First Live Match
—Beep-beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep-beep!
—Smack!
I checked the alarm blaring like it had lost its mind and dragged myself out of bed.
Partly to tame my messy hair, partly to wake myself up, and partly just to get ready for the day, I headed to the bathroom and took a proper shower.
If there was one real downside to waking up as a woman and keeping my hair long, it was how much of a pain hair care had become. One shower easily ate up a full hour.
Still, putting in that kind of work got me hair that actually looked good on me, so I figured it was worth it.
Once I was clean, I threw on a bathrobe, stepped out, and changed into the clothes Yu-gyeong had laid out for me.
"Thanks, Yu-gyeong."
"I'll run you through today's schedule."
Yu-gyeong went over the day's itinerary with easy familiarity.
First up: head into the office, go through the reports that had come up from downstairs that morning, and lock in the investment directions. And the afternoon?
"In the afternoon, you head to Seongjin Comprehensive Stadium and watch the match."
"Kickoff's at seven-thirty, right?"
"Yes. You can watch from the VIP seats."
"Let's grab something good on the way. Oh—Oppa will be there too, right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"Then let's get two chickens, enough for Oppa too. No, wait—three."
"Why three?"
"You have to eat too. What, are we the only ones with mouths?"
Giggling, I changed into a suit, slipped into work mode, and started calling her Yu-gyeong-ssi instead.
"Yu-gyeong-ssi. This morning's work—let's clear it as fast as we can."
"Understood, Chairman."
The moment I switched into business mode, she followed suit without missing a beat. I climbed into the car she was driving and got straight to work.
Truthfully, I'd already forced through everything urgent the night before, so the day was relatively light. Even so, I liked stacking extra work whenever I could—weekdays included—just so I'd have more chances to go watch matches.
"Yu-gyeong-ssi, when's the next match after this one?"
"You're already thinking about the next one? Is an owner even supposed to show up this often?"
"That's the owner's call."
There were owners who treated their clubs like a business, and owners who actually cared about the team.
The business types usually showed their faces for big matches or whenever some internal checklist said they should. The ones who loved the club went whenever they could—almost without exception.
I wasn't completely free of the first type's instincts, but I leaned much harder toward the second.
"More than anything, this is a team I built with my own money. I should check with my own eyes whether it's running properly."
Even if I dressed it up as business diligence, the bigger truth was that I simply wanted to see how the team was doing.
Right now, Seongjin Hanul FC sat in mid-table in K League 2. Upper-mid, if you wanted to be generous—but the gap from mid-table all the way up to second was razor-thin this season.
Seongjin Hanul FC had twenty-three points and sat eighth. Second-place Seoul Stars had thirty.
That was it. Seven teams jostling inside a seven-point window.
If we started stringing wins together here—if we started picking off the teams above us one by one—climbing all the way to first wouldn't be some impossible fantasy.
And first place was catchable too. Suwon Galaxy Wings sat alone at the top with thirty-three points, looking like the one team a cut above the rest, but they weren't untouchable, were they?
We were only at the halfway mark of the season. It was still very much doable.
First place meant automatic promotion, so of course I wanted it if we could get it—but I also had to keep the promotion playoffs in mind. We'd already burned half the season, after all.
Still, if—and it was a real if—I saw something today that told me Seongjin Hanul FC actually had a shot… then maybe I could finally cheer without holding anything back.
Not that I expected anything eye-catching to show up overnight.
"I do need to watch today's match, but I don't think it'll be easy."
"Why not? You spent quite a bit of money, didn't you?"
"We only brought in two players who can contribute right away, and there hasn't been enough time to install the manager's system. I'm not expecting the team to transform overnight."
On top of that, our next opponent was Chungnam City FC—fourth in the league, and the club that had sold us Ha Seung-pyo.
Chungnam City FC was a side that used a back three to keep their shape flexible. Being a second-division team, they didn't have the deepest toolbox, but they were fundamentally an attacking side.
The key was their quality out wide. Those wide options were exactly why a standout like Ha Seung-pyo—now our wingback—had never been first choice there.
Ha Seung-pyo was closer to a fullback than a wingback to begin with. Better at defending than attacking, better at marking than beating a man.
