Just how crazy talented do you have to be in order to leap straight up to first place on the very last day of the tournament?
The thing was, despite Nozawa being originally in the first place, his energy points were roughly half of what Lisa had as of now. Not only did this girl surpass him by such a significant margin, her points were still rising up at a consistent rate.
Just how many mythical beasts had she slain in the past day? No doubt, it was downright genocide for those monsters in Bahuang Forest.
Countless international representatives held their breath as they watched the digit on the screen rise. Then, they simultaneously shifted their gaze over to Jungkook, who was standing not far away from the scoreboard. His ink-dark eyes were glued onto the scoreboard, ignoring everything that was happening around him.
Some of these men started whispering to each other upon seeing that look in Jungkook’s eyes.
“The ancient martial arts world has produced yet another batch of prodigies. This year’s selection competition is indeed exciting. I would venture to say that it is on par with the one held during your time.”
“Congratulations, Young Master Jeon.” The representative for the Japanese was noticeably frustrated when he said that.
Here he was, thinking that the first place was firmly in Nozawa’s grip. How could he have ever possibly foreseen that Lisa would swoop in for the kill at the very last day? He had no idea who she was after all. He looked at her name on the scoreboard. The digits indicating the energy points she had accrued was still changing. The only thing that remained constant was her position at the very top of the board.
In the previous competition, Jungkook outshone every other participant.
Seems like Lisa was picking up where had he left off. It was nothing but pure bad luck for the other talents to be born into the same generation as these two prodigies.
The final scoreboard update had just been released.
Nozawa remained in second place, but what was most surprising was that out of the remaining eight participants in top ten, five were from China!
Expanding the list to top twenty, there were eight participants who were from China!
This was arguably the best their nation had ever achieved in this tournament. The international representatives were all in a state of disbelief, especially the one from Japan. The impact Lisa had made on him was already more than what he had prepared for but the fact that the remaining two Japanese participants were thrown aside by these ten Chinese participants dealt the final blow against his morale.
Apart from Nozawa, the fact that two of his countrymen managed to make it in the top 100 list was already something worth celebrating. Too bad they were denied of that chance by these dreaded participants!
“I don’t buy it! They must be cheating in some way!” The representative of Japan shouted.
Jungkook glanced at him but he remained silent.
The representative’s expression grew darker by the second. Perhaps he had mistaken Jungkook’s actions as nervously averting his gaze, which explains why he grew increasingly confident.
That’s right. Who on earth could possibly reach the first place over the course of one single day? Despite knowing that the obsidian scoreboard had zero faults, Jungkook was a sketchy character no matter how you looked at it. He could easily alter the rankings with just the snap of his fingers. That man could never be trusted.
The representative started convincing himself that this was the truth. However, he did not expect to receive a slap from one of his countrymen who had been eliminated from the competition.
“No, they’re not cheating! They’ve got to be the mythical beast reapers! It’s them!”
“They are incredibly strong. Judging by how powerful they are, I can attest that they are in no way cheating!”
“I knew it! I knew they’d make it into the top 100!”
“…”
This was the first time such a phenomenon happened in the arena. Ten people appeared out of thin air and not only were they not suspected of cheating by the ex-participants, nearly half of them had been transformed into obsessive fans? It was almost as if these people would be happier to see this weird ‘mythical beast reapers’ team win than themselves win.
The representatives all looked at each other with puzzled expressions.
***
The scene outside of Bahuang Forest was similar to this situation.
The ancient martial arts forum had officially gone haywire.
Anon no.15562: … first place?
The entire thread turned eerily silent for a moment before hell let loose in the next second, where the server was pushed to its limits.
Anon no.18888: First place! She got first place!
Anon no.20000: I’m going insane!
Anon no.25555: She really crushed Nozawa under her heel! Miss Lalisa! Only one word can describe her as of now! Powerful!
Anon no.27222: Heavens!
