I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 90

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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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090-EYES
90. Eyes
“How much longer do I have to wait? I’m going insane from this. The money isn’t ready yet? Fine, I’ll take a cut. Is that enough? Just get me out of here already.”
Curses slipped from Shin Jung-gi’s lips as he ended the call.
“Damn it…”
Rage nearly drove him to hurl the phone, but he barely restrained himself.
Without this burner phone, he couldn’t even contact the Broker.
So he had to protect this phone at all costs.
It was his only lifeline.
Seething with anger, Shin Jung-gi drained a can of beer in one gulp and collapsed onto the bed like a puppet with cut strings.
Why had I agreed to this?
Regret flooded through me—had I consented too easily?
But refusal would have changed nothing.
I would have trembled with anxiety every single day.
I had to accept it now.
That life, swinging like a pendulum with perfect precision, was gone.
All that remained was me, completely unraveled.
Crumbling more with each passing day.
Of course, when I first arrived in the Philippines, I’d considered establishing a new routine.
But the Philippines—I’d leave soon enough.
It seemed pointless.
No one builds a routine for a two-night, three-day trip.
I thought the same way.
Just a brief stay, I’d told myself.
But then it became a week, then a month, then two months—and I felt like I was losing my mind.
My life had completely collapsed.
By the time I wanted to establish a routine, it was already too late.
I couldn’t leave the room—the stares of others terrified me.
Eyes watching me from somewhere.
The sensation that everyone was looking only at me.
The feeling that everyone was scrutinizing my every move.
It consumed me so much that I couldn’t go outside.
I tried to establish a routine even within the hotel room, but that too was impossible.
Being in the room made me anxious about everything.
I couldn’t concentrate on anything.
I just stared at my phone, waiting for contact.
Countless intrusive thoughts plagued me.
I wanted to escape.
If I could just get out of here, I’d accept a reduction from thirty billion down to ten billion without hesitation.
Two days later.
Finally, I received a call from the Broker I’d been waiting for.
“Come to the Zamboanga Ferry Terminal.”
Perfect.
The moment had finally arrived.
The fact that he was calling me to the Ferry Terminal suggested I could collect the money and leave immediately.
Shin Jung-gi gathered all his belongings and headed toward the terminal.
I arrived at the Zamboanga Ferry Terminal overlooking the sea.
Since it was late evening after all the ferry operations had ended, the terminal was nearly deserted.
Only the guards maintaining the facility were present.
A guard eyed me suspiciously as I entered the terminal dragging a suitcase at this late hour.
I hated that look.
I despised the way he was watching, as if trying to discern what I was doing.
Shin Jung-gi sat in the empty terminal and waited for the Broker.
When the appointed time arrived, the Broker appeared quietly from nowhere and sat down beside me.
“Did you wait long?”
“Yeah. Very much so.”
“I wanted to wrap things up quickly too, but the client kept delaying payment.”
“Forget it. Just give me the money and the forged ID.”
“But here’s the thing… a problem has come up.”
“What problem?”
“The client can’t provide all of that money.”
“I already told you. I’m fine even if it’s reduced a bit. How much can you give?”
“Just a moment…”
The Broker pulled out his wallet from his pocket and extracted the bills inside.
“About four thousand pesos, I’d say. That’s roughly a hundred thousand won.”
“What are you doing right now?”
“Giving you the money you’re owed.”
“I was supposed to receive three billion won?”
“You said you’d be fine even if it was reduced a bit, didn’t you?”
“This isn’t ‘a bit’ of a reduction.”
“That’s just a difference in perspective. I think this is sufficient—as compensation for sparing your life.”
Shin Jung-gi alternated his gaze between the bills the Broker was offering and his face, then burst into laughter.
“Hahahaha. This is amusing. No forged ID either? I’ve been played? Completely swindled?”
“Oh, you caught on immediately?”
“Is this even worth calling ‘catching on’? You thugs just did what thugs do.”
“That comment stings a little.”
“The truth always hurts. And look at what you’ve done. That’s exactly what I’d call thuggish behavior.”
The Broker spoke with a slight smile, as if he found the situation amusing.
“Yeah, I admit it. I was being petty. Sorry. My apologies.”
“So what are the terms?”
“Hand over the data, and I’ll let you live.”
“How clichéd. So you’re saying you’ll take my life anyway?”
“Hahaha. Sorry, you caught that too?”
“I watch a lot of movies.”
“But seriously, if you just give me the data, I really will let you live.”
“I can’t trust your shallow bullshit anymore. This deal is off.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why are you doing this? Unilateral contract termination incurs a penalty.”
