<028. The Place of Dreams and Skills (2)>

18th of December.

Incheon Airport was booming with reporters, parents, and various personnel for the crew.

The Dream Tree Expedition held a small farewell and departed with brave faces.

This project, which was to be carried out for 30 days, honoured Bum Gon Cha’s Soccer Awards’ 15 year anniversary and was set up to provide hopefuls with valuable experiences.

The plan was that the team would play friendly games against two teams and then compete in the 4 Continents Youth Competition in Munich.

There were 14 players chosen with no regard given to what clubs they belonged to. Ho Yung was the only one from an overseas club.

That might be why.

Even inside the aeroplane, one of the VJs who had been hired to film, would not stop pouring out questions for Ho Yung.

“Yes, I’m confident. I’m going to try my best. I’m the youngest, so I don’t have a lot of comments. I’m really going to try my best. Oh, Sao Paulo? Haha. All I can say is that I’m so grateful to everyone who has cheered for me. Is it okay if I sleep now? So sorry. I couldn’t sleep yesterday because I was too excited.”

“Haha. Of course.”

Ho Yung was able to escape his questions.

It was true that he hadn’t slept much the night before.

He was researching the teams that he would face for the next month. More importantly, what players those teams had.

He was excited about the skills he could gain.

It was all for nothing.

He swam in the sea of information in English, Portuguese, and Spanish but there was a limit to finding each player in U13 leagues.

All Ho Yung knew were the clubs’ names.

‘Okay. The first team was Eintracht Frankfurt.’

It actually didn’t matter who he was facing. It was the soccer nation, Germany!

Plus, he felt secure in the fact this expedition was approved by Sao Paulo FC.

It took 11 hours to get to Frankfurt. It was as cold as Korea.

The crew boarded a bus as per schedule and moved to the lodging of Eintracht Frankfurt.

‘This is the soccer nation…!’

Germany’s youth soccer system was counted as one of the best in the world alongside Spain.

This was thanks to the youth development program in Germany including 366 regions, 1000 coaches and over 14000 players spanning 15 years.

He was able to feel just how well set-up the system was when he reached the Eintracht Frankfurt training grounds.

‘This is crazy. Are they trying to make Terminator?’

It was beyond imagination.

He had thought Sao Paulo FC’s training grounds were impressive but compared to this, it was nothing.

The difference was clear starting with the equipment in the gym.

‘I thought I wanted to go to England or Spain after Brazil but Germany seems like a really good choice too.’

A hopeful young player could never rule out Germany.

There were so many notable players from Germany just from the top of his head.

‘Ozil, Neuer, Muller, Kroos, Sane, Gotze, Khedira, Hummels, Boateng…’

“Wow.”

If Brazil was top of the world right now, he knew that Germany would lead the world in 10 years.

In other words, the prodigies that will lead the golden age were busily training in Germany right now.

‘Hehe. I hope I get to meet at least on-‘

Smack!

“Ah!”

The thing shattering Ho Yung’s imagination was a ball which flew at him from behind. And a voice, at the same time.

“Focus!”

‘Is that Director Cha?’

No.

It was similar but much younger.

He thought it was a little familiar.

Was it a coach that he had come with?

Ho Yung turned around.

“…Ah!”

‘He’ who radiated a magnificence upon sight.

His unexpected appearance surprised Ho Yung. The other players felt the same.

“Isn’t that Du Rim Cha?”

“Oh my god.”

“Wow!”

Not Director Cha, but the soccer player Cha.

Ho Yung, who already was acquainted with Du Rim Cha, spoke to him.

“Du Rim? But why are you here?”

Eintracht Frankfurt.

A Bundesliga club, it had the most spectators in all of Frankfurt, which was Europe’s most significant city to do with soccer.

This number was in the top 20 in all of Europe, basically neck to neck with Liverpool FC.

It had that many fans. Bum Gon ran for 5 years with this club in his active years.

Same with Du Rim. Last winter.

He had joined a prestigious club, Leverkusen, in Bundesliga but now ran for Eintracht Frankfurt.

That was also the reason Du Rim was visiting.

‘Du Rim, if you’re not busy, go check on the kids.’

He had received that message from Bum Gon.

He had nothing scheduled, so ran down to meet the kids.

Ho Yung’s thoughts on being reunited for the first time in a year was unexpected.

‘He’s… aged…’

To be direct, he had aged drastically.

Wrinkles covered his face.

‘He must have had a hard time.’

He had belonged to a university soccer club before being selected to represent the country; to survive in Bundesliga would have been challenging.

Du Rim Cha patted Ho Yung’s head.

“Wow~ you’ve grown almost unrecognisably!”

“It’s what happens when you’re in Brazil!”

“Haha, I heard you’re absolutely flying in Brazil?”

“Hehe. It’s all thanks to you.”

“Hm?”

He was always going to owe something to Du Rim Cha.

Because of a coincidence, he was able to meet Du Rim, and take his skills. It was because of him that he was able to get into Sao Paulo FC and hold the winning trophy.

