Hat-Trick Debut
The opening match between Southampton FC and West Bromwich ignited from the very first whistle.
A goal exploded just four minutes into the game.
It was Jung Hyuk's debut goal.
The instant the ball hit the net, Korean soccer fans erupted in frenzy.
And then.
Jung Hyuk's celebration that followed sent the reactions soaring all over again.
At that same moment.
The instant Jung Hyuk's shut-up celebration unfurled across the pitch, the roar that had been shaking the stadium vanished.
"Wh-what? Is he telling us to be quiet?"
"Seems like it? Like he's telling us to shut our mouths?"
"What the hell? He's doing that to his own club's crowd?"
"That's way too arrogant, isn't it? Some kid making his debut scores one goal and starts acting like that?"
The fans who had come to cheer for Southampton FC began to seethe. The sight of a brand-new arrival strutting around like he owned the place did not sit well with them. Southampton supporters bellowed toward Jung Hyuk.
"Let's see how good you really are!"
"You better not start missing!"
"If you do nothing after that one goal, I'll kick your ass myself!"
Booooooo!
The boos that had briefly died away came flooding back into the quiet stadium.
And then.
Jung Hyuk scored again.
A one-two with teammate Steven Davis carved open West Bromwich's defense, finished with a clean strike. The second goal came less than five minutes after the first.
The stadium fell silent once more under the brazen brilliance of the young Asian player.
But something strange happened.
Jung Hyuk, having scored his second goal on debut, showed not a flicker of excitement. He was utterly unfazed. The crowd began to murmur at the sight.
"What's with that kid? Did he even score? Why's he so calm?"
"What's that deadpan face about? Why isn't he even happy?"
"Like two goals are just expected? Is he that confident in his own ability?"
"Whoa... but yeah, his movement really isn't ordinary."
That was when it happened.
Jung Hyuk approached the stands once more. Swoosh! This time he held up three fingers.
A celebration that promised a third goal was coming.
The Premier League is widely regarded as the roughest league in the world.
In that league, Jung Hyuk had scored two goals within ten minutes of kickoff.
As a result, he drew heavy marking from the West Bromwich players—marking laced with fouls, as if to prove the league's reputation. Of course, none of it truly worked.
Whoosh! Thud!
With West Bromwich midfielder Claudio Yacob in front of him, Jung Hyuk dragged the ball back with the sole of his foot, then twisted his body the other way and surged forward. The lightning-quick drag-back left Yacob lunging at empty air.
Thump—
Jung Hyuk knocked the ball long past Yacob and scanned his surroundings, checking his teammates' runs one more time. In his field of vision, a player was racing into the space behind the defense with excellent timing.
Lallana!
It was Adam Lallana, starting on the left wing. The moment Jung Hyuk saw him, the player's traits flashed through his mind.
Adam Lallana's technique is outstanding, but his pace is slow. Keep it short—make it hard for the defense to cut out.
The brief calculation ended. Jung Hyuk sent a long pass tailored to Lallana's style.
Boom!
A spinning ball the opposing defenders could not intercept—and one that was equally difficult to control. But Lallana, with his refined touch, was exactly the kind of player who could gather it cleanly. His lack of pace, however, meant West Bromwich fullback Billy Jones closed him down in a hurry.
That was when Adam Lallana's true quality showed.
Thump! Lallana stretched out a long leg and cushioned the ball down. The placement was exquisite.
"Hup!"
A first touch that dropped the ball in the opposite direction from Billy Jones's charge. With that single touch alone, Adam Lallana left Jones behind.
As expected—he's something else.
Jung Hyuk already knew Lallana's ability, but even knowing it, the movement just now was astonishing to watch.
Whump! Lallana whipped a quick cross into the penalty box, aimed at Ricky Lambert charging through at full speed.
Whoosh!
The physically dominant target striker Ricky Lambert met the ball with his head. Thump! A glancing header changed direction and buried itself inside the far post. Swish—
Southampton FC's third goal.
Wooooooooah!
Southampton fans rose from their seats, roaring for a team already producing an extraordinary performance on opening day. Riding the momentum, Southampton FC overwhelmed West Bromwich, pouring forward wave after wave. And at the center of it all was Jung Hyuk.
"Jung Hyuk!"
Jung Hyuk received a pass from Wanyama and drove forward with the ball. Graham Dorrans, whom he had faced repeatedly today, stepped up to stop him.
Jung Hyuk did not recycle the ball to a teammate. He launched into a confident dribble against Dorrans. With his current pace supporting him, Jung Hyuk's self-belief had soared. Given the same dribbling skill, greater speed dramatically raises the success rate of a breakthrough.
Jung Hyuk combined upper-body feints with sharp side-to-side touches, scrambling Dorrans's decision-making. Dorrans defended calmly at first, but the endless feints finally drew his leg out.
Now!
The moment the bait was taken, Jung Hyuk nudged the ball forward and accelerated. The ball he had pushed slipped straight between Dorrans's legs, and in the same instant Jung Hyuk flashed past him at speed.
"Aaaargh!"
Dorrans, victim of the technique commonly known as a nutmeg, exploded in fury. Face twisted, he chased after Jung Hyuk—but Jung Hyuk's pace was simply too great. Having beaten Dorrans, he carved into West Bromwich's right flank in a heartbeat. Thump! With the instep of his left foot he changed the ball's direction and tore along the touchline toward the corner flag. The speed was immense. The time it took Jung Hyuk to drive into the penalty box was vanishingly short.
As the acceleration built, West Bromwich fullback Liam Ridgewell threw himself into a sliding tackle—perfectly timed.
I knew you'd try that.
