Field Commander - Chapter 61

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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 61.

Chapter 61.

Chapter 61.

‘Ah, which bastard threw a water bottle at me?’

 

I tried to identify the person who threw the water bottle among the over 40,000 people gathered here, but I couldn’t find them with my abilities.

 

People really should have better manners.

 

Watching Jung Joo-young return after his goal celebration, I looked at the Wolfsburg players.

 

Now would be when bewilderment and impatience start flooding in.

 

Bottom of the Bundesliga.

 

With consecutive trades of main players, mutual contract terminations, loans…

 

They must have been determined to tear 3 points away from our team, whose atmosphere had been completely destroyed by all that.

 

When they thought they absolutely wouldn’t lose but the atmosphere reverses, the manager’s words don’t mean shit to the players.

 

They’ll be desperate with their eyes rolled back, trying to score somehow to make up for it.

 

That’s just human psychology.

 

Ah, they say gambling also exploits that kind of human psychology.

 

‘This time we need to do a high press and induce their mistakes.’

 

If we induce the opponent’s mistakes at a time like this and drive in the clinching goal, that team will collapse on their own.

 

I wonder what choice the manager will make?

 

“Hey, Kim.”

 

Temporary captain Max approached me.

 

“Player 7 tactics. High press. And the manager says you can advance anytime.”

 

He delivered the message briefly and headed to another player, while I turned my head to look at the bench.

 

Telling me, who protects the center backs and handles back build-up, that advancing is okay means he’s giving me a free role.

 

However, since the coordination with the players isn’t perfect yet, it wouldn’t be right to overdo it.

 

I turned my head again to look at the excited Jung Joo-young.

 

Multiple goals in his first debut match on loan.

 

For a forward, this is truly a perfect start.

 

There’s a saying that a good start is half the battle.

 

I hope he can rebuild the confidence and skills he lost at Arsenal here.

 

2014

 

2018

 

2022

 

2026

 

I only have 4 World Cup opportunities.

 

To be more realistic, it’s unclear whether I can even participate in the 2026 World Cup.

 

I’ll be in my late thirties by then.

 

Even if I want to play, the manager might not use me.

 

So I should think I only have 3 opportunities.

 

Jung Joo-young needs to be useful at least until the next World Cup.

 

His success is beneficial for me too.

 

‘I hope he remembers what I said earlier.’

 

Right now he’s too excited to listen to anything I say.

 

The match started with the referee’s whistle.

 

The Wolfsburg players began rushing forward like a wave attack.

 

The manager ordered us to pressure them, but everyone’s being pushed back by their momentum.

 

Either the captain or some team leader should be shouting to lift the atmosphere, but no one’s doing that.

 

After returning from the Olympics, I went through all of SC Freiburg’s matches.

 

There were matches where we scored first, but we got reversed due to lack of stamina in the second half.

 

Especially when opponents push hard, we shrink like sea cucumbers and can’t counterattack or do anything, just get beaten up until it ends.

 

I thought we needed a slight atmosphere reversal, so I just rammed into the opposing player who was dribbling the ball.

 

– Thud!

 

“Booooooo!!!!”

 

Boos flew from all directions, and the guy who got fouled seemed furious as he jumped up and rushed at me.

 

‘Yeah, come hit me.’

 

I was prepared to take a few hits, but when he met my gaze, he looked down and quietly turned around.

 

I wish he’d hit me a bit and get sent off the field…

 

At times like this, I’m a bit dissatisfied with my appearance.

 

The referee approached and warned me.

 

“Don’t get excited. If you do this again, I won’t just stand by.”

 

“Ah, yes.”

 

There was no need to get on the referee’s bad side too.

 

“Just because the opponent attacks, you all retreat, why don’t you just leave the stadium altogether?”

 

Instead, I got angry at our team.

 

“What are you saying?”

 

Max, who was serving as temporary captain, frowned and reacted.

