"Sister Lisa!" Naeun's expression brightened when she saw Lisa and immediately wanted to stand up in complete disregard to the needle that was pierced in her arm, and the boy next to her immediately held her down. "It's not your father, what are you so excited about?"
"Brother Soobin, this is Sister Lisa! She's the one I told you about, you know, the one that's great at everything!" Naeun sat back down, but her eyes were still stuck on Lisa with worship written all over her expression.
"How great could she be, is she greater than Shen Suran?" The boy patted Naeun's head while he rolled his eyes, not believing what she was saying.
The girl frowned and puffed her cheeks as she looked at the boy with a serious expression. "No, Sister Lisa is awesome! She's as awesome as Dad!"
The boy knew of Jinhee's position in his daughter's heart, and seeing that the girl placed Lisa on such a pedestal, he only turned his head and looked back at the television.
"Hello, Soobin." Lisa wasn't one to care about the opinion of a child, so she only placed the fruits she brought with her on the table and started peeling an apple with a knife.
Hearing her voice, the boy turned around and looked at her, only to turn his head away with a blush up to his ears as he saw her face.
"Official reports say that the Arts Academy has gotten a Chinese painting that has been accepted into the national art exhibition, but the artist of this work is still unknown..."
Lisa saw the painting that she drew on the screen, before the camera panned over to Suran's face. Upon seeing this, she smiled. If she didn't want anyone to find her, no one would be able to, even if they turned the entire country upside down.
Seeing that she looked at the television too, the boy smiled proudly and said, "Sister Suran is awesome! She's the smartest person in our area other than my brother, and she was accepted by B University's Faculty of Arts!"
Seeing that he was so proud of it as if it were his own achievements, Lisa chuckled. "Alright, well you better learn from your Sister Suran, yes?"
"Of...Of course." The boy seemed particularly prone to being shy, but he still tried to put on an unfazed front as he did.
Lisa was focused on peeling the apple with a fruit knife, deftly peeling off the skin of the apple without pausing as she smiled warmly at the two children.
After she finished peeling the apple, she cut it up and pierced two pieces with two toothpicks before sticking both pieces of apples into the children's mouths. "What are you guys looking at me for? Eat!"
Soobin nibbled on the apple with a perplexed expression. Was he really the type to value looks that much? How could he just follow what she told her without any question?
After a short while, a nurse came into the ward and started herding the two children out for chemotherapy, which Lisa was here to accompany Naeun for in the first place. She was quite surprised that the boy's parents weren't here, while the warm-hearted nurse brought up calling Soobin's older brother here.
"Please don't call my brother! I can do it by myself!" Upon hearing the suggestion, Soobin immediately clasped his hands together and looked at the nurse pleadingly. "Sister Nurse, please? My brother is very busy!"
The nurse blinked in surprise, while Lisa went over to communicate with the nurse about looking after Soobin too.
There wasn't much difference between taking care of one child and two.
The chemotherapy room was in another building, and when she brought the two children there, they were met by the surprised gazes of some elderly people that were waiting in line too. "Chemotherapy at such a young age?"
Lisa only rubbed their heads before sending them into the chemotherapy room, not knowing how to reply.
Yes, they were young. Too young to have to deal with this much pain, and too young to have to learn to stay positive despite what life threw at them.
"Hello...Huh, why are you here?" A familiar voice asked behind her.
Lisa turned around, and saw a familiar boy standing there in the halls of the hospital.
It was Luo Yoongi.
"You're... Soobin's older brother?" Lisa immediately guessed the relationship between him and the younger boy, and she pointed towards the chemotherapy room. "He just went in."
Radiation was strong in the chemotherapy room, so family members weren't allowed to enter, and while Lisa wasn't afraid of radiation, she still waited outside in respect to the rules of the hospital.
Yoongi panted softly as he tried to catch his breath. "Yes, thank you."
He was helping with deliveries for the fast-food restaurant that he was working at. Even though there were two workers hired for that purpose, but sometimes customers would request that he be the one that delivered them, so he was so busy that he almost forgot about Soobin's appointment. Upon rushing to the hospital, he was notified that the boy had been brought to the chemotherapy room, so he rushed here immediately after he knew.
He was quite surprised to see Lisa there.
Thinking of this, Yoongi's mood became better as he looked at the girl in front of him with a smile. "Mhm...Why are you here?"
"I'm here to accompany a girl." Lisa leaned back onto the wall, before looking over at the door of the chemotherapy room for a long moment before continuing, "Soobin's not bad."
