Club Owner Han Do-a
The acquisition process moved at lightning speed.
With the World Cup underway, K League 2 had been temporarily suspended anyway, and the Maseong side was only too eager to dump Seongjin Maseong FC — so of course it went quickly.
Signatures flew across the contracts, and the Korea Professional Football League’s approval for the change of ownership came through in a single week. That was even more inevitable.
A mid-table K League 2 side whose previous owners had all but abandoned it — and suddenly the Hanul family stepped in and bought it? That was something to be grateful for, wasn’t it?
Which was how the board of the Professional Football League managed the insane feat of clearing a club-owner change and approval in just seven days.
It almost felt like a silent pressure to get the house in order while the league was still on break.
Either way, that was how I took Seongjin Maseong FC off Maseong’s hands and renamed it Seongjin Hanul FC.
Seongjin Hanul FC — the name of the team that would light my path all the way to the presidency of the Korea Football Association.
Of course, for it to actually become that light, I was going to have to manage the place extremely well from here on out. Otherwise it would be nothing but an empty shell.
Once you’ve acquired a club, gotten the approvals, and become the new owner — what comes next?
Interviews with the sports press? That was part of it, sure. The birth of a new club owner had to be announced to the whole country. The birth of the Hanul family’s brand-new football team had to be announced.
But that was secondary. Honestly, it wasn’t that important, and interview requests would come pouring in whether I lifted a finger or not.
So what was the single most important thing to do next?
Greet the people who actually made up the club — and tear down every rotten structure that needed tearing down.
Starting with the introductions.
“Aigoo, so you’re the new owner! A pleasure to meet you! Yang Chun-seok, at your service!”
“Yes, Coach Yang. It’s nice to meet you.”
Coach Yang Chun-seok. The man who had been running Seongjin Maseong FC until yesterday. A walking liability with zero ability who had ridden Maseong connections all the way to the interim manager’s chair and was currently driving the team into the ground.
At least, that was what every scrap of data I had collected said.
Still, I preferred to decide after meeting someone face-to-face. So for the moment, no firings.
“I’d like to meet the players right away. Where should I go?”
“They’ll be at the training ground. Shall we head over together?”
“Please.”
I followed Coach Yang toward the Seongjin Hanul FC training ground. I’d worn sneakers instead of heels, and as expected, sneakers were simply better — no aching feet, just pure comfort.
With a slightly lighter step I reached the pitch and found the players hard at work. When Coach Yang called them over, they clustered around, and I bowed my head in greeting.
“Hello, everyone of Seongjin Hanul FC. As of yesterday, I am the new owner of this club. My name is Han Do-a.”
Clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap.
It was a break period, true — but unlike K League 1, which had been fully paused by national-team call-ups, K League 2 had barely lost any players to the national side, so its break was short. The squad was still training hard, drilling tactics… well, whether any real tactics were being drilled was another question entirely.
“Captain Nam Gi-cheol.”
“Oh my, Nam Gi-cheol. It’s a pleasure.”
I shook hands lightly with Nam Gi-cheol, wrapping up the formal meeting with the squad, then let my eyes sweep over them, reading the internal atmosphere with my own eyes.
I’d already heard about it, but seeing it confirmed the truth: the mood was not good.
A mid-table second-division side with no proper manager — just an interim coach patching things together with makeshift tactics and half-hearted leadership.
“Hey, you lot! The new owner’s here — what kind of reaction is that?!”
A voice like a locomotive whistle boiled in a pot suddenly boomed across the pitch.
Its owner was Hwang In-bae.
I had heard he was one of Seongjin Maseong FC’s highest earners and, at twenty-nine, the team’s vice-captain. And yet this so-called wingback had the worst stamina on the roster and a weak kick to match.
His match ratings had never cracked a five — win or lose. Pure deadweight.
In modern football a wingback was supposed to be worth their weight in gold. How was someone like this collecting a fat salary, starting every match, and wearing the vice-captain’s armband?
“Looking forward to working with you, Owner.”
He wore a friendly smile, but I knew better. That was the face of a snake.
The look of a man who already saw me as his personal lifeline was so familiar it almost made me laugh. I held it in, of course.
“Likewise, Hwang In-bae.”
Yeah. Looking forward to it. Right up until the moment I cut you.
I also took a moment to clock the ones in this squad who were actually useful — the ones who could survive even in K League 1.
Data doesn’t lie, so I burned their faces into my memory.
Cha Jeong-woo, the winger who was this team’s real ace and its future. Seo Dong-hyeon, whose insane work rate even covered for Hwang In-bae’s trolling. And Jo Tae-ung, the man who should have been the ace himself.
