Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 50



Only Krnovel

One day, during a routine training session, goalkeeper coach Gerald Herrmann put his hand on my shoulder and said:

“The director wants to meet with you.”

“Is it a meeting?”

Geralt nods.

The meeting here was not a ‘blind date’ as it is called in Korea, but rather a simple business meeting.

In fact, I used to meet the director like this once a week and have a conversation.

When you enter the manager’s office, the manager talks about training, tactics, what you need to do in the future at the club, and things like harsh words and compliments.

So, I headed to the director’s office, thinking that it was time for the regular meeting we had last time.

Knock, knock twice. The director’s dry voice is heard through the door.

“Come in.”

I opened the door politely, went in, and took a seat. The director I met, Jan Lytle, had a businesslike expression on his face.

He was looking at the monitor and typing on the keyboard, perhaps working on a document.

‘I’m telling you, he’s a man whose heart you can’t possibly understand.’

If director Yoo Jin-ho was a leader like a neighborhood older brother, director Jan Lytle was a leader in the dark.

To put it simply, he was just a difficult person. He wasn’t the type to joke around, he wasn’t the type to laugh easily, and every time I saw him, his expression was cold.

“Were you being trained?”

“Oh, yes.”

It was English. As always, people here spoke English out of consideration for me, since my German was almost immature.

The only thing is that my English is better than my German, but my English is still far from the locals’.

I managed to get Sophie to teach me German, and I am now learning English for everyday conversation, but I still have to concentrate very hard to understand what people are saying and respond.

“You work much harder than others, isn’t it hard?”

I answered that question with a grin.

“I’m fine.”

At those words, Jan Lytle also snickered. Oh, it’s really not easy to see this guy smile.

“Is there a reason you work so hard?”

“Why?”

“huh.”

“reason···.”

Well, I want to play in the game!

Because I want to show my worth in front of tens of thousands of people!

But the answer that came out of my mouth was quite different.

“Because it’s something I have to do. That’s what I get paid to do, right?”

It’s not just a penny or two, it’s over 100 million won, so I have to get my money’s worth.

Then, director Jan Lightl raised his eyebrows at my answer. He was startled for a moment, but a pleased smile appeared on his face once again.

“You have a great sense of professionalism.”

“thank you.”

“A player who sets an example like you deserves to be rewarded.”

“yes?”

At the moment, the words were too difficult to understand. Jan Light continued on regardless.

“Do you want to play in the game?”

I understood this. I answered right away.

“yes!”

“I’ll put you in the starting lineup for this Pokal Cup round of 32. Your debut match is against Dortmund. Do your best. Put all the hard work you’ve put into training into that match.”

“······!”

After racking my brain for a moment to understand, I opened my eyes wide and got up from my seat.

If I understand correctly, Jan Rytl was calling me to start in the DFB-Pokal round of 32 against Dortmund.

So, my job here was set.

“Thank you! I will definitely prove it!”

Director Jan Lytle nods with a satisfied expression.

Is this what it means to be so happy you could jump for joy?

After that, I came out of the director’s office and acted rashly in front of the director’s office.

Regardless of who was watching, he shouted “Yes” and threw a lot of uppercuts into the air in joy.

“Kim?”

“oh!”

Why is Sophie here?

*

After that, I didn’t do any more intense training than I always did, but kept the tempo constant.

Since it was already high intensity, I couldn’t increase it any further.

‘But it’s doable once you get used to it.’

Now, we were doing some training for agility, but it wasn’t difficult.

It was a training exercise where you had to catch fast-flying ping pong balls, sort them by color, and put them in a basket.

At first I was like, what is this? But the more I did it, the more I realized that it wasn’t an easy training.

“Okay! Let’s move on to the next training!”

The next training is not difficult either.

Each goalkeeper stands in front of a small goal, and the players have to try to score the ball into each other’s goal.

Let’s repeat that for several sets and then another workout follows.

This time, it was physical training disguised as preventive training.

Before the opposing kicker takes the ball, the goalkeeper must run to the edge of the goal, take the ball, and then return to block it.

If you repeat that a few dozen times, your mouth will start to smell sweet.

Go left and block, go right and block.

Blocking itself wasn’t difficult, but if you keep running and diving to block, you can feel your stamina literally ‘burning’.

“shit!”

The training was so mind-boggling that even the captain, Chiller, spoke in German.

‘I feel like I’m going to have diarrhea.’

When you repeat the training until you are tired enough to vomit, your training routine is over.

