The End of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 4) (51 page)

“That stupid duck shouldn’t have gotten in the way of a flying gun,” she growled, trying to take the accountability off of her. How the hell was she supposed to anticipate a suicidal duck getting hit by her gun? She bit her lips and stupidly added, “The other ducks should’ve warned him.”

“By saying what?” Tae Hyun asked incredulously, still gaping at the knocked out duck. “‘Hey fellow duck! There’s a flying gold gun coming at you!
Duck
!’”

Yoori was now beside herself. She had no more mechanisms for defending herself other than resorting to being angry with Tae Hyun. He always chose those feathery animals over her.

“You always side with those ducks,” she stated bitterly.

“You’re not the one knocked out cold in the lake right now,
Choi
.”

“Maybe I should knock you out and have you join your buddies,
Kwon
.”

“You always ruin the mood,” he retorted, amusement overfilling his voice. It was apparent that although Tae Hyun loved this species of animals dearly, he couldn’t deny that the situation they found themselves in was just ridiculous and utterly hilarious. His lips twitched to keep from bursting out into laughter. “Anytime we do anything and get romantic, you always manage to find a way to kill the mood.”

Yoori kept quiet because she knew it was true.

In her defense, who could have anticipated this? Tae Hyun had tossed his guns without trouble, and he had touched her heart and soul when he did that. Yet, when she tossed her guns after much contemplation, instead of securing herself a way in touching Tae Hyun’s heart, she wound up touching a funny bone in his body instead. The absurdity of life was too funny to her. If this didn’t make them human, she did not know what would.

“It’s not like I meant to do it,” Yoori grumbled under her breath.

As a response, Tae Hyun could only nod while both of them, with much curiosity, folded their arms and stood closely together. Their eyes were still locked on the poor floating duck. At that moment, there were other ducks quacking around it, poking at it with their beaks as if to say
, “Dude! Wake up, you’re going to drown soon if you don’t!”

“This is our life,” Tae Hyun breathed out in amazement long seconds later. Above them, the morning sun continued to bloom over the land.

“This is our life,” Yoori repeated, sharing the same amazement. Their past and future were not ideal, but their present was just too wonderful to not be in awe of. “This is
our
silly life.”

No more guns, no more blood, and no more darkness—just ducks, boomerangs, and
Paris
.

Done with giving his attention to the duck, Tae Hyun turned away from the lake and rested his eyes on Yoori. A mischievous sensuality cloaked his eyes. It was a sensuality that had her entire body coming alive in wonder. Playful and pensive Tae Hyun had left the building while irresistible, charming, and seductive Tae Hyun was out of his cage and ready to play.

“For ruining the mood of our otherwise monumental and life-changing moment,” he began in a business-like tone, his eyes still dark with desire, “I want seven babies.”

Tires screeched to a halt in her head. “Uh . . .
what
?”

“Seven kids,” he repeated, capitalizing on the fact that she was more than freaked out with his proposition. Leave it to Tae Hyun to mess with Yoori in a way that no one else could. “I want seven chubby little kids,” he continued as her eyes grew wider and wider from shock, “snobs and brats alike, running around the place, driving me crazy.”

He laughed, humorously wrapping his arms around her. He pulled her into his warm, hard body before seductively nipping her lips.

“You know what that means, right?” he prompted, his lips moving from her lips to her jaw, her chin, and then her neck. The trail of his kiss nearly drove her insane. She fought to maintain her equilibrium when all she wanted to do was succumb to the weakening of her legs and allow Tae Hyun to have his way with her. “It means that I’m going to keep you round and deliciously plump with our babies.”

Enjoying euphoric pleasures aside, Yoori couldn’t help but get alarmed at the thought of herself being “deliciously plump” with
seven
babies.

“Seven kids?” Yoori choked out, her eyes wide like golf-balls. She knew he was joking, but goddamn, seven kids? She laughed to herself, shaking her head as she jokingly pulled herself out of his grasp. “Well, it seems you’re gonna have to find yourself a mistress, buddy, because I’m not a bunny making machine.”

“We’ll give each of the kids a duck as their pet as well,” he continued to tease, biting his lips to keep from laughing at the ridiculousness of what he was saying. 

Joke or not, Yoori was appalled. “A— a duck?!”

He was going to gift their nonexistent, hypothetical chubby kids with her archenemies? If that wasn’t a recipe for disaster, then she didn’t know what was.

“Well, not Korean ducks because they hate us here,” he corrected as if reading her mind. “But we can give them French ducks. We haven’t pissed off that country’s ducks yet.”

“Don’t birds migrate?” she asked gravely, her eyes shifting uncomfortably to the ducks in the lake behind them.

