I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 25

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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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025-Return
25.
“Okapi Sting… has been in an accident.”
What?
What did you say?
My mind went blank in an instant.
The words wouldn’t register.
Okapi Sting and an accident—they didn’t belong in the same sentence.
But an accident?
I had never been trained for a situation like this.
Never anticipated it.
Never even imagined it.
So I had no idea what to do.
I simply shut down.
I stood there in a daze for what felt like an eternity.
Sung Jun-hee, noticing something was wrong, shook my shoulder and called my name.
“Gong In-bae? Gong In-bae?”
“Yes… yes?”
“You’re not responding at all…”
“Right… I need to return to the unit immediately.”
“Of course. I’ll check the flights right away.”
“Please arrange the fastest possible departure.”
.
.
.
“Damn it. What is this?”
When I entered the base, what awaited me were eleven Taegeuk flags.
My team lay draped in those flags.
“Damn it. What is this? Get up!!! Why are you lying down?”
“Team Leader. Wake up. Why are you lying down!!!!”
“We need to go home. Get up.
“We don’t have much time left before we go home.”
“We promised to go fishing together. You said you’d teach us.”
“How can you just lie there like this? Get up. Open your eyes.”
“Open your eyes. Damn it. Open your eyes!!!!”
No matter how much I shook them, tried to lift them, my team wouldn’t move.
All eleven of them lay motionless.
So I lay down beside them.
Since they wouldn’t get up no matter how hard I tried.
I lay down next to them.
Since they wouldn’t get up,
I lay down instead.
There was no other way to be with my team.
I quietly draped the Taegeuk flag over my head.
.
.
.
“While you were in Kinshasa, the vigilance operations resumed. The Rebel Forces’ movements were suspicious.”
“We kept receiving reports that large-scale smuggling would take place.”
“I told them to take the safest route possible,
“but then word came that traces of the Rebel Forces had been found and they were changing routes. Shortly after, a radio transmission came saying it was a trap, that there were booby traps, and they were retreating—and that was the end of it. We immediately dispatched support units, but by the time we arrived at the scene, everything was already over.”
“I’m sorry. I should have stopped you.”
The Battalion Commander apologized to me.
But I didn’t accept that apology.
Just as I had when the Battalion Commander told me to go to Kinshasa, I left his office without saying a word.
Back then, the Team Leader scolded me,
but now there’s no one to scold me.
There’s no one to tell me what’s right.
What’s wrong, so I shouldn’t do it that way.
No one to tell me.
There’s no one beside me.
.
.
.
The plane landed at Seoul Airport.
The remains reception ceremony was held with military honor guards and bereaved families gathered.
The casket draped in the Taegeuk flag was slowly transferred,
and the honor guard escorted it on either side.
The bereaved families wept beside it.
They were all familiar faces.
People I had shared meals with face to face, people I had talked with—they were crying.
I was ashamed.
Ashamed that I alone had survived, I couldn’t even bring myself to leave the plane.
I was stealing glimpses of their sorrow from inside the aircraft.
Soon after, the funeral service was held, and they were laid to rest at the National Cemetery.
.
.
.
I returned with the team.
The other team members went to the National Cemetery.
I returned to the International Peace Support Unit.
I was assigned the same quarters I had occupied before.
The place where I had struck down Lee Won-jun,
the place that had welcomed me when I first arrived here.
********
I requested discharge.
I needed to go back and kill every last one of those Congo bastards.
I couldn’t let them die at someone else’s hands before I got to them.
So I had to leave quickly.
First come, first served.
“That’s not possible.”
“Why not, sir?”
“You still have mandatory service time remaining. If you discharge now, you’ll be shirking your military obligation.”
“I don’t care. I’ll re-enlist as a private later and fulfill my obligation then.”
“Don’t do that. You’ll completely mess up your record. I’ll just transfer you somewhere comfortable. Just rest. Just breathe. You weren’t planning on making the military a career anyway. Just go there and breathe—I won’t touch you.”
“I refuse. Please discharge me.”
“I said it’s not possible. And there’s no regulation for that anyway. So just stay put. I’ll transfer you to a comfortable position.”
