My Girlfriend Wants Victory

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The evening when Dortmund secured their victory over Bayern Munich at Signal Iduna Park.

“Jinho! Be careful going in! Just because a stranger offers you candy doesn’t mean you should go with them, okay?”

After a simple celebration party with my Dortmund teammates, I was on my way home.

I urgently called out to Hong-min in the overseas chat group.

– Me: Hong-min hyung.

– Me: Hyung.

– Me: Hong-min hyung, this is urgent.

– Son Hong-min: Why? What’s going on?

– Me: (Picture of Dortmund lifting the trophy. jpg)

– Me: Did the photo come out well?

– Son Hong-min: ….

– Gu Jachil: Wow, you called us urgently just to brag about winning? lol

– Gu Jachil: I thought something serious happened when you were so frantic.

– Cha Dong-won: hahahahahaha

– Hong-min hyung: Is it really something to laugh about when you guys don’t even have a trophy?

– Gu Jachil: ….

– Cha Dong-won: ….

Hmm.

Was that considered “wide-area” fighting?

The group chat fell into a momentary silence.

– Ki Sung-yueng: Wow, there are a lot of nobodies here lol

– Ki Sung-yueng: Is this the abyss of the unknowing? hahahaha

– Lee Cheong-ryong: I won in the K-League, can I get some recognition for that?

– Me: If you’ve held a trophy, then of course, you can.

Sung-yueng, having held the championship trophy at Celtic, started to lead the mood in the chat with laughter.

– Ki Sung-yueng: By the way, congratulations on winning the Bundesliga. You already have two trophies, huh?

– Gu Jachil: It’s envy-inducing that you’ve held a trophy at just 17. So jealous~

– Lee Cheong-ryong: I held a trophy at 18 too.

– Ki Sung-yueng: So what?

– Cha Dong-won: What’s it feel like to hold a trophy as the youngest?

– Me: It feels like getting rewarded for all the hard work over the season?

– Me: It’s hard to explain this feeling to someone who hasn’t experienced it.

– Ki Sung-yueng: That feeling is tough to put into words.

– Lee Cheong-ryong: It’s just such a good feeling as a footballer, but I have no way to explain it!

– Cha Dong-won: ….

– Gu Jachil: ….

– Son Hong-min: ….

Having been teased so much, I started feeling a bit annoyed, and Sung-yueng changed the subject.

– Ki Sung-yueng: Oh right. Jinho, I heard recently that Dortmund is showing interest in Korean players, is that true?

I answered that it was indeed true.

Recently, Jürgen Klopp and Dortmund had been showing a lot of interest in Korean players.

Well, to be precise, it was more about Asian players. Following Shinji Kagawa, Dortmund was looking to make another big signing.

– What? 10 million euros (around 1.4 billion KRW)?

– Didn’t Kagawa’s transfer fee only end up being 350,000 euros (around 500 million KRW)?

When acquiring players, once the fee goes over 10 billion KRW, it starts to feel unnecessarily expensive.

– …With that amount, could get 28 aspiring young players based on Kagawa’s fee, huh?

Dortmund, equipped with the mentality of a gacha addict, began searching high and low for Asian players, especially from Korea and Japan.

– Did an A-grade pop up…?

– It’s D-grade, though?

The Bundesliga’s lack of roster registration restrictions had led Dortmund into a gacha hell.

– Doesn’t gegenpressing demand a lot from the players’ stamina?

– Unless the best eleven, bringing in substitute players for the right price might be tough for Dortmund’s finances.

Even Jürgen Klopp recognized the need for gacha, and Dortmund had no hesitation.

With the sponsorship from Korean (Son Jinho) and Japanese (Shinji Kagawa) companies, they realized Asian players could bring in money.

– I’m not expecting an A-grade anymore, but did a B-grade pop up?!!

– It popped up, it popped up!!

Countless scouting personnel were deployed, and a scouting report on K-League and J-League players was drafted.

After numerous failed reports, they finally seemed to have found someone recently.

– Jinho, the East Asian scout recommended a guy named Kang Chan. He’s from the same school as you. Does he have any shortcomings in terms of personality or professionalism?

He was a player optimized for Dortmund, satisfying both Korean and Japanese criteria.

*

Returning home, I thought about Kang Chan.

He ranked second in scoring in the J-League and, while not a big club, was being noticed by teams that were satisfied using Korean players like Celtic, due to his cost-effectiveness.

Maybe it was because his older brother had to give up on the striker position he desired due to money issues. He was a highly ambitious older brother.

– Kang Chan: Jinho, could you tell me what I need to improve in my play?

I was still in contact with Chan and pointed out the issues in his play while watching game footage of the J-League match he started.

I relayed my thoughts about Kang Chan directly to Jürgen Klopp.

– Jürgen Klopp: Thank you.

Once this season wraps up, Lucas Barrios will likely move to the Chinese league. Wouldn’t he be a decent backup option for Lewandowski?

After sending the message to Jürgen Klopp, not long after—

[‘Human Victory’ Kang Chan, is he joining forces with Son Jinho? Expressions of Dortmund’s interest in Kang Chan!]

Rumors of Kang Chan’s transfer circulated, and upon hearing this, Ki-hyun Choi’s shoulders rose high in excitement.

– Did the one who discovered two European players? It’s me!!

*

Today was another peaceful Ho-woo gallery.

