Chapter 80
Chapter 80
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Firmly and Brilliantly (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Black-Haired Tactical Genius
Bolton Wanderers administrative manager Donald Victor approached his Nutuber shoot with a joyful heart.
"Alright, this here is called a pencil sharpener..., but it's not just any pencil sharpener. It's got a nice design too...!"
Was it thanks to the algorithm on the official Bolton homepage?
Over the past few weeks, he'd noticed the bizarre phenomenon of some Wanderers fans migrating to his Nutuber channel.
Donald Victor had also made several appearances on the Nutuber channel starring Manager Ma.
Thanks to that, his subscriber count had skyrocketed past 100,000 in no time.
That was how he'd connected with an advertiser and was now doing a front ad for this pencil sharpener.
Victor brought the compact square pencil sharpener—perfectly fitting in his palm—close to the camera and flashed a beaming smile.
"Look at this. You stick a pencil in this tiny thing, and out comes a perfectly sharpened point. And it's so portable!"
The day before, Victor had spent the night tweaking camera angles and even scripting the whole thing for this front ad.
He'd barely slept.
'This is my brilliant beginning...!'
Starting with pencil sharpeners, he'd gradually work his way up to big-name brands.
He had to pour everything into it.
For the sake of catching advertisers' eyes from here on out.
All the while, he checked the real-time comments rolling in.
- : Why would you carry a pencil sharpener around? It'd poke right out of your pants pocket.
-: Don't people mostly use pens or mechanical pencils these days instead of pencils...?
- : Not these days—it's been that way forever.
He couldn't properly interpret the Korean, but they seemed positive.
One oddity was that, despite being British, his Korean viewers outnumbered the British ones.
It was also amusing that they understood his English but commented in Korean.
But by now, Donald Victor had become a slave to capitalism.
With a beaming smile, he delivered the polished Korean he'd practiced hundreds of times the night before.
"Korea is my second homeland. I love you, Hankook! Saranghae Korean!"
How much time passed?
After his first contracted front ad, Donald Victor filmed his usual daily vlog with his dog, just like always.
It was a live stream, and the viewer count wasn't bad.
But then something strange happened.
"What the hell is this?"
The viewers started draining away like the tide.
"Wait, hold on—what's going on?"
In just one minute, two-thirds had vanished.
A chill ran down Victor's spine.
Had he said something wrong?
That's when an English comment caught his eye.
- : Bolton's live channel opened up, so everyone's over there. Pork belly uncle.
He had no idea why he was being called "pork belly uncle," but it didn't matter right now.
'Bolton opened a live channel...?!'
[Sniff—! Haaa! Slurrrp—! Ahh!]
[Aah~ Hooo—!]
On his phone screen, a man was eating something in a familiar spot.
The owner's office.
Donald Victor narrowed his eyes.
A closer look revealed the bowl was filled with ramen.
And the black-haired man—the manager, Ma Jeong-woo—was devouring it, sweat dripping down his face.
He slurped the broth once, then went straight to devouring the noodles.
The close-up on Manager Ma's face gradually pulled back.
"What is this...?"
Now Donald Victor wore a bewildered grin.
Someone was blatantly standing behind the sofa, spraying a water gun right over Manager Ma's head.
A closer inspection showed it was Manager Park Hee-won, spritzing away with a blank expression.
"Is that supposed to be production value...?!"
As a front ad veteran, he was baffled.
And a bit jealous, deep down.
"It's a ramen ad, huh...!"
Different class altogether.
But the real spectacle came right after.
The camera zoomed in on Jeong-woo again...
[Swish!]
Jeong-woo snapped his head up.
The camera jolted at that exact moment, then sharpened into focus.
Even through the screen, Jeong-woo's eyes gleamed like a bird of prey.
It made even Victor flinch.
And one of Victor's eyes twitched.
Because in Jeong-woo's hand was no longer the ramen bowl—but a box of chicken.
Bearing the logo of a smirking chicken head.
Jeong-woo grinned and opened his mouth.
[Chicken President spicy chicken...!]
"..."
Donald Victor was so shocked he lost his words.
The ad made zero contextual sense.
His head spun for a moment.
But when he checked the real-time comments after, his spirit crumbled.
- : So cringey but addictive!
- : What even is this lololololol
- : Chicken President chicken! Chicken President chicken!! Ordering right now!
- : Wait, Chicken President in England too?
- : Feels like an insanely high-level strategy. Fake with ramen, then no-look pass to chicken at the end!
* * *
"Yeah~ These days, brainless is the way to go."
Jeong-woo flopped onto the sofa and toweled off his damp hair.
They'd only shot a quick ad live on the Nutuber channel, but real-time viewers had topped 30,000.
The reactions were pretty positive too.
