I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 8

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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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008-Opening for Business
8. Opening for Business
Summer break had already arrived.
When I was shuttling back and forth, the school year felt so long.
Breaks never came fast enough, but now that I’ve escaped the shuttle life, the semesters fly by.
I still haven’t received anyone’s attention.
Well, Kwon Ju-ah has been paying attention to me.
It seemed like she’d visited my house a few times.
I figured it out when I saw instant ramen that wasn’t there before sitting on the porch.
I don’t even eat that brand, but she bought it anyway without knowing my preferences.
I don’t know what’s in Kwon Ju-ah’s heart when she pays attention to me or visits my house.
From what I can tell, she doesn’t even understand her own feelings, so how would I possibly understand hers?
And I don’t want to.
If I’m being honest, she probably just kept coming back a few more times because she missed that sense of liberation from that day.
She came to relieve stress whenever it built up.
I understood it well enough, but I pretended not to.
I don’t want my house to be used as a space for someone else to decompress.
If you want to relieve stress, if you want to feel that sense of freedom,
then go hiking, go camping, go to a karaoke, or exercise.
Why come to my house?
You’re just making things awkward.
So I pretended not to know even more coldly.
With summer break starting, I decided to take on a part-time job.
Actually, not a job—a business.
I needed money.
Thanks to my inventory, I had no problem eating and living,
but I still didn’t have enough money.
I tried buying and reselling items on Carrot, but after a few attempts, I couldn’t do it anymore.
If things didn’t sell, I’d get stressed, and before I knew it, I’d be lowering prices.
I was also afraid of getting caught.
With food, I could just eat it and make it disappear, so there was no problem, but merchandise piles up.
Maybe that’s why I was more concerned about it.
I couldn’t keep stealing items from the Mart and selling them on Carrot for long.
I still had some money left, but money was always necessary.
So while looking for something I could do during summer break, I decided to sell ice cream at the Mountain Peak.
Last time, I went hiking at the Gym for physical training.
We climbed all the way to the Mountain Peak.
“Man, if I could have an ice cream here, that would be amazing.”
“Huh? If you brought ice cream here, it would all melt. How would you even eat ice cream up here?”
At the Gym Manager’s words, the Coach laughed as if it was ridiculous.
“Don’t know? Back in the day, they sold ice cream at the Mountain Peak. They’d carry it in ice boxes.”
“Really??”
“Look it up on that internet you love so much. Of course it’s there.”
“Wait… let me search. Oh? It’s real.”
I was surprised too, watching from beside them.
They really sold ice cream at the Mountain Peak?
They carried something that heavy up the mountain and sold it there?
At the same time I thought it was impressive, I wondered what would happen if I sold it during summer break.
I have an inventory, after all.
If I had ice cream right now, I’d want to eat it—so wouldn’t other people feel the same way?
“But why did it disappear?”
“Kid, how would I know? Probably because it’s too much work. Plus these days people have tumblers, so they can freeze water or bottled water at home and bring that instead. Since there’s a way to bring cold water, ice cream probably sold less. That’s probably why they stopped.”
After that hike, I thought about selling ice cream at the Mountain Peak during summer break.
I decided it would work out.
I prepared in advance.
First, I went to the Mart and put a reasonably-sized ice box into my inventory.
This was a very important task.
If the ice box didn’t fit in my inventory because of its size, the whole business would fall apart.
Honestly, I wasn’t confident I could carry an ice box up the mountain.
Full of worry, I placed my hand on a fairly large ice box that looked like it wouldn’t fit, and put it into my inventory.
Whoosh.
It went in smoothly.
Done. Success.
Now I just needed to get ice cream.
I could have bought it at the Mart, but I wanted to buy it somewhere cheaper.
I went to the Unattended Ice Cream Shop.
An empty Unattended Ice Cream Shop.
For a moment, I felt the urge to put everything into my inventory.
But I resisted. The CCTVs installed everywhere.
If it were just one or two, maybe, but taking this much from here wasn’t right.
And since this was a business, I didn’t want to run it on stolen goods.
I wanted to do business the right way.
First, I needed to select items.
