I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 246

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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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246 – Welcome
246.
“It’s been a while, Teacher.”
Shin Jung-gi froze.
Words wouldn’t come.
I never imagined Toto would be here.
Looking at Toto’s expression, this was no coincidence.
He came here knowing.
How could this be?
I couldn’t comprehend it.
I’d done everything in my power to avoid detection.
I naturally avoided all CCTV,
erased my access logs.
I hid my location with a VPN,
constantly changed my routes.
Shin Jung-gi knew exactly how Tian Zihao found people.
So I avoided those methods.
I was certain Tian Zihao couldn’t find me.
Yet Toto found me.
“How… how did you find me?”
Unlike myself, my words stumbled.
I was that flustered.
“When I saw the bomb go off, I knew it was you, Teacher. That’s how I was able to find you.”
“···.”
I couldn’t speak.
“You might not realize it, but you have your own pattern, Teacher.”
Toto had learned much about weapons from me.
That’s why Toto called me Teacher.
Our relationship was quite good.
“Pattern?”
“Yes. Just as you know Teacher Tian Zihao’s pattern and avoid it, you have your own pattern too, Teacher. I found you by watching for it.”
I thought I’d hidden perfectly,
yet someone was reading me.
Someone was paying attention to me.
It was burdensome, yet somehow comforting.
A sense of relief washed over me.
“So you came to stop me?”
“What?”
“Did the Young Boss send you? To find me and stop me?”
“No. The Young Boss doesn’t know. He doesn’t know I came here.”
Toto shook his head.
“Then what?”
“You just look like you need help. You can’t do this alone.”
“What?”
“You can’t eliminate Chairman Parallax by yourself. And if we do it together, it’s better. It’s even fun.”
Shin Jung-gi found Toto’s words absurd.
This wasn’t a joke.
This wasn’t a game.
This was a revenge drama staked with our very lives.
If Chairman Parallax caught us, something far worse than death would await.
I was risking my own life doing this.
Yet Toto came here knowing all of this.
He was always smart, so he couldn’t possibly not understand the situation.
But I couldn’t drag Toto into this dangerous game.
One life at risk was enough—mine.
“Go back. This isn’t your place. It’s far more dangerous than you think. So go back.”
“Teacher…”
“Go!”
My voice rose.
But Toto’s expression remained unchanged.
“Did you know, Teacher?”
“What?”
“Dennis wasn’t just important to you.”
“…”
“He was important to me and the Young Boss too. He was important to all of us. So I understand your feelings. Just as everyone has a different way of accepting death, they also have different ways of expressing it. That’s why I understand your way and support it. I want to help. Because I don’t want to leave the person who killed Dennis as they are either.”
I looked out the window.
A small aircraft on the runway was preparing for takeoff.
Without words,
I simply stared out the window.
“It’s dangerous. I’m warning you.”
“I know.”
“You could get hurt.”
“I know.”
“You could die.”
“I know. I still want to do this.”
Toto’s expression remained the same as before.
His face was still bright.
He was smiling, yet somehow it looked sad.
“Fine. Let’s go together.”
I let out a long sigh and spoke.
“Thank you. I’ll do well.”
Toto replied.
“But let me ask you one thing. Why are you trying to do something so dangerous?”
Toto hesitated for a moment before answering.
“… I’m afraid Teacher might die like Dennis did.”
“What?”
Shin Jung-gi’s eyes wavered.
“I don’t think I could handle that. I think I’d really want to destroy an entire nation. That’s why. I’m protecting Teacher for my own sake.”
Shin Jung-gi felt as though he’d been struck from behind.
He couldn’t say anything.
I was consumed by revenge because I couldn’t control my own emotions.
Yet this young Toto was saying he would wage war to protect me.
Suddenly, I remembered when Toto first arrived.
A child whose eyes sparkled with wonder at everything in Unity Town.
A child who grasped ten, twenty concepts from a single lesson.
