Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: The Introvert I Was, Now a Popular Guy? -2
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“Hmm··· Hng···”
“···”
“Mm··· Hmmm···”
“Say something. What’s bothering you?”
“Huh? Ah, Director. It’s not that.”
After the negotiations wrapped up. The agent and the player’s side had left the meeting room, leaving only the team officials behind.
One of the officials kept smacking his lips and tilting his head, so Director Paolo asked him.
The official spoke.
“It’s not that I’m bothered, it’s just that I still don’t quite get it.”
“What don’t you get?”
“Whether that amount is really correct···”
“So you don’t trust my eyes. Is that it? You think this old man’s gone senile?”
“N-no, of course not! I’m just saying I’m not yet worthy of understanding your insight, Director.”
“Always with the sweet talk. Just the talk. If your eye for players was half as good as your mouth, I would’ve retired and handed over my position long ago.”
At Director Paolo’s sigh-laced words, Marco Villaggio, the head of the youth scouting team, scratched his head.
Marco spoke.
“Anyway. With that amount, he’s on the same level as the debut one- or two-year players in the first team right now. Even if they haven’t renewed their contracts yet.”
“And?”
“I’m just curious why you decided to give a first-team prospect-level待遇 to a 16-year-old kid who hasn’t been with the team for long and doesn’t have much of a track record.”
It was a settled matter, but Marco asked out of pure curiosity.
Seeing that, Paolo decided to explain honestly instead of scolding him.
“Money is relative.”
“Relative?”
“For example, if a 16-year-old kid gets 4,000 euros a week, that’s a huge amount.”
“It is.”
“But think about using a first-team bench player for 4,000 euros a week. What would you call that?”
“······A steal.”
“Exactly.”
Director Paolo nodded and looked at Marco pointedly.
Marco, expecting more explanation, blinked and stared back at Paolo.
At that, Paolo frowned and let out another sigh.
“That’s the end of the explanation, you idiot. You still don’t get it?”
“Huh? Ah, uh···”
Scolded, Marco scratched his head, then frowned and spoke.
“Director, are you saying that this guy will become a first-team bench player before his next salary negotiation? So, before the year after next?”
“It takes you forever to understand something this simple.”
Director Paolo clicked his tongue, and Marco still shook his head as if he couldn’t quite grasp it.
Marco asked.
“I’m curious what you saw that made you so certain.”
At that question, Paolo leaned back in his chair and looked at an empty wall.
He seemed lost in thought for a moment, then suddenly brought up an old story.
“It’s been almost 15 years now. Back when I was the U19 team coach. That summer, we went to Spain for our preseason training. It was a time when everyone was saying we had to learn Spanish soccer.”
“Around 2008, then? When Spain won the Euros.”
“Right. We traveled all over Spain back then, playing practice matches. And well, their style of play was definitely different from ours. Watching them, there were so many kids you’d think, ‘How can they kick the ball so beautifully?’ The Barcelona kids were especially good.”
“That was back then.”
“But the kid that shocked me the most was someone else. Not one of those amazing La Masia kids.”
“Oh? Where was he from?”
“Sociedad. We were playing a practice match against Real Sociedad. There was this skinny, small-looking kid, and he single-handedly toyed with our much bigger players with ease.”
As if the memory was still vivid, Director Paolo gave a faint smile.
“When I asked his age, he said 17. When I asked if he’d signed a pro contract, he told me not to ask if I didn’t want to get kicked out, or something like that.”
“Who was he?”
Unable to hold back any longer, Marco asked, and Paolo answered.
“Antoine Griezmann.”
“Ah···”
At the time, you could count on one hand the number of soccer fans who knew the name Antoine Griezmann.
But Director Paolo was certain.
That name would soon spread throughout the soccer world.
“But you’re telling me this now··· Does that mean you felt a similar vibe from that kid?”
At Marco’s question, Director Paolo nodded.
He had felt the same shock he’d felt when he first saw Griezmann during the match against Empoli.
Director Paolo spoke.
“The kid just knew. How to win a match. Have you ever seen someone who isn’t naturally funny study humor and become funny?”
“No.”
“Of course not. You can’t just memorize it. It’s in the realm of ‘sense.’ It’s the same. The kid was born with sense. It means he has a talent that’s hardest to fail with.”
The reason Director Paolo could be certain of Griezmann’s success was precisely because of that sense.
Well, players who are better physically, faster, and more skilled than their peers? Of course, that’s good.
It is good, but those talents aren’t enough to be certain of the future. There are too many variables. Progress can stop easily, and they can regress easily.
But the intelligence to understand the sport of soccer, and sense. That’s different.
That has low variability. In the uncertain world of youth levels, the only talent you can trust is this one.
And the kid had it.
“You still look unconvinced.”
“Ah, no.”
“Then, do you believe me?”
“Of course I do.”
“Am I God? You just believe me blindly?”
When Director Paolo clicked his tongue, Marco made an expression that said, ‘Then what do you want me to do?’
“I’m not God. So I could be wrong. But my gut is good this time. That’s why I’m rambling on like this.”
Even though he always called himself an old man who should have retired long ago, Director Paolo still had confidence in his own gut feeling.
“You still have a long way to go.”
“Yes, yes. I have a long way to go.”
“Let’s see in a year. Whether this contract was really too much.”
“I never said it was too much.”
“Tch.”
Director Paolo clicked his tongue and started packing his bag.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Sorry to bother you when you’re busy.”
“Not at all! Yes, to be honest, I didn’t do anything!”
