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

by Con Template

  “SOO JIN!” he roared, leaping towards her at once. Then, much to her delight, he began to fight her on the railing.

  Each punch he threw, she blocked with ease. In the same degree, each punch she threw, he blocked with proficiency. Punch after punch, kick after kick, and head-butt after head-butt, their bones vibrated in pain at the excruciating violence inflicted upon them. In spite of this trauma, neither Tae Hyun nor Soo Jin yielded from the volatile situation they were fighting in.

  “She cried, you know?” she told him, grinning callously while tilting her head after he held her arms, pulled her to him, and growled at her to stop talking. Agony appeared in his eyes, and she continued to stab the words into him, wanting every word to not only hurt him, but also infuriate him.

  “She begged me to spare her life. But you know how killers in the Underworld are. We don’t react to people who plead like dogs. I turned on the water in the tub, lifted her wrists, and began to drag the broken glass bottle across her wrist for her. I watched as her flesh ripped apart, as her veins were sliced, and then just sat there . . . holding her neck against the wall. I allowed her to watch as the blood seeped out of her—as the life escaped her eyes. And then when I was done, I left her there to rot like the worthless person that she was.”

  And this was where he lost it.

  An unforgiving inferno claimed his eyes and he lost all sense of control.

  Pulling herself out of his grasp, Soo Jin took her final steps backward in satisfaction of finally breaking him. In a swift movement, she ran back towards him and allowed her body to fall forward a foot from reaching him. She gripped onto the railing and swept her legs in the air. When her legs connected with his body, it threw him off balance and left him to fall off the railing.

  Tae Hyun’s body was primed to plummet to the world beneath them before, with the agility of an animal, he averted to the side to hold onto the railing in mid-air. He used it as an anchor to keep from falling to his demise, and then, with unparalleled strength, he lifted his legs up, swung his body backward, and found an unsuspecting Soo Jin. She was barely able to let out a gasp when he locked his legs around her neck in a tight knot and then swung his body forward, knocking her off her feet and throwing her over the railing.

  “Ahhhhh!”

  She dove through the air, plummeting towards the ground before she felt the back of her body slam violently into the gold pillar behind her. Every nerve in her body screamed at the earth-shattering impact.

  “Augh!”

  Groaning, Soo Jin was still conscious enough in midair; she knew she had to do everything in her power to alleviate the impact of the fall. She bent her legs slightly in preparation for the extreme collision ahead.

  Boom!

  The soles of her shoes met the ground with a loud crash, triggering pain to jolt up her body before she quickly rolled to the side to ease the momentum (and the pain) of her fall. The fact that it felt like a million different shards of glass were buried in her body did not help matters either. She wasn’t entirely sure if it was pain from the fall, pain from the glasses slicing into her skin, or a combination of both. All she knew was that she could barely focus on her surroundings. The throbbing ache in her body was all consuming.

  She was so overcome by the blinding ache that she didn’t even register that Tae Hyun was already on the ground floor with her. It wasn’t until she heard the sound of his shoes stepping over the various pieces of glass was she aware of his presence. Her observations came too late. A pair of strong hands grabbed a fistful of her black hoodie, raising her body into a sitting position with a pillar behind her. Soo Jin gasped when she felt the blade of a sword against her neck.

  She looked past the excruciating pain she was experiencing and stared into his wrathful eyes.

  She was no longer in the company of a King, but a God.

  Perfect.

  “Do it,” she urged him, feeling the sharp blade flirt with the skin of her neck.

  She searched his eyes, wishing with all her might that he’d just do the deed. She wanted him angry like this, she wanted to break him, she wanted him to not go easy on her—she wanted to make a God out of him.

  “Do it, King of Serpents,” she advised tauntingly. “This is your only chance. Once you let this moment pass, you’ll never get it back again. You’ll never be able to kill me again, and you’ll never be able to avenge your mother or your precious personal assistant.”

