Talent Beyond Limits
The three aces of Boeon High each possessed their own distinct strengths.
Lee Seok-min had quick feet and outstanding dribbling ability, while Lee Jun-woo boasted explosive acceleration and clinical finishing. Finally, Lee Dong-hyuk possessed ball control and the ability to escape pressure that defied high-school level.
Rarely dispossessed and constantly feeding quality passes forward, Lee Dong-hyuk could essentially be considered the very core of Boeon High.
However.
You should have lowered your stance more. Standing like that, your center of gravity is easily disrupted.
In Jung Hyuk’s eyes, he was still nothing more than a kid who had yet to make his professional debut. Far too many openings were visible in Lee Dong-hyuk.
Thud!
Jung Hyuk drove his shoulder hard into Lee Dong-hyuk, who held the ball. It was a charge steeped in a veteran’s cunning.
“Ugh!”
Lee Dong-hyuk, mid-turn, staggered. The referee did not blow the whistle, judging it a fair physical contest rather than a foul.
Having inserted his shoulder, Jung Hyuk instantly stretched his leg long. His solid thigh blocked the rotation Lee Dong-hyuk was attempting.
Stagger!
Though only for a brief moment, Lee Dong-hyuk’s balance completely collapsed. Controlling the ball in such a situation was no easy task. Jung Hyuk swiftly claimed the ball from under his feet.
Thud!
The instant he took possession, Jung Hyuk spun.
Whoosh! Tap!
He immediately sprinted forward.
It was time for the counterattack.
There were many ways to launch a counterattack.
Every team had its own method, and every coach his own counter-attacking tactics. Among them, the two most commonly employed were a rapid passing combination utilizing teammates and a pure individual breakthrough.
Too bad.
Jung Hyuk clicked his tongue.
Had this been his prime self, he would have carved through the opposition with raw individual brilliance and scored. He would have crushed them under overwhelming personal ability.
But with his current low stats, he had to move more cleverly. Therefore he intended to use both methods at once.
Thud!
Still sprinting forward, Jung Hyuk sprayed the ball to a teammate running diagonally ahead. Even after releasing the pass he never broke stride, waiting for the return ball.
“Hyuk!”
Now!
Jung Hyuk slightly redirected the ball coming back to him.
Tap!
The altered ball rolled cleanly into the path of Oh Jung-hoon charging down the right—a crisp one-touch pass. And still Jung Hyuk did not stop running. He shifted into full sprint.
Oh Jung-hoon returned the ball toward him. It was a pass that needed only to beat a single defender, and though a striker, Oh Jung-hoon possessed solid distribution.
Yet a mistake occurred—Oh Jung-hoon’s mistake.
Perhaps because the attack was unfolding at such blistering tempo, his pass stretched farther than intended, landing well beyond the space Jung Hyuk had calculated.
Too long!
Jung Hyuk’s expression hardened. Accustomed now to his current body, he possessed respectable trapping ability—if not quite at his prime level. But collecting a ball struck that far was beyond him. The hard-won chance was about to evaporate.
Then—
Ding!
A message appeared.
Due to S-class talent, movements exceeding your current abilities are now possible.
(Time limit: 5 seconds)
Perfect timing!
The effect manifested at once. Jung Hyuk’s speed as he chased the ball suddenly surged. After the message, he shattered the limit of what his body could produce. Taat! Still at full tilt, he launched himself, stretching his leg out long while airborne.
A motion one might see in wrestling—almost a dropkick.
Ordinarily it was a posture that could never hold the ball. Unless super-adhesive had been smeared on his boot, receiving a ball with a dropkick while the center of gravity was completely unsettled was absurd.
Yet the absurd happened. Amazingly, the moment Jung Hyuk’s outstretched foot met the ball, its movement simply stopped.
The stands erupted in stunned murmurs. Every spectator, scouts included, could not hide their shock. It was that unreal, that impossible a trap.
As expected, S-class talent is broken.
Tap!
With the ball under control, Jung Hyuk found Boeon High’s goalkeeper charging at him. In that instant every calculation finished.
Enough distance. And right now I can even perform movements beyond my ability.
Calculations complete, Jung Hyuk rose, quickly centering himself, then feinted a step while staring down the onrushing keeper.
“Damn it! A feint in this situation?!”
The Boeon High goalkeeper’s face froze. The expression of the boy who had just risen was far too calm. Goosebumps rose at the sight of that unnervingly composed face executing a feint.
