Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Asia GOAT-1
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***
Back in Korea again.
I hadn’t expected to return until the next preseason schedule, so this early homecoming was beyond my wildest dreams.
I felt a bit uneasy about suddenly leaving the team, but I didn’t think the players and Tuchel would clash in such a short time.
‘Hmm… They won’t, right?’
Well… I was a little anxious, but I had no choice but to trust the squad.
Bzzz.
My pocketed phone vibrated.
- Bald Demon King: Come see me for a meeting the moment you return.
I pulled out the phone from my pocket and checked. It was a message from an enraged Thomas Tuchel.
‘Oof. This is bad.’
Whatever. Seeing an angry Thomas Tuchel was future me’s problem.
For now, I resolved to focus on the matters at hand.
‘It’s already done. No point regretting it now—it’s too late.’
My original task in Korea was just to assist with the Korea Football Association’s work, but I’d taken the initiative to seek out something else.
Since I was here anyway, I figured I’d look for a new main sponsor for Union Berlin’s uniforms.
I’d heard from our existing sponsor that footing the bill for a second-division main sponsor was too burdensome.
They’d helped Union Berlin through tough times, so it would’ve been great if they could stick with us to the end, but we were desperate for cash right now and couldn’t help it.
Personally, I planned to repay them later when sleeve sponsorships were introduced in the Bundesliga.
‘Well, I’d have to convince the club executives, but it’s for a good cause, so Chairman Gingler might agree.’
For the record, I didn’t know exactly when sleeve sponsorships would be introduced.
‘It came around the same time as in Korea, I think. Tsk, so at least past 2010.’
For financially fragile Union Berlin, sleeve sponsorships would be a huge help, I figured.
Korean companies might balk at main sponsor costs, but they could handle sleeve sponsorships.
‘If Korean companies bid and compete, the sponsorship fees would go up, right?’
Anyway, the company I needed to find now wasn’t for sleeves—it was for the uniform main sponsor.
To secure a main sponsor, I pounded the pavement everywhere.
What I really wanted was to approach giants like the Five Star Electronics or other global firms.
Objectively speaking, though, Union Berlin wasn’t at that level yet.
Still… I gave it a shot.
I got flatly rejected by the conglomerates, of course.
As global players, sponsoring a third-division team would be an image issue for them.
For the record, this wasn’t about Chinese-style face-saving—it was pragmatic, about selling products. Europe still had a strong culture of looking down on Asians back then.
If an Asian company sponsored a third-division team, the odds of Europeans thinking, ‘Oh, that company’s broke. They’ll go bust soon,’ were 200%.
‘PCs might suck, but they’re not entirely useless.’
Of course, that didn’t mean I couldn’t meet the chairmen at all.
A conglomerate like GL, which made everything well except phones, had their chairman express interest in meeting me, so we talked.
I approached the conversation humbly, and the GL Group chairman, impressed, slipped me some pocket money.
Of course, it didn’t feel great. Asking for a main uniform sponsor and getting pocket money instead felt like, ‘Take this and scram?’
But seeing the chairman’s expression changed my mind.
‘Right, I’m only 19 now.’
Even by Korean age, I was 21.
To him, I was practically a grandson.
In other words, the chairman genuinely admired a young guy like me making waves overseas and gave it as real pocket money.
It wasn’t polite, but I declined the pocket money.
Instead, I asked him to be our main sponsor once Union Berlin reached the first division.
No company wants to sponsor a team likely to get relegated. I was asking GL to take on that role.
It was a bold, even rude request, but the chairman laughed and asked,
“Isn’t that a tough ask?”
“It’s tough, but I’m confident.”
“Good. If your team gets promoted to the first division, we’ll sponsor you.”
My reaction was a beat slow to his cool response.
“Th-thank you!”
We chatted about this and that after, time flew, and as our meeting wrapped up with another thank-you and me heading out,
“Take it anyway. It’s from an elder—you should accept it.”
He pressed the pocket money into my hand again.
Refusing twice after the first decline would’ve been too rude, so I accepted with thanks and slipped out.
What can I say? For a chaebol, he was remarkably down-to-earth. It left quite an impression.
And shortly after.
‘…50,000 won? This is the amount? What? For pocket money from a chairman, it’s awfully modest?’
Checking the envelope in the GL Group bathroom and feeling disappointed was my little secret.
***
Meanwhile, at that time.
