CHAPTER 3 : Adventure

 

Rosé slowly opened her eyes and held her head in pain. It seemed that she just had a concussion. As soon as she came to her senses, the first color she saw was orange and the first thing she felt was extreme heat. The buildings around her were all on fire and the ground was completely uneven due to a violent battle. It’s hard to believe that this used to be the city center since it looks more like a desert now. “…”

 

Rosé’s skin was smudged in dirt and ashes, covering her usual fair skin. She slowly limped her way to the front while grabbing onto her seemingly injured left arm. There were a lot of people laying on the ground motionless. She walked up to a lady’s body on the ground and nudged her. “Hey, wake up.”

 

“…” There was no response.

 

She then crawled towards another man’s body and nudged. “Wake up please…”

 

“…” Again, there was no response.

 

Rosé sat on the ground with a thud and tears swelling her eyes. “In the end, I couldn’t protect anyone…” Just then, a familiar figure captured her attention. “Jennie?”

 

Jennie had bruises all over her body and blood smearing her lips. Her whole body seemed to be trembling from the immense injuries. It’s hard to imagine Jennie getting hurt to this extent despite activating her Red Rose powers. Not only that, Jennie seemed to be holding an unconscious Jisoo in her arms. “…”

 

Rosé immediately ran towards them to tend to their injuries. “Oh my god, Jennie are you okay??? Jisoo, wake up!!” Without a moment of hesitation, Rosé channeled her powers to her hand and started healing Jisoo’s injury.

 

Jennie then pulled Rosé’s hand away from her. “There’s no need to heal Jisoo. She just passed out from overexerting her powers. The both of us will do just fine. ” She then pointed at the direction of someone standing at a distance. “It’s her you need to worry about……and she saved all of us…”

 

Rosé looked over and immediately recognized the person. “Lisa…”

 

Lisa who was standing there silently with her sword unsheathed, and her back facing Rosé. She turned her head slowly to reveal two completely black eyeballs in her sockets with her blindfold laying on the ground nearby. “…”

 

“???” Something seemed off about Lisa when Rosé got closer.

 

The sword slowly slid right off Lisa’s arm. Slowly, she lost strength in both her legs as her whole body tumble onto the ground with a loud thud.

 

“LISA!!” Rosé screamed and ran towards her. “LISA!?” Rosé nudged and placed her finger below Lisa’s nose. Her eyes widened in shock. “She’s not breathing…”

 

Rosé channeled her powers onto her hand and attempted to heal Lisa but nothing seemed to be happening. “Come on!! Wake up!!”

 

“...” Lisa remained motionless with her eyes closed.

 

“Wake up, please!!” Rosé started bawling and nudged her non-stop. “Don’t die!! I’m begging you!!”

 

“...”

 

“Just wake up… You promised that you wouldn’t die so soon…” Rosé held Lisa tight in her arms and cried. “Don’t leave me…Please?”

 

“...”

 

A faint voice called out to her. “Chaeyoung?”

 

“...” Rosé continued crying.

 

This time, Rosé felt someone nudging her instead. “Hey, Chaeyoung, wake up!”

 

“NO!!!” Rosé shot up panting hard with cold sweat rolling down her face.

 

“You okay, Chaeyoung?” Lisa asked in a concerned tone. “You were mumbling and speaking a lot in your sleep.”

 

With tears welling up her eyes, Rosé gave Lisa a tight hug. “Lisa, you’re fine!”

 

Lisa replied with a hug as well. “Of course I’m fine… What’s wrong?”

 

“...” Rosé didn’t reply at all and continued hugging Lisa silently.

 

“Bad dream?”

 

“I don’t know, Lisa…” Rosé finally broke the hug. “That’s the confusing thing about my powers … Even I couldn’t tell if it was just a dream or a premonition…”

 

“Did…something bad happen to me?” Lisa asked. “Coz I heard you shouting my name again and again.”

 

“You weren’t breathing, Lisa… I was so scared that you would die.”

 

“...” Lisa slowly traced her fingers on Rosé’s face and assured her. “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t die so soon. I prom-”

 

“Stop right there!” Rosé immediately covered Lisa’s mouth. “Do not promise me that you wouldn’t die so soon. If you say it, my dream may turn out to be a premonition after all. You promised me exactly that in my dream and then you end up dying. So don’t say it.”