“Then I’ll just desert.”
“Don’t do that. If you desert, it’ll cause problems for others too. Just wait for now. I’ll find a way.”
“Yes, sir.”
********
They said I needed psychiatric treatment.
They said it was mandatory for those who had suffered severe psychological trauma.
“Tell me what happened—whatever feels comfortable to share.”
…
I said nothing.
I was too stunned.
How the hell was I supposed to comfortably talk about this?
How the hell was I supposed to handle this?
Should I kill this bastard?
Smash his skull with the potted plant in front of me, drive the greatsword deep through his throat?
Strangle him with a wire?
Or pull out the pistol from my inventory and put a few rounds in his head?
Twenty-eight different ways to kill the man in the white coat before me flashed through my mind in an instant.
But I didn’t execute a single one.
It didn’t feel right.
Instead, I said nothing at all.
I looked at the mirror hanging in the clinic.
Poapi’s eyes stared back at me.
The furious gaze of Poapi, who had lost his brother.
Poapi’s eyes gleamed in the mirror—those same eyes that had pleaded with me to teach him martial arts capable of killing.
I had made a grave mistake.
I should not have stopped Poapi.
I should not have waited for his rage to subside.
I should have gone with him and slaughtered those Rebel Forces bastards myself.
I should have pressed a pistol into his hands.
I should have given him grenades.
I should have become a gunboy instead of a candy boy.
It was unmistakably my fault.
I reflect on it now.
I will not make this mistake twice.
One error had cost me everything.
I had lost all that I possessed.
******
******
“Sung Jun-hee, Secretary?”
“Yes.”
“Hello. This is Gong In-bae, the sergeant you met before.”
“Ah~ I heard the unfortunate news. I offer my deepest condolences for your comrade’s sacrifice. I pray for the repose of the deceased’s soul and extend my sympathies to you, Sergeant Gong In-bae.”
“…”
“…What is the reason for your call?”
“I wanted to confirm whether the instructor position you offered previously is still available.”
“Ah… An instructor position? I’ll need to check again. Congo would welcome it, but the Army will likely refuse quite strongly.”
“I understand. That’s why I’m calling to ask for your assistance.”
“Do you really want to come that badly?”
“Yes. I will definitely come.”
“I’ll look into it and contact you again.”
After hanging up, Secretary Sung Jun-hee trembled violently.
His voice had been terrifying.
It was the same voice as when we met before,
yet the feeling it conveyed was entirely different.
Eerie. Chilling.
********
********
“Yes. I must.”
“You’ll depart in one month. I’ll grant you leave until then—think it over once more. You can still cancel even then.”
“I’ll see you in one month.”
I left the Military Base and hailed a taxi.
I had things to do.
I have something I need to do.
I had to do what shame had prevented me from doing.
“To Namyangju, please.”
.
.
.
“I’m sorry.”
The door opened, and the moment I saw my sister-in-law’s face,
those were the only words I could manage.
My sister-in-law, despite her small frame, wrapped her arms around me.
She pulled me close, embracing my neck.
Suddenly, tears burst forth.
Sob… sob…
“I’m sor—”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I wasn’t enough. I should have gone with him. It’s all my fault. I’m so sorry.”
My sister-in-law quietly stroked my back.
I couldn’t see her face, but I could feel that she was crying too.
“I will tear every last one of those bastards apart, no matter what. I want to die alongside him, but I can’t go like this. I’ll shred every single one of those bastards… and then I’ll die. I will have my revenge.”
Only then did my sister-in-law look at my face.
Her face was a mess from tears.
“Gong In-bae. Don’t do that. Don’t even think about revenge. Live your own life. That’s what Lee Won-jun would want for you.”
“No. Sergeant Lee Won-jun taught me to seek revenge.”
“That was military protocol, but Lee Won-jun as a person isn’t like that. So… don’t seek revenge. Don’t even think about it.”
I didn’t answer.
I would do it.
Revenge.
But I didn’t want to lie to my sister-in-law, so I chose silence instead of words.
