I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 37

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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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037-Marian
36.
“Did you come alone?”
A long-haired woman in a one-piece dress asks, looking at me.
“No. I have companions.”
It was irritating.
I had no idea what her intention was in approaching me,
nor did I care what her reason might be.
I simply wanted to finish my sisig in peace.
“You came alone. I’ve been watching since earlier.”
“My companions will arrive soon. So please don’t interrupt my meal and just leave.”
Despite my refusal, she sat down in the chair across from me.
I deliberately avoided looking at her.
My gaze remained fixed on the sisig.
“People with companions don’t eat first, do they?”
“We’re companions, but we don’t do everything together.”
“Fine then. I’ll just sit here until your companions arrive.”
“I don’t like that. I hate having someone watch me eat. If I enjoyed that, I would’ve become a YouTuber.”
“Then… should I join you? What’s good here…”
“Never mind. I’m done eating.”
Though half the sisig remained, I set down my utensils
and headed to the counter to pay.
I’d lost my appetite.
As I stood, she followed me as if she were part of my group.
But I paid her no mind.
I didn’t even tell her to stop following.
I simply acted as though she didn’t exist.
Thinking she’d eventually give up and leave.
I simply walked along Alona Beach.
I had coffee and browsed a shop for clothes.
I couldn’t survive three days with just one pair of shorts and an I♥BOHOL t-shirt.
But that woman clung to my side with stubborn persistence.
“That outfit doesn’t suit you. And the clothes here are expensive and poor quality. Follow me. I’ll show you somewhere good.”
Frustration welled up inside me.
This woman was ruining my first vacation—or whatever this was.
“What is this? Why are you doing this? Do you need money for being a friend? Should I pay you a guide fee?”
“No. Please… save me.”
Only then did I look at her directly.
Her face was filled with desperation and earnest pleading.
******
I brought her back to the hotel.
I wanted to talk at a café, but she insisted we go to the hotel.
She said there were eyes watching her even now.
Now that I thought about it, I’d had the nagging feeling that the Mustached Man in the distance had been staring at us the whole time.
I seated her in a chair and handed her a bottle of water.
“Talk. What is it?”
She stood up and checked that the room door was locked, then turned the TV volume up loud.
She drew all the curtains closed as well.
Only then did she speak.
“My name is Marian. I was born here in the Philippines.”
“I’m not interested in your birthplace.”
“I understand. In the Philippines, there’s a mafia called Bahala Na. I was brought into that organization through human trafficking, and I’m being held captive.”
“Bahala Na?”
“It’s supposedly the largest criminal organization in the Philippines.”
I knew.
I had a vague memory of hearing about it before.
But Bahala Na no longer existed.
Or rather, it had been completely fragmented.
Yet they continued to use the name.
It was the symbol of the gangsters.
Whenever someone formed a new organization, they called it Bahala Na.
So across the entire Philippines, there were hundreds, thousands of Bahala Na groups.
They didn’t contact each other, didn’t even know of each other’s existence, yet every organization bore the same name: Bahala Na.
The organization holding this woman named Marian was probably just one among those countless groups.
Maybe twenty to thirty members at most, I’d guess.
“We work there. When clients come in, we go and entertain them. On days without clients, we go out like this and solicit business.”
“A fancy way of saying call girl.”
The woman glared at me with displeasure.
“Whenever we go out for business, there’s always a watcher keeping an eye on us. If we hesitate or don’t actively solicit, the watcher picks out clients for us. But they always pick the worst scumbags. I hated that, so I chose you. You were the best option I had.”
“Bad choice then. But what’s this about saving your life? I don’t think I’d kill you.”
“Why do you think that?”
“You still have market value. You’re young and beautiful. If I exploit you, I could make a fortune. There’s no reason to kill you.”
It was true.
Looking at her closely, she was beautiful.
I’d heard there were many mixed-race people in the Philippines, and she looked like a Spanish beauty.
Long, wavy hair.
Large, double-lidded eyes.
Clear, tan skin.
A small face with a sharp nose.
An exceptional figure to match.
“So I think I’m going to kill myself. I’m going to kill me.”
.
.
.
What is that?
Isn’t that freedom?
She’s saying she’ll kill herself?
Does anyone else have the right to interfere?
I certainly didn’t.
I was a thoughtful person who respected individual autonomy as much as possible.
I wouldn’t help, but I didn’t want to stop her either.