Tae Hyun was quiet as well, his face shrouded with uncertainty. After an ominous breath, he slowly said, “You think the Korean ducks will follow us?”

They took a minute to stare at each other in a stupefied silence. Then, they just burst out laughing at the absurdity of their conversation.

“Peace out, Korean ducks!” Yoori shouted joyfully, raising both her hands at the lake.

“It’s been a good run!” Tae Hyun added, raising one hand to wave at them while his other arm was still wrapped around Yoori’s waist. Together, they waved and walked backwards, treading further and further away from the lake and closer and closer to their new life together. “Thanks for putting up with this duck-hater! We shall let her be the misery of the French ducks now!”

Yoori was laughing as she ran back to the lake house.

“Hey Snob! We have half a day left before our flight to Paris. What should we do with our time?”

He grinned, running towards her with the speed of a bull and picking her up with ease. “I have something fun in mind,” he proposed. His hot breath glided over her skin as Yoori instinctively wrapped her legs around his hips and circled her arms around his neck. His body was hot, hard, and welcoming, just like how she blissfully remembered it from the night before. “It involves you screaming my name the entire time from sheer euphoria. You know . . . something like last night.”

“Uh-uh,” she joked, moving her index finger from side to side. “Just because we’re friends with benefits now doesn’t mean that you get guaranteed,
you-knowing
, like last night, Kwon.” She wrapped herself tighter around him. The same desire that teemed in his eyes rippled in hers. “You have to work for it.”

“Oh, I plan on it, Princess,” he whispered, already lost in the yearning he had for her. He sighed before staring at the outfit she had on. A sultry and suggestive voice filled her ears when he said his next words. “I love seeing you wear nothing but my hoodie, but I love seeing you naked even more.”

“Funny,” Yoori mused, nibbling on his ear with her tongue. “I was about to say the same thing about you.”

“Yeah?” Tae Hyun asked, holding her as he treaded back inside their lake house.

Yoori grinned sheepishly. “Yeah.”

He chuckled at this, kicking the doors down as they barreled inside, completely and utterly lost in their desires for one another. “Let’s give each other what we want then.”

They barely made it up the stairs before their impatience took over and they took each other right then and there on the steps of their lake house. The glorious sunrise flooded around them, shielding them and giving them another stolen moment of paradise.

Another stolen moment of heaven . . . before hell came back to claim them.

“And you might happen upon it without having to look for it.”

28: Two Steps from the Underworld

“Paris . . . I can’t believe I’m finally going to Paris!”

Sweeping through the busy airport terminal, where they received giggles of approval and murmurs of jealousy as no one glowed brighter than the beautiful couple, Tae Hyun and Yoori were locked hand in hand as they walked towards their plane to finally prepare for boarding. They were both dressed in all black. Yoori was wearing his black hoodie with the hood resting on top of her head and a comfortable pair of pants, while Tae Hyun wore black pants, a leather jacket, and a hat to shield the upper features of his face with its shadow.

“I can’t wait to see the Eiffel Tower,” Yoori whispered, tightening her hold on his hand.

She thought about all the romantic things they’d do there, and she couldn’t help but be gleeful. Although she was certain that the Underworld had already begun to send people after them, she was also positive that it would probably take her vengeful society a while to track them down. Tae Hyun was very careful in not using any of his personal funds to finance this trip, only enlisting the help of those that he trusted from his college years and were outside of the Underworld circle. This was why this trip to Paris took a couple of days to plan. His contacts were being very careful to ensure that nothing leaked out to reveal where Tae Hyun and Yoori were going. However intimidating it was that the entire Underworld was after them, Yoori still wouldn’t change anything about her situation. She would gladly live life on the run as long as she was with her own Paris.

“I want to dance underneath the Eiffel Tower,” Yoori continued, “and then I want to kiss you underneath it.”

Tae Hyun looked down at her with a smile. His eyes gleamed with excitement. “Far be it from me to complain about you wanting to kiss me underneath it.”

“If you dare say my lips are salty again, I’ll bash you with a Parisian umbrella and run off with some French guy,” she warned, being reminded of his bleak observation about her lips when he first stole her kiss.

“Well, aren’t you the little romantic minx?” he said dryly. He then smirked. “I’d like to see you attempt to run off with some French guy though.” His tone of voice was aloof, like he didn’t think she would do it.

“What?” Yoori asked, catching on to his sarcasm. “You think I’m not capable of being shady?”

“No,” he appeased. “I think you’re
very
capable of being very shady, but I’m not worried. To be shady in another country, one would have to speak the language.” He grinned at her. “Do you even know
how
to speak French?”

