I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 109

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

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109 – Foundation
109.
I was furious.
Being around Lee Sung-hun made my anger burn so intensely that restraint felt nearly impossible.
I wanted to devour him whole.
I wanted to tear him to shreds.
I wanted to hear his anguished screams, saturated with suffering.
Yet I did not.
I held back.
Instead, I gave Lee Sung-hun a path to live an honest life.
It wasn’t because I had grown fond of him.
I did it because I was concerned about Ramil, who would be left behind.
Ramil felt exactly like me.
He had a father, but it was the kind of existence you could neither see nor touch—just like mine.
A father who was always a burden rather than a help—just like mine.
Ramil didn’t even know his father existed,
and even if Lee Sung-hun died here, it wouldn’t matter to Ramil at all,
but there’s a world of difference between being unable to see something and it not existing at all.
I wanted to help Ramil.
I wanted to extract every last ounce of value from Lee Sung-hun.
I wanted to give Lee Sung-hun a hellish life, and Ramil hope.
So I thought about it.
What if his father sent child support?
What if he sent a fixed amount every month?
Wouldn’t that change Ramil’s life, even just a little?
Wouldn’t that ease the expression of someone bearing the weight of the world’s every worry?
With that thought, I sentenced Lee Sung-hun not to blood revenge, but to a lifetime of labor.
Blood revenge could come anytime.
At least Lee Sung-hun wouldn’t be able to leave Mindanao without my permission.
Ramil would start earning money soon enough,
but what a ten-year-old mixed-race Filipino who couldn’t even attend school properly could earn
and what a Korean man in his forties with surveying skills could earn were in entirely different leagues.
I wished Ramil could rest in his father’s shadow,
but if that wasn’t possible, I hoped he would grow even by consuming his father’s blood and flesh.
I chose Ramil’s laughter over Lee Sung-hun’s anguished screams.
Whether this was right or wrong, I didn’t know.
All that remained was for each of us to live out our newly unfolded lives in our own way.
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.
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“Is everyone here?”
For once, all the executives and employees of Candy Group had gathered in one place.
Sandro, Patrick, Scott, Simon, Dennis, Ana, and Tian Zihao.
Edward was excluded—he was busy with Assand production and had no direct involvement in this matter.
I also excluded the Korean staff: Kang Jae-ho, Lim Yu-na, and O Eul-tteum.
But exceptionally, Seo Dae-hun attended this meeting.
I began by offering my apologies to them.
“I’m sorry. I don’t represent South Korea, but at least as a Korean, I want to apologize to the Philippines. I only learned about this through Lee Sung-hun—that there are so many Kopinos in the Philippines.”
Kopinos.
Kopino is a portmanteau of Korean and Filipino, referring primarily to second-generation children born between Korean fathers and Filipino mothers.
To put it more simply, it’s a phenomenon that arises when Korean men who come to the Philippines meet local women, sleep with them, and then fail to take responsibility even when the woman becomes pregnant.
They come to the Philippines for tourism, business trips, language studies—meet local women there, and end up sleeping with them.
Up to that point, there’s nothing wrong.
No problem at all.
But as a result, children are born.
No one even knows how many children have been born this way.
According to recent statistics, there are over 40,000, though even that figure isn’t accurate.
The real problem is that no one takes responsibility for these children.
It had already become a social issue in the Philippines.
I was apologizing for that aspect.
I felt ashamed and thought I should apologize.
I felt I needed to convey at least my sincere regret.
“I can’t solve the Kopino problem entirely, but I want to do what I can.”
“What exactly are you planning to do?”
Surprisingly, Sandro responded with cynicism.
“I want to establish a foundation first to help those struggling with their lives. For those who need education, I want to provide them with educational opportunities.”
“How? With money?”
“Well… wouldn’t it have to be money? Or maybe vouchers or something like that.”
“Have you never considered that money might end up going toward their mothers’ drug habits?”