“Come on then!”
The keeper roared, trying to intimidate him. From his position he had no choice but to charge—right in front of goal, he had to prevent the shot. Yet with a feint performed so close, predicting the direction became nearly impossible, and whether the boy would shoot or attempt a breakthrough was equally unclear. In the end a goalkeeper could only throw his body at Jung Hyuk.
The two closed the distance in a heartbeat. Then Jung Hyuk moved first. He swung as if to shoot with his left foot. Instantly the keeper hurled himself at him. In that same moment Jung Hyuk relaxed the power in his leg, dragged the ball right with the sole of his left foot, then drove forward while striking it with his right.
A phantom dribble that exploded at high speed.
The Boeon High goalkeeper never even touched the ball. He could only stare blankly at Jung Hyuk’s back as the boy sliced past him in an instant.
Refreshing.
An empty net yawned before Jung Hyuk’s eyes—a very wide goal. He gently rolled the ball into it.
The moniker of championship favorite is not lightly given. It belongs only to teams that display powerful squads and consistently strong results. Boeon High possessed the performance to match that title. Had they not advanced to the semifinals by overwhelming every opponent?
And now, after conceding two goals, championship favorite Boeon High began to hammer Jeongwoon High with everything they had. When they truly committed to attack, their play was ferocious. Jeongwoon High’s defense could not contain Boeon High’s assaults—especially those of the ace trio.
One goal····· two goals····· then three.
The time it took Jeongwoon High to concede three goals to Boeon High was less than thirty minutes.
Yet the atmosphere among the Boeon High players who had just scored three was anything but bright. It could not be otherwise.
7–3.
Though they had netted three, they had conceded five more. Defeat loomed under an overwhelming scoreline.
And now Jeongwoon High seized another clear chance. The player who took it was the one who had already scored six goals today.
Jung Hyuk sliced between Boeon High’s two central defenders.
“Stop him! Please stop getting beaten already!”
Lee Dong-hyuk, Boeon High’s captain and de facto ace, screamed until his throat tore. Nothing changed. Jung Hyuk showed no mercy. He toyed with them as though reading every thought in the defenders’ minds, thoroughly dismantling them. The difference in level was absolute.
Beeeep!
The match ended.
Final score: 8–3.
Championship favorite Boeon High had been utterly crushed by Jeongwoon High’s storm.
The spectators stared at the Jeongwoon High players in pure astonishment. The scouts in particular stood with mouths hanging open. Even after the final whistle they could not tear their eyes from the pitch. As the saying goes, you see as much as you know—and what the scouts had witnessed today was that shocking.
“Heheh! Hey, Min-woo.”
Yoo Seok-cheon called Kim Min-woo with a sly grin.
“Yes.”
“Look at Choi Chul-yong’s face over there~.”
“Yes? Choi Chul-yong? Where···· huh? Pfft!”
Kim Min-woo spewed the drink he had been sipping. Where his gaze landed, Pohang United scout Choi Chul-yong was staring at the field with a face drained of all color.
“Keheheh! That guy’s shitting bricks right now. No way he came alone—the other Pohang scouts must already have contacted the club.”
“That there’s a monster at Jeongwoon High?”
“Exactly. So how will the club react?”
“They’ll pressure the hell out of him. Tell Choi Chul-yong to somehow bring Jung Hyuk and Oh Jung-hoon no matter what.”
“Right. But if you were Choi Chul-yong, could you swallow your pride and go back to Jung Hyuk?”
“····If I want to keep eating, I’d go. But the real question is whether that Jung Hyuk will even talk to him. I don’t think he will.”
“Heheh! Exactly. That crazy bastard will treat Choi Chul-yong like he’s invisible. Hah! To see the great Choi Chul-yong wearing that face—I’ve lived long enough, right Min-woo?”
“Yes, yes. I’m just sad you don’t have many days left.”
“You crazy bastard?”
“So drink in moderation, senior.”
“Ah! I am cutting back!”
While the two scouts bickered, Pohang United’s Choi Chul-yong stared at his smartphone with a deathly pale face.
“Ah! Why do they keep calling!”
Thoroughly irritated, Choi Chul-yong answered. The moment he spoke, his attitude flipped one hundred and eighty degrees.
