24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 86

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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 86

Episode 86. A Damn Unlucky Day (9)

How many minutes had passed since I maintained this meaningless standoff with Guk Min-seong, who was blinking and staring at me?

Guk Min-seong suddenly let out a snicker.

‘What? Why are his eyes like that?’

Empty, hollow eyes that felt scary in their vacancy.

I took a step back, feeling uneasy as if I was facing some crazy bastard who shouldn’t be messed with, someone who wasn’t to be taken lightly.

Guk Min-seong declared in a benevolent tone as if he had mastered everything.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“What, you crazy bastard…?”

I reflexively cursed in bewilderment.

This was the truth I had seriously contemplated before confessing!

I even had that embarrassingly nauseating thought like ‘I guess it’s okay to tell this guy!’

As I stared at Guk Min-seong with a dumbfounded expression, he very slowly shook his head.

“I was thinking it was something big, but it turned out to be fucking huge, so I don’t want to deal with it together anymore.”

“Are you insane…?”

“I didn’t hear anything. Now, the conversation ends here.”

Guk Min-seong clapped his hands once cleanly and started walking again.

I stood there blankly watching the back of Guk Min-seong as he trudged past me.

‘What is he trying to do…?’

Was it so absurd that it might not feel real?

I knew Guk Min-seong was originally a bit crazy, but I didn’t know he’d be consistently crazy even when faced with a major secret his friend was hiding.

He wasn’t even joking, so if he was going to pretend he didn’t hear it after listening, why did he whine so much?

“Hey, are you kidding? How can you pretend you didn’t hear this! I’m the Friendly Market manager!”

“The weather’s really nice, isn’t it?”

“I’m Lee Hae, who ranked first in contribution for conquering the 51st floor! Are you listening to me?”

“Since it’s snowing, don’t you want some fish cake soup? I’m reminded of that street stall’s fish cake soup I went to after discharge.”

“Excuse me?”

“It was snowing a lot that day too…”

“Who am I talking to?”

“Right. Lee Hae-won, do you know that the blood sausage soup place in front of our high school closed down?”

“Whoa, really? That place was a real restaurant… No! Are you really going to pretend you didn’t hear it?”

Only after I shouted loud enough to burst eardrums did Guk Min-seong stop abruptly.

The person who had resolved not to tell anyone had trusted him enough to confess the truth, but his reaction was like that, making me feel hurt in an uncharacteristic way.

My goodness, me feeling hurt by that bastard.

This was all because of Guk Min-seong trying to get past it in an absurd way.

Then Guk Min-seong slowly turned around.

“What, how did you want me to react? Honestly, does anything change just because I know?”

I hesitated at the question thrown at me calmly.

Thinking about it carefully, there didn’t seem to be anything that would change just because Guk Min-seong knew this fact.

He would continue to be a B-grade hunter working at Aegis and my high school friend, and he wouldn’t tell Ahn Yeon-seo about my identity either.

If I had to pick what I wanted…

“…It’s annoying that you’re pretending not to know when I’m fucking amazing.”

Guk Min-seong, who had been acting nonchalant the whole time, turned around with a disgusted expression.

“Crazy bastard.”

It was the look of someone staring at a thoroughly pathetic person.

I subtly cast my gaze into the distance and started walking slowly again.

Guk Min-seong soon matched my pace and walked alongside me.

“Right, how could I pretend not to know such a large-scale truth. You’re right. You’re not actually E-grade either, are you?”

“I am E-grade though.”

“…I really want to pretend I didn’t hear this.”

Guk Min-seong let out a deep sigh.

“Why? I’m not asking you to do anything for me, just know about it. Just don’t go telling others.”

“Is that easy?”

“If it’s difficult, we can write a contract. I have an S-grade contract I bought.”

“Are you sane?”

I am sane, which is why I’m rationally suggesting we write a contract.

If I answered like that, Guk Min-seong would probably cut ties with me, so I shut my mouth again.

Guk Min-seong, who had been walking quietly, muttered softly.

“My friend, who can do nothing but annoy people, is the Friendly Market manager…”

“That’s a bit offensive to the listener?”

“I’m trembling, trembling. Do you even know how big of a problem what you just told me is?”

“I know.”

Just the incidents I’ve experienced since my awakening have been quite varied.

What would he say if he knew I even went through a flood trying to help organize the 53rd floor conquest team?

“You’re E-grade but ranked first in conquest contribution, made Chae Geun-dam world-class. From S-grades to guilds and the Management Bureau, everyone’s going crazy looking for you. It’s fortunate you haven’t been caught yet.”

“…”

I quickly shut my mouth.

Guk Min-seong, who was only quick-witted at times like this, glared and asked.

“Have you already been caught?”

“No! I haven’t been caught.”

“Then?”

“Chae Geun-dam, Lee Hwa-yeon, Han Ro-mi, and well…”

“You’ve met 3 out of 7 people.”

“Nam Pu-reum and Park Ji-woon too…”

“The kid who said he wanted to live quietly has made quite a mess. If you were going to do that, why didn’t you meet our guild leader and Kim Seol too? That would be a full party.”

I couldn’t refute Guk Min-seong’s scolding tone of disbelief.

Since high school, I had a track record of saying I wanted to live thinly and long, without presence.

Even now, to say that’s still my goal, the path I’ve walked recently has been extraordinary.

I hastily added.

“But they all don’t know my identity. Even if we’ve encountered each other, they haven’t figured out that the manager is Lee Hae-won.”

