I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 3

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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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003-Beggar
3. Beggar
School.
The bell signaling the end of class rang.
As I was tucking away the textbook I’d spread open, a powerful impact struck the back of my head.
Smack.
“Hey, you beggar bastard. Go buy some bread.”
“You not answering?”
“Um..”
I hesitated.
“Why aren’t you going? You need to go buy it so I can eat bread and prepare for the next class. Are you deliberately trying to mess with me by stalling?”
“No.. it’s not that.”
I still wavered.
Only then did Yang Jung-won speak as if he’d figured out the reason.
“Ah~ you’re a beggar so you don’t have money? Here, I have money. Go buy it quickly. Bread, drinks, milk, and snacks too.”
Yang Jung-won, the delinquent of our year, pulled a thousand-won bill from his pocket and flicked it onto the ground.
I picked it up with practiced ease and headed to the School Canteen.
I ran instead of walking.
At least, that’s how it needed to appear.
That way I’d get hit less.
A thousand-won bill rests in my hand.
In truth, a thousand won can only buy one Choco Pie at the School Canteen.
Milk with that money? Drinks? Snacks? Impossible.
Even the smallest bread costs two thousand won.
So why give only a thousand won?
He just needs an excuse to hit me.
Yang Jung-won gave me a mission, and I failed it.
So I must be punished.
What kind of logic is that?
What if I added my own money and bought drinks or milk too?
He’d still hit me.
He’d say I could have done it all along but didn’t.
Actually, I’ve never tried adding my own money to buy something, so I don’t really know.
I’d need money to buy bread or drinks in the first place.
The electricity at home is cut off.
I can’t spare money for some delinquent’s bread.
Today my inventory happens to have the settlement money I received, but I won’t use it to buy bread and milk for him.
That bastard isn’t even worth that much.
Anyway, he doesn’t send me on errands just to eat.
Well, eating matters too, but what really matters is hitting me.
He just wants to hit me. He’s making excuses.
For Yang Jung-won, this is nothing but a game.
This bastard won’t do what I’m told.
He’s lost his mind.
I’ll knock some sense into him.
You want to know how I know this?
When he’s in a bad mood, he just throws punches.
Whether it’s the canteen, excuses, or games—it doesn’t matter. His fists fly first.
So what do I do?
What can I do? Take the hits.
Thwack, thwack, thwack.
Just as I expected, his fist came flying at me for bringing only Choco Pies.
“Did I or did I not tell you to buy snacks and drinks?!”
I was taking the beating behind the classroom.
A few of Yang Jung-won’s friends watched with interest as I got pummeled,
while the others thought, “There he goes again,” and didn’t even bother turning around—as if it were routine.
Naturally, no one stepped in to stop it.
But today feels different.
Maybe because I’ve taken so many beatings.
Maybe because I have three million won in my inventory.
Maybe because I’ve been eating beef regularly and my stomach feels full.
It doesn’t hurt much.
Usually, I’d be trembling in fear of that bastard Yang Jung-won.
Today is very different.
That bastard Yang Jung-won seems to be hitting me with all his might, but it barely hurts.
Still, I need to act like it hurts.
I have to manage my expression with all my effort.
That way, I’ll take fewer hits.
Thwack, thwack.
“Damn it, you useless bastard can’t even buy drinks.”
“Ugh… why did I get stuck with this pathetic piece of shit.”
“Other classes have rich kids who listen well as their errand boys, so why did I end up with this beggar?”
Did he become stupid after becoming a delinquent?
Or did he become a delinquent because he’s stupid?
I have no idea.
Besides, being an errand boy isn’t decided by lottery or drawing—he picked me himself. Who’s he blaming?
No matter how much I think about it, I can’t understand Yang Jung-won’s way of thinking.
But while I’m getting beaten,
the necklace around Yang Jung-won’s neck comes into sharp focus.
Is it 24k?
18k?
Gold would fetch a decent price, wouldn’t it?
It looks incredibly thick and heavy.
I want it.
Should I steal it?
I have my inventory, after all.
If I time it right when we collide, couldn’t I slip it away?
Even as Yang Jung-won’s fists rained down on me, my mind churned with such thoughts.
With each punch he threw, his knuckles grew heavier—as if he were testing whether I was truly attached to him.
