I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 245

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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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245 – The King of Tijuana
245.
Hotel Suite Room.
We barely made it back to the hotel, evading the police.
The cathedral explosion had turned the surrounding area into absolute chaos.
Police cars and ambulances were tangled together, making it difficult to approach or escape.
Only after switching vehicles twice did we finally manage to slip into the hotel.
As I stepped inside, Tian Zihao greeted me.
“You’ve worked hard.”
Today had truly been exhausting.
One wrong move and I would have been buried alive in that cathedral.
I was fortunate.
Suddenly, I thought of the detonator Shin Jung-gi had left behind.
Perhaps he had chosen not to cross that final line.
Or perhaps there was another reason—I couldn’t be certain.
But one thing was clear:
if Shin Jung-gi had pressed that detonator,
today’s incident would not have ended like this.
It would have been a true catastrophe.
It could have been my funeral day.
I smiled and offered encouragement to Tian Zihao for his hard work.
I patted his shoulder.
“You’ve suffered too. I’m alive because of you.”
“I’m relieved.”
I hesitated briefly before asking.
“Have you located Shin Jung-gi’s position?”
“No. There’s still no signal.”
“The place we went to earlier—that was where Shin Jung-gi was, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“There are traces left behind, but no signal?”
“Yes. It’s too clean.”
“Keep searching. You never know what else might turn up.”
“Understood.”
Tian Zihao acknowledged my instructions.
Only now did I truly understand.
That discomfort I had been feeling all along.
That irritation from an uncontrollable variable.
It was Shin Jung-gi.
If I left Shin Jung-gi as he was, there was no telling what other variables he might become.
I could never predict when or where he might strike next.
Shin Jung-gi never exposed his location,
which was precisely why I had to keep searching for him.
This wasn’t simply about finding a runaway child—
it was about controlling the variables.
I felt it acutely now.
Shin Jung-gi possessed the ability to overturn the entire board.
That’s why I had to find him.
Even though there were no traces whatsoever at this moment,
I still had to continue searching.
“And…”
Tian Zihao broached the subject carefully.
“What else is there?”
“Mateo’s name appears on the death list.”
“What?”
“It just went into the police database.”
“What was the cause of death?”
“Carotid artery rupture. He died after his neck was pierced by glass.”
I said nothing.
I looked out the window.
The downtown Zurich skyline was visible.
The sound of sirens continued to echo.
Hearing of Mateo’s death left me with conflicted emotions.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected the situation to escalate this far.
I had hoped Mateo would lead Parallax well.
I had no desire to kill him.
Until the very end, I had hoped Mateo would follow the guidelines we provided.
Though I had issued the termination order, I wished I could have rescinded it.
But all of that became nothing more than my futile greed.
I recalled the image of Mateo touching the Signet Ring.
He cherished it as though it were the One Ring itself.
Tian Zihao continued speaking.
“However, there’s something unusual. The cathedral has only one fatality—Mateo.”
“Only Mateo died? From that explosion?”
“Yes. There are quite a few injured, but no other deaths. Only Mateo.”
“This doesn’t quite fit the profile of an accident.”
“There are many suspicious circumstances to rule it as an accident. The wound on his neck runs horizontally, not vertically. If he’d been pierced by falling glass shards from the ceiling, the wound would run vertically. Someone cut him directly.”
“Rodrigo is the likely suspect.”
“That’s our assessment as well.”
I closed my eyes for a moment and recalled that scene.
The image of Mateo reading the eulogy,
Rodrigo approached the fallen Mateo.
Instead of a gun, he picked up a shard of glass and drew it across his neck.
Rodrigo had exploited the bomb’s detonation perfectly.
Meticulous.
“Where is Rodrigo now?”
“He headed to the airport the moment the incident broke out.”
“His destination?”
“Tijuana, Mexico.”
I deliberated.
A decision had to be made.
I had to choose how we would proceed from here.
Should I simply let Rodrigo flee to South America,
or should I pursue him to the end and uproot him entirely?
Letting him go would be ideal,
but there would certainly be future complications.
Parallax hadn’t disappeared entirely,
but signs of fragmentation were already emerging.
Without a unifying leader like Adrian, it was only a matter of time before it split into South America, Europe, and the Middle East.
Europe and the Middle East were weak.
The real problem was South America.