I was looking around for a while, not sure which ice cream would be good, when someone who looked like the owner came in.
As soon as they arrived, they started organizing the shop.
I naturally picked up an ice cream and paid for it.
The owner glanced at me, then focused on organizing.
I spoke to the owner.
“Owner~ are you the owner here?”
“Yeah. What about it?”
His voice was somewhat blunt.
Did I come across as difficult?
Was he worried I’d demand a refund for half-melted ice cream?
“Sorry, but could you tell me how much you get ice cream for?”
“What? Why are you asking that?”
“I’m thinking of selling ice cream at the Mountain Peak this summer break.”
“You’re going to sell ice cream on a mountain?”
“Yes.”
“Hold on.”
The man’s voice had grown more relaxed.
“I don’t know what gave you this idea, but you need to think practically. How many ice creams do you think you could actually sell in a day on that mountain?”
Damn.
I hadn’t thought about it.
“Maybe a hundred?”
“A hundred people pass through where you’d be selling? And every single one of them buys ice cream?”
“I’m not really sure about that.”
“At minimum, shouldn’t you figure out how many people pass through your location daily, what times see the most traffic, what age groups they are, and what those age groups prefer?”
“I suppose so.”
Honestly, I hadn’t considered it.
I’d just assumed I’d go to the mountain and sell.
I’d only thought about easily transporting it through my inventory and selling it—never about who my actual customers would be.
“Do you think you can fit a hundred ice creams in a cooler? I doubt it. A hundred ice creams alone weigh a lot, and then you add the cooler’s weight on top. That thing is pretty heavy. You’re going to carry that all the way to the Mountain Peak? It won’t be easy. You take a hundred up there—can you sell them all before they melt? What if you can’t? You just throw them away. Have you calculated that loss?”
“Sure, if you’re lucky and sell all a hundred, that’s good. Then how much profit are you left with? From what I can see, even at best you won’t make more than 2,000 won per ice cream. Sell a hundred and you make 200,000 won. It’s not nothing, but it’s not impressive considering the effort involved. You have to account for unsold inventory losses, your own labor costs. From that perspective, just study. That’s your best option. Can’t do that? Then learn a skill. Don’t waste time on half-baked business ventures.”
He’s absolutely right.
They say getting hit with facts hurts, and now I understand the feeling.
I’ve never been hit with facts before.
No one’s ever really talked to me like this.
That said, what he’s saying isn’t entirely correct either.
I have an inventory that no one else does.
I don’t have to lug heavy ice cream up the mountain,
and I don’t have to worry about melting.
Everything stays in its original state in my inventory.
I just take out what I need and sell it.
I said a hundred a day, but I don’t know how many I’ll actually sell.
Most importantly, I want to try it.
“I still want to try. I really want to.”
“If you’re set on it.”
“Can I buy ice cream here?”
“A hundred of them?”
“Yes.”
“Now?”
“Not now, but once break starts, so three days from now.”
The Ice Cream Shop Owner, who had been thinking for a moment, spoke.
“Most of the bar ice creams here are 700 won each. The price varies depending on the type, but I usually get them for 400 to 500 won. However, I’ll give them to you at 500 won each. How about 50,000 won for 100 pieces—a sweet deal?”
“Oh, thank you so much. Then I’ll pay in cash. No cash receipt, please.”
“Is that so? Then I’ll throw in some dry ice as a service.”
“I’m truly grateful.”
With everything prepared, I was able to begin my break.
.
.
.
The day of my part-time job and the first day of break.
I had picked up the ice creams from the owner the day before.
I placed the ice box containing 100 ice creams into my inventory and headed toward the mountain.
The mountain I chose was Bukhansan Mountain.
Why Bukhansan Mountain, you ask?
The reason is simple.
The number one hiking destination in our country.
A mountain visited by 7 million people annually.
A mountain that sees 20,000 visitors every single day.
Where else would I go?
Though it was somewhat taxing, my stamina had improved considerably from boxing, so it wasn’t as difficult as I’d feared.
After nearly two hours of climbing, the peak came into view.
After hearing the Ice Cream Shop Owner’s advice, I had climbed the mountain a couple more times to consider the best location to sell.