Anon no.31177: Miss Lalisa! Ancient Martial Arts World!
As the selection competition drew to an end, the name of Lalisa had now spread all around the globe. Following Jungkook’s emergence, the ancient martial arts world had just produced yet another multi-talented figure, someone who even the Japanese had failed to produce after pouring in blood, sweat, and funds.
It was at the same time that the number of searches on the internet for Lisa spiked.
“Master, it seems that there isn’t any information about her on the internet.”
“Sir, a search in our files yields nothing about this person.”
“Grandmaster, we were met with a blank page on the internet when searching for this individual.”
“…”
Despite how well-established their data was, these countries failed to come up with substantial information on Lisa. They only knew that she was a Chinese national, currently studying in University A. She had interests in acting and painting but not a single strand of information could be found about her interactions with the ancient martial arts world.
***
“Beauty Lisa, don’t you think this move of yours is pretty low? No matter how I look at it, Yu Namjoon’s a much more tolerable fellow,” said Jiji who was holding onto the man-eating flower while shaking its head in disappointment.
The selection process had come to an end. Lisa and the rest of the participants were transported out of the space together. It was raining cats and dogs outside and more than eighty thousand people were standing there, drenched from head-to-toe.
Lisa held up the massive umbrella that Jiji passed over to her, which was sufficient to keep her nine other comrades dry.
“I never thought that I’d be able to climb up to the twelfth place.” Betty was still in a state of shock upon learning of her ranking. “And Master Cecil had just talked to me just now…”
Hans nodded in response to her statement. He too, never could have foreseen that he’d be able to make it into the top twenty list. It all seemed like a dream to him.
“I’m in the 18th spot damn it!” Jimin made a pained expression when he looked at Taehyung. “Why were you guys able to make it into top ten while I’m here at bottom?”
A squad was walking past him when he said that. They all heaved as they suppressed the urge to vomit blood in response to Jimin’s unintentional humble brag.
Eighteenth place? And you’re still complaining? Do you know that you’re in the top eighteenth worldwide?! If you’re gonna complain about it, might as well give me that ranking of yours!
The squad left their faces devoid of emotion. Despite this, their hearts were writhing in pain.
Taehyung glanced at the squad before returning to Jimin. He snorted at him. “Every time we train, all you do is push around those weaker than you. It’s not a surprise that you got eighteenth in this. Look at Rosé, she’s eleventh place for crying out loud.”
“Wrong.” Rosé added. “The one you should be comparing him to is Chanwoo, who has not even the most basic combat abilities.”
These words further fanned the flames of guilt in Jimin’s heart. Out of their ten-man team, his ranking was the lowest. Even Rosé, who started out weaker than him got eleventh place in the competition. Tightening his fist, he swore to heaven, “I will lock myself up and train for a whole month when we get back!”
“I’m looking forward to it.” Taehyung squinted at Jimin with eyes full of skepticism. Why did this boy have to pick up Lili’s laid-back attitude?!
Jimin bowed his head out of embarrassment when he noticed the look in Taehyung’s eyes.
Lisa flashed a smile at Taehyung. “Big Brother Taehyung, you make sure he does that when we get home. If he doesn’t do that, well…” She pinched her fingers together, which made her knuckles pop loudly.
Taehyung patted her head. “Alright.”
Jimin peered up at her pretty face. His entire body shuddered when he heard Taehyung’s reply. As much as he wanted to cry, not a single tear rolled down his cheeks. “Sigh, why don’t we talk about this. A whole month’s time may be a tad bit too long. I still have classes to attend…”
Rosé casually glanced at him and replied, “Didn’t you say that you’ve completed the syllabus for your current semester after studying intensely for two months?”
Jimin went silent.
In the end, he crumbled under the hands of his own teammate.
