Welcome to the Underworld (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 1)

by Template, Con

  Without allotting her any time to tend to her wounds, Dong Min’s voice speared through the room. “Duck.”

  “Wh – ah!”

  Her hair flew up as her legs immediately listened to his command. As she ducked, a sniper bullet flew past, its flaring heat intruding the confined space that Yoori once inhabited. She gasped, staring at the two Advisors whose silhouettes continued to tower over her. What the hell were they doing?

  “Get up,” commanded Jung Min.

  Recalling that his and Dong Min’s commands had saved her from death several times tonight, she was more than happy to oblige. When she was fully upright, Dong Min threw something in her direction. She caught it clumsily. Her eyebrows drew together. It was a…pool stick? Holding onto the stick, she peered at the brothers expectantly. She had already anticipated that even though she really didn’t want to, she was going to have to use it against one of them. She groaned inwardly. How on earth was she supposed to attack them with it if they could block her every move?

  “Break it apart with your knee,” Jung Min ordered.

  Afraid of hurting more of her body parts, Yoori hesitated, a move that angered Jung Min. He was ready to scream at her when Dong Min interrupted and said, “Take a step back.”

  Wasting no time in following his command, Yoori rocked backward. In a split of a very fast second, a sniper bullet flew past her from the side, its aim the side of her head had she not moved in time.

  Damn these snipers!

  She was ready to thank Dong Min when he threw his leg up in the air and delivered a spin kick that slammed into her left shoulder and had her staggering for the floor. One would think that kicking her like that was enough, but not for Dong Min. He followed after her and right before she fell to the floor, Dong Min bestowed her with another kick to the stomach and a final kick across the face, an action that left Yoori to spit coagulated blood into the air. Out of breath, she fell with a deafening thud. She was still holding the pool stick when she hit the floor.

  It was then that she knew why Jung Min ordered her to break the pool stick. It was for her own protection against Dong Min.

  She didn’t know why they were doing this to her – taking turns attacking and mentoring her, but she no longer cared. The only thing that mattered was keeping them from attacking her any further.

  Struggling to stand up, the blood still dripping from her mouth and the pain still prominent in her body, she lifted her right knee and used it to break the stick. The pool stick broke into two equal parts, the jagged edge of each stick appearing now like stakes.

  “Hold them up and stick your right leg out behind you – in a fighting stance,” Jung Min ordered, drawing a few steps backward and leaving Yoori and Dong Min to face one another. “Anticipate his attack with the sight of his movements. Pay close attention to the areas in which he leaves unshielded. Don’t be gentle.”

  Yoori shook. She knew what was to come when she saw Dong Min pick up the broken stick that he attacked her with.

  He wasted no time in coming in for the first attack.

  Yoori moved to strike, but failed when she raised her arm to hit him, missed, and was caught off guard when he slammed the head of the stick into her right hip, causing her to scream in agony. The broken pool sticks fell from her grasp and she collapsed to her knees, nearly blacking out from the pain.

  “You’re kneeling before him already?” Jung Min shouted furiously, staring down at her with disgust. “We just got started! GET UP!”

  Clutching onto her hip that was beginning to bleed from the attack, Yoori glared up at Jung Min and Dong Min. Rage rummaged through her. Hungry for revenge, she reached her shaking hands out and retrieved her two fallen sticks. She stood up, her breathing heavy as her eyes fixated on Dong Min.

  Fire burned within her gaze.

  This time…she was ready.

  Dong Min smirked at the sudden change in Yoori’s demeanor. Ready for a second round, he charged at her like a ferocious bull.

  She slowly crouched her legs in preparation. Her hands sticking out with the broken pool sticks, she easily leaned sideway to avoid an attack from Dong Min when he attempted to slam the stick against her neck.

  When he missed, Yoori saw her chance for an attack.

  Using all the energy she had, she jumped up and aimed the dull head of the stick upward. The dull edge slammed against his jaw with a loud crack, causing Dong Min to lose balance as he wavered about. To finish the attack, she jabbed the second stick into Dong Min’s stomach before finishing that assault off with a blow to the neck.

