I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 40

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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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040-Incheon Airport
40.
Incheon Airport.
Immigration Office.
Choi Eun-chae, an Immigration Office employee, was compiling a report on abnormal travel patterns.
The term “abnormal travel patterns”
refers to the process of filtering out travelers whose journeys lack normal characteristics.
Travelers share a common trait.
Their purpose is always clear.
“I’m traveling to Japan. It’s a two-night, three-day trip. I’ve booked Hotel A.”
“I’m studying abroad in the United States. Here’s my visa. I plan to attend School A. Here’s my acceptance letter.”
“It’s a business trip. I’ll probably tour the Southeast Asian branch offices.”
“I’m visiting relatives who live in Europe. I’ll probably stay for about two months.”
Over 90 percent of travelers fall into that pattern.
Even those who don’t fit the pattern can usually explain their travel purpose.
But some travelers show no such pattern.
Their purpose is vague and their movements are suspicious.
They have no job or an unclear one, yet they travel abroad several times a month.
They visit multiple countries repeatedly in short timeframes.
They don’t book hotels and travel only with one-way tickets.
At the airport, these individuals—
those traveling with abnormal patterns—are tracked and monitored through compiled lists.
Why are such people problematic?
Why are they managed separately?
Most of these individuals are highly likely to be connected to terrorism, smuggling, human trafficking, or money laundering.
Those with repeated entries and exits to South American or Southeast Asian countries are watched especially carefully.
Crime is rampant in those regions, and drug trafficking is common.
Honestly, there’s no need to intervene manually.
The program catches them all beforehand.
Then Choi Eun-chae runs an additional program specifically on these individuals.
She cross-references their boarding records, transit points, luggage, payment methods,
and past smuggling methods to create a risk index.
And this man has a very high risk index.
“Team Leader, I think you should look at this.”
“What is it?”
“A 25-year-old unemployed male has traveled to the Philippines, Macau, and Hong Kong four times recently.”
“What about luggage?”
“That’s… he has no luggage.”
“He came empty-handed?”
“That’s correct.”
“Empty-handed going, empty-handed returning… Isn’t that the case? Goes once, gets completely absorbed in that entertainment culture, and keeps going back.”
“It’s possible, but I can’t give you a definitive answer.”
“How would we give a definitive answer? Flag them with Code S.”
“Yes, understood.”
Code S, or Code SSSS.
Secondary Security Screening Selection.
It designates individuals requiring additional security screening.
When Code SSSS is flagged, passengers undergo far more thorough inspection than ordinary travelers.
Full-body scanners are mandatory, as well as pat-downs conducted directly by security personnel.
Carry-on items, laptops, and all electronic devices are subjected to detailed examination.
All luggage is inspected.
More extensive questions are asked about the travel itinerary.
********
At the departure checkpoint, the immigration officer’s expression is decidedly unusual.
I had been coming and going frequently over the past few months.
Lafei and Kevin kept calling me at all hours without fail.
The last delivery had been effective, apparently.
They hoped I would continue making deliveries.
I was bored staying home all the time, so I went for the sake of travel as well.
This was already the third time.
Was that the reason?
The immigration officer’s face was filled with suspicion as he looked at me.
“What is the purpose of your visit to the Philippines?”
“I’m traveling.”
The question was unexpected.
I had departed through Incheon Airport multiple times, but this was my first time being questioned.
Normally, I would just hand over my passport, they’d verify it against my face, and return it.
But a question? That was unusual.
“How long do you plan to stay?”
“Probably around a week to ten days?”
“You haven’t booked a return ticket?”
“No. I was planning to reserve that depending on the situation.”
“Have you made a hotel reservation?”
“I didn’t make one—I was planning to arrange it locally.”
The immigration officer alternated his gaze between my passport and my face.
“I think we need to have a separate conversation, sir. Please come with me.”
Airport Security stood behind me, and I had no choice but to follow them into a small interrogation room.
.
.
.
After sitting for a while, a man who appeared to be in his forties and a woman in her thirties entered.
“Hello. I apologize for the inconvenience.”
“Not at all. If there’s something to investigate, I should cooperate.”
“We’ve discovered some irregularities in your recent immigration records.”
“Hmm… I have made several trips to the Philippines recently, but would that be a problem?”
“It’s not just the Philippines. You also visited Hong Kong and Macau. We flagged this as an unusual travel route.”
“Really? I just stopped by while I was there.”
“Teacher, you need to answer carefully. If you’re not careful, you could be designated as a person of interest and have your exit banned.”
“…”
“To summarize what we’re seeing, you’ve visited the Philippines four times recently without any apparent purpose, and each time you transited through Macau and Hong Kong. In such cases, we have no choice but to verify the source of your funds.”
The situation seemed more serious than I had anticipated.
An exit ban.
I thought this day might come,
but it arrived far sooner than expected.
I didn’t think it was time to use my newly forged identity yet.
Apparently I should have.
Four times. Just four trips to the Philippines, and they’re already investigating.
Incheon Airport does their job well.
They say it’s one of the world’s best airports, and it seems they weren’t exaggerating.
I racked my brain.
At least they have no evidence to prove my smuggling.
They’re simply investigating because my travel route seems somewhat irregular.
I broached the subject somewhat sheepishly.
“Excuse me, but could we talk just between men for a moment?”
I asked the man in his forties carefully,
and he glanced at the woman.
The woman’s eyes met his,
and she gathered her laptop and left again.
“There. I’ve sent the female officer out as you requested, so feel free to speak comfortably.”
“It’s a bit embarrassing to talk about, but I met a woman in the Philippines during my last trip. I’m not sure how much you know, but I was working at my job until two months ago. After working continuously for so long without a break, I was getting tired. So I decided to take a trip to celebrate my retirement. That trip was to the Philippines.”
