24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 6

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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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Dimensional Item Specialty 24-Hour Friendly Market Episode 6

Episode 6. Potion Seller (1)

A dizzyingly tall building high enough to overlook the entire panorama of Seoul.

B-rank Hunter Ahn Yeon-seo stepped off the elevator and hurried her pace.

Soon entering the CEO Office located on the top floor, Ahn Yeon-seo immediately bowed politely at the waist.

“CEO, I have an urgent report.”

The person who looked up at Ahn Yeon-seo’s call was a young man.

Despite his neat appearance, he was casually radiating an enormous presence – his name was Seo Jae-hyuk.

The leader of ‘Aegis’, which firmly held first place among South Korea’s major guilds, and someone who had never once relinquished the number one spot in the domestic hunter rankings.

He was also someone that Ahn Yeon-seo, who held the supporter title, had been following for over five years.

Seo Jae-hyuk, who had been sitting quietly with his eyes closed, asked dryly.

“What is it?”

Though it was a perfunctory tone, Ahn Yeon-seo immediately noticed.

‘He’s in an extremely bad mood.’

Very, extremely, seriously bad.

That meant Ahn Yeon-seo had to prostrate herself flat.

S-rank Hunters usually keep their presence contained.

It was an unspoken courtesy to consider lower-ranked hunters who often suffered internal injuries from being crushed by that presence.

However, Seo Jae-hyuk didn’t seem to have any intention of maintaining such courtesy right now.

‘It’s because of the 49th Floor after all.’

Ahn Yeon-seo swallowed dryly and barely managed to step inside.

It had already been six months since South Korea reached the 49th Floor.

But neither South Korea nor any other country in the world had managed to break through the 49th Floor.

Even South Korea, which was supposed to conquer the world with a single game, had been experiencing failures for six months, and among them, Aegis had suffered three painful defeats.

The number of deaths was beyond counting.

The media fearlessly pressured S-rank Hunters asking ‘when will you clear the 49th Floor’, and guild members pushed into the tower kept dying.

It was natural for Seo Jae-hyuk to be in a bad mood.

‘Nothing will change just because I’m considerate, so let me just do my job.’

Ahn Yeon-seo placed the documents she had brought on the desk and began speaking.

“The reward for breaking the 36th Floor record, you remember it, right?”

“Of course. The Sapphire Ring.”

Seo Jae-hyuk tilted his head slightly and answered, as Ahn Yeon-seo’s words seemed too out of the blue.

Unlike other floors that gave scenarios, the 36th Floor required enduring endless monster waves.

Mainly B-rank and A-rank monsters appeared, and the maximum number of people who could enter at once was five.

Additionally, two absolute restrictions were imposed.

First, healing abilities were sealed regardless of type or effect.

Second, potions could not be brought in from outside.

It was a floor that had to be overcome using only the hunter’s individual abilities and physical capabilities.

“Why are you bringing up the Sapphire Ring?”

The Sapphire Ring, an A-rank reward given for breaking the 36th Floor record, was an item Seo Jae-hyuk had used for quite a long time.

It had an effect that increased stats by 10 percent, so he consistently wore it until he cleared the 45th Floor.

He only disposed of it after obtaining an S-rank ring with better effects, so it was an item he had used for quite a while.

It had been more than three years since he put it up for auction, so why was he suddenly bringing up the ring?

Seo Jae-hyuk’s curiosity was immediately resolved.

“The market price of the Sapphire Ring has dropped by half.”

“…What?”

That couldn’t be.

There were only three Sapphire Rings currently available in the South Korean market.

The hunter who first cleared the 36th Floor had one, the hunter who broke the record next had one, and Seo Jae-hyuk, who maintained the unbroken first place record to this day, had put out one.

It wasn’t common enough for the market price to drop by half overnight.

“Don’t tell me rings came in from overseas?”

Items secured by each country going outside was nearly impossible.

This was because high-quality items directly enhanced hunters’ abilities, so governments strictly controlled external exports.

It would make sense if illegally imported goods from overseas had come in, but…

Ahn Yeon-seo firmly shook her head as if she had expected Seo Jae-hyuk’s question.

“The 36th Floor record was broken.”

“Where? Baekdan?”

The Baekdan Guild was frighteningly chasing after Aegis.

Though it felt bad, since it was a guild maintaining second place in the rankings, breaking the 36th Floor record wouldn’t be impossible.

“Not Baekdan, nor any top guild.”

“…”

“The record was broken eight times by different new guilds. They were all project guilds.”

“…What did you say?”

Seo Jae-hyuk frowned and asked again.

Not because he didn’t understand, but because the situation made no sense.

This was a record set by Seo Jae-hyuk, who had never been pushed from first place even once since his Awakening.

There was no way someone stronger than him had appeared while he wasn’t paying attention, and new guilds rather than guilds within the top seven?

Eight of them at that?

“What happened? Were there high-grade awakened individuals?”

“No. They were all B to C-rank, with the occasional A-rank mixed in.”

“…Then how?”

Could they break the record of S-rank Seo Jae-hyuk?

With this unsolvable mystery, Seo Jae-hyuk stared intently at Ahn Yeon-seo.

But Ahn Yeon-seo didn’t add any further explanation.

Then he had no choice but to find out directly.