“Miss Lalisa, where are you heading towards?” The rain was still coming down hard and Woojin was standing at the very edge of the umbrella. Owing to the size of the umbrella though, he remained largely dry. Lisa stood under the umbrella’s center point, while being flanked by Taehyung, Kihyun and the rest. He asked the question from quite a distance away but her ears were still able to pick it up quite clearly.
Lisa turned around and directed a smile at him, which was accompanied by a reply.
“Back to the capital.”
“The capital…” murmured Woojin to himself.
Kihyun was reminded of Woojin’s presence when he asked that question. “Woojin, I’ve been in the ancient martial arts world for so long and yet I’ve never heard about you before. I assume that you’re not a part of them? If you’re interested, why not become a part of our Peace Manor…”
“Peace Manor?” Woojin was startled by the sudden mention of that place. He unconsciously stole a glance at Lisa to find that she wasn’t looking over at him. Instead, she was staring at the teleportation array.
Before anything further could be said, a white flash filled their vision and out came a group of men.
At the forefront of the team was a tall figure.
In his hand was a black umbrella. He opened up the contraption as soon as he emerged from the teleportation array. Then, as the downpour continued, he approached their team. A thick layer of fog made it impossible to make out his face clearly but his presence noticeably brightened up the atmosphere.
Lisa did not wait for him to approach her. She jogged over when he was only a few steps away from her.
She entered the cover of his umbrella before waving her team goodbye. Her smile was partially blocked by the heavy downpour and the scene seemed slightly unreal.
Still, it was rather obvious that she was feeling quite happy at the moment.
Jungkook slowly looked up at the team, who he nodded towards as a greeting. He stared at Woojin for a couple of seconds before leaving with Lisa clinging to his arm.
He had always maintained a policy of indifference towards others. Kihyun and co had long grown used to this side of his. However, being on the receiving end of a greeting shocked Betty and Hans. “He just nodded at us! Did you see that?!” Betty proceeded to squeal like a fangirl at a concert.
Jiji glanced at Betty before he emotionlessly passed the giant umbrella over to Taehyung. I mean, how much emotion would you expect from a robot in the first place? It then produced a cute little umbrella of its own before catching up with its master.
It’s mouth was still blabbering away as it did so. “I can’t believe you place more importance on your lover than your pet! A mountain can only hold one treasure, not two! Mark my words, Jungkook. One day, I’ll… ah how can I possibly do that? Young Master Jeon, you have earned my respect!”
It’s sudden change in attitude was probably because of Jungkook turning around. Jiji hid out of fear when he did so.
“I see Jiji has it rough too huh?” Kihyun sighed.
Nearly everyone burst out into laughter after he said that.
Kihyun turned over to Woojin. “So, have you made up your mind yet?”
Woojin slowly nodded his head at Kihyun. To be honest, there wasn’t much contemplation required as that offer was exactly what he had been hoping for all this while.
“Well then, welcome to Peace Manor!” Both Jimin and Rosé welcomed Woojin warmly. The former was miles ahead in terms of enthusiasm though. He was proudly introducing the place to Woojin when he was suddenly led away by Taehyung. “He still needs to bring the good news back home. Don’t you interfere with that process.”
Jimin then turned around and yelled, “I’ll be waiting for you in the ancient martial arts world!”
“Alright, it’s also time for me to return to the ancient martial arts world as well.” Sehun waved his teammates goodbye. “We’ll meet again in the ranking tournament!”
As soon as he spun around, the Tang family standing beyond the teleportation array came into view. They stared at Sehun and Chanwoo with their faces full of shock. These people were all originally under Sehun, and yet when a dispute arose between him and Tang Wu, they chose to go with the latter. Only Taehyung and Chanwoo foolishly stuck with Sehun. At this moment, a sense of regret swelled up in their hearts.
It had never crossed their minds back then that these three stooges would get into the top ten list!
They all saw the scoreboard the moment their team left Bahuang Forest. Sehun came in third, while Taehyung came in two places behind him. Even Chanwoo, who did not possess any fighting skills was able to get the tenth place.
