I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 222

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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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222 – Breath-Holding
222.
I admit it.
A complete and utter defeat on my part.
I lost the intelligence war.
In a battle like this, information is everything.
Yet I was outmatched at the most fundamental level.
Until I sat down in this chair, I didn’t even know Adrian’s name.
Before Adrian himself told me his name,
I was searching desperately for it.
I mobilized every possible channel.
I threw money at it, bought people, dug through records.
But information about Parallax’s leadership remained beyond my reach.
Of course, some of that was my own mistake.
After receiving that call from this old man, I focused on the meeting itself rather than gathering intelligence.
Instead of investigating Parallax and this old man,
I prioritized extracting something from this encounter.
It was my complacency.
I regret it now.
What more could I have gotten if I’d pressed Mateo harder?
Would I have learned about Adrian if I’d gouged out his eyes, severed his fingers?
I consider it.
I looked at Adrian standing before me.
The answer became clear immediately.
I shook my head.
It wouldn’t have mattered much.
All I’d get is a name.
All that suffering for nothing,
with nothing to show for it.
Judging by this old bastard’s character, he wouldn’t even trust his subordinates.
He’d keep information about himself locked away tight.
That name Adrian is probably not his real one either.
Everyone who knew his true name is dead.
The reverse, though.
Adrian knew everything about me.
He had my entire life trajectory mapped out precisely.
Where I grew up.
How many packages of beef I stole during school.
What work I did to earn money and reach this position,
who I’ve met, how I’ve lived—Adrian knew it all.
On the other hand, I know nothing about Adrian.
Not that I didn’t try.
I searched too.
I mobilized every contact I had.
I attempted hacking using every resource Tian Zihao could access.
I combed through the Singapore Office and every server that came out of it.
I gathered information by combining fragments of derived data and conducted hacking operations.
But the result was the same.
There wasn’t a single file on Adrian—let alone anything on Chairman Parallax.
Chairman Parallax apparently didn’t use the internet at all.
I would need stored data to hack and extract information,
but the information itself didn’t exist.
So there was nothing to hack into.
I lowered my head for a moment, then raised it again.
Let me admit it cleanly.
I lost this round.
But admitting that fact
is entirely different from kneeling here.
It means I acknowledge my shortcomings,
not that I’ll bend to this old man’s will.
I looked at Adrian again.
He still gazed at me with a relaxed expression and a faint smile.
As if he knew everything.
As if it were all naturally predetermined.
“Impressive.”
“What is?”
Adrian’s ears perked up at my words.
“I thought all you could do besides limping around was nothing, but digging into other people’s business—you’re remarkably skilled at that.”
“Heh heh. That’s what I learned. And I know plenty of people.”
“Fair point.”
“Much obliged.”
I gave Adrian a clean acknowledgment.
Since I’d acknowledged him, Adrian should have been overjoyed,
but his expression suggested otherwise.
His eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly, then relaxed.
As if things weren’t going according to plan.
I added another spoonful of discord to that.
“But here’s the thing. What’s that supposed to be? What am I supposed to do about it?”
“What?”
I gave a slight shrug.
“I’ve lived that way. I was Okapi Sting, and I’ve been called Candy Boy. So what? What’s the problem with that? Knowing my past doesn’t mean you know what I’ll do now, does it?”
Adrian laughed loudly at my response.
He placed his hand on the ship’s railing and laughed aloud.
“Kha ha ha ha. You’re an amusing one, aren’t you?”
After laughing for a while, Adrian finally stopped and began his explanation again in a gentle tone.
“You’re young, so you wouldn’t understand, but the past carries far more meaning than you think. You might want to believe you’ve escaped from it, but you’re still living within it.”
Adrian gestured with his fingers as he spoke.
His gaze pierced directly into my eyes.
“What nonsense.”
I reflexively denied it.
I didn’t want to accept what he was saying.
I didn’t want to accept that I was living in my past.
Adrian continued speaking in that pedagogical tone of his.
“Do you know what influences a person’s decisions the most?”
“…”
“Experience. Most people design their futures based on the experiences they’ve lived through. That’s why life can’t be subjective.”
“What are you talking about? Speak so I can understand.”
I showed my irritation with a sullen expression.
“Let me give you an example. Suppose you want to wear luxury brands. But your reality is a cesspool. You don’t have luxury brands. So can you wear them? No, you can’t. You’ll end up wearing one of the clothes you already own. You have no choice but to select from what you have, right? It’s unavoidable. People always act within the range of what they possess. Ideals and reality are different. That’s why life isn’t subjective—it’s objective. Even with the same question, you can’t write the answer you want. You always have to choose from the given options. It’s a question of what choices you can make in your own life. If you have nothing, your range of choices narrows; if you have much, it widens. But the point remains that you must choose. It’s also a question of whether you can live for choices that weren’t given to you.”
