I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 234

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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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234 – Mateo
234.
Malaysia, Johor Bahru.
We had returned to our temporary headquarters in Johor Bahru.
The journey back to Malaysia from Luxembourg had not been simple.
Our detonation of the mortars and the Airless had triggered tremendous noise and explosions,
and all of Luxembourg had erupted into chaos.
The Police arrived first,
followed by the Military Unit.
A two-kilometer radius centered on the Ancient Castle was sealed off.
But we were already gone.
We moved, fragmenting our trail.
We abandoned cars, switched vehicles, and abandoned them again.
Some traveled by train, some by plane, some by land.
We scattered across Belgium, Germany, and France.
We scattered, then regrouped,
and regrouped only to scatter again.
We severed our pursuers’ trail again and again.
Only after creating false traces multiple times could we reach Johor Bahru.
The reason we came to Johor Bahru rather than Zamboanga was
partly to conceal our base in Zamboanga,
but the greater reason was to meet Mateo.
The one who had overseen Parallax.
Mateo.
When I saw Mateo again, his condition was neither good nor bad.
Instead, the bruises I had inflicted upon his face had healed considerably.
But his expression seemed not to have healed at all.
Still hostile in demeanor.
Yet what lay beneath that hostility was not mere enmity.
It was fear.
Anger toward me,
combined with the knowledge that he could be killed by me at any moment, made Mateo uneasy.
Hostility and terror intertwined.
I looked at Mateo and spoke the truth.
“Adrian is dead.”
“What?”
“Adrian is dead, I’m telling you.”
I repeated the same words.
I had even kindly stated it twice,
but Mateo seemed unable to believe it.
I couldn’t speak.
I could only stare at him with vacant eyes.
He was refusing to accept it.
After a long silence, Mateo finally opened his mouth.
“… That can’t be right. What kind of man is that Elderly Man? He absolutely wouldn’t die. Adrian is the kind who’d crawl back from hell itself.”
Mateo couldn’t believe what Alex was saying.
No—he couldn’t believe it.
Everyone dies.
It’s an obvious fact.
But not Adrian.
He doesn’t die.
Mateo had never once contemplated Adrian’s death.
He’d never even conceived of Adrian vanishing from this world.
Adrian was that absolute—that fundamental.
His abilities were beyond question,
but it was his way of handling people that set him apart.
Some feared him,
and others followed him.
What Adrian was didn’t matter.
What mattered was that everyone needed him.
Because of him.
Parallax had flourished,
and alongside Adrian, people had grown wealthy.
They manufactured wars, sold weapons, and amassed fortunes.
They deployed mercenaries, traded intelligence, and controlled the logistics of battlefields.
He was, quite literally, the one who moved the board itself.
.
.
.
Mateo had worked beneath Adrian as well.
Adrian tolerated no slack.
He pushed relentlessly, drove them forward, tightened the screws.
He never let up the pressure.
It was unbearable, uncomfortable, exhausting.
I wanted to escape from him.
But escape was impossible.
The moment you left, death awaited.
Fear of death was one reason for not running,
but there were other reasons too.
Very occasionally,
There were moments when he offered praise and recognition.
In those moments, I felt as though I possessed everything in the world.
I wanted to remain by his side forever.
I wanted to be useful to him.
That’s why I couldn’t leave.
Gaslighting?
Stockholm syndrome?
Intermittent reinforcement?
Traumatic bonding?
Call it whatever you want.
That was the nature of what Mateo felt toward Adrian.
A person I despised, yet could only lean upon.
A person I yearned to escape from, yet craved to be shackled by.
But then.
Adrian was dead.
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t believe it.
.
.
.
Crack.
I slapped Mateo across the face.
His head snapped to the side, his vacant gaze broken.
Slowly, focus returned to his lifeless eyes.
Now was not the time to remain dazed.
There was work to be done.
I looked directly into Mateo’s eyes and spoke.
“So I’m thinking of giving you an opportunity.”
“An opportunity?”
