I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 148

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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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148 – Ambition
148.
Mao Qin, the intelligence team leader of the Triad Society, had been in South Korea for several months now.
He had arrived with an enormous ambition to seize the Korean market.
If conditions proved favorable, he had even considered relocating the Triad Society’s headquarters to South Korea.
The Triad Society was in serious crisis.
All existing operations had become unprofitable.
New ventures faced fierce competition.
Organization members had begun to defect.
At this rate, the organization’s collapse was inevitable.
We needed money.
We needed capital to rebuild the organization from scratch.
We needed a solution to overcome this crisis.
Mao Qin had chosen South Korea as that solution.
No matter how I thought about it, South Korea was the only alternative.
There was nowhere else with such strong consumer power and such well-developed infrastructure.
On top of that, it was a drug-free nation.
I believed it was the perfect choice.
But progress had stalled.
Kang Pal-chun and Du Man-sik, who were supposed to assist from the sidelines, were unreachable.
It seemed they had been eliminated.
I had no choice but to start everything myself.
I had to begin from the very bottom.
All I had been given were two people—bodyguards and assistants.
Lin Jia-wei and Xu Hai-ping were all I had.
That was all my uncle—no, the Chairman—could provide to help me.
But contrary to my grand ambition to conquer South Korea,
my sphere of activity was confined to Incheon Chinatown.
The moment I stepped outside Chinatown, the police would crack down and impose restrictions.
They would turn a blind eye to squabbles within Chinatown itself,
but they sent a clear signal that they would move in the moment things escalated.
They made it abundantly clear that if anyone was injured or killed, they would not tolerate it.
I had no choice but to be cautious.
To avoid getting caught, I had to be careful.
Moreover, the Dae-hoon Faction’s influence was formidable.
In South Korea’s underworld, it was incredibly difficult to do anything without the Dae-hoon Faction’s permission.
They had a stranglehold on this world.
Kang Pal-chun, the former Korean branch chief of the Triad Society, was not exaggerating when he constantly complained about how difficult things were.
It truly was not a favorable environment for operations.
The Triad Society’s low profile in this underworld also played a significant role.
The younger people didn’t even know what the Triad Society was,
and while older folks were aware of it, their reaction was merely “So what?”
In South Korea, the Triad Society was truly nothing.
Its status was entirely different from the Triad Society in Southeast Asia.
It was different from South Korea, which I had only received information about while sitting in high-rise buildings in Hong Kong.
I could understand why the Triad Society hadn’t expanded into South Korea until now.
Even in such an environment, Mao Qin did his best to distribute Assand.
The future of the Triad Society depended on it.
A foundation had to be laid.
But Assand wasn’t distributing as smoothly as expected.
The biggest obstacle was indeed the Dae-hoon Faction.
The Dae-hoon Faction had a stranglehold on the drug trade.
Whenever drugs were distributed anywhere, they would appear like ghosts and turn everything into chaos,
burning the drugs and arresting those who had distributed them.
That wasn’t all.
South Korea’s security system was formidable.
Distributing drugs in South Korea required assuming extremely high risks.
The penalties were severe.
But to work with someone you’re seeing for the first time?
Trusting only the name of the Triad Society?
When we didn’t even know if Mao Qin and his associates were truly the Triad Society or not?
Kang Pal-chun at least had connections and a foundation he had built up in this world over the years.
He had distributed through those connections quietly.
But Mao Qin was different.
Mao Qin had no connections and no foundation.
He had the title of the Triad Society,
but in South Korea, that title was useless.
This wouldn’t do.
A different approach was necessary.
Mao Qin began an emergency strategy meeting with Lin Jia-wei and Xu Hai-ping, who had followed him.
“What do we do? Is there any way?”
Mao Qin asked with a worried voice.
Mao Qin’s confidence had been greatly shaken by an environment so different from what he had envisioned in Hong Kong.
Lin Jia-wei, standing beside him, answered Mao Qin’s concerns.
“What if we lowered the price of Assand a bit more?”
“The price?”
“If the price is lower, wouldn’t it be easier to gain access? That seems to be the only option we have right now.”
“Hmm···.”
Mao Qin fell into thought.
Even now, the price wasn’t expensive at all.
These crazy Chinese bastards are selling Assand at five yuan—a thousand won per unit.
The counterfeit Triad Society produces is supposed to be cheaper than Assand, but we’re struggling just to match Assand’s unit cost.
China mass-produces hundreds of millions of units daily, while
the Triad Society churns out only tens of thousands per day from a single factory. Our production costs could never be equal.
Factor in separate production facilities, labor costs, raw materials, transportation, and risk premiums—the Assand business wasn’t worth pursuing.
Yet Mao Qin clung to hope: what if South Korea, as a unique market, could make it viable?
“The problem doesn’t seem to be price…”
“Correct. Price doesn’t appear to be the issue. Living here and observing the market, I’ve noticed that Koreans will buy even at five thousand or ten thousand won per unit if they need it—not just one thousand won.”
Xu Hai-ping answered from beside me.
