Chapter 10

Ever since I started school, my days had followed almost the exact same routine.

I went to school and killed time there, and once classes ended, I headed to Iron FC with Jinsol and Yuchan to train.

Yuchan had said he was transferring, but I honestly hadn’t expected him to actually go through with it.

Since the two of them were in the same class, I usually went to their classroom after lessons.

A first-year student shamelessly hanging around a second-year classroom?

That was the kind of thing that could easily start trouble, but thanks to Jinsol, nothing like that ever happened.

How convenient was it that I didn’t even have to use my fists because someone else’s reputation kept people from picking fights with me?

Still, there were people who didn’t like the sight of us.

The third-years.

Whenever we passed them, they would pick fights for no reason.

No matter how good Jinsol was at fighting, dealing with third-years was a little difficult.

More precisely, the problem was the groups of delinquent third-years.

Getting into a fight and receiving disciplinary action that prevented us from participating in competitions was one problem. But once a fight started, those guys would gang up on people like hyenas and beat them senseless, which made them especially troublesome.

For about two weeks after entering school, the three of us had even seriously discussed whether we’d have to fight them, whether three of us could handle several opponents, and what we’d do if we got suspended.

Well, if I stepped in, we’d somehow manage. Still, wasn’t it better to solve things without fighting?

And unexpectedly, the problem was resolved in a completely different way.

“Jinsol! Waiting for the second-years again today?”

“Hello, sunbae.”

Min Seoyeon, a third-year, was the one who helped us.

She wasn’t exactly a delinquent, but she was the type who liked to hang around and have fun. She had a wide network and knew lots of people, and apparently, her older brother was a high school student who practically ruled this whole area.

If she said a single word, even the delinquents at our school had no choice but to watch themselves around us.

Surprisingly, even delinquents weren’t ruled by fists.

They were ruled by connections.

Who do you know?

Apparently, that was all it took.

But why was this girl acting this way toward me?

“I sent you a DM yesterday asking you to go see a movie with me, but you didn’t even read it?”

Why?

Because she was interested in me, of course.

“Uh… I’m preparing for the tournament right now… I’ve been tired from training, so I couldn’t even check my DMs.”

“Really? Then let’s definitely go see a movie when you’re free, okay?”

“Yes, noona.”

I wanted to push her away, but I couldn’t.

If I rejected her, the protection I currently enjoyed from the school delinquents might disappear, and I might even become their primary target instead.

So all I could do was smile.

Seeing my smile, Min Seoyeon blushed, handed me some chocolate, and walked away.

“That’s her, right?”

At that moment, Park Yuchan appeared behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder as he spoke.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“The prettiest girl in this school? I heard she even joined an entertainment agency because she’s trying to become an idol.”

“You just transferred here. How do you know stuff like that?”

“Me? Jinsol told me.”

“…When did I ever tell you that?!”

Jinsol’s face turned red as he reacted vehemently.

“What? It’s not like you can’t know. Why are you reacting like that?”

When I asked, Jinsol avoided my gaze.

Then he asked me instead.

“But how do you know her?”

“She just came to our classroom. Oh, want some?”

“What is it?”

I divided the chocolate I’d just received between Jinsol and Yuchan.

“She gave it to me.”

“Wow, she even gives you stuff like this?”

“Yeah. Oh, you guys can have these too.”

Since I was at it, I pulled various things out of my bag.

“This is a sandwich, these are cookies, and what’s this again? Ah, candy.”

“Wow, these are all homemade.”

“Did you get these too?”

“Yeah. People keep giving me stuff.”

Kim Jinsol’s body trembled as he listened to me. Then—

Whoosh!

He suddenly turned around and walked off first.

“What’s wrong with him?”

Park Yuchan asked with a puzzled expression.

I didn’t answer.

I teased him as a joke, but I understood Jinsol’s feelings better than anyone.

He was jealous, probably…

But honestly, Jinsol was good-looking enough.

The problem was that his face didn’t appeal much to girls his age.

He looked too masculine.

Jinsol, there are people worse off than you.

People like Jang Ikdeok, who couldn’t get any love even after growing up.

That’s why, after recovering the memories of my previous life, I realized just how grateful I should be for things I’d once taken for granted.

My parents, who gave birth to me handsome, and God—I was always thankful to them.

[An excellent attitude.]

Exactly. That’s why I’ve been praying every day lately. Not once have I missed a day of thanking God for making me handsome.