“Really?”

“Oh, I met Nam Pu-reum when he barged into my house… so he might not be able to connect it to the manager.”

“…Barged into your house?”

Oops.

I glanced sideways at Guk Min-seong.

Guk Min-seong was looking at me with a rigidly hardened face.

Being a B-grade hunter after all, his eyes filled with hunter’s presence were ominous.

I shouldn’t have mentioned it so casually, but I spoke too nonchalantly.

Guk Min-seong, who had been staring at me quietly, sighed deeply and said.

“Get your head together, really. I told you. You can’t sense danger. That’s not comforting, it’s really dangerous, Lee Hae-won.”

“…I know.”

“You don’t know but you’re fucking good at answering.”

Guk Min-seong clicked his tongue briefly and added in a much calmer voice.

“I won’t try to stop you even though I know you’ll stubbornly do dangerous things even if I tell you not to. But think before you act. You pretend otherwise, but you really care about people.”

Knowing Guk Min-seong’s personality of not saying embarrassing things, I immediately recognized this as worry.

But since I made something like a contract with Park Ji-woon, I’ll have no choice but to put myself in dangerous situations going forward.

‘Still, I should be more careful.’

Until now, I had been so immersed in the fact that I was like a Babel kid, or super sidekick, that I never hesitated in any situation.

In the first place, thanks to the Merchant’s Mark, I don’t die inside the Tower, and everyone shows me a certain level of goodwill, which made it even more so.

That doesn’t mean my emotions are unaffected though.

That’s what Guk Min-seong properly pointed out.

I nodded obediently.

“So, how did you handle Nam Pu-reum barging in?”

“Ah! I’m in contact with Park Ji-woon.”

“…Are you flirting?”

“What kind of nonsense is that. Park Ji-woon is the only person who properly knows my identity. So we’re in a mutually beneficial relationship.”

“Ah.”

“Park Ji-woon said he’d take care of Nam Pu-reum too. It seems like Nam Pu-reum probably received a request and investigated my background.”

Perhaps because there’s nothing negative about Park Ji-woon’s public image, Guk Min-seong didn’t raise any particular objections.

Well, among the 5 rankers I’ve met, Park Ji-woon has the most upright image.

“But you know, about putting that background investigation on Karma. I think that was Ahn Yeon-seo. I must have seemed suspicious when we met last time.”

I threw out these words hoping Guk Min-seong might give me a hint on how to avoid Ahn Yeon-seo’s suspicion.

“…Hey, I don’t know about other things, but I can tell you this for sure.”

Guk Min-seong smiled with a sad face.

This means it’s hopeless.

“Secretary Ahn is a persistent person. Very severely so.”

“As expected. I knew it would be like that…”

“Just endure it…”

To think that what I chose was really the right path made me feel despair.

Now I want to quit dealing with slime mucus and just lazily sunbathe under the warm sunlight at Babel Square.

I let out a deep sigh and opened my mouth.

“That’s why I’m working part-time, to look ordinary. It’s already been ten days since I couldn’t go home.”

“Home? Don’t you live in that officetel?”

“Ah, didn’t I tell you? I live on the 3rd floor of Babel Square. The officetel I’m at now is for disguise.”

“Crazy. Lee Hae-won has made it big.”

“I’m a woman with her own place.”

While exchanging trivial talk, the tension that had been between me and Guk Min-seong melted away like snow.

Throughout our walk through the cold, Guk Min-seong asked about this and that.

By the time Kalashi’s tent was visible in the distance, we were talking about my brother.

“So, your brother might have had mysterious abilities like you too?”

“Yeah. It’s not just me, but it seems like Brother could also communicate with monsters. And isn’t the fact that he could go to other floors suspicious in itself?”

“You had no idea at all?”

“I didn’t know. He kept it completely secret from me.”

Even thinking about it again, it’s absurd.

I gritted my teeth and muttered ominously.

“Just let me meet him again. I won’t let it slide, Lee Hae-on.”

I could see Guk Min-seong shaking his head beside me, but I pretended not to notice.

“You didn’t hear anything from Brother either, right? You two often drank together without me.”

“Not really? He didn’t say anything that would be suspicious.”

Guk Min-seong shrugged his shoulders.

My brother and Guk Min-seong had been meeting occasionally since I went astray in high school.

I wasn’t particularly curious so I didn’t try to join them, and neither of them particularly invited me.

Well, if they had really talked about something meaningful, Guk Min-seong would have immediately asked me about it.

Now Kalashi’s tent was within exactly 1 minute’s distance.

‘Just how long were we outside.’

Minus 36 degrees is no joke, yet I had been standing outside for hours talking with Kus Arich and fighting with Guk Min-seong.

My nose bridge and cheeks were frozen as if they’d shatter at any moment, so warmth was urgent.

Perhaps feeling the same way, Guk Min-seong quickened his pace.

With our destination right in front of us, I also became impatient.

But then.

Guk Min-seong, who was about to rush into the tent, suddenly hesitated and turned his head.

“Ah, come to think of it, your brother once said something like this. He said you and he had an accident when you were young, right?”

“Yeah, when I was 8 years old.”

“He said that’s when both your and his lives completely changed.”

Well, it was such a big accident that our lives did change, but is this really something to discuss so seriously?

Then Guk Min-seong added in an uncertain tone.

“I don’t remember clearly, but… he said that you and he went somewhere else back then.”

At Guk Min-seong’s sincere face without a trace of lies, I answered blankly.

“…I did?”

Me?

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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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