 

“Why are you standing here when you should throw away your weapons and just leave the battlefield?”

 

I could feel several players glaring at me.

 

For a player who just came up from the reserves and debuted as a substitute today, these would be very arrogant words.

 

But right now, that kind of stimulation is necessary.

 

I looked at them and clapped a few times.

 

“Do it properly.”

 

Of course, the players’ atmosphere doesn’t change with just that once.

 

So I deliberately rammed another opposing player with my body again.

 

This time targeting a guy who looked more menacing and excited than the previous one.

 

Sure enough, he jumped up and roughly grabbed my collar, continuing to push me.

 

‘Oh? He’s strong?’

 

I could resist, but I can’t be the only one collecting cards.

 

Wolfsburg players ran this way, and Antonio Smith, Jung Joo-young, and even Gunter ran toward me.

 

‘Oh, bench clearing? Why don’t you throw a punch before that?’

 

I looked at the opponent whose eyes had almost completely rolled back and smiled slightly.

 

“You, I’ll kill you?”

 

Oh!

 

Finally there’s a player saying this to me on the field!

 

The Bundesliga really is different after all.

 

But the referee who quickly rushed in separated us, and a team-to-team clash didn’t happen.

 

Instead, the excited Gunter was swearing at the guy who grabbed my collar…

 

‘Why are you doing that?’

 

The atmosphere is getting serious again.

 

That excited guy was about to get into a scuffle with Gunter, so this time our entire team came running.

 

“Stop!! Stop!!”

 

Both managers’ shouts penetrated through the boos and entered the stadium.

 

After both teams’ players surrounded and separated the two players, the heightened tension was resolved.

 

But the referee held up a yellow card toward me.

 

“I warned you earlier, didn’t I?”

 

I made a gesture showing I felt wronged.

 

“It was a physical battle that happened during defense, this is unfair.”

 

But the referee brushed off my words and ran over to that guy fuming in the distance, pulling out a yellow card.

 

“Why did Kim get a card?”

 

“Exactly. That wasn’t even a foul worth a card, was it?”

 

“Did the referee take a bribe?”

 

“This is infuriating?”

 

“If Kim gets a yellow, shouldn’t the guy who grabbed his collar get a red?”

 

The players got excited due to their dissatisfaction with the referee’s decision.

 

‘Nice.’

 

Anger is a good medicine that makes you forget fear and dread.

 

“Hey, fuck, this is bullshit. Let’s destroy them.”

 

Gunter cursed angrily.

 

‘This bastard has some leadership?’

 

Surprisingly so.

 

And as the game resumed with the opponent’s free kick, the players’ movements became distinctly different from before.

 

They became much rougher and more aggressive.

 

As they started going in quite roughly for tackles and defense, the Wolfsburg players, who were desperate for an equalizer, began making more and more mistakes.

 

‘Ah, this is sweet!’

 

Thanks to that, I could easily intercept the ball.

 

And at that moment, I caught sight of Jung Joo-young up front running around a defender.

 

– Boom!

 

I sent a one-touch cross aiming for the space between the goalkeeper and the last defender.

 

This was a movement we had practiced many times during the Olympics and executed in actual matches.

 

The player marking Jung Joo-young was fast, but it would be difficult to catch up to Jung Joo-young who had gained momentum while caught in a reverse movement.

 

The goalkeeper also came out, and the last defender stuck close to Jung Joo-young.

 

Front striker Antonio cleverly blocked the path with his body so that the defender who had been marking him couldn’t go for backup.

 

‘Ah please, just don’t go for a home run…’

 

Jung Joo-young, who always went for home runs when his condition was poor.

 

But this time was different.

 

Smith, who boasted the fastest speed on the team, was somehow heading toward the goal from the opposite side,

 

and Jung Joo-young gave Smith a decisive pass instead of forcing a shot.

 

– Splash!

 

It would be troublesome if he couldn’t score that one.

