I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 112

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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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112 – The Signal
112.
Itaewon.
A bar located in the basement of a hotel.
In a private room, Charlie Park was drinking leisurely with his subordinates.
“Charlie hyung, please allow me to pour you a drink.”
“Good. Let me accept a drink from our youngest.”
The youngest, dressed in a designer shirt that hugged his frame, carefully poured the drink while Charlie watched with a satisfied expression.
For Charlie Park, this moment today held immense significance.
Today was the day the 27-ban Gang would be reborn.
Today was the day he would fire the signal flare of resurrection.
Before the Dae-hoon Faction seized control of Seoul, the 27-ban Gang had been a thriving organization in Itaewon.
It was known as an organization flush with money.
This was because Charlie, the boss of the organization, had been smuggling drugs.
He had made substantial profits by distributing drugs to foreigners in Itaewon’s clubs and bars.
Hearing rumors of Charlie Park’s wealth, people flocked to him.
That was how the 27-ban Gang was formed.
Charlie had believed this happiness would last forever.
It seemed as though this happiness would never end.
But the golden age proved far shorter than expected.
For Charlie, who had walked only a path of flowers and lived in eternal spring, winter arrived in the form of the Dae-hoon Faction.
As the Dae-hoon Faction took complete control of Seoul, the 27-ban Gang was absorbed into it.
The 27-ban Gang was merely a gathering of thugs who dealt drugs, not fighters.
They knew how to talk big and throw chairs around, but they had never experienced real combat.
In contrast, the Dae-hoon Faction’s military strength was overwhelming and razor-sharp.
The 27-ban Gang didn’t even bark once—they entered the Dae-hoon Faction like obedient dogs.
Charlie Park had no reservations about joining the Dae-hoon Faction.
He actually thought it was better.
He believed he could receive the Dae-hoon Faction’s protection.
He would continue smuggling drugs,
while receiving protection in return.
But that was where the problem began.
The Dae-hoon Faction completely banned the distribution of drugs.
They warned that anyone caught dealing would forfeit their life.
But Charlie was not the type to stop distributing just because of a warning.
He was the Charlie who had evaded police pursuit to distribute drugs.
Secretly distributing drugs behind the Dae-hoon Faction’s back was child’s play.
The Dae-hoon Faction couldn’t possibly know about his covert operations.
Drugs were consumables anyway.
Once used, there was no evidence.
I just need to deny it.
I can insist that someone else did it.
Critically, without drugs, the 27-ban Gang has no way to generate income.
The organization was built on drug sales, and without them, it’s nearly impossible to sustain.
Drugs were the 27-ban Gang’s identity.
So I tried to keep distributing them in secret.
But then.
All the smuggling routes disappeared entirely.
There were several smuggling routes, and every single one vanished.
No matter how hard I tried to find new routes, none appeared.
It turned out that the Dae-hoon Faction had blocked all the smuggling routes.
‘What the hell…’
There were people willing to buy and people willing to supply, but no one to make the deliveries.
So I couldn’t sell the drugs.
From Charlie Park’s perspective, there was nothing more infuriating.
Those who had clung to the 27-ban Gang for money abandoned it.
Though the Dae-hoon Faction had only recently taken control of Seoul, the 27-ban Gang had clearly shrunk.
Not much time had passed, yet no one remained in the 27-ban Gang.
Only Charlie Park was left.
Then one day, welcome news arrived.
A new route had opened up on the East Sea side.
A passing cargo ship would quietly drop off goods at the East Sea and continue on.
It was the most welcome news I’d heard in recent times.
I immediately closed the deal.
I paid far more than usual, but there was no choice.
The situation was that urgent.
And the drugs needed to circulate quickly.
That’s how the 27-ban Gang would survive.
To run smuggling operations, I needed organization members.
I brought in guys I’d worked with and knew by face.
Promising them they’d make good money.
Today was their first gathering dinner.
Normally I wouldn’t come to a hotel bar like this, but I needed to show some face.
With no income for a while, I shouldn’t be at a place like this, but today was special.
“By the way, hyung, how did you become so fluent in English?”
The youngest one asked.
“Me? I’m a study abroad graduate, aren’t I?”
“Really?”
“I studied English during six months of language training in the Philippines, that’s how.”
“How did you become so fluent in just six months?”
“You can’t improve just by sitting around. You need to make friends and keep talking and listening to them. What’s the fastest way to do that?”
“What is it?”
“You need to get a girlfriend. Stick with a girlfriend 24 hours a day and you’ll improve right away.”
“Oh~ You’re truly remarkable.”
“Hah. Those were the days. That place was really something. I miss it.”
That was when it happened.
The door burst open and a group of men entered.
“If you liked it so much, should I send you back there? Park Doo-chul.”
“Who’s Park Doo-chul? Damn it. Charlie! It’s Charlie.”
Charlie stood up and approached the man as if to kill him.
But upon seeing the man’s face, Charlie became a well-behaved dog and bowed respectfully.
