Freshman Welcome Camp Soccer Tryout
The freshman welcome camp was on the bus bound for a resort in Gangwon-do.
Outside the window, mountain ranges still capped with unmelted snow flashed by in a blur.
I was looking out at the scenery when I glanced over at the classmate sitting beside me.
Tok tok tok tok······.
Ever since we’d left, he’d been glued to his phone, playing a game the entire time.
I didn’t know much about mobile games, but I recognized that one. It was Yongseonggi.
He was a classmate sitting right next to me, so I considered trying to strike up a conversation, but he was so absorbed in the game that I decided to leave him alone.
Zero, how much longer until we arrive?
“We are scheduled to arrive in approximately fifty-three minutes.”
As Zero said, the bus drove on for about fifty more minutes.
Then, with a jolt, it pulled into the parking lot of Daesung Resort.
Chiiiisssh~.
As the door opened with the sound of air escaping, Senior Lee Jinwoo woke the sleeping freshmen with his booming voice.
“All right, we’re here! Grab your bags and get off! Make sure you didn’t forget anything!”
— Yes.
— Ugh······.
— Ow······ my neck hurts.
The students started speaking one by one. Thanks to Senior Lee Jinwoo’s speech, it seemed like everyone’s mouths had finally opened.
We filed out in a rush.
When I got off the bus, I could see students from other buses doing the same.
A tide of male students—still looked like the army, just as I thought.
That was when I heard it.
— Giggle giggle······.
— Driver! We still haven’t unloaded our cooler!
— Unni! Could you help us carry this?
— Look at all the snow over there!
— Eek······ it’s cold. I should’ve brought a hand warmer.
— You guys! Stop right there! I’ll take a picture for you!
— Yes!
On the side of Parking Lot A, where we’d gotten off, I could hear girls’ voices coming from Parking Lot B.
They must have been the art students Senior Lee Jinwoo had mentioned earlier.
Flap, flap, flap, flap.
No joke, the moment the girls’ voices reached us, every guy in front of me turned to look that way.
— Hey, over there······.
— Wow······.
— Isn’t that one pretty······?
— There’s a guy standing there all by himself?
— ······Damn, I’m jealous. I should’ve just studied art too.
Unlike our drab computer science crowd, the front of Building B looked like spring had arrived in full color.
Bright coats, light-colored scarves, and silhouettes that were obviously different even from a distance.
There were far fewer of them than there were of us, but their presence was overwhelming.
Most of the students were obediently following their instincts and staring at the art majors.
But there were always a few who had to say something different.
— Pfft, what’s so great about that?
— Girls aren’t everything.
— Hey, don’t look. You’ll seem desperate.
Those were the ones saying it, but I could see it all too clearly.
They were already furiously glancing sideways, scanning the entrance to Building B like crazy.
It was the adorable pride of twenty-year-old boys, as if looking over there meant losing.
Cute.
I let out a small snort and slung my bag over my shoulder.
As soon as we got off the bus, the room assignments were handled at lightning speed.
“All right, everyone head to your rooms first! You got your room assignment sheet, right?!”
— Yep!
At Senior Lee Jinwoo’s command, the freshmen headed off to their assigned rooms.
I went into Room 505. It was an ondol room of about fifteen pyeong, so it was a pretty decent size for six people.
— Wow······ this room’s nice?
— Anyone need the bathroom? I’m going first.
— Hey, wait a sec! Can I go first?
We got into the room, unpacked our bags, and relaxed however we wanted.
Then the door flew open, and Senior Lee Jinwoo walked in.
“All right, listen up! You’re all Team 10, right?”
— Yes!
“Good. Actually, the room assignments don’t mean much. Once the drinking starts, you’ll end up sleeping wherever, and if you get along with someone, you can go sleep in another room. Just be in your own room for the morning and evening headcounts. Got it?”
— Understood!
“And the team divisions might change tomorrow anyway, so just keep that in mind for now.”
Senior Lee Jinwoo swept his gaze around the room with a satisfied look, then got to the point.
