by Con Template
The grave rigor in her eyes alleviated on Kang Min like an older sister would for her little brother. She wanted to tell him to not feel ashamed, that it took a while to eradicate one’s soul. All it took was practice in killing. She wanted to tell him that she wasn’t disappointed with him.
Her thoughts were interrupted when his brother’s voice peeled her from her reverie.
“We have a lot to learn, boss,” Jae Won commented from behind, overhearing enough of the conversation even while he was busy training. His panting voice edged closer to them before she heard a pained moan emit from him.
Soo Jin whipped her attention to him. When her eyes fastened onto Jae Won’s limping leg, displeasure bubbled in her chest. There were splatters of dirt stuck to his black jacket and pants from the training he did. His one singular blemish that always enraged Soo Jin was that he wore his weakness on his sleeves.
Ever since his initiation into the Scorpions, where her ten-year-old self had initiated him and Kang Min (who were eight and five respectively) and broken countless bones in their bodies, Jae Won always had weak legs. Soo Jin refused to allow this setback from his initiation to hinder his training. She continued to push his body while forcing him to use other means to bypass his Achilles' heel. Training on alleyway walls had always acted as a good warm-up for Soo Jin and the brothers. Jae Won, who required this type of training the most, would have never been able to withstand her rigorous evening trainings had it not been for this exercise. She wanted the best for the brothers. This was why it pissed her off to no end whenever they showed the world their weaknesses.
“The next time you groan in pain, stop your training without my orders, and limp pathetically in front of me while showing everyone how weak your legs are, I’ll bury you alive in a coffin for five days as your punishment,” Soo Jin warned severely, her irate eyes set on Jae Won.
Blood drained from Jae Won’s face at the thought of being buried alive in a coffin.
She had never punished him in such a manner, but Soo Jin was more than willing to if he continued to expose his weakness like this. At this rate, it would be better to bury him alive to eliminate any bad habits. If this bad habit of showing people how weak his lower body was continued, then she was certain it would put him in an early grave later on. She would do everything in her power to prevent that fate for him.
“I’m sorry, boss,” Jae Won responded quickly. His tone was respectful. He understood that she was looking out for him. “I won’t let it happen again.”
“Good,” Soo Jin approved, knowing that Jae Won would do good on his word. The only one who should see his weakness was her, no one else.
She gazed down at her bloodied manicure and the alley they were in. She had had enough of this disgusting area. It was time to head back to her true Underworld home.
Soo Jin gestured a wave with her hand. “Now let’s get out of here before I throw up from disgust.”
“You will never be the exception.”
26: The War of Kingdoms
The sun had settled behind the darkening dusk, leaving behind the last stream of its glorious rays after Soo Jin and the brothers washed up and made their way through the streets. Their eyes reflected the view of the sky that hung over the block they were on.
The remainders of the luminescent rays were caked between layers of purple, pink, and dark blue hues that brought the vibrancy of life to the canvas in the skies. The heavens above were beautiful, but the beauty it possessed did little to reflect onto its parallel counterpart. The world beneath it looked like a blemish on a picturesque painting.
On every corner of the block Soo Jin and the brothers walked on, there were prostitutes, drug addicts, homeless people, muggers, rapists, and parasitic street gangs who loitered the streets 24/7. It was a filthy area that disgusted Soo Jin, but one that she saw great use for. As with any parasitic world, these areas fulfilled their use by becoming the perfect “classrooms” for Soo Jin to teach her protégé trainees on how to kill and torture someone without regard to their feelings. What better place to train someone to be a soldier in the Underworld than to have him or her practice on already worthless human beings? There was good and bad in everything and in this case, the usefulness of the good superseded the bad.
“Boss,” Jae Won prompted as they continued to tread down the sidewalk.
Soo Jin turned to him, her patient eyes silently urging him to continue with his query.
