Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 222



Only Krnovel

Episode 222 Harvest

The Trophy Copa is an award given to the best football player under the age of 21 in a given year.

Many players have been nominated for the Hamapyeong Award, but in reality, if we only consider those under 21 years old, there is no player in the entire world who can surpass me.

When others were trying to blossom their talents, I was already a fully bloomed flower bud. Even this was only when others saw it, and when I saw myself, I still had a lot of room for growth.

First, we need to catch up with our captain’s stats.

“This time, I would like to thank my national teammates… .”

I took this opportunity to worship Son Heung-min by surprise.

The influence he had on my football career, and the positive influence he had on the national team.

Also, during the Trophee Yassine, I only expressed my gratitude to the people around me and did not talk about my career, so I decided to fill that in this acceptance speech.

“I know that a lot of people around the world are talking about my clean sheet record. I would like to maintain this record for the rest of my career, but I also know how ridiculous and impossible it is.

And it’s funny to say it myself, but whoever it is, the people who have scored against me will probably go down in history. I can count on one hand the number of players who have done so throughout my career.”

People who burst out laughing at those words.

Of course, there were some people who couldn’t laugh.

I was in the front row seat of the podium so I could see them clearly. Mbappe. Holland. Kane…

They were all attackers who had to get through me.

“The goalkeeper’s goal is to stop the goal. That’s the basics of being a goalkeeper. And I want to stay true to those basics.”

The first rule of a goalkeeper. Never concede a goal. Rule number two. Always follow rule number one… .

“I have world-class strikers in front of me, but none of them have scored against me. And I declare that those of you sitting in front of me will never score against me again.”

Of course, it was a joke. Most people laughed, but some people seemed slightly surprised by my remark and kept exclaiming in surprise.

“Elling. We’ll meet in the league soon, right?”

As I smiled sinisterly, the people at the awards ceremony burst into laughter again.

Holland also looked at me and smiled.

“Let’s have a fun game. Thank you.”

After giving such a long speech, the time was just right. After saying my greetings and stepping down from the podium, another round of applause poured down.

‘If I win another award here, I’ll have to break dance.’

I have nothing to say so I go dancing.

And the awards ceremony that followed.

“… …The winner of the Women’s Ballon d’Or is!”

A beautiful woman won the Ballon d’Or.

I heard the woman’s acceptance speech, which was met with applause, as she was said to be of Spanish nationality.

‘What are you saying?’

As I was listening intently to the language I couldn’t tell if it was English or Spanish, the acceptance speech was already over.

And then,

“… …The candidates for the Men’s Ballon d’Or are as follows!”

It was the main event at today’s awards ceremony.

Several candidates came out of the host’s mouth. Erling Haaland. Kylian Mbappe. Harry Kane. Mohamed Salah. And… … me.

I was the only one selected as a strong candidate for the goalkeeper position.

“Here are the names of this year’s Ballon d’Or winners!” the host said, then slowly opened the sealed paper.

“So who will be the winner of this year’s Men’s Ballon d’Or?”

Are you really going to break dance?

It’s a nerve-wracking moment.

“Congratulations! This is Erling Haaland!”

And it ended with the Bukhansan ending.

The 2025 Ballon d’Or winner was Erling Haaland.

Holland goes up to the podium to everyone’s congratulations. I wasn’t too disappointed, as I had secretly predicted that he wouldn’t win the Ballon d’Or.

Like everyone else, I applauded Holland.

Soon, Holland’s acceptance speech follows.

Although the stories were obvious, there was one statement from Holland that really caught my eye and caught my attention.

“Kim. I’ll tell you in advance, I’ll be the striker who scores Kim’s first goal. See you in the league soon.”

The awards ceremony was filled with laughter. Holland looked at me and smiled, so I smiled back. That’s funny. When did we meet Manchester City?

I briefly recalled my schedule and smiled again.

‘Are we meeting at the end of the first half?’

Ironically, we still have a long way to go before we meet Holland.

Even if you are the world’s best striker who won the Ballon d’Or, you can still concede goals, so you have to step up steadily during the remaining time.

