The Napkin Contract
After a brief moment of deliberation, Kim Hanbin spoke with a perfectly composed expression.
"To be honest with you... the offer Seoul Citizen made me was fifty million won a year."
...Did I overshoot?
The instant the words left his mouth, regret came flooding in.
Fifty million? That was nearly double the actual rookie minimum salary he'd been offered—twenty-seven million.
Was that too much? No... if I can't get at least this much, I'll have no choice but to keep working construction sites just to cover Dad's hospital bills.
At Kim Hanbin's words, Manager Kim and Cha Kangmin's eyes went wide at the same time.
Manager Kim looked as if he couldn't believe his ears.
Fifty million? Seoul has completely lost its mind! They offered fifty million to an unproven rookie with zero pro experience? Does that even make sense?
For a moment, the manager's suspicions about Kim Hanbin's background resurfaced.
No, wait... maybe this kid really does have something. Like Kangmin said, he was doing well at an overseas youth club before he got into trouble and came back... Did he have connections on the Seoul side who knew about it? Is that why they threw out a number like that?
It was a reasonable suspicion. No matter how talented a player might be, offering that kind of money to an unverified rookie was anything but standard practice.
Cha Kangmin's face, on the other hand, showed surprise mixed with a dawning certainty.
Fifty million! I knew it! Seoul's people saw his true value after all! I wasn't wrong!
Rather than being shaken, Kangmin grew excited at the thought that Kim Hanbin might be worth even more than he'd imagined.
If a complete unknown could command an offer like that, Kim Hanbin might genuinely become a valuable asset for the team.
And so an awkward silence settled over the three of them for a moment.
It was Manager Kim Seongcheol who broke it.
Though his face still carried a tangle of doubt and deliberation, his voice betrayed an effort to stay calm.
"Hmm... Mr. Hanbin. One moment, please."
Manager Kim rose from his seat.
"The number is larger than I expected... would you mind if I stepped out to make a quick call to the club? The final decision isn't mine to make alone."
"Ah... of course. Go ahead."
Kim Hanbin nodded with a quiet sigh of relief. For now, the worst-case scenario had been avoided.
Manager Kim shot a glance at Cha Kangmin, who was seated beside him. It was a signal: You come too.
Kangmin murmured a quick "Excuse us a moment" to Hanbin and followed the manager back out of the café.
The moment they were outside, Manager Kim turned to Kangmin.
"Hey! Cha Kangmin! Fifty million? You really think that's right?"
Disbelief was still plain in the manager's voice.
"I know Seoul Citizen is loaded, but offering fifty million to a rookie with no pro career? I figured they'd have gone maybe forty at most..."
"Then call Seoul and ask them! Did you offer Kim Hanbin fifty million a year or not?"
Manager Kim stared at Kangmin like he'd lost his mind.
"No, don't be ridiculous. You're curious too, aren't you? Whether Seoul really offered fifty!"
"Right... because Seoul would just love to hand over their contract terms. To us—their rival team. Hm?"
"Hmm..."
Kangmin thought for a beat, then answered with a look of utter conviction.
"Manager! Even fifty is a bargain for that kid, if you ask me! I've faced him myself—he's better than Antonio, the guy who was pulling in six hundred million a year! And you think Seoul's people threw out fifty million without thinking? They must've had some kind of certainty to make a bet that big!"
Kangmin was already a believer.
Manager Kim mulled it over briefly, then spoke.
"Ha... you know, I think... you were right about what you said before."
"Sorry? About what?"
"It's looking more and more likely that he's a kid who got into trouble at some overseas youth club and came back, just like you said. Maybe he had connections reaching Seoul who contacted him with unusually generous terms. Short of that, there's no explaining that fifty million figure."
Cha Kangmin nodded eagerly at the manager's words.
"See?! You think so too, right? No matter how I look at it, some ordinary middle-school graduate couldn't be like that!"
"An ordinary middle-school grad probably couldn't pull that off, no."
"Then all the more reason we need to snatch him up fast! We have to put our stamp on him before Seoul signs the paperwork—Manager!"
