Kiss the Ground

“Let’s meet again at dinner. I have something to talk to you about. Today, greet those kids over there a bit. They seem so awkward around you that they might die.”“If we lose this game, the citizens will really want us dead.”“Hey! Be quiet. The kids might hear you and cry.”In any case, that mean guy…! Like he was shaking off the dirt, Namwoo muttered something and disappeared beyond the touchline. Chahyun, who had been watching Namwoo’s back for a moment, slowly rolled the ball on the ground with the tip of his toe. The feeling of the ball sticking to his foot even with a light dribble was good. Certainly, Yoon Chahyun was in good condition now. If he can maintain this momentum until the next game, the result might be worth expecting. As long as he doesn’t make a big mistake.***“Ah! Is this what you wanted to talk about? I’m really getting angry.”“No, look at this. What these guys are saying is really funny. It’ll be entertaining for you too if you see it honestly.”The dining hall, where the evening meal distribution was in full swing, was crowded with many people. Under the urging phone held up to his nose by Namwoo on the opposite side of the table, Chahyun frowned in an arrogant manner.The website on Namwoo’s phone was the familiar Korean football community, “Football Cake.” It was a place used by fans in the younger age group, with serious game analysis and player evaluations being the main content. Since it was based on affection for players, there were also many malicious posts based on cold evaluations. The posts about other players were quite witty, but when it came to his own affairs, they were not things he could just laugh off.Therefore, Chahyun hadn’t dared to enter the site since the Uberitide FC match. He had received a few gift boxes named “Support” in his fan page inside, but now it was not an exaggeration to say that it was the place Yoon Chahyun should avoid the most.“Hey, you need to know what Korean fans are saying about your game. Judging by your appearance, you probably haven’t logged in once since the game. Don’t you know that players grow with feedback and replays?”“Of course I watch replays, but…”“Then you should also listen to fan opinions. As a Korean, you know you can’t ignore domestic public opinion, right?”Despite Namwoo’s seemingly reasonable argument, Chahyun frowned deeply. Until Chahyun saw the community, he had no intention of putting down his phone right in front of him. Sighing, Chahyun took the phone and scrolled through the screen. What was displayed on the screen was the Champions League board.56556: [Sent Yoon Chahyun to England to play football, but is it true that he’s dating?]ㅇㅇ?└ It’s true.└ I can’t even watch soccer because being single is so sad.56557: [If Chahyun gets married, is he going to naturalize in Sweden?]What will happen to our national team then??└ Isn’t Misha naturalizing in Korea?└ We won’t know until they fill out the marriage declaration.56560: [Even if Chahyun doesn’t know, Misha is serious]At the 99:15:02 mark, honey practically drips from his eyes, almost like a beekeeper└ Jonesweet;└ Chahyun seemed excited too during the arrival interview└ Hahahaㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㄱㄱㅋㅋㅋ“Ah, you’re just teasing me!”Chahyun, annoyed, put down his phone with a loud sound. The spoon on the plate made a clattering sound in shock. The phone screen seemed like it was about to crack, but the owner, Namwoo, was just standing there, bending his waist backward and laughing silently.Namwoo, with his affectionate and friendly personality, boasted an unusual level of cruelty when teasing his juniors. From the time Chahyun first joined the team, wandering around with his small stature, to the present where he has been consistently scoring in overseas leagues. If they were peers, he might have pushed him out of the chair, all because of that insignificant age… Chahyun grumbled.“I haven’t logged in here because I was afraid of this. It’s been a while since the game ended, but it’s still like this…”“Are you a soccer player for just a day or two? This is a label that follows you until retirement. Remember when you came here five years ago and got pissed off, throwing the water bottle over your head? It still occasionally appears in news comments as a gif.”“Why is that story suddenly coming up again?”As Chahyun shouted, other players gathered around. “What’s going on, Namwoo hyung? Wow, it’s been a long time since I saw Yoon Chahyun. I thought you wouldn’t come this time. It’s been flooding lately.” The resonating voices were all familiar to each other.In the somewhat awkward atmosphere, Chahyun greeted his old colleagues. Whether saying something or not, Namwoo had gathered them to show his phone. Touching this and that, they all laughed together, bending their waists like balloon dolls. Meanwhile, Chahyun, in the midst of it all, absentmindedly searched for his dinner on the table.