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

by Con Template

  The first one to know her wrath—the first one she wanted to kill—was her brother.

  Bang!

  Young Jae wasn’t able to react fast enough when the hungry bullet dashed towards him, its ravenous jaws lodging itself above his chest. He screamed out in pain after he plummeted backwards from the sheer force of the hot bullet. He did not get to stay down long when he realized that Yoori wasn’t done with him. Her gun aimed at his heart, Yoori pulled the trigger without any hesitation.

  Bang!

  Just as a cowardly Ju Won was preparing to run in the opposite direction to save himself from Yoori’s wrath, an opportunistic Young Jae saw his ticket for survival. Clutching onto the bullet wound in his chest, Young Jae propelled to his feet and grabbed the collar of Ju Won’s neck. With quick reflexes, he hoisted Ju Won in front of him like a shield, allowing the bullet that was meant for him to plunge into Ju Won’s heart instead.

  Gasps of outraged fury dispensed throughout the amphitheater.

  They could not believe what had occurred before them. They could not believe that Young Jae had used their eldest Advisor as a shield for himself.

  Fury burning a blazing trail through her soul, Yoori continued to shoot in Young Jae’s direction, watching as he stumbled to the floor. He dragged Ju Won’s dying body with him and made sure that the old man’s body took every hungry bullet that was meant for him. Ju Won coughed out blood and gasped for air as his blood stained the arena floor.

  It was a despicable sight to watch her brother drag Ju Won like he was a worthless piece of meat, but it was a tactic that worked for Young Jae as he was able to make it to the exit. Safe from Yoori’s gunfire, Young Jae abandoned Ju Won’s body and ran to the exit hall of the arena. When his eyes met Yoori’s, a satisfied expression danced in his gaze.

  It was at that moment, as she scrutinized the look in his eyes, that Yoori realized it was never in Young Jae’s plans to kill her tonight.

  He had something else in mind for her, something more cruel and more painful. He wanted her to feel the exact pain he felt. He wanted her to live the rest of her life remembering how it felt to have the love of her life die in her arms. He wanted to bequeath her with the same misery that he had to live with for the rest of his life.

  With that satiated expression marked on his face, he silently told her that he was done with her. He no longer cared about killing her. There was no need because he got the exact revenge he wanted to inflict upon her.

  He killed her in a way that was even more unbearable for Yoori.

  Wanting nothing more than to see him die for merely existing, for being so cruel, Yoori aimed the gun at him one final time. She pulled the trigger just as he was about to disappear. However—

  Click.

  Click.

  Panic rocked her when Yoori discovered that she had no more bullets to shoot. She had no more bullets to kill Young Jae with, to make him pay for everything he had put them through.

  Alas, killing Young Jae proved to be the least of her worries when a red laser light suddenly flashed before her.

  Her eyes raked over her chest and her entire body. A circular formation of red lasers marred her black hoodie, aiming directly at her heart. The now chaotic and wrathful Underworld finally had enough of her. They were determined to execute her once and for all.

  And just as the snipers were about to pull their triggers to take her life—

  Beep. Beep.

  The beeping sound of an alarm went off, indicating to the amphitheater that the most eventful hour they had ever witnessed had finally passed.

  Yoori and Tae Hyun had done the impossible.

  They had won.

  They had made it out of this battle alive.

  The red laser lights on Yoori dispersed into oblivion at the knowledge that the hour was up. All around her, a sweeping silence came over the 17,500 people in attendance. They could not believe what had taken place—what had just transpired.

  Their eyes roamed over Ji Hoon’s dead body, Ju Won’s dead body, and then ran over the countless Underworld soldiers who had been slain during the one-hour battle. Then, their disbelieving eyes rested on their former King and Queen.

  Yoori dropped the gun when she realized that their hour was finally up and crawled back to Tae Hyun. She kneeled beside him, no longer caring what the Underworld wanted to do with her. The only one she cared about was Tae Hyun.

