Jungkook deliberately ignored Lisa this time. Instead, he asked very slowly, “What happened?”
These people were all keen-eyed; just a look was enough for them to discern that Jungkook was no ordinary man.
The manager was not very familiar with Jungkook but he was well-acquainted with Boss Dai. He was a big shot in the Imperial Capital, with many business connections. There were even rumors going around that he had links to a mysterious force operating in the country. The manager glanced at the fuming woman, then at Jungkook and Boss Dai. He spared not even a glance at Su Qing, who had gone silent.
If Boss Dai was the only one there, at least the manager could warn him about his problematic wife. However, there was someone else standing beside him and no doubt, he must’ve been a prominent figure in the Imperial Capital. After all, these people were not too uncommon; you could pull anyone on the streets to the side and you’d be surprised to find that they held some sort of power here in the capital. This unfortunately, was beyond the manager’s control.
The woman was the quickest to react. She tidied up her appearance and a friendly smile soon broke across her face. Upon realizing that Jungkook was no ordinary Joe, she added a few more nasty remarks about the waitress before glancing at Lisa. Then, she started babbling away.
She mainly did this out of envy. That pretty and young face, she must be a major slut!
Her mistreatment of the waitress also stemmed from a single minuscule issue. It was because the last time they were here, her husband had flashed the waitress a smile, and since then, she had been holding a grudge towards said waitress in her heart.
“Silence!” Boss Dai stopped his wife from making any more ridiculous statements. He glared at her angrily before turning over to Jungkook with an apologetic look. “Women, amirite? I hope you won’t mind her misbehavior, Mr. Jeon.”
What a joke, to allow Jeon Jungkook, the man who possesses supernatural powers, to listen to a woman’s nagging. Why would a man of his standing even need to listen to such puny matters? Boss Dai couldn’t help but ponder if his wife’s brains had been fed to the dogs for her to act this foolishly.
To Boss Dai’s surprise, instead of leaving the place, Jungkook froze in his tracks.
“What did you say just now?” He paused as he stared straight into the woman’s eyes. Then, he pointed at Lisa. “What did you say about her?”
The woman was abruptly taken aback. She struggled to respond to his question.
Boss Dai too, failed to react in time. It was only after seeing Jungkook point at Lisa did he truly give the girl a look. He was thoroughly shocked as he did so.
Judging on her looks alone, she seemed to also be a member of the upper class. It was then that Boss Dai realized how he was knee-deep in trouble. So this was the girl his wife was hurling insults at just now?
To confirm his suspicion, Jungkook started talking again.
“Come here,” said Jungkook as he waved at Lisa. His face was dead serious. “I want you to apologize to Mrs. Dai. Foolish child, seems like you still have a lot to learn.”
“Ah!” Mrs. Dai cupper her hand over her mouth.
Who would’ve thought that this plain Jane was related to this extravagant-looking man? Mrs. Dai froze where she stood as her face became flushed from the intense awkwardness. Oh how much she wished to throw herself into a hole in the ground and disappear from the face of the Earth forever!
Boss Dai’s senses finally returned to him. His suspicion was proven correct. In the blink of an eye, cold sweat poured out of his pores. With a trembling voice, he apologized, “Mr. Jeon, my wife here doesn’t know any better. Please forgive her for her terrible mistakes!”
Boss Dai’s heart grew even heavier after remembering the rumors he had heard about the Jeon family.
The duo left shortly after, leaving the rest standing there dumbfoundedly.
Slap!
Boss Dai was so infuriated by his wife’s actions that he gave her a good slap across the cheek. “Do you know how much effort I have invested just to meet that man?! Now it’s all gone down the drain because of you!”
Mrs. Dai was a beauty; never in her life had she been treated in such a manner. She looked at her husband, face full of disbelief.
Boss Dai received a call an hour later that almost made him collapse onto the ground. He had put in an insane amount of effort over the past three years just so he could get into the ancient martial arts world. Now, that chance was as good as gone!
“Little Qing, consider yourself incredibly lucky today,” said the head waitress to Su Qing, whose mind had yet to process the entire event. Letting out a long sigh, she continued, “If you get the chance to do so, you should really thank that young lady from before.”
Su Qing nodded. This she understood. It was not entirely uncommon to hear of employees in the service sector being put through hell by cruel customers. However, she was insanely lucky today to have had her ass saved by Lisa.
Even if she knew that the entire event was being recorded by the surveillance cameras, what right did she have to retrieve the footage from security? Even the manager did not have the authority to do this. And yet, to think that the girl had managed to hack into the surveillance system.
