Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 13



Only Krnovel

“···What are you talking about now?”

Mom put down the spoon she was holding. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her expression became fierce.

Usually, making that kind of expression means that you’re really angry, and if you continue to mess with it, it won’t end well, so in similar situations, you usually stop here.

Usually in the same situation.

But that’s not the case now.

Since this was a situation that was determining the direction of my life, I decided to take it one step further.

“I’m going to dedicate my life to soccer···.”

“Niemals!”

Mother’s shrill cry.

My younger sister, who had been quietly watching, was so surprised that she dropped the spoon she was holding. Then she asked with a dumbfounded expression.

“···what do you mean?”

“It means that I absolutely must not get dirt in my eyes.”

My mother’s voice was so rough that it felt unfamiliar. Her determination was evident even from the fact that she was using German, a language she had never used before.

Learning foreign languages ​​has been a hobby since she was young, and now she is a mother who can speak five languages.

“I’ve already joined the soccer club. And I’ve played a few games in-”

“Then come out. Right now. I told you I’d be coming home late recently, and you were playing soccer outside.”

Mom’s stern expression. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it. It’s usually the expression she gives when she’s done something seriously wrong.

“No. I don’t think you’ll listen if I tell you, so can you give me the soccer team coach’s number?”

Kim Shin-ah, who was always bickering in a more brutal atmosphere than expected, opened her mouth hesitantly.

“Mom. But please listen to me just once. You’ll get hurt.”

“Hey, Shin-ah. Did you know?”

“Huh? Oh, no?”

Shin-ah quickly waved her hand as a laser was shot from her mother’s eyes.

The atmosphere was grim. Mom even picked up the remote control and turned off the TV.

And then he brings his face closer and holds out his hand. It must mean he wants his cell phone.

I looked at my father as if I was looking at the Salvation Army. Dad. Please do something about it. But my father rejected my expectations.

“Yeah. Mom is right. Why are you suddenly playing soccer? I play soccer as a hobby. After I enter college.”

“No, listen to me first······.”

“son.”

My mother glares at me with a sinister look. Then she waves her outstretched hand.

“hurry.”

It’s a word that contains a lot of implications.

After hesitating for a moment, I finally gave up on persuading her and handed her my phone. In this situation, I felt like she wouldn’t listen no matter what I said.

I just hope that director Yoo Jin-ho will handle it well.

My mom grabbed my cell phone, looked in the phone book, looked for Director Yoo Jin-ho, and called him right away.

There was a suffocating silence, and then the call was connected.

“Hello? Are you the soccer coach? Hello, I am Minwoo’s mother.”

Mom answered the phone brightly, like a completely different person, and got straight to the point.

“Oh, yes. It’s just that our Minwoo joined the soccer club without me knowing. Coach, Minwoo has to take the college entrance exam next year and doesn’t have time to play soccer. So it looks like he won’t be able to join the soccer club starting tomorrow~”

My mother continued the call for about two minutes and then hung up.

And then he handed the phone back to me and said.

“······Why on earth did you do that?”

***

Choi Sung-hee, a mother of two and a middle school teacher, has felt like life has been meaningless for the past few years.

After living a life that is like a hamster wheel, like most office workers, for a long time, I didn’t have many worries about life.

If I continue living like this, the moment of retirement will come at some point, my two children will get married, and I will live out my old age receiving a pension and then die.

So, I actually thought that my son’s comment today, “I’ll give up studying for the college entrance exam and play soccer,” was just a minor event that happens in life.

And everything went as planned.

The son obediently gave the coach his cell phone number under pressure and told the coach that his son would no longer be joining the soccer team.

And I thought that was the end of it.

-Mother! Mother! Wait, Mother! Just listen to me once! It’s difficult to talk over the phone, so give me exactly 30 minutes! I’ll be nearby right now! Let’s talk at a nearby cafe!

If I had been my usual self, I would never have listened to that. I would have hung up right away. But······what should I say? The director seemed quite desperate.

-If I didn’t have ordinary talent, I wouldn’t have even persuaded a high school student a year before the college entrance exam to join the soccer club! Please, listen to me just this once! I beg you!

“···30 minutes is long, so I’ll make it 15 minutes. Then.”

-Yes! Yes! I’ll go right now!

Well, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but just in case, Choi Sung-hee brought her bodyguard and spouse to listen and decide together.

Her husband, Kim Min-seok, was as ordinary as his name. At an age when he was just about to enter the top 5, he worked at a marketing company and earned a decent salary compared to his peers.

I went to the cafe in front of my house first and waited for the director.

The director came in such a hurry that the image was not neatly organized.

Normally, you would dress up a little neatly to gain trust from others, but this director······.

‘I guess he’s a soccer coach.’

Tanned skin, baggy clothes, and messy hair.

The director introduced himself as Yoo Jin-ho and quickly began to persuade him.

“This is the greatest talent I’ve ever seen. If only my parents had seen Minwoo play….”

“If you trust him and leave it to him, I guarantee that Minwoo will be able to sign a professional contract within a few years.”