"Mhm." Yoongi seemed to have been reminded of something, and he started to space out for a while.
All of a sudden, the doors were opened from the inside along with Soobin scrambling out of it followed by a doctor that was shouting, "Hey, wait!"
Soobin's expression was ghastly as he looked at Yoongi, before he immediately ran away with pursed lips, not saying a single word.
"Luo Soobin!" Yoongi finally reacted to what was happening and he immediately chased after the boy, shouting as he did, "Soobin, stay right where you are!"
Lisa looked on at this, not quite sure what had happened, before she heard the doctor from earlier explain to a particularly gossipy patient that saw what had happened, "This boy probably didn't know about his condition at the start, and he heard me and Dr. Zhang talk about how he couldn't get completely cured no matter how much money they spent, and..."
The doctor sighed as he made his way back to the chemotherapy room and closed the doors.
***
A young boy and a handsome young man stood there under the sun, the two of them staring each other down and not willing to step back on their respective standpoints.
Yoongi's hands were clasped on Soobin's shoulders in a tight metal grip as he glared at the boy sternly, but the younger boy wasn't even fazed in the slightest as he looked back up at him with the exact same intensity. It was clear that Soobin was a stubborn boy that even Yoongi couldn't do anything about.
"Yoongi, your phone has been ringing for a while now. If you have matters to attend to, you can go, okay? I'll take care of Soobin for you," Lisa made her way over slowly and said.
Seeing that this matter couldn't be resolved in a short matter of time, Yoongi let go of Soobin and looked at him for a few moments before breathing deeply and turning over to face Lisa. "Thank you, I'll be back when I'm done."
There was a camphor tree in the courtyard by a bench, and Lisa sat down with Soobin under the shade. "Now that your brother's gone, do you want to tell me what that was about?"
Upon hearing her question, Soobin only raised his legs onto the bench and wrapped his arms around them, before curling into himself, not replying to the question at all.
When Lisa thought that this silence would go on, he spoke.
"Brother Yoongi isn't my brother by blood."
Soobin had been abandoned at the orphanage's doorstep a mere few days after he was born, and Yoongi was the one that picked him up and named him, and brought him into his home like he was his own brother.
Ever since he could remember, he had been following behind Yoongi, and from the words of the people around them, he knew that his brother was a genius. Many families had tried to adopt Yoongi, but he had always refused because of Soobin.
That was until one day, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and the older boy sold all of his favorite trinkets and worked as hard as he could to earn money for his medical bill. Every day, he would go out and work until midnight before going to school at six in the morning, without even the slightest bit of free time.
Yoongi had always told him that he wasn't all that sick.
"Sister Lisa, my brother is an awesome person, and I can't become a burden to him. The doctors said that I only had a ten percent chance of being cured, and that is only under the circumstance of having a suitable donor for me...But my brother can't wait, he just finished his national finals with such good grades! Both A University and B University have called him time and time again, and he's going to stay in N City for me...He needs more money than I do to go to university, and I hope he can have a great life..." Soobin spoke as his head was still buried in his knees. "If I knew things would turn out like this, I would have never agreed to be admitted into hospital."
He hadn't done chemotherapy yet, and he was already starting to feel his chest tighten and his line of sight becoming blurry...But if he died like this, it wouldn't be bad, right? His life was picked up anyway, and he would at least not be a burden to his brother if he died here.
Soobin's mind was in a daze, when suddenly he felt a stream of warmth make its way up his arm, and his eyesight started to become clear again, along with the tightness of his chest.
"Sister Lisa, you..."
Lisa was holding his palm, her skin tone becoming even paler as her eyelashes fluttered slightly, before she stood up again. "Alright, let's go get Naeun and get something to eat, shall we?"
She stood there for a while to regain her bearings before she brought the two children to a nearby restaurant to have some food.
Soobin's height was already up to Lisa's ear, and he had eyes as clear and bright as hers were. When the two of them stood together, they seemed like brother and sister.
Of course, the one that had to convince this stubborn boy to accept treatment had to be Yoongi.
When they were eating, Lisa sent Yoongi's phone number to Jinhee, and got the system to create a contract and send it to Jinhee too, and the man was quite surprised when he heard Yoongi's name.
Jinhee already knew who Luo Wenlang was. After all, there was a reason why such a genius was in such a state without any external help, he wasn't just a regular poor kid.
According to the rumors, after his mother gave birth to him, his father went to make a name for himself in the Imperial Capital, only to fall in love with a rich girl and get married into their family, while Yoongi's mother died in a car accident soon after.
