I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 210

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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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210 – Phantom Grid
210.
[Phantom Grid]
It was the name of a new radar system that Shin Jung-gi had developed.
Named by Shin Jung-gi himself.
It was a project he held dear.
I thought Project Mangwol had slipped from Shin Jung-gi’s hands,
but it had come back to life.
At first, I was simply elated.
So much so that I couldn’t sleep for days.
I studied the blueprints over and over.
Admiration washed over me.
It was truly well-made.
But.
There were quite a few aspects that differed from Shin Jung-gi’s original vision.
Mangwol hadn’t changed.
Only Shin Jung-gi’s circumstances had changed.
Now I couldn’t view it through the eyes of a researcher at the Agency for Defense Development,
but rather through the perspective of a black-market dealer.
From a black-market dealer’s perspective, Mangwol was a money-losing product.
The performance itself wasn’t poor.
But using it as-is presented numerous problems.
The Agency for Defense Development conducts transactions between nations.
They have everything—formal bases, standard power grids, trained personnel, maintenance systems.
Sell it at a premium price, provide adequate maintenance, train the personnel. That’s all.
But black-market dealers have different customers.
Isolated islands or deep jungle wilderness.
Urban centers torn by civil war, or
informal factions that wanted even their existence kept secret.
These were the people seeking such equipment.
What they wanted wasn’t “peak performance.”
They wanted a radar that could be deployed immediately without detection.
The existing Mangwol couldn’t do that.
Black-market customers had no stable electricity supply, no large antennas, no command systems linked to bases.
I had to modify Mangwol to suit the black market.
The radar needed to be smaller,
and when disassembled, it had to be disguisable as agricultural equipment components.
It had to operate on power from generators or solar batteries.
Trying to modify everything gave me a headache.
Was it really possible?
Then, suddenly, a thought occurred to me.
Was fixing it the right approach?
No—was the current radar system itself correct?
I began to harbor fundamental doubts about the existing radar system.
Radar technology continued to advance.
It grew ever wider in range, ever more sensitive in detection.
We had created technology capable of capturing even the smallest movements of an adversary.
Conversely.
The enemy concentrated all their energy on developing technology to evade radar detection.
They discovered methods to penetrate enemy territory without being caught by their radar.
We called this technology stealth.
Stealth technology required an enormous array of innovations.
Stealth design was fundamentally different from the outset.
When radar waves struck the aircraft, the design would deflect them in entirely different directions.
But that was not all.
The entire airframe could be coated with radar-absorbing materials.
Electronic jamming could disrupt the enemy’s radar signals.
When even that failed, we would fly low behind mountain ranges or hills to evade detection.
By any means necessary, we strived to penetrate enemy territory while avoiding their radar.
Stealth methods continued to be developed, but
radar technology advanced faster than stealth capabilities.
New stealth techniques were created, yet
within a short time, radar technology capable of detecting those very stealth methods emerged.
This endless cycle continued.
Enormous sums of money and human resources were consumed in the process.
Shin Jung-gi believed this cycle was utterly meaningless.
Why hide at all?
This was where Shin Jung-gi’s doubt began.
Shin Jung-gi recalled a novel by George Orwell that he had read long ago.
In his novel “1984,” George Orwell chose to conceal truth by mixing it among countless lies.
Rather than hiding truth in the darkest place,
one buries it within tens of thousands of falsehoods.
To prevent someone from finding a key, you don’t lock it in a safe—
you scatter thousands of fake keys everywhere.
The intruder, forced to test every key one by one, would eventually destroy themselves.
Shin Jung-gi focused on this principle.
Information pollution.
Data overload.
What if a single aircraft infiltrates, but the enemy’s radar displays twenty squadrons approaching?
Or what if no aircraft exists at all, yet the enemy’s radar still sounds an alarm?
The painstakingly constructed radar network would become utterly useless.
If the command center couldn’t distinguish whether the alarms blaring now were real or false?
The enemy’s control center would inevitably descend into chaos.
‘Which signals are real, and which are merely noise?’
If they couldn’t tell the difference?
Whenever the radar sounded an alarm, they had no choice but to scramble.
They’d scramble only to find nothing.
There was nothing at the location where the radar had triggered.
They’d return, and the alarm would sound again.
