Soccer Genius

Jung Hyuk scored the goal with a deadpan expression and stood there blankly.

In truth, he felt no great joy at having scored. With a nonchalant look on his face, his mind was already occupied solely with how he would create the next goal.

Yet a smile began to tug at the corners of his mouth. It was because of a welcome message that had suddenly appeared.

A card popping up here?

Having been the master of the Card of Dream for twenty years, he knew full well that a “card” was nothing you obtained easily. Cards only came after something truly remarkable. Yet he had just received one simply for scoring with a chip shot. It felt ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠good, but it was also a little bewildering.

A technique of a higher level than his abilities… In Jung Hyuk’s own estimation, lofting a chip over a goalkeeper’s head was hardly an advanced skill. The answer was obvious, then.

My stats must be absolute garbage. How high are they right now, anyway?

He had not checked his stats recently. Checking them too often out of habit always left him feeling as though his focus—focus that ought to belong entirely to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the game—was scattering.

Might as well take a look.

For the first time in a while, curiosity about his own numbers got the better of him. He opened the status window at once.

Shooting at 66… Yeah, that goal really was tough relative to what I have.

Jung Hyuk scratched his head. Seeing the numbers after so long left him oddly embarrassed. Not that embarrassment was all he felt.

Still, they’ve gone up quite a bit.

As long as he possessed S-class talent, hard work would never betray him. Just as he believed, his stats were growing at a pace that simply could not be compared to the past.

Time to check the card.

Returning to his position, Jung Hyuk looked up into empty air. A card floated there, drifting gently. He had seen countless cards over the past twenty years, yet he still could not begin to guess what would be written on this one.

With a soft swish, he flipped it over. Information appeared.

“……!”

Jung Hyuk clamped a hand over his own mouth. He had nearly shouted out loud. That was how stunned he was. A trait, out of nowhere! Having just received a reward he had never even hoped for, he checked the card at once. With the match about to restart, his words came out far faster than usual.

“Trait—confirm.”

In that instant the card vanished. In the space where it had been, a message appeared that had not been there a moment before.

Whenever a message announced the acquisition of a trait, various modifiers always appeared in front of the trait’s name. At some point Jung Hyuk had learned to gauge how powerful a trait’s effect would be simply by reading those modifiers. That was why, in this very moment, he was certain the effect of the Soccer Genius trait—one he was seeing for the first time today—would be extraordinary.

This is guaranteed to be a jackpot!

He remembered the day he had obtained the trait One Who Never Gets Injured. Back then, too, the same modifier—“very special”—had been attached. That meant there was a high chance Soccer Genius carried an effect on a similar level to One Who Never Gets Injured. In other words, the odds of a jackpot were excellent. And the name itself already reeked of something massive.

……Let’s check it.

Tension flickered across Jung Hyuk’s face. A good trait could accelerate his growth enormously, so nerves were inevitable. At last, with a trembling heart, he opened the information for the Soccer Genius trait.

“What?!”

Jung Hyuk’s mouth fell open. Then a smile spread across his face. This was a jackpot. He had expected a good trait, but this surpassed even that expectation.

“I’m already growing this fast, and now it’s going to get even faster……?”

A full forty percent. He could not yet calculate exactly how massive that effect would be, but he was certain of one thing: the Soccer Genius trait would be an enormous help to his future growth. It would let him close in on his goals that much sooner. And right now they were in the middle of a tournament. From experience he knew stats grew faster in real matches. In other words, this Presidential Gold Cup National High School Soccer Tournament was like a bonus stage packed with experience points just for him.

Time to milk this for all it’s worth.

The smile that had been hanging on his lips deepened.

When Jeongwoon High scored an additional goal against Chungjeon High and stretched the lead to 2–0, Yoo Seok-cheon became certain.

Jung Hyuk—that kid is the real deal!

He had to bring Jung Hyuk to Seoul United no matter what. That boy would clearly become the future of Seoul United.

Just then Kim Min-woo spoke.

“Senior…… you saw Jung Hyuk’s play just now, right?”

“……Yeah. I saw it.”

“An eighteen-year-old pulling off tackles that clean, with off-the-ball movement like that and finishing ability on top of it…… He’s a real monster, isn’t he?”

“A monster, yeah. Watching Jung Hyuk, I get the feeling he understands the tactics perfectly and moves accordingly. If I’m right, that means his soccer IQ is excellent too. And he’s got leadership as well. Look carefully—Jeongwoon High’s entire buildup is flowing through that kid. That means he’s earned his teammates’ trust. And he’s only a second-year, not even a third-year. Damn! He’s the real article. Where the hell did this kid come from? Huh? Did he just drop out of the sky?”

“You didn’t see him last year?”

“Not at all. The name Jung Hyuk isn’t in my memory.”

“If even you don’t remember him, he was probably a bench player.”

“Right. And that’s what makes it even more shocking. A bench player becomes the team’s ace in a single year? Have you ever seen a case like that?”

“……No.”

“Min-woo, this isn’t something we can just sit around congratulating ourselves about. We need to get serious.”

“Other clubs are after him too, right?”

Kim Min-woo scanned the surroundings. Word had already spread; scouts had gathered in numbers. Yoo Seok-cheon nodded.

“Incheon FC in particular is aggressive. Their scout hasn’t put his phone down since earlier. Ha! And those guys have solid capital.”