“Then instead of direct payments, we could entrust it to an organization, or we could pay educational fees on their behalf…”
“You’re going to manage every single Kopino when you don’t even know how many there are? You’ll need to hire more staff.”
I didn’t like Sandro’s cynical response.
I thought he’d be pleased and supportive when I said I wanted to help Kopinos.
I hadn’t anticipated this kind of reaction.
That’s why I was even more flustered.
I was at a loss for words.
We’d gathered to discuss this, after all.
Noticing my reaction, Sandro spoke in a somewhat gentler tone.
“I’ll accept your apology for now. I don’t represent the Philippines either, but… I think I was being too sensitive. Sorry. But this can’t be approached with such a soft plan. You need to plan this much more carefully—double and triple-layered safeguards. Only then can the benefits actually reach them. Otherwise, at any moment, institutions, the government, parents, or even local thugs will skim off the money. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
I do.
I know well.
It happened in the Congo.
If you give a child a chocolate bar because they’re cute, they end up getting beaten and robbed instead.
I never even got to taste a single bite of that chocolate bar—I just got beaten for it.
That’s why later on, I had to eat everything in front of my own eyes.
It seems to be similar here.
Clumsy charity and assistance can become targets of crime.
“My mother died that way. A thief heard rumors that our family received financial aid and shot her dead. That’s right. I was a Britpino, you see.”
At Sandro’s words, we all fell silent.
Not a sound echoed through the conference room.
Only silence filled the space.
Hearing Sandro’s story, I finally understood his reaction.
He truly wanted to approach this carefully.
He truly wanted to find a way that would genuinely help.
I felt a bit ashamed of myself for feeling resentment toward Sandro, even for a moment.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know, Sandro.”
“It’s okay. I hadn’t told you, so how could you have known? Don’t apologize. And Alex, I want to actively help you with this business. I just don’t want the money ending up in the pockets of corrupt officials.”
“Right. I understand. Let’s plan this carefully.
.
.
.”
From that point on, we began the serious meeting.
Perhaps because of Sandro’s confession, everyone participated earnestly and actively.
First, everyone agreed to establish a Foundation.
We needed a single channel for money to flow in and out.
Now opinions varied on what kind of business the Foundation should undertake, but Sandro offered a suggestion.
“What if we built a town from scratch?”
“A town? You mean we should build a village?”
“Yes. There’s already one in Dalapaanan—the Rebel Forces’ settlement. If we built a town like that, I think it would be great, don’t you?”
I was somewhat taken aback by the sheer scale of it.
“I’m not talking about building an entire city. If we offer jobs, people will come. We build a school to educate them, build a hospital to provide basic medical care, and I bet quite a few would come. We just need to create some basic infrastructure—they should be the ones to develop it from there.”
Sandro added his clarification as if to prevent misunderstanding.
Now that I thought about it, the population in Mindanao had already increased significantly.
Simply because there was insurance and a job that provided a salary.
Creating jobs isn’t difficult.
Both Kang Jae-ho and Dae Yeon Development are already struggling with labor shortages.
“If we gather everyone in one place, it provides some comfort, we can provide support all at once, and it seems like it would work well, doesn’t it?”
Now that I thought about it, it seemed like a very good idea.
“Good. Let’s proceed. Should we build the town in Mindanao then?”
“It shouldn’t be too far away, so I’ll look into land near Zamboanga. And if we pursue this as a policy of Zamboanga City, we can receive subsidies and administrative support. Especially when it comes to attracting schools and hospitals.”
Patrick replied.
“Does anyone have a different opinion?”
“I’ve heard there are quite a few children without birth registrations. What if we help them get registered by verifying their information?”
“Is there any way they could obtain South Korean citizenship? In the Philippines, just having Korean citizenship would be incredibly valuable.”
“Then while educating the children, we should teach them Korean as well. It would be strange if they had Korean citizenship but couldn’t speak the language.”