Wearing a smile after Park Chan-hyuk left, he asked his secretary,
“Check into that kid a bit.”
“Yes. I’ll look into it.”
GL Group Chairman Koo Bon kept smiling even after the secretary left.
Sponsoring a talented young man who could put Korea on the world map in his later years wasn’t a bad idea at all.
***
News of Park Chan-hyuk’s return to Korea spread like wildfire across the nation.
People’s curiosity grew with the sudden homecoming.
And when interest peaked,
Articles poured out based on the association’s press release.
[Union Berlin Assistant Coach Park Chan-hyuk Returns at Korea Football Association’s Request to Select Candidates for Elite Youth Overseas Study Program.]
└ Heard he has a great eye for talent. Hope he scouts a bunch of good players.
└ Park Chan-hyuk’s eye for talent is legit, right? Who’s he picked so far?
└ Yannick Feith.
└ That’s just one.
└ Most of Union Berlin’s current players were scouted by Park Chan-hyuk.
└ Tuchel trusts him completely.
└ Chan-hyuk hyung, I don’t ask for much. Just pick one world-class talent.
└ Don’t ask for much <<< Wants the biggest thing more than anyone lololol
└ Come on, like a world-class player’s coming out of Korea lololol
└ Dreams too big lololol
└ Park Ji-song’s playing for a big club like Man U right now. World-class could happen someday.
└ Next thing you know, we’ll have a Premier League top scorer who’s captain lifting the trophy? Lol
[Why Is Assistant Coach Park Chan-hyuk Visiting Companies? “To Secure Next Season’s Main Sponsor.”]
└ What;; The team’s assistant coach personally hustling for sponsors.
└ Someone sponsor our Union Berlin. Seeing the stadium just brings tears ㅠㅠ
└ Would be nice if they built a new stadium.
└ Fucker thinks building a stadium costs pocket change?
***
The next day.
I began my meeting with the Korea Football Association for the original purpose of my trip.
Having coordinated in advance, things moved quickly.
And shortly after,
As the meeting neared its end.
“By the way, isn’t Assistant Coach Park Chan-hyuk famous for his eye for talent? How about selecting players yourself for this program?”
I received an unexpected proposal from the association president.
He suggested I personally select the players who’d study abroad at Union Berlin.
For the record, the system was for the association to select promising players and send them abroad, excluding me.
They’d requested my dispatch for advice.
But our kingly godlike association president went further, suggesting I handle the selections myself.
“Hmm… Would it be okay for an outsider like me to just take them?”
I cautiously gauged the room while testing the waters on the proposal. The atmosphere was too hostile to jump at it eagerly.
I usually ignored such things, but memories of groveling for the national team coach position surfaced.
‘Huh, thinking about it, this sucks? Why should I be watching their faces?’
Just as I got pissed recalling how the future association sucked him dry and spat him out,
“Haha. Don’t worry about that. Everyone’s fine with it, right?”
At the president’s words, a few association staff nodded reluctantly.
Selecting players involved major interests. With equal talent, they’d pick via connections.
Not unique to Korea. Everywhere people lived was similar.
‘Even that country next door—without connections, you get nothing.’
Of course, it was still moneybags China for now. I planned to milk their cash until they turned sour.
Anyway.
No executive dared object boldly to the president’s words.
Even with reduced interest in operations after losing the election and feeling loss, the association’s influence lingered.
‘Yeah, no Korean dares openly challenge a chaebol.’
Especially not one from the Mirae Group, vying for top spot with the Five Stars.
I accepted President Jeong Jun’s proposal, and we wrapped up amicably with photos.
And the next day.
I headed to the tournament venue with the staffer the president assigned.
‘Lucky break.’
The matchup happening right then was Dongnam High School versus Jaerim High School.
Both were soccer powerhouses I knew well.
Dongnam High was Seoul CF’s youth team, and Jaerim High would later disband over match-fixing.
The association staffer handed me a document summarizing hot prospects.
But my focus wasn’t on the report. I trusted my eyes more.
Above all, ‘that one’ was at Dongnam High.
‘Where’s Son Hong-min?’
It didn’t take long to spot him.
I picked him out instantly amid the crowd.
The moment I saw Son Hong-min’s face, the Scouter window popped up.
[Name: Son Hong-min.]
Current Ability: ★☆
Potential: ★★★★★★
I let out a quiet sigh of admiration at Son Hong-min’s potential.
‘Whoa. My beauty flower blooming amid the weeds is right here.’