I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 35

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

035-Ahn Ji-bin
35.
“Today we’ll focus on combat training to subdue opponents. Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
Our team gathered in the training facility prepared within the Training Center.
“Let’s start with Dong-hyun and Moon-yong first.”
At the Team Leader’s words, Jung Dong-hyun and Park Moon-yong rose first.
The two exchanged a few attacks lightly, as if accustomed to such practice.
The attacks were straightforward, and the defense equally exemplary.
Watching from the sidelines, it seemed less like actual combat and more like a choreographed sparring match.
There were no lethal strikes,
and without attacks, there were no injuries.
After five minutes, the Team Leader called for a stop.
From my perspective, it was light sparring—barely more strenuous than a walk—
yet both their faces glistened with sweat.
Their breathing had grown ragged.
“Next, let’s have Gong In-bae and Ahn Ji-bin go.”
The moment my name and Ahn Ji-bin’s were called, the atmosphere in the training facility shifted.
Sharp. Tense.
.
.
.
I don’t like it.
Gong In-bae, was it?
Twenty-four years old?
What the hell was I doing back then?
Doesn’t even look like he’s finished his military service.
Or maybe he just got discharged?
What does it matter anyway?
What matters is that he’s some brat.
Some clueless kid who parachuted in through connections and struts around as a sub-team leader—I can’t stand the sight of him.
Now that I think about it, he’s a strange one.
No house, so he lives in the company dormitory.
No car, so he takes the bus everywhere.
Yet he wears Dior.
What irritates me more is that he’s not wearing it to show off.
Throughout the entire Macau project, he wore it like work clothes.
He showed no aversion to wrinkles or dirt.
It suited him so damn well that I even thought I should buy a Dior piece myself later…
But that’s not the point.
In any case, the deputy team leader position was mine.
I had spent four years in Alpha Team alone.
Since joining Alpha Team, I had been protecting it all this time.
I had done all the dirty work in Alpha Team.
So naturally, when the deputy team leader position opened up, it was only right that I become deputy team leader.
Not some bloodstain.
The Team Leader seemed to sense my feelings and gave me this opportunity.
A chance to pin that bloodstain bastard to the ground and crush him.
We’re in training.
Even if something breaks, don’t curse me out.
These kinds of accidents always happen during training.
I’m not trying to brag or anything.
But I’m 180 centimeters tall and weigh 100 kilograms.
My physique is nothing to scoff at anywhere I go.
This overwhelming physicality was already perfected back in high school.
So no one ever picked a fight with me.
The rare few who did try got introduced to the asphalt.
Based on my physique, I went to a sports university.
I learned MMA and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as hobbies.
Within our team, I’m unquestionably the best at combat.
Once I get my hands on you, you’re finished.
The fact that the Team Leader threw Gong In-bae at me
meant I should chew him up and swallow him whole.
‘I’ll gratefully accept this meal.’
.
.
.
What’s wrong with this bastard?
His eyes are off.
The moment we started sparring, he came at me with that strange look in his eyes.
It’s not me he’s looking at—it’s something behind me.
I nearly jumped out of my skin thinking he was seeing a ghost.
Almost lost my nerve.
Whatever he was trying to show me, his body tensed up completely.
That shouldn’t happen.
If your body gets that tense, you can’t deliver powerful strikes.
I dodged his stiff, honest punch the way I’d seen it before—textbook perfect.
Nice.
But Ahn Ji-bin didn’t seem satisfied.
He attacked more viciously, throwing caution to the wind.
I switched from using my fists to using my feet,
and grappling techniques emerged as well.
There were even some surprisingly creative attacks.
But none of those attacks could land a blow on me.
The attacks were straightforward, they had power behind them,
and the trajectory was visible—these were technical issues.
There was a fundamental problem.
Intent.
Ahn Ji-bin’s attacks lacked intent.
There was no will to kill, no determination to finish me.