"Hold your horses, you punk! Don't get worked up."
Manager Kim calmed Kangmin down, but his own mind was still a mess.
"First I need to consult with the general manager. There's the club budget to think about. We can't just blindly go above fifty million."
The manager pulled out his phone and called the GM.
How much time had passed?
From where Kim Hanbin waited inside the café, he saw Manager Kim and Cha Kangmin come back into view.
Their expressions were markedly different from before. Something resolute had settled over the manager's face, and anticipation was written across Kangmin's.
What did they talk about? Don't tell me... they're actually willing to go above fifty million?
Kim Hanbin swallowed dryly and waited for the two men to take their seats.
Manager Kim began the moment he sat down.
"Mr. Hanbin."
"Yes, Manager."
"I've just finished speaking with the club. Let me tell you Suwon Blue Sky's final contract terms."
Kim Hanbin held his breath. What would the terms be?
"The contract will be one year plus one. After the first year, the club holds a priority option to extend."
A one-plus-one deal. Not a bad offer for a rookie. What mattered was what came next. The salary.
"And as for the salary..."
Manager Kim paused deliberately. His gaze locked straight onto Kim Hanbin's eyes.
"How does seventy million won sound?"
"......!!"
Seventy million won. Hanbin doubted his own ears. It blew far past the salary he'd inflated from twenty-seven million to fifty.
Holy... holy crap! This is huge! This is actually huge!
Just days ago he'd been handed a twenty-seven-million-won part-time contract proposal, and now he was being offered seventy million a year.
Seventy million was more than enough to wipe away his worries about his father's hospital bills and his mother's living expenses in one stroke.
He wanted to shout, "Yes! Done! I'll sign!" right that second.
But... he forced the feelings down. He struggled to keep his face as neutral as possible.
Would it be too much if I jumped at it right away?
"Ah... yes... seventy million, huh..."
Hanbin deliberately furrowed his brow and feigned deliberation.
"The truth is... I'm from Seoul, so I grew up watching Seoul Citizen matches. I'm a hardcore Citizen fan, you see..."
He bit his lip slightly and dropped his gaze.
Doing his best to look like a man torn between Seoul Citizen's fifty-million offer and Suwon's seventy.
...A hardcore Citizen fan? Damn it, that's a wildcard.
Manager Kim watched Hanbin's performance with mounting anxiety.
Just as Hanbin's acting was stretching through the awkward silence—
BZZZZT— BZZZZT—
The phone Kim Hanbin had left on the café table began buzzing loudly.
A caller's name floated up on the screen.
"......!"
In that split second, the eyes of Manager Kim and Cha Kangmin, seated across the table, locked precisely onto the phone screen.
Park Cheolmin, section chief of Seoul Citizen?!
Kim Hanbin grabbed the phone in a fluster.
"Ah... I'm sorry. Would you mind if I took this call outside?"
Having gotten their leave, Hanbin hurried out of the café with the phone in hand.
The moment he was gone, Manager Kim and Cha Kangmin exchanged a look.
Kangmin spoke up carefully first.
"Manager... I'm going to slip out for a second..."
Manager Kim nodded without a word.
Kangmin quietly rose from his seat and began stealthily trailing Hanbin out the door.
He crept up to a distance where the call was just barely audible, hid himself, and pricked up his ears.
But the noise around the café made the conversation hard to make out.
Ugh, damn it... what are they saying? Should I get closer?
Kangmin took a careful step forward, then froze, afraid Hanbin might notice.
Nope, if I get any closer he'll definitely catch me. Focus on what I can actually hear.
He strained his ears again. Fragments of words brushed past.
"...contract... yes, confirmed... ah, by today?... yes... hmm... ah, yes, understood..."
Scattered as the words were, a scenario took shape in Kangmin's head.
Contract confirmed? By today? Damn it, Seoul's pressuring him to sign fast, aren't they?
When the call ended, he saw Kim Hanbin heading back into the café.
Kangmin whipped around and slipped back to his seat.