 

The Volkswagen Arena, where even the booing had disappeared, was truly silent.

 

Smith was screaming and celebrating with pure joy.

 

This was probably his first goal in the Bundesliga.

 

Players running toward Smith in a line like Vienna sausages.

 

Instead, I trudged toward the center.

 

And then I looked at one section of the stands once more.

 

‘Which bastard hit my head with an empty water bottle? It must be someone who doesn’t have a bottle in their hands now, right? Ah, they might have bought another one. Damn.’

 

* * *

 

At first, he couldn’t believe it.

 

The coaches were also puzzled.

 

“Why is he doing that? Such a sudden foul?”

 

It was a very strange foul by anyone’s standards.

 

Kim Sang-hyuk had body-checked as if he held a grudge, when there was no reason to foul.

 

“Maybe he got excited from the trash talking?”

 

Streich could answer that with a definitive ‘No!’

 

If you had to pick the calmest guy in this stadium, it would be Kim Sang-hyuk wearing number 33.

 

And watching the second unreasonable body check, he realized.

 

‘Is he doing it on purpose? Why?’

 

Looking at Kim Sang-hyuk’s reports, he rarely made fouls without reason.

 

But seeing the guy who had collided and rolled around the field several times get extremely excited and charge at Kim Sang-hyuk, he had an intuition.

 

‘Could it be inducing a red card?’

 

Even while being grabbed by the collar and dragged, he kept both hands raised high and just took it.

 

‘Was he this kind of guy?’

 

But when Gunter intervened, the situation flowed very strangely, and the players got all worked up and started defending roughly.

 

‘This worked out well.’

 

Actually, this was something he wanted to order but couldn’t.

 

Due to the losing streak and terrible team atmosphere, the manager’s authority wasn’t established, so instructions weren’t being followed well.

 

This series of events made the players very aggressive, and the urgent Wolfsburg players made frequent mistakes while dealing with the rough defense.

 

‘In conclusion, those two fouls changed the team atmosphere… A 23-year-old young player couldn’t have planned this, could he?’

 

Kim Sang-hyuk’s brilliant interception that followed.

 

That was his trademark even in the reserve team.

 

Just an overwhelming number of interceptions.

 

A sharp right-foot cross that went up several beats faster before the defense could close in.

 

‘That guy got excited?’

 

It was a movement that could only come from observing the situation with surprising calmness.

 

And Jung Joo-young turning and running while gaining acceleration as if he knew it was coming…

 

‘Those two worked together for a long time during the Olympics, right?’

 

And Jung Joo-young’s unexpected selfless play.

 

The goal that erupted from there.

 

Streich lightly threw an uppercut into the air.

 

‘Yes. This is it!’

 

It was exactly the kind of tactical movement he had wanted.

 

Flexible but powerful defensive pressure.

 

Sharp counter attacks starting from there.

 

Suddenly, he remembered chief scout Jorg’s joke from a few days ago.

 

‘Did he say he was too big a vessel for Freiburg to contain?’

 

If all those actions were intentional…

 

“Press them!”

 

“Press them!!!”

 

After the next kickoff, Christian Günter and Kim Sang-hyuk both started shouting and encouraging the players.

 

About 8 minutes left in regular time.

 

The score was 3-1.

 

Wolfsburg rushed their attack in desperation, but seemed greatly bewildered by Freiburg’s powerful high press that they hadn’t experienced once today.

 

Everyone was running with passion, but Streich’s eyes caught the movement of just one player.

 

‘Clever…’

 

It was Kim Sang-hyuk.

 

He was moving nimbly between midfielders, timing his movements to prevent the goalkeeper who was circulating the ball from passing it forward.

 

And finally…

 

Wolfsburg’s defender #4, who had shown an unstable performance throughout the match, couldn’t withstand Jung Joo-young’s powerful pressure and made a mistake while giving a return pass to the goalkeeper.

