by Con Template
Her desperate and swollen eyes rolled over to Tae Hyun, who was staring at the whole scene before him in shock, horror, and disgust.
“Tae Hyun! Please!” Jin Ae sobbed, terror causing her body to shake like a leaf. “She’s lying! I didn’t do anything! I don’t even know who Chae Young is or what she’s talking about!” Her cries grew louder. “Please, please help me!”
“Stop lying!” Yoori roared, kicking Jin Ae across the face.
An already weak Jin Ae tumbled to the ground at the force of the kick and slammed her head against the wall behind her. Her breathing was faint, helpless.
Fuming with the clouds of rage that blinded her senses, Yoori chased after Jin Ae with no more desire to punish her. She simply wanted to end things once and for all. She banged the sole of her black boot against Jin Ae’s neck, using all the power she had to officially snap Jin Ae’s neck apart and end her pitiful life.
“Yoori, stop!”
It was Tae Hyun’s interference that saved Jin Ae from losing the one crucial whiff of air that would kill her, and it was Tae Hyun’s intrusion that infuriated Yoori.
She tried to fight against his hold, but he was much stronger.
He forcefully dragged her away until they were several feet from Jin Ae’s fallen body.
“Does it hurt you to watch me beat your precious little whore?” Yoori spat out, unable to control her anger for his betrayal. She pulled her arm out of his grip in disgust. Why? Why was he stopping her? Did he still have feelings for Jin Ae? Did he still have feelings for that worthless piece of shit?
“Don’t,” Tae Hyun warned severely, quelling the psychotic rage that seared in Yoori’s soul. His eyes burned with ire. “There has been no other woman, and I don’t want any other woman. I’ve been nothing but faithful to you, and you know how much you mean to me. Don’t you fucking insult me like this.”
“Why are you stopping me then?” Yoori breathed out heatedly. “You told me that once we get her, I could have her head!”
“That was only when I thought she was the one who orchestrated the rape!” he shouted before taking a deep breath to calm down. He shook his head, staring at Jin Ae with regret. His eyes found Yoori’s. “I know you’re angry. I want nothing more than to ease that anger by giving you the vengeance you want, but I don’t think you’ll get it from Jin Ae. What if she’s telling the truth? What if she wasn’t even involved? What if someone framed her, and you’re now getting ready to kill someone who has nothing to do with this? Can you live with that Yoori? Can you live with killing the wrong person if she’s telling the truth?”
“She’s not!” Yoori combated psychotically, breathing in roughly while she glared at Tae Hyun with animosity. “She’s not, and you’re being a fucking idiot for believing her!”
“Look at yourself!” Tae Hyun roared back, shaking her shoulders with his hands. “Do you see what you’ve turned into? Do you not hear yourself right now? Do you not hear Soo Jin?”
Silence collapsed over Yoori as his voice acted as the splash of cold water she needed. The violent fire that blazed through her cooled. It wasn’t so much the fact that he was yelling at her, but it was because his face was marred with alarm for her. Only then did Yoori feel the weight of the blood on her hands. It terrified her because despite the concern in Tae Hyun’s eyes, she still wanted to slaughter Jin Ae. It was only when a tentative voice interrupted them that the course of their night changed.
“Jin Ae has been training in China since Ms. Choi’s initiation,” Mina spoke up, her eyes widening with disbelief when she finally processed what was happening.
“What?” Yoori and Tae Hyun asked, both turning to Mina.
The Cobras were ordered to find Jin Ae, but they were never given a specific reason as to why Jin Ae had to be found. Yoori could only assume that they believed they had to find Jin Ae because of the rivalry that existed between herself and Jin Ae.
“After Ms. Choi’s initiation, Ju Won sent Jin Ae to train in China,” Mina provided, her gaze apologetic that she didn’t tell them this sooner. “We just found out tonight. That was why she wasn’t at his masquerade ball. That was also why we had such trouble finding her. She hasn’t been in Seoul for weeks. She just arrived today.”
Yoori went cold.
Her ears blurred out Mina’s apology for not speaking up about this sooner, that she didn’t know what it was Yoori and Tae Hyun wanted to punish Jin Ae for.
Yoori felt like a ton of bricks had fallen on her.
Jin Ae was lying motionless on the floor, her face barely recognizable through the blood that stained her features. She was broken. Yoori had successfully broken her, but only for the wrong reason.
Through the veil of hatred that once covered her eyes, Yoori found her sensibility. Something in her clicked. It was never Jin Ae who orchestrated Chae Young’s rape. Jin Ae was framed, and the one who was behind it had escaped Yoori’s wrath all along.
Jin Ae was actually the victim right now.
An undeserved victim of Yoori’s uncontained rage.