The moment Kangmin sat down, Manager Kim mouthed a silent question.
What did they say?
Kangmin shook his head slightly and whispered back.
"Couldn't really hear. But from what I caught... looks like Seoul's contract deadline is today."
Manager Kim's brow furrowed deeper. There was no time.
If Seoul Citizen was pressing him to decide by today, they couldn't afford to drag this out any longer.
Just then, Kim Hanbin returned to his seat and said, slightly sheepish.
"Ah, sorry about that. It was an important call."
Manager Kim studied him for a moment before speaking.
"Mr. Hanbin. First, I owe you an apology. I didn't mean to, but I caught a glance of who was calling you. I'm truly sorry about that."
He paused, reading Hanbin's face.
"Was it... a call about your contract with Seoul Citizen?"
Kim Hanbin seemed to hesitate for a moment, then gave a small nod.
"Yes..."
"Haah..."
Manager Kim let out a long sigh.
Then he leaned forward and continued.
"Mr. Hanbin. I'll be honest with you. Suwon Blue Sky desperately needs a striker. Right now."
He broke off for a moment, his expression turning pained, before adding:
"It's embarrassing to admit, but... I'm sure you've heard. Our foreign striker, Antonio, got himself into serious trouble recently, and the club ended up terminating his contract. So we're in a situation where we urgently need a forward who can play immediately. That's why we rushed to meet you like this."
Manager Kim looked at Kim Hanbin.
"Seoul Citizen is a fine club, of course. But Suwon Blue Sky can promise you support equal to theirs—no, greater. You're well aware our club's parent company is the Taeseong Group, I take it?"
Kim Hanbin nodded. That Korea's top corporation owned Suwon Blue Sky was common knowledge to any football fan.
"With the Taeseong Group's full backing, you'll be able to grow in the finest environment possible, Mr. Hanbin. Not just training facilities and equipment—our player welfare is second to none in the country, if I do say so myself."
The manager went on, listing the additional benefits like items in a catalog.
"For instance... if you or your immediate family members ever fall ill, we'll help arrange comfortable treatment at Taeseong General Hospital, which is owned by our group, along with medical cost support. Injury management, health checkups—all of it handled at the nation's highest standard..."
Manager Kim mentioned medical support only as one routine example of player welfare. But to Kim Hanbin, those words landed harder than any other term on the table.
"Did you say... Taeseong General Hospital?!"
Manager Kim and Cha Kangmin exchanged puzzled looks at Hanbin's unexpected reaction.
Taeseong General Hospital...!
The undisputed best hospital in South Korea. A place outfitted with cutting-edge facilities and the finest medical staff in the country.
The very hospital his father had wanted to be admitted to, but hadn't even dared to consider because of the endless waiting lists and the cost.
If... if Dad could get treated at Taeseong General Hospital...?
Kim Hanbin steadied himself and asked again.
"Um... then, in the case of a player or his immediate family... would they also get help with things like hospital admission?"
"Yes... I believe so. I'd have to check the exact policy, but as far as I know, group employees and players' families are given assistance with treatment and admission procedures. The director of Taeseong Hospital happens to be a longtime Suwon Blue Sky fan, you see. I've received help from him plenty of times, both as a player and now. But why do you ask all of a sudden...?"
The moment Manager Kim voiced his puzzlement, the light in Kim Hanbin's eyes changed—hard and certain.
Hanbin shot up from his seat and bowed at a perfect ninety degrees toward Manager Kim and Cha Kangmin.
"Manager! I'll sign!"
"......Excuse me?"
"......Huh?"
The sudden decision caught both men completely off guard.
Wasn't this the same kid who, mere minutes ago, had been agonizing over how he stacked up against Seoul Citizen?
Kim Hanbin shouted with a look of fierce resolve on his face.
"Blue blood has always run through my veins! Suwon Blue Sky! The only team I've ever dreamed of playing for!"
Weren't you from Seoul? A Seoul Citizen fan?
Manager Kim and Cha Kangmin looked at each other.
