<005. Wow!>

Exclamations and shouts came from the commentary box.

[Goal~! It’s a goal! The ball that player Ho Yung Woo shot from the halfway line has shot back all the way to the back of the net of the opposition!]

[What is this? Is that even a shot that can come from a child like him? And look at that celebration! The body language that craves victory! It’s wonderful!]

“Eh?”

At the unexpected sudden half-way shot, the opposition’s goalkeeper was left scratching his head with a bedazzled expression on his face.

This was to be expected, as the goalkeeper didn’t have experience against that kind of shooting. Even the adults, who were laughing and spectating the game, were all surprised in unison. It wasn’t a cannonball-like shot, but it was hard to believe that a child could score such a goal.

‘What kind of… didn’t they say that he was at the standard of normal neighbourhood children?’

Sang Un Lee.

He was the director of the Bum Gon Cha Soccer Academy. He wasn’t just an ordinary director, he was an international soccer player with 7 years of professional experience up his sleeves, and was formerly called the legend of Seongnam FC in the K-League.

The goal he had just witnessed was impressive even in his eyes.

‘Hmm. That’s not a body that can generate that much power.’

His balance was good, but since his height was around 134cm, Ho Yung wasn’t even at the average height.

But the fact that he could use that much power…

‘He’s talented.’

Natural talent!

There was no other way to explain it.

It seemed like too big of a conclusion to draw from one shot but that was not the case.

A talented scouter’s intuition is always fierce.

The sporting director for FC Barcelona Carles Rexach, who had signed the best soccer player in history, scouted Messi as soon as he saw him.

Since Sang Yun Lee had lived both as a player and a director, he instantly realised Ho Yung’s hidden potential.

‘That tiny bastard knows how to shoot.’

How to properly shoot.

It’s easier said than done. Even if you tried to teach for 100 days non stop, for a child whose brain hadn’t developed yet, it was just about as effective as speaking to a brick wall.

‘That body was born to do sports.’

Perfect.

Just by looking at his shooting stance, the answer was clear.

‘That kid, he’s priceless.’

“Hoooo….”

Ho Yung let out a breath after running the first and second half of the game like a bull.

Although the pitch was only 1/6 of the normal pitch size, the amount of activity needed to play wasn’t a small amount. Since it was a 6 vs 6, the space required for each player to cover was significantly large.

‘Ah, this is getting me out of breath.’

In the midst of all of this, his team’s goal net shook from impact, but Ho Yung took no notice.

[FC Chabum’s Gi Dong Huang! This makes it his 3rd goal! The score is now 3-8.]

[Ah~ it certainly isn’t a prestigious club for no reason. It looked like they hesitated after Ho Yung’s preemptive goal, but now that makes it the 11th goal in the match.]

[That’s right. I think we could say that the teamwork is very good as a whole. If FC Run Shoot trains really hard, don’t you think they could be like that one day?]

[It’ll be a relief if they even get one win this month.]

[Hahaha.]

For FC Shoot, there was no hope.

There was a kid who didn’t seem to care if they scored or not and just danced, and another kid who had to be substituted off because he cried after getting hit in the face with a ball.

‘It doesn’t matter. I predicted this all anyway.’

In reality, Ho Yung didn’t even want his team to win.

If he was a grown man, he could carry his team to victory by himself, but right now, he only had skills, not some magical power like a superhero. There was a clear physical limit to him that prevented him from versing 6 people at once.

‘It’s okay. I just need to show them my skill!’

Ho Yung tightened the laces on his soccer boots.

Coach Sang Yun told his team to direct focus onto Ho Yung.

There were 3 minutes left in the second half.

Boom!

As soon as FC Chaboom’s goal kick crossed the halfway line, Ho Yung quickly ran to it and gained possession. It was such a calculated play that one may have wondered if they purposely created space to make Ho Yung intercept the ball.

Whether that was the case or not, after receiving the command from their coach, the children began to swarm Ho Yung. The so-called focused group marking.

The primitive total soccer was challenging Ho Yung!

But,

Whip!

Even though he was outnumbered, Ho Yung didn’t shrink away, but instead put the ball through the defender’s legs.

At the same time, he used both of his feet to dribble the ball perfectly and got past 3 defenders in the blink of an eye.

[D-did you see that?]

[It’s like the ball’s stuck to his feet!]

As exclamations came from the commentator’s box, Ho Yung played with the 5 defenders like he was herding sheep. And after getting past the goalkeeper, who was rushing forward, he shot the ball.

Just like that, the ground ball shot was seemingly sucked into the goal!

Swish!

“Oh!!”

[It’s truly a one-man show! Ho Yung Woo! Truly amazing! He’s already scored 5 goals!]

[Ah, when he was training, he didn’t show this side of him. Maybe he has player stage fright?]

[Hahaha!]

He really did stand out.

With the skill of a soccer prodigy and the intelligence of a 24-year-old man, he wasn’t comparable to others when it came to versing other children of his age.

‘My body is 10, but my mind is 24!’

His field of view was wide, and his situational awareness was outstanding.

It was as if the greatest hardware and the latest software had come together.

Beep!

The result of the match was 5 to 14 but there clearly was a true winner.

The real main character for today was Ho Yung, who had scored 5 goals by himself and played as he wanted.

He couldn’t carry his team to victory, but he did everything he could.

He had no regrets.

