I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 171

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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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171 – Protest
171.
“Slow down a bit.”
“···”
I tried to stop Hwang On-yu, but
he went ahead and downed another shot of soju anyway.
Something was clearly bothering him.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen? Why are you drinking like this?”
“Things happen every day. Still, it’s the National Intelligence Service. If nothing happened, it wouldn’t be the National Intelligence Service.”
Even so, Hwang On-yu forced a smile and tried to brush it off as nothing.
He spoke as if such matters were trivial occurrences that happened daily.
“I called you to thank you for the materials you provided, but why is the mood like this? It feels like I came at the wrong time.”
I had arranged this gathering.
I wanted to buy Hwang On-yu a drink out of gratitude.
The information he provided had been invaluable in dismantling Taerim Group.
The cash flows between subsidiaries, Yun Tae-gyeom’s competitors—
I could have obtained such information myself, but it would have taken considerable time. Thanks to Hwang On-yu, I acquired it effortlessly.
So I called him for a drink, and now he’s guzzling it down like a man nursing a broken heart.
Go easy on it. It’s expensive.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s got nothing to do with you.”
What?
This fascinating psychopath?
Isn’t that obvious?
Of course it has nothing to do with me.
Does pretending to be considerate while stating the obvious count as consideration?
He ruins the atmosphere himself, and now he tells me not to worry about it.
Is this bastard a psychopath too?
If everything were fine from the start, why show any sign at all?
He displays every sign of distress, and now he claims it’s fine.
“What is it then?”
Still, I asked again.
Doesn’t the saying go that sorrow shared is sorrow halved?
Honestly, I had no interest in Hwang On-yu’s sadness, but I was interested in a breakup.
If he really did break up with someone, I could tease him about it.
That would be perfect.
I wanted to mock that gorilla-like Hwang On-yu.
If he cries, I should record it on video.
“There is something. An incredibly frustrating matter.”
The expression on Hwang On-yu’s face as he answered was grim.
This didn’t seem like an ordinary situation.
Why did I even ask?
“What? Why are you being so serious?”
“It’s nothing major, but things got complicated and now it’s serious. I’ll probably take a beating without any guards.”
“What is it? Explain so I can understand. I’m curious.”
He frowns deeply in front of me, refusing to answer even when I ask what’s wrong.
Then he tells me not to worry about it.
Is he actually a psychopath?
Hwang On-yu, who had been brooding, finally answered.
“Classified.”
Damn it.
Just hearing that word makes my blood pressure spike.
He got beaten up over classified information, and now he’s saying it’s classified again.
This bastard is looking for a fight with me.
I buy him expensive alcohol and now he’s going off-beat on me?
“Classified again? This is ridiculous. Does the National Intelligence Service need to beat you down one more time before you come to your senses?”
My voice had turned sharp.
“Sorry. It’s become a habit for me.”
I could understand Hwang On-yu’s position to some extent.
Keeping secrets was ingrained in his bones.
Not only was he trained to withstand torture,
but he was conditioned to never reveal any classified information, even while sleeping.
His words wouldn’t come easily, no matter how much he wanted them to.
But with his mind in turmoil, it was inevitable that it would show on his face.
I had received that training once too, so I understood it somewhat.
But not in front of me.
Hwang On-yu, who had been hesitating for a moment, glanced around.
He seemed worried that information might leak, so I reassured him.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got the anti-surveillance jammer on around here.”
At my words, Hwang On-yu’s eyes widened slightly before returning to normal.
His expression asked what kind of person carries an anti-surveillance jammer.
But his surprise was brief.
It seemed like he’d accepted that I could do anything at this point.
He appeared to have given up trying to categorize what kind of person I was.
“Japan sent an unofficial protest.”
“Japan?”
“Yeah.”
“Why? What did they say? That Dokdo is theirs?”
At the mention of Dokdo, Hwang On-yu, who had been serious, burst out laughing.
It seemed he had let his guard down.
Japan had plenty of ways to irritate us, but
Isn’t the Doksa issue something that periodically gets under our skin?
“Heh heh. That’s not it. The radar we developed—they’re claiming it’s their technology.”
“Pfft. What? What kind of nonsense are they spouting?”
I spoke with confidence, but even so, a knot of unease twisted in my chest.
So I asked quietly again.
“Did they steal it?”
I needed to pin this down clearly.
If they really did steal it, I should just keep my mouth shut.
“Steal it? Have you seen how tight their security is? The radar is definitely something we developed.”
“But what’s the problem? We developed it. So there shouldn’t be any issue.”
I couldn’t understand why Hwang On-yu was agonizing over something so straightforward.
“The problem is we don’t have documentation to prove it?”
“Documentation? We don’t need that. We just say we developed it. And don’t we keep that kind of data somewhere safe? On a server or something?”
In movies, they always keep things like that on servers somewhere secure, right?