  Just like that, the powerful Advisor collapsed to the floor.

  She watched, her bloody mouth gaping open as Dong Min struggled to get up from her triple attack. She couldn’t believe it. Did she really just successfully attack a revered crime lord?

  “Fast learner,” Dong Min commented, his voice hoarse from the attack. Strangely enough, he seemed proud as well when he stood up and dusted his shirt, acting like her attack was nothing but child’s play.

  Yoori gave him an incredulous gaze when she saw that he actually looked fine. What the hell? She would’ve blacked out from an attack like that.

  At Dong Min’s comment, Jung Min laughed in agreement.

  Dong Min cleared his throat. He stretched his neck out before saying, “Now listen to the silence.” Sensing her hesitation, he added, “Your life depends on it.”

  And that was what squashed any hesitation left within her.

  Holding onto the two pool sticks, she lowered her head and listened. At first she couldn’t understand why she was listening to silence. The only thing she felt was the convulsing pain within her body. But then…as a stream of enlightenment poured over her, faint sounds began to whisper itself into her ears – faint sounds of breathing and subtle rustling in the distance.

  She could hear Jung Min and Dong Min breathe as they gazed at her. She could hear Ju Won, who was more than likely still sitting in his seat and watching the entire thing, breathing in the illuminated distance.

  As her heightened sense of sound elevated, it shocked Yoori that she could now hear breathing from the high corners of the ceilings. It was the same heightened sense she had when she was approaching the mansion, the same heightened sense that allotted her the knowledge to know how many men were hidden in each part of the ceiling.

  Only this time, she was able to control this heightened sense.

  At first, when she wasn’t really paying attention, she thought there were six snipers. Now as she continued to focus the breadth of her attention onto the “silence,” she concluded that there were a couple more snipers who were unaccounted for. They have yet to shoot yet she could hear them breathing—she could hear their anticipation. They were getting ready to shoot.

  “How many?” Dong Min finally asked.

  She answered without hesitation. “Nine.”

  “Can you hear what they are getting ready to do?” Jung Min asked, his voice just as soft.

  “Yes.”

  In that instant, two things happened: Jung Min and Dong Min had both spun backward, stopping at the same time as they stood nine inches away from where they once stood. In the same breath, Yoori found herself performing a triple backflip that gave her the opportunity to dodge nine rounds of sniper bullets that followed her in a straight sequential line.

  She landed on her feet, her eyes wider than it had ever been.

  What the hell did she just do?

  She straightened her back to gawk at the scene before her. The nine bullets buried itself against the tiled floors and shortly thereafter, silence fell upon the room like nothing had occurred.

  The sound of clapping then saturated the room, interrupting her disconcerting train of thoughts.

  Ju Won had appeared behind her, a big smile on his face as he stood on the center floor.

  “Very impressive,” he commented, the smile growing wider than ever. “You have a minute and a half left. We’ve been easy on you. Let’s see how you hol
d up against two Advisors and bullets that are not pre-warned for you.”

  Terror ignited in Yoori’s eyes.

  “Oh shit!”

  Losing all the fighting instincts she had seconds prior, Yoori panicked at the advancement from the elder brothers and the sound of triggers being pulled from the snipers. She hastily threw the broken pool sticks toward the elder brothers as a diversion and made a run for it. She ran in the direction of the weapons area behind Ju Won’s chair.

  Oh God, oh God, oh God!

  It was becoming harder and harder for her to breathe as she ran. Her hip, stomach, face, and legs—her entire body was aching and merely surviving off the adrenaline pumping through her.

  When she inched closer to the throne-like chairs, Yoori whispered words of thanks, thinking it was going to be an easy task to retrieve the weapons. Her hopes were dashed when a round of bullets fired pass her, causing her to come to an abrupt stop.