  Mentioning his mother was the perfect tactic, for she saw the bloodlust in his eyes. On the other hand, her ultimate mistake was using the nickname that belonged to the one who continued to own his heart and his humanity. Slowly, the bloodlust began to deteriorate from his gaze. In place of that rage, all she saw were eyes teemed with pain. Tae Hyun began to stare at her with a longing that she couldn’t describe.

  Clank.

  Then, it was the sound of the sword dropping to the floor that heightened the beating of Soo Jin’s own heart.

  She watched as his eyes slowly ran over the blood seeping from her mouth, the blood on her skin, and the shards of glass all over her body. He returned his focus to her face and stared at all the maladies present. His quiet eyes returned to hers. In that instant, a heart wrenching expression came over his face. It was clear that he had finally processed what he had done: he had just hurt the woman he loved more than anything else in the world.

  “Yoori . . .” she heard him say to her. He breathed in painfully, raised a hand up, and gently cupped her right cheek.

  He was staring at her with so much love that she felt hypnotized by him.

  “I’m sorry,” he started to whisper, kissing over the bruises on her face, the cuts near her lips, and every part of her face with so much adoration that she was just lost in it.

  Something odd happened to Soo Jin at that instant. As he expressed his apologies for hurting her, for fighting her, Soo Jin just felt . . . out of place.

  She couldn’t control the warm butterflies that escaped into her stomach at his gentle touch, at the way those captivating eyes held hers. She couldn't control the warmth that overcame her as he showered her with affection. The way his lips—his damn gorgeous lips—moved over her skin just felt so nice. She no longer felt pain. All she felt was distraction.

  She peered up at him, somehow unable to rip her gaze from his when she realized that the maladies on his face were bringing some sort of pain to her as well. The fact that he couldn’t prompt himself to kill her, even though he believed she was his mother’s killer, was also doing some strange things to her sensibility.

  She tried to shake off these peculiar thoughts.

  It was probably the pain, she placated after she processed what was actually happening—that Tae Hyun, despite all her efforts to piss him off, wasn’t going to even attempt to kill her.

  Are you kidding me?

  Frowning at him and the thought of herself becoming weakened by his charms, Soo Jin decided it was due time to end things for the night. She wanted to incite the legendary fighter—the epic God—to come out of him; she did not need to be mesmerized by the handsome King in the process.

  “You’re such a disappointment right now,” she complained, pushing him away in bitterness.

  It wasn’t like she had planned on killing him or allowing him to kill her tonight. She simply wanted a prelude to the fun that was to come at their actual battle in front of the Underworld. It was an understatement to say that this anticlimactic fight had ruined her mood.

  “You! You’re the once-in-a-lifetime fight I’ve been waiting for?!” she shouted, standing up in disbelief. After years of training, years of pain, years of hell . . . her one true match was someone who wanted to kiss her wounds after a good fight? She stared at him with incredulity when he stood up to face her. “You’re really not going to kill me?”

  He gaped at her with his own expression of disbelief.

  “Does it look like I can?!” he asked in aggravation. His eyes widened disbelievingly at her naïve inquiry
. “You think I didn’t know that you were saying all that stuff to push me over the edge? Do you think it’s easy for me to stand here conflicted when the simple thing to do would be to kill you for murdering my mother?” He tightened his jaw in frustration. “But I can’t kill you. I’m more willing to slice my own neck off before I even touch you with that sword.”

  She shook her head, determined to not allow his words to soften any emotions within her. She was getting more and more frustrated by the second and she didn’t know why.

  “You’re a piece of work, King of Serpents,” she said through clenched teeth. She allowed a moment’s pause before adding, “So, what now? Am I supposed to jump into your arms and be touched that you couldn’t kill me because you still see your beloved Choi Yoori in me?”

  She scoffed at his expectant silence. His lack of response only served to vindicate her beliefs that he still saw her as Yoori.