 

Jung Joo-young, who had been pressing him, stole the ball and took a shot, achieving the amazing accomplishment of a hat-trick in his second-half debut.

 

‘This game is completely secured.’

 

Now even the bench players were jumping up and down with joy.

 

‘A winning streak?’

 

The team atmosphere heating up wasn’t even an issue anymore.

 

For rebuilding, he needed core players to be the foundation, and today he seemed to have found all those players.

 

Perhaps…

 

This season…

 

Streich’s eyes were filled with ambition.

 

* * *

 

“You want a background investigation?”

 

Shin Ye-ra stopped moving her spoon and looked at Hwang Ki-ho.

 

“Yes. There’s a big difference between playing soccer and playing soccer with the Taegeuk Mark. A player with flaws wearing the Taegeuk Mark is unacceptable.”

 

Hwang Ki-ho always said the right things.

 

A person with a serious expression, whose true intentions were impossible to read.

 

“The journalists are already going to do in-depth coverage since it’s already controversial, so there’s no need to…”

 

“Reporter Shin is the most trustworthy. The match-fixing case last time too…”

 

When covering the match-fixing case, Shin Ye-ra was truly a passionate rookie reporter.

 

She was lucky enough to hit it big, and thanks to that, it became the first step in her successful career.

 

“But wouldn’t player Kim Sang-hyuk be a very good card for the National Team that lacks defense?”

 

“Of course. If we can’t quickly quell the current controversy, it will be difficult to select him for the National Team. I just hope this controversy dies down quickly.”

 

So…

 

Are you telling me to attack Kim Sang-hyuk?

 

Or are you saying to protect him?

 

It was an extremely ambiguous answer.

 

“This is a Soccer Association Press Pass.”

 

Hwang Ki-ho placed the press pass on the table.

 

“If the opportunity arises, you might have a chance to briefly speak with the Association President as well.”

 

For a journalist, this kind of opportunity was absolutely not to be missed.

 

The fact that Hwang Ki-ho was close enough with the Football Association President to call each other brothers was something any journalist would know.

 

“You’ll be able to access soccer-related information the fastest. If you want, you can receive various types of support as well.”

 

After finishing her meal and conversation with Hwang Ki-ho, Shin Ye-ra walked slowly through the crowded streets of Gangnam.

 

‘He’s giving me such incredible benefits while asking me to quickly wrap up the Kim Sang-hyuk case?’

 

She couldn’t grasp what this meant at all.

 

– Wow, Korean soccer is blessed. If Kim Sang-hyuk grows just a little more, he’ll become a solid pillar of Korean soccer.

 

The senior male journalists who were soccer fanatics would praise Kim Sang-hyuk so enthusiastically at meals that they’d spray saliva whenever his name came up.

 

Hwang Ki-ho needs a new card since he hasn’t shown good performance in National Team matches, and he wants to quell the controversy surrounding that card…

 

“I guess that’s how I should think about it?”

 

So… he’s asking me to cover Kim Sang-hyuk as favorably as possible, right?

 

* * *

 

Kim & Chang Law Firm.

 

One of the top three powerful law firms in Korea.

 

Kang Hae-jun, who was a team leader there, received a call from an unexpected person.

 

– You’re Attorney Kang Hae-jun, right?

 

– Yes, that’s correct. What are you calling about?

 

– Ah, I’m Jung Seung-jin, a soccer agent.

 

– A soccer agent?

 

Kang Hae-jun wasn’t particularly interested in soccer.

 

He was curious about how this person had obtained his personal mobile phone number.

 

– Yes. I’m contacting you at the request of my client.

 

– Who is your client?

 

– Player Kim Sang-hyuk.

 

The name seemed familiar, but Kang Hae-jun, who didn’t personally know any soccer players, tilted his head in confusion.

 

– He was in a car accident?

 

At those words, Kang Hae-jun’s eyes widened.

 

“Ah!”

—————
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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