by Con Template
Eve screamed while her children chased after her and Soo Jin. Eve tried to resist, but found it was futile, as her hands and legs were bound with sturdy ropes. In order to put on a believable show, Soo Jin decided that she had to give the mother more hell than the others. She knew this, but somehow, in addition to the unease she suddenly felt, this logic was not executed so easily.
The weight of her arms and legs seemed to have increased in mass. This was something that had not happened since her earlier training days. It took a great deal of effort to lift them, making it nearly impossible to use them. It felt like weights had curled itself around her leg when she raised it up to kick the mother across the face. The wail of pain that escaped from Eve tormented Soo Jin. She was flabbergasted that it took effort to not only listen to the mother wail in agony, but to also watch her children crawl beside her to try and tend to her. Something in her heart cracked at the sight, but she had to push through it.
Soo Jin narrowed her eyes on the children. She couldn’t have the kids distracting their mother. She would never get the information if they were there to distract her. Knowing that Young Jae was watching the scene closely, she was careful with keeping her act up. The kids didn’t get too far with tending to their mother before she kicked them both out of the way. Breath stalled in Soo Jin’s chest when she heard their small, delicate bodies hit the floor.
Eve screamed out for her babies, worsening the headache forming in Soo Jin’s head. She inhaled painfully to gather her nerves for her next set of actions. Running up to Eve, she seized her by the collar of her dress. Soo Jin was growing impatient—and apparently losing her wits. She had to get this done as soon as possible because it was killing her mentally and physically to be in the same room as the mother and children. Being heartless was no longer easy for her; it was no longer second nature to her. She couldn’t comprehend what was happening to her. Why the hell were the memories from her past coming back to her, and why was she trembling at a moment like this? Nothing made sense to her but the daunting task at hand. The only thing that made sense was getting the answers from Eve and closing the chapter on this bizarre night. Perhaps when it all ended, she would return to normal.
“I need your help,” Soo Jin quickly whispered, her hushed voice betraying her eagerness to finish what she started. She pressed Eve’s skull against the pillar and faked a chokehold against her neck. The strain in her voice surprised Soo Jin herself. It was the first time in a very long time where she felt like she was losing control. It wasn’t a sensation that she enjoyed, especially at a time like this where her very future hung on the balance. “Nothing is what it seems here. I’m not your enemy. I’m on your side and I need your help.”
“L-liar,” Eve struggled to say.
Soo Jin could hear her fighting to breathe. Even by holding her, Soo Jin could feel her pain. This fact alone scared the hell out of her. She did not want to feel anyone’s pain, least of all a woman who had a death sentence hanging over her head. She was a God. She did not want to feel pain.
“I’m not lying,” Soo Jin growled under her breath, applying more pressure against Eve’s neck to show her how serious she was being. Time was limited and she had to hurry. “Tony wasn’t killed. He was in the Philippines for two years before he finally came back to Seoul.”
Eve stilled noticeably.
Feeding on this reaction, Soo Jin hastened to add, “Tony went to Ju Won to share in his plans. He wanted me on his side; he wanted to give me his Siberian Tigers.”
Eve laughed through her pain. She glared at Soo Jin with open suspicion. “You really expect me to believe that Tony wanted to give you his Siberian Tigers? Fuck you, bitch. I should let that bastard brother of yours know about your betrayal.”
Panic set in Soo Jin’s nerves like acid. Before Eve could say anything, Soo Jin elbowed her across the face, causing the back of her head to slam against the pillar.
“No, no, no! Please stop hurting mommy!” the boys screamed while the family members in the background shouted, “You bitch! Leave them alone! They don’t know anything!”
Within the commotion, Young Jae ordered his Scorpions to leave. He was utterly distracted, and Soo Jin used that moment to get through to Eve one last time.
“Eve,” she began, staring straight into the woman’s eyes. “He has Tony. Young Jae already has Tony.”
Soo Jin rushed to finish when Eve fell silent. “You and I both know that the moment you walked in here, you were never going to leave—you or your children. If you saw the tape that Hee Jun and Tony had, then you know what Young Jae’s capable of.”