“I’m planning to take over Parallax. I’m thinking of installing you as Chairman. Interested?”
Mateo’s pupils flickered for just an instant upon hearing my words.
Once his calculation was complete, he answered decisively.
“Not interested.”
An unexpected response.
I regarded Mateo in silence, studying him intently.
Uncomfortable under my gaze, Mateo questioned me again.
“Are you serious?”
“Do I look like I’m sitting here wasting time with you?”
Mateo sighed and spoke.
“If that sentiment is genuine, abandon it quickly. It’ll be better for both of us. For you and for Parallax.”
“Why?”
“Do you know anything about Parallax?”
“The world’s largest arms trafficker? A bastard? A social evil that incites war?”
Mateo nodded slowly.
“That’s all true. But that’s just the surface. You don’t know Parallax’s real structure, do you? Without understanding that, it’ll be difficult to take over Parallax.”
“Structure?”
“Parallax is completely different from your organization. Parallax is a syndicate. Adrian is the chairman, but he’s really just a figurehead representing multiple organizations.”
“A syndicate? You mean a coalition?”
“Right. Adrian is the chairman, but he’s not the true boss. Adrian was their representative face and coordinator.”
“Explain in detail.”
Mateo exhaled deeply before continuing.
“When Adrian started the arms trafficking business, he must have realized he couldn’t do it alone. He approached others—arms dealers in the Middle East, cartels in South America, Russian weapons suppliers, mercenary agencies, information brokers, and so on. He guaranteed their profits and distributed their goods. The result? Massive success. Adrian made money simply by ‘redistributing’ the resources they already possessed with empty hands, and they developed new ‘business models’ in return.”
Mateo paused before continuing.
“Even now, they belong to Parallax, but they maintain their own independent power bases. The reason Parallax has survived this long is because of Adrian. They listened to Adrian, and working together meant easy money. With that money, they could build their own organizations while still remaining part of Parallax.”
Hearing Mateo’s explanation, I finally understood the current situation.
Now I could see the structure.
Parallax was like the United States—a federation.
Separate organizations had joined forces to create one massive entity called Parallax.
Adrian stood at the center of it all.
Like an orchestra conductor.
He had taken instruments that played separately and unified them into one symphony.
Violins, violas, cellos, clarinets, bassoons, oboes, timpani—various instruments scattered about,
and Adrian had gathered them to create a single orchestra.
He had assembled mercenaries, traffickers, brokers, and cartels into one organization.
He had created a platform.
Different criminal organizations unified under a single name,
a massive distribution network and web of connections.
That was Parallax.
Looking back, I realized how little I actually knew about Parallax.
“Really? Why didn’t we know such information?”
“Foolish question. Who would tell?”
Mateo spoke with a mocking tone.
“What?”
“The South American drug cartel is actually Parallax. Those people fear the drug cartel and fear Parallax equally. They’re the same organization with different names, and people are terrified of both. Why would we bother saying we’re one and the same? The benefits from keeping them separate are enormous.”
Ah.
So they conduct business under the name of the South American cartel,
and also conduct business under the name Parallax?
Collecting protection money under both names separately?
Classic Adrian.
So he was essentially collecting payment twice?
Certainly creative.
Did you benchmark this off a late-night eatery?
Mateo’s words continued.
“But now Adrian, who was orchestrating all of this, is gone? What happens now?”
“Chaos?”
Mateo snapped his fingers with a sharp click.
“Bingo. Now it’ll descend into madness. Someone will try to devour the organization, others will grab their cut and exit, and some will sit back and watch. No matter what, Parallax will crumble.”
“Hmm···”
“No command structure, no loyalty, no enforcement, no way to restrain anyone. Parallax will become a headless monster.”
Mateo spoke with a somber tone.
“So you’re saying taking control of Parallax is difficult?”
“Exactly.”
Without needing to think further,
Mateo answered decisively.
“Then you need to die. You’re no longer useful.”
“What?”
Mateo’s eyes widened.