  “Tae Hyun?” she called. She gently touched his face while he rested his head against the marble wall. His forehead pressed into the cold wall as he tried to keep himself awake.

  “Sir,” one of the subordinates spoke to Min Hyuk, who was now the interim commander of the Underworld after the deaths of Ji Hoon and Ju Won. In the background, the whole Underworld listened in on the conversation as the subordinate announced, “The police are close. We have to leave now.”

  Although the authorities were harmless to the Royals of the Underworld, they were considered to be a nuisance nonetheless. The last thing the Underworld wanted was to waste their time and effort with the legal “authorities”. Rather than waiting at the arena like sitting ducks, it made more business sense to vacate the premises and get on with their busy lives. The show was over. There was nothing left to keep them here.

  “Very well,” Min Hyuk replied. He rose from his throne and enacted the orders to end the summit. “Commence the evacuation plan.”

  “What about An Soo Jin and Kwon Tae Hyun?” Jung Min questioned angrily, getting up from his throne.

  “Leave them,” Dong Min chimed in, painfully gazing at them from afar. His tight voice did its best to conceal his emotions. “They have already received their punishments.”

  “I’ve seen enough,” another female Royal stated. Her face was disgusted by the weakness exhibited by Yoori and Tae Hyun. Considering that they were supposedly such great legends, she expected more from them.

  “The children have been entertaining enough,” another elder nonchalantly dismissed. He got up from his seat in weariness and put on a black coat. “Give them a bone.”

  “They’ve been through their hour,” Min Hyuk stated, showing no hint to the fact that he had been one of the Royals who locked eyes with Yoori during the final minutes of the hour—that he was one of the people who shed tears for them.

  As the rest of the Underworld surged to their feet, Min Hyuk continued to stare down at them with pity in his eyes. He took one last glimpse at Yoori and Tae Hyun before giving his mandate to the entire Underworld.

  “The agreement given to them is binding for everyone in this world. They made it through their hour. In turn, they will receive full immunity as part of the agreement. Anyone from this world who breaks this agreement will be executed without exception.” He expelled a breath as everyone rose up from their seats and began to evacuate the premises. “Now let’s leave before we have to waste our time dealing with cops who think they have the power to incarcerate us. The summit ends now. Vacate.”

  Buttoning his jacket, Min Hyuk turned away from Yoori and Tae Hyun and began to descend out of the arena with the rest of the Underworld in tow. The amphitheater that was once filled with life and divine power was becoming more and more hushed.

  Soon, all that remained were the two humans below.

  As the seconds passed and as the chaotic world around them receded, all that was left in the amphitheater were dead bodies . . . and Tae Hyun and Yoori.

  “Tae Hyun,” Yoori whispered, gently stroking over his face. Her once heavy heart expanded as she smiled with relief. “We made it through. We’re done. We’re done. They’re leaving us alone.”

  “Yoori . . . ” Tae Hyun whispered slowly, his voice barely audible. Even in this type of condition, Tae Hyun still exhibited more strength than she could see any one person have. Instead of lying limply on the floor, he remained in a sitting position. The side of his body was now resting beside the marble wall. He continued to breathe softly, his eyes opening and closing slowly for a few moments before Yoori
called out to him again.

  “Tae Hyun . . .”

  His once heavy eyelids opened at the call of her voice. His tired eyes looked at her as though she was his anchor for staying awake. Yoori paused when she saw how much pain he was still in. Her smile of relief vacated. In its place came mounting concern.

  “Tae Hyun?” she called brokenly, terrified at how weak Tae Hyun was becoming.

  Tae Hyun briefly closed his eyes to subdue the pain with his labored breathing. When he opened them again, his eyes were filled with worry and concern. He knew why the Underworld was leaving, and he wanted her to leave for the same reason. He didn’t want her to get arrested by the police.

  “D-don’t . . . don’t stay,” he breathed out painfully. It was clear that it was taking everything he had to speak, to protect her as much as he could. “Go . . . go now. Just . . . leave me.”