The manager went silent after listening to the head waitress. He was deep in thought for a while before he finally opened his mouth. “Go tell the technicians to strengthen our company’s firewall system!” How could he let a young lady like her simply infiltrate their surveillance system? What on earth were the technicians up to?!
“…”
‘Aren’t you supposed to be more worried about what comes after this?’ thought the head waitress to herself.
Also, was it even possible to reinforce a system that was so weak that it could be easily hacked into by a young girl?
Didn’t the company boast that their firewall system was procured from a well-known American tech firm?
***
Chanyeol received news about the incident as soon as he returned to his office. Somehow, this made him aware of a new aspect of Lisa that he was unaware of.
Not only that, this was also his first time seeing that look on Jungkook’s face even though they had known each other since forever.
“Boss!” Qin Heng busted into his office whilst holding a phone. His facial expression was exaggerated, with a slight hint of disbelief as well.
“Nine… Nine Heavens…” Qin Heng managed to utter two words before letting out a huge breath. He looked at Chanyeol with a pair of glittering eyes.
“What’s up with Nine Heavens?” Chanyeol was surprisingly tolerant of Qin Heng’s stammering. This of course, was because he had mentioned the words ‘Nine Heavens’, which piqued his interest.
Qin Heng calmed himself down before announcing excitedly, “I almost didn’t believe my ears just now. I called Nine Heavens’ official number and expressed our wish to cooperate with them in the future. Guess what? They agreed! They somehow agreed to my proposition!”
Chanyeol shot up from his seat. “Can you say that one more time?”
Qin Heng repeated what he just said back to Chanyeol. He had called them, expecting to be hung up on but to his astonishment, for some reason, they agreed to his wish!
By now, the Imperial Capital was already familiar with the two descriptions of Nine Heavens—’mysterious’ and ‘cold’. There were a great deal of people looking to work with the company and most of them were on par, if not, more powerful than the Tang family. Despite this, Nine Heavens had turned down every single one of them. They made it clear that they did not need help from these families and at the same time, showed how they wouldn’t bend down in the face of a seemingly more powerful adversary.
Even the Bai family had been taken down; what was there for Nine Heavens to be afraid of.
And thus, Qin Heng only wished to test his luck when calling up Nine Heavens but to his surprise, they agreed to his proposition!
This outcome was simply beyond his expectations. In fact, his mind had momentarily gone blank when he heard their reply.
“Very well.” Chanyeol’s eyes lit up, reflecting his keen interest in Nine Heavens. “I will personally discuss this matter with those at Nine Heavens. You hurry up and tell them the time and place where we would meet up!”
He was especially keen on knowing more about the online game that the company had just launched. Ever since their move to the capital, he had always kept his eyes on this company. Never once had they failed to impress him.
Qin Heng was speechless.
‘Boss, can you be a little less enthusiastic about this? Do you want the whole world to find out that you’re a mindless fan of Nine Heavens?’
“Fortunately Jackson has reported success on his cell fusion technique. Said it would be a ground-breaking reveal. I’m gonna introduce this investment opportunity to Nine Heaves. You think they’ll appreciate our kind gesture?” Chanyeol thought about it for a while. It did sound like quite a foolproof plan.
Jackson had been working like a slave for the past few days. Just last night, he uploaded on WeChat, announcing that his revolution had already taken place; it was only a matter of time before the entire world gets rocked by the introduction of his new technique.
And so, his decision was final. He would give Jackson a call tomorrow, requesting it to be a joint-project with him!
“…”
It was already past 3 pm when Lisa and Jungkook reached home after lunch. She started speaking to Yoongi and Jungkook tried eavesdropping on their conversation but it didn’t take long for him to realize that he understood only a fraction of what they were talking about. As expected from the two geniuses. He sighed in disappointment with himself before he looked out the window, no longer interested in their chatter.
Silently, he poured some dog food out for Haha before sitting down beside the window to read his book.
“Isn’t Uncle Jinhee coming over? We should let him do the talking with Tang Enterprise,” said Lisa.
Yoongi was momentarily taken aback.
“…”
‘Did you forget that this is your company?’ thought Yoongi to himself.
Frankly speaking, it was tiring, working as Nine Heavens’ employee. The bosses of other firms would fight for their company while on the other hand, the boss of their company was… interested in new things every day.
Jungkook looked over when she finally hung up the call. “Tang Enterprise?”
