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

by Con Template

  "I think you should shut up," she countered, her irritation with him intensifying by the second.

  Undeterred by her hostile tone, he spurred forward. "You really don't remember what happened last night? God, you're such a little – " He stopped as though realizing that he shouldn't finish his sentence.

  Fire blazed in Yoori’s eyes. "Little what?" she asked sharply.

  That insufferably charming smile embellished his lips before he turned away from her. "Tease," he said quietly.

  Yoori scoffed again. If she had the guts, she would’ve thrown a handful of cereal at him. She turned away. He was being a complete jackass and she didn't want to deal with it anymore.

  "Can we get past this?" she said with agitation.

  He obviously wasn't telling the truth. Why on earth would she voluntarily get on the ground and sleep next to him? Tease? Images of a girl giving a guy a lap dance popped into her mind. What tease? Yoori and “tease” should not be put into the same sentence. She didn't even freaking know how to tease!

  Tae Hyun smirked, throwing another piece of egg in his mouth. "Fine. We'll stop talking about that. I have something else I want to bring up. We have to talk about your sudden bout with exhaustion." He eyed her seriously. "I know you haven't been getting enough sleep because you're afraid of jumping into bed with me again."

  Yoori bobbed her head in agreement. "Got that right,” she said grouchily, grabbing another handful of frosted flakes and throwing them into her mouth. Would a tease go through that much trouble to not get into a guy's bed? That was what she thought. Of course she wasn’t a tease.

  "That said, you can have the bed. I'll take the floor."

  Yoori found herself coughing incessantly again. She pounded her chest profusely.

  "Excuse me?" she managed to sputter out before she took a huge gulp of water. Did he say what she thought he said? She knew Tae Hyun was being nice last night by letting her have the bed, but she didn't think he was going to make it an everyday occurrence.

  "I said, ‘you can have the bed. I'll take the floor,’" he repeated, not looking at her.

  She saw it in his demeanor. He didn't want to sleep on the floor (who in their right mind would?) but he was willing to do it for her. Despite her mood swings with him, she was touched.

  "Kwon Tae Hyun!" she uttered happily, letting go of all hostility she held for him. "Am I to believe that you have a heart?"

  Tae Hyun's face turned serious at her smiling countenance. He pointed a steady finger at her. "I'm only doing this because I can't have my assistant fainting at the corner of every block. Do you realize how heavy you are? My arms are sore! You will never make me work that hard again."

  The smile evaporated from Yoori's mortified face. Sweetheart stage for Kwon Tae Hyun vanished again. She bit her bottom lip, suppressing the urge to flip him off. Heavy? Heavy?

  "Fine!" she screamed out. Who was she to complain? She got the bed and he got the floor. It all worked out. It all worked out, but she wasn't satisfied. There was a better alternative to this whole dilemma but he was being an ass and ignoring it.

  "That's why you should un-cuff me permanently and let me sleep outside," she countered, shedding light on an option he steadily ignored.

  Tae Hyun snorted. "Nice try, sprinter."

  "I'm not going to run off!"

  "And I'll make sure of that."

  Yoori stared at him incredulously. She didn’t understand him. He'd rather sleep on the floor than un-cuff her?

  "You're a character, you know that?" she stated decisively.

  "Touché," he retorted, finishing his last bite of bacon. He grabbed a napkin and cleaned off the sides of his mouth. "Anyway, glad we could come to an agreement." He rose from the seat and tossed the napkin onto the empty plate. "Now clean up."

  Yoori's jaw sagged as she watched him take a seat in the living room. He lazily picked up his Blackberry and began to check his voicemails, ignoring her as he chilled in “relaxation” land.

  Yoori discarded the cereal box in bitterness. Muttering to herself, she gathered the dirty dishes. She had lost her appetite and was beginning to regret thanking him for his “kindness.” She dragged her feet to the sink and tossed the plates in.

  "Could the volume be any louder?" she whispered as she started wiping down the plates.

  Tae Hyun was checking his voicemails. And they were loud. Very loud.