“Just buy the damn luxury brand.”
I scoffed.
“I thought you were fairly sharp, but you’re quite dull. The important thing isn’t the luxury brand or the clothes—it’s ‘choice.’ It’s about what choices I can make in my own life. The only difference is that having nothing narrows your range of choices, while having much widens it. But the point that you must choose remains the same. It’s also a matter of whether you can live for choices that weren’t given to you.”
“So what?”
I spoke as if the past meant nothing at all.
But that wasn’t what my heart believed.
I couldn’t let this old man lead me around.
“Your choices are predictable. I’ve seen your past, so I can anticipate how you’ll act in the future. People can never deny their past, because it is their world and their entirety. Have you heard of the Flea Effect? It’s similar. You can’t even imagine a world you’ve never experienced.”
“Fuck off.”
At my curse, Adrian smiled with satisfaction instead.
Things were going according to his plan.
“You seem to have some remarkable ability, but that’s where it ends. I’m not killing you because there’s much I still need to receive from you.”
Adrian paused for a moment, then continued.
“One hundred million dollars and the Phantom Grid. And since I’ve given you advice today, I’ll take twenty percent of your annual revenue as payment for that. Ah, forget about the resort you were going to give as a gift. I can buy that myself anyway. Mauritius is a nice place to visit, but it’s inconvenient to live in.”
Adrian smiled with the expression of a victor.
I slowly shook my head.
I had no desire to play along with this madman’s tune.
Even so, I found this situation deeply uncomfortable.
“Where did you learn to present invoices so arbitrarily?”
“As I’ve lived, I’ve found that some people don’t understand even when given good advice. Only when they pay a steep price do they finally realize: ‘That was truly an expensive lesson.’ Ha ha ha ha.”
Adrian laughed loudly.
I spoke as if Adrian’s words meant nothing to me.
“But old man, you’re not listening to a word I’m saying? I told you I have no intention of paying. You can’t just shove an invoice in my face and expect money. What did you learn in school?”
“You’re getting dumber by the minute.”
Adrian spoke with a displeased expression.
“Why do you think I brought up your past? Just as I know your history, so do the people around you. If you don’t pay, I’ll kill every single person you know, one by one. And as I kill them, I’ll tell them: ‘You’re dying because of Alex’. Ah, but you might not understand that, so let me put it this way instead: ‘You’re dying because of Gong In-bae’. How’s that? Does my advice make sense now?”
I have to admit it.
That bastard really does know how to get under someone’s skin better than I do.
Experience and years of practice are not something to be dismissed.
I can imagine just how many people he’s scraped raw over the years.
His skill is no joke.
But I’m not bad at it myself either.
I’m pretty good at lecturing people too.
“You kept going on about being a soldier and all that, so I thought you at least had some honor left. But there’s no soldier sitting in front of me—just an old thug with a limp.”
Adrian’s expression, which hadn’t wavered once until now, shifted slightly.
It was a subtle change, but I could feel it.
That bastard got scratched.
“You got that limp in the military, didn’t you? That’s why you hobble around so proudly. Right? If you’re that proud of it, you must have gotten injured saving a comrade? So you had no choice but to discharge. You needed to make a living, but you had no skills, so you started dealing weapons and taking commissions. Then you realized there was real money in it, so you expanded the operation. And gradually you hid yourself and pushed others forward. You’re no different from those gangsters who use puppet CEOs to run their businesses. I misjudged you. I thought you at least had some loyalty, but you were just a back-alley thug all along.”
As my words continued, Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“That’s enough.”
Adrian spoke in a low voice.
I glared at Adrian.
No—I leaned my face closer as I spoke.
“Enough of what? You already crossed the line. You were the one who tried to steal the goods, you were the one who tried to kidnap Dennis. And now you’re demanding compensation and threatening me? And what—you’re telling me to stop? Fuck off. There’s no ‘enough’ between us anymore. One of us has to die for this to end. You know what a death match is?”
“What? A death match?”
Adrian seemed confused, as if hearing the term for the first time.
Well, he doesn’t even use the internet, so there’s no way he’d know.
“That’s what we’re doing now. We’re going all out trying to kill each other.”
I paused for a moment.
“You’re going to kill the people around me? Go ahead. I don’t care. You’ve already investigated me thoroughly and know exactly what I have, who’s around me. I’ve got nothing. I’m a loner. So do whatever you want.”
A flicker of confusion seemed to cross Adrian’s face.
This wasn’t part of Adrian’s plan.
“But from now on, you won’t sleep easy either. You said it yourself—I seem to have some mysterious ability.”
