A Sea of Blue and a Patch of Red
After the long flight, the plane finally touched down at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
IOC officials were already waiting on the tarmac, and the national team followed their guidance through a separate corridor and boarded a charter bus that had been held ready for them.
The bus drove for quite a while before pulling into the Olympic Village.
"Wow..."
Hanbin glanced around as he dragged his suitcase toward the dormitory building. The atmosphere was quieter than he'd expected, and it left him puzzled.
"It's surprisingly quiet in here? I figured the Olympic Village would be absolutely packed."
Cha Kangmin, walking beside him, answered Hanbin's question with a snort.
"Of course it's quiet. The opening ceremony is still a long way off."
"What? Then why did we come this early?"
"Football has so many matches that squeezing them all into the Olympic schedule is a nightmare. That's why the tournament always starts before every other event. Give it a few days and this place will be swarming too."
Cha Kangmin swept his gaze across the village buildings as he spoke.
"Especially since the French are dead serious about their football — they'll have a dedicated training pitch somewhere in the village for the footballers."
"Oh... so we'll be training there too?"
"Nah. Proper team tactics drills happen at a specialized facility out in the suburbs — we'll bus out there. They keep the media away from it so nobody leaks their tactics. The pitch here is just a small one for a light morning jog or keeping your touch sharp, that kind of thing."
While the two were chatting, they arrived at their assigned quarters. Hanbin and Cha Kangmin would be sharing a room. It wasn't as luxurious as a five-star hotel, but it was clean enough for the two of them to live in comfortably.
Over the days that followed their arrival in Paris, the national team worked through local adaptation training and fine-tuned their condition. Jet lag adjustment ran alongside tactical sessions as the players acclimated their bodies to French time and environment.
At last, the day of the first match of the Olympic football group stage dawned.
The entire city of Paris was alive with a festival atmosphere. Interest in the host nation's first football match, in particular, was hotter than anyone could have imagined. And because that first opponent was South Korea, the Korean national team squad found itself drawing no small amount of media attention as well.
The coaching staff and the football association kept the players away from press exposure as much as possible until match day, focusing instead on managing their condition so that no one would feel the weight of the pressure.
But while the squad's mood was calm, head coach Baek Seungnam's mind was anything but.
The first clash with France... how do I play this?
Even if it was only the U-23 team, the host nation France was a title contender bristling with players from Europe's top-flight leagues. And on top of that, they had soccer's biggest star, Kylian Mbappé, as a wildcard. Opening the tournament at home against a team like that was a heavy burden.
With four nations grouped together and only first and second place advancing to the quarterfinals, if we push recklessly for a win against France, lose, and then let the fallout ruin the matches against the two teams we absolutely must beat — that's the worst-case scenario.
Besides, this was France's home ground. The one-sided cheering and jeering of tens of thousands of French fans filling the stadium would bear down on his young, big-stage-inexperienced players like a crushing weight.
If these were veterans who'd lived through this kind of atmosphere, it wouldn't matter. But most of our squad is young, and that worries me...
Coach Baek also tried to read the other side of the equation.
France is chasing the title itself, so they'll likely take it easy in the early group stage. A key player like Mbappé won't start against a weak opponent like us — he'll be kept in reserve to manage his legs.
With matches coming every three to four days in a punishing tournament schedule, Baek judged that France couldn't throw its full strength at every game either. Having weighed every factor, Coach Baek Seungnam made his decision.
Drop the defensive line as deep as possible in the first half. Bring in Choi Sang-won — the engine of the midfield, the man who needed the most running in him — as a second-half substitute. Hanbin, likewise, would conserve as much energy as possible up front in the first half, then attack hard alongside Sang-won after the break.
Frankly, holding France to a draw is already a win for us... Survive the first half by any means, then gamble everything on the second.
One hour before kickoff, both teams' final rosters were officially submitted.
With his heart pounding, Coach Baek took the sheets listing each team's lineup — and when he confirmed France's starting eleven, he let out an involuntary sigh of relief.
Mbappé... on the bench, thank God.
He'd quietly worried that the symbolism of the host nation's first match — the Olympic opener, no less — might push France to come out at full power from the start. But fortunately, France seemed to be factoring in the congested schedule as well, choosing to hold Mbappé and their other key starters back as second-half cards.
Good. That's more than enough to work with.
His heart considerably lighter, Coach Baek headed for the locker room.
The players were already changed into their kits, preparing for the match. A taut tension hung in the air of the room. Coach Baek Seungnam stood before them and spoke in a ringing voice.
"Alright, everyone, eyes on me. We walk out onto that pitch soon."
Every gaze in the room snapped to him.
"You all know it already — today's match is going to be a hard one. The other side is stacked with players from Europe's top leagues, and this is their home ground. Those tens of thousands of fans out there filling the stadium won't be cheering for us — they'll be cheering for them, and every time we touch the ball they'll rain boos down on us... It won't be an easy environment. Not by any stretch."
At the coach's words, a flicker of nerves crossed a few of the players' faces.
"But here's the thing — they're nervous too. The weight of hosting your nation's first match is heavier than any of us can imagine. Honestly, let's be blunt about it: we have nothing to lose today. Nobody expects us to beat France."