  A couple of the voicemails were from Tae Hyun's Serpents updating him on the happenings of the Underworld. She rolled her eyes when she heard the giggling voices of girls calling him to "hang out.” They were the girls she was talking about earlier. She couldn’t comprehend why he took so much offense to her stating the truth.

  Once she was done with cleaning up, she went inside the bathroom to brush her teeth and change. She was surprised to find that he was still checking his voicemails when she came out in her jeans and a black top.

  How many voicemails does this guy have, she wondered in amazement. She took a seat on the couch. She grabbed a newspaper from the coffee table and began to read from it, or at least tried to. She was much more interested in eavesdropping on his voicemails.

  "Last voicemail," she heard the lady's voice announce through his phone.

  As she flipped through the newspaper, Yoori looked up in disgust when she heard the sounds that emitted from Tae Hyun's Blackberry. It was the sound of a girl moaning.

  Yoori was dumbfounded. Was the girl having an orgasm over the phone?

  "Who – who are you calling?" The girl in the voicemail asked, her voice breathless. "Hang up right now!"

  Yoori heard a guy laughing before he hung up.

  "End of message. To delete press – " Tae Hyun interrupted the machine by immediately pressing a tab. "Message deleted," the automated message said before he hung up.

  Oh man...

  Yoori stared awkwardly at Tae Hyun. He was breathing hard. His eyes were boiling with fury as he stared off into space. He looked like he was ready to kill someone.

  Questions started thrashing in her mind. Who was the girl? Who was the guy? Was it Jin Ae? It didn't sound like Jin Ae but she could easily be wrong. Judging by the angry look on Tae Hyun's face, Yoori was sure the girl wasn't just a friend.

  Her thoughts were interrupted when she became aware of his eyes on her.

  Grabbing a hooded black jacket that was on the couch, Tae Hyun threw it on. She hated to admit it but in that moment, he really scared her.

  "Choi Yoori," he said, irritably grabbing his Blackberry. "Let's go. I need to go bash some skulls against the wall."

  Yoori sat frozen in her seat, dismay prevailing over her.

  Why did she have the uneasy feeling he was talking about bashing the skulls of the other infamous gang in South Korea?

  “You have to stick by your decisions.”

  14: The King of Skulls

  "Please…please help us," the bloodied man begged in distress. He made an attempt to reach for Yoori's hand. His efforts proved fruitless when he was pulled away by one of Tae Hyun's men.

  Yoori’s ears burned as she listened to him and three other men scream in pain. She retreated further into the corner of the room, closing her eyes in anguish.

  Shortly after leaving Tae Hyun's apartment, his limo took them to a desolate warehouse on the other side of town. As soon as she stepped out of the limo, she knew it wasn't going to be good. Her ears were instantly greeted with sounds of men screaming in agony. She was horrified to find that there were a dozen of Tae Hyun's men pummeling four men to a pulp.

  As Tae Hyun took a seat on the only available chair in the center of the warehouse, Yoori found herself standing in the dark corner of the room, unable to move.

  Moments prior, Tae Hyun had such vibrancy and color to his character but now, his mood was so cold. She knew it was because of the voicemail he received earlier…the one with the girl over the phone. The voicemail left Tae Hyun livid and it left Yoori with much to wonder about. Who was this girl that had Ta
e Hyun all worked up? She had never seen him so angry.

  Yoori looked at Tae Hyun. His eyes were unforgiving as he stared at the four men before him.

  He must really care for her, she reasoned. No guy would get this angry if it wasn't for a girl he really cared about. A tinge of jealousy erupted within her after she silently acknowledged such a fact.

  After taking a moment to revel at the scene before him, Tae Hyun finally cleared his throat. His men ceased with the violent attacks on the four men and retreated to the dark corners of the warehouse, leaving the stage for their King to venture on.

  The four men sat up in pain. Their bloody and bruised faces stared at Tae Hyun with much trepidation.

  Tae Hyun rose from his seat and approached them.

  "Where's your King?" he asked casually, circling the men like a shark in the night. "Isn't the Skulls leader coming to save the day?"