 

“So… You’re asking me to just die soon?” Lisa joked.

 

Rosé smacked Lisa and scolded her in a serious tone. “Stop joking! It’s not funny! I’ve lost so many people! I can’t lose you too, do you understand!? Stop it!”

 

Lisa was a little surprised with Rosé’s anger and apologized. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

 

“Forget it. Just don’t promise me anything, alright?”

 

“Got it. I’m sorry.”

 

Rosé then went in for a hug again. “…”

 

“...”

 

“Hey.” Rosé voiced out.

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Your hair kinda smell like vanilla for some reason.” Rosé giggled. “What conditioner did you use? The vanilla plant you plucked the other day?”

 

“You think so?” Lisa then opened near Rosé’s face and released a breath. “What about my mouth? Does it smell like vanilla too?”

 

“Yuck!” Rosé pushed Lisa away in disgust. “Your hair smells nice but your mouth smells like poop! Stop it.”

 

Lisa laughed for a bit. “If you think so then let’s get moving already. Didn’t you say Jennie needed us?”

 

Rosé’s phone suddenly started ringing. After looking at the caller name, she picked up the call. “Oh hey, ChoA. What’s up?”

 

“Chaeyoung ah, remember I told you that I kept feeling as if someone is always watching me? Now I have a feeling that someone is following me… I’m really scared right now…” Rosé’s friend ChoA voiced out from the other side of the call.

 

“Where are you now?”

 

“I was actually walking back home, but I don’t think it’s a good idea. I don’t want my stalker to know where I stay…” ChoA sounded a little frightened.

 

“Are you sure you’re not just imagining things? I mean I can understand that you might have been a little paranoid ever since you accidentally bonded with a power crystal.”

 

ChoA sounded frustrated. “I’m not paranoid, Chaeyoung! I’m really scared right now! What if they catch me back to the headquarters and cut me open!?”

 

“Okay, don’t panic. Just tell me your location right now, Lisa and I will head there immediately.”

 

“*Gasp*” ChoA became silent for a short moment.

 

“ChoA?” Rosé called out.

 

ChoA’s voice started trembling. “Oh my god… Chaeyoung ah... She’s here… Save me!!” She stared running and crying at the same time. She sounded completely out of breath from all the desperate running. “Chaeyoung ah, save me!!!!! SHE’S CHASING ME! SHE’S CHASING ME!!!”

 

Rosé started panicking. “Just keep running!!! Where are you now!?”

 

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” ChoA screamed at the top of her lungs.

 

“*SHIIINNGGG!!!!*” A sound of a slash was heard over the phone as it fell onto the floor.

 

“CHOA!!! CHOA!! ANSWER ME PLEASE!!” It was Rosé’s turn to be frightened.

 

“...” There wasn’t any reply at all.

 

Someone’s breath was suddenly heard from ChoA’s phone, alerting Rosé. “ChoA, are you okay!? Are you being attacked!?”

 

What Rosé heard over her phone sent chills up her spine. It was the voice of a complete stranger replying with an extremely cold and horrifying voice. “I’m coming for you next…” And the call got cut off right away.

 

“...” Rosé was shocked to the point where she froze and stared at her phone in horror.

 

“What happened?” Lisa asked.

 

Tears started welling up Rosé’s eyes as she fell onto her knees and started crying. “No…”

 

Hearing Rosé sobbing brought Lisa to her knees as well. “What’s wrong, Chaeyoung?”

 

Rosé sobbed. “They got her too…”

 

“The government people?”

 

Rosé nodded as tears continued flowing down her cheeks. She then grabbed onto Lisa’s arm. “We got to go save Jennie. We must take down the government before they continue harming innocent people like that.”

 

“We’re almost there already, right?” Lisa asked.

 

“Yes. According to the directions of the civilian earlier on, it shouldn’t be far away from here.” Rosé then squinted her eyes and looked at the distance. I see a huge building at a distance. Maybe that’s the World Government headquarters.

