The War of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 3) (41 page)

Just like in the dream, Yoori kicked down the door to the estate
and looked from left to right. Over the years, the mansion had evolved from the memories within her dreams. Luckily, some aspects of it remained the same. Yoori followed her instincts and ran down the corridor. She kicked another door down, nearly knocking it off its hinges. She sped down the stairs with Tae Hyun fast on her heels. They were in the basement where the Serpents stored their weapons and other miscellaneous items. The entire room was cloaked in darkness before Tae Hyun switched on the lights.

Yoori’s eyes zeroed in on a particular spot
when the basement illumed with color.

Recalling her dream, Yoori
threw herself on the ground. She proceeded to move several brown boxes out of her way, revealing a brick wall parallel to her. Her hands shook from the remembrance of what occurred in the dream. Her lungs hyperventilated for air as she reached for the brick. She carefully pulled it out, unearthing a hollow space.

Yoori’s breath hitched.

Something sat inside that hollow space
. . .

The world seemingly sto
pped in its rotation and stood with breathless anticipation as Yoori gazed at what was inside the hollow area.

Oh God
, Yoori thought when she realized that she had just ran across an enormous estate and found the same exact thing that the Soo Jin in her dreams hid. Her eyes swelled incredulously. She assessed the item that saturated the confined space with its small presence. Yoori was almost afraid to touch it. She felt Tae Hyun stand beside her, his eyes locked on the same thing.

A
gold handkerchief rested in the hollow area.

Even under the dim lighting of the basement, it was evident that there was a bloody handprint on it. Yoori also noticed that an object was wrapped within it. She took in a
deep inhalation to calm her nerves and to prepare herself for the revelation to come. Her quivering fingers reached in and wrapped itself around the handkerchief. With bated breath, she pulled it out and unfolded the handkerchief. A gasp fell from her lips when the item was finally revealed.

Lying above the gold fabric was a small jade knife that had
the face of a tiger carved in the center. There was a small hole punctured at the tip of the knife where two red strings ran through it, clasping together at the end to form a necklace. There were remnants of dried blood on the surface of the knife.

“
The jade knife of the Siberian Tigers,” whispered Tae Hyun, observing it from where he stood. Amazement came over him. He regarded it like it was a missing treasure. “It was rumored that the Siberian Tigers possessed a valuable jade knife as their treasured heirloom. It is only passed down to the succeeding Kings or Queens who will take over the gang. No one outside the members of the gang has seen the knife.” Genuine wonder inhabited Tae Hyun’s voice. “I was under the impression that it was all a rumor and that the knife never existed.”

“
This
was what Ju Won wanted?” Yoori breathed out, holding the knife like it was an item immersed with the plague.

Disgust
boiled within her.

Countless people died
. . .
for
this
?

T
he longer she cast her gaze upon it, the worse the throbbing in her mind became. The surface of the jade knife burned through her skin like scalding lava.

“Yoori,
” Tae Hyun called out from behind her. “In the hollow space
,
there’s something else in there.”

He crouched on the floor beside her and
pulled the item out.

A
silver chain dangled from the tip of Tae Hyun’s index finger. On the chain hung a thick, silver heart pendant. Tae Hyun inspected the innocuous object. He turned the necklace around and found that there was a tiny engraving behind it that read: “To my daughter
,
the best are never distracted.”

Yoori’s heart leapt at the words. She knew
instantly that the necklace had nothing to do with the jade pendant. It was merely hidden there by Soo Jin because it was a gift from her father—from Yoori’s father.

Tae Hyun continued to examine it.
“Why is this locket here?” he asked, unbeknownst to himself that his girlfriend had already formulated the answer.

“
To remind herself that she had to be ruthless and that she had to avenge him,” Yoori replied intuitively.

The heart pendant act
ed like a small trigger, unleashing something so massive that she was not prepared for it. Yoori was promptly reminded of the dream she had about Soo Jin and Ji Hoon
. . .

"If you're not going to support me, then that's fine," she uttered, stopping abruptly. She gazed at him unblinkingly, her determination never faltering on what she had to do. "But
do not think for one second that you can change my mind!"

She breathed heavily, gazing at his frozen countenance. "Tonight is the night where he helps me make things right," she continued, her voice breaking. She held back the tears
that were ready to stream out of her eyes. "Tonight is the night where I make things right. If you love me, then you'll help me make things right as well."

Another gasp escaped Yoori’s lips. It suddenly occurred
to her that Soo Jin didn’t mean killing herself would “make things right.” Yoori had always assumed that the Soo Jin in her dream meant killing herself would “make things right,” but she realized now that it wasn’t what Soo Jin meant.

Yoori’s rapid
stream of thoughts ventured on to the incident at the club
.

“
Is that what you want? For this world to kneel under the rule of the Serpents? The fuckers who murdered our father?”

There was judgment in her eyes that she gave away for a split second. It was a look that insinuated Young Jae didn’t care about their father’s death as much as she did.

Soo Jin loved her father immensely. Yoori could feel the love in the marrows of her bones. Was it possible that Soo Jin believed Young Jae was incapable of leading the Scorpions because he couldn’t exact vengeance for her father? Was it possible she felt she would be the best candidate for it because her brother was too “distracted”?

Positively unsettled, Yoori went on to recall her brother’s meeting with the brothers on the lawn
. . .

“Your loyalty was never to me,” Young Jae said severely. There was no forgiveness in his voice. “You were given the option of leaving with the rest to Japan, yet you chose to stay here. As far as I’m concerned, you are no longer Scorpions. Don’t bother greeting me by kneeling. There’s no point. I don’t deal well with ingrates.”

