The War of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 3) (76 page)

“Cobras,” Soo Jin greeted with a nod, feeling more of her old self return. She stalked across the room like a lion. She made sure to make eye contact with every single one of them before she stopped beside the stairs next to the pillar. “The very pride of the Serpents,” she continued in a whimsical tone. She sized them all up before smirking. “I take it all of you are here to gather information for your boss on what happened the other night, correct?”

They didn’t answer her question.

Instead, the female leader, the one who stumbled upon the tea said, “It’s an honor to finally meet the celebrated Queen of our world.”

The woman’s eyes were gleaming at the thought of challenging someone so revered. The rest of the Cobras shared this excitement, and it sparked a fire inside Soo Jin. It was the very fire that pumped in her veins when her ruthlessness was present. Soo Jin could see in their gazes that it no longer mattered why they were sent to the club and what their mission was. The only thing that concerned them was that they had stumbled upon the Queen herself. They were exhilarated for the opportunity to finally fight someone who held such a torch over their world.

“It would be a bigger honor to challenge you,” the male leader spoke, his eyes fearless. His voice shared the anticipation of his fellow assassins. “We’ve heard such legendary things about you.”

“That and the simple fact that our Serpents brothers were recently slaughtered by you makes this meeting a big treat for us,” another male with a Mohawk spoke. Anger was prominent in his voice.

This made Soo Jin laugh. For the first time in days, she genuinely laughed. The Cobras telling her that they wanted revenge was akin to hearing a child tell you they were going to beat you to death. It was too comical. “Oh, so you want revenge? Is that it?” she teased.

Offended by her laughter and her flippant demeanor, the sternness in their faces darkened.

“Our boss would be pleased if he finds out the assassins he trained were able to kill such a celebrated Queen,” the male leader spoke, pride already reveling in his voice.

The blood in her veins seared at the knowledge that they were doing this for Ho Young. It was never a good idea for someone to bring up Ho Young to her, and it was a far worse idea for anyone to challenge her.

Soo Jin would be lying if she said she also wasn’t pleased. It had been so long since she last challenged a group of highly trained fighters, and she had missed it so. The thought of what she had to do with the “57” scar entered her mind while her eyes assessed each of them. It would be fun to mix work and play together.

“Let’s play then,” she cajoled, cracking her neck in preparation for the fun she was about to have. Planning a war against her brother aside, Soo Jin lived for the thrills that came with fighting skilled soldiers and conquering them. It was sustenance to her pride and stimulation for her entertainment. It was wonderful, it was magical, it was distracting, and it was fun as hell. She couldn’t wait.

“One on one?” the female leader spoke. Despite the enthusiasm they all shared, she also wanted to be fair. This was a quality that Soo Jin respected; it wasn’t enough to convince Soo Jin to go soft on the little snakes, but it was enough for her to view them as formidable opponents.

“Let’s be fair,” Soo Jin proposed carelessly, knowing that her skills far exceeded theirs. “Ten on one.”

The battle that ensued between Soo Jin and the Cobras was one that she didn’t anticipate to be so
. . .
enjoyable. As she lurched over tables, broke chairs apart to use as weapons, jumped onto balconies while fighting assassins in midair, An Soo Jin had never felt more exhilarated and challenged in her life. She performed backflips and spin kicks that left some opponents flying into the air while simultaneously head-butting and throwing some down on the tables with force.

The Cobras were no match for her, but they were the best group of assassins she ever had the pleasure of fighting. They were so skilled, so full of agility, and so strong that she actually had to double the effort she usually used whenever she fought with her opponents. The ones she had fought rarely, if ever, had the same fighting abilities as her. She was thoroughly impressed that these Cobras lived up to their reputations and more. The joy it brought her was drug-like.

Soo Jin gave them a break from her beatings and crouched on a nearby table. She watched them writhe on the floor, still trying to gather their inner strengths to fight her again. In that second, it was evident to her that Ho Young wasn’t the master who trained these skilled killers. She knew how Ho Young fought, and it wasn’t possible that he was the one who trained them.

It was someone else who was more skilled and powerful.

“Ho Young wasn’t the one who trained you,” Soo Jin stated, looking at them shrewdly. Curiosity marked her features. She wondered who this formidable person could be. “Who trained you?”

When they spoke the name, Soo Jin saw the light at the end of her once dark tunnel.

Though many were trying to regain their strength and their breaths, one gave her a hostile look and said, “The Prince.”

Life invaded her body and her eyes broadened in delight.

“Kwon Tae Hyun,” she thought out loud.

In every society, there are always individuals who are gifted with the ability to anticipate the future before anyone else. In that select group, there are also elites who could orchestrate future events. For Soo Jin, as she scanned the group of the best and most skilled assassins she had ever had the honor of fighting, she saw in them the
God who created them.

She now understood what Ju Won meant when he said that Young Jae, Ho Young, and even Ji Hoon did not have what it took to be a Lord. They simply weren’t legendary enough. Despite her love for Ji Hoon and the bias she wanted to have for him, this was a statement that she not only agreed on, but also one she finally understood.

Only a legend can foresee the future of another legend.

This quality was exactly why Ju Won chose Soo Jin to be his first advisee; this was why he chose to personally train her. As a revered legend, he saw the indescribable quality that he knew would lead her to everlasting greatness.

The revered Queen understood it all too clearly as the Prince of Serpents invaded her mind.

