The Lucky Number 50
A few days after every test was wrapped up, I found myself back at the Suwon clubhouse.
Today was finally the day I would put my signature on the official contract.
I'd already gotten word that both the doping test and the medical examination had come back with no issues whatsoever.
As of today, I would truly and officially become a player of Suwon Blue Sky.
In the conference room, General Manager Lee Sang-ho, Manager Kim Seongcheol, and a handful of club staff were waiting for me. A thick stack of contract papers lay on the table.
"All right, Hanbin. Please, have a seat over here."
The General Manager gestured to the chair across from him, and one of the staff began walking me through the contract clause by clause.
The contract term was one year plus one, with a club option to extend. Annual salary: 70 million won. Everything matched what I'd heard at the café before.
I nodded along as I reviewed each provision.
"...And next are the various performance allowances. As a baseline, you'll receive appearance fees and win bonuses. In the event of a win, a bonus of one million won will be—"
Partway through the staff member's explanation, I carefully raised my hand.
"Excuse me... General Manager, would it be all right if I asked about the goal bonus?"
At my question, the General Manager and the Manager exchanged a brief glance.
It was rare, after all, for a rookie contract to haggle over goal bonuses down to the last detail.
The General Manager answered with a gentle smile.
"Hmm... usually rookie contracts don't specify a goal bonus separately... Is there some particular condition you had in mind?"
Sensing my moment, I brought out the words I'd prepared.
"Yes. I'm satisfied with every other condition—but the goal bonus is one thing I'd really like included."
"Hm? A goal bonus? Roughly how much are we talking?"
The General Manager asked with evident interest.
"One million won per goal. I'd like it set the same as the win bonus."
The General Manager's eyebrows rose slightly. A 70-million-won salary was already a generous deal for a rookie, and now he wanted a goal bonus equal to the win bonus.
It was a fairly audacious demand for an unproven newcomer. Besides, goal bonuses were usually set lower than win bonuses, not higher.
At the rookie's brazen request, a brief silence settled over the conference room.
Was I pushing too hard?
A flicker of worry stirred inside me, but I didn't want to back down.
The General Manager mulled it over for a moment before speaking.
"Hanbin, are you confident in yourself?"
"Yes, I am."
"Hmm..."
The General Manager hesitated. This was the time to press a little harder.
"I'm a striker. My entire job is to prove myself through goals. And everyone at this club has placed their faith in me and given me this chance—how would it look if I lacked confidence in myself?"
At my audacity, the General Manager studied me for a long moment, then broke into a laugh and nodded.
"Hahaha, well, that's some nerve you've got. Fine. The goal bonus will be set at one million won."
"Thank you, General Manager!"
"Section Chief, please add a clause to the contract—one million won per goal."
At the General Manager's instruction, the staff member swiftly amended the papers.
With every clause checked and revised, the moment finally came to sign. With trembling hands, I signed the last page of the contract.
"And with that, Kim Hanbin is officially a member of Suwon Blue Sky. Welcome once again!"
The General Manager, the Manager, and the coaching staff offered handshakes and congratulations one by one. Overwhelmed, I could only bow my head again and again.
Once the handshakes were done, the General Manager came over to me.
"Hanbin, you're one of us now, so would it be all right if I spoke a bit more comfortably?"
"Of course! You're like a father to me—please, make yourself at home."
"Ah, ha, look at that—guess I really am getting old, huh?" he chuckled, clapping me on the shoulder.
Then I hesitantly made a personal request of him.
"General Manager... would it be all right to ask you for one favor?"
"A favor? What is it?"
The General Manager asked with a puzzled look.
"It's just that... my father is ill right now. He's in the hospital."
"Oh?"
"Would it be possible... to get help transferring him to Taeseong General Hospital for treatment?"
The General Manager looked mildly surprised—he clearly hadn't expected a request like this.
"Ah... your father's been ill? I had no idea. Is his condition serious?"
Genuine concern filled his voice.
"Yes... it's not good. That's why I want so badly for him to be treated at Taeseong General Hospital..."
At the desperate note in my voice, the General Manager fell into thought for a moment.
"Hmm... all right, Hanbin. You must have been worried sick. Let me look into it with the relevant departments. I'll make sure it's handled as quickly as possible. You're family to one of our players—of course we'll help."
"Thank you... truly, thank you, General Manager!"
It wasn't a firm promise, but his positive answer filled me with real hope.
Once every procedure related to the contract was finished, one of the staff came up to me.
"Kim Hanbin, now we need to decide your kit number. Do you have a number in mind?"
A squad number. For an athlete, it was a number that became their very symbol.
Strikers usually favored numbers like 9 or 10, but those coveted numbers were likely already taken.
"Hmm... is 50 available, by any chance?"
At my answer, the staff member flipped through a file for a moment and then nodded.
"50? Yes, it's currently unassigned. Though 50 isn't a number people usually pick—is there a special reason?"
I answered with an embarrassed smile.
"Yes, haha. It's the lucky number that changed my life."
Number 50. The number I saw on my very first shot on a soccer field. That's more than lucky enough for me.
Before long, a blue Suwon Blue Sky kit was ready, emblazoned with the number 50 and the name KIM HAN BIN.
"All right, Kim Hanbin! Come over here—time for your official photo shoot!"
Following the PR team staffer's guidance, I walked over to the huge Suwon Blue Sky crest in the clubhouse lobby.
Camera flashes popped, and I struck a pose with a bright smile.
With that modest signing ceremony concluded, I tucked the contract under my arm and left the clubhouse.
I was set to officially join team training tomorrow morning—first I'd be assigned dormitory housing, and from the schedule after that, I'd be with the squad full-time.