However, I have at least some sustenance to help me endure.

[You are training hard. Stamina increases by 1.]

“Whoaa···.”

I fell to the ground and kept breathing in and out. Thanks to the hard training I had done since the last home game against Osnabrück, I was able to gain an average of four stats per day.

So now my stats have increased significantly compared to then.

‘Have you sucked about 80 so far?’

I was so tired I thought I was going to die, but I checked my stats again.

[Kim Min-woo]

– Stamina: 63

-Stamina: 66

-GK Kick: 58

-GK Diving: 56

-GK reaction speed: 63

-GK position selection: 66

-GK Speed: 58

– Trait: Yasin’s Eye, Quick and Accurate Kick

-Height: 185cm

-Weight: 75kg

==

‘It has increased a lot compared to September.’

It doesn’t seem like it increased much since the 80 stats are evenly distributed across each stat window, but the average stat values ​​that used to be between 4 and 50 have now increased to between 5 and 60.

‘Am I at Kim Jun-young’s level now?’

That too, at the very beginning, at the level of Kim Jun-young.

After weeks of being told to die, I was barely able to keep up with the high school stats I had been playing soccer with since I was little.

But that’s okay.

If they can maintain this level of growth, it seems like they will be able to catch up with the stats of the Bundesliga 2nd division within a year.

‘Perhaps the higher you go, the lower the correction rate will be······ Anyway, where is this? I have to suck it up as much as I can while I can.’

There’s a saying that goes, “When the water comes in, don’t stomp your feet.” I was actively practicing that saying right now.

Even if you look at it now, it’s like you’re rowing until the threads are almost gone…

***

DFB-Pokal Cup Round of 32.

This is probably a competition that Koreans wouldn’t normally pay any attention to, but this time it was a little different.

[Kim Min-woo, who aims to promote Hannover to the first division and defeat Munich, makes his Bundesliga debut!]

Since Hannover announced their starting lineup early, the news was also delivered to Korea.

Naturally, the football community showed great interest in the fact that a Korean goalkeeper was making his Bundesliga debut for the first time.

「[DFB Pokal Cup Round of 32] Hannover 96 vs Dortmund Starting Lineup (Kim Min-woo Starting)」

◆01:00 Kickoff◆

→Are we finally getting to see the legendary Kim Min-woo? ㅋㅋ

→It seems like both Hannover and Dortmund are non-regular players?

→You have to show it to survive.. Let’s make a proper impression before debut, Minwoo Kim

→Please. Son in attack, Lee in the middle, Kim in defense, twins please!!!

→They’re not even Siamese twins, they’re Kim twins, what the f*ck ㅋㅋ

Naturally, Kim Min-woo’s family, relatives, and acquaintances were all eagerly awaiting this debut.

“Oh. Why on earth does it have to be 1 AM on Thursday?”

Kim Shin-ah originally had a routine of going to bed before midnight, but she decided to skip it today.

Because we can’t miss this historic moment.

I have already subscribed to a sports channel that has exclusive broadcasting rights for Bundesliga matches, and that channel is also promoting Kim Min-woo’s debut match with a large banner.

Kim Shin-ah and her parents gathered in front of the TV and chatted.

“You’ll do well, right?”

“Well then, good luck.”

“Dortmund is a championship contender even in the German first division.”

“But Minwoo will do well.”

Although she felt worried and anxious, Kim Shin-ah wanted to watch the game quickly. She anxiously entered the family chatroom and left a message.

[Kim Shin-ah: Please do well, lol. My mom, dad, relatives, and friends are all watching the game.]

I thought I wouldn’t get a reply, but Kim Min-woo’s reply came like a knife in less than 3 seconds.

[Kim Min-woo: ㅋI’ll show you clearly how hard I worked for this day]

[Kim Shin-ah: Oh, what the heck? Hahaha, the game is coming up soon. Can I use KakaoTalk?]

[Kim Min-woo: There’s no way it won’t work.]

Kim Shin-ah heard the commentators chatter before the game, clearly looking forward to her brother’s performance.

***

The Pokal Cup Round of 32 was held at Hannover’s home stadium. Both teams made a choice to reserve their physical strength for the league schedule, with Hannover’s players being all non-regulars and Dortmund’s players being all non-regulars, except for one or two.

It felt a little bit like a leak, but still, they are first-team members. Even if they are 2nd or 3rd options, first-team is first-team. You can’t let your guard down.