  Yoori shifted her attention from the four men to Tae Hyun. So it really was Ji Hoon who called and left the voicemail. She suspected it was him but she didn't have the nerve to confirm it with Tae Hyun. He wasn't too keen on being conversational after receiving that voicemail and she wasn’t too keen on provoking him. But now, it was official. Lee Ji Hoon, the notorious King of Skulls, was most certainly the one they were all waiting for.

  At the mention of Lee Ji Hoon, her heart rate quickened. It was much like meeting a celebrity. She had heard so much about him and yet she knew nothing about him. She cast her mind to the news segment she saw awhile back. The one about the Skulls leaving a pile of branded, dead bodies in a business building. The story about him and the Scorpion girl torturing that family in the club also came to mind. The only thing she could properly surmise was that he wasn't someone to mess with.

  Yoori fixed her eyes on Tae Hyun. The concern for his safety swam inside her. She didn't need to be a gang member to guess the aftermath that might play out if two powerful crime lords were to meet – especially ones who possessed enormous hatred for one another. Her eyes grew more concerned. And judging from Tae Hyun's temper, she was sure it could very well end in a bloodbath.

  Tae Hyun continued to encircle the four men. While he did so, each of the men huddled closer to one another, anxious to avoid being closer to Tae Hyun than they had to be.

  Yet, despite how beaten up he was, one still had the conviction to say, "He'll be here soon."

  Tae Hyun chuckled. "I don't doubt that he'll show up. The only question is when?" His amused expression melted into agitation. He stopped circling them. "I'm starting to lose my patience here, boys."

  It could very well be that they had finally realized that they were truly at the mercy of Kwon Tae Hyun because it was like the calm before the storm. They knew that Tae Hyun was not a storm to be reckoned with. No one dared to say another word to him.

  The silence was only broken when Tae Hyun said, "Choi Yoori."

  His eyes scanned the warehouse, searching for her.

  Yoori took a tentative step out of the shadows and approached him.

  "Yes?" she croaked, stopping before him with her hands behind her back. She kept her eyes firmly on the ground. She did not want to look at Tae Hyun or the four bloody men.

  "My head is killing me," he began, closing his eyes in overt aggravation. "There’s medicine in the glove compartment of the limo. Please go get it."

  Yoori nodded without complaint. "Okay."

  She needed any excuse to get out of the warehouse. Tae Hyun's headache couldn't have come at a better time. She was about to make her exit when Tae Hyun called after her again. He gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to him.

  "Did you need something else?" she asked, unsure as to why he looked at her so uncertainly.

  Tae Hyun shook his head. He looked as though he didn’t know what to say to her. Then, he delicately pulled her closer to him. He whispered loud enough so that only she could hear. "Once you get inside, stay in the limo."

  Stay inside the limo? Her eyes flew to him. An uneasy sensation pulsated inside her when she processed what he was doing. "But – "

  He released his grip on her wrist, his face grim. It appeared as if he regretted making the decision to have her come in the first place.

  "Go," he repeated.

  "Tae Hyun, what –"

  "Choi Yoori.” His unyielding eyes prohibited her from finishing her sentence. "Please leave before my headache gets worse."

  Yoori cast a cautious glance at the audience in the room. They were all staring at them. She had to watch her words. Tae Hyun was vague for a reason.

  Realizing that any further retorts with Tae Hyun were futile, she nodded slowly. "Alright then, boss." What was there left to say? A war was about to break out and if she was given the opportunity to avoid being a casualty, she'd take it.

  "Show them the consequences of going against a Serpent." Yoori heard Tae Hyun command his men before her hands reached the doorknob of the exit. She forcefully pushed it open. Like a bat out of hell, she bolted out of the warehouse, leaving Tae Hyun, the agonizing screams of the four men, and the warehouse behind.

  She opened the passenger side of the limo and threw herself in. She shut the door behind her, her heart palpitating wildly. Yoori took a moment to stare at her surroundings from the safety of the limo. Her breathing quickened after she closed her eyes and attempted to make sense of what happened.

  "I told you that I will make sure nothing happens to you." Tae Hyun's words from one of their first encounters resounded in her head.

  "Tae Hyun, how stupid can you be?" she whispered hoarsely, pounding the back of her head against her seat.

