I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 244

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

244 – Funeral (2)
244.
[11:03 AM]
Zurich St. Cathedral Church.
Mateo stood in a black suit,
delivering the eulogy.
The eulogy had reached a critical juncture.
It was just before declaring power.
With a sharp crack, the electricity cut out.
The lights died, and the microphone went silent.
The sound that had been echoing through the speakers—
my voice vanished into the void.
The cathedral filled with the dim light filtering through the stained glass.
Red, blue, and twisted.
The atmosphere was strange and heavy.
But there was no time to absorb it.
Boom.
An explosion erupted from the pipe organ.
Boom.
A bomb detonated behind a pillar.
Boom.
Another bomb exploded among the flowers on the altar.
Shrapnel scattered, flowers dispersed.
Bombs erupted throughout the cathedral.
Debris rained from the ceiling,
and smoke billowed upward.
Someone screamed,
someone bolted toward the exit,
someone crouched beneath the pews.
Then it happened.
Crash!!
A drone slammed into the outer wall.
A tremendous blast echoed through the space.
The stained glass that had cast its ethereal colors shattered into countless fragments.
Colorful glass shards fell to the floor as they broke.
Light, glass, and smoke intermingled.
Bombs began detonating simultaneously from inside and outside the cathedral.
Zurich St. Cathedral Church trembled,
and screams erupted from all directions.
This was no longer a funeral.
It was a battlefield.
.
.
.
From a distance, Shin Jung-gi observed the scene unfold.
Through the sniper rifle’s scope, smoke billowed from the cathedral.
People were evacuating in the wake of the explosions.
Shin Jung-gi gripped the detonator beside him.
Until now, every explosion had been preparatory—a means to an end.
Explosions designed to create fractures,
to shake the people to their core.
The real moment was now.
When I pressed this button, Zurich St. Cathedral Church would collapse entirely.
It would become a massive tomb.
I lifted the acrylic cover of the detonator.
Three. Two. One.
.
.
.
Mateo stood before the altar, delivering the eulogy.
Now came the most critical moment.
The part where he would announce Rodrigo’s expulsion,
when the power cut out.
The speakers died.
His voice dissipated helplessly into the air.
In that same instant, an explosion erupted.
A bomb detonated directly behind him.
The shockwave slammed into his back.
Mateo pitched forward.
The empty casket toppled, and Adrian’s photograph and belongings scattered across the floor.
Glass shattered, objects crumbled.
Mateo braced himself with his hands against the ground.
His ears rang.
His vision blurred white.
For a moment, I couldn’t comprehend what was happening.
Boom. Boom.
Another explosion.
This time from the side.
Debris rained down from the ceiling.
I instinctively curled my body into a protective crouch.
A stone crashed down right beside me.
I barely dodged it.
If it had been any closer, it would have struck my head.
I lifted my gaze.
I surveyed my surroundings.
I spotted a bodyguard.
I called for the Obsidian Unit.
But they weren’t there.
The Obsidian Unit, who seemed to guard my side at any moment, had vanished.
They disappeared in an instant.
The church had become a war zone.
People surged toward the exit,
desperate to escape through the only door available.
They shoved one another, stumbled, and screamed.
I had to get up.
I had to rise and make my way toward that door.
But my body refused to obey.
My legs wouldn’t respond.
Then I felt someone approaching nearby.
Everyone else was rushing toward the exit,
but this person moved in the opposite direction.
They were coming toward me.
Without even lifting my head, I sensed who it was.
In this chaos,
there was only one person who would come for me.
I clenched my fists tightly.
At the very least, I didn’t want to lose the Signet Ring.
.
.
.
Rodrigo fingered the pistol concealed in his jacket.
The gun he’d hidden in the bathroom ventilation shaft.
Eduardo had discreetly brought it to him amid the chaos.
One shot was all he needed.
It would end here.
Mateo was a traitor.
He’d tried to sell out Chairman Parallax to outsiders.
He would pay the price with his own hands.
He could have had Eduardo do it,
but such matters could not be entrusted to another’s hands.
I had to do it myself.
It was tedious and bothersome,
but a traitor had to be dealt with personally.
Parallax had to belong to Parallax.
Not to these wishy-washy bastards.
With such thoughts, I waited eagerly for my chance.
I had my eyes fixed solely on Mateo.