Before the game, we warmed up on the ground while the crowd cheered us on.

Even though they were not starting members, the stadium was packed with people because it was a match against a strong team.

‘Just do what you usually do. Don’t be nervous. Just do what you always do.’

I felt like tens of thousands of eyes were focused on me. I’m the only Asian player in this game? I don’t know. Maybe it’s just a feeling.

“Kim. Your expression is frozen. Is your heart pounding?”

It was Dominic Corsic.

The guy grinned and cracked a silly joke to try to ease my tension.

“It’s a game we have to lose anyway. The coach doesn’t intend to win either, so he’s put together this lineup. It’s okay. Just let’s score about eight goals. And then let’s all be released together.”

“Corsic. I want to win this game.”

“Oh! Ambition boy!”

Ambitious man? Well, that’s true. I want to use this match to prove that I’m a competitive goalkeeper and threaten Chiller’s position.

Corsic kept joking around, not knowing whether he knew what I was thinking or not. Of course, since it was a non-regular match, Corsic was also a starter in this match, and that’s why I’m honestly a little anxious.

He has a lot in common with Ko Young-jun, but he also happens to resemble him in being able to get through things easily.

“Oh, Corsic. Stop it.”

“How is it? Are you feeling more relaxed now?”

“okay.”

Then Corsic laughs and falls away from me.

After the pre-game stretching session, the captain gathered us together for the last time.

The captain for this match was Julian Werner.

A veteran at age 32. Position is center back. A player who will be responsible for the last line together with Corsic.

He originally held the position of vice-captain, but his recent performance has been poor, so he is no longer a starting member.

Julian Werner gathered around before the game and shouted out his own fighting spirit.

It was pure German, so I couldn’t translate a single thing. No, to be exact…

‘I think they said something like ‘victory’, ‘giving up’, and ‘perseverance’.’

I could barely understand a few words.

I later approached Corsic quietly and asked him:

“What did the captain say?”

“Work hard.”

“······ah.”

Yeah, well. I guess that’s what it means to summarize. Yeah… Let’s work hard.

*

And the game began.

My heart was pounding because of the pressure of playing my first game in front of tens of thousands of spectators, but I slowly took a deep breath.

“Woooooooo! Woooooooo!”

As soon as the game started, the crowd got excited and started making noise.

However, contrary to the excitement of the crowd, the game was dominated by Dortmund from the start.

It’s clear that they came out as the same non-regulars, but the gap feels huge.

“Hey! Werner!”

I asked them to adjust the defensive gap with gestures. Dortmund was now anxiously moving back and forth in our half, holding the ball tightly.

Like a manager checking the facilities.

Left side? Hmm. It’s going to be hard to get through here. Let’s take a look at the right side.

Oh. This one looks a little easier? Should we take a look at the center this time?

“Corsic!”

I shouted at the defenders to close the gap, turning my head to the left and then to the right.

Despite the pressure from their teammates, Dortmund never gave the ball away and kept passing the ball around, checking various parts of the defensive line.

and······.

‘Coming!’

After roughly checking, he attempts a breakthrough from the right side.

Our full-backs were left incredibly helpless, with the opposition wingers firing ground passes into the central penalty area without any resistance.

Between Corsic and Werner. The opposing attacker penetrates into that vast Pacific-like gap. The central attacker’s position is fake, and the one who gets the ball is the left wing forward.

It was a clever switching play.

It took only a moment for the trajectory to form.

I stopped thinking and held my breath.

And then he dove to the right at the one-touch shot that flew in like lightning.

The ball bounced slightly off my hand, but I stretched out and hugged it tightly.

I barely managed to stop it even though I knew where it was.

It was a truly frighteningly surprising and fast attack.

And our Hanover gave up a shockingly wasteful opportunity to attack.

The crowd also let out a loud gasp at this incredible change in attack speed, but then gave me a thunderous applause for my save.

“Hey! Corsic!”

I jumped up and raised my voice in Korean.

“I almost got eaten because of you! I told you to close the gap!”

As I shouted with my red face and strong voice, Corsic seemed to notice what I was saying and felt sorry.

“Sorry Kim.”

Even though I shouted at the top of my lungs to close the gap, they didn’t listen, and as soon as the game started, we almost conceded a goal.

Youngjun Shichi at least listened to me, Ao Korsic. Anyway, these Shichis are the problem. It almost became a nightmare as soon as the debut match started.

End

ⓒ Doctor Am

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