 

Lisa and Rosé slowly made their way nearer to the building and found out that it is in fact the World Government headquarters. “Hey, Lisa. That building really is the World Government headquarters. Jennie must be there. Only one problem…”

 

“What is it?”

 

“There are soldiers walking all around the field, Lisa. How do we get past them?” Rosé whispered.

 

“If you ask me, I’d move in head on and blast off whoever is in my way.” Lisa suggested.

 

“We can’t do that! They have an entire army. The only time we can take the World Government head on is when we meet up with Jennie and the Blue Rose holder. For now, we should just sneak in. But how? I can’t see any openings at all.”

 

“...” Lisa then gave it a thought. “Try and look around the headquarters. Anything worth noticing?”

 

Rosé squinted her eyes and saw some smoke coming from it. “Hey, it seems like the place is a little wrecked…”

 

“Wrecked?

 

“Yeah, there are a lot of rubble on the ground. There are also a lot of flipped cars…”

 

“Was that done by Jennie when she tried to escape?” Lisa thought.

 

“It could be, but we need to make sure that Jennie really did escape. Let’s get closer.” Rosé suggested and started moving.

 

Just then, Lisa grabbed Rosé by the wrist. “Shh…”

 

“What’s wrong?” Rosé whispered.

 

“...” Lisa remained silent for a few seconds before voicing out. “Someone is approaching.”

 

Rosé took a peek and noticed there indeed was a soldier closing in. She gasped. “You’re right, Lisa. Oh god, what do we do? At this rate, he would catch us in no time.”

 

“He’ll be able to see us and alert the others if we stand up now. We have to take him down silently.”

 

Just then, another soldier came closer and asked. “Any sight of Captain Jennie?”

 

“What do you mean Captain Jennie? She’s not a captain anymore. She had been stripped off her title for being a betrayer… Anyway, no I didn’t spot her anywhere around here. It’s hard to believe she still managed to get away despite nullifying her powers and injuring her severely…” The soldier replied.

 

Rosé brightened up. “Hey, you heard that? They said Jennie got away.” She then nudged Lisa. “She’s alive, Lisa! Jennie’s alive! She’s out there somewhere! We got to find her!”

 

The soldier pointed his machine gun at their direction. “Who’s there!?”

 

“Way to go, Chaeyoung! Why don’t you just start screaming instead!?” Lisa grunted.

 

“Oh crap. Let’s go! Let’s go!” Rosé nudged Lisa and they started running away.

 

“Stop right there!” The soldiers started firing their guns at them without mercy.

 

As Lisa held onto Rosé’s hand and taking the lead, Rosé aimed her palm behind and created a force field, deflecting the bullets away. The soldiers seemed to be catching up to them. “Run faster, Lisa! I can’t defend them forever!”

 

“Oh trust me, I could run so much faster IF I WASN’T BLIND! I don’t even know where I am running to!”

 

“Power users!!! Get them!!” The soldiers started pursuing the both of them and triggered the alarm for more reinforcements.

 

“You can’t defend against the bullets, Lisa! You’re going to get us both killed!” Rosé told.

 

“You’re right. I can’t defend against the bullets.” Lisa suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned back. She then pulled Rosé behind her and unsheathed her sword. “But I sure as hell can do something about the soldiers…” Channeling the black aura from her ring to her sword, she swung it at the pursuing soldiers blasted all of them away with the black energy.

 

“Now hold them back for 10 seconds.” Rosé’s eyes turned white as she channeled her powers from her necklace to both her hands. A small ball of light was formed in between her palms.

 

Lisa kept shooting energy blades at the incoming soldiers, preventing them from closing in. “Make it quick, Chaeyoung. I may be able to fend them off now but if you take too long, I may have to start killing them off.”

 

“Done.” Rosé then pointed both her palms at the soldier’s directions. “Take this!!”

 

The ball of light created a flash of light as bright as the sun, blinding them all and halting them from pursuing. “ARGHH!!! MY EYES!!!” The soldiers cried while covering their eyes in pain.

 

“Let’s go!” Rosé then grabbed Lisa’s hand and started dashing off from the vicinity.