Lisa blinked, acting as if she didn’t understand what he was saying. “Little Yoongi accepted their proposition. I had nothing to do with it.”
Jungkook glanced at her briefly before deciding to change the topic. “Would you like to meet Aunt Tang?”
“At the Tang family home?” asked Lisa.
“Yeah.”
“Hell no!” Now was still not the time.
Jungkook had already expected her to give such an answer. As such, he changed the topic once again. “The elixir that Sehun had. Did you really give them to him?”
“… I originally planned to feed them to Xixi.” Lisa suddenly opened her mouth. Without second thoughts, she gave the pills to Sehun the moment she heard that Taehyung needed them.
Xixi on the other side thought to itself, ‘Tang Sehun that bastard! I’ll take his life! No one can stop me!’
Obviously, Jungkook who did not expect this answer reminded himself “… from now on, keep these sort of things hidden. Else, it’d only bring us unnecessary trouble.”
Fortunately, the one dealing with this was himself. If it was someone else, Lisa would undoubtedly be stripped of her possessions to pay for the precious pills.
“Understood.” Lisa nodded solemnly. The only reason why she did not hesitate when giving the pills was because Taehyung was the one who had gotten injured.
However, if that person really did come messing with her, she would not think twice before teaching him a good lesson.
Jungkook only lowered his head and continued reading.
***
There were only a handful of powerful players online as of late. It seemed almost as if Smoke on Water, Brother Wu, Whispering Winds, and For A Millenium had made a pact to go into hiding together out of a sudden.
And yet, these players were all online today, with the exception of Brother Wu.
[Team] Merciless Sky: “Ah, finally my permanent team’s back. I just can’t go on playing with a bunch of randos on the net!”
[Team] Whispering Winds: “I can stay online for a while. I have to go out tonight.”
[Team] For A Millenium: “I can’t believe you still have time to play games!”
[Team] Whispering Winds: “Well, it’s definitely rare for work to end so early today! Senior Song ftw!”
[Team] Smoke On Water: “^_^”
Lisa stared at Smoke On Water’s player ID while rubbing her chin. “Lil’ system. My gut is telling me that this person is someone I know in real life.”
[Beauty Lisa, stop talking in such a serious manner. You still won’t fool me into thinking that you have not hacked into someone else’s computer.]
Lisa who was typing in a line of codes remained silent.
A handsome and familiar face appeared on the computer screen as soon as Lisa successfully hacked into the mysterious player’s computer webcam.
“… man, you won’t believe this.”
So Chanyeol has already long infiltrated into their ranks huh?
This feeling…
[Beauty Lisa, I’ve just found a suitable script.] The system suddenly spoke out. [Wait a minute, this person is…]
The system fumbled around for a moment. [You know what, I’ll just send it to your computer. Say, you two are bound pretty tightly by fate aren’t you?]
A string of data materialized on the computer screen. Lisa glanced at it before proceeding to type in a couple strings of digits. These were all precious information compiled by the system.
Lisa was visibly stunned after she finished looking through the data.
[Party] Merciless Sky: You guys go on playing. I’m gonna go grab something to eat!
[Party] Whispering Winds: So early?
[Party] Merciless Sky: It’s not early at all, it’s 6 pm already. I have relatives who are coming over tonight.
[Party] For A Millenium: Where do you live, Merciless? Can I drop by and have a meal too?
Although it seemed like a joke, Merciless Sky sent his own address over the chat nonetheless.
If she was gonna joke about it, there was no reason why he couldn’t, right? Either way, it’s not like she would appear outside his house, right?
***
The boy chuckled to himself after giving her his own address. “Little Yugyeom! Dinner time!” yelled a woman’s voice from outside his room.
“Got it Mom!” Su Yugyeom didn’t seem very enthusiastic about dinner time. The ‘Merciless Sky’ in real life was a well-read and artistic young man. Wearing a pair of glasses, he seemed like the quiet type of person you’d find in class.
Apart from his parents, there was also his aunt who sat at the dinner table. She was a person whom Yugyeom had nothing but despise for. Reason being that she always had something to say about him.
“Little Yugyeom, I don’t wanna sound too naggy but didn’t you graduate from a well-known university? Why can’t you find a job? You gotta learn from your big brother, Dazhi, who’s working for a foreign company while earning more than eight grand a month!” And so, he never heard the end of his aunt’s nagging. The ‘Dazhi’ that she referred to was none other than her own son, who was a well-accomplished breadwinner. She would always remember to brag about her son in front of her neighbors.