  Yoori shook her head, refusing to leave his side.

  She wanted the cops to come. She wanted them to distract the Underworld, and in the end, she wanted them to take them to the hospital and save Tae Hyun—save them both. It was a plan that was a long shot, but a shot of a chance nonetheless. It was a plan that she hoped would work as she sat there with him, trying to keep Tae Hyun talking and awake before they arrived. However, sitting there and talking to him was proving to be more difficult than she could ever anticipate.

  It was so hard for her to see him like this.

  Sitting parallel to him, Yoori took in the sight of his bloodied and completely broken state. Fresh tears bubbled in her eyes. She prayed to the fates to have the cops come faster, so that they could save him from the pain he was experiencing. She wanted them to save her from the pain she felt as she sat there helpless, wishing she had the ability to heal him instead of just watching the blood drip from his assaulted body.

  “I’m not leaving you,” she assured, agonizingly wiping the blood from his face. She struggled to not sob uncontrollably and struggled to not accept the reality of what was occurring before her very eyes. “I’m never leaving you.”

  He swallowed tightly. Pain immersed his eyes as he drank in the very vision of her. He appraised the sword cuts on her skin, the bullet wounds on her body, and the bruises and blood covering her from head to toe. Summoning all the strength he had, which seemed to be diminishing with every progressing second, he slowly lifted up his hand and began to wipe away the blood and tears from her face.

  “I’m sorry . . . I didn’t do a better job protecting you,” he whispered achingly, his hand trembling as he strained to touch her, to still take care of her.

  “No, no. You did great,” she assured him quickly. Her lower lip quivered when she brought a hand up to place over his hand, to help keep it on her cheek. “You did so great.”

  Though she tried to stop it, she couldn’t control the tears that fell, the tears that glided down from her eyes and touched his hand. She could not control the tears that caused Tae Hyun to gaze at her regrettably.

  “Tae Hyun,” Yoori whispered. The hopelessness in his expression was killing her. “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”

  “I didn’t want you . . . to be here,” he said quietly. Then, unable to hold in his desire to be near her warmth, he forced his body to move closer to her. With his hand still on her cheek, he pressed his forehead against hers. While his slow breath intermingled with hers, she felt his body tremble even more. It was as though it was beginning to lose all of its strength to go on. Agony and regret throbbed in his shaky voice when he painfully added, “I didn’t want you . . . here. I didn’t want you . . . to see me like this . . .”

  Yoori began to choke on her own tears. She shook her head, her soul twisting in excruciating knots when she grasped the reality of her life.

  Tae Hyun . . . Tae Hyun was dying.

  Her Snob . . . was dying.

  “I’m sorry, Brat.” His face contorted in torture while they shook where they sat, their hearts and souls never hurting more. “I didn’t want you to see me like this.”

  This was when Yoori lost it.

  “Tae Hyun, please,” she begged from the depths of her breaking heart. A shattered plea poured from her quivering voice. “Please stop leaving me.”

  His eyes glistened at her words. His hand not only shook from his deteriorating strength, but also from the despair that had plagued him.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” There was so much pain in his voice that she could hear his heart bleeding at the sight of her crying like this. “I never wanted to leave you. I . . . I never wanted to make you cry again.”

  The tears that he held in began to bubble relentlessly in his eyes when another realization washed upon him.

  Regret rippled in his gaze.

  “I wanted to take you to Paris,” he breathed out remorsefully, knowing that he would never have the chance to do this now. “I wanted to show you Paris.”

  These statements alone were the breaking point for her.

  The sobs wouldn’t stop ripping out of her chest. Her heart galloped against her ribcage, begging to jump out so it could hold onto Tae Hyun one last time.

  “Please don’t go,” Yoori begged as she trembled uncontrollably. Hot tears glided down her cheeks. Hopelessness filled her hollow and aching heart. “You know I can’t do this without you. You know that I can’t live without you.” She bit her lips at the thought of something so unimaginable. “I can’t be without you.”

  Misery filled his eyes as he shook his head at what she said.

