24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 38

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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 38

Episode 38. Lee Hae Universe (2)

“That person really doesn’t match with me.”

I muttered resentfully while looking at the spot where Chae Geun-dam had left.

Too kind, too straightforward.

Even upright to boot.

For someone like me trying to survive this harsh world with a merchant mindset, he’s too much to handle.

“Right, Sam-i?”

[⁕ Sorry. I didn’t understand the question :)]

“Right, there’s no way you’d be a proper conversation partner for me.”

What good does smiling do, you AI?

I let out a deep sigh and threw off both my mask and robe at the same time.

Who would have thought that Chae Geun-dam, who has become the real power in South Korea, would come to me directly asking for help.

I expected that I might come to mind as one option when they hit a wall, but I didn’t think they’d try to include me even before starting the strategy.

He’s probably doing this to save the lives of countless people who would die once the strategy begins.

‘As if I’m some kind of great deus ex machina or something.’

I never intended to help in the first place, but somehow one corner of my heart feels stuffy.

Not that there’s anything I can do about it anyway.

I don’t properly know anything about the 51st floor.

Right now my spy, Guk Min-seong from Aegis’s Strategic Planning Team, must be frantically busy too, and security will be tight since the 51st floor just opened.

And on top of that, the 7 major guilds are joining forces and only sending their elite.

“Ah, this time it probably won’t take long.”

The struggle on the 49th floor was because the trials came too harshly before they could even find a strategy.

What I need to think about now is a different problem.

Echo with her bright, cow-like eyes despite being a cat, the strong macho rabbit warrior Onak…

‘…No, that’s not it!’

I shook my head and drove out the beastkin with their pitiful stories who had instantly occupied my mind.

I can’t help being concerned about them, but I have ‘things I must do.’

I opened my inventory and took out the document envelope I’d been treasuring like a sacred object.

[Babel Management Bureau Attendance Request]

“Haaah…”

This makes me sigh automatically.

[Sender: Park Ji-woon (Director, Hunter Management Office, Babel Management Bureau)]

“Haaaaaaah…”

This makes me sigh twice as much.

Even though Chae Geun-dam emphasized that he’s not an easy opponent, no matter how hard I stare at that name, it won’t disappear.

He’s recognized as an S-rank hunter and active as a national hunter, but detailed information about Park Ji-woon is shrouded in a veil.

Nobody knows what abilities Park Ji-woon uses or how he fights.

Even when he appeared at official events, he’d give slow briefings with the face of a tired office worker who finds everything bothersome, and while you could only tell he was exhausted, his private life was thoroughly hidden too.

‘Come to think of it, Chae Geun-dam seems to have hit the mark.’

I only knew that old man as polite and courteous, but maybe he unexpectedly has an accurate eye for people…

But to use that to threaten me for help.

The narrow-minded Chae Geun-dam I used to think of no longer exists.

Well, anyway, they said the strategy team enters in 3 days, so I do need to go to the 51st floor again before then.

…No, my thoughts wandered again!

“Ugh, Lee Hae-won, seriously.”

I shook my head back and forth.

Maybe because I have so much to think about lately, my head has become complicated beyond measure, like a garbage dump.

Anyway, even if the Babel Management Bureau investigates Friendly Market, nothing will come of it, but I can’t keep running away forever.

Leaving it alone long-term would be too tiring, difficult, and exhausting.

For someone like me who aspires to a peaceful and leisurely daily life, this couldn’t be more harsh.

I muttered with a determined face.

“Alright then, let’s go meet Park Ji-woon.”

Unpleasant tasks should be finished in one go.

…Of course, I have no intention of walking directly into the Babel Management Bureau myself.

‘The one who needs something should come to me.’

As someone running the great Friendly Market, I can’t get scared before even starting.

* * *

Two days before the first guild alliance strategy team would enter.

Past 2 AM, the Hunter Management Office of the Babel Management Bureau still had its lights on.

Park Ji-woon stared blankly at the pile of documents stacked on his desk before letting out a deep sigh.

There was a mountain of work to handle before the 51st floor strategy.

Participant lists from each guild, equipment support status for the strategy, emergency medical staff deployment in case of emergency, etc.

The government was even demanding contingency plans in case the strategy failed.

“What a frustrating situation…”

Park Ji-woon drawled while spinning his pen.

Since becoming director of the Hunter Management Office, he’d been so busy he couldn’t even remember when he last left work on time.

He had to handle everything from rewards for Wolpae who suddenly cleared the 49th floor, to treatment of Aegis who gave up on the 51st floor midway but were reassigned to the strategy team.

He couldn’t show favoritism to any guild.

But no matter what decision Park Ji-woon made, there were plenty of people who viewed it negatively.

Of course, taking that backlash was also Park Ji-woon’s responsibility.

Anyway, solving problems and taking backlash was all part of the job, so it wasn’t a major difficulty for Park Ji-woon.

The Hunter Management Office’s work was filled only with unpleasant tasks anyway.

That didn’t mean Park Ji-woon was detached from everything though.

‘The most frustrating problem is the one I haven’t even been able to touch.’

Park Ji-woon blinked slowly.

The one problem Park Ji-woon couldn’t solve right now.

No, to be precise, the problem he couldn’t even attempt to solve.

Friendly Market.

It had been weeks since he sent the attendance request.

