The Chairman's Deal with the Pot-Netizens
The pile of documents on my desk in the chairman's office looked like a mountain of headaches.
The title at the very top was more than enough to give me a migraine.
**[Final Approval List for the New National Team Manager Candidates]**
"Haa..."
I let out a deep sigh and tapped the papers.
This was the top priority task waiting for me the moment I sat in the chairman's seat.
Selecting a new manager for the national team, which had been vacant for far too long.
In front of me stood the chairman of the **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee** of the Korea Football Association, coughing awkwardly.
"Chairman. The three final candidates we carefully reviewed day and night by our committee are..."
"Committee Chairman."
"Yes, Chairman."
"How long did it take to pick these candidate lists?"
"Three full months of rigorous evaluation and multifaceted procedures!"
The chairman puffed out his chest proudly.
I flipped through the documents. The absurdity made a bitter laugh escape me.
Candidate 1 was a K-League manager with a long list of domestic championship wins.
Candidate 2 was a washed-up foreign coach who had been living off his savings for ten years because he lagged behind tactical trends in Europe.
Candidate 3 was a ghost candidate whose name sounded decent but whose salary was dirty enough that you could skim fat commissions off him.
"Three months just to gather trash like this?"
"Call it trash! Chairman! Your words are too harsh!"
"No, be honest. With candidates this useless, anyone would think you weren't working at all."
My direct remark made the **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee** chairman's face harden.
"It seems the old habits from the previous chairman's time are still here. We don't make exceptions for that kind of thing. Please throw these documents straight into the shredder."
"Chairman! This is arbitrary action that ignores procedure!"
"Procedure? I'm the chairman. What I like is the procedure. Ignoring everything from top to bottom and just picking myself. The whole nation knows my football instincts are sky-high. Why do I have to get **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee** confirmation?"
I slammed my fist on the desk and shouted. The chairman shook like a leaf as he protested.
"Even if the chairman is backed by public opinion, this is an association! Ignoring democratic procedures and the committee system would make even the public turn against the chairman!"
***
The chairman's words weren't entirely wrong.
I was seated in the chairman's chair thanks in part to the public opinion my subscribers created,
but the moment I said I was ignoring the **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee** and appointing a manager arbitrarily, they flipped their script.
"Even the chairman can't skip the **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee**."
"Isn't he trying to be a dictator like you?"
"Is the procedure formal? Respect the system! Investigate!"
You pathetic pot-netizens.
Just a few days ago you were demanding I overhaul everything as I see fit?
The second it didn't suit your tastes, you slapped the dictator label on me.
Procedure? System? If those things actually worked, would I have reached this seat?
"Chairman, please look. The football fans also want the proper procedures. Choosing from the list we submitted is the path that minimizes risk."
Seeing the chairman's chest puffed up and him blustering, the black dragon of the **Cyber Wrecker** inside my chest started boiling.
Fine, you want procedures?
You want transparency in the system?
Good. I'll expose that transparent procedure you love so much.
"National Team Strength Enhancement Committee members, gather in the conference room right now."
With one instruction from me, the KFA conference room moved busily.
***
The elderly gentlemen lined up around the wide mahogany table.
Their expressions weren't great.
Calling the **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee** again right after all the candidate submissions had been finalized was bound to irritate anyone.
I was slouched at the head of the table, leaning crookedly, and locked eyes with the committee chairman seated across from me.
"Committee Chairman."
"...Yes, Chairman."
"You said earlier that the most important thing in appointing a manager is transparent procedures."
"That's right, Chairman. In an organization as large as the association, principles and procedures..."
"Then let's rip those bastard procedures apart from the inside today."
Before the chairman could finish, I cut him off cleanly.
The conference room fell into dead silence.
I tapped the table with my fingers and scanned the chairman and the members on either side of him.
"You gentlemen sitting in the **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee** seats. What procedures did you actually go through to end up here?"
The chairman coughed awkwardly in response.
