Chapter 18: Jungkook Is Here
Jungkook is here!
This was the headline of the general sports section in 'Sports Weekly' the next day.
By usual logic, neither the Winter Championships nor Jungkook was headliner material, but Jungkook just had to have broken a record, bringing forward the Asian record by a whole 0.3 seconds in one go. This was unprecedented, and taken together with the hype over his previous challenge towards Taehyung, Jungkook was a very hot topic.
And so the newspaper agency published a headline for Jungkook on account of 'this person is on a meteoric rise'.
Lisa was rather disgruntled. Thinking back, just a month ago, her manuscript on Jungkook had been scrapped so casually, and now? News on him so easily made the headline! Oh, life! So thrilling in its dramatic ups and downs!
Done with her musings, she flipped through her agency's newspaper, very narcissistically admiring the headline article she had written. The news piece not only recorded Jungkook's strong performance in the arena yesterday, but also included some introductory information on Jungkook. It was rich in content, containing both text and pictures. Yesterday, once the editorial department had confirmed that they would be using Jungkook as a headline, they had immediately notified Lisa that the agency would require more information on the man. Lisa did not dissemble, quickly organizing all the manuscripts and pictures she had compiled from interviews since she had come to know Jungkook.
The agency finally settled on three pictures, two of them from the event yesterday. One had been taken during the competition, a frontal close-up of Jungkook in mid-stroke through the waves. His broad shoulders, powerful and tensed upper arm muscles, and slightly austere face behind the goggles all contributed to his domineering aura of a king within the water. The other photo selected was of the podium. Jungkook stood in the middle holding up a bouquet of flowers, while beside him, Jaehyun was looking at him with a soft smile, his entire expression filled with joy and blessing. This snapshot received the accolades of the agency. As an Olympics champion, Jaehyun was actually a rather proud and boastful person; for Jungkook to be treated so by the proud Jaehyun, it was clear to see how special he was. Furthermore, it was a widely spread rumour that Jaehyun was a divo with an attitude who did not get along with his teammates, but this photo suggested that that may not be the truth.
The third photo was the one Lisa had taken of Jungkook standing beneath the gingko trees, charming and handsome, with the library and teaching areas of the Sports University in the far distance. Even further away in the background was the pure deep blue skies unique to autumn.
Jungkook had only resumed competing not too long ago and he was also extremely low-key in terms of personality. As such, those working in the media circles did not have much information on him. In comparison, Lisa's interviews could already be considered a rich trove of information. She then added some little touches (after obtaining permission from the person in question) — such as how Jungkook was remarkably calm in the face of criticism, believing that results were the most powerful response — and arranged the information together, and the resulting article suddenly became exclusive news. Many web media sites reposted the article on that day itself. Lisa's insignificant little name attached to the end of the news article was thus spread around everywhere in this manner.
At the same time, the discussions online were also changing.
Before this, there were quite a lot of people waiting before their television sets or on the online streaming sites for Jungkook to be smacked in the face by his own arrogance, but in the end, Jungkook was the one who gave them a harsh slap instead by breaking the Asian record. Such results made many of those who had been prepared with a bellyful of vitriol to just shut up. They would never admit they had been wrong. They would just silently leave, pretending they had never been here, had never done those stupid things they had, had never been made a fool of by some of the media. In this day and age where free speech on the internet was a surging beast, as the maelstrom of a scandal reached the end of its development, the best outcome one could wish for was no more than a quick and silent return to calm. The victim would not dare to hope for more; they would not naively attempt to seek justice from the media or the netizens.
What was justice? Power was justice.
That night, Lisa received a message from Rosé. She was asking Lisa to go look at a post.
The post had been published at the forum of a famous entertainment gossip site. The title of the post was: Is this the most handsome athlete in all history? The poster's ID was 'A Small Ant in Entertainment'.
Abiding by the 'pics or it didn't happen' principle, 'A Small Ant in Entertainment' had attached a picture along with the post. The picture submitted as proof was a side-profile of Jungkook. Under mottled sunlight, his head was bowed, his defined brows framing bright gentle eyes while a faint smile played about his lips. Lisa recognised it as the photo she had taken during the National Championships with one glance. In order to highlight Jungkook, Rosé had cropped away everyone else.
The response of those who reply were largely as follows:
"Oh my god! Who's this? So handsome!"
"Side profile is so freaking handsome, but who is he? What event?"
"Why only half a face? Where's the other half? Show a face-on shot please?"
"This must have been PS-ed. A minor artist trying to hype himself?"
"Hey, upstairs, the original poster said it's an athlete. Could an entertainer have such an aura?"
"OP, seeing how I've already taken off my pants, please put up more pictures!"
"This is considered handsome? So much uglier than my xxx!" 'xxx' was referring to some particular cool, domineering, handsome, swag male star.
"This is Jungkook! He was so cool yesterday! He broke the Asian record!"
"Looks like the gossipy gals don't pay attention to sports. Before yesterday, this person was scolded terribly!"
And then there were many people asking for a recap on who Jungkook was, as well as asking for gossip on why he had been criticised.
Right at this moment, 'A Small Ant in Entertainment' released yet another photo. This time, it was a picture of Jungkook right after he had gotten out of the pool. In the picture, he was only wearing swimming trunks, his lovely perfect muscles completely on display, his long straight legs striding forwards.
The responses after that lost all sense of propriety.
"Aaaaaaaaaaah! HD pictures please!"
"Goddamn, this is the first time I've seen someone whose entire body is wank material!"
"Looks like I have no choice but to take off my pants now."
"Is there anyone touching his abs through the screen like I am?"
"I'm stroking his pectorals."
"I'm touching his legs."
"I'm touching his Adonis belt. Drool drool drool!"
