24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 70

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

24-Hour Friendly Market Specializing in Dimensional Items Episode 70

Episode 70. On the Verge (4)

‘What the.’

Even before I could spot my brother, what first caught my eye was a massive island floating high in the sky.

The island floating near the sun seemed to be about the size of Yeouido… no, Jeju Island by my estimation.

As an avid reader of Babel Wiki and someone who had visited every opened floor due to my side job quests, this was a completely unfamiliar sight to me.

There wasn’t just one island floating.

The islands densely filling the sky appeared to number in the hundreds at a rough count.

The place where I was standing was also one of those countless floating islands, and below my line of sight, numerous islands filled the void.

The overwhelming feeling from this unseen landscape left me breathless.

What was most alien of all were the suns.

Having grown accustomed to seeing one sun that rises in the east and sets in the west, I had never seen so many suns before.

‘There’s not just one sun.’

As if each island was a different world, there were hundreds of suns floating as well.

It was as if each island had been assigned its own sun.

It was quite a while later that I thought of the fundamental question, unable to adapt to the scenery and standing there dazed.

‘What floor is this exactly?’

How high would you have to climb to encounter such a landscape?

Having completely forgotten why I had tried to read the feather’s memory, I was struggling with the surreal scene before my eyes when it happened.

Rustle-

When I jerked my head up in surprise at the PTSD-inducing sound of grass.

‘This place really looks amazing, doesn’t it?’

Someone’s voice reached me.

The back of my neck went cold.

It was a familiar voice mixed with low laughter.

It was a voice I had heard throughout my entire life, and also a voice I hadn’t heard for a year since I became alone.

Knowing it was unnatural even to myself, I turned my head with jerky movements.

The time it took to turn my head flowed so slowly that it felt even more surreal.

And what I saw was…

‘Still, we should see a lot to prepare, so don’t worry too much.’

I’m not normally someone who cries outside.

But just now I really almost lost control for a moment and shed tears disgracefully.

Worn hunter clothing that had been washed many times and a crossbag slung over one shoulder.

A face with a warm smile that suited his gently curved eyes well.

“…Brother.”

After throwing out a quiet call that wouldn’t be heard, I stared blankly at my brother’s face.

Unlike me, there was a kind face that naturally radiated a gentle aura before my eyes.

Two small dots below his right eye.

The faint dots that could only be noticed if you looked closely were one of the features that my brother and I both shared.

Seeing those dots made my heart feel even more complicated.

Then my brother spoke.

‘Let’s meet the friend on this island once, and then just visit that island over there, Sylphy.’

His target wasn’t me but another being in my brother’s memory.

My brother was looking downward and smiling affectionately.

Only then did I notice a small bird sitting on my brother’s bag.

The bird named Sylphy was smaller than my palm.

Sylphy preened her lemon-colored feathers while chirping, then lightly flew up and settled on my brother’s shoulder.

I had never seen my brother traveling with such a bird.

Was he having a conversation with that bird right now?

‘Has Brother gone crazy?’

No, I talk to Manti too, so…

Does my brother also have a translation skill like me?

Though my curiosity was burning, since I had to observe this situation from the thorough position of a bystander, there was nothing I could properly confirm.

I could only struggle desperately to remember everything I could see.

That’s when it happened.

‘What? Is night coming?’

The sky began to darken rapidly.

Panicked by the sudden darkness that came without any particular warning, I looked up at the sky and froze.

It wasn’t night, but because I realized something huge was flying this way with the sun behind it.

‘No way.’

No way, is my brother going to die here?

If I had thought about it a little more, I would have reached the conclusion that since the feather was brought as loot, my brother must have survived here safely.

But I wasn’t in my right mind at the moment.

I flailed my hands trying somehow to push away my brother’s body that I couldn’t touch.

Of course, there was nothing I could do.

However.

‘Yes, hello. I’m Lee Hae-on. I have something I’m curious about, may I ask?’

The massive monster that landed in front of my brother lowered its head hospitably and brought its forehead to my brother’s hand.

It was a monster I had never seen before.

The monster that left large footprints on the ground and shuffled its feet a few times rubbed its head against my brother’s hand once more.

A sharp beak like a bird of prey and large wings that created shade under the blazing sun.

I knew instinctively.

‘That’s a griffin.’

The original owner of the feather that was my brother’s loot.

My brother skillfully put his hand behind the beak to stroke the griffin’s nape and buried his face against it.

The naturalness of his actions showed that this wasn’t the first or second time my brother had done something like this.

I could hear him murmuring something quietly like a whisper, but I couldn’t make it out properly.

After whispering something for quite a while, my brother slowly lifted his head and brought his forehead to the griffin’s beak, speaking warmly.