“There are rumors circulating that the three elder Advisors are in discussion with the rest of the Advisors in the 2nd layer to merge the layers in the Underworld under one King—one direct Lord to rule over all the layers. They want to do that in order to unify our efforts to extend power throughout the regions of the world.”
By now, even Kang Min was paying close attention while his brother continued.
“Have you heard about this?” Jae Won finished.
A knowing smile graced Soo Jin’s lips. Jae Won’s words did not faze her. She was already privy to this information from her brother, Ji Hoon, and the Advisors themselves.
“Of course I’ve heard,” she stated apathetically. “I am the Queen of this world, aren’t I?”
Jae Won nodded in concurrence, expecting no less from his boss.
“Who would you support as the new Lord?” Kang Min inquired at once.
The guilt that once plagued him faded from his innocent eyes as the three fell back into the normalcy of their conversations with one another—that was how liberating the trio’s relationship could be. Even under dire circumstances, they could always alleviate each other’s guilt and stress, just as brothers and sisters would for each other.
“I don’t know,” Soo Jin mused out loud, the heels of her stilettos piercing the blood splattered cement that seemed to always decorate the sidewalk in this part of town.
She beamed at the reminder of Ji Hoon. She hadn’t seen her boyfriend in several days and the reminder made her miss him terribly.
“The new Lord can be my brother or my boyfriend. Either way, my title as the Queen of the Underworld remains.” She heaved a breath when they stepped over a dead body on the street as if it was trash. “But if I have to choose, my support will always go to my brother.” She pursed her lips when another thought came to her mind. “But then again, I wouldn’t mind if Ji Hoon got the position.”
“Do you love Lee Ji Hoon, boss?” Kang Min suddenly asked, his countenance already twisting with disapproval while Jae Won’s was cloaked with annoyance at the mention of Ji Hoon’s name.
“I do,” she replied without hesitation. Soo Jin mentally noted the awkwardness that surrounded the air between her and the brothers. She noticed that such awkwardness always appeared whenever Ji Hoon’s name was mentioned. It bothered her, but not enough for her to demand to know what the brothers had against her boyfriend. “He’s everything I could want in a man, and the fact that he spoils the hell out of me, promises me the world, and adores me is an added bonus. What more could a girl ask for?”
And she meant every word of it.
Ji Hoon was good-looking, charming, ruthless, and powerful. He was the exact replica of her and she loved every bit of it.
“We don’t trust him,” Jae Won blurted out, immediately earning a look of displeasure from Soo Jin. “He allows his Skulls to rape their enemies’ women for sport. There’s even rumors that he encourages them to do this to ruin the lives of anyone who has gone against him. Kang Min and I know that our world isn’t exactly the most moralistic one, but for someone to have the audacity to do stuff like that—”
“I really couldn’t care less,” Soo Jin dismissed, exasperation igniting a fire in her voice. “What my boyfriend does to others is no concern of mine. I don’t know those people and I couldn’t care less what happens to them.”
Jae Won tried to conceal his disappointment. Her cruel words about not caring about the welfare of innocent people bothered him. He looked like he wanted to address it, but gave up on the endeavor. He had oth
er things he wanted to bring to her attention. “But there’s something off about him, boss. He doesn’t deserve you.”
“Yeah,” Kang Min agreed vehemently. “You can do better than him—”
“Who would be better than him in this world?” Soo Jin interjected impatiently, earning quiet responses from the brothers. “My brother is an omitted option, Kwon Ho Young is a piece of shit that I’m waiting to kill, and I think that pretty much narrows down the choices of men who are worthy of me. At least from a power standpoint.” She glared at them. “Now drop it. I won’t tolerate listening to this anymore.”
Biting back a curse, they shook their heads in frustration, but clamped their lips shut. After growing up by her side for ten years, they knew how hardheaded Soo Jin could be. Even though they knew when to shut up, they also knew when to subtly add their two cents without pissing her off.