Beside him, Hee-won aimed the water gun out the window at the flower bed and sighed in relief.
"Good thing our subscribers liked it."
Truth be told, Hee-won had doubted it'd work, but the response was better than expected.
Jeong-woo made a fist near his face, opening and closing it as he spoke.
"For brainless promo like this, you need facial acting and sincerity. It's gotta be utterly ridiculous, but the actors have to sell it with total seriousness—like it's the most natural thing in the world. That's what viewers latch onto in the imbalance. It's absurd. That's the funny part."
Even as he spoke, he was mentally planning the next one.
'Maybe get some of our Wonderers kids in on ad part two...'
He could indulge in happy worries like this because he'd inked a one-year short-term sponsorship with Chicken President.
And that wasn't all.
'On top of that, separate Nutuber ads—hee hee!'
A few days ago, after convincing Chicken President CEO Kim Sol, Jeong-woo had secured not just team sponsorship but extra ads through the Nutuber channel.
And soon, the University Stadium would host Chicken President's first UK outlet.
This ad was for that very debut store.
* * *
Time flew by at Bolton.
After victory in round 4, Bolton racked up wins in rounds 5 and 6.
With six straight victories, they soared to first place.
But it was fleeting.
They lost round 7.
Drew with Bristol Rovers in round 8.
And fell to Doncaster in round 9.
After nine rounds, Bolton's record stood at 6 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses.
They'd slipped to sixth.
Even that ranking had Bolton supporters pleased.
Just look at last season: stuck in the relegation zone for ages before scraping 16th.
Even when Jeong-woo announced a Championship promotion push, expectations hadn't soared.
But not everyone felt that way.
- : Start hot, lose a few, go hot again, lose a few more..., promotion's probably out of reach, right?
- : Personally, I'd love for Bolton to challenge for Championship. Best case? Straight promotion, no playoffs.
- : Please, Bolton—reclaim the old glory! Just stay top six through the first half, and it's possible! Fight a little harder!
Some Wanderers fans were getting greedy now.
Hanging at sixth—the playoff cutoff after nine rounds—they'd spotted hope.
Certain media outlets tore into Bolton mercilessly.
The ones cozy with Manchester United.
[Can Bolton Wanderers sustain their early form?]
[Bolton pours into attack! No need for defensive reinforcements?]
Even Wanderers fans wondered about the lack of defensive signings.
Summer transfer window had closed, and Bolton hadn't brought in a single defender.
"No real options out there."
Jeong-woo sprawled in the executive chair, muttering.
His phone, crammed with articles, glowed in his hand.
That faint light was the room's only illumination.
Blinds drawn tight, the office was mostly dark.
'Gotta save on electricity myself.'
Jeong-woo added calmly.
"We were this close with one guy, but it fell through midway."
The other team was to blame.
They'd agreed to the transfer, then leveraged deadline day to demand an extra 100,000 pounds (160 million won).
Or they'd pull out.
"Not worth bumping it by 100k."
They'd already offered a hefty sum for that defender.
Another 100k? Absurd.
Of course, Jeong-woo wasn't one to flip the table or splash cash blindly on squad building.
"I thought it through..., and we can hold with what we've got through the first half."
Defenders had stamina edges over attackers or midfielders.
"Aside from nailed-on Dominic Shield, we rotate the rest situationally."
Other outlets and pundits voiced concerns too.
[High-octane attacking soccer from Bolton...! Imbalance is the task at hand...!]
They played aggressively against similar-sized or clearly weaker teams.
Which left their defense light, conceding every match.
Critics highlighted this against Championship promotion standards.
Jeong-woo had also deployed a platoon system.
Like baseball pitchers facing tailored lineups, he selected players to match opponent styles.
The wobble after six wins? Partly the platoon's fault.
"Team chemistry isn't fully gelled yet."
But Jeong-woo planned to keep it running.
"Tempering like this makes the team solid, bit by bit."
He saw not 11 starters, but the full 25 as one squad.
The true first team.
Prioritizing the full season over immediate results.
'Without a double squad, most teams crumble in the second half.'
Even in the EPL, plenty flashed early then faded.
Squad depth and rotation were key.
So Jeong-woo planned ahead.
Assigning fitting roles and chances to all, boosting form while managing fitness.
'Our current squad's evenly matched.'
A double squad in its own way.
That's when it happened.
Knock knock—!
A knock sounded.
Jeong-woo spoke low, as if expecting it.
"Come in."
Creeeak—!
The old door groaned.
And through it stepped a 190cm giant: Emmanuel Adebayor.
He looked uncomfortable.
Simple reason.
Through nine league rounds, Emmanuel Adebayor hadn't played a single minute.
Jeong-woo had kept him benched, nothing more.