“I agree. But then why isn’t it selling?”
“In my assessment, the real problem is distribution, not price.”
Xu Hai-ping laid out his thoughts candidly.
“Distribution?”
“Our Triad Society has distribution networks spread throughout most of Asia, don’t we? But not in South Korea. We only have Incheon Chinatown at best.”
He was right.
The product simply wasn’t reaching the market.
“So what do we do now? Should we just give up?”
“It’s difficult for us to build distribution lines from scratch. If necessary, we should leverage existing routes.”
“How?”
“Partner with other organizations.”
Mao Qin felt a slight disappointment at Xu Hai-ping’s answer.
It was what we’d attempted from the very beginning.
“We already tried that. We approached numerous organizations under the Triad Society name requesting collaboration, and they all rejected us.”
“I suspect the Triad Society name itself became a liability.”
“Our name?”
“Yes. After living in South Korea, I realized the Triad Society name holds no value here—it’s not what we imagined it to be. What if we dropped the Triad Society identity and simply posed as an ordinary Chinese company distributing the product?”
Mao Qin grew interested in Xu Hai-ping’s idea.
“So we’d disguise this as a transaction with a regular Chinese company rather than a criminal organization?”
“Exactly.”
After all, Assand takes the form of candy.
And it’s already causing a sensation in China.
Couldn’t we approach it as the exclusive distributor of a product creating such a buzz in China?
Couldn’t we market it as a functional food—a fatigue recovery supplement or concentration enhancer?
Mao Qin’s mind began calculating the possibilities.
“Oh, Xu Hai-ping, that’s a brilliant idea. Let’s proceed with it.”
“I’ll compile a list of organizations we can contact.”
“Good. Let’s move as quickly as possible.”
******
“It hasn’t spread as much as you’d think. Distribution is confined to Incheon Chinatown, but that’s an awkward territory for us to operate in, so we’re leaving it alone. Instead, we’re blocking any outflow beyond that area.”
“You were already aware of this?”
“Of course. When it comes to drugs, I’d wake from sleep and run straight to it.”
Startled by Assand’s appearance, I convened an emergency strategy meeting with Dae-hun, Geun-su, and Scott.
However, unlike my shock, Dae-hun and Geun-su had already grasped the situation regarding that drug,
and while they couldn’t completely seal off distribution within Chinatown itself, they were doing their utmost to prevent it from spreading elsewhere.
I felt a fresh wave of gratitude toward Dae-hun.
Even in my absence, he was making every effort to block the drug.
If I sold the drug, I could earn several times—no, dozens of times—my current income,
yet instead of distributing it, he was even persuading other organizations to help stop it.
Dae-hun was working so hard to block the drug,
yet here I was manufacturing and selling it—I had no face to show him.
But I felt awkward about telling him that I was the one creating and distributing it.
Though I had made it to take over China, it was causing Dae-hun suffering because of it.
Either way, my guilt was genuine.
“But who’s smuggling this in? From Chinatown?”
“They say it’s the Triad Society.”
“The Triad Society? The one we know? Why would they?”
“I don’t know either.”
Dae-hun answered my foolish question.
“It seems the Triad Society chose South Korea as a way to survive.”
Scott, who had been listening to the conversation, answered.
“The Triad Society looking for a way to survive? Why would they? Isn’t the Triad Society powerful? Can’t they live well without doing something like dealing drugs?”
I truly didn’t know.
All I knew about the Triad Society was what I’d heard in passing.
There were countless other things to worry about without concerning myself with the Triad Society.
I didn’t have the capacity to worry about gangsters like them.
“That’s ancient history. They’ve shrunk considerably now. They were practically driven out of China, their main stage, due to crackdowns, and they’ve moved to Southeast Asia to operate, but it’s nothing like before. Southeast Asia already has organizations that control it, so it’s awkward to push in, and even if they try new ventures, the Gen Z crowd has already started everything new. As a latecomer, competition is fierce. I’ve heard they’re gradually declining, but I didn’t know they’d targeted the South Korean market.”
Scott summarized it simply.
“A shrinking Triad Society enters the Korean market to survive? With Assand?”
“That appears to be the case.”
Look at these bastards.
They’re struggling to make a living, so they’re going to target the Korean market?
This won’t do.
Whether it’s the Triad Society or whoever, it doesn’t matter what they do elsewhere,
but I can’t let the Triad Society devour the foundation that Dae-hun worked so hard to build.
If the Triad Society comes in and causes chaos, South Korea becomes a mess again.
It’s the peace that Dae-hun barely managed to create through his efforts.
I can’t destroy that peace because of these wretched bastards’ rice bowls.
I need to stop them.
“Hmm… so the problem isn’t Assand but the Triad Society?”
Now that I thought about it, Assand wasn’t the problem.
The Triad Society had chosen South Korea as their new market.
Even if Assand failed, there was a high probability they would push something else forward.
I needed to prepare for that possibility.
To do that, I had to understand what the Triad Society was really about.
I needed information.
