Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: Union Berlin and Guten
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Meanwhile, at that moment.
[Union Berlin's Park Chan-hyuk Steals Kagawa Shinji's Debut Goal Celebration...]
Talk started bubbling up in Japan about Park Chan-hyuk snatching Kagawa Shinji's debut goal celebration.
A Japanese right-wing group picked a fight with Union Berlin.
Their claim was that Park Chan-hyuk was discriminating against Japanese players because he was Korean.
[Our manager... he just loves stealing celebrations too much.]
(Park Chan-hyuk's celebration theft compilation.gif)
└ Is this Union Berlin's manager? wwwwwwww
└ A manager who does more celebrations than the players wwwwwwwww
But the controversy was swiftly debunked by Union Berlin fans.
They showed every instance of Park Chan-hyuk stealing celebrations so far.
The biggest victim was Yannick Foight, but Son Hong-min, who was Korean, had plenty stolen from him too.
└ What was the reporter thinking writing this article?
└ You can tell it's a clueless reporter who knows nothing about soccer wwww
└ Japan needs to take notes. Their leaders should challenge themselves to go overseas like Park Chan-hyuk.
With the photo of him benched as the finale, Park Chan-hyuk's anti-Japanese controversy quickly fizzled out.
Now, ridicule poured in on the reporter for writing the article without proper research.
***
[Union Berlin Wins 2-0 Away Against Hertha Berlin.]
With Kagawa Shinji's goal as the finisher, the derby between the two teams came to an end.
[Peeking into the Future of Korean and Japanese Soccer. Son Hong-min and Kagawa Shinji Each Score One, Leading Their Teams to Victory.]
└ Kyaa ㅋㅋ It's great seeing Asians shining in the Bundesliga.
└ Even better since their positions don't overlap.
└ Huh? No overlapping position players at all?
└ Well, there are some that overlap, but they're more backups than starters.
└ From the start, Park Chan-hyuk declared he'd carefully select players' positions to avoid issues from Korean-Japanese tensions when recruiting.
└ Wow ㅋㅋ So he scouted those guys in the midst of that? Park Chan-hyuk's insane.
The match ended with Union Berlin's 2-0 victory, and comments praising their own national players flooded in from Korea and Japan.
[Does Europe Fear the Rise of Asian Soccer?]
└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋwtfㅋㅋㅋ Isn't the reporter getting too excited?
└ Told my European friend about this article, and he was like, "Rise? You're talking nonsense."
└ But Korean soccer is developing fast ㅇㅇ
└ At this rate, are we really gonna recreate the semifinal miracle?
└ If the players growing at Union Berlin develop well, maybe...?
└ Soccer's all about the manager, though. Depends on who they bring in.
└ Can't we bring Park Chan-hyuk?
└ He said he has no interest in national team manager.
└ He's doing whatever he wants at Union Berlin now. National team would be a shitshow.
Seeing articles like that, half unhinged with excitement, put everyone in a good mood.
'Now's the time...?'
While peeking at the online reactions from Korea and Japan, I pulled out my secret weapon that I'd prepared before preseason.
“Sun-myeong, it's time to unleash that.”
“No way, you're really doing this?”
It was a 'ranking' system to pit Japanese and Korean fans against each other through uniform sales.
After the announcement, the site underwent a massive update.
On the first day of the update.
Son Hong-min took first place in uniform sales.
Korean soccer fans seemed a bit more accustomed to online shopping than Japanese ones.
And the next day.
As the Taegeukgi flew high on the site's front page, reactions in Korea and Japan heated up tremendously.
“...It's doing way better than expected?”
The scene became a hot topic in every country with soccer players at Union Berlin.
From that day on, Union Berlin's revenue broke through the roof.
***
[Park Chan-hyuk Sparks Taegeukgi and Rising Sun Flag Controversy on Union Berlin Homepage.]
[Park Chan-hyuk on Pro-Japanese Traitor Claims from Rising Sun Flag on Union Berlin Site... “Hey, I'm Korean too. But I can't change the rules on a whim.”]
[Park Chan-hyuk to Reporter Asking if He'll Side with Korea... “My heart cheers for Korea, but with Japanese players here, I'll stay neutral.”]
[Why Is the German Flag Flying on Union Berlin's Site?]
└ Wow, Yannick Foight is crushing it.
└ Isn't this rigged by Park Chan-hyuk? Yannick Foight's dominating too hard?