“And we could give scholarships to the top-performing students and send them abroad to study. To South Korea.”
“Since most of the guardians are mothers, we’ll need to create many job opportunities for women.”
“It would be good to implement a communal childcare system.”
Various opinions emerged.
Every single one was a sound idea worth considering.
We decided to pursue them all.
But then, unexpectedly, Dae-hoon spoke up.
“But there’s been no discussion about what to do with the ones who caused this mess in the first place.”
“Huh?”
“The bastards who abandoned their kids here and fled back to South Korea. The ones who don’t send child support and pretend they don’t know anything. Shouldn’t we collect child support from them as well?”
Dae-hoon spoke with a sinister smile.
.
.
.
After a long meeting, things were sorted out to some degree.
First, we would build the town, and Patrick would handle the administrative procedures.
Kang Jae-ho and Dae Yeon Development would oversee the town’s construction.
Patrick and Simon would look into creating jobs and factories.
The Foundation’s necessary funds would be invested by legitimate business operators including the Casino, Resort, TrustBit, Candy Tour, and the Construction Company.
I had originally intended to put in my own money, but Ana opposed it, saying that once laundered money entered here, it would only complicate things further.
She said that with money coming from legitimate businesses, we could explain the funds, receive tax benefits, and increase brand value.
She said the gains would be far greater.
Sandro would be responsible for recruiting and vetting the people who would move into the town.
Tian Zihao agreed to help create a database during that process.
Based on the database Tian Zihao created, Dae-hoon would track down the biological fathers in South Korea.
He would collect all the unpaid child support from them.
******
“Base, this is Echo One. Target spotted. Repeating: target spotted. Target spotted.”
“Roger. Target confirmed.”
The Ministry of State Security agents lying in wait at the Emerald Resort became busy.
The target they had been waiting for had finally appeared.
All the agents kept their eyes on the target, afraid of losing him.
Team Leader Li Qingwu, who was monitoring the scene through cameras, announced to all units via radio.
“All units, listen up. As of now, we are preparing to execute Operation Seamless Transfer. Report as soon as you’re ready.”
Seamless Transfer
An operation called “Traceless Transfer” began.
At Li Qingwu’s command, the agents sprang into action.
Not just the agents stationed undercover at the Emerald Resort.
The agents waiting outside grew busy as well.
“Alpha Team. Target package ready for transport.”
“Delta Team. Vehicle transport prepared.”
“Zero Team. Transport aircraft ready.”
“Ops Team. Operation ready to execute.”
“Operation Traceless Transfer commences now.”
At Team Leader Li Qingwu’s order, the agents began moving with utmost discretion.
******
After the meeting ended, I didn’t head back to my suite. Instead, I made my way to the garden.
To a secluded corner at that.
Before I came to Bohol, Sandro had said something to me.
“I’ve been seeing some strange people around. They look like agents—probably Chinese operatives. So don’t go over there. We’ll handle it.”
Of course, Sandro and the executives could have handled it, but I was curious.
I wanted to know what the hell these bastards were up to, causing all this commotion.
That’s why I decided to come to Bohol.
The moment I arrived at the hotel, I could tell immediately.
Eyes watching me from every direction.
‘Wow, quite a turnout.’
Still, I had to attend the meeting first.
As soon as the meeting about establishing the town ended, I headed to the garden.
I prepared my inventory so I could pull out guns, blades, and grenades at any moment.
I was curious how these bastards would react.
I wanted to hear what they had to say.
The moment I turned the corner in the garden,
The instant I stepped out of sight,
People appeared suddenly. I’d expected it, but far more of them materialized than I’d anticipated.
Without a word, they gagged my mouth and pulled a hood over my head.
They bound my hands behind my back and secured my feet with cable ties.
I couldn’t resist, couldn’t utter a single word of protest. I was completely restrained.
These bastards must have practiced this a lot.
Did they train every day just to capture me?
