Just Tell Me Already
"Teo!"
Coach Pablo Rebupfi came walking toward me.
"Yes, Coach. How was it?"
"Really good. For a first match at center back, that was excellent. What surprised me most was your one-on-one defending. Being a former striker, you seem to know exactly how to shut one down."
He wasn't wrong. Coming up as a striker meant I understood a striker's movement better than most — and that was absolutely an advantage.
"Coach, how about me?"
"Enzo! Good work today. You carried the ball well through midfield. And Marco, same goes for you. You kept whipping in quality crosses from the wing all game. Unfortunately they didn't quite lead to a finish, but I thought you were excellent."
A few other players had come over while he was talking to me, asking about their own performances, and Coach Rebupfi left each of them a kind, thoughtful comment.
Then his phone rang. He checked the name and answered immediately.
"Give me a second — I need to take this. Yes, this is he. Yes. Yes? Ah… I see. Is that right? Ah… that was unexpected…"
After a short exchange with whoever this "contact" was, the coach glanced sideways at me.
"Understood. Teo."
"Yes, Coach?"
"You stay. Everyone else can head home. Training's done for today."
"Yes, Coach."
"Got it."
Once the rest of the U19 squad had cleared out, Coach Pablo Rebupfi finished the call and looked at me with an expectant glint in his eye.
"Teo."
"Yes, Coach."
"The reason I asked you to stick around… even I didn't see this coming. But apparently these things do happen!"
I tilted my head.
"What things, exactly?"
"Teo. Starting tomorrow, you can't come here anymore."
"What? What do you mean? Am I moving up to the U20s?"
"No. That's not it. Starting tomorrow, you don't come to Orbassano. Not the Valentino Sports Center in Orbassano — you go to the Filadelfia Sports Center in Torino."
Huh? The Filadelfia Sports Center?
Already?
Being told to report to the Filadelfia Sports Center meant only one thing.
A first-team call-up.
"Torino FC's first-team manager wants you. Of course, you might just train with them and get sent right back down. Christian from the U20s is in a similar situation."
"Ah… so I'd be going up as a striker?"
"No. From what I heard, he just watched you play. He wants you as a center back. The advantage you have over Christian is that the center-back position you'd be filling has a long-term injury. You might not be coming back down for a very long time."
A long-term injury… It was already March, and the transfer window was shut, so turning to the youth ranks made perfect sense.
But pulling someone from the U19s instead of the U20s? The U20 guys must not have shown him much at all.
"I take it the U20 players didn't impress him? Never thought he'd come for me out of nowhere."
"This is pure luck. A kid who just played his first match at center back catching the eye and getting called up like this."
"Huh? But I figured going up without any real time to learn the position would be a bad thing."
"The first-team manager and I see the same thing in you. You've got overflowing talent at center back. You'll learn far more with the first team than you ever would with me. I can guarantee that."
All things considered, it wasn't a bad situation.
A first-team call-up that would have been nearly impossible as a striker — and it had fallen into my lap like this.
"Understood. So starting tomorrow, I just report to the Filadelfia Sports Center?"
"That's right. Good work today. That's everything I needed to say. Go on home."
"Yes, Coach. Thank you."
The moment I got home, I scrambled to look up everything I could on Torino FC.
It was the middle of the 2022/2023 season — March, so the back half. And somehow I'd been called up out of nowhere. Who was injured enough to force a call-up?
I knew a fair amount about Torino's squad, of course, but this wasn't the timeline I'd been called up in before. I was more than a year early, so there was no way to know for sure.
The squad depth was roughly the same as I remembered, but even when I'd been called up the first time around, I hadn't really understood the internal situation. Honestly, for Torino FC to feel truly familiar again, I'd need another two years.
"Which is exactly why I need to check this fast."
Torino FC's place in the table was as consistent as ever.
Currently twelfth. Always somewhere around there. A little better and they might climb to eighth; a little worse and they'd sink to fourteenth.
Never quite in relegation danger, never quite in the upper half — the very definition of a mid-table side.
The current manager was Ivan Jurić.
