Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 74



Only Krnovel

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From February to April.

The Bundesliga had a packed league schedule for two months.

Before the Asian Cup, I had to play 8 matches and never lost my starting position in any of the matches.

Now I was a perfect starting member. The spot of the ironclad Ron Robert Ziller was now mine.

But it wasn’t like there was a crisis. After the Hamburg expedition, Jan called me aside in the clubhouse and said this.

“Kim. Klinsgel got fired. You know that, right?”

“Yes, Director. Unfortunately, that is what happened.”

I didn’t feel sorry at all, but since he was a fellow German, I responded in that way. Jan nodded and sighed.

“Now Klinsgel’s career is over. I knew it when he left Hertha so irresponsibly. Why on earth did Korea appoint him as their coach?”

“······well.”

An embarrassed smile.

Perhaps there are circumstances that adults find difficult to understand.

“Do you know what that guy did in Hertha?”

“Yes? No?”

Jan rambled on and on about Klinsgel as if he was lamenting to me.

He was the manager of Hertha BSC and later resigned. He made the announcement on Facebook Live without any prior notice, and it is said that the club’s executives found out about it after watching the news.

“oh···.”

He was a worse director than I had heard.

“It was a huge uproar at the time. Such an irresponsible resignation. No matter how much he had achieved as a player, it was not something that could be understood and overlooked. He left after only two months in office. In those two months or so, he spent close to 80 million euros.”

“80 million?”

“Yes. At the time, it was a huge investment for Hertha···.”

My eyes rolled sharply. How much is 80 million euros?

Even if we don’t do it in Korean currency, it would probably easily exceed 100 billion won…

“Anyway, Kim. I don’t like that guy. I respect Klinsgel as a player, but as a coach, he’s a zero. Korea made a bold and correct decision.”

“That’s right. It would have been much better if we hadn’t appointed that person in the first place······ But that’s already in the past.”

“Yes. Then you remember what I said back then, right? Since I made a promise with Klinsgel, it’s certain that I’ll send you to the Asian Cup.”

“Oh, yes. That’s right.”

I could instinctively realize that what I had said so far was just a preamble, and that this was the main point.

Jan nodded and opened his mouth again.

“But things have changed.”

“yes?”

I knew exactly what Yan was talking about. Why are you bringing this up already? There are still two months until the Asian Cup.

“The Klinsgel that we had promised to do has disappeared, so the promise has become a blank slate. As you know, there is no mandatory participation regulation for the U23 team, right?”

As expected. I said, holding back a laugh. I’ll tell you in advance that if I wasn’t a football manager, I might have seriously reconsidered this issue.

“But coach, Klinsgel is gone, but I still remain. It’s a promise I made to Klinsgel, but it’s also a promise I made to myself.”

“I know what you mean, but Kim, put your hand on your heart and think about it. Your career, the future of our club, the fans who are desperate for promotion. Are these things more important than the U23s? And all for a local cup?”

Of course it doesn’t matter, Director.

My football career is still long. If a club catches me, I can use that as an excuse not to go to Qatar. No one in Korea will criticize me. Hannover will take the blame instead.

But that still won’t work.

“It may seem like a trivial competition from Europe, but it is a competition that determines whether we will qualify for the Paris Olympics. If I don’t go, Korea may not be able to participate in the Olympics.”

“Even if you win the regional cup and qualify for the Olympics, there is nothing positive about your future, Kim. You know how important a time Hannover is going through, don’t you?”

“Jan. I know what you want to say, but this is something we promised in advance. I want to play for my country.”

“Why? Is it because of military exemption? You’re not old enough to think deeply about military service yet. And I thought you wouldn’t be exempted from military service even if you won the Asian Cup?”

I smiled silently, revealing my teeth.

There was not a single word wrong in what Yann Lytle said. What kind of military is Gopiri? He is exempt from military service. He can just go to the Asian Games later and wear a gold medal around his neck.

And as Jan said, Hanover was going through a critical period. If I were to suddenly fly to Qatar, things would look a bit strange.

But still, I have to go to Qatar.

The reason I wanted to go to Qatar was because of a tiny amount of patriotism and an overwhelming amount of certain compensation.

[The path to national prestige!]

[Compete in the U23 Asian Cup and secure a spot in the Olympics!]

[You can acquire new characteristics when you obtain a ticket.]

New features.

The two traits I currently have are Yasin’s Eye and Quick Accuracy Kick.

Yashin’s eyes were acquired by accepting Football Manager, and the quick and accurate goal kick was acquired during the first competition won during the now dimly remembered Suyang High School days.

For a long time after that, no new traits were acquired. During that time, trait abilities were improved, but there were no new traits.