“Haa…”

Utterly exhausted, Ho Yung lay down on the grass.

‘Yeah. This is soccer. It really is fun.’

He couldn’t help but smile.

He had a good feeling that this was enough for him to become a point of interest.

“Player Ho Yung Woo.”

“Mmm? Mr VJ?”

“Haha. How do you feel right now?”

As he was too busy trying to capture Ho Yung’s performance earlier, the VJ attempted an interview.

Because he had orders from PD Cho.

To film every breath that he takes.

Copying someone’s special gesture, Ho Yung opened his mouth.

“I’m still hungry!”

It was the comment that Guus Hiddink had left after achieving his goal of getting into the knockout stage of the 2002 World Cup.

I’m still hungry.

His words caused a rhapsody in the people around him.

“Mum!”

“My son!”

Hi Sun, who hadn’t been able to take her eyes off her son the entire time, embraced him in her arms.

“You did so well!”

She worried that he might get hurt, but Ho Yung returned in a better condition than when the match began.

“What do you want for dinner? Do you want your favourite food, yonggary?”

“No, I want chicken!”

“Haha. Do you want fried or saucy?”

“Mmm… How about half-half?”

As Ho Yung was contemplating his decision, a welcomed guest found them.

“Hello, Miss!”

It was a man in his mid-thirties, smiling and walking towards them.

It was Sang Un Lee.

“Ah, yes. Hello. But what brings you here….?”

Ho Yung immediately understood.

‘The right things are happening!’

Since the filming had finished, Sang Un Lee began to talk after they had settled in a nearby bench.

“I am Sang Un Lee, coach for the kids at Bum Gon Cha Soccer Academy.”

“Of course. We know you well. You appear frequently on TV.”

Hi Sun Kim was knowledgeable in soccer as she had lived abroad in Spain for a long time.

Sang Yun Lee lowered his head a little and carefully opened his mouth.

“Miss, Ho Yung’s soccer skills are very extraordinary.’

“Oh, really? Thank you.”

Sang Un started with his unique positive attitude,

He was a good-mannered gentleman who made good first impressions – almost nobody took a dislike to him.

“No joke, but it’s at the point where I still have goosebumps all over my body. Thanks to you, my eyes were enlightened!”

“Hoho. Ho Yung, you need to say thank you.”

“Thank you. But Mr,”

“Yes?”

Ho Yung pulled an innocent face.

“Why are you my teacher?”

“Haha. Well, that’s because,”

Sang Yun Lee turned his head to face Hi Sun Kim.

“Miss, I’m going to give this to you straight. I want to teach Ho Yung. What do you think?”

“Ah… I’m thankful for your offer, but does my child really have that much talent?”

Hi Sun Kim wanted to know if her child had talent even in the eyes of a professional player.

Sung Un explained with a serious tone.

“In truth, if we look at a kid for 3 months in the academy, we can predict the child’s future. We can tell the child’s parents that the child will take either soccer as a hobby or as a professional player.”

“Yes.”

“But in reality, it is still too early to decide, but if I tell you the truth, Ho Yung is close to a genius level.”

“Ah….!”

It was a cold, logical judgement, with no trace of exaggeration.

Sang Un Lee continued with the same expression.

“It’s not morally right, but the greed that makes me want to raise and train Ho Yung properly won’t leave me alone.”

“Morally?”

“The soccer academy that Ho Yung currently goes to. If that’s the reason why moving with us doesn’t sound appealing… ah, could you tell me what academy he attends?”

“What? I think there’s been a misunderstanding… Ho Yung has never been to an academy.”

“What?”

Sang Yun raised an eyebrow.

“Then who did he learn soccer from?”

“He did play soccer with his dad since he was younger, but he never learnt it professionally.”

“Oh… yeah… Haha. Is that so?”

There was a moment of silence.

Sang Yun, who couldn’t form any words due to his shock, spoke carefully.

“Then, do you have thoughts to raise Ho Yung as a professional soccer player?”

“If he agrees… But how much is the academy?”

“Ah yes. That actually depends on what class he gets placed in after the entrance exams. But in Ho Yung’s case, it’s safe to say that he will be placed in the S-class, without a doubt.”

The special class wasn’t somewhere one could go with money.

The basic condition was skill.

If not, they would put him in the A-class, to get lessons, he would have to put his name among 100s of other students and wait for his turn.

So the S-class was like getting a merit.

“So in the case of S-class, the minimum for 3 lessons in a week is $120. Lessons for one month is $900.”

Compared to the $70 price of a town’s soccer academy, it was a very high standard.

But that was to be expected of the S-class.

The Bum Gon Cha Soccer Academy was truly better than any other youth team in the nation.

Although it was established earlier than most others, they were already getting the reviews that stated that they were more professional and systematic than the newly made Youth Soccer Academy.

It was a shortcut to moving to another country to play for an overseas soccer club.

But the problem was the money.

Ho Yung’s current income from being in the Run Shoot TV show was $38 per episode.

It was a relatively low income compared to other variety shows, but that was because Ho Yung was so young and therefore got the lowest minimum wage.

‘That’s nowhere enough to fill the tuition price.’

If it was for their son’s future, the parents’ mindset was to go as far as to using their instalment savings for him, but Ho Yung didn’t want that.

There was a better way.

Ho Yung began to speak.

“Teacher, can I put it on credit?”