Field Commander - Chapter 23

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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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Chapter 23.

Chapter 23.

Chapter 23.

YouTuber Choi Do-hoon found it incredibly enjoyable to follow Cheongju FC’s matches.

While some people liked the tension of rivals clashing without giving an inch, not knowing who would win, he preferred matches where one side overwhelmingly crushed their opponents with superior skill.

In that regard, Cheongju FC had been almost completely dominating the other teams in the league recently.

‘Class never disappears, does it?’

Anyone who knew even a little about soccer could see that Kim Sang-hyuk was at the center of it all.

It wasn’t just because Kim Sang-hyuk played well alone, but as the team rode the momentum, several players who hadn’t stood out initially saw their skills rise accordingly.

Especially the new goalkeeper Na Jung-seok, who had kept five clean sheets.

At first he was clumsy and even got cursed out by the manager…

But at some point, he began showing excellent save abilities based on his tall height and agility.

He probably wasn’t originally a goalkeeper… his footwork was quite good.

As he continued playing matches, he was becoming a very solid and reliable goalkeeper.

And Number 9 Park Sang-il.

He couldn’t compare to Jang Jin-woo, who was competing for the scoring title in the Bundesliga, but he felt like a lower version of him.

If he continued growing like this, he could be someone who could fill Jang Jin-woo’s role when he couldn’t play due to injury or card accumulation in the future.

Of course, he decided to keep his interest in these two players to himself.

He was running several programs, but the view counts for videos related to the 3rd Division League were too dismal.

Videos covering the EPL or Bundesliga got over 100,000 views, but the 3rd Division League content centered on Kim Sang-hyuk had a maximum of about 2,000 views.

Roughly 1/50th.

From his perspective, living off video ad revenue, he couldn’t afford to spend time and money covering the 3rd Division League.

Yesterday there was the second match between Cheongju FC and Siheung Citizens Club, who were competing for first place in K3 League Round 11.

Siheung Citizens Club, who had dealt Cheongju FC their only defeat early in the league, was mercilessly crushed 4-0 in this match.

Their tactics didn’t work, and they collapsed on their own after allowing 2 goals from set pieces early on to Cheongju FC, who had good height.

In this match, Kim Sang-hyuk recorded 1 goal and 1 assist.

But it was difficult to explain his performance simply with goals and assists.

The defense he showed was truly an iron wall itself.

Having one player make over 10 interceptions in a single match was an almost unprecedented record.

The live fans’ comment that anything could happen because it was a low-level league had some merit, but it would be hard to understand unless you actually watched that match.

– That guy is going to Germany soon.

Someone watching the live stream posted a chat message.

‘Guy?’

It was a user with the ID MJK96.

Another viewer soon replied.

– German 4th division?

– No. The Bundesliga.

At those words, Choi Do-hoon’s eyes widened.

“Is that really true?”

While explaining the match, Choi Do-hoon unconsciously joined the comment conversation.

– Yes. I think he’ll go to one of two places.

“What are those two places?”

– I can’t… tell you that… Anyway, he’s going to Germany soon. And that guy is really freaking good at soccer. I couldn’t say it at the stadium, but he’s so annoyingly good that I wanted to punch him, but I held back because I’d probably die.

Choi Do-hoon mentally noted the ID MJK96 again.

‘Who is this person?’

– Haha, how cute. You’re thinking of hitting Kim Sanghyuk?

– If you want to die, that’s the fastest way.

– Hahaha. Even back in high school, he was famous among the players. As a player with gangster background.

– But who are you to spread false rumors? Are you Kim Sang-hyuk’s brother?

– A K3 League player going to the Bundesliga? What kind of fantasy novel is this? Does soccer look that easy to you?

– Soccer noob.

…Other viewers complained, but MJK96 didn’t comment again.

“Alright, let’s stop there.”

Choi Do-hoon calmed people down.

But the story was too specific to seem like a lie.

‘But… if Kim Sang-hyuk is really going to the Bundesliga, wouldn’t this be absolutely huge?’

