by Con Template
They were in Tae Hyun’s gang.
“Ser . . . Serpents?”
“Former,” the male leader corrected spitefully. “Boss kicked us out when he found out about the fires in Taecin. He disowned us when we wouldn’t tell him who mutilated our faces; he severed ties with us when we couldn’t tell him why we were so intent on killing innocent people in Taecin. All because of you, An Soo Jin.”
“I . . . I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
Remorse gripped her. She had always known that Soo Jin tortured people, but to be standing here with her former victims, it was enough to throw an already emotional Yoori over the edge.
“Your amnesia is very convenient isn’t it, An Soo Jin? Or should I call you Choi Yoori? That is your supposed name now, right?” The male leader chuckled darkly. “No matter. Boss and the rest of the Underworld may be unsure with you, but we know the person who scarred us. We know the bitch who took great pleasure in mutilating our faces. We’ve waited so long for this moment and regardless of whether you remember or not, you’re paying all the same."
“Tae . . . Tae Hyun knows you’re doing this?” she stuttered brokenly.
“Ace. Mina,” a male voice spoke from the back, addressing the two leaders. It was the guy with the bald head. “Let’s get this over with. We don’t have a lot of time, and I don’t want her to die a fast death. I want to torture her for what she did to Kimmy, what she did to that poor family three years ago, and most of all, for her trying to endanger our boss.”
“He will have our heads once he finds out, but it’s for the best,” answered Mina, the female leader. She sighed, shaking her head as she produced a knife from her pocket. She narrowed her eyes on Yoori. “We won’t allow you to infiltrate our gang, An Soo Jin. You may have stolen our boss’s affections with that innocent act of yours, but you’re nothing but a monster. You’ve killed and tortured countless people to entertain yourself, to make yourself notorious in this world. We’re going to make you pay for everything. You’ll pay for the thirty-five lives you stole in this club . . . the thirty-four family members, and the life of one of our own.”
Yoori’s heart ripped when she was finally given the number of people she killed in this little club.
Thirty-five.
She killed thirty-four of the family members and one of their own.
The massive amount was an agonizing discovery.
“Innocent people died by your hands in this very club, An Soo Jin,” the male leader, Ace, whispered. Behind him, the rest of the assassins stood up high. They watched in anticipation, in hatred. “That sin will not go unanswered.”
“We were trained to kill effectively and quickly, but with you, we’ll take it slow and easy,” the red haired female taunted in the back. “We’ll beat you to a pulp and we’ll scar that pretty little face of yours as well. Let’s see if you have anymore of those An Soo Jin fighting skills left . . .”
Whoosh!
“Augh!”
Before Yoori could take another breath, a powerful kick to the stomach sent her flying backward in midair.
Bam!
She collided against the wooden table behind her. The table broke apart under her weight. She fell with the broken wood, crashing against the cold hard floor with a loud thud. Something sharp pierced into her thigh, and she screamed. Stars fell into her line of vision. Disorientation assaulted her as blistering pain shot up and down her trembling body.
“Augh!” Yoori cried, pulling out a jagged piece of wood from the back of her thigh. A spew of blood erupted from her body. She nearly passed out from the pain.
As this pain consumed her, so did her guilt for what took place here.
Thirty-five, her mind repeated.
So many victims . . . so many innocent people died in this place. So many people died because of her. The pain in her body was nothing compared to the mental agony she was experiencing. The realization that hit her was unlike anything else she had experienced in the Underworld. She had been blaming everyone else for her misery, but she realized now that she was a culprit as well. She was one of those people, one of those vindictive people who made this Underworld so cruel for others . . .
Yoori was so distracted that she could scarcely move away when another one of her adversaries came for her.
“Augh!”
Air choked at her lungs when a blunt heeled boot kicked the left temple of her head. An explosion of pain erupted in her head. Her skull nearly cracked when it struck the edge of the short flight of stairs that led up to the next platform of the club.
“This one is for Kimmy!”
