Chaper 24: Confliction, in the way!

Later that night the Hyun family were all asleep. Derek stood in a crowd of especially older men in his disguise as the meeting began, everyone smelled horribly. "Think of this as a talk over dinner, Hon, thanks for the nice bracelet. I don't like dealing with my enemies in the same way as my loving father, I'm willing to offer a spectacular deal to a charming man such as yourself." Said an older woman he assumed was the name he heard around the restaurant as he listened for hours the day prior: Gan Gang Ja or their leader, he remembered the way that her goons described her voice and the back of her head matched. Derek stepped lightly through the crowd more and noticed they were standing over glass with an ocean under them. He hated what he had to assume she meant by dinner as he noticed it. "I'd rather be finished before negotiating with a degenerate woman like yourself." Said Agent disorder's partner who had been tied-up in front of Gan Gang Ja, Agent order, Derek recognized his voice from when he shared the intel they have on her. Gan Gang Ja began sniffing the air.

"Don't be such a dick head, this crew could really benefit from a man with your talents seeing our side, we can sail these seas, you teach my men some of your fantastic martial arts and you could TEACH ME a few more interesting things about yourself." Gan Gang Ja replied as she got closer to him slowly, whispered with a seductive tone, licked his ear and a coy smile. "I don't consider myself tasteless enough to accept that offer." Agent disorder responded with a serious tone as he squinted. "I meant about your organization, scum!" Gan gang Ja got back on her feet and kicked him in his rib but it didn't affect him. "The one that's going to take you down?" Agent disorder began disrespectfully laughing in her face.

"You and your boyfriend were great practice to help me control my anger and bring me closer to mastering this magnificent artifact. Willing to take up my third proposition? My men will free you and you'll give them a show worth watching while giving me better practice. I'm gonna need it for what I have planned." Gan Gang Ja proposed to the agent as she stood up and crossed her arms. "I swear to you, any other criminal that I've ever hunted never wanted me to suffer from bleeding my ears, you keep babbling and showing your age, could you become a regular bad guy for me, please?" Agent Disorder replied with an aggrieved tone as he shook his head. "Darling, I love it when I get to catch charming men but they make life difficult for me. Feels glorious, we have all night." Gan Gang Ja replied as she got closer, knelt down and gave a grin that made Agent Disorder turn his head. "Keep her talking long, good agent, I have to go search for a thief." Said Derek in his head as he had a strong hunch her interrogation would last long enough and then snuck away from the crowd towards the upper floors.

The upstairs were as unsurprisingly beautiful as the downstairs but it was as messy with clothing dropped everywhere. Derek focused on finding the thief his unaware informants spoke to him about in Jang Gang's den. There were many rooms to this manor far from his maternal family's manor, far different lay out as he expected. Most of the rooms had more than a few beds in the rooms. As he knocked out a few men unexpectedly entering and exiting, he closed his eyes then heard someone speaking from a room down the hall of where he stood. Derek's eyes widened and his mouth flew open by whom he saw on the bed eating cherries with no clothes on. He looked at Derek as the young traveler stared back at him with utter silence between them, one feeling the full brunt of awkwardness and the other ignorant to it. "J—Ji's Jewelers?" Derek eventually spoke and asked as the vanished husband and thief's facial expression became a twin to Derek's as his heart sunk. "Who– who— how in the world do you know her and does she know about any of this?!" Mr.Kyung asked as he would be left speechless afterwards. "Now, she does. I—I guess." Derek was left wondering to his core and desiring the husband's reason as he asked the husband to explain himself, the mystery behind the context was frustrating him. Interrupting the husband stuttering to come up with his explanation or side of the story, Derek heard a whistle from behind him and turned around to Gan Gang Ja's seductive grin and wrinkled face approaching him from down the hall. Derek released a sigh as he exited the room to confront the villain. "Nobody invited you to my party but I'm glad you showed up anyway, stud." Gan Gang Ja shouted as she walked down the hall but stopped with a comfortable distance. "Did you smell me?" Derek asked as he wondered that as soon as he realized it was her. "My crew comes with a variety of smells to them but it's either sweaty, moldy, vinegar or something worse. Yours smell delightful and that's not any compliment." Gan gang Ja responded as her grin that made Derek uncomfortable didn't cease. Derek stood quietly left speechless, unable to fathom what he had just heard. "A whole brand new world." Derek reminded himself in his head. Derek received a better look at Gan Gang Ja as they were face to face, taken aback by how sturdy and well built she was for what he guesstimated to be a woman in her sixties. Her abs had as much definition as his while her biceps were bigger than his own, he could only imagine how long it's been since she skipped a day's routine. "I'll deal with you and then deal with the jewelry wench of his later." Gan Gang Ja said as she readied her fists up to her chin. "You have a greater chance of that agent joining you!" Derek responded as he eased into a stance.

Derek began by throwing swift jabs which Gan Gang Ja felt each as he pounded into her face, before he was blown away by her sending her elbow into his solar plexus and gave the two more distance for her to breathe in and out. He thought he would take advantage of her letting her guard down as she did, however, she slipped and rolled through each jab, hook and cross he threw her way and she made it look effortless before she delivered a teep kick into his gut as hard as she could which floored him. "If you're hurt then why are you trying?" Gan Gang Ja asked as she realized by the way he was moving that he had been hurting prior to her kicking him. Gan Gang Ja looked past Derek kneeling on her floor feeling worse than he ever has before, then an unpleasant idea for Derek came to her mind. "You could have jumped out of the window behind you and fled, it's not too late though." The vile old woman finished as she sprinted toward Derek faster than he could recover and grabbed him by his shoulders and slammed him into the floor multiple times before tossing him out of the window where it was night and raining now.

Derek's disguise was already not the most expensive and luxurious, it was multiplied by the mud that made him feel better despite his aching bones and hurt body. Gan Gang Ja looked out from above to spot where he landed as she held on to the left of the broken wall and how far she was able to toss him out. She leapt down close by when she spotted him struggling to get back on his feet. "We're not done here, back in my manor with you. I need you to answer, will you be the first young man to pleasure me, lovely Hyun boy?" Gan Gang Ja asked as she grabbed him up and put Derek over her shoulder. While walking back to her manor Derek saw Agent disorder gone a moment before an arrow made of beige ash which she and Derek recognized belonging to Hyun family blasted her in the face. She dropped Derek on the ground as Duri leapt from the roof yelling "Strength of the clan born from the ashes of virtue!" As he bashed Gan Gang Ja away with a gauntlet he amplified with his family's powers.

Derek abruptly felt weightless as he levitated off the ground, given a push outwards by Duri who guarded him. Duri reformed his gauntlet into a pile of ashes left on the ground and gave his brother the signal and Gan Gang Ja a devious grin before exiting her property and catching up with the others. Gan Gang Ja recovered from Duri's smack now feeling wrathful, Jang snapped his fingers forming uncanny arrows made from the pile of ash left her, each one that hit her weakened until she couldn't move. Gan Gang Ja was left frozen with the final expression she made stuck on her face, one of enmity as her men walked out to bring her back inside.