[Thanks to that, your faith has accumulated considerably, and my power has increased a little as well.]

Was that a good thing?

Well, I needed more power to see and assess the potential of players.

I wasn’t exactly raising players myself, but being able to understand my teammates’ abilities and evaluate the opposition’s abilities had become a powerful weapon.

“Let’s go train.”

“Ugh… I’m sick of training. I just want to play a match already.”

Park Yuchan stretched lazily as he spoke.

It was understandable that he was bored.

“Do one hundred proper traps before you complain about being bored.”

We did nothing but practice the basics every day.

What Park Yuchan lacked, despite his natural instinct for scoring goals, was fundamental technique.

So we focused primarily on basic drills like trapping.

Doing the same things every day was bound to get boring.

Still, judging by how enthusiastically he trained, he seemed to genuinely enjoy football.

“You haven’t been playing football for long either, right? Can you do a hundred?”

“Didn’t you know? You’re the only person on this team who can’t do a hundred traps.”

“…”

“Work on your basics.”

“…J-Jinsol! Wait for me!”

Yuchan ran after Jinsol to escape my nagging.

Running away over something this minor?

If he couldn’t even score properly, I’d lecture him for hours.

But he was good at scoring, so I let him off.

I hurried after them, matching their pace as we headed for the club.

Iron FC was about a twenty-minute walk from school.

When you entered the building, there was an office, and beyond the office was the locker room.

“What? Why is everyone gathered here?”

The office was where the coach, the assistant coach, and the female accountant worked, so we normally greeted them and went straight to the locker room.

But today, for some strange reason, all the kids were gathered in the office.

I approached curiously, and the others moved aside.

What everyone was staring at was—

“The league and schedule are out?!”

The league assignments and match schedule.

We had been placed in Seoul Region 1.

As for the teams…

Honestly, looking at the list didn’t tell me anything.

How was I supposed to know which teams were good right now?

I looked at the other kids’ reactions.

“Fuck…”

Jinsol started by swearing.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“There are four really strong teams in our league.”

“Really?”

“This isn’t something you can just casually say ‘really’ to. If those four teams were in separate groups, each one of them could potentially qualify for the Champions Tournament.”

So four teams capable of challenging for the regional championship had all been placed in our league?

“Is that even possible?”

“Yeah. That might be a slight exaggeration, but not by much. And here.”

Jinsol pointed directly at one particular team.

“Hangang Middle School?”

“They’re seriously good. They were the runners-up in last year’s Champions Tournament.”

“Oh…!”

Jinsol continued explaining.

Apparently, they were one of the top five teams in Seoul—or rather, in the entire metropolitan area.

And that included professional youth academies.

That wasn’t something to take lightly. Professional youth teams, which naturally attracted talented coaches and gifted children, had gradually begun to outperform ordinary school and academy football.

The proof was simple: for the past eight years, every Champions Tournament winner had been a professional youth team.

So for Hangang Middle School to be considered no weaker than professional youth academies was impressive enough.

And if they’d even beaten most of those teams to finish as runners-up, they were a powerhouse capable of competing not only in the capital region but across the entire country.

“Wait. If they were runners-up last year, doesn’t that mean most of the players from that team are still playing this year?”

“Exactly. This is an absurdly strong group, and that team is in the same league as us.”

And even if the other three teams weren’t as good as Hangang Middle, they were still among the stronger teams in Seoul.

Our luck with the random draw was seriously terrible.

“So if we play them, do we lose?”

Yuchan, who knew even less than I did about the youth football scene, asked the question.

Jinsol thought quietly for a moment before answering.

“We’ll have to play them to find out.”

He couldn’t bring himself to say we’d lose with everyone else listening, but judging from his expression, he clearly thought we would.

I gave him a loud smack on the back.

“Ah!”

“Hey. You said it yourself—we won’t know until we play them. What’s the point of pulling that face? Hyung will win it for you, punk.”

“Don’t give me that ‘hyung’ crap.”

I chuckled at the grumbling Jinsol and headed toward the locker room.

Then Yuchan spoke.

“You know that saying? Something like, ‘It’s better to get hit by the whip first’? Anyway, this is kind of that situation.”

“Why?”

“Hangang Middle is our opponent in the first round.”

“Oh, that’s great. You hear that, Jinsol? That’s when I’ll show you. Hyung will win it for you.”

“Bullshit.”

Still, just how good could they be?

I’d find out when we played them.

Time passed quickly.

April arrived, and with it came the opening day of the middle school league.