Just empty bravado trying to show off something.
That’s why those attacks couldn’t touch me.
We aren’t MMA or UFC or WWE athletes.
We’re security personnel.
We’re people responsible for our clients’ safety and well-being.
If I’m locked in prolonged combat with someone, our client will likely spend that entire time trembling with anxiety.
So I need to subdue my opponent as quickly and forcefully as possible.
But that’s not what Ahn Ji-bin is doing.
He’s just trying to show off.
Trying to demonstrate how skilled he is at jiu-jitsu and MMA.
Then I should show him too.
How many rebel forces I’ve subdued on the battlefield.
The quickest and easiest way would be to draw a pistol,
but you can’t pull a gun during training.
Ahn Ji-bin comes at my collar.
Since I keep dodging his extended punches,
he seems to have switched tactics from striking to grappling.
His hands dart out repeatedly, tentatively reaching for my collar.
But that hand—
if the grab fails, shouldn’t he pull it back to his body?
Can he really leave it hanging like that?
His hand reaches out again to grab my collar and fails,
and as it hangs suspended in the air,
I surge forward toward Ahn Ji-bin’s body instead.
He clearly didn’t anticipate this move,
and Ahn Ji-bin freezes.
Don’t just panic—defend yourself.
Or attack.
I trap his suspended arm in my right armpit,
and with my forearm and flexor muscles, I lift Ahn Ji-bin’s shoulder joint.
Crack.
Her shoulder had likely dislocated.
Her right arm would be useless now.
In that state, I swept at Ahn Ji-bin’s calf, and she tumbled backward hard onto the ground.
Thud.
I raised my fist toward the fallen Ahn Ji-bin’s face—smack!
Then stopped before the blow landed.
Ahn Ji-bin’s face was etched with shock and terror.
She stared in disbelief, her eyes darting between my suspended fist and my face.
The Team Leader looked equally stunned,
while the other team members watched me with expressions of sheer astonishment.
Ahn Ji-bin was Alpha Team’s premier fighter.
She never imagined she could be subdued so effortlessly.
“Aaaaahhh~”
At Ahn Ji-bin’s groans, her lackeys finally snapped to attention and
rushed to her side to assess her condition.
“Hey, don’t touch—it hurts.”
“It hurts.”
Ahn Ji-bin couldn’t use her right shoulder.
Of course not—her arm was dislocated.
They all stood helplessly, shuffling their feet in panic.
Someone mentioned needing to get to the Hospital and started the car engine.
“Can’t you pop the arm back in?”
No one answered.
I walked quietly over to Ahn Ji-bin and reset her arm back into place.
Brutally painful.
“AAAAHHHHHHH~~~~”
The Training Center filled with nothing but Ahn Ji-bin’s screams.
*********
The Golden Lotus in Macau
The very Club where Gong In-bae had met Lafei.
The Club thrummed with tension unlike any other night.
The reason was simple—today was the day of reckoning.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes!!!”
“Macau belongs to us. Not to those who crawled over from Hong Kong, nor to those who crept in from Mainland China. Only we, born and raised in Macau, have the right to be Macau’s true masters.”
“That’s right.”
“Today is the day we claim Macau. If we succeed today, Macau becomes ours. Don’t get hurt—let’s see each other alive.”
“Yes!!!!”
Kai Hong’s voice boomed out,
The owner of The Golden Lotus.
Or rather, Lafei, the leader of the Golden Lotus, watched the scene unfold with a satisfied expression.
.
.
.
The Golden Lotus.
One of the largest criminal organizations in Macau.
But its origins were humble.
It began as a gathering of Macau natives.
Dock workers,
Casino cleaners,
Truck drivers.
Small business owners.
Even gangsters running gambling dens were members of the Golden Lotus.
They helped one another and received help in turn as they went about their lives.
In truth, there were dozens of such gatherings beyond the Golden Lotus.
These organizations competed and clashed with one another,
But they all shared one thing in common—they were all Macau natives.
