Chapter 96: Legend Soccer (1)

While there were many world-class players from Korea, they rarely achieved a league title.

However, when Jeong Taewoo, who had just become an adult, set a great record of winning the league undefeated in his debut season, the Korean soccer world fell into a frenzy of excitement.

Even though there were many Korean players recognized on the world stage, some voices denigrated their abilities because they didn’t have a single championship trophy.

But behind such criticism lay the ardent desire of the Korean people.

It was the desire to see a Korean player lift a championship trophy.

There was a build-up of frustration about why they couldn’t win the championship, even though they had enough skill.

In that situation, Jeong Taewoo’s achievement on the world’s best stage, the Premier League, was even more special.

The headlines of various sports news outlets were plastered with “Jeong Taewoo Myth” every day, and highlight videos of his games were being shared explosively on social media.

A wind of change also blew through the youth soccer world.

In the past, most young players admired strikers, but these days, it has become commonplace for parents to come and ask, “Can my child become like Jeong Taewoo?”

The status of the goalkeeper position had completely changed.

Now, the practice of putting a less skilled friend as a goalkeeper was nowhere to be found in schools.

Rather, it was becoming a new trend for the team’s ace to guard the goal and show off Jeong Taewoo-style saves and offensive plays.

But there were also side effects of the Jeong Taewoo syndrome. It was that all parents believed that their child could block goals and score at the same time.

“No, ma’am, Yechan certainly has talent as a goalkeeper, but I don’t think he’ll be able to attack like Jeong Taewoo.”

“It’s because you’re already killing your child’s heart from the start, coach! Jeong Taewoo can do it, so why can’t our son do it!”

This kind of conversation has now become a common occurrence in soccer academies.

The emergence of Jeong Taewoo, a special player, has rather led to unrealistic expectations from parents.

In the first place, the parents, who didn’t even know soccer well, were only thinking simplistically, ‘That twenty-year-old goalkeeper can do it, so why can’t my son do it?’

‘Geez, if that was a commonly possible play, there would have been a lot of goalkeepers like that all along.’

Yoon Dongjun, the director and coach of Sinhwa Soccer Academy, was really in trouble.

Jeong Taewoo was a special player whose talent was recognized around the world, but it didn’t make sense that people thought anyone could do that.

But the parents would never admit it.

“If you can’t make it happen like that, then we don’t need to come here. Please refund everything we’ve learned so far.”

“No, ma’am, how can we refund three months’ worth? Besides, you’ve already received all the training during that time.”

“You clearly said you’d make him like Jeong Taewoo!”

‘Ha… that darn money is the bane of my existence.’

If he hadn’t bought a Benz E-Class on a full installment plan, he would have kicked out these kinds of troublemakers right away.

Yoon Dongjun steeled his heart while looking at the sharp and magnificent car line of his beloved car parked outside the window.

‘I’m a pushover. I’m a pushover who can only smile even when the other person gets angry.’

“Aigoo, ma’am, you should have listened to the end… What I meant was that we should make the defense more solid than the offense to build a foundation and then practice attacking.”

“So, is it possible like Jeong Taewoo?”

‘Is it even possible…’

But Yoon Dongjun hid his true feelings and replied.

“If it’s Yechan, I think he’ll be able to finish training as a goalkeeper soon and then train offensively too. As I said, he has the talent of a goalkeeper. That’s what I meant…”

Yoon Dongjun spoke while bowing his waist as humbly as possible, and the parent, seeing this, spoke in a slightly calmer voice.

“Well… you should have said that earlier. You just made me look like a weird person for no reason.”

“Aigoo, I’m sorry.”

“Hmph, then I’ll be going. Please take good care of Yechan.”

“Yes, ma’am, go in safely.”

Click-

As soon as the door to the coach’s office closed, Yoon Dongjun slammed his head on the desk.

[Jeong Taewoo is reportedly resting at his parents’ home. As much as he was a huge hit on Star Mission Operation, I hope to see his face on other entertainment shows as well.]

Yoon Dongjun smiled bitterly as he watched the news about Jeong Taewoo on TV.

‘I’m definitely making more money… but my hair is falling out more, and I’m getting more internal diseases…’

He swept back his thinning hair and sighed.

There were too many troublemakers, as much as his profits had increased.

Yoon Dongjun muttered to the air, then suddenly remembered his Benz installment payment and smiled bitterly once again.

‘Ah… yeah, I have to put up with it. What does it matter about my hair? I don’t have a girlfriend anyway, so I should drive a nice car.’

When he switched the channel, an introduction of a famous actor’s ideal type came on.

[My ideal type is Jeong Taewoo.]

“Sniff… Why is God so unfair.”

When even his favourite actor mentioned Jeong Taewoo as her ideal type, the pride that he was barely holding on to with his Benz crumbled.

Yoon Dongjun looked up at the sky with a hollow laugh.

‘Why is God so unfair…’

The tears welling up in the eyes of the thirty-five-year-old soccer academy director were as heavy as his Benz installment payments.

