by Con Template
Her chest started to ache again. Fuck, this was terrible. She was already starting to feel empathetic and she didn’t even know the guy. It was official. Her “I’m human again” condition was worse than she thought it to be. Fear enraptured her. She did not want to be here and deal with another person dying, especially the last remaining heir of the Siberian Tigers.
“We found him earlier today,” Young Jae began to lie. His eyes did not waver from Tony as they approached him. “With the information you gathered from the family members. And now, I want to reward you for that. I want to reward you for all that you did.”
An ice-cold feeling canvassed her body. Soo Jin turned to see that Young Jae had bent down to retrieve a long, bloodied knife that sat serenely on the grass. Staring straight into her eyes, he handed it to her.
“You wanted the honor of killing Ho Young, I didn’t give it to you. Now, I want to give you the honor of killing someone else.” He moved the knife closer to her, his eyes unblinking. “Exterminate the last remaining bloodline of the Siberian Tigers and end any chance of their reign for the centuries to come. That’s your honor, baby sister. That’s the honor you get for everything that you’ve done for me.”
Though the migraine that started to thunder in her head was deafening, Soo Jin tried to ignore it and quietly took the knife. She turned, held the knife up, and stared at Tony. It eluded her why it was difficult to look at this guy when days ago, she couldn’t care less whether he lived or died. Something had changed inside her. It was a damning thing for Soo Jin to accept that she was no longer the ruthless bitch she used to be—she was no longer the Queen she wanted to be. She was now someone she was afraid to be: a cursed human.
When he lifted his lids, Tony’s eyes were merely slits when they regarded her. His eyes were etched with blood, and when he parted his mouth slightly, she realized that her brother had cut his tongue out, rendering him unable to speak. Soo Jin gave her brother credit where it was due. Young Jae was smart. He was careful with eradicating the possibility of Tony slipping any incriminating information to her.
Tony stared at her, his eyes seemingly piercing into her soul. She deduced that Young Jae had told him everything that transpired in the club. She was certain he was aware that she was the one who killed his last remaining family members. In addition to this, she also surmised that Tony knew she was on his side. She could tell by the look in his eyes as he did not look at her with hatred. He looked at her with hope. He knew that she would be the one to avenge him and his family.
The riddle, she tried to emphasize through her eyes. I can’t solve the riddle alone. Please help me solve it.
He was quiet.
She wasn’t sure if he understood her silent request until he parted his lips and mouthed something along the lines of “57.” Then, he suddenly tilted his left cheek onto his shoulder.
That was all he did; it was all he could do.
Soo Jin wanted to request further help, but when she felt Young Jae’s towering presence behind her, she stopped. She could feel her brother’s curious eyes on her. He was more than likely wondering what she was doing and why she was taking so long.
“I’m sorry,” she silently said as she swallowed to push back the distress that was rising through her. Soo Jin looked at Tony one last time. She knew the look in his eyes said, “Avenge us.”
Closing her eyes in confirmation, Soo Jin lifted the knife that seemed to have held the weight of the world on it. She positioned the blade across his throat and then, with bated breath, she sliced the flesh, holding back her own screams as Tony’s dying blood squirted onto her face.
A multitude of knives seemingly stabbed her stomach when the warm blood dripped from her face. Shaking from trauma, Soo Jin turned and lifted her eyes up to her older brother. She was surprised again because her vision was blurred, thereby meaning that the tears had found her once more. She smirked cynically. How easy it was to cry these days . . .
Yet, what shocked her wasn’t the fact that she had tears in her eyes. What blindsided her was that she saw tears in her brother’s eyes as well.
Were her eyes playing tricks on her?
Why was he crying with her?
Holding a hand to her left cheek, Young Jae moved closer to her. His warmth reminded her of all the times when he forced her to practice dancing with him, all the times when they ran around together, and all the times he protected her. The memories tortured her. No one ever said that killing your own brother would be easy. She just didn’t think it was going to be this difficult.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice genuinely concerned.
Soo Jin nodded with great effort, her tears increasing. Now, she wasn’t crying because she had killed thirty-four innocent people and just killed another. She was crying for her brother. She was crying for the bond they once shared, she was crying for the only flesh and blood she had left, and she was crying for the one who brought forth this cursed moment to her.
“I . . . I need you to meet me in an alley the night after tomorrow,” she told him past the blurs in her eyes. “I have to talk to you about my future here.” She was quiet for a long moment before she added, “I . . . I don’t think I can do this anymore.”
There was no black and white in the world, just shades of gray. And when she stared at her brother, feeling his warmth and love seep from his hand and onto her cheek, she could feel her heart grow heavier in misery. She wished planning to kill him was more black and white. She wished it would be easier.