“Of course I do,” she lied. She didn’t know left from right about anything French, other than the fries.

As a test to verify her answer, Tae Hyun started mumbling something in French, and Yoori’s eyes bloomed in awe.

“What did you just say?” she asked wondrously, giving away that she had obviously lied about knowing how to speak French.

A slow, sexy smile met his lips. “What I’d like to do to you in bed with the Eiffel tower in the background.”

“You know,” Yoori prompted, very turned on with her multilingual
“
friend with benefits”
.
“You could easily say,
‘Your ass is fat’,
and I wouldn’t know better and still think it was sexy.”

He nodded mischievously, laughing as he raised their interlocked hands and planted a kiss behind the back of hers. “This is why I love having the language advantage. I could get away with saying anything.”

Yoori rolled her eyes with a playful snort. They continued to laugh, walking for several more minutes before their gate was finally in sight. Tae Hyun pulled out their tickets, smiling at Yoori as they continued to walk closer to their new beginning.

Yoori felt her heart race in anticipatory excitement. They took the first step by choosing one another. The second and final step was the one she was most excited about. She had never been more hopeful and eager to board a plane in her life.

Paris.

After so many hardships, so many obstacles, and so many tears, they were
finally
going to Paris.

They were near the gate,
just a couple of steps left towards their new life together
, when Tae Hyun’s phone started to ring.

“Who is it?” Yoori asked just as they got in line to board the plane. While still holding her hand, Tae Hyun pulled his phone out. He glimpsed at the Caller ID and smiled in perplexity.

“Hae Jin,” he told her.

Yoori’s smile grew wide. “Yeah?”

Excited to talk to Hae Jin, and perhaps Kang Min, before they boarded the plane, Tae Hyun and Yoori excused themselves from the line and went to a private area in the terminal to speak. Standing beside several large plants with the night view of the stationary airplanes in the background, Tae Hyun placed the phone on speaker.

“Hae Jin,” Tae Hyun greeted warmly, holding the phone up between himself and Yoori. There was a big smile on his face. It was evident that Tae Hyun had missed his baby sister dearly. He was ecstatic to be able to talk to her before their flight. “What’s going on? Are you already in Sydney?”

“Now that would be the convenient alternative, wouldn’t it?”

The colors that once illuminated their faces were drained of vitality. The instant Yoori and Tae Hyun heard the familiar voice of Lee Ji Hoon stream through the speaker, Yoori could feel herself spiral down. Her brief moment in heaven was over and her descent back into the depths of Hell—or in this particular case, the Underworld—had just begun.

The breath left her body as she watched a once carefree Tae Hyun close his eyes in agony. His face contorted in misery when it became clear to him that they were going to get dragged back into the hell of the Underworld much sooner than they had anticipated.

As she watched the wretchedness take over his visage, Yoori could feel her own body tremble. The happiness that once inhabited her body dispersed, leaving her to feel only dread and misery when she concluded the inescapable truth:
Ji Hoon had them
.

Ji Hoon had Hae Jin and Kang Min.

In that precise instant, all her dreams of ever making it to Paris with Tae Hyun were
destroyed
with a simple phone call. Letting out a pained exhalation, she hopelessly fell back against the sky-high window. She gazed dejectedly at Tae Hyun. All she could do was helplessly listen to the phone conversation that would change the course of their lives forever.

“Lee Ji Hoon,” Tae Hyun spoke gravely into the phone. His voice was filled with business-like composure, yet the undercurrent beneath it coursed with steel. An unforgiving fire burned in his gaze when he opened his eyes. He was momentarily perturbed, yes, but due to his years of training as a King of the Underworld, Tae Hyun was also skilled at keeping his composure—no matter how worried and angry he may be. Swallowing tightly, his grip on the phone grew stronger. While a muscle leapt in his strong jaw, he solemnly added, “Where is my sister?”

Ji Hoon’s cruel laughter transmitted through the phone.

“You know, it’s a funny story,” he launched lightheartedly, the absurdly big smile on his face pouring out of his voice. “I actually ran into her when she was in the car with Kang Min. I think both were getting ready to leave the country.” He paused as if to look at something. “Oh yes, Sydney. They were looking to head out to Sydney when I ran into them.” His lighthearted tone of voice evolved into a darker tone with his next statement. “They’re a bit tied up right now, which is why I’m calling you, Tae Hyun.”

“What do you want?” Tae Hyun demanded through clenched teeth. The composure he once held was fading fast. He was trained to be better than this, but when faced with the possibility of his loved ones being hurt, no amount of training would prepare him for this.

