[Ahhh, that was close. It nearly struck vice president Chung Mong-joon right in the face.]
After unleashing that sharp shot, Ho-young refocused on the match.
There was something he really wanted to confirm.
'Transcendent ball sense.'
He had not fully acquired the talent yet, but it definitely felt different from before.
That feeling whenever he touched the ball.
It felt as though he might be able to pull off movements that should be impossible.
'I still can't tell for sure.'
He had wanted to test it properly in today's match, but before he could, he was substituted in the second half.
[Ho-young, who recorded 2 goals and 1 assist, heads back to the bench.]
[Man of the Match is as good as guaranteed again today.]
The match ended in a 5-1 win for South Korea.
And as they were heading back toward the tunnel, Dong Fangzhuo approached and asked to swap shirts.
Ho-young accepted gladly.
"This might end up being my last shirt."
"Hm?"
Ho-young swallowed a bitter smile and entered the interview room.
Before the joint press conference with coach Heo Sung-soo, a brief Man of the Match interview was scheduled to take place.
Hwang Tae-seok, the reporter who could be called Ho-young's assigned journalist in South Korea, asked,
"Congratulations, Ho-young. It's been a while since you wore the national team shirt, so I imagine this feels different for you. How do you feel?"
"I'm sad."
"Sorry?"
"I'm sad because this is the last time."
"...?"
The interview room fell silent at the completely unexpected remark.
Ho-young drove the point home.
"As of today, I am retiring from the South Korea national team."
"...!"
Retirement.
It was a decision he had reached after several days of consideration.
In other words, it meant he would no longer wear the South Korea shirt in the Olympics, World Cup, Asian Cup, or Asian Games.
He had made the decision while accepting all of that.
Ho-young thought this was far better than sitting still and taking the blow first.
That was also why he had chosen not to follow Mansour's advice.
And he was sure things would work out.
[
[Ho-young retired from the national team after strongly criticising threats from the Korea Football Association and FIFA vice president Chung Mong-joon's side. Ho-young made it clear that he was firm in his decision to retire, and bluntly pointed out all the problems currently plaguing Korean football.]
[What the hell is this...? We thought they were giving China a footballing tour and were loving it, but what kind of nonsense is this? So that was his retirement match?]
└Those crazy KFA bastards.
└So Chung Mong-joon asked him to help with the election campaign, and when he refused, they threatened to force national team call-ups on him?
└No wonder it felt strange that Ho-young was the only one called up. Absolute trash. Even after this, they'll probably just apologise, cut off a few lower-level staff, and sweep it under the rug.
└Lol, exactly. I guarantee the KFA still won't change even in 20 years.
└I just feel bad for Ho-young. He must have been under so much pressure to say retirement that coldly.
└Well, it would've been hard to handle at that age.
└Ho-young, I'll support you to the end. Clear out all those rotten bastards and come back for sure.
At first, those were the dominant reactions.
A wave of support and consolation for Ho-young followed, and public opinion seemed to tilt entirely to one side.
But it did not last very long.
[
[Our Korea Football Association swears to the people that we will not tell a single lie. Neither I nor any employee of the Korea Football Association has ever threatened Ho-young. We will release every record of our phone calls with Ho-young to the media without omission and prove that we never said any such thing.
The reason we called Ho-young up for the China match was because of the World Cup Asian qualifiers beginning in September. Ho-young lives an extremely busy life, so he does not get many opportunities to build chemistry with the national team manager. That is why we specially called him up this time. If the national team finds itself in danger of being eliminated in the World Cup qualifiers, we may need to summon Ho-young urgently.
However, it is regrettable that Ho-young has mistaken our consideration for a threat. His retirement is unfortunate, but we have no right to stop his decision. Therefore, as South Korea's football authority, we respect his choice.]
[
Strictly speaking, what they said was also true.
They had asked him to help with the election, but they had never directly threatened him by explicitly tying it to call-ups.
It was the moment the balance of public opinion, which had been leaning to one side, shifted in an instant.
[Some football pundits say, "This is nothing more than the tantrum of an arrogant footballer. It must never be indulged. The only reason someone could think a national team call-up is malicious is because they lack patriotism."]
Anti-fans who had always been desperate to tear Ho-young down actively stepped in and muddied the atmosphere.
After that, reactions to Ho-young's decision became sharply divided.
[Still, retiring from the national team at just 17 makes no sense. Hasn't he still played fewer than 10 A-matches? He's got another 15 years ahead of him, so what is he planning to do all that time?]
└Are you stupid? Obviously he'll come back once the World Cup comes around. I doubt even the KFA would just let this go like that.
└Still, this feels way too irresponsible. No matter how important the club is, a national team call-up only means a few matches a year.
└Does the country feed him? The KFA was the one at fault first, so why are people blaming Ho-young?
└What if Ho-young is the one lying?
└Look at the KFA's history and Ho-young's actions so far. You can tell just from their character.
└Well, I don't even think he needs to play in the World Cup anymore. He already finished third once, so that's enough. He probably knows the future national team squad won't win it all anyway, so maybe he washed his hands of it before going through needless suffering.
└Ho-young isn't that kind of player.
Still, the mood was not especially severe.
Because retirement could always be reversed, most people believed Ho-young would definitely come back.
That was exactly why the Korea Football Association could afford to act so boldly.
A player as ambitious as Ho-young would never give up on the World Cup.
The initiative could only remain with vice president Chung Mong-joon.
After announcing his retirement and returning to England, Ho-young finally felt as though he had set down a little of the heavy burden he had been carrying.