“One day, you’ll find someone who is better than him,” Jae Won persisted coolly. The soft wind blew through their dark outfits when he said this. There was a smile on his face; it was clear he was anticipating this day with great hope.
“And when you do,” Kang Min added with just as much care, “we’ll be the first to give you our approvals.”
Soo Jin laughed and hid a bittersweet smile at the brothers’ determination to prove their point. Conversations like this made Soo Jin wonder if the brothers truly belonged in her world. They were killers, yet in many ways, they were still too innocent—too human.
She wanted to tell them that she had grown up faster than any other young girls her age. She stopped believing in fairytale stories where the man of her dreams would appear out of nowhere, sweep her off her feet, sail off with her into the sunset, whisk her away to a foreign city, and steal every inch of her stubborn heart. Soo Jin had long given up on that daydream and doubted she would ever waste her time on such fantasies again. Ji Hoon was her world and she loved him a lot. It was only the notion of being “in” love with him that seemed questionable for her. Regardless, this wasn’t something she was about to verbalize to the brothers.
Before she could further mull over the matter, the awareness of a familiar presence snatched Soo Jin out of her immediate thoughts and alerted every instinct in her body.
An enemy was in close range.
Her observant eyes moved like a hawk’s. They fastened onto their target and sure enough, she sighted the one who caused her skin to crawl in disgust.
He was across the street standing by his car, staring right at her. Darkness surrounded him, but she could see the amusement on his face. It mocked and taunted her.
“Go home,” she ordered the brothers without further explanation.
“Boss?” they began, perplexed at her abrupt order.
It didn’t take them long to follow her gaze. Their eyes expanded once they spotted the person who currently commanded Soo Jin’s unyielding attention.
“But—”
“Now,” she snarled through gritted teeth.
Soo Jin did not make eye contact with them, but she knew they could feel her fury and impatience. She wanted to be alone with this enemy and she needed the brothers to stay as far away as possible just in case anything went down. They were trained well, but they were still too young to fight against a King in the Underworld.
It was only her who could go against Kings.
Helpless whenever Soo Jin gave a direct order, the brothers shot one more worried glance at the silhouette across the street and then bowed towards Soo Jin before retreating, having no choice but to adhere to their boss’s order. They didn’t like it, but their loyalty superseded their feelings. They left without another word.
“An Soo Jin,” the deep male voice pleasantly greeted when she stepped foot into the quiet street that housed only parked cars, herself, and the crime lord who stood yards away from her.
“Kwon Ho Young,” she greeted in the same manner, yet the undercurrent in her voice revealed an aversion that was simply uncontainable. All the different variations of anger chased after one another in the blood inside her veins. The bastard who killed her father was standing there before her . . . so casually, so nonchalantly, and so alive that it irritated every nerve in her murderous soul.
Wearing a black suit with a cigar between his lips, Ho Young blew out a puff of smoke while his figure glowed under the flickering orange street light that was prematurely lit, despite the still presence of the morose sunset. The hue of the flickering light mirrored that of his lit cigar, which appeared to be glowing every sporadic second. Soo Jin scrutinized the bloody stains on his fingers. She was positive the blood was not his.
“Hasn’t your older brother warned you not to stand in the streets all by your lonesome, little one?” Ho Young asked, taking a seat on the hood of the black Mercedes convertible behind him. The license plate was new, indicating to Soo Jin that he had just made the purchase. “Especially when powerful Kings such as myself are lurking around?”
“My older brother is not my babysitter,” Soo Jin retorted, furious that he was using such a patronizing tone with her.
The only one she would tolerate calling her “little one” was her brother and that was only because he was her older brother. The thought of Ho Young calling her a nickname that was specifically reserved for her brother offended Soo Jin. She inhaled, making sure to keep her hot-headedness in check. It was a well-known fact that she could never maintain her temper around Ho Young and, of course, the bastard ate it up and ridiculed her with it. Even though she wanted to kill him, she was restricted by her brother’s orders.