But the system says it gives you one trait. If you go to Qatar and secure a spot in the Olympics.

It wasn’t that hard to secure a spot in the Olympics. You just had to get into the top three. That wasn’t that hard for Korea’s weight class.

Maybe, just go to Qatar and you’ll get it.

I couldn’t afford to give up this opportunity and stay in Hanover. Jan might think it was an irrational choice, but from my perspective, it was a perfectly reasonable decision.

‘I’m sorry, Jan. I have to go.’

And I cited ‘honor’ and ‘patriotism’ as external reasons for going to Qatar.

I thought that if these kids at that age were to go crazy and say they wanted to play for their country, the elders around them would likely say, “Hey, he’s great. He’s just a kid.” Or, “Oh, he’s a kid.”

I may be a little mean for my age, but I’m still a child compared to the adults around me. Ugh. I’m a baby.

“Do you have to have a profit to play for the national team? Playing for the national team is an honorable thing.”

“Even if the team fails to get promoted?”

“This is not a team that will fail to get promoted if I take a few games off. And we have chillers too.”

“Chiller will transfer soon.”

“There’s still a long way to go until the summer transfer market, Coach.”

Jan shuts his mouth and stares at me intently.

It’s the look in my eyes that I don’t like as I answer back to him point by point.

Sorry, Jan. I don’t intend to bend, so please accept it. I know it’s hard to understand, but what can I do? You’re not going to give me traits instead of Football Manager.

It was after about 30 seconds of this snowball fight.

“Kim. I understand that you want to go to Qatar. But if the team is not doing well, we won’t let you go. Promotion is more important to us than anything else.”

Okay. You’ve crossed the 9th ridge.

“So, does that mean you’ll let me go if the situation in Hanover is okay before I go to Qatar?”

Jan silently nods, wondering if he can accept that much.

“If you can get into the top 2 without a playoff, I’ll let you go, Kim. Of course, you can’t be too close in points to the ones below you. So there’s only one thing I want from you. Keep keeping clean sheets until you get to the Asian Cup. Then, your ranking will naturally go up.”

“Okay, I understand.”

I was in a good mood after finishing my meeting with Jan. What a special feature. Of course, I have to keep my promise first.

Keeping a clean sheet. And staying in second place.

I had a slight feeling that I might not be able to do it, but I guess it’ll work out somehow. Just do as you’ve been doing. Just do as you’ve been doing.

And I worked my body to pieces for the new trait.

Even if the defense was breached during the game, even if a penalty kick was awarded, even if a free kick was taken into the corner of the goal that was difficult to block, I blocked all of those risks with all my passion and energy for two months.

And the record I made after working hard for Hanover for two months was as follows.

22R Hannover vs Greuther Furth win 2:0.

23R Osnabrück vs Hannover 0:1 win.

24R Hannover vs Dusseldorf 0:0 draw.

25R Behen vs Hannover win 0:1.

26R Hannover vs Kaiserslautern win 1:0.

27R Magdeburg vs Hannover 0:0 draw.

28R Hannover vs Schalke 0:0 draw.

29R Braunschweig vs Hannover 0:2 win.

Overall record: 5 wins, 3 draws, 8 matches. Points earned: 18.

Even in the middle of the Pokal Cup quarterfinals, I managed to achieve this goal that seemed impossible by winning without conceding a goal.

Maybe this process is more intense than the game in Qatar.

I’ve heard that the national archery team trials are more intense than competing in the Olympics. Do you feel that way?

Looking back, there were several moments where I thought this was really the end.

Even in the 28R match against Schalke, the ball went into the net. At that time, I felt like the sky was falling, but surprisingly, VAR saved me.

It was a wild goal, but it turned out that the first attempt was offside. When the goal was ruled out, I couldn’t describe how I felt.

The moment I conceded my first goal (even though it was ruled out by VAR) when I had never conceded a goal in an official match since I started playing football, was really, what can I say?

Do you feel the sentence, “Your eyes are dark”, with your whole body?

After that game, I felt that I had a huge burden of conceding goals, and I thought that I definitely needed to get rid of that burden.

You can’t avoid conceding goals while playing soccer. Even though you know you’re going to score, there are bound to be goals that you can’t stop.

But anyway, I kept my promise to Jan Lytle.

Hannover finished first in the standings with 16 wins, 9 draws, and 4 losses in 29 games, and a total of 57 points.

I did what I could, I did the best I could. After leaving for Qatar, it is up to Jan and Hannover what happens.

‘Minwoo’s support fund ends here.’

And I was able to leave as scheduled. I was worried that the points gap with 2nd and 3rd place was not that far, but I believed that the rankings wouldn’t suddenly drop without me.