Tears soaked Eve’s eyes. She also knew that Young Jae was never going to spare her children.
“Help me, Eve,” Soo Jin implored. “In death, people never get their revenge. You have no more people left on your side. Young Jae has killed everyone you love. But right now, you have your chance to change things. Help me. Help me deceive him, help me get the jade knife, and give me the riddle.” By now, the children were kneeling before Soo Jin, crying incessantly and begging her to stop hurting their mother. She stared at Eve dead in the eyes while their cries continued in the background. “Will you help me?”
Eve took a second to mull over Soo Jin’s words, perhaps to detect if Soo Jin was even being authentic. Soo Jin was honestly astonished when Eve actually blinked in confirmation. Thrown off by the absolute trust that she garnered, Soo Jin pulled herself together and gave the show of her life.
“Just tell me where it is! I know that you know it!” Soo Jin shrieked. She opened Eve’s mouth and stuck the blade of the knife in, threateningly holding it there. “I know that Hee Jun trusted you,” she continued, slicing the palm of her own hand to make it appear like she was cutting the insides of Eve’s mouth. “He couldn’t be sure that he would survive, and I know that of all people, he told you.”
“I really don’t know!” Eve cried manically, Soo Jin’s blood spurting out from her mouth. While pretending to choke on the blood, Eve whispered, “The knife . . .”
She glanced at her two children. They were still kneeling beside them and crying for mercy. Soo Jin followed her lead. Her eyes widened once she saw a shadow of a green, glimmering hue under the yellow t-shirt one of the children wore. The jade knife. It was with the kid all along.
Excitement blared inside her.
She had to get to them now.
“Would your sons know?” Soo Jin asked, carefully withdrawing the knife from Eve’s mouth.
She wheeled around. She snatched both the kids by their collars, ripping the necklace—the jade knife—away in the heat of the moment before throwing them like ragged dolls toward Eve. While doing this, she also threw the jade knife behind the pillar next to them. She continued with her acting.
Now she needed the riddle and the answer.
“Did Hee Jun tell them instead?”
“No! No! Please, don’t touch them. Don’t hurt my babies!” Eve begged, tears gleaming in her eyes. Eve was acting for Young Jae, but she knew Eve’s pain was real, especially when the boys’ cries grew louder.
“Please!” one of the boys screamed, his voice choking on his tears. “Please don’t kill us or our mommy!”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Soo Jin spat out. Her face blanched at the sight of them crying. She closed her eyes in frustration, her breathing growing hoarse. The children’s incessant crying was driving her crazy. Moreover, it was ripping her heart apart. She couldn’t fathom all these emotions brewing like a storm inside her. What the hell was happening to her?
Desperate to keep herself from falling apart, Soo Jin raced to get the riddle from Eve so that she could end this once and for all. “Tell me now because I have no more fucking patience. I’ll start cutting off their fingers if you don’t start talking.”
“Soo Jin, that’s enough,” Young Jae ordered, the sounds of the kids crying seemingly driving him crazy with guilt as well.
Soo Jin pretended to not hear him.
“Now tel
l me,” she whispered to Eve, who was already beginning to fall apart from listening to her children’s wails, “what is the riddle?”
Crying as her voice became submerged under the tears of her children, Eve closed her eyes and struggled to answer against her own disjointed thoughts. Before giving Soo Jin the riddle, she gave her something else first. “The answer to the riddle is ‘57.’”
This was where everything went wrong.
“57!” the boys cried out, thinking that Soo Jin couldn’t hear their mother. Even under the veil of young age, they still knew enough—and were desperate enough—to do anything to save their mother’s life. “57!”
“I told you to fucking stop crying!” Soo Jin shouted heatedly, panic burying into her when she realized they were giving everything away. With instinct, she slapped them across the cheeks to shut them up. It did not work. Slapping them only made the pain within her ache more. “Shut up!”