He understood that they made a big contribution to Wolpae solving the 49th floor, and that they had amazing abilities to build an unidentified building in the Tower of Babel plaza where construction was prohibited.

But the identity of its owner remained a complete mystery.

Over the past few weeks, he’d deployed all of the Hunter Management Office’s personnel to investigate Friendly Market, but they hadn’t gained anything.

It was just then, as Park Ji-woon was lost in thought with a furrowed brow.

Ring ring-

The sound of a phone ringing at 2 AM broke the silence and pulled Park Ji-woon from his reverie.

Park Ji-woon returned to his previous dry expression as soon as he answered the phone.

“Yes, I’m checking it now. I’ll send it as quickly as possible.”

The other party seemed to be on a different time axis than Park Ji-woon, acting as if they didn’t even know it was dawn.

Their voice was so energetic it bordered on irritable.

After the brief call, Park Ji-woon hung up and frowned again.

They wanted him to organize the strategy support item list he’d received in writing just 3 hours ago and send it within 5 hours.

No matter how imminent the strategy was, this was making a civil servant’s life twice as difficult.

Park Ji-woon swallowed a sigh and began rummaging through the stack of document envelopes on one side of his desk.

“…Hm?”

Among the numerous envelopes delivered today, one caught his eye.

A plain document envelope with crooked handwriting.

[To. Section Chief Park Ji-woon From. Friendly Market Manager]

“What’s this.”

Park Ji-woon muttered reflexively.

A reply had arrived from that Friendly Market that had been ignoring the Management Bureau’s attendance requests?

Even the writing on the envelope was ridiculous.

Not “To the Honorable Section Chief Park Ji-woon” or “From Friendly Market Manager,” but what was this “To” and “From” nonsense?

Even Park Ji-woon, who showed virtually no emotional changes, was dumbfounded enough to let out a hollow laugh.

Park Ji-woon slowly tore open the envelope and pulled out the contents.

Ugly handwriting that looked like it was written by a kindergartner who had just learned Korean filled an entire page.

[You sent me a summons. I’m only replying now because I checked it late. Oh, just in case, I wrote this reply with my left hand.]

The opening was already ominous.

[Sorry for making you wait so long. But I’ve been really busy with work.

However, since I work in the Tower of Babel, I understand the Babel Management Bureau’s suspicions. If you follow these conditions, I think I can agree to an interview.

First, Section Chief Park Ji-woon alone. No attendants or bodyguards. I faint when I meet unexpected people.

Second, no weapons allowed. Even though abilities can’t be used inside the information center anyway, please leave all equipment behind. I have a condition where I faint when I smell weapons.

Third, the interview must be under 30 minutes. I faint if I talk for more than 30 minutes.

Time: exactly 5 AM the day after this letter arrives. Location: the information center inside Babel Square on the 50th floor of the Tower of Babel.

Please make sure to follow what I’ve requested. Otherwise, there will be no meeting.

I’m looking forward to meeting Section Chief Park Ji-woon. See you tomorrow :)]

Park Ji-woon slowly read the ‘letter’ again.

Looking at the ‘:)’ at the end, they seemed to have no idea about the weight of this summons.

Besides that, there was the playful tone and the obviously fake illness about fainting that seemed like they were mocking him.

Still, this wasn’t the kind of reaction you’d expect from a typical criminal or dangerous person.

‘Is this person strange?’

Whether they had mental problems, or were being arrogant because they were confident they held the upper hand.

He couldn’t figure it out at all, so the wrinkles between his brows only deepened.

The gist of the letter was: if you want to meet, come alone.

The letter must have arrived yesterday, so 5 o’clock would be….

‘1 hour and 24 minutes left.’

This was probably chosen for when foot traffic would be lowest too.

Park Ji-woon put away the documents he had to send in a few hours and slowly prepared to leave.

It took a full 3 minutes to take off the glasses he always wore and place them on his desk, and remove his gloves.

That was all because Park Ji-woon’s mind was complicated.

‘They’re definitely a cautious person.’

Of course, the letter’s contents were full of ridiculous jokes, but the conditions they set were all carefully designed to protect their own safety.

The firm attitude of demanding he come directly instead of responding to the ‘summons’ was the same.

It rendered the attendance request meaningless.

It felt like they knew exactly that the Management Bureau had no grasp on the Friendly Market’s owner, and that they held the upper hand.

Choosing the information center as the location was clever too.

By principle, this was a proposal he should never accept.

But right now, Park Ji-woon had no other choice.

With the guilds uniting for the first time to attempt the 51st floor strategy, he couldn’t leave any unstable elements behind.

He had to confirm whether the Friendly Market’s owner was a dangerous entity, or an ally who could help as Wolpae’s guild leader had said.

‘…I’m curious too.’

Park Ji-woon touched his fingers, free for the first time in a while, and examined his true feelings.

What exactly was the skill that broke through the 49th floor, and what was the basis for the confidence to toy with a government agency like this.

This was the first opponent to make Park Ji-woon, who had no interest in worldly affairs, feel frustrated.

Park Ji-woon opened the quiet office window wide.

“Shall I go.”

Park Ji-woon quietly muttered to the night sky and lightly jumped out the window.

And in the ‘interview’ that followed, Park Ji-woon encountered a type of human he had never seen before in his life.

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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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