‘I see, you don’t know either. That’s okay. Thank you for telling me.’

My brother’s attitude was consistently gentle and natural.

How on earth?

How did my brother come to a place like this?

How could he so casually have conversations with monsters?

‘Did my brother also have a title like mine that prevents monsters from attacking?’

But I can only access the opened floors.

Except for the Irregular Dimensional Market on the 75th Floor, it meant I couldn’t go to floors that weren’t yet opened in South Korea’s Tower of Babel.

‘If my Dimensional Door level increases, will I be able to go to other unopened floors too?’

Perhaps because I had just painfully realized the expandability of skills, my thoughts immediately turned to my own skill.

Thinking about it that way, it means Brother also has a skill similar to Dimensional Door.

“What exactly are you, Brother?”

I threw the question at Brother’s back as he rubbed his face against the griffin’s nape.

Of course, I couldn’t hear an answer.

I bit my lips, feeling both resentful and understanding toward Brother who had disappeared without telling me anything.

Since even I was hiding my identity, it would have been difficult for Brother to make a different choice.

But my head was still complicated.

In the meantime, Brother picked up something from the ground.

‘Is this a gift?’

It was a familiar object.

Brother, holding the feather, stretched his lips into a long smile.

Brother examined the feather, which was about the size of my forearm, turning it this way and that, then once again gently stroked the griffin’s nape with a soft touch.

The brief encounter ended there.

The griffin soon spread its magnificent wings and left.

I clearly watched Brother’s hair get disheveled by the wind from its wings.

After the brief meeting ended and the floating island became quiet again.

The dirt ground where the lion’s paws had stepped was deeply indented.

For some reason, Brother, who had been staring at it intently, looked at the yellow bird and muttered.

‘If it’s not on the 67th floor, it’ll be on the next floor, Sylph.’

Brother smiled brightly.

Just as I was blankly staring at that pure smile I hadn’t seen in a long time.

I was pushed out of the vision again and returned to reality.

Leaving the place where Brother had been, with his gentle face casually scratching the griffin’s wings.

To face Manti, who was looking at me worriedly with blue eyes.

-Are you alright?

Manti asked in an archaic tone, but I couldn’t really answer.

I didn’t know what to say, and I was just confused.

Without answering, I just pulled Manti into my arms.

The dignity-conscious cat was startled and tried to escape, but when I buried my face in his back and let out a quiet sigh, he soon stopped struggling.

I had thought he was dead, and if he was alive, I thought I’d be able to meet him someday.

Even so, I had been living well, enduring it all in my own way.

When I learned that Brother might not have died, I thought I could just composedly find my way forward like I had been doing.

But after really facing Brother’s face for the first time in so long, I felt quite restless.

I thought I’d never have to say such ticklish words out loud.

“I just… miss Brother.”

Manti, who had been quietly purring, placed his paw on my body and said softly.

-Family is truly a mysterious existence. You miss them when you’re together, and you miss them when you’re apart.

That’s right.

I hugged Manti a little tighter instead of answering.

-So, have you found your answer now?

“Just…”

I drew out the end of my words.

Actually, I hadn’t properly learned anything, and I only had many more things to be curious about.

But I had gained conviction about what I needed to do.

“Yes.”

Manti purred with satisfaction at my answer.

-That’s fortunate. I’m relieved that you’re at peace. I hope that peace will be with you for a long time.

I gently scratched Manti’s fur and smiled lightly.

Of course, I was thinking something different from the peace Manti was wishing for me.

‘I’ll find you, Lee Hae-on.’

When I faced Brother’s face, I was somewhere between emotion and a stuffy feeling, but after coming out and facing reality, how should I put it.

Should I say my fighting spirit increased a bit due to an inexplicable stubbornness.

I do miss him.

I do miss him, but the thought that comes more actively than that is.

‘You deceived me?’

Lee Hae-on, you’ve been deceiving me all this time, pretending to be a worthless low-rank Hunter, right?

Even with the ability to go up to the 67th floor?

He probably thinks everything will be fine if he just smiles kindly at me, but it was time to prove that I had grown up a lot.

When I meet him, I’ll make him cry and snivel.

“Sam-i, let’s buy some letter paper from the market.”

[⁕ What kind of function should I search for]

“Letter paper with no functions at all, just plain paper.”

After purchasing a bundle of 100 sheets of letter paper that Sam-i brought out, I quickly took out the letter paper onto the shop stall.

I decided to change all the decisions I had made so far.

Brother, who had just been one of the weakest Hunters with nothing special to show.

I would find out what such a Brother was doing on the 67th floor.

That was the only thing I needed to pursue.

I took a deep breath and composed myself.

Then I began writing the opening of the letter.

[Hello, Section Chief Park Ji-woon.]

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