I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 136

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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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136 – Inspection
136.
“Melchor’s last meeting was with the Rebel Forces?”
“Yes. During the last military operation to suppress the Rebel Forces in Mindanao, he met with them and held discussions.”
Celeste was reviewing the President’s final schedule through a different channel than Bituin.
The President’s itinerary was classified information, but that posed no problem for Celeste.
“So the Rebel Forces are responsible for what happened to Melchor?”
“That doesn’t appear to be the case. The negotiations concluded successfully, according to reports. However, on the way down afterward, he slipped on the stairs, and that’s where things went wrong. From the Rebel Forces’ perspective, the negotiations went well, but President Melchor’s accident prevented the agreement from being implemented, which they find frustrating.”
Celeste didn’t believe that excuse.
Honestly, none of that mattered.
What mattered was that my assets had vanished, and I couldn’t locate them anywhere.
Whether Melchor tripped, fell, or slipped—what did it matter?
Whether the Rebel Forces negotiated or not—what significance did it hold?
The person who possessed the most critical information right now, Laksa, was nowhere to be found.
Bituin seemed to be doing his best to locate him, but there wasn’t a trace.
I couldn’t simply sit idle either.
My assets could disappear in the meantime.
Based on their operational style, the people who hid Melchor’s assets were professionals.
After running the money through one laundering cycle, the funds had vanished.
Imagine running it through several more times.
I’d never find it.
The only time I could recover those assets was now.
Melchor’s lost assets were no longer La Camara’s collective property.
They were my assets.
When the single-term presidency changed to a multi-term system, I would naturally become president, and naturally those assets would belong to me.
At least, that’s what I believed.
That’s why I had to search harder.
To do politics in the Philippines, money was necessary.
I had sufficient wealth, but that was my personal fortune.
I couldn’t use that money for politics.
Politics was originally conducted with other people’s money.
As I pondered carefully, a question occurred to me.
‘Why did he meet with the Rebel Forces? Was it merely negotiations? If it was negotiations, why did he meet privately?’
There seemed to be something entangled with the Rebel Forces.
If I dealt with the Rebel Forces first, wouldn’t something emerge?
They’re rebels anyway.
No matter how hard I pressed them, no one would complain.
In fact, they’d praise me for it.
But I couldn’t enter Mindanao, the Rebel Forces’ stronghold.
My influence didn’t extend there.
Mindanao has the military and police, and they don’t listen to reason.
So that won’t work. Instead, Bohol.
There’s a place suspected to be a funding source for the Rebel Forces.
If we take that down, maybe we’ll uncover some clues.
I picked up the phone.
“Bituin, there’s a casino in Bohol, right? The one suspected of being connected to the Rebel Forces. Raid it.”
– Sir? But there’s no evidence against them yet?
“Just find something—anything—and raid it. Once you start looking, something always turns up.”
– Understood, sir.
.
.
.
“This is the Department of Health. We’re conducting a sanitation inspection.”
“We’ll be reviewing your business license and all health-related documentation, as well as employee health certificates.”
“This is the Fire Department. We’re conducting a routine fire safety inspection.”
“We’ll be checking the sprinkler system pressure records and inspection logs.”
“Please open the emergency exits. We need to verify there are no obstructions.”
“Your fire extinguishers are past their recharge date.”
“The emergency lighting is below the required brightness standard. This is a regulatory violation.”
“This is PAGCOR. We’re conducting an inspection in accordance with casino operating regulations.”
“We’ll be checking the slot machine levers for any irregularities and documenting everything. Please record this.”
“We’re reviewing dealer shift records and CCTV footage.”
“Submit the revenue and log records for each machine.”
The Fire Department, Department of Health, and PAGCOR—the agency overseeing casino operations—descended on Emerald Resort simultaneously.
And they brought police with them.
This had never happened before.
It wasn’t that Emerald Resort had never been inspected.
They’d received all the inspections they were supposed to.
Inspectors came and enforcement teams came, but they’d always been given advance notice, and when they actually arrived, they’d have a cup of coffee, issue a few citations, and leave.
That was the Philippine way.
But today was different.
It was strange enough that they came without warning, but they brought police, and they were calling things violations that weren’t violations at all.
“Your documentation is incomplete.”
“We submitted it last week.”
“We have no record of receiving it. Due to incomplete documentation, we’re issuing a one-month business suspension for the hotel restaurant.”
“You’re in violation of fire safety regulations. Correct the deficiencies and request a re-inspection. The resort will remain closed until then. In its current state, the fire safety systems don’t meet code requirements for guest operations.”
“We’ve identified several serious violations of casino law. The establishment will remain closed until the matter is fully investigated.”
