The War of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 3) (54 page)

As Yoori listened to Ace, she began to resent that Tae Hyun’s Cobras were so loyal to him. They did not question anything he asked of them; they simply did it because their King had commanded it. If only one of them had asked Tae Hyun why he wanted to punish Jin Ae, then they wouldn’t have wasted so much time going after Jin Ae, whom was never involved in the first place.

“When I came back to Seoul, I was in the area doing some business, trying to find out valuable information for you so that we would be able to rejoin the gang,” he said to Tae Hyun before looking at both of them. “I was on the roof and heard a loud noise. I went over to the edge to see what the commotion was. That was when I got my first sighting of Ms. Choi,
and that was how I knew she was An Soo Jin. When I saw her take on those eleven gang members, I knew she was the Queen that we failed to kill. I was ready to drop down there and fight her myself, but then I realized she was the one rumored to be your new girlfriend. This was confirmed when I saw you come to her aid after her fight was over. That was when I followed both of you and waited for the opportune moment for her to be alone before letting the other Cobras know.”

He forged on, his face regretful that he didn’t share this sooner.

“It didn’t matter to me then because this little detail was irrelevant. I have no idea if it matters now, but I saw someone get out of their car during your fight with the rest of the gang members. They got a glimpse of you killing the rest of the gang members while Ms. Choi hid behind the dead corpses.”

“Who did you see, Ace?” Yoori inquired, her instincts blaring as if telling her that whoever it was he saw must be the one behind it all.

Ace inhaled deeply.

After a long moment, he answered.

“Lee Ji Hoon. I saw Lee Ji Hoon.”

The air escaped Yoori’s chest. She felt like she was knocked in the stomach with a large sledgehammer at this revelation. Something struck her when she remembered a small and insignificant part of the conversation she had with Ji Hoon outside of the restaurant after she and Tae Hyun had broken up.

“I heard about the eleven gang members you killed,” he whispered, earning silence from her. He saw her eyes widen and continued to speak. “We both know that only Soo Jin has enough power to do all of that.”

“You said that Ji Hoon came
as
Tae Hyun started killing the other gang members in the alley?”

Ace nodded, causing the invisible blow to her stomach to worsen in pain.

While bewilderment and rage besieged her, the fog lifted and the world became clearer to Yoori as she mindlessly spoke. “There were other gang members who were killed that morning. He could not have known it was eleven gang members I killed unless he was the one who sent the
specific
number.”

This realization exacerbated the flames that already occupied her body. She clenched her bloodied fists, never feeling more furious in her life.

The truth was finally out.

It was Ji Hoon who sent those eleven gang members to rape Chae Young.

It was Ji Hoon all along.

“They must be exterminated.
”

22: Chasing Skulls

“You’re not going after him!” Tae Hyun argued with Yoori after they reached their apartment.

Since leaving the warehouse, Tae Hyun and Yoori had been at each other’s throats about their next course of action. Yoori, who felt blindsided and betrayed by the revelation that it was Ji Hoon who orchestrated Chae Young’s rape, wanted nothing more than to find him and skin him alive. Tae Hyun, who was also furious that it had been Ji Hoon all along, wasn’t receptive to that plan. He wanted to kill Ji Hoon, but he refused to allow Yoori to endanger herself. His refusal was the beginning of their heated quarrel.

They stormed into the crowded living room, both shaking from so much rage that even the dozens of Serpents, who had been called in for reinforcements, were gazing at them with wariness in their eyes. Tae Hyun shot a death glare to anyone who was staring, and they averted their eyes in terror. Breathing heavily, he pushed Yoori past the crowd and gave them some semblance of privacy by slamming the door shut.

“I want his head!” Yoori
snarled after the door closed shut. She held in her wrath because they had company outside, but she was done with the politeness now. She was fuming and needed to kill Ji Hoon to extinguish the rage inside her. The fact that Tae Hyun was making this endeavor harder was the last straw for her.

“
You’re no match for him!” Tae Hyun snapped back. The same fury that had ignited an inferno inside her erupted from his body. “If there’s anyone who could kill Ji Hoon, then it would be me. I gave you Jin Ae because I knew that I could watch over you, but I’m not letting you near Ji Hoon.”

“Kwon Tae Hyun!” she screamed, wanting to wring his neck. His stubbornness may have been charming to her in the past, but in a moment like this, when she was at the end of her patience, it was nothing more than a hindrance that she resented.

She exhaled angrily. Any follow up words she wanted to scream out were abruptly stopped when his voice towered over hers.

“Choi Yoori, you’re not going after him.”

His eyes on her were firmer than steel.

Cursing to herself, Yoori whirled around and indignantly slammed her hand against the door. She glowered at him, feeling the animosity sweep through her.

For anything else, it was likely that Tae Hyun would be more flexible in terms of giving her what she wanted. However, when it came to allowing her to run off to fight Ji Hoon, Tae Hyun was bound and determined to stop her in every way that he could. He did not believe she could survive a battle with Ji Hoon, and he did not even want to entertain the idea of her trying to fight him. In that heated moment, it was a rationality that Yoori despised him for.

“
Ji Hoon isn’t some measly gang leader off the streets,” he explained when he saw the resentment for him on her face. “He did not become the King of Skulls because of his blood right alone. He’s been trained by the best, and he is as good as me. Don’t be a fool and think that you can take him on because you’d have to pay for that mistake with your life.”

Yoori wanted to tell him to fu
ck off—it didn’t matter if he didn’t believe she could handle Ji Hoon. The murderous killer in her was livid.
She
believed that she could kill him. At the going rate, her wrath was strong enough to annihilate an entire army if she chose to. She wanted to tell him this, but much like everything else that happened tonight, another interruption barreled through them.