Rodrigo, his remaining forces, and the cartel networks were still intact.
If I left Rodrigo as he was,
he would undoubtedly rebuild his power in South America and return.
He would consume the Middle East and Europe, then come for us again.
He had already lived for so long in the shadow of Parallax.
Parallax, which once commanded the world.
He could never be satisfied with merely South America.
No matter how I thought about it, now was the only opportunity.
If I didn’t eliminate Rodrigo now, he would certainly become a future threat.
If I dealt with just the South American forces,
if I dealt with just Rodrigo, I could resolve all the immediate problems at once.
The visible threats would be cleanly eliminated.
I made my decision.
It felt somewhat hasty.
But I wanted to settle this before their forces could regroup.
It wasn’t about annihilating the South American faction entirely.
I just needed to strike at Rodrigo.
“Let’s go.”
“Where to? Mexico?”
“Yes. Let’s go. This time, let’s see it through to the very end.”
“Understood. I’ll prepare everything.”
Tian Zihao began preparing for the move.
Allen mobilized the Obsidian Unit.
People began gathering in Unity Town.
*******
Tijuana, Mexico.
Situated on the border with the United States, Tijuana had become
prey for the cartels by that single fact alone.
People and money,
drugs and weapons—an endless flow through these streets.
The boundary between legality and illegality had long since crumbled.
Disappearances and deaths were no longer newsworthy.
They didn’t make the papers, and the police didn’t investigate.
This was one of the most dangerous cities on Earth.
And in this perilous city, there existed a man of absolute influence.
He held everything in Tijuana within his grasp.
When he spoke, it became truth,
and when he denied something, it became a lie.
He was both president and king of Tijuana.
That king’s name was Rodrigo.
Rodrigo’s expression transformed the moment he descended from the aircraft.
Europe and Mexico were worlds apart.
In Europe, Rodrigo always had to mind his surroundings.
He was constantly under scrutiny,
forced to be mindful of invisible rules,
and had to balance the scales between the Middle Eastern and European powers.
But not here.
Here was Rodrigo’s domain.
It was evident from the airport itself.
There was no customs inspection.
A vehicle was waiting the moment he stepped off the plane.
It bore no license plate.
No one questioned him,
no one verified anything.
They simply escorted him along his path.
The outskirts of Tijuana.
From the point where the city’s clamor faded,
another world began to unfold.
Dilapidated factory districts and buildings that resembled ruins stretched before him.
Collapsed signs, rusted iron doors, shattered windows.
It looked like an abandoned place.
But inside, it was entirely different.
Surveillance networks were installed from the moment one entered the outer road.
People were stationed in places unseen to the naked eye.
Neither vehicles nor people
could pass through without inspection.
Cameras were cunningly concealed throughout the compound.
They recorded everything that passed through.
Armed guards were stationed in multiple layers.
Drones patrolled the skies above.
Underground passages extended beneath the building,
and portions of them connected beyond the American border.
A vehicle without license plates pierced through the stringent security,
venturing into the deepest recesses.
At the center stood Rodrigo’s mansion.
The windows were bulletproof glass,
and the underground bunker connected to secret passages.
A helicopter pad sat atop the roof.
Inside that mansion, Rodrigo sat in quiet repose.
I picked up a cigar.
Bringing it to my nose, I slowly inhaled its fragrance.
A rich, heavy scent.
I was pleased.
It felt as though I could finally breathe.
I had not anticipated the explosion at the church.
Thanks to it, I managed to dispose of Mateo,
but not all problems have been resolved.
My purpose was never to kill Mateo.
I simply wanted to seize Parallax.
Mateo merely became an obstacle in that pursuit.
In the end, I fled to Tijuana, Mexico.
Though I came to Tijuana, Mexico, not all problems have been resolved.
I merely escaped the problems.
To reclaim Parallax, preparation was necessary.
I needed to reorganize, expand my forces, and consolidate my scattered power.
And.
The Alex Group.
Their existence continued to weigh on my mind.
The Alex Group was observing this entire situation.
They watched in real time as Parallax fractured.
Rodrigo would not miss this opportunity.
Now, with our forces weakened.
It was undoubtedly the perfect moment to swallow Parallax in one fell swoop.
Naturally, the Alex Group would think the same way.
I had a feeling they might even find their way here.
They may have already made their move.
