"Wow, congratulations!"
"Congrats! Bruno!"
"So jealous, you bastard."
"Thanks, guys."
"So you're treating us now, right?"
"Of course I'm treating. I'll do it properly on Friday."
I was getting ready for training, and today the atmosphere was unusually lively.
Bruno, a starting winger on our team, had just arrived, and the kids were crowding around to congratulate him.
Curious about what was going on, I casually lent an ear—it seemed Bruno had signed a professional contract.
"So... how much are you getting now?"
"How much did they offer?"
The chatter had been loud, but suddenly everyone's voices dropped low, so I pretended to look elsewhere while sneaking closer.
Ahem. Secret conversations are always the most interesting.
Bruno glanced around briefly, then spoke.
"About 10 times more. They're giving me around 2,000 euros now."
"Whoa, damn!"
"2,000 euros a week..."
"Even if we saved our weekly wages for two months, it still wouldn't be enough."
"Bruno is my Saviour..."
Exclamations of amazement erupted among the kids.
I had to swallow my own amazement internally as well.
So signing a pro contract means your weekly wage jumps tenfold.
No wonder the kids were so envious...
"Wow, now all ten of us combined equals one Bruno?"
"So jealous... What are you gonna do with that weekly pay?"
"Hmm. I'm thinking about buying cleats. The new ones that just came out."
"Whoa, rich guy!"
Cleats, huh. I was about due for new ones myself. Being able to buy the latest model without even thinking about it—that was certainly enviable.
Well, it's not like I was strapped for cash right now. My current weekly wage was around 200 euros, so in real terms I was making over 200,000 won per week.
That comes out to almost a million won a month.
I'm not an adult or anything. At this age, a million won is more than enough to get by. Though the cost of living here is a bit high, so it's not like I can spend extravagantly.
Still, I couldn't help but envy Bruno.
Ten times that amount. That means 2 million won a week. 8 million won a month.
Obviously once the amounts get bigger there's tax stuff and things change, but roughly that's what it would be.
So jealous. Way too jealous.
If, just if, I also signed a pro contract like Bruno... If I started making 8 million won a month, what would I do first?
First, the rent dad pays for our place—I'd take over that.
I'd use my own money for groceries too. Fix the half-broken washing machine. Buy a bigger fridge.
Treat Ji-woo to something delicious and show off about it.
...I'd still have money left over after all that?
Save that up for a few months and I could even buy dad a car. Wow, when I think about it like this, it really is amazing.
"Bruno is a god..."
My thoughts had drifted that far, and I found myself muttering without realizing it. Bruno is a god... A god...
"Gather up, gather up! Let's start practice!"
So jealous.
I hope I get good news when my next contract comes up too... Is that too shameless to hope for?
Then again. I spent the past few months doing nothing but stealing my paycheck. It would make me a bad person to even expect anything, right?
"Congratulations, Bruno."
"Hm? Oh, thanks. Ji-an, make some time on Friday. I'll buy you dinner."
"Ah, sure. I'll try to make it."
Seeing Bruno's bright face made my mood lift along with his.
*
"Good, good! Let's go one more time!"
"Whew, yep."
After catching my breath briefly, I pushed off the ground and dribbled forward again.
Soon I came face to face with Coach Luca, who was waiting with his stance low...
-Tatat!
I attempted a feint, mixing upper body movements with footwork.
I tilted my upper body as if going right, then moved my feet as if going left.
But he was unmoved.
He didn't fall for it easily. Was he saying he wouldn't be fooled twice? I had already used the upper body feint and quick penetration earlier.
So what should I try now?
Just driving straight wouldn't beat him. My only option was to deceive him and steal his timing... Should I try this?
-Shik-
I shifted my weight to the right while swinging a fake once,
-Paang!
Then used the recoil to cut quickly to the opposite side.
-Tatatat!
I saw him hesitate and lose his timing from my fake.
I got past him with that one.
"Nice, nice! That one—I couldn't move at all!"
"Ah, haha..."
As I dribbled back with the ball after his praise, I sheepishly scratched my head.
He was being too generous with the compliments. It was embarrassing.
He was letting me get past him on purpose anyway.
"Good, good. Want to go again?"
"Yep. I'll give it a shot."
After team practice ended.
I had stayed behind at the training ground for individual training.
Gratefully, Coach Luca was personally overseeing it. He said he needed to stay because I shouldn't train alone in case I got injured, and because the training volume needed to be controlled.
But rather than just watching, He was training with me like a personal trainer.
During dribbling practice like now, he would play the defender role, and during shooting practice, he would even put on gloves and play goalkeeper.
At first, I felt more burdened than grateful. Did he really need to stay behind and do all this just for me...
But he didn't show any hint of annoyance and was actually more enthusiastic about helping with the training.
Thanks to that, I could focus purely on training with a grateful heart.
I made a mental note to do something for him if I ever got the chance.
"Alright, now shall we work ourselves to death?"
"I'll gladly accept."
After skill training, we wrapped up with physical training. He had even created a custom interval program for me, so all I had to do was mindlessly push myself to the limit.
I shuttled rapidly back and forth through the step ladder, held my ground as he tried to push me over, and played non-stop tag in a tight space.
"Haaah... haaaaah..."
The weather was already hot, and on top of that, intense physical training—it was murder. At some point during it, I just couldn't remember anything anymore. My mind went completely blank.