  Though she had only stopped for a moment, the brief second was enough for Dong Min and Jung Min to catch up to her. She turned around and she was met with two different legs that simultaneously kicked her stomach. The force caused her to stumble beside Ju Won’s chair, gasping for air as the agonizing pain engulfed her senses once more.

  “Get up and fight,” Ju Won ordered, glaring at Yoori as he stood nearby and watched.

  When she didn’t immediately stand up, Jung Min snatched her by the hood of Tae Hyun’s jacket and forcefully picked her up. He hurled her like a ragged doll onto the chairs behind her. She felt her back spasm in pain at the collision, her lower lip bleeding from accidentally biting herself.

  She sucked in a pained breath, nearly wavering off her chair. She fought to stay conscious.

  “You don’t need the weapons behind the chairs.” Ju Won advised, crossing his arms as he continued to watch the scene. “The things around you are just as effective, if not more effective.”

  At the advisement from Ju Won, she found herself more awake with energy. It was a foreign instinct that Yoori didn’t recognize.

  Her eyes narrowed onto the chair beside her. Reaching for the leg of Jung Min’s chair, just when the brothers were ready to advance toward her, she used all the might she had and whipped the chair in their direction. The leg of the chair hit their faces as it flew. This move not only guaranteed a successful attack on the brothers, but it also acted as a shield for another fired bullet that she didn’t even see coming.

  “Now get up!” Ju Won roared. Beside him, Dong Min and Jung Min were still recovering from her recent attack. “Every time you sit there not attacking, you’re a second closer to losing! Your initiation ends in 20 seconds. End it being victorious!”

  It was an out of body experience for Yoori.

  When Ju Won’s roaring voice entered her, her body leapt up like it had been doused with life. Taking several steps back, she ran toward Ju Won’s chair at full speed, jumped onto it and while using the back rest as a boost, she delivered a powerful spin kick that connected with the cheeks of Jung Min and Dong Min, leaving them to stagger to the floor. When she landed on the floor, not in the least bit finished with her attack, she served both with a prevailing kick that had the heels of her boots pressing into their noses.

  The sound of beeping commenced as blood streamed down their noses and they fell to the floor.

  Her five minutes…were up.

  When Yoori fell to the floor, exhaustion riding her, her head bumped against the edge of Ju Won’s chair. Paying no mind to it, for it seemed so small compared to the rest of the pain she was enduring, she merely leaned against it and closed her eyes. Her breathing was heavy but the pain wallowing through her was heavier.

  Once she regained her steady breathing, Yoori cautiously opened her eyes. She stilled. She observed that both Dong Min and Jung Min had just wiped the blood from their noses and were actually standing up. With dots of their own blood marring their expensive dress shirts, they casually cracked their necks and stretched their arms as they stood straighter. From how they were standing and behaving, it didn’t even appear like her attack did that much damage to them.

  Ju Won laughed at the stupefaction on her face. He kneeled on one knee beside her, his smirk graduating into a smile. He watched her, his eyes warmer than she had ever seen it.

  “What do you guys think?” he asked the elder brothers, his full attention never leaving Yoori’s.

  “Her fighting skills are nonexistent,” Jung Min critiqued with a sigh.

  “Yet her heightened instincts are alive and well.” Dong Min smirked, wiping some blood that was slipping out of his nose with his sleeve. “Not to mention her ability to quickly learn is impressive as well.”

  Ju Won nodded. “Your survival instincts are a force to be reckoned with.” His smile morphed into a scolding frown. “But your killer instincts are very much lacking. There were more than several occasions where you could’ve stabbed them with the jagged edges of your pool stick. Not to mention, you missed the prime opportunity to snap their necks apart after your spin kick.” He took an indrawn breath and stared at her reprovingly. “You refuse to be a killer in this world, Choi Yoori? Is that it?”

  She wanted to answer him with a “yes” but she was too afraid to. Her mind was still too preoccupied with everything – fear and confusion being the dominant emotions. The only word that dared to slither out of her bloody lips was silence.

  Ju Won shook his head at her.

