Regression

Jung Hyuk.

A soccer player from South Korea, he had dreamed of becoming a professional ever since he was a child.

But he had no talent.

He had so little talent that even dreaming of becoming a soccer player was absurd. Through middle school, Jung Hyuk possessed a level of skill that failed to stand out even among ordinary hobbyists who kicked a ball for fun. No matter how hard he worked, his ability barely improved.

I really was horrifically talentless.

Someone once claimed that effort could achieve anything. If Jung Hyuk ever met that person, he was fully prepared to unload a stream of curses. He had worked that hard. What he received in return was nothing more than a permanent seat on the bench and endless advice to give up on his dream.

Even so, Jung Hyuk refused to quit. He kept grinding, and grinding again.

Had the heavens finally taken notice of that effort? At eighteen, he obtained a special ability no one else possessed.

It was a card he picked up on the way to training, just like any other day. A roughly made black card—yet one that held extraordinary power.

Card of Dream.

That was the name of the card Jung Hyuk found. From the moment he picked it up, his life changed. Like a game, he could view his own information and use mysterious abilities. He could also raise his stats through training.

Naturally, Jung Hyuk grew quickly. But there was a limit.

His talent was C-class. Trash-tier talent. That single fact slammed the brakes on his growth. As time passed, the rate at which his stats rose grew slower and slower.

Of course, talent rank could be raised. Talent, however, belonged to the realm of enlightenment, and elevating it took an extraordinarily long time. He never stopped working. In the end, the Jung Hyuk who had possessed C-class talent at eighteen only managed to obtain A-class talent after he turned thirty.

At thirty, with A-class talent, Jung Hyuk grew as if he were a completely different person. Riding that explosive growth, he broke into the Premier League by thirty-two. After thirty-five, he even obtained S-class talent. And at last, at thirty-eight, he produced the stunning achievement of becoming a finalist for the FIFA Ballon d'Or—one of the final three candidates.

It was a result twenty years in the making after he first gained his special ability.

But that was as far as it went. Continued aging caused his stats to plummet. His physical abilities declined just as sharply. Aiming for the absolute peak was no longer realistic.

"This is as far as I go."

In the end, Jung Hyuk decided to retire. He would set everything down, rest, and live out his days as a coach. And in that very moment, a golden card floated before his eyes.

"…Regression?"

Jung Hyuk's expression hardened. He had never become the greatest player in the world, but he had lived a life of fiercer effort than anyone. All that remained for him now was rest as sweet as honey and a quiet life raising the next generation. He had no desire to repeat a life that had nearly killed him.

"Do you have any idea how hard I lived?! How am I supposed to go through that again? Have I lost my mind?"

Naturally, Jung Hyuk snapped in irritation, his face flushed red enough to burst. He had zero interest in something like regression.

But then a single phrase seized his eyes.

"…Talent isn't reset?"

The talent that had tormented him more than anything else. The fact that it would not be reset shook Jung Hyuk's heart.

"If I regress with S-class talent…"

The moment the thought finished forming, Jung Hyuk's eyes lit up.

"I could become the best in the world."

No further deliberation was needed. Jung Hyuk grinned and murmured low.

"I regress."

Jung Hyuk.

The first time he discovered the card, he had been eighteen. He had been on his way to join his high school soccer team's training when he picked up a card lying on the ground. With the help of that special ability and backbreaking effort, he had risen to world-class level—yet he had never quite become the absolute best, and he had resolved to retire.

At the moment of that decision, Jung Hyuk had been thirty-eight.

And now, after regressing, he had returned to the age of eighteen.

"Urgh—!"

He staggered hard and dry-heaved. A moment later, once his head cleared, he looked around.

"…Where is this?"

A familiar place. Even after so much time, a place he could never forget. Of course it was. This was where he had picked up the Card of Dream—the place that had given him the power to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠become a professional soccer player, and eventually a world-class one.

And right now, that very card was radiating its distinctive aura right before Jung Hyuk's eyes.

"Good to see you."