“And about what I mentioned on the bus earlier. Anyone want to play soccer? Doesn’t matter what position. If you think you’ve got some skill, speak up now.”
At that, three or four guys who’d been watching the mood stood up one by one.
— I played on my high school soccer team!
“Oh, a varsity player? Which high school?”
— A varsity player?
“I mean, were you on the school team.”
— Uh······ I was in a club.
“A club? You were the club rep?”
— No, the soccer club.
“······Ah, I see. Whew, that’s great! Anyone else? We’ve got to play other games too even if you don’t do soccer, so if you want to play, say so now!”
— I want to play soccer too!
— Me too!
More guys volunteered than I’d expected.
It seemed like Senior Lee Jinwoo’s art-student bait had worked pretty well.
“Good, good! This freshman class has some fire in it! If you’ve got a preferred position······!”
Looking at Senior Lee Jinwoo, I asked Zero, What was my compatibility rate with Ronaldinho again?
“Forty-eight percent. If you ignore Master’s flexibility and are willing to risk injury, it can reach sixty-four percent, but I do not recommend that.”
Forty-eight percent, huh······. Is that enough?
“More than enough.”
So that was that.
I slowly stood up and said, “I’d like to play too.”
“Oh, yeah! Position?”
“I can play anywhere except goalkeeper.”
“Oh ho······.”
Maybe because I hadn’t said “striker” or “midfielder” like the others, but instead said “anywhere except goalkeeper,” Senior Lee Jinwoo’s eyes widened a little.
If you still make me the keeper after I said that······ guess I’ll have to pull a Kim Byungji, then.
Lee Jinwoo grinned and slapped his palm against his hand.
“I was just going to pick people on a first-come, first-served basis, but there are more applicants than I expected. If we want our department’s elite squad to win, we need to build one properly, right? So I’m thinking of doing a simple test!”
“A test?”
“Nothing fancy. After dinner, before the club performance, there’s some free time, right? We’ll do a quick game then. About thirty minutes.”
We were really going to be tested.
I thought to myself that Senior Lee Jinwoo must genuinely love soccer.
Lee Jinwoo pointed at the five of us who had stood up, including me.
“You guys, eat dinner with me later. We’ll scarf it down and head out to kick the ball around.”
“Yes, sir.”
After Lee Jinwoo left, the room got noisy again.
The rest of the day was a relentless string of boredom.
We had to move to the main auditorium and sit through the staff’s safety briefing and the dean of engineering’s lecture.
[Freshmen of the College of Engineering. As intellectuals, you must······.]
[The freshman welcome camp is not just an MT where you drink and have fun······.]
It was such a rambling sermon, amplified by a horribly echoing microphone, that I could barely even tell what they were saying. It went on for over thirty minutes.
There were guys dozing off, guys playing games on their phones, guys staring blankly at the ceiling.
I endured the boredom too, staring out the window.
The sun was beginning to sink low in the sky.
After the professors finally finished their tedious lecture in the main hall, I ended up sitting at the same table as the other guys who’d signed up for soccer, just as Senior Lee Jinwoo had said.
Senior Lee Jinwoo set down his water cup and said, “Then before we go kick a ball around, how about we each introduce ourselves? Let’s go clockwise from you? Just say where you’re from, your name, and your age or something. You first!”
— Ah, yes.
The guy he pointed to cleared his throat and began his introduction.
“I’m An Seokmin, from Seoul. I’m twenty.”
“I’m Han Seokhyun, from Daejeon. I’m twenty.”
It was a simple round of introductions, but our table was the noisiest one in the cafeteria.
— ······.
— ······.
— ······.
— ······.
At the other tables, the students were eating quietly. It was so quiet you could hear the clink of utensils.
Their eyes kept flicking over toward us.
I could feel it: envy, and the ache of being left out.
I knew that look. I’d been exactly like that in my past life.
I’d never quite fit in anywhere, and whenever I saw the lively crowd at the center of things, I’d swallow my envy and think, I wish I could be over there too.
But not anymore.
