24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 41

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

Dimensional Item Specialty 24-Hour Friendly Market Episode 41

Episode 41. Lee Hae Universe (5)

“……It’s difficult, you say.”

Park Ji-woon quietly muttered, repeating my words.

Then he began tapping the table very slowly.

It was a regular rhythm that seemed like he was either trying to calm his mind or keeping time.

After moving his lips for a while, Park Ji-woon sighed and asked.

“……May I ask the reason?”

It was a politely respectful question, but it was the most out-of-character behavior Park Ji-woon had shown so far.

A hesitant appearance.

His expression was complex, as if I couldn’t tell what kind of calculations were going on in his head.

“Reason? Well, does a refusal need an explanation?”

I shrugged and asked back.

“It sounds like you’re saying you’ll break the law.”

“I don’t intend to. But now that you mention it, I suppose it could sound that way?”

“You should answer carefully. I haven’t made a judgment about what kind of person you are.”

At those sharp words that sounded like a final warning, I closed my mouth.

How much more would I need to talk here to remove that suspicion……

‘I’m being way too suspicious right now.’

Hmm, I admit it.

Unless I revealed my circumstances, the possibility of Park Ji-woon understanding me right now would converge to negative.

Of course, having lived an ordinary life, it was unlikely that I would break any laws.

But I had already violated regulations like ‘prohibition of unauthorized commercial districts within the Tower of Babel’ and ‘mandatory prior notification when entering new floors of the Tower.’

Of course, this was something I had to accept as unavoidable since I had gained the unheard-of title of ‘Open Market Manager.’

But I couldn’t confess here that I had to secretly go back and forth to new floors.

I decided to just push forward with the concept of a shameless, cheerful merchant.

“All these conditions are decided through negotiation, right? But the last condition is one I can’t accept.”

“‘Can’t accept’ means…… there’s another reason.”

This is why I hate perceptive people.

I tilted my head slightly and changed the subject.

“If I ever, just if! Very unavoidably! have to act against regulations, I’ll tell the Babel Management Bureau first! So we won’t be uncomfortable with each other!”

When I passionately made my case, Park Ji-woon frowned.

“That’s not prior notification, that’s unilateral notice, isn’t it?”

“Wouldn’t that be better than you finding out later and cursing about being stabbed in the back?”

“The fact that even those words can’t be trusted is the weakness of this deal, isn’t it?”

Can this person not continue a conversation without saying “isn’t it?”

He was very upright.

Even more upright than Chae Geun-dam.

‘But this side is shameless, you know.’

I protested with an aggrieved tone.

“That’s hurtful, Section Chief? We’ve been talking for such a long time, and you don’t trust me at all?”

“It hasn’t even been 30 minutes.”

“Hey, 30 minutes is enough. I completely trust you, Section Chief?”

“How can I trust you? I haven’t found out anything so far.”

Park Ji-woon was thoroughly steeped in distrust toward me.

For a person to be so inflexible, poor Hae-won is the only one suffering.

I leaned forward just like Park Ji-woon.

Seen up close, Park Ji-woon’s eyes had a reddish tint.

It was a delicate aura that seemed like it would enchantingly lead you into danger if you stared at it carelessly.

Who would have known that those sunken eyes hidden behind crude glasses would be such dangerously bewitching eyes?

‘Get it together, Lee Hae-won.’

Don’t be mesmerized by this man’s gaze!

Instead, I smiled slyly and whispered.

“I didn’t lie. It’s true that I’m not dangerous.”

As if chewing each word carefully.

A tense atmosphere filled the information center, which was safer than anywhere else in the world.

Even saying this, he probably couldn’t completely trust me.

I slowly added one more thing.

“I want to maintain a very positive relationship with the Babel Management Bureau, you know.”

The fact that I could bring clear benefits to both the Babel Management Bureau and South Korea was something that didn’t require belief or disbelief.

The tension between one who came knowing this and one who already knew didn’t need to be maintained for long.

Park Ji-woon, who had been staring at me intently for a while, muttered in a dry tone.

“It would be best to end the conversation here.”

“Oh, is it a bust?”

“Not that, but.”

Park Ji-woon cut off his words while pressing his forehead.

His fingers with prominent knuckles seemed to show Park Ji-woon’s quite sensitive nature.

“Besides the conditions we’ve discussed so far…… other matters seem to require separate discussion. It’s not something I can decide alone either.”

‘Phew, I got over one hurdle.’

I let out a sigh of relief quietly enough not to be heard.

“I’ll come visit again.”

My shallow reason caught me as I was about to reflexively say no.

“Please contact the information center in advance before coming. Then I’ll give you an answer.”

“Let me ask just one last thing.”

“Go ahead. Since the deal ended successfully, I can answer about one thing as a courtesy.”

“Courtesy……”

Deep fatigue appeared on Park Ji-woon’s face as he muttered as if dumbfounded.

Since I had been answering carelessly, he must have gotten quite tired dealing with me.

But the question this serious guy threw out was an even more outrageous question.

“Are you human?”

……What did he say?

I was so dumbfounded that my thought process stopped for a moment.

I barely managed to ask back without stuttering.

“What do you mean?”

