A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 343

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A Regression Guide for Idols Who Lost Their Initial Intentions Episode 343

The preliminary match where my team and another team joined forces was held in the same group as the opposing team that KICKS belonged to.

With 11 players per team, a total of 22 players entered the outdoor stadium.

The studs of old soccer cleats, specially opened for the first time in a while for the Sports University soccer match, stepped on the grass of the ground. We stood facing each other across the half line.

As soon as my eyes met with Kwon Yunseong who was diagonally across from me, Kwon Yunseong was the first to avoid my gaze. I too withdrew my gaze without lingering and looked at the opponent directly in front of me.

I extended my hand to shake hands with the opponent in front of me, who had a fairly similar eye level to mine.

Whether he was trying to intimidate me or not, he deliberately gripped my hand tightly with force, so I too put more strength into my fingertips that firmly grasped his hand while maintaining the smile on my lips.

“Ugh…!”

The opponent who couldn’t last even 5 seconds let out a short groan and released the strength in his hand first. Having lost interest, I too obediently let go of his hand. Both my hand and the opponent’s hand bore the bright red marks that were traces of our power struggle.

Whether his caught hand was still throbbing, the opponent kept rubbing his hand repeatedly. It was quite a contrast to me, who just shook it off a couple times and was done.

Well, who told him to pick a fight first?

With the referee’s whistle, the match began with our team’s kickoff.

The ball kicked refreshingly by the senior with the most experience crossed the stadium. Both the opposing team and our team rushed after the ball without distinction.

Perhaps because there were quite a few guys who had played some soccer providing support, most of them looked for positions they could take in the current situation and marked the opposing team while waiting for timing, rather than just blindly chasing the ball.

For a long while, the ball just circled sluggishly around the midfield, being stolen and retrieved near the half line.

Then one of our team players who gestured to me sent a long pass from the half line toward the side.

Seeing that pass, I lightly shook off the defenders who were blocking me and ran toward the side where the ball was coming.

“Block him! Block him!”

The stadium was naturally smaller than an official soccer stadium, and that distance was sufficient for me to score a goal.

Finally catching up to the ball, I dribbled while closing the distance to the goal. Then, taking advantage of the gap when the opposing defenders rushed to steal the ball, I kicked the ball hard between them.

The shot fired from the side barely grazed the goalkeeper and scored in the goal. Cheers poured from the audience seats.

After seeing the goal net sway due to the ball lodged in it, as soon as I turned around, the team members came rushing over. Responding to each of the pouring high fives, I lightly bumped fists with the player who had given me the pass.

“It’s just one goal! We can definitely turn this around!”

“Let’s score exactly three goals in the first half! Two goals left, two goals!”

Shouts encouraging their own team while checking the opponent echoed loudly across the field.

Since it was a simple informal match, instead of starting from the half line, the opposing goalkeeper kicked the ball in front of him with a tense face. The ball, which was kicked poorly and flew high into the air rather than going forward, drew a weak parabola and landed on the ground.

I blocked the opposing team’s attempt to send the ball as far as possible from the goal toward the side and stole the ball. Avoiding the opposing team members rushing toward me, I immediately passed to a nearby teammate.

Taking advantage of the gap while they rushed toward the player with the ball, I closed the distance and subtly gave a hand signal to pass back.

The one who received the pass sent the ball back to me. Without hesitation, I fired a short-range shot toward the goal that was refreshingly open without a single defender.

The ball that powerfully penetrated the goal net bounced back from the recoil, which the opposing goalkeeper caught in bewilderment. But it was still a goal.

“Okay, that’s two goals right away!”

“Well done!”

In the resumed match, one of our team players prevented a ball that almost went into our goal by pushing the ball outside the touch line, making it a touch out.

We also safely blocked the opposing team’s throw-in, kept the ball away from our goal, and supported our team to successfully score one more goal with a long-range shot.

Tweet-!

The whistle announcing the end of the first half sounded. Of course, since we were idols and not soccer players, the match time was much shorter than an official game.

Still, getting gradually out of breath was unavoidable.

“Wait, you’re way too good at soccer? Why are you dominating in this idol amateur soccer scene?”

“It’s almost like the second coming of Messi. Every time you kick, it all goes in, the goals. So damn cool, really.”

“Please take care of us in the second half and finals too. Eden, you need to hard carry for us. You’re our team’s ace right now.”

Having scored 2 goals alone in the first half, I listened with satisfaction to the praise pouring toward me during halftime and drank the water from my water bottle in one shot.

“A 3-0 lead isn’t easy to reverse. Our team has Eden holding it down like this.”

“Aren’t they going for penalty kicks now?”

“Come on, no way. This isn’t some real World Cup with a gold medal on the line, why would they sacrifice their bodies like that in an idol sports festival? If they get injured, they can’t even do activities.”

“Still, everyone usually avoids physical contact. If we get hit, we should immediately fall down. We need to show them some proper Hollywood action.”

“Actually, our group has a comeback next month, so we do need to be careful with our bodies.”

“It’s really been a long time since I played soccer. All our members are indoor types, and the one outdoor type we have is into mountain climbing, so no interest in soccer.”

“Wow, me too. When I watch soccer alone, the hyungs scold me for watching TV loudly at dawn. But that’s when the games are on, what can I do? Don’t they know about time zones?”