A large hand wrapped around her throat and lifted her up off the floor. Yoori gasped for air. The pressure on her neck was excruciating, and the feeling of her legs kicking helplessly in midair nearly caused her to black out.
The second bald male, who had a black eye-patch over his left eye, stared at her in rage. In her heart of hearts, she had the sinking feeling that An Soo Jin was the reason why he only had one eye.
He tightened his grip on her neck.
She could’ve easily hurt him; she felt it in the marrows of her bone. Her killer instincts were waiting to emerge. An Soo Jin was waiting to emerge, but Yoori maintained her control. She didn’t want to hurt them. The ones who raped Chae Young deserved to die, but not these people. If anything, she was the one who deserved to die for the horrors she inflicted on to them.
With a loud grunt, he slammed her into a glass table.
Crack!
Another torrent of pain sliced through her after the broken glass ate at the exposed area of her skin. Her satin trench coat and boots proved that they were strong enough to protect her back and legs from the impact. Her hands weren’t so lucky. Blood began to pool around the small shards of glass that etched themselves into her hands. Although the glass embedded in her skin wasn’t enough to make her faint, it was enough to have her gasping for air.
Despite the abuse, Yoori did not fight back.
She was too remorseful to fight back.
“I . . . I’m sorry,” she whispered through her anguish.
They didn’t hear her apology through their wrath.
The guy with the Mohawk kicked her face. The back of her head slammed against the steps once more. Shortly thereafter, Ace’s brown hunting boots pressed heavily on her neck, causing her to violently gasp for air.
“You had this coming, Soo Jin,” Ace’s voice huffed.
Yoori felt slender hands hold her head still.
Ace produced a knife from his pocket. As Mina angled Yoori’s head to the side to reveal her left cheek to Ace, Yoori knew that they were ready to brand her.
“You mutilated us and killed countless others,” prompted Ace. “Isn’t it time you paid for all those sins with your life?”
Yoori agreed. Regardless of the fear she felt from the mutilation to come, she agreed that it was time she paid for everything her counterpart did. For the first time, Yoori was willing to die to alleviate the guilt spreading through her like cancer. She was willing to die to soothe their anger and to exterminate one more monster from this world. Yoori had feared this decision, but it was the only thing that made sense. If she died, then Soo Jin would never be able to return. She would never be able to wreak havoc over the world, and she would never be able to wage a war against Tae Hyun. Everyone would be safe from her. Everyone Yoori loved would be safe from the monster inside her. For that, at least her death would be worth it.
As she felt the knife press a dent onto her shaking cheek, a commotion burst into the club.
Sounds of heavy footfalls rang across the room.
“Get off of her!”
Ace’s foot suddenly lifted from her throat while the knife was pulled away from her cheek. Once free, Yoori was left to instinctively gasp for air.
“You have some fucking nerve touching boss’s woman like that.” Kang Min’s furious voice swam into her psyche.
Moments later, she felt someone lift
her and pull her against their chest.
“Hey boss.” Jae Won gently shook her, trying to keep her awake. “You’re okay, you’re okay now. We’re here.”
The blurs in her eyes were beginning to dissipate when the eye-patch guy appeared out of nowhere and kicked Jae Won across the face, causing him to crash to the side.
“We knew you couldn’t be trusted when we told boss that you were one of An Soo Jin’s elusive right-hand men,” the blonde girl said heatedly, glaring at Kang Min before she ripped out a knife from her back pocket and aimed it for his neck.
Kang Min was not only quick enough to avoid the weapon, but he was also skilled enough to grab on to the handle of the knife. He propelled his hand forward and threw the knife back. The knife pierced into the shoulder of the girl like a bull’s eye. The girl screamed, nearly collapsing to the ground when she tended to her wound. Too distracted with the girl, Kang Min did not see it coming when Ace jumped up, used the pillar as a prop, extended his leg in mid-flight, and kicked Kang Min across the head. Kang Min flew across the room and landed on the pile of broken wood that still had remnants of Yoori’s blood on it.
Consciousness returned to Yoori at the sound of his pained groans.