I nodded once after taking each of them in, then decided it was time to visit the office of Seongjin “Maseong” FC’s coach — the office that might very soon no longer belong to the incompetent Coach Yang of Seongjin Hanul FC.
“Coach, would you mind stepping into the manager’s office for a quick chat?”
“Of course.”
Did this man even realize he was walking into a job interview with his career on the line?
Please mess up the answers. That way I’ll have every reason to fire you.
The moment we entered the office I naturally took the seat of honor; Coach Yang Chun-seok settled into the lower one.
I decided to cut straight to the chase with him.
“Coach Yang, I’m MZ, so I really like getting to the point.”
“I see…”
“Coach Yang — what exactly is Seongjin Hanul FC’s tactical identity? Start with the concept, please.”
I had asked about Seongjin Hanul’s tactics. It was my way of giving him one last chance: answer well and maybe you’d survive.
And our Coach Yang delivered a truly magnificent answer.
“Seongjin Hanul FC plays possession football based on short passing. We circulate the ball in short combinations to create space, and—”
“So that’s why you just run endless U-Build Up? The ball never even enters the center. If possession never turns into goals, is that still possession football?”
The tactics Yang Chun-seok had been running at Seongjin Maseong FC were, technically speaking, “possession football.” The problem was that nearly every goal came from counterattacks riding pure individual talent, and the only build-up pattern that ever appeared was the U-Build Up.
Did he seriously think I wouldn’t notice?
“Well… possession is just numbers, right? You have to be pragmatic. Give ground when you must, then hit them on the break! That’s what Seongjin Hanul—”
“Didn’t you just say possession football?”
“There are times when possession football is the pragmatic—”
“Pragmatic football means sitting deep, waiting for the opponent’s line to push up, then exploding into a quick counter. Low possession, high efficiency — that’s what makes it pragmatic.”
Why was this man name-dropping counters and pragmatism after calling his own system possession football?
“You adapt to the situation, you know? Possession when it works! Counters when it works! Press high sometimes, drop deep other times!”
“In other words, you’ve prepared nothing. No identity for this club at all.”
“Must be the Hanul blood — you actually know a thing or two! Haha! Football’s always been that complicated~”
……
One last question. My mind was already made up, but I wanted to hear this too.
“What criteria do you use for player selection?”
“I pick strictly on ability. Of course, keeping the seniors motivated matters, and the kids who are good with people are just nicer to have around, right? I do look after those types a little!”
Strictly on ability, he said — and sure, personality and squad chemistry mattered in football, but if you were going to field people who didn’t even meet the minimum standard, you might as well tell them to quit the sport.
That was it. I couldn’t take another second.
“Coach Yang Chun-seok.”
“Yes?”
“I can’t entrust my team to a coach who knows less about football than a woman in her mid-twenties. As of today, your contract is terminated.”
“E-excuse me…?”
Excuse me, my ass.
“We’ll settle the buyout. Looking at last season’s results — and this season’s so far — I’m honestly more tempted to send you a bill.”
With that I strode straight to the offices and announced it to the front-office staff.
“This is Han Do-a, new owner of Seongjin Hanul FC. Effective today, every person who has been collecting a paycheck while doing nothing is gone. I already have the full front-office roster.”
And I meant every word. It wasn’t as if the entire staff was useless — but a handful of absolute garbage had been poisoning the place, and those people were getting the axe along with everyone else who deserved it.
After that declaration I walked into the gaudy room that supposedly served as the owner’s office.
“Haa… why is this place so ridiculously flashy…?”
“Must have been the previous owner’s taste.”
Yu-gyeong’s flat, husky voice usually bordered on absurd, but in that moment it was strangely pleasant to hear.
“Apparently so.”
Listening to my half-hearted reply, Yu-gyeong asked a question.
“Chairman. Are we leaving the manager’s seat empty?”
Why would I leave it empty?
“No.”
I looked out the window.
Beyond the lush green pitch, across the sea — somewhere in Europe, a man was still drawing up his tactics, an unknown genius no one had recognized yet.
That tactician was out there somewhere.
“There’s a man in Germany named Marco Feltner. By now he should have been sacked by some Bundesliga 2 side and be sitting unemployed. Bring him here.”
“……Is there a reason?”
A reason? Of course there was.
“Because that man is going to save Seongjin Hanul FC — and Korean football.”
“Ah, one more thing, Yu-gyeong.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“……Everything decorative in this room that isn’t worth money — throw it all out. Anything that is worth money, just give it away or let whoever wants it take it.”
“Yes.”
……And she was already grinning at the part about taking things. This woman.