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

by Template, Con

  "I thought you didn't have girls who are friends?" she asked with a perplexed expression.

  He grinned sheepishly at her. "There's a first time for everything, right?"

  She continued to shake her head. This was so inappropriate on so many levels.

  When it looked like Tae Hyun was about to say more to convince her to see things his way, he abruptly stalled.

  "Huh..." he said unexpectedly, scrutinizing her frightened appearance. A sly, perceptive smile appeared on his face. All of a sudden, he began to back away from her. "Ah crap, why didn't I see this before?"

  "Wh–what are you doing?” Yoori asked, confused. “Why are you looking at me like that?"

  "Choi Yoori…” He inspected her fearful demeanor more closely. "If I didn't know better, I'd seriously think you're really attracted to me."

  That was all it took for Yoori to snap out of her fearful stupor. "What?"

  What the hell?

  "It makes sense now." He dramatically got off the bed and shook his head. "I thought it was strange how your eyes are always swelling up whenever you see me come out of the shower. Now, I know why."

  Her face grew a darker shade of red. That was not true!

  She thought about it further.

  Well, it was true but he shouldn't point it out like that! Acting like she was some pervert who stalks around the room, waiting for him to come sauntering out of the shower with his sexy naked upper body distracting her eyes. Yoori stopped when she realized that he might have a point. However, being the prideful fighter that she was, Yoori certainly wasn't going to let Tae Hyun win this game. She was not going to be labeled as some perverted fan girl!

  "Look, we gotta get a couple of things straight," she said tightly, preparing to get off the bed as well. She only stalled when Tae Hyun theatrically placed both of his hands up in midair.

  "No. It's okay, assistant. I understand now. Of course casually sleeping beside each other is a bad idea. If it doesn't help your obsession with me, then it's definitely a better idea if I slept on the floor."

  Bending his knees, he prepared to lie down on the floor. Such a gesture, however, was foiled when Yoori grabbed him roughly by the arm.

  "No!" she shouted heatedly. With all the strength she had, she pulled him back to the bed. "You get your ass in bed!"

  Yoori's hold wasn't strong enough to pull Tae Hyun, but with a secret grin on his face, he dutifully followed her pull and hopped onto the mattress.

  Yoori couldn't be more irate and offended. She grumpily placed her legs under the comforter. At this point, sleeping was her best option of ending this terrible negotiation exchange.

  "Saying I like you...yeah right!" she huffed crankily, pulling the covers over herself. She rested on the pillow, not done articulating her outrage. "You have some nerve saying that. God, you're such an arrogant piece of – OH MY GOD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she shrieked when she glanced up and saw that Tae Hyun was not only not paying attention to what she was saying, but he was also not wearing a shirt to cover that flaming hot body of his.

  In the name of all that is Holy, why was he torturing her like this?

  "It’s a relief we're such good friends that I can sleep like this," he said breathlessly, discarding his black shirt aside. "I don't have to worry about you sexually harassing me at night."

  He ran to the corner with only black pants to cover all those beautiful muscles and switched off the light. When the room swam in darkness, he sped back to the bed. Yoori bounced in frozen horror when the bed adjusted to his powerful frame. She could smell that sexy cologne of his as he situated himself underneath the covers. Through the darkness, she gaped at him in dismay.

  He repositioned his pillow underneath his head and stared back at her.

  "What is it, buddy?" he asked innocently. Even in the looming darkness, she could tell his eyes were twinkling. He knew exactly why she was staring at him with such horror.

  Tae Hyun. Tae Hyun that damn, teasing bastard had more than polluted the true meaning of friendship!

  Y–you friendship abuser, she wanted to say to him for turning the innocence of her friendship into this. Yet, her face remained stoned as she lay on the other side of the bed. With her heart beating at an alarming rate and her face turning bright red, she couldn't have been more thankful that the room was dark.

  "Nothing, buddy," she muttered resentfully. She slyly scooted a little bit further to avoid being close to Tae Hyun's promiscuous body.

