"Are you sure you want to pawn this?" Vann asked for the second time, completely unlike his greedy self who would bite like a hungry shark once it sensed cash was delivered into his mouth.
No choice, there was his conscience slightly pricking him because he recognized that the value of these earrings was astronomically higher than what he was offering.
"Yes, I want to pawn it," the man said, very adamantly. His eyes kept darting around as if he had lost control of them. He looked completely muddled, clearly not in the right state of mind.
His hair was messy and the bags underneath his eyes were very dark, one would have thought that it was a black eye. How long had it been since this guy slept?
Vann was familiar with this behavior. He had seen gamblers or people in debt acting the same, so he suspected that this man's case was one of those.
"If you insist." As a business owner, Vann's goodwill was limited to that. Since this person was okay with it, then who was he to dissuade?
After Vann gave the money, the man immediately ran away as if Vann was going to take the cash back if he was a few seconds late. Seeing that behavior made Vann feel exasperated.
While his reputation in Melen Capital was not that good, it should not have been that bad.
Vann's modest pawnshop was located near the entertainment district. Such a location was a gold mine for his business. With his mismatched glowing signboard that he pieced together from the dumpster, such an ugly sight was attention grabbing enough that people could not ignore its existence.
No money for prostitutes?
No money for gambling?
No money for drinking?
There was a pawnshop in the corner.
With people making bad decisions left and right, Vann's business was booming. With enough money, he should have been able to buy a new residential ID, a house on a different planet, and then leave this hellhole.
Was there not a famous saying? "The moment you are born on Planet Melen, your first goal is to leave the damn place."
Vann was no different. I mean, who would want to live in a wasteland with no future? At best he would become a gang leader and at worst he would be sold as an experimental "dummy" for those mad scientists who exploit Melen's almost nonexistent laws.
"These earrings should be enough." Touching the blood red gem embedded at the center, Vann clicked his tongue, thinking, "It's beautiful and legit. I wonder where that guy got this."
Vann was very open about his appreciation of anything glittery and shiny. Be it a bracelet, necklace, earrings, hair pieces, whatever kind of jewelry, he would be happy to accept them.
This was not because of their value, Vann liked them purely for aesthetics. Inside his home, he would adorn himself with jewelry from head to toe and if he felt a bit daring, he would even wear those valuables outside instead of his metallic ones.
Right now, he was donning a black long trench coat, both his wrists were stacked with gold plated bracelets. On his neck was a modest looking choker with a red ruby embedded at the center. His long hair was decorated with silver beads, the contrast made it look like his hair was a star night sky.
"I dressed up quite a bit today." Watching his reflection in the glass, Vann felt it would be quite a pity to hide himself at the shop all day.
"What's Yenru doing today?" Placing his newly acquired treasure in his breast pocket, Vann decided, chuckling, "Poor guy is probably bored. I should pay him a visit."
...
Cornerstone Pub.
Music reverberated through the walls. The air was filled with excitement and adrenaline as people lost their minds in alcohol and pleasure. Inside the Cornerstone Pub, your problems did not exist. This was a paradise where you could experience thrill and freedom to the fullest.
Amidst the realm of sin below, the scene inside a private room on the third floor had a completely different atmosphere.
"Why are you here?" With a face filled with repulsion, Yenru begrudgingly mixed Vann's drink while giving him an unwelcome look the entire time.
Vann felt wronged. "Can't I visit my friend? Besides, why are you so glum? I'm here to have fun, not make trouble." He felt like he had never been troublesome in the first place.
"That's the point!" Yenru slammed the glass on the table and pushed it towards Vann, saying, "Your idea of fun is trouble! If you didn't come, I would have been lying in bed with the ladies."
"Now that you're here, I'm accompanying a personified disco ball! Who would be happy?" Yenru, who had different views of aesthetics, felt blinded staring at the sparkly Vann.
"Ladies? I thought you've already grown past the age of being tucked in bed." Not minding his friend's displeasure, Vann chuckled, "I guess you still need multiple moms to lull you to sleep."
"Shut up." Yenru poured the mixed drink into Vann's cup, his eyes shooting daggers as he said, "One more word and I'll add poison to this shit."
Vann was probably the only person who would openly make fun of Yenru's face.
This guy was a 20-year-old adult but by just looking at him, you would think he was around 14 to 15 because of how young he looked.
It was mainly the fat cheeks that gave the impression of youth, but Yenru hated any implications of people making fun of his face. Anyone who did that would get a taste of his fist. Do not look at him being scrawny, his punch hurt quite a lot.
Vann took a sip of the drink and sure enough, it tasted hideous. Without a change of expression, he placed the glass down and went to the main point of his visit.
He asked, "Any information about those new faces roaming around Sucren?"
Yenru flashed a face of disappointment seeing Vann did not react to his masterpiece, but after hearing his question, he suddenly turned serious.
"Keep your claws off those people." Yenru sternly warned, "I heard those guys had connections to a Fate's Favored. They seemed to be looking for something."
"Alright. Geez, I was just asking." Vann was curious but that was all there was to it. He had no desire to get involved in something that had nothing to do with him, unless he could gain something from it.
Just as he was about to stand up,
Yenru suddenly smiled like a weasel that successfully stole a chicken coop. With elbows on the table, he grabbed Vann's wrist to prevent him from leaving.
In a very threatening tone, he said, "Well, I gave you free intel. What about the one I commissioned you to do? Any updates about it?"
Vann thought, I forgot about it.
Avoiding eye contact, Vann brushed Yenru's hand off and hastily said, "You know that pendant was from outside Melen. It's not easy to investigate it. Don't rush and don't worry. I'll give you the results on Friday."
When he finished saying that, he stiffly walked out of the room, trying to ignore Yenru's angry stare from behind.
...
"That was a close call." Vann patted his chest and sighed, "I should stop procrastinating. The sheer number of my pending commissions is enough to drown me alive. What do I do?"
Of course. He still needed to clean the garage, fix the cleaning robot, craft a new necklace, etc.
He was basically doing everything except work on the commissions.
"I'm a very busy man." He hummed casually and when Vann was about to open the pawnshop door, he stopped.
"Look what we have here." It took some effort to rein the danger in Vann's voice, but he was certainly pissed.
The hidden mechanism that could only be triggered once there was a forced break-in was activated.
Narrowing his eyes, he grabbed the energy gun strapped to his waist.
"It has been many years since someone dared disrespect my territory like this." Vann already knew who did this. No one in Melen would cross his path, so this intruder could only be those new faces in the Capital.
"Yenru is a fucking jinx." Vann cursed under his breath.