With this many people working on one target, things could get messy, but they subdued me with flawless efficiency.
I’d anticipated it, but it was rougher than expected. I wasn’t pleased.
I thought someone would appear and we’d talk, and if that failed, they’d try to overpower me.
I was planning to play along, pretending I couldn’t resist.
But they just bound me without saying a word.
I’m slightly irritated.
Once I stopped resisting, they began searching my belongings.
They conducted a thorough search of my entire body to ensure I wasn’t carrying any weapons.
They confiscated my phone, wallet, and cards, and even checked whether a GPS device was hidden anywhere on my person.
After confirming everything was in order, the Ministry of State Security agents placed me in a laundry collection cart and loaded me directly into the van.
The van, already running, began moving at high speed.
The blindfold covering my eyes and my hands bound behind my back were uncomfortable.
And worst of all, the gag in my mouth meant saliva kept dripping down.
It was my own saliva, but it felt disgusting.
I’d undergone training for this sort of thing before, but after so long, irritation washed over me.
I couldn’t even scratch when something itched.
Based on the direction and speed of the vehicle, it seemed we were heading toward the airport.
How could they possibly board me onto a plane in this restrained state? It wouldn’t be easy.
And I don’t even have my passport.
Surely they didn’t prepare an actual plane just for this?
They prepared a plane just to take me somewhere?
If they had that kind of money, they could’ve just asked me to come. I would’ve gone if they’d booked me first class.
The vehicle slowed down, bumped along for a moment, then came to a stop.
Were they going to take me out now?
I was curious about how they planned to transport me.
The vehicle started moving again.
But the speed wasn’t that of a normal vehicle.
It was much faster.
And this sensation of lifting off.
That tingling feeling in my knees.
The exact same sensation I’d felt when I got nauseous on a plane before.
Wow—these bastards actually prepared a real plane.
They must have loaded the van carrying me directly into a transport aircraft and departed as is.
I give up trying to figure this out.
It’ll take a while to reach China from here anyway. Might as well get some sleep.
.
.
.
Thud.
The aircraft touched down on the runway with a heavy thud.
Soon after, the plane began decelerating with a screeching sound.
Looks like we’ve arrived.
I’d tried to sleep, but the uncomfortable position prevented me from getting proper rest.
Stingy bastards didn’t even serve in-flight meals.
Once the plane came to a complete stop, the van’s engine started up.
I had no choice but to be transported somewhere else again.
Far, so far away.
.
.
.
“Let me go.”
The van arrived, and I was dragged somewhere else and forced into a chair when I heard voices from somewhere.
Only then was the blindfold removed from my face.
When bright light flooded in all at once, I couldn’t help but squint my eyes.
Still, I opened my eyes just enough to examine the surroundings and confirm where I was.
Should I call it a reception room in a luxury home?
Or should I call it an Office?
Long sofas faced each other, and behind them was a bookshelf.
A large desk was positioned in front of the window.
From the view of trees visible through the window, I could infer that this was the first floor.
Based on its appearance and size, it seemed to be one of the safe houses.
They roughly removed the gag from my mouth.
Such crude men.
I simply spat the saliva I had been holding in my mouth onto the floor.
There was nothing I could do about the gag.
What was I supposed to do about saliva forming?
The stiff-looking man sitting in front of me frowned at the sight but said nothing.
I sat in the chair with my hands bound behind me and my feet tied.
Around me, three agents stood about a step away to guard me.
Thinking the situation had stabilized, the man in front of me spoke.
“Thank you for coming all this way. I called you here because I have something urgent to discuss.”
But I didn’t listen to his words.
In the meantime, I cut the rope binding me with a wire cutter and fired the gun at the agents guarding me.
Pft. Pft. Pft.
Three shots were fired, and the three agents guarding me collapsed.
The man saw this and was startled.
I looked at the man and asked back.
“So what were you saying? What did you say?”

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

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