He'd still carved out new tools trying to adapt to the wingback role. Feltner especially rated his overlapping crosses, his recovery defending, and his positioning.
Those strengths were real—but without the one thing a wingback needed most, the ability to dribble past people, he'd never been heavily used at Chungnam City.
So today's match could become the stage where the new Seongjin Hanul FC proved itself. At the same time, it could be the stage where Ha Seung-pyo—effectively cast off and sent our way—proved something to the club that had discarded him.
For now, I chose to believe. In my own eye. In Feltner's eye. This team could do it. That was the kind of team it was.
Holding onto that thought, I arrived at the office—and spent the entire day unable to focus on work.
Even so, I forced myself through everything, and the second quitting time hit, I turned straight to Yu-gyeong.
"Unnie, if we leave now we won't be late, right!?"
"We should make kickoff just fine."
It was five in the afternoon. Two and a half hours until the seven-thirty start.
I had no intention of barging into the locker room like some TV owner to deliver a pep talk. The locker room was the manager's space, plain and simple. Unless there was something to celebrate, an owner had no business walking in there. If anything, you were supposed to stay out.
But I at least wanted to settle in early, see which players were starting, and get a look at the manager's setup. That was what I wanted.
Not Han Do-a the owner of Seongjin Hanul FC—Han Do-a the soccer fan.
"We're not going to get stuck in rush hour and show up ridiculously late… right?"
"It's a home game, so that won't happen. I already factored in traffic when I said we'd make it."
Yu-gyeong's tone was almost soothing, and it calmed me down a little.
Even so…
—Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap
Once I was in the car, I couldn't stop my leg from bouncing.
"Do-a, that's not going to get us there any faster."
"But stiiiill…!"
"Good grief. That nervous? Want a calming pill?"
"It's not that bad."
Her joke was enough to settle me down to a manageable level.
Manageable. That was the word.
We reached the stadium at seven-ten.
Cutting it close, we headed up to the VIP seats—and found someone already there.
"Hey."
"Oppa, you got here early."
"Yeah. Yu-gyeong-ssi's here too."
"Hello, Do-yun-nim."
Yu-gyeong bowed her head politely. In both our hands was fried chicken.
"What's with the chicken?"
"You can't watch soccer without chicken."
"You're gonna get fat like that."
"I work out plenty, so worry about yourself, Oppa."
We set the chicken and drinks out on the table, and Do-yun started filling me in on the lineup he'd already seen.
"Your lineup looks like this."
What he showed me was today's Seongjin Hanul FC side: a 4-2-3-1.
A back four screened by two defensive midfielders, with the front four pushing forward—a shape clearly built to use the players we'd brought in.
Baek Hyeon at center-back and Ha Seung-pyo out wide were both in there, of course. But there were selections I hadn't seen coming.
Cha Jeong-woo, normally a left winger, had been shifted to wingback, while a winger who'd already been at the club held onto the wide attacking spot. On top of that, Jo Tae-ung had been pushed to the bench entirely, and in his place was Kang Si-woo—the striker Feltner and I had brought in.
Expected picks mixed with surprises. I was dying to know.
What Feltner was thinking. What picture he was trying to paint.
How was he drawing a picture I still couldn't see? I was nervous—but even more than that, I was excited.
Life always had a way of veering off in directions you never asked for. That was what made it fun.
"Today's match is one we basically have to win, isn't it?"
"I'm watching it under the assumption we might not. Feltner's only been in the job about a week. They've barely had three proper training sessions."
"Fans won't care about any of that."
"Tch. Yeah, that's true."
Unfortunately, Do-yun was right. A few days into the job. Even less real training time.
Fans didn't care about any of that. All they cared about was how the team looked after the managerial change.
Even so, no matter how today's result went, I was going to believe in Feltner. I would back him and protect him to the end.
Until I was certain my judgment had been wrong, that was the stance I would hold.
It was the best choice I could make as the person who'd brought him here—and a conviction I could invest in because I already knew what his future looked like.
Before long, the players filed out of the locker room, and I started studying their faces carefully.
They were far away, but one thing was unmistakable.
Every last one of them was smiling. Like they were overflowing with confidence.
Was it okay… to get my hopes up for this?