The match was being held at one of the auxiliary fields at Seoul World Cup Stadium.

The venue assignments were random too, and we’d been assigned a pretty good stadium right from the first day.

I’d heard that some teams had to play at places without spectator stands, or even on artificial turf.

But this place had natural grass and seating for as many as a thousand spectators.

Maybe that was why quite a few people had come to watch today’s match.

Most of them were family members or acquaintances of the players taking part.

My family was no exception, and both my parents had come.

“Johan, don’t put too much pressure on yourself. You can do well, right?”

“That’s right. If you get too nervous, even things you normally do well won’t go right.”

Mom and Dad looked worried as they gave me one piece of advice after another.

“And don’t get hurt, okay? You know it’d be a huge problem if you got injured.”

“I used to play too, so I know. If anything feels even slightly wrong, you tell Grandpa and stop playing immediately, understand? A small injury can turn into a serious one.”

My parents seemed more worried and nervous than I was.

Maybe it was because I’d never been surrounded by people who worried about me like this before.

How should I put it?

Something warm and ticklish stirred in one corner of my chest.

“Don’t worry. I’m good, you know.”

“Being good and getting injured are—”

Just as Dad was about to continue worrying, Mom covered his mouth.

“That’s enough. If you keep talking like that, he’ll become so conscious of getting injured that he won’t even be able to play properly.”

“Is that… so?”

“Yes. Our son will do just fine. Right?”

“Yes! Don’t worry! I’ll get going now! Grandpa and my friends are waiting.”

“Okay! Fighting!”

I smiled and waved at my parents, who shouted their encouragement at the same time, before running toward the bench.

Everyone had finished preparing and was gathered around Grandpa.

“Alright, looks like everyone’s ready.”

“Yes.”

“Huh? What’s with those voices? Are you already scared before the match has even started?”

Grandpa put on a frightening expression, and the kids immediately straightened up and shouted louder.

“NO, SIR!!”

“That’s right. You have to win with your momentum from the very beginning. If you’re scared like that, even things you could normally do won’t work out, and you’ll just get dragged around by the opponent.”

Grandpa was right.

Especially in children’s football.

Youth football was heavily influenced by mentality.

Once a team’s momentum died and their mentality began to shake, even a strong team could get overwhelmed and suffer a crushing defeat.

This wasn’t just true in Korea. Youth players all over the world were like that.

Massive upsets happened easily.

Even youth powerhouses like Brazil or Spain could lose 5–0 to Korea or Japan.

Just like in international matches, even if we were relatively weaker, it was entirely possible for us to completely overwhelm Hangang Middle School.

Especially if I scored a few goals.

Right, Angel?

[Hmm…]

What’s wrong?

[That entire team is quite strong. You said they were runners-up in last season’s Champions Tournament? Their winning mentality from that experience is exceptionally strong. It may be difficult for you to win by scoring goals all by yourself.]

…Way to ruin my mood before the match even starts.

[I think I’ll have to help you a little.]

How?

[Since this is your first official match, think of it as a gift.]

A gift sounded good.

But what were you going to give me?

[Through God’s grace, I can pass on the experiences of famous players. If we use up all the faith you’ve accumulated so far, I believe I can bestow a fairly good blessing upon you.]

My ears perked up at those words.

But what did it mean to give me someone’s experience?

[Through another player’s experience, you can make up for the areas where you’re lacking. You can’t obtain it right now, but for example, if you were to receive Messi’s experience and know-how in dribbling, you could gain the refined dribbling ability you’ve always wanted.]

So with Jang Ikdeok’s crude experience, I could obtain the kind of dribbling know-how that would normally require bone-breaking training to develop—for free?

[Correct. Your body is the finest hardware. As long as I upgrade the software, you can handle anything.]

In that case, even if I had to pour every bit of my faith into it, I needed to receive this blessing.

It wasn’t like I was doing this because I was scared of Hangang Middle School.

There was simply no reason to refuse when someone was offering to help me.

If the Angel was willing to give me something that could make me better, I shouldn’t refuse anything.

[Good. Wait.]

After saying that, the Angel’s body began to tremble.

Its enormous eye shook, and a brilliant white light burst forth from its pupil.

Without realizing it, I squeezed my eyes shut.

The moment I opened them again, a completely white world greeted me.

It was the Hall of God—the place where Jang Ikdeok had come face-to-face with the Angel after dying.

Recalling my memories of the past, I looked up into the empty space.