Anyway, there’s a chiller too.

*

Somewhere above the Earth.

I boarded the plane, looked up at the black sky, and recalled the past once again.

The two-month record was not one that could be passed over as something that happened this way or that way.

‘There’s been so much going on.’

While I was away from Hannover for a while, Ron-Robert Ziller became a regular again, but his mind was clearly elsewhere.

After all, players have to compete, and only then will fans love them as they play together and build affection for them.

Chiller requested a transfer after I became a regular player.

Hannover reluctantly accepted after a few attempts, and were linked with Liverpool, who are looking for a substitute goalkeeper.

As it turns out, Liverpool has been a club that has been uncomfortable with Chiller for a long time. Although he is Hannover’s goalkeeper, Chiller is just a sub at the level of the EPL.

I don’t know where he will end up, but I hope he does well in the future. The first priority is to guard Hannover’s goal while I’m away.

-Uh. Um. Nice to meet you, Minwoo. I’m director Choi Yongseok.

“Ah. Hello, director.”

I also spoke with U23 coach Choi Yong-seok. Coach Choi Yong-seok was definitely an old man with a gentlemanly tone, as expected from his age.

-You’re playing in the Bundesliga, huh? I saw you doing well. I hope you do well when you come to the national team. Do you understand?

“Yes, Director. I will do my best.”

Director Choi Yong-seok speaks in a Busan dialect a lot, as expected of someone from Busan. Hearing the dialect makes me want to go to Busan again. I also want to eat grilled clams.

The phone call with Director Choi Yong-seok was brief.

There was no topic for long conversation.

After that, Director Choi Yong-seok put me first when announcing the list, and my next memory is······.

“Son. Go and do well. Shin-ah and Dad will be cheering you on.”

“huh.”

I go to Qatar and my mom goes to Korea.

As the U23 Asian Cup will last for about three weeks, my mother decided to return to Korea where her family is during that time.

Because it would be meaningless for my mother to be alone in Germany without me.

“Have a safe trip. And come back as soon as possible. Hanover will be eagerly awaiting you.”

“Huh? Are you telling me to drop out early?”

“Oh, no! That’s not it, uh, so······!”

“I’m joking.”

“ah···.”

And Sophie.

Now Sophie no longer has to drag me around like a nanny. My German has gotten good enough to communicate with the locals, and it’s my mom’s job to take me to the training grounds.

Now my mother drives a car in Germany. It seems like she has gone through all the annoying administrative procedures, but it was also necessary to live in Germany.

However, since the German teacher was still Sophie’s job, on days when he had free time or no training, he would consistently receive language lessons from Sophie at home.

Even English is included.

“The hottest person in Germany? Kim from Korea, 18 years old. At such a young age, he has already kept 16 clean sheets. The eyes of all of Europe are on this young Korean boy!”

“His value is skyrocketing. He debuted in the Bundesliga 2.0 at the age of 17. And he has kept 16 consecutive clean sheets? He has surpassed Van der Sar’s record of 14 consecutive clean sheets, although in a different league. And that was in his debut year. It is a truly shocking debut.”

Although it is only Part 2, the European media has finally started to pay attention to my record.

Part 2. 17 years old. Now 18 after his birthday. 16 consecutive clean sheets in the games he played in. However, there was a catch to this record.

“It is a record of 16 clean sheets, but I don’t know if it is right to use the word ‘consecutive’ because there were many games where he alternated with Chiller. Anyway, this young goalkeeper from Korea has not allowed a single goal in the games he has played in. That in itself is impressive.”

“Has there ever been a goalkeeper who achieved such a record in his debut year? I don’t remember.”

“Even Lionel Messi, the god of soccer, couldn’t set such an overwhelming record in his debut year. Even though it’s the second division, considering his age, this is definitely······.”

The more attention the European media paid to me, the more my status in Korea grew in return.

I have never played with the Taegeuk mark, but according to Kim Shin-a’s remarks, almost the entire nation knows of my existence and is eagerly awaiting my national team debut.

“Ugh. It’s so burdensome···.”

If you wear the Taegeuk mark and score a goal, you’ll probably get all kinds of malicious comments saying things like “it’s a bubble”?

And as time passed, we arrived in Qatar.

As I arrived at Qatar Airport and went through immigration, a shower of flashes awaited me.

“Player Kim Min-woo!”

Reporters with cameras swarmed in.

“Whoa!”

“Wow!”

And that wasn’t all.

There were fans too.

I was so surprised that I covered my face with my hands and looked around.

‘What? I’m definitely in Qatar.’

Did you come to the wrong Korea?

End

ⓒ Doctor Am