Indignation started to breed inside her.
She would let them hurt her, but no one was allowed to hurt Jae Won or Kang Min.
Sounds of skulls being slammed into walls emanated from the background as Jae Won tumbled on the floor with the guy wearing the eye-patch. Fists as hard as iron dented floors, penetrated into walls, and shattered tables. The punches they threw at one another were severe, utterly merciless.
“Enough!” Yoori ordered, feeling the blood seep out of her leg as she finally regained full consciousness.
No one heard her.
The fight grew worse. Gunshots started to fill the room. Chaos broke out. The world around Yoori became a kaleidoscope of confusion as she fought to clear the fog from her vision.
“Enough!” Yoori screamed. She grabbed a Cobra by the back of his neck and threw him to the ground when she saw that he was about to knife Jae Won.
Boom!
The Cobra crashed against several chairs when he fell to the floor.
Yoori did not stop there.
She was no longer in pain; she was seeing red.
She wanted this anarchy to end.
She dodged around the bullets flying through the club when she saw that the blonde Cobra girl was aiming her gun at Kang Min’s back.
“Enough!” Yoori cried again. She body-slammed the girl to the ground, elbowed her in the face, twisted her hand back, and ripped the gun from her grasp. Yoori stood up and ejected the bullets from the gun while the girl tried to stop her mouth from bleeding.
“I said, ‘ENOUGH!’” Yoori roared at the top of her lungs, causing everyone in the club to stop fighting.
The bullets ceased, the sounds of destruction stopped, and the fighting came to a standstill. They stared at Yoori, bewildered by the sudden authoritative role she emitted.
Yoori stood still, breathing intently for a few seconds. Unable to withstand the pain mounting in her body, she fell back to the ground. The Serpents in the room were left stunned, paralyzed in silence until they heard the sound of the club doors being kicked down.
The atmosphere in the club morphed from rage . . . to unmatched fear.
Trepidation seized the Cobras’ voices when they addressed the one who walked in.
“Boss—”
A bone-crushing punch was heard when one of the assassins fell down, his hands clutching his face in pain. Another sound of scuffling was heard. Yoori could’ve sworn she felt the entire room shake after a body was thrown against the pillar of the club. Sounds of groaning arose from the violent impact. She heard a few more bone-crushing punches, sounds of people being thrown against walls and chairs broken over them reverberate into the club.
And then, amid the confusion, a whiff of the cologne that she loved so much swam up her nostrils, acting as a defibrillator for her once weakened body. The anarchy Yoori experienced was vanquished instantly. She felt someone lay a palm across her face and next thing she knew, she was gazing up at the one person she had been avoiding for so long and the one person she missed the most.
Tae Hyun.
She was quiet as his captivating brown eyes held hers, his palm framed over her cheek, and his lips locked together in silence. His face glowed like an angel’s under the swaying light of the club. Yoori’s heart pumped desperately against her chest. It was as though it was fighting to leap out of her in order to be with him. After more than three weeks of trying to forget him, Tae Hyun was in front of her and he was as breathtaking as ever. Then, she recalled the horrible thing she said to him before she left him, the reminder of his betrayal, and the hurt she felt when he ignored her on the street. The reminders were enough to ruin the euphoria she felt from seeing him again.
“Fuck, these bruises are going to last me a couple of days . . .”
Yoori snapped out of her reverie when she heard Kang Min and Jae Won mutter curses to themselves. They had found a seat on the steps of the club. She sighed. Evidently, the problems between Tae Hyun and Yoori would have to wait until other things were dealt with.
She averted her gaze from the brothers and found Tae Hyun’s assassins. Yoori’s eyes grew wider. The rest were kneeling. She hadn’t even realized they were kneeling until now. All nine, battered assassins knelt in front of Tae Hyun and her, their heads bowed down in shame after their King made his appearance.
“Ahhhh!” A sudden scream issued from Yoori when Tae Hyun moved her closer to inspect all her wounds.
