Chapter 27
I’m translating the chapter into novel-style English and preserving the in-universe notices in styled HTML blocks, as required.CHAPTER_TITLE: The Campus Kingmaker on the Soccer Field
After the short soccer test ended, the official event resumed in the auditorium.
The first order of business was each department student council’s introduction.
[First, the Mechanical Engineering Department student council will be introduced!]
As the engineering college student council president spoke, cheers erupted from the far right.
“Wooooo!”
[Next is the Electrical Engineering Department student council!]
“Waaaah!”
Maybe because most of the students were male, they all cheered without a care every time their own department’s council came out.
Then it was time.
[Last up, the Computer Science Department student council!]
“Waaaaaaah!!”
We shouted just as loudly, refusing to be outdone.
But there were other voices mixed in too.
“Hey... that senior’s pretty...”
“Cute.”
“I like that type.”
I could hear students from other departments murmuring as they looked at An Seohee, the only female student council member standing on the stage.
When the earlier female student councils had gone up, people had only reacted to the fact that they were girls. This time, the response was clearly different.
After the student council introductions came the club performances.
Acoustic guitar, magic, dance, and more... a variety of stages unfolded, but the one that drew my attention was the final act.
[One! Two! One, two, three, four!]
[You’ve fallen for me! Flashing lights...!]
The auditorium shook with the force of a hard-driving band sound.
When the vocalist hit the high notes, the freshmen cheered and waved their arms.
“Waaaaaah!”
A band, huh...
The way they stood under the lights onstage, commanding the room—it seemed to carry a kind of joy that was definitely different from making money.
That might actually be fun to try.
After the official event ended and we returned to the lodging, it was already 9 p.m.
At last, the heart of a college MT was supposed to begin: the drinking party.
But...
“Dohyun! Pour a drink for the professors.”
“...Yes, sir!”
For some reason, I had been made the team leader of our group, and I was serving drinks to the professors with Lee Jinwoo senior as the representative.
It was supposed to be an MT drinking party, but the atmosphere felt more like an ancestral memorial table.
“Krrr...”
After downing a drink I’d poured for him, one professor suddenly asked the student beside me, “What is your dream?”
“Uh...”
“You don’t have one? Then what do you think computer science is?”
“...?”
“No thoughts at all? Then why did you enter the Computer Science Department? Based on your CSAT score?”
“W-well...”
“Our country is in serious trouble... isn’t it, Professor Lee?”
“Indeed it is... In April, the WIPI mandatory-activation rule will be lifted, and a lot will change...”
I had a feeling those were a little harsh to be asking a prospective freshman who hadn’t even attended the entrance ceremony yet.
In the end, we had to spend our first night listening to the professor’s sermon as our side dish.
But the next morning, after the bus carrying the professors left the resort, the mood changed.
After breakfast, we gathered once more in front of the auditorium.
“All right, listen up! We’re reshuffling the teams now! Student council, split everyone up the way we decided last night!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Got it!”
Starting with Lee Jinwoo senior’s call, the student council began dividing everyone into groups.
Some were assigned to a treasure hunt inside the resort, some to OX quizzes, and others to games like “Describe it with Your Body.”
And then...
“All right! The fifteen people who said they’d play soccer yesterday, follow me!”
“Yes!”
The soccer members, me included, followed behind Lee Jinwoo senior.
The soccer field behind the resort was the same one from yesterday.
Students from other departments were already warming up in brightly colored bibs.
On the basketball court right next to the soccer field, the art department girls were preparing for a dodgeball tournament.
What was funny was that the girls setting up the dodgeball tournament on the basketball court kept glancing over toward the soccer field too.
Interest in the opposite sex really couldn’t be helped.
“Hey, hey! Everybody, gather up!”
Lee Jinwoo senior called us together.
His eyes were solemn, like a general about to march into battle.
“Our first match is against Mechanical Engineering. Traditionally, those guys are big and strong, so it’s going to be a rough one. They’re rude and physical. They play soccer with brute force and no tactics...”
It sounded like Lee Jinwoo senior had suffered a lot at the hands of Mechanical Engineering.
“When those idiots play by muscle alone, we’ll beat them with strategy and tactics. What’s our strategy?”
At his words, the whole team looked at me.
“Right. Our tactic is ‘Give it to Dohyun.’ You all remember, good. Excellent.”
Could you really call that a strategy?
“Haha...”
