I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 29

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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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031-Discharge
31.
A café somewhere in Incheon.
I’m meeting with a man who appears to be in his early forties.
“Good afternoon. I’m Hwang Byung-il from AllDayGuard.”
“Hello. I’m Gong In-bae.”
“Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me.”
“Not at all. I should be thanking you for coming all this way.”
The man treated me with utmost respect.
Short hair,
sun-darkened skin.
A muscular frame concealed beneath a formal suit.
Calloused hands bearing the marks of hard work.
This man must be military background as well.
“Your discharge is coming up soon, isn’t it? Allow me to offer my congratulations in advance.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
“The reason I reached out is because I’d like to bring Sergeant Gong In-bae into our company.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Why me?”
“I’ve heard you’re exceptionally talented. We’d very much like to recruit you.”
“I’m just ordinary, really.”
“Top graduate of the Special Forces School. Two years deployed abroad, served as an instructor in the Congo. Fluent in English and French. Multiple commendations and citations. That’s hardly ordinary. Most people can’t accomplish even one of those things.”
“That’s just luck.”
“I don’t believe it’s luck at all. And even if it were, why not share that luck with AllDayGuard?”
“What kind of company is AllDayGuard?”
Since my impression of this man Hwang Byung-il wasn’t bad, I asked about the company.
“Oh, I apologize. In my eagerness to bring you aboard, I forgot to introduce the company. We’re a security firm specializing exclusively in domestic and international VIPs. We primarily handle protection for executives, celebrities, and sports stars.”
“Don’t most of those people already have bodyguards?”
“Of course. Most have personal security. But here’s the thing—when a VIP visits from overseas, naturally their own security detail comes with them. However, can those bodyguards effectively protect someone in Korea? They can handle close protection of the VIP, but when it comes to route planning, preliminary reconnaissance, communications, and emergency protocols—those require collaboration with a domestic firm. Yet people capable of that kind of collaboration are rare.”
“Can’t they just do it?”
“Fundamentally, you need to be capable of both security work and foreign languages simultaneously. We sometimes assign interpreters, but communication errors keep arising because they don’t understand the tactical movements involved in security work. We do have some university athletes who speak foreign languages, but they don’t meet our standards either. Security isn’t about fighting—it’s about protection.”
“I’m somewhat weak in that area myself, though?”
“If you join us, you’ll undergo four weeks of security training as standard. But based on our data, people from special forces backgrounds definitely learn faster.”
“Is that so?”
“At AllDayGuard, we’d like to bring Sergeant Gong In-bae aboard at team leader level. AllDayGuard needs you.”
“Team leader level? But I have no experience?”
“We’re looking at a six-month timeline. One month of training, then five months as assistant team leader with our best team—what we call the Alpha Team—and then we’ll immediately separate and create a team for you.”
“I don’t quite understand why you’d go this far for me?”
There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
He’ll definitely try to extract something commensurate from me.
“There’s no other reason. The person who recommended you made a strong endorsement, and after reviewing your background, you seem like exactly the talent we need. We’re simply eager to have you on our team.”
“Would you mind telling me who recommended me?”
“I’d love to tell you, but they asked me to keep it confidential if possible.”
“Hmm… would it be alright if I think it over and contact you later?”
“Of course. Here’s my business card. I’m on standby 24 hours a day, so feel free to reach out anytime.”
“Ha ha ha. I have that much courtesy too. I’ll make sure to contact you during daylight hours.”
“Ha ha. That would be even better.”
.
.
.
With a month left before my discharge, I received offers from many places.
As for Dae-hun.
I’ve warned him repeatedly not to do anything reckless.
If he’s going to pull something, I told him to let me know beforehand.
To report to me in advance how he’s planning to do it.
After reviewing the plan, I’ll decide whether to help or not.
To make a plan, you need information.
Gathering this information is harder than I thought.
Filtering the information you’ve collected is even harder.
With the filtered information, you devise an operation,
and executing it is extremely difficult.
If it’s hard to gather information alone, you can hire people,
but I told Dae-hun that those hired people could get him killed.
Simply put, if you casually hire a private investigator to dig up dirt,
I’ve told him countless times that you could end up stabbed before you even draw your sword.
After all, those circles are almost entirely connected.
The moment you walk into a private investigator’s office and say “Please investigate the Geumho Gang,” you might find yourself in a drum barrel with cement by evening.
By looking at Dae-hun’s plan, I can understand his heart.
How he’ll get in and how he’ll get out,
who he’ll strike.
How he’ll cover his tracks.
What resolve he has for this operation.
I can tell immediately.
So after reviewing the operation, I’ll decide whether to help Dae-hun or stop him.
My only friend is walking into danger—I need to bring him back alive.
Ah.
That day at the chicken restaurant, Dae-hun said something.
“If I die, you handle my funeral.”
“You crazy bastard, why would you die?”
“It’d be nice if my only friend on the way out gives me a proper funeral. Besides, there’s no one else anyway.”
“We are friends, right?”
I’d wanted to ask this since Special Forces School,
but now I posed the question I’d held back carefully.
“If we’re not friends, what are we then? Lovers? You gay bastard.”
It might have been just something to say,
but I felt oddly pleased.
The word friend.
My first friend in twenty-four years.
I’ve heard that even with friends you’ve known for twenty-four years after entering society, getting stabbed in the back is common.
Taking a hit alongside a friend voluntarily isn’t difficult.