And so, Yoongi became an orphan, and that rich girl from the Imperial Capital seemed to dislike him a lot, and had sent word time and time again for everyone in N City to not help in any way!
There weren't any people that dared to get in trouble with a strong family from the Imperial Capital, and even the ones that didn't know about the situation and had wanted to sponsor him were all advised not to by those in the know, and they cut off their plans immediately. For them, it wasn't worth it to risk their entire families and businesses on a boy with unknown value, so even now that he had gotten the second ranking in the entire country, he still had no financial aid.
Listening to Jinhee's words, Lisa's expression remained unchanged.
"Uncle Mu, this is N City. With the Yin family overseeing it, it is unlikely for those from the Imperial Capital to extend their reach here. Believe me, it will be soon that Nine Heavens Network will sit at the top of this country, and even the big families in the Imperial Capital will hesitate to make a move against us." The words spoken by the girl were soft but firm and clear, and rang loudly in his ears.
Jinhee's eyes flickered as he glanced into the distance, as though the scene was playing in his eyes. Their company already had advanced softwares to research on, perfect marketing plans, and Lisa had also personally designed risk-free financial products. These were just a few of the products they had, but it had managed to attract those financial predators right from the start. That in turn had attracted almost an amount of millions in investments, and with such scenarios, don't talk about standing at the top within the country, even standing at the top of the world didn't sound impossible now, did it?
After hanging up the phone, Jinhee asked Siwon to bring the contract to meet Yoongi.
***
When Luo Wenlang returned to the hospital once again, Lisa had already left. Soobin was watching a rerun of the afternoon's program on TV.
"Brother! Look at Sister Suran!" Seeing that Yoongi had returned, Soobin pointed at the TV excitedly, "Sister Suran is on TV again, she's so great, being interviewed on national television!"
Suran was indeed good, reaching such a point at such a young age, and her talent cannot be underestimated. However, Yoongi merely glanced at the screen. "Not bad."
Soobin was obviously dissatisfied with Yoongi's response, "Brother, although Sister Suran is only a few years younger than you, but among her own age group, she's very good!"
"The older sister who took you out today, her name is Lalisa Manoban. She's this year's top ranker in the national finals, and she's closer to full marks compared to me," Yoongi said, secretly laughing at the stunned look on his brother's face and couldn't resist adding in further, "Not only that, the art competition that your Sister Suran took part in last time, she's also the one who took the champion for that. Dozens of major media places wanted a chance to interview her, and yet she didn't agree to a single one."
"She, she, she...!" Soobin stuttered, before taking a deep breath to calm himself, "How can she be better than you!"
Recalling how he had gushed about Suran in front of Lisa today, his face flushed red, not knowing how to describe the shame he felt inside. Who knows how hard Lisa was laughing at him on the inside!
Soobin wailed, burying himself in the sheets as the mortification spread through him.
Yoongi stood to the side as he watched him, but his eyes were not focused on him, staring through him instead. He recalled the afternoon's incident, and immediately his whole face became gloomy. Making up his mind, he proceeded to drag Soobin downstairs without a word, towards where there was a cash machine. Because it was night, there weren't many people around. He immediately shoved his card in the machine, keying in his pin number and selecting the display of balance in his account.
After the balance was displayed, he pulled Soobin in front to let him see the amount. "Your brother has money now, if you dare to repeat what you said in the afternoon again, then don't call me your brother anymore!"
No one could imagine the alarming panic that had gripped his heart when he heard Soobin exclaimed he didn't want the treatments anymore in the afternoon. He had spent the entire afternoon screwing up quite a few orders in his delivery job, and he was just lucky the few girls didn't complain to the store manager. He was in such a state up to the point when he received the call, where someone had offered to sign him on for ten years, and was willing to pay him an advance of one million in cash.
Yoongi felt that he was in a dream, and he thought he must have heard wrongly, thinking it must be a mistake. But then a middle-aged man had come to the store to look for him in person with a contract in hand, and in the next second there was one million being transferred into his card.
He faintly managed to inquire about it, and found that the one who had helped him this time was Lisa. She had ignored the pressure from Jing Capital, and once again pulled through for him.
He hadn't even managed to return her the 2,528.50 from the last time. Now, it was one million.
She had always given him hope when he was down and at his most desperate. If that was how it was going to be, then he would also do his best to help her!
***
Lisa didn't know that her move this time had managed to rope in the best ally for her future. At this moment in time, she was giving the jade accessory that she had completed to Taehyung to give to Jihyun.