“Boss!” Ace called, running into the warehouse and interrupting their trains of thought. His expression was one of panic. “Word has gotten out about Jin Ae being kidnapped, and Ju Won’s men are searching all over the city for her. Some of them are in the area, and they’ll arrive soon. If you need to kill her, then you’ll have to do it now.”
“Take her to the hospital,” Yoori said brokenly, finding it impossible to even make eye contact with the girl she had just savagely beaten. There was no way Yoori would allow anyone to kill Jin Ae, especially for crimes that she never committed. “Get her to the hospital now and help her.”
Ace hesitated, looking at Tae Hyun. “If we kill her, then we can erase all evidence that we were the ones who had her. If we let her live, then Ju Won will know what happened. He will come after you—”
“When Yoori tells you to do something, you do it,” Tae Hyun reprimanded Ace, who still had a worried expression on his face. Tae Hyun eyed Mina and his Cobras, all of whom were waiting for further orders. “Take her to the hospital, give them my name, and have Dr. Han take care of her. Get her help . . . Now.”
Standing motionless while staring down at the crimson blood on her hands, Yoori’s lungs constricted when she heard Jin Ae whimper in pain. The Cobras scooped her limp body up and swept her out of the warehouse, leaving Yoori alone with Tae Hyun.
Yoori felt numb. It seemed as though she was hovering in a sea of fire. She was so angry that her blood boiled, and this fact alone scared her. She wasn’t supposed to be this angry. She was supposed to be in control. What happened to her?
She stared up and saw how Tae Hyun was gazing at her. For the first time, she saw caution against her in his eyes.
“I will never allow another situation where you could do this again, Yoori,” he said to her, guardedness now fully present in his gaze. It pained her to see this, to see him watch her like she was a bomb that was ready to detonate at any moment.
“What?” she asked, shaking while she took in what he just said. How could he not let this happen again? The culprit was still out there. Yoori still had to punish that person!
“I wasn’t there with you when you killed those eleven gang members. I’ve never been there when Soo Jin ‘comes out’ of you.” He walked closer to her, concern etching across his vigilant eyes. His gaze broke her heart. It seemed like he realized he was losing someone—her.
“When I walked in, I was prepared to have my Cobras kill Jin Ae because my hands had already been tainted countless times, and it was a demon that I could live with. I only imagined that you would come in here, slap her, punch her a couple of times, and leave the rest up to my Cobras, but the murderous look in your eyes when you reveled in the spill of her blood . . . this isn’t you, Yoori.” He stared into her eyes. “I don’t like seeing you like this. I promised you once before that I would always protect you, and I’ve never felt the need more than at this moment. I see now what a threat Soo Jin i
s . . . how much she could devour your soul.” He sighed painstakingly. “Did you even hear me when I called out for you to stop? Do you even see yourself right now?”
“So, you’re finally disgusted with her, aren’t you?” she asked, her voice smaller than it had ever been.
Yoori felt fragmented, lost between a world of anger and a world of morals. She did not want to be a killer, but she wanted to punish the fucker who brought this hell upon Chae Young. She wanted to just be Yoori, but she realized then that she was losing her control over Soo Jin’s killer instincts. She felt like shit. Fragmented shit, and it didn’t help that her boyfriend was staring at her with a multitude of concern, disgust, and fear. While he wasn’t afraid of her, he was damn well afraid of losing her.
“Only because I can protect you from anyone else who presents any harm to you,” Tae Hyun replied moments later, confirming Yoori’s belief of how he felt. There was defeat in his eyes, defeat that Yoori was used to seeing in herself, and defeat that Tae Hyun wasn’t used to admitting. His voice became lower, sadder. “But I don’t know how to protect you from Soo Jin.”
Reverberations of footsteps encroaching upon them silenced their lips.
Tae Hyun turned. Once he saw that it was one of his Cobras, the tenseness in his body left him. Ace had returned from outside, his face still fixed with mystification.
“Boss, I don’t understand,” he said honestly, stopping beside them. “We’ve spent weeks tracking her down, and now that we’ve finally found her, you’re letting her go?”
“She wasn’t the culprit,” Tae Hyun answered without thinking, forgetting that Ace wasn’t privy to the news that he and Yoori wanted Jin Ae because of what happened at the diner. “She wasn’t the one who sent those eleven gang members that Yoori killed.”
Something then illuminated in Ace’s eyes. “Are you talking about what happened in the alley?”
“What are you talking about, Ace?” Tae Hyun asked swiftly, his eyes boring into Ace’s. “There’s only a few who know what happened, and you shouldn’t be one of them.”
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 t
rained 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 fuck 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 Hyun’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 first 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 65th 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—”
