Chapter 5 Reboot (4)

"Jae-min, good job today!"

"Hey, I'll contact you later, so go to the club. We need to have one last spark before the season starts, don't we?"

Teammates passed by, each throwing a few words at him.

But Jeong Jae-min's expression showed no signs of brightening up.

It was as if he were suffering from some kind of spleen disease, with irritation continuously rising.

'I'm still in my 20s, so there's no way I could be going through a midlife crisis already.'

However, a few minutes later, Jeong Jae-min instantly realized the source of this inexplicable irritation.

"A real man should be straightforward, kid. Why, even the famous British writer Samuel Johnson said that confidence is the first essential for great undertakings. So, you shouldn't be shy and should boldly challenge it."

"Like you, hyung?"

"Exactly! I've been a straight shooter since I was born."

"Straight shooter?"

"Forward!"

A familiar kid was walking towards him with a small child who had reached his waist.

Jeong Jae-min couldn't help but chuckle.

"Hah...! It's Mariu?"

Jeong Jae-min knew Mariu well.

He was a friend of Mi-jeong.

One of the reasons Jeong Jae-min treated Kim Gwang-su with respect was because he was his superior, but the real reason was for his daughter, Mi-jeong.

About a year ago, when she visited the training ground, Jeong Jae-min fell in love with her at first sight.

Since then, he spent a lot of time visiting the academy Mi-jeong attended every day after training, without Kim Gwang-su knowing.

Unfortunately, there was no progress.

There was always someone who interfered with him.

That guy, Mariu.

'The source of my irritation was here.'

Mariu always clung to Mi-jeong like a lover.

It seemed that Mi-jeong didn't entirely dislike such a Mariu.

At that moment, Mariu pointed at Jeong Jae-min, who was leaning against the bench.

"Hey, there's a soccer player over there. Go ask for an autograph!"

"Yes, hyung!"

"Nope. You should call me Master."

"Yes! Master!"

The enthusiastic child ran up to Jeong Jae-min, extending the autograph paper he was holding.

It was slightly dirty from being held for a long time.

Jeong Jae-min frowned at the unexpected situation.

"...What?"

"Please sign! I'm a fan of Gyeongnam FC!"

"..."

Although irritation rose to the top of his head, Jeong Jae-min snatched the paper and wrote his name irritably before handing it back to the child.

Since all this stress could be vented on the kid standing there.

"Heh, thank you! Thanks, Master!"

The child smiled innocently, greeted him and Mariu, and hurriedly left.

Soon, Mariu approached three steps away and bowed deeply.

"Hello! Hyung!"

"Hey, it's been a while."

"Yes. How have you been?"

"I've been fine. But why are you here for soccer?"

Jeong Jae-min knew Mariu as someone who had nothing to do with sports, let alone soccer.

Although he was tall for his age, his weak physique clearly showed that he was far from athletic.

'He'll probably break his own foot before he can kick the ball.'

However, contrary to his expectations, Mariu shouted confidently with a determined look in his eyes.

"I've decided to become the second Mariu!"

Jeong Jae-min, who had been looking at Mariu with a mix of surprise and disbelief, couldn't help but chuckle.

'Whatever.'

He hadn't even considered that the target of a professional player would be Mariu.

But now that it was Mariu, it was a moment he had been desperately hoping for.

That guy was the very traitor who had been obstructing his sincere feelings.

A sinister thought even crossed his mind.

'Playing with him like a punching bag and accidentally breaking a part of him wouldn't be bad. Then I could separate from Mi-jeong for a while.'

Jeong Jae-min was a master of fouls.

He knew exactly which part to hit to make an opponent fall and which part to press to cause more pain.

Therefore,

"Shall we start now?"

Jeong Jae-min's eyes were now gleaming like a predator that had spotted its prey.

* * *

Jeong Jae-min stood near the penalty arc.

He bent his knees slightly, as if the irritation had never existed, and continued to explain kindly.

"The rules are simple. You need to get past me and shoot in the penalty area. If you score, you win. I'll give you 20 attempts. Understand? At least 6 out of 20, or 25%, should be successful for the coach to notice you. It's best to give it your all from the start."

"Wow, that's simple."

"Yeah, sure."

Mariu, now wearing soccer cleats, rolled the ball with his right foot, left and right, and suddenly smiled strangely.

"So, hyung, you won't be helping me, right?"

"Of course not. This is a kind of tryout. Since the head coach said so, I'll focus more than usual."

Jeong Jae-min wiped his nose and said.

However, he had no intention of giving it his all, as he had told Mariu.

His original position was a defender, specifically a center-back.

Facing a complete novice who had never joined a soccer club and using his full strength to dominate him would be a disgrace.

Instead, he planned to use all kinds of clever fouls to cause pain.

'I'll make sure he never wants to be a soccer player again!'

Just like how people relieve stress in different ways, Jeong Jae-min felt a slight excitement at the thought of relieving the stress he had built up from not playing in matches for a while through fouls.

And.

Beep!

Jeong Jae-min blew the whistle to start the challenge and quickly lowered his upper body.

At that moment, Mariu, a few steps away, kicked the ball with his instep.

Seeing this, Jeong Jae-min inwardly chuckled.

'A novice trying to face a professional head-on while standing stiffly.'

He thought Mariu's software was also lacking.

For a moment, he even lost his composure due to the clumsy dribble.

Still, Jeong Jae-min instinctively moved his foot and quickly caught Mariu's movement.

'He's going left.'

A victorious smile appeared on his face.

His center of gravity was heavily leaning towards the direction of his right foot.

His left foot was about to use the outside of the foot to kick the ball.

It was a fake, pretending to take the ball to the right and then moving in the opposite direction.

'Isn't that too sloppy?'

