Special Performance (3)
"Suwon's form lately is nothing like it used to be. They may have been knocked out of the Champions League, but we can still look forward to good news in the league."
"Mm. I see."
"The players will be burning with enthusiasm once they hear the owner is here to watch. They'll want to put on a good show for you."
No Yun-geon, CEO of JE Planning—the parent company of Suwon Ohseong Bluefeather—nodded along to General Manager Bae Ha-gwon's words.
In truth, No Yun-geon was not listening carefully. More precisely, he was not understanding a word of it.
It was not that he had been dragged to the stadium against his will despite having no interest in football. He was simply a complete outsider when it came to sports.
The players are happy the owner showed up? Because the man who signs their paychecks is watching, so they figure they need to look good?
That was about the level of his thinking.
The reason the general manager was treating CEO No so deferentially and stressing how good the team's atmosphere was, was this: word had been circulating that the Ohseong Group was quietly looking to pull out of sports, and the players were on edge. The news that the CEO himself was coming to watch in person had made them feel there was still one last chance left, and so they were running themselves into the ground. That was what the general manager had been trying to say, in roundabout fashion.
But the CEO had zero grasp of those internal circumstances, so his failure to pick up on the subtext was not particularly strange.
"I hope the players put on a good show. My son is extremely interested in football, you see."
Finding no reason to keep entertaining a conversation he could not follow, CEO No promptly changed the subject.
The general manager took the bait at once.
"Your son, sir?"
"Yes. I'd heard from the family that he liked football, but I assumed he was into the overseas leagues like most kids his age. Then all of a sudden he starts saying he loves the K-League. Claims he's found a player he really likes, and asks me if he can go to the Suwon–Jeonbuk match to watch him."
"Oh-ho! So that's why you've come to the match today?"
"Well, I wanted some quality time with my only son, too. As you know, our Ohseong Group chairman is far more interested in baseball. He almost never comes to a football stadium. So as the CEO, shouldn't I show my face at least once? I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone."
"My, my... Your son must really love the game. Coming to a match in person takes serious fandom."
It takes serious fandom to pull that off... Well, he wasn't wrong.
Even if Suwon was in Gyeonggi Province, hauling yourself out of Seoul on the subway just to watch a single football match was no small effort.
Still, CEO No was certain his son loved the game enough to endure that kind of trouble for a seat in the stands.
"You have no idea how strong his fandom is. At home he plays the same clip on loop day and night. The highlights, I suppose? He's even memorized the song that plays over it. What was the video title again—something like Resurrected Heart... He rewatches it constantly, and lately he's been watching defensive midfielder specials and things like that."
"Defensive midfielder... Gasp! So your son is a fan of our own Shim Seong-jin! Oh, for heaven's sake. I should have prepared a signed team jersey in advance. Just a moment. Secretary Shin! After the match, get the players' signatures and have a jersey ready. Size M should do. Get it sorted beforehand."
"Oh, no need to go to all that trouble. We haven't even won the match yet."
"We will win. With the owner here, the players will grit their teeth and run themselves ragged, won't they?"
"Haha. You're far too kind."
The mood was excellent.
The club's top brass, learning that the owner's son—whom they had assumed had lost all interest—was in fact a football obsessive, felt a ray of hope. The owner himself was simply pleased at the chance to enjoy some long-overdue time with his son.
If they could carry this atmosphere straight into a win, the situation could not have been better.
The problem was that even if the Suwon players hungered for victory just because the owner had shown up, Jeonbuk was not a side you beat easily.
Han Gyeong-rok! He blows past the Suwon players and surges forward! He finds Yoon Seung-hwan up ahead with a pass!
Yoon Seung-hwan! One-on-one with the keeper—Yoon Seung-hwaaan! GOOOOOAL!
As Yoon Seung-hwan's goal went in, Big Bird roared like a living thing.
Even though it was the away side that had scored, the heat was so fierce that the cheers carried all the way up into the skybox where they sat.
Conceding the first goal in football was something that happened. Even so, the general manager's face was rotting off his skull at the thought of putting on such a disgrace with the owner watching.
"Ahaha... So Jeonbuk have taken the lead. They really are a strong side, no question. Still! The match isn't over yet—anything can happen in football, right? Haha..."
"..."
"Owner?"
His eyes had squeezed shut at the catastrophe, but the general manager hurriedly checked the owner's expression. The owner's gaze, however, was fixed on the pitch.
For a second he thought the man was angry at Suwon's performance.
What is this?
Strangely enough, there was no anger in the owner's eyes. As far as the general manager could tell, the emotion swimming in those pupils was pure bewilderment.
What on earth? To look bewildered after conceding a goal?
Puzzled, the general manager followed the owner's line of sight down onto the field—and then:
"Wha—!"
In that instant, he saw the disaster unfolding on the pitch.
Ah! The Jeonbuk players! They've started a celebration right in front of the Suwon supporters! What on earth are they doing right now?