“Chahyun, look at this. Doesn’t it feel like a movie?”Without refusing, Namwoo turned his phone and presented it in front of Chahyun. The person on the screen was Park Jung, Chahyun’s same-aged teammate playing in the German league. Without a break, he seemed to have been training so much that his mouth was torn all the way to his ears. He was kind, but he had a strange synergy with Choi Namwoo, who laughed a lot and subtly got along well with him.“What is it again? If it’s weird, I really…”Reflecting on the screen was a video clip of the last game. The video, starting from Chahyun’s winning goal and continuing until the end of the game, showed the intense embrace and celebration with Winchester’s teammates. The video, skillfully edited with slow-motion scenes, looked quite decent even at a glance. Despite watching the replay countless times for analysis, it felt fresh and dramatic.“You made it well.”Contrary to the somewhat ordinary content, Chahyun gave an honest opinion. However, Park Jung continued to turn his phone towards Chahyun, chuckling. What’s going on? With a strange feeling, Chahyun opened his eyes and looked at the screen again.The video continued. Fireworks and smoke embellishing the afternoon sky above the stadium, Winchester’s coaches and staff celebrating the victory. These were scenes that Chahyun knew down to the second. However, from the next scene, it was different. From the moment a person with dark brown hair leaped into the frame, holding Jood and Chahyun in the screen.Chahyun realized that he always stopped the replay around this point. There was no need to watch the video until the last moment for analysis purposes. His main repeated segment was from the moment Uberitide’s pass mistake led to Winchester’s counterattack, until he scored from Jood’s cross and the game ended.Inside the frame, Misha, with her arms around Chahyun, forcefully embraced him through the gap between Jood and Chahyun. It felt very strange and unfamiliar to see oneself being completely enveloped in someone’s arms. He didn’t think the height difference was that significant, but seeing it like this, even the skeletal structure seemed different. Perhaps because they were standing still, facing each other in anticipation, the difference was more noticeable.A bell was ringing in his mind, telling him that he should look away now. He had barely forgotten about it… However, Chahyun couldn’t take his eyes off the screen because of the sudden insertion of music into the clip. Along with the embrace of the two people in the video, a male vocal’s song began to play.“Kiss me darling, kiss me, kiss me tonight….”Even if someone had only exercised and lived their entire life, it was a familiar song often used as an insert song in variety shows or dramas, and they would know the melody.“…”In a space filled with ordinary men, a song that didn’t fit the atmosphere played, and the colleagues who were observing Chahyun’s expression up front couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Even Park Jung, who was holding the phone, was trembling. Within the shaky screen, Misha momentarily released Chahyun from her embrace, and then… the scene everyone knew.Honestly, it was excessively romantic and shocking. He thought he couldn’t watch it, but at the same time, Chahyun couldn’t tear his gaze away from the video. Who on earth made something like this?“How can it be so exquisite? It seems like it could be hanging in a movie theater right now.”“I watched this scene live during the overnight stay, and it was so funny that Kim In-jung and I collapsed. The camera is capturing this again, going round and round.”As the video ended with a faint fade-out effect, the players, who wiped away their tears and stood up, added their own spice to the appreciation. Despite Chahyun’s silent reaction, his teammates continued to laugh and chat without hesitation. Someone patted Chahyun’s shoulder and said, “Do you know that Kim Joo-ik senior is doing commentary on SPO24 these days? His commentary at that time was really hilarious.”“Oh, fellow citizens, how great must it be for this to happen? That’s what he said…” With a unique vocal mimicry by the senior and applause, Chahyun sighed deeply among his laughing teammates. He thought it was something he had to go through at least once, but now that he was being teased by his colleagues, it made him dizzy. In the rough soccer world, his friends were all mischievous fellows. Who could he blame? If the roles were reversed, Chahyun would have teased that guy to death.Instead, what started to slowly raise in him was a belated question. Why did Misha Asplund kiss Yoon Chahyun?We weren’t even that close.If he were in the UK, he would have overlooked it without much thought. However, separated by thousands of kilometers in an instant, questions of all sorts started to come up. It wasn’t a good sign. At that time, no matter what happened, they should have met at least once. But it was too late to regret now.As Park Jung placed the phone on the table, the video returned to its initial position and replayed Chahyun’s goal scene. Behind the joyous scenes of himself and his teammates in the screen, the figure of Misha standing still faintly appeared. Why are you looking at me like that? He wanted to ask, but there was no one here to answer.The match was just around the corner.