  See no evil. See no evil. See no evil. The phrase repeated like a mantra in her head. She tried desperately to erase the tempting image of a shirtless Tae Hyun.

  "Good," he answered before nuzzling the right side of his face onto his pillow. "Sweet dreams, Choi Yoori."

  Silence befell the room when he closed his eyes.

  Yoori rolled over onto the right side of her body. She strategically positioned herself so that her back would be facing Tae Hyun. It was a tactical strategy employed to not only decrease the acceleration of her heart rate, but also to prevent her from staring at Tae Hyun's sleeping countenance.

  She closed her eyes and pulled the comforter tightly around her. She tried her best to fall asleep so she didn’t have to think about her half-naked, “friendship abusing” buddy on the other side of the bed.

  Such an attempt was stymied when he called out to her.

  "Choi Yoori," she heard him say as she attempted to drift off to sleep.

  "Hmm?" she answered instinctively.

  She mentally slapped herself for answering so fast.

  What was she thinking? Did she really want the night to progress with Tae Hyun, whether directly or indirectly, teasing her womanly senses? Maybe it would have been a better idea if she pretended to be asleep. She could only imagine that he must have wanted to torture her some more before he called it a night.

  His next words took her by complete surprise. “Tell me a little bit more about yourself.”

  Wow, she really didn't expect to hear that.

  She rolled back and faced Tae Hyun. The side of his face rested on the palm of his hand while he gazed at her with a small smile.

  She initially hesitated to say anything, but when she reasoned how comfortable she had grown around Tae Hyun, she decided to open up. They were friends after all.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Where is your family?” he asked. “I’ve never heard you talk about them.”

  Yoori smiled sadly. “They died in a fire awhile back.”

  It felt strange to say this out loud, but in the same token, it felt like this burden had been lifted off her chest. She thought that it would’ve been harder to open up, yet Tae Hyun made it easy for her. Instead of stiffening up and becoming uncomfortable, as most people do when they find out about the death of your loved ones, he remained as warm as ever.

  “I’m sorry,” he said sincerely.

  Yoori nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Was it just you and your parents?”

  “I had a cousin who lived with us. She died too. I don’t have anyone left.”

  He eased a loose bang that fell over her eyes. “Were you close to them?”

  “I don’t know.” When he gave her a questioning look, she said, “I – I was a really bad daughter. I did a lot of wrong things and I disappointed them a lot. I even ran away a couple of times.” She inhaled slowly. “I only became a good daughter after I got into a car accident. After that, I had a new outlook on life and I guess I just...changed.” She strained to smile. “Hopefully for the better.”

  His warm smile lifted her spirits. “Too bad they can’t see you now.”

  She laughed. “I’m sure they wouldn’t be too impressed with me being the personal assistant of a crime lord. No offense.”

  “You didn’t do it for money,” he said quietly, holding her gaze. “You did it because I used your moral obligations against you.”

  She stared into his eyes. She hadn’t noticed it before, but he really had beautiful eyes.
They were the kind that melted you with a simple stare – they were the kind that made you feel like the whole world revolved around you simply because he was giving you his full attention.

  Now that she had shared her story, she was infinitely curious about his. “What about you? Were you close to your family?”

  He nodded. “Growing up, I was close to all of them.”

  “What happened to your mom?”

  Grief rippled in his gaze. “My father’s death really hit her hard. After he died, she couldn't take it.” He swallowed softly. “She committed suicide.”

  Yoori shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sorry.”

  “And I’m sorry for yours,” he said gently. He reached out and reassuringly caressed her cheek. “I lost three of my family members during separate occasions. I can’t imagine losing them all at once.”

  Another sad smile outlined her lips. “I lost them all at one time, but the shock from it only happened once. Your pain was prolonged. I can’t imagine going through it three separate times.” Yoori readjusted her head on the pillow, unknowingly moving closer to him and those caressing fingers. “Do you miss them?”