“The person who broke the record most recently, can I meet them?”

“I thought you would say that.”

Ahn Yeon-seo opened the CEO Office door as if she had been waiting.

“I brought him.”

A man had been trembling outside the door, though it was unclear how long he had been there.

Ahn Yeon-seo kindly gestured for him to come inside and continued speaking.

“Name Kim Min-soo, age 38, Awakening grade B. Title ‘Frost Blade’. Ice attribute close-combat dealer position. He belongs to a new guild that cleared the 36th Floor two days ago.”

“Kim Min-soo.”

“Y-yes?!”

Kim Min-soo answered stammering.

He had definitely been happy until yesterday.

He had put the Sapphire Ring up for auction and made an enormous amount of money, bought new smartphones for his beloved daughters Yeon-ji and Gon-ji, and was hearing them say ‘Dad’s the best’!

Now Seo Jae-hyuk was looking down at Kim Min-soo with the eyes of a predator that had found prey.

Though he felt like he couldn’t breathe, Kim Min-soo barely managed to hold onto his sanity.

“How did you break the record?”

“Th-th-that is. I, well…”

Even though Kim Min-soo knew he had to answer properly to survive, he fumbled around.

Having lived an ordinary life, he had never had occasion to face an S-rank Hunter, so this was his first time feeling crushed by such presence.

Kim Min-soo had only hesitated for 10 seconds, but.

“Never mind.”

Seo Jae-hyuk stood up from his seat and muttered coldly, as if even that wait was irritating.

Then he slowly approached the trembling Kim Min-soo.

“I’ll find out.”

The last thing Kim Min-soo saw was Seo Jae-hyuk’s eyes glowing golden.

* * *

“Hello, my name is Chun-ja. I’m an E-rank supporter who will be joining you today. Please take care of me!”

I’m Chun-ja today.

“If you’re a supporter, what exactly do you specialize in? You do know healing doesn’t work on the 36th Floor when you applied, right?”

“Of course. I can give you buffs! Mana Optimization!”

“What’s Mana Optimization?”

“It’s a buff that helps you use mana more efficiently.”

“Oh? That sounds really useful?”

Even lies improve after telling them ten times.

Looking at the boar-like tanker’s face brightening up, I gave him a gesture asking him to trust me.

The boar smacked his lips after seeing my double thumbs up.

“I can also tank if the situation gets bad.”

“How can we make an E-rank tank? We’re not that desperate.”

“Ahaha…”

I shamelessly laughed while scratching the back of my neck.

Actually, I’m the most specialized talent for tanking among all of them.

That boar could even use me as a shield to fight.

Though he probably wouldn’t want a shield that screams and expresses its ego when it hurts.

“But Chun-ja, why are you covering your face?”

I felt someone’s gaze, and it turned out to be the ponytailed woman who was the ranged dealer looking at me.

Just like the person I met in the previous party, I don’t understand why everyone’s so interested in this little mask.

‘Kim Min-soo, was it.’

He was memorable precisely because his name was so ordinary.

Anyway, I touched my 2 Gold mask that fit perfectly on my face and answered pitifully.

“Ah, I have a big scar on my face.”

Feeling sorry for touching on a non-existent wound, the ponytailed woman pressed her lips together awkwardly.

“It’s fine. You don’t need to worry about it.”

I’m a very generous person after all.

This mask is just a cheap item I hastily bought from the market to avoid being recognized.

While grinning under the mask, I turned my head at the words of someone making a fuss beside me.

“But is it really true? That new records on the 36th Floor keep getting broken lately?”

The one who brought that up was the dual-sword warrior who was the close-range dealer.

…It’s not that I want to call him that, but he personally asked to be called a dual-sword warrior.

But usually dual swords… do you use a dagger and a longsword together?

Just as I was seriously pondering this sudden question, another close-range dealer reacted with excitement.

“That’s right! Originally Seo Jae-hyuk was first place for years, but it’s already changed five times!”

It’s exactly eight times.

‘And today will be the ninth time.’

That close-range dealer was a high schooler who had awakened a week ago.

Looking at his flashy light green dyed hair, the world must look very green to him.

Meanwhile, the boar stepped forward to organize the chaotic atmosphere.

“Records keep getting broken but no information is being released, so it seems like something has changed on the 36th Floor. Our goal today is to set another new record.”

Everyone nodded along with the boar’s serious expression.

The party I joined today is a new guild called ‘Force Suppression’, and our target is, as expected, the 36th Floor infinite monster wave.

The name Force Suppression is bizarre enough, but there’s a reason I specifically chose this place.

As the boar said, it’s a guild temporarily created to conquer the 36th Floor.

We’re not particularly curious about each other, and once we clear this floor today, we’ll never see each other again!

“Should we go in?”

The boar muttered while placing his hand on the Tower of Babel.

And soon, standing in front of the blue portal that appeared, the boar shouted to the temporary guild members behind him.

“Let’s do this. Don’t get hurt, and let’s just achieve our goal and get out.”

A determined face as if carrying all the world’s burdens alone.

His serious words made even me tense up…

‘As if that would happen.’

I casually nodded and stepped into the blue portal.

These people won’t get hurt or tired today.

[Open Market ‘Friendly Market’ Ι Administrator ‘Lee Hae’]

As long as they become generous customers to me, that is.

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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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