Jungkook rested on the player's bench for the entire second period. He watched his teammates head in and out as they changed players.
As ice hockey is an extremely physically demanding sport, changing players is frequent and there are no limits to the changes. The substitution would happen tacitly without any pauses in the game.
The frequent substitution creates a chaos that makes it hard for the referee to keep track. As not everyone keeps to the rules, sometimes, and extra person would appear on the ice halfway through the competition, just like a ghost appearing from nowhere.
Therefore, there is a strong emphasis in ice hockey competitions on the penalty of having too many players on the ice.
In the second period of the competition, the Bright Dauntless Korean team 2-1 lead was shrunk by their opponents to a 3-3 tie. Their battle odds did not seem promising.
After resting on the player's bench for a period, Jungkook felt that there was nothing wrong with him. Thus, he requested to go on ice in the third period.
Their coach was a Russian who agreed to it decisively. This small injury was probably no big deal to people like him who were always battle-ready.
"Jungkook went up on ice. Hmm, it looks like he is fine. First, let's applause for him. Everyone in the stands is currently cheering for Jungkook. Indeed, he deserves those cheers. I wonder if Bright Dauntless is able to make a breakthrough and break the deadlock...." The commentator was eloquent with his words.
"Looks like he is okay" Principal Manoban muttered.
Mama Manoban gave a slight frown. "He should still go to the hospital for an x-ray".
However, from his subsequent performance, it looked like there was no need for an x-ray. Bright Dauntless managed to score twice during this period and both were by Jungkook. He brought the score to 5-3, which sustained till the end of the competition. With two goals and one assist under his belt, he was awarded the most valuable player of the competition.
The stadium atmosphere was fuelled to an extreme. When the competition ended, and the cheers seemed to raise the roof.
The government officials had only meant to take a look and show their presence for the cameras before leaving. However, the competition especially the last period was simply too exciting. They stayed to watch it all.
In the end, they clapped along with the crowd as well.
The club boss was both elated and relieved. Earlier, he was afraid that they would lose badly but now they had actually won. What a terrific job. Jungkook was really quite the natural star.
The club boss invited the leading official to say a few words to the ice hockey team and he gladly agreed.
....
After listening to the official's speech and taking a photo with him, the team medic brought Jungkook to the hospital. Though Jungkook personally felt that there was nothing wrong with his body, he needed to at least take an x-ray for everyone to rest assured.
The two of them left through the ice stadium back door. At the door, Jungkook suddenly stopped moving. "I'm waiting for someone".
"Who?" The team medic asked. When he saw a young lady ran over, he nodded and said, "I'll wait for you in the car".
"Mm".
Lisa ran over to Jungkook's front and saw him lowering his head to look at her. There was a faint smile in his eyes. She dropped her head, took another step forward and buried into his arms before embracing him gently.
She was usually like a little tiger but at the present moment, she seemed more like a tiny lamb. This made Jungkook a little unaccustomed. He returned her hug and ruffled her hair. "What's wrong?"
"My heart almost stopped". Lisa whispered. When watching the competition earlier, half of her was tensed and excited while the other half was scared stiff. She could only rest her mind slightly after hugging him like this.
Jungkook knew that her concern made her unable to keep calm.
Her reaction made him acutely aware of the soft pounding beat in his chest. He bent down and kissed her hair, murmuring, "I'm okay".
Lisa's hand moved up past his back. She tiptoed and hooking on to his neck, she felt the back of his brain.
Jungkook's heart quivered at the touch of her soft and warm fingers.
"It'll stop hurting if you kiss it".
Lisa did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Stop joking at a time like this!"
Jungkook's face was solemn. "I'm not joking. In the future, you have to kiss me every time I win a competition".
"What If I win a competition?"
"Then I'll kiss you".
"Consort Dog is clever indeed, making only the best deals". As Lisa spoke, she seized his collar and tugged him towards her.
