Speed 109

The day after Southampton's match against Arsenal.

Granted a rare day off, Jung Hyuk slept later than usual.

Beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep-beep!

"Ugh…"

Jung Hyuk scowled as the alarm drilled into his ears.

"…Is it already this late?"

Even after sleeping more than usual, he was still tired. The fatigue must have piled up deeper than he'd realized. Honestly, it would have been strange if it hadn't. The Premier League schedule had just finished Round 12, and Jung Hyuk had started every match except two.

"I'm exhausted."

Even with S-class talent and a lifetime of experience, he couldn't stop the wear from accumulating. Stretching and massage every single day still left residual fatigue clinging to him. Without his Stamina ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of 85 and the trait One Who Doesn't Tire Easily, it would have been far worse.

So today, he planned to rest with a completely empty mind.

That was when a knock came at the door, followed by Oh Jung-hoon's voice.

"Hyuk! You up?"

"Yeah. Just woke up."

Hearing the answer, Oh Jung-hoon shoved the door open and barged in.

"You're up pretty late today. What's going on?"

"Yeah. Guess the fatigue caught up with me."

"Whoa… I thought you were a robot. Turns out you're human after all?"

"What are you talking about? Robot, my ass."

"What? Humility mode again? Hyuk, seriously — who else can play full ninety minutes match after match and still look fine? Just you."

"Come on. There are plenty of guys in the Premier League with better stamina than me."

Jung Hyuk waved him off. It wasn't humility. The Premier League really was packed with iron-lunged monsters. Steven Gerrard alone, whom he'd faced not long ago, boasted a monstrous Stamina of 97.

"Anyway — you know Young-nam hyung booked a restaurant for today, right?"

"I know."

Jung Hyuk nodded. Today wasn't just his day off — Oh Jung-hoon was free as well. And Park Young-nam had declared that wasting a golden holiday cooped up at home was unacceptable, hunted down a good restaurant, and somehow managed to lock in a reservation.

That was when Park Young-nam himself walked in, dressed to the nines in a casual suit.

"Oh! Our Monster and our Hulk, gathered in one place? Is this the Avengers?"

"……"

"……"

A little later, after Jung Hyuk finished his shower, the three of them drove about twenty minutes from the lodging to a busy commercial district. The moment they stepped into the restaurant Park Young-nam had booked, every head in the room turned.

"Oh my god! Is that Jung Hyuk?"

"What? Jung Hyuk? Where?"

"Over there! He just walked in!"

"Holy—! It really is Jung Hyuk! Wait, what?! Oh Jung-hoon's with him too!"

"Aaaah! I'm an Oh Jung-hoon fan! The Korean Hulk!"

The restaurant erupted into noise. English diners were usually well-mannered in private settings, but somehow the buzz refused to die down. It was inevitable. Almost no one in this neighborhood didn't support Southampton FC, and Jung Hyuk and Oh Jung-hoon were currently the hottest players on the squad. Jung Hyuk in particular had the entire fanbase buzzing.

"…Hyuk. They're recognizing us, right?"

"Looks like it."

"This is huge! What if they start asking for photos? Do I throw up a V-sign? What's the best angle so I look good?"

"They probably won't, so stop getting ahead of yourself."

"Huh? Why not? They're clearly recognizing us — why wouldn't they ask for pictures?"

"It's a restaurant. English people tend to keep their manners in places like this."

"Really? That's a shame."

"What? A shame?"

Jung Hyuk stared at him, baffled. Oh Jung-hoon just grinned.

"Getting attention is fun."

"…So you really do enjoy the spotlight."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I just realized those goal celebrations of yours aren't accidents from getting too hyped."

"Hey! Those are genuine accidents!"

"Not buying it."

Still drawing every eye in the room, the three of them followed a server into a private room prepared inside the restaurant.

"Oh! This is nice. It was loud out there, but it's really quiet ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in here."

Oh Jung-hoon looked around with open curiosity. Jung Hyuk, meanwhile, was staring blankly into empty air.

Park Young-nam called to him.

"Hyuk, what are you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thinking so hard about?"

"Sorry? Hyung, what did you say? I didn't catch that."

"I asked what you're zoning out over. Something on your mind?"

"…No. Just something I needed to think about for a second."

Finished answering, Jung Hyuk turned his gaze back to the empty air. Floating there was a status window only he could see.

For his age, the numbers were more than solid. No — they were excellent. Unless you counted a handful of true prodigies, Jung Hyuk's attributes would rank near the top of his age group. Speed especially — finding anyone faster would be difficult. Not impossible, but rare.

There was a problem, though.

The balance was off. Because the stats weren't evenly distributed, he couldn't fully convert what he had into match performance. He'd been covering the gaps with the seasoned movement of thirty-nine years of experience, but the frustration remained. He wasn't using his abilities to their absolute limit. He could be better — and he wasn't.

That was why even solid numbers left him unsatisfied.

Time to start balancing things out.

Chasing short-term efficiency had funneled everything into Speed. Now he needed a change. Speed was no longer the urgent priority. Raising it further wouldn't hurt, but investing in Agility, Technique, and Dribbling would yield far better returns.

So Jung Hyuk decided to spend his points elsewhere.

The decision didn't take long. He invested the points into the attribute that would amplify the efficiency of the Speed he already possessed.

The felt difference between the 70s and the 80s was enormous. The instant Agility jumped from 77 to 80, Jung Hyuk felt the change in his body.