 

The soldiers immediately ran back into the headquarters to report this incident to CL. “Leader, two power users had been spotted outside the facility.”

 

“Usually power users wouldn’t dare to step foot near the World Government headquarters… What kind of power users are they?” CL said while sitting on her chair.

 

The soldier scratched his head. “I’m not too sure myself. There’s a lady with orange hair that could summon a shield and emit immensely bright lights… And then there’s another blonde lady who shoots out dark energy blades from her sword.”

 

CL’s eyes widened and immediately shot up from her seat. “Where are they now!?”

 

“T-They got away.”

 

Angered that her soldiers let a chance like this slip by, she grabbed him by the collar and shouted. “YOU IDIOT!! BOTH OF THEM WERE HOLDING A BLACKPINK CRYSTAL! HOW COULD YOU LET THEM ESCAPE!? First you let Red Rose escape. Now you let the White Rose and the Black Rose escape. What excuse do you have right now?”

 

“They aren’t common power users!”

 

“Jennie was weakened!” CL raised her voice.

 

The soldier argued. “She still threw a car at us like it was a softball!”

 

As soon as the soldier said that, CL twisted his neck, breaking it and watching him fall onto the ground like a puppet with its strings cut off. The other soldiers were terrified at CL’s anger. CL then let out a huge breath and looked at them. “So, anybody else got any complaints?”

 

“No.” The soldiers answered simultaneously.

 

“Check the security cameras to see if they have any footage of what the two ladies look like. If there are, get their faces on the wanted posters along with Jennie’s and distribute it everywhere you go. Is that clear?” CL told.

 

“Yes, leader!” The soldiers saluted her.

 

"One last thing..." CL told. "Help me to contact the three captains from the World Government branches. I have a mission for them..."

 

“Yes, leader!” The soldiers then carried the lifeless soldier and exited her room to proceed with their mission.

 

After escaping successfully from the soldiers, Lisa and Rosé stopped in their tracks and panted heavily. “…”

 

“Ugh, I’m totally out of breath…” Rosé said. “How I wish my healing powers could heal our oxygen supply too…”

 

Lisa then let out a huge breath. “At least we managed to escape.”

 

“Where could she be?” Rosé couldn’t think of where Jennie could be. “Ugh, I can’t think properly right now! Okay, Lisa. If you were a fugitive of the World Government, where would you run to?”

 

“Well, they did say that Jennie was severely injured.”

 

“Hmm… Do you think it made sense? I don’t think they’re capable of hurting Jennie though… She’s holding the Red Rose Crystal after all.” Rosé told.

 

“How do you know they’re not capable of hurting her? Do you remember in one of your premonition, the World Government created weapons using the collected crystals? How sure are you that they’re not already using them against Jennie just now?”

 

“You’re right… So…she could be in the hospital right now?”

 

“No.” Lisa said straight away. “If I was a heavily injured Jennie, I would be dead by now. You know her reputation among the bandits and criminals. They wouldn’t let this chance slip if they ever see Jennie in that condition.”

 

“Stop making things worse, Lisa! We’ve got to find her! She’s still alive! She was in the prophecy.”

 

“Even if so, where do we find her? This city is so huge.”

 

“I’ll leave it to fate. I believe we’ll definitely meet Jennie again.”

 

Jennie slowly entered the dark room. It was a little cold and there were dim blue lights. Not only that, there’s a soft and soothing jazz music playing in the room which made Jennie felt like laying down there and taking a nap. As Jennie looked to her left, it turned out to be an auditorium-like room with a huge aquarium filled with colorful fishes. So huge it can even be compared to the ones in the national aquarium. Jennie was definitely in awe with how rich Jisoo’s family was to afford something like that.

 

Jisoo was seen floating above the aquarium while her whole body outlined with a bluish aura. She was humming along with the jazz music while throwing some fish food into the aquarium. It was definitely a beautiful sight, Jennie thought. Just when Jennie was about to open , Jisoo intercepted.

 

“How are you feeling after your short nap?”

 

“Better, and I feel my powers slowly coming back already…” Jennie finally voiced out. “So…you can fly too.”

 

Jisoo smiled and replied. “Good eyesight. Flying is one of the Blue Rose’s powers as well.”

