My Girlfriend Wants Victory

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We smashed Hanyang High School with a score of 8 to 1. Although I could have destroyed them by a double-digit score, Coach Choi Gi-hyun, who had a good relationship with the Hanyang High coach, pulled me out the moment the first half ended.

“Coach Choi, I’m sorry for asking this.”

“Oh no, it’s fine, senior.”

“I’m sorry too, Player Son Jinho. And there will be good news soon.”

“Ah… Yes. Thank you.”

Good news? What could that be?

While I nodded with a puzzled expression, the coaches from Hanyang High and Choi Gi-hyun started chatting and disappeared.

Well… Anyway, during this time, it was only natural. There’s a saying that the football world is small, and that’s definitely true in South Korea’s football landscape, where you can easily know someone just a couple of connections away.

Because of this, it was common for coaches to lose on purpose due to personal circumstances.

In fact, this year saw some youth teams under the K-League getting caught for match-fixing and receiving penalties from the association.

“Jinho—!”

Anyway, the moment the coaches from Hanyang High and Choi Gi-hyun left, my mother-in-law and father-in-law came over to me. Both of them were extremely excited. It seemed they were impressed by my performance.

“You did great! You were like watching Lampard play! Kid!”

‘Less blue-hearted Lampard?’

I tilted my head at my mother-in-law’s words and then nodded.

‘Ah. This was before he transferred to Manchester City.’

Speaking of which, my mother-in-law was a Chelsea fan. It would have been hilarious if my father-in-law was a Tottenham fan. Unfortunately, he preferred baseball over football. He was from Seoul but liked a baseball team from Busan that had no connection to him. Honestly… it was just unfortunate. Until the moment I returned to the past, I had never heard that team had won a championship.

Perhaps, if that team ever won the Korean Series, the three major broadcasting networks would air a special and they might even feature it on the show “I Want to Know That”.

“Ugh… When will our son-in-law be called up to the national team? At this rate, he’s bound to wear the Taegeuk mark soon, right?”

Well, just because he liked baseball didn’t mean my father-in-law hated football. He simply didn’t watch international football or the K-League; however, he was an ardent supporter of the South Korea National Team and always watched their matches.

‘By the way, Gyeouri supports Manchester United instead of Chelsea because she followed her mom. Is this what a fiery daughter is like?’

Both Chelsea and Manchester United were evolving into prestigious clubs competing for 1st and 2nd place in the Premier League.

It was enough to make one marvel at the foresight of mother and daughter.

“Student Son Jinho, you were amazing! At this rate, you might be joining the traditional powerhouse club Arsenal supported by the British royal family!”

While I conversed with Gyeouri’s parents, Chairman Hwang Geum-soon came over with words of encouragement. Speaking of which, he was an Arsenal fan. It was common knowledge among even the first-year students that there was an Arsenal poster in the chairman’s office from when they had an undefeated season.

‘Winning is temporary, but 4th place is forever…’

As I recalled Arsène Wenger, the current Arsenal manager, my mother-in-law began an eye contest with the chairman.

Was it because he suggested going to Arsenal? My mother-in-law’s eyes shot out lasers. Hmm… why was that? Chelsea and Arsenal were rivalries, but it wasn’t to the point where she would hate him that much.

“Hah… Oppa? What do you mean? Our Jinho is going to Chelsea?”

Huh. Oppa?

I looked back and forth between Chairman Hwang Geum-soon and Madam Hwang Mi-yeon with a shocked expression.

Now that I think about it, they did look oddly similar.

Uh… I didn’t even know this fact in my past life.

My brain started spinning.

I thought the chairman was just being nice to the chief like a senior-junior relationship from their hometown, but it turned out there was this backstory.

‘Well, it was strange for mere hometown seniors to be such overprotective guardians…’

I looked at my father-in-law with a pleading expression for specifics, but upon seeing him, I could only give a sympathetic look.

“Hah. Younger brother. How can you think of sending Jinho to a club like Chelsea that has no foundation?”

“Yeah, for the 5th consecutive year without a title.”

“Hey, brother-in-law, what do you think? Jinho should indeed come to Arsenal, right?”

“Dear, of course, it’s Chelsea?”

“… Haha, both teams are great, aren’t they?”

My father-in-law was anxiously glancing back and forth between the chairman and my mother-in-law, looking like someone sitting on pins and needles.

‘Ah… Father-in-law.’

Watching him, I quietly wiped away my tears.

I could finally realize why my father-in-law, rumored to love sports, showed no interest in international football. It was all for the sake of family peace.

‘Daughter is a fool, wife is obsessed with Chelsea, and brother-in-law is a nerd?’

Is this a family? It would be a miracle if we didn’t end up grabbing each other by the collar on Christmas. It would have been perfect if my father-in-law only supported Liverpool.

‘By the way, how come all the teams they support…’

I clicked my tongue in disappointment, thinking of their futures.

Then, suddenly, an uncomfortable truth struck my mind.