......?
......?
The two men stared at one another. What in the world was with this sudden about-face?
But that wasn't what mattered right now.
The first to react was Cha Kangmin. He leapt up and seized Kim Hanbin's hand.
"KRAAA! Mr. Hanbin! You've got real sense, I'll give you that! Great call! Then let's write up that contract right this second!"
"What? Now?"
Manager Kim asked back, dumbfounded.
"Yes! Right now! You know what they say—strike while the iron's hot! Who knows what kind of sabotage those sneaky Seoul bastards might pull next, so we stamp it right here!"
Unable to contain his excitement, Kangmin hustled the manager along.
"Manager! What are you doing? Get the contract out, quick!"
"Hey! What am I supposed to be carrying a contract around for? I don't have a single document on me!"
Manager Kim shouted back in exasperation.
"Come on, Manager! You came here to sign a player and you didn't even bring the paperwork?!"
"Hey! I was planning to do the official trial, the medical, and then sign properly at the clubhouse! Who knew we'd be signing in a coffee shop?!"
"Ugh, this is so frustrating! Then we write something down anyway! So nobody can back out of it later!"
"No, hey! Since when do you get to decide that?! Just calm down..."
Just as Manager Kim moved to restrain Kangmin, Kim Hanbin, who had been listening quietly, spoke up.
"Write it now, Manager."
"...I'm sorry?"
Kim Hanbin met Manager Kim's eyes with a look that was calm, but unshakably firm.
"Didn't you say you urgently needed me, Manager? Or... were those just words?"
"Hmm... no, that's not it, but..."
Manager Kim found himself at a loss under Hanbin's unexpected pressure.
With the player himself insisting on signing right now, backing out at this point would look strange too.
"No, but still... there are procedures, you see..."
"Oh, for crying out loud! Look at this guy!"
Kangmin pounced on the opening.
"You know, what's-his-name—Messi! They say Messi signed his first contract on a napkin when he was a kid! Let's do the same thing! We're making history here!"
Before he'd even finished the sentence, Kangmin was sprinting for the café counter.
"Excuse me! Can I borrow a pen here?"
A moment later, he returned triumphantly, a ballpoint pen clutched in his hand.
Manager Kim still looked utterly bewildered, but he seemed to have lost the will to argue.
"Alright, Manager! Write it down, quick! Contract term: one year plus one. Salary: seventy million won... what else was there?"
Kangmin thrust a napkin at Manager Kim, fussing over him. Manager Kim let out a deep sigh and accepted the pen.
What am I even doing right now...
Murmuring to himself, he began to write out the terms of the contract on the napkin, stroke by stroke.
"Manager, write neatly! What if you try to weasel out of it later?!"
"Hey, shut up! I've always had terrible handwriting!"
Even as the two bickered, Manager Kim's pen never stopped.
At last, with everything written down, he held the napkin contract out to Kim Hanbin.
"Here you go, Mr. Hanbin. That's everything. This is just a stopgap, of course—we'll draft the formal contract soon enough. But once you sign here, from this day forward you're a member of Suwon Blue Sky."
Manager Kim handed over the pen along with the napkin.
Kim Hanbin took the pen without a moment's hesitation.
And on the napkin, in careful, deliberate strokes, he wrote his three syllables: Kim. Han. Bin.
The moment the ink dried, Manager Kim rose from his seat and extended his hand to Kim Hanbin.
In place of all his tangled doubts, a new expression had settled on his face—the smile of a manager welcoming a new player.
"Welcome, sincerely, to Suwon Blue Sky. Player Kim Hanbin."
"...Thank you. Manager!"
Suppressing the swell of emotion in his chest, Kim Hanbin clasped the manager's hand firmly.
Watching the handshake, Cha Kangmin grinned and clapped Hanbin on the shoulder.
"KRAAA! You're officially one of us now! Hey, Hanbin! I'm dropping the honorifics starting now! Call me hyung."
Still a little awkward, Kim Hanbin answered with a faint smile.
"Yes... hyung."