Chapter 33: Chapter 38: Obsessive, one could say!
Derek entered "Ji's Jewelers" with the owner herself. Ji stared at Derek with a look of distrust while she rocked in her chair that she brought in with them until he spoke. "I can't assist you with this problem unless you speak and fill me in?" Derek reminded the down hearted woman as politely as he could and in an artificial tone. "Mmhm. My husband disappeared on me, without… a sort of warning of any kind and his very expensive bracelet that he left behind was all I had to remind me of the man, as ridiculous as it sounds, I know that he's out there somewhere and that bracelet was all that I had to remind me of him but since it went missing, it honestly feel like I lost him all over again." Ji opened up to Derek as she liked the face he had on him and how well it told her he was listening. "Alright. I need more specific details now, where and when did it come up missing?" Derek probed as he wrote it down in his chronicle that he carried with him. "A month ago at my home. I returned and it was gone from my drawers among a mess of my other items. It had to be in broad daylight." Ji informed Derek with as much as she knew, he asked for directions and permission to her home before he headed off, without any hesitation after winning her over, she gave him plenty of what he needed to launch his own investigation.
He traveled approximately two hours on foot before he arrived at her home, it wasn't anything too fancy, it was humble and he liked it. Derek surveyed the exterior of her house and kept a photo of it in his head before he used the keys she gave him and stepped inside. It was cold, felt and looked quite sad to him. It was messy and looked neglected. Derek searched the first floor of home up and down, he searched around for clues. He found a photo of Ji's husband with her in a photo. On his way upward towards the bedroom, the investigator found a sock that didn't look like it belonged to an older woman but then he remembered it could belong to her husband and assumed that it got there possibly after they trashed her home and dropped it to move up. Derek searched their bedroom first before any other. He looked around and the bed was unkempt, only her clothes were scattered. "If only Settembre were here with me, past events swiftly solved like a world record speedrun." Derek thought to himself as he let go of the thought of his friend. He found a dirty and raggedy belt on the other end of the bed, he kept hold of it like it was a clue. He was stumpt on the rest of the upstairs, figuring he might as well leave the home with one possible clue until he saw a bottle downstairs he missed during his first look. "Ungäbündë" was the brand's name, he remembered the brand she drank from earlier and had a suspicion that it was worth calling a clue and checking in with the woman he volunteered to help. "I don't recognize any of these, and you found them in my home?!" Said Ji as Derek presented the possible leads to her on the checkout counter of her store in a fearful tone. "I did. Yeah, it can still be scary, even if it isn't surprising. Anything helpful you can lead me on any of these items, the beer?" Derek asked and responded to Mrs.Ji as he had two hands on the counter.
Derek saw the reaction on Mrs.Ji's face, she had raised upper eyelids, eyebrows raised and pulled together then she looked pained. "Mrs.Ji?" Derek called out in his usually calm tone. "The scoundrel den, Jang Gang den owned by his even worse of a daughter are the only sellers of that brand in the city. My husband was a beer and liquor enthusiast and he told me. One night he and I were joking about how stupid the name sounds, like it was created by a numbskull." Mrs.Ji clued in Derek with disgust and fear noticeably in her tone.
"Sounds like I'm off to find out why my family and everyone seem to hate that place. I'll find the perpetrator, don't you worry." Derek assured her as he began to leave, Mrs.Ji grabbed his hand before he made any distance.
"I'll go and apologize to your family for what I've done to them in the past, you've got that same look my husband would get with his stubbornness, don't go and get yourself murdered for my sake." Mrs.Ji pleaded with the young helpful Hyun, previously her sworn competition. "This is for both of our sakes, helping you will help me and that's exactly what I need before I—…" Derek caught himself before revealing any bit of important information. Derek pulled away and walked away. "For my sake, if you want to help me out, don't tell any of my family anything about this." Derek pleaded with her right before he left the shop to find Jang gang's den. "Don't blame yourself for my death." He thought to himself as his face would have told Mrs.Ji that he was unsure of himself if he was facing her.
"Yeah, did you hear about what Gan Gang Ja's got in mind for that traitorous pig?" Derek heard from an unfamiliar scoundrel rows down in disguise within Jang gang's den as he tried his best to blend in. "Yeah, poor goon and doofus. Any lovely bit of evidence that he's stacked up against us brutally dies with him. I'm gonna enjoy myself tonight." Derek heard from the second scoundrel who was sitting next to him, with an unnerving sadistic smile. "Hey fellas, did you hear about what the boss has in store for that moron? I forgot where the show is being held tonight, could you remind me?" Derek asked as he made his way closer while listening to the entire conversation. "Uh, sure sure, down at the rocks on Seabright beach. Be there cause we're not gonna record it for you." The scoundrel answered the disguised traveler. Derek gave him a nod and slight grin he thought came off as creepy as most of the regulars in the bar.
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