挙句（あげく） ‘in the end’, is a noun used in Japanese to express a negative result that occurs, despite a considerable amount of time, effort, or resources that was put into (A). あげく will often be used in situations where the escalating situation of (A) somehow caused or prompted the negative result of (B).
あげく will appear after the past-tense form of verbs, or after nouns followed by の.

• 私（わたし）は夫（おっと）と話（はな）し合（あ）いをしたあげく、離婚（りこん）することに決（き）めた。
  After having a discussion with my husband, we have decided that we are getting a divorce.
• 昨日（きのう）落（お）とした財布（さいふ）を長（なが）い時間（じかん）探（さが）したあげく、見（み）つける事（こと）ができなかったので交番（こうばん）に行（い）った。
  After looking for my wallet that I dropped yesterday, I couldn’t find it, so I went to the police station.
• 田中（たなか）さんと中田（なかた）さんは口論（こうろん）のあげく、喧嘩（けんか）になってしまい、警察（けいさつ）のお世話（せわ）になった。
  After an argument, Mr. Tanaka and Ms. Nakata got into a fight and were taken care of by the police.

Alternatively, あげく may be used to express some sort of troublesome or negative process that led to the conclusion of (B). In these cases, the outcome itself may not be undesirable, but arriving at that result of (B) somehow was.

• 先生（せんせい）と色々（いろいろ）と相談（そうだん）したあげく、レポートを書（か）き直（なお）すことにした。
  After much discussion with the teacher, I decided to rewrite the report.
• 父親（ちちおや）との議論（ぎろん）のあげく、俺（おれ）は大学（だいがく）を中退（ちゅうたい）して会社（かいしゃ）を継（つ）ぐことになった。
  After some discussion with my father, I decided to drop out of college and take over his company.