“····Jung Hyuk? Ah···· yes! You mean you want Jung Hyuk····? But from what I saw, Jung Hyuk is fine, yet··· it would be better to recruit Lee Dong-hyuk from Boeon High. Same position, similar style····· Ah, I’m sorry. Yes! Understood. I’ll somehow bring Jung Hyuk in. Yes? Oh Jung-hoon as well? Yes, understood·····!”
Click!
The call ended. Choi Chul-yong’s face flushed crimson—so red it looked ready to burst.
“This fucking—! This crazy club is telling me to bow my head to that unpromising little brat? To this Choi Chul-yong?!”
“Hahaha! I watched the match well.”
Jung Hyuk regarded the man standing before him with an utterly indifferent expression.
Why is this guy here again?
The man who had sought him out was the Pohang United scout he had clashed with not long ago—a face Jung Hyuk found completely unwelcome.
“Yes. Glad you enjoyed it. Then I’ll be going.”
“W-wait! Hey!”
Choi Chul-yong called out urgently. Jung Hyuk turned his head.
“What is it?”
“Have you thought about it a little?”
“About what?”
“The proposal I made before. You know, don’t you? Pohang United is currently first in the K League—the team closest to the championship. A proposal from a side like that is a massive opportunity for a young player like you.”
“Opportunity? Ah, I see.”
Jung Hyuk nodded. Choi Chul-yong’s eyes lit up.
“Yes! So you were interested after all? Since it’s come to this, let’s work well together. I’ll let the previous incident be water under the bridge····.”
“Let what be water under the bridge?”
“Ahem! That time you acted disrespectfully toward me.”
Pfft!
Jung Hyuk’s right mouth corner curled high. This Choi Chul-yong fellow was saying something truly amusing.
“Hey, I think you’re under some misunderstanding.”
“····Huh?”
“Last time I believe I behaved reasonably well. Wasn’t it you, Mr. Choi Chul-yong, who was the disrespectful one? Seems you’ve got the point completely backward.”
“Wh-what?! Mr. Choi Chul-yong?!”
Choi Chul-yong’s face twisted. Rage flared at the young brat’s insolence. Jung Hyuk’s smile only deepened—annoyingly so.
“Why? Why raise your voice? And why has your face turned into a tomato? Did you have a few drinks before coming? Nah, not with a scout’s title hanging on you—so what’s wrong then? In my view, the problem is you, Mr. Choi Chul-yong. Look—even now you’re speaking casually and disrespectfully.”
“Y-you this bastard····!”
“Wow! Now you’re even swearing? You’re really doing everything, aren’t you?”
“Hey! Jung Hyuk! Don’t you want to become a pro? Why are you acting up like this—acting up?!”
Choi Chul-yong bellowed at the top of his lungs.
Ah, annoying. And why is his voice so loud?
Jung Hyuk dug a finger in his ear. He was growing thoroughly tired of this. Time felt wasted, and irritation rose with it.
“Yes. I’m leaving, so stop the useless chatter and just say what you came to say, then go.”
“Aren’t you going to be a professional player, you disrespectful bastard?!”
“What does that have to do with you? What are you? Who are you to block my pro career? Aren’t you a scout? If you’re a scout, go diligently recruit players. Stop spouting nonsense at me.”
“This bastard!”
Choi Chul-yong’s patience snapped. He lunged to seize Jung Hyuk’s collar.
But—
Whoosh!
Jung Hyuk easily slipped the hand.
“Hey, don’t bother with useless things.”
Choi Chul-yong, having grabbed only air, stared at him in flustered disbelief.
“Eek! You····!”
“Still, since I don’t want to see your face anymore, I’ll give you a clear answer. I have absolutely no intention of playing for Pohang. Got it? If you’ve properly understood, now get lost. Ah—no. I can’t rudely tell an older adult to get lost. I’ll just leave myself. Let’s never meet again. Chul-yong.”
Jung Hyuk winked, waved casually, and walked away.
In that instant Choi Chul-yong’s eyes flipped.
“Th-th-th-that···! You dare try to die! Hey! Stop! Stop I said! Uwaaak!”
Blind with rage he tried to chase after Jung Hyuk, but other scouts who had approached at some point seized him.
“Choi Chul-yong, have you gone mad? Are you trying to assault him right now?”
“Uwaaaak! Let go! Let gooo!”
Even after Jung Hyuk had left the pitch, Choi Chul-yong’s voice continued to echo around the stadium for a long while.