And the police headed for the executive office.
“We need a statement from the owner for our administrative investigation. We’ll need you to come to the Police Station with us.”
The police who had gone to the executive office requested that Sandro accompany them to the Police Station.
Unlike the visibly tense Police Officer, Sandro exuded an almost casual composure.
Sitting cross-legged on the sofa, I pulled a cigarette from my pocket and placed it between my lips.
Click.
My attending Secretary lit it for me.
I drew the smoke in deeply, savoring it.
Both the Police Officer and my subordinates simply watched in silence.
There was an inexplicable aura emanating from me as I smoked with deliberate leisure.
No one dared approach carelessly.
Until I finished that single cigarette, not a soul made a sound.
Throughout, I smoked slowly and deeply, drawing out each moment.
Once I’d stubbed out the cigarette, I turned to the Police Officer with a low voice and asked.
“What was that?”
“I… I was asking if you would cooperate with us for an administrative investigation… regarding regulatory violations.”
The Police Officer was so overwhelmed by my presence that he could barely speak coherently.
I was quiet, but formidable.
“What if I refuse?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“What will you do if I don’t go?”
“We… we could arrest you for obstruction of enforcement or interference with official duties.”
The Police Officer finally managed to speak.
Immediately, the expressions of the Sandro Group members surrounding the officers turned vicious.
Their eyes gleamed with menace, and hands drifted toward weapons.
They looked ready to charge at the officers at any moment.
“What? You’re going to arrest the boss?”
“Are these bastards insane?”
One member pushed through the crowd and spoke to me.
“Boss. Just say the word, and I’ll take care of these bastards and turn myself in. Give me the chance.”
Another member stepped forward.
“No, boss. Let me do it. Just close your eyes for a moment, and I’ll handle everything. You saw nothing.”
Someone shouted from the back.
“Let’s each stab them once. If we all stab them, who’ll know who did it? So if we all do it, it’ll work.”
“That’s actually a good idea.”
“Even if we go to prison, at least we’ll go together, so we won’t be lonely.”
“Meals will be fun too. Makes you miss prison food.”
“Hahahaha.”
The members laughed as if this were truly their last moment.
The atmosphere had become so menacing it seemed they might actually tear the officers apart.
The faces of the Police Officers were draining of all color.
The members appeared equally resolute.
The officers understood perfectly well.
What kind of influence did Sandro have in Bohol?
They were well aware he was a heavyweight they couldn’t touch.
But the operations chief of the Bohol Police Headquarters had spoken.
A large-scale sweep operation would be coming soon.
So there was no need to be afraid.
Just bring in Sandro alone.
That was the mission the police had received today.
But no matter how I thought about it, today seemed impossible.
Thinking it wasn’t going to work today, I was about to leave when—
“Where are you going? We need a statement. Let’s go together.”
Sandro, who had been sitting on the sofa, stood up.
As Sandro moved, the organization members who had filled the space in front of the executive office parted ways.
They made a path for Sandro to pass through.
Sandro led the way, and the police followed behind him.
That’s how Sandro headed to the Police Station.
.
.
.
“Young Boss, we have a serious problem.”
Scott came running over, huffing and puffing with his portly frame.
If Scott was running, it had to be something genuinely serious.
“What is it? What’s with all the fuss this time?”
I asked Scott while watching the kids play basketball at Unity Town.
I was thinking it would be nice to build a gym for them.
“Sandro has been arrested.”
What Scott said was completely unexpected.
Sandro arrested?
Was that even possible?
If the police took Sandro away, they escorted him—but arrested him?
For a moment, the world seemed to stop.
My mind couldn’t process it.
It was something my common sense couldn’t comprehend.
I was certain I’d misheard something.
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Sandro has been arrested by the police.”
It didn’t seem like I’d misheard.
“How? Why? What’s the reason?”
“I’m not sure of the details. They suddenly conducted inspections of the casino, health inspections, and fire inspections, then took Sandro away.”
At least that was a relief.
I thought he’d been caught red-handed doing something illegal.
That would’ve made things far more complicated, but as the CEO, I only need to take responsibility for it.
Whether it’s a fine, a business suspension, or closure—as the CEO, I just need to shoulder the responsibility.
It’s not a major issue.
But the fact that he was arrested is what’s truly baffling.
Something like that could’ve been explained in writing later.
There’s something hidden behind this.
I’ll find out once I get there.
“Let’s go.”
Having a private jet certainly makes things convenient.
I didn’t have to wait for the next commercial flight.
Without the private jet, I would’ve had to wait until tomorrow.
Before boarding, I summoned the Sandro Group.
The Sandro Group belongs to Sandro.