Another scramble.
An endless cycle.
Everyone would be consumed by stress.
The alarm itself would become noise.
Then, real attacks would be slipped in between the false alarms.
It was the perfect technique—doing nothing while simply clicking away to exhaust the enemy.
The moment certainty crumbles, the system crumbles with it.
Phantom Grid wasn’t a technology of invisibility.
Rather, it was a technology that made things visible.
Making the nonexistent exist,
Turning one into ten,
Transforming peace into crisis.
.
.
.
“So you wish to purchase it?” Dennis asked directly.
But Gavin couldn’t answer readily.
Phantom Grid.
It was certainly a coveted item.
At least, based on what he’d heard.
But he still hadn’t seen the actual product.
Gavin had only Dennis’s word.
Nothing had been verified yet.
And above all, he was suspicious.
This business was rife with con artists.
A technology that disrupts radar and generates phantom signals wasn’t the kind of thing a handful of people could cobble together in some remote corner of the Philippines.
His skepticism was justified.
He wondered if such a technology was even possible.
Yet he couldn’t afford to let this slip away.
I really wondered if this was even possible technology.
Nevertheless, it cannot be missed.
Even a lie had to be seized first.
Phantom Grid was that kind of lethal technology.
“Would a demonstration be possible? I think I need to see it before making a decision.”
“Of course. We have a demonstration prepared. However, due to security concerns, we’re planning to conduct only one ‘showcase.’ We’d appreciate it if you could attend at that time.”
Gavin’s expression darkened.
And it was Parallax, of all places.
So they wanted him to stand in line with other brokers and watch, then write down a price?
This didn’t align with Parallax’s interests.
He needed to secure it before others saw it.
He needed to monopolize the technology.
And if multiple people saw it like this, the price would skyrocket.
The opportunity to monopolize it at a low price would vanish.
“That would be rather difficult for us.”
Gavin said.
“Pardon?”
“We want exclusivity. So before you conduct the showcase elsewhere, let’s do one exclusively for us. If the demonstration results match your explanation, we’ll purchase it exclusively.”
“Exclusivity?”
Dennis responded with an expression of mild displeasure.
But Gavin bet with confident conviction.
“Ten million dollars. Cleanly laundered and delivered in cash.”
Ten million dollars.
A substantial sum—roughly 14 billion won.
It was also the entirety of the budget Gavin could use independently without reporting.
Gavin went all-in on Phantom Grid.
Of course, he could spend even more than that.
But beyond that point, things became complicated.
Technical reports.
Technology verification.
Procedures would become convoluted, and additional tasks would pile up.
Skipping all those processes,
Gavin threw down the maximum amount he could offer—10 million dollars.
He couldn’t risk having the technology stolen while writing reports.
He had to seize it now.
He had to acquire it even with an all-in bet.
To be honest, he’d thought ten million dollars was a bit excessive.
Seven to eight million seemed sufficient.
But to overwhelm them with money, he threw down 10 million dollars.
For these Filipino provincials, ten million dollars was more than generous.
That’s how attractive Phantom Grid was.
It kept screaming inside Gavin’s mind.
I need to monopolize this technology.
This single technology could rebuild Parallax from the ground up.
I have to acquire it.
That’s what Gavin thought.
Until he heard Dennis’s response.
“Our product is called Phantom Grid, but you’re only buying the ‘Grid’ and not the ‘Phantom’?”
“Pardon?”
Gavin was caught off guard by something he hadn’t anticipated at all.
“Ten million dollars isn’t even enough for an exclusive deal, let alone a standard purchase. Talking about exclusivity with that amount doesn’t really make sense. We spent quite a bit of money on the weight reduction this time.”
Dennis spoke as though ten million dollars was pocket change.
Gavin was momentarily flustered, but quickly regained his composure.
“That price should be sufficient, though?”
Gavin attempted to negotiate once more.
He had no intention of changing the price.
Ten million dollars was enough.
And this wasn’t about money.
It was a matter of pride.
Parallax.
With Parallax, I could easily hold the upper hand in any purchase negotiation.
I wasn’t some fool who’d pay whatever inflated price these people threw at me.
The price wasn’t set by them—it was set by Parallax.
Dennis spoke after seeing the change in Gavin’s expression.