Having only played the first half, the distance between team members had quickly closed.

We gathered to rest and then gave a light wave to our members who were visible below in the audience seats.

When halftime ended and the whistle blew to signal the start of the second half, the game began with the opposing team’s kickoff.

We had stamina issues, but the second half felt even more intense than the first because the opposing team came at us so fiercely—they must have come up with some strategy during halftime.

Their defense had also become much more solid, making it difficult to take shots. Rolling up my uniform sleeves, I watched for blocked passes near our team’s goal, then as soon as our team player sent a pass through a gap that finally opened, I gritted my teeth and ran toward the ball.

Someone ran toward me and pushed my shoulder. Looking at his face, it was the guy who had shaken hands with me before the game started. Instead of being pushed back, I held my ground and pushed back with my shoulder once, causing the one who had attempted the first shoulder check to fall away.

Someone came charging at me and started shoving my shoulder. When I looked at his face, it was the same guy who had shaken hands with me before the match started. I held my ground without being pushed back, and when I shoved his shoulder once in return, the one who went tumbling was the opponent who had tried to shoulder-check me first.

Wow, just looking at his expression, you’d think he broke a bone somewhere? Thanks to that, I missed my timing to fall down too. With the referee’s whistle, a foul was called on our team.

“As expected. Soccer doesn’t use video review.”

Since the opponent had performed his Hollywood action in the penalty area, the opposing team was awarded a penalty kick.

The ball kicked hard by the opposing team player grazed our team goalkeeper’s fingertips and went into the goal.

Unfortunately, since the opponent’s Hollywood-style acting performance took place in the penalty area, a penalty kick was awarded to the opposing team.

Damn, I should have fallen down with him. Wouldn’t performing Hollywood action and falling down during the game be less damaging to one’s pride than talking big and then losing the game?

The opposing team successfully scored another goal, riding their momentum.

Once again, an intense battle unfolded near the opposing team’s goal. Kwon Yunseong and our team player collided with a ball between them.

Unlike our team player who quickly regained balance, I caught Kwon Yunseong before he could fall after stepping wrong. I couldn’t tolerate a second penalty kick.

The current score is 3 to 2. With such a narrow margin that could be overturned at any moment, our team’s momentum has become much more intense.

Kwon Yunseong must have felt it too, as his heavy breathing became even rougher.

When I caught him, I saw that not only was his face scraping against the ground, but he was in a perfect position to twist his ankle if things went wrong.

That was brief – as soon as the ball came into my sight, I let go of his hand without hesitation and ran toward the ball. Thanks to being closer, our team player who got to the ball one step ahead of me took a powerful shot.

The opposing team goalkeeper forcefully punched away the ball that flew somewhat high. Instead of waiting for that ball to hit the ground, I threw my body and performed a heading. The ball that bounced off my head slipped right between the goalkeeper and the goal post.

I waited for Kwon Yunseong to regain his balance and stand on his own feet while offering brief advice. The ball had already left my field of vision and was once again showing lackluster movement with the opposing team’s defender.

“We won!”

But only for a moment—as soon as the ball came into my view, I let go without hesitation and ran toward it. A teammate who was closer got to the ball a step ahead of me and took a powerful shot.

The player who had failed to score ran over and hugged me tightly while shouting.

Screech-!

I responded to the high fives pouring in from all directions by meeting each hand. Only after shaking hands with each member of the opposing team following another whistle did Group 1’s preliminary round completely end.

The whistle blew, signaling the end of the game.

“I wooooooon!”

The player who had missed the goal ran over and hugged me tightly while shouting.

Yeah, I get that you might be caught up in the joy of winning, but let’s maintain some personal space here. I patted his back while naturally pulling him away from my embrace. He also stepped back quickly with an embarrassed expression.

He responded to the high-fives pouring in from all directions, meeting each one with his hand. Only after the whistle blew again and they shook hands with each member of the opposing team did Group 1’s preliminary match come to a complete end.

Three goals in the first half, one goal in the second half. With a total result of 4-2, we were able to safely advance to the finals.

“Let’s do well in the finals too! We need to win the gold medal!”

“Let’s keep this momentum going!”

“We’ll see each other again in the finals! Until then, everyone be careful not to get injured!”

After celebrating our advancement to the finals with the team members we played with, I walked with big strides toward our members who were giving us a standing ovation.

“Hyung, did you just eat and play soccer during your school days?”

“I did play soccer right after eating.”

I replied to Kim Dobin’s question while wiping the sweat flowing down my jawline with the towel around my neck. Even though it’s December, how is it this hot after just one game of soccer?

The cold wind cooled my sweat and quickly lowered my body temperature. Now it was time for the archery preliminaries.

“Yehyeon Hyung, could you try doing archery while holding this lucky totem just once? I want to experiment to see if my luck power really increased because of the CEO photo, or if I’m Lucky Dobin who was born under a lucky star.”

“If I hold this, will I get an X-10? Then let me try holding it once.”

“Wow, seriously, how far will this group go? South Korea’s first idol group to make their agency CEO go viral.”

“Does it work if you put that in your pocket? Now that I think about it, standing in front of the camera holding a photo of the CEO’s face is a bit…”

Naturally, the archery preliminaries also weren’t going to be conducted quietly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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