Normally I never interfere with it, but I needed to borrow them for now.
I had no idea what might happen.
I also contacted the military personnel in Bohol.
To stand by.
I reached out to Simon as well.
To prepare to mobilize at a moment’s notice.
Simon immediately put the Rebel Forces on standby.
Just by putting my units on emergency alert, an ominous atmosphere settled over Mindanao and Bohol.
The moment I landed at Panglao Airport, I headed straight for the Tagbilaran Police Headquarters.
The police headquarters of Bohol.
Sandro was probably here.
Members of the Sandro Group were already gathering around the police station.
They’d assembled after receiving word.
One of Sandro’s subordinates greeted me.
“You’ve arrived?”
“Until we come out, don’t let a single person in or out—not police, not civilians, nobody.”
I spoke in a very sharp and harsh tone, and the member understood my intent.
“Understood.”
Scott and I entered the police station, and the member shouted loudly.
“From now on, nobody gets in or out of here. Got it!!!!”
“Yes, sir!!!”
The members responded and formed a human barrier.
Multiple layers of it, solid and impenetrable.
As I stepped into the police headquarters, the officers saluted.
But I had no time to pay attention to such formalities.
I rushed straight into the station.
“Who the hell did this!!! Which bastard arrested Sandro!!!”
The moment I stepped into the Police Station, I screamed.
Many Police Officers were on duty at the station,
but no one answered, and they all just kept their heads down.
“Who is it?! Aren’t you going to answer? Should I burn this whole place down before you talk? Huh??”
At first, it was just strange,
but the more I thought about it on the way here, the angrier I became.
If I were in the opposite position—if I’d been brought to the Police Station—I could have even laughed while waiting.
I would have said it was fine, that they could come later.
But when positions change, behavior changes too.
Thinking that Sandro was being held at the Police Station, all I could think was that I needed to get him out every single second faster.
Even if I had to destroy this Police Station to do it.
“Where is Sandro? Where is he?!”
“Where’s the bastard who brought Sandro in?”
“Damn it, are you just going to keep your mouths shut like that?”
No matter what I said, the Police Officers all remained silent with their mouths firmly closed.
That made me even more furious.
I couldn’t hold back.
I started causing a scene at the Police Station.
I broke a mop handle in the corner and started smashing equipment.
There was no reason.
It just caught my eye.
I was simply angry.
After that, I destroyed everything in sight.
I threw chairs and smashed computers to pieces.
Behind me, Scott was also destroying things with his massive frame.
The Police Officers didn’t try to stop me—they just quietly got out of the way.
Even with all that destruction, my anger wouldn’t subside.
Damn it, someone needs to say something.
I grabbed a file folder I couldn’t read.
“Scott. Lighter!”
Scott threw me a Zippo lighter.
I lit the Zippo and held it to the file folder.
I should set a fire here.
Then they’ll say something.
“What are you doing?”
Just as the file folder began to catch fire, I heard a voice from behind.
I turned around, and Sandro was standing there.
A cigarette in his mouth, his jacket draped over his shoulders.
“What are you doing? Playing with fire?”
“What? Why are you coming out from there?”
“I need to be able to have a conversation with the Police Chief without all this noise.”
“Ah! Damn, that’s hot.”
I didn’t even realize the documents had caught fire from Sandro’s sudden outburst startling me.
I threw the burning folder to the floor.
Scott brought water and poured it out, completely extinguishing the flames.
In the meantime, the Police Chief arrived and apologized politely.
“I sincerely apologize. This is my oversight. I should have coordinated this properly, but it seems one of my officers got a bit greedy in the middle.”
“Who? That bastard?”
“Operations Chief Raymond.”
“Where the hell is he?”
“After I gave him a piece of my mind for issuing orders without my approval, he’s been nowhere to be found since.”
This wasn’t something I could just let slide.
“Scott.”
“Yes, Young Boss.”
“Bring Raymond to me within an hour.”
“Thirty minutes will be enough.”
Scott waddled out quickly.
“And···.”
The Police Chief continued.
“There’s also something I’d like to discuss with both of you. Could we move to another location to talk?”
Sandro looked at me and nodded, and I nodded back.
Before we moved.
I apologized to the officers.
“Sorry for the commotion just now. I wasn’t in my right mind earlier. You all lose a friend and your eyes go wild. Anyway, I’m sorry. I’ll clean up this mess after we’re done talking. Sorry~”
The officers seemed to understand the situation well enough and said not to worry about it.
We moved to the Police Chief’s office and continued our conversation.
The Police Chief checked once more that the door was closed, then spoke carefully.
“The reason I brought both of you here separately is that I wanted to tell you about an organization that could be said to be behind today’s incident.”
