24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 67

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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 67

Episode 67. On the Verge (1)

Do you know the meme of the raccoon washing cotton candy?

Raccoons have the habit of washing everything they eat in water, so when given cotton candy, they diligently wash that too.

The cotton candy naturally dissolves in water, and the raccoon, suddenly left empty-handed, stares at the water’s edge with an expression that has lost both faith in humanity and passion for life.

A truly despairing expression.

…That’s my expression right now.

Staring blankly at the azure sky and verdant grassland, I shouted in an incredulous tone.

“No, where did it go?”

The ‘Sacred Ruins Pillars’ are here, but there’s no Tower of Babel in the center.

Was it there?

No, it’s not.

It’s just not there.

It was a peaceful scene that made me look like a complete fool for rushing here with high expectations about what this world’s Tower of Babel might look like.

The Magic Tower people wouldn’t have lied in their report, and according to what was written in the report, the Tower of Babel should definitely be here.

But the tower is nowhere to be found, and there’s only flattened grass as if something had stepped on it, with some egg-flower-like blooms scattered here and there.

Unable to even curse and swallowing my anger, I suddenly stopped at a thought that occurred to me.

“Wait a minute.”

Flattened grass?

I furrowed my brow and examined that spot carefully once more.

Looking closely, the grass was flattened in a circular shape, just enough to fill the pillars completely.

As if something had been there and then disappeared.

I muttered blankly.

“…It was originally here.”

It’s not just that it wasn’t there, but it really was there and then disappeared.

My head started to throb at this unexpected possibility.

Could it be that when a scenario is cleared, the Tower of Babel disappears along with it?

In scenarios before the 50th Floor, the Tower of Babel didn’t exist at all, and it first appeared on the 51st Floor, so there was no way to confirm.

There’s nowhere else to ask either.

Because our country is the only one in the world that has cleared the 51st Floor!

After pondering for a while, I had no choice but to address an unreliable source.

“Sam-i, earn your keep for once.”

Go somewhere and check if the Tower of Babel disappears when a scenario is cleared.

[⁕ That information cannot be confirmed 🙂 Shall I search the market for you?]

“Ugh.”

Sam-i, appearing after a long time, was as useless as ever for questions outside of the market.

As expected of the expected.

I want to give it a smack, but it doesn’t even have a body so I can’t even vent my frustration.

Anyway, though I don’t want to believe it, there’s only one conclusion.

I’ll have to check when a scenario is in progress.

The 51st Floor is a lost cause now, and I could check when the 53rd Floor opens, but.

“Ah, I don’t want to do any more dangerous things.”

I shook my head back and forth.

Right now, all of South Korea is desperately searching for who ‘Lee Hae’ is, so secretly infiltrating an ongoing scenario is itself a very dangerous gamble.

For now, I sat down with my back against one of the Sacred Ruins pillars.

Thinking about what to do doesn’t immediately produce an answer.

Honestly, if it were up to my feelings, I’d want to just pretend I don’t know.

I’d want to keep waiting for the conquest team to solve it, even if they use up Babel’s grace period to the very end.

But that’s not something I can control.

‘Ugh, I’m anxious.’

Since it’s about dimensional destruction and all that, not checking feels unsettling too.

As you know, each floor of the Tower of Babel is a dimension that has already been destroyed and become the stage for a scenario.

I had a strange sense of responsibility to check what state the Tower of Babel is in just before a dimension is destroyed.

It’s morally quite difficult to play dumb about content that only I on Earth might know.

“Whew-.”

After letting out a deep sigh, I leaned the back of my head against the pillar.

The sky is blue and the air is cool and pleasant.

“Only my mind is complicated and going crazy…”

I fumbled around and opened my inventory.

The Magic Tower’s Tower of Babel materials, which I had thrown in haphazardly thinking I wouldn’t see them for a while, had become a strange bundle of papers.

Why did I bother taking this out?

Half because I wanted to deny the possibility that I might crash-land into a scenario again now that the Tower of Babel had already vanished, and half because I thought I should find clues even from the Magic Tower materials.

…To be honest, I was also a bit curious.

Though it’s embarrassing, reading Babel Wiki thoroughly was my hobby.

There’s nothing as new and interesting as records of Babel from another world.

While spreading the materials on the ground and roughly organizing them to look nice, I discovered one title.

[Record of Anomalous Phenomena Occurring During Tower of Babel Exploration]

“What’s with this Neapolitan-style title?”

Don’t tell me there are Neapolitan ghost stories in other dimensions too?

Feeling both absurd and amused, I casually picked up the material and realized it wasn’t some Neapolitan ghost story-type anomaly, but meaningful documentation that recorded truly witnessed anomalous phenomena and estimated results.

[…The beings called ‘Masters of the Tower’ are not singular, and they observe those who climb the tower.

…They designate ‘■■■’ and ‘■■■’ in order to establish Babel.

…Clearing the tower is merely ■■, and may also be determined by the Masters of the Tower’s satisfaction level.

…This information is based on testimony from earth-attribute mage Claude Hayden who survived the 32nd Floor. Claude Hayden is presumed to have been trapped in a gap connecting the tower and the outside due to an unexpected attack during the 17th exploration of the 32nd Floor, and recalled part of the voices that flowed through the gap.]

So this is a record from someone who glimpsed the true nature of the Tower of Babel?

Every word is meaningful, and it feels like something I absolutely must know.

Though my heart beat irregularly like arrhythmia because of my trauma with ■, anyway, this is all material that will become flesh and blood.

