The Eye of the Storm, and a New Promise
The morning after they lifted the Hwarang Cup trophy.
The front of Gang-cheol’s house was as noisy as a five-day market. In a quiet rural village where the only usual sounds were crowing roosters and the putter of tillers, gleaming black sedans and vans now stretched bumper to bumper down the lane.
“Is anyone home? I’m the soccer coach from Seoul’s Mullae Middle School!”
“Hey, form a line! I was here first! Scout from Suwon!”
“Ma’am! We’ll cover the full scholarship and even provide an apartment!”
At the pounding on the gate and the shouting, Gang-cheol’s mother stood in the yard looking utterly lost. Until yesterday she had been the mother of an ordinary country boy; overnight she had become the “precious parent” of Korea’s top prospect.
Listening to the racket from his room, Gang-cheol clicked his tongue.
“I expected it, but not this much.”
He toyed with the gold medal on his bedside table. In his previous life, the coaches of prestigious middle schools wouldn’t even glance his way; now they were begging him to come. Times had changed. But Gang-cheol’s mind was already made up.
“Gang-cheol, what do we do? There are people outside…”
His mother opened the door, on the verge of tears. Gang-cheol rose with a reassuring smile.
“Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll handle it.”
When he stepped out in his tracksuit and opened the gate, the scouts camped outside swarmed him at once. Business cards rained down like a storm.
“Ma Gang-cheol! Come to our school and you’ll start every game!”
“Study abroad? We’ll send you! You wanted Spain, right?”
They saw him only as money or results. In their greedy eyes Gang-cheol recognized the adults of his past life—the ones who had sweet-talked him, wrung him dry, and thrown him away.
“I’m sorry,” he said, raising a hand to cut them off. His calm, commanding voice—nothing like an eleven-year-old’s—silenced the crowd.
“I’ve already decided my path.”
“Decided? Where? You’re not going straight overseas, are you?”
“Or to some big-name middle school in Seoul?”
The scouts swallowed hard. Gang-cheol grinned and dropped the bombshell.
“No. I’m going to Haeseong Middle School.”
“……What?”
Silence fell. Haeseong Middle School. The rural school right next to Haeseong Elementary. It had a soccer team, but they were a no-name side that got knocked out of the preliminaries as routinely as eating meals.
“Come on, Gang-cheol, stop joking. Why bury talent like yours in some backwater? You need to come to Seoul and play in the big leagues!”
One scout shouted in frustration.
“The big leagues?”
Gang-cheol clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky.
“If the water’s small, I’ll just turn it into an ocean. Like we did at Haeseong Elementary this time. And…”
He pointed to Team Leader Choi Hyeon-seok’s car parked beside the gate.
“I’ve got the LK Group behind me. You don’t need to worry about support.”
Only then did the scouts grasp the enormous shadow standing behind him. LK Group, number one in the Korean business world. No ordinary middle-school soccer program could compete with that.
“Please go home. My decision won’t change.”
Gang-cheol bowed politely and shut the gate. Behind the closed door came the scouts’ hollow sighs.
“Whew… I’m exhausted.”
He sat on the wooden platform in the yard. Someone slipped through the gap in the gate—Han Se-hui. She settled beside him as if she belonged there and began fanning him.
“Must be nice being so popular, Mr. Ma Gang-cheol. Quite the big star.”
“Don’t tease. It was hard enough dealing with them before you got here.”
“You did well. Following people like that only leads to misery. I checked—the chairman of Haeseong Middle’s foundation is a relative of the LK chairman, right? You’ll live like a king there.”
Se-hui had already finished her information gathering. Gang-cheol snorted and looked at her.
“Shouldn’t you be studying instead of digging into my background?”
“This is all investment management. My ten percent can’t turn into garbage.”
She put on a prim act, but in her hand was the ice cream he liked.
“Here, eat. Cool off.”
“Oh, thanks.”
They sat side by side eating ice cream. Cicadas blared through the late-summer afternoon. After the storm of the tournament, a rare peace had settled over them.
“Gang-cheol.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re really… not going, right?”
“Where?”
“Seoul, or overseas. When I start middle school I’ll be busy studying… It’ll be boring without you.”
Se-hui mumbled, fiddling with the ice-cream stick. Gang-cheol set his down and looked at her seriously.
“I promised, remember? Win the LK Cup, then leave with my head high. Until then I’ll stick right next to you. Like gum on your shoe.”
“W-who said anything about gum! Get off!”
Se-hui shoved him, face red, but the corners of her mouth were already stretched to her ears.
Time flew, and before they knew it February had arrived. Graduation day.
The auditorium filled with children’s laughter and tears. It was a day of bittersweet farewells to a beloved school and excitement for new beginnings.