Perhaps because he had only faced professionals, the feint during the dribble seemed too exaggerated.

Jeong Jae-min clenched his teeth with a strange thrill.

'Fall flat on your ass!'

Jeong Jae-min took a powerful step at that moment.

He planned to use a shoulder charge, pushing the ball with his shoulder and hitting the chest to knock him down.

Since Mariu was inexperienced in putting weight into his movements, he was confident he could easily knock him down.

However.

Thud!

Swish!

"Uh...?"

Jeong Jae-min let out a surprised sound.

Just as he thought his collar was about to touch, Mariu suddenly pivoted on his right foot and performed an outside turn, slipping past the shoulder charge.

As a result, Jeong Jae-min's shoulder hit nothing but air, and he stumbled.

His eyes widened a second later.

Thud!

Before he even realized the ball had been lost, the net rippled.

"Okay! So, it's 1-0 now?"

It was a moment that made his hair stand on end.

* * *

John Tito predicted that he would come from the future of 2036 to the past.

He predicted that an era where wireless internet access would be possible anywhere would come.

He also predicted a peerless wanderer living his 15th life.

From today, all the soccer skills that Jeong Jae-min possessed would be sold out.

In the past and now, Jeong Jae-min was a good-for-nothing, or in worse terms, a rotten food waste.

This guy was known more for his 'dirtiness' than his skills during his active years and had even broken the legs of two players in the past three years.

Most decisively, this guy was one of the worst villains who had been eyeing his future wife, Mi-jeong.

Why, he approached her like the senior in the movie "Introduction to Construction" and tried to spend a night with her using the power of alcohol...

He said he liked her but was always cheating with other women.

'Bastard.'

That's how my first love in my first life ended.

This part could not be forgiven, even if I repeated my life.

Thinking of it as a 'sub-mission' and in the name of love.

'For trampling on my sincere feelings and making Mi-jeong cry dozens of times. You will be thoroughly beaten today.'

Thud, thud!

"Wow, it's 5-0! Hyung! Now we just need one more goal, right?"

"...Shit!"

At first, when he allowed the first goal, Jeong Jae-min only gave an awkward smile as if he was letting it slide.

But as the second, third, and fourth goals came, and he was toyed with using individual skills like a crossover, his face turned red with anger.

He also committed fouls openly.

On the sixth attempt,

Thud!

Unlike the first time, he went all out with a weighted shoulder charge.

When I turned 180 degrees, he even performed a sliding tackle, lying on the ground.

He raised his studs to knee height.

But I am a veteran who has played over 2,800 matches and experienced everything.

I had also been a very dirty player during my rebellious phase in my 9th life.

So,

Crack!

I pretended not to notice and kicked his shin, which was raised to knee height.

Just enough to not break any bones.

If it did break... sorry.

"Aah!"

Jeong Jae-min let out a scream of agony, clutching both his legs.

"Ah! Hyung, are you okay?"

"You, you did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Jeong Jae-min's eyes were filled with anger.

"No way! I haven't done many of these tests... I'm sorry. Hehe."

"Laughing? You bastard!"

"Ah, hyung. Should we make this round invalid? Or should we call it 5 wins, 1 draw, 0 losses? It would be better to include a draw for the senior's dignity, right?"

"Y-You...!"

Jeong Jae-min's face turned red, as if his blood pressure had skyrocketed.

Despite cursing, he managed to stagger to his feet, so it seemed his bones weren't broken.

'Damn, what a shame.'

On the other hand, I realized that my skills had improved immensely compared to my first life.

While I didn't know anything about soccer before the regression, I had grown to the point where I could be classified as a top striker in the EPL if my physical condition allowed it.

Moreover,

'Even with just one item equipped, to be able to do this against a current professional player...'

Even if Jeong Jae-min's talent was lacking, he was still a current professional player.

Against him, I was not just dominant but 'one-sidedly' toyed with him.

Of course, the item had an effect.

What is the 'item'?

It's simple.

Abilities obtained through penalty missions or sudden missions.

I could equip up to five different items at once.

'Like Tanus, who gathers stones to unleash a powerful attack.'

In my first life, I was a complete novice in soccer, but thanks to the items, I could play in the Fangcang League.

However, each time I regressed, I lost most of the items I had.

Only one item, obtained in my 8th life, remained.

(Affinity)

It was an item I obtained by sheer luck.

It was low-grade, and while Peter Crouch, the retired player, was tall, his physical attributes weren't superior enough to be effective in the EPL.

But now, at 18, I was in terrible physical condition, so it was a pretty good item.

In the competition with Jeong Jae-min, I didn't lose easily.

'Well, this guy's physical attributes aren't great either. Plus, he drinks like a fish, even for a professional.'

The good thing was that the skills and software I had built through my efforts remained intact even after regression.

I needed to train my hardware intensely from now on to fully utilize my skills.

"Huff! Shit, I won't go easy on you from now on, so come at me properly."

Jeong Jae-min, excited by the consecutive goals, seemed to have forgotten about the test.

He looked ready to stab my shin with his studs at any moment.

'No, this guy would do that and more.'

But the test with this guy was over.

Kim Gwang-su, from his office not far from the training ground, must have clearly seen our match.

So, the game was over.

Therefore,

"Get lost, you piece of shit."

"What, what?"

"Did you cement your ears? Get out of my sight. If you don't want to wet your pants."

I learned that pretending to be nice and then backstabbing was more infuriating, which I discovered during my regression.

As expected, Jeong Jae-min, like a bull seeing red, charged at me with his eyes rolling back.

"You, you bastard!!"

But,

Boom!

I swung back and executed a left-footed shot.

Crack!

"Ugh?!"

Jeong Jae-min's head was thrown back as he was hit in the face by the soccer ball.

I clenched my fists.

"Strike!"