Mama Su chuckled. “Dazhi is a good son indeed. Say, why don’t you get him to recommend a job for Little Yugyeom?”
The aunt responded with a sharp-pitched voice, “Our Dazhi is a graduate of the incredibly famous, B University! He’s on track to becoming a rich man someday in the future. As for your Little Wu.” The aunt eyed Yugyeom with disdain. “I told you not to let him become a screenwriter! Has anyone expressed their interest in his script?! He’d be better off working as a clerk or something!”
“I don’t feel like eating anymore. You guys go on!” Yugyeom placed his chopsticks down and stood up from his seat.
He then stormed into his room before slamming the door shut.
Then came the sharp voice of his aunt. “Sis, remember how I told you that your child won’t amount to anything?!”
Yugyeom couldn’t bear to listen to his aunt’s crap any longer. He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. Lighting one up, he angrily sucked in a lungful of smoke before blowing out a thick white cloud. His career had been stagnating for the past decade. Even if he was willing to hold out, his parents weren’t.
The sky was getting dark. He sat on the public bench for a long time, with a cigarette hanging between his fingers that was nearing its end.
From now on, he would listen to his mother; he would go job-hunting for a secure paycheck.
As for that script waiting for him in his room, he had burned it down into a pile of ashes.
Emotionless, Yugyeom remained seated there for a very long time, until a small mount of grey cigarette ash piled up beside his foot.
Suddenly, a shining light penetrated the dark, forcing Yugyeom to squint his eyes while raising his hand to block off the light. Looking over to the light source, he discovered that it was a car that was slowly rolling towards his direction. Even though he was no car enthusiast, there was no doubt that the car must’ve been an expensive one.
He even heard the gasps of a few who recognized what sort of car it was.
Pinching the cigarette out, Yugyeom rose up and prepared to head home.
The extravagant-looking car stopped right beside Yugyeom. He looked up in an attempt to get a better view of the vehicle when its windows came rolling down. He was astonished to find a young face looking back at him. The lighting here was dim but the first thing he could make out was a pair of shining bright eyes. Then, it was that flawless face, as if it was ripped straight out of a painting.
Since he was a scriptwriter, only one sentence echoed through his mind.
She was as beautiful as a flower of clouds.
She smiled at him whilst waving her hand. Her eyes were like a dense cluster of stars in the night sky. “Nice to meet you, Merciless Sky.”
Her voice was crisp and clear, like the sound of a flowing stream coming from afar. Still, the vibe she exuded was distinct from the charm of a heroine from the south.
It took a while for Yugyeom to regain his senses. Merciless Sky? Isn’t that the in-game name that he gave himself while he was going through his chuuni phase?
The young lady then pushed the car door open. Even under the cover of darkness, he was able to make out her slender physique, as well as her porcelain-like skin.
She stood up straight and smiled sweetly at Yugyeom when she exited the vehicle. “Remember my face, I am For A Millenium.”
Yugyeom was still in a dazed state even after they had arrived at the cafe. The phone in his pocket rang, which prompted him to answer the call. The voice on the other end of the line sounded like his mother. Only a couple of words were exchanged before he hung up the call.
Shortly after doing so, he looked up at the young girl sitting across the table with a pure look of disbelief painted across his face.
“Y-You really are the ultimate god?”
Lisa held up her chin with her pale, delicate fingers. “Do I not look like one?”
Did she not look like one? She flew under his radar from the very moment they met for god’s sake!
Although the player ‘For A Millenium’ identified as female in the game, her skills meant that a great deal of other players treated her with respect, as if she was a tough guy. On the other hand, real girls who play the game typically would suck up to other stronger players; no way in hell could there possibly be a female player like her, right?
If the in-game party was to know about this, they would undoubtedly all go insane!
“You know, I’ve always thought that you were a dude who’s ten times more macho than I am.” Yugyeom was thoroughly dumbfounded. The difference was way too big for him to comprehend. Maybe things would be less confusing if she was any other girl. But for her to be such a pretty chick, it definitely gave him quite the shock. “Why did you come straight here?”
He did send her his address as a joke but never in a thousand years would he expect her to come looking for him.
“Of course, there are reasons for this.” Lisa rubbed her chin as she stole a glance at him. “Su Yugyeom, I’m gonna be honest with you. The reason why I’ve come today is to get ‘River’s Lake’, that script you wrote.”
Wait a second. Yugyeom was lost again.