When I gave a faint laugh, Lee Jinwoo senior looked straight at me and said, “Dohyun, I’m counting on you! Watch out for tackles!”
“I’ll do my best.”
Some people might feel pressured by that kind of expectation.
I was different.
There was no need to overthink it.
I just had to break through everything.
At one side of the outdoor soccer field, the Mechanical Engineering students had gathered in their half.
“Hey, hey, that’s the guy.”
“Which guy?”
“The one they said from yesterday, the Computer Science kid who’s good at soccer.”
The voice of a girl drifted into the ears of Park Minseok, a Mechanical Engineering freshman who was warming up.
They were art students preparing for dodgeball on the court right next to them.
“Oh, the handsome one?”
“Who? Where?”
“Who? Who’s handsome?”
“Hey! I-I never said he was handsome!”
“Cut it out and tell us who it is. Oh, that one?”
“Oh, that’s pretty much my type.”
Park Minseok pretended not to care about the girls’ conversation drifting in from behind him, but all his attention was already pointed toward his ears.
He couldn’t help it.
For Park Minseok, who had spent his life on the all-boys middle school to all-boys high school to engineering college track, the attention of a college girl was something he wanted badly enough to ache for it.
Who is it, causing such a fuss?
Frowning slightly, Park Minseok looked toward where the girls’ gazes had gone.
There was one neat-looking guy standing there, absurdly tall, almost model-like.
...Annoying.
His competitive fire surged at once.
He didn’t know how good this Kim Dohyun guy was at soccer, but Park Minseok had kicked a ball around plenty in school too.
If he could strip the ball with a rough tackle and then score a stylish goal...
all that attention would come my way.
That was what Park Minseok had been planning.
But everyone had their own plausible plans.
It didn’t take long at all for Park Minseok’s to shatter into pieces.
Whistle!
The whistle blew to start the match.
Swish!
“...?”
The moment the game began, Kim Dohyun broke right through Park Minseok.
To be exact, he toyed with him.
“Huhh... ?!”
Before he knew it, Park Minseok let out a stupid little noise, lost his balance, and fell over.
Thud.
Th-that guy, what the hell...?
He was sure he’d blocked him, but the ball had already gone between his legs.
All Park Minseok could see was Kim Dohyun’s back as it slipped past him.
He couldn’t even think about chasing after him. All he could do was stare.
Splash.
“Huh...?”
They’d been scored on.
It happened just fifteen seconds after kickoff.
The unity mini soccer tournament was two fifteen-minute halves, thirty minutes total.
And now, in the sixth minute of the second half, the scoreboard already read [8 : 0].
Absurdly, every single one of those goals had been scored by Kim Dohyun alone.
Splash.
Another goal went in.
“Dohyuuuuun!! You’re the besttttt!! Kyaaaaahhh!!”
“Ah, oppa! Calm down a little! You’re embarrassing me!!”
“Why is this senior the most excited one here when the freshmen are playing soccer?!”
“Dohyuuun!! Celebration!! This one! You know it!!! The Ronaldinho dance!! You’re the Ronaldinho of engineering!!”
Outside the field, the computer science student council president was shouting himself hoarse in excitement, while the other council members tried to restrain him.
If they didn’t hold him back, he looked ready to storm onto the pitch.
Ha...
When the first goal went in against him, Park Minseok had thought Kim Dohyun’s skill was a fluke.
Even after the second, he still thought he might be able to stop him if he cursed loudly enough.
But by the third goal, he didn’t even know what to say anymore, and now all he could do was sigh.
Then, from beyond the chain-link fence, he heard the voices of the art students.
“Wow... he’s really good.”
“Insane. He’s so damn cool.”
“I told you, didn’t I? Right?!”
“Look at him smiling after scoring...”
“H-he’s not looking at us... He’s just greeting the person who passed him the ball.”
“But I heard he’s a freshman and twenty-one years old.”
“An oppa? ...Even better.”
“There’s a reason people keep saying ‘engineering oppa,’ you know?”
A knife plunged into Park Minseok’s chest.
I’m an engineering oppa too...
But the girls’ next words were even crueler.
“But... doesn’t that guy look kind of pathetic?”
“Who? Ah... the one who keeps falling down trying to stop Kim Dohyun?”
“Yeah. He’s trying so hard, but... he just keeps falling.”
“He is kind of pitiful...”
“Maybe Mechanical Engineering just isn’t good at soccer.”
