A Fan's Number One Jersey
The next morning, Hanbin gathered at the training ground with the rest of the players.
Cha Kangmin, on his way out of the locker room to prepare for training, spotted Kim Hanbin and waved.
Hanbin greeted him cheerfully in return.
"Hyung! Long time no see!"
At the greeting, Cha Kangmin's face twisted in confusion.
"Long time no see? Hey, I literally saw you yesterday. What are you on about?"
"Oh... right."
Kim Hanbin winced inwardly.
Two and a half years had passed for him, but for Cha Kangmin it had only been a single day.
Hanbin brushed it off with an awkward laugh.
"I mean... even a day can feel long when it's spent away from you, hyung~ haha..."
Cha Kangmin tilted his head like something didn't add up, but he soon moved on to another topic.
He looked Kim Hanbin up and down.
"But seriously, aren't you taller today? What, are you wearing insoles or something?"
"Excuse me? No way—who the hell wears insoles to training... They told me at my medical exam that my growth plates haven't closed yet."
Kim Hanbin answered with practiced calm.
In truth, when he'd sneaked a check on the body scanner in the strength room the night before, his height—187cm when he'd signed—had grown to 191cm.
Growing four centimeters overnight should have raised eyebrows, but most people happened to be shorter than Hanbin to begin with, so they simply filed him away as "that big guy" and didn't seem to notice unless they were around his height.
"Whoa, whoa—any bigger and you're gonna be straight-up monstrous, man. Your frame's already ridiculous."
"Hey, as long as it makes me better at football, I'll take it."
Kim Hanbin replied with a grin.
**
Morning training, like the day before, focused on set-piece situations and attacking buildup drills.
Aerial duels on corners and crosses were run over and over.
Until yesterday, heading had been Kim Hanbin's glaring weakness. But today was different.
When the coach whipped in a cross from the flank, Hanbin leapt as if he'd been waiting for it, timing his jump to perfection.
And from an contact point a good head higher than the defenders, he brought his forehead down precisely onto the sweet spot of the ball.
Thwack—!
The ball rocketed off his brow and buried itself in the corner of the net.
Cha Kangmin, watching from nearby, nearly popped his eyes out of his skull.
"Whoa... you can change this much overnight? Is THIS what they call a freak talent?!"
Cha Kangmin shouted in disbelief. A guy who couldn't even time his jumps properly yesterday, pulling off a flawless header today.
A freak talent, huh... I'd love to actually be one.
Kim Hanbin smiled bitterly to himself.
It stung to have the fruit of two and a half years of legs-shattering, insane repetitive jumping written off as mere talent.
But there was no other explanation he could offer.
"Haha... I guess I'm just feeling good today."
He deflected it and threw himself back into training.
From that point on, Kim Hanbin dominated every aerial battle with overwhelming authority.
Meanwhile, on the far side of the pitch, Manager Kim Seongcheol and his coaching staff were watching Hanbin's transformation.
"Boss... Hanbin looks like a completely different player from yesterday. His heading has just skyrocketed overnight."
The attacking coach couldn't hide his astonishment.
"You're right... he has. Up until yesterday, heading was basically off the table for him..."
"Hanbin's age, that shooting ability, and now heading... Like Kangmin said, the kid's a genuine freak talent..."
The attacking coach muttered something about how players like the rest of us might as well give up football.
"So, Boss—for next week's away match at Ulsan. Are we locking in Hanbin as the starter up top as planned?"
The head coach asked carefully.
"That's right. Given where we are, that's our best option."
Manager Kim agreed.
"Then the Kick and Rush we talked about before—are we going long ball? Watching Hanbin win those aerial duels, I think it'll work."
The attacking coach asked, his voice thick with anticipation. Ulsan was one of the strongest teams in the league.
Their strength was a back line that dominated the air—but with the heading performance Kim Hanbin was showing now, he looked more than capable of turning Ulsan's greatest weapon against them.
Manager Kim fell into brief thought, then nodded.
"Yes, that's how we'll play it. Kangmin launches the long ball from the back to Hanbin near the halfway line. Hanbin wins the aerial duel, then we either go hunting for the second ball, or he knocks it down and drives forward himself for a shot."
Manager Kim slid the magnets around on his portable tactics board as he explained.
"Or, if Hanbin wins it in the air, Enzo makes the run in behind on the flank and finishes it himself. Or he plays it straight back to Hanbin for the finish. That variation could work nicely too."
The head coach chimed in.
"I think so too. Ulsan has no scouting information on Hanbin—and even if they do, they'll be thinking of his kicking based on the last match."
The thought of landing a knockout blow on title contenders Ulsan lit the coaching staff's faces with anticipation.
***
With the crucial away match against Ulsan approaching, training intensity ramped up hard.
Hanbin threw himself into the special drills the coaching staff had designed to sharpen the long-ball tactics they planned to unleash on Ulsan.
The day before a short rest day arrived after days of grinding training.
Once morning training ended and lunch was finished, the players gathered on the grass pitch in front of the clubhouse for a club event.
A fan signing session for season ticket holders.
"Whoa, way more people showed up than I expected."
Cha Kangmin said, eyeing the crowd.
"Usually these signings happen on home match days, but since this one's an away game, they're holding it at the clubhouse. Even so, that's a great turnout."
Sure enough, a sizable crowd of fans had come out to the clubhouse to see the players, their faces glowing with the thrill of meeting them in person.