Minho was the first to receive the jade ring from his son, and although he didn't display much expression upon receiving it, the ring had never been taken off his finger since he put it on.
When Jihyun received the earrings, she couldn't help but fall in love with them, putting them on immediately. Disregarding the fact that the earrings suited her to the t, even Taehyung's eyes were sparkling with admiration at the uniqueness of the earrings. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that the crafting of the item was extremely skillful, and when Jihyun went out with it, it could probably blind the other ladies with it.
Jihyun was so satisfied with the gift that she didn't take it off even when she slept. She boasted to everyone about her recently acquired goddaughter, Lalisa from the Manoban family, that she was smart and talented as well as beautiful. She really was a blessing that had been born from the 500 years of prayers from their ancestors.
And there was other more exciting news, the Yin family would be holding a banquet in honor of Lisa on the seventh of June!
The banquet was going to be big and grand, and the invitees would be personally selected by Jihyun. This gave tremendous pressure on the senior officials of N City.
The Yin family had always held a low profile. The last public banquet they had was for Master Yin's birthday, and that was a few years ago. Compared to some other families who held banquets three to five times a year, the Yin family really didn't open their doors much to the public. This made every outsider curious to what Yin Manor was like, unable to imagine how it looked on the inside.
This time, the Yin family was holding the banquet in their home, which made a lot of people tremble in anticipation. The Yin family was bound to invite all the major big shots, being able to just drop in would be a major boost to their reputation, not to mention all the opportunities to network.
When Jungkook had heard Jihyun's words, he had smiled lightly. He remembered the golden light surrounding Lisa, and thought to himself, 'This kind of blessing can only be obtained once after every thousand years of prayers.'
When the Manoban family received the news, the regret that they felt was paramount. Not to mention Master Manoban, even Byunghun was at a loss. He had struggled and was frustrated since the fallout, and he treated Yejin coldly, to the point that he even found a lover on the side. Yejin couldn't be bothered with Eunha during that time, tearing into Byunghun.
***
Lisa was unaware of all this, as she was studying a set of acupuncture methods for Gookhwan at this time. From the first dinner she had taken with them, she had noticed that there was a problem with Gookhwan's right arm, and she was trying to figure out a way to fix it.
The system spirit was able to sell the medicine to cure it immediately, but she didn't accept it. The things she grasp with her own hands only would be considered hers.
That was the reason Lisa spent the few days going over medical texts in the void. There were medical books on inverse pulse needles, and she had spent a sum of money to have someone craft some golden needles as the book had described. She looked at examples all day and night, even moving a plastic mannequin to the bedroom, using the golden needles she had commissioned to find the acupoints on the mannequin.
In the end, even Mrs. Zhang knew that Lisa was no longer painting, and that she had turned her sights to biology instead. Since she didn't really understand any of it, she made a casual mention to it one day to Jungkook.
Jungkook couldn't stop Mrs. Zhang's chattering, so he asked Lisa the next day at breakfast. "I heard you're studying acupoints of the human body recently, is this an indication of you thinking about a career change into medicine instead?"
In Jungkook's eyes, Lisa's talent in oil painting was amazing, and that it would naturally be the thing that she intended to pursue, so he had brought it up casually without much meaning behind it. He assumed that Lisa's study of the human body was just a passing fancy, and didn't put too much thought into it.
Unexpectedly, Lisa just raised her head, replying with a short 'yes'!
But even with her admitting that she was heading towards that direction, Jungkook took it as that it was just a moment's curiosity for her. Once she hit a wall, she would know to turn back.
Although it seems that she was taking the study seriously, buying books after books on the human meridians, and she studied them all thoroughly. The books were filled with her annotations and thoughts, and when he read through the comments she had written, a surprise expression appeared for the first time on his normally cold, indifferent face.
Putting the book back in its place without a word, Jungkook narrowed his eyes slightly. He walked to the room and knocked on the door, but there was no response. Raising a delicate brow, he turned the door handle. Fortunately, she never had the habit of locking doors.
In the room, where an easel used to be, a mannequin had taken its place. Jungkook had seen the mannequin before, but the last time he had seen it, it was filled with marks from acupuncture. The mannequin in front of him today was clean, all the marks on it were cleared off, and the person that he was looking for was clearly absorbed in her work over the mannequin, the golden needles in her hands poking into the mannequin one after another.
She had a look of concentration on her face, her hands holding the needles in a way that was once unfamiliar and clumsy, now proficient and confident as the needles were pulled out and plunged in again and again.
The slim figure was stunningly graceful as her body was bathed in the light coming from behind her, displaying a breathtaking scene.