River’s Lake? That was a script he had created three whole years ago. Not a single soul spared it a single look throughout the years and till today, it remains tucked away in the safety of his home. No one was supposed to know about it so why did she?
Also, there was the matter of his name. He hopped onto a black car that drove them here. The pressure he felt during the car ride was intense, presumably from the man behind the wheel. Due to the tense atmosphere, he failed to get a good look at the man’s face. Because of how intimidated he was, his lips remained sealed the entire way. And so, he did not get her name nor did she introduce herself to him.
This begs the question, how did she know his name?
It wasn’t weird for her to be able to locate him, nor was it impossible for her to know his name. However, what was weird was how she knew about the script for ‘River’s Lake’.
“You talking about ‘River’s Lake’? I was planning on burning it but, I could bring it to you if you want.”
Yugyeom suppressed the skepticism in his heart and gave his brief reply. He really was planning on burning it into ashes.
A pair of shining bright eyes suddenly narrowed up. Lisa raised her flawless jaw and pointed it in his direction. “Burn? Why would you do that? Did you not pour your blood, sweat, and tears into producing it?”
Yugyeom tightened his grip on the porcelain coffee cup. It was because he could not wait any longer. The days are flying by and his parents are getting older with every passing day. Even if they willingly offered to support him, he simply couldn’t accept to see himself keeping up his stubborn act any longer.
“It’s because I don’t feel like persisting on anymore. I’ve had it with being a screenwriter.” Yugyeom lowered his head slightly, trying to hide the ongoing conflict in his eyes.
“Take a look at this.” Lisa had already read about Yugyeom’s background; she knew the dilemma he was currently facing as well as how much stress he was going through. However, she found it hard to digest how a person could just make the decision to burn away something that you sacrificed so much for. “I believe you will be interested in this.”
Lisa produced two folded wads of paper from her pocket and flattened them out before handing it to Yugyeom.
Accepting it, Yugyeom was wide-eyed upon reading its contents. He did not expect this to be a contract.
Still, you couldn’t put the blame on him for thinking so. Have you ever seen someone who folds up an official contract and tucks it away in her pants pocket?
The look in Yugyeom’s eyes only intensified the more he continued to read the contractual terms. This continued until he reached the final word of the contract. Signed in jet black ink was presumably her name—Lalisa Manoban.
He raised his head immediately. “T-This… this is….”
He found this situation hard to believe. His hands still trembling, Yugyeom shut his eyes slowly and took a deep breath. Finally, when he calmed himself down, he asked, “Miss Lalisa, could you tell me what is the meaning of this?”
“I believe everything’s stated quite clearly on the paper.” Lisa chuckled. “I would like to buy the rights to that script of yours. In addition to that, I would like to turn ‘River’s Lake’ into a film.”
“How did you find me?” Yugyeom’s heart started pounding furiously the moment he got his reply from Lisa. Forcing himself to remain calm, he stared at Lisa. She appeared way too young, which inevitably raised question marks about her. Was she a conwoman or something?
Lisa understood this well. She had no choice but to show Yugyeom a number on her phone.
On it displayed the name, Cheng Zhou.
“To demonstrate to you that I am genuine, I will put this call on loudspeaker,” said Lisa as she flashed Yugyeom a cheeky smile.
Yugyeom was completely taken aback by how fast things were advancing. Although his attempts to join the entertainment industry was a complete failure, he still knew about who this Cheng Zhou person was. He was none other than the insanely-talented director; an entity that he could only stare up at like a mythical being. And yet, today, he watched as Lisa tapped on his personal phone number.
“Hello? Director Cheng?” There was a lot of noise coming from the background; he had probably left the filming set already.
Cheng Zhou sounded happy to receive a call from Lisa. “Ah, Little Lisa. Are you calling to tell me you’ll accept a role in my film?” If so, he must find a good script, he thought.
“No, not that,” Lisa replied. “Director Cheng, I have a script here that I would like you to be the film director of.” The reason why she picked him was primarily because he was the only director she knew personally.
“Are you gonna play in it?” Cheng Zhou’s eyes lit up, the excitement clear in his voice.
Lisa’s expression turned dark the moment he asked that. Rubbing her nose, she turned him down bluntly. “No.”
“Hmph!” Cheng Zhou’s face twisted in annoyance. “No! No! No! All I hear is no from you! What’re ya planning to do apart from acting you little brat!”
“But if you find a suitable script in the future, I can play in it?” Lisa came up with a temporary solution.