The players each took their seats at separate tables and readied themselves to receive the fans.
Kim Hanbin sat down awkwardly at the table bearing his name card.
Signing autographs for fans as a professional—aside from the impromptu session at the rib restaurant—was a first for him, and his nerves were showing.
Will anyone actually come get my signature? I've only been on the team a week.
Then again, considering the blazing reaction on the Suwon Blue Sky gallery last time, maybe he could afford a little hope.
Before long, the event began and the fans started lining up and filing toward the players.
Unsurprisingly, the most popular was Cha Kangmin—national team player and team captain.
A long queue stretched out in front of Kangmin's table, fans beaming as they got his autograph on the jerseys and footballs they'd brought.
Kim Hanbin's table, unexpectedly, was bustling too.
Thanks, apparently, to his insane debut against Gangwon and Cha Kangmin's YouTube video, a good number of fans—mostly young ones—had begun lining up in front of Hanbin.
"Kim Hanbin's massive frame, whoa!"
"I saw the YouTube video! The 700kg total is REAL?"
"Loved your SuwonGal post, Gallery Lord!"
Some of the young fans grinned ear to ear, calling him "Gallery Lord" the moment they saw him.
Kangmin-hyung was right—being the Gallery Lord is a good thing after all. People are even coming out for my signature this soon after I joined.
Hanbin smiled and worked through the signing requests.
Then a student fan stepped up to his table.
In his hands was a Suwon Blue Sky jersey, marked with the number 50 and the name Kim Hanbin.
"...!"
Hanbin was genuinely stunned. A jersey with his name on it, this soon? He'd only been signed for a week.
The student thrust the jersey forward, face flushed with excitement.
"Hanbin-hyung! I watched you score that halfway-line goal and that free kick against Gangwon and became a total fan! I bought the jersey and got it marked that same day, and the shop employee said I'm the FIRST person to ever get your name marked on a jersey!"
The student said it with pride.
His first-ever jersey-marking fan—and a student, no less, spending over a hundred thousand won on a jersey with his name on it. It moved him in a way goals never could.
"Wow... thank you. Truly."
Hanbin spoke from the heart, then carefully, painstakingly signed the jersey the student held out.
To my #1 fan! Thank you. Always be happy ^^ — Kim Hanbin
"Thank you, hyung! I'll keep cheering for you forever!"
Clutching the signed jersey to his chest like a treasure, the student walked away beaming.
After that, Hanbin kept signing autographs and posing for photos with fans, passing the time warmly.
"Please beat Ulsan this weekend!" "Go get 'em, Hanbin!" the fans cheered.
"Yes! Thank you!"
Hanbin answered each one with all his energy.
***
And at last, the day of the away match against Ulsan dawned.
The squad was in motion from the early morning hours.
Once final checks were complete, the players boarded the team bus.
From Suwon to Ulsan. After hours on the road, the bus pulled up to Ulsan Football Stadium.
The players stepped off and made their way with familiar ease down the team tunnel to the visitors' locker room.
They unpacked, changed into training gear, went out for their warm-up on the pitch, and returned.
As the players changed into their kits and made their final equipment checks, Manager Kim Seongcheol and his coaching staff walked in.
"Alright, everyone, eyes on me!"
The room fell silent at the manager's voice.
Standing before the tactics board, he drove home the core strategy of the day's match one last time.
"The heart of today's tactics is simple but decisive. I'll say it again: we drop the defensive line as deep as possible and hit them on the counter through Hanbin and Enzo. Kangmin, Youngdae—you two, from the back, every time you see the opening, launch the long ball as accurately as you can toward Hanbin's head up front. Keep attacking the space behind their defense."
The manager's gaze shifted to Cha Kangmin and Kwon Yeongdae. Both players nodded, expressions grave.
"And Hanbin."
Now he turned to Kim Hanbin.
"You must win those aerial duels. No—you're more than capable of winning them, and I believe you will. Once you take the ball, either knock it down to Enzo beside you with a header, or drive forward with it yourself and carry it all the way to a shot. Even if your shot goes wide, I don't care. Don't you dare defer to anyone out of politeness—if you see the angle, you shoot. Understood? Play with conviction."
"Yes, Coach!"
Kim Hanbin boomed in reply. This was his chance to show the heading and aerial dominance he'd drilled so relentlessly over the past days.
"And last, Enzo."
The manager turned to Enzo.
"Enzo, always know exactly where Hanbin is. The moment he knocks the ball down for you, don't let that instant slip—break through their defensive line and get in behind. But watch the line at all times so you don't get caught offside. And when you receive and drive with the ball—if there's no angle for you to finish, don't forget to slip it back to Hanbin. Got it?"
The interpreter glued to Enzo's side translated in real time into Portuguese.
"Yes, I understand."
Enzo answered in his halting way, his face earnest.
The manager swept his gaze across the entire squad one final time and spoke with force.
"Today's opponent is Ulsan—one of the strongest teams in the league. It will be a difficult match, no question. But all we have to do is what we did against Gangwon: refuse to give up. For our fans who traveled all the way from Suwon to be here, and for the three points—we WILL win this! Can we do it?"
"YES!"
The players' roar filled the locker room.
"Good! Then one last team cry, and we go!"
At the manager's words, Cha Kangmin stepped forward and shouted to the squad.
"We are—"
Every player answered as one.
"ONE!"
With that thunderous cry, the Suwon Blue Sky players marched out onto the pitch of Ulsan Football Stadium.