There were also the rumors about the notorious mythical beast reapers. To their surprise, the leader of that team was none other than Lisa!
The feeling of regret was piling up in their hearts. If only they had stuck with Sehun from the beginning, perhaps they could have been a member of the mythical beast reapers? I mean, even Chanwoo whose strength was not enough to hold down a chicken was able to land a spot in the top ten list!
Resentment against Tang Wu started taking hold. Their faith in Tang Wu had been utterly and mercilessly crushed by Lisa.
Sehun glanced nonchalantly at this group of men before leaving. Kihyun’s words were still echoing through his mind. He shook his head and laughed. Peace Manor? After having witnessed their temperament firsthand, it seems increasingly likely that things are about to get lively for the ancient martial arts world.
***
Half a month was gone, just like that. Taehee remained in the ancient martial arts world, following the news closely for any bits of information about Lisa in the selection competition.
She had already received the latest news from the elders, that Lisa was at the top of the scoreboard and that she was miles ahead of anyone else. The elders themselves were seated around the elder’s pavilion, their faces full of shock and disbelief.
Taehee was surprisingly unsurprised. She then received an incoming message from Jungkook—[We’ll be arriving in 5 minutes]
Sitting still turned into an onus from that point on. Holding an umbrella, she awaited her beloved son’s return at the border of the ancient martial arts world.
To her surprise, there were already quite a lot of people gathered near the border. Their faces were all filled with the same look of excitement as they discussed the competition. The ancient martial arts world had made their appearance; the mythical beast reapers have captured the respect of many people all over the globe.
It was precisely due to this that these people had gathered at the border.
A microscopic dot appeared on the horizon, which grew increasingly larger as minutes passed by.
Finally, the silhouettes of two people became visible as they drew nearer. It was a man and a woman. The handsome man was holding up an umbrella as his partner slowly descended towards the ground. It was only after she tucked away her flying boat that her radiant face was revealed to the masses.
How could they possibly not recognize that familiar face of hers? She was Lisa alright.
Jungkook paid no heed to the crowd. The aura he maintained around him was particularly threatening, which intimidated them so much that they had to restrain themselves despite how excited they were to see the victor’s return.
Taehee cut straight across the crowd. Unlike them though, it didn’t really matter to her if she got first place in the competition or not. She scanned Lisa from head-to-toe and it was only upon confirming that there was not a single scratch on her did she let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, I was worried to death about your safety. Thank goodness you’re safe and sound. I couldn’t wipe my memory of the time when Jungkook…”
“Mother,” Jungkook interrupted. “The rain’s getting heavier as we speak. Let’s head home first.”
Taehee nodded instantly. “Oh right, my mind’s getting old. Let’s head home, take a nice, warm shower and then we’ll feast!”
Lisa felt a warmth swell up in her heart. Silently, she was led back home by Taehee.
“Oh, before I forget, about the flying boat you two were using.” Lisa went straight for the bathroom upstairs when they reached home. Taehee and Jungkook on the other hand, were busily toiling away in the kitchen. Something popped up randomly onto her mind, which made her narrow her eyes at Jungkook. “Is that not a treasure of the Baili family?!”
“That’s right. Grandpa Baili gave it to her as a present.” Jungkook casually nodded his head as he explained. “You probably don’t know this but he was only steps away from giving her his family’s entire reserve of treasures.”
“…”
Taehee was baffled. She felt conflicted about her daughter-in-law being treated so well by someone else. Something about this made her feel slightly panicky.
“Right,” continued Taehee as she poured the vegetables into the wok. “I heard the Tang family talking about Lili’s friend, Xiao Rosé, a couple of days ago.”
“The Tang family?” Jungkook smiled, but the look in his eyes was cold and hostile. “They should be regretting their decision by now.”
“What’s going on?” Taehee’s curiosity had been piqued. She thought her son would be disinterested in other people’s matters.
