Capítulo 32: Chapter 37: He's very hooked!

Derek sat in the attic of his maternal family's manor, he had a fantastic view of early morning Seju-si as he was alone and the girl from the club who was leaving the city that day wasn't leaving his mind amongst other topics on his mind after his morning work out.

"Hope you had gotten yourself some incredible hours last night, it slipped my mind yesterday that I meant to tell you that you'll be working for the store while you're with us." He heard from his uncle Sun-Jin, who then left back down. "Take a shower before we go at eight o'clock, man." Sun-Jin demanded before he left him alone. An hour went by, Derek took a shower, another went by and the two left the manor and arrived at the family's Jewelry shop in the busiest district, near the same street Derek and Duri had a dance off. He remembered how he had fun but lost, then walked in after his uncle, to be greeted by his aunt, she cheered him up from earlier.

"Welcome to our family's business, Hyun Jewels & rarities, Derek." Dal-Rae waved as she was excited with a bright smile. Almost immediately upon laying eyes on her husband, her expression changes into one from frustration as she nagged him about him neglecting his chores in the shop.

"We have him now as a porter dead, he'll take care of them better than I ever could, don't worry." Sun-Jin calmly explained as he formed a thin see-through wall of ash to keep her at bay. "Oh no, we'll be fair to him, first you'll do yours then he'll be on the job once we open, mister laziness!" Dal-Rae demanded as she had one hand on his ashen wall. Derek watched them squash their beef as his uncle surrendered and did his chores before a mysterious stranger across the street that he realized was a competing Jewelry store captured his interest.

"That's miss Ji and she owns and manages Ji's Jewelers, she looks pretty downtrodden. Doesn't she?" Derek's aunt, Dal-Rae informed him on her own as she noticed him staring over from their window. "Yeah." Derek answered with a whispery voice. "Good. That woman almost caused our business to shut down some time ago, I'm sure whatever her problem is that's leaving her that terrible, she brought it on her own device?" Dal-Rae replied with a grin. Derek looked over at his auntie, his expression told her all she needed to know about what he was thinking. "Don't judge without context. She's such a competitive woman. Most women in this city want to compete." Dal-Rae finished as she walked away to prepare to open shop. Derek walked away to go and find his uncle to begin his work in their store.

"I want to get to know you better, you're really Tae-lee's eldest, all grown up?" Uncle Sun-Jin asked as he watched Derek sweep the store's floor. "Apparently. I knew her from What my dad would call her from time to time, Jessica Wiley, sir." Derek replied with a saddened tone.

"Ye, her father and her had a very, very rocky relationship. You know that saying, always one "unique" child in every big family?" Uncle Sun-Jin caught himself from calling her a problem for Derek's sake. Regardless, Derek knew what he meant and immediately felt like the worst for thinking of his brother. "What was she really like and please don't sugar coat any of it for me?" Derek requested from his uncle.

"She was an honest problem for our father but for me, she was an amazing sister. Reliable, supportive, caring and ready to sacrifice her own time and needs for my own without the expectation of those returning those qualities for her. I'm glad to have realized that my daughters remind me of her. She hated responsibilities and expectations, she wanted to live free like an eagle." Sun-Jin answered his nephew. "Two aspects of a person's character Grandpa Ye-Jun is obsessed with?" Derek commented as he looked elsewhere. "Exactly, and exactly why Chae is his favorite. Sun-Jin replied as he was feeling proud of her. Derek pondered on the conversation as he finished up sweeping in silence. "Errr, are you really the eldest child by the way, I guessed correctly?" Sun-Jin abruptly asked.

Derek was let go by his auntie when the clock struck late into the afternoon, at five, however, he recognized that the competing shop across the street was still open but the owner, Ji, was drinking her heart outside of it. It made him depressed watching her in a rocking chair gargling down the bottle with what could've been customers giving her looks as they walked past. Derek walked over and tapped her shoulder as she put her head down. "Uh, Ma'am, are you crazy?" The Hyun boy in her mind asked as he grabbed her attention with the tap and the first two words in reality. "No, go away now, Hyun nuisance!" The bitter older woman with tears falling down her face replied. "On a hunch, I'm thinking that you need something truly precious found for you?" Derek guessed after watching her all day. Ji, the owner of the competing store's interest was piqued for a moment before her hopelessness returned and she chugged down more of her bottle. "Before you give up more, give me a chance to find your precious item, I won't let you down." Derek responded to her silence with a convincing tone. The woman sighed while feeling stuck in her overwhelming sadness. Ji, shrugged her shoulders, the descendant of ash and smoke was able to draw out her remaining chunk of hope after they stared into each other's eyes. She invited him inside her shop with a gesture.

"You always have a look on your face like you're living in the past." Said Derek's younger cousin, Sun-young, as the two were taking a break from using the manor gym. Derek looked at her then looked back down at his lap. "C'mon, cous, got something that you need to get off of your chest, in my opinion, better the weights on these benches than a secret that you can't handle." Sun-young finished as her worry grew more than for her siblings. "No. That definitely is not true." Derek replied as he looked like he was cheering up. "I've been hanging around your wonderful auntie too much." Sun-young blurted out as she realized it, Derek detected a hint of sarcasm in there. "Just— it's… I've always enjoyed problem solving but lately, I've been getting everything wrong, failure after failure and—" Derek continued to stutter as he wasn't sure how to put his past into words. "You keep moving forward and realize the effort is all that's needed to call yourself a winner. A true loser gives up even after facing endless defeat. Quit taking whatever you're doing so personally, it'll make when you lose even worse. I had to learn this from our grandpappy myself. He was harsher with it." Sun-Young advised her older cousin. "Sometimes I wonder if that's why I ever succeeded in anything." Derek admitted out loud. Sun-young stared his way before leaping high in the air.