I carefully placed the contract into my bag and headed for the familiar hospital.
Today was the day I would finally share this joyful news with my parents.
All the things I'd held back from telling them, afraid of making them worry—now I could show them proudly instead.
When I opened the hospital room door for the first time in ages, my father, who'd been watching TV, and my mother, peeling fruit beside him, both turned to look at me at once.
"Oh my goodness! My son!"
"Oh, Hanbin's here."
Joy and surprise crossed both their faces. My mother, in particular, was on her feet and rushing toward me the instant she saw me.
"Son! How long has it been? Do you have any idea how worried I've been?"
She grabbed my arms and looked me up and down—then her eyes went wide.
"Goodness... but you... why is your body like this? What is going on? Did something happen to you all this time?"
My father chimed in from the bed. He still looked visibly ill, but his color seemed a little better than before.
"Haha, he's right. Look at those muscles! You must have been training like a madman."
Faced with their astonishment, I laughed awkwardly and waved it off.
"Ah... yeah, well... I just... worked out pretty hard. Haha."
There was no way to explain decades of training in a time-stopped soccer field, so laughing it off was the only option.
"Well, thank goodness you look so healthy, anyway. You are eating properly, right? Your face looks half its size..."
My mother's worried eyes searched every corner of my face.
Trying to put her at ease, I forced my brightest smile.
"Of course! I'm eating well and doing just fine. Don't worry."
I settled onto the folding chair beside my father's bed, and we talked about everything we'd missed—his health, Mom's work at the restaurant, how I'd been getting by.
Sitting face to face with my family after so long, the conversation felt warm.
After talking for a long while, I made up my mind to get to the real reason I'd come.
I carefully pulled a document envelope out of my bag.
"Mom. Dad."
Both their gazes fixed on me.
From the envelope, I drew out the blue-covered contract and spread it open on the table.
"What's this?"
My father asked.
My voice trembled as I spoke.
"I... I became a professional soccer player. You know Suwon, right? I signed with Blue Sky. The Suwon team."
"...... What?"
"...... Son, what on earth—"
For a moment, neither of them could find the words. They looked back and forth between the contract and my face.
I pulled out my phone and found an internet news article to show them.
The article detailed the signing alongside a photo of me beaming in the blue kit.
"......"
"......"
My mother read the article over and over—then covered her mouth with both hands.
And from those wide eyes, tears began to fall in earnest.
"Oh my... son... is this real? Is it really true?"
Sobbing, she took my hand.
My father, the rims of his eyes reddening, patted my shoulder with a trembling hand.
But alongside the joy on his face sat a deep sorrow and guilt.
"You did well... son... you did so well..."
He praised me in a shaking voice, then dropped his head, muttering as if cursing himself.
"Because of this worthless father of yours... you suffered so much..."
"......Dad."
"Right at the age when you should have been chasing your dream... you quit soccer... a kid that young, bouncing from part-time job to part-time job... how hard must that have been..."
Heavy tears fell from my father's eyes too, soaking the hospital bed sheet.
How much he had carried in his heart—his illness forcing his son to suffer—all of it came pouring out in those tears.
A man who had been nothing but strong his whole life.
"Dad, don't say that. It's all in the past. What does it matter now?"
I spoke as casually as I could manage, but the sight of him blaming himself made my chest ache.
At the sight of him like that, neither my mother nor I could hold back our tears any longer.
"Ah, seriously... crying on a day like this, why..."
I wiped my eyes and said it gruffly, but my own voice had already drowned in tears.
I'd tried to act fine, to act indifferent—but everything I'd been holding down for so long came bursting out.
"I'm sorry... Mom's so sorry... making you quit soccer back then... it weighed on my heart my whole life... and now... now you can..."
Unable to finish, my mother wept for a long time.
I held her, and we cried together.
"So... our son is really a professional soccer player now? You'll be on TV and everything?"
My mother's voice brimmed with excitement and hope, as if she still couldn't quite believe it.
"Yes, Mom. This is just the beginning."
When I answered with a smile, she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"But... how did you end up signing so suddenly? I heard becoming a pro is really hard. You've been training alone ever since you quit in middle school."
At her question, my father nodded along and looked at me too.
They both clearly wanted to know how I'd gotten this opportunity.
I hesitated a moment, then explained as simply as I could.
"Well... I got lucky, actually. I played as a ringer in a men's amateur league game a while back..."
Leaving out anything about time-stopped soccer fields, naturally, I explained that people I'd met by chance in that amateur match had helped me get a trial, that I'd done well, and that it had led all the way to a contract.
"Especially... you know Manager Kim Seongcheol of Suwon Blue Sky? And the player Cha Kangmin? Those two thought very highly of me... and that's how I ended up signing."
"Cha Kangmin? The national team player?"
My mother couldn't hide her astonishment.
I laughed sheepishly.
"Yes, well... so I might actually get to play in a match as soon as this weekend."
"What? Already? This weekend?"
This time both of them jumped in shock.
"Yes. The team needs a striker urgently, so... the Manager said he might give me a chance. It's not certain yet, but..."
"Oh my goodness! Then we can watch our son play on TV?" My mother's voice rose with excitement.
"Yes. They'll probably broadcast it. So... please cheer for me on TV with the other folks here in the room. I'll show you all a goal."
"All right, all right. We'll be watching for sure. Don't get hurt... be careful out there."
My father urged me gently.
"That's our son! Mom and Dad will be cheering our hearts out! Fighting!"
My mother pumped her fist in the air to add her encouragement.
"Yes."
I answered with a smile.