“If you’re not human, you don’t need to answer.”

After throwing out such an absurd question, Park Ji-woon was calm.

Are there really non-human beings mixed in with South Korea?

……I wanted to ask that outright, but I was currently pretending to be a suspicious manager of unknown identity.

Park Ji-woon was too suspicious to drop the act.

I shrugged and answered.

“I’m human.”

At my clean answer, a strange light appeared in Park Ji-woon’s eyes, which had looked tired the whole time.

I don’t know what’s so great about that to make him look so relieved.

‘How suspicious.’

For fragile me to survive, there are far too many suspicious things in this truly harsh world.

But just for today, I didn’t want to continue any more tiring thoughts.

I added with a voice mixed with laughter.

“I don’t lie.”

* * *

As soon as Park Ji-woon closed the information desk door and left, I groaned and threw off my mask.

“Haaah…….”

The inside of the information desk maintained a comfortable temperature, but cold sweat had beaded up inside the mask.

Alessandro asked with a worried tone.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Just had my energy drained a bit.”

Park Ji-woon decided to prepare documents and visit again later.

I said I’d become Hae-won Martinez when I meet that person again, but a surname is nothing.

‘I’ll change it, whatever.’

Since he probably got a rough idea of what kind of person I am, the next meeting should be a softer situation.

Alessandro, tidying up the chairs and table like a proper middle manager, muttered his impressions.

“He was a strange fellow. I couldn’t even sense that unique aura that humans naturally possess.”

Alessandro seemed to have been just as tense as I was.

Come to think of it, even after talking for a full 30 minutes, I couldn’t reach a conclusion about what kind of person Park Ji-woon was.

No, how can a person be that calm?

And consistently so for 30 minutes straight while being provoked?

I really wanted to applaud his retreating figure.

“Still, I think this ended pretty well. We didn’t lose anything either.”

“You were impressive too. How can you speak so annoyingly well? Truly fascinating.”

“Right? I was super nervous, but from the middle I thought of myself as the master of this world and spoke frantically.”

“Haha, so that’s how it was. I almost forgot we were on the same side and nearly hit you.”

Alessandro slapped his thigh and burst into hearty laughter.

“……What did you say?”

“Hmm?”

“What?”

Look at that shameless attitude of beating me up with words then playing dumb.

Such an excellent attitude befitting Friendly Market’s middle manager…….

That’s when it happened.

Ding!

[Open Market Manager ‘Lee Hae-won’ was not bewitched by ■■■■■■.]

[This is the first Achievement accomplished in ‘Dimension-Earth’.]

“What’s this now?”

“Sorry, I misspoke.”

“No, not you, mister.”

“Ah, mister…….”

My eyes widened at the window that suddenly appeared.

I had seen something about Achievement accomplishment when awakening titles, but I thought that was a special event celebrating the awakening.

‘Babel gives Achievement accomplishments too?’

I stuck out my tongue at this tower that was like an onion with endless layers.

Let me think, think.

As Alessandro acknowledged, Park Ji-woon is an incomprehensible person.

In the midst of that, some entity looked into me through Park Ji-woon and even tried to bewitch me.

‘Could it be that red aura I saw?’

As expected, what looked dangerous really was dangerous.

I had resolved to control the situation, but I almost ended up dancing in Park Ji-woon’s palm.

“I really need to be careful with Park Ji-woon…….”

As I muttered that and shook my head.

“So what will you do now? It seems like it’ll take a while for him to prepare the documents.”

“Ah.”

Alessandro was looking at me intently with a somewhat sad expression.

“Now…….”

What should I do now?

I pondered briefly, but the answer came quickly.

“I need to go to Floor 51.”

“Again?”

Alessandro asked in surprise, putting down his broom.

“Didn’t you fail to ask that manager person anything about Floor 51? Isn’t the lack of information still the same?”

That’s true.

According to the original plan, I was supposed to casually ask Park Ji-woon about Floor 51, get some information, and enter Floor 51 like a triumphant general.

But what can you do when Park Ji-woon isn’t an easy person?

If I had asked about Floor 51, Park Ji-woon would have been certain.

That Friendly Market’s manager would help clear Floor 51’s scenario.

“What can I do.”

I shrugged and answered.

If I couldn’t find out about the scenario?

I’ll just repeat entering until I start in the human territory.

A fantastic fifty-fifty gacha!

There’s absolutely no reason to avoid it.

People need to know how to think positively!

“Is there a reason you absolutely must go?”

I hesitated for a moment.

“There’s a Tower of Babel on Floor 51, and I need to get information about it. The Tower of Babel from a dimension that’s already perished.”

“…….”

I answered calmly, but there were faces rising in a corner of my heart.

The beastkin who had been kind to me, Echo and Onak.

Even though we hadn’t been together for long, I couldn’t shake my curiosity about whether those two had survived safely.

Of course, I don’t want to reveal these feelings.

Such weak emotions could become a weakness.

I smiled broadly and added.

“That way our dimension won’t perish, and neither Alessandro nor I will lose our home.”

Alessandro didn’t ask any more questions, and I stepped outside the information desk, waving lightly.

“I’ll be back.”

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