  “Get your act together, Tae Hyun,” she advised, feeling her heart rate increase. “Your Princess is dead and will never come back. This is just a warm-up. In our next fight, I’m killing you, and I won’t be going easy on you.”

  “Will you really?” he asked, skepticism present in his voice.

  Soo Jin felt the air escape her already pained lungs at the absurdity of the question. “Why the hell wouldn’t I be able to?”

  He smirked, taking a step forward to meet her. He looked completely fucked up—just like her—but goddamn, he continued to look hot as hell with blood and shards of glass stuck to his body.

  “There were exactly nineteen times where you could’ve killed me tonight. I knew you were going easy on me as well. Why didn’t you kill me and get it over with? I’m sure that beloved throne would be all yours if you finished the deed. So, why didn’t you?”

  It took all her control to not breathe in the cologne that was becoming a favorite aroma of hers. She looked up at him with unrelenting conviction. “I’m saving everything for our big fight. I just wanted to get a sneak preview of what I was up against. Apparently, I didn’t get much because you were holding back. Regardless, I saw enough. At least I know how hard I had to push to piss you off.”

  She laughed dryly, finding amusement in how he was gazing at her. He was looking at her in brooding silence, indicating that he was in deep contemplation about something.

  Then, he did something she didn’t expect.

  Pushing against the sword with the leather of his black shoe, he kicked it up to her.

  Soo Jin caught it with easy grace, yet the expression on her face was anything but graceful. “What are you doing?”

  “Go ahead,” he dared. He took another step closer with his arms outstretched. “I’m all yours.”

  “Don’t insult me,” she spat. “I was waiting for a momentous battle that will leave a mark on history, not for you to drop down and play dead for me.”

  She threw away the sword, silently hating herself for conjuring up other distracting images when he said, “I’m all yours.” What was happening to her? Why was she feeling so out of it? She attempted to shake herself back to logicality.

  “Don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because my counterpart was with you when I had amnesia that I hold any residual feelings for you, Tae Hyun,” she admonished, knowing all too well why he was behaving this way towards her. “You’re nothing to me but an obstacle I have to climb in order to claim my immortality over this world. When the time comes, trust me when I say that I’ll kill you. With all that said, I hope you prepare yourself well because when we meet again for our battle, I hope you won’t go easy on me like you did tonight. I sure as hell don’t plan on holding back with you.” She began to walk away. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a war to prepare for. Thanks for a disappointing night.”

  “An Soo Jin,” Tae Hyun voiced, stopping her in her tracks.

  Every part of her mind advised her to not listen to him and to continue to walk away. Unfortunately, her body, which seemed to have a mind of its own and was somehow conditioned to want Kwon Tae Hyun to stay beside her, stopped for him as soon as he called out to her.

  Soo Jin expelled a weary breath.

  Knowing very well that she was dealing with the residual feelings of Choi Yoori’s, she made a mental note to figure out how to deal with this conflict later.

  She turned and eyed him tiredly. “What now?”

  “You should know that in this world, there are few people who can lie to me and even fewer people who can lie to me and get away with it.” There was a look of conviction on his face, one filled with a determination she couldn’t understand. “There are some I can read as soon as I meet them, but on rare occasions, there are others . . . others who are exceptional, skilled, and cunning like yourself. With those types of people, I have to be around them long enough to understand how they speak, how their bodies react to certain emotions, and what they do when they are bluffing.”

  She canted her head questioningly. “What are you getting at?”

  “What was my mother wearing the night you killed her?”

  Soo Jin lifted her brows in amusement. Although she deduced what he was trying to do, she humored him anyway. “A crème colored blouse and black pants.” She let out a dry laugh. “You’re that desperate that you actually want to put me through a lie detector to see if I really killed your mother?”

  “How did you kill her?” he asked swiftly, ignoring her remark. His eyes were now undecipherable.

  Her eyes became equally stagnant and unreadable. “Like I told you . . . with the jagged edges of the alcohol bottle. I slit her wrists.”