“I can take care of myself,” she gritted out.
“It’s the cocky ones who die first,” he warned, another cloud of smoke escaping from his lips.
“The ones who go against my gang die first.”
She was slowly losing her patience. Oh, how she wanted to simply run up to him, beat his ass, plunge her fist into the depths of his throat, and rip out his buzz-cut hair by the roots on his skull.
Soo Jin was known to be a highly skilled fighter, but what made her so feared in the Underworld was the viciousness of her soul. She had the ability to torture people moments before their death and she showed no remorse in doing so. Soo Jin loved treating the ones she hated like animals. She had no qualms about killing people and she definitely had no problem torturing them to death. And at that moment, every torture device Soo Jin had ever employed in her life was a torture device that she wanted to bequeath unto Ho Young. She could still remember the still image of her father’s dead body lying on the ground. It was a sight that would forever break what was left of her soul, and it was a sight that made her the Queen she was today: ruthless, powerful, and vengeful.
“Oh yes,” Ho Young voiced, unhappiness penetrating his eyes at the reminder of who she had killed. “You’ve been having some fun with kidnapping and torturing my Serpents, haven’t you?”
“Lots of fun,” she confirmed haughtily, trying to provoke him to fight her.
She had made a promise to her brother to never go after Ho Young unless he attacked her first. It was a promise she thought was easy to keep until she had to employ it. Whenever the bastard was in her sight, he was a temptation to her violent instincts, a taunting red cape to the murderous bull within her that wanted nothing more than to pummel him into oblivion. The only thing that prevented her from going after Ho Young was the promise she made to her brother. Yet, Soo Jin also knew the ways in which flexibility could be used with keeping one’s word. She never promised her brother that she wouldn’t provoke Ho Young to fight her first.
“Who needs pets when I have the cowardly Serpents acting as my fighting dogs?”
Soo Jin was condescending, but not enough to break Ho Young’s cool exterior.
He chuckled, shaking his head at her and not in the least bit provoked.
That was the thing about Kwon Ho Young. For one reason or the other, he was always calm with her and never made any efforts to attack or hurt her. This inaction on his part infu
riated Soo Jin who was just itching for an excuse to kill him.
“The Serpents’ empire is on the rise, Soo Jin,” he told her gently, the patience in his voice constant while he addressed her. “It doesn’t matter how many of my men you kill because four more will come and take their places. Just give it a rest. You know that in the end, my Serpents and I will be the ones ruling over this layer. Be the smart girl you are and stop pissing me off. You’ll need my favor to keep your title once I’m crowned the Lord of our world.”
Now it was Soo Jin’s turn to laugh mockingly. “As I distinctly recall, my brother and Ji Hoon are in the process of merging their gangs together. And the simple fact that they have me is sure to get them some points with the Advisors, as well as with the rest of the layers. One of them will be the new Lord.” She smirked. “What do you have Ho Young? The scavengers you call your gang members? You think your legion of leeches will catapult you into the role as the Lord of our world?”
Ho Young laughed. “You forget, Soo Jin, that in addition to all the power I have in this layer, I also have my little brother by my side.”
Soo Jin stiffened at the reminder of his younger brother.
Ho Young’s smile grew even wider at her reaction.
He inhaled another puff of smoke before blowing it out and breathing in the cold air.
“As I recall, the two of you have never met, but I’m sure you’ve heard of him.” Pride canvassed his voice at the mention of his brother. “The chosen Prince and the new expected ruler of the 1st layer.”
Soo Jin clenched her fists in restrained fury.
Yes, she had heard of Kwon Tae Hyun.
The second son of the Kwon family; the one who won the mentorship from the top crime lords in the 1st layer, had the friendships of some of the most powerful heirs in the palm of his hand, had Shin Dong Min—one of the three elder Advisors—as his personal Advisor, a feat unheard of for any Prince in the 1st layer, and was irrefutably the pride of the exclusive 1st layer.