Rodrigo would have done exactly that.
Rodrigo did not light the cigar he held in his hand.
Instead, he set it down and moved to the command center.
Dozens of monitors in the command center displayed Tijuana, Mexico.
The roads, strongholds, and key buildings of Tijuana, Mexico.
The entire city was visible.
Rodrigo sat in a chair and asked his subordinate.
“How is Route 3?”
“The passage to the American side is clear.”
The subordinate answered immediately.
“What about the border guards?”
“That’s been taken care of as well.”
Rodrigo nodded briefly.
The newly appointed border guard captain had been problematic.
Unnecessarily diligent and overflowing with a sense of justice.
He had a clear distinction between right and wrong.
Because of that, the medicine shipments heading to America had stopped.
The losses were severe.
Before departing for Zurich, I had ordered it handled,
and it seems it was handled well.
The guard captain had been replaced.
Exports were running normally again.
Everyone has moments when their zeal exceeds reason.
Not knowing that such zeal hastens death.
“What about weapons?”
“We’ve secured everything. Including heavy weapons, we’ve prepared beyond the level you specified.”
“Good. You’ve done well.”
“Thank you.”
That single phrase was the end of it.
Yet the subordinate seemed deeply moved, as if he had received a great favor.
After staring at the monitors for some time, Rodrigo slowly spoke.
“We might have visitors coming our way.”
“Visitors, you mean···”
“Uninvited guests.”
Rodrigo spoke briefly.
His subordinate grasped the meaning immediately.
“Understood. I’ll ensure the uninvited guests never set foot in Tijuana, Mexico.”
“No, don’t do that. Let’s prepare to welcome our guests instead. They’re guests—we should greet them warmly.”
Rodrigo smiled sinisterly.
Only then did his subordinate understand Rodrigo’s true intent.
He meant to lure them here.
He meant to set the stage so they could be killed.
“Understood. I’ll prepare immediately.”
“Good. Excellent. Are all the Organization Members gathered here?”
“Yes. They’re all assembled here.”
“Let me see their faces.”
The open grounds outside the estate.
All the Organization Members that Eduardo had gathered from South America were assembled here.
When Rodrigo emerged,
the space was completely filled.
It stretched beyond sight.
The Organization Members stood in perfect rows and columns.
Not a sound.
All eyes were on Rodrigo.
At a glance, there appeared to be several thousand.
Rodrigo walked slowly before them.
I felt assured.
In Europe, I was always lacking.
People, trust, resources.
Tijuana, Mexico was different.
Everyone gathered here was my instrument.
I could bend them to my will.
Everything here was mine.
The people, the weapons, the city—all belonged to me.
Rodrigo grasped the microphone.
“Thank you for trusting me and coming here.”
I offered a brief word of gratitude.
“Perhaps uninvited guests will find their way to us.”
“They will seek to take what we’ve built.”
“They will attempt to seize everything we’ve painstakingly cultivated.”
“I have no intention of surrendering it.”
“If anyone covets what is ours, we will fight. We will defend. We will prevail.”
“We will instead claim their lives and fortunes.”
“Thus we will grow stronger.”
In that moment, the empty lot erupted.
Applause and cheers burst forth like a thunderclap.
Deep, resonant shouts filled the entire space.
Rodrigo gazed upon his organization members once more.
They were dependable.
This was Rodrigo’s world.
******
St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport, Switzerland
A small, quiet airport near Lake Constance that served only the European region.
Shin Jung-gi sat there.
He gazed out at the planes with a somewhat vacant expression.
He still hadn’t decided where to go.
He had simply fled Zurich and sought refuge in a safe place.
He had come to this small airport merely to relocate elsewhere.
Despite his blank expression, his mind churned with turmoil.
The image kept returning—the moment just before pressing the button in the church.
People fleeing in panic.
Bloodied figures screaming and desperately trying to escape.
It was chaos incarnate.
I had promised to deliver death to Chairman Parallax, the one who killed Dennis.
But witnessing that scene with my own eyes left me unsettled.
‘Was this right?’
Did Dennis truly want this?
The thought that perhaps I myself had been wrong grew increasingly louder.
As my contemplation deepened, someone sat beside me.
I turned my head naturally.
“It’s been a while, Teacher.”
A familiar voice.
“You… how did you…?”
Toto was sitting beside me.

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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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