I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 177

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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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177 – Pachinko
177.
“Any word from them?”
Sato, CEO of Mizuhara Heavy Defense, asked his Secretary without lifting his eyes from the documents.
“Nothing yet, sir.”
The Secretary quietly shook his head in response.
Sato’s brow furrowed ever so slightly.
He could have dismissed it as nothing, but anxiety was taking root within him.
Something felt off.
The atmosphere at the negotiation site had been entirely different.
It had felt like only signatures remained on the contract.
The terms, the timeline, the scope of technology transfer—all had been agreed upon.
When they said, “We’ll contact you within a few days,”
everyone understood it meant the contract would be finalized soon.
Yet far too much time had passed.
The thought of reaching out first had crossed Sato’s mind countless times, but he had restrained himself.
Contacting them now would make him appear desperate.
He would shift from being the principal to being subordinate.
He couldn’t allow himself to be led around.
“Just a little longer,” he told himself.
Sato reviewed the negotiating nations once more in his mind.
Mongolia and India were one thing.
But the Philippines—that was truly unexpected.
Sato scanned through the Philippines report again.
The Philippines resembled Japan.
An island nation.
A structure requiring simultaneous surveillance of both sky and sea.
Because of this, their understanding of radar technology was sophisticated, and the practical team’s response had been extremely positive.
“This should have been virtually confirmed.”
So why was there no contact?
That was when it happened.
“Director, we have a serious problem.”
“What is it?”
The Head of Import-Export rushed in urgently.
“South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense has sent an official notice to defense officials in each country.”
“An official notice? What did it say?”
“It stated that South Korean radar technology is under suspicion of technological infringement, and requested that contract negotiations be suspended until the facts are clarified.”
“What?”
Sato was momentarily rendered speechless.
It was a method he had never anticipated.
A breach of contract?
There was no such thing.
Just a probe here and there.
Finishing the deal while South Korea floundered internally.
Before the radar became known to the market,
selling it off.
That was all it was.
But they exposed everything?
It could even look like their own scandal?
It made no sense.
An official directive had been circulated.
Once the contract team received the directive, they couldn’t easily ignore it.
Pushing through a contract amid such controversy was difficult.
The staff would back off.
They would wait until the situation resolved.
Damn it.
All the effort I’d poured in had gone to waste.
How much I’d invested in those contract staff.
The Export-Import Division Director added his words.
“Including the Philippines, all the nations we were negotiating with have entered a review phase.”
Sato’s fist clenched tight.
It wasn’t just Mizuhara Heavy Defense’s problem.
Other defense contractors like Ishikawa and Toyo faced similar circumstances.
Everything had stopped.
The stone thrown to buy time had come back.
Rather than buying time, it had frozen time entirely.
There was nothing Sato could do in this situation.
He could only clench his fist tighter.
******
“That’s why I told you to send the directive. When I said to send it, the Ministry of Defense official’s face went pale. Haha.”
Hwang On-yu recounted what had happened that day like a heroic tale.
There was no worry on his animated face.
Rather, he looked refreshed, as if a long-standing indigestion had finally cleared.
I was honestly quite surprised.
I hadn’t expected Hwang On-yu to be so bold.
What was even more surprising was that he’d acted independently on his own.
Unless the National Intelligence Service approved,
I thought he would remain in their shadow.
While staying in the National Intelligence Service’s shadow,
‘What am I supposed to do if they won’t give permission?’
I thought he would come to me and make a big show of it.
But he moved alone.
He wrestled with the problem to find an answer,
and once he found it, he worked to make it reality.
He met with the practical decision-makers at the Ministry of National Defense and the Agency for Defense Development, and persuaded them.
I still can’t say exactly how he pulled it off, or what words he used to move those people.
Either way, he did it.
He deserved applause for that alone.
The method he devised was remarkable,
and the way he executed it was innovative.
It was an achievement created without even having data.
I hadn’t given Hwang On-yu any data.
I only told him to find a way.
In that situation, Hwang On-yu found the best method and resolved this problem.
He found the simplest yet most lethal approach.
It wasn’t a direct confrontation, nor was it a retreat.
That’s when the thought struck me.
Perhaps what we lacked wasn’t development plans or data,
but the will to stand and fight against Japan.
Japan had always tried to lord itself over us.
This incident was no different.
Japan seemed to believe, subtly, that they held the upper hand.
Japan seemed to think they had the right to act this way.
Japan seemed to think that when they strike, we should take the blow.
Strangely, we could never stand and fight against Japan.
There were so many unreasonable things.
But this time, we fought back.
We fought back, yet it seemed as though we hadn’t.
We responded with flexibility.
With wisdom.
Honestly, it was admirable.
Yet anxiety lingered.