  “Everyday.”

  Another stream of silence spilled over them like a waterfall.

  Tae Hyun stared at her for the longest time, his fingers stroking her cheek. Hypnotized by how nice it felt to be caressed by his gentle touch, she let him stroke her cheek as he pleased. He was too captivating to resist.

  A few minutes passed before he suddenly said, "How are you holding up in this world?”

  Yoori looked at him. She knew he was referring to the Underworld. “I can't believe it existed right under my nose. It's hard to believe how big this world is.”

  He nodded before grimly saying, “This world is nothing compared to the real thing.”

  She knitted her brows. “What do you mean?”

  “What you see so far is the little that the public knows. When you get deeper down, this society becomes more...complex.”

  “How so?”

  “It's more dangerous.”

  “Why haven't I seen all that the Underworld has to offer?”

  “Because I’ve been keeping it from you.”

  She laughed. “And why have you been doing that?”

  He looked at her seriously. “It's not a good world to be welcomed into.”

  “If it’s so dangerous, why are you still in it?”

  He smirked. “I was born into it. It's different.”

  “Do you sometimes wish you were in another world? A more normal and safe one?”

  He chuckled, pulling his hand away. He edged closer to her, so close that the heat from his body felt like a furnace next to hers.

  His brown eyes holding hers captive, he almost seductively said, “I am revered like a King in this world. Why would I ever want to leave it?”

  Yoori shrugged, struggling to maintain poise amid the longing inside her. It took all her strength to not draw any closer to Tae Hyun, to get lost in the heat of his tempting body.

  Keep calm and carry on as though he wasn’t teasing you, she instructed herself.

  “You hold a lot of lives in your hand when you’re a King,” she said. “When you’re just another human, you have more time to enjoy the simpler things in life.”

  Tae Hyun smiled. After a long, pondering moment, he showed mercy by relinquishing with his subtle teasing of Yoori and her womanly senses.

  “Thanks for coming back,” he said unexpectedly.

  She tilted her head in confusion. She didn't understand what he was referring to. "Come back?"

  His smile widened marginally. "The warehouse," he clarified.

  "Oh," Yoori finally recalled, the events of that day returning to her. "Oh that."

  "Why'd you come back?"

  Even in the darkness, Yoori could swear that there was a hint of vulnerability in Tae Hyun's eyes when he asked this. When he saw that she was finally on the same page as him, his interest grew. He sounded nonchalant, but she could sense he really wanted to know her answer.

  She didn't know why, but at that second, her stomach churned when he asked that question. It didn't churn because of disgust. It churned because of caution. Whatever the reason for her sudden state of alertness, her gut instinct told her to be careful. That caution heeded, she answered with the first bullshit answer that popped into her mind.

  "Because we're friends," she said promptly, her eyes never leaving his.

  His composure was challenged with her unforeseen answer.

  "Because we're friends?" Tae Hyun repeated after her, the tone of his voice now unreadable. He didn't seem to believe her.

  She nodded as guarded silence fell upon them.

  The sting she felt after those words poured from her mouth surprised her. She wasn’t too sure why she came back to the warehouse. She only knew that the reason she gave Tae Hyun wasn't 100% true. Whatever the case was though, she didn't delve deeper into it. Her gut told her that it was a better idea to leave things as they were. And, for tonight, she was happy to oblige.

  After taking a few moments to inspect her face for some form of bluff, a small and somewhat thwarted smile appeared on his face.

  "That's a pretty stupid reason," he finally concluded. Before Yoori could retort, he went on. "You're a smart girl, but you better not do anything stupid like that again. When your life is in danger, you run. Don't try to save anyone else. You'll do well to remember that, alright? You might have been lucky at the warehouse, but you have to understand that the Underworld is an unforgiving place. It is unlikely you'll get lucky the second time around."

  Yoori pursed her lips in annoyance. She wasn't the only stupid one that day.

