"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Han Yu cursed his luck. "Of all places to lose it, I lost it to a corpse!"
The magnet he had kept in his pocket had been torn away when the corpse suddenly moved and grabbed him. At that ti, he had been too terrified to notice, but now he was regretting it deeply.
"Damn it! Do I really need to go back there?" Han Yu questioned himself. "What if that ghost eats ?" He shivered.
He had heard too many stories of people dying with regrets and coming back as vengeful spirits.
'If the man died from a gambling debt and haunts because I scamd people, I'm definitely screwed,' Han Yu thought. 'Wait... ghosts can read minds, right?!' A new wave of panic hit him.
After much deliberation, he decided against going back right away.
"Maybe Fat Kui and Dan Hu know where to get another one of those stones," Han Yu thought.
The magnet he used wasn't just any ordinary magnet. It was strong enough to pull a coin through a cup despite being tiny and inconspicuous. If he just needed any magnet, he could have pulled one from a compass or found one in a pile of junk.
Lodestones were common enough, and he might even find one in the wild, but the problem was that those were usually way too big. If his trick got exposed, he'd be lucky to get away with only a beating.
'Maybe the junk shop has another one. I found the first one there anyway,' Han Yu still held onto hope.
With that plan in mind, he got up and imdiately set off to find his companions.
'I also need to pay them their cut before they get impatient,' Han Yu thought grimly.
Leaving the impoverished area, he made his way toward the busier central part of town, where shops and rchants filled the streets.
Oak Head Town was still lively despite many people leaving for the war. Farrs bustled about selling their produce, blacksmiths hamred away, and traders shouted about their wares. People moved from stall to stall, bargaining and gossiping.
Though the town only had a population of about fifty thousand, it was a vital supply hub for Riverrun City, the only city in a two-hundred-kiloter radius.
The war was far away, but Oak Head Town played its part by supplying weapons, tools, leather goods, and food. Han Yu passed by multiple workshops and smithies before reaching his destination—a small tavern near the central market, right on the border of the Eastern Section.
The mont he stepped inside, he spotted his usual table in the corner. As expected, his two 'pals' were waiting.
"Han Yu! Took you long enough!" A round teenager bellowed.
His belly strained against the cloth belt barely holding his robes together. If he laughed too hard, Han Yu was sure he'd see belly button.
This was none other than Fat Kui, one of Han Yu's closest 'associates.' He was three years older and ca from a slightly well-off family that owned a junk shop.
"How far did Peng Gu chase you?" asked the other teenager at the table.
This was Dan Hu. Skinny as a twig, with sunken cheeks that made him look half-starved, he gave off the impression of a weak, sickly boy. But Han Yu knew better. That face was Dan Hu's greatest weapon. It made people let their guard down.
Dan Hu had introduced Han Yu to gambling when he was just eleven. He was seventeen now, a year younger than Fat Kui, and, like Han Yu, a street-smart hustler.
"Peng Gu was relentless," Han Yu exaggerated, leaning in for dramatic effect. "Chased for tens of kiloters! I had to leap off a hill into the river to escape!" He sighed heavily, shaking his head as if the mory pained him.
"Haha! Then I assu we're speaking to your ghost," Fat Kui chuckled, amused by Han Yu's theatrics.
"Tch~ Don't joke about ghosts! I saw one today. Scared the life out of ." Han Yu shuddered.
"Oh? And where did you see this 'ghost'?" Dan Hu smirked, clearly skeptical.
"Down by the river. What I thought was a corpse suddenly sat up and grabbed !" Han Yu shivered again.
"Sure," Dan Hu snorted, unimpressed. "Forget ghost stories, we aren't kids anymore. Let's talk about grown-up business."
"Yes, yes! The profits, Han Yu!" Fat Kui's eyes glead with excitent.
"Alright, alright." Han Yu pulled out a pouch and carefully spilled its contents onto the table.
"Haha! We're eating well tonight!" Fat Kui cheered, his stomach already rumbling.
"Let's count it quickly," Dan Hu urged, ever the cautious one.
The trio sorted through the coins in record ti.
"Ninety-five iron coins, thirty copper coins, and twenty silver coins!" Fat Kui gasped.
"Whistle~" Dan Hu let out a low whistle. "Man, Peng Gu sure had a stash. Does working at the smithy pay that well?"
"He must have been saving up for a long ti," Han Yu grinned. "Not that he'll be spending it now!"
Fat Kui and Dan Hu burst out laughing.
"Alright, let's split this up," Dan Hu said, rubbing his hands together.
Just as they were about to divide the loot, Han Yu suddenly rembered his missing magnet. His face darkened.
"By the way, Fat Kui," he turned to his round friend. "You still got any of those little magnets from your shop?"
Fat Kui blinked. "Huh? Why?"
Han Yu sighed dramatically. "Because my special one got stolen by a dead man!"
Dan Hu groaned. "Not this ghost nonsense again."
"I'm serious!" Han Yu insisted. "The corpse snatched it from my pocket! I need another one, or I'm dood!"
Fat Kui scratched his chin. "Hmm... might have one in the junk shop. But it'll cost you."
Han Yu scowled. "You're charging for it?!"
Fat Kui grinned. "Of course! Business is business."
Dan Hu smirked. "Look on the bright side, at least it wasn't your pants that got stolen by the ghost."
Han Yu groaned, slumping onto the table. "I hate you both."
They all laughed, coins jingling as they split their latest haul, the night promising more trouble ahead.
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