 

“Nice aquarium by the way.” Jennie was still in awe.

 

Jisoo smiled back at Jennie and replied. “Thanks. This tank fills up to 50000 gallons of water. Pretty huge, huh?”

 

“Wouldn’t there be a lot of work if you want to clean the tank?” Jennie asked as she took a seat in front of the aquarium.

 

“Just a little bit actually. I can use my powers to separate the dirt from the water and throw them in the waste disposal.” Jisoo told.

 

“Interesting… So you can remove dusts from furniture as well I presume?”

 

Jisoo nodded. “Exactly.”

 

“So you’re like the ultimate house maid and cleaner?” Jennie joked.

 

“Oh you think it’s a joke. You can laugh all you want, Jennie. I take only half an hour to clean the entire house, oh let me correct myself, MANSION all by myself. How about you? You take an hour to wash your diapers?”

 

“Hey watch your mouth. If I had my powers right now, you’d be swimming in your own aquarium by now.” Jennie warned.

 

“An eye for an eye, Jennie. You make fun of me, I’m gonna make fun of you. That’s how I roll.” Jisoo showed her tongue at Jennie.

 

“So immature…” Jennie then shook her head.

 

“Uhuh. Be happy that this is as far as my immaturity goes. If I was any more immature than this, I’d be using you as a broomstick to sweep my floor.” After feeding her fishes, Jisoo slowly floated down and sat beside Jennie. “So tell me… What’s with you? Why are you always this serious?”

 

“I-” Before Jennie could answer, Jisoo intercepted her.

 

“HAH! Got the answers right out of your mind. So you were raised to be a soldier. That’s why you’re always serious.”

 

“Stop reading my mind…” Jennie was getting annoyed.

 

“Okay okay… I’ll stop doing that…for now. But don’t you get tired of being serious all the time? Doesn’t it gives you a lot of stress?”

 

“Well… A little… I was a captain. I lead an army. Of course I have to live up to my name.” Jennie explained.

 

“Right. So, what do you normally do when you’re feeling stressed?” Jisoo asked.

 

“There’s two things I would do… It’s either I punch it out in the training room, or I go take a nap on a hilltop.”

 

“I have two ways to release stress too… First is spending time here in the aquarium. It’s dark and cold. Plus, the music is really soothing… Makes me fall asleep well. And secondly, I’d read books in my library.”

 

Jennie was stunned for a moment. “Your library?”

 

Jisoo nodded. “Uhuh. Would you like to take a look?”

 

“What the…” Jennie was stunned as she looked around the hall. And she thought Jisoo was actually kidding. It was literally a library with countless numbers of books. Jisoo actually owns her own personal library at home.

 

Jisoo giggled. “From your expression, I bet you’ve never seen someone who owns a library at home.”

 

“I mean, we had a library back in the World Government headquarters but you have one in your home?? What are you? A billionaire?”

 

Jisoo laughed a little. “I think billionaire is an understatement. Anyway, these are all my book collections.”

 

“That’s a lot of books. Do you even read all of them?”

 

“Well, I haven’t read ALL of them yet, but I read most of them already. Oh, right. I forgot to mention. I’m also an author. I get inspirations from reading books.”

 

“Oh, an author…” Jennie was interested all of a sudden. “What kind of books do you write?”

 

“Uhm…” Jisoo hesitated a little. “Well, I haven’t exactly written a book before… Just some random stories and post them online. It’s actually my life-long dream to write a book.”

 

“You have all the money in the world to produce your own book so why don’t you do so already?” Jennie asked.

 

“What??? Those stories I posted online are not even worthy of a book! Those are based on ideas and inspirations from other books. The book I plan to write has to be inspired by true events experienced by myself.”

 

“You’re kinda picky aren’t you?”

 

“Picky??? You don’t seem to understand it. Can you imagine writing a fiction book whereby you’re the main character and the plot is based on the real adventure you went on? It’s like a non-fiction fiction! Just think about it… How exciting is that!?”

 

“Honestly, I’m not really a fan of books but going on an adventure do sound interesting.” Jennie told.

