Free The War of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 3) by Con Template

us, and showered us with nothing but love and affection. When he died, our world fell apart. My mother was the first to go. She started to alienate herself while she mourned the loss of our father. She ignored us and didn’t speak to us because she was so depressed. The three of us tried to speak to her—to get through to her—but she was already pushed over the edge. A couple of weeks after his death, she committed suicide and died with him.”
    Yoori felt the weight of the world push against her chest. She recalled how much Tae Hyun hated it when she ignored him an d gave him the silent treatment. She had no idea it was something his mother did to the whole family before she committed suicide.
    “It didn’t take long for th e rest of us to fall apart,” Hae Jin continued. “My eldest brother, who was already drinking and taking drugs after my father’s death, started to abuse more drugs. Oppa, who took it the hardest because she died a few days before his birthday, escaped by schooling abroad.”
    Yoori took in a sharp breath. She understood now why Tae Hyun was not eager to celebrate his birthday. Who would want to celebrate their birthday when their mother committed suicide just days before?
    “And me,” said Hae Jin. “I not only lost my parents, but both of my older brothers too.” Her voice started to become shaky. It was expressive in her face that this was a difficult memory for her to revisit. But to give her brother justice, she fought through it. “There was a time where I hated him too, you know? After my father’s death, my eldest brother started acting strange toward me. It got so bad that I was afraid to even be alone with him. I told oppa this, and you know what he told me? He said he was too busy—he didn’t have time for me and my imagination.” She shook her head, exhaling painfully. “He left for college, and I was left alone with Ho Young. Then . . . Ho Young started doing things to me that I knew were wrong. He was touching me, forcing me to do things with him, and just . . . ” She took a moment to gather her breath. “And just made my life a living hell. At that instance, I hated Kwon Tae Hyun.”
    She glanced at Yoori.  
    “We don’t talk about our eldest brother much, but he still haunts us every single day.” Her face grew paler. “I’ll never forget that night, when my eldest brother came into my room, drunk off his mind, and told me that I wasn’t his sister anymore, that he needed me as something else.” As though to prevent tears from streaming down her face, she bit her quivering lips. “That night was hard, but it was harder when oppa came home unannounced and found Ho Young on top of me . . . touching me.” Hae Jin closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing.
    “The three o f us were close growing up, but oppa and our eldest brother were extremely close. Although the Underworld tried to pit them against one another, they never fell for the bait because they loved each other the way brothers should. Regardless, the poison of this world spreads far and wide. My brothers may not have battled each other for power, but they fought nonetheless because this world corrupted my eldest brother. It tainted all of us.”
    She looked at Yoori. Her eyes teemed with conviction. “What Kwon Ho Young did to me was unforgivable. I’ll hate him for the rest of my life for it. But that hatred doesn’t quell the guilt of knowing that it resulted in him getting killed by oppa. The hate didn’t prevent our souls from deteriorating as we watched our eldest brother take his last breath.”
    Hae Jin’s eyes rippled with tears that she refused to let out.
    “My soul was broken after that. It was broken until Kang Min came into my life, until he lifted the demons away and showed me how I could trust another man aside from oppa. I was saved when I was fifteen, when I had Kang Min to lean on. But my brother suffered the most because he never once let out what really happened