‘Hmm… Wait. Then, my mother-in-law and dad must have been from the same hometown too. Why didn’t they tell me… Could it be… my mother-in-law was my dad’s… Hmm.’

My family tree was getting messy.

*

Fortunately, the shocking twist that Gyeouri turned out to be my dad’s daughter was not the case.

It turns out my mother-in-law and Chairman Hwang Geum-soon were half-siblings.

When they were young, their mothers had a bad relationship, so there was hardly any contact until they became adults, and even then, they only occasionally communicated.

Well… Given the drastic decrease in the number of young males due to the Korean War, it was quite a tragic historical backdrop.

“When we separate from Gyeouri, we might be okay, but Jinho, you will be uncomfortable with us. So, it would be better if an older brother like me, even if unnecessary, stays behind you.”

And the reason they kept this fact a secret from me was because they didn’t know how relationships would unfold in life, and they wanted to prepare for if I dated Gyeouri and then broke up.

“But seeing how you treat Gyeouri, it seems there’s no need to hide anymore?”

Originally, the plan was to surprise me by revealing it later after I married Gyeouri…

Before I regressed, Gyeouri probably died in a car accident before we could get married, and that truth was buried.

‘Ah, now that I think about it…’

I have a faint memory of seeing someone who resembled the chairman during Gyeouri’s funeral.

He patted my shoulder and said something, but at the time, I was so shocked by the incident that I was completely out of it. I hardly remember anything about the funeral.

Bing. Bing. Bing.
-Fever Time!

Suddenly, Gyeouri, who was snuggling up to me as we played a puzzle game, felt even more precious.

I hugged Gyeouri tightly.

Maybe I was bothering her; she complained in a dissatisfied voice.

“Ah, let go! I need to do this. Ji-hyun reversed my score.”

Was it that game called Animal Pang?
Thanks to being connected through a messenger called CocoaTalk, it was a hugely popular game where friends could compete for rankings.

“Are you downloading adult videos on the computer?”

Gyeouri, who had been playing games on her smartphone for a long time, felt something strange when she turned on the computer to watch the recorded football video my mother-in-law had prepared and questioned me.

“No.”

“Then why didn’t you turn the computer off?”

Um. Mining?

Like in the 21st century, I was mining gold with a computer instead of a pickaxe.

Isn’t coin the gold of the 21st century?

“Gyeouri.”

I called out to her in a serious tone with my voice lowered.

“Yes?”

“Don’t you want to be rich?”

“Our house is already rich, though?”

That’s true.

I slowly nodded, and while seeing me like that, Gyeouri continued.

“You’re rich too.”

I nodded again.

To reiterate, playing football in South Korea costs more money than one might think.

Aside from the coach’s kickbacks, the basic costs for purchasing football equipment are considerable.

To play as a starting player, you have to gather what little money you have and offer it to the coach as a gesture of goodwill.

There’s a legend that a famous high school football club in Seoul received 400 million won during the three years the coach was appointed.

Considering that at the time, the average apartment sale price in Seoul was close to 500 million won, it’s an ability to amass gold that would astound even a corrupt official.

‘Now that I think about it, that coach who got arrested was the one trying to lure me to their high school.’

Anyway, in this capitalist South Korea, to debut as a professional based solely on talent, you’d need an unbelievable talent that could make it to the podium of the Ballon d’Or in the first round.

‘Whoa. How much is all this?’

Either way, I gazed at the coins piling up in my virtual wallet, smiling satisfied.

‘With this money, I think I’ll start and run an orphanage later.’

Who knows? A football player who will astonish the world might emerge from the orphanage I will operate.

*

There’s a saying that as you grow older, time flows more quickly.

Is it because I regressed?

It feels like time is passing twice as fast for me compared to others.

As I was giving systematic training to the Geumsun High School football team.

“I am disappointed in your tactical execution abilities! Therefore! The Geumsun High School football team will now conduct a special training session! From now on, all responses will be unified as ‘Yes, sir!’ Do you understand?!”

A week flew by in the blink of an eye. Before I knew it, it was Saturday again, and the match was unfolding.

“Ho-woo—!”

We managed to win an overwhelming victory of 12 to 1 against Dongmyeong High School, a team in the Northern League of Seoul. I succeeded in achieving a hat-trick with only long-range shots.

And perhaps due to that performance…

[Congratulations! Geumsun High School 1st-year Son Jinho joins the U-19 National Team. Cheers!]

I got called up to the U-19 National Team for training. If I do well here, I might get to participate in a friendly tournament in the UAE in April.

Naturally, it was only natural that the family group chat went wild with this delightful news.

– Mother-in-law: Oh my! Jinho! I’m so proud you made the national team! I don’t want to put pressure on you, but how do you feel about transferring to Chelsea later on?

– Gyeouri: Woo~ Son Jinho looks like he might actually join the golden team soon?

– Golden Shield: Student Jinho! After you graduate, go to Arsenal and walk on a flowery path!

Hmm. Is it hell? Why are all the options fiery paths?