“Or maybe Kim Dohyun is just that good?”
It would have been better if they’d just cursed him for being bad.
Being pitied as “pathetic” was worse.
Kh...
Then Park Minseok realized it.
He wasn’t the protagonist at all. He was just the dark backdrop laid behind Kim Dohyun so that a shining star could stand out.
The moment his head dipped...
Tap, tap.
Someone patted his shoulder. When Park Minseok looked up, it was that disgusting Kim Dohyun.
But then...
“You okay? That last one looked like a pretty hard fall.”
Kim Dohyun was holding out a hand, smiling softly.
There was no mockery in it, no arrogance. Only the ease of someone who was enjoying the game.
There was even an apologetic look on his face. Not the look of someone who was looking down on him, but the expression of someone who genuinely seemed to say, I’m sorry I’m just too good at this.
Park Minseok hated that smile, but... at the same time, he couldn’t help thinking.
...Now I get why the girls are acting like that.
He was handsome enough, he was good at soccer, and he was even kind.
It was really annoying, but Park Minseok had no choice but to acknowledge Kim Dohyun.
Clack.
Everyone’s watching, so I should show them something cool too...
“I’m fine. Thanks.”
With a fairly cool smile of his own, Park Minseok took Kim Dohyun’s hand and stood up.
At the very least, if he showed that kind of cool-headedness, he figured he might leave a good impression on the girls too.
But unlike what Park Minseok hoped...
“Wow... he’s polite too.”
There wasn’t a single voice aimed at him.
Sniff.
Park Minseok’s nose ran from the cold. It was absolutely not because he was sad.
The match went on, and before long it was the finals.
“Seokhyun! Give it to Dohyun!”
Lee Jinwoo senior’s shout echoed across the field.
At that signal, Han Seokhyun passed forward to Kim Dohyun as instructed.
Thump.
Tch...
Han Seokhyun had been taught at home since he was little that he should always listen to adults and seniors.
And he also believed that feeding the ball to Kim Dohyun was the way to win.
But there was no helping the bitterness lodged in a corner of his heart.
I used to fly around too, back in high school...
Top of the class, ace of the high school soccer team. That was Han Seokhyun’s title in high school.
It had been a club soccer team, sure, but even so, it had meant something.
But now that he was in college, he was just one ordinary supporting player among many. All the spotlight belonged to Kim Dohyun.
Winning is fun, I guess... but somehow it’s not that fun.
It wasn’t jealousy so much as helplessness.
Then, all at once...
Tat-tat!
“Huk... ?!”
“Hey! Block him!”
“You block him!!”
After receiving his pass, Kim Dohyun once again toyed with two defenders and set up a one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
He’s going to score again.
From the moment it became 6 to 0, the finals had lost even the slightest trace of tension.
All the spectators had been cheering only with anticipation, wondering what Kim Dohyun would do next.
Tat-tat-tat...
Still, Han Seokhyun ran toward the goal. The match was still on, so he did his best.
But he didn’t think the ball would come to him.
Senior Dohyun will score again, probably.
And then...
“Seokhyun!!”
“Huh?”
Kim Dohyun didn’t take the shot. Instead, he called to him as he trailed behind.
At the same time, the ball left Kim Dohyun’s foot and flew in a low, fast cross.
“W-whaaat?!”
He hadn’t been ready for it.
Han Seokhyun reflexively stuck out his foot in a clumsy motion.
To his surprise, the ball Kim Dohyun had sent him stuck to his foot as neatly as if it had been pulled by a magnet.
It was a perfect delivery, a package cross that arrived with perfect timing and speed.
Bang!
He’d only touched the ball, but it left his foot cleanly and went straight into the net.
Splash!
“...Eh?”
He’d scored.
He didn’t even know how. He’d just put his foot out, and the ball had gone in.
“Aaaaaah! Seokhyun!! You’re showing us something too!! Whoooaaa!!”
“Ah, senior! You’re spilling your drink everywhere!!”
“Hey, drag Senior Jinwoo out of the field!”
“S-senior! You can’t go onto the field! Where’s Senior Seohee?! She needs to stop him!”
“...Senior Seohee ran away because Senior Jinwoo is too hard to restrain.”
“We really picked the wrong student council president and vice president...”
He could even hear Lee Jinwoo senior shouting in praise for him.
Still dazed, Han Seokhyun looked up to see Kim Dohyun smiling brightly and pointing at him.
“Nice! Good position!”