I recalled the days when we all bickered about who would take Toto with them.
That child had already become an adult.
An adult who came all this way to save me.
An adult who came to drag me out of hell.
Now that I thought about it, the Young Boss’s reason for waging this war was the same.
Not wanting to lose anyone else.
I lowered my head.
Words wouldn’t come.
Tears threatened to fall.
“The Young Boss went to Mexico. To catch Rodrigo.”
“We should depart as well.”
I spoke in a small voice, barely holding back tears.
“Have this before we go.”
Toto handed me a disposable plastic cup.
Inside was a rich iced chocolate.
The kind I loved to drink.
The iced chocolate Dennis always used to give me.
Now Toto was the one offering it.
The moment I saw it, all the emotions I’d been holding back crumbled at once.
A human without emotion.
A time when I felt nothing.
That was already in the past.
Now I was a human barely surviving amid the concern and care of others.
Only now did I understand.
My shoulders trembled.
Thick tears fell from my bowed head.
Toto gently patted my back without a word.
That touch was so warm.
********
Mexico.
Tijuana International Airport.
The private jet descended slowly in altitude.
Beyond the window stretched endless jungle.
Green stretched on without end.
The thick, humid air
seemed to seep through the window pane itself.
The aircraft landed safely and taxied to the parking area.
Once the plane came to a complete stop, the flight attendants waited at the door for the signal from the ground personnel.
Normally, once a plane stops, ground personnel approach.
They check the aircraft’s exterior, and once they signal that everything is clear, the door opens.
But that signal never came.
The flight attendant’s wait at the door stretched longer.
Unable to wait any longer, the flight attendant simply opened the door.
The ground personnel, who had been doing something else, were startled.
It was somewhat irritating, but that was all it was.
I attributed it to the kind of laziness and indifference characteristic of Central and South America.
I descended from the private jet without a word.
I breathed in the air of Tijuana.
It was hot and stuffy.
Oppressive.
Breathing that air, I headed toward the immigration checkpoint.
The immigration officer took my passport and stared at the screen for quite some time.
Quite a while.
It was strange.
Not to boast,
but traveling by private jet gives you a certain sense of things.
When you arrive by private jet,
immigration processing tends to go smoothly.
Usually they just verify and move on.
But this time was different.
“What is the purpose of your visit?”
“What is your itinerary?”
“How long will you be staying?”
“Where have you booked your accommodation?”
“What is your occupation?”
“Do you plan to conduct any work-related activities during your stay?”
“Where are you coming from?”
“What is your relationship with the person traveling with you?”
“A work colleague?”
“Do you have anything to declare to Customs?”
“I’ll need to verify your vaccination certificate.”
The questions never ceased.
Even the notoriously stringent US immigration didn’t probe this thoroughly.
They asked questions I’d already answered.
Rephrased differently, in a different order.
Questions poured forth relentlessly.
I couldn’t fathom why they kept asking what I’d already addressed.
I tried to suppress my irritation,
but I was furious.
I clenched my teeth, biting back my anger.
Losing my temper here would only waste more time.
It was painfully obvious they’d find some other pretext to delay my entry.
Without any legitimate reason, without any suspicion,
they were detaining me this long?
As that thought crystallized,
another possibility emerged.
What if this wasn’t just strict immigration protocol? What if there was another reason?
If Rodrigo knew we were coming?
If he’d made preparations?
It was entirely plausible.
Though I would’ve handled it with more finesse.
They inspected our luggage.
We typically use X-ray machines,
but Tijuana was different.
They unpacked everything.
Every bag opened, every item examined individually.
Slow, tedious, and relentless.
Their intent was unmistakable.
This wasn’t immigration screening or luggage inspection.
It was a kind of “welcome greeting.”
At that point, my anger gave way to bitter laughter.
Is that all they’ve got?
It took over an hour before I could finally step outside.
Outside the airport.
The spot where the rental car should have been waiting stood empty.