To borrow a baseball analogy, I was in the major leagues now.
So this is what becoming that kind of person feels like. It wasn’t actually a big deal. You just had to be a little more proactive.
The realization hit me all over again.
“All right, next!”
Senior Lee Jinwoo pointed at me, and I pushed my thoughts aside and spoke.
“I’m Kim Dohyun, from Seoul. I entered school a year late, so I’m twenty-one. As for my hobby······ after the CSAT, I’ve been working out pretty hard.”
At the word “working out,” Senior Lee Jinwoo reacted immediately.
“Oh, you work out? Did you play early-morning soccer or something?”
“Haha, no. I just go to the gym.”
“Ah, that explains it. I could tell from the start you had a pretty solid build.”
Lee Jinwoo nodded, though he seemed a little disappointed that I didn’t have an actual soccer background.
Once the introductions were done and dinner was mostly over, Lee Jinwoo stood up.
“All right, should we head out? We don’t have much time since the field’s only open until 7:30.”
— Yes!
And so we left the cafeteria together with Senior Lee Jinwoo.
The outdoor soccer field was behind the resort.
It was better than I’d expected. Blue artificial turf stretched across the pitch, and while there was some unmelted snow piled up in the corners, the field itself was well maintained.
It was also fairly large—about half the size of a regulation soccer field.
For mini soccer, it was more than enough.
“Okay, tomorrow’s mini soccer will be nine-on-nine. But for now, we’re going to play seven-on-seven. The team wearing pinnies is Team A, the ones without are Team B.”
Even pinnies were prepared.
Senior Lee Jinwoo really did seem serious about soccer.
He even had a whistle.
“The remaining three of you wait for a bit. Watch the guys who go in first, and I’ll sub you in when it feels right.”
I was included among the reserve players.
That was fine with me. It was nice to have time to warm up before getting on the field.
Tweet—!
With the sound of Lee Jinwoo’s whistle, the ball started rolling.
I loosened up in front of the bench and watched to see how good the others were.
Lee Jinwoo, the computer science department student body president, watched the field with his arms crossed.
— Pass!
— Here! Here!
Ah······ instead of dribbling there, they should spread out to the side. It’s wide open.
The freshmen were overflowing with enthusiasm. They chased the ball like a pack of dogs and threw their bodies into each other with plenty of spirit, which was nice to see.
But the world of competition was ruthless.
Tsk, they’re not great.
Still, I shouldn’t think that way.
I hadn’t told the freshmen this, but each engineering department had three prides.
First, soccer.
Second, gaming.
And third, band.
Of those, the computer science department had failed to dominate even one of them properly in the past several years.
For soccer, Lee Jinwoo had tried to carry everything himself—he’d been on a middle school soccer team—but they always got knocked out in the top six out of the twelve engineering departments. As for the gaming and band competitions, they were practically at the level where they couldn’t even participate.
So I was hoping some of this year’s freshmen would be good at kicking a ball······. Too bad.
That didn’t mean I was disappointed in them, though.
They were all working hard and full of enthusiasm, so it was nice just to watch.
It would’ve been even better if they were good at soccer, but still.
— Thump······ clank!
— Waaaah!
— Nice!
— Hey, that pass was insane!
Fifteen minutes into the match, Team B scored a second goal, and Team A was getting crushed two-nil in a one-sided game.
The reason was simple. One guy in central defense was a hole in the wall.
Was his name Lee Seojun? He’s trying hard, but······ his feet are way too slow.
Soccer is a team sport, but once a hole opens up, collapse comes fast.
On the other hand, if one person is good, it’s also a sport where you can surprisingly win way too easily.
Either way, if this kept up, the morale of Team A would be shattered.
Who should I take out and put in instead?
I looked over the reserve players.
Among them, there was one guy who stood out in particular: Kim Dohyun, who had started warming up from the beginning.
From the way he’s warming up, looks like he’s played a bit.
Actually, Lee Jinwoo already knew exactly who Kim Dohyun was.
He’d gotten a perfect CSAT score.