Jung Hyuk reached for the card. There was no hesitation. He needed to claim it and start growing even a single second sooner. The instant his hand touched the card, a beautiful voice rang out and a message appeared before his eyes.

A voice from empty air and messages floating like 3D movie subtitles—yet there was nothing to be surprised about. He had already spent twenty years with them. In truth, there was almost nothing he did not know about the Card of Dream system.

Then something completely unexpected happened.

Ding!

A message he had never seen before his regression—one he did not know—appeared.

"What?!"

Jung Hyuk's eyes went wide.

"It's giving me a trait?"

Traits that granted special abilities. Their effects varied by type, but they all shared one thing in common: they were extremely difficult to obtain.

"In my last life it took forever just to collect eight of them, and I've already gotten one."

After obtaining the Card of Dream, across a full twenty years, he had only managed to gather eight traits. That was how hard they were to acquire. Yet the Jung Hyuk ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who had returned to eighteen already possessed two.

Lucky break.

Unexpected, but getting a trait was still a good thing. Jung Hyuk grinned and called the system with familiar ease.

"System, open the status window."

At once, a translucent box materialized before his eyes.

The first thing that caught his eye was the stats.

Pathetic.

Most of them sat at sixty or below—a wretched physical condition. Even so, Jung Hyuk could smile. The very reason he had chosen to regress, the hope that meant everything to him, was right there: the letter S written in the talent field.

This is huge.

It had to be. In his previous life, Jung Hyuk had only succeeded in obtaining A-class talent—one rank below S—at the age of thirty. And the results had been enormous.

Even A-class talent alone produced ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠massive growth.

Once he obtained A-class talent, Jung Hyuk grew at a completely different speed. Being thirty had not stopped him. That rapid growth had eventually carried him into the Premier League—the English Premier League, one of the greatest leagues in the world, also known as the EPL. Breaking into it was extraordinarily difficult, yet A-class talent had made it possible.

Of course, talent alone had not done it. Intense training and relentless effort had been part of the result. But without talent, it would have been utterly impossible. That was why talent mattered.

S-class talent at eighteen.

In his previous life, Jung Hyuk had only obtained S-class talent after thirty-five. The effect of S-class talent was staggering—so overwhelming that even A-class felt insignificant by comparison. And now he had obtained it a full seventeen years earlier than before. That was truly extraordinary.

On top of that—

One Who Never Gets Injured… wait, is that what I think it is?

The moment he regressed, he had even obtained a trait that had never existed in his past life. A brand-new trait whose effect he did not know at all. Jung Hyuk checked its information at once.

The effect was simple. But the moment Jung Hyuk saw it, he could not help but be stunned.

"Holy shit!"

Soccer players at world-class clubs always received massages from professional therapists after matches. Two to three hours on average—that was how much time the best players in the world invested in recovery after a game. There was a reason they devoted so much time to massage.

Injury.

One of the things players feared most. And Jung Hyuk had obtained a trait that completely prevented him from ever getting injured.

"Never getting injured… this is an absolute jackpot."

Unlike other players who poured endless time and effort into stretching, condition management, and massage just to avoid injury, Jung Hyuk could now avoid injuries without lifting a finger. "Jackpot" was the perfect word for this trait.

A smile spread across Jung Hyuk's face. S-class talent, and now a trait that made him immune to injury. Could there be a better start than this?

Then his smile deepened even further. The good fortune was not finished yet.

It should be showing up any second now.

It had been more than ten years, but he remembered it clearly. When he first obtained the card, it had awarded reward points. Those points had been a huge help in the early days. So Jung Hyuk waited for the reward.

A moment later, a message appeared before his eyes.

Ding!

"Yes!"

Jung Hyuk clenched his fist at the message. At this stage, five points were not something you could casually obtain.

"Back then I only figured out how to use points much later."

Not this time. He knew everything about the system. Which meant he also knew the most efficient way to spend points right now.

"Open status window."

The moment the words left his mouth, the status window opened before his eyes.

Right then and there, Jung Hyuk began the process of using his points in the most effective way possible.

"I'll raise my stats with the points."