Instead of a rental car, a Female Employee walked over slowly.
Wearing an awkward smile.
“You came out too late, so I processed it as a no-show.”
“Pardon?”
“Since you were late past the pickup time, I thought you weren’t coming. So I rented it to someone else..”
“···. You could have at least called to confirm before canceling, couldn’t you?”
“That’s true. But I left my phone at home today. I apologize.”
There was no trace of genuine remorse on the rental car employee’s face.
Instead, it was filled with mockery.
‘This bastard···’
Let me correct myself.
I’m genuinely irritated.
I don’t know who planned this,
but I want to throw a punch.
They really got under my skin.
“Would you like me to look into another vehicle?”
“Yes, do that.”
There was no other choice.
I could try another rental company,
but if this entire area belonged to Rodrigo,
and he had the power to reach all the way to the airport,
other rental companies wouldn’t be much different.
I didn’t want to unnecessarily complicate things or frustrate myself further.
The vehicle the rental car employee brought was an old van that looked like it could break down at any moment.
“Here it is. I wanted to prepare a better vehicle for you, but this is all we have left. Still, it runs well and stops well.”
The rental car employee tapped the van a couple of times as if to assure me it was decent.
Tian Zihao beside me seemed more irritated than I was,
but since I remained calm, he held back as well.
“Let’s go.”
We got into the car.
The agent driving spoke up.
“Something’s wrong with this car. The brakes are incredibly stiff. It’s set up perfectly for an accident.”
“There’s also a GPS embedded in the vehicle.”
Tian Zihao added.
“Of course there is.”
“Should we remove it?”
“If we remove it, they’ll know immediately, won’t they?”
“Yes. They’ll know right away.”
“Then leave it. Let’s just head to the Hotel for now.”
.
.
.
“What? A double booking?”
“I sincerely apologize. It appears there was a system error.”
“So what am I supposed to do?”
My voice rose without my realizing it.
“We will cancel your reservation at no charge, and we would like to offer you a voucher worth 1,000 pesos—approximately 85,000 won—for your next visit.”
The young Female Employee at the concierge desk continued her explanation, beads of sweat rolling down her face as she spoke.
It’s the same here.
No amount of anger directed at this Female Employee would help, nor would it resolve anything.
It’s a trivial matter,
yet the accumulation of these incidents stirs my frustration.
From the Airport to the Hotel.
Not a system error. Not a mistake.
A deliberate intention.
“Fine.”
I exhaled a long breath before answering.
“Is there another room available?”
“We have one Deluxe Room remaining.”
The quality drops significantly.
From a Suite Room to a Deluxe.
“We need more than one room. Don’t you have anything else?”
“I apologize. We only have one room left at the moment.”
“Understood. I’ll take that one.”
The staff member handed me the key.
I took the key and headed up to the Hotel Room.
Along the way, I made sure to pocket the 1,000 peso voucher as well.
We entered the Hotel Room on the third floor.
Naturally, cameras and listening devices were hidden throughout the room.
Or rather, there was no attempt to hide them at all.
The negligence was so blatant that anyone paying attention would spot them immediately.
‘We’re watching everything you do.’
It was an unmistakable signal.
In the room were myself and Tian Zihao.
And four members of the Obsidian Unit.
That was everyone who had traveled on the private jet.
The remaining personnel were scheduled to arrive in Tijuana on separate flights.
They were supposed to come directly to Tijuana from Unity Town,
but this situation will inevitably compromise the operation.
Problems will likely arise from the moment we pass through immigration.
Rodrigo seemed to have anticipated our arrival here.
I felt a strong sense that something was going wrong.
That was when it happened.
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone rapped on the door.
The posture of the Obsidian Unit shifted.
They lowered their stance, their gaze fixed on the door.
They immediately entered a state of alert.
I checked the person outside through the peephole.
A man in a suit stood there.
“Who are you?”
“I’m your guide.”

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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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