Chapter 1
I've loved soccer since I was little.
One day, my drunk father came home with a soccer ball instead of the latest game console.
That was the tiny, trivial spark that made me fall in love with soccer.
Honestly, deep down, I was disappointed that it wasn't a home console.
“U... wow! It's a soccer ball! Dad's the best!”
“Chanhyeok, sorry. Dad went to buy a game console, but they were all sold out.”
“No! I like the soccer ball more!”
Because I grew up poor and had to grow up fast, I took the ball with an extra-bright smile, worried my father might be upset.
“Should we play soccer together with Dad this Sunday?”
“Yes!”
From that day on, I kicked the ball around the school field with my father every day, and my dream naturally became to be a soccer player.
But.
Like most kids who dreamed of becoming soccer players.
I painfully realized I lacked talent, and I had no choice but to give up on my dream of becoming a soccer player.
“Park Chan-hyeok, aren't you going to training today?”
“No, I think I'm going to quit soccer.”
“Huh? Why?!”
“Just... it doesn't seem to suit me.”
It's a little sad, but there are things in this world that effort alone can't fix.
'Soccer IQ world-class, but K5 physicals. If I can get into a pro club, it'd be a miracle....'
Thanks to being brutally self-aware, I was certain no pro team would ever pick me, and after finishing middle school I gave up on my dream of becoming a soccer player and started preparing for the future earlier than others.
'What am I supposed to do to make a living now.... If I had known this would happen, I should've studied when I was younger.'
But my childhood had been a straight line toward one goal—becoming a soccer player—so turning onto another path felt hopeless.
Especially studying—math in particular—was definitely the devil's subject. I was at the point where I'd score better by just choosing 3 than by solving it myself.
'Damn, I'm screwed.'
As my worries about the future kept growing.
After getting my report card, I played Soccer Manager all night to soothe my aching gut.
“Hey, you brat! How can you play games when your grades are like that?!”
“Mom, just a minute, let me finish this!”
“What's so fun about that thing where you just write down soccer players' names on it? You might as well become a soccer coach, you punk!”
And early that morning, after my mother smacked me on the back, I had an epiphany.
'I'm not talented enough to make it as a player, but maybe I'd be okay as a manager?'
I immediately went to find my middle school coach and asked for help.
“Teacher.... I want to become a soccer coach.”
“Why are you coming to me for that? If you want to be a coach, get your coaching license after high school.”
And that choice turned out to be a stroke of genius.
“Chanhyeok, you said you got your coaching license, right?”
“Yes. KFA C.”
“Already?”
“Right after graduating high school I got my D license, and after coming back from the army I got my C license.”
“Damn, you're seriously diligent. There's a youth coach opening at a pro club, so if you're interested, I can recommend you. Want to give the interview a shot?”
“As expected, Korea's greatest mentor is Coach Park! Cheol! Woong!”
“Damn.... Most people get wiser after the army, but this bastard came back and his head got screwed up.”
After my military service, thanks to Coach Park Cheol-woong's recommendation—my middle school soccer coach and mentor—I was able to start my career at a pro club's youth team, though it was only in the second division.
'A so-called pro-club youth coach.... In truth, I was basically a soccer academy staffer left to fend for myself.'
When I first showed up at the club, its facilities gave me a brutal reality check, but I pulled myself together and passionately coached the youth players while constantly studying subjects like sports psychology.
A club executive who had been watching me closely later offered me the R League manager position after I earned my A-license.
Well, I suppose graduating the coaching course with excellent marks helped too.
Anyway, I accepted the club's offer and took over as manager of the R League (reserve team).
As it was a reserve team, there weren't many spectators, but it was still an important role inside the club—developing youth players who would become the team's core down the road—and a valuable place for me to gain experience as a manager.
One day, while I was building my managerial career.
The manager was fired for poor results, and when even the assistant coach refused the interim job, the club appointed me as interim manager.
In my mid-thirties, still relatively young, I became acting manager of a second-division pro team. Considering I hadn't come up through the playing ranks, it was an almost unprecedented promotion.
Back then, if the parent company's finances hadn't been so poor that it slashed the subsidies it gave us, I probably wouldn't have been appointed.
Well. Anyway, as acting manager, I posted pretty decent results.
And based on those results, I later succeeded in signing a formal contract with the club.
'The next season, we even pulled off the club's first-ever promotion to the first division, a historic milestone.'
