Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Checkpoint (2)
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Soon, Jeong-woo turned his gaze.
“How about the marketing team leader?”
“I-I agree with the others.”
“And our head of strategic planning?”
Emma met his eyes head-on.
Merchandise meant turning something you loved into a product.
But Jeong-woo merchandise?
For now, most people were still dying to see him fail at every match.
“If it’s just straight merchandise sales..., I agree with everyone here.”
Then, in a flat tone, she added,
“You’ll get even more hate than you do now. You might even meet an early end.”
At that moment, the marketing team leader and office manager flinched, shoulders trembling.
Their eyes were pleading with her.
‘W-what are you saying right now?’
‘Do you want to get fired or something?’
But Jeong-woo just nodded casually.
In fact, he liked Charlotte Emma’s honesty.
And moreover,
“You came again today?”
At Jeong-woo’s loaded question, Charlotte Emma plunked down the thick stack of letters she’d brought onto the table.
“It’s down to half from yesterday, at least.”
“Oh no, fewer fan letters? Must be the afterglow of the Rochdale and Shrewsbury wins.”
“Pardon?”
The marketing team leader, who had been watching anxiously, spoke up instead.
Everyone except Geers and Emma wore dumbfounded expressions.
Weren’t those all threat letters saying they’d kill Jeong-woo?
Yet Jeong-woo was looking at those threat letters like cherished fan mail, pleased as punch.
Then, tilting his head slightly, he said,
“Anyway, does this ring a bell? Haters are fans too. And my merch is for them.”
* * *
The meeting ended.
And they reached a conclusion.
Their first product: a fist-sized doll of Ma Jeong-woo in his rumpled suit.
Orders went out, and just days later, it was listed on the official homepage.
[Club owner and manager Ma Jeong-woo doll merch on sale tomorrow...!]
Needless to say, Wanderers fans’ reactions were the worst.
- : Crazy. Isn’t that bastard a kid?
- : Not player jerseys or boots, but a doll? Of the owner? Who’d buy that?
- : The owner’s lost it. Totally lost it. We kept saying he was doing okay, and this is what we get...!
* * *
The next day.
On the way back from scouting players across regions for two days with the scouts.
“Huh?”
Hee-won stopped short on his way into the club shop.
[Sold Out.]
A big fat “Sold Out” sign right at the club merchandise store.
That was where the Ma Jeong-woo dolls had been on display since yesterday.
Sold out already?
“Excuse me, did these all sell?”
Hee-won asked the clerk in the English he’d gotten decent at.
The clerk, midway through restocking the shelves, beamed back happily.
“Yes! They flew off the shelves in under two hours—emptied the warehouse too!”
“No way, why?”
He couldn’t believe it and blurted out the question.
Then, following Hee-won’s puzzled gaze, he spotted the sales blurb.
[Pound away to your heart’s content! Your stress-relief punching bag! It’s Ma Jeong-woo!]
[Super durable, too!!]
“...That son of a...!?”
In that instant, a corner of his heart grew heavy.
* * *
Thud, thud, thud.
Richard Geers strolled down the hallway, suddenly recalling Jeong-woo’s comments from days ago about the merch sales.
‘Yeah, merch is like an attachment for fans. But what if hated guy’s merch drops out of nowhere? They’ll spew fuck! shit! and all that first, right?’
‘Marketing guy, don’t nod along.’
‘Joking, anyway..., point is, there are still tons of protesters with signs. Eye contact? What’re you looking at, you bastard? Straight to the insults. So here’s my idea: sell dolls to absorb that fan rage. Call ’em hate-sink dolls.’
Everyone in the room had gaped, eyes wide.
Richard Geers felt even more intrigued by the unexpected pitch.
Jeong-woo kept going.
‘I know we can’t sell on popularity. Wanderers hate my guts... but they love Bolton deep down. So let’s lean into the villain vibe. Not for collecting—pure stress relief.’
That’s why they made it tougher than standard dolls.
The product tag outright begged to be hit.
Targeted Wanderers fans’ consumer psychology too.
‘And slip in something like, Your precious 4 quid (6,000 KRW) will surely help sign top talent.’
But he didn’t stop there.
Jeong-woo suggested riding the viral DukTalk Challenge wave.
So videos of the marketing team leader, office manager, and others beating and stomping the dolls went up on the official site.
DukTalk too.
The response exploded beyond expectations.
Fans jumped on the challenge one after another.
One diehard supporter even bought one and burned it that same day, uploading the video.
He shoved his furious face at the camera and yelled,
‘Ma! If you were in front of me, I’d burn you like this!’
A bit much, right? But watching the video the night before, Jeong-woo just grinned and muttered happily,
‘Ooh...! We need merch that’s even easier and cheaper to trash without guilt?’
“Pfft!”
Geers chuckled now and then while walking the halls, struck by Jeong-woo’s unique flair and boldness.
* * *
At the same time.
Emma, her blonde hair in a low ponytail, stood demurely in a hallway corner, staring intently at one spot.
A Ma Jeong-woo doll clutched tight in both hands.
Black hair, sharply arched brows.
That sly smirking mouth.