No matter his current station in life, no matter how unknown he was compared to the rest of the Kings, and no matter how distant he seemed, Soo Jin knew as easily as she knew the wonders that awaited her future that he was going to turn this world upside down. Ji Hoon may stand beside her, Young Jae and Ho Young may be casualties of her war, but Kwon Tae Hyun would be the last thing standing between her throne and her immortality as a legend in this world.

Because he was it—he was the one she spent years training for. He was that one other mountain who was meant for the same greatness as her, and he was the one who would give her the fight of their lives when their confrontation came to a head. Soo Jin smiled, feeling remnants of her human side fading under the touch of competitiveness that was overtaking her body, reminding her again why she had to be a God in the face of human limitations.

Her biggest enemy in the future became her biggest savior because the prospect of his greatness reminded her of her own. Her smile grew wider as she felt the vitality of life return to her, the pathetic human emotions leaving her.

The duel of the century,
she thought with excitement before she fought, overpowered, and sliced the number “57” onto his beloved Cobras’ cheeks. For good measure, she even killed the youngest Cobra to set off the hatred she needed the future King to have for her. She wanted him livid, at his deepest rage, when they would finally meet face to face and battle one another.

Soo Jin was so delighted that she had finally met her match that she couldn’t even focus. Adrenaline and excitement revved up inside her as she carelessly dumped the young girl’s corpse from her grasp. She strode out of the club feeling like a God again. Her heart was pumping erratically, and she had never felt more alive, more ready to do what she needed to do to get the Siberian Tigers’ throne and finish Young Jae off. She was more than ready to face the one King who would give her the battle she had been dying to have since she was ten—a legendary duel.

Eager to set something else in motion, Soo Jin dialed the number to one of her associates in the States once she got into her Lamborghini.

“I want Kwon Tae Hyun to come home,” she told the man. Although she couldn’t see him, she knew he was furrowing his brows in bewilderment. He was thrown off by her unexpected orders.

“By force?”

“No,” Soo Jin answered with a cunning smile. She already knew what to do to get him to come home on his own will. “Get your associates and start the whispers in America: Kwon Ho Young has been raping his baby sister. Spread it, make sure it floats over to him, and Kwon Tae Hyun will come running.”

“Why do you want him to come home, boss?” her associate asked curiously.

The memory of her father and how he died flashed in her mind. Young Jae was going to receive the same betrayal from her. And Ho Young
. . .
Ho Young needed the same betrayal, and she wanted his younger brother to be the one who bequeathed it upon him. She was killing two birds with one stone because she also wanted to ensure a future for Tae Hyun.

“I want him to kill Ho Young,” she said blithely. She additionally added in her mind:
And I want him to be the new King of Serpents.

She wanted him to get this position.

She wanted him to rise to power.

She wanted him to be the candidate to become the Lord of the Underworld, and when everything was ready, she wanted to fight him for it.

Soo Jin laughed to herself, thinking about the irony of her life as she went back home and finished recording the tape to commemorate this wonderful turn of event.

In the face of human emotions, how ironic was it that Kwon Tae Hyun, someone she had never met, was the only one powerful enough to make her want to fight through all of this turmoil and become a God? How ironic was it that he was the only one who was able to save her life when she was about to be consumed by human emotions?

An Young Jae.

Kwon Ho Young.

Lee Ji Hoon.

None of the current Kings had ever given her such a reason to live, to want to fight for the throne.

But Kwon Tae Hyun
. . .
Kwon Tae Hyun was different.

Kwon Tae Hyun was going to be epic.

He was going to be powerful, and he was going to be a force to be reckoned with in this world. He would give her the battle of a lifetime, and he was going to make an immortal legend out of her—for conquering him and killing him would be the gift she gives herself when she stands amongst the heavens alone, without another towering mountain to overshadow her.

Soo Jin’s calculating smile became lethal. She was going to enjoy meeting Tae Hyun, she was going to enjoy fighting him, and she was going to enjoy killing him.

Soo Jin had no idea as she finished her recording, imported the file into the USB stick, and returned to the Siberian Tigers’ estate to hide it, how much her life was going to go astray after that night was over. She had no idea how wrong everything was going to turn out. That her brother had anticipated her betrayal because he was tipped off, that Ho Young had somehow saved her and hid her, and that she would get amnesia and forget all about Ji Hoon, all the while (much to her own horror) allowing her human counterpart to finally come out and breathe in the world for the three years to follow.

Everything after that night went wrong for her.

Everything went wrong except one thing: Tae Hyun.

The one she had never met, the one she didn’t know, and the one who would become the most prominent person in her life
. . .
nearly everything she anticipated for him happened.

After hearing the rumors about his brother raping his younger sister, Tae Hyun
did return home. He did kill Kwon Ho Young, and he did succeed the Serpents’ throne. And just as she had predicted, he did become one of the most revered Kings in the Underworld. Not only that, but he also became the biggest contender for the Lord of the Underworld throne—the very same throne that she sought and the very same throne she was willing to fight to the death for.

“Future King of Serpents, I can’t wait to meet you, conquer you, and kill you,” she stated elatedly, reveling in the thought of being exposed to something so fun, so exciting, and so thrilling in the near future.

Soo Jin inhaled expectantly, turning off the camera and setting the next three years of her life into motion.

“We are going to give each other the once-in-a-lifetime duel that only Gods could dream of.
”

“
Once you’re in, the only exit is death.”

31: Welcome Back to the Underworld

Before the changing of tides, there is always silence.