First of all… the knife he was using to cut his steak moved faster.

Swish-swish-swish-swish!

Jung Hyuk began slicing the meat at blistering speed.

Oh Jung-hoon's eyes went wide.

"Wh-what the hell?! Did you just become a sword master?!"

After finishing Round 12 against Arsenal, Southampton FC gave the squad a single day off. The thin squad depth had forced them through a brutal stretch of fixtures, and the break was overdue.

On top of that, for the full week leading into Round 13, the club kept training intensity as light as possible. They had already dialed back the load once the season started, so cutting it further wasn't ideal — but if they kept grinding at the current pace, the starters would be completely cooked before the midpoint of the campaign. That was the calculation.

Under Mauricio Pochettino's original plan, the first-team players should never have been this drained. Proper rotation should have left them with plenty of gas in the tank. Reality had forced a different approach. He had kept throwing the same starters out week after week.

Results were the reason.

The results were far better than Pochettino had dared hope, and that made it impossible to throw any match away. Confidence had grown too — the belief that they could beat anyone, no matter how strong. With that belief came an unwillingness to field backups and risk a loss.

The result: Southampton's core players were exhausted. Training intensity had to drop even further.

And right now, watching the session, Mauricio Pochettino's expression was grim.

…This is dangerous.

If the players' condition didn't improve before Round 13 kicked off, the outcome would almost certainly be ugly. Of course it would. The next opponent was far too strong. A team you couldn't beat without being at one hundred percent.

One of the so-called Big Four. Chelsea FC.

Pochettino's uneasy imagination became reality. Several of Southampton's regular starters still hadn't recovered by the day before the Chelsea match. Forced into a corner, Pochettino left a few locked-in starters on the bench and inserted players who had looked sharp in training. Unable to field full strength, his anxiety only grew.

In the middle of all that uncertainty, one genuine comfort remained: the two young monsters, Jung Hyuk and Oh Jung-hoon, were fit enough to start.

But once the match actually began, Southampton looked shockingly lifeless against Chelsea. The team that had been riding a recent storm of form produced a string of hideous mistakes that made them unrecognizable.

"Get your heads in the game!"

Pochettino barked. His face was carved from stone. The performance was wretched — especially from the non-regulars. Jung Hyuk on the left wing and striker Oh Jung-hoon were fighting for everything, but it felt like only those two were involved in the attack. No matter how many times Jung Hyuk beat Chelsea full-back Ivanovic and whipped in a cross, nothing came of it. Of course nothing came of it. The only player who could meet those balls was Oh Jung-hoon. Without support from his teammates, the big striker was isolated and fighting alone.

Worse, Southampton's defense collapsed with terrifying ease. Without José Fonte — the heart of the back line — the defense turned into paper, repeatedly surrendering to Chelsea's breakthroughs.

By the time the first half ended, the score stood at 3–0.

And now, the Chelsea players who had piled on three goals before the break walked out for the second half wearing the expressions of men who already owned the night.

Both sets of players filed back into Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's home ground. Jung Hyuk was among them.

Worse than I expected.

He had been under constant, focused pressure the entire first half. Chelsea midfielder Ramires had openly shadowed him and nothing else. That leech-like marking was a real burden even for Jung Hyuk. Ramires wasn't some low-level player — he was a Chelsea regular. His technical foundation might be limited, but he possessed monster stamina that let him run a full ninety without fading, real pace, and solid defensive instincts. Having a player like that glued to his hip made everything uncomfortable.

The bigger problem, though, was that Southampton simply could not stop Chelsea's attack. Conceding only three almost felt lucky given how completely they had been torn apart. Part of it was Southampton's shaky defending today. The rest ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was the sheer force of Chelsea's front line.

Fernando Torres at striker, Oscar supporting him, Eden Hazard and Juan Mata shredding the flanks — they had dismantled Southampton's defense over and over. And the names behind them were just as glittering. Michael Essien, Gary Cahill, John Terry — elite defensive talent sealing off every Southampton attack.

At this rate, a goal is going to be nearly impossible.

Oh Jung-hoon was completely locked down. Jung Hyuk had delivered quality cross after quality cross, but the big striker couldn't get past the wall of John Terry and Cahill. In a situation like this, a teammate needed to drag a defender away and create space — and that wasn't happening.

So Jung Hyuk made a decision.

I'll do it myself.

He would push harder, rattle Chelsea's back line. At minimum, he would personally occupy either John Terry or Gary Cahill. It wouldn't be easy. It would be extremely difficult. He was already under man-to-man marking from the mosquito-like Ramires, and Chelsea full-back Ivanovic was still standing in his path.

But he had to do it.

Without this, there was no beating today's Chelsea.

Let's go.

Jung Hyuk's eyes sharpened. It was the look he wore when his competitive fire fully ignited.

And then—

Peeeeeep!

The referee's whistle signaled the start of the second half.

At the same moment, messages bloomed in front of Jung Hyuk's eyes. Messages he had expected — and because he had expected them, he could meet them with calm.

That was the message for One with Strong Stamina — every attribute rising by three.

That was the message for the crisis trait — One Who Never Gives Up — the one that fired when the team was driven into a corner.

After that came the cascade.

Every attribute had risen by eight.

And in that moment, a smile finally broke across Jung Hyuk's previously calm face — because of the last message, the one that felt good even when you already knew it was coming.