“First, I need to learn more about the Triad Society. Scott.”
“Yes.”
“Ask Tian Zihao to compile materials on the Triad Society for me.”
“Understood.”
“Tell him it’s urgent. Make it the highest priority.”
“I’ll contact him right away.”
Scott picked up his phone and left the room.
Dae-hun chimed in after hearing that.
“We can provide materials too. We’ve compiled some data ourselves.”
“Really? How did you manage to gather information?”
“Think of it as information obtained by sacrificing someone’s… assets. Hehe.”
“Assets?”
Dae-hun couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of it.
Why was that funny?
“Heh. It’s something like that.”
“Got it.”
Just then, Geun-su received a phone call.
“My apologies. I need to take this call.”
Geun-su answered the phone with a serious expression.
After talking for a while, Geun-su spoke quietly.
“This just came in—apparently, a Chinese company recently sent out inquiries to collaborate with that Assand.”
“What? A Chinese company? Which one?”
“I’m not entirely certain yet. It’s a candy company that’s doing incredibly well in China—apparently their products are hard to find unless you go through them. They said they’d grant distribution rights in South Korea and wanted to set up a meeting.”
“Distribution rights in South Korea…”
Something smelled very wrong about this situation.
If it were a legitimate company,
and they had obtained the rights to distribute a product that was doing incredibly well in China,
they would choose a major corporation or large distribution company as their partner, not gangsters.
The fact that they made such an offer to gangsters suggested this was likely illegal.
It was probably a front operation.
The Triad Society was likely behind it.
This was interesting.
I needed to see the face of whoever orchestrated this.
“Dae-hun.”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s take on that collaboration ourselves.”
“We should take that on?”
“Yeah. If other guys get their hands on it, we’ll just end up spending all our time managing them. It’s better if we hold it directly and control the strings.”
“You’re right. That makes sense.”
“Then we should see his face at least once?”
“Heh heh. Yeah. Let’s take a look at his face.”
*******
Dae-hoon Faction’s Chungcheong Education Center.
It was a place where mandatory training was required to join the Dae-hoon Faction.
A man with a shaved head knelt on the floor, his arms draped over the bed as he prayed.
He murmured something rapidly, tears streaming down his face.
After praying for quite some time, the man slowly rose, as if his prayers had finally ended.
Strangely, not a single hair was visible on his entire body.
From his head to his eyebrows, even his beard was gone.
Like someone who had severed ties with his past.
His entire body was clean.
He was Du Man-sik, the special envoy who had come from the Triad Society.
After suffering greatly at the hands of the Dae-hoon Faction, he had come to the Chungcheong Education Center.
Upon arrival, he was consumed with treatment for quite some time.
Setting broken bones,
stitching torn flesh,
and sleeping.
He slept for days and nights without waking.
The people here treated Du Man-sik with kindness.
Their voices were low and quiet, yet gentle, and their touch was careful.
Their medical skills were exceptional.
The wounds healed without leaving a single scar.
Most importantly, no one here rushed Du Man-sik.
“There’s no need to hurry.”
“You don’t need to do anything. Don’t be impatient.”
“Just rest. You’ve worked hard all this time.”
“If it hurts, tell us it hurts. If it’s difficult, tell us it’s difficult.”
He didn’t even pretend to listen.
Such words were of no help in living.
The world was competition, and one had to surpass others.
Yet they told him to simply rest.
It made no sense.
When the bell rang, meals arrived, and he received treatment.
No one asked about his past, and no one revealed his identity.
Instead, he heard the same words every day.
The world is cruel. It’s filled with lies.
In this chaotic world, Dae-hun is the only person I can truly rely on and trust.
Hearing such words made me laugh bitterly.
Du Man-sik, worn and weathered.
Did they really think a few honeyed words could convince me?
That’s absurd.
Yet I heard the same story multiple times a day.
Whether I wanted to listen or not, the words naturally entered my ears.
Then at some point, those words pierced my heart.
They repeated themselves in my mind unbidden.
I read the biography of Seo Dae-hun they offered me.
With time on my hands, I read it slowly.
I read it again and again.
I pondered over it countless times.
Only then did I see it.
I could visualize the life that Dae-hun hyung had lived.
I couldn’t even begin to fathom how much hardship and suffering he had endured.
Yet despite it all, I couldn’t help but be moved by the compassion with which he embraced people.
It was then that I truly felt Dae-hun hyung’s greater purpose.
I finally understood why I should trust and rely on him.
Du Man-sik decided not to doubt anymore.
He chose to accept it.
He chose to join the Dae-hoon Faction.
Though it would be difficult to meet Dae-hun hyung in person now, if I could be even a faint source of strength from afar, that would be enough.
Hair began to grow back on the burned areas.
Du Man-sik trimmed his own hair.
He shaved his head.
He decided to live exactly as Dae-hun had left him.
That was Du Man-sik’s way of expressing loyalty.
Thus Du Man-sik became a powerful follower of the Dae-hoon Faction.
Through the Inventory, he became a magnate of the black market.
148 – Ambition
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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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