I was worried about Hwang On-yu’s position.
He wouldn’t receive good marks for this.
Though it was done for the nation, the evaluation within the National Intelligence Service, or from Overseas Information Bureau Director Baek Dong-hyun, would be quite different.
That part concerned me.
“Aren’t you worried? You caused quite a stir.”
Hwang On-yu shrugged his shoulders.
“Half of it was done with the intention of quitting anyway. What of it? I won’t starve. I don’t have anyone depending on me anyway, so it’s fine.”
Hwang On-yu spoke lightly, but he looked a little sad.
He spoke as if it were nothing, but he was someone with deep affection for the National Intelligence Service.
There was no way he had no regrets.
Honestly, bringing Hwang On-yu to our side wouldn’t be difficult.
If I assembled a team for him, he’d more than pull his weight.
As for salary… I could offer double, triple even.
Yet Hwang On-yu was most useful when he remained inside the National Intelligence Service.
Outside the National Intelligence Service, Hwang On-yu’s destructive power diminished.
“Try to stay attached, yeah?”
“Our Director was trying to kill me, though?”
Hwang On-yu spoke with a bitter smile.
I looked at him and asked.
“Want me to make you Director?”
“What?”
Hwang On-yu’s eyes widened.
At that moment, the phone rang.
It was Dennis.
“Hold on.”
I raised my palm toward Hwang On-yu, who seemed to have much to say, signaling him to wait, and answered the call.
“Yeah. Dennis.”
– I’ve secured it.
“What?”
– I’ve obtained the items you mentioned last time.
“Really?”
– Yes. Honestly… I barely managed to get it. It was difficult.
“Thank you so much.”
– What should we do with the goods? I don’t think I can send them.
“I know. I’ll come get them.”
– Does this mean I can finally see the Young Boss?
“Heh heh. Yeah, let’s see each other. I’m heading over now. See you in five hours.”
I hung up the phone.
Hwang On-yu’s eyes showed he had much to ask, but I deliberately didn’t give him time.
“Scott. We’re heading to Dennis. Get ready.”
“I’ll prepare for immediate departure.”
************
I brought the goods to the Philippines.
I’d carried them in my inventory.
I met with the yakuza with the goods in hand.
The yakuza I met again welcomed me warmly.
“Welcome. I’ve been dying to see you again.”
“Why? Is something the matter?”
“Why must there be business to meet? It’s just an exchange, you know. Checking in on how things are going.”
The yakuza’s face was brimming with smiles.
Money truly was wonderful.
The suspicious glint in his eyes from our first meeting had long since vanished.
He was remarkably cordial.
The money we’d scattered was clearly bearing fruit.
“But what brings you all the way out here?”
He seemed curious about why we’d sought him out.
He was hoping there might be another opportunity to earn.
His eyes kept darting toward the bag I’d brought.
His entire body was practically trembling with anticipation about what else might come from me.
And I had decided to fulfill those expectations.
“You’ve done such excellent work that I wanted to give you an incentive.”
“An incentive?”
“Well, you’ve done such a great job that it would be wrong to just leave it at that.”
His eyes gleamed with eager anticipation at the mention of receiving more.
“As an incentive, I’m giving you an additional one billion won.”
“One… one billion?”
“Yes. And this as well.”
I extended the bag toward him.
Inside the bag were the items I’d received from Dennis.
The yakuza’s face went pale as he checked the contents.
“This is…”
“It’s been cleanly handled. I’m giving it to you just in case.”
The yakuza’s expression grew serious.
“You need to protect yourself. I’m giving this to you to prepare for any contingencies.”
The yakuza hesitated for a moment before responding.
“I don’t think I should accept this.”
“Is that so? Then I’ll take it back. I was only trying to help. Please don’t misunderstand.”
As I reached for the bag again, the yakuza stopped me.
“No, there’s no need to be so rigid about it. Just leave it. I’ll find a way to use it.”
“You seem uncomfortable though. Really, it’s fine.”
“It’s not discomfort—it’s shock. Just shock.”
The yakuza concealed his complicated expression and took the bag.
*******
Senryu, the boss of the yakuza organization Senryukai, sat before a monitor.
“You said we need to spin it at least five times to leave evidence of having played the game, right?”
Senryu logged into GoGo Casino to exchange the coins he’d received from Alex.
The money Alex gave him daily—one hundred million won—came not as cash but as coins.
GoGo Casino coins, at that.
To cash out those coins at GoGo Casino, I had to play games and withdraw the coins as a method of taking the money out.
So they said there would be no issues with the transaction if I completed at least five games.
It was just a formality.
At least five games.
Minimum bet.
With minimum bets, it barely cost anything, so thinking of it as a commission fee actually made it worthwhile.