“Welcome.”
Jung Geun-su had arrived.
.
.
.
A moment later.
Charlie and Park Doo-chul had their heads pressed against the long table in the room, while his organization members knelt on the floor without understanding what was happening.
Park Doo-chul groaned continuously as if in pain.
But that was all.
He couldn’t even dare ask what was going on or why he had come.
When the 27-ban Gang was absorbed into the Dae-hoon Faction, he had followed without even a whimper.
Charlie and Park Doo-chul were the type who could scheme behind the scenes but couldn’t make a peep in front of their superiors.
“Park Doo-chul, do you know why I came here?”
At Jung Geun-su’s question, Park Doo-chul broke into a cold sweat.
Had he already been caught for the smuggling deal?
But he hadn’t even completed a single transaction yet.
Fear gripped him.
“I… I’m not sure, sir.”
“How can you be so blind to what’s happening in the world? You should at least watch the news, shouldn’t you?”
Jung Geun-su handed him a newspaper.
As Park Doo-chul tried to stand up to look at it.
“Who told you to stand up? Press your head back down.”
Park Doo-chul had no choice but to press his head back down.
Standing up and then pressing down again made the pain feel twice as intense.
The newspaper slid under his face as his head remained pressed against the table.
“Read it out loud. Go ahead.”
“Yes, sir.”
He answered, but he couldn’t read it.
How could he see the newspaper under his face while his head was pressed down?
“You studied abroad, so you can’t read Korean? Should I get you an English newspaper instead?”
“No, sir. I can read it.”
Park Doo-chul broke into a cold sweat, straining with superhuman effort to piece together the characters.
“Co… pinay… tears… Korean… fathers… do you… know about this.”
“Keep going.”
“Philippines… women… and Korean… men… between them…”
Park Doo-chul labored through the article, while Jung Geun-su listened with an impassive expression.
After a considerable stretch of time, Park Doo-chul finally finished reading the piece with great difficulty.
His entire body was already drenched in sweat.
Jung Geun-su helped Park Doo-chul to his feet, though he remained kneeling on the table.
“Park Doo-chul. After reading this news, doesn’t anything strike you?”
Jung Geun-su spoke, but the blood that had rushed to Park Doo-chul’s head suddenly drained away, leaving him dizzy.
He looked as though he might collapse at any moment.
He couldn’t think of anything at all.
“Pardon?”
“I’m asking if anything comes to mind while reading the article.”
“I… I’m not sure, sir.”
“So your brain’s rotten, and your memory’s just as bad. Will you understand if I show you this?”
Jung Geun-su showed Park Doo-chul a photograph of Charlie Park with a local Philippine woman.
Still dizzy, Park Doo-chul couldn’t recognize the photo at first.
But after a moment, he could see his own face clearly in the image.
“Gasp… where did you get this photo…”
“Will you understand faster if I show you this as well?”
Jung Geun-su handed Park Doo-chul a photograph of a young girl.
After staring at the photo for a long time, Park Doo-chul finally seemed to grasp the situation.
A Pinay article. A photo with a Philippine woman. And a photo of a young girl.
Presumably, this was his daughter.
Park Doo-chul couldn’t believe this situation.
He had never even known he had a child.
If he did have one, he should have been contacted.
Of course, no contact information had been given to him.
He had even discarded the phone number he’d used in the Philippines.
Still, shouldn’t he have been reached somehow?
“Doo-chul.”
“Yes, hyung.”
“No matter how much garbage we do or how we live like thugs, we should still fulfill our human duties, shouldn’t we?”
“Yes, sir.”
“From now on, I’m going to help you fulfill those duties as a man.”
“What do you mean, sir?”
“The easiest way in the world. Money.”
“What? Money?”
“Child support you should have been paying all this time. Transfer it to the account written there.”
Jung Geun-su pointed to the numbers displayed on the tablet.
Park Doo-chul, upon seeing those figures, gasped in surprise and questioned him.
“Isn’t this number wrong? That’s far too much for child support···.”
Crack.
In an instant, Park Doo-chul’s jaw snapped to the side.
“So when I try to make you human, you start barking? If you think there’s a problem with the number, bring me the correct one. We’ll calculate it together. If you have no objections, send it by this week.”
“······”
“And that amount listed there is back child support. You’ll keep paying child support going forward, right? Send 200 a month. Your kid needs to go to school. With money enough for luxury brands that don’t even suit your station, your child won’t be scavenging garbage to survive. Reflect on yourself. Understood?”
“······.”
“Answer me.”
“······ Yes.”
“And that new route you opened up—I’ve shut it down. I told you not to deal drugs, yet you couldn’t comprehend it. I’d love to cut something off, but since you need to work and earn money, I’m letting it slide. However, if you fall behind on child support, I’ll start removing unnecessary parts. First your tongue, then your ears. Fingers, toes—eventually everything. So while we can still communicate like this, let’s both do our part. Understood?”