“No, make that two.” Cheng Zhou felt that this was an acceptable deal.
Lisa sighed. “Best I can do is one. Else, I’d just find some other director.”
“Wait! Please wait! One is enough! I’ll send you your lines the next time I find a suitable story for you to star in!” Cheng Zhou feared that Lisa would just move on without him and hung up the call as soon as he was done speaking.
“…”
Lisa went silent. Had she been interacting with the wrong person? Somehow, it started to feel like Cheng Zhou was becoming less and less reliable.
Yugyeom stared at Lisa with a blank expression for a very long time. Then, he pinched his inner-wrist. Seeing the mark it left, he looked up at Lisa. “Was that really the famed movie director, Cheng Zhou?”
Lisa nodded her head. “Do you believe me now?”
Seeing her nod, a glow emerged in Yugyeom’s eyes immediately. “It’s really him!”
“… let me write a check for you.” Lisa pulled out a check from her pocket alongside a blank piece of paper and a pen.
Yugyeom was amazed how much stuff she could store in her pocket. Was she Doraemon? Was that pocket an infinite pocket of space that contained everything in this world?
“Check? I don’t need that!” Yugyeom stopped Lisa the moment he realized what she was doing.
Lisa eyed him as she scribbled down a line of digits on the check. “This is the deposit. It’s proof that I am absolutely serious about this. I’ll pay off the balance after the contract’s completed.”
She then scribbled down an address on the blank piece of paper. “I want you to meet someone named ‘Mu Jinhee’ tomorrow at this place. He will brief you about everything else.”
This film of course, would be sponsored officially by Nine Heavens.
She made this decision on a whim. Before Yugyeom could turn down her offer, he had already been sent home.
He stood there underneath the aging structure for quite a while before he climbed up the stairs, back to his home. Old residential areas like this one were few and far between in the Imperial Capital. His aunt was at home watching TV while munching on fruits when he came back. When she heard him enter the apartment, she squinted at him.
His mother was probably the only reason why she was acting so hostile toward him.
“Little Yugyeom, give Dazhi a call tomorrow. Get him to arrange an interview for you. He’s the department manager so you should be able to land you a clerical job.” The aunt spat out a piece of grape skin as she shot him a look of disdain.
Ever since her son made it as a ‘somebody’, this aunt of his became the core of their family. Whoever that was facing problems in their lives would all flock to her in search of a solution.
Mama Su, seeing her son frozen in place, walked over to pat him. “Hurry up and thank your aunt for this opportunity.”
“Mom, someone’s interested in my script,” announced Yugyeom without warning.
Mama Su’s head jerked upwards the moment she heard that. “What did you just say?”
“Why aren’t you giving up?! Stop dreaming already!” The aunt shot up from her seat, glaring at him with contempt in her eyes. “You’re already in your thirties for heaven’s sake! You’ve got no house, no car, and not even a wife! To make things worse, you’re still dreaming about striking gold!”
Yugyeom looked at his aunt in the eye. This was his first time acting so boldly. While she was only three years younger than his mother, the both of them seemed almost ten years apart in terms of age.
“This is no dream.” Yugyeom then took out the check from his pocket and handed it over to his mother. “Mom, this is the deposit.”
Mama Su could see stars circling over her head when she glanced at the series of zeros behind the single number on the check.
The aunt yanked it out of Mama Su’s hand and her face stiffened up upon reading it. “Are you bringing this home to fool your mom?”
“We’ll know if this is true or not when we go to the bank tomorrow.” That car of hers was a whole other level of expensive and Lisa didn’t seem like the sort of person to give bounced checks, right?
“Aunt, I’m turning down that clerical job. Say my thanks to my cousin, if you will.” Yugyeom smiled at his aunt.
His mother had taken blow after blow from his aunt for her beloved son’s sake. Today was finally the day for him to say ‘no’ to her!
“Don’t come begging at my feet next time!” His aunt then stormed out the door.
“Little Yugyeom, this…” Naturally, Mama Su was a little worried about this.
Yugyeom patted his mother’s shoulder to give her some reassurance. “Please don’t worry Mom. It’ll be her turn to grovel at our feet now.”
Mama Su was hit by a wave of disbelief.
The very next day, he followed the address that Lisa had given him and arrived outside a skyscraper in the commercial district. Looking up from the sea of people, Yugyeom was awestruck by how majestic the scene was, especially when he saw the colossal name, ‘Nine Heavens Corporation’.