Rumpled suit, tie half-undone.
A perfect likeness of Ma Jeong-woo.
Then someone butted in beside her.
“Really, isn’t he punchable?”
It was the deputy head of strategic planning.
Emma flinched, shoulders quivering faintly.
Then, as if she couldn’t quite grasp it, she countered,
“Punch...able?”
The deputy nodded vigorously, as if it were obvious.
“Yes! Everyone says he looks so punchable! Makes you just wanna deck him...! I’m doing the DukTalk Challenge at home tonight! Gonna wreck it good!”
Her eyes sparkling, the deputy asked,
“You planning on doing the DukTalk Challenge too, team leader?”
She secretly hoped so.
The usually stoic, mature woman doing DukTalk?
Finally, a fresh, wild side?
“...”
But Emma couldn’t answer easily.
She hadn’t planned on it—and truth be told, she’d just been admiring the doll, thinking how handsome it looked.
* * *
Time flew by.
Capping off Shrewsbury Town with a win, Wanderers notched another 1-0 victory in league round 32.
Owen Precise’s stunning free kick just before halftime sealed the hard-fought win.
Jeong-woo kept his promise of three games unbeaten, and the press went wild.
[<Horwich> Eccentric owner Ma’s Bolton Wanderers! Three straight wins over Rochdale, Shrewsbury Town, Crewe!]
[<Kearsley> Owen Precise! Three goals in two games! Fires the revival signal...!]
[<Blackroad> Bolton takes 1-0 win over Crewe!]
The media and fans gradually warmed to Jeong-woo’s interviews too.
[<Panwars> Owner Ma: ‘Owen Precise’s position is’]
- : Machine gun? Love it.
- : Hits the nail on the head. Seriously..., after Shrewsbury, Owen was spraying passes and shots like a machine gun in the Crewe game too!
- : Owen’s evolved in his own way. Used to be this elegant dribbler..., post-injury, he’s like a vet picking at gaps?
- : Heavy machine gun! Perfect fit for Owen.
- : Jeong-woo Ma, this guy’s got real tactical chops? Or does he just look good ’cause expectations were rock bottom...? Or were those last three teams just brain-dead...?
Bolton’s surge didn’t stop.
They smashed rounds 33 and 34 opponents in a row, rocketing up to 21st.
Not all smooth sailing, though.
Against mid-table Oxford, Bristol Rovers, and top-tier Portsmouth, Hull City, they managed 1 draw, 3 losses...
Time marched on, leaving just six games till league end.
* * *
April.
In Jeong-woo’s dingy office, yellow sunlight filtering in.
His hair now a wild mess, Jeong-woo slouched crookedly in the executive chair, eyeing his tablet PC.
[<Horwich> Owner Ma! 6W-1D-3L since taking over as manager!]
[<Kearsley> Some Wanderers: ‘Owner Ma’s way better than Derek Scott...!’]
[<Blackroad> Owner Ma achieves great results with thin squad! Fans: ‘Deserves all the praise...!’]
“Heh heh heh...”
He grinned nonstop at the glowing articles.
The one that tickled him most?
[Bolton Wanderers! Leap from 24th to 19th!]
“Heh heh heh!”
His sly chuckle deepened.
Out of the drop zone, and a five-point gap to it.
Not fully satisfying, though.
After beating Rochdale, Shrewsbury Town, Crewe, he’d thought he was some Lu Bu.
But wins involved way more factors than expected.
That thought wiped the smile, furrowing his brow.
“Damn it, right when we hit a win streak, so did similar-ranked teams. Kept our climb slow... and merch sales dipped too.”
Survival fight still on. No room to relax—who knew when relegation would swallow them.
Plus, fans hoarding “burn and bash” merch was killing turnover. Poison for rotation.
“Well, can’t throw games on purpose.”
Mid/top teams’ player gaps were bigger than thought.
Tactics could only cover so much.
Above all, ace and Owen traded injuries, shaking the tactical core.
“Good thing they weren’t serious.”
Still, he grabbed them by the ankles.
Drew with third-place Hull City, bumping them to fourth.
Jeong-woo’s eyes dropped to the desk.
Still wearing both owner and manager hats.
Couldn’t focus solely on results.
As owner, he delegated fully to Manager Hee-won.
Vice versa: when Hee-won was out, Jeong-woo ran training under those orders.
Why he’d made Hee-won Manager.
Split duties seamlessly, no overlaps.
“Hmm.”
Jeong-woo rubbed his throbbing temples.
6W-1D-3L over 10 games, plus radio spots and events drew decent crowds.
Interest payments covered for now.
‘Keep this up, and crowds grow.’
But Jeong-woo still thirsted.
‘Just six left... key players could get hurt.’
‘Already down to 18 guys. Damn, pushed too hard?’
‘Ace and Owen sidelined in turns, power took a real hit...’
Scouts and Hee-won pushed scouting, but no joy.
Post-window, hunting FAs or loophole youths.
Found one, but he wanted another team.
Jeong-woo scowled.
‘Gotta make time to check him out.’
Hee-won said talent-wise, top of League One.
Just a rough gem, too buried.
Cocky too, bonus.