The End of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 4) (2 page)

At her question, Ju Won’s once enthusiastic visage faltered slightly. Grimness darkened his features. As this occurred, the skies above were faltering with their tranquility as well. Soft rumbles disturbed the skies, indicating to those below that an unstoppable storm was about to commence.

“You will go through one of the most difficult ordeals anyone could ever dream of going through. Once you say yes, you’re in it for life. There will be days where you will be in so much pain that breathing will feel like a burden rather than a blessing. There will be days where you’ll wish you had chosen another life, and there will be days where you will pray to God for death.” His eyes grew sterner, his features multiplying in solemnity. “The road will be agonizingly difficult, and you won’t be able to escape from it. Once you’re in, I will not let you quit. If you quit, then I will punish you for your weakness.”

Soo Jin laughed, not even taking anything her uncle was telling her to heart. She was already so confused with everything else he was conveying to her. His last line about punishing her was too comical for her; it was simply too silly for her to take seriously.

“How will you punish me, uncle?” she inquired with a sheepish and innocent smile. “I’ve never even seen you mad at me.”

Ju Won smiled sadly. He made an effort to soften his features. It was clear that he wanted to enlighten her, but he did not want to scare her.

“I don’t want to punish you; I don’t ever want to punish you,” he assured her, his eyes genuine with confliction. “But this world that you’re born into, it is different from the rest. It is a very powerful world, and a very strict one at that. I have the responsibility as an Advisor of this world to make sure that the future leaders of our society are the best leaders this world could have. I love you, but I am bound by the laws of this world—by my responsibility as an Advisor.” He swallowed tightly, tilting his head while telling her something that broke his heart to share. “You will not get any special treatment, Soo Jin. If you show weakness—if you make the unforgivable mistake and show weakness to the
entire
Underworld—
then I will show you the consequences of your weakness
.
You will
not
be forgiven, and you will be punished severely for your oversights.”

For the first time in her life, ten-year-old Soo Jin felt pure fear slither through her body. She may not have been afraid of her uncle, but she was terrified of being punished by the world that he described.
It seemed cruel and unforgiving
.
Her uncle looked so serious that even if a part of her still didn’t believe he had the heart to punish her, there was a bigger part that was now apprehensive of that belief.

“I . . . I don’t want to get punished,” she said fearfully, truly meaning it.

He smiled, nodding his head. She gave him the exact answer he wanted.

“I know you don’t, Soo Jin. I know you don’t,” he said vehemently, calming her with a reassuring voice. “All you have to do is train well, work hard, never give up, and keep your eyes on the prize, then you will be fine. Never disobey me, never disobey what the Underworld wants from you, and never disobey our bylaws. If you adhere to all of that, then you will
never
get punished. You will only be rewarded.”

He turned towards his ballroom as a still-nervous Soo Jin nodded her head, feeling unease with the whole conversation.

“What is . . .” he prompted, his eyes scanning through the mansion.

Soo Jin’s gaze followed his lead and trailed into the decadent ballroom. Her eyes wandered over the room before something arrested her complete attention. Her eyes zeroed in on her other uncle, Shin Dong Min. Her attention was not arrested because of her Uncle Dong Min; it was captivated because of
whom
her uncle was speaking to.

When she rested her eyes on the one her Uncle Dong Min was interacting with, Soo Jin felt an emotion she couldn’t decipher surge through her.

Laughing merrily, Dong Min squatted down and hugged the young boy who simply fascinated Soo Jin.

Dressed in a black tuxedo, this boy was tall for his age, utterly striking, and he evoked nothing but attraction from Soo Jin (and she imagined the rest of the girls her age). For the first time in her young life, little Soo Jin could feel her heart race while butterflies began to flutter in her tummy. Suddenly, the conversation she had with her Uncle Ju Won seemed insignificant when vying for her attention with the hunky boy.