Choi Do-hoon’s heart began to race.

* * *

By not fooling around and steadily receiving training, and getting opportunities to play nearly 70 minutes per match every week, my stamina gradually improved.

If before I was substituted due to stamina issues, now it was more like substitutions for player protection?

Past the 10th round, the chemistry between Park Sang-il and me began working better than ever.

I heard from other teammates that he was playing much harder than last year, perhaps due to his ambition to move to a higher league after completing his military service.

During 11 rounds, Park Sang-il scored 13 goals, becoming the sole leading scorer.

I also consistently recorded goals and assists, achieving 7 goals and 8 assists.

And our team was tied with Hwaseong Citizens Club at 7 wins and 1 loss, but we proudly settled into first place in the league by leading in goal difference.

In the 5 rounds following the match against Suwon Technical High School: 11 goals scored, 0 goals conceded.

A streak of clean sheets.

In high school, I had to take charge in every situation, so I did a lot of reckless things, but since Cheongju FC players had a certain level of skill, I could focus solely on my own play.

And unlike my high school days when I was crazy with competitive spirit, I could enjoy the sport of soccer more.

‘Soccer becomes more fun when you have good teammates around you.’

First of all, if we lose, it’s definitely not fun.

Fun or not aside, I’d probably be incredibly angry.

So winning is basic and…

The moment when our promised plays work out and a goal explodes…

The pain of running breathlessly disappears and I’m filled with indescribable euphoria.

I love that so much.

“Why… doesn’t it taste good?”

At Jung Seung-jin’s words, I shook my head.

“It tastes good. I just had something to think about.”

“So have you decided?”

When I went from the Early Morning Soccer Club to the K3 League, I wondered if I could properly play soccer, but now two Bundesliga clubs had made transfer offers to me.

One was SC Freiburg, the other was Mainz 05.

Right after the game against Suwon Technical High School, SC Freiburg made a transfer offer and I was going to sign that contract.

But since I needed to improve my stamina and performance at Cheongju FC anyway, I decided to wait a bit longer, and unexpectedly Mainz made an offer.

– Unless you’re the club’s franchise star, you need to raise your value to transfer to a bigger club, so it would be better to contract with the club offering better conditions.

– Is that so?

– Let me negotiate with both sides. Will you leave it to me?

Since that wasn’t something I was good at, I left it to Jung Seung-jin, and a month after the offers came in, we finally reached the final choice.

Mainz offered a higher salary.

But Freiburg added a clause that they would let me play in the first team after 3 months.

When I asked why 3 months, they answered it was time to adapt to Germany’s environment and the stadium grass.

I didn’t know if I’d play as a starter or substitute, but they were saying they’d put me on the first team roster.

“Can I hear your thoughts?”

After the transfer offers came, Jung Seung-jin and I had many conversations and became close, and now we spoke casually to each other.

“Mainz has established starters. Even if you get called up to the first team, you might have to warm the bench for a while. But Freiburg doesn’t have anyone you could call a starter. An 18-year-old named Christian Günter who came up from the second team is handling it, but he originally specializes in center-back and fullback.”

“So Freiburg offers more opportunities to become a starter?”

“That’s what I think.”

Actually, salary…

It’s important.

But if I can’t lead Korea to World Cup victory, it doesn’t matter if I receive astronomical amounts of money – it’ll all be meaningless.

To quickly become a national team player, securing a starting position in the Bundesliga was most important.

I’d need to show something there to get selected.

“And there were offers from the K League 1 side too, but you won’t stay in Korea, right?”

I’m not dismissing K League 1, but looking at the players currently selected for the national team, most are overseas players.

“Yes.”

Just then, football-related news started flowing from the restaurant’s TV.

– The Football Association announced they will dismiss Manager Choi Gwang-hoon and appoint Manager Hwang Ki-ho from the Olympic Team to the national team…

“…So he’s finally being dismissed.”

“It was a matter of time. Both results and performance were poor.”