***

Four days had passed since I returned to Korea.

I rested well for four days and, although I unfortunately couldn’t meet Damin, I spent a leisurely daily life eating home-cooked meals with my mom at home.

And today, I was meeting with Gayoung-nuna at a cafe in front of my house to set my schedule in Korea.

“Taewoo, then we’re not doing commercials, so what about entertainment shows?”

As much as I had won the league undefeated, my value was quite high right now.

If I filmed all the commercials that had come in, I could earn a lot of money, but I was avoiding them as much as possible because all the commercials that had come in so far were to be filmed with other female actors or girl groups.

‘If I was filming with Damin, I’d jump right in…’

But currently, Queendom was on an overseas tour, so I couldn’t even meet her, let alone film a commercial with her.

‘Ah, is this why long-distance relationships are hard?’

When I was single, I would hear that long-distance couples had a hard time and just think, ‘It’s because they don’t have enough love’, but I didn’t know it would be this hard to not see the person you love all the time.

“Have a lot of entertainment shows come in too?”

“Well, I’ve been contacted by Star Mission Operation, which you’ve filmed once before…”

I had filmed Star Mission Operation once before, so if I were to do it, I wanted to try something different.

“Um, I’ve tried it once, so I want to try something else.”

“Then how about this?”

Gayoung-nuna turned on the “Legend Soccer” entertainment show, which had been created recently but was gaining tremendous popularity, on her phone.

‘Oh, I’ve wanted to go on that show…’

Legend Soccer was an entertainment show that brought together retired legendary athletes from various sports, created a soccer team, and played games against other soccer teams.

Ahn Junghwan sunbaenim was in charge of directing, and since everyone was an athlete, they showed better athletic skills than expected, and they were also showing an unexpected sense of entertainment that you couldn’t believe they were athletes, so it was all the rage.

“Actually, there were a lot of people who said that Legend Soccer would fail at first, but thanks to you, soccer has become more popular, and they’ve benefited from it. So, if you say you’re going to be on it, they’ll welcome you with open arms.”

Legend Soccer was different from other entertainment shows. It was a program where legends from various sports gathered and played soccer seriously, but also showed a fun chemistry.

In particular, the fact that there might be things to learn since they were all players who had reached the pinnacle in one sport, even if it was a different sport, was appealing.

“I’ll go on Legend Soccer.”

“Good, you’ve thought it through well. The fans are waiting for you to be on TV, too.”

‘I wasn’t planning on doing any more entertainment shows if possible, but since this is soccer…’

I was really looking forward to what kind of aura the pinnacles of each field would exude.

***

Today was the day to film the Legend Soccer show that I had been looking forward to. Originally, Gayoung-nuna was supposed to drive, but something came up, so Chankyu-hyung was driving instead.

“Hyung, I’m sorry. You’re supposed to be resting.”

“Hey, what are you sorry about? It’s my job to take you. I told the CEO not to have anyone else do it and that I would do it. You don’t have to be sorry.”

My heart warmed at Chankyu-hyung’s words.

All the people around me are really too nice.

A slight smile appeared on my lips.

That’s how we arrived at the filming location.

There, I was able to meet Ahn Junghwan sunbaenim first.

He was the main character of the 2002 World Cup semi-finals myth, and a player who was always mentioned when picking handsome players.

Even though time had passed, he was overflowing with mature charm.

“Jeong Taewoo-ssi, I watched your game well, and congratulations on winning the championship.”

He was clearly respecting me, a junior who was younger than him.

Although it was our first meeting, it was a first greeting that clearly showed Ahn Junghwan sunbaenim’s character.

“Thank you. And please speak comfortably.”

“Ah, should I? Wow, but you’re really good at soccer. How can you dribble and shoot so well as a goalkeeper?”

Time flew by quickly as I was talking about soccer with Ahn Junghwan sunbaenim, and it was soon time for filming.

“Ah, it’s time for filming. Taewoo, I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Yes!”

That’s how I watched the people who were at the pinnacle of each sport gather from a distance and film the opening.

Legends from various sports, such as baseball, basketball, swimming, fencing, shooting, and boxing, were gathered in one place.

“Yes, I’ve invited a special coach to improve your skills.”

“Could it be?”

“That person?”

Although I couldn’t tell for sure, there was a hint of expectation in the expressions of the players, who didn’t yet know that I was a guest.

“Manchester City’s starting goalkeeper, who is also called the ‘scourge of attackers’ in Europe, and the player who won the league undefeated in his debut season, Jeong Taewoo-ssi is our one-day coach today!”

After hearing Ahn Junghwan sunbaenim’s comment, I walked out to the filming location.

“Hello. I’m Jeong Taewoo, who is also called the scourge of attackers, but also a goalkeeper who is better at attacking than the attackers.”

Ahem… It’s not that I felt Ahn Junghwan sunbaenim’s explanation was lacking.

It’s just that I think my identity is more in line with the latter than the former, so I was just telling you…