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

“Aw, damn it!”

Stopping beside Soo Jin, the hunky one struggled to stabilize the two teapots he was holding. He followed her gaze and stared up at the rain falling from the bejeweled night sky above. Disappointment marred his young face. When it appeared as if he was ready to curse the fates, his once dejected eyes illumed with life after he spotted something in the corner of the patio.

Soo Jin followed his line of sight. Her eyes enlarged when they settled on an enormous black table that sat on the marble floor in the distance. Albeit rain was pitter-pattering on the surface, the world beneath it remained dry and completely sheltered from the rain.

The hunky one smiled, turning back to her. At that moment, Soo Jin knew that he had an alternative plan, which would allow them to stay outside.

“Do you want to go back inside,” he asked her, the tone of his voice indicating an awareness of what her answer would be, “or do you still want to hang out with me?”

“I want to hang out with you . . . only because I want to see what we’re going to do with all of this,” Soo Jin replied easily, deducing from the gleam in his eyes that sitting underneath the table was the alternative plan to protect themselves from the rain. Under normal circumstances, she would not bother to head outside in this rain. Nevertheless, she had already come this far with him. She wasn’t going to leave, not when all the fun was about to begin.

With a mischievous smile to one another and a final nod of confirmation, the two children sprinted across the damp patio, their small shoes clacking over the opulent marble floor of Ju Won’s mansion. Soo Jin was still holding the top fabric of her dress up, fighting to stabilize the supplies they looted from the masquerade ball. Behind her, the hunky one was still trying to balance the two huge teapots to keep them from spilling all around him. Splashes of rain kissed their heads and ran down their bodies. Although they were getting damp, the rain couldn’t soak them fast enough as they ran like there was no tomorrow.

Both expelled an air of relief when they finally reached the table. They wasted no time and began to work together to deposit their stolen treasures underneath it. After that was done, the hunky one slid underneath the table to shift items away in order to make room for Soo Jin. Once he was fully situated, he immediately reached his hand out, helping Soo Jin slide under their rain shelter. With self-satisfied grins that they had outsmarted the weather, they made themselves comfortable underneath their newfound sanctuary. The two ten-year-olds sat with their legs crossed, their backs against the wall, and their faces shrouded with excitement. After a breath, they began to check out their stolen goods while the rain fell melodically around them.

“What are we doing with all of this?” Soo Jin asked as she moved all the various tea packages to one corner and the sugars to the opposite corner.

“I want to find a tea I like, so I’m taste-testing all of it.”

“Oh! Is that why you had a teacup all night?”

He looked at her bizarrely, clearly wondering how she knew he was holding a teacup the whole time. Soo Jin, much to her own horror, gave him a strange look as well. She belatedly realized that she had unknowingly admitted that she had been stalking him throughout the night. Even though he was slightly perturbed by her eccentricity, the boy didn’t delve deeper into
how
Soo Jin knew he had a teacup with him the entire night.

Instead, he casually said, “Since you helped me carry all this stuff here, you can help me decide what tastes good and what can be my new favorite tea.”

Soo Jin grinned in delight. She nodded, both grateful that he didn’t delve into that embarrassing topic and grateful that he wanted her to do this tasting with him. She had never drank tea before and doubted she would like it, but who cared? She had never hid underneath a table during a rainstorm with a cute boy before either!

“Okay.”

Soo Jin began to take each tea flavor out of its respective can. Beside her, the hunky one carefully poured hot water from the teapot into one of the many cups they looted. Once each flavor of the chosen tea leaves was placed into its own cup, Soo Jin and the boy pressed their backs closer against the wall, stared admiringly at Ju Won’s rain-soaked garden, and enjoyed their taste-testing.

“Why are you hiding?” Soo Jin asked him after they sipped three different flavors that they didn’t like. Her face twitched in aversion after tasting the most recent tea. She quickly handed the cup to the boy to taste-test.

Although the drumming of the rain had picked up in intensity during their time outside, the rhythmic drumming became something like a lullaby to their ears. It did well to drown out the crowd within the palatial mansion and the existence of the lively world around them. All that existed in their serene world was the rain, the breathtaking view of the vista before them, the teas, and each other.

Grabbing the cup she handed him, the boy brought the teacup to his lips, tasted the tea, and scrunched up his face in immediate distaste. He dumped the tea out of the cup before answering her. “Because my dad is going to be looking for me soon.”

Soo Jin slanted her head in curiosity. “Do you not like your dad?”

“No, I like him. I like him a lot,” he assured, handing her another flavor to try out. “It’s just . . . it’s just that I’m going to miss my family.”

A part of her heart ached at the depression in his voice. Grabbing the cup, but not yet drinking from it, she probed him for more information. “What do you mean?”

There was a brief expression of despondency on his face. He took a second to bite his lips before answering her.

“Tonight is my last night here,” he told her while motioning for her to drink from the teacup. “In a bit, I’ll be leaving.”

Aware that drinking quickly from the cup would merit the conversation to flow faster, Soo Jin swiftly taste-tested the new flavor. She handed the cup back to him while asking, “Where are you going?”

It was silly, but she could feel a sinking sensation manifest inside her at the thought of him leaving her.

He grabbed the teacup from her and sighed. His voice became the melody that harmonized with the rain. “My dad said that because I’m growing up, I have to be trained to be a man. He’s going to send me to visit his friends from all over the world. He said that they will teach me the ways of the world, turn me into a man, and that when I’m ready, I’ll come back and become trained on how to be
better
than a man. Then I’ll be able to rule over this world as a God amongst men.”