His preferred formations ran roughly 3-4-3, or 3-4-2-1, or something like 3-2-2-2-1.
In other words, a back-three system…
"Antonio Sanabria… Vlašić… Ivan Ilić…"
Plenty of familiar names, at least.
"Ah. There's the problem. Perr Schuurs — that's the one."
The name alone told me everything. He was the player I'd never once properly shared the pitch with, even after being called up and earning a place. Meaning… after this long-term injury, his career never really recovered.
"So no real competition for the spot, which is nice, but…"
The problem was my own ability.
Would my center-back play even hold up at the first-team level?
I clenched my jaw.
I couldn't afford to think small. I forced the reminder into myself.
To escape the 27 Club that damned devil had forced me into, I had to meet the conditions.
Win a league title in one of the top four leagues with a club side. Win the Champions League. And finally, win the World Cup — the ultimate stage for any national team player.
On top of all that, the Ballon d'Or as an individual award…
Any one of those was something most footballers never achieved in an entire career.
And I had to accomplish every single one of them.
How the hell was I supposed to do that?
For a moment confidence had flickered — and then my chest tightened all over again.
Even if I somehow made the first team like this, the future still felt painfully obvious.
A few years as a regular at Torino FC, then the end of the road. For most people, that alone would count as a successful football career. For me, it meant nothing.
A career like that would never break the contract the devil had shoved in my face. In the end, only one conclusion kept circling through my head.
I'm going to die at twenty-seven.
The thought rose again and the strength drained out of my whole body. No matter how hard I thrashed, the future already felt set in stone.
I had to reach places the greatest players in the world spent entire lifetimes chasing — and I had to clear every one of them on a hard deadline. Despair felt far more realistic than hope.
That miserable devil bastard.
If this was how it was going to be, why send me back at all?
He could have sent me further into the past — or just dumped me in some awkward middle ground with nothing but extra penalties, leaving me unable to do a damn thing.
And right as I was cursing the devil out, text rose up in front of my eyes.
Name: Teo Kang
Huh? What is this?
Current Ability:A-grade Prospect
What, I'm an A-grade Prospect?
Not wrong, I guess.
Position: Center Back, Striker
Ha… so now it was just openly listing center back. I guess I had to accept it.
Excellent Aerial Duels
Outstanding Heading
Solid Positioning
Two-Footed
Seeing positive traits pop up was genuinely nice.
But what came after left me stunned.
Chicken Heart
Triangle Foot
Arrhythmia
Wait — hold on. Those aren't the ones I think they are… right?
I kind of wanted to see the trait descriptions. Was that possible?
The explanations appeared at once.
Chicken Heart — In important matches, nerves cut your ability in half.
Triangle Foot — Cannot put the ball into the goal from inside the penalty box.
Arrhythmia — The closer you get to the opponent's penalty box, the more irregularly your heart beats. Every action becomes inaccurate.
Ah…
The cheerfully detailed text left my head spinning.
So I was just stuck with these miserable traits forever?
That is correct.
No way to remove them?
Removing traits requires tremendous effort.
Haa… is there an easier way?
A few of those are fatal.
I can offer assistance.
The words floating in front of me almost felt like hope.
How? Show me.
Devil's Tongue 1
Trash-talk opponents during a match — including insults — and temporarily gain one positive trait.
What?
Devil's Tongue 2
Criticize an opponent in a public setting and one negative trait is removed for the duration of the next match.
…
What exactly are you trying to make me do?
Whether you use these abilities is entirely up to you.
But if I don't use them, I can't put in a good performance.
That is correct.
Still, I don't think this is enough.
Those goddamn targets are way too high. Barely scrubbing off a penalty is the ceiling?
Depending on how you use them, you may display far greater ability.
I know. It's probably a double-edged sword. And it's still not enough.
Acknowledged.
An unknown ability.
An unknown ability.
Huh? What's this?
There are multiple hidden abilities that can be obtained by achieving specific goals.
Then just tell me what they are! I'm in a hurry here!
If I told you, they wouldn't be hidden. Please continue to put on an entertaining show until you turn twenty-seven.
Oh, for fuck's sake!