“It’s a contract termination due to breach of contract, so it’s fine.”
“No. It’s unilateral contract termination.”
“Hehehehe. Insane. You have a written contract?”
“I do. Here, my word is the contract, the law, the judge, and the prosecutor. You just need to listen to what I say.”
“What?”
“Boys!!”
“Yes, sir.”
“Take him away.”
Men had already surrounded Shin Jung-gi.
They dragged Shin Jung-gi to the underground warehouse beneath the Ferry Terminal.
An underground warehouse so dark that no light penetrated it.
A single dim light barely illuminated the underground warehouse.
It was the kind of place where a person could die and no one would ever know.
Plastic sheeting covered the floor, and a single chair sat upon it.
Shin Jung-gi was forced into the chair and bound.
Then they began beating him.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
“Stop.”
When the Broker spoke, the men beating Shin Jung-gi stepped back.
“Now that I think about it, I used a lot of people to work on you. But nothing ever went according to my plan. I sent a woman to entrap you through seduction, and you killed her. I left you here like this for so long because I hoped your obsessive-compulsive disorder would make you unable to bear this situation and cause you to lose control on your own, but you managed to hold on in the end. Really impressive. I commend you.”
“Heh. Did you ever consider that your scenario might be poorly written?”
“Really? I was incredibly satisfied with it. Don’t you think it’s good enough to aim for an Academy Award?”
“A scenario packed with clichés like that wouldn’t even make it into a short film festival.”
“Is that so?”
“Want me to tell you the ending? In the end, nothing will go your way. You won’t get the data, and you’ll just end up as a petty thief targeting tourists’ luggage.”
“The ending is something we’ll see unfold. Boys, beat him.”
“Yes, sir.”
The beating resumed.
“There’s a saying in scripture: knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Let’s see if our biblical teaching is true. I have quite deep faith, you see.”
“Don’t hit his face, you bastards. You’ll ruin it.”
Shin Jung-gi cried out even as the blows rained down, and the Broker watched with keen interest.
“Krahaha. This guy’s entertaining. Focus on his face, will you.”
Before long, Shin Jung-gi’s appearance had become utterly grotesque.
Several of my teeth had fallen out, pristine white teeth scattered across the vinyl sheet.
My mouth was filled with blood.
Yet even so, Shin Jung-gi refused to reveal where the data was.
On one side, others were meticulously searching through the suitcase and belongings Shin Jung-gi had brought.
They obviously wouldn’t have hidden it there, but they were tearing through every item one by one, just in case.
All to find the data.
“It’s not here.”
“Of course it’s not. You’ve hidden it somewhere safe, haven’t you? Shin Jung-gi, you must be tired too. Let’s finish this quickly. We should wrap up and get some sleep. It’s getting late.”
“Besides, once we fall asleep, we won’t wake up for eternity. This is your last night in this world—we should make it count.”
“Ha, I like this bastard’s spirit. Then let’s give him something more to enjoy. Boys, beat him.”
“Yes.”
That’s when it happened.
A group of armed men rushed in.
At a glance, there were easily over dozens of them.
“You bastards, try to sleep at night. You’re making so much noise I could die. Don’t the children of the New People’s Army know to go to bed early?”
“What… what is this?”
“What else? Just some Rebel Forces passing through. But look at that—all these New People’s Army bastards gathered in one place.”
The Broker’s identity exposed, he glared at them with sharp, startled eyes.
“Who… who are you? Who are you people—”
“Does it matter if I tell you who I am? You wouldn’t understand anyway, so why ask?”
“These bastards. Hey, you lot over there first. Start with them.”
“Yes.”
The Broker pointed at the Rebel Forces and issued his command.
As the New People’s Army soldiers rushed forward upon hearing the order, Simon drew his gun and fired a shot into the air.
Bang.
“First shot’s a warning. After that, live rounds. Whoever wants to go to sleep early tonight, come on. I’ll put you to sleep forever.”
At the gunshot, the New People’s Army soldiers froze.
They hadn’t expected gunfire and had come unarmed.
“Want to live? Get on your knees. Want to die? Come at me.”
At Simon’s words, the New People’s Army soldiers quietly began to kneel.
Though spoken as a joke, it didn’t sound like one.
No matter how you looked at it, there was no chance of winning.
They all had guns.
Subduing one or two wouldn’t change anything.
The moment anyone moved, their entire body would become a sieve.
In an instant, everyone was on their knees and the situation was resolved.
“Tie all these bastards up. Get him medical attention first.”
“Yes.”
At Simon’s command, the men moved with perfect coordination.