  She didn't understand why he was in that warehouse when he knew that nothing but a bloodbath would commence. She didn't understand why he brought her here, only to seemingly regret it later. She didn't understand why he was acting concerned for her when nothing in their relationship would merit such concerns. She didn't understand him at all. She sighed. But more importantly, she didn't understand herself. Here she was being critical of him for fearing for her safety when, in truth, she feared for his safety as well.

  Her gut wrenched as she stared at the warehouse before her. Regardless of his less than delightful temperament, there was something about Tae Hyun that made her grow fond of him. She thought about it further and realized that despite how much they argued, he had truly become something like a...like a friend to her. My friend. Yoori didn’t have very many friends and with the few she did have (Chae Young and apparently now Tae Hyun), how could she abandon one? How could she abandon a friend?

  She thought about the possibility of a war breaking out in that warehouse.

  He should be fine, right? This was Tae Hyun, the guy who took on all of Jae Won's men with ease. Of course he would be fine. She paused. But what about Lee Ji Hoon who had an equally powerful reputation? Both didn’t seem like the types to go down without a massacre ensuing.

  "Crap,” she uttered. In the midst of trying to organize her thoughts, Yoori was interrupted when she heard car doors slamming in the distance.

  Instinctively, she lowered her head and peered at the rearview mirror. Her eyes grew massive when they caught sight of over two dozen men in business casual attires walking in the direction of the warehouse. They were all led by one leader. It was clear the King of Skulls and his men had arrived.

  “Shit.” She recalled the mere 12 guys Tae Hyun had and the 20+ men that Ji Hoon brought. Tae Hyun did not have a snowball's chance in hell of winning.

  She struggled to get a good view of the infamous King of Skulls. Such an effort was fruitless when all she could see was his back. He wore a blue dress shirt and black pants. He was very tall and from how he walked, he was enraged.

  She watched in a frenzy as the new gang barged their way into the warehouse. She knew at this point that she should either stay in the limo or make a mad dash back into the city. With either choice, her safety would be guaranteed. Yet, as she sat frozen in her seat, the two rational choices didn't make sense
to her. However, there was an irrational choice that did make sense to her.

  “Unbelievable.” Muttering an incoherent cuss for the idiocy that she was about to embark on, Yoori pushed the limo door open. She ran as fast as she could to the back of the warehouse. Yoori didn't know what she was about to do, but whatever it was, she was determined to help Tae Hyun.

  She cautiously stepped over the pile of decaying wood and moved closer to the backdoor of the warehouse. She pushed the door open ever so slightly to avoid being noticed. She tiptoed in. The silence was music to her ears. She was relieved to find that violence hadn’t broken out, yet.

  She strategically hid behind a pillar in the warehouse and peeked her eyes out.

  In the center of the room stood Tae Hyun and the Skulls gang leader. Behind their respective sides were their gang members. Standing at comparable heights, Tae Hyun and Ji Hoon glared at each other in silence.

  A soft gasp issued from Yoori's lips when she finally got a better view of the other King of the Underworld. Yoori was surprised to see how young and handsome he was. For a moment, she forgot about the intensity of the situation.

  What the hell is up with these gang leaders being so good looking, she thought with curiosity.

  She squinted to focus her eyes on Ji Hoon. There was a familiarity about him. Where had she seen him before?

  "Finally," said Tae Hyun, cutting her thoughts short. He tilted his head, displaying no fear even in the presence of enemies who outnumbered him. "It took you long enough."

  "You have some nerve taking my men hostage," Ji Hoon replied coolly. He looked calm but the minutest tone in his voice told a different story. He was livid.

  Yoori froze upon finally hearing Ji Hoon's voice. Seriously. Where had she heard that voice before?

  Ji Hoon turned to his men and nodded. Four of his men emerged from the crowd. They raced to the four fallen men. They helped them up and took them back into the crowd.

  "I was welcoming them to the Underworld," Tae Hyun responded with a smirk. He locked eyes with one of the bloodied men. “How fortunate you are to be here today. Thousands of Underworld soldiers go lifetimes without meeting me and here you are, being personally welcomed by the King of Serpents himself.”