Above all, Pep’s Manchester City doesn’t only have Holland, but also many other world-class players.

.

.

My final Ballon d’Or ranking was 3rd.

Second place went to Mbappe, and fourth place went to Kevin De Bruyne. I found out later that this was the first time in 11 years that a goalkeeper was ranked third in the Ballon d’Or.

Manuel Neuer was third in 2014, and in the 21st century, the only players to have finished higher than third are Oliver Kahn and Gianluigi Buffon.

I was both surprised and touched that I was ranked with such world-class goalkeepers, and some European soccer experts even expressed their opinions, saying, “If Kim, who finished a season without conceding a goal, does not receive the Ballon d’Or, it is no different from saying that goalkeepers should not receive the Ballon d’Or.”

I was very grateful for that….

* * *

When Kim Min-woo won the Trophee Coppa and Trophee Yachine at the Ballon d’Or, it was natural that there was an uproar in South Korea.

[What the world can do! Kim Min-woo wins Trophy Copa and Trophy Yassin]

[Kim Min-woo takes 3rd place in the 2025 Ballon d’Or. Highest ranking ever for an Asian player, surpassing even Son Heung-min…]

Kim Shin-ah personally posted her thoughts while watching the Ballon d’Or on an internet community.

But does it make sense that Kim Min-woo is in 3rd place? If he won the Bundesliga and kept a clean sheet for a season, he should honestly be given the Ballon d’Or…

→How did Kim Min-woo win the Ballon d’Or when he had no experience in international competitions? LOL

So next year, I should receive the Ballon d’Or if I win the Europa League + Premier League + World Cup.

→Yeah, that won’t happen~

Where do you live?

Today, Kim Shin-ah was fighting the Internet ghosts.

Looking at the community, there were many people who were proud of Kim Min-woo, but there were also many who were disappointed that he ultimately did not receive the Ballon d’Or.

Reactions like, “If not now, when will the next opportunity come?”

But Shin-ah thought differently.

“It got pushed back a year, so I’ll get it eventually, right?”

Kim Min-woo’s growth has been on an upward trend. In addition, he has moved to a world-class club, although not at the level of Manchester City, and now all that remains is to show off his skills in international competitions, the Premier League, and the World Cup.

I also realized something while reading posts in the community.

“Ah. So it’s almost impossible for a goalkeeper to win the Ballon d’Or?”

No goalkeeper has ever won the Ballon d’Or, save for Yashin, who has the award named after him.

Also, Yashin won the Ballon d’Or in 1963. 62 years have already passed since then, so if a new goalkeeper wins the Ballon d’Or after all that time…

→It is literally a huge status. In Korea, there will probably be a road named after Kim Min-woo, and a biography of him.

“Hoooo.”

Kim Shin-ah looked into the Ballon d’Or a little more.

[It is impossible for a goalkeeper to win the Ballon d’Or.]

The person who made these remarks was Thibaut Courtois, Real Madrid goalkeeper and winner of the 2022 Yashin Award.

Goalkeepers have been relegated to the sidelines of the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony, and even if a team wins La Liga and the Champions League, they only end up in 7th place, and they complained that a separate trophy was created for goalkeepers as a show of generosity.

And at the end of the article it was written:

[… … Also, no matter how much a goalkeeper flies or crawls, he can prevent the team from losing, but he cannot lead the team to victory. That is why goalkeepers cannot receive the Ballon d’Or.]

“Hmm… .”

Well, that’s not wrong.

No matter how good a goalkeeper is, he is in a position where he can only prevent defeat and cannot lead to victory.

however.

“My brother is different~”

Kim Min-woo was a goalkeeper who knew how to score goals. He had already scored field goals and many free kick goals in his debut.

“How many goals did your brother score?”

I closed my eyes and thought about it slowly, and there were quite a few.

He scored a goal in the last round of the German 2nd division (without which Hannover would not have won the title or been promoted), and he also scored three goals in international matches against Mexico, Japan and Jordan.

In the German top flight, he scored two field goals and five free kick goals.

After moving to England?

