ALL NOVEL Chapter 2
The unusually short winter break was over, and high school had started. The kids who entered school with excitement had already begun to look haggard from the nightly study sessions held every day.
Though they said night studies had become voluntary, in reality, it wasn’t voluntary at all.
Like most parental notices, the night study consent form also required a parent’s signature.
If you say it’s giving students freedom, perhaps that’s how to describe it?
Well, it’s not my concern since I’m in the soccer club.
Either way, my school life felt like it was repeating itself every day.
During class, I’d doze off.
And during break time, I’d move to Class 1 where Gyeouri was and stare at her face the whole time.
“Ah, please. This is embarrassing. Just go away already…”
The cold-looking beauty with her face flushed while bowing her head was…
‘Is this what they call “gap moe”?’
It wasn’t just because she was my girlfriend. She was really quite cute.
“Hey, isn’t that a new form of bullying?”
“Seriously, if they weren’t dating, I’d have run to the teacher.”
I could hear the jealous voices of the ugly ones around me, but I ignored them lightly.
Ding, ding!
“Alright, kids, sit down. And you lovebirds over there, go back to your class.”
After watching Gyeouri’s embarrassed state for a while, when the time called “fate” separated us,
“Gyeouri, after school, don’t go home alone, come to the soccer field, okay?”
“Ugh, fine! Just hurry and go!”
Dragging my feet that didn’t want to move, I made my way to Class 3.
Ah. Why am I not in the same class as Gyeouri? Perhaps this is a curse from the gods jealous of our relationship.
While I was lamenting this shortcoming, I soon arrived at Class 3. Peeking through the window to gauge the atmosphere—
The teacher was already in class, and the students were engaged in their studies.
Approaching the back door, I opened it as cautiously as possible. The history teacher who was teaching glanced at me, but whether it was because they were used to it or just gave up—
“…Now, in the context of the recently aired drama ‘Chuno,’ King Injo, who couldn’t escape, suffered humiliation at Samjeondo with a flexible bowing…”
Ignoring my careful entry through the back door, they continued to focus on the lesson.
Trying not to disturb the studious atmosphere, I sat down like a mouse, burying my head on the desk to catch some sleep. Uninterrupted, I drifted into a deep slumber. This was indeed a true benefit of being in sports.
In reality, this benefit was almost at its end, which was sad. The consistent discussion of student-athletes studying took effect from last year.
The advantage was the introduction of weekend leagues, but moving forward, all sports clubs, starting with the soccer club, could only train after finishing regular classes.
‘It’s all the seniors’ fault.’
To be honest, I can’t say the seniors aren’t at all responsible.
‘They should’ve studied a bit for the sake of the junior players,’ I thought.
Ah, of course. It’s not that being a “studying athlete” is bad.
While there are realistic difficulties, we all know it’s hard for everyone to succeed as elite athletes.
In fact, among the soccer club I’m in, nobody has turned pro except for me.
It’s tough right now, but maybe this way it could be better for the futures of the sports team members.
With such thoughts, I started to fall asleep slowly, but maybe I overdid it.
“The end of class has come. Someone wake up the soccer club! How can you sleep through class ending?”
I ended up being late for soccer practice.
***
“I’m sorry-!”
Goldsun High School soccer club coach Choi Gi-hyun was silently repeating patience as he watched Son Jinho bow his head and apologize.
Though he felt like erupting with harsh words like, “Do you have no sense of time for losing your parents at such a young age?,”
The Son Jinho bowing before him had shown remarkable potential since middle school, and he was a player the chairman had brought with great effort to enter a high school under the K-League youth.
‘Ha… Damn it. I must endure. I must.‘
To suppress his boiling anger, Coach Choi recalled the recent internal blue-and-white match at Goldsun High School soccer club.
It was a self-evaluation match composed of seniors and a few second-year students on the blue team, against the majority of first-year students and reserve players on the white team.
Son Jinho, being a first-year, naturally played for the white team and perfectly dominated the midfield against the starting players on the blue team.
He threw out passes that sliced through the ground like they were nothing and struck mid-range shots like lightning into the corners of the goal.
“Take it easy! Take it easy!”
Whenever players got overly excited, he would control the tempo by passing the ball slowly. Thus, Son Jinho became the commander of the white team, controlling the flow of the game, and the blue team, with their backbone shattered, became helplessly crushed by the white team made of reserve players.