“No, this is not the case. There is a high school league this Saturday. It is a league hosted by the Korea Football Association, and the level of students participating in it is very high. Since Minwoo is participating this time, how about the parents come and watch and then decide?”

Sweet talk.

Choi Sung-hee felt that everything the director said was empty boasting.

Of course, the last words took a while to come to fruition.

‘You’re good at lip service.’

But he never intended to let his child play soccer. He knew better than anyone that leading a normal life through soccer would be as difficult as passing a rope through the eye of a needle.

“I’m sorry, Coach. Our family can’t afford to pay the soccer club membership fee. Not only the membership fee, but also the competition fee, training fee, uniform fee, accommodation fee, operating fee, and education fee.”

“ah······.”

The director, momentarily speechless, fell silent.

Choi Sung-hee glanced at her husband Kim Min-seok. Her husband nodded slightly.

“I think I’ve said everything I wanted to say. Then, starting tomorrow, Minwoo will…”

“I’ll figure out a way to do that.”

“···yes?”

For a moment, Choi Sung-hee wondered if she had heard wrong.

“I don’t know about all the costs, but I’ll try my best to find a way. Minwoo’s mother. And his father. Minwoo is not an ordinary talent. First, let’s go watch the game this Saturday.”

We looked at each other’s faces again.

What is this?

*

Saturday.

If it were a normal weekend, I would have just lazed around and enjoyed it, but today was the day to watch my son’s game.

If it weren’t for Director Yoo Jin-ho’s strong conviction and the fact that he even said he would look into raising the funds, I would never have gone, but honestly, I was curious.

If someone confidently tells their child that they are a “genius,” wouldn’t parents think, “Really?”

And this is from a former professional athlete.

‘There are only two things that a former professional athlete can say.’

Fraud or sincerity.

Today, we will be able to see for ourselves which side of director Yoo Jin-ho’s words are closer to our own.

If my son didn’t fit in or leave a strong impression, I was going to have him kicked out of the soccer team, no matter what the coach said.

“Mom? When are we going?”

It was Shin-ah. Shin-ah was already fully dressed, as if she had finished getting ready to go out.

“Yeah. Just five minutes.”

My son was gone a long time ago.

Our family finished getting ready, got in the car, and headed to the destination.

The location is Suyang Sports Park B Stadium.

It was actually a game hosted by the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, and the match was between Suyang High School and Dongseo High School.

Shin-ah said this on the way.

“But what if my brother is really good? Are you really going to let him play soccer?”

“That won’t happen.”

Although he dismissed it lightly, Shin-ah’s curiosity did not end.

“If there’s no reason to do that, why go see it? Why don’t you just tell them not to do it?”

“I’m saying that the chances are slim. Of course, if you’re really good at soccer, you’ll be worried, right?”

“So, if Mom is satisfied, it’s OK?”

“Wait a minute. Me?”

The husband who was driving intervenes.

We walked to the sports park where the game was to start, chatting away about my son and the coach.

And after arriving and parking, we entered the stadium where the game was to take place.

“Hmm? There are quite a few people watching?”

They seemed to be parents in similar situations. They were all talking amongst themselves, and we were standing awkwardly in the middle of it all.

Athletes from each school participating in the game were already warming up in their own camps and preparing for the game.

Among them, he saw his son.

He was wearing the Suyang High School soccer team uniform, soccer cleats, and goalkeeper gloves.

Choi Sung-hee looked at it with puzzlement.

‘Where did you get it? Could it be pocket money?’

It’s not an amount that can be solved with pocket money.

It must be thanks to director Yoo Jin-ho’s consideration.

Choi Sung-hee watched it for a while with her arms crossed. A coach was standing in front of the goal, and her son was standing at the goal.

And the coach kept kicking the ball around several times. It seemed like the last training session before the game started.

‘Hmm?’

The coach seemed to be sloppy, but my son blocked all of those shots. They were shots to the corner, so it would be hard to block them, but he dived and then jumped up and ran to block them.

My heart ached for no reason when I saw my son working much harder than I expected.

however.

“Oh my, that guy Kim Min-woo is even competing in the high school league. Isn’t this just too much?”

Choi Sung-hee’s head turned reflexively.

On that side, a group of what appeared to be parents were chattering loudly.

“I’m telling you! No matter how much the director is king, this is really not right!”

For a moment, his expression hardened.

Shin-ah held Seong-hee’s arm and comforted her.

“Don’t worry, Mom.”

I tried not to care.

Even if you hadn’t noticed me and approached me briskly.

“Huh? Isn’t that kid the same kid from back then?”

Several people come up to see if they recognize Shin-ah.

And the question that comes to mind right away.

“Are you Kim Min-woo’s parents?”

“···But?”

“I heard that Minwoo’s soccer team suddenly changed this time. Are you going to keep making him do it?”

Openly hostile speech.

Choi Sung-hee opened her mouth without realizing it. It was literally a reflex. It was like her leg went up when she hit her knee.

“Yes. Are you going to continue doing it?”

End

ⓒ Doctor Am

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