Anger - 1
That evening after Dortmund defeated Bayern Munich at Signal Iduna Park to clinch the championship.
"Jino! Be careful going in! Don't follow strangers just because they offer you candy?"
On the way home after a simple celebratory party with my Dortmund teammates.
I urgently called out to Heung-min hyung in the overseas Korean players' group chat.
Hmm.
Area-of-effect attack, huh.
The group chat fell into collective silence for a moment.
Ki Sung-yueng hyung, who'd lifted a Champions League trophy with Celtic, burst out laughing and took control of the chat vibe.
We'd teased too hard, and they started sulking, so Sung-yueng hyung changed the subject.
I answered Sung-yueng hyung's question with a yes.
Lately, Jurgen Klopp and Dortmund had been paying a lot of attention to Korean players.
Well, more precisely, Asian players. After striking gold with Kagawa Shinji and then me, Dortmund had developed a taste for big hits.
When signing players, anything over 10 billion KRW in Korean terms just feels overpriced for no reason.
Dortmund, now equipped with a gacha addict's mindset, started scouring Korea and Japan for Asian talents.
The Bundesliga's lack of roster limits dragged Dortmund into gacha hell.
Even Jurgen Klopp acknowledged the need for gacha, so Dortmund went all in.
With sponsorships from Korean (Son Jinho) and Japanese (Kagawa Shinji) companies, they realized Asian players could be profitable.
Countless scouts were deployed, compiling reports on K League and J League players.
After endless failures, they finally nabbed one recently.
"Jinho, the East Asia scout recommended a kid named Kang Chan. He's from your school—any issues with his personality or pro mindset?"
He was even optimized for Dortmund, satisfying both Korean (Korean national) and Japanese (J League) sides.
Back home, I thought about Kang Chan.
Kang Chan, who'd finished second in J League scoring, was drawing attention from clubs like Celtic—not big clubs, but teams happy with the cost-performance of Korean players.
Maybe because he'd given up his dream striker position for money, he had a strong drive to improve.
Kang Chan: Jinho, mind pointing out stuff I need to fix in my play?
I was still in touch with Chan hyung, watching his J League starts and critiquing his play.
I wrote up my honest take on Kang Chan and sent it to Jurgen Klopp.
Jurgen Klopp: Thanks.
After this season, Lucas Barrios is heading to the Chinese league. Could be good sub for Lewandowski?
Shortly after messaging Jurgen Klopp.
Today's peaceful Hoo Gallery was filled with countless off-topic posts and rage-filled threads, but Choi Gi-hyeon posted one for his own PR.
Being the owner of the Hoo Gallery and his disciple was a minor detail for Choi Gi-hyeon.
Choi Gi-hyeon grinned at the praise, but his face soured.
A user named ManUProfessor, toxic enough to make even Choi Gi-hyeon click his tongue, had appeared.
While WorldCupKiHyeon and ManUProfessor keyboard battled.
A new topic sucked up all the community's attention.
Once reporters confirmed it was a non-issue, Korean soccer fans breathed a sigh of relief.
Son Jinho's national team comeback odds, slim as they were, made all the difference between possible and impossible.
Anyway, articles revealed the full story, and Hoo Gallery users burst into laughter.
The project to drag Heung-min hyung out of trophy-less hell with jealousy was going great.
It went too well, causing a minor hiccup where Heung-min hyung got genuinely sulky, but it resolved without issue.
As the incident wrapped up as a non-event, time flew by.
Soon, the Revierderby against Schalke approached.
Despite securing the title, Dortmund fielded their full starting XI against Schalke.
You might wonder if it's worth risking injuries by playing stars in a rough expected match.
But for soccer players, there are fights you can't lose—no, mustn't lose, no matter what.
Matches you absolutely cannot lose.
Those are regional rival derbies.
"Jino!"
"Fuck you!"
"Kill that cocky little shit!"
As we entered the pitch at Schalke's home Felti ns Arena for warm-ups, boos zeroed in on me.
I got it. That's what derbies are.
Dortmund home games had the same vibe.
A bit in the past, but back in 2007, Roman Weidenfeller got no ban for calling Schalke's Gerald Asamoah (German-Nigerian national teamer) a "black pig" in a Revierderby.
I took the crowd's jeers in stride.
Even K League had similar stuff.
This was the ace's fate. They booed me because I was a threat.
I knew it all, so I tried to stay chill.
But the moment racist, sexist crap targeted Han Gyeowol from their mouths.
"Jino! Your girlfriend's a whore, right?"
"She fucking monkeys too or what?!"
"What's weird about a monkey fucking a monkey!"
A little.
No, a lot.
It pissed me the fuck off.