Field Commander - Chapter 58
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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 58.
Chapter 58.
Chapter 58.
– Sang-hyuk?
A powerful, gruff voice.
Because of this, Kang Du-seok was misunderstood as a very scary coach during his high school days.
All his fellow players were afraid of him, but he wasn’t actually that kind of person.
– Right?
I answered.
– Yes. How have you been?
– Good.
Rather than forcing his football philosophy, he chose quite flexible tactics that brought out the players’ strengths.
So throughout high school, there were many moments when I could influence the game, and that became the foundation of my football.
It wasn’t about doing what I was told, but really constantly thinking about what I needed to do to win.
I think it was during my second year when we won all the national tournaments and Maedong High School’s reputation soared.
Discord arose in the school football club that had been running without any problems.
Especially starting with the parents of players who were scouted from middle school and joined as first-years.
Saying the coach was tactically incompetent and whatnot…
They even put pressure on the school…
The better the school’s results got, the harder it became for the coach.
– What are you doing now?
– Resting in the mountains.
– Why?
– Who knows.
– Come down. Don’t tell me you’re planning to appear on ‘I Am a Natural Person’?
I heard Kang Du-seok’s hollow laughter at my words.
– This kid calls after years and makes jokes with his heaven-like coach!
– Why didn’t you call me, Coach?
Even though my injury wasn’t the coach’s fault, he suffered as if my injury happened because of him.
I should have substituted you before you got injured…
If only my desire for victory had been a little less…
He would say.
– Don’t tell me you’re still blaming yourself?
– You’re still good at throwing dagger-like words, aren’t you?
Ah…
Right.
– Still, I’m much more softened than when we first met.
– Your self-praise is still the same.
I heard a lot of noise through the phone.
– But what are you doing right now?
– Preparing to move.
– Why?
– A junior keeps pestering me to take on coaching a new high school team.
– Wow? So you’re going back to coaching?
– No, I’m trying to run away.
– What?
When he answers like that with his gruff, loud voice, I can’t tell if it’s a joke or serious.
– When you come back to Korea later, teach those distant little kids a thing or two before you go.
– Please make your jokes sound like jokes.
– Who is this kid lecturing?
Ah, this is definitely a joke.
– You must be healthy staying in the mountains?
– Are you healthy too?
– Are you going to pretend you don’t know after watching the Olympic games?
I heard gruff laughter from the other end of the phone.
– I really can’t believe it, and I still can’t believe it. It’s like…
– Hey, then wake up from your dream quickly. Being healthy is reality.
– Hey you! This kid interrupts an adult? But how? Does it make sense?
Back then, only Coach was definitely an adult.
But now I’m an adult too.
– That’s why there’s the expression ‘miracle’.
No answer from the other side.
– Well… anyway, thank you. Being able to run like this is really thanks to you, Master. I’ll definitely visit you when I go to Korea later.
* * *
The next day.
Freiburg SC tactical meeting room.
‘The team atmosphere is fucking terrible.’
Max Cruz, who joined the team as a substitute last year and was facing his second season, looked with contemptuous eyes at the idiots getting excited over winning one game.
The existing players were almost all kicked out through mutual contract termination, complete transfer options, loans, and so on, and more than half of the first team players he used to see were gone.
Those empty spots were being filled by guys who came up from the second team and guys on loan from somewhere.
The remaining existing members couldn’t focus on games, wondering when they’d get release notices, and the guys who came up from the second team stuck together and played separately.
The loan players couldn’t belong anywhere and played alone.
Even captain Julian Schuster was in the hospital with a major injury, so there was no replacement captain.
One side was excited, one side was gloomy, one side was blank.
But the team’s performance was at the bottom of the league.
Relegation was certain without some kind of rebound.
They borrowed a forward from Arsenal, rumored to be Asian.
‘Ah, Asian…’
Though he couldn’t express it verbally, Max Cruz had no faith in Asians.
How should I put it, short, terrible physique, slanted eyes that automatically made him feel contemptuous whenever he saw their faces.
An Asian forward in the Bundesliga, which plays fast-tempo, attack-oriented games…
‘This club seems to have gone collectively insane.’