  “There’s still unfinished business left on the table...” he murmured, turning his gaze to the side.

  Yoori didn’t know if he was just murmuring to himself or murmuring to her. Her instincts told her it had something to do with her lookalike. Afraid of the sudden intensity that reveled in Ju Won’s firm gaze when he returned his eyes to her, Yoori felt the overwhelming need to save herself from any trouble with Ju Won. She began by distancing herself from the one person she was sure she reminded him of.

  “I’m n–not her.”

  Ju Won raised his hand as a way of interrupting her. “It doesn’t matter,” he hushed sternly, his voice very entertained. “It doesn’t matter who you are. At this point, it doesn’t matter.” His eyes lit up. “But just know that as a spectator, I’ll be watching everything with much interest.”

  As he prepared to stand up, he then squatted down again and added, “And as a pearl of wisdom, you should know that Kwon Tae Hyun and Lee Ji Hoon didn’t get to the position they are in today by being fools. They are both selfish, arrogant, power-hungry and calculating little bastards.” He laughed dryly. “This in turn makes them ideal candidates for being the first true Lord of the Underworld.”

  Yoori gaped at him dubiously. “Why are you telling me this?”

  Ju Won shrugged mildly. “It’s just for your own personal reference and a fair warning. They will do whatever it takes to get what they want in the end. And you, my child, shouldn’t be afraid of extending the same courtesy.”

  Without allowing Yoori time to absorb his words, Ju Won stood up, ending their interaction with a statement of dismissal. “Now please leave. I’d like to meet with Tae Hyun and Ji Hoon privately.”

  Not having to be told twice, for she had been ready to leave since she entered this building, Yoori used Ju Won’s chair as a means to prop herself up.

  As a courtesy, she smiled wryly at the three Advisors. They were watching her with their arms folded, their faces expressionless. She limped past them, pain rippling throughout her body. She grimaced. It felt like she had just been through a war. Hard to believe that it was only five minutes of beating – five minutes worth of beating that left five years worth of toll on her now broken body.

  Before leaving, Yoori stopped in her tracks. Tilting her head back, she found herself doing a gradual 360-degree turn. She stared up at the darkness that inhabited the ceilings. Then she listened. Her eyes became vigilant as she listened to the snipers’ breathing. She could sense it. They were terrified of her.

  Yoori almost found herself lost
in another stupor when she felt her body twitch in pain, begging her to go lay down somewhere. Ceasing her impromptu staring, Yoori began toward the door once more. The brown oak doors creaked open when she neared it. She pulled at the knob, ready to walk out when she heard something that made her stop in her tracks.

  She turned like a snake, locking eyes with Ju Won.

  He did not repeat himself and she did not need him to. She heard every word he conveyed – she just didn’t understand the meaning behind it.

  “It is only unjust for the people who kneel before you.”

  34: The Heir to the Throne

  Emerging out of the darkness and into the dim lighting of the corridor, a traumatized Yoori was met by an anxious Tae Hyun. He was waiting impatiently by the door, his arms folded in anticipation. An equally anxious Ji Hoon, crouched on the opposite side of the door, was next to him.

  "Where are you hurt?" they both asked at the same time, each advancing to her with the swiftest of speeds.

  By the manner in which they paused, it was clear that both gang leaders concluded that it was a stupid question to ask. It was obvious she was hurting everywhere.

  Surprised by the genuine worry in each of their voices, Yoori, still flabbergasted by what occurred in the meeting room, just stared at both of them awkwardly, unable to part her bloody lips to answer.

  In response to her uncomfortable silence, Tae Hyun and Ji Hoon merely glared at one another without muttering a word.

  Yoori thought it was interesting and out of character how they didn't exchange words of insults. However, she concluded that they must've spent enough time talking – or arguing – with one another while she was “initiated” in that five minutes timeframe.

  "I'm okay," she said when she found her voice.

  Even though the statement was far from the truth, she didn't want them to worry. Given that they were about to go into the meeting with the Advisors, they didn’t need to be distracted.