 

“It does.” Jisoo smiled and leaned against the balcony of the library. “I’ve always wanted to go on an adventure. Almost my entire life was spent in this house… That’s how your life is going to be if you were born to a family with wealth that could buy an entire city. I couldn’t even leave the house in fear that I would get kidnapped or assassinated.”

 

“Where are your other family members now?” Jennie asked, curious about this fact.

 

Jisoo lost her smile. “They’re gone. The government people killed them.” she said in a depressed tone.

 

Hearing this from Jisoo made Jennie’s heart sunk. “I-”

 

Jisoo saw through Jennie’s thought. “You’re sorry?”

 

Jennie nodded. “Yeah. I really am. I never should have helped the government…”

 

“It was never your fault anyway.”

 

“What happened actually, if I may ask?” Jennie asked.

 

Jisoo started her story. “I had a younger sister, you see… 8 years younger than I am. It was years back. My sister accidentally bonded with a power crystal while playing with what she thought was a ‘colorful rock’. The government found out about it and sent people to pick her up. Boy, were they convincing at that time. My parents allowed them to bring my sister back to the headquarters to get the crystal extracted. Those people promised to bring my sister back home in two days’ time…”

 

“She never came back…” Jennie said.

 

“An entire week had passed and we still had no news about her at all, so my parents grew incredibly impatient. They personally went to the World Government headquarters to lodge a complaint and bring my sister back themselves… I waited for them for dinner that night…and tomorrow’s breakfast…lunch…dinner…and the very next day’s breakfast… And I thought ’Wow, they must really have a lot of things to complain about’. After the third day, I started feeling this depression within because a part of me is telling me that they’re gone for good. And I was right. They never came back.”

 

“...” Jennie listened to Jisoo’s story silently as she looked upon her with guilt. “Even when they’re gone, you’re still so independent, doing everything by yourself. I think you’re very impressive, Jisoo… Most rich kids are usually very dependent, but not you.”

 

“Thanks…”

 

Jennie then continued. “I don’t mean to sound disrespectful but aren’t you free to go on an adventure now? To see the world? I mean, you’re not tied down to your family upbringings anymore right?”

 

Jisoo nodded. “You’re right. I could.” She then looked over at Jennie and smiled. “But an adventure is only fun if it’s shared with someone. Don’t you think so? I mean, what fun is there to venture about when you’re alone?”

 

“Agreed…” Jennie nodded and leaned on the balcony as well.

 

“...” Jisoo kept on staring at Jennie for some unknown reason.

 

“...” Jennie then stared back at Jisoo silently. “W-”

 

Jisoo intercepted. “Why am I staring at you? Is that what you wanted to ask?”

 

“That’s a little obvious I think.”

 

Jisoo finally looked away and smiled. “It’s about my younger sister. She used to look up on you, Jennie.”

 

Jennie was definitely surprised. “She looked up on me?”

 

Jisoo nodded. “Mhm… She admired you for being a great fighter even at a young age. She used to watch the news on television just so that she could watch you fight the bad guys. She always told me about how much she wanted to be a great fighter like you. But of course because of my family’s status, fighting was never an option.”

 

“I’m honored to be looked up upon actually… Even if it wasn’t something I’m very proud of…” Jennie told.

 

“Why not?”

 

“Yeah, it’s true that I can fight very well. And as the captain of the World Government army, I’ve killed many people, Jisoo. There are thousands of people out there who were actually afraid of me… It’s not a good thing to look up on me. I’m a violent person.”

 

Jisoo smiled. “You’re not very violent now, aren’t you?”

 

Jennie then shrugged. “It depends how much you push my buttons.”

 

Jisoo nodded. “Anyway, because she loved fighting so much, I used to play around with her. You know… pretending to be super heroes and fighting one another playfully.” She then giggled. “And I would always be the one who gets punished in the end.”

 

“Hmm… I can totally imagine you playing fighting with your sister who is 8 years younger than you.”

 

Jisoo squinted her eyes at Jennie. “Just say it. I’m childish. But it doesn’t matter. She wanted to play, so I just went along with it… Alright. Enough of my story. What about you? Your family members didn’t say anything about you being trained and raised as a soldier?”