Just as he was thinking he should run away quickly when the opportunity arose.
The meeting room door opened and coaches started coming in.
The noisy chatter quieted down.
Coach Streich entered, followed by new faces.
“Kim!!!”
A few guys who came up from the second team literally lit up and shouted, and Max Cruz looked at those loudmouths with displeasure.
‘Who’s Kim?’
Max Cruz frowned and glared at the players following behind.
One was an ordinary Asian with a similar build to himself… and the other one…
Their eyes met and he automatically looked down.
‘…Ah, what?’
Who’s that menacing-looking guy?
Back when I attended elementary school, there was one real bastard.
He tormented me quite a bit.
Once I fought back and got beaten so badly I didn’t go to school for several days.
Eventually it became public and that bastard got expelled, but…
Why am I thinking of him now?
“Let me introduce the players who joined our squad this time. Jung.”
Jung?
Asian names really have no aesthetic appeal.
He’s saying something, something in his introduction, but it’s incomprehensible.
The interpreter standing next to him translates instead.
‘Seriously, he can’t even speak German? What kind of football is he going to play when he can’t even communicate?’
They say he had good performances at AS Monaco…
Max, who had transferred from French Ligue 1, snorted with derision.
‘How dare they compare Ligue 1 to the Bundesliga?’
They were leagues of different levels.
The moment Max saw Jung Joo-young’s uniform after just a perfunctory introduction that wasn’t worth remembering, his mood soured.
‘Number 10?’
He had joined last year and was still wearing number 20.
‘A loan player but a starter?’
This is ridiculous…
And then that number 33 giant he didn’t want to make eye contact with introduced himself.
Unexpectedly, his German was quite good.
“I came up from the second team. My name is Kim Sang-hyuk. Call me Kim. On the field, short names consume less energy.”
The stupid dummies who came up from the second team started whistling.
‘Those bastards will be going back down soon…’
Ah, one of them is just sitting with arms crossed, staring quietly.
Christian Günter, sitting right next to him.
Unlike those guys with a screw loose and the second team players, Gunter was the real deal.
He had performed brilliantly right after arriving.
That’s why Max acknowledged at least Gunter.
‘Right. Right. That expression suits you well as a welcoming greeting.’
While Max was nodding, Kim Sang-hyuk continued speaking.
“By the way, what I hate most in the world is losing. On days we lose, I’ll be in a very bad mood, so try not to get on my nerves.”
Max briefly doubted his own ears.
‘Is this guy insane?’
Max, wearing a dumbfounded expression, asked Gunter.
“Is that guy normal?”
Gunter gave a bitter smile.
He remembered nearly getting beaten up by Kim Sang-hyuk on introduction day.
“That bastard is really abnormal, so don’t mess with him if you don’t want to get hurt.”
“Oh, really?”
“But he plays football well.”
“What?”
“He’s the most reliable crazy bastard on this team.”
“…”
Max felt a bit offended.
‘The most reliable guy on this team? That guy who came up from the second team?’
He had thought Gunter was the most reliable player, but apparently Gunter didn’t think so.
‘As expected… this is a hard place to fit in.’
After the two players’ introductions ended, Streich finally looked at the now complete squad.
It was a bit disappointing that captain Julian Schuster was missing, but this was the first sense of stability he’d felt since the season started.
“Julian Schuster is expected to be out for about three months. Max will have to serve as temporary captain.”
At Streich’s suggestion, Max blinked with a bewildered expression.
“I think someone with age, experience, who’s homegrown, and skilled should be captain.”
At the mention that a skilled person should be captain, Max automatically responded.
“Got it.”
“Good.”
Streich turned his attention back to the player squad.
“The next match is against Wolfsburg.”
It’s a difficult match.
Based on abundant support from parent company Volkswagen, they were a club that always maintained mid-to-upper table positions, and this season they were settled in 6th place.
“And there’s a DFB-Pokal match in three days. Then three days after that, there’s another match against Borussia Mönchengladbach waiting.”
Borussia Mönchengladbach was also a Bundesliga veteran.