He walked to the front desk and uttered his name. The receptionist was quick to react; she politely brought him into an office.
The ‘Mu Jinhee’ fella he was supposed to meet was surprisingly young. He seemed no older than Yugyeom himself.
“So you are the Mr. Su that Miss Lalisa talked about?” Jinhee raised his head as he took out a document. “Once you sign this, you’ll be a part of Nine Heavens. Our elite employees will be given a suite in the peninsula area. In a moment, my secretary will let you pick the unit of your liking. Rest assured, there are lots of units from which you can pick one for yourself.”
Peninsula area? Yugyeom’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he stared at Jinhee. “Mr. Mu, y-you… are you joking or what?”
Land was worth more than gold in the Imperial Capital. Even his aunt had to fork over a significant portion of her savings just so she could move into a slightly more attractive-looking but small residential area. She had earned the envy of her fellow neighbors.
It came so suddenly for someone to announce that he would be given a unit and in the peninsula area at that!
He thought that only high-earning supervisors could afford living in such areas.
“No, I am not joking.” Jinhee’s smile was warm and tolerant. Like Yugyeom right now, he too was shocked when he initially worked with Nine Heavens. “You should know that the least Boss Lalisa lacks is financial capital.”
There were tons of rich people around the world but it seemed like she was the only one who stood out from the crowd. She was the only one who would willingly pay such a mind-boggling amount to purchase property, just so her employees would be more motivated and cooperative with each other. Likewise, they understood just how rare it was to work under such a generous boss who genuinely cared about their personal wellbeing.
While her abilities impressed her employees, it was her personality that had truly earned their respect and won them over.
There were so many research projects happening and not a single one she kept secret. Although she was a bit of a lazy slob, whenever they bumped into trouble, she’d jump in and help, no questions asked.
Every day these employees spent here, they felt themselves actually making progress.
Except Namjoon. This was mainly because Lisa felt that there was no need for her to intervene in Namjoon’s job.
Not a single soul reported that they have been mistreated ever since they started working here. With the exception of intense competition between rivaling research departments, the employees here were like peas in a pod during normal times.
Many were envious of the benefits employees receive here at Nine Heavens. However, because of how high the bar was set, it was virtually impossible for your commoner to get hired by this company.
Only the employees here understood how great it was to work under Nine Heavens.
Yugyeom, still stunned, wobbled down the stairs. Before he left, Jinhee said to him, “You are a very lucky man.”
That’s right. He felt incredibly lucky right now. Yugyeom wiped the sweat off his brows as a smile inadvertently broke across his face. He must go home now! To get his parents to move out of that 80 square meter house!
***
“What fun little thing are you up to now?” Jungkook had accompanied Lisa on her search for Yugyeom, and was now driving them home after their brief exchange. Throughout the entire time, he remained patient about it.
He now had a rough idea of how wide-ranging her interests were. At first, he was a little worried that she would find it hard to keep up with her studies. Wasn’t she supposed to be reading constantly or spending time in the laboratory? However, such thoughts were soon dismissed when he received that emotional phone call from Jackson.
Jackson told this to him. “Medicine is Miss Lalisa’s raison d’être! The proposal she gave truly is brave and novel! I have never seen anything like it! But she isn’t answering my calls as of late. Can you ask help me to ask if she would like to patent her work? And if she’s willing to let them study it at the International Medical Laboratory? This thing will benefit humanity as a whole I tell you!”
Lisa smiled at him. “I’m looking for someone to play in a film. Would you like to be an actor, Brother Jungkook? I will definitely let you play as a cool, tyrannical antagonist.”
Jungkook was completely unaffected by her nonsensical talk. “I’ve just received a call from Jackson. You should hurry up and remove him from your blacklist. He seems to have something important to discuss with you.” He paused for a moment before adding on. “You can continue blacklisting him after you give him a call.”
Lisa nodded before calling up Jackson.
In short, the call consisted mainly of Jackson babbling on and on about something while Lisa would give her opinions from time to time.
“It will take some time before the patent is approved. I have already sent the patent application for your cell fusion process. I’ll send you a copy of its contents later on, see if there’s anything you’d like to add to it. There’ll be a press conference some time in the future so you should prepare yourself.” Jackson’s patents were all handled by someone else; it was a rare occasion for him to do it himself, in order to keep everything perfect.
Lisa promised to do things this way but in the end, something made her change her mind. “You should add your name into the patent. Also, you will attend the press conference yourself since you’ve contributed quite a lot into this research project. If you’ve nothing else to say, I’m gonna hang up now!”