However, after Macau was returned to Mainland China in 1999, much changed.
Large casinos began to arrive.
Money began to circulate through the small island of Macau.
As money flowed into Macau, people began arriving from all directions.
Competitors in particular came in great numbers.
Gangsters backed by the Chinese Communist Party entered Macau from Mainland China.
They grew formidably with enormous manpower, vast capital, and connections to those in power.
Many also crossed over from Hong Kong.
They possessed international smuggling routes.
Their financial resources were substantial.
The countless organizations built by Macau natives vanished in an instant, losing their footing.
To protect themselves, many gatherings were forced to unite their strength.
That alliance was named the Golden Lotus.
The Golden Lotus strived to protect Macau’s interests,
But reality proved unforgiving.
Those from the mainland obstructed the Golden Lotus through official power,
And those from Hong Kong destroyed the Golden Lotus’s smuggling routes.
A crisis descended.
Many organization members abandoned the Golden Lotus, crossing over to Hong Kong or the mainland.
But it could not crumble like this.
They strived to reclaim the lost interests.
Organizations waged war, fought, and inflicted damage upon one another.
Yet with each clash, the Golden Lotus suffered greater losses.
Still, we couldn’t afford to stop fighting.
Then one day, when we stormed the Hong Kong faction’s headquarters to wage war against them.
They were wielding guns, not blades.
We couldn’t even properly swing a sword once before we had no choice but to flee.
After that, the Golden Lotus exhausted every avenue searching for firearms, but every attempt failed.
Strangely, at the final stage of smuggling them in, customs would intercept them or something would go wrong.
There was clearly a force actively obstructing us.
At this rate, the Golden Lotus would inevitably cease to exist.
Against guns, no amount of courage means anything.
When my worries were at their peak, Candy Boy appeared.
Carrying guns.
Not just a few handguns.
He handed over rifles.
He even provided generous amounts of magazines and ammunition.
That quantity alone was difficult to procure,
and smuggling it into Macau was exponentially harder.
Yet he sold those guns—which must have been painstakingly smuggled in—at an incredibly reasonable price.
As if he had no attachment to those weapons whatsoever.
I was curious.
Who was this man?
I wanted to know who Candy Boy really was.
But digging into someone’s background is what amateurs do.
If anything, getting caught would only damage our relationship.
I had to wait.
I had to learn slowly.
I had to refrain from asking and wait until he chose to tell me.
If I waited, the moment would come.
I didn’t know what kind of person Candy Boy was,
but one thing was certain—he was someone I would need to keep close for a very, very long time.
I had the distinct feeling he was essential.
So I gave him the black card, the highest tier of The Golden Lotus.
With the desire to become partners.
The Golden Lotus would become Macau’s greatest organization.
Not just Macau—a global power.
For that to happen, collaboration with Candy Boy was essential.
Today was the day we would begin that plan.
Tonight was the night we would take control of Macau.
“Let’s go!!!!!”
*******
“This project has been decided.”
“Already? So soon?”
“Isn’t this too quick?”
“The last project was short anyway.”
“But we went through so much for it. Drug tests, emotional stress…”
“Enough. This time the project involves an idol…”
“Oh wow~~”
“Ohhh~~”
“We finally get to do idol security.”
“You’re happy about idol security?”
“Of course. Really happy.”
“But idol security is incredibly demanding. First, the fans aren’t enemies. You have to be kind to them too. But there will be fans who constantly cross the line. If you treat them irritably, you’ll end up on YouTube’s trending page immediately.”
“Don’t worry. That’s exactly what we specialize in.”
“There are many schedules and many members, so it’ll be difficult to manage. Still okay with that?”
“Yes, sir.”
The team meeting atmosphere was excellent.
The Team Leader gave a brief briefing,
I listened, and my subordinates cheered.
Only Ahn Ji-bin stared at me with a displeased expression.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————