24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 8

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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 8

Episode 8. Store Opening Event (1)

The day after clearing the 36th Floor with ‘Force Suppression’.

I headed to the Tower as soon as I woke up early in the morning.

Compared to the previous Quest that required completing 100 transactions, this newly given Quest seemed fairly easy.

‘I should solve it quickly if I can.’

The goal of this Quest was to establish an offline branch.

The Intermediate Station refers to the neutral zone on the 25th Floor of the Tower of Babel where Awakened can freely come and go.

It was like a terminal where you could easily travel between the 1st and 24th floors.

“Wait, it’s called an Open Market, so why am I establishing an offline branch?”

[⁕ Gaining various trading experiences as an Open Market Manager is very important work. You could say it’s Babel’s arrangement for you, Manager :)]

“What a load of arrangement nonsense.”

Right now this guy is talking as if I’m receiving some great treatment, but I don’t even have the energy to argue back.

Delusions are free, I guess.

As I sighed and shook my head, hunters armed with various equipment began appearing one by one.

This meant we were almost at the Tower of Babel.

‘I hope I can clear this Quest quickly.’

It took a full two weeks to clear the second Quest.

I could flood the Tower of Babel with all the sweat I poured out.

…Of course, compared to how hard I worked, I actually look like a grimy beggar.

During that time, I couldn’t even do daily part-time jobs while clearing Quests, and it was because Sam-i strongly advised me not to exchange Gold.

[⁕ You’ll need a lot of Gold when progressing through job Quests, so it would be better to postpone exchanging it :)]

As a result, I earned 100 million won during the Quest, but I don’t have a single penny in my pocket…

I tried to get involved in splitting the Sapphire Ring payment, but Sam-i stopped that too.

The transaction I made on the 36th Floor was likely to be classified as an ‘abnormal phenomenon’, so I shouldn’t leave any unnecessary loose ends.

Well, if that’s the case, at least tell me in advance how much I’ll need.

It’s not like I wanted a large amount – just about 500,000 won would be enough.

‘Once this Quest is over, I’m definitely exchanging all the remaining money.’

I calmed my boiling insides and thought realistically.

If I exchange it, I could move to a jeonse instead of monthly rent, right?

The landlord has been constantly nagging me about when I’m moving out, which has been stressing me out.

First, since I need to come to the Tower of Babel often, it has to be in Seoul.

Still, since I’m living alone now, I don’t need a two-room place anymore.

If I get too greedy, things might collapse quickly, so I’m planning to be satisfied with modest things.

“…Is jeonse really modest though?”

As I made a tsk sound while reflecting on the contradiction, Sam-i spoke to me.

[⁕ By the way, how did you obtain the Gryphon Feather? :)]

“Brother’s keepsake.”

I answered briefly and stood in front of the traffic light.

This Sam-i bastard, I thought he only explained market manuals.

‘Quite an advanced artificial intelligence.’

Making me recall memories of Brother that I had deliberately pushed to one side of my mind.

Come to think of it, if I move, Brother’s space will completely disappear too.

‘The feather wasn’t the last thing after all.’

Brother’s final trace wasn’t the feather, but the house we lived in together itself.

My eyes became moist in an uncharacteristic way, so I blinked with deep emotion.

Brother who practically carried me on his back and raised me after I lost half my memories following our parents’ car accident…

That was brief though, as my wistful sentiment was immediately cut off by Sam-i’s words.

[⁕ Gryphons are quite dangerous monsters, and in Babel they’re one of the monsters that mainly appear on high floors. They’re monsters that only appear around the 50th Floor Range :(]

“That can’t be… what?”

They only appear around the 50th Floor Range?

“That can’t be right.”

I muttered in a dumbfounded tone.

The dumbfoundedness of someone who realized a fact they were completely unaware of.

South Korea’s hunters had been stuck on the 49th Floor for six months after clearing the 48th Floor.

That means they haven’t even been able to reach the 50th Floor.

It suddenly occurred to me that even I, an avid reader of Babel Wiki, had no memory of seeing an item called Gryphon Feather.

‘I had never even seen records of a monster called Gryphon before, so why was I forgetting that?’

I just thought it was a pretty feather, but never once thought to find out what kind of feather it was.

“Really?”

[⁕ I cannot lie :)]

…Right, what would you gain by lying.

‘Then where on earth did Brother get that feather?’

I considered the possibility that Brother bought it from an Awakened market, but that couldn’t be right.

No country in the world had cleared the 49th Floor in the first place, and no country had reported the appearance of monsters called Gryphons.

Most importantly, Brother had said this when he brought it in.

‘It’s loot I got today.’

Brother definitely said ‘loot’.

Sam-i might not know, but Brother doesn’t lie.

Lee Hae-on, who lost his parents at 16 and was dropped into the world with his little sister, didn’t have time to despair.

He constantly worked hard to properly raise his 8-year-old sister who was naive and acted childishly.

There was no way such a brother would lie.

‘How is this possible?’

Then does this mean Brother went to the unopened 50th Floor?

He had such ability but still died in a C-rank Gate?

“I need to look into this.”

I turned my steps toward the convenience store.

Finding what I was looking for easily in the fairly spacious convenience store, I emptied my pockets.

What if no country on Earth has reached the 50th Floor Range?

I know one polite cat whose favorability maxed out with just one Churu.

* * *

[Manti, instead of the salmon flavor Churu I sold last time, I got chicken flavor Churu in stock. Want to try it?]

As soon as I entered the 25th Floor, I sent a message and surveyed the surrounding scenery.

