Chapter 61: The Pawn Shop
"Look, old man. You have a shop because you want to sell. And we are here because we want to buy. You have a price, we also have a price. So unless we stand on the same understanding, we can’t make a deal."
The owner pondered for a few seconds as he stared at the black box.
’What the hell is this thing? I have no idea the fuck it is and what it does. Isn’t it just a box? I don’t really care about it as long as I can get some change. But...’ He glanced at Jason and Xavier. ’Why do I feel like something is fishy?’
"So, tell your price, old man."
"I will do it for $480,000. I usually don’t lower that much, but you seem like someone who knows the worth of hidden gems."
"Eh, not really. I wouldn’t even buy it for $500, to be honest."
’What the hell?! Do they want it or not? Dammit! I was getting $50,000 earlier! I should have just sold it! My greedy ass just can’t catch a break. But wait... there are thousands of items in my shop, so why did they choose this box only? Maybe they were looking for it? If that’s the case, they will give as much as I ask for.’
"So, do you want it or not?" The old man asked haughtily. "As I said, there is already a buyer for this."
"Sell it, then. We don’t want it," Xavier remarked and pretended to leave the store, uninterested.. "Let’s go. We will get one from the last shop we went to. He was giving us five of them for $100,000. He was selling a set, so we didn’t get it, but I guess it’s still a much better deal than this one."
"Heh! You are bluffing. This is the oldest trick in the book. How many years of experience do you think I have? If you don’t want to buy it then it’s completely fine."
The old man thought Xavier was bluffing, but he wasn’t. He had actually seen the same black boxes at a shop and it had the price tag of $100,000. Xavier could buy it to prove the old man wrong, but he didn’t want to waste $100,000 on something he didn’t need.