Chapter 43
***
Back in Korea.
I thought I'd only be back by the next preseason schedule, so I never dreamed I'd return this early.
I was a little uneasy about suddenly leaving the team behind, but I didn't think Tuchel and the squad would start fighting in the short time I was gone.
'Hmm... it won't blow up, right?'
Well... I'm a little worried, but all I can do is trust the squad.
Bzzzz.
I felt a vibration from the phone I'd left in my pocket.
- Bald Demon King: Let's have a meeting as soon as you get back.
When I pulled my phone out and checked it, I saw an angry message from Thomas Tuchel.
'Hmm. I'm screwed.'
Well, seeing an angry Thomas Tuchel is future me's problem.
My present self decided to focus on the matter at hand.
'I've already caused the trouble. It's too late to regret it now.'
The only thing I had to do in Korea was help the Football Association with its work, but I went out and found other things to do on my own.
While I was here anyway, I figured I might as well look for Union Berlin's new main sponsor too.
I'd heard from our current sponsor that it was hard to cover the cost of being the main sponsor in the second division.
They were a company that had helped Union Berlin during hard times, so it would've been nice to stay with them to the end, but we desperately needed money right now and couldn't help it.
Personally, I thought that if sleeve sponsors were introduced to the Bundesliga someday, I'd repay them separately then.
'Well, I'd have to convince the club executives, but it's a good cause, so Chairman Zingler would probably agree.'
By the way, I didn't know exactly when sleeve sponsors would be introduced.
'It seems like it happened around the same time as in Korea. Tsk, then it'll have to be after at least 2010.'
For financially fragile Union Berlin, a sleeve sponsor would likely be a huge help.
Korean companies might feel burdened by the cost of a main sponsor, but a sleeve sponsor is something they can still splurge on.
'If a Korean company joined the bidding and competed, the sponsorship fee would go up, right?'
Anyway, the company I needed to find right now was a main sponsor, not a sleeve sponsor.
To find a main sponsor, I ran around everywhere, putting in the legwork.
I would've loved to go pay a visit to Oseong Electronics or some other global company.
But objectively speaking, Union Berlin just wasn't at that level.
Still... I did try.
And I got flat-out rejected by the conglomerates.
I guess, being global companies and all, sponsoring a third-division team would've also been a matter of saving face.
For the record, this wasn't the Chinese kind of face, but the practical kind of face used to sell products. In Europe, the habit of looking down on Asians was still strong.
If an Asian company sponsors a third-division team, the chance people will think, 'Ah. That company must be broke. It's probably going under soon,' is basically 200 percent.
'PC is fucking annoying, but it's not completely useless after all.'
Of course, that didn't mean I couldn't meet any chairmen at all.
In the case of GL, a conglomerate that does everything well except phones, I was able to meet the chairman and talk because he said he wanted to see me.
I spoke to the chairman with a humble attitude, and the GL Group chairman said I made him proud and pressed some pocket money into my hand.
Of course, I wasn't happy about it. I was asking for a main sponsor for the kit, so when he gave me pocket money, my first thought was, 'Is he telling me to take this and get lost?'
But after seeing the GL Group chairman's expression, I changed my mind.
'Come to think of it, I'm nineteen now.'
Even by Korean age, I was twenty-one.
For him, I was practically his grandson.
In other words, the chairman was giving me pocket money because he genuinely thought it was admirable that I was doing well abroad at such a young age.
It was rude of me, but I didn't take the chairman's pocket money.
Instead, I asked him to be our main sponsor if Union Berlin ever made it to the first division.
There aren't any companies willing to take on main sponsorship for a team likely to be relegated. I was asking GL to take on that role.
If you think about it, it was an excessive and rude request, but the chairman only smiled and asked:
“Isn't that difficult?”
“It is difficult, but I'm confident.”
“Good. If your team is promoted to the first division, then we'll sponsor you.”
The chairman's cool answer left me a beat slow to react.
“T-thank you!”
After that, we talked about this and that, and time flew by quickly until our meeting ended. Just as I was about to thank him once more and leave,
“Take it with you first. If an adult is giving it to you, you should take it.”
He put the pocket money into my hand again.
After already refusing once, refusing again would've been too rude, so I didn't reject it and left after thanking him.
Whatever else you called it, it was a pretty memorable meeting, probably because he seemed so down-to-earth for a chaebol.
And a little while later.
'...50,000 won? That's all? What is this, way too modest for pocket money the chairman gave me?'
I checked the envelope in the GL Group bathroom and was disappointed — but that stayed a secret.
***
Meanwhile, at that moment.
With a smile still on his lips after Park Chan-hyeok left, he asked his secretary to look into something.
“Look into what kind of kid he is.”
“Yes. I'll look into it.”
Even after the secretary left, GL Group chairman Gu Bon kept smiling for a long while.
