body and an EX-grade title this agonizing?

“Yeah, fine….”

I was about to answer carelessly when I stopped, seeing Echo’s worried gaze.

‘Wait, why are her eyes so bright and sparkling?’

I didn’t notice earlier, but now I see it’s like a cat beastkin with cow eyes.

This dimension has already disappeared.

Onak, Echo, and the other beastkin are all beings who have already died and vanished.

But they still believe they’re alive, fighting without giving up hope.

‘Is it really okay to just dismiss this as a scenario and move on?’

My fingernail-sized conscience was pricking me.

Even though they were characters in a scenario, their pain felt real.

And it probably was real.

Echo’s concern for me would be real too.

“Sister, let’s go. It’s this way.”

Echo grabbed the hem of my clothes and slowly started walking.

Echo was clearly inviting me to her home, but the surrounding situation was terrible.

Onak and the horse beastkin had long since disappeared, and the beastkin who had been sitting and maintaining their weapons all wore the same expression as Onak.

Black Mist, the Tower, and war.

And me, unable to figure out what to do here.

There’s only one answer.

‘I need to know the scenario’s content.’

Since the Tower appears so prominently, this dimension’s scenario might be connected to the Tower.

But I can’t check the scenario while using Merchant’s Mark.

And I can’t cancel Merchant’s Mark right now either, since there’s a risk of becoming a regular awakener and being attacked by countless beastkin.

I’ve become a bit bolder lately, but my body is still soft.

‘Or should I try going to the Tower?’

Since it’s said to be in human territory, it shouldn’t be too difficult.

I’m even a merchant in human form!

“Echo, is the human territory far from here?”

“Well, I’m not sure… Oh, Brother Rahan said it took about a week to walk there!”

“Who’s Rahan?”

“He’s a horse beastkin brother. The one you saw earlier.”

Ah, that horse beastkin with the long middle-parted hair.

If it takes about a week for a horse to run there, it would take similar time even riding Nokgacheon.

‘Sam-i, can’t I choose that place as a starting point?’

I’m a super awesome merchant, so like how I started in Kona, couldn’t I also start in human territory?

[⁕ If you activate Merchant’s Mark and enter the Tower, you’ll start in a random area where the performer is located 🙂 If you re-enter, you might drop there, but you could also come back here :)]

What I hate most is random gacha, and it just has to be random here.

Still, 50-50 odds is a heavenly game.

‘The probability is generous, but….’

I let out a deep sigh.

I hate leaving things to chance, but that was my only option.

‘Then I’ll have to go back and forth to check directly.’

I stopped walking abruptly.

Since I don’t know when the raid team will enter Floor 51, I planned to find out as much as I could before they arrived.

Echo gently shook the hem of my clothes and asked.

“Sister, what’s wrong?”

“Echo, I don’t think I can go to your house. I have something to do for a moment….”

That’s when it happened.

Ding!

At the sudden notification sound, I looked up in surprise.

[> Intermediate Manager Message

– Someone is looking for the manager of Friendly Market. Ι Alessandro Hale (Babel Square Branch)]

It was an unexpected message from Alessandro.

I definitely asked Alessandro to keep the manager thing strictly secret and pretend not to know.

I frowned and replied.

[I asked you to pretend not to know about me, so who came looking?]

“Sister, then you’re not coming with me?”

When I glanced over, Echo looked dejected.

“Echo, I’ll manage on my own from here. Something came up.”

Perhaps she thought I would naturally go to her house, as Echo muttered with a gloomy face.

“We really have delicious catnip at home.”

“I only eat perilla leaves.”

“We have rice too…!”

“You don’t eat rice either.”

“What’s rice?”

Even though I firmly objected, Echo seemed determined to take me home somehow.

That’s when it happened.

At the message that lit up my vision white, I hardened my expression and answered.

“Echo, something really important came up and I have to go. See you next time.”

At my firm attitude, Echo nodded weakly as if she had no choice.

But I couldn’t afford to worry about Echo.

[> Intermediate Manager Message

– They know the name ‘Lee Hae’. They say they absolutely must meet. Ι Alessandro Hale (Babel Square Branch)]

I had a gut feeling about who was looking for me.

The only person who knows that the owner of Friendly Market is ‘Lee Hae’.

[> Intermediate Manager Message

– It’s someone called ‘Chae Geun-dam’. Ι Alessandro Hale (Babel Square Branch)]

It was Chae Geun-dam, the guild leader of Wolpae.

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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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