That’s why spies like Tom come and steal it.
“We did keep it safe. But because of some lunatic… it disappeared.”
Hwang On-yu glanced at me briefly.
“Ah! You get it now. Shin Jung-gi. The reason we went to the Philippines was to catch Shin Jung-gi.”
“What?”
I was genuinely shocked.
Why was Shin Jung-gi coming up now?
They didn’t know I was currently holding Shin Jung-gi.
Since Simon had demanded ten million dollars as Shin Jung-gi’s ransom, there had been no further contact.
That was just the end of it.
But from my position of holding Shin Jung-gi, it felt like my own kid had caused trouble.
Even though the trouble happened before I took Shin Jung-gi in, I still felt guilty.
I hadn’t really done anything wrong myself, yet I felt like I had.
That’s what makes South Korea difficult.
Is this what it feels like to have sold out your country?
Now I couldn’t laugh this off as someone else’s problem and just eat popcorn.
I had to help our country clear its name.
Even if I couldn’t solve it directly,
at least I could ask Shin Jung-gi.
Suddenly, I became actively invested in this incident.
“Why Shin Jung-gi? What did Shin Jung-gi do?”
I asked Hwang On-yu urgently.
Hwang On-yu looked at me with a strange glint in his eyes.
Soon he erased the suspicious look and gave me his answer.
“That’s what Shin Jung-gi took with him when he disappeared back then.”
“What?”
“Next-generation radar development technology. Also known as Project Mangwol.”
Project Mangwol…
Project Mangwol…
I feel like I’ve heard that name before…
Oh! That’s what Shin Jung-gi used when he was blackmailing me.
He said he had Project Mangwol.
Every time he tried to coax me with talk of coveted data, the name he threw around was Project Mangwol.
Of course, I never paid it any mind.
I didn’t even know what Project Mangwol was.
Now I see it was quite the significant technology.
Significant enough to spark international disputes.
But why is it coming up here?
Let me piece this together calmly.
Without letting Hwang On-yu misunderstand.
“Shin Jung-gi disappeared quite a while ago, didn’t he? If he’d copied the technology, wouldn’t he have mentioned it back then?”
“Exactly. I don’t really understand it either. Why it’s suddenly surfacing now out of nowhere.”
“But wouldn’t data like that be backed up multiple times over?”
“Yeah, it should be. But that meticulous bastard Shin Jung-gi erased everything before he left. He even set up scheduled deletion. I never saw it coming.”
Hwang On-yu drained the drink in front of him in one gulp, looking utterly exasperated.
I wanted to tell him to sip it slowly.
That it was expensive.
“Heh. That bastard Shin Jung-gi is truly insane.”
I found myself chuckling a bit.
It was so like Shin Jung-gi.
A consistently psychotic bastard.
“Honestly, it’s really nothing major. We don’t need the full details—just the development process, why we started it, what problems we encountered, how we adjusted direction, how many tests we ran. That much alone would be enough. With just that, we could keep Japan completely in check. But we don’t have it. It’s infuriating.”
“That would be infuriating.”
It really does sound infuriating.
It’s like getting accused of cheating on a test when you didn’t—just because your score came out well.
They ask for proof you studied, but your mother threw all your notes away.
How unfair would that be?
You studied hard,
yet your grade gets zeroed out,
and you’re branded a thief on top of it all.
I’d be furious.
“Without it, we can’t prove we developed it ourselves. Normally, projects like this are developed in absolute secrecy. To outsiders, the technology might look like it fell from the sky.”
Hwang On-yu laid out the situation objectively.
“So what you’re saying is… Project Mangwol. All we need is the development log?”
“That’s right. With just that, the game’s over.”
“And if we don’t have it?”
“Japan will go around spreading rumors. They stole our technology. Like this.”
“That’s so infuriating.”
“Yeah. Incredibly infuriating.”
Conversing with Hwang On-yu made it seem effortless.
All I needed was that development log.
Then it’s simple.
Head to the Philippines, get the Project Mangwol data from Shin Jung-gi, and hand it over to Hwang On-yu. That’s all there is to it.
Nothing difficult about it.
Let’s go. To the Philippines.
*******
Unity Town.
The moment I arrived at Unity Town after so long, the entire settlement buzzed with activity.
As I crossed the entrance, people lined both sides of the path.
They stood holding bouquets and placards.
‘I really hate this sort of thing.’
I’d intended to pass through quietly.
Just meet Shin Jung-gi and take the data, then leave.
Scott.
This insane bastard.
Scott is definitely the culprit. One hundred percent.
He must have leaked this beforehand.
Always putting effort into pointless things.
Why can’t he work like this on actual tasks?
I glared at Scott.
Scott flashed a satisfied smile.
“I took some care with the arrangements.”
Do I really have to keep dragging this guy around?
I’m genuinely concerned.
Given the situation, I couldn’t just walk past them.