I knelt on the ground and bent over to read each small letter carefully.

[However, there are doubts about the credibility of Claude Hayden’s testimony. Claude Hayden had mental illness at the time and had a history of being expelled from the Magic Tower for frequently making false statements. After the exploration, his condition deteriorated extremely, showing seizure symptoms such as rambling incoherently.]

“…Huh.”

Was he… insane…?

‘That’s not strange.’

You can tell just by looking at South Korean hunters that tower life isn’t easy.

I was nodding my head knowingly when I suddenly scrunched up my face.

But why of all things.

‘Did they have to honestly record that it’s not credible!’

What am I supposed to make of myself, reading this record with sparkling eyes as if it were a ray of light?

If they hadn’t mentioned credibility, I would have just said let’s trust what the old person said and gone with it double-time.

The credibility I had was evaporating, leaving me feeling like I’d become completely empty-handed.

Just in case, I read every last character of the records carefully, but nothing changed.

“Ah- these trustworthy Magic Tower people, really.”

I sighed as I put the documents down on the floor like I was throwing them.

In the end, there was no other choice but to go see Floor 53 myself.

To reach this conclusion, it really couldn’t be anything but sad.

Right, if I can’t change the future, at least let me prepare for it.

I began organizing what I needed to prepare for the future, recalling the various things I experienced on Floor 51.

Even if I don’t participate in the scenario, there’s a good chance I’ll encounter hunters, so I’ll probably need a higher-grade robe.

Remembering how I froze up seeing Remy’s end, it would be good to have one really good performance potion as an emergency backup.

And…

“I think I’ll need an offensive skill too.”

It was fine when I was a perfect sidekick, but it would be troublesome if an accident happened like on Floor 51.

It would be nice to have an attack magic skill stone or defensive artifact that could protect my body.

‘Am I not a J type?’

I’m being too systematic and planned.

“Creepy.”

Just as I was admiring my own extraordinary mind.

“…”

I began to hear murmuring sounds from somewhere.

This isn’t a place where human voices should be heard?

Thinking I might have misheard, I craned my neck out.

Beyond the pillars of the sacred ruins where a peaceful breeze still blew.

A dot in the distant plains was moving.

“What’s that?”

I got up from my seat and frowned as I stared at that dot.

The very faint dot multiplied from one to several, then became dozens and grew to the size of rice grains.

And at a very fast speed too.

Suddenly the back of my neck felt cold.

This was a place where there was absolutely no reason for people to come, since the Tower of Babel had disappeared and the village itself had been devoured by erosion.

‘They’re not looking for me, are they?’

Even without evidence, my intuition was telling me.

Those rice grains were coming here in droves looking for me.

I hastily shoved the Magic Tower materials I had scattered around into my inventory and hurriedly climbed onto Nokgacheon.

I didn’t know who those people were, but I couldn’t stay in the middle of these ruins.

The only place to hide nearby was the wooden buildings that had become ruins, but I entered a half-collapsed building for the time being.

Then I took out the Explorer’s Eye, an item that had been useful even in the Magic Tower.

The still grotesque eyeball floated in the air.

In addition to that, I took out Park Ji-woon’s attendance request that had been shoved in a corner of my inventory.

Then I pointed to the mark with the Tower of Babel’s image and commanded.

“Go see if there’s a Babel Kingdom mark stamped on them. Don’t set off any alarms when you go.”

After giving strict warnings, I held my breath and observed the approaching people.

“This way…”

“Definitely… right…”

I could hear voices a little, but the distance was far so I couldn’t properly make out what they were saying.

But really, if it’s the Babel Kingdom, how did they know to come looking for me?

‘I hid my face though?’

At that moment, unbelievably, a loud sound began to be heard from far away.

Beep- Beep- Beep-

At the fierce alarm sound that shook the peaceful grassland, the startled people instantly went into alert mode.

‘Shit.’

Of course I was startled too!

The Explorer’s Eye kept beeping without any sense.

“Over here! Someone is spying!”

“Scatter immediately and find that man!”

…Damn!

Those people really did come looking for me!

Moreover, the Explorer’s Eye was obviously eyeball-shaped and was beeping while looking at them, so of course they’d think it was surveillance.

I smacked my forehead and squeezed my eyes shut.

Ha, that’s just an item, but I stupidly forgot that it doesn’t have an AI like Sam-i installed.

[⁕ Yes, did you call me? :)]

“Get lost!”

I snapped irritably and looked at the Babel Kingdom employees’ movements again.

No. Maybe they’re looking for some other suspicious person instead of me.

“What does he look like?”

“He has a kind impression and handsome face, so you’ll recognize him immediately when you find him.”

I covered my mouth.

It’s Lee Hae-on!

I don’t particularly want to admit it since we’re blood-related, but Lee Hae-on is on the handsome side.

In the first place, there aren’t that many people in the world who can be told they ‘look virtuous.’

I could be confident that the Babel Kingdom was targeting Brother’s face specifically.

But how does the Babel Kingdom know Brother’s face?

I only went around with Brother’s face inside the Tower, and not many people saw that face…

As I rummaged through my complicated thoughts, I thought of exactly one suspect and dry-washed my face.

A person with a face that seemed to hate getting involved in troublesome matters, who seemed to have no motivation at all, so I hadn’t worried about them.

I gritted my teeth.

“…Han Romi!”

This traitor!

We have comradeship from scrubbing turtle shells together!

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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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