Amidst countless nonsense posts and furious comments, Ki-hyun Choi wrote a post to promote himself.

The fact that the Ho-woo gallery owner was his disciple was a trivial matter for Ki-hyun Choi.

[Title: Coach Ki-hyun Choi who discovered both Son Jinho and Kang Chan.]

Author: World-class Ki-hyun

(Picture of Coach Ki-hyun discovering Son Jinho and Kang Chan. jpg)

(Interview with Coach Ki-hyun during Geumsun High School era .jpg)

Moreover, the fact that Ki-hyun even influenced Kang Chan’s position change was groundbreaking ㄷㄷ

└ God Ki-hyun ㄷㄷ;;

└ I never knew such an amazing teacher existed in Korea…

└ Coach Ki-hyun is truly a wonderful person^^

└ Such a person should be joining the football association.

Hearing all the praise, Ki-hyun Choi’s expression, which had been smiling, suddenly darkened.

This was because a user with the nickname “Man U Doctor,” notorious enough to make even Ki-hyun’s tongue-click in disbelief, appeared.

└ Man U Doctor: My boyfriend was good from the start, and Kang Chan’s basically just following my boyfriend’s lead, right?

The Man U Doctor made a petty rebuttal based on facts.

└ World-class Ki-hyun: Student ^^ Delete your post^^

└ Man U Doctor: I’m not a student! lol

└ World-class Ki-hyun: Take that—! How dare a kid lie! If you do, you can’t post anymore!

└ Man U Doctor: Must be nice being old^^

While World-class Ki-hyun and Man U Doctor were having a keyboard battle, a new topic emerged that caught everyone’s attention.

[Title: Real-time) Did Son Jinho and Son Hong-min fight? They unfollowed each other?]

(Picture of Son Jinho’s account unfollowing Son Hong-min. jpg)

??? What’s happening?

└ Wh…what’s going on?

└ Why did they suddenly act like this?;;

└ It must be a mistake, right?

└ Breaking news) The unfollow was just a prank. It turned out to be a misunderstanding.

└ Wow, for real;; that was scary.

Only after it was revealed as a misunderstanding by journalists did the football fans in South Korea let out a sigh of relief.

[Title: But what’s the problem with them fighting?]

Son Jinho already retired from the national team, after all.

└ We don’t know what the future holds; my brother might come back.

└ But if they fight even amongst teammates, the chances of returning to the national team would be totally zero….

There’s a vast difference between having even a slim possibility and none at all regarding Son Jinho’s chances of returning to the national team.

Anyway, through the articles, detailed accounts of the two started to surface, and users of the Ho-woo gallery broke into laughter.

[Title: My brother showing off his trophy lol]

Why are they being so cute while playing like this?

And the reason he got hurt over it is legendary lol

└ They’re acting adorably lol

└ But seriously, why did he get hurt over this?

└ Reportedly sent photos of him holding the trophy for three days straight for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

└ Son Jinho is crazy, LOL

└ Thank goodness they only unfollowed each other.

└ By the way, Son Jinho’s career is crazy. He already has two league championship trophies ㄷㄷ;;

└ If he wins the Pokal Cup against Bayern, that’ll be three trophies.

└ Winning three trophies at just 17 years old (expected) makes for a legendary career ㄷㄷ;;

└ Especially, winning against Bayern Munich as the ace of a financially struggling small club is legit.

└ Last time after competing with Barcelona, he seemed to have gotten close with Messi; isn’t he going to Barca?

└ Man U Doctor: My boyfriend is going to Man U! He promised me!

└ Ah, please don’t talk nonsense and get lost to keep the keyboard battle going.

*

The project to stir up jealousy and free Hong-min from the “nobodies” was proceeding successfully.

[“We’re close.” Son Jinho clarifies the rumor of conflict with Son Hong-min: “Just a simple misunderstanding that happened due to our friendship.”]

There was a small incident where Hong-min got sulky due to the project going way too successful, but it resolved without any big issues.

As the incident drew to a close as a simple misunderstanding, time sped by.

Before I knew it, the Revier Derby against Schalke was approaching.

Despite already securing the championship, Dortmund deployed their full starters for the match against Schalke.

One might wonder why they would expose their key players to the risk of injury in a match expected to be rough.

However, for a football player, there are battles that they can’t afford to lose, no, they cannot lose at all.

A match that must never be lost.

That was the local rival derby match.

“Jinho!”

“Fick You!”

“Kill that punk!”

As I entered Schalke’s home ground, Veltins-Arena, to warm up, concentrated jeers poured in my direction.

I could understand it.

That’s what derby matches are about.

The actual match at Dortmund’s home ground had a similar atmosphere.

A bit of a past event; back in 2007, Roman Weidenfeller was sanctioned for making a racist remark against Schalke striker Gerald Asamoah (a naturalized German national player) during a Revier derby.

I accepted the jeers of the crowd with indifference.

‘This sort of thing happens in the K-League too.’

All of this was the fate of being an ace.

Because I was a threat, they directed their jeers towards me.

Being aware of all this, I tried to react calmly.

But the moment their mouths spewed out racism and sexual harassment towards Han Gyeouri.

“Jinho! Your girlfriend is a whore, huh?”

“Aren’t you going to mate with a monkey or something?!”

“What’s wrong with a monkey mating with a monkey!”

A little.

No, a lot.

It was really freaking annoying.