In the Tigers' home region, soccer fever began to sweep the area the moment the club was promoted to the first division.
[The Tigers, causing a sensation in the first division. What matters most is Manager Park Chan-hyeok's future.]
Domestic soccer fans gradually fell for my '(physical) attacking football philosophy' of using underdog squads to batter stronger teams.
[The Tigers' Park Chan-hyeok, criticism pours in over his rough football. “Football... has to hurt.”]
└ ...Charlie Adam?
└ Hahahahahahaha
└ At least he didn't pull that 'leisure sports' crap lol
└ Even a lunatic couldn't handle that lol
Because we were a cash-strapped community club, our squad was thin, and as the season wore on the starters ran out of gas, so we sadly couldn't win the title.
[The Tigers' Park Chan-hyeok taunts the Giants, who were relegated to the second division. “Next season, I sincerely hope they can stay up.”]
└ That bastard?
└ Triggered?
└ Thanks for saying what I wanted to say for me, haha
└ Goodbye~ Goodbye~~
└ The part where he told reporters, “Let's all pray that the Giants stay up next season,” was the real madness lol
The flashy interviews all season long made me an instant star manager.
[The Tigers' Park Chan-hyeok, words, words, words. Park Chan-hyeok posts an apology amid continued controversy.]
└ Is that even an apology?
└ LOL, I was just stating facts. I didn't know it'd hurt your feelings. But since I've already said it, just forgive me, lol
└ Interpretation: So, if you're hurt, what can you do about it.
Well, that did raise my notoriety a bit, but I didn't really care.
A manager is a job where results speak for themselves.
[Park Chan-hyeok magic? Away section sold out.]
└ Why do the Tigers always have more away fans than home fans?
└ Damn, this bastard's really pissing us off.
Every time I ran my mouth, the away-team ticket revenue shot up, proving that my method was right.
Anyway, just as bad comments are better than no comments, notoriety is better than obscurity.
[The Football Association is considering Park Chan-hyeok as the next national team head coach....]
└ Who the hell is this no-name bastard?
└ He's the Tigers' manager.
└ No, don't say domestic coach—just bring in a foreign coach already, damn it;;
In fact, my notoriety had even landed me on the shortlist for the next national team manager.
[Tigers manager Park Chan-hyeok reveals his desire for the national team manager position. “My football will work on the world stage too.”]
└ No way ㅠㅠ Association bastards, don't take our coach away ㅠㅠ
└ He's too embarrassing to put on display, so please stay with the Tigers ㅠㅠ
└Chan
Hyeok
└for
life.
The day I saw that article, I even made a plan to take over the national team, get good results, and head to Europe. In other words, I was spinning a happiness loop.
Now, of course, it was all a futile plan.
The moment of happiness was too short, and misfortune came all at once.
[Hong Man-bo, the 2002 legend, appointed as head coach of the South Korea national team.]
I was beaten out of the national team manager candidacy by a man called a legend of Korean football.
Looking back, it feels like the Football Association used me as a shield.
I was outside the old-guard circle, the so-called mainstream of the association, so I couldn't even protest.
In Korea, if you want to make a living as a manager—or even from soccer—you can't go against the association.
Well. If the public had backed me, I'd have rammed straight into the association.
[Public opinion boils over after Hong Man-bo's appointment....]
└ Still, Man-bo is better than Park Chan-hyeok;;
└ LOL, Man-bo hyung at least won the K League.
Unfortunately, public sentiment toward me was not good.
After all the crap I'd talked, I'd be lucky not to get hit with a dead-parent insult for no reason if I did an interview.
On top of that, I didn't even have enough grounds to charge in. The idea that the association had used me as a shield was only a hunch.
- Oh my, our son is on the national team?
My parents, who had been so happy that their son would represent the country, died a few days after I was eliminated from the national team manager shortlist. They died in a traffic accident while heading up to Seoul to comfort me after I failed to make the cut.
Maybe I shouldn't have become a soccer manager.
Around the time I was staring blankly at the crosswalk signal after seeing my parents off to heaven, drowning in depression and self-reproach.
I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my chest and collapsed.
- Aaaah─!
- Someone in the black hat, please call 119!
- Me?
The screams around me and the chaos that followed were the last things I heard as my consciousness faded.
Flash.
And when I opened my eyes again.
Waa?
I had become a baby.
It was a perfectly ordinary regression.