Oh my God,
she thought dreamily, never before seeing someone who captured her attention as much as this cutie in front of her. In a matter of seconds, the fear she felt vacated. This handsome creature eclipsed all of her other thoughts
. He’s so cute . . .

Gazing unblinkingly at the boy as he spoke to Uncle Dong Min, a dazed Soo Jin could scarcely hear her Uncle Ju Won’s voice as he finished the rest of his question, “. . . that saying your dad always lives by? The one he uses whenever he needs to remind himself that to get into a position of power, some actions are unavoidable?”

“‘The best are never distracted,’” Soo Jin answered distractedly, her eyes glued on the cutie.

Ju Won smiled, his eyes settling on Soo Jin’s father. The King of Scorpions stood in the center of the ballroom, laughing boisterously while interacting with his allies from Japan’s Underworld. “Your father is like a younger brother to me. He’s one of the best Kings I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Learn from him, learn from me, and this world will fall to its knees for you.”

Soo Jin was no longer listening to Ju Won. She was too preoccupied with admiring her newfound crush. As her response to Ju Won, she merely nodded distractedly, finding it hard to keep that dazed-like smile from forming on her lips when the boy started to laugh, his smile and laughter warming her heart.

Finally catching on to her distracted state, Ju Won chuckled and attempted to follow her line of sight. “What has gotten the Princess of Scorpions so smitten?” he teased. “Did a boy catch your eyes?”

“No!” Soo Jin answered immediately. She snapped out of her staring state. Her face was bright red. “I—I was just staring at a pretty dress.”

Ju Won nodded, not pushing the matter any further. Soft sprinkles began to descend from the sky, reminding him that he had a party to get back to.

“I think I’ve taken up too much of your time, Soo Jin,” he said, straightening his black suit after he stood up. “What we spoke about . . . we’ll finish all of that later. For now, go run around and have lots of fun. Enjoy the rest of your night.”

“Thank you, uncle,” Soo Jin bid happily, beaming while she hugged him. Though she enjoyed being around him, she didn’t enjoy being confused. More importantly, she wanted to distract herself with someone else who made her heart race faster than a runaway train. “Bye!”

With the determination of a hungry little mouse, an eager Soo Jin disappeared into the crowded ballroom, scampering through the sea of beautifully dressed people in hopes of being closer to the boy who had stolen her heart. She was beyond excited. She had no idea what she wanted to do. All she knew was that she wanted to keep staring at him. Perhaps she would even talk to him if she were brave enough!

Soo Jin was on the verge of getting close to him when someone grabbed her wrist.

“Lil sis, where have you been? I’ve been looking for you.”

Her older brother, An Young Jae, who wore a black tuxedo and had his dark hair slicked back, was all smiles as he appeared before her and pulled Soo Jin with him. He steered her in the opposite direction of where she wanted to venture off to find her crush.

“Why are you looking for me?” she squeaked out under the ballroom music, upset that her brother had foiled her chances of hanging out with her crush.

“I want to practice dancing, and you’re going to practice with me.”

“Me?” she cried, outraged by this impromptu development. She groaned and shook her head. She wouldn’t have any of it. “But I don’t want to! I want to dance with someone else!”

“You don’t want to dance with me?” he asked, feigning hurt. “Well, too bad! You’re going to!”

“Oppa!” she screamed as her older brother, who gave no concern to what she wanted, tugged at her arm and dragged her through the regal crowd that moved like waves in the ocean. “Oppa! No, no, no!” she repeatedly shouted. “I don’t want to dance with you! You’re so weird! I want to dance with that cute boy I saw!”

Soo Jin looked around vividly, searching for the cute boy. Her heart fluttered when she spotted him in the corner with a teacup in hand. He was so handsome. She wanted to run after him and talk to him, but her stupid big brother wouldn’t stop dragging her away from the cutie.

“Come on, you dumb-dumb!” Young Jae shouted. He continued to tug her into the middle of the dancing crowd. “I need to practice so I can dance with my future wifey! After that, you can go find your future husband and dance with him.”

“Why me?” Soo Jin whined petulantly. “Why do I have to dance with you?”

“Because you’re my baby sister. That’s what siblings do for each other!”

“Do what?”

“Have each other’s back!” Young Jae preached like a shepherd on a mission. “I got yours and you got mine!” He laughed, pinching his baby sister’s nose who, despite her own bitterness, would do this stupid favor and dance with him. He was, after all, her brother and she loved him. “You got my back right, lil sis?”

Soo Jin groaned, wanting to face-palm herself as they started to move cohesively with the music. “Okay, but only for a little bit. Then I’m going to go hang out with someone else.”

Her brother laughed, not even bothering to tease his baby sister about her newfound crush. “Deal.”

Though anyone else would have been relieved that her older brother wasn’t teasing her about her crush, Soo Jin didn’t feel that same relief. There was something off about her brother tonight. She gazed at him warily, her eyes forming into suspicious slits. In that instant, another thought came to her mind.

“Why am I
really
dancing with you?” she questioned at once.

“Because I have a question for you. I want to ask it without looking suspicious,” Young Jae admitted, confirming her suspicions that her older brother had something more up his sleeve than simply wanting to practice dancing with his baby sister.

Anxious to expedite this “dance session” so that she could go hang out with the cutie, Soo Jin immediately asked, “What is it?”

He pointed over her shoulder. “You see that guy over there?”

Soo Jin followed his inconspicuous cue and attempted to trail after his gaze.

“Who?” she asked when she wasn’t able to pinpoint who he was pointing out.

“That kid standing over there. He’s talking with those Advisors in the corner,” he said again, jerking his head to the right to cue her in the direction he wanted her to stare at. “Doesn’t he sort of look like me?”

Soo Jin carelessly looked in the direction he pointed and spotted the kid her older brother was talking about. He wore a black tuxedo and had a buzz-cut. It was hard to miss him because in a crowd of formidable looking Advisors, he was the only kid in the area.

Soo Jin attempted to squint her eyes to make out his facial features in the distance. She failed horribly as the dimness of the ballroom did not aid in her endeavors. It also did not help that the boy was too far away. Moreover, she was too distracted with wanting to do other things. She didn’t really care enough to see if the guy looked like her brother or not.

She couldn’t see him too clearly, but Soo Jin was clever enough to deduce that if her brother came to ask her if she saw a resemblance, then it obviously meant that her older brother saw some similarities. Fully aware that being agreeable would be her ticket out of there, Soo Jin feigned concurrence.

“Yeah, a little bit.”

Young Jae nodded approvingly, relieved that someone else acknowledged the resemblance. An expression of uneasiness enveloped his face when something unsettling came to mind.

“I asked dad, and he says that the kid doesn’t look like me at all. He seemed annoyed that I was asking, but it’s true, isn’t it? The kid does look a bit like me.” He shook his head, not comprehending his father’s bizarre behavior. “Why would dad get annoyed with me for asking?”

“Daddy is looking for you, by the way,” Soo Jin interrupted his thoughts, not even bothering to listen to whatever her older brother was rambling about. She recalled her father asking her to help find Young Jae before she became distracted with Uncle Ju Won.

Maybe this will get him to leave me alone
, she thought naughtily, staring at Young Jae as his expression changed.

Her words caught her brother’s attention. “Why?”

“Uncle Hayashi and Uncle Fukuji are here.”

His eyes bloomed in exhilaration. “My Advisors are here?”

Young Jae laughed, putting thoughts about his lookalike aside. He loved his Advisors from Japan. Young Jae would never miss a chance to greet them if they were in the same vicinity.

“I have to go see them,” he said expectantly, pulling himself away from her when the prospect of hanging out with his favorite uncles came to mind. “Thanks for the dance, little one. Later!”