"······."
"They're different. Losing in front of tens of thousands of fans is something they will never be allowed to live down. That pressure will make them play rashly, and it will breed mistakes. Our job is to seize that moment when it comes."
Coach Baek made eye contact with each member of the squad as he spoke.
"It's midnight back in Korea right now. Our people are awake at this hour, cheering us on from home. We can't let them down with a half-hearted loss, right? Let's show them everything we have — every last drop of it, with no regrets! Understood!"
"Yes, sir!"
The players' answer filled the locker room.
"Good. Then let's go with the count. One, two, three — fighting!"
"Yes, sir!"
"One, two, three — fighting!"
With the coach's final words, the players poured out of the locker room.
The players' tunnel.
Frankly, Hanbin couldn't recognize most of the French players in blue waiting in line beside him. He knew they played for famous top-flight European clubs, but only two months ago he'd been too busy working part-time jobs to follow overseas football, so there were almost no faces and names he knew.
But one man was different.
As a figure came walking up from the far end of the tunnel, the whole corridor — which had been thrumming with a strange, quiet tension as everyone waited for entry — stirred noticeably. Kylian Mbappé. A superstar had arrived.
Named among the substitutes, Mbappé was not yet in his kit, dressed instead in a relaxed training jersey. He clapped teammates on the shoulders and cracked jokes to ease their nerves, buoying the squad's morale with the easy confidence befitting a captain and ace.
Hanbin tapped the arm of Cha Kangmin, standing beside him.
"Kangmin-hyung. Over there, over there — 280 Cha Kangmins."
"Hey, what the hell is a '280 Cha Kangmins'..."
Cha Kangmin chided him, but turned his head toward where Hanbin was pointing. And then his eyes went wide too.
"Oh... holy crap... that's my first time seeing him in person."
Cha Kangmin had faced plenty of foreign stars as a national team player, but seeing Mbappé up close was another matter entirely. The superstar he'd only ever known through a screen was something else altogether.
"He's on the bench today. Think he'll play?"
Cha Kangmin murmured, half to himself.
"Hard to say. The Olympic schedule is so brutal... he might not even bother coming on against us."
Hanbin replied, and Cha Kangmin snorted with laughter.
"Well, if we absolutely dismantle them in the first half, maybe his pride forces him out for the second?"
At the joke, Hanbin nodded with a completely serious expression.
"I'll do my best to make that happen."
At that calm, brimming-with-confidence answer, Cha Kangmin burst out laughing. He slapped Hanbin hard across the back with his palm.
"Kuk, sure, go for it. Then I can brag later that I once traded a kick with Mbappé."
Having finished lifting his teammates' spirits, Mbappé turned and started walking toward the line of Korean players.
With an easy smile, he raised a hand and moved down the line from its very first player, slapping palms or giving light shoulder pats, offering a "Good game, good game" to each in turn.
Caught off guard by the unexpected courtesy of the world's best player, a few of the players fumbled awkwardly through a "Thanks..." in response.
Watching from the side, Cha Kangmin murmured in genuine admiration.
"Man, superstars really are built different. Greeting the opposing team's players one by one like that. Classy."
Hanbin answered with a grin.
"Well, he's 280 Cha Kangmins, so I suppose his heart is 280 times wider too."
"Why you little—"
Cha Kangmin lost his words for a moment and glared at Hanbin, but with the other players around them snickering, he couldn't quite work up real anger and just shook his head.
Mbappé moved down the line with his light smile, hand raised, greeting each player in turn. Then, after only breezy handshakes with everyone else, he came to a full stop in front of Hanbin.
"Hey, Guinness Record Guy!"
Mbappé grinned, greeting him like an old acquaintance. At the greeting, not just Hanbin but every player nearby froze in shock.
Hanbin answered in English, flustered.
"Uh, you know me?"
"Of course. I saw it on social media. That half-line kick-off shot... an impressive goal."
As he said it, Mbappé playfully mimed booting a ball into the distance, then added:
"Haha, have a good game."
With that, Mbappé gave Hanbin's shoulder a light tap and moved on.
The players were staring at Hanbin with expressions of sheer disbelief.
The first to break the silence was Cha Kangmin.
"Wow... hey, why is it so surreal that Mbappé knows who you are?"
Hanbin replied to his astonished tone.
"Beats me... I guess... 280 Cha Kangmins really are on another level."
"You little punk."
Just as the banter was flying back and forth, a booming voice rang out from the end of the tunnel.
"Teams, enter the pitch!"
The moment they stepped out onto the field following the guidance, a thunderous roar washed over them — "WAAAAAH—!!" Tens of thousands of fans filling the stadium, dressed in the France national team's blue, sent up cheers for their squad.
Cha Kangmin clicked his tongue at the overwhelming sight and muttered.
"Geez, that's a lot of people. Seriously."
Then Hanbin's eye caught it — a small patch of red in one corner of the rolling wave of blue.
"That section over there... in the red... those must be the Red Devils."
Hanbin bowed his head slightly toward them. It was a wordless thank-you to the fans who had traveled all the way from Korea to cheer for them.
Soon the players of both teams took their positions across the pitch.
Peep—!
With the referee's whistle, the match began.