Not just Lee Jinwoo, but the student council and the other current students had probably all heard the rumor that “the top CSAT scorer is coming to our department.”
And his physical build is pretty solid. Tall, broad shoulders.
The one disappointing thing was his face.
Not that it was ugly. On the contrary, he was actually quite handsome.
The problem was that he didn’t have the kind of complexion a good soccer player should have.
Guys who are decent at soccer should be sun-tanned and a little dark······ but his face is pale.
Still, he had the build, so maybe he could try him at defense first.
Thinking that, Lee Jinwoo said to Kim Dohyun, “Hey, Dohyun! You warmed up, right? Get in there!”
“Yes.”
Kim Dohyun casually took off his outer layer and asked, “Where should I play?”
“Over there······ center back, in place of the guy wearing number four. Sound okay?”
“Yes, that’s fine.”
The moment Lee Jinwoo heard Kim Dohyun’s answer, he blew the whistle.
Whiiiiiit!
“Seojun! Come out for now and rest!”
— Haaah······ haaah······. Yes!
He looked like he was already on the verge of dying after only fifteen minutes.
And just like that, Kim Dohyun went in to replace the hole in the defense.
The game resumed.
After Kim Dohyun joined Team A, Lee Jinwoo still had hope in him, but he was focusing more on the freshmen who’d been active until then.
— Here! Pass here!!
Was it Han Seokhyun? He’s playing selfishly, but he still might be the best of the bunch.
Then it happened.
Clang~!
The ball Han Seokhyun had kicked struck the goalpost and bounced back out.
Spinning, it shot upward in a high arc and dropped toward the side where Kim Dohyun was standing.
Clear it far away!
Lee Jinwoo gave the command reflexively in his head.
A ball with that much spin was hard to deal with, so rather than trying to trap it, it was better to just clear it.
To be honest, he hadn’t expected much from Kim Dohyun in the first place.
He hadn’t seemed to be loitering around, and he hadn’t exactly been pressing actively on defense either.
But then—
Tap.
The ball touched the top of Kim Dohyun’s foot and dropped with a soft tap, as if a magnet had been attached to it.
It was a perfect first touch, deadening every ounce of rebound.
A so-called tofu touch.
“Huh?”
Lee Jinwoo let out a dazed sound.
A coincidence······ right?
The opposing attacker who had taken the shot, Han Seokhyun, rushed in as Kim Dohyun brought the ball under control.
But—
Tap, tap, swish—pop!
Kim Dohyun swayed with the rhythm of the moment, feinting left before using nothing more than a snap of his ankle to nudge the ball to the right and burst forward.
And then—
— Uh, uhuh······?!
Thud~!
Han Seokhyun, who had been marking Kim Dohyun, lost his balance to that light, fluid rhythm, staggered, and then collapsed in a ridiculous heap.
Without missing the opening, Kim Dohyun drove straight into the empty space.
— Hey, hey! Block him!
At the goalkeeper’s shout, another defender rushed over from nearby.
The instant the defender stretched out his leg deep to steal the ball from Kim Dohyun—
Tak-tak~!
Kim Dohyun’s two feet wrapped around the ball as if snatching it away.
Then, as though defying gravity, the ball lifted behind him.
The rising ball flew in such a graceful arc that it sailed lightly over the defender’s head.
It was a sombrero dribble.
······A sombrero? He can use that so easily in a real match?
— Guhh······?!
When the defender frantically lifted his head, Kim Dohyun had already received the ball behind his back.
The defender tried to chase him belatedly, but his body was dragged off balance by its own momentum and he went down.
He hadn’t just failed to take the ball—he hadn’t even managed to catch hold of Kim Dohyun’s shirt hem.
When Kim Dohyun swayed his body, people fell over. When he flicked his foot, they went blank as if they’d just seen a ghost.
He’s ridiculously good?!
No matter how bad the opponent was, Kim Dohyun was now absolutely taking the defenders on a tour of humiliation.
Was the way he’d been loafing around at the start because he was bored?