I had to play games, but
the Organization Members hesitated in front of the monitor.
Dozens of games were displayed on the screen.
Slots, baccarat, poker, roulette, games I’d never even heard the names of.
They seemed bewildered by the sheer variety of games available.
“Step aside.”
Senryu sat down in front of the monitor.
Though there were many games, I chose pachinko—the one most familiar to me.
Because I’d played it the most.
There was a time when I’d sit in front of the machine morning and evening, smoking cigarettes.
I pulled the lever.
The steel balls began spinning wildly.
‘Wow, the graphics are incredibly well done. It looks so real.’
It felt as though I were in a pachinko parlor in Shinjuku.
The sound of steel balls rolling.
Cheap sound effects played endlessly.
Then a fanfare erupted.
Brilliant animations filled the screen continuously, and
a jackpot hit.
It was a fever time—balls cascading down.
Watching the balls, my heart raced.
Dopamine flooded my mind.
I wanted to keep pulling.
But I resisted.
I reminded myself that this was merely a process to convert coins into money.
That I’d won only because it was my first try.
That I mustn’t waver.
I resolved to pull just five times and get out.
I had to cash out.
Barely clinging to reason, I cashed out.
I pressed the withdrawal button.
Withdrawal amount: 110,010,000 won.
Senryu tilted his head in confusion.
The withdrawal amount wasn’t 100 million won—it was 110,010,000 won.
An additional 10,000 won had been added.
It was the winnings from five games I’d played and won.
After that, every time I played a game to cash out, the jackpot kept hitting.
Steel balls continued rolling into the target holes, and balls cascaded down.
Dazzling animations assaulted my eyes.
It drained the mind completely.
Then one of the Organization Members spoke up.
“Boss, what if you increased your betting amount?”
“What? Increase the bet?”
“Your skills are incredible, sir. You never lose. Why not raise the bet, rake in the winnings, and walk away?”
I realized that in my first five games, I hadn’t lost a single time.
So why not try betting a couple more times? I thought.
An amount I could afford to lose without serious consequence.
So the next day, I increased my bet.
I raised the amount from 10,000 won per game to 1 million won.
As the money grew, my heart raced wildly.
Thump-thump-thump.
Adrenaline surged through my entire body.
I felt the blood coursing through my veins.
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.
As I pressed the button, the steel balls began spinning frantically.
The balls rolled into the target holes.
The roulette began spinning.
The roulette numbers aligned.
Jackpot!!
Now it was fever time.
With the larger bet, more balls cascaded down.
1 million won had become 7 million won.
But the fever time didn’t stop.
Jackpots kept hitting.
The fever time continued.
I kept going.
Starting with 100 million won, it had somehow become 130 million won.
And then I pressed cash out.
“Cashed out.”
I had cashed out 130 million won.
My entire body felt drenched in dopamine.
Come to think of it, this was a good asset too.
It shouldn’t be dismissed as mere cashing out.
This could definitely become a new revenue stream for Senryukai.
From that day on, the hundred million won I received daily became my business capital.
I sat in front of the monitor and played pachinko all day long.
I won an enormous amount.
Gradually, the time I spent sitting in front of the monitor grew longer.
My winning frequency increased.
But strangely, the money I cashed out kept diminishing.
The longer I played, the more money I lost.
My concentration was deteriorating.
To recover my losses, I increased my betting amounts.
I lost.
I raised the stakes further.
Eventually, I could only stand up and walk away after losing everything.
GoGo Casino was no longer a procedure for cashing out.
Senryu’s mind was filled with nothing but pachinko.
His thoughts were consumed entirely by visions of atari and fever modes exploding.
The roulette kept spinning in his head.
But he had no money.
He had spent all of today’s hundred million won.
He had spent the money the Organization Members had collected as well.
He needed more money.
One big win seemed like it could recover all the money he’d squandered.
It felt like he could hit the jackpot if he just had a little more money.
This moment felt infinitely regrettable.
Then the Captain beside him spoke.
“Boss. Not just us, but all the organizations that were at that gathering receive a hundred million won per day.”
That day.
The day when Alex came and told us to take part-time work.
All the organizations present at that gathering received a hundred million won per day.
At those words, my mind snapped into focus.
‘If I take over the neighboring organization, that’s two hundred million a day.’
There was no reason to hesitate.
Senryukai.
A yakuza organization with its headquarters in Osaka.
An extremely aggressive and brutal organization.
I was confident no organization could defeat Senryukai through force.
In a direct confrontation, Senryukai would always win.
And I had a secret weapon.
My gaze turned downward.
There was the bag Alex had left behind.
“Gather the men.”
I had become a magnate of the black market through my inventory.
177 – Pachinko
E-book Publication
/ January 21, 2026
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/ Black Card
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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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