“I’ll meet you wherever you need me to meet you,” he confirmed gently, his expression becoming unreadable. “But before that, please get some rest. I think all of this is beginning to take a toll on you.”
“Thank you, oppa,” Soo Jin said, relieved that she could leave. She could no longer handle being around him.
“And little sis?” her brother added before she walked out. She stopped in her tracks and awaited his reply. She became further broken when she heard him say, “You know that I love you, right?”
The authenticity in his voice was undeniable, and this was where the world fell apart for her. Her legs picked up and she sped out, her mind running in rampant circles.
Shutting the door to her massive room in the Scorpions’ estate, Soo Jin buried her face into her hands. She groaned with aggravation. Broken. It was then that Soo Jin knew, as the inhumane part of her was fighting with the humane part of her, that she was broken.
What was she going to do?
How was she supposed to bring war upon him when she couldn’t even think straight?
It was only when she looked down and saw her dangling locket, her father’s gift that secretly doubled as a USB stick, springing out from her blouse did she know what she had to do. She had to remind herself . . . she had to remind herself of what led to this moment and why she had to go on with her plans.
It was her one last chance to get her act together before she met her brother in the alley. She prayed that it would work.
■■■
“‘The best are never distracted,’” Soo Jin whispered, sitting across the camcorder with a white wall behind her. She didn’t care how foolish or pathetic she looked. She needed this moment to vent out her feelings; she needed this moment to find some therapeutic solace by making a goddamn video to remind herself, and her future broken self, why she had to be a God in this world.
With that thought in mind, she persevered, staring into the camera as if she was talking to her future self. “If you’re watching this right now, then it must mean that you’re broken again—that you’re afraid of doing what has to be done. But I’ll remind you,” she assured, her eyes growing cold with resolution when the image of her father being killed by Young Jae and Ho Young invaded her mind. Anger shrouded her eyes. “I’ll remind you of everything that led to this moment and I’ll remind you why you can no longer be broken, why we have to finish what we started. I’ll remind you why we can’t be human, why you were always meant to be a God, an
d why these feelings of remorse and guilt are purely unacceptable.”
With a heavy heart, she began to recite all that happened. Pain and anger intermingled themselves into her memories, torturing her mental state. Her brother’s impending death was merited, but it did not mean it was going to be easy. It also didn’t help that her human emotions were going haywire while she spoke. A hole in her had been punctured, and it seemed that all the emotions that she had pushed aside were fighting to get through, as if eager to finally swim in her body after all those years of being suppressed. It was drowning Soo Jin, it was suffocating her, and it was overwhelming her.
She wanted to control it, yet she couldn’t.
Soo Jin knew she couldn’t, and she knew she couldn’t make a pathetic self-help recording, especially if her present self wasn’t even strong enough to see why she had to continue to fight through all of this and be a God.
“Fuck,” Soo Jin growled under her breath, tugging the camera over to her and turning it off. This was useless. Why was she wasting time with a video recording when she should be figuring out the riddle? For days, the answer to the riddle evaded her understanding. Even with Tony’s help, it did not make sense to her. Without the procedure, how was she going to resurrect the Siberian Tigers? How was she going to bring forth a war? How was she going to become a true God again?
Soo Jin was confounded.
Desperate for a change of scenery, and the drink that always calmed her nerves, Soo Jin knew where she had to go in order to get her mind back on track. She vacated her room and went to the very place where the riddle was first given to her.
Soo Jin had no idea then how much that choice was going to affect her in the future—that the moment she walked out of her room, her life was going to be intertwined with someone who would play the greatest and most pivotal role in her life.
“This is a world where Gods walk amongst humans.”
30: Once-in-a-Lifetime Duel
Exasperated.
That was how the great An Soo Jin felt as she stood in the dark club that had been cleaned up. There were no more dead bodies on the floor, just a pristine looking establishment worthy of the “Club Pure” name.
Soo Jin sighed as she recited the riddle in her mind and wondered how on earth she was supposed to move on from here. Her time was up. She had set a night to meet with her brother to “kill” herself and had already given instructions to her trusted Scorpions to leave the gang by either infiltrating rival gangs or creating new gangs of their own. Everything had been set into motion, but there was still one holdback. She still couldn’t figure out the damn riddle that was the key to her succession into the Siberian Tigers’ throne.
