Chapter 74
***
I had done a practice run for backing out of Yannik Voigt’s contract, but that rehearsal never had to be used for real.
Unfortunately, Union Berlin was no longer that poor of a club.
‘Grr, our club had really grown....’
Well, I did know, in fact, that the club had grown a lot.
But knowing it and acting on it are different things.
All of this was because, over the past two years and in my previous life, I had only ever managed cash-strapped municipal clubs.
The miserly habit of trying to save every penny had been engraved into my body as muscle memory.
Well, still, the rehearsal wasn’t completely useless.
My little sister saw me practicing a contract reversal with a doll and, looking touched, promised additional funding.
“...Chan-hyuk, I appreciate you thinking about our finances, and I’m grateful that thanks to you we can get extra support, but we’re not that poor a club anymore.”
Chairman Dirk Zingler, who watched the scene from the side, also added a word or two, but compared to the newly allotted funds, it was a small price to pay.
And in the first place, there was no need to go through with any reversal.
Yannik wouldn’t be able to keep this pace up until the end of the season anyway.
Of course, football—and most sports—have momentum. Just because you’re temporarily in first place at the beginning of the season doesn’t mean you can win the title.
“These fucking bastards. How can they not hit that?”
You could tell just by looking at my father, who kept shouting, “This year is different,” until the baseball season opened.
‘Well.... even if Yannik Voigt went insane and kept that form all the way through the end of the season, it wouldn’t matter.’
Because if it was money we’d have to pay as the price of promotion to the first division, I could spend it without hesitation.
Money is meant to be won, then paid back.
***
[Union Berlin Meets Paderborn Again.]
Union Berlin’s final match of the first half was played.
Our opponent in this match was Paderborn, whom we had faced in the DFB-Pokal.
We already had a good result against them in the Pokal, so we were confident of victory.
And in fact, Union Berlin dominated Paderborn for the entire match.
But Yannik Voigt did not score in today’s match.
Tight marking on the in-form Yannik Voigt had begun.
‘We’d already been hammered by Yannik in the Pokal, too.’
That was unfortunate for Yannik personally, but it wasn’t a bad thing for the team.
Because the opposing defenders had their eyes glued to Yannik Voigt, Son Hong-min and Lewandowski were that much freer.
And in fact, Roberto Lewandowski completed a hat trick and utterly destroyed Paderborn.
“Yannik, good work.”
“This is...!”
“It’s a special appearance bonus I’m giving you.”
After the match ended, I quietly handed Yannik Voigt, who hadn’t scored, his appearance bonus and bought his loyalty.
‘He worked hard; not giving him an appearance bonus would be a little too much.’
By the way, the timing was a little off.
It would have been nice if the match could keep going while Yannik Voigt was running wild, but with today’s game over, the winter break had begun.
“Ah, I’m in great form right now. And of all times, it’s the winter break.”
Even Yannik Voigt seemed to realize that he was different somehow, and he voiced his regret about entering the winter break.
‘Well.... all we can do is hope this feeling holds.’
And just like that, Union Berlin entered the winter break until the end of January.
***
[Union Berlin, having subdued Paderborn as well, finish the first half in 2nd place.... 8 points clear of 4th place.]
└ Wow, holy crap. At this rate, are they seriously going to the first division? ㄷㄷ
└ I first saw them when they said they’d visit Korea back in the third-division days, and now they’re already first-division material?
└ Damn, it was only three years ago that the media reported a Korean head coach had shown up in Germany’s fourth division, lol.
└ I thought Park Chan-hyuk <<< was just riding Tuchel’s coattails, but damn, the manager is insanely good.
└ Honestly, it’s still player power.
└ Saying Park Chan-hyuk has player power is bullshit; he’s the one who found those players.
└ Because Park Chan-hyuk develops players so well, even Japan is asking him to bring them over as prospects, and you’re calling it player power lol.
***
[Union Berlin finishes the first half in 2nd place.]
Before long, the 2007/2008 season had reached its halfway point and the winter break began.
At the midpoint of the 2. Bundesliga, Union Berlin’s record was 2nd place.
The playoff system in the Bundesliga would be introduced starting next year, in the 2008/2009 season.
At present, only the top 3 teams were promoted directly to the first division.
With us currently in 2nd place, it was a fairly safe position for reaching the first division.
Well, there was still a chance we could completely collapse in the second half and fail to get promoted, but....
We had, after all, secured a sufficiently advantageous position.
Anyway.
December 23.
This time, the Christmas event started without fail as usual.
“Chan-hyuk, Merry Christmas.”
“Yeah. Merry Christmas to you too, Yannik. By the way, do you have any special plans today?”
“Me? I’m spending it with my girlfriend. Huh? Oh, there’s my girlfriend over there. Gotta go.”
“…Fuck.”
Yannik Voigt, who had been hanging around with me, disappeared to his girlfriend’s side when she arrived.
“…Looks like it’s going to be a solo Christmas again this year.”