 

Jennie hesitated a little. “Well… I don’t know, actually.”

 

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Jisoo asked.

 

“I don’t know who my parents were. I have a fuzzy memory of my childhood.”

 

“Hmm… Well then would you like to remember? I have the power to tap into your memory and force it out just like that.” Jisoo snapped her fingers.

 

“Can you actually do that?”

 

“Why don’t you try it out yourself?”

 

Jennie nodded. “Alright. I’m actually a little curious about it myself…”

 

“Okay, breathe in.” Jisoo rubbed her hands and placed them on Jennie’s temple. “Let me give you a warning beforehand. It may tickle a bit.”

 

“Tickle a bit?”

 

Jisoo then rolled her eyes. “Alright, sting a bit. So hold on. It’ll only last a second.” Just then, Jisoo channeled a blue aura from her bracelet to her hands and traveled into Jennie’s head.

 

“Ouch!” Jennie flinched away.

 

“...” Jisoo frowned and moved her hands away. She was looking at Jennie in a weird way. “Strange…”

 

“You said you could tap into my memory and force it out in just a second. So where did you dump my memory in?”

 

“Exactly why it’s so strange, Jennie… I couldn’t see anything…” Jisoo still couldn’t figure out why she couldn’t tap into Jennie’s memory.

 

“Oh, I see now…” Jennie nodded.

 

“Huh?” Jisoo looked confused.

 

“You used that as an excuse to mess with me, didn’t you?” Jennie told. “To annoy me.”

 

“Excuse me???”

 

“You wanna be childish? I’ll be childish with you.” Jennie placed her palms on Jisoo’s temple and said in a sarcastic tone. “Oh look. I can tap into your long lost memories and force them out. Do you remember now? You used to be a dork. But now? Still a dork.”

 

“...” Jisoo just stood there speechless at Jennie making fun of her.

 

“Now you get how I feel about your childishness.” Jennie told as she crossed her arms.

 

A smile then crept onto Jisoo’s lips. “So apparently you can be childish too…”

 

“Alright, now you’re taking it out of context. That’s enough crap. I’m hungry. Do you have anything to eat here?”

 

“Tsk- How rude asking that from the owner of the house.” Jisoo rolled her eyes. “Alright, it doesn’t matter. I’m hungry too… But…”

 

“But?”

 

“Well, I was thinking of eating outside.” Jisoo told. “I actually haven’t eaten any outside food for years. After telling you my story, I kinda feel like going out there, you know. Just so that I can see the outside world a little more…”

 

Jennie shrugged. “Sure.”

 

They made their way to town and went into an open restaurant. As expected, there was nobody. So Jennie called out. “Excuse me, is this shop open?”

 

The cashier came out of the kitchen and greeted them with a beautiful smile. “Welcome to YoonYul Korean Restaurant. I’m Yoona, the owner of this cafe. What would you like to order?”

 

“Hmm… This place is pretty empty, huh?” Jennie told.

 

Yoona nodded. “Yeah… It’s been pretty chaotic out here nowadays… We almost got robbed yesterday as well, but somebody stopped them… Till now we’re still feeling thankful for them.”

 

“Sounds like pretty nice people.” Jisoo said.

 

Yoona nodded. “Yeah, they were.” She then frowned and stared at Jennie for a long time. “You look awfully familiar… Have we met?”

 

Jennie raised an eyebrow. “Did you see me on the television news?”

 

“Ahh!!! I remember now!!” Yoona clapped her hand once. “You’re Captain Jennie of the World Government army, right??”

 

“WAS the captain of the World Government army.” Jennie emphasized on the word ‘was’. “I got freaking betrayed by them.”

 

“Uhh…” Yoona felt that the situation was getting a little too tensed, so she immediately went back to taking their orders. “Ok, so what would you like to eat?”

 

“Two rolls of Kimbap, one Kimchi Jigae, one pork bulgogi, one seaweed soup and one patbingsoo.” Jennie ordered.

 

Yoona keyed in the order immediately. “Alright, so that’s it?”

 

“No, that’s for me.” Jennie told. “Jisoo, what would you like to eat?”