Jung Hyuk did not flinch. Through the trait One Who Sees Through, he already knew Liam Ridgewell excelled at tackling. A confident challenge was something he could largely anticipate. More than that, he also knew how to evade Liam Ridgewell's sliding tackle.
Tap! Whoosh! Tap!
A Marseille turn, spinning with the ball. With that dazzling movement Jung Hyuk slipped past Ridgewell's challenge. And he was not finished.
Still turning, Jung Hyuk struck for goal. It was a shot even players with excellent balance rarely attempt—and, naturally, a shot the goalkeeper had no chance of reading.
Boom—
The ball Jung Hyuk unleashed slammed into the far corner of the net.
Goalkeeper Ben Foster stood frozen in disbelief.
Jung Hyuk, completing his hat-trick, clenched a fist and roared. At that beast-like cry, the Southampton FC supporters who had been booing clamped their mouths shut. They could no longer direct jeers at Jung Hyuk. Instead they pressed their lips together and sent him a wave of applause—an act that both welcomed the young Korean as a new member of the family and carried a deep apology.
And in that moment.
In the stands, Sophia looked at her boyfriend Josh with pure disdain. Josh was clapping, his face flushed red.
"Josh, what are you doing right now?"
"…"
Josh could not answer Sophia's question. He simply kept clapping toward Jung Hyuk, cheeks burning.
"Before the match you were dismissing Jung Hyuk. Because he's Asian, because he's young—you looked down on him. Go on, say the same thing now."
"I-I'm sorry…"
"Josh! You should be apologizing to Jung Hyuk, not me!"
"I can't even meet him—how am I supposed to apologize…?"
"He's going to come over and greet people after the match, isn't he? Just apologize then!"
"After booing him that hard… do you think he'll even come this way?"
Josh stared anxiously at Jung Hyuk, still roaring in the distance.
Just before halftime, Jung Hyuk recorded one assist with a pass that stole the timing from the West Bromwich defenders. Thanks to his outstanding performance, Southampton closed the first half with a satisfying 5–0 scoreline.
In the second half that followed, Jung Hyuk's dominance continued.
Playing as a midfielder, Jung Hyuk constantly swapped positions with winger Jay Rodriguez throughout the match, tormenting the opposing fullbacks. Even now he was cutting inside along the flank, eyes locked on an incoming ball.
Whoosh—
A long diagonal pass from Adam Lallana. It was curling inward, the kind of delivery that either creates a chance or kills it depending on the first touch.
Knowing that, Jung Hyuk focused entirely on a precise first touch. Even while sprinting toward the ball, his head flicked left and right. Whoosh! Flick! He was reading the positions of the defenders.
Ridgewell's too close.
The West Bromwich fullback was tracking tightly. In a situation like this, trying to settle the ball the conventional way risked losing the timing. So Jung Hyuk kept his eyes on the ball until the last instant and touched it as quickly as possible. The surface he chose was his shoulder.
Thump!
Dropping the ball with his shoulder left Jung Hyuk with two options: shoot himself, or pass to a teammate. The decision was instant. His shooting angle was narrow. Inside the box, however, two teammates sat in excellent positions. This was not the moment for greed. It was the moment to create the best chance and manufacture a team goal.
The two men in the box were Lambert and Schneiderlin. Jung Hyuk aimed a pass at Lambert, who held the slightly better position and the superior finishing instinct. The ball was driven low and fast. Lambert stretched out a long leg toward a delivery that had practically been served on a plate. He was not the kind of player who missed those.
Swish!
After the clean finish, Lambert charged toward Jung Hyuk.
"Hey… what are you—?"
Jung Hyuk backpedaled. He already knew what Lambert was about to do.
Don't tell me he's going to jump on me?
The problem was Lambert's considerable bulk—and the weight that came with a frame that large.
Whump!
In the end Lambert laughed boisterously and threw his arms around Jung Hyuk.
"Jung Hyuk! That pass was perfect!"
Sweat beaded on Jung Hyuk's forehead.
"…Yeah. Congrats on the goal. But you're heavy, so could you get down now?"
After Lambert's goal, Southampton conceded once on a West Bromwich counterattack. But the scoreline was far too lopsided for the mood to shift. West Bromwich played the remaining time with the energy drained from their legs. Instead, the additional goals came from Southampton.
It began at Jung Hyuk's feet.
Boom!
A single through ball that split West Bromwich's defense in an instant. Adam Lallana received it, casually redirected the ball, and finished.
Breeeep!
When the final whistle blew, the score stood at 7–1.
And the record of Jung Hyuk, making his debut today, was three goals and three assists.
To a rookie who had produced such a monstrous line, the world's largest soccer statistics site, WhoScored.com, awarded a perfect rating of 10.
And now.
Having scored, Jung Hyuk walked toward the fans who had caused him so much trouble today. He looked up at the stands. The crowd was sending him thunderous applause.
The treatment's changed.
These were the same home fans who had booed him to the point of exhaustion—enough to irritate even a veteran like Jung Hyuk. But it was fine now. He had rewritten their regard with pure ability, and he had no intention of holding a grudge.
Snap!
Jung Hyuk raised a thumb toward the crowd.
Clap clap clap clap clap!
Another wave of massive applause poured down. Grin! Jung Hyuk smiled with genuine pleasure. It was not an act. He truly felt good. Part of it was the performance he had just delivered—but there was a larger reason.
The messages floating before his eyes.
Agility has increased by 1.
Tackling has increased by 1.
Physical Contest has increased by 1.
Heading has increased by 1.
Technique has increased by 1.
Shooting has increased by 1.
Passing has increased by 1.