“Is that really a first-year?”
That was something everyone watching the game blurted out without realizing. It was truly unbelievable skill. It felt like watching a fight between an adult and a child, a one-sided game with a battle for midfield control.
Even though time had passed, the shock from that moment was still vivid. I have no idea how, after winter training, he returned a month later even more of a monster…
But he did well, so that’s that.
Whether he sold his soul to the devil, regressed, or the spirit of a legendary soccer player entered him, or awakened some status screen, what does that have to do with me?
From Coach Choi’s perspective, there was only one important thing.
‘That kid is my career… a brilliant beam of a career.’
The coach who discovered the national representative player? It’s me.
The coach who nurtured the next superstar to succeed Park Jisong? It’s me.
Thinking about how he would appear in interviews of Korea’s next superstar in the future, Coach Choi felt his worries fade away and peace washed over him.
“Warm up and take care of yourselves.”
Finding peace in his heart, Coach Choi had Son Jinho do basic skill and conditioning drills before telling him to train on his own.
‘He knows more about soccer than I do, so what do I need to teach him.’
So, in other words, it was a sophisticated educational system of self-study.
And incredibly, Son Jinho adapted surprisingly well to this advanced educational system.
“Everyone gather!”
At Son Jinho’s command, all the players came together. Despite the coaches muttering, “Look at him, acting like the head coach,” their eyes were filled with curiosity and passion.
“Today, let’s do counterattack drills, just like we talked about yesterday!”
At Son Jinho’s command, the first-year players burst forth and formed a center circle at two-thirds of the halfway line with the flag.
When the players grouped on one side of the court, a coach stepped in on the opposite side.
It looked incredibly natural, but Goldsun High School’s soccer club hadn’t always been like this. It’s understandable; if a student, especially a first-year rookie, tries to conduct training, would anyone say, “Oh, who is doing that?”
No matter how much a shield they have from the chairman, this would still be an overstep, and heads would roll.
However, Son Jinho, wearing his level 3 steel helmet, succeeded.
“Our wingers are fast. How about applying the 4-4-2 formation often used by Ferguson? I’ve even brought training methods to match it…”
Son Jinho had been persistently visiting the coach’s office for discussions about tactics since the start of school, incessantly discussing them to the point of annoyance.
“Come on! Let’s eat already!”
Even when Coach Choi scolded him harshly and chased him away, it was no use. To be honest, he felt like bombing in anger.
However, due to the chairman’s mindset that there should be no violent incidents in education, physical discipline was impossible.
This naturally led to a contest of pride between the two men.
Ding dong. Ding dong. Ding dong. Ding dong. Ding dong.
“Hello, I’ve come to share some good news. If you don’t like the 4-4-2 formation I mentioned at lunchtime yesterday, how about the recent 4-3-3 formation from FC Barcelona’s Pep Guardiola…?”
Son Jinho stealthily snuck up to the coach’s house at 4 AM to persuade him.
“Damn it, you just do whatever! The tactics and the training, handle it yourself! But if it’s clumsy, you’re toast!”
With Coach Choi in a compromised state from excessive drinking the previous day, he managed to secure a surrender.
“The tactic used by FC Barcelona is widely known as tiki-taka, but Pep introduced it more as positional play. Why? It’s simple: Pep divides the field into 24 zones and assigns 15 positions within it, setting the roles to be executed in those positions. It’s not about a player’s continuous role in a match; rather, it refers to temporary roles assigned to a player in their positioned space.”
And granted permission, Son Jinho proved his capabilities that day. He conducted training that was coherent and professional, persuading the coaching staff.
“Damn it. What the hell? Did you get it?”
“…Just nod along with a serious expression, like me. The kids are watching.”
The coaches gradually became enchanted by the training that exuded professionalism. When they regained their composure, they found themselves enthusiastically helping with the training.
And here, Coach Choi’s sole discontent was one thing he could honestly admit.
‘I want to learn closely too, but I can’t because of my pride as a coach, right?’
Unable to approach closely due to pride, he kept his distance and watched the players train. When Son Jinho accurately passed to the coach, he nodded with a serious expression.
‘Wow. Look at that accurate pass.’
Regardless, from Coach Choi’s perspective, everything would become his accomplishment, so just witnessing it filled him with satisfaction.