But it wasn’t easy.
People were guarding Mateo from all sides.
There would be only one opportunity.
The moment I failed, security would swarm and surround Mateo.
Any suspicious movement would result in immediate restraint.
Organization Members from South America were waiting outside,
but there was no one to help me here in the Church.
If I missed this chance, there would be no second one.
Only one opportunity.
I had to focus.
That was when it happened.
Boom.
The Church shook with the sound.
Explosions erupted everywhere.
People screamed.
Yet even amid the chaos, I kept my eyes on Mateo.
Mateo lay collapsed before the altar from the blast.
No one was around him.
No security,
no Obsidian Unit—they had vanished.
My lips curved up ever so slightly.
‘This actually worked out perfectly.’
This was an opportunity.
A perfect one.
Mateo wasn’t dying by my hand today.
He was dying from the Church explosion.
No one would suspect me.
I walked against the tide of fleeing people toward the altar.
There lay the collapsed Mateo.
Our eyes met.
Fear was evident in Mateo’s gaze.
But his hand was clenched tight.
The hand holding the signet ring trembled.
Rodrigo’s gun barrel pointed at Mateo.
His finger rested on the trigger.
That was the moment.
The altar, precariously standing from the explosion, collapsed entirely.
The falling altar crushed Mateo beneath it.
The remaining objects cascaded down upon him.
The heavy structural supports that had held the altar pinned his legs.
“Aahhh!!”
“Save me.”
“Please, let me live.”
Mateo screamed.
Rodrigo gazed down at him.
He tucked the pistol back into his jacket.
There was no need to use the gun.
He picked up the cloth that lay beneath the altar and wrapped it around his hand.
Then he picked up a shard of stained glass, jagged and sharp.
He approached Mateo slowly.
“You died in the explosion. Glass pierced your throat. Understood?”
His tone was calm and gentle, as if explaining something.
Mateo was seized with terror.
But he could not escape.
His legs, trapped beneath the structure, would not move.
All he could do
was beg for his life.
“Please, save me.”
“I’ll do whatever you ask.”
“Chairman Parallax? Take it. I have no ambitions.”
“I mean it.”
Rodrigo listened to these words, thinking them Mateo’s final testament.
Then he moved his hand.
The stained glass touched Mateo’s throat.
Slice.
He drew it across.
A vivid mark from the stained glass appeared on Mateo’s throat as he cried out in agony.
The skin split open,
and a crimson line bloomed clearly.
Blood erupted from the wound, gushing forth.
“Ughh···”
Mateo let out a low moan.
His body convulsed.
“Please… save me.”
But Rodrigo no longer looked at Mateo.
He simply turned his body and ran toward the exit.
.
.
.
Shin Jung-gi held the detonator in his hand.
He had even removed the acrylic cover.
All that remained was to press the button.
The moment he did, Zurich St. Cathedral Church would collapse in ruins.
Shin Jung-gi pressed his eye against the scope of the sniper rifle.
He wanted to witness the cathedral’s destruction with absolute certainty.
At the entrance, people were desperately scrambling to escape.
It looked like pandemonium, chaos, hell itself.
‘Farewell.’
With this, my revenge would be complete.
Shin Jung-gi moved his hand toward the detonator.
That was when it happened.
Among those fleeing, a familiar face appeared.
“Y… Young Boss?”
Why was the Young Boss here?
My hand froze.
The unexpected appearance of this person caught me off guard.
I looked again to confirm.
It was definitely the Young Boss.
He was quickly making his way out of the cathedral.
The Young Boss was a variable I hadn’t accounted for.
I had intended to kill everyone in Parallax.
I had intended to kill every parasite feeding off Parallax.
That much was certain.
But not the Young Boss.
I had no desire to kill him.
Rather, he was someone I needed to protect.
I had never even imagined he would be there.
Why was the Young Boss at Adrian’s funeral?
I watched as the Young Boss hurried out of the cathedral.
It seemed he had managed to escape.
Couldn’t I just press the button now?
For a moment, I considered it, but then shook my head.
I couldn’t.
I lacked information about the cathedral, so I couldn’t calculate precisely.
I’d packed far too many explosives for the cathedral’s size.
If I detonated them now, the Young Boss could be injured.
Even though he’d left the cathedral, he could still be caught in the blast wave, shrapnel, and backdraft.