Korea, with some key players remaining from the World Cup semi-final run and newcomers Park Hong-min and Jang Jin-woo joining, had been struggling since the Asian qualifiers.

Organization was a mess, there were no tactics, and scoring goals with individual player abilities was barely manageable.

Analysis strongly suggested that reaching the quarterfinals in the World Cup finals would be impossible with such performance, leading to this result.

– The Football Association announced that the Olympic team will be led by acting head coach Lee Sang-cheol.

Jung Seung-jin spoke while watching TV.

“What I don’t understand is… Manager Hwang Ki-ho said he watched your games, so why didn’t he select you?”

“He probably didn’t like my play.”

“I don’t think it’s because of skill… As Freiburg also said, even if we put you in K League 1 right now, you absolutely wouldn’t be outclassed.”

“We’d have to see about that… but with how I feel now, I think I could dominate K League 1 too.”

Jung Seung-jin smiled brightly at my answer.

“I’ve seen so many players, but you’re very special. So having that kind of confidence is no problem.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t work hard.

Rather, I was pouring almost all my time into football.

“So have you decided?”

“Yes.”

* * *

“Phew…”

Freiburg’s manager Streich looked at the sunset rays fading away in the sky.

The budget allocated for this season was 4.5 million euros.

The average transfer budget for Bundesliga clubs was 35 million euros.

Of course, the average was greatly inflated by giants like Bayern Munich and Dortmund, but just looking at the amount, it was overwhelmingly last among the 18 Bundesliga teams.

Since he couldn’t bring in a manager and had been working as head coach, he ended up continuing as manager…

“Well…”

Freiburg is such a beautiful artistic city that it’s called the ‘City of Sun’ in Germany.

“Art means no money, I guess.”

He melted away the overwhelming stress with a joke to himself.

“They want me to stay in the Bundesliga with that money?”

Three starting players didn’t renew their contracts and left for other teams as free agents under the Bosman rule.

With the given budget, filling even one position wasn’t easy.

Fortunately, the system for developing prospects was so well-established that self-sufficiency wasn’t impossible.

But it was too difficult for players who had just become adults to be competitive in the Bundesliga, one of the world’s top leagues.

Staying up itself was a difficult situation.

Luckily, he had discovered a hidden Korean player, but Mainz had joined the recruitment competition.

– Unluckily, Michel happened to be there.

Michel.

She was a staff colleague who had grown together with him at Freiburg.

Not only was she capable as a scout, but she was exceptionally skilled at accurately analyzing how much money a player would be worth.

Thanks to that exceptional ability, she became a scout at Mainz where she met the great manager Jürgen Klopp and spread her wings.

‘There was no way to escape her sharp eyes.’

Competition with Mainz?

Competing with a place that had more than four times the recruitment funds?

Fortunately, Jürgen Klopp had now left for Dortmund, so it was unclear how much influence she could wield within the club.

If they failed to stay up?

His managerial career would inevitably be negatively affected.

‘This is troublesome.’

Ten years since ending his playing career and starting coaching.

He had done well through that long time for this moment, but to face crisis right from the start.

While he was blankly looking at the sky, he heard Jorg’s breathless voice from behind.

“Streich!”

Streich turned around.

When the slow-bodied Jorg came running like that, it was one of two things.

Very bad news, or very good news.

“What?”

Streich reflexively answered while examining chief scout Jorg’s expression.

‘Ah, this guy has a poker face, right?’

An essential skill for scouts.

“What is it?”

Jorg took a big breath in front of him.

‘Is it bad news? Is someone else leaving?’

But Jorg straightened his back and showed a bright expression.

“That guy says he’ll come to our club.”

“That guy?”

“The Korean player.”

“Ah! Kim Sang-hyuk!”

The dawn’s first light began to shine on the dark future.

Though it was still dark, that one piece of news allowed Streich to momentarily escape from the explosive stress.

“Really?”

“Yeah. The agent is here. The club owner wants you to come.”

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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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