  "Why did you have me leave the warehouse before Ji Hoon appeared?" she found herself asking.

  Judging by the perplexed expression on his face, she could surmise that he wasn't sure of his answer either. However, being an expert with hiding his bluff, the uncertainty on Tae Hyun's face vanished as quickly as it appeared.

  "Because we're friends," he said firmly, his composure reappearing. With a mischievous smirk, his eyes challenged her to find his bluff.

  Yoori sighed at his answer. A part of her was glad that he offered her that simple answer. A simple answer for the simple relationship they had with one another. A larger part of her felt disappointed. It would have been nice to hear something else. She couldn't deny that.

  Tired of the serious atmosphere that cloaked them, Yoori took it upon herself to take the conversation into another direction – a more lighthearted direction.

  "Anyway, it was also stupid of you to put yourself in front of me when that guy was pointing the gun at us. What's wrong with you?" she asked, hoping Tae Hyun would follow her lead and start to bicker with her so the intensity of their conversation would lessen.

  He took the hint. "What is it about us smart people that makes us do stupid things?" he asked, faking a tone of disbelief.

  Yoori shrugged, happy that he was following along with the lighthearted conversation she wanted.

  "I don't know," she answered blithely. "I guess we were both distracted by everything that was going on. I wasn't thinking. I followed my instincts that day. So don't be flattered or anything that I came to 'save' you. Sometimes my own stupidity gets the best of me."

  "Yeah, mine too," he agreed, lost in contemplation as he played with the fabric of his comforter.

  When she watched his fingers tug on the loose string of the fabric, it finally occurred to Yoori why Tae Hyun had been acting abnormal lately.

  "You know," she ventured timidly, making it a point to get his attention. She went on when he lifted his eyes off the comforter to meet hers. "It hadn't occurred to me until now that you've been acting especially strange lately because you've had something on your mind." She hesitated before saying, "What's bothering you?"

  He studied her with a raised brow. "Do I look bothered?"

  Yoori shook her head. "You don't look it. But I just hav
e a feeling you are."

  A broad smile danced on Tae Hyun's lips. Amused, he briefly turned away. Though he didn't look bothered, she knew he was. She was so confident that she was even willing to challenge his smile.

  "I'm following my instincts tonight," she stated confidently. "And I think I'm right when I say that something's been bothering you these past few days."

  Poor Tae Hyun. He truly did try to keep the smile firmly solidified on his face. However, when it was apparent that he was caught, he merely exhaled with exhaustion. "If you must know, I've been feeling a bit conflicted."

  "About what?"

  "Choosing between two things I want," he answered carefully, his eyes refusing to meet hers. The internal battle ensuing within him was evident in his somber state. The air of arrogance that typically frequented his personality dissipated when he admitted this.

  "Oh?"

  "Well,” he amended, his eyes staring at the outlining of the comforter. “I'm not sure if I actually want the second one."

  Perplexity flooded over Yoori's face as he continued, "I mean...I'm feeling conflicted because I'm still unsure of why I'd want the second thing. For the first thing I want, I've wanted it all my life. But for this second thing, it just occurred to me that I might want it. But I don't know if I just want it for the sake of wanting it or if I really want it. Having said that, I honestly don't know what I'd do with it if I did get it. So essentially right now, I'm not only deciding between two things I want...but I'm also confused. I don't know if the second thing is even worth wanting."

  After finishing his puzzling reply, his eyes returned to Yoori. "That is what's bothering me. I can't decide what I want."

  Yoori returned his gaze with a blank stare.

  "Wow," she began sarcastically. "Could you be anymore specific?"

  He chuckled at her sarcasm. "If it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one confused around here."

  Apparently. She wanted to ask him for specifics as to what exactly those two things were but she hesitated. She knew the limitations of Tae Hyun's secretive nature; she knew this sum of information from him was as good as it was going to get – at least for now.

  She favored him with an empathizing smile. "You don't strike me as an indecisive person."