My choice was the Mountain Peak.
There were already many shops at the trailhead entrance, and some at rest areas and mountain lodges as well.
But at the peak, there was no one.
There was adequate space too.
I found a shaded spot and began selling ice cream.
I took out the ice box from my inventory and set up a camping chair to sit.
I also hung up a hastily scrawled sign I had prepared beforehand on the box.
【Ice Cream for Sale. 1 piece 3,000 won / 2 pieces 5,000 won】
I had deliberated extensively over the pricing.
That’s my conclusion.
That price seemed right.
If it’s too expensive, people won’t buy it.
They can always wait a bit and eat it on the way down.
Eating here is about the moment itself.
It wasn’t the taste of the ice cream, but the sweetness of success savored alongside the sense of accomplishment from reaching the peak.
That’s what I was offering alongside the ice cream.
I figured that if something was too expensive or excessive, I wouldn’t enjoy it anyway.
I arrived at Mountain Peak around 10 AM.
The moment I laid out my mat, a middle-aged man who had been resting at the peak came over to me.
“Are you selling ice cream?”
“Yes. Which one would you like?”
I opened the ice box wide.
Inside, ice creams were arranged by type.
“Oh~ It’s hard to find this ice cream these days.”
The middle-aged man chose a Bibibick.
It was a red bean flavored ice cream.
He paid 3,000 won in cash and left.
After that…
People kept coming and coming.
“Four of these is 10,000 won, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“How much for three?”
“7,500 won.”
“Do you take cards?”
Take cards?
I’m operating without a business license and evading taxes—how could I possibly take cards?
They even ask for cash receipts.
“Don’t you have water or drinks?”
Did they think they came to a Mart?
Why are they asking if I have makgeolli too?
“You don’t have makgeolli?”
There really are people looking for makgeolli.
“Don’t you have kimbap or something to eat? I’m hungry.”
I’m hungry too.
I should have eaten a proper breakfast if I’d known this would happen.
“How old are you? You’re quite handsome. What time do you finish today? Once you sell all of this, you’re done for the day, right? We’ll buy everything—want to hang out with us after?”
Ma’am, if I hang out with you, I’m heading straight to jail.
I’m underage.
And if you’re going to say things like that, at least say it when the ice box is full. Now there are only a few left at the bottom—that kind of talk is inappropriate.
In just a short time of selling ice cream, I encountered all kinds of people.
Thanks to that, before even noon, I had sold out all the ice cream.
I’d only been selling for two hours.
With no more ice cream to sell, I immediately packed up.
The ice cream business I started with 50,000 won had transformed into 250,000 won in two hours.
Wow~~
Incredible.
Was making money really this easy?
I just sat there,
and the only hardship I endured was climbing up the mountain.
Other people climb mountains for their health anyway,
and I get to maintain my health, earn money, and it’s absolutely perfect.
This entire summer break, I’m going all-in on this.
Before heading down, I called the Ice Cream Shop Owner.
“Boss, tomorrow I’ll need ice cream. I’ll bring 500 units. And could you freeze 2 boxes of bottled water—24 units of 500ml each? Yes, I’ll take those too.”
– 500 units? That’s insane. You can’t even carry that much. And bottled water on top of it?
“Don’t worry. A friend agreed to help me.”
– If you split the profits with a friend, you’ll make even less money.
The Ice Cream Shop Owner really was a worrier.
Instead of heading home, I went straight to the Market.
The Market was overflowing with food.
Bean paste pancakes, tteokbokki, braised pork feet, blood sausage, fish cakes, dumplings—so many mouth-watering options—but I wasn’t here to eat.
After running my stall today, I realized customers had diverse needs.
I couldn’t meet every demand, but stocking a variety of items seemed like a smart move.
My inventory doesn’t spoil anyway.
“Give me some cucumbers and apples, please.”
“Just 10 kimbap rolls, please.”
“5 cold noodle dishes to go. Wrap them separately, please.”
“10 hamburger sets, please. Wrap each set individually.”
I headed to the Mart and loaded up on various beverages,
then stopped by a camping supply shop and carefully picked out camping chairs and tables.
Tomorrow’s business was going to be incredible.

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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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