Field Commander - Chapter 25

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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 25.

Chapter 25.

Chapter 25.

Gimcheon Sangmu.

It’s a dream refuge for all professional soccer players who haven’t completed their military service.

Becoming a national team member, achieving good results, and receiving military exemption is a story that applies to only 1% of professional players.

Eventually, they have to decide whether to wait until their age limit to be selected for the national team, give up everything and go to the military, or transfer to a soccer team that serves as alternative service.

Lee Ji-seong was one of the geniuses who joined K1 in 2000 after graduating high school.

He thought his soccer career would flourish once he joined the team, but the team already had both a starting player who was playing for the national team and a backup player in his position.

After two years without appearing in a single league match, he was soon released from the team, transferred to a second division team to play matches, and eventually came to Gimhae FC in the third division last year due to military service.

Fortunately, the new manager used him as the core of the attack, and he was having the most enjoyable time of his soccer career.

Lee Ji-seong had good relationships and knew many players, and although he heard that the match against Cheongju FC would be very difficult, he ignored it due to his pride as a K1 League veteran.

But…

“Damn it…!”

Lee Ji-seong, the front striker, was clearly positioning himself in the space between the center-back and defensive midfielder.

Away from Kim Sang-hyuk, who had perfectly neutralized Jang Jin-woo during his high school days when Jin-woo was flying around in the Bundesliga.

He was in a position where it should work…

The problem was that the passes that had come to him sharp as a knife until the previous round weren’t coming at all in this match.

When the ball came high…

He had to give up on receiving it…

And when it came low to the ground, Kim Sang-hyuk intercepted everything.

For Lee Ji-seong, who could only display his skills when the ball came to his feet, the match became increasingly frustrating as it went on.

– Swoosh!

Kim Sang-hyuk intercepted with a sliding tackle yet another ball that should have come to his feet.

“This is driving me crazy…”

Having reached the limit of his patience due to the frustrating match flow, Lee Ji-seong rushed at Kim Sang-hyuk.

The surrounding attackers had similar thoughts and three of them rushed at him simultaneously.

Their idea was to stop the counter attack with a foul if they couldn’t steal the ball, but Kim Sang-hyuk somehow made all the pressing attackers, including himself, look like fools.

“Block him!”

When Kim Sang-hyuk retreated to avoid the pressure and his gaze turned toward the distance, Lee Ji-seong felt a sense of crisis and threw his body to block the cross, but the cross went up a beat faster.

Since it was Cheongju FC’s main scoring route, the manager had continuously ordered them to never let Kim Sang-hyuk cross with his right foot, but seeing those movements and individual skills, it wouldn’t be easy.

In previous matches, Kim Sang-hyuk’s crosses usually went toward the Number 9 or Number 11 attackers, and the defenders also moved to mark those two players, but this cross wasn’t going there.

A cross aimed at Lee Chang-su, who was playing as left wingback.

Since all the defenders were concentrated on the right side, Chang-su was allowed very wide space, and using his fast speed, he instantly penetrated inside the penalty area.

Three defenders, three attackers.

Unable to immediately communicate who to mark, they panicked and two instinctively ran toward Chang-su, while Chang-su passed to Seo Dong-myung on the opposite side who had suddenly become free.

Seo Dong-myung shook the goal net with a shooting that simply redirected the ball.

“It’s okay. Let’s score too!”

Captain Lee Ji-seong encouraged his players and returned to the match.

But today Kim Sang-hyuk looked even more impressive than what he’d seen in videos.

Really, without any exaggeration, the number of times he’d touched the ball in the opponent’s half today seemed to be less than five fingers.

And he was the key attacker.

If Kim Sang-hyuk had stuck close and roughly jostled with that massive body, there would at least be excuses to make.

But he maintained proper distance and just occupied the spaces where passes might come, so there was nothing to complain about.

The midfielder caught the ball, looked at him, and immediately made a passing motion.

“No!”

It was a pass that would work sufficiently against other teams, but it shouldn’t be done like that in front of Kim Sang-hyuk.

Lee Ji-seong gave up on receiving the ball and ran toward Kim Sang-hyuk.

Sure enough.

The pass was mercilessly cut off.