“I guess Chanyeol’s fallen for her, but the elders of his family are staunchly against his decision,” replied Jungkook.
Taehee’s brows furrowed when she heard that. She sighed. “The Tangs probably did so out of consideration of her identity as a regular human. No wonder I haven’t seen Chanyeol for the past few days. I can imagine that he’s being emotionally weighed down by these problems.” Persuading the elders of his family was something one could rarely pull off.
Not everyone was like Jungkook, who was powerful enough to force the elders into a compromise.
“Don’t you worry about this though,” Jungkook chuckled. “I’m guessing you haven’t seen the rankings for the competition?”
“Hm?” Taehee was plating out the dish when she looked up curiously with an eyebrow raised.
“Xiao Rosé, she’s in the 11th place.” Jungkook answered while lifting the plate off the table. How could that girl ever leave behind a friend who’s being bullied?
Taehee froze up in the middle of the kitchen, staring at her son with eyes that were about to pop out of their sockets. She turned around to their butler. “I-I didn’t mishear what you said did I?” That friend of hers. Wasn’t she just a regular human being? How did she suddenly get 11th place in the competition out of nowhere?
The butler smiled. “Madam, I assume you have yet to browse the online forum? I think the team Lalisa led was the legendary mythical beast reapers. Retrospectively, I don’t find it odd that Miss Xiao Rosé was able to land a spot so high up in the scoreboard.” After all, even Chanwoo had managed to get tenth place.
Taehee was primarily worried about Lisa’s safety and as such, she cared little about other problems. What the butler had said initially did not surprise her.
Despite that, upon putting in deeper thought, she couldn’t snap out of her mental shock. She had only heard about her daughter-in-law scoring first place in the competition but it was surprising to her that there were still so many talents out there. It really was so shocking that…she was about to turn into a fangirl! No wonder so many people were awaiting Lisa’s return just now!
“To be honest, I think Miss Lalisa was probably trying to avoid troubling others.” The butler let out a quiet sigh. “This whole ruckus has shifted the attention of the entire world onto her. I’m guessing this was done with the main intention of helping out her friend, Miss Xiao Rosé.”
“I think so too,” said Taehee while nodding. “Lili is someone who places great importance on friendship. The Tang family was looking down on Xiao Rosé, and so she sent her straight up to eleventh place. I can imagine that the elders of the Tang family are now very anxious.”
What they initially thought was a rat turd turned out to be a precious piece of gold after they had kicked it away.
This must be incredibly painful for them.
Taehee felt sympathy for the elders of the Tang family but recent memories of them being played by Lisa made her chuckle to herself. In any case, the ancient martial arts world was now much more lively than before.
Jungkook set the dish down onto the table before heading upstairs with Jiji silently trailing behind him.
The little robot initially had a smirk on its face, thinking that Jungkook wasn’t aware of its presence behind him. However, it had only taken a few steps before the looming figure before it came to a halt. He turned around and peered down with those ink-dark eyes of his.
A cold voice echoed down the stairwell. “This is my house.”
“…”
Jiji quietly retraced its steps.
“…”
A servant who unintentionally saw their odd little interaction was speechless. Why was Young Master treating this little android so badly?
Jungkook remained still until he was sure that Jiji had indeed stopped following him.
***
Lisa was washing in the bathroom upstairs. She had not taken a shower ever since stepping foot into Bahuang Forest. Because of this, she darted straight into the bathroom in Jungkook’s room the moment she returned home. Although she wasn’t a clean freak by any means, she still couldn’t bear the thought of not cleaning herself for so many days.
She realized upon pulling open the door of the wardrobe that… there were clothes meant for her inside.
They were all brand-new and were hung right next to Jungkook’s clothes.
There was no doubt about it. Taehee must’ve been the person behind this. And it seemed like her clothes have been hanging around here for quite some time now.