Tae H
yun’s Blackberry sounded off.

“What?”
Tae Hyun barked impatiently, not even looking at his screen. An expression of regret spread over his face once the voice on the other line deluged like bombs through the receiver.

“
Kwon Tae Hyun! What the hell are you thinking?”

It was Dong Min’s voice and for the fir
st time, he had lost all control. 

Yoori felt several nerves in her body twitch in fear
by simply listening to his voice. In the past, she had seen Jung Min and Ju Won lose their control, but Dong Min had been the sole Advisor who was able to retain his cool. Unfortunately for this night, it seemed like everyone was losing their sanity.

Tae Hyun grimaced in irritation.
Yoori was already lashing out at him; the last thing he needed was to be chastised by his Advisor. “I’m not in the mood for this right now—”

“
Three
fucking
years!” Dong Min bellowed out, dismissing what Tae Hyun was getting ready to say. His voice elevated with every irate word. “Three
fucking
years we’ve worked toward this moment and now we’re two weeks away from Ju Won’s 65
th
birthday, the day he chooses his fucking heir, and you not only kidnap his niece, but you beat her to the point where she had to go to the fucking hospital?!”

Outrage.

Nothing but outrage scorched his voice.

“It was me!” Yoori shouted from the background. She was angry with Tae Hyun
, but his safety was still a priority for her. He should not take the fall for what she did. “I was the one who beat her! If you want to blame anyone, then blame me—”

“
Shut up!” Tae Hyun hissed, severely pissed off that she even remotely mentioned her involvement in hurting Ju Won’s beloved niece. It was apparent that Yoori’s safety was the sole priority on Tae Hyun’s list.

“It
was me,” he said into the phone. “She had nothing to do with it.”

He took the
blame for it without hesitation.

His gallant words
fell on deaf ears.

“I should’ve known,
” she heard Dong Min state with spitefulness.

If he was standing before her, then she was sure Dong Min would’ve
beheaded her with a butcher knife. She did not blame him. If she had someone who was screwing with her advisee’s future—especially when this advisee was Tae Hyun—she would behead that person as well.

“Tae Hyun, come over to the mansion
now,” he ordered, manufacturing a calmer voice to better get his point across. Dong Min was raised to be a crime lord, but he was a politician by nature. He was acutely aware that the only way to get anything done was to remain levelheaded. There were times to be enraged and there were times to get things resolved. Tonight was a night to get things resolved. “Ju Won will be there, and he always has a soft spot for you. Talk to him and keep him calm until his damn party.”

“I’m
not apologizing to him.”

“You
will
,” Dong Min told him with simple resolution. Residual anger throbbed in his voice. He kept the fury contained, but only barely. “You know as much as I do that power is the only thing that will save you and that girl of yours. You’ve placed her above everything else; now you have to do everything in your power to keep her alive. Giving Ju Won the opportunity to turn the Underworld against you will not help in that endeavor. And trust me, he
will
turn everyone against you unless you fix things. So come right now, humor him while acting like you care enough to calm him down, and
then
we’ll figure out the rest.”

Without waiting for Tae Hyun to utter
a response, Dong Min hung up.

The moment Tae Hyun smothered a curse under his breath,
Yoori knew that it meant he was planning to go. If they had killed Jin Ae, then they wouldn’t have had to deal with this. Since they both chose to keep her alive, the consequence was graver for them. It was a consequence that Tae Hyun had to mend if he wanted to keep power in his corner and keep Yoori safe by his side.

He tucked the phone into his jacket and locked his eyes with her firm ones. T
he inferno from his gaze dispersed like fire under water. If the conversation with Dong Min was useful for one thing, it was reminding Tae Hyun of his priority when it came to her safety.

He placed a gentle hand under her chin and lifted it up.

“I know how angry you are right now,” he pacified, having simmered down since his conversation with Dong Min, “but you’re not going after Ji Hoon. Jin Ae was one thing, but Ji Hoon is a completely different ballgame. I won’t risk anything happening to you. I can’t and I won’t.”

Yoori could barely contain her scoff. The concern she had for him was replaced with scorn. Her rage was still at an all-time high and she was getting tired of being told what to do
—especially by him. He was her boyfriend; not her master. She refused to be ordered around like he was her King. “I’m going and you can’t stop me.”

Tae Hyun
expressed no indication to back down. “We will deal with everything when I come back. In the meantime, you will stay here.”

Yoori raised her chin up in defiance. Her grave expression dared him to challenge her. “You can’t make me.”

“I’m making you.” His voice on her was still tender, but she did not miss the ominous undercurrent in his tone. He was dangerously powerful. Even the deep core of her body knew that Tae Hyun would easily overpower Soo Jin’s fighting instincts if he chose to. “I’m giving the orders to Kang Min and the rest of the Serpents. None of them will let you go without my command.”

“Bastard,” she cursed when she saw
that all the roads had been blocked now. Tae Hyun was a force to be reckoned with when he was on your side, but he was a much bigger force to be reckoned with when he wasn’t. Unfortunately for Yoori, on this matter, Tae Hyun wasn’t on her side. He was the principal roadblock in her way.

“That’s enough, Yoori,
” said Tae Hyun, knowing well that between the two of them, he had to be the coolheaded one. There was controlled strain in his voice. It was a rarity for Tae Hyun to demonstrate this much restraint, especially considering that he was accustomed to people bending to his will at the snap of a finger. Yoori was his exception and his only weakness.