They did not listen. They continued to cry and continued to shout out the number. They continued to shout it out and in a moment of dread, she knew they were going to ruin everything. With emotions she didn’t understand hitting her like a tsunami, Soo Jin turned to Eve, her silent eyes apologizing for what she was about to do.
“I have to,” she whispered brokenly.
Eve returned the gaze, tears already bubbling in her own eyes. She also knew that they were ruining everything; she also knew what had to be done so their inevitable deaths wouldn’t be in vain.
With the weight of the world resting on her lids, Eve closed her eyes, allowing her tears to drip free as her silent confirmation swam heartbrokenly to Soo Jin. Their cries grew louder and as they made the motions of running over to Young Jae for help, Soo Jin reluctantly pulled her gun out and did the unthinkable . . .
Boom! Boom!
Two gunshots were fired, and the crying stopped instantly.
A deafening hush collapsed on to the room, only to be broken when two small, lifeless bodies fell onto the floor.
“Noooooooo!” the club erupted in screams of horror from the family members and from Eve, who was shaking uncontrollably from the sobs that exploded from her chest.
It took all of Soo Jin’s strength not to keel over as something started blurring her eyes. She blinked and was horrified when a single teardrop slid down. Tears. She gasped, not believing that she was actually crying. She swallowed convulsively and ran over to Eve. She couldn’t be distracted, not when she was so close to getting what she wanted tonight.
“Now!” Soo Jin shouted through her tears, her gun shaking violently. “Tell me now. Tell me something, and I’ll let you go with them. If not, I won’t even let you die. I’ll keep you alive and have you stare at them until they begin to rot away!”
Eve’s tears mixed with the blood on her face. She gazed at Soo Jin, silently begging her to kill her.
“On the left side of the Siberian Tigers’ estate,” she whispered, staring at Soo Jin dead in the eyes. It was a look Soo Jin would never forget; it was a look that condemned Soo Jin to kill Young Jae for the hell he placed them through, “buried deep in the ground under the red roses. What you’re looking for, you’ll find it there.”
Soo Jin knew she should’ve asked for the procedure so she wouldn’t waste time trying to decipher the riddle, but she couldn’t find it in her heart to prolong Eve’s misery. Her two babies had been shot right in front of her. She was begging Soo Jin to kill her, and for the first time, Soo Jin chose compassion over her own greed. She would figure out the rest of the answers herself, but right now, it was time for mercy.
Boom!
The next bullet that left her gun and speared through Eve’s forehead was fast and quick, just like the misery that etched itself in her chest when she finally stumbled up on her legs and peered up at her brother. He was staring at her in disbelief. Whether it was because he was shocked that she actually killed the children and mother or because she had tears in her eyes, she wasn’t sure. All that she knew was that his breath seemed to have stilled in his chest as well.
Wails and curses stormed the room from the remaining family members. Aware that she couldn’t allow any of them to live any longer, Soo Jin sucked in another heavy breath and began to shoot at the remaining family members, silencing them once and for all.
“You . . . You shouldn’t be here any longer, oppa,” Soo Jin stuttered to Young Jae once the only breathing entities in the room were herself and her brother. She had to get him away from the club so that she could come back alone to retrieve the jade knife. “Let’s leave now. We have to find the jade knife. I’ll come back myself later tonight to clean this mess up. We can’t risk your reputation, remember?”
Young Jae stared at her cautiously. If she didn’t know what a bastard he was, she might even say he looked worried. “Are you okay—?”
“Let’s leave,” she interrupted, making sure she didn’t register the concern in his eyes before she ran out of the club and sought a jade knife that was never buried under the red roses.
■ ■ ■
The silence that embalmed her was an unfamiliar sensation. It came over like a flood when she walked into the carnage she singlehandedly created. The club was as dark as they had left it, and she didn’t bother to turn on the lights. Something in her dreaded looking at all the bodies that died under her hands. It was better to leave them buried in the dark than for her to face them in the light.
