Finding One's Own Path
At the Identity Hotel, Ha Sunmoon was having a meal with Felipe.
[That's not British food!]
"Hahaha. You're quite the funny one."
Ha Sunmoon, who had been eating curry, spoke to Felipe, and Felipe let out a small chuckle at his words.
Felipe, who had been cutting his steak, paused his meal for a moment and looked at Ha Sunmoon.
Ha Sunmoon nodded.
Ha Sunmoon looked at Felipe's expression and tried hard to hide his disappointment. Seeing that look on his face, Felipe seemed to make up his mind and began to speak.
Ha Sunmoon stopped eating at Felipe's words and stared at him with a slightly dazed expression.
At Felipe's calm words, Ha Sunmoon found it hard to open his mouth easily.
At Felipe's words, Ha Sunmoon looked slightly flustered, feeling a sudden distance between them.
Gulp.
[Hmm…]
Ha Sunmoon's face grew complicated, and even Harrison stayed silent at Felipe's serious tone.
But there wasn't much Ha Sunmoon could do. His mother had left him. His father, whose face he didn't even know. It had been a long time since he'd heard from the Korea Football Association, and the organization that was supposed to help him find his father through that connection had gone silent as well.
'And now they're telling me to find my identity in this situation?'
Ha Sunmoon nodded.
[Damn it.]
After the meal, back in his room, Harrison spoke to Ha Sunmoon.
[That guy was right. He's a good agent for you, and as a surrogate father, he's the best.]
Harrison looked deeply troubled.
[Yeah. I was an idiot. I spoke too much from behind the scenes. In the end, the most important thing in your life is you. I regret a lot of what I've said until now.]
Harrison gave a bitter smile.
[You don't have to choose Liverpool if you don't want to. I'll help you no matter where you go. Instead… you help me from time to time too. I won't take up too much of your time.]
[I won't… I've already achieved so much in football. I've seen that the English league is the best, and I've watched my favorite team, Liverpool, win the Champions League and the Premier League. For a ghost, I've lived far too happily. I'm satisfied with that.]
Ha Sunmoon was quite surprised by Harrison's words.
[So don't make a choice you'll regret. The situation may not look good right now, but light will shine on you.]
Marcos, the internal access reporter for Espanyol, was quite dissatisfied with this transfer window. Even after tanking for a season, Espanyol claimed they had no money.
"Damn it…"
He had no appetite for writing articles when they couldn't make any more signings and instead had to sell key players.
Head coach David felt the same way about the current situation. But what could they do when there was no money? On top of failing to sell tickets due to health issues, the salary cap had been applied, putting the club in a truly difficult position. In the end, the only solution was to sell the player with the highest wages and the highest market value, so they had no choice but to follow the board's opinion.
But even Vice President Carlos, who had actively pushed to sign Ha Sunmoon, had completely given up, so there was no way out.
David nodded at Marcos's words.
Marcos hated this mountain-after-mountain situation.
'Ha… Having to help a player get sold well…'
Sometimes this was part of the job as an internal club reporter, so Marcos let out a small sigh.
First, Marcos contacted a football YouTuber who had somehow become his friend.
What the football YouTuber Frank did at this time of year was simple: create highlight videos of players who were in the transfer window. Many fans clicked on the videos to see the skills of players who might join their team, and if they liked them, they even hit the subscribe button. This was the season to create good videos for those fans and build subscribers, so it was very important for Frank.
Marcos hung up without listening to the rest.
'Once he sees Ha Sunmoon's plays, he'll have no choice but to make it. This should be enough to create some anticipation.'
While talking with the football YouTuber Frank, Marcos arrived home. Once inside, he turned on his laptop in his workspace and quickly began writing the article. His articles, which were usually scheduled to appear in reputable outlets, normally contained positive content, but this time was different.
'I've created so many damn fake news stories before, so it's my turn to mess around a bit.'
Marcos first wrote an article about Barcelona and Real Madrid as bait.
'This is just the start.'
Normally, you had to build the atmosphere from the outside. He didn't usually write articles like this, but since he thought highly of Ha Sunmoon, Marcos decided to give him proper support.
'Now, where next?'
Marcos had heard that Ha Sunmoon had gone to England with his agent.
'Since he's already gone, let's go big.'
And so he started writing again. In his article, Ha Sunmoon was portrayed as a player loved by all the top Premier League teams—Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, and more.
'Somehow it'll work out.'
After finishing the article, Marcos clicked YES on the prompt asking if he wanted to publish it with that content.