“Come to think of it…”
Gavin was filled with anticipation.
Now he’d agree to sell, wouldn’t he?
He’d say ten million dollars was actually sufficient after all, wouldn’t he?
“With that amount, we can’t even sell the ‘Grid.’ Ten million dollars—that’s what we make in a day if we work hard. It doesn’t make sense to do this just to earn that. If I sell it cheap, the Young Boss will scold me. He’s already told me not to take jobs that don’t even cover labor costs. Let’s pretend this meeting never happened.”
Contrary to Gavin’s expectations, Dennis unilaterally ended the negotiation.
Without the slightest room for discussion, he quietly gathered his belongings.
As Dennis packed, he continued muttering to himself.
“Parallax said things were tough, so I guess it’s true. What’s ten million dollars? Ten million dollars. I was shocked. This isn’t even child’s play.”
Though spoken as if to himself, Gavin heard every word clearly.
Gavin’s fury ignited.
These gun-runners from some backwater corner of the Philippines had just insulted Parallax.
Screech.
The chair scraped against the floor with an irritating screech.
Gavin slowly rose from his seat.
The smile vanished from his face, leaving only a cold expression.
It was not the face I’d shown at first.
“Are you… testing Parallax right now?”
Dennis shrugged his shoulders.
“What test? If the price doesn’t work, we don’t sell. Why would we add some test on top of that?”
Dennis answered as if it were nothing,
with a composure that bordered on indifference.
Gavin found Dennis’s nonchalance grating.
His pride had been trampled.
This wasn’t about money.
It was a matter of Parallax’s honor.
Some backwater operatives were disrespecting Parallax.
Yet despite the anger burning in his chest,
his mind raced with calculation.
Walking away from the negotiation would be easy.
He could simply stand up and leave.
But could he afford to abandon it on a whim?
Could he really give up on this Phantom Grid?
Would it be acceptable to let it slip into someone else’s hands?
The image of Phantom Grid lingered persistently in Gavin’s mind.
Even half of what Dennis had described would be sufficient.
It would be enough to sow chaos in enemy territory.
Phantom Grid was a device that shook the board—a game changer.
It was something difficult to abandon.
For Parallax, it was something that could never be missed.
It was absolutely necessary.
If such a thing couldn’t be purchased, it could be taken.
He found that approach rather convenient.
If Phantom Grid was real technology, pricing it would be difficult anyway.
Especially if multiple parties came rushing to buy it.
In such cases, taking it by force would be simpler.
When reasonable money could secure something, that was preferable,
but when money didn’t work, force was an acceptable alternative.
A gun pointed at someone’s face made them surrender everything.
Still, Gavin exercised one final measure of restraint.
“Very well. Let’s leave it at that for today.”
Gavin’s voice softened again, as it had been at the start.
But his eyes had grown sharper.
“However… this industry is small. There aren’t many places to sell such technology. Wherever you sell it, we’ll likely cross paths. Are you comfortable with that?”
Gavin delivered a threat disguised as consideration.
“Well, that could happen.”
But the threat didn’t faze Dennis at all.
“When that time comes, the terms might not be as favorable as today.”
“There’s nothing I can do about that. I’m not good at business, so what can I do? At this rate, I’ll go bankrupt.”
Dennis dodged Gavin’s cutting remark with a laugh.
But their eyes met for a moment in the air between them.
Dennis smiled all the way through, but Gavin could not.
In that instant, Gavin made his decision.
He would take the Phantom Grid.
If negotiation wouldn’t work, he would simply seize it.
It was faster, simpler, and cost less.
Identify the demonstration site,
assess the key personnel,
secure the development data.
It was something I’d done as casually as eating a meal.
Bribery, coercion, abduction—there were countless methods.
In the black market, there were always things that took precedence over contracts.
If money wouldn’t work, force would settle it.
This was a matter of Parallax’s pride.
Parallax had never lost a technology it coveted.
Dennis picked up his briefcase and stood at the door.
“It was a pleasure meeting you today. Well then.”
Dennis bowed his head lightly.
Gavin returned the bow, accepting the greeting.
Click.
The moment the door closed, Gavin’s expression transformed in an instant.
Even the last vestiges of his pretense vanished.
Gavin picked up his phone.
“Connect me to the Singapore team.”

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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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