The choice a long time ago made Ho Yung what he was today.

“You taught me how to exercise and play soccer.”

“Kid. That was nothing.”

Du Rim didn’t seem to believe Ho Yung but looked to be in a good mood because of his words.

Ho Yung perceived this.

[Du Rim Cha]

Skills Possessed

Chaminator’s kick and run (U)

Legs stronger than a pass (A)

Tough body integrity (B+)

Compliant stamina (C-)

(A skill can be taken if the criteria are fulfilled.)

(Criteria 1: Play soccer together for 150 minutes)

(Criteria 2: Win against Eintracht Frankfurt U13)

(Criteria 3: Score against Eintracht Frankfurt U13)

It may have been because he already had the U-level skill, but the requirements were a lot easier this time.

‘This guy is very skilled. He gained another skill since the last time I saw him!’

Legs stronger than a pass (A-) had grown to A level and he had acquired a skill called compliant stamina.

It looked like to survive in professional soccer, stamina was everything.

‘How come I never get new skills?’

This thought did cross his mind.

‘Ah well. I haven’t ever trained for something specific before.’

That was true.

He had only developed a wide range of foundations. He had never actively worked on acquiring a new skill.

It was only natural that new skills didn’t just appear.

That was okay.

‘I can always take other people’s skills.’

It was the same in this case. He had needed the physical side of things.

If he had ‘tough body integrity (B+)’ then it would be a big help in the next season.

‘Thank you for this time too.’

Du Rim Cha.

He had unexpectedly appeared when Ho Yung’s mind was filled with thoughts of German players.

There was no luck like this.

He had earned a reason to win the match which was in four days.

With this added motivation, Ho Yung trained diligently.

On top of that, the German style training was a special experience so it was a lot of help. He was able to even sit in on the Frankfurt U13 training or join in.

The four days passed with training.

He became close with his team’s players too. There was also Hyung Jun, that he was already acquainted with.

The fact that Ho Yung was running in Brazil did earn their respect.

There was one question.

‘Where’s Jung Ho Yun?’

According to his memory, Jung Ho was supposed to have won the 2003 Bum Gon Cha Soccer Awards.

He asked around but no one had heard of him.

How had this happened?

Was a soccer prodigy’s future changed?

‘I guess a lot of the future will change.’

No, the future would be changed by Ho Yung.

It was a weird feeling.

Some part of it made him feel uneasy and guilty, but he figured that if he was to change the world, he would change it to be a better world.

‘With soccer.’

It was a day that had many trains of thought.

Even so, his feet were busy kicking the ball.

The next day, too.

The day that he had been waiting for arrived at Eintracht Frankfurt’s Adler training ground.

Ho Yung scouted the players as he greeted the first opponents, Frankfurt U13.

He had already selected his prey.

‘There’s one worth preying on.’

Ho Yung had been selected as attacking midfielder. He looked around for the black boy as he put the ball under his feet.

[Peniel Mlapa]

Skills Possessed

Soccer pupil (C+3)

Compliant heading (C+)

Quite fast legs (C+2)

(A skill can be taken if the criteria are fulfilled.)

(Criteria 1: Play soccer together for 60 minutes.)

(Criteria 2: Score.)

He was born in ’91 and had a height over 180cm. He was a target-oriented striker.

‘I haven’t seen the heading skill in a while.’

It was desirable.

If he was good at headings, not only could he do heading goals, but he could also get upper ground in aerial spaces.

It was a skill that could help even if he was not a target-oriented striker.

Besides, if he won here, he had the chance to win Du Rim’s skill too.

He thought that he would have to train incredibly hard for physique in the preseason but this seemed like a way he could lessen the load.

So he wasn’t going to go down without a fight in this match.

Beep!

The whistle sound filled the field.

This is the skill of the Brazil U13 golden ball winner.

That’s what seemed to be written on Ho Yung’s face as he charged.

“Woah.”

“He’s improved so much!”

The Chas were reacting to Ho Yung’s performance on the field.

“I was like that when I was younger.”

“Hahah!”

It was the highest compliment that the rather self-praising Bum Gon could have given him.

It wasn’t an exaggeration either.

The reactions of the coaches of Frankfurt U13 were evidence enough.

All the staff was focused on Ho Yung’s play.

He didn’t have showy tricks like Ronaldinho, or have a blinding dribble like Messi, but there was no denying that Ho Yung was good at soccer.

This brilliance could be seen from many angles.

He was the size of a cat but moved like a cheetah.

His legs were fast and his claws were sharp.

He was the dominator of the field to everyone who watched.

Only 3 minutes in, there was a deciding shot.

Shoot!

In Ho Yung’s signature move, the ball made an arc and shot like a cannonball into the goal with a mid-field shoot.

With the goal came rewards.

[Quite heavy mid shot (C+3)↑]

“Woah!”

Addition to skills and growth too?

‘Amazing.’

This was only the start.