"Um... Naturally, we strictly selected individuals who appeared to have outstanding abilities in manager selection and tactical evaluation. We gathered opinions from experts across all fields, and the meeting minutes documenting the entire process were written transparently."
A smug answer.
I silently raised one hand.
The chairman's mouth snapped shut.
"Not that. Don't just say something about being invited because of your outstanding abilities. It's like grabbing at thin air."
I leaned forward and met the chairman's eyes directly.
"What I'm saying is... Did you hold interviews when selecting these committee members? The everyday procedure of submitting documents and being fairly evaluated by interviewers?"
The chairman's pupils shook as if an earthquake had hit.
"That... we have to consider the special nature of the football world... The **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee** seats are traditionally filled by appointing people based on their field experience and dedication to the football world..."
"Tradition? You were talking about procedures just now. Where did this tradition come from suddenly?"
I smiled as I pressed him, and sweat began to bead on the chairman's forehead.
"In the end, weren't the football people quietly placing their connections through handshakes and sibling-like bonds? You sat here to protect your plate of rice, yet now you talk about procedures and systems?"
"Chairman! Your words are too excessive! How much time have we devoted to the football world...!"
"Ah, yes. You've spent a lot of time. So now you can step down and rest."
I leaned back in my chair and waved my hand dismissively.
"From today, the **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee** is fully dissolved."
"...What?!"
"Dissolve! It! Yes! Did you go deaf?"
The conference room exploded.
The members' faces turned purple as they glared, and the chairman's mouth quivered in terror.
"Members of the **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee** who weren't selected through fair interviews are to pack up and leave immediately. The transparent procedures you all worship so much, I will protect just as strictly. Don't cry about unfairness."
This was exactly the transparent procedure you had been bragging about in your mouths.
We football people know all too well how the headhunting structure actually works, yet you stand in front of me and call for procedures?
You bastards thought I was easy?
Start with the **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee** and question your own procedures.
***
Tens of camera flashes exploded, piercing the eyes.
The KFA's first-floor press conference hall.
The moment I entered, the entire room fell dead silent.
"I won't drag this out. Effective immediately, the **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee** of the Korea Football Association is completely dissolved."
My one sentence sent the press conference hall into chaos.
Murmurs erupted from everywhere, and a sports reporter in the front row shot his hand up urgently.
"Sports Kim, reporter! Dissolving the **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee** right after taking office! Isn't this clearly arbitrary action that ignores procedures by eliminating the core department for appointing a manager?"
Damn.
"Do you really think procedures are important in football?"
"Of course! The national team manager position involves billions. Naturally, a transparent system and procedures are needed!"
The reporter raised his voice as if he'd delivered a decisive blow.
I nodded calmly.
"Exactly. Procedures matter. That bastard system must be protected with our lives."
"Then why did you dissolve the **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee**!"
"Because you didn't follow that procedure."
"What? ... The **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee** didn't follow what procedure?"
I looked at the reporter.
"Reporter Kim. Do you know what procedures the **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee** members actually went through to sit in those seats?"
"Well... members composed of football world experts..."
"No. Don't summarize it. Were applications opened publicly? Did documents go through screening and pass, then real-world interviews and executive interviews before hiring?"
My completely out-of-place counter-question left the reporter speechless for a moment.
"Um... The **National Team Strength Enhancement Committee** is typically appointed conventionally upon recommendations from football world figures or insiders..."
"Recommendations and conventions. Isn't that called connections in Korean?"
"That considers the special nature of the football world..."
"Look."
I cut the reporter off sharply and struck.
"They're revered for conventions and connections when guarding their own positions. They sat in those seats without a single interview or priority pass. But when they suddenly gathered to pick a manager, they screamed about transparent procedures. How is that logical?"
"Well, even so, it's a committee..."
"Think logically, reporter."
I smiled at the reporters.
"If procedures are so important, wouldn't it be logical to first dismantle the committee created without following those procedures? The building was illegally constructed from the start. How can the approval documents coming from it be legitimate?"
The room fell into silence.