I was thinking he might land a real solid blow when, sure enough, a punch fueled by his full strength came hurtling toward my face.
The thought struck me: taking that directly would be bad.
But the thought that dodging it would also be bad crossed my mind simultaneously.
In that instant, I barely sidestepped his fist while letting myself crumple to the ground.
From Yang Jung-won’s perspective, he’d landed a clean hit—I’d dodged so skillfully.
No actual impact.
As I toppled toward him, my hand brushed against his necklace for just a moment—but that remained my secret.
Yang Jung-won startled as I collapsed.
Even when I’d been taking hits regularly, I’d never fallen like this before. He seemed shocked by the fall itself.
As I’d mentioned earlier, today hurt far less than usual.
Because of that, things I normally wouldn’t notice began to reveal themselves.
Like the necklace.
It occurred to me that if I fell at this point, it would work out perfectly.
And it did—perfectly.
“Hey~ Is this bastard dead?”
“He’s breathing.”
“Jung-won, didn’t we tell you your fists are lethal? You need to hold back. This kid’s completely pulped.”
“What do we do?”
Yang Jung-won seemed somewhat flustered.
“What…what do we do? He just collapsed while we were messing around. Hurry and take him to the infirmary.”
At Yang Jung-won’s word, his two lackeys hoisted me onto their shoulders and carried me to the School Infirmary.
“He suddenly collapsed while we were playing around, so we brought him here.”
The School Nurse seemed to suspect the situation somewhat, but she didn’t seem eager to make a big deal of it.
“Alright, lay him down and go.”
My lip had split slightly from the punch and bled a little—that was all the visible injury.
Yang Jung-won typically aimed for the torso so marks wouldn’t show.
Even when the torso takes a hit, bruises don’t form immediately; it takes hours for them to surface.
My body would be clean right now.
The School Nurse simply wiped away the blood smeared on my lip as I lay there with my eyes closed, feigning unconsciousness, then disappeared somewhere.
I felt no disappointment that she hadn’t treated my wound.
If anything, being alone felt more comfortable.
But this place is quite clean and nice, isn’t it?
It’s far more comfortable and pleasant than my home, where I just spread out a blanket and sleep.
Lying here makes me drowsy.
Should I take a nap?
.
.
.
Meanwhile, in the classroom.
Yang Jung-won was trying to calm his racing heart.
He never expected that beggar bastard to collapse like that.
Today, for some reason, the beating felt satisfying, so he’d put more force into it than usual.
His fists sank in with such a gratifying impact that he’d lost himself in the rhythm of it.
Then, when his fist flew toward the face and he saw that beggar bastard crumple, he was startled.
Based on the impact feedback from his hand, it was enough to knock someone down.
A clean hit. A direct strike.
He hadn’t thought about this…
He was proud of possessing such devastating punching power that could knock someone unconscious,
but he didn’t want that beggar bastard to get seriously hurt and complicate things.
It didn’t matter if that bastard was injured,
but if this somehow triggered a school violence committee hearing, it would be annoying.
His father would beat him again.
It was better to just beat them moderately and play with them moderately.
He’d asked the guys who brought him to the infirmary if he was badly hurt,
but they said they just dropped him off and didn’t know his condition.
They should have checked his condition first.
Nothing but incompetent bastards everywhere.
Ugh, how irritating.
His hand naturally went to his neck…
Huh… it’s not there??
My necklace isn’t there.
My gold necklace is gone.
My precious treasure number one—the gold necklace I’d barely managed to buy with money I’d saved up from allowance and extortion.
My ten-don gold necklace has disappeared.
Did I forget to put it on this morning?
No, that’s impossible.
I’ve never taken this necklace off.
It’s my pride.
Did it fall off on the way to school?
No, I remember touching the necklace even after arriving at school.
Did it fall off while I was beating that beggar bastard?
Then it has to be somewhere on the classroom floor.
I scanned the floor with my eyes, but the necklace was nowhere to be found.
Could it have snapped and fallen inside my uniform?
I reached inside my uniform to search, but it wasn’t there either.
Unable to confirm anything while seated, Yang Jung-won stood up and began searching for the necklace.
Despite being in the middle of class, he paid no attention and started hunting for the gold necklace.
Though I’d already checked, I searched inside my uniform again in case it had slipped in,
and I even checked the spot where I’d beaten that vagrant bastard earlier, but the necklace was nowhere.