His image had taken a serious hit right away, but advertising offers were still pouring in without end.
At the same time, the media battle with vice president Chung Mong-joon continued nonstop.
Ho-young kept exposing their abuses and refused to let go until the end.
He had nothing more to lose here anyway.
If anything, the longer this dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for Chung Mong-joon, whose approval rating was already being chipped away after getting caught up in controversy.
He had also received contact from the Korea Football Association just a few days earlier.
The message was that they should meet, work out a compromise, and wrap up the matter quickly.
'They'll offer a deal, return to the national team and help with the election campaign. They'll say they'll make things easier for me from now on.'
It was obvious without even looking.
But Ho-young had not the slightest intention of moving according to their wishes.
'Even if they don't want to bring this to a close quickly, it will soon come to an end on its own.'
Before long, everything was going to be resolved in a single stroke.
As long as the plan he was currently carrying out with Mansour worked.
Chairman's office, Korea Football Association, Jongno, Seoul.
KFA chairman Chung Hyun-kyu and FIFA vice president Chung Mong-joon were seated together.
The atmosphere was rather cheerful.
"Haha. For a youngster, he's got nerve. At this point, you'd think he'd come crawling back out of fear."
When Chung Hyun-kyu sneered, Chung Mong-joon smirked as well.
"Retirement? Who's supposed to be scared of that? Does he think we wouldn't realise he's just putting on an act so we stop calling him up?"
"Exactly. Since it's come to this, let's just wait patiently. If we wait, he'll come back no matter what. I may not know everything, but he'll definitely want to play in the World Cup."
"True enough. If he's got any sense, he'll want to wrap this up quickly too. His future is so bright, there's nothing good for him in being caught up in an ugly affair like this. It's not as though he can naturalise either."
They had said publicly that they respected Ho-young's decision, but they had absolutely no intention of letting him go.
One way or another, they meant to bring him back into the national team.
Ho-young was a resource they could never replace, no matter the price.
"If we want to keep control, we need to stay sharp right now."
"Yes, absolutely."
Everything was going exactly as they had expected.
Now all they had to do was alternate the carrot and the stick with Ho-young and wait for him to lower his head and come back.
"I've already said enough to Ho-young's agent, so we'll be hearing from them soon enough. We've given this much ground, so they must have understood."
Everything was proceeding smoothly.
But then, right at that moment.
Knock knock knock.
A knock came from outside the chairman's office.
Then the executive director hurried in and said in a flustered voice,
"Please, take a look at this article."
"What is it now?"
"Well... we still don't know exactly how this happened..."
"For heaven's sake."
Snatching the executive director's phone, Chung Hyun-kyu frowned as soon as he saw the screen.
"Hm?"
"What is it?"
Then it was vice president Chung Mong-joon's turn.
Too impatient to wait, he grabbed the phone and checked the overseas article himself.
[Mohammed Bin Hammam, president of the Asian Football Confederation, raises allegations of corruption against FIFA president Blatter]
[According to Bin Hammam's side, president Blatter delivered bribes to FIFA executive committee members to ensure South Africa was selected as host nation for the 2010 World Cup. It is reported that they even submitted various forms of evidence, claiming to have identified detailed circumstances showing secretary general Jérôme Valcke acted as a key figure who carried out Blatter's dirty work in the process. In response, Swiss judicial authorities strengthened their corruption investigation and filed charges against president Blatter.]
[Evidence has surfaced that president Blatter paid €5 million to the Football Association of Ireland during the 2010 South Africa World Cup in order to silence complaints over a refereeing controversy. Bin Hammam's side further claims that Ireland accepted it and used the money to help build Aviva Stadium.]
[2010 South Africa World Cup, Switzerland refereeing controversy resurfaces... Was it all corruption after all?]
[President Blatter, "All of this is an absurd lie. This is someone's political plot."]
[If FIFA president Blatter resigns, there is a very high chance president Bin Hammam will be elected as the next president... At the same time, interest surges in Bin Hammam's naturalisation policy reform plan]
[President Bin Hammam's eased naturalisation policy, reform allowing players of mixed heritage, covering parents to grandparents, or multinational families, also covering parents to grandparents, to naturalise once into the nationality on the other side... A policy targeting football talents who failed to break through at the extremely high threshold of European national teams... However, naturalisation is impossible if a player has participated two or more times in combined World Cups and continental championships]
As soon as the sudden scandal involving president Blatter broke, all kinds of articles came pouring out.
But for vice president Chung Mong-joon, who was competing against him in the election, it was not something he could celebrate unconditionally.
"Wait. Ho-young, his maternal grandfather is Spanish, isn't he?"
"That's right..."
"..."
In other words, if everything in those articles came true, then talk of retirement or not, Ho-young would be handed an enormous weapon.
And right then.
Bzzz.
He had already been about to place a call, and at that perfect moment, a call came from Giuliano Lucci.
"Hello."
But without even properly exchanging greetings, Lucci went straight to the point.
-Our client is seriously considering naturalisation.
The reason for naturalisation was the tyranny of chairman Chung Hyun-kyu and FIFA vice president Chung Mong-joon.
In other words, it was only a matter of time before all arrows turned back on the two of them.
Having roughly grasped the situation, Chung Mong-joon quickly replied.
"Let's meet and talk."
-Before that, I think we should receive a public apology first.
"Huh..."
It was the moment the initiative passed to Ho-young.
But there was no longer any reason for him to stay entangled with them.
A new era.
And a new path lay right in front of Ho-young.
(To be continued.)