I had no choice but to step down, meet their eyes, and shake their hands.
They seemed to have been waiting so long—I couldn’t pretend not to notice.
It wasn’t as if I’d only done this once or twice.
I descended with practiced ease, greeted them, took photos, and signed autographs.
It was routine by now.
But then,
that person at the far end.
That’s Kwon Ju-ah, isn’t it?
My mind went blank for a moment.
I never expected Kwon Ju-ah to be here.
I was the one who sent Kwon Ju-ah to Unity Town, but
I never expected to find him here.
Kwon Ju-ah and Unity Town don’t mix well.
And shouldn’t she be at the Hospital right now?
Why is she out here?
Why now, of all times?
But something’s off about Kwon Ju-ah’s expression.
Her eyes aren’t normal.
She looks genuinely upset.
I haven’t done anything wrong.
I just greeted some people.
It’s nothing.
It’s nothing, so why am I so anxious?
I haven’t done anything wrong, yet something feels wrong.
An alarm bell went off.
But I can’t tell where it’s coming from.
I don’t know what the problem is.
Do you know what day it is today?
Is there anything different about me?
What are you sorry for?
Did you do something wrong to me?
That’s the feeling I’m getting.
I haven’t done anything wrong, yet I’m anxious.
In situations like this, I should just avoid it.
Let me meet Shin Jung-gi first.
I mouthed “later” to Kwon Ju-ah and moved away to meet Shin Jung-gi.
.
.
.
“Where is that? Project Mangwol.”
“Huh?”
Shin Jung-gi’s expression shifted instantly.
His body went rigid.
Something’s wrong with him.
He seems broken.
“Give it to me.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Shin Jung-gi asked back with a blank expression.
Did he lose his mind making weapons in Mindanao?
“Project Mangwol. Hand it over.”
“Why?”
Is this for real?
Have I actually become an idiot?
“Because we need it!! Without it, South Korea is being treated like a thief. Just give me the development log.”
“···..”
Shin Jung-gi, still transformed into an idiot, clamped his mouth shut and said nothing.
Is he still unable to hand it over because he hasn’t sold it yet?
I don’t need the blueprints.
The development log is all I need.
“Just give me the development log. We’re selling Project Mangwol anyway—the development log isn’t necessary for that. Sell the Project Mangwol blueprints for a high price. In exchange, just give me the development log. At least we need to prevent South Korea from being branded a thief. You didn’t steal the data just to make South Korea look like a thief, did you?”
“Well, the thing is···”
His words trailed off.
“Hand it over quickly.”
“······”
But Shin Jung-gi simply remained silent.
“What? Why is he like this? Hand it over already. I’m not asking for everything. Just the development log. Make me a copy. Is that so difficult? I’m not even asking for the blueprints.”
“······.”
“What? Why is he really like this?”
“I don’t have it···”
Shin Jung-gi answered with difficulty.
“What?”
“I don’t have it.”
In that instant, something snapped inside my head.
It felt like something I had trusted was crumbling.
“What are you talking about? You said you had it. You said you’d sell it and make money.”
“I···lost it.”
“What?”
Rage surged at Shin Jung-gi’s ridiculous words.
Did he even comprehend what he had stolen and what he had lost?
How could he say something was lost so casually?
This is absurd.
Dealing with Shin Jung-gi could wait—for now, I had to search.
Time had passed, but I still needed to search as much as I could.
I had to follow whatever traces remained.
“Where? How? How did you lose it?”
“···I had it specially embedded in my molar to prevent losing it, but···it fell out when I got hit. It seems it wasn’t embedded as deeply as I thought.”
Shin Jung-gi spoke with difficulty.
No wonder this bastard kept singing about how he’d become rich selling Project Mangwol,
how he’d leave this place once he sold it,
but as time passed, he never left, so I thought
he must have grown to like this place—but that wasn’t it.
I wasn’t here because I liked it—I stayed because there was no data.
No money.
Couldn’t sell it.
There was never any data to begin with.
A consistent psychopath, that one.
“When was that?”
“I lost it when Jason first struck me.”
Jason?
Then when Simon first rescued Shin Jung-gi…
At those words.
Something came to mind.
That strange object Simon had given me.
The thing that looked like a molar.
I remembered—spies called it a poison tooth they’d swallow when captured.
I frantically rummaged through my inventory.
‘Wait, it’s here.’
Pretending to pull it from my bag, I retrieved the molar.
The moment I pulled the molar from my bag, Shin Jung-gi gasped and nearly collapsed.
“That’s… that’s it.”
A sigh escaped me.
I’d had it all along.
Project Mangwol had been in my hands from the very beginning.
From start to now.
‘Perfect.’
Now South Korea wouldn’t have to become a thief.
Through my inventory, I’d become a black market magnate.
171 – Objection
E-book Publication
/ January 14, 2026
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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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