"You all upstairs ... you're all so shameless! I've only been stroking his dick through his swimming trunks!"
The moment this brazen comment appeared, it was followed by a series of ellipsis in reply.
Lisa's face turned red reading through the forum, and she asked Rosé, "What kind of demons hang out in this forum?"
Rosé laughed and said, "It's just fun. Besides, over a line, no one knows who anyone else is, so each is even more shameless than the next."
Lisa continued to read. Rosé took her time releasing picture after picture, introducing Jungkook bit by bit with each picture. All of the information and pictures had been taken from the news, along with two video recordings of competition. But on the whole, there was very little information, entirely not enough to satisfy the deep yearning of the masses for gossip. While she started discussing the truth of the incident where Jungkook had been censured, she used Lisa's article to clear his name.
Then, some people began to suspect Jaehyun:
"Jaehyun did it on purpose, didn't he?"
"A manipulative biatch?"
"Hahahahaha, Jaehyun, come quick and see! Someone's calling you manipulative!"
"Jaehyun has a face of someone with late-stage Chuunibyou syndrome, treatment not recommended. And you're telling me this damn fool is capable of being manipulative?"
"Lolololololololololololol"
Lisa laughed hysterically, slamming her hand against the table, as she read through these comments. She was contemplating whether to let Jaehyun know what the netizens thought of him.
By the time Rosé was done updating her audience, many people there had already declared their decision to become fans of Jungkook. Some even said that they wanted to marry him.
Lisa sweatdropped. What a group of aggressive ladies.
And then there was another group asking for large HD pictures. When Lisa asked Rosé whether they should release some, Rosé shook her head and said, "No. I've established myself as a pure fan right now. All the pictures I released are those that have previously already been released on the web. If I suddenly am able to produce large HD pictures and cannot explain my sources. Other people will suspect my motives. The ladies here on the forums are all legendary detectives."
Who knew that there was so much to consider behind the scenes? Lisa felt enlightened. Then, Rosé added, "Why don't you first give those HD pictures to me? Let's slowly release them once Jungkook has become famous."
Lisa looked at the shameless fantasizing the netizens was indulging in, and she decided she had better check with Jungkook first. So she tapped him on WeChat.
Lisa: Jungkook?
Jungkook: Here. What's up?
Lisa: Someone asked me for a large HD photo of you.
Jungkook: Who? A superior?
Lisa: No, it's just a friend. She's an entertainment reporter.
Jungkook: In that case, keep it for yourself. Don't give it to anyone else.
Lisa: Okay.
And so, Lisa did not give any HD photos to Rosé. When Rosé found out why, she was only a sad for a brief moment, quickly stating that she would respect her husband's decision. Lastly, Rosé asked in a roundabout way whether Jaehyun had immoral motives towards "her husband", because Jaehyun's gaze was "very gentle" when he looked at Jungkook, so there seemed to be some "gay feelings" there.
Lisa sweatdropped and found goosebumps rising up all over her body. She felt that every time after she chatted with Rosé, it was necessary for her to go and top up her integrity value.
December 18th was when the National University Level 4 to 6 English exams were held. On this morning, Jungkook showed up at the exam venue. Many of the Sports University students recognised him, greeting him when they saw him. Some even congratulated him on breaking the Asian record.
Before the exams were handed out, Jungkook took out everything inside his stationery bag and arranged them properly on the table. Lisa had helped him pick out the stationery. There were several small silver words engraved on a black signing pen: Confucius Temple Blessed Pen.
Jungkook felt like laughing every time he saw those words.
The main invigilator was an infamous sadistic demon rumoured to have an expressionless face. He never smiled, and his treatment of students was as cold as the winds of winter. Countless innocent souls had been crushed at his hands. Jungkook was seated in the first row. At the frontlines of the battlefield, his eyes met those of the sadistic demon. As he handed out the exam papers, the demon placed the papers on Jungkook's desk and said softly, "Good luck, Jungkook."
Jungkook was so shocked that he dropped the Confucius Temple Blessed Pen onto the ground.
No matter how long an exam was, students would always feel that the time allocated passes too quickly. When the bell marking the end of the exam rang, Jungkook was not yet finished answering. But it didn't matter — after all, he was just working on the translation question at that time, and that was the one question he did not place much hope on to begin with. As for the rest of the questions, he had answered them all, even if he had to guess through some of them. Of them all, he had found the reading comprehension section the easiest to answer — his hard work all this time had been worth it.
Exiting the exam venue, Jungkook made a call to Lisa.
As soon as Lisa picked up, she asked, "Jungkook, you're done?"
As Jungkook made his way outside moving with the crowd, he answered softly, "Yep."
"How did it go?"
"Okay."
Lisa couldn't tell from this ambiguous answer whether he actually did well or not, so she could only say, "You'll definitely pass."
"Yep, I used a Confucius Temple Blessed Pen after all."
Through the phone, Lisa could hear his clear and mellifluous laughter. Lisa knew he was making fun of her again and was about to bristle when Jungkook suddenly said, "Lisa, I've already chosen the restaurant for tomorrow."
"Ah, really? Send the address to me later."
"Okay, but ..." Jungkook paused here, unsure how to explain the next part.
Lisa asked, "What's wrong? Are you actually busy?"
"No, it's not that. It won't just be the two of us eating together."
"How many then?"
"... Six."
Six? So Jungkook had been worn down by his teammates in the end as expected? Still, even if everyone from his 4-man team came, there should still only be 5 people. Who was that last person?
Lisa did not say anything. Jungkook thought she was unhappy about this development, so he explained, "Sorry, I can handle one shameless person, but I could not handle a whole crowd of them."
Lisa suddenly felt bad for Jungkook ...