Soo Jin raised her brows. Astonishment heaved through her when she registered that he had been given the same pep talk that Uncle Ju Won had given her. Though the words differed, the meaning was the same. It amazed her to discover that there was someone else going through the exact same thing. Along with that astonishment came jealousy. She was envious that he would get to travel the world while she had to stay in Korea and be trained here. She was jealous of him, but that emotion was fleeting when she took inventory of the apprehension in his demeanor as he drank his tea. He looked brave—
a trait she imagined he would retain as he grew to become a man
—but she sensed his trepidation all the same.

Unable to help herself, she asked, “
Are you scared
?”

He appraised her, his features surprised that she caught the emotion he didn’t physically show. There was an edge of guardedness in his eyes that told her he didn’t plan on answering her. Yet, as he stared deeper into her big brown eyes, his expression softened and the walls he held up came down. He slowly nodded, the weight of the world seemingly resting on his shoulders.

“When my older brother came back to visit during his first year of training, he was different. I mean, he’s still the same. He’s still nice, he still protects me, and I still love him . . . but he changed. He had bruises all over his face, he was limping, and he looked tired and sad all the time.”

Soo Jin’s own memory flashed before her eyes. She remembered Young Jae and how physically torn up he was after his first year of training. It was so bad that he had some facial surgeries for the serious injuries.

The boy went on, taking a sip from the teacup. “I don’t want to train, but if I have to so that no one hurts my family, so that I can protect my family like my dad protects us, then I’ll do it. I’m not scared of getting hurt; I’m scared of becoming
different
.
I like who I am right now; I’m really happy right now. I don’t want to change.” He smiled apprehensively, handing her another teacup before he deposited some tea leaves into the pot between them. “My dad said that my brother was like that too—that he was afraid. He said it’s only normal that I’m afraid because it means I’m human. He said that anyone who trains to become better than human would be afraid and hate what they’re going through. But he also told me that all of it would be worth it. He said that once the training was over, nothing but great things will come to our family. Nothing but great things will come to me—that once I was done, everyone would kneel before me.”

“That’s what they say to me too,” Soo Jin finally shared, her fingers nervously playing with the various teacups filled with remnants of flavors they didn’t like.

The boy turned to her, his face rife with confusion. He arched an inquisitive brow. “What do you mean they say that to you too?”

“I’m leaving too,” she answered quietly, purposely being vague because she didn’t want to tell him that she was staying in Korea instead of being cool and traveling the world like him. They were being “trained” to be better than humans, but even then, Soo Jin knew her training was going to be much different from his. “But I’m leaving tomorrow, not tonight like you.”

Interest teemed in his gaze. Now it was his turn to ask all the questions. “Where are you going?”

“Away,” she answered elusively. It occurred to her how afraid she was. She didn’t grasp how scary all of this was until he mentioned
his
fears. Soo Jin didn’t want to change either. She liked who she was right now. “To learn how to fight, to protect my family, to have great things come to me, and to have people kneel before me.”

His face was veiled with disbelief after he processed what she was telling him. “But you’re a girl.”

Even though that statement could have easily been taken wrong, Soo Jin knew he wasn’t insulting her in a derogatory way. He was simply stating his shock.

“I’m going to be a special girl,” she merely told him, not knowing herself why, out of all the possible Underworld heirs, her Uncle Ju Won chose her to live with him and train with him. As Soo Jin became distracted, she mindlessly stuck another type of tea leaf into the teapot, unaware that the boy had already added something in. “I think I might live forever if I work hard and train right.”

The boy was ready to nod in understanding at the last of her words. He was about to say some comforting words after hearing the sadness in her small voice. He was about to do all those nice things, yet, when he heard her close the lid over the ceramic teapot, all those good intentions obliterated. It occurred to him that she had unknowingly placed random tea leaves into the teapot that he already placed his own tea leaves into.

“What are you putting into the teapot?!” he shouted, causing Soo Jin to jump in surprise, completely knocking her out of her solemn thoughts.

As quick as they were to open up to each other about their fears, the two children were also quick to be distracted when their hotheaded personalities came into play.

Pissed off at him for scaring her, her eyes burned with rage. Her fear of training to become a God was long gone. All that existed was her bitterness towards him.

“Don’t yell at me!” she cried back, not even processing that she was adding some other random stuff into his tea until it was too late. Though she should’ve paid attention, the jerk didn’t have to react so dramatically. Annoyed, she threw the remainder of the random tea leaves into the pot just to piss him off some more. “What’s so special about your teapot that I can’t add things into it? I helped carry all of this here, didn’t I?”

“Those were our last tea flavors, smart one,” he argued back, outraged with her behavior. “We haven’t enjoyed any of the tea. Now you’ve ruined our chance of enjoying these last two. Good going.” To dramatically make his point, he threw a touch of German rock cane sugar into the teapot as well. It was like he was saying, “
Since you already screwed up the tea, I might as well screw it up some more.
”

“I hope you enjoy this last tea because we have no more to taste-test after this mutant one.”

“Do your worst,” Soo Jin retorted bravely, lining up two teacups beside the teapot that was now immersed with mutant tea. Though she was nervous to drink this tea mix, she wasn’t about to chicken out. She participated in helping pollute it; it was only right that she learned how badly it had been messed up. “But if it tastes bad, it’s because
you
added that weird sugar cube thingy.”

The boy rolled his eyes at her shady attempt to take the accountability off herself. With no more delay, he began to pour the contents of the teapot into the teacups. When the tea filled to the brims, they picked up their respective cups. They gazed nervously at one another, and with much hesitation, as if whispering prayers to not die after drinking this tea mix, each took a sip and then . . . something
heavenly
happened.