Thrown by her scream, his irate eyes narrowed onto the blood coating around her thigh and the small shards of glass in her skin. There was an inhalation of wrath before he stood up.
“She’s bleeding,” he told Kang Min and Jae Won. “Wrap her leg up and call Han. Tell him it’s an emergency and that I need him to see someone immediately.”
Jae Won got on to the phone while Kang Min ripped a white cloth that had been covering a table. He wrapped the cloth around her thigh to prevent the blood from seeping out any further. Tae Hyun directed his attention to his kneeling assassins.
“Do I even have to tell you your fates?” he asked darkly.
He was enraged with Yoori’s condition. He was so angry that he didn’t give them any warning. Tae Hyun extracted his silver guns from behind his back, cocked his guns, and aimed at them.
“Wait, no!” Yoori cried, pushing past Kang Min.
She staggered over to Tae Hyun, who pulled the trigger. Yoori reached him just in time. She pushed his aim away and the gunshots missed the heads of Ace and Mina, both of whom didn’t even attempt to dodge the bullets. As the bullets lodged into the wall behind them, Tae Hyun’s assassins remained in kneeling positions, all obediently waiting for Tae Hyun to punish them as he wished.
“Don’t kill them!” she shouted, trying to push Tae Hyun’s forearms down. She couldn’t allow more people to die for her in this club.
His furious eyes were locked on the assassins. “They should’ve never touched you,” Tae Hyun gritted through clenched teeth. “They deserve this.”
There was no mercy in his gaze. He gently pushed her away and prepared to aim again.
“Please! For me, for me!” Yoori begged hysterically, nearly tripping over in an effort to take his guns from him. “Please don’t kill them.”
“Are you fucking serious?” he asked in exasperation. He turned to her in bewilderment. “After all they did to you, you want them to live?”
He wasn’t the only one staring at her in disbelief. Kang Min, Jae Won, and the rest of the Cobras were staring at her in astonishment too.
Yoori nodded earnestly. “Please. No more. No more deaths here. Just give me this much.”
Tae Hyun let out a frustrated breath. He cursed out loud, acquiesced with her request, and bitterly placed his guns behind his back. He may have spared their lives
for Yoori, but he was still intent on punishing them.
His furious eyes stabbed into Ace. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
“Boss,” Ace started, his eyes glancing at Yoori. He looked uncertain with how to regard her now. “We wanted to avenge Kimmy, save our gang, and protect you—”
“So you think all of that justifies murdering someone who means the world to me?” Tae Hyun roared, shocking everyone in the room.
Wrath amplified his voice, and his assassins were stupefied by this admission of truth. They hadn’t realized how deep his affections for Yoori went. Yoori, herself, was not exempt from the shock that came from this admission. Her only saving grace was that there was no time to mull over his heartfelt words. Business had to be tended to and Tae Hyun was wrapping everything up.
“She’s not who you think she is and I’ll be damned if any of you get off scot-free. No matter how much she pleads for your welfare, you will pay for your offenses. Now take out your guns.”
“What?” Yoori uttered. “Tae Hyun, no!”
He pointed at her leg. “Her thigh is bleeding.”
That was all he had to say.
In unison, eighteen gunshots blared through the club.
Yoori’s heart almost collapsed at the thundering sounds until she realized that he wasn’t ordering them to kill themselves—he was ordering them to shoot themselves in the leg to make up for what they did to her.
They had all shot themselves twice in their left thighs.
Yoori was puzzled. She didn’t understand why they didn’t just shoot themselves once. Whatever the reason, she had a distinct feeling that this procedure was a significant one for them. It was clearly a punishment that Tae Hyun had given in the past and one with which they were accustomed to.
Groaning voices speared across the room. In spite of their pain, the assassins remained kneeling, trembling while their silver guns shook in their hands.
Tae Hyun, though angry, also looked pained by the fact that he had his own assassins shoot themselves. Nevertheless, he remained cool, collected, and unforgiving.
“If you ever touch her or come near her again, the next bullets will be in your heads. Are we clear on that?”