“Tch. Nothing we can do about it. In this business, the moment a gem appears, war breaks out.”

“First we have to beat you and get started.”

“Senior, that won’t be easy.”

“Heh heh heh! This is going to get interesting.”

“Senior! The match has restarted.”

“I was watching, you punk.”

Yoo Seok-cheon and Kim Min-woo both turned their focus back to the game.

Chungjeon High was badly shaken. They had been building momentum and attacking, only to concede a massive counterattack. On top of that, they were high-school students—players whose mental fortitude was not yet fully developed like adults. A 2–0 scoreline had rattled them deeply. Of course, it was not only the score.

“Ah, damn it! What the hell is that guy? Why is he so rough?”

“He’s just throwing his body around. Isn’t he even afraid of getting injured?”

There was also the player whose fighting spirit was so overwhelming it made the Chungjeon High players sick of him. Even after the second half began, that player never stopped pressing. He was listed as a central midfielder, yet he joined the defense almost like a defensive midfielder. And that player—Jung Hyuk—kept smiling even as sweat poured off him.

Just not having to worry about injuries makes soccer this much more fun.

Injury is a soccer player’s greatest enemy. The moment a hamstring twinges, fear surges and a player immediately asks to be substituted. A sharp pain in the ankle, and even in the most important match a player drops to the ground and calls for the medical staff. That is how terrifying injury is to a soccer player. It is also the reason players cannot throw themselves into challenges as roughly or as passionately as they would like.

Jung Hyuk was different. He pressed opponents so aggressively it made people ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wonder if it was even allowed, and he contested every ball with more fighting spirit than anyone else.

The knowledge that the effect of One Who Never Gets Injured meant he never had to worry about getting hurt—that fact alone was driving Jung Hyuk wild.

With a sharp thwack, Jung Hyuk dropped back into the defensive line and stripped the ball from an opponent. It was an intelligent defensive play, inserting his shoulder first at the exact moment the opponent turned. The instant he won it, he began to run. Matching his movement, the Jeongwoon High players surged forward at full speed. Their runs came from the absolute belief that Jung Hyuk would not lose the ball and would connect it forward.

Jung Hyuk losing the ball? That doesn’t even make sense.

Hyuk has never lost the ball once in training. He’ll create a chance somehow.

Jung Hyuk’s got it? Then we just run forward.

A central midfielder who touches the ball more than anyone else throughout a match needs certain essential abilities: not only passing accuracy, but the ability to escape pressure and protect the ball from opponents. In his previous life, Jung Hyuk had not been a player who excelled at beating the press or shielding the ball—not until he turned thirty. After thirty, once he obtained A-class talent, his fundamentals improved dramatically. Naturally, his ability to escape pressure and retain the ball advanced by leaps as well. After he later obtained S-class talent, Jung Hyuk became a player who almost never lost the ball even against the world’s best. And now—though he had not yet recovered the stats of his prime—at the high-school tournament level, Jung Hyuk was a player who simply did not lose the ball at all.

With short, crisp touches—tuk, tuk—Jung Hyuk advanced while scanning his surroundings.

Oh Jung-hoon on the left, Lee Jin-hyung on the right. Behind me, Kim Jun-hyuk and Lee Geon-ho are probably charging up.

A complete view of the entire pitch was drawn inside his head. He could even roughly predict the movements of the teammates behind him. Unless they were completely exhausted, his teammates would be moving exactly as he expected. Lee Jin-hyung kept drawing the opposing fullback’s attention, while Oh Jung-hoon was running just a fraction slower than the Chungjeon High defenders.

At that moment an opposing midfielder charged at Jung Hyuk as he dribbled. It was a rough attempt to cut off the attack even if it meant conceding a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠free kick. But—

Your movement is way too big. That just means I can read everything you’re thinking.

Jung Hyuk had no confidence—no confidence that he would lose the ball.

With a soft tok and a sharp whoosh, he controlled the ball with the sole of his foot, then spun his body the opposite way and rolled past. The Marseille turn unfolded in an instant, and a roar erupted from the stands.

“Wooooah!”

“What is that? Is he Zidane or what?!”

“Who the hell is that kid at Jeongwoon High?! Why is he so good?!”

His opponent was helpless. Once one man was beaten, a much wider space opened up.

This is basically begging me to shoot, isn’t it?

Whether from second-half fatigue or something else, the opponent’s backup was far too slow. With no pressure and a wide open space now available, Jung Hyuk struck without hesitation. In that moment there was not a single stray thought in his head. He focused solely on relaxing his foot and striking the ball with a clean, precise impact.

Boom!

The ball left the instep of Jung Hyuk’s foot and rocketed away at high speed. The trajectory was excellent as well—a shot arrowing into the corner that would be nearly impossible for a goalkeeper to stop. The Chungjeon High keeper threw himself at it, but it was not enough.

Clang!

The moment the goal was confirmed, Jung Hyuk could not celebrate. He simply stared up into empty air with a startled expression.

Already……?

It was because of the system messages cascading in front of him.

This is way too fast.

Even by Jung Hyuk’s standards, the growth rate was insane. And finding the cause of this ridiculous growth power was not difficult. It was the card he had received as a reward after scoring the first goal against Chungjeon High. It was because of the trait that had come out of that card.

……Soccer Genius!