“You just said even with you around, I can’t take Parallax. So why keep you alive? All you’ll do is seek revenge anyway. Better to end this cleanly here. Right?”
“Wait… wait… don’t… don’t do that… let’s think of another way.”
“But you said there’s no way?”
“I didn’t say there’s no way—I said I can’t think of one right now. If I think about it, something will come up. Why are you being so hasty?”
Mateo suddenly shifted his demeanor.
“It’s not hasty—it’s decisiveness.”
“But why do you want to take over Parallax anyway? Your organization is already large and stable.”
Mateo asked with genuine curiosity.
“Before Adrian died, he said if we had something like the Fandom Grid, someone would eventually come to steal it. So I figured—why not take their organization first before someone comes for ours?”
Mateo shook his head slowly.
“It won’t be easy.”
“If we can’t have it, we’ll destroy it.”
I spoke casually.
With the same lightness as going to a Convenience Store to buy instant noodles.
“You’re insane.”
Mateo looked at me.
The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
He seemed somewhat intrigued.
“So will you do it?”
I asked him directly.
“Before that, I want to ask something.”
“What?”
“What do I get out of this?”
“Your life? And the Chairman’s seat?”
“Are you actually going to give me the Chairman position? Or just a puppet role?”
“You’re asking for a lot. Of course it’s a puppet role.”
A flicker of disappointment crossed Mateo’s face.
I continued immediately.
“But here’s the thing. If you do well, things could change. If you work in a way that pleases me, I’m willing to hand over Parallax itself. Keeping it around is just a hassle anyway.”
“Really? What is it that you truly want? I need to know that to do my job properly.”
“Peace of mind? I just want to live today peacefully. I don’t want unnecessary conflict.”
Mateo glanced at me as if I were absurd.
“You know that makes no sense, right?”
“You’re misunderstanding. I’m a pacifist.”
Hearing that, Mateo finally burst into laughter.
My face, where Alex had struck me, throbbed painfully.
“Alright, I understand. Let me get a grasp of the situation first.”
Mateo responded.
But his expression had changed from before.
Not obedience born from survival, not fear,
but the face of someone beginning to calculate.
The face of someone intrigued.
.
.
.
Once Alex left,
the room fell silent.
After the door closed
and the footsteps faded completely, Mateo exhaled slowly.
Alone now, Mateo recalled his conversation with Alex.
‘Chairman Parallax? A glittering prize with nothing inside.’
Alex didn’t know how dangerous that position was.
If one failed to orchestrate properly,
if one couldn’t design the game correctly,
if one couldn’t bring in money—those were the men who would come through the door with guns drawn.
Yet the Chairman’s seat wasn’t without its appeal.
He’d been unable to covet it, hidden behind the massive wall that was Adrian,
but now he could.
He could seize the vast Criminal Organization in his hands.
With thoughts multiplying, Mateo opened his laptop.
With practiced movements, he executed several programs.
It wasn’t a standard login procedure.
But navigating through site after site, a login screen appeared.
A security tunnel opened, an encryption key generated, and a one-time authentication window materialized.
Mateo froze for a moment.
He glanced around once more, just in case there were any hidden cameras.
Then he entered the password with extreme caution.
A moment passed.
PARALLAX NODE ACCESS
A login confirmation message appeared and then vanished.
The Parallax system interface opened.
.
.
.
The command center in Johor Bahru.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
A soft alarm sounded.
Tian Zihao, who had been drinking coffee, checked the alert.
His gaze shifted to the monitor.
A slight smile crossed his face.
“CEO. That bastard Mateo finally logged into Parallax?”
“Really?”
I set down my coffee at Tian Zihao’s words.
Tian Zihao’s fingers moved across the keyboard with practiced ease.
I asked from behind him.
“Can you confirm what Mateo is doing?”
“Of course. He’s inside our base. I can see everything. Let me pull up the feed.”
As Tian Zihao typed further,
the screen that Mateo was viewing appeared.
“Let’s see if Mateo will be our faithful dog, or if he’s a card we need to discard.”
We watched the screen Mateo was looking at.

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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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