“Still, thank you for coming all this way.”
After the contract was finished.
We were having a simple meal at a nearby restaurant and chatting.
Actually, as far as I know, contracts are quite complicated and difficult matters.
It was the same last time, and the time before that.
It took quite a while. The two sides would exchange various documents and have serious discussions, and the contracts I knew of took days, sometimes even months.
But today was different.
It ended really quickly. An hour? No. It felt like it was over in about 30 minutes.
Without a single argument, the conversation just ended with a single document.
“Haha! Well, whatever the case, the team seems to see the player’s value very accurately! This is a good team, this team!”
The nickname ‘master of heartless negotiations’ did not suit the agent today.
Today, he was just a yes-man.
When he first went into the meeting room, he was talking about draining the team’s coffers and not becoming the fool by making the other side the fool.
But the agent, who received the contract, just blinked like a fool.
But··· it was understandable.
-This is the weekly wage you will receive upon signing the contract. This is the annual salary. -Hiiiiiiih!?
I still couldn’t believe it. When the agent handed me the contract, the weekly wage written on it was far from what I had expected.
Way, way far.
⚔ STATUS ⚔
💰 Weekly Wage: €4,095
World···
4,000 euros. 4,000 euros.
My current weekly wage was just over 200 euros.
So, they were offering to raise it by a factor of 20!
No, I mean! That’s enough money to give to twenty kids who haven’t even signed pro contracts!
“Uh······”
I was speechless.
To be honest, I didn’t get it.
···Why? What am I that they’d give me such a huge weekly wage···? No, I know that your wage goes up significantly the moment you sign a pro contract.
But to raise it this much···?
Looking at how even the agent was surprised, it seemed this was truly a surprising matter.
When I was too stunned to say anything, the agent explained it to me like this.
“As I told you before, with a youth contract, another team can take you by paying compensation, right? You’re signing a pro contract to prevent that, which means the team is saying they want to keep you no matter what, even if it means paying this much.”
Seeing that I still looked like I didn’t understand, the agent explained it simply one more time.
In other words, since there’s no way for the team to stop me if I refuse this and negotiate with another team,
They called out this amount to secure my heart.
Right··· I know what he means.
But I still don’t get it.
No, so, what am I that they’d worry about me being snatched away by another team···
Unlike me, Bruno, who’s a year older than me and has been consistently starting, said his wage was only multiplied by 10.
What am I that they’d multiply it by 20···
“It means the team recognizes your potential that much.”
Potential···.
For a moment, I felt an indescribable emotion welling up.
What am I to this team··· They took me in when I came from that team in Torino. They waited silently for me when I was out of my mind.
Now they’re even seeing a potential I don’t even know about myself?
“I··· I’m satisfied.”
I nodded without a word, and the agent agreed, saying it was a good idea.
After that, there was a bit of time spent adjusting some details, but the negotiation ended in an instant.
And just like that, I left the meeting room, no longer just a youth player, but a future pro.
“Well, congratulations. Then, I’ll be on my way. My work isn’t done yet.”
“Oh, yes. Thank you for your hard work.”
“Hard work, nothing! Haha! I’ll see you again soon!”
The agent stood up with a hearty laugh.
The agent rummaged through his jacket pocket and said.
“Ah, the bill is on me···”
At that, my dad waved his hand.
“Oh, no, I’ll pay. Thank you for today.”
“What! How can I let the client pay! I’m not that kind of person!”
“I’m the elder here. I’ll pay.”
“But still···”
A petty squabble suddenly broke out.
I watched for a moment, then sighed and said.
“I’ll pay.”
“···Huh?”
“You?”
At this point, a meal bill is nothing to me.
“How much could it be···”
I··· am God.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“You’re going straight to training after school, right?”
“Yes.”
“Alright. Have a good day. Pay attention in class, and if you’re sleepy, sleep smart. Buy your friends some good food too.”
“Got it. I’m off.”
Answering my dad’s nagging, I left the house. Today is a school day.
Unlike Korea, Italy starts school at the end of September and ends the school year in June.
I transferred to the high school near my house at the beginning of this year and have been attending for about half a semester.
If I attend until the end of this year, my compulsory education will be fulfilled, so I plan to graduate after just one more year.
By the way.
“Huu···”
The closer I get to school, the more my heart pounds like crazy. I don’t know why I’m so nervous. My hands are sweating almost as much as when I played against Napoli.
Actually, I don’t have good memories of school.
Especially at the school I attended when I first came abroad, I don’t just not have good memories; I only have bad ones.
I’m not the type to approach people first, and when I first came abroad, I couldn’t even speak Italian.
I didn’t get along well with my friends, and I was bullied by some bad kids.
Back then, the team didn’t actively look after me either.
Those bad kids were also players on the same team as me.
Since I have memories like that, the road to school isn’t exactly light. Well, nothing like that has happened at the school I’m going to now. But it’s not like I’ve made any close friends either.
Haa.
Now that I think about it, I kept all of this a secret from Ji-woo. Just like soccer, these are stories I didn’t want to be caught.
I wonder how it will be this year.
I just hope I can attend quietly.
“···I’m already here.”
Worrying about this and that, I arrived at school before I knew it. I climbed the stairs, walked down the hallway, and stood in front of my classroom door.
Even then, I hesitated to open the door several times, then took a deep breath and steeled myself.
Who am I? The man with a 4,000 euro weekly wage.
Right. So what?
No one can bully me now.
I’ll go in with confidence.
After nodding once like that, I opened the door and entered the classroom.