This system that lets you send messages to people you’ve traded with is really useful.

Of course, the recipient isn’t a person but a cat.

Well, for now I’ll put aside the complicated feather problem that’s tangling up my thoughts until I get a reply.

Today I came here to set up shop.

“Oh.”

But the scenery of the 25th Floor that I’m seeing for the first time is somehow extraordinary.

It was completely different from what I had imagined.

First of all, it was way too crowded.

“They called it Ba-man-jang, and it really is.”

I thought people were just casually calling it the Babel Tower Meeting Plaza.

Since it’s a transportation hub where you can freely travel between floors 1 through 24, there wasn’t even room to step with all the people coming and going.

I knew that lower-ranked Awakened ones gathered stats by re-conquering floors where they get reset, but.

‘Would there really be this many people?’

There are so many people it’s getting on my nerves.

I walked around looking at my surroundings with an unfamiliar feeling.

Various facilities were situated within the massive hall-shaped space.

‘It’s just like a highway rest stop.’

The giant pillar emitting blue light in the center of the space must be a Warp Gate for inter-floor travel, as people were lined up waiting their turn.

Perhaps having escaped while being chased by monsters, occasionally someone would come out of it retching.

And at the edges, strongholds of the Upper Guilds were established.

‘Are they forward bases for conquering?’

The signboards bearing each guild’s emblem and the guild members responding in front of them looked like something you’d see outside.

“…But where exactly am I supposed to set up shop?”

I blinked with a bewildered expression.

There really is no space here.

Since my title is ‘Open Market Manager’, I thought I’d be the only one who could do business on the 25th Floor.

But.

“Fresh potions made this morning! Only 3 Gold each!”

“Jerky for long-term conquering available here!”

“Selling conquest tips for floors up to 24!”

“Urgently needed armor available here!”

“…”

There are as many stalls as there are people passing by.

“Are you kidding me!”

Except for the paths where people walk, everywhere is packed with people selling goods piled high on their stalls.

I can understand Alchemists selling potions and food, but why the hell are they selling armor and conquest information!

[⁕ Being able to open a proper shop on the 25th Floor is the Open Market Manager’s privilege 🙂 First, try to find a good spot.]

…Well, I really can build something different from others, right?

Even if I look this shabby, I still have an EX-rank title, don’t I?

I looked around for a long time before letting out a deep sigh.

It’s not that there’s no space. But…

“…I really like that spot.”

That spot where an Alchemist with black hair has set up three tables selling potions.

It’s a spot you can see right when you come out of the Warp Gate, and people going in also peek at it at least once.

“It’s prime real estate, prime real estate.”

Selling potions there, you could sell thousands a day.

But a person has to have principles – I can’t destroy the livelihood of a small business owner who’s been out since early morning working hard selling potions.

[⁕ Do you like that spot? :)]

I answered Sam-i’s notification window casually.

“I like it. It would be good to set up there. When that person finishes business and goes home, then I’ll build…”

That’s when it happened, before I could even finish speaking.

[12,000G will be deducted.]

[Opening ‘Friendly Market’ Store #1 on Dimension-Earth I Zone-South Korea Babel Tower 25th Floor.]

“What? You crazy…!”

Rumble-

An ominous sound coming from somewhere.

Before I could even finish speaking, the spot where the Alchemist was standing began rising up on its own.

“Ahhh, what is this-!”

…The Alchemist’s sharp cry gradually grew fainter.

The neat sky-blue wall that rose from the floor stretched up endlessly.

In the blink of an eye, clean windows and doors were properly attached, and the height where it finally stopped was about that of a 2-story building.

A light sky-blue, perfectly square building had suddenly appeared.

The three tables that had been neatly arranged with potions in their own order ended up on the rooftop of the 2-story building that Sam-i had created.

Since a building had suddenly appeared in the 25th Floor where stalls and people had been naturally mixed together, all the surrounding people’s attention was focused on it.

“What’s that, all of a sudden?”

“A building suddenly appeared?!”

People who had been busily passing by stopped walking and murmured.

The Alchemist looking down from the rooftop of the suddenly risen building shouted as if dumbfounded.

“What is this, what the hell is happening-!”

I just stared at that scene and muttered blankly.

“You crazy bastard…”

I had forgotten for a few days that the guy called Sam-i doesn’t have the kindness to confirm other people’s intentions.

[⁕ From Babel Tower’s perspective, all the merchants on This Floor are criminals illegally occupying space :)]

Hey, if you’re going to say stuff like that, at least don’t smile.

You said you’d help me, but continuously making me angry is also a talent.

“I said after that person finishes business. Are you stupid?”

[⁕ Since you said you liked it, I took that as agreement to proceed :)]

“…”

I had completely forgotten that working with a free version AI requires training it with numerous commands.

I said while suppressing my boiling anger.

“Sam-i, from now on don’t act without my approval. Ask me and only proceed when I say OK.”

[⁕ Yes, I will follow the Manager’s instructions. Memory update completed :)]

At least it answers well.

Still, if I keep training it like this, maybe it won’t cause accidents like this anymore.

Meanwhile, from the rooftop came the wailing of the Alchemist who had lost her base in an instant.

“Oh, I made this this morning… *sob*…!”

Her voice was loud and her situation was pitiful.

It was heartbreakingly sad.

Ow, my conscience.

[⁕ Opening your store will complete the main Quest :)]

In the midst of all this, Sam-i tactlessly urged me to complete the Quest again.

“*Sob*, my potions…!”

I squeezed my eyes shut.

“This is driving me crazy.”

How am I supposed to open a shop right now, you clueless guide…

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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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