└ They've been counting offline sales since yesterday.
└ He's the captain, the team's main gun, bonded through romance from the fourth division—guy's insanely popular.
└ Bet plenty of Koreans and Japanese bought Yannick Foight jerseys too.
└ Sigh.... The Taegeukgi between Japan and Germany's flags feels off...
└ ㅅㅂㅋㅋ Why do I suddenly feel like a war criminal ㅋㅋ
└ Wow, Lewandowski's surging up.
└ Lewandowski's popular too?
└ He's a striker, so yeah, but
└ Poland's going nuts buying right now.
└ Why the hell is Poland jumping in?
└ Lewandowski's playing. And Poland hasn't forgotten Danzig.
└ Gdansk, you idiot. Not Danzig.
└ That's like calling Dokdo Takeshima...;;
└ Memorize it: Gdansk from now on.
└ Anyway, why'd Poland crash the party?
└ Think of it like this: Imagine the Taegeukgi on a famous Japanese site.
└ Wow ㅅㅂ How do you hold back? ㅋㅋ
└ Park Chan-hyuk, you bastard, you're a business genius. Damn.... You prick. Fine, I'll buy one.
***
“From now on, call me the God of Commerce.”
I was feeling smug right now.
I'd proven my business chops by emptying the pockets of Asians.
'Competition is the foundation of capitalist society.'
There was no rule saying only companies had to compete.
Consumers had to compete in capitalist society too.
This was the first lesson under Park Chan-hyuk's lead.
“Kuuh.... The guy who always proves it.”
Anyway.
After a temporary spike, sales dipped once then rose steadily again.
Japanese right-wingers charged in, refusing to lose to Korea.
Well, the ones I fleeced weren't Union Berlin fans—they were people with "can't lose to the neighbors" vibes.
In Japan, that was the right-wingers; in Korea, those with anti-Japanese sentiments.
In this chaotic situation, I made a new proposal to Hong-min.
“Change the uniform to SON?”
“Yeah, that's easier for Europeans to pronounce. And conveniently, it means 'son' in English.”
That way, from next season, fans would buy them to give to their sons.
By the way, the sales boost wasn't just from Korean and Japanese players.
After the flags went up, Poland, Croatia, Brazil, and others jumped in aggressively.
German married men snapped up Yannick Foight, Thomas Maier, Manuel Schmidt, and Marcus Mätchke jerseys offline under the excuse of 'patriotism.'
‘...Wasn't it just that they wanted to buy jerseys anyway?’
Sales were going smoothly.
But when something blows up like this, leeches show up wanting a cut.
[Union Berlin's Sales Tactics Unfair, Must Be Regulated...]
Namely, politicians.
Politicians voiced concerns about Union Berlin's sales methods and issued administrative orders.
Union Berlin just ignored them.
“Yeah. We're a German company.”
Union Berlin was a German club... not Korean.
Sure, that might mean Korean politicians interfering with my sister's business.
‘...But they've been interfering from the start anyway?’
It wouldn't be a big issue.
***
Korea's SNS market was currently a three-way battle.
Line from Naver, KakaoTalk, and Guten, the SNS created by Park Jung-ah.
Korean politicians pushed hard for people to use Line or KakaoTalk as much as possible. They even allowed official documents via Naver or Kakao.
This was because Park Jung-ah's Guten refused to cooperate with the Korean government's messenger surveillance under the pretext of personal data protection.
“Argh. If security's weak and data leaks, they bitch we didn't protect privacy. If we say we can't hand over data due to security, they bitch why not. Fucking assholes.”
Park Jung-ah's curses rang out, but I didn't scold her this time. Instinct told me not to poke the bear right now.
Anyway, if Guten only eyed the Korean market, cooperating would've been smart.
But as a global company operating worldwide, there was no choice.
The moment they complied with Korean politicians' demands, politicians everywhere else would make the same requests.
‘And dictatorships would too.’
One misuse to suppress opposition factions based on that data.
It'd be catastrophic for the company image.
‘European and American users would all bail for sure.’
That was why Park Jung-ah avoided entering China too.
China would surely demand access to Chinese users' chats.
Anyway.
Guten, run by Park Jung-ah, had recently integrated soccer schedules.
It was a service that got rave reviews from soccer fans.
“Oh. Next match is Dortmund, huh.”
By the way, I occasionally got help from it too.