“Usually in such cases, don’t people go on package tours or buy round-trip tickets?”
“At first, I was going to do that too, but the packages were more expensive than I thought, and there were all these complaints about forced tours and mandatory shopping. Since I’d become unemployed anyway, I wanted to travel more slowly and leisurely. It was cheaper that way too. So I bought a one-way ticket. I thought I might visit other countries on the way back if things went well.”
“But why did you visit Hong Kong and Macau?”
“While I was eating in the Philippines, a woman started talking to me. Her name was Marian. She said she’d be my guide. I agreed right away. She was very beautiful. Would you like to see a photo?”
“That’s not necessary.”
Despite the investigator’s objection, I took out my smartphone and showed him a photo I’d taken with Marian.
Looking at it again, Marian’s beauty was exceptional.
It was the kind of beauty that could convince an investigator in an instant.
“I traveled around the Philippines with Marian. Like lovers. She charged three hundred dollars a day. During the day we’d sightsee, and in the evening we’d eat and have a drink. That’s when Marian said that if she had just a hundred million won, she could live decently. So I asked her, what’s the fastest way to make a hundred million won? She said winning at a casino. So I laughed, but Marian didn’t. She said she had her own know-how. She never loses. So, emboldened by alcohol, I said, alright, let’s go. The next day we went to Macau. What happened? I lost everything. Seriously. Everything. I was an idiot for believing her. I spent about a million won. Not even ten thousand won was left. It was ridiculous. So we both laughed for a while in front of the casino. Since we’d come this far, I suggested we go see Hong Kong too. We took a ferry and went to Hong Kong, saw it, came back to the Philippines, dropped Marian off, and returned to South Korea.”
The investigator seemed to understand my explanation.
“I understand. But the pattern has been the same every time since then, hasn’t it? How do you explain that?”
“After I returned to South Korea, I couldn’t stop thinking about Marian. So I went back.”
“That doesn’t explain the trips to Hong Kong and Macau.”
“This is confidential, right? Marian doesn’t know about this, but there’s a woman I knew in Hong Kong. I knew her from South Korea, but she was working in Hong Kong. That’s why I went. I wanted to see her.”
“You could have just gone directly from South Korea to Hong Kong.”
“Not really to that extent. I missed Marian in the Philippines, I missed the casino in Macau, I missed that woman in Hong Kong… things like that. But now she says not to come anymore because she has a boyfriend.”
“Will you continue going in the future?”
“I don’t need to go to Hong Kong or Macau anymore. The woman in Hong Kong told me not to come because she has a boyfriend, and I realized I can’t win at the casino. But it seems I’ll need to keep going to the Philippines for a while. Marian and I have visited every tourist spot in Bohol, Philippines, and even places where locals go, but there are so many good places that aren’t well-known. So I’m trying to develop travel packages by opening up those routes. Right now I’m mapping out routes with Marian, securing vehicles, negotiating with hotels, and talking to local restaurants, so it seems I’ll need to keep visiting the Philippines for a while.”
“Do you have a travel agency business registration?”
“You haven’t looked into getting a tourism business registration? It’s not an application—it’s a permit. It’s complicated. First, you need capital. I think they’re worried about people collecting deposits and running off. The required capital varies depending on whether it’s domestic or foreign, but since we can have foreigners participate and we’re targeting both domestic and foreign clients, we need to register as a comprehensive travel agency. For that, we need initial capital of 50 million won. And we need a business plan and estimated profit-and-loss statements for three years. It’s asking me to predict how I’ll conduct business, attract clients, and make money. Of course, we need an office too. Using my home address? That won’t work. We need a separate office. Once we set that up, office rental costs keep piling up, so first I need to find decent routes in the Philippines, secure vendors, and then submit the permit application. That’s usually the proper order.”
“I understand. Is there anything else you’d like to say?”
“First, I’d like to apologize. I never thought my curiosity would cause this kind of problem. I’m sorry. From now on, I’ll only visit the Philippines occasionally for business. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s not like that. We were simply trying to verify the facts for airport security. We have no other intentions.”
“But my flight is almost boarding. May I go?”
“Yes, you may go.”
Fortunately, the man seemed to understand my explanation.
The way he let me go without resistance proved it.
First of all, I was young,
and he clearly understood that at a young age, one could fall for a woman once in a while.
Marian’s photograph probably played a significant role.
My incessant rambling seemed to help as well.
I kept talking about things the investigator hadn’t even asked about.
I mentioned trivial details that could have been overlooked for a reason.
I had nothing to hide.
I was signaling to the investigator that I was telling everything.
A signal that I would cooperate with the investigation anytime.
And most of it was true.
I didn’t mention delivering the drugs.
The woman in Hong Kong was a fictional character,
but ultimately, almost everything else was true.
Fortunately, it seemed to work well.
I left the investigation room and headed toward the gate.
.
.
.
“What do you think?”
“It’s not 100%, but most of it seems true.”
The Team Leader asked Choi Eun-chae.
Choi Eun-chae, who had been observing Gong In-bae from the observation room behind the investigation room, answered.
“What doesn’t seem true?”
“I’m not entirely sure about that. But it doesn’t seem to be connected to anything criminal.”
“Right?”
“And most importantly, there’s no baggage, is there? He’s leaving empty-handed right now, isn’t he? It really does seem to be a woman issue.”
“The kid’s lucky. I’m jealous.”
“So what do we do about Code SSSS?”
“Release it. He’s going to find love—what good would a code do?”
“Understood.”
“Just keep him on the list and check in occasionally.”
“Yes.”

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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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