As she had done a thousand times before, she hung up the phone and returned Jackson to her blacklist.
Jackson on the other end of the line: This lazy brat!
***
He was still in the laboratory. Jackson had completed his study on everything left behind by Lisa. However, he was still a bit reluctant when the time came for him to leave. This applied to every other person who worked with him in the laboratory. It has been such a long time since they were given such a challenge.
Jackson glanced at Professor Jiang. “Why did you let her have this vacation?” People like her should be exploited severely, else they won’t do their job properly. She, who went into painting, then acting was the perfect example of such a person.
Cough! Although she still dominated everything she did, like painting and acting.
Professor Jiang’s hatred swelled up the moment he was reminded of this. “That child did it on purpose! You probably don’t know this but when she initially received this job, she acted as if it was an impossible task for her! How dare she bluff her way into getting a semester-long vacation!” The professor felt like a clown after seeing a photo of her in her makeup.
It’s her! No one should believe her anymore in the future!
Professor Jiang felt his heart throb in pain.
***
Naturally, Lisa was completely oblivious to these remarks made about her in the laboratory. Xixi and Haha were happily chasing after each other when she and Jungkook returned home. Feeling her mood improve, she happily went over to finish her oil painting.
What she didn’t know was that a war of words was being waged between the dog and the bird.
“Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!” (Boohoo! Beauty Lisa didn’t bring me out with her today!”)
“Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark!” (Perhaps she has finally realized that you bring nothing to her but embarrassment.)
“Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!” (You looking for a fight?)
“Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark!” (Come at me bro! I ain’t afraid of you!)
“Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!” (How dare you talk back to your daddy! I’m really disappointed in you now.)
‘What a dumb bird!’ thought Haha.
Jungkook’s footsteps stopped briefly when he gave Xixi a death stare before looking away as if he was about to sigh in disappointment.
Just who did Xixi learn this from?
“Brother Jungkook! Apples! Apples!” Lisa, who was thinking about what to write suddenly yelled out.
Jungkook, who coincidentally was picking up an apple, responded. “In a moment.”
In a few strokes, the apple was sliced into equal bite-sized chunks which he brought over to Lisa’s mini table. “What else do you need?”
“Nothing for now,” replied Lisa as she picked up a piece of apple with a toothpick.
Apparently apples had become her source for inspiration recently.
Jungkook was about to walk upstairs to take a shower when he opened his mouth at the foot of the stairwell. “It’ll be a few more days before Mrs. Zhang returns. Her daughter’s getting married so she still has a lot of things to deal with.”
Mrs. Zhang’s daughter is getting married? No wonder she’s away for so long. Lisa looked over to Jungkook. “Did you prepare a big fat red packet?”
“I had someone do it for me. Would you like to head over for a look?” He knew that they were pretty close friends, and her relationship with Mrs. Zhang was especially close. In fact, it wasn’t too far off to say that she was a part of Lisa’s family, thus why Jungkook said what he said.
Mrs. Zhang was still in N City. Lisa rubbed her chin. “I’ll wait and see.” In any case, a gift must be prepared first.
Although she really wanted to pay them a visit, Nine Heavens had just been established in the Imperial Capital; she still had to oversee the matters here. The system should be able to give her a live view of the ceremony when the day comes so no biggie, she thought.
System: […]
Has my functions regressed to deal with such trivial matters?
“Don’t be like that, my little system. You should have enough points after the latest mission don’t you?”
System: [Yes daddy!]
“…”
‘Where’s your backbone?’ thought Lisa to herself.
“Time to level up then…”
A robotic voice then rang out in her mind. [5200 points have been successfully deducted. The system is currently being upgraded. During the upgrade, the host will not be able to link up with the virtual space and all ongoing tasks will be interrupted.]
[Beauty Lisa! You must protect yourself in the 3 days to come!]
Lisa thought she might not be able to get used to life without the system’s constant bickering.
A dark glow appeared in her bright eyes as she spun the pen with her delicate fingers. This upgrade would increase the system’s operating capabilities significantly. She should be able to partially uncover the secrets behind the virtual space, no?
***
The next day, Chanyeol finally received news from Nine Heavens. One of their higher-ups was free this afternoon. Immediately, he called up Jackson, ready to talk to him about investing in his cell fusion process patent. According to Jackson, this would become a global sensation. If he could make Nine Heavens a global sensation, it would be a clear indicator of his sincerity right?