“Hey. You seen my necklace? Find it.”
Yang Jung-won spoke to the students sitting in front of him, completely ignoring the Teacher’s gaze.
The Teacher watched for a long moment, then simply continued the lesson as if at a loss for words.
It meant there was nothing to gain by interfering.
I searched for the necklace until the bell rang, but ultimately never found it.
.
.
.
When I returned to the classroom, it was absolute chaos.
Desks were scattered everywhere.
It was obvious they were searching for the necklace.
‘Search all day—like you’ll find anything.’
I silently mocked Yang Jung-won to my heart’s content, then pretended to search for the necklace myself.
Bang!!
Yang Jung-won slammed the classroom door shut and spoke.
“Find the necklace~~”
“I wore it this morning, so if you can’t find it, none of you are going home today. Hand it over willingly before I tear this place apart.”
“That thing’s worth over five million won. If you don’t find it, you’re all dead.”
Yang Jung-won stood at the entrance, blocking anyone from leaving the classroom.
With Yang Jung-won making a scene, the entire class reluctantly went through the motions of searching for the necklace.
Among them, a female student sat alone with her legs crossed.
Kwon Ju-ah spoke to Yang Jung-won as if amused.
“This works out great. In exchange, you’ll explain to my mom why I can’t go to the Academy, right? I hope you never find it. Camping here would be fun. Hehe.”
Wasn’t her father an executive at a major corporation?
Her mother was a professor too.
She studied well, came from money, and was even beautiful.
No one dared to cross Kwon Ju-ah.
Yang Jung-won spoke as if he’d just realized something profound.
“Oh~ the Academy? Right, the Academy exists. You go ahead, Ju-ah. You can leave first.”
“How can I go alone? There are several kids going to the same Academy as me. If I show up alone at the Academy, they’ll ask why I’m by myself, and the others will say, ‘Yang Jung-won lost his necklace and we’re looking for it.’ What then?”
Kwon Ju-ah was openly shutting down Yang Jung-won, but he couldn’t muster a response.
As Yang Jung-won fell silent,
“But Jung-won~”
“Huh??”
“If we keep not finding it, we’re all just going to live here together? Nobody can go home?”
“What???”
“I’m so excited. I’m looking forward to it. It would be amazing if we all camped out here together like this. Should we order dinner first? How about tteokbokki?”
Kwon Ju-ah’s best friend Ji Min-seo, standing beside her, answered.
“Totally in. I’ve been craving something really spicy anyway, so this works out perfectly. Should we order chicken too? It tastes better when we eat together.”
“That sounds great~ So you’re buying the tteokbokki and chicken, right Jung-won? We’re here helping you find your necklace, so you can do that much for us, right?”
Kwon Ju-ah asked sweetly, but Yang Jung-won couldn’t respond.
All twenty-five pairs of eyes from his classmates were fixed solely on Yang Jung-won.
‘What? Why did the conversation turn this way? Why are they asking me to buy tteokbokki?’
Yang Jung-won, caught off guard by this unexpected turn of events.
He scrambled to find an answer.
“Ha ha. Of course I’ll buy it. But I can’t buy for everyone—only for those who find the necklace.”
“Really? Then people who don’t find it can leave, right?”
“Huh??”
“Then I’m leaving first. Search hard~ I hope you find it. Let’s go.”
Kwon Ju-ah picked up her school bag and stood, speaking to Ji Min-seo beside her.
Ji Min-seo also picked up her bag and stood.
“I’m leaving too. See you~”
Kwon Ju-ah and Ji Min-seo walked out of the classroom.
I watched Kwon Ju-ah as she left the classroom.
‘Huh’
Our eyes met.
I’d never made eye contact with Kwon Ju-ah before.
But this wasn’t a coincidence.
Her gaze was clearly directed at me.
There was a message in those eyes.
I couldn’t understand it.
Once Kwon Ju-ah left, all the other students rushed out after her.
I slipped out with them.
Yang Jung-won called out pitifully to the students who had already left, speaking to their backs.
“Hey~ don’t go, you need to find the necklace. If you don’t come back, you’re dead.”
Yang Jung-won shouted several times, but the students had already left the classroom.
Only Yang Jung-won remained alone in the classroom.
“Damn bastards, you’re all dead tomorrow.”

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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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