Click.
I pulled a gun from my inventory and placed it on the table.
In that instant, the Parallax personnel moved.
They shielded Adrian with a transparent bulletproof barrier, protecting him.
“Heh heh. Don’t be alarmed. If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve shot already. I wouldn’t have placed it on the table.”
I laughed mockingly at Adrian and Parallax as I spoke.
Spinning the gun around.
“I know you did a thorough body search, but your ability is impressive. How did you manage it?”
Adrian spoke from within the ballistic shield.
“You know magic? Magic tricks?”
I moved my hand like a magician, holding the gun.
The gun in my hand vanished.
I flipped my hand over, and the disappeared gun reappeared.
I repeated it over and over.
The eyes of Parallax’s personnel widened.
Adrian, too, openly revealed his bewilderment for the first time.
I was simply putting it into my inventory and taking it out repeatedly,
but it seemed different to those watching.
I showed my empty hands back and forth like a magician again and asked.
“How is it? Pretty good, right? Will you teach me?”
“You’re interested.”
After a brief moment of thought, Adrian answered with an expression full of curiosity.
I spoke while looking at Adrian.
“I’ll take Parallax as tuition. Along with your life. How about it? Still interested? They say expensive tuition fees really hit home, right?”
“I···..”
Adrian’s body trembled subtly.
So Adrian reacts when you pressure him like this?
I learned something new.
There’s this method of pressuring too.
I’m learning a lot from Adrian today.
He hasn’t wasted his years after all.
There’s much to learn.
“You said the past determines the future, right? That’s true. History is a mirror reflecting the future, they say? But does that apply to individuals too? Is everyone the same?”
“It’s the same. They say the past is everything about a person, so no one can escape their past and live.”
I nodded.
“Right. Everyone is influenced by their past. That’s how everyone lives. They choose from clothes they already have, and make decisions within the range of what they know. That’s how the world works. Admit it.”
I paused for a moment.
“But here’s the thing. Occasionally there are ‘crazy bastards’ who don’t live that way. There are people who, if they don’t like their clothes, would rather go naked than wear clothes they dislike. People who don’t conform to life but drag life in the direction they want. Even when others point fingers, curse, and mock them, they don’t care. People call those kinds of bastards crazy. And that crazy bastard is me.”
I looked at Adrian and smiled wickedly.
“What?”
“Life is multiple choice? There are options? Instead of choosing from the options, I tear up the test paper. If I can’t write the answer I want, then I just don’t take the damn test. Is that why my grades were so terrible?”
The conference room fell silent.
Adrian’s expression changed.
It hardened completely.
The look of someone seeing a crazy bastard like me for the first time.
“Okapi Sting, Candy Boy. Alex, Gong In-bae. Yeah, that’s me. Things I once was, but I’ve already discarded those names. Names you can only see in memories. Those memories are precious, but they have no power to move me now. I’m moved by the name ‘Dennis’. But you’re obsessing over my useless past and calculating the future. That’s why your calculations don’t add up, and your ledger is a mess.”
Then Allen whispered quietly from behind.
“Evacuation complete.”
At those words, the corners of my mouth lifted.
I looked at Adrian again.
“And those people you were threatening. The ones you said you’d kill. I’ve already prepared for that. They’ve all completed evacuation. If you dug through my past, you should have known. How I regard my people. And how I’ve always acted.”
I rose slowly from my chair.
I could feel Chairman Parallax, Adrian, and even the Obsidian Unit tensing.
I placed my hand on the table and spoke to Adrian.
“Now it’s my turn. Anticipate it. Imagine what your future will look like, having revealed your face before me. Predict how my magic will torment you. From now on, we’re playing hide-and-seek. The kind where you die the moment you’re found. I’m giving you twenty-four hours starting now. Hide well. The only time I can give you is one day. Just twenty-four hours.”
I saw an expression of panic on Adrian’s face—one I’d never seen before.
“Here’s a tip: avoid all CCTVs from now on. If you get caught on camera, I can pinpoint your location instantly. So stay away from them. You have to hide well. Now you’ve got twenty-three hours, fifty-nine minutes, fifty-eight seconds left. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Time keeps moving. Hide quickly.”
I smiled wickedly at Adrian.
Adrian said nothing.
He only glared at me from behind the bulletproof shield.
“Oh! Sorry. In hide-and-seek, the seeker is supposed to turn around and count first, right? My bad. I never had friends to play this with. So I’ll go first. Hide well. If I see even a strand of your hair, you’re done for.”
With those words, I left the conference room.
The Obsidian Unit followed carefully behind me, protective and cautious.
And so my first encounter with Adrian came to an end.
Hide-and-seek had begun.

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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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