***The result was disastrous.The temperature, humidity, and even the wind, everything was fine. The players were in good condition as well. As it was a home ground, the majority of the audience seats were occupied by the Korean cheering squad, which had climbed up energetically for the first A-match in several months. As the game started with the thunderous sounds of drums shaking the ground from the stands, the players quickly found their positions.Despite Chahyun’s light-footedness, breaking through Ivory Coast’s defense was challenging. While anticipating being closely marked, the relentless marking from the opponents was beyond Chahyun’s imagination. Not only was there a difference in physique with opponents who were on average a few centimeters taller, but also, every time he tried to control the ball, he had to collapse like a hunted gazelle, facing a relentless pursuit of four or five players. It seemed as if no player, except Yoon Chahyun, paid any attention.“Is this a friendly match?”Unable to cross the half-line and being pinned down with his neck held, Chahyun, who was sprawled on the ground, was whispered to by Park Jung. The opposing team had long arms and their reaching distance was too long. Although his usual personality would have made him counterattack, the reality of a fearful time due to a single injury kept Chahyun quietly restrained. If, on the day he injured his ankle, he couldn’t show his face to Coach Blue, who was really a person to shed tears even if a player’s knees were scratched. He was someone who would cry when a player had even a slight injury.The referee’s whistle didn’t seem to ring for a close-range battle.Between the ups and downs, Korea’s goalpost opened, and when a ball hit by someone’s heel rolled lifelessly into the net, it was just over 30 minutes into the first half. The opposing players who scored the unexpected goal joyfully ran to the center of the field.Like a handful of Ivory Coast’s cheering seats rising up with cheers and shooting fireworks, all other spectators fell silent as if cold water had been poured over them in an instant. The enthusiastic cheers quickly plummeted to the ground. Yoon Chahyun had very little he could do at times like this.The time after conceding a goal passed meaninglessly.Even in a situation where the team’s atmosphere turned in an unfavorable direction, Namwoo remained composed. It was true that he took the national team captain position with a back-and-forth game, and that saying had some truth to it. Even players who played in tough leagues seemed to withstand the half-time right after conceding a goal with a face that seemed as if nothing happened. His encouragement that there was still time left, and they should play a little more, seemed to have somewhat lifted the team’s spirits.“Don’t get hurt.”As Chahyun headed back onto the field for the second half, Namwoo tapped his back. Chahyun nodded, but he didn’t want to return empty-handed.The atmosphere after scoring a goal usually falls into two categories. One is that the morale rises, and the momentum increases even more. The other is that tension is disrupted, and the strength is drained. The opposing team in this game was the latter. Chahyun noticeably observed the slowed movements of the opposing defender compared to the first half. No matter how much stamina they had, it was impossible to mark and pull a person for the entire 90 minutes. He wanted revenge. Of course, through a goal. While sporting spirit was an essential element for a sports player, Chahyun’s was truly strong.An opportunity arrived in the blink of an eye. The ball, cleared by an unknown defender, landed precisely at Chahyun’s feet. When he received the pass and lifted his head, the scene before him was stretched out like reaching the summit of a mountain. Although he felt someone trailing behind him belatedly, Chahyun was already sprinting near the penalty area.A silence, as if his heart had stopped, enveloped the moment right before a shot. In reality, it might have been the opposite, but the moments just before a shot always felt that way. The only opposing player in front of Chahyun was the goalkeeper, and Chahyun had the goalpost right in front on the right side. The moment was just a stretch away.Huh? A strange sensation invaded Chahyun right at that moment.It was a very familiar feeling. The goalpost slanting to the left, the ball bouncing up slowly, and even the leg pulled back for the kick – everything was so familiar.It was only a moment until Chahyun realized that it was the exact same situation as the comeback goal against Ubertide. The same position and perspective as in the replay that Chahyun had watched hundreds of times. Right here, Chahyun would score the goal. It was a decent left-footed shot. And then, right after that…Really, truly, unexpectedly, Misha’s face came to his mind.Misha?Now?Why?For a brief moment, lasting 0.002 seconds, Chahyun was considerably confused. Why is that guy suddenly here? In his mind, Misha embraced Chahyun, holding his face. Yoon Chahyun could even recall the temperature of the fingers that encircled his cheek.A gaze like a puppy’s, and the sensation of lips were vividly vivid.