However.
“If you’re going to die, I’d appreciate it if you did it somewhere else. Right now, you’re already ruining my trip, Marian.”
Marian looked at me as if my answer was unexpected.
What kind of answer was she expecting?
That I’d help her.
That I’d save her.
Where is it? Lead the way.
Surely she wasn’t expecting that?
Or what?
You must have suffered so much.
How hard has it been?
Everything will be fine now.
Was she expecting something like that?
“Buy me.”
“What?”
There’s someone here spouting absolute nonsense.
“Ha.” I was about to laugh it off,
but Marian wasn’t joking.
She was serious.
“Buy me. I’ll do whatever you tell me to. So please.”
“If you’re going to do whatever I tell you, wouldn’t it be better to just stay here?”
“Whatever you make me do would be better than here. This place is hell itself.”
What makes her think I know what to make her do?
Does she hate this place that much?
If I think about it as her desperate desire to escape no matter what, it makes some sense.
But.
Can people live doing only what they like?
What can circumstances do about that?
I grew up in a miserable environment too, but there’s nothing you can do about it.
It’s the environment.
I’m not a prince on a white horse, nor do I have any intention of becoming one.
I already played the prince role back in Congo.
“Or if you buy me, I’ll pay you back. With interest. What do you think? Not bad, right?”
“Why would I? I have absolutely no desire to buy you. And I couldn’t afford it anyway.”
“I’m not that expensive. Just thirty thousand dollars—forty million won—and you can own me forever.”
“Thirty thousand dollars? Do I look like I have that kind of money right now? Do I seem that wealthy to you?”
“For a South Korean, thirty thousand dollars isn’t that much money. If you just buy me, I’ll pay you back ten times that amount. I mean it.”
“I have no interest in buying you and making money off it. So let’s drop this conversation.”
“Then what am I supposed to do now?”
“Why are you asking me about your life when we just met?”
“Because my life is so miserable that I’m clinging to a stranger I just met. Because I want to escape this place any way I can!!”
Her voice grew louder.
She spoke as if pouring out her true feelings.
But that doesn’t change the situation.
“If you want to escape, take a plane. Or run to the Police Station.”
“I don’t have a passport, and if I go to the Police Station, the officers will just contact Bahala Na and tell them to come get me. Then I’ll be locked in a solitary cell where I can barely move. They won’t hit me—can’t leave marks or I won’t be able to work. They won’t hit me, but they’ll torment me in every other way. I can’t take it anymore.”
Drip. Drip.
Tears began falling from her large eyes.
“Sob… sob…”
Without thinking, I pulled out a tissue and handed it to her.
Korean dramas are the problem.
In dramas, when a woman cries, you hand her something to wipe her tears with.
These scenes keep appearing, and I end up mimicking them without realizing it.
Her tears seem as large as her eyes.
One tissue wasn’t enough.
It soaked through instantly.
This time I pulled out three tissues and handed them to her.
That should be enough.
“Can I ask you just one thing?”
“Sniff… what is it?”
“Why me? Why are you doing this to me?”
“Honestly?”
“Yeah.”
“All the other men in that shop kept glancing at me. But you were the only one who didn’t look at me. That’s why I liked you.”
“I wasn’t glancing at anyone—not just you. I was only interested in the food.”
It was true.
I hadn’t even noticed Marian come in.
I was only interested in the sisig, a traditional Filipino dish I’d never tried before.
And I was incredibly hungry.
“That’s why I liked it. It’s boring compared to me.”
“This is driving me crazy.”
Something about this conversation felt like it wasn’t going anywhere.
Or was this what it felt like when my will wasn’t being imposed?
“Then I won’t ask you to buy me anything. Instead, take me with you for the entire trip. I’ll be your guide.”
“How much do you charge per day?”
“Normally I’d need 400 dollars, but I’ll cut it down to 300.”
“That’s expensive. No way. Listen, with 300 dollars a day I can live like a king on my own. But if I’m dragging you around, buying you meals, buying you drinks, getting you stuff left and right, and paying a guide fee on top of that? You want me to babysit you while footing all the bills?”
“Don’t think of it that way. Think of it as getting an excellent guide. Plus, it includes additional services.”
“No. I hate complicated stuff. I came here to relieve stress, but it feels like you’re just piling more stress on me.”
“Just think of it comfortably.”
Marian approached me.
What’s she doing now?
.
.
.
The next day.
