Bang!
The only sound reaching his ears was the roar of the spectators, but it was a scene that felt as though such a sound effect had been added. The long-range shot, kicked from nearly the halfway line, flew like light between and over the other players, then dropped in altitude and shook the net, making the goalkeeper’s quick defense look meaningless.
The scene of him scoring powerful shots did not end just once, but continued one after another. Each time the man, so intensely focused that his expression seemed not merely blank but almost angry, fired goals in with loud kicks, the crowd cheered.
The sharp-eyed man’s face was suddenly shown in close-up, the screen froze, and then the camera angle pulled sharply back. The male and female anchors sitting in front of the screen looked forward for a moment, then began talking.
[Ah, no matter how many times I see it, his shooting power is truly incredible. Just watching it feels like it clears your chest wide open.]
[Yes, that’s right. Today is the first day of Korean activities for the player we just saw, Kim Moo-gyeom.]
[He’s been the biggest topic of interest lately among football fans. When a player who transferred overseas returns to a domestic team, it’s often because his skills have declined or he’s nearing retirement, but isn’t Kim Moo-gyeom currently in his prime?]
[Yes. It’s fair to say that before Kim Moo-gyeom, there had never been a Korean player who was a fixed starter for several consecutive seasons at a big club.]
When the screen changed, Moo-gyeom was shown having just arrived in the country amid a noisy atmosphere. Reporters surrounded him on all sides, but with his large build and tall height, he strode forward as if his view was not obstructed at all. Each time he moved forward, the gathered people split to the left and right on their own, making him look almost like a racehorse or a tank advancing.
Wearing sunglasses, he did not open his mouth despite the reporters’ piercing barrage of questions and simply walked silently. The anchors continued their conversation.
[‘Return’ isn’t exactly accurate, because he’s here on a one-year loan. In other words, it means they’re lending the player for a short while. They say Kim Moo-gyeom strongly requested it ahead of his contract renewal and came after agreeing to give up one year’s salary to his current team, Greenford. Since City Seoul would have difficulty covering Kim Moo-gyeom’s loan fee, and his club wasn’t exactly eager for the loan either, they reached a compromise.]
[I understand that his current annual salary alone is in the tens of billions of won. Why would he go that far?]
[It’s being speculated that it’s because of Coach Park Jun-sung, who has taken charge of City Seoul this time. The story of Coach Park Jun-sung discovering Kim Moo-gyeom in middle school and raising him into a football player is very famous, isn’t it?]
[Even so, for a player at a big club to insist on domestic activity to the point of negotiating with his club is unprecedented. Isn’t this rare even globally?]
[Yes. Long ago, Danish player Loudrup once gave up his salary and returned to his home league because of homesickness, but this case is somewhat different. Perhaps because of that, fans have been fiercely arguing for and against this loan. They say there was even a petition to the president asking to stop Kim Moo-gyeom’s domestic return.]
One of the anchors laughed as if genuinely amused.
[Kim Moo-gyeom has always been a maker of unprecedented stories.]
Then the screen changed. It was footage from a press conference. A caption appeared in the corner of the screen indicating that it was from the World Cup three years ago.
[Kim Moo-gyeom, what do you think was the reason for the loss against Uruguay?]
When a reporter asked the question, the screen closed in on Moo-gyeom looking at the questioner. His strongly defined, handsome face was cold and emotionless. From lips brought close to the microphone, a low voice flowed out calmly.
[I don’t know why you’re asking me the reason for the loss.]
He paused for a beat and continued.
[I’m also carving out time from my busy schedule to come, so if you’re dissatisfied, tell the association not to call me up.]
The footage stopped there, and the anchors looked forward again.
[Yes, Kim Moo-gyeom is a player who brings attention in many ways. Though it will only be for one season, it seems more fans than ever will be watching the K League.]
[Our next story.]