‘No more goals allowed!’

Screaming internally and throwing his body to stop it with a foul, Lee Ji-seong.

In his vision, he saw Kim Sang-hyuk’s massive body spinning around, and Lee Ji-seong, who had thrown his body into the air, lost his balance and crashed ridiculously onto the ground.

* * *

‘Well. He’s quite aggressive…’

I was somewhat impressed by the sight of a player about 170cm tall with a very slender build actively engaging in physical defense.

‘That’s what soccer is about, putting your life on the line like that.’

However.

I could see both his intention and movement, so I couldn’t just collide with him.

When I turned my vision to look forward, instead of pressing me like before, all the Gimhae FC players were hesitating and retreating backward.

Thanks to that, the space in front of me opened up, and instead of passing, I dribbled and pushed forward.

Our team players also started running forward at full speed, except for the two center-backs.

These were movements that couldn’t be made without trusting my pressure escape ability and passing.

I always get excited when I see things like this.

With eight players spreading wide and running forward, the opposing attackers coming back to defend couldn’t rush at me and had to follow our advancing players.

A situation where the opponents kept retreating as I ran with the ball.

The players retreating while watching me also started attacking one by one, perhaps thinking it wouldn’t work.

Since they weren’t thinking before attacking but just moving to stop me, there was no need to engage in tactical battles.

I just needed to touch the ball once in the direction opposite to their center of gravity, and they’d fall away on their own.

‘It’s the third division after all…’

Advancing and advancing like that, the penalty area was right in front of me.

This was also the first time I’d dribbled this much in a K3 League match.

Was it because the defense was weak?

“Hey! Block the shooting!!!”

A loud shout came from somewhere.

Since I’d only been playing defense, I hadn’t thought about shooting in this situation yet…

But hearing that shout, I thought this distance might be quite possible with my right foot.

Another defender jumped out, so I touched the ball once in the opposite direction and shook him off.

– Tap.

And I pushed the ball to enable a right-foot shooting, but I caught sight of Park Sang-il, who had been held by defenders, breaking free from the pressure and making a charging movement.

And three players threw their bodies to interfere with my shooting.

– Tap.

Instead of shooting, I touched the ball once more in the flowing direction and shook off all three.

“Block it!! Block it!!”

Shouts coming from everywhere.

The opposing goalkeeper’s tense glare as he stared at me.

I stared at the goalkeeper and kicked the ball with a curl using my left foot instead of my right.

– Bang!

The goalkeeper’s flinch as he tried to read the direction, thinking it was a shooting.

‘You’re too late.’

But I hadn’t taken a shooting.

I had chosen the method with higher probability.

I saw Park Sang-il jumping as he charged toward the goal after winning the physical battle with the defender, and I could see the goalkeeper’s panicked and frozen expression as if thinking ‘Oh no!’

– Thud! Swoooosh~~

Park Sang-il headed down my cross with precision.

The ball bounced once on the ground and split the goal cleanly.

The goalkeeper seemed frozen, unable to do anything.

‘Ah, that bastard… he’s really quick to read the situation.’

It seemed like Park Sang-il was the only one who thought I would send a cross from there.

“Woaaahhh!!!”

He roared like a gorilla as he ran around the stadium.

Despite this being our home stadium, the stadium that had been louder with Gimhae FC cheers began to gradually quiet down.

* * *

‘Those guys…’

Park Chang-ryul applauded the players while falling into thought for a moment.

Professional players are human too, so they have desires.

Even he thought Kim Sang-hyuk would take a shot in that situation where the front space was perfectly open, though the angle was a bit lacking.

But he never expected such a cross to come up, and he had to take another look at Park Sang-il who finished it.

If he hadn’t predicted that shooting-speed cross, it never could have connected to a goal.

‘Their chemistry is good.’

Park Chang-ryul raised his head again to look at one side of the stands.

A K1 League scout he was acquainted with caught his eye.

The transfer must have fallen through when Kim Sang-hyuk declared his move to Germany…

Seeing him sitting there again, he was probably here to watch Park Sang-il.

‘That guy became an excellent striker after Kim Sang-hyuk arrived.’