Before leaving home, I left a small shopping bag in one corner.
It contained two hundred thousand dollars.
I had ten more shopping bags left, each containing two hundred thousand dollars.
And ten more places left to visit.
.
.
.
Even if beaten with a club, I had resolved to endure it silently,
but my mother prepared a meal for me.
Telling me to eat before I go.
Pitter-patter.
My worthless tears fall onto the lovingly prepared dish.
I try to hold back my tears so as not to ruin the food she labored to make,
I can’t stop it no matter what.
I’ve already cried more than enough,
yet the tears keep coming.
The last time I came here, I managed to eat more than three bowls of rice,
but today I couldn’t even finish half a bowl before I set down my spoon.
I felt guilty that my useless tears were ruining the food.
I tried to force myself to eat more, but I felt like I’d vomit if I did.
I was a criminal for wasting the meal.
I fled hastily from Oh Jae-beom’s home.
Leaving behind only a shopping bag containing two hundred thousand dollars.
I decided I needed to earn more money.
This was everything in my inventory.
Three million dollars seized from the Rebel Forces.
I had spent that money, but it felt woefully insufficient.
I wanted to give it all away,
but I needed money too.
Revenge costs money.
I needed to earn some.
********
“Are you going to Kinshasa?”
“I’m going to Uvira.”
“Why Uvira?”
“There’s something I need to retrieve.”
.
.
.
“Come to Kinshasa with me.”
“If I go?”
“I’ll teach you every method of killing a person. Martial arts, techniques, sorcery—anything.
“Understood.”
Poapi didn’t hesitate for a second and agreed readily.
We headed straight to Kinshasa.
Poapi had no family whose permission he needed to ask.
No belongings to pack.
Poapi had nothing.
But I had Poapi.
.
.
.
We arrived in Kinshasa.
Poapi said it was his first time in the capital, Kinshasa.
To be precise, he had never left Uvira.
As we arrived at the hotel I had booked, I could feel Poapi’s tension.
It reminded me of how I had felt intimidated entering a department store.
I placed my hand on Poapi’s shoulder to ease his nervousness.
He had drunk water flowing from streams,
and lived in a house hastily enclosed with sheet metal—so arriving at a hotel seemed to astound him.
Water flowed from the tap, and lights came on.
That alone seemed to overwhelm him.
One night here cost more than a Congo resident’s monthly salary.
And this wasn’t even a good hotel.
We went out for dinner, then returned and had a beer.
I had to find a place within three days.
I needed to commute to work,
and I had to secure a home for Poapi.
I was pondering how to manage this when Poapi spoke with a somewhat serious expression.
“Brother. I heard something, and I’m not entirely sure about it, but I think I should tell you… Do you know about M23?”
“Yeah. They’re the largest rebel faction.”
“Their main weapons and smuggling routes were through Uvira, but when the Guardian Unit moved in and blocked those routes, M23 got into serious trouble.”
“I’ve heard that. It’s in the UN reports.”
“So M23 looked for other options. They tried to open different smuggling routes, but it wasn’t easy. Nowhere they tried was like Uvira.”
“So?”
“In the end, instead of finding a new smuggling route, M23 decided to reclaim Uvira. To do that, they brought in an outsider.”
“An outsider?”
“Yeah. From a U.S. special forces background. Delta Force, or Green Berets—there’s talk about which one, but I’m not sure.”
“So you’re saying a U.S. special forces veteran joined M23?”
“That’s right.”
Hearing Poapi’s words,
the sudden shift in the rebel forces’ tactics suddenly made sense.
Before that, they were completely untrained,
literally just firing guns indiscriminately,
but at some point their shooting methods changed.
The booby traps that appeared out of nowhere also made sense now.
Booby traps—
small devices, but their effect is tremendous.
Once you experience a booby trap, from then on you can’t help but account for them in every action.
Decision-making slows, and movements become hesitant.
Didn’t we halt all operations the moment we discovered booby traps?
“I think his name is Derek Meyer.”
Derek Meyer…
Derek Meyer.
Good to see you, you bastard.
Wait for me.
I’m coming for you soon.

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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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