The screen changed, and the topic shifted. Team captain and goalkeeper Lim Jeong-gyu picked up the remote, changed the channel, then nudged Moo-gyeom’s shoulder beside him and chuckled. Moo-gyeom wasn’t even looking at the television.
Kim Moo-gyeom was currently at the center of attention to the point that even general news programs, not just sports programs, reported on his return to Korea. But to the person himself, it was all merely annoying.
“That press conference clip of yours is still being aired.”
“Tell them to milk it for a hundred, a thousand years.”
Moo-gyeom answered indifferently as he pulled up his socks and finished preparing for training. He stood, stretched his clasped hands forward, lightly stretched, and glanced around.
It was inevitable, but the locker room atmosphere was quiet yet somehow restless. Only a few people, including Jeong-gyu, spoke loudly. Most of the players could not talk as usual and kept glancing at Moo-gyeom.
Starting with his move to an English second-division team at seventeen, then securing a starting spot at a Premier League big club within two years, leading his team to championships for years, and even occasionally being mentioned as a candidate for the next Ballon d’Or1, Moo-gyeom was, in Korean football—no, in all of Asian football—literally an unprecedented existence.
Even among players, unless they had known him as students like Jeong-gyu or played alongside him on the national team, there were plenty who were seeing him in person for the first time. So he had to be prepared for how much he would be treated like an alien here for a while. Though at most, it would probably last about a week or two.
“I’m heading out first.”
Leaving behind Jeong-gyu, who was still changing, Moo-gyeom came out to the training ground and took a deep breath. For now, being alone was more comfortable than being with the team.
Everything felt awkward. The people, the stadium, and the situation of playing football under the Seoul sky again. Since leaving for England at seventeen, he had never had reason to kick a ball in Korea unless he was called up for the national team.
People asked why he was going to Korea. Moo-gyeom fully understood their concerns and questions. It was a decision even he thought was crazy. An athlete’s body changes day by day, and honestly, one year at a prime like this was too precious to waste in a peripheral league. Football was not an individual sport, so the better the team one played on, the sharper one’s performance became; in the opposite case, no matter how hard one worked alone, it could decline.
‘A waste of time.’ That was what he had heard most after making the decision. Everyone said to his face that they were worried and couldn’t understand his choice, while criticizing him behind his back.
“Can you go straight into training?”
While he was looking up at the sky and calming his slight turmoil, he heard a familiar voice beside him and turned his head. A short, pleasant-looking middle-aged man was smiling in a tracksuit with the team emblem on it. Moo-gyeom also smiled faintly and answered.
“There are only two days until a day off anyway. I can rest then.”
It was Coach Park Jun-sung. As a player, it was a shame to throw away one year of his prime, but as a disciple, it was not a shame to give one year of time to the man who was taking charge of a professional regular league team for the first time.
He wanted to give the best gift to the mentor who had accepted the manager position after much deliberation. What could be a more splendid wreath than the evaluation that City Seoul had been able to bring in Kim Moo-gyeom thanks to Coach Park Jun-sung, and the fact that a former student who had become a star had come running for the teacher starting a new career? As he reminded himself of his purpose once more, his turmoil subsided.
“The sooner I start, the sooner I’ll adjust.”
“Right.”
Jun-sung patted Moo-gyeom’s arm.
“Thank you. And I’m sorry. You really didn’t need to go this far.”
“You told me not to come, old man. I came because I insisted I wanted to.”
It was a decision he had made himself, but it was true that it was unconventional. Like the anchor on TV had said, it was an unprecedented decision. It wasn’t that he wasn’t worried, but the decision had already been made. Moo-gyeom was trying to think as positively as possible.
The coach blew the whistle. Walking beside the manager, Moo-gyeom ran toward the players starting to gather. As the players who had been scattered around joking quickly assembled, training began.
- It is the most prestigious individual award given to a football player and is presented annually. It was established in 1956 by the French football magazine France Football, was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 2010, and was separated again in 2016. ↩︎
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