The Fall of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 2) (6 page)

“Lay down,” he directed, flashing his brown eyes up at her.
 “We can share an equal view of everything this way.” When Yoori hesitated, he added, “The sky is about to become more beautiful and you’ll only hurt your neck from craning it for too long. Might as well prevent the trouble. It’s not like you don’t have enough pain rummaging through your body.” 

It was probably a psychological thing, but when he mentioned the pain in her body, she began to feel the aches in her neck.
 

“There she goes…” Tae Hyun stated idly, his eyes reflecting the rays of the sunset.

Excited about the beautiful view and convinced that it was only for the good of her body (even though deep down, she knew it was something else), Yoori settled herself beside Tae Hyun and allowed her head to rest on the smooth base of the boat. 

Both resting their hands on their stomachs, Yoori and Tae Hyun smiled in awe at the magic of the nature before them. Her perfume
and his cologne mixed together while they watched in serene silence. It seemed at that moment, the whole world stopped to stare up at the heavens above as well. 

“Do you know what’s crazy?” she found herself asking, her attention becoming lost in the skies above.
 

“What?”
 

“Do you realize that our whole lives, every decision we’ve made, all the roads we’ve chosen—good, bad, big and small—everything has led us to this very moment in time?” Yoori had a tendency to get philosophical when she was outside long enough. The scenic world had that enlightening power over her.
 

“What a crazy thought,” Tae Hyun murmured, his eyes roaming the picturesque sky.
 

Yoori nodded, proud of her c
razy, simple, but somewhat mind-boggling observation. Another thought invaded her mind.

“Tae Hyun,” she launched excitedly, her eager eyes focused on
the majestic streaks of color ornamenting the once blue sky. 

“Hmm?”
 

“If you weren’t a gang leader
, what would you be doing right now?” 

He paused to mull over the answer. It threw Yoori off when he said, “What do you mean?”
 

His slightly bewildered voice said it all: he had never been asked that question before. And
based on the tightening of the muscles in his arms, Yoori was sure that he was very uncomfortable with the question. 

“Well…you weren’t first in line for the Serpents throne,” she began carefully. She was reticent with bringing up his older brother, but she was eager to know his answer since he hadn’t dismissed her question yet. “Before you found yourself as the King of Serpents, what were you planning to do with your life?”
 

When Tae Hyun fell silent, Yoori assumed that he dismissed her question. Just as the silence was about to eat away at them, his voice permeated the fresh, cool air.
 

“The 1
st
layer is where I’m supposed to be right now if everything went according to the original plan,” Tae Hyun shared unsteadily, his voice more delicate than she had ever heard it. 

Yoori nodded, pleased that Tae Hyun contributed to the conversation. It may have been because he felt nostalgic in the lake they were in—the solitude they found themselves in as the only thing keeping them company were the distant ducks, the dancing water, and the glorious sunset. Or it could even be because of her company. Whatever the case, Tae Hyun seemed more at ease
when he spoke to her. 

“I was raised to take over the 1
st
layer. The original plan was to have my brother in the 3
rd
 layer, myself in the 1
st
 layer and Hae Jin could choose whichever layer she wanted to be in. I never once thought that I’d spend any real time in the 3
rd
 layer—let alone rule it.” He smiled dryly. “I remember being so excited to take over the 1
st
 layer. Going away to business school was one of the best times of my life.”

His smiling eyes relived the glory of his college days.
 

“The world was my oyster and I was excited for the life to come. I wanted to make a name for myself in the corporate world. I wanted to build my own empire and I wanted to bask in the freedom of living the life I created for myself. There's a certain independence you get from the 1st layer. It is different than the 3
rd
 layer in a sense that a lot of your power comes from knowing the right people. It worked to my benefit that I had endless businessmen/politicians who wanted to be my mentors and endless friends who were the soon to be heirs of their own respective empires. 

“That’s why I had so much power and support when I took the Serpents throne 3 years ago. It is unheard of for the younger brother to kill the older brother for the leadership position, even under the confines of the Underworld. There’s still a particular code of honor that you should abide by—loyalty being the highest one. But I was ‘pardoned’ because of my close relations to the Corporate Crime Lords and the mentorship I received from Shin Dong Min. That’s how the Underworld works. The 1
st
and 2
nd
 layers don’t have as much power as the 3
rd
 layer, but their influences—especially in large quantities—help to sway the pendulum of power.”

He laughed bitterly to himself. “Being crowned the King of Serpents without an uproar was inevitable after that.”
 He turned to Yoori. He smiled when he added, “You would like it in the 1
st
 layer, Yoori. Life is much more carefree in that layer. There’s still the struggle for power that involves Underworld business but the majority of the time, you’re allowed to get lost in your own world.” 

“Do you regret becoming
the King of Serpents?” she blurted without filter.

The pause was a short one that felt like an eternity for Yoori. Tae Hyun regarded her silently. She tried to scrutinize his poignant eyes for some emotion with the question she posed. It didn’t take her long to deduce that the question may have been unexpected on her part, but it was quite possible that it was a question Tae Hyun may have already asked himself.
 

His gaze on her remained. H
e parted his lips. “Would you regret becoming a God, Yoori?” 

She paused. "A God?"

When Yoori found herself unable to answer, Tae Hyun went on. “I can’t begin to tell you how amazing it felt that first day when I walked into the Serpents estate and everyone in that room got down on one knee and kneeled before me. I also can’t tell you how wonderful it felt when I walked into an arena that housed the entire Underworld and everyone bowed their heads down in respect – and fear – of my presence. I am everything that people want to be—” 

“—
better than human,” Yoori finished for him. 

Tae Hyun nodded. “There’s no point in regretting things that have already happened, things that are beyond your control. I became a crime lord under unusual circumstances but continued to be a crime lord to quench my thirst for the ultimate power and for my own survival.”
 