Because, in his old age, supporting a talented young man who could put Korea on the world stage wasn't a bad thing.
***
The news of Park Chan-hyeok's return to Korea spread across South Korea in an instant.
People's curiosity only grew after Park Chan-hyeok's sudden return.
And when public interest reached its peak,
articles started pouring out through the press release issued by the association.
[Union Berlin assistant coach Park Chan-hyeok arrives in Korea at the Football Association's request to select candidates for the overseas study program for promising players.]
└ I hear his eye for players is really good, so I hope he finds a lot of good ones.
└ Is Park Chan-hyeok really good at spotting players? Who has he picked so far?
└ Yannik Voigt.
└ Just one?
└ Most of Union Berlin's current players were picked by Park Chan-hyeok.
└ Tuchel trusts him completely.
└ Chan-hyeok, your hyung doesn't ask for much. Just pick me one world-class player.
└ “I don't ask for much” <<< secretly wants something ridiculously huge lol
└ No way a player like that comes out of Korea lol
└ Your dreams are way too big lol
└ Park Ji-sung is already playing for a giant like Man Utd, so maybe one day a world-class player could come out too.
└ At this rate, they'll even end up with a player who tops the Premier League scoring charts, becomes captain, and lifts the trophy? lol
[Why did assistant coach Park Chan-hyeok head out on company visits? “To find next season's main sponsor.”]
└ What the hell;; the team's chief coach is personally running around to find a sponsor.
└ Someone please sponsor our Union Berlin. Just looking at our stadium makes me want to cry ㅠㅠ
└ It'd be nice if they built us a new stadium.
└ Shit, does this bastard think building a stadium costs pocket change?
***
The next day.
I began my meeting with the Korea Football Association, which was the original purpose for my trip to Korea.
Since we'd already built up some rapport beforehand, the conversation moved quickly.
And a little while later.
As the meeting was nearing its end,
“By the way, Assistant Coach Park Chan-hyeok is famous for having an excellent eye for players, isn't he? How about you watch them yourself and select them at this tournament?”
I received an unexpected proposal from the chairman.
He was suggesting that I personally select the players who would study abroad at Union Berlin.
For reference, aside from me, the Football Association had a system in which it selected promising players and sent them abroad to study.
The reason I had requested this dispatch in the first place was actually to get advice.
But our king-god chairman went one step further and hinted that he'd like me to personally select the overseas-study candidates.
“Hmm... would it be all right for someone like me, an outsider, to take them away so carelessly?”
I cautiously read the room and backed off from the proposal for now. The atmosphere around us was too hostile for me to just jump on it, even if it sounded good.
I normally don't pay much attention to other people's reactions, but it reminded me of the past, when I had been desperately scrambling to become a national team coach.
'Huh, come to think of it, this is bullshit? Why should I be the one walking on eggshells?'
Just as I was getting pissed off at the fact that the future Football Association had milked me dry and spat me back out,
“Haha. Don't worry about that. You're all okay with it, right?”
At the chairman's words, several Football Association officials nodded with sour expressions.
After all, there were significant vested interests tied up in selecting players. If the ability was similar, they'd have picked them through connections.
It's not a problem unique to Korea. Wherever people live, other countries are basically the same.
'Even that country right next door is at the point where you can't do anything without connections.'
Of course, for now it's Big Bro's country. Until China goes dark-side, I'm planning to keep milking that China money.
Anyway.
No executive was bold enough to openly push back against the chairman's words.
Even if interest in association management had declined after losing the presidential election and the sense of loss that followed, the Football Association's influence was still very much alive.
'Come to think of it, there really aren't any lunatics in Korea crazy enough to openly challenge a chaebol to a straight-up fight.'
And especially not the Future Group family, who were competing with Oseong for first place in the business world.
I accepted Chairman Jeong Jun's proposal, and we wrapped things up with a friendly photo.
And the next day.
With the staff member the chairman had assigned to me, I headed to the stadium where the tournament was being held.
'Lucky me.'
The match underway just happened to be Dongnam High School versus Jaerim High School.
Both were famous soccer powerhouse high schools that I knew.
Dongnam High School was Seoul CF's youth team, and Jaerim High School was the one that would later effectively be dissolved after a match-fixing scandal.
The association staff member handed me a document listing the prospects currently drawing attention.
But my attention didn't go to the report. I trusted my own eyes more than any report anyway.
Most importantly, 'he' was at Dongnam High School.
'Where's Son Hong-min?'
It didn't take me long to find him.
Because I found him immediately among the countless people there.
The moment I saw Son Hong-min's face, the scout window popped up.
[Name: Son Hong-min.]
Current ability: ★☆
Potential: ★★★★★★
I let out a quiet gasp of admiration at Son Hong-min's potential.
'Kyaa. My Beauty flower, fully bloomed among the weeds, is here.'