He could be buried under the rubble.
I couldn’t gamble with such stakes.
Shin Jung-gi inserted the acrylic cover back onto the detonator.
Slowly. Silently.
He withdrew his eye from the sniper rifle’s scope.
He gazed at the cathedral with smoke rising from it with his naked eye.
With that image as his last, Shin Jung-gi departed from the location.
.
.
.
I was walking outside the cathedral.
The moment the power cut and the lights went dark, I understood.
This wasn’t a simple accident.
Someone had deliberately caused it.
A chill ran through me instantly.
Right then, Tian Zihao’s radio transmission came through.
A drone had launched, but it wasn’t registering on radar.
That single statement was enough.
It had to be Shin Jung-gi.
It could only be Shin Jung-gi.
I recalled Shin Jung-gi’s hollow, sorrowful gaze.
His question echoed in my mind: was that enough?
I bolted toward the exit.
As I passed through the entrance, the explosion roared.
Part of the entrance collapsed.
People were crowded there,
and debris rained down upon them.
The collapsed door,
people crushed beneath it,
people desperately evacuating.
Shin Jung-gi had apparently blocked the entrance
and brought the entire cathedral down.
His emotion was palpable in every detail.
It wasn’t mere revenge.
It was raw, devastating fury.
Earset rang out.
It was Tian Zihao.
– Are you alright? Did you make it out?
“I’m out. Can’t you tell I got out?”
– All communication networks are down. This is an emergency line, so only this connection is available.
“Shin Jung-gi. It seems Shin Jung-gi has arrived.”
– I think so too.
“Can you locate Shin Jung-gi?”
– No. I can’t pinpoint his location properly. He seems to be nearby, but I can’t determine exactly where.
“Keep searching.”
“Yes.”
I scanned my surroundings as well.
I didn’t stop moving.
If Shin Jung-gi was attacking the cathedral,
he had to be nearby.
He needed a clear view of the cathedral.
I could use CCTV, but I’d need to operate a drone and use a detonator,
so he was likely not far away.
A high vantage point with clear sightlines.
I swept my gaze across the elevated areas.
Suddenly, I caught a glint of something.
Like the reflection of a mirror?
‘A scope?’
“Rooftop confirmed. Eleven o’clock direction, five hundred meters.”
I issued orders to Tian Zihao and the Obsidian Unit.
The Obsidian Unit moved first.
I ran with them.
That location had the highest probability.
We couldn’t afford to be late.
But when we arrived, Shin Jung-gi wasn’t there.
It was empty.
Cleanly organized.
What remained there was
only a single detonator that hadn’t been pressed.
Shin Jung-gi didn’t fail to bring down Zurich St. Cathedral Church.
He chose not to.
.
.
.
Rodrigo headed toward the airport.
He was leaving this place, bound for South America, for Mexico.
I’ve already made my decision.
Staying here won’t work.
Remaining in Zurich
is the worst choice.
I need to return to South America.
The incident at the Cathedral has spiraled far too large.
It’s not a simple accident.
It’s terrorism.
An investigation will commence.
The Police, naturally,
along with the media and government will descend upon Parallax, tearing it apart.
Ultimately, the entire Parallax organization will be destabilized.
Of course, I’ve used this incident to eliminate Mateo,
but what comes after concerns me far more.
What Rodrigo desires is an intact Parallax.
Not a tattered, crumbling one like this.
Of course, there’s a path to rebuilding Parallax by staying in Zurich.
Perhaps it would even be the best approach to becoming Chairman.
From a legitimacy standpoint,
and narratively speaking.
But that process would be far too grueling and arduous.
I might end up imprisoned without any fault of my own,
and in the meantime, those Middle Eastern or European factions could declare independence,
or swallow Parallax whole.
I’d endure all the hardship,
only for someone else to reap the rewards.
Rodrigo shook his head.
For now, it’s best to avoid this altogether.
Isn’t it wise to seek shelter from a downpour?
Until the situation stabilizes, I should observe from South America.
The organization needs to be reorganized.
And then I return.
Once things settle, I can come back then.
For now, retreat is the right move.
Rodrigo gazed out the window of the car heading toward the Airport.
Smoke still rose from Zurich St. Cathedral Church.
Rodrigo turned away from that sight and headed toward the Airport.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————