“Behind it?”
“Yes. Have you ever heard of La Camara?”
“Isn’t that a scholarship foundation? I’ve sent them donations before.”
Sandro answered.
“On the surface, they appear to be a scholarship organization. But that’s merely a cover to hide their true activities.”
“Then?”
“In reality, they are the true president and parliament of the Philippines.”
“President and parliament? Is that even possible?”
“Think about it—how many people could coordinate fire inspections, health department inspections, and casino inspections all on the same day?”
Now that I thought about it, that made sense.
Did inspections ever happen on the same day like this?
And on top of that, the police too.
A truly rare case.
It’s highly likely that some invisible force was at work.
“Perhaps Raymond also received orders, threats, and inducements from them simultaneously. He’s greedy, but he’s not fundamentally a bad person. I’d appreciate it if you could go easy on him and let him go.”
“We’ll handle that ourselves. Now continue with what you were saying about La Camara.”
I was the one who answered.
Sandro had been touched, and I had no intention of going easy on him.
“Yes. To be honest, I don’t know all the details either.”
“What?”
“I was once a member of La Camara myself. It was presented as a scholarship foundation doing good work, so I was encouraged to join and did. I participated in volunteer activities, delivered scholarships, and so on. But La Camara has some peculiar characteristics.”
“Like what?”
“Members gather together unusually often. They make appointments under all sorts of pretexts. As you keep meeting like that, bonds form between members. They exchange information with each other. You become well-versed in information. The more meetings you attend, the more new people you meet, and so on.”
“That’s not particularly strange, is it? It’s just people getting closer to each other.”
“That’s true. The strange part comes after that. This new person brings me to a different gathering. There, instead of the people I’d been meeting, there were higher-ranking officials. At those meetings, you naturally end up discussing major issues, and they subtly guide you. Honestly, it’s like whether you eat jajangmyeon or jjamppong at a Chinese restaurant—guidance on problems where any choice doesn’t really matter much. So I followed their guidance as they suggested. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Hmm…”
“I was getting along well like that. Perhaps because I had access to information, my promotions came quickly, and everything seemed perfect. That day too, I was having a simple meal and discussing current issues. But that day, opinions came up that were opposite to what I thought. I figured that was possible. People have different thoughts, after all. The decision was ultimately mine to make anyway. I did as I saw fit. It was my decision to make. When I went to the next meeting, they really chewed me out. So I told them my work is my own business. Not long after that, I got transferred here. Ha ha.”
“Ooh~”
It seemed like an organization with clear rewards and punishments.
And decisive too.
“So I looked into it. What exactly La Camara was doing. I was curious, after all. First, they use a scholarship foundation and volunteer work as a pretext to recruit people into the organization. Level 1 members stop right there. Most of them end there. That’s how La Camara can remain a scholarship foundation. And the people who prove useful there, the ones they need—they promote them to Level 2. That’s why the people I started meeting changed. I didn’t know it at the time, but looking back, I went through those stages myself.”
“Oh, that’s damn efficient.”
I was honestly a bit surprised.
They could manage numerous people while identifying talent.
The ability to disguise and hide the organization was a bonus.
“They select people that way and push policies suited to their tastes, filling positions as they go. To be honest, I don’t know how many levels there are or who’s at the top. But it’s certain that there are people in this organization who can promote people like me or send them far away on transfer. There must be quite high-ranking people involved.”
“But why are you telling us this?”
“I don’t know the details, but I heard the CEOs had some trouble with the government. La Camara won’t stop until they get what they want. Today’s crackdown was probably just a probe. To see how you’d respond.”
Hearing the Police Chief’s words, the situation began to make sense.
It aligned with what Sandro and Patrick had said before.
“But why are you telling us this? That’s what I’m asking. Even if things are bad between you and the government, things are bad for us too. I’m curious why you’re coming forward with this story.”
This was what puzzled me most.
Why the Police Chief was telling us this.
“If La Camara holds the future of the Philippines, then that future is too bleak. With them pulling the government’s strings from behind, the Philippines has only grown poorer and more troubled. I cannot entrust the Philippines to La Camara’s hands. To be honest, I think there are only two people who could stop La Camara. With that small hope, I’m telling you this. La Camara must be eliminated.”
Deep concern was evident on the Police Chief’s face.
He truly seemed to be thinking about the Philippines’ future.
But I still couldn’t trust the Police Chief completely.
The first thing I needed to do was gather information about La Camara.
“Then shall we look into La Camara a bit? But first, let’s deal with this bastard.”
Looking back, Scott was dragging Raymond along.
Through the Inventory, I had become a major player in the black market.
136 – Inspection
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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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