As expected, the exploration to find the jade knife at the Siberian Tigers’ estate was useless. They searched the premises for hours and found nothing. Young Jae was looking impatient, and Soo Jin knew he didn’t give a damn about finding the jade knife for Ju Won. He only cared about using the information they recovered from the family members as an excuse to “find” Tony. She suspected Young Jae was eager to get back to wherever he was holding Tony. And in truth, in that particular moment, her mind was too hazy to care. All she wanted to do was return to the club and retrieve the jade knife. It was only after she entered the club did her blurred mind finally comprehend what was happening to her.
It seemed that the curse she never wanted—a curse she never thought she’d receive—was the only entity that surrounded her while she stared around the club. Her chest tightened and she could swear she felt her heart clench as she inhaled the scent of gunpowder, blood, and the residual fear that was beginning to die out in the club. It was the most anguish she ever experienced. She couldn’t stop shaking. It was happening. It was actually happening. After a decade of killing, of being surrounded by death, and having no soul, she could no longer escape from the inevitable. All it took was one scream, one cursed memory from the past, and the flood came. A decade’s worth of misplaced emotions returned like a tsunami and Soo Jin became inundated.
The silence came, the tides changed, and then the mountain inevitably moved . . .
She didn’t know if the tears in her eyes came because she was overwhelmed with betraying her own brother, if she was subconsciously acting, or if it was because she actually felt remorse for killing all of them. Her lower lip quivered. This was never supposed to happen to her. She was never supposed to feel remorse. She was never supposed to feel remorse for any of them. They were all supposed to be worthless. They weren’t supposed to mean anything to her. This was never supposed to happen . . . yet it did.
Against all the orders that came out of her prideful body, and against a decade of fighting to be a God, her knees buckled and for the first time in her life, the great Queen fell to her knees and kneeled. She kneeled before the dead victims who surrounded her. Despite the screams that resonated from the better part of her prideful mind, a dazed Soo Jin could only focus on the silent part of her that stood in the corner of her mind. It was a quiet part of her that she had locked away and hadn’t let out since her inception into the Underworld—the human part of her that would forever be her weakness.
“Only for a moment,” the quiet and grief-stricken voice begged. “Stop being a monster and please let me o
ut for a moment. Please let us do what’s right. Please.”
For that suspended moment, Soo Jin listened to no one else but her human counterpart. For that frozen moment, as she bowed her head in respect for those she cruelly killed, Soo Jin allowed her human emotions to run free. The pain held in her chest exuded out and the tears began to blur her eyes once more.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, kneeling and bowing down to the blood-soaked ground. “I’m so sorry for everything.”
She kneeled and bowed thirty-four times, the pain elevating every time the number increased. Her despondent eyes settled onto Eve and her two children, the ones who were the catalyst for all of this and the ones who haunted her most. The look in Eve’s eyes . . . the voices of the two children . . . and the fatal gunshots . . . they all tormented her.
“I will make things right,” Soo Jin promised, bowing three more times in apology to them. Resolution flooded into her eyes. The pain, as crippling as it was becoming, was not going to be a deterrent for her. She still had a plan to enact. In honor of them. In respect for them.
Soo Jin rose to her feet. The soles of her boots pressed into the puddles of blood while she walked around the dozens of dead bodies in the room. She maneuvered around the bodies of the dead children and reached down behind the pillar where the jade knife lay.
With the knife in her hand, she numbly went to a corner where she could initiate the second part of her plan. She hid the knife in her pocket, took out her cell phone, and dialed Ji Hoon’s number.
In the Underworld, for every King, there were different politics that one had to abide by to establish themselves as legendary, feared, and respected. Young Jae wasn’t a King who could take credit for killing an innocent family because his reputation had always been that he was the “kindest” out of all the Kings. He couldn’t break out of this mold without losing the support of those who stood beside him because of this reputation. Ho Young, who could kill innocents without blinking an eye, was seen as the most ruthless one. He could do anything and his reputation would not be compromised because the people who supported him loved for him to be ruthless. And finally there was Ji Hoon. Although he had always been viewed as a powerful King, he was also seen as a heavily distracted one. He adored Soo Jin and this society knew that.