“You know what I want,” Ji Hoon responded at once. There was no more amusement in his voice. He, like Tae Hyun, was ready to get down to business.

“I’ve already given up the throne.” The fury multiplied on Tae Hyun’s face. “I’ve cut all ties with the Underworld, and I’m no longer going after you,
you piece of
s
hit
. None of this could have worked out better for you. Why the
f
uck are you doing this?”

“Because your very existence aggravates me,” Ji Hoon retorted emotionlessly. “You’ve been the bane of my existence since your appearance in my layer, and you’ve been nothing but a nuisance to me. I’m sick of how much this world reveres you over me, and I’m sick of everyone falling to their knees for you. I want to put you in your place.”

“Then come after me,” Tae Hyun said calmly. “Let my sister and Kang Min go. They have nothing to do with us.”

An exasperated sigh emitted from Ji Hoon’s lips. “I don’t think you seem to understand the dire predicament that you’ve found yourself in, Tae Hyun. You are in no position to offer up suggestions as to what I should do.” A slight pause occurred as Ji Hoon seemed to have taken a moment to look at something. After a second of tense silence, his cold voice added, “Perhaps your baby sister will do a better job of imparting to you the severity of this situation.”

A transitory silence came over the line.

Then—

A hard slap rang into the phone.

“Ahhh!”

Hae Jin’s screams came out through the receiver, breaking Yoori and Tae Hyun’s hearts as her labored breathing filtered through the speaker.

“Don’t you fucking touch her!” They heard Kang Min’s voice just before the sound of someone hitting him stole his breath.

“Noooo! Kang Min! Don’t hurt him. Pleas—ah!”

Another thundering slap filled the receiver, silencing Hae Jin once more.

On the other line, Tae Hyun and Yoori felt themselves unraveling. Any shred of composure they had dissipated with Hae Jin’s screams. For a King and Queen who were accustomed to protecting the ones they loved, the fact that they could not help Hae Jin and Kang Min was soul-wrenching.

With his eyes closed in anguish, Tae Hyun slammed his forehead against the window. His free hand clenched into a frustrated fist while Yoori inhaled shakily, her agonized hands running through her hair in misery. She felt her heart and soul break at the sounds of Hae Jin and Kang Min being beaten by Ji Hoon.

Unable to regulate his anger, a furious Tae Hyun roared, “Ji Hoon! Don’t you dare lay another hand on—!”

Another ear-splitting slap thundered through the speaker.

Hae Jin’s scream after the third slap was what caused Tae Hyun to contort his face in torture. Afraid that his screams would antagonize Ji Hoon and give him more fuel to hurt Hae Jin, Tae Hyun stopped midway in his sentence and winced in misery. It was torture for Tae Hyun. For the first time in his life, he was absolutely helpless.

“What,” he enunciated in controlled anger. “Do. You. Want?”

Pleased with receiving the response that he wanted, Ji Hoon’s voice came over the line. The sounds of Hae Jin’s soft cries and Kang Min’s angry voice became dimmer and dimmer in the background.

“Come meet me, Tae Hyun, and I’ll let them go.”

“No! Oppa, don’t come!” the distant voice shouted in horror.

“Don’t come! Don’t come!” Kang Min’s voice yelled desperately. He could scarcely get another word out before the sound of fists hitting flesh came over the line. Then, with the sound of a heavy door closing, their voices ceased to exist.

Though silence had presided over the line, the volcanic eruption within Yoori was uncontainable when she grabbed the phone from Tae Hyun.

“Lee Ji Hoon!” she roared. The monster in her was hungry for his blood. She could no longer tolerate listening to this. She wanted nothing more than to rip this fucker to pieces. “If you fucking lay another hand on them—”

“Ah, there you are, baby,” Ji Hoon interjected, his voice lighting up after hearing her voice. There was a mixture of adoration and amusement in his tone. He knew that she had been listening in on the call. It delighted him that she finally made herself known. “I’ve missed the sound of your voice. How are you?”

Nausea plagued her with how this scumbag was speaking to her.

“Leave them out of this,” she growled instead, ignoring his attempt at exchanging pleasantries with her. “We’ve already given up the throne. You can have it—everything. The Underworld is yours. We’re no longer after you, we’re no longer a threat to you. Take advantage of that, let them go, and leave us alone.”

A mocking laughter came through the receiver. “As much as I love the thought of my ex-girlfriend running off with the one bastard I hate the most in this world, I’ll have to insist on seeing you both tonight, just to settle some things and give our lives some closure.”

“You won’t be seeing her,” Tae Hyun snapped, snatching the phone from Yoori.

“Tae Hyun,” Yoori snapped just as angrily. “I’m coming—”