  “Both?”

  “Yes.

  “In that case, which wrist did she have a butterfly tattoo?”

  Another laugh escaped Soo Jin’s mouth. “It’s been years. Why would I remember such useless details?”

  “Because killing someone of her status would give you bragging rights. You would never forget the details.”

  Soo Jin fell silent at his correct statement.

  She lowered her eyes to the glass-covered tiles and replayed the contents of that night in her mind. When the memories played through her mind like a movie, she lifted her eyes and confidently said, “The right.”

  The sternness of his eyes soon faded. Tae Hyun was quiet as he inhaled a painful breath at her correct answer.

  Soo Jin smiled, giving him the “I’ve-been-telling-you-the-truth-all-along” look. It was a look filled with pity for his failed efforts to prove that she didn’t kill his mother. She was prepared to make her exit when his next words washed over her and froze her blood.

  “I’m winning you back.”

  A multitude of emotions deluged through her as she turned to him in bewilderment. “What did you just say?”

  “I’m winning you back,” he repeated resolutely, his eyes never leaving hers. “I want you back, and I’ve decided now that I’m getting you back.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” she laughed, confused.

  “You confirmed that my mother had a tattoo on her right wrist instead of her left wrist.”

  She scoffed disbelievingly. “So I forgot which wrist it was and that instantly frees me? Man, Tae Hyun, you are just so desperate to forgive the lookalike of your girlfriend’s, aren’t you?”

  Soo Jin wanted to tell him how stupid he was, how ridiculous he was until Tae Hyun vocalized his next words.

  “My mother didn’t have tattoos.”

  It was then, as An Soo Jin felt fear escalate in her heart, did she realize how cunning Kwon Tae Hyun was. She was a skilled liar, but it seemed that the King of Serpents was equally as skilled when it came to figuring out liars—that, or he was just really good at tricking people into telling him the truth.

  “It was a trick question,” she said finally, never ceasing to be impressed with the genius that was the King in front of her.

  “You never killed my mother,” he said knowingly, staring at her with newfound knowledge in his eyes. “You were there,
but you weren’t the one who killed her.”

  She stayed quiet.

  “What happened that night, Soo Jin?”

  She kept her mouth shut, unwilling to answer his question.

  When it was blatant to him that he wasn’t going to get anything out of her, he continued on. “Would you really force Kang Min to kill Hae Jin? Do you really have the heart to hurt her?”

  For the first time since her return, Soo Jin’s eyes softened.

  “No one will ever touch her or Chae Young again if I can help it,” she confessed. She looked away for a brief moment. “But make no mistake about it, Tae Hyun. I will be the one to kill you. I’ve waited my entire life to meet you, and I’m not letting this historic moment pass me by. I know what you’re trying to do, that you’re trying to use me to replace Yoori. I won’t let that happen. I’m here and your Choi Yoori is dead . . . long gone from the moment you left her. Get your head out of the clouds and face me like the person I am to you—your enemy, and the one who will kill you for the most coveted throne. Don’t make the mistake of becoming human for me, Tae Hyun, because you’ll only pathetically die as one.”

  He smiled, taking several steps closer to her. When he was finally right across from her, he held her gaze with determination.

  “I’ve waited my entire life for you, Soo Jin,” he whispered, his eyes searching hers. “Long before I even knew what I wanted, long before I knew of your name, and long before I knew of your existence. I let go of the love of my life because of all the lies you spread, and I put myself through hell because I was the one who left her and broke her when all I wanted to do was run back to her, hold her in my arms, and kiss her until the world faded around us.” His eyes grew stern. “But mark my words tonight: I’m winning her back. There will be no more ifs, ands, or buts. Against your wishes, against your ironclad resolution, and against your will—I’m breaking through that ruthless exterior of yours, and I’m winning her back. And trust me when that life-changing moment happens, I’m never letting her or you go again.”