Lee Jinwoo’s eyes lit up.
In the meantime, Kim Dohyun had instantly found himself in a one-on-one against the goalkeeper.
The goal at the mini-soccer field was the size of a handball goal, so even in a one-on-one, a beginner would usually panic and shoot straight at the keeper.
But Kim Dohyun didn’t disappoint.
Tap, sway—!
Looking left, he placed a clean no-look shot into the upper-right corner.
He hadn’t even struck it hard.
He just tapped it. Really, just a tap.
The goalkeeper followed Kim Dohyun’s gaze and lunged to the left, but the ball was stabbing into the opposite right corner.
He shot while looking the other way······? In a goal that small?
He was a soccer master.
A real one.
— ······?
— ······Wow.
— ······.
— ······What was that?
— Huh······?
For a moment, silence fell over the field.
Everyone was dazed by Kim Dohyun’s skill.
After seeing Kim Dohyun’s perfect goal, Lee Jinwoo stared at him and thought, I found him.
My beloved junior.
While Lee Jinwoo was sending Kim Dohyun endless affection through his eyes, a voice came from behind him.
— ······Incredible.
— Wow······.
— ······So cool.
Girls’ voices.
At some point, there were students watching from outside the fence around the soccer field.
Most of them were boys, but there were quite a few girls too.
— H-hey, what department is that soccer team from?
— Probably engineering? There aren’t any departments in the art school with that many guys.
— So it’s engineering, but which department?
— Uh······ no idea?
— Unni, unni. Do you know what department they’re from?
— Probably computer science. The guy in the department jacket over there is the computer science student body president.
— Oh? If it’s computer science, isn’t that the department we’re drinking with tomorrow in the rooms together?
— Then is he coming too?
— Probably? Why? Should I tell the computer science student body president to bring him no matter what?
— Huh? ······Yes.
— ······Definitely.
— Pfft.
All the girls were looking at Kim Dohyun.
Lee Jinwoo thought dazedly to himself, ······Good-looking, fit, and he can play like that too.
Dohyun might not even need me to set him up on a department mixer. The girls probably won’t leave him alone.
In fact, every girl outside the field was already looking only at Dohyun.
He was obviously the brightest presence there, so that was only natural.
Rumors spread fast among freshmen, so the story that “there’s a handsome guy in computer science who’s really good at soccer!” would travel quickly too.
The more reason to put him in a mixer. A team’s ace is what makes a mixer fun. And a mixer is basically the pride of the department.
After mulling over a dozen thoughts for a moment, Lee Jinwoo came back to himself.
“Hey, hey!! Dohyun! Kim Dohyun! Kim Dohyuuuunnn!”
— Yes?
“Sub out! You’re coming out again!”
— I just got in.
“Doesn’t matter! You’ve passed! We need to save you!”
Lee Jinwoo shouted in panic. There was no way he could waste a guy like that in a mere practice game.
They couldn’t let him keep running and risk getting hurt.
— I guess his name is Kim Dohyun······.
— I guess he’s done now.
— Sh-should we go too then?
— Huh? ······Yeah, let’s go. We came out for a walk because there was nothing on TV to watch, but it’s cold.
— Are we going to watch the club performance in the auditorium in a little while?
— Yeah. The art school club performance.
— Only the art school clubs are coming, right?
— The engineering school has its own separate thing.
— Ugh, so we can’t watch the engineering performance······. I heard there are a lot of bands in engineering.
— I am kind of curious about the engineering band.
Once Kim Dohyun left the field, the girls who had been watching started drifting away one by one.
Even as they left, their eyes kept slipping back toward Kim Dohyun on the field.
And after that thirty-minute trial came to an end.
Lee Jinwoo gathered the freshman soccer team together and said, “So our strategy for tomorrow is······ ‘Give it to Dohyun.’ You know what I mean, right?”
— Yes!
The freshmen wanted to shine tomorrow in front of the other students, especially the girls from the art school.
But Kim Dohyun’s skill was not something any of them could even dream of envying, so no one had any complaints.