Having a big frame that significantly reduced agility and speed was really a fatal weakness, but this guy who played defender in elementary school, midfielder in middle school, and striker in high school had good footwork, ran diligently, and had good passing ability too.

It would be great if he could continue growing with Kim Sang-hyuk like this.

But this was the K3 League.

A temporary residence that many players constantly pass through.

“Wow… Sang-il is making those kinds of movements? It seems like what you’ve been asking for since last year is finally working, Manager.”

“You can see his effort during training too.”

“Is it the Kim Sang-hyuk effect?”

“He’s changed remarkably since that guy arrived, so we can’t say it’s not.”

“It’s such a shame that Sang-hyuk is leaving… If only he could play a full season before going.”

“Right. Then promotion would be certain.”

Now none of the coaches doubted Kim Sang-hyuk’s skills.

“That guy also needs to… find his rightful place now. We can’t keep him here just for our convenience.”

“Sang-hyuk seems to have a different atmosphere today. He’s being very aggressive in attack too.”

“It’s his last game.”

“He’s like Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets. The way that guy is playing today.”

Even in previous matches he would occasionally escape pressure, but usually Kim Sang-hyuk preferred very safe play.

When pressured from all sides like today, it’s typical to pass backwards rather than use individual skills, but as the coaches said, today he was very aggressive.

All the aggressive play he was showing was successful and connecting to goals.

“If that kind of play works in higher leagues too, he’ll really become an outstanding player.”

“Then he’d be national team level.”

The coaches shared their opinions and Park Chang-ryul listened quietly while watching the players’ performance.

If he hadn’t gotten injured and had followed a normal career path, he would have received as much fame and attention as Kim Ji-seong of Manchester United, Park Heung-min of Hamburg, and Jang Jin-woo of Schalke 04.

Ah…

No.

Kim Sang-hyuk’s life story was on a completely different trajectory from those players.

– This guy… he was in a major car accident before playing soccer?

– What car accident?

– Looking at his medical records, he spent almost 6 months in the hospital.

All the club officials who saw that were left speechless.

He has no family either.

Soccer, which was his only lifeline, he gave up due to injury.

After that, we don’t know how he lived, but he had a coma-level 6-month long-term hospitalization.

He overcame all of that and is playing soccer like this again.

Not just playing, but playing so incredibly well.

‘If you add that guy’s story to it…’

What kind of person could dislike that guy?

And…

‘…World class.’

It’s not a word you can easily bring up, but when looking at that guy, it automatically came to mind.

As time passed…

The Gimhae FC coach who had been constantly giving orders to his players from the sideline had his mouth shut at some point.

‘I understand. When a guy like Kim Sang-hyuk is firmly planted in defense, you might not be able to think of what you can do. I felt that way too.’

Kim Sang-hyuk was someone with excellent tactical understanding who could grasp the opponent’s tactics and deliver fatal blows to them.

Even without the manager saying anything, he would initiate the movements he wanted first.

‘What manager would dislike a player like that?’

Gimhae FC couldn’t bring out their own style at all, and their attack was sluggish too.

Originally they were a team that scored a lot and conceded a lot, but now they were only conceding a lot.

34th minute of the first half…

Gimhae FC conceded a header goal to Kim Sang-hyuk from a set piece situation.

Watching the opposing coach who couldn’t even yell at his players and was just holding the back of his neck, Park Chang-ryul breathed a sigh of relief.

‘We’ve got this match.’

* * *

“Substitution!!!”

At that sound, I looked at the scoreboard.

Past the 20-minute mark of the second half.

The score was 6-0.

My body was just getting warmed up and I felt like I could run more…

I felt like I could lead the completely demoralized opponents into an even deeper swamp of despair.

From far away, number 28… my number caught my eye.

When I go to Germany, I’ll have to adapt and train again, so I might not be able to play matches like this.

‘It’s disappointing.’

I high-fived the substitute player and headed to the bench.

“Um… I felt like I could run more.”

When I voiced my complaint, Park Chang-ryul patted my shoulder.

“Maintain that stamina and condition well and run much more on higher stages. Good work. And thank you so much for playing so well all this time.”

At the manager’s words, my eyes suddenly became hot.

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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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