Jungkook went along with her pull and bent over slightly. He looked down at her, his eyes twinkling bright.
Lisa looked at his cheery blossom-colored lips and swallowed her saliva.
At that exact moment, the car in the distance horned several times.
The team medic was a little at the end of his patience as he waited for them to stop being so lovey-dovey. He rolled down the window and looked at them. "Are we still heading to the hospital?"
Lisa followed Jungkook to the hospital. She only fully rested her worries after the x-ray came back and confirmed that everything was normal.
____
A battle to make his name.
That was how the media described Jungkook the next day. Lisa's brows ticked when she saw it. She thought, isn't that too much of an exaggeration!
Those reports narrated how Jungkook returned to the rink after being accidentally injured and how he scored manically to turn the losing battle around. His explosive performance dominated everyone's attention and was the highlight of the competition. This was in spite of their opponents strength, which made his performance all the more remarkable....After a ton of praises, the media attached a dashing photo of Jungkook.
Okay, fine, to most people who were not familiar with ice hockey, the key was that dashing photo.
Lisa sent a screenshot of the article to her father. This was accompanied by the words: Introducing to you, your son-in-law.
Principal Manoban pretended to not see it.
The words "Jeon Jungkook" became a hot search overnight. For many who were not clear what was going on, they curiously went to search "Jeon Jungkook" after seeing others discussed him. Their first reaction was always, Damn, this dude is hot.
Everything else came second.
Some ice hockey fans were worried that outsiders could not understand what happened and gave a simple summary of yesterday's competition. There was no lack of praises in the summary and when people read it, they were greatly impressed with how sharply the game was reversed.
Following this, other related phrases such as "Ice Hockey" and "Silk Road League" all became popular searches as well. Many people began to follow this sport and this competition.
Jungkook's Weibo followers increased rapidly. What made things comical was that his account ID was still "Lisa Manoban's Global Fan Group". When all the new fans went to search who Lisa was, they were stuffed with a mouthful of dog food.
["He is not only hot but outstanding, and is in a blissful relationship with a beautiful girlfriend this guy is the legendary 'winner in life', isn't he? Compared to him, I feel like the twenty years of my life is shit"]
That was what someone lamented in the forum.
In the end, his long-time fans all replied:
["What If I tell you how much he scored for the university entrance exams?"]
["What if I tell you that he comes from a rich family?"]
["Wait, wait, the person above, Jungkook comes from a rich family? Are you sure? I've never read any gossip on this?"]
["Trust me, by being able to play ice hockey for so many years, it's most likely that his family is rich".]
["Flips a table! Did Lisa save the galaxy or something"]
["What do you mean by this, our Lili is also pretty outstanding, all right! She got into RCU with her results, showing that she excels in her studies. She is not only beautiful but has a great personality with a high EQ, and has also won a national championship before. How is she not a match for Ice God? I can only say that outstanding people like to hang out together. If you want to find a good partner, there's no need to save the galaxy. Just work hard at improving yourself"]
["The girl above, you're too amazing. While we're all eating dog food, you're the only one feeding us chicken soup. Please accept a bow from me".]
Blah, blah, blah, blah....
At first, Lisa thought that Jungkook's Weibo followers were bought for him by the club to flaunt. Later, she found that her own followers had increased greatly as well. In fact, people would come up to her for her signature. At this point, she had to admit that Jungkook's followers were real.
That rascal was famous.
Lisa felt a little sour with jealousy. However, it was not clear what the exact target of her jealous was.
At night, she messaged him.
Lisa: ["Jungkook, do you know how many girlfriends you have out there?"]
Jungkook:[ "Well, they can only fantasize about me while you have the real thing to...."]
Lisa: ["Go on, let me see how far you can carry on".]
Jungkook: ["Come over, I'll let you see how far I can carry on. ^_^"]
Lisa:[ "You become so naughty now a days Daddy will teach you lesson.]
Jungkook: ["...."]