"It's hard" didn't even begin to describe it. It was the kind of suffering that could kill someone.
I kept it secret from him, but throughout training, Korean curses I normally never used kept slipping out of my mouth.
"Here, drink."
"Ah... Thank you..."
But even though it was that hard while doing it.
Once I finished everything, physical training was also what felt the most rewarding.
How should I put it. It was like the satisfaction of winning a battle against myself. Also, when you push to your absolute limit, sometimes your mind goes weird and you feel incredibly good.
Most importantly, after training like this, I had the certainty that tomorrow's me would be better—so I couldn't help but feel proud.
If I repeated this dozens, hundreds of times.
Maybe someday, I could become a real football genius to at least someone.
That was my thinking.
"Keuuugh..."
"Haha."
I chugged the sports drink the Coach handed me and let out a sound like a dying Alpaca, which made Coach Luca laugh.
After coming to my senses a bit, I sat up and bowed my head to him.
"Thank you for today as well."
"What's there to thank me for."
"For training with me like this."
"Training kids is my job. If anything, when someone comes to me first wanting to work hard like this, I'm the one who's grateful."
"Still, thank you. I'll find a way to repay you later."
At my words, He looked at me and laughed heartily.
"Repay me, huh. Then do well in the match this week. There's no better repayment for a coach than that."
"Ah, this week's match..."
"Well, I'm not trying to pressure you. I'm saying claim what you've rightfully earned. If you've sweated buckets on a hot day like this, shouldn't you at least do well so you don't feel cheated?"
When I nodded, He nodded along with me.
"I played professionally too, so I know—there's no such thing as coincidence on the pitch. Take, say, a goal that goes in off a deflection from a defender? You think that's just coincidence? No way. To take that one shot, you've taken hundreds of shots at the training ground. Nothing happens by coincidence."
He placed his hand on my shoulder and continued.
"What I'm saying is, believe in yourself more. Then others will recognize your worth too. Got it?"
"Yes. I understand."
"Good. Let's get up. Go home and rest. And make sure you do the massage exercises I taught you when you get home."
"Yep."
Believe in myself more...
I stored those words deep in my heart as I finished training.
I was determined to run myself into the ground in the next match.
ㆍㆍㆍ
A clear, sunny afternoon.
Centro Sportivo di Petroio, located in Empoli City, Tuscany Region.
On the field, Fiorentina players in white uniforms and Empoli players in blue uniforms were preparing for the match.
"Good grief... Good grief... Let's see here..."
In one corner of the stands, an elderly man sorting through documents clicked his tongue and muttered.
It was Paolo Rossini, Fiorentina's youth team director. He had come today to observe players whose contracts were up for renewal.
"There's a hole here... And a hole there... Money's leaking everywhere. Just pouring out."
There were so many of them. Players to sign contracts with.
The money coming down from above was limited. But there were problems everywhere that needed funding, which gave him no end of headaches.
This time in particular, the timing had overlapped badly. The U17 team currently had more players than usual. Thanks to that, players hoping for pro contracts had all piled up at once.
Dealing with all of them at once would require a substantial sum, so Director Paolo had been on edge lately.
"On top of all that... What's with this kid..."
The irritated director's gaze fixed on one page of the documents. A page with a player profile.
16 years old, Lee Ji-an.
A kid they'd brought from Juventus at the start of the year... A player who hadn't played a single match in the past few months.
No matter how small the weekly wage was for youth contracts, this wasn't a profile that would look good to Director Paolo.
The fact that he hadn't played wasn't really the big issue. His 16th birthday had only recently passed, so his age wasn't particularly old. That kind of thing could happen.
But the problem was that there had been no development whatsoever during those months.
At first, Manager Tony had kept insisting he should trust and wait, so Paolo had let it go. But no matter how long he waited, there was never any response. Whenever he asked how things were going lately, it was always just "needs more time."
Well, there has to be some visible development to keep investing money in a kid. A professional team isn't a charity.
But then, it was about two weeks ago.
Apparently there had finally been some change. Training hard, showing signs of his old form when he used to play well. Manager Tony had made quite a fuss about it.
Did well in training, got put in a match, even scored a goal there.
Even started the match last week.
Played 60 minutes and scored two goals—against Napoli. He hadn't been able to watch that match in person so he'd seen the footage, and there was definitely something there.
"Alright, good... This is good..."
It was welcome news. Though they sometimes clashed due to their respective positions, Director Paolo recognized Manager Tony's abilities.
A kid Manager Tony had marked out, and that kid was starting to produce results. What was there not to welcome.
"But making such a fuss over just two matches..."
However, he couldn't understand Manager Tony's overreaction. The kid had only just started appearing in matches, yet Tony kept pressing about needing to hurry with the contract. He's only 16—what's the rush.
Well... Anyway.
Money was meant to be saved so it could be spent where it needed to be spent. If the kid was worth it, there was no reason to delay the contract. Better that than some wolves swooping in and poaching him—that would be a real headache.
That was why he had come here in person.
To see. Whether this kid was really worth that much.
What was so special about him that Manager Tony was making such a fuss.
"Let's see here... Let's have a look..."
Director Paolo watched the field with his stern, weathered eyes.
On the pitch, the match between Fiorentina and Empoli was beginning.