Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Don't Fight -1
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"Are you really okay with this?"
"Yeah."
"You said you're okay? No take-backs later."
"I won't."
I nodded, pulling my puffer jacket's zipper up against the chilly evening air.
After finishing our match and having dinner at the residence, I was heading out of the hotel with Ji-woo.
Ji-woo had said she wanted to see the city.
"But we can't stay out long."
"I know. I have a conscience too. Let's just take a quick loop around and then go."
"Alright."
It wasn't just the two of us who went out.
Team staff came with us. Just in case. Even though I was wearing a mask and had my hat pulled down low, they said it wasn't okay for just the two of us to go out alone.
...But did they really have to follow us from that far away?
"Wow, it's really beautiful. I really wanted to come see it..."
Anyway, Ji-woo was ecstatic.
She was so excited, her steps were practically flying.
She definitely didn't come to watch my match; she came to see Milan.
I shook my head and followed behind Ji-woo, but she spun around and grinned at me.
"Hey. About that interview earlier, what was that?"
"...Interview?"
"'The Goddess of Victory'? That I'm the Goddess of Victory? Huh?"
"..."
"Do you see me as a goddess? Is that it? Huh? Huh?"
Ji-woo kept asking, beaming as she stepped right in front of me.
Maybe because she'd just showered, a nice scent hit my nose hard.
I turned my head away for no reason and answered.
"It was just a figure of speech. I told you. It's a superstition. You wouldn't know, but players care a lot about superstitions..."
I started rambling on about nothing.
I explained how some seniors don't change their underwear because of superstition, or how some have to step onto the field with their left foot first, and so on and so forth.
I tried to explain how much players blindly believe in superstitions... but Ji-woo just laughed, not seeming like she had any intention of listening.
"No, that's not the important part! The important part is whether I'm a goddess or not!"
...Sometimes, I envy Ji-woo's confidence.
How can she call herself a goddess so easily?
I didn't answer and walked ahead.
Then, Ji-woo scurried after me and walked alongside me.
"Hey, but did you know you caused another uproar with that interview?"
"...Why?"
"Why? You said you won uncleanly and that you want to face them properly next time."
"What's so..."
"They said it was cool. They liked it. Even the other team's fans were saying that. They said they might not know the other players, but they acknowledge you?"
Hmm. Is that how it turned out?
"And they were like, you should come to our team. You know that red uniform with the black stripes? They said it'd suit you better. So I..."
"...You?"
"Ah, no. Not me, other fans! They were fighting, saying they absolutely couldn't let you go. Everyone wants you. Isn't that funny?"
...It is kind of funny.
The thought of people fighting over me.
It's not like they can actually have me...
"Haah— Well, whatever. I won thanks to you, the Goddess of Victory, right? So it's good, right? Huh? I came at a good time, didn't I?"
"...Yeah."
"Tch, look at you, not an ounce of soul in you. You're the one who asked me to come along."
"...I have soul."
"You didn't have any. Seriously. It's a miracle we're friends, isn't it? We're such a mismatch, how did we even get close?"
Ji-woo shook her head as she said that, so I pointed it out.
"You're the one who asked to be friends first."
"...What are you talking about? I never asked."
"You did ask."
"Ha, you're unbelievable. Lee Ji-an. Fine, so what if I asked first? A beautiful goddess like me asked to be friends, and you don't even know to be grateful."
...I know. I am grateful.
I suddenly remembered the moment I decided to be honest with her and opened my mouth, but Ji-woo walked ahead.
Missing the timing, I just let out a sigh.
"The buildings are cool, and the people are all stylish... I guess that's why they call it the fashion capital."
Ji-woo spun around as if she were the protagonist of a movie.
Well, it certainly seems that way.
I don't know if it's because I live in the outskirts of Florence, but the people here feel more sophisticated.
Everyone dresses well, they're tall, and they have handsome features.
I found myself looking down at my own clothes for no reason.
Training pants, a long puffer jacket, a mask, and a hat.
...What a contrast.
I was about to hunch my shoulders, but Ji-woo spoke.
"Still, Florence isn't so bad either, right? Ooh, Ji-an."
I snorted, wondering what she was talking about, and Ji-woo put her hands on her hips and said.
"I complimented you, so it's your turn. What do you think of me?"
What do I think of her...
I stared at Ji-woo for a moment and then said.
"It's pretty."
"...Huh?"
Ji-woo's eyes went wide.
I held back a laugh and said.
"The city. Milan is pretty."
"...Ah, damn it. You're so annoying."
As expected, you have to throw in a feint first to easily get past your opponent.
"Yeah. It's pretty. It's nice—"
Ji-woo started walking around to look at the surroundings again, and I followed her, sightseeing the city.
The last time I came to Milan, I felt nothing. When Ji-woo said she absolutely wanted to go and told me to take some pictures, I didn't understand why.
I thought it was just a normal city, nothing special, even less interesting than Florence.
But... today, this city looked beautiful to me too. Maybe because it's night.