Seeing the players enjoy the Christmas event with their girlfriends made me feel weirdly lonely.
Well. Still, that was fine.
I had a fellow singleton, after all.
“Right, Seonmyeong?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“You’re single too.”
“What are you talking about? I got a girlfriend last month.”
You`re Fired!!
It was only natural for the Trump sleeping inside me to wake up.
***
[Union Berlin to Hold Christmas Event Again This Year.]
└ What is this? Why is Park Chan-hyuk alone?
└ Looks like Park Chan-hyuk is single all by himself lol.
└ Ahahaha, why am I suddenly feeling a sense of camaraderie?
└ Sir, Park Chan-hyuk isn’t dating. You’re the one who can’t.
└ You fucking bastard!!
└ Still, Chan-hyuk hyung does have money...
└ He’s rich, good-looking enough, and has a decent body, so why is he single....
└ If you’re just going to waste Chan-hyuk hyung’s life like that, give me that body already ㅠ
***
December 25. Christmas Day.
“Father, Mother, Merry Christmas.”
“Mm-hm.”
A dinner table where the family could gather together after a long time had been prepared.
For the record, my parents had obtained permanent residency, but they had not naturalized.
Having spent their whole lives in Korea, it made sense that Korea would be more comfortable for them.
They had only emigrated to Germany temporarily, intending to go back once things in Korea calmed down.
But then Jeong-ah and I ended up putting down roots completely in Germany.
It must have been hard for them living in a foreign country where even communication wasn’t easy.
“Chan-hyuk, I didn’t want to say this, but....”
My parents carefully brought the subject up.
Looks like they had something they wanted to say.
‘…Were they about to bring up returning home?’
I drank a glass of water and prepared myself mentally. If my parents brought up returning to Korea, I had already decided I’d gladly send them off.
‘As for my little sister, I could take care of her. Honestly, even calling it “taking care of her” felt weird—she looks young, but inside she’s old enough to handle herself just fine.’
But what came out of my parents’ mouths was a topic completely different from what I expected.
“So when are you getting married? You asked Jeong-ah the other day to introduce you to a girl, didn’t you? If German girls aren’t your thing, should we look for someone else in the Korean community?”
I had water in my mouth, so when I was suddenly asked about marriage, I couldn’t help but choke.
But how could I possibly spit water in my parents’ faces?
I quickly turned my head and sprayed it on my sister’s face.
Pffft─!
“Cough, cough, what the hell was that all of a sudden....”
“......”
Water dripped from Park Jeong-ah’s face.
“…Hey, are you okay?”
I carefully wiped her face with a tissue, apologizing.
***
After my coughing finally settled down, I made it clear to my parents that I had no intention of getting married for the time being.
“I’m not thinking about marriage for now.”
“Then stop going on and on to Jeong-ah every day about how lonely you are. Your little sister is busy enough as it is, you brat.”
But as soon as I finished speaking, a barrage of scolding came down from my parents.
‘Park Jeong-ah, just how much are you telling Mom and Dad?’
Anyway.
I chatted with my family and caught up on their recent lives.
First of all, my parents said they had no intention of returning to Korea.
“If you put down roots and live somewhere, that’s your hometown. Germany’s quite livable, too.”
From what I heard, they seemed more satisfied with life in Germany than I’d expected.
The civil servants were slow to get things done, which was frustrating, but that was something they could just have a representative handle, so it wasn’t really a problem.
“…Well, if you have money, almost anywhere is nice to live.”
Once Jeong-ah became an adult, my father decided he’d completely step away from the company and travel around Europe with my mother.
‘At this point, there really wasn’t any need for me to worry about Korea....’
It may sound harsh, but South Korea’s football fans really are just a handful.
What I was worried about was what would happen if my parents went back to Korea after all.
‘Looks like I don’t need to worry about appearances, then?’
And when I thought about it carefully, getting exempted on permanent-residency grounds wasn’t illegal in the first place.
Strictly speaking, I was earning foreign currency right now.
That means I’m one of the Republic of Korea’s “industrial warriors.”
The fact that I was developing Korean football prospects at Union Berlin could itself be seen as a kind of patriotism.
‘If anything, shouldn’t the country be the one offering me a military exemption first?’
Come to think of it, it was clear the Korean media wouldn’t bother going after me either.
People might talk online, but if I said I got my permanent residency during a time of mass-hysteria persecution, they’d have nothing to say.
And it wasn’t like I was going to get on the bad side of the government or the press.
A dependable backer like my little sister could only be a burden to them.
‘…Looks like I might not need to go at all?’
I asked my little sister just in case whether my not going to the army would interfere with the business.
“Hey, Jeong-ah, if I don’t go to the army, will that mess up the business in Korea?”
But what I got from my little sister was an answer beyond imagination.
“You’re exempt, though.”
“Huh?”
“You had surgery in Korea last year after tearing your ACL, didn’t you?”
“……Me?”