The opposing teams were all afraid of Kim Min-woo’s free kicks and did not perform well, but once a free kick appeared in front of the goal, it went in.

“In England, he scored against Brighton and Liverpool, and was it an assist against Arsenal?”

I watched my brother’s games so much and watched it on YouTube that I ended up memorizing it.

So let’s see. How many goals have you scored in total throughout your career?

“One, two… Wow! What the heck. 13 goals?! That’s a lot!”

13 goals in just 2 years since debut.

I would believe this guy even if he was a field player and not a goalkeeper. He seems to have scored more goals than even some midfielders.

Even including the assists… … Hui-yu.

“But why don’t you give the Ballon d’Or to a player like this?”

At that time, there was a community user who had similar thoughts to Kim Shin-ah. Shin-ah read that comment.

[Perhaps after Kim Min-woo receives the Ballon d’Or, a goalkeeper will never receive it again. And if that happens, Kim Min-woo will surpass Yashin and become the all-time top goalkeeper. In order to receive the Ballon d’Or after Kim Min-woo, you have to play at the level of Kim Min-woo, but there will never be anyone else who can do that, so yeah]

“Every word is correct.”

Kim Shin-ah nodded and pressed the recommend button.

And I stretched and fiddled with my phone. Without thinking, I went to Instagram and saw that my brother had uploaded a new post.

“No. It’s incredibly rare for this guy to post on Instagram.”

It’s been a while since I signed up for an Instagram account, but I only have about 3 posts.

So I looked at the new posts… … .

[At the Ballon d’Or ceremony, I didn’t win the Ballon d’Or, but I received many awards. I would like to thank everyone who congratulated me.]

It was a short and stiff post, as if no one would think it was Kim Min-woo. There wasn’t even a picture.

Normally, ordinary people would go to the Ballon d’Or, post a picture of themselves dressed up nicely, and write a really long post about it.

“Wow. By the way, you already have 30 million followers?”

Will we soon surpass the population of South Korea?

There are already a ton of likes and comments.

When I checked, there were many soccer players that Shin-A also knew in the comments section.

→I love you my brother (hm_son7)

“Oh. Son Heung-min.”

Want to see the follower count?

I checked and it was 0.5 Kim Min-woo.

For no reason, Shin-ah herself felt proud.

→Hey why didn’t I mention it ㅡㅡ(hwanghee)

It was Hwang Hee-cheon. Even Kim Min-woo replied.

ㅋㅋ ㅈㅅ (11k likes)

“It looks good… .”

In fact, I felt a little bit touched while watching the awards ceremony. This time, my name was mentioned without fail.

Then I guess I’ll try to draw some aggro too.

Knock knock.

→When you get home, I’ll grill some meat for you lol

* * *

Although I didn’t win the Ballon d’Or, it was a day that I personally gained a lot from.

It’s been a long time since Football Manager was launched.

[You have won the Trophy Yasin. You will gain the trait ‘Little Yasin’.]

[You have won the Trophy Copa. You will receive the trait ‘Completed Promising Player’.]

And that’s not all.

[You have made it into the top 3 of the Ballon d’Or finalists. You will receive the ‘Ordinary’ trait.]

It was a gift bomb that had been pouring down for a long time.

I checked and it turned out that it wasn’t the same skill type trait as when you won the league, but rather a stat-increasing trait.

[Characteristic: Small Yashin]

[Description: All stats you have increase.]

[Effect: All stats +5]

[Characteristic: Completed Promising Player]

[Description: All stats except health and stamina increase.]

[Effect: GK stat +5]

Just receiving the award is a miracle, as your stats go up by almost 10. Since my stat list was 7, these two traits alone raised my stats by a whopping ’60’. 60!

And there is still one more step left. The last trait gained is… … .

[Characteristic: Ordinary]

[Description: Select the desired trait and strengthen it. When strengthened, this trait disappears.]

[Effect: Strengthens specified characteristics

Strengthening of characteristics.

On the way back to Manchester, I had a constant smile on my face.

I already felt like my growth was stagnating, so I thought I would really lose points soon, but if I could just focus on one trait and strengthen it, it would be a different story.