Chapter 86: An Even More Special Victory (1)

“You f*cking pieces of sht!!!”

“Get your act together!!!”

Oh, as expected of Manchester United, huh?

Even with so few of them, their curses don’t fall short compared to the City fans.

It was now the 32nd round.

We were being told that a win in this match against Manchester United would effectively secure our championship.

With a considerable point gap already established with the second-place team, Man Utd, a win in this match would leave no variables unless we suddenly collapsed.

Most of our remaining matches were against mid-table and lower-table teams.

On the other hand, Man Utd still had matches against top-tier teams.

But what we, City, were aiming for now was not just the championship.

Currently, we had not lost a single match in the league.

Yes, we were aiming for the ‘unbeaten’ title to make the word ‘championship’ shine even brighter.

The record shining on the scoreboard was 1-0.

We were leading with Guerrero’s opening goal, but Man Utd, as expected, never gave up.

They would probably rather prevent their rival, City, from achieving the honor of an unbeaten season than win the title themselves.

After all, seeing your rival win is more painful than not winning yourself.

But what if it was an unbeaten season?

Absolutely unbearable.

The Man Utd captain, Alex Turner, had a war of words with me in a first-half interview.

But that absolutely did not mean he had a bad personality.

In fact, he was a leader in the same vein as our angelic captain, Matias.

It was just that his sense of belonging to Man Utd was so strong that he clashed with me.

‘To be fair, I was the one who started the fight…’

So I didn’t dislike him.

Besides, his skills were so incredible that I had things to learn from him.

Tap.

It seemed like a light touch, but his passes were always accurate.

Boom!

And his sudden through-balls were always deadly.

[Alex Turner sends a strong pass into an open space in an instant. The receiver is Garnacho.]

Garnacho was currently second in the scoring ranks, behind Guerrero, but he was a player who could not be ignored.

The mere fact that he was the starting striker for Man Utd, last season’s champions and dubbed the strongest team in the Premier League, showed how outstanding a player he was.

Of course, now the strongest team was Man City, not Man Utd.

As soon as Garnacho received the ball, he shrugged off Oden’s pressure with just an upper-body feint.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Towards the rapidly pressing Castillo, Garnacho executed a Marseille turn without slowing down.

The Marseille turn, executed smoothly without losing speed, was a play that would draw admiration even from non-Man Utd fans.

As their ace showcased a fantastic dribble, hopeful cheers erupted from the Man Utd stands.

“Waaaaaaaaah!!!”

However, just as Garnacho skillfully evaded the other defenders’ pressure and was about to attempt a shot, I stole the ball with a tackle.

[An excellent decision, Jeong Taewoo! As Garnacho’s gaze shifted away from the front while evading the defenders, he didn’t miss that moment and rushed in to execute a tackle that cleanly took only the ball.]

[As expected of Manchester City’s iron wall, the bane of strikers, Jeong Taewoo. Many people have been focusing only on his attacking power lately, but we must never forget. His defensive ability is the best in the world.]

“Ah…”

The sound of cheers turned into sighs.

The job satisfaction of a goalkeeper is truly the best.

Seeing their hopes dashed by my play, watching the expectant expressions of the crowd turn to ones of emptiness.

“Hah, this is ridiculous.”

Garnacho, who had fallen after I tackled the ball away from him, got up and said.

“Taewoo, how about coming to Man Utd? If you come, Man Utd will become the strongest.”

This guy, since he can’t kill me directly, is he trying to kill me this way?

If I were to really transfer to Man Utd… after making jokes about the little kid in interviews…

Oh, sh*t.

I was just beaten to death by City fans in my imagination.

“No, how about you come to City instead? Then you’ll be able to win the championship.”

His face turned pale, as if he had just had a similar thought.

“Hmm, I can’t do that. What a shame… I wanted to play on the same team as you.”

“Well, maybe we can play on the same team someday.”

“Huh?”

“On the national team.”

At my words, he looked at me as if in disbelief.

“Taewoo, I’m Spanish.”

“If you want to play with me that badly, become a naturalized Korean. We’d welcome you.”

Damn right, if you want to play with me, you have to be prepared for that much.

Even I couldn’t force him to come from Man Utd to Man City.

But moving from Spain to Korea should be fine, right?

‘Spain and Korea aren’t rivals…’

Tsk.

Looking at his expression, I guess not.

He’s looking at me as if I’ve turned into Guerrero.

Was it that absurd…

“The way you’re looking at me has put me in a bad mood. I’m definitely not conceding today.”

“…Please spare me that. Honestly, naturalization is going too far.”

“Nope, I refuse. Go back.”

“Wait, I’ll score a goal for you in a bit!”

Manchester United, trailing by one goal, continued to threaten Manchester City’s goal with relentless, fast-paced attacks.

Of course, I kept my word.

Pooooow!!!

I dived to block a long-range shot from Alex Turner heading for the left corner.

Thud.

I blocked a shot from Garnacho, who had only changed the ball’s direction after receiving a pass, with my leg.