“Yes.”
“If you ever think you have no job, can’t earn money, contact me anytime. We’ll create work for you. We’ll keep you in good health so we can harvest your organs whenever we need. So don’t hesitate to reach out.”
“No, sir. I’ll send it on the exact date.”
Park Doo-chul’s resolute answer resonated sharply through the room.
The new subordinates who started today were watching his every move.
With eyes full of contempt.
For Park Doo-chul, it was humiliating, but he couldn’t talk back.
In corporate terms, the Dae-hoon Faction was a conglomerate.
If Seo Dae-hun was the Chairman, then Jung Geun-su was the Chief Secretary who served at his side.
Meanwhile, Park Doo-chul bore the company’s name but wielded no real power—essentially a franchise manager.
He was on a completely different level, hardly worth sitting at the same table with.
After today, rumors about Park Doo-chul would spread rampantly through the Itaewon underworld.
How much of a thug he was, how much of a piece of trash.
How filthy he lived.
It would probably be difficult for him to work in this world anymore.
Though it was a place where the dregs of humanity gathered,
crossing the line was another matter entirely.
Even trash could attract people if they had money.
But Park Doo-chul was different.
Most of the money he had now would go to child support, and he’d have to pay 200 every single month.
When smuggling went well, 200 was nothing, but earning through honest work made 200 a substantial sum.
Jung Geun-su stepped outside and lit a cigarette.
The smoke seeping deep into his lungs tasted only bitter.
I regretted giving that bastard just one slap.
I should have destroyed him completely.
Though regrettable, I still had confidence.
The confidence that he would keep Park Doo-chul by his side for life and make him suffer.
Park Doo-chul’s existence had essentially become hell.
Jung Geun-su stubbed out his cigarette and handed a list to his subordinates, speaking a single command.
“Collect everything.”
“Yes, sir.”
*****
【Assand Dream or Nightmare? – The Question Left Behind by the ‘Assand’ Controversy】
‘One pill clears the mind, organizes every thought, sharpens the senses. Answers that were once murky, invisible in daily life, become visible when you take Assand.’
This is what everyone who has tried Assand says in common.
“The artist’s companion.”
“The programmer’s secret weapon.”
“The essential item for studying college students.”
These are different names people use to refer to Assand.
Despite its steep price of 20 yuan per pill, Assand is selling like hotcakes.
To obtain Assand, one must endure the ordeal of standing in long lines.
However, as the product gains popularity, voices of skepticism are also growing louder.
It is reported that some people who consumed Assand developed insomnia and anxiety disorders and received treatment at hospitals.
The Consumer Protection Association demanded that the manufacturer disclose the exact ingredients and composition of Assand, but the manufacturer refused.
Their reason was that the recipe is protected as a corporate asset.
And therein lies the problem.
Assand is only the beginning.
The Assand market, whose future growth cannot even be estimated, has yet to undergo ingredient verification.
Where it is manufactured, what ingredients it contains—nothing has been revealed.
Yet everyone praises only Assand’s efficacy, while no one pays attention to the basis of those claims or potential side effects.
Individual potential cannot be developed through drugs.
Nevertheless, many people believe that taking Assand can unlock their latent potential.
They believe they can awaken senses they have never before cultivated.
They think that with Assand, they can achieve dreams they could not otherwise accomplish.
Assand’s popularity is not the success of a product.
It is the last resort chosen by people driven to their limits in order to survive.
The sense of achievement brought by improved concentration appears to advance society, but conversely, it more vividly reveals the anxiety, competition, and invisible pressure of not falling behind.
It demonstrates that one must work more to survive, that one must achieve better results.
It is proof that Chinese society is pushing to the limit in the name of efficiency.
One cannot help but suspect whether the government is tacitly condoning this product to encourage worker overwork.
Yet Assand’s popularity shows no signs of waning.
Whether Assand will truly become a functional food that fulfills dreams or becomes a nightmare remains unknown.
Our questions grow, yet everything about Assand remains shrouded in secrecy.
We cannot know anything about Assand.
.
.
.
A post expressing suspicion about Assand appeared on a minor internet news outlet.
Though it was a small media platform that few people frequented, it was the first time anyone had written a negative article about Assand.
The article was deleted just ten minutes after being posted online.
Leaving behind only two views.
And Zhou Tingwei, who had written the article, disappeared without a trace that very evening.
He left the company at the end of his shift, but never returned home.
Zhou Tingwei could not be found anywhere.
The next day, every newspaper article had nothing to do with Assand—instead, special features on “Global Economics” or “Self-Management Habits of the Younger Generation” dominated the front pages.
However, separate editorial guidelines were distributed to the newsdesks.
【Do not make Assand a topic.】
【If it becomes unavoidable to write about it under any circumstances, do not approach it negatively.】
Assand was already deeply entrenched throughout the media industry.
Everyone nodded in agreement and adhered to the editorial guidelines.

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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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