Or maybe, because I'm not alone.
···
"Damn it, damn it. I can't believe I missed it. I should've gone to watch it live!"
Lee Ji-an's father, Lee Won-hoon, looked at his phone and tapped his knee with his fist.
On his phone, the highlights of yesterday's match between Fiorentina and AC Milan were playing.
He should have gone to see it in person.
He should have been there to see his son score two goals against AC Milan!
It was a lifelong regret that he had been too busy with work lately to go.
Lee Won-hoon was a workaholic by nature, but in moments like this, he felt annoyed by how busy he was.
Ji-an, you lucky bastard!
"Sigh. Well, it can't be helped. How could I not be busy when things are like this?"
Lee Won-hoon muttered to himself as he watched his son get past Milan's defenders.
It was only natural to want to see it in person when he was this magnificent.
The travel agency where Lee Won-hoon worked was already so overwhelmed with inquiries from Koreans that their system was crashing.
Florence was already popular as a tourist destination, of course.
But it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the inquiries had exploded recently, all thanks to Ji-an.
It wasn't just because he was his son.
"...Hmm."
He was grateful for that...
Lee Won-hoon's face, which had been looking at his phone with satisfaction, suddenly darkened.
Well, it was a good thing.
Thanks to it, a lot of work was coming in, and it was truly thankful that people loved his son...
But what worried him was that the attention was just too big.
For his son to handle.
A fact he kept from his son, but the interest in Ji-an in Korea had been immense for a while now.
They called him the rising hope of Korean soccer, the genius of the century, and piled on all sorts of flowery language to praise him.
Without him knowing it, his son had become the player who was supposed to lead Korean soccer.
Of course... it was thankful that they viewed him in a good light.
But how his son would receive that was a different matter.
Whether his son had the ability to do so or not wasn't the issue.
Even to Lee Won-hoon, who wasn't the subject of it all, the interest and expectations felt overwhelmingly hot.
And he felt it firsthand through the tourists visiting Florence.
Of course, over 90 percent of the tourists were good people, but there were a few.
There were people whose interest was so excessive that they crossed the line.
The package the travel agency provided ended with watching the game at the stadium and having a meal nearby. But occasionally, there were customers who asked to meet once after the game, or if they could go to the neighborhood or house where Ji-an lived.
Naturally, when we told them that was difficult, their routine was to grumble that it wasn't a big deal.
When they asked if we didn't have any connections working in travel, that was really... I'm glad I never revealed I was his dad.
But, well... that much was to be expected. There are always people like that wherever you go.
They weren't necessarily bad people; sometimes, after a good trip and a drink or two, people like that come out, so I could understand and overlook it.
So that was fine, but...
Last month, there was something truly unbearable.
That was probably in mid-December, right before the winter vacation game.
I think it was the day Fiorentina played a team called Spezia... I remember Ji-an didn't start in that game. He came on around the end of the second half and played for about 10 minutes, I think.
Lee Won-hoon still couldn't forget what a customer said while watching that game.
"Aww, what's this? They were going on about the new hope of Korean soccer and whatnot. Of course, the one time I come to see him, he's a no-show. With that, how can he become the second Messi or whatever? What can you even do with those Korean kids?"
It was just nonsense from someone who knew nothing, but Lee Won-hoon was so scared his heart pounded.
It felt like he was hearing in advance what kind of things he would hear if Ji-an failed to meet the sky-high expectations.
"..."
He had seen similar stories before.
It was the story of a player who had received similar expectations to Ji-an.
That friend was a boy who had gone to the club Barcelona at a very young age.
Like Ji-an, he had received immense interest from a young age, being called the best in history, the future of Barcelona.
But a few years later, people pointed their fingers at the young boy.
The reason was that he couldn't make it into Barcelona's first team. They had set their own expectations and treated him as a 'failed player' for not reaching them.
That player had become a failed player before he even started, so one could imagine how much he must have suffered.
Of course, it was hard to say it was the same case as Ji-an... but he felt just how terrifying people's expectations could be.
So he was deeply troubled these days.
"Huuuuh..."
If it were someone else's business, he might have said it easily.
He might have thought nonchalantly that people can't just take the easy path, they need to face challenges too.
But since it wasn't someone else's business, he couldn't help but be deeply troubled.
Especially since his son had already been through pain once, as a father, it was hard to say he should just overcome this much.
No, he couldn't say that.
That's what a father's heart felt.
"Hmm..."
He had once talked to the coach of the youth team Ji-an was on.
About this issue.
At the time, that coach had cautiously suggested this method.
He said there was no law that said you had to represent the country you were born in...
The problem was that it didn't seem much different on this side either. Something about enacting a special law, he didn't know the details, but it was very noisy.
It was a difficult problem.
"These damn people on the peninsula..."
Lee Won-hoon sighed and leaned back against the sofa.
And as he rubbed his face,
Woo-woo-woo-
A phone rang.
He checked, and it was the first-team coach.