With her favorite tea in hand, Soo Jin lifted up the styrofoam cup and gulped down the drink she created herself. Queen of Babylon white tea, mixed with rooibos rose garden tea with a small pinch of German rock cane sugar danced in her mouth and glided down her throat, acting as the stimulant she needed. She hadn’t eaten all day and drinking this heavenly tea was the only thing that soothed her mind while she tried to decode the riddle. It was the only thing that pushed away thoughts of the people she killed, thoughts of her brother, and thoughts of her fucked up “I’m human again” dilemma.
“On the left side of the Siberian Tigers’ estate, buried deep in the ground under the red roses. What you’re looking for, you’ll find it there.”
Soo Jin had always been an independent person. Her intelligence and strength spoke for themselves. There were few things that stumped her and even fewer things that she couldn’t conquer. Nevertheless, as she stood dumbfounded in the club, she was beginning to wish for a partner-in-crime to help her decipher this riddle. She debated on calling Ji Hoon, but for some reason, decided at the last second that she didn’t want him involved in this portion of her plan.
Soo Jin placed her cup on the floor and crouched down on her knees. She looked around the club, wishing that she would get a blast of inspiration that would tell her what the true answer was. Soo Jin didn’t get too far with her thoughts before she heard voices coming closer from the outside.
Not intent on being caught here in case her brother sent any Scorpions her way, Soo Jin easily bounced onto a table, kicked the nearby wall for support, and jumped into the air. She reached out and hung her hands in the space between the balcony rails of the club. Suspending herself there for a second before she swung herself up, she did a backflip in the air and flew toward the balcony. Soo Jin landed effortlessly on the balls of her feet just as the new company walked in.
Through the endless darkness, she could see the ten figures walk in, and though she had never met them, she already knew who they were.
Ho Young’s Cobras.
There was a certain air that surrounded them, one filled with so much arrogance and superiority that she knew these were the trophy assassins who had been making an infamous name for themselves around the Underworld.
Fight them, a voice in her head prompted. Fight the ones who work for Ho Young, kill them, and reset the balance. Bring back our cruelty, our ruthlessness, and our inhumanity. Make us better than human again.
But another voice in her head told her to not bother.
We could kill them all too easily. There is no challenge. They are not the worthy mountains we seek to fight.
Soo Jin was debating. She was in the process of debating while the assassins explored the club in the darkness.
Fighting them would most likely bring some remnants of her old self back—if not her entire self. But she didn't have time. She had things to do, a future to still set in motion. Her time to solve the riddle was running up, and she feared she would never solve it at this rate. Soo Jin was still deliberating over her next course of action when she glanced down and saw that a female Cobra, one who had a tight brown ponytail and a pierced gold ring on her nose, approach the cup of tea she had forgotten. The girl bent down to pick it up.
Soo Jin clenched her fists. Crap.
While this occurred, her dazed mind repeated the riddle one last time, and then, the answer illuminated like a light bulb in her mind.
It all finally made sense to her.
Voices screaming out the number “57” hurled into her mind while the image of Tony moving his left cheek over his shoulder stood out to her like neon lights.
“On the left side of the Siberian Tigers’ estate, buried deep in the ground under the red roses. What you’re looking for, you’ll find it there.”
It all finally made sense.
The number “57” was supposed to resemble “S.T.” in physical appearance. And finally, “S.T.” stood as the acronym for the “Siberian Tigers.”
“Buried deep in the ground under the red roses,” she whispered quietly, knowledge dawning in her eyes.
At long last, she had finally solved the riddle—the procedure.
She had to scar someone’s body.
If the new succeeding leader wanted to resurrect the gang, then he or she would have to scar the number “57,” the number representing the pride of the Siberian Tigers, on someone else’s body as a message that only the Siberian Tigers would understand. And she had to scar the left cheek of someone to send out this message . . .
A wicked glint sparkled in Soo Jin’s eyes. She fastened her gaze onto the Cobras, who now seemed like the unlikely saviors who had just helped her solve the riddle. They were her unlikely saviors and her unsuspecting new victims.
Below, the female Cobra lifted the cup, checked the temperature of the tea, and found that it was still warm. Soo Jin jumped over the balcony just as the female Cobra announced, “Someone else is in here.”
Seconds later, Soo Jin landed elegantly on her feet, standing in front of them with a predatory smile on her face. She was elated to have solved the riddle and that these Cobras were going to give her one hell of a fight. She had fallen to ruins these past few days, and it felt great to feel the God within her return. Her heart raced as she stood before them in the same manner sh
e would have stood before anyone else in the Underworld—like a Queen. This moment was a longtime coming, and she was ecstatic it was finally here.
Just as she already knew they were the Cobras prior to meeting them, Soo Jin knew by the look in their eyes that they, too, knew who she was. If their thrill was anything to judge by, they were excited with the possibility of dueling her as well.
“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.