“Survival?”
 

“That’s the curse of being a gang leader. You can have as much power as God but you are
 never truly God. Regret isn’t a luxury that I’m given. The moment I regret anything is the moment I make myself vulnerable to death. People in the Underworld are quick to revere you and they are just as quick to kill you. Regret doesn’t transcend in this world but power does. That’s the number one rule, Choi Yoori—you can’t regret anything. The moment you do, you might as well kill yourself because someone else will be on your tail and ready to do it for you.” 

Yoori nodded, her mind venturing onto something else. “You know, you paused when I asked you if you regretted being
the King of Serpents.” 

“Yeah?”
 

“But you didn’t look surprised when I asked. The reaction in your eyes was something of
 familiarity
with the question.” She smiled weakly, noting the cautious intrigue in his eyes. “This might not be the case for you, but sometimes, when you ask yourself if you regret something enough, even if you say you don’t, sometimes that could be your own subconscious way of telling yourself that you do.” She gazed into his eyes. “Do you ask yourself that question enough?” 

Tae Hyun immediately shook his head at her question—
too immediate for Yoori who felt that she must’ve hit a nerve within him when she stated that observation. Determined not to allow a tense air to fall upon them, she smiled and nodded, accepting his wordless reply as her answer. She didn’t want to push it. He was beginning to open up and she didn't want to scare him away. 

Tae Hyun, relieved that she didn’t venture further into that topic, turned his head forward, closed his eyes and lounged under the cascades of light that fell upon him. A breath later, he opened his eyes and turned to Yoori again. Curiosity reveled in his gaze. It was his turn to ask the questions.
 

“What were you planning on doing with your life before I busted in and stole you from your world?”
 

Yoori smiled.
 Normally, she’d avoid going into the deep and personal stuff with Tae Hyun because they’d always danced around those types of things, both holding up a wall and only allowing the other in when the trust was built high enough. Much to Yoori’s obliviousness, she had already started to take her wall down for Tae Hyun—and him for her. It was a natural progression in their relationship that occurred so subtly that they didn’t even notice it was happening. 

Because of the serenity they found themselves in (or the fact that Tae Hyun opened up a bit more to her first), Yoori found herself at ease. For the first time, she actually wanted to let him in—but only
 slightly
.

“When I was living in Taecin…I was…really sick,” Yoori shared warily, not divulging her amnesia to Tae Hyun. It wasn’t the time to tell him—not that she thought there would ever be a time.
 

Tae Hyun nodded, listening intently as Yoori went on.
 

“Being sick doesn’t really allot you
the opportunity to be ambitious, especially not in Taecin because there’s nothing there.” She smiled to herself. “I had really big dreams. The long-term plan of coming to Seoul was to further my career. Working at the diner was a way to make ends meet so I could pay for my apartment. In all honesty, I wasn’t supposed to work there for more than a year. I was only supposed to stay for a couple of months and go find a job elsewhere. But one thing led to another and I became really comfortable there. It was my own little bubble.” 

She smiled wryly when she remembered Chae Young. She grew despondent when she realized how much she missed her. “I—I don’t have a lot of close friends. I was really sick in Taecin so I lacked a lot of friends because of that, you know? But when I started working at the diner, I met this girl who was nice to me. We clicked instantly – just like Hae Jin and I – and became best friends.”
 

She laughed ironically at herself when she was reminded of her relationship with Chae Young. She gently slapped a palm against her forehead. “Oh God, I imagine she must’ve called me a million times since you ‘recruited’ me from the diner.”
 

 
Tae Hyun watched a family of ducks swim beside them when he asked, “Have you spoken to her since?”

Yoori shook her head, her eyes noting that the sunset had begun to disappear behind the trees, the radius of the bright orange lights limited to what was behind the leaves.

“After I ran away from you, I ignored phone calls from her because I didn’t want her to get involved. You know, ‘gang stuff.’ But after that night when you came for me, my phone ran out of battery and I forgot to get the charger when I went back that one time.” Yoori shrugged sadly. “I didn’t get ‘reminders’ to call her afterward because my actual phone died. But I suppose it’s better this way. I miss her but I don’t want to get her involved in all of this.” 

When
the sun hid deeper behind the trees, Tae Hyun turned his head in her direction. This move caused Yoori to do the same. They were eye-to-eye, nose-to-nose and 
almost
 lips to lips. 

A subtle dash of guilt
teemed in Tae Hyun’s eyes. She knew what she said touched a sensitive nerve within him. She just didn’t know how sensitive that nerve was. 

He parted his lips. His voice was soft and unsure
, but also hopeful. “We could stop by the diner on our way back to the city tomorrow,” Tae Hyun offered, his gaze never leaving Yoori’s. 

Yoori gave him a strange and quizzical look.
 

“No, I have a good plan,” he continued, heeding her apprehension. The hopeful beam took over his eyes. “I could introduce myself as Kwon Tae Hyun, a young, budding entrepreneur who walked into a local diner after a crappy business meeting with one of his investors. I could tell her that I was having a terrible morning until I saw you—the most beautiful girl that I’d ever laid eyes on. I could tell her that when you accidentally spilled hot coffee all over my hands, I knew then that my life wasn’t going to be the same.
 I’ll tell her that after some sweet talk and a lot of courting, I convinced you to run off to Paris with me. I’ll apologize to her for stealing you away so abruptly. I’ll tell her it was because we fell in love at first sight and it couldn’t have worked out any other way. She’ll smile and nod at me while giving approving eyes at you. And then I could give you guys some alone time to catch up and then afterward, we’ll tell her we’re going to jet set around the world but you’ll be able to catch up with her on the phone.” He smiled reassuringly at her. “She’ll never have to be involved.”