“Woooooah!!!”

“Taewoo! Taewoo! Taewoo!”

[He’s insane! If he blocks that too, then how on earth are they supposed to score a goal!]

The Manchester City fans went wild at the god-like display of saves at their home stadium.

Everyone put their arms around each other’s shoulders and sang my cheer song, and ecstatic fans took off their shirts and waved them around or sprayed beer into the sky, creating a festival-like frenzy.

“…Taewoo.”

“What?”

Garnacho, who had frozen after preparing a celebration for what he thought was a sure goal, asked with a bitter smile.

“If I move to Korea, will you let me score?”

“Nope, too late. Go back.”

“Damn it…”

‘You should have answered that way when I asked earlier. If you had… well, I probably would have blocked it anyway.’

The more I play as a goalkeeper, the more I feel like my personality is getting worse.

Is it because teasing strikers is just too much fun?

***

“Uwaaaaaah Jeong! Tae! Woo! Uwaaaaaaah!”

While all of South Korea was cheering and celebrating Jeong Taewoo’s saves.

There was just one person letting out a scream of agony.

[Looooooooool]

[The only streamer in Korea who can curse at Jeong Taewoo and not get flamed for it.]

Gamst.

He was broadcasting the match again, and as the second half ended, he was exploding with the anger he had been holding back.

“No, honestly, we were supposed to win this!”

[Gamst is seriously mad lol]

[But even though Jeong Taewoo is on Man City, he seems especially strong against Man U]

[Gamst is a Man U fan? Then die]

“Hah… our second consecutive championship is down the drain…”

[As if Man U could do that]

[Honestly, if it weren’t for City right now, Man U would have definitely won the title]

“Still, we have the Champions League.”

Since City was a mid-table team last season, they didn’t have a Champions League ticket and couldn’t participate in this season’s tournament.

On the other hand, Man Utd, as last season’s champions, had a ticket.

And they were currently waiting for the final match.

“Well… since it’s come to this, let’s just appreciate our little brother Taewoo’s plays.”

[Just a moment ago you were screaming his name in anger, and now he’s suddenly ‘our little brother’? What’s with the attitude change?]

[lol Do you guys have a world-class younger brother?]

[Just a minute ago you were acting like he was your mortal enemy]

“Wow, but Taewoo is really good.”

On his monitor, the scene of him blocking Garnacho’s direction-changing shot by extending his leg, even though his body was moving in the opposite direction, was playing.

“How did he block that… He committed his body to the right to block the ball, but Garnacho changed the direction with an insane touch, you know? But he still blocked it by stretching out his leg…”

[But that was seriously insane]

[The more I see it, the more I think, is that something a human body can do?]

[I agree. When you watch other goalkeepers, it’s like, ‘Wow, he’s good,’ but with Jeong Taewoo, it’s more like, ‘f*ck, what did I just see.’]

[[ManU_Champs sponsored 1000 won]]

[If you call Jeong Taewoo and ask him if he feels satisfied only after blocking every single shot, I’ll immediately send 1,000,000 won.]

“Ah, you guys are too much… But I do have Taewoo’s number…”

[No way?]

[He’s actually considering it?]

[If he really calls, it’ll be legendary.]

“Ahem… It’s true that Taewoo and I are really close…”

They met through a broadcast and called each other ‘hyung’ and ‘dongsaeng’, but even the viewers probably wouldn’t believe he was close enough to Taewoo to call him during a live stream.

He wouldn’t have believed it himself in the past.

That’s how arrogant most successful people were, and Gamst himself had seen plenty of them.

But Taewoo… was different.

The fact that he would sometimes call him first was proof of that.

Of course, sometimes he would make mischievous calls too.

“Hyung, if you praise me on your stream for about 10 minutes, I’ll go a little easy on Man U.”

“Hyung, in my opinion, the current meta is Manchester City, not Manchester United. Want to switch teams?”

He really liked the pure, youthful innocence of a nineteen-year-old that he could feel in that playful tone.

And it was a secret that he really did praise Taewoo for ten minutes the next day.

‘If I call now… will he pick up…’

But he soon shook his head.

No matter how close you are, there are lines you must not cross.

Calling a player who had just fought with all his might, and for a reason like this, was a nuisance no matter how you looked at it.

Just as he was about to say, ‘I don’t think I can do that,’ his phone rang.

The screen displayed ‘My Lil Bro.’

“Heok?”

[???]

[What’s with the sudden shock?]

“I’m getting a call from Taewoo?”

[????]

[Wow, f*ck, answer it already, what are you doing?]

[He must have been watching the stream.]

[Awesome.]

“Hello, my lil bro-“

“Maeng-gu got cut!!!”

(TL Note: “Maeng-gu” is a derogatory nickname for Manchester United fans in Korea. The phrase is a popular taunt.)

“…”

[Looooooooooooooooool]

[Looooooooooooooooooooool]

It was the moment the chat window was flooded with ‘lol’s.