“Ooooh!”
“Han Seokhyuuuunnn!”
“Volley shot, ooohhh!”
The crowd, and the computer science classmates who had finished their own unity games and come to watch soccer, all burst into cheers.
That goal had effectively been served up to him by Kim Dohyun.
But to the audience, it looked as if he had scored a gorgeous goal all on his own.
...Did he let me have that?
With Kim Dohyun’s skill, he could have scored easily.
And yet he’d deliberately made space for the person behind him.
Han Seokhyun gave an awkward laugh and bowed his head toward Kim Dohyun.
...He’s a good senior.
Then Kim Dohyun gathered the other classmates and said, “All right, who wants the next one?”
“Senior! Me! I want to score!”
“Sure. You’re left-footed, right? I’ll send it your way, so wait there.”
And so the final between the Electrical Engineering Department and the Computer Science Department ended in a 16 to 2 victory for Computer Science.
At sunset, after all the unity event schedules were over, the long-awaited award ceremony was held on the soccer field.
The engineering college student council president spoke into the microphone.
Everyone worked incredibly hard at this unity event! It’s cold, so I’ll announce the rankings right away!
Third place goes to Electrical Engineering! The prize is a box of soju!
“Waaah...”
Second place goes to Civil Engineering! The prize is two boxes of beer!
“Waaaah!”
The moment you’ve all been waiting for! The overall champion is... the Computer Science Department!! The prize is ten bottles of premium liquor!!!
“Waaaaaaaah!!!”
“Waaaaah!!”
The computer science classmates jumped up and down, hugging one another.
I joined in too, not caring about the stares around me or my own dignity.
...This is fun.
It really was fun.
While we were celebrating, the engineering college student council president handed Lee Jinwoo senior a box containing the ten bottles of liquor.
“You brats!! Premium liquor!!”
When Lee Jinwoo senior lifted the box over his head like he was hoisting the Champions League trophy, the “Big Ears,”
“Premium liquor! Premium liquor! Premium liquor!”
we shouted with him again.
I shouted too.
And finally! We’ll choose the MVP of this unity event. The prize is a 150,000 won culture gift certificate! The computer science student council president can pick the MVP for us...!
“I pick it? Wasn’t you supposed to pick it?”
“...Didn’t I text you this morning? It was changed so that the winning department’s student council president picks the MVP. You didn’t see it?”
“I was getting ready for soccer this morning, so I didn’t check my phone.”
“Oh, that so... No, why are you acting so proud?”
Not even checking his phone.
That senior really loves soccer.
“Well then, our department’s MVP is...”
Lee Jinwoo senior shouted without the slightest hesitation.
“The other students worked hard too, and everyone played well! But for our department’s championship run, through four matches from the round of 12 to the finals, recording 29 goals and 17 assists, isn’t Kim Dohyun obviously the MVP!!”
“Kim Dohyun! Kim Dohyun!”
“MVP! MVP!”
“Waaaaaaah!!”
[Kim Dohyun, please come forward.]
“Ah, yes!”
The engineering college student council president called me over.
I walked over with a calm smile.
This is a 150,000 won culture gift certificate!
“Wow...”
“I’m jealous...”
The engineering college student council president handed me a rather thick envelope.
150,000 won. Other students might have envied it, but to me it really wasn’t even the scale of a drop in the ocean.
Still...
The roar of the students and all those eyes on me.
The moment I became the star of campus, something I’d never even dared imagine in my previous life, felt more valuable than all the money I owned.
As Kim Dohyun received the MVP award, Lee Jinwoo took out his phone and checked it.
He texted me this morning?
He really did send it.
You could miss something like that.
There was a soccer tournament going on; missing one university-wide notice was hardly strange.
But...
He got a lot of other texts too.
As the student council president, Lee Jinwoo had his own connections with student council presidents from other departments and even with various student councils.
Not just engineering, but fine arts, humanities, business, nursing, and more—he had ties everywhere.
But the messages coming in now were a little different from usual.
“Hmm...”
Before the MT had even begun, he had been the one to ask the art department student council presidents if they wanted to combine their freshmen and drink together.
But now the situation seemed to have flipped.
I figured some departments might turn me down, so I told the whole art college to come play together first...
In any case...
...Which department should I send Dohyun to?
Lee Jinwoo fell into thought.
If he sent Kim Dohyun to another department tonight, the other student council presidents were going to grill him about it for a long time.