“Graduate representative, Ma Gang-cheol.”
At the principal’s call, Gang-cheol climbed the stage. Dressed in neat civilian clothes instead of a uniform, he drew cheers from the parents’ section and the remaining students. He was already the hero and pride of the neighborhood.
When he came down with his diploma, Coach Kim Pan-seok and Coach Park Tae-su were waiting with bouquets.
“Congratulations, Gang-cheol. Thanks to you, this was the happiest year of my soccer life.”
Coach Kim hugged him, eyes reddening.
“Don’t cry, Coach. I’ll visit often even after middle school. We’re right next door.”
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t get hurt over there. You’re a treasure of Korean soccer.”
Gang-cheol hugged each of his teammates in turn. Most would head to regular middle schools, quitting soccer or keeping it as a hobby. But pride was forever etched in their eyes: We conquered the nation.
“Gang-cheol! Don’t forget us!”
“When you make the national team, give us autographs!”
“Of course. You guys were my first team. I’ll never forget.”
He answered with genuine feeling. Unlike the lonely days of his previous life, this Gang-cheol had a hometown and friends to return to.
After the ceremony, as he stepped onto the field, Kim Cheol-su and Park Min-ho were waiting at the school gate. These two had decided to join him at Haeseong Middle’s soccer club—comrades who would stay to the end.
“Hey, Ma Gang-cheol! Hurry up! The jjajangmyeon’s getting soggy!”
Kim Cheol-su yelled.
“Let’s go. My treat today.”
Gang-cheol laughed and started running. But someone tugged his jacket. Se-hui. She wore a pretty dress and carried a bouquet.
“Hey. You’re going for jjajangmyeon with the guys?”
“Yeah. It’s the law on graduation day.”
“Tch… What about me?”
Se-hui pouted. Gang-cheol scratched his head, flustered.
“Weren’t you eating with your family?”
“Mom and Dad said to eat with you. They even gave me allowance to celebrate you.”
She shook her wallet. Gang-cheol hesitated a moment, then waved to Kim Cheol-su and Park Min-ho.
“Hey! You guys go ahead and order! I’ve got something quick to take care of!”
“Huh? Hey! We should go together! Where are you going!”
Leaving their protests behind, Gang-cheol took Se-hui’s wrist and headed for the path behind the school.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere quiet. Let’s hit the snack place downtown. Tteokbokki beats jjajangmyeon any day.”
“Oh, Ma Gang-cheol. You know what’s up.”
They walked side by side toward the city bus stop. The late-winter wind was cold, but their joined hands were warm. Sitting in the back of the bus, watching the scenery pass, they chatted quietly.
“Middle school’s going to get really busy, right?”
Se-hui asked.
“Yeah. Training intensity will go up, and we’ve got the LK Cup to prepare for. We might not see each other much.”
“It’s fine. I’ll study hard and aim for foreign language high school. We just do our best where we are.”
She spoke maturely, but Gang-cheol didn’t miss the regret in her eyes.
“I’ll keep weekends free.”
“What?”
“After weekend training. Let’s go for tteokbokki. My treat.”
“……Promise? Break it and the penalty’s ten times.”
Se-hui beamed. That smile tickled something in Gang-cheol’s chest—a happiness beyond soccer that he had never known in his previous life.
After stuffing themselves with tteokbokki and sundae at the snack shop, they stepped out into the fading light. Gang-cheol walked her all the way home.
“Thanks for today. Congrats on graduating, Team Leader Han.”
“You too. Keep being the best in middle school. You’re Ma Gang-cheol, after all.”
Se-hui started through the gate, then paused, came back, and handed him something—a small gift box.
“What’s this?”
“An enrollment present. A misanga bracelet. I made it myself. It’s a wish bracelet. Wear it until it breaks and your wish comes true.”
Gang-cheol opened the box. A bracelet woven tightly from black and red thread. Rough, but full of care.
“Thanks. I really like it.”
He put it on right there.
“My wish is… that you become my real manager someday.”
The offhand joke turned Se-hui’s face as red as a beet.
“W-what… That’s gross! I’m going!”
She fled into the house. Gang-cheol stood for a long time staring at the closed gate. The bracelet around his wrist felt warm.
“Now it really begins.”
He stroked the bracelet and looked up at the night sky.
Elementary school was over. A rougher, fiercer jungle awaited him now. The middle-school stage, and the LK Cup where the world’s top prospects would gather.
But he wasn’t afraid.
He had reliable teammates, a solid support network behind him, and above all, a girl who believed in him.
“Let’s go. Time to chew up the world.”
Gang-cheol walked home with light steps. His shadow stretched long under the streetlight. The tip of that shadow already reached across the distant sea, toward the great stadiums of Europe.