One of those who went to transport the collapsed Shin Jung-gi came back carrying something strange.
“By the way, Captain. Do you know what this is?”
“What is it?”
“This bastard seems to be missing a few teeth, but this one looks a bit different from the others, sir.”
“Really?”
Looking more closely, something did seem off about it.
“We should keep this in storage for now.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ding.
A message alert chimed at that moment.
A photo was attached along with the message: ‘Have you ever seen this person? Let me know if you do.’
Huh?
Isn’t this the bastard?
“Hey. Look at this. This is the guy, right?”
“His face is so messed up it’s hard to be certain, but it looks like him, sir.”
Simon immediately sent a message back.
– This is the guy, right?
*******
Emerald Resort.
“It looks like we found him.”
“Pardon? What did you say?”
My words startled Park Do-jin, Team Leader, Hwang On-yu, Deputy Director, and even Sung Jun-hee, Secretary.
Less than three minutes had passed since I handed over the photo.
Not even enough time for instant ramen to cook.
In that brief span, we’d found someone the National Intelligence Service had searched for months without a trace.
With a photo attached, no less.
“How… how did you?”
“We got lucky, it seems. This person was in danger, and our friends apparently helped out.”
“My goodness, thank you. You’ve done a tremendous service for the nation. We won’t forget this debt.”
“No, that’s not it. What did I really do? I just made one call.”
“That was an enormous help to us. Where was he captured? And the data leak?”
“I’m not entirely sure about that myself.”
“Ha. I suppose that makes sense. I was just anxious… my apologies.”
“It’s understandable. No problem.”
“Then… how about the handover?”
“Pardon?”
“We need to take custody of Shin Jung-gi, but how should we handle that…”
“Why are you asking me?”
“Pardon?”
“You asked me to find him, so I found him. Now you want me to bring him to you? That doesn’t seem right.”
“… Ah, that’s not what I meant…”
“I believe I’ve provided all the assistance I can offer. I’ll give you the contact information for the friend who has Shin Jung-gi, so please reach out directly and bring him back.”
“Yes···”
“Then I’ll be on my way. I’d like to meet with Secretary Sung Jun-hee separately soon—I want to express my gratitude regarding the Poapi matter and perhaps share a meal. I’ll be heading to Cebu.”
“Let’s do that. I’ll be waiting.”
“Then please take care on your way in.”
I exchanged pleasantries and left the conference room first.
After spending the entire day on a plane, my body was already battered, and getting entangled in this incident only added to my exhaustion.
The moment I entered the suite, I sent a text message to Simon, then collapsed into sleep without even properly washing up.
.
.
.
“Hello. I’m Sung Jun-hee, a diplomat from South Korea. I received your contact information from Gong In-bae.”
“Ah~ Yes, I was expecting your call.”
Due to the nature of the National Intelligence Service, they couldn’t step forward publicly, so Secretary Sung Jun-hee had no choice but to handle the call instead.
“Then this should make things quicker. We need to take custody of Shin Jung-gi—where should we go?”
“Ah, so Korea really is the land of speed, huh? You’ve already prepared the money?”
“Money? What do you mean?”
“You said you wanted to take custody of Shin Jung-gi, didn’t you?”
“Yes?”
“You were just planning to come and take Shin Jung-gi with nothing else?”
“What else?”
“Don’t you think you should at least cover our expenses?”
“But this wasn’t something we commissioned···”
“Then if this wasn’t something you commissioned, why are you trying to take Shin Jung-gi?”
“······”
“10 million dollars. It’s not that expensive. I’m giving you a huge discount because you’re a friend of In-bae’s. Normally, something this size starts at a minimum of 30 million. You should thank In-bae for all of this. Buy him a meal sometime.”
“That amount would require cooperation from our headquarters···”
“You Korean civil servants are really something. Why are you telling us about your internal processes? I’m not the one confirming anything. Can you hand over 10 million dollars the moment I sign off? Are you trying to make irrelevant things sound relevant?”
“No···”
“So you handle your business, and we just need to receive 10 million dollars. That’s it. Simple, right? Got it?”
“It’s just···”
“10 million dollars is only valid until the end of this month. If we go past this month, the terms change. We have to feed him, clothe him, put him up, and that costs money. There are also wages for the guards. So if it doesn’t look like it’ll work out, let me know in advance. We won’t waste time and will just dispose of him quickly.”
“···..”
“Call me when the money’s ready. Don’t keep us waiting too long.”
When the call ended, Secretary Sung Jun-hee looked at Team Leader Park Do-jin and Deputy Hwang On-yu with a bewildered expression.
They wore the same bewildered expression.

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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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