It's the bicycle-riding ceremony! Wow... that's the one the Icelandic side Stjarnan made famous with their celebrations. I never imagined we'd see it in the K-League.
Oh. Look at those Suwon supporters' faces harden. Conceding a goal is bad enough—getting hit with a celebration like that on top of it is pure torture!
Exactly. Back when I was still playing, watching the other team go overboard with their celebrations used to make my blood boil. I once got hit with Griezmann's celebration, and even now, if that thing shows up in my dreams, I bolt upright in bed!
Ah. Baek Yi-an and Jeonbuk's young stars are serving the Suwon fans a nightmare!
"General Manager... that player, Baek Yi-an. Is he doing a bicycle-riding ceremony right now? Because I happen to have a hobby of cycling—that's why he's doing that, right?"
"Th-that... what is that even..."
Surely he wasn't attempting that bizarre ceremony just because the owner had come to watch in person?
Before kickoff the general manager had mentioned that this Baek Yi-an character had once been sent off for an excessive celebration, but...
Come on... there's no way.
There was no chance he would deliberately pull a ceremony like that just because the opposing club's owner had shown up.
Right. He was just overthinking it.
"...I-I'm so sorry. I'll be sure to lodge a formal protest with Jeonbuk—"
"Ah, no. It's fine. Sports are like that, aren't they? Back when I was studying in the States I used to go to Super Bowls. A ceremony like that is just part of the game."
If the same ceremony got repeated over and over, that would be one thing—but it had only happened once so far, hadn't it?
The kid's trade mark was over-the-top celebrations, so he probably just enjoyed that kind of thing as a rule. No Yun-geon was simply reading too much into it and making it weird.
Having finished rationalizing, CEO No steadied his breathing and soothed the fretting general manager.
And so, from that opening goal in the first half, the clock wound on until around the thirtieth minute of the second half.
"..."
Only then did No Yun-geon finally understand what kind of creature Baek Yi-an really was.
Ah! Jeonbuk! They're driving into Suwon's penalty box yet again! Using pure pace to cut through! Park Yeon-woo! Park Yeon-woo! He keeps going! Suwon's players have lost the will to stop Jeonbuk's winger!
Park Yeon-woo! Is that a cross from near the touchline?! There are so many Jeonbuk players in the box! Park Yeon-woo's croooooss! Baek Yi-aaaaaan! Baek Yi-an uses that towering aerial ability and heads it homeeeee!
Wow... Suwon's players simply couldn't deal with Baek Yi-an. The marking was actually solid, but whether it's the weight difference or what, he just would not be shoved off!
There's a reason they call him Jeonbuk's young star—Jeonbuk's main body itself. Baek Yi-an's headed goal stretches the score between Jeonbuk and Suwon to five–nil!
Ah, and once again Jeonbuk's celebration performance begins. Starting with the Human Bicycle Ceremony, then big-fish reeling, the bobsled, the taser gun, and for the finale—the Flag Ceremony!
Baek Yi-an slides in and obliterates the corner flag, then lies flat on his back and waves it with wild enthusiasm! It brings to mind the German legend goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, doesn't it?
Jeonbuk's utterly one-sided match. Normally, when the scoreline blows out this badly, the home fans start filing out of the stadium first—but even the Suwon supporters seem to have achieved enlightenment at this point. They're watching Baek Yi-an's ceremonies with actual smiles on their faces.
"C-CEO, I'm so sorry. I don't even know how to apologize for this..."
"No... I-it happens. These things."
Faced with that insane stretch of celebration performances that made his eyes squeeze shut, CEO No Yun-geon felt his mind go light and dizzy.
Hell itself had nothing on this.
He wanted nothing more than to bolt for the exit right that second—but if he, the club owner, walked out mid-match, the fans would be furious. And yet sitting through the rest of it...
Damn it... if I laugh, it's over. I could genuinely get lynched by our own fans!
He had to endure. He had to endure no matter what.
Steeling himself with that grim resolve, CEO No called upon the poker face forged across decades of business experience—
"Ahh, I can't take it anymore! Dad! Did you see Yi-an hyung's ceremony? That was insane. I knew it—if I'd missed today's match my dreams would've been cursed for weeks! Dad! When I grow up, I'm gonna be Baek Yi-an!"
"What did you just say? You little punk! What's that under your jacket—a Jeonbuk jersey?! Why the hell are you wearing that?! Your father is the owner of Suwon! And my own son is a Jeonbuk fan?! Does that make any sense, you brat?!"
"C-CEO! So your son was a Jeonbuk fan, not Suwon?! More importantly, please calm down! If you lose it here and the broadcast cameras catch you, we're finished—really!"
The poker face he had poured every ounce of his soul into maintaining was utterly obliterated by his son's coming-out.
The boy who had been quietly watching the match beside him flung off his jacket—and out from underneath came the green of a Jeonbuk jersey.
The moment he saw it, CEO No Yun-geon could not help but lose his mind.