I can handle that much.
I instructed Dae-hun to investigate the information as thoroughly as possible.
How many members the Geumho Gang has, where they primarily operate, how their funds circulate and get laundered,
whether they ate pork cutlet for lunch, or braised pork, or added extra rice—I told him to find out everything.
Based on that data, I instructed him to plan how to take down the Geumho Gang.
Only then did Dae-hun seem to find a way to survive, earnestly taking notes on my words.
Dae-hun finally seems to have grasped the Seoul National University method of education.
I’m satisfied.
As for the National Intelligence Service,
I refused outright, but a corner of my heart suddenly harbored a desire to go.
Not that invisible justification about serving the nation,
but the title itself—National Intelligence Service—is tempting.
Honestly, I feel sorry for freeloading on the reputation other agents built through their loyalty,
but the name National Intelligence Service carries that much power.
How impressive it would be to have National Intelligence Service stamped on a business card.
Huh?
Wait.
Business cards remind me—
those bastards carried Hae-gwang Industrial business cards too.
Not the National Intelligence Service.
Black said you can’t even mention the National Intelligence Service even if you work there, right?
I’d just be a Hae-gwang Industrial employee.
…
AllDayGuard is an entirely new field.
Security work, of all things.
I did say I was needed,
but I’m not sure how much help I’d actually be,
and there’s the burden of having to undergo training again.
The title of Team Leader too.
But I must admit, the field of security work intrigues me.
It’s not about killing enemies or launching attacks.
There’s something genuinely appealing about protecting someone, safeguarding them.
It’s a bit strange, but doesn’t it feel heroic?
And most importantly, the fact that I’m needed—that draws people in.
I was never someone who was needed anywhere.
But I wasn’t unwanted either.
I was simply invisible.
Whether I existed or not,
no one ever cared about me.
But now, there are people who need me.
It feels as though I’ve become someone important.
There’s an exhilaration in this new challenge.
Protecting different clients instead of the same person each time—that’s novel too.
Different people, different environments, different circumstances to protect clients in.
There’s no room for boredom.
It does seem like it could be interesting.
I’ll think a bit longer about what decision to make.
There’s still time before my discharge.
********
“Sergeant Gong In-bae has received orders for discharge effective today. I hereby report this.”
“You’ve done well. Stay in touch often after you’re discharged.”
In the Commander’s office at the International Peace Unit, I was making my formal discharge report to him.
The Commander patted my shoulder with a beaming smile, telling me to keep in contact frequently.
I never did that before, so wouldn’t it be even stranger to contact him after discharge?
But as always, my responses contradict my true thoughts.
“Yes, sir. I’ll be in touch.”
“Why don’t you extend your service now? Think about it one more time.”
“Sir, I’m being discharged today. Isn’t everything already finalized?”
“Changing something like this is nothing. I can handle that much—should I call the command post?”
“Ha. That’s quite alright, sir.”
Quite alright, you bastard.
Here’s a soldier being discharged today, and you’re pushing him to extend and plant roots.
Cruel bastard.
If you mention extension one more time,
I’m going to lose my mind completely.
.
.
.
I left the base quietly, leaving behind the people waving their hands.
My heart feels heavy and conflicted.
I remember when I first transferred to this Military Unit four years ago.
Back then, I was just a kid,
but now I feel like I’ve grown quite a bit.
Just four years,
yet I’ve covered everything I failed to grow through in twenty years of civilian life—all in four years of military service.
On days like this, there’s always one place I need to go.
I hailed a taxi.
“National Cemetery, please.”
.
.
.
“I’m here, hyungs.”
“Your beloved youngest, Gong In-bae, has come.”
The moment I see my brothers’ names reflected on the gleaming marble, tears begin to fall uncontrollably.
This shouldn’t be happening.
I came here to be celebrated.
To tell them I made it through without injury, thanks to them,
that I’ve been discharged safely and well, asking for their praise.
That’s the spirit I came with, but the moment I see their names, the tears burst forth.
“Congratulate me. Today’s my discharge day. I’m a civilian now. Sob, sob.”
“If you had been here, I would’ve re-enlisted without hesitation. The military without you was so cold.”
“I’m still wearing thermal underwear. It’s ridiculous. I never wore thermal underwear even in the dead of winter.”
I carefully arranged the liquor, fruit, and flowers I’d prepared from my inventory in front of my brothers’ tombstones.
“Eat plenty. I brought your favorites.”
“You’re lucky, hyungs. You’re still together, right?”
“I want to be with you too… but how can I?”
“Even though it’s cold there, it seems like it would be warm.”
“Whenever I was with you, it was always warm.”
I lay down on the cold ground of the National Cemetery in October.
I feel the chill seeping through my back.
Yet somehow, I feel a warmth radiating through.
“That bastard who did this to you, hyungs. I turned him to dust.”
“That bastard shouldn’t even remain as dust in this world. So I completely erased him.”
“I’ll erase even that bastard’s name. That’s why I don’t even speak his name—it’s a name that must be obliterated.”
“I’m sorry for coming so late.”
“I wanted to come right after returning, but I didn’t have the courage to face you.”
“My heart was complicated back then too.”
“But seeing you like this feels good. I’ll come often.”
And so I spent the entire day lying on the grass of the National Cemetery, murmuring softly.
Words that no one else could understand.
Yet words that all my brothers comprehended.
And so my military service came to an end.

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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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