Marian left the hotel early.
She said she’d be back before lunch.
I handed Marian 200 dollars and sent her off.
Marian probably needed money to pay someone off.
To shake her off,
I could have checked out right then and left,
but I decided to wait until Marian returned.
To be honest, it was hard to take Marian’s story at face value.
But I couldn’t dismiss it as a lie either.
Marian’s expression and eyes yesterday were that sincere.
If I fell for it,
that’s my mistake. So what.
It seemed like a scam,
and yet it didn’t.
I had no idea.
Even if it was a scam, it didn’t seem particularly bad.
300 dollars a day was enough to justify getting played.
Besides, I needed Marian today.
A little past 11 o’clock.
Marian returned to the hotel.
“Let’s go eat.”
The moment Marian walked in, I took her outside.
“Do you know a place with good food?”
“At least that place is better than the others around here.”
Marian pointed toward the Steakhouse.
“Yeah, let’s eat there.”
The thought of eating steak from lunch onward didn’t sit right with me.
Just looking at it was unappealing.
I wished I could have a bowl of milmyeon instead.
But Marian in front of me ate away contentedly without a care.
I watched blankly as she cut into her steak.
Honestly, it felt surreal—someone with her appearance eating steak right in front of me.
I pushed my untouched steak toward her.
“Eat more. I’m not really feeling it.”
“Eat more? I don’t usually eat that much. But since you’re being considerate, I’ll take it.”
She set the plate I gave her to the side and savored the steak slowly.
Slowly,
and faithfully, quietly.
She repeated the motions of cutting the steak, placing it in her mouth, and chewing.
Like someone performing a sacred ritual.
Like someone who wanted to savor this feeling and atmosphere for as long as possible.
Like someone who believed she would never return to a place like this again.
She ate the steak like a master craftsman.
While watching Marian eat, my messenger app chimed.
[Esca Hotel. Left it at the lobby. Send me a text once you pick it up.]
.
.
.
I took a taxi to Esca Hotel.
I stood in front of the hotel but didn’t enter.
Instead, I handed Marian a bundle of dollars.
“We’re staying here tonight. Book us a room. I’m going to have a cigarette and come back.”
“Then I’ll come with you—”
“You said you’d do whatever I asked. Do I really need to drag along someone who can’t even book a room?”
“Understood.”
Marian went into the hotel without another word.
Why did I send her away?
Nothing special.
I simply didn’t want to book the room under my name.
That’s all there was to it.
I lingered in front of the hotel lobby for a moment before stepping inside.
When I entered, Marian was already sitting in the lobby with a key card, having finished the reservation.
As I approached her, Marian tried to stand up, but
I naturally settled into the chair across from Marian.
“The lobby is nice. Let’s have a cup of coffee before we go.”
With no choice in the matter, she nodded.
I sipped my coffee while surveying my surroundings.
Just in case anyone was watching us.
I continued checking whether any Gangsters or suspicious types were lurking about.
Given the nature of the operation, caution was essential.
Of course, I was confident we wouldn’t get caught.
I was fortunate to have Marian beside me.
To anyone watching, I looked like someone who had come to South Korea for sex work.
A lucky fool who’d lost his mind over a beautiful woman.
The cover was perfect.
I♥BOHOL
After sitting in the lobby for over an hour, no suspicious individuals had appeared.
As time passed, the reception staff changed shifts.
Among the people who had been in the hotel lobby when I arrived,
only Marian and I remained.
No matter how I thought about it, now seemed like the perfect timing.
“Marian, I really need to use the restroom, so I’m heading up to the room first. Could you do me one favor?”
“A favor?”
“Yeah. There should be a bag at the reception desk addressed to Candy Boy. Find it and bring it up to the room.”
“Isn’t this dangerous?”
Marian asked with a sharp gaze.
She was perceptive.
“No. It’s just documents. I really need the restroom. And you said you’d do everything I ask. Why do you keep asking questions? How am I supposed to build trust in you this way?”
“Ah… okay.”
Marian stood up looking flustered, and I grabbed my room card and moved as well.
I didn’t take the elevator. Instead, I hid and watched.
Fortunately, Marian picked up the briefcase from the reception desk and headed toward the elevator.
The two of us met in front of the elevator.
“You haven’t gone up yet?”
“The elevator was slow. I just got here. Let’s go.”
I naturally took the bag from Marian’s hand and stepped into the elevator.

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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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