“Kiss me, darling, kiss me tonight…” A nostalgic melody echoed in his ears.The ball kicked by Chahyun’s toe at the moment he hesitated shot out with a fierce speed. However, the destination was not the goalpost. Suddenly, as if connecting to a speaker, the sound poured in. Most of it was sighs and screams.The ball sent flying by Yoon Chahyun was extending far and wide toward the blue evening sky above the stadium.***“It’s okay.”Namwoo said, touching Chahyun’s bare shoulder as he sat on the locker room bench. Chahyun, with a towel draped over his head, was silently staring at the floor, like a boxer who had burned everything on the ring.“You didn’t miss it.”The worst consolation in sports rained down onto Chahyun’s bruised head. It’s the kind of words you say when someone has played a match where they neither won nor lost decisively, a person who, despite having a profession that requires determining victory or defeat, didn’t fulfill their duty. Knowing it was a cruel form of comfort, Namwoo said those words to Chahyun because there were no other options.Even after Chahyun failed a golden-like shot in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper, the game continued, as expected. The team, gathered under the name of the national representative, wasn’t a team that had its morale shaken by the mistake of Yoon Chahyun alone. With a physical advantage, the Korean team began to increase their possession from the second half and equalized around the 40th minute with Park Jung’s header.Meanwhile, what about Chahyun? He continued to miss shots.As time passed, the opposing defense, which was being pierced, provided several decisive goal chances, but each time, Chahyun sent the ball flying into the sky. Like a haunted soccer ball launcher.Even in such a situation, the audience didn’t lose their trust in Yoon Chahyun, the Korean striker active in England. Each time the ball soared like a ballistic missile in front of the goal, they continued to scream ceaselessly.If there was a purgatory, it was right there.“Yoon Chahyun’s chronic problem: Mental management.” The article that would appear on the front page of the sports news tomorrow seemed visible. Whether he played well or not, he was either “Well Chahyun” or “Poor Chahyun,” but today he was more like “Fake Chahyun.” Among the three, being “Fake Chahyun” was the worst.“You may not feel it yourself, but you could be quite exhausted. It could be because of jet lag.”Choi Namwoo genuinely spoke with a brotherly voice. When someone who usually plays pranks speaks earnestly, it means the situation is really serious. Rather than making jokes like calling it a Baekdusan explosion shot or a stratosphere breakthrough shot… It felt even more self-conscious to be earnestly comforted. When Chahyun remained silent, Namwoo seemed to think that he needed time alone, gently stroked his shoulder, and quietly left.Chahyun raised his hand and touched his lips.Can such an incident become a trauma?A man, let alone a football player accustomed to attention from the public, receiving such an event, whether he faced some trouble or dealt with the media or received some teasing?One thing was certain: Yoon Chahyun was currently being affected by that incident. That damn brown hair left some strange traces on Chahyun’s concentration, performance, career, and emotions. Unerasable, peculiar marks that lingered.Over the past few days, the strange feeling that had been creeping into my heart was gradually taking shape. I made you like this, and now I wonder what kind of face you’re putting on. There was only one way to find the answer.The moment Park Jung, who had just finished the goal-scoring interview, burst into the locker room, the lively atmosphere that had been subdued by his energetic presence suddenly brightened. Park Jung, who had been lively, approached Chahyun in a flash and sharply slapped his bare skin, which was exposed as he took off his jersey.“Chahyun! Stop sulking and let’s go for a celebration. You’ve been cutting down on meat these days because of your diet. Today, let’s eat and lighten the mood.”“Enough.”“You’re sulking again. Haven’t you changed since you were young? Whether it’s throwing a tantrum or shooting the ball into the air…”Yoon Chahyun rose abruptly, pushing his chair back with such force that it almost toppled over.“What’s wrong, upset?”Surprised by Chahyun’s unexpected action, Park Jung stepped back and cautiously observed his expression. Without a word, Chahyun took a few steps forward, stopped, and threw the towel he had on his head onto the floor. The gazes of the teammates, who had been silently watching, were all directed at the back of Chahyun.“I’m leaving.”“Leaving… Where?”At Park Jung’s puzzled voice, Chahyun turned his head and silently stared at him. It was a tiger-like gaze.