Lisa picked a long button-down shirt and a sweater which she changed into quickly. The clothes Jungkook had in his wardrobe were pretty basic; apart from a couple of sweatshirts, most of them were plain dress shirts. They were all of the same brand and were either black or white in color.
In fact, that combination applied to his room as well. The items he had were either black or white in color, with nothing in between.
She observed the room whilst drying her hair with a towel. On the window sill were a few pots of plum blossoms. They were currently blossoming, which raised Lisa’s curiosity. Brother Jungkook was interested in growing flowers? Why hadn’t she discovered this up until today?
She was still observing the plum blossoms when Jungkook entered the room. Lisa instinctively turned around the moment she heard the doorknob being twisted open.
The delicate pink blossoms were right next to her in full bloom, which further enhanced the beauty of this scene, which appeared almost to have been ripped straight out of an artwork.
“Are you gazing at the flowers?” Jungkook’s fingers paused for a second before silently shutting the door behind him, removing Jiji’s sulking face from her view.
Lisa nodded. “I didn’t know you were interested in flowers.”
“These are not mine.” Jungkook walked up next to her. He peered down at the pot of flowers before his eyes shifted back to Lisa. “I don’t come home that often.”
“If this isn’t yours then…” Lisa wanted to ask who was tending to these flowers when Jungkook answered her question.
“It’s my mom.” He let out a sigh. “She said these plum blossoms are much more obedient than dealing with her child.”
Jungkook was dead serious when he said that, and yet it was enough to make Lisa giggle. She looked up at him with a pair of crystal clear eyes. Tending to plum blossoms was much better than raising a son? Aunt Taehee definitely didn’t seem like the kind of person who would say that.
Or perhaps, she was unaware of Jungkook’s rebellious phase?
Lisa stifled her laughter by cupping her palm over her mouth.
Jungkook glanced at her as he leaned up against the window frame. “Stop laughing.”
Lisa nodded in response. “You think I’d laugh at you for that?” Of course! She could laugh at this all night long!
Jungkook clasped her hand and proceeded to lean in for a kiss.
Something cold but soft pressed against her lips. Lisa’s mind went blank in the spur of the moment. She had long forgotten about Jungkook’s funny little story. Their breaths merged as a warmth slowly crept up to her fingertips. Their shadows cast on the wall by the fluorescent lighting grew increasingly overlapped.
A moment later, Jungkook slowly loosened his grip on her. He peered down at her now bright red face. Her lips were no longer the light shade of pink like that of the plum blossoms on the windowsill. They were now glowing red, akin to a burning flame.
The look in his eyes was a little dreamy, as if he was only half-sober.
“Let’s head down for dinner,” he said with a slightly hoarse voice.
Fortunately, his brain was still working as he remembered that dinner was waiting for them downstairs.
Lisa opened up the windows and the two of them remained there for a brief moment before they walked down the stairs.
Taehee hurried Lisa to sleep after they finished their meal. “You must be dead tired after spending half a month in Bahuang Forest! Go up and get yourself some rest! We’ll leave talking for tomorrow, alright?”
Taehee then excitedly logged into the ancient martial arts forum.
Jungkook received a phone call from Donghyuk shortly after Lisa had fallen asleep. His voice was audibly more panicky than before. “Big boss! Something’s happened in W Town!”
***
Hoseok stumbled into the room after the phone call had ended.
“Soon.” Donghyuk shoved his phone into his pocket. He located the official of W Town, in front of which he slammed the table out of anger. “If you don’t order the people of this town to evacuate, they’re all going to die here!”
That man glared back at Donghyuk with hostility in his eyes. “Mister Yi Donghyuk, upon hearing your allegation that a tsunami would engulf this area, I have hired an expert to do the necessary testing. Based on our topography, it is simply impossible for such a phenomenon to take place. Furthermore, have you any idea how many people we have to evacuate? Perhaps I have gone insane, or perhaps I am a fool, but I want you to leave this place immediately!”