They were also in the mid-to-upper ranks.
“It’s quite a tight schedule. Obviously, proper rotation will be necessary.”
The club’s goal was league survival.
Naturally, it would be difficult to concentrate resources on the DFB-Pokal.
Streich looked at the newcomers who joined today.
Although they had shown a lot at the Olympics, club and national team were strictly different.
Whether they could adapt to the Bundesliga’s fast tempo and show the skills they’d demonstrated so far, or whether they’d be overwhelmed by the tempo and make repeated mistakes, remained to be seen.
However, seeing how Gunter had adapted immediately upon joining the league, he wasn’t too worried.
Especially Kim Sang-hyuk, who was joking around with the guys who came up from the second team, caught his eye.
‘That guy…’
He doesn’t seem to have any sense of nervousness at all.
He recalled the report from second team manager Klaus.
‘Heart of iron.’
He doesn’t get excited or freeze up in any situation, stays very calm, and finds solutions – Klaus had even put thought into creating this descriptive phrase.
It must have been quite impressive for Klaus, who found everything bothersome, to invest time in something like this.
As the morning briefing was nearly finishing, Streich called Kim Sang-hyuk and Jung Joo-young.
“Come to my office for a moment after this ends.”
* * *
The interview with first team manager Streich consisted of rather mundane questions.
– Do you consider yourself violent?
– No.
– Have you ever lost your composure to the point of exploding on the field?
– No.
– I like players who can handle multi-position play. If necessary, do you have confidence to abandon your familiar position?
– As long as I can play, anywhere is fine.
– What do you think your strengths are?
– Physical Battle.
– Weaknesses?
– Speed.
– How do you plan to compensate for your weaknesses?
Instead of answering, I pointed to my head.
– Do you have anyone you’re dating?
To ask such a personal question so naturally…
– No.
– Are you sure?
– Absolutely certain.
The brief meeting ended like that.
– There’s probably fatigue from the Olympics too, so I’ll watch your training situation and let you know when you’ll play in matches.
According to my teammates, he was the so-called “favorites only” manager who picks a Best 11 and uses them exclusively.
‘Is that so?’
If he were that kind of manager, he wouldn’t have sent away the starters and done something like rebuilding.
With loan players overflowing who want to play matches, the fact that he called up 4 players from the second team shows he’s definitely not that conservative.
Those 11 players must be performing significantly better than the rest.
The content of today’s meeting sounded like there were no plans for me to play in the next match.
‘That’s troublesome.’
I was substituted in the second half during the Olympic final, and having rested completely for a day, my condition was at its peak.
And for me, time is more precious than anything else.
While waiting for Jung Joo-young’s meeting to end, that bastard Gunter comes swaggering over with a sneer plastered across his face.
“I came first, didn’t I? Hehe, you loser…”
This damn idiot.
But I had said something to the manager, so I didn’t bother clenching my fists.
He’s the one guy on this team I can trust and pass the ball to.
“You… got dropped, didn’t you?”
“What?”
Gunter’s eyes widened.
“From the U-23 National Team, I mean?”
The guys who were in the second team told me earlier.
It was probably because he’d been playing in the 4th Division all season.
The fact that there are many outstanding German players probably played a part too.
“So you couldn’t participate in the U-23 EU tournament?”
“…”
“I won a gold medal though? Huh?”
“…”
“Loser bastard.”
The guy grits his teeth.
Then Gunter gives me the middle finger and runs away.
It seems getting beaten up in the Bundesliga didn’t turn him into a docile sheep.
Having a teammate with a challenging personality is definitely good, so I’ll forgive him.
“What are you doing?”
Jung Joo-young came out with the interpreter after finishing his meeting.
“Oh, Christian Günter… I was just talking with an old friend.”
“Really? What an interesting friendship. You even have middle finger conversations?”
“Don’t worry about it too much. That bastard has no manners, but he’s pretty good at football.”
“I see… Would you like to have dinner together tonight?”
“Dinner? Sure. Where?”
“My house.”
You already got a place?
That’s lightning fast…
“Sounds great!”
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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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