Yoori didn’t think about this too in-depth before, but it was boggling her mind now. Why didn’t Kang Min and Jae Won follow Young Jae to Japan? They had always been so trustworthy. She knew they would not be the type to be disloyal. Still, the whole situation didn’t make sense to her. Shaking, Yoori then recollected the memory of when she was in her room with Kang Min, after the brothers had saved her from Jin Ae and while he was helping pack her things for Tae Hyun’s apartment.

The brothers appeared close enough to each other
, but there was one thing that didn't make sense. Why would two brothers split off and joined different gangs? Why didn't they stay with their boss if they were so loyal to her? Why would they leave?

"Why did you two part ways and joined different gangs?" she asked, finding it hard to keep this question to herself.

Before Kang Min could even think to answer, he was punctually interrupted by a familiar voice.

The truth became clearer when another bombshell hit
.

“57!” the boys started crying out. “57!”

“I told you to fucking stop crying!” Soo Jin snapped.

Her furious screams only made the kids cry harder.

Infuriated, she slapped them across the face to shut them up, but they still wouldn’t listen. They continued to cry and continued to shout out the number. Soo Jin was rubbing her face in irritation. She began to crack under the emotions spilling out of her. Their cries grew louder and louder. They became so desperate that they were even ready to rush over to Young Jae for his help. 

Two heart-stopping gunshots were suddenly fired.

Boom! Boom!

Then,
it all returned to the dream she had about Ji Hoon and Soo Jin.

"He's not going to help you kill yourself."

"If he’s the person I know he is
. . .
he will."

"Baby, don't do this," he pleaded, grabbing her arms to prevent her from retreating. "We'll figure out another way to make things right. You can't risk your life like this."

And finally, as her heart raced beyond limit, as the air around her became insufficient, and as the blood drained from her face, the puzzle pieces came together for her in the most horrific way.

“Tae Hyun
” Yoori began brokenly, finally holding his eyes with hers.

H
e watched her part her shaking lips, his eyes filled with nothing but worry.

“It
. . .
” Yoori continued shakily. “It was never in her plan. It was
never
in Soo Jin’s plan to die.”

Tae Hyun looked at her like he had seen a ghost.

He questioned her again to be sure he heard right. “What did you just say?”

Despite the pain coursing through her, Yoori struggled
with great difficulty to explain. “What happened in the club, all the guilt she felt
. . .
it was all just a smokescreen to hide the bigger part of her plan.” She held Tae Hyun’s hand in feverish fear. Her eyes grew wider from shock. “Before she went into that club, Ju Won must have already told her that the answer was going to be given to her in riddles.” She covered her mouth in anguish and trembled even more. “When the kids started screaming out the answer, she shot them because she didn’t want Young Jae to hear it. She didn’t want him to hear the true answer to the riddle.”

Yoori ignored the
constriction in her chest and continued to speak. Tae Hyun held on to her, his warmth giving her comfort in face of the dark abyss she was swirling into.

“Ji Hoon knew she
wasn’t trying to kill herself. That’s why in my dreams—
my memories
—he said to her, ‘you can’t
risk
your life like this.’ He was in on it the entire time. Her guilt, the tears she shed for that family, and the guilt she felt for betraying her brother may have been real, but the guilt didn’t derail her from her original plan.” Yoori shook her head while a worried Tae Hyun eased the bangs from her pale face. “I think that part of the plan was for her to fake her death and for Ji Hoon to come back for her in the alley. There was also a plan for the brothers, and whoever was under her jurisdiction, to split off and infiltrate other gangs. The formula she gave Young Jae was given to her by Ji Hoon. Soo Jin must’ve known how much she would need to fake her death but
—
”

“
But she couldn’t anticipate Young Jae giving her amnesia and hiding her in a secluded city to protect her from trying to ‘kill herself,’” Tae Hyun finished for her.

The expression on
his face said it all: he was astounded by this revelation.

He exhaled disbelievingly.
“But why would Soo Jin disclose to Young Jae what Ju Won wanted her to do?”

“
Because she still needed the information, and she knew that Young Jae would take the answer as a literal meaning, not a riddled one,” explained Yoori. “Ju Won must’ve had Soo Jin ask the woman a specific question to get a specific answer. I think the woman, or one of her children
. . .
one of them had the jade knife on them.”

“
Which was why Soo Jin returned to the nightclub the second time that night. She went back to retrieve the jade knife,” Tae Hyun thoughtlessly finished for her before something else illuminated in his eyes. “Yoori,” he launched. “To scar my Serpents, that must mean that Soo Jin was sending a message to the Siberian Tigers out there who know of the procedure. Similar to Ji Hoon when he carved a drawing of skulls on the faces of the ones who died in the business district, Soo Jin was using the same tactic for publicity. Only in this case, this specific ‘procedure’ was one only recognized by the active members of the Siberian Tigers. She was sending out the message to them that a new Royal had been crowned, and that they were supposed to wait for the one who had the jade knife.”

“
An Soo Jin annihilated an entire family to assume the throne of the Siberian Tigers,” Yoori concluded painfully.

“
But why would she need Young Jae to help ‘kill’ her?” Tae Hyun asked moments later.

T
hunder boomed in the distance.

“She needed to be excused from the oath she took for him
, and she needed him to believe that she was dead so that she could have time to resurrect the Siberian Tigers. She also needed time for her loyal supporters to infiltrate or form other gangs of their own.” Yoori bit her lower lip. “I think she kept everyone in the dark, only telling certain people what they needed to know.”