 

“...” Jisoo was staring at Jennie with a weird expression before ordering her food. “I’ll just have one roll of kimbap. That’s all.”

 

After having their lunch, the bill came and Jennie suggested to treat Jisoo. “Let me treat you for this lunch.” Jennie suggested. “I was the one who broke your wall. And I owe you a lunch, remember?”

 

“Well, technically I made you broke the wall but yeah, sure… Thanks for the lunch then.” Jisoo smiled.

 

As Jennie reached for her pocket, she finally remembered it. She left her wallet back in the World Government headquarters. She shot a look at Jisoo. “Uhh…”

 

Jisoo immediately sighed and held up her hand to stop Jennie from embarrassing herself. “I read your mind. It’s alright. I’ll pay for the meal.” She took out her purse and handed a 100000won note to Yoona. “Here, keep the change.”

 

“Uhh…” Yoona was surprised by it for sure.

 

Jennie took a peak into Jisoo’s purse and found out that it was literally loaded with cash. “What the… You bring this much money out!?”

 

“You call this a lot?” Jisoo looked at the cash in her purse and shrugged. “Oh well, if you say so. I always made sure that I bring enough money out to spend. You know… Just in case I accidentally spent them all.”

 

Jennie’s eyes widened. “What’re you gonna accidentally spend that amount of money on? A house?”

 

“Well you never know. I may like the house a lot.” Jisoo then looked back at Yoona. “So yeah… Keep the change.”

 

“Are you sure?” Yoona asked once again. “This is far more than what you’re supposed to pay for.”

 

Jisoo brushed her off. “It’s alright. Keep them. You need the money more than I do.”

 

“Hmm… That’s what the kind lady told me yesterday as well when she handed a 50000won note to me. You’re so much alike… Anyway, thank you so much for this and I really appreciate it.”

 

“You’re welcome.” Jisoo smiled. “So, where are we going now? Ooo… How about an amusement park??”

 

“You really don’t get enough fun, do you?” Jennie rolled her eyes as Jisoo pulled her up from the seat.

 

As Jennie walked out of the store, she noticed a few men nearby. “!!!” She suddenly pulled Jisoo behind the wall. “Government soldiers… Be quiet.”

 

“…”

 

Jennie took a peek from the corner of the wall. “Damn it, they’re all holding onto my wanted poster…”

 

“Really??? Do you see mine????”

 

“I think it has nothing to do with you. They don’t know about you yet. They’re just here to get me.” Jennie took a peek again and saw another wanted poster with two ladies on them. “Wait, what?” Her eyes widened in shock. The other wanted poster was showing Lisa and Rosé’s face which was taken from the security camera near the World Government headquarters. “No way… How the hell did they get their photos taken?? These photos were taken from the World Government security cameras… Unless…”

 

Jisoo continued. “Both of them went to the headquarters looking for you, Jennie… They were trying to save you.”

 

Jennie was stunned. “They would actually go this far for me… Someone whom they met only once… I have to get out of this place and find them…”

 

“I can fend off the soldiers though.” Jisoo suggested.

 

“No.” Jennie retorted. “They’re only targeting power crystal users. In their eyes, you are an innocent civilian. You’re not a target as of now, so don’t make them include you in their list.”

 

Once again, Jennie took a peek and got unlucky. A soldier was staring right at her face. “OVER THERE!!” One soldier pointed at them.

 

Jennie immediately grabbed Jisoo’s hand and started running. “Let’s run!”

 

Before she knew it, Jisoo was being dragged along by Jennie. “Hey, you said I have nothing to do with this, so why are you pulling me into this!?!?”

 

“You wanted to go on an adventure, right?”

 

“!!!!” Jisoo was silenced. It was as if time slowed down from the single mention of the word ‘adventure’. She did not see that coming at all. For some unknown reason, there was a warm and touching feel about Jennie’s statement. It was as if she had been waiting for this her entire life, waiting for whatever Jennie was about to say.

 

Jennie turned her head back and smiled at Jisoo. “Let’s complete your book. Together.”

 

With the brightest smile on her face in years, Jisoo gripped onto Jennie’s hand tightly nodded. “Okay!”

 

CHAPTER 3 : Adventure

END