  “Don’t follow me,” he told her painfully. His tormented eyes implored her to listen to him, to never do something so foolish. He did not want her to do what his mother had done. He did not want her to take her own life to follow him. “Don’t follow me. I don’t want you . . . to follow me.”

  Yoori was past listening.

  “Tae Hyun, please,” she whispered desperately, her mind completely unraveling. Her eyes begged him to stay even though she knew that if he really had the choice, then he wouldn’t do this to her.

  He would never make her cry; he would never leave her.

  Yet, even when she knew this, she couldn’t stop herself from begging him not to leave her.

  “Please stay with me,” she cried past her sobs. “Please don’t leave. Please stop leaving me.”

  An endless stream of tears dripped from his eyes. The truth of what was happening was hitting them. They knew the end was near and that the inevitable was coming.

  He stared at her, and at that moment, she could see his life flash through the souls of his eyes.

  “You’re worth all of it,” he told her, the truth of his words coming from the depths of his soul. Gazing at her, his tears fell and mixed with hers as they dripped onto the ground. “You’ve been nothing but worth it.”

  Dying to be close to her, he leaned in and brushed his soft lips against hers. Their quivering and heartbroken lips kissed one another desperately. Tears continued to shed from their eyes as they kissed like lovers once separated, as they kissed like lovers about to be separated.

  Neither wanted to let the other go. Both wanted to prolong this moment for the eternities to come . . .

  “I love you,” Yoori finally uttered, unable to control the desperation ravaging her very being.

  She hugged him tightly and sobbed into their embrace. She thought about all that they had been through. She thought about everything they had shared together. And finally, she thought about how much she loved him with all her dying soul.

  Burying her face into his shoulder, she allowed her body to shake as every inch of her struggled to touch Tae Hyun, as every inch of her being tried to remember the feeling of his warmth one final time.

  “I love you,” he told her, his tears dripping relentlessly. He rested his chin on the top of her head before he buried his face into her hair. He wanted to remember her warmth, her scent, and her essence before the end came for him. He kissed the back of her head and moved his lips close to her ear. His next words were spok
en with desperation, with undying promise. “I will always love you.”

  And then, with one final kiss to her cheek, Tae Hyun allowed the last of his tears to fall as he tightened his embrace on her, allowing the cells on his skin to cherish the feel of her for the final time. He nuzzled his face into the side of her neck and just breathed slowly. He swallowed past the pain and agony and slowly . . . very slowly . . . closed his eyes. The last of his tears dripped onto her neck before a hushed silence suddenly came over him.

  “Tae Hyun?” Yoori softly prompted when she felt him go still.

  She raised her gaze. Her shaking hand grazed his cheek, trying to get him to open his eyes.

  “Tae Hyun?” She touched his face, feeling her fingers tremble as she lightly shook him, the breath within her stalling in her pained chest.

  “Tae Hyun?” she called out again, her body quivering as she stared up at his pale and sleeping face.

  “Snob?” she uttered breathlessly, desperately shaking him again and again to wake him up.

  She did not believe that he was gone.

  She was convinced he would come back, that was why she sat there for thirty seconds, her eyes never leaving his face.

  Tae Hyun’s coming back, she told herself. I just know he is.

  Thirty seconds then became forty-eight seconds.

  Forty-eight seconds became one minute.

  One minute then became one minute and thirty seconds.

  It was after two minutes did Yoori stop counting.

  It was after two minutes and nine seconds did Yoori’s eyes blur beyond recognition with red-hot tears.

  It was after two minutes and twenty seconds did Yoori feel her world disintegrate as she covered her hands over her mouth in agony.

  It was after two minutes and twenty-nine seconds did tear after tear escape from her eyes as she sobbed quietly to herself.

  It was after two minutes and fifty-nine seconds, where she continued to sob there, staring at his lifeless body, did Yoori finally admit to herself that Tae Hyun wasn’t coming back.

  He wasn’t coming back for her.

  He left her . . .