"Are you really in England?"
"Yeah. I just arrived. Do you know Heathrow Airport? It's in London…"
"What the…."
I tried to speak naturally, but it was completely useless.
I pulled my phone away from my ear to escape the first wave of nagging from my older sister. Even with the phone held away, I could still hear her voice booming, confirming that my judgment had not been wrong.
Fortunately, her voice began to calm down, and I was able to put the phone back to my ear.
"...you're crazy, crazy, crazy. I mean, does it make sense to go through all that trouble to get in and then say you want to be a freelancer? Why didn't you tell me…?"
"If I had told you, you would have definitely opposed it."
"Of course!"
"See, that's why."
"You…"
I pulled the phone away again. Oh no, even with my arm fully stretched out, her voice rang through the airport, twice as loud as before.
It had been a while, but there was no sign of my sister's anger fading. If this kept up, I wouldn't be able to talk to my dad and would have to go underground on the subway without Wi-Fi.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you in advance. I promise I'll explain and apologize later. Can you just pass the phone to Dad? I don't have time…"
"You… you… sigh…"
"I'm really sorry, sis. And please don't scold Dad too much…"
"I already did."
I gulped at her cold voice.
I'm sorry. Dad.
Given my sister's voice, which sounded like it could freeze the atmosphere, I was sure Dad had been scolded to the point of remembering his distant military days.
My sister, who had to fill the role of a mother after our mother passed away after giving birth to the youngest, had taken on the mother position in our family. Her specialty was nagging filled with worry. The intensity was more than just nagging; it was so strong that Dad, the youngest, and I often referred to it as "linguistic abuse."
"I handed it over. Did you arrive safely?"
"Dad. Are you okay?"
"...Are you tired?"
His delayed response indicated he was probably being careful because of my sister's watchful gaze.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I slept well on the plane, so I'm completely refreshed."
"That's a relief."
"Yeah, please don't worry too much."
After a brief pause, Dad spoke to me in a serious tone.
"Now that you've already done it, just do your best. It's something you've wanted to do, so I believe you'll handle it well.""...Thank you. My sister is really angry, right? I'm sorry."
"Hmm... it's okay. I'll take care of it."
I never expected to feel a sense of camaraderie from Dad. I'm sorry, Dad.
And Da-eun wanted me to make sure to send her a gift.
"Really?"
I smiled slightly. Just thinking about my ten-year-younger sister's face made me smile.
"Please tell her I said okay. And could you let her know I'll call my sister later because I have to go into the subway now?"
"Okay. Got it."
"Yes, Dad."
"Do well."
"Yes. I will do my best."
After ending the call, I dragged my large suitcase into the elevator and entered the station to take the Tube, the oldest subway in the world.
I received an Oyster card (a transportation card in the UK) from a drowsy staff member at the ticket barrier and checked the downloaded map to find the platform number for the train I needed to take.
The train arrived quickly.
Unlike the subway in Seoul, the train was very narrow. It was lucky there weren't many people since it was early in the morning; otherwise, a tall person might worry about their knees touching the person sitting in front of them.
Sitting in the empty corner of a seat, I let out a sigh of relief. Everything was going according to plan. Now, all I had to do was get off at a station called Leicester Square.
With some free time, I looked around.
Since it was the airport station, the car I was on was filled with travelers. There were two groups: one was Chinese, and the other was Korean. It was easy to distinguish them by their appearances, and since they were speaking Chinese and Korean, I naturally realized this.
Even though I had been in England for less than a day, seeing fellow Koreans sparked an unexplainable sense of warmth in me, and at first, I thought about trying to strike up a conversation. But that was impossible. The two groups had begun a strange staring contest.
The reason was immediately clear.
The Chinese people were wearing Arsenal jerseys, while the Koreans were wearing Tottenham jerseys, glaring at each other.
Arsenal and Tottenham.
These two teams, representing North London in the Premier League, had a rivalry as fierce as that between Liverpool and Manchester United. On the days their matches took place, fights would inevitably break out, requiring police intervention every time.
There were tales about how, due to their rivalry, wearing white in Arsenal's area and red in Tottenham's area was a no-go. This was something I had learned from an interview with commentator Lee Young-pyo.
While it sounded like an intriguing story on paper, it was not interesting at all right now.
It felt like a fight could break out at any moment.
"Ahem, ahem."
I intentionally cleared my throat to relieve the tension in the air. Realizing that there were other people around, both groups started to chat among themselves.
Thank goodness.
If a verbal fight had started, I would have pretended to be Japanese and tried to escape. It seemed that wouldn't be necessary.
I leaned back against the hard backrest.
Thanks to the two groups, I was starting to feel the reality of being in London. It was fascinating how people from different countries would glare at each other just because they were fans of rival teams; truly, this place was the capital of football.
I had expected to struggle with jet lag, but perhaps because I had slept well on the plane, I felt wide awake. I rummaged through my crossbody bag and pulled out a tattered phrasebook. I had five phrasebooks in total, including English, but I decided to take out the Spanish one.
It wasn't easy to read, but I forced my tongue to move and began reading a few lines.
The company I was interviewing with today was EW Agency. It was recently included in an article by a soccer media outlet titled
"The 20 Largest Agencies in the World,"
placing it in a significant position within the soccer agent industry.
I came to England to get a job at the agency and to gain experience in order to become an agent. Although I was currently applying as an interpreter, my goal was to gain experience and become a super agent like Jorge Mendes or Mino Raiola.
I dreamed of finding players who were struggling due to various issues, supporting them in every way possible to help them become world-class athletes, and then gathering those players to establish a large agency. Imagining a scene where my player received the Ballon d'Or or FIFA Player of the Year award and said, "I wouldn't have made it here without my agent, Tae Hyun-seok," always made me feel good, even just thinking about it.
I had thought about becoming an unselected coach like Arrigo Sacchi, José Mourinho, André Villas-Boas, or Maurizio Sarri, but in the end, coaches have to prioