The End of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 4) (24 page)

Soo Jin could feel her veins pop throughout her body. She glared at Ji Hoon with incredulity. “You agreed to be in their alliance and helped kill my father because you wanted to not only win the throne, but also me?”

“We would’ve never gotten your father right where we needed him if Young Jae hadn’t arranged all of that,” Ji Hoon shared smugly. There was no remorse present in his voice. He sighed, staring at her with boredom and growing hostility. “You should be flattered that I cared enough to consider you as a big motivator to work with them.”

She swallowed furiously, scowling at Ji Hoon with pure hatred. “You told him about my plans after the club event. You were the one who told Young Jae everything.”

Ji Hoon’s remorseless eyes rolled at her words. He no longer gave a damn about lying or looking good in front of her. “I told you that it was a stupid idea, yet you wouldn’t listen to me,” Ji Hoon sighed with frustration, recounting what happened. “I told him after you left the car. I couldn’t have you fucking up my future and killing one of the instrumental people in my quest to be the Lord of Korea’s Underworld.”

Soo Jin was ready to lose it and curse the hell out of her backstabber, the person who she couldn’t believe she actually thought she loved. Regrettably, before Soo Jin could utter a spiteful word, Young Jae interrupted her.

“Even after he told me, I didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t believe it until Anna told me about your orders for her and your Scorpions to leave the gang and infiltrate other gangs. And you had the audacity to say it was my indirect order?”

Anna was breathing in anger while Young Jae forged on, staring at Soo Jin with genuine disappointment.

“It’s taking all I have right now to not kill you at this moment.”

“You should’ve killed me that night in the alley,” Soo Jin whispered, gazing at Young Jae with unblinking eyes. “All of this would’ve been unnecessary if you had completed the deed.” She looked at Ji Hoon. “Ji Hoon would’ve still been a contender for the Underworld throne.” She then looked at Anna. “Anna would not be living on borrowed time . . .” She faced Tae Hyun. “And the favored King here would’ve never fallen so far from grace.”

“I should’ve killed you the moment you kneeled before me,” Young Jae agreed vehemently. “I should’ve never waited a second longer than that.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because you were my baby sister,” Young Jae confessed simply, honestly. “I didn’t have the heart to hurt you when you had been nothing but loyal to me. Or so I believed.”

There was excruciating pain in his eyes for a fleeting moment before it disappeared.

“I cried that night for you,” he went on quietly. “After I had you cut Tony’s throat, I knew that I was losing you. I knew I was losing the baby sister I once promised to protect with everything I had. Despite knowing that, I kept hoping that you would never go into that alley—that you would never ask me to meet you there. Even when you were fucking kneeling before me, I kept praying to the fates that you would change your mind and not go through with your plan.” He smiled hollowly. “You remember that, don’t you? Me asking you numerous times if you were sure?”

She nodded quietly, remembering clearly that he did ask her numerous times if she wanted to do this.

“And you kept saying that you were sure.” He laughed to himself. “What a good little actress you were with those tears of yours. If I hadn’t known about your plans, I would’ve thought they were real.”

“They were real,” she told him, staring into his eyes with the pain that only both of them could understand. “I cried for you, I cried for what we had, I cried for our family, and I cried for being the one to kill you in the future.”

Young Jae laughed self-deprecatingly. No matter how conflicted he was, her words acted as the final nail on the coffin. There were no more ifs, ands, or buts. He was resolute on killing her, and he would do everything in his power to do it.

“I would’ve protected you until the end if you hadn’t betrayed me, but what’s done is done. I’ve already cut my ties with you, and you will most certainly pay for everything you’ve set in motion.”

“And you will pay for everything that
you’ve
set in motion,” she replied, sharing in his conviction. She scrutinized all of them with vengeance teeming in her eyes. “All of you will pay.”

The atmosphere fell silent until Tae Hyun’s voice filtered into the air.

“Did you work with my brother to kill my father?”

He was looking directly at Ji Hoon when he asked this.

Ji Hoon smiled dryly. “No,” he replied, not bothering to hide the fact that he hated speaking to Tae Hyun. “I did it all on my own. Ho Young and I rarely spoke during our arrangement of alliances. He was still pissed off at me for killing your father and wanted as few interactions with me as possible. Young Jae was the mediator between the two of us. I didn’t care enough to apologize for killing his father, and I didn’t care enough to trouble myself with whether or not he was comfortable with the arrangement. All I wanted was my throne, and I imagine it was the same for him.”

Soo Jin could feel an exhalation of relief escape from Tae Hyun’s lips when it was confirmed that his brother had nothing to do with their father’s death.

With the reminder of Ho Young, Soo Jin asked, “Why was Ho Young the one who hid me in Taecin?” She had spent countless hours considering all the different possibilities, but nothing made sense. When he was alive, she made it no secret that she despised Ho Young and wanted to kill him. Out of all people, why did he save her? “How was it possible that it was him?”

Young Jae chuckled, shaking his head to himself.

A long, lingering moment passed before he decided to enlighten Soo Jin and the rest of those in attendance with his earth-tilting answer:

“. . . Why wouldn’t your own brother try to save you?”

The air stilled in Soo Jin’s chest, just as she was sure it stilled in Tae Hyun’s chest. She could swear she felt a sledgehammer connect with her gut at this revelation. Although Ji Hoon and Anna also looked stunned with this newly divulged information, it was Soo Jin and Tae Hyun who had the most potent reactions. The blood and color of life drained from their faces as they looked at Young Jae with utter disbelief. Tae Hyun looked like he was about to keel over, and Soo Jin looked like she was about to fall into a black hole.

“
What?
” she uttered disbelievingly, unable to comprehend the stated words.

“Kwon Ho Young is your older brother,” Young Jae enunciated, stabbing the truth into her and Tae Hyun’s brains, “—my fraternal twin brother.”

Her world felt like it was tipping over. She tried to regulate her breathing with shortened breaths. Despite her efforts, her heart wouldn’t stop racing, and she continuously felt the rush of horror course through her veins. It didn’t help that Tae Hyun also looked as if the world had collapsed all around him.

“Ho Young is not my brother?” Tae Hyun finally breathed out, still looking like he had lost his sense of reality.

“You’re lying,” Soo Jin said breathlessly. Though she voiced this, in the depths of her heart, she knew all too well that he wasn’t lying.

“You think you’re the first genius in our family to hide spies in other gangs?” Young Jae asked critically, offended by her statement that he was fabricating all of this. “Our father did that long before you were ever born. He wanted his bloodline to hold power over the Underworld, and it didn’t matter to him if his sons were battling each other as enemies instead of brothers. I found out the truth while rifling through dad’s files. Once I found out the truth, I knew I was doing the right thing by killing him. He was a ruthless bastard who only favored one child and used his other two children like they were pawns on a chess board.” His gaze intensified with resentment. “So I met up with Ho Young and told him everything. We even took a DNA test to prove it. Of course, Ho Young had his own set of demons—one being that he couldn’t stop lusting after his ‘baby sister’ in his Serpents family. He had been doing drugs and drinking nonstop to help take his mind off of her. After finding out, Ho Young couldn’t be more pissed that his own father put him through all that hell. Ho Young was like me. He didn’t fare well with betrayal. He was more than willing to kill his bastard of a father for abandoning him and putting him through such misery.”

Young Jae turned to Tae Hyun.

“But to answer your question specifically, Tae Hyun,” he stated, staring into Tae Hyun’s stunned eyes, “Ho Young didn’t help Ji Hoon kill your father. Initially, Ho Young didn’t even want to work with Ji Hoon. He loved your father, your mother, you, and in a fucked-up and sick way—even though he raped her repeatedly—he loved your sister as well.” His bitterness for his father continued to pulse in his eyes. “You see, I blame him being sick in the head on our father. In fact, Ho Young blamed him too. Ho Young loved his Serpents family and wasn’t willing to work with Ji Hoon in the beginning.” Ji Hoon smirked smugly in the background as Young Jae continued to speak. “He wasn’t willing until I personally asked him as a brother to help me.”

Oh God,
Soo Jin thought dreadfully, no longer listening to her brother
.

She was too distracted with this explosive revelation.

She had spent countless days wondering to herself why out of everyone, it was her mortal enemy, Kwon Ho Young, who saved her that night and hid her. She couldn’t understand why he did it. She didn’t understand his actions until now.

My brother. My older brother
, she thought, feeling every ounce of her heart clench in unfathomable pain.

She had once believed that finding out that Young Jae was the one behind her father’s death was earthshattering, but now, as she processed this newfound revelation, she couldn’t help but truly hate her life. Her older brothers were the ones who killed her father. Her father had somehow implanted Ho Young into the Kwon family, probably killing the real Kwon Ho Young as an infant before infiltrating his own son. It also was painful to process that her own brother was dead because she was the one who spread the news to Tae Hyun about Ho Young raping Hae Jin.

Swallowing tightly at the thought of Tae Hyun, she sneaked a furtive glance at him. He was quiet, his solemn eyes staring into a vast space in the city vista. She could only imagine how he felt. He had been through a lot with Ho Young. He grew up and looked up to him as a role model his whole life. Even after killing him, Soo Jin knew that Tae Hyun still loved Ho Young dearly. To find out so casually that the one he grew up with wasn’t actually his older brother and that his real brother was more than likely dead must have been ripping Tae Hyun to shreds. Although he was doing a valiant job of concealing his emotions, Soo Jin knew the news must have been devastating for him.

She did not get to delve further into her thoughts about Tae Hyun when Young Jae forged on.

“This was the reason why Ho Young never bothered to hurt you or punish you for all those times you disrespected him. Despite everything, he understood the binds of blood, and he allowed you to live, even after you so stupidly told him that you killed his mother.”

“You had Soo Jin kill my mother because you wanted to start breaking Ho Young away from the ties of the Serpents,” Tae Hyun said mindlessly at last. Even though both he and Soo Jin knew that she wasn’t the one who killed his mother, he did not share this information with Young Jae.

“Ho Young was a very complicated person,” Young Jae confirmed, oblivious to the crucial information. “In a sense, he was a wildcard in how he behaved. Ever since he was young, he had a sexual attraction to Hae Jin. To prevent himself from going after her, he decided to completely shut himself out with alcohol and drugs. However, after finding out that she wasn’t related to him by blood, he decided to have his fun with her.” He regarded Tae Hyun with sympathetic eyes. “But with you, even after finding out that you weren’t related to him by blood, he still adored and loved you. The same was true for your mother. And the simple fact was: I couldn’t have that. I couldn’t have my brother, my main ally, bestow his loyalty to others when they weren’t even related to him by blood. That was when I knew I had to have Soo Jin kill your mother—because it was one of the only ways to break him away from the bonds of the Serpents family.” He sighed lethargically. “Unfortunately Soo Jin had to brag about it to him, even when it was agreed between us that we would keep it a secret to further break their family.”

“He realized what you did,” Soo Jin noted thoughtlessly, still trying to absorb everything.

“He was pissed, but Ho Young knew blood was thicker than water. Regardless of how upset he was, he couldn’t kill me. Much to my own displeasure, he had this same mentality with our baby sister.”

Soo Jin and Tae Hyun lifted their gaze and stared at Young Jae with unblinking eyes.

“What happened that night?” they both asked, the colors continuously draining from their faces.

Determined to unearth every secret about the past before the end came, Young Jae closed his eyes and recounted the story, finally revealing what really happened in the alley that pivotal night.

“It is only fitting that you see your end in it.”

11: Kwon Ho Young

Three Years Prior . . .

“I killed her.”

“
What?
” Ji Hoon yelled over the other line. “I told you to give her to me when you were done!”

“It’s too late,” Young Jae lied into the phone. His angry eyes fastened on his sister’s immobile, yet still breathing body. He wiped his tears away as the rain continued to hammer over him. “I’m hiding the body now.”

“What the fuck, Young Jae?” Ji Hoon was outraged. “You were supposed to give her to me!”

Prior to this night, Young Jae and Ji Hoon had agreed that they would erase Soo Jin’s memories when she gave the formula to Young Jae. It was a plan that Ji Hoon concocted because he was still emotionally attached to her. He wanted to spare her life, give her amnesia, and hide her somewhere else because he still cared for her. Although Young Jae had verbally agreed to this pact, he had every intention of breaking it. There was no way in hell he was giving his backstabbing sister to Ji Hoon. He could not risk her regaining her memories and coming after him. He could not risk her ever being a threat to him again.

“Did you really think I was going to give her to you when she wanted to betray and kill me?” Young Jae asked in disbelief. “Get over it, Ji Hoon. We have bigger things to worry about!”

He hung up the phone just as Ji Hoon’s curses spilled through the receiver. He didn’t have time to deal with Ji Hoon; he had a sister to punish. He bestowed his full attention to the woman at the root of all this. Soo Jin was lying in a puddle of water, rain pouring mercilessly over her body as thunder boomed overhead. In such an anarchic environment, she was the only one who exuded innocence.

Young Jae squared his shoulders, stowing away all the pained emotions that came with seeing his sister in this state. It ripped his soul apart to see her so helpless, so vulnerable. Nevertheless, he rationalized that she deserved it. It would hurt him to torture her, but she had hurt him more by planning his assassination. She started this war and now, he would finish it.

Resolve teeming in his once tear-filled eyes, he bent down and lifted her into his arms. With the rain dripping from their bodies, he began to run off with her. He did not get far when someone appeared out of nowhere and kicked him on the side of his face. Young Jae groaned, his vision darkening for a few seconds as he stumbled backwards. He was barely able to regain his equilibrium when that person snatched his sister’s body from him.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Young Jae roared, his eyes enlarging when he saw that it was his fraternal twin brother, Kwon Ho Young, who appeared out of nowhere and stole Soo Jin from his grasp.

Ho Young stood across from Young Jae, holding an unconscious Soo Jin close to his body as he rested his eyes on his brother. His dark suit was drenched from head to toe, indicating to Young Jae that he had been out in the rain for a while. Young Jae feared it might mean Ho Young had overheard everything.

“What were you planning to do to our sister, Young Jae?” Ho Young asked sternly. Even though he posed the question, it was clear that he already knew the answer.

The tears in Young Jae’s eyes started to dry. In its place came anger. “Don’t look at me like that, Ho Young,” he growled, resenting the look of disappointment on his brother’s face. Ho Young was the last person who could judge him. “You raped a thirteen-year-old girl as soon as you found out that she was no longer your sister. You have no right to act pious with me.”

Ho Young smirked, showing no remorse. “What I do to that girl is my own personal business. I spent years torturing myself because I thought she was my sister. I made up for lost time, and I don’t need you to get into my business. With that said, you’re not hurting our sister, Young Jae.”

“She knows everything!” Young Jae screamed, losing the last vestige of his control. “She knows what we did, and she was planning on betraying me—killing me after all that I’ve done for her! That ungrateful bitch would’ve never gotten this far in life if it weren’t for me. I spoiled her. I gave her everything, and now she does this? She betrays me for our bastard of a father and for the throne?” He laughed to himself, his anger manifesting into unforgiving fury. Every sentence he spoke reminded him of how much he despised her. He had given her everything, and she
still
had the heart to betray him. That bitch had another thing coming. “She’s going to die of torture before I let her off so easily.”

“Give her amnesia then,” Ho Young suggested, unwilling to permit Young Jae to hurt Soo Jin.

“Ji Hoon’s formula will not work,” Young Jae spat out at once. “I know it won’t.”

“I know underground doctors who can make it work and it will be permanent.”

“I don’t want any other alternative!” Young Jae snapped, finally releasing all his pent-up resentment. “All I want is for her to wake up again so I can torture her!”

“This world has fucked her up,” Ho Young contested with conviction. He gazed down at her, watching as the rain cascaded down her pale face. “Let’s give her the life she wants—one that’s far away from here.”

“She was acting!” Young Jae was incensed that Ho Young couldn’t see beyond her mask of lies. “She didn’t mean any of it!”

“Maybe she was acting with you, but you can’t ignore the yearning in her voice. She wants this—she wants another life.”

“Ho Young,” Young Jae growled with finality. He would no longer endure this. One sibling had already betrayed him; he would not tolerate disloyalty from another. At the going rate, he was willing to kill Ho Young if he continued to go against his wishes. “Give her to me.”

Instead of obliging with Young Jae’s wishes, Ho Young shook his head. He slowly readjusted his grasp on her so that her legs were on the ground while he held one arm around her. As her immobile body leaned on him, he withdrew something from his back pocket.

“I’m sorry, brother,” Ho Young whispered, pointing his black gun at Young Jae.

Young Jae stood frozen, utterly stunned with the scene before him. He stayed rooted in his position because he could see that Ho Young was not bluffing. Ho Young was resolved on keeping Soo Jin alive and if Young Jae so much as made a move to snatch her away, then he would not hesitate to shoot.

Slowly, Ho Young, with Soo Jin in tow, began to back away towards the car he had parked on the street. Young Jae watched carefully, his eyes assessing for any opportunity to attack Ho Young. If he had brought his own gun, he would’ve shot Ho Young already. Regrettably, he hadn’t, and he was afraid that Ho Young was aware of this fact.

To his horror, before he could conjure up a plan of attack, Soo Jin was already in the car.

“Ho Young, don’t do this!” Young Jae shouted, peeling away from his rooted position.

He was no longer afraid of getting shot; he was more afraid of losing the perfect opportunity to kill his sister. He knew how this would all play out. No matter how far away Ho Young hid her, one day, she would return and come after him again. She would not rest until he was dead, which meant that in turn, Young Jae would not be able to rest until
she
was dead.

Ho Young shot Young Jae an apologetic look as he opened the driver’s door. “I know you want her dead, but I can’t have you kill our sister, Young Jae. I’m sorry, but trust me. You will never see her again.”

“Ho Young!”

And just like that, Ho Young escaped into his car, started the engine, and drove off into the night, taking Soo Jin far away from Young Jae and far away from the Underworld. 

■
■
■

Young Jae sighed, lifting his eyelids to meet Soo Jin and Tae Hyun’s.

“Ho Young’s sudden death and Tae Hyun’s rise to power was what turned the whole plan upside down. The dynamic was compromised when Tae Hyun was crowned the King of Serpents.” He looked Tae Hyun over with amusement. “You simply had too much support, and it did not help that Ji Hoon and I lost an ally. Because of all these unexpected dents in our plan, my gang and I left to Japan in order to do damage control. I no longer had Ho Young’s support, and Ji Hoon no longer had supreme control over the Korean Underworld. Our alliance was at a standstill until our Queen of the Underworld made her return.” He grinned tauntingly, briefly casting his attention to Soo Jin. “Since I’ve acquired all the power I needed to become a contender for the throne in Japan’s Underworld, I would say that she arrived at the perfect time.”

Young Jae gazed at Tae Hyun with the promise of partnership and camaraderie in his expression. “An Jae Sook started this mess. He not only pitted his two sons against one another, but he was also the reason why my mother died. She was sick with depression because she wanted my twin brother back and wanted to keep her baby daughter from joining the Underworld. She told him this, but my father, being the piece of shit that he was, did not heed any of it. She died from heartache, and he was left to use his children as pawns in his sick game.
He
was the reason why your real brother—your blood brother—died when he was a baby. Jae Sook killed him after he switched the babies.” His laughter rolled over the roof when he evaluated the two Royals sitting across from him. “And now you’re helping the daughter who is looking to avenge him? To bring justice to his death when he doesn’t deserve any?”

His persuasive eyes tried to reason with Tae Hyun’s dazed ones.

“Join us, Tae Hyun,” he advised gently. “Ho Young may not have been your actual brother, but he loved you like you were his brother—even after he found out the truth. He still thought highly of you, still loved you, and spoiled you like you were his little brother. Finish what he couldn’t finish; join us and join our alliance. You can have the Korean Underworld, I’ll take Japan’s, and we’ll give Ji Hoon China’s Underworld.” Though Ji Hoon was bitter, he kept quiet while Young Jae went on. “The only one who stands in our way is An Soo Jin; she is the only one who stands in the way of your throne. She’s the cause of all these problems between us. Work with us, Tae Hyun. Kill her, save yourself from this unnecessary war, and let’s make history together.”

He glanced over to Soo Jin. His expression did not conceal his disgust for her. “An Soo Jin is a ruthless woman. Do you think she would choose you over the throne? No, she will choose her throne and kill you in a heartbeat. Ju Won taught her to be self-serving and in the end, if you choose her, then she will be your death sentence—as well as your executioner. Get rid of her and you will be our ally. Together, the three of us can be an unstoppable force in this society.”

“He’s right,” Soo Jin agreed from the side.

At her words, Tae Hyun turned his surprised gaze to her.

Her eyes on him were cold, challenging, and deadly.

“I have no emotional attachment towards you,” she forged on emotionlessly. “I don’t care about you. The only reason why you’re still here is because I’m waiting for that historic day where I can kill you in front of our world. It doesn’t matter what road you take because in the end, I will be your executioner. I will make a show of your death because that’s all you are to me: a sacrificial prize—a gift to myself before I become an actual God in this world.”

Soo Jin was already set on this. After all that had transpired today, she was still committed on killing Tae Hyun. She was going after the throne because despite everything, the love and desire she had for power would always override anything else in her life.

“Words spoken by the heartless bitch herself,” Anna breathed out in revulsion. She scrutinized Tae Hyun, who was gazing quietly at Soo Jin. “I grew up with Soo Jin, Tae Hyun. I know how she is. She has always been coldblooded. Nothing but power satisfies her. She will use your weakness against you, betray you, and destroy you. I know that you’re infatuated with her, but when it’s all said and done, will she really be worth all of that? Will she really be worth your inevitable death?”

With his eyes fixed on Soo Jin, Tae Hyun did not miss a beat.

“She’s worth every stubborn inch of it.”

Soo Jin felt the pit of dread manifest in her stomach at his unfiltered and resolute response.

Fool,
she thought with disappointment
. You’re nothing but a fool.

As Soo Jin shook her head in disbelief, Tae Hyun turned his attention to Anna. “I hope you enjoy the remainder of the days you have left with your husband because his days in this world are limited.” He locked his resolute gaze with Young Jae. “I’m not working with you—not now and not ever.”

A wide grin outlined Ji Hoon’s mouth. He was relieved that Tae Hyun had stupidly declined Young Jae’s proposition. He did not want to work with Tae Hyun and was thrilled by their ongoing war. To the left of him, Young Jae’s cool composure faded as his eyes grew severe with unrelenting fire.

“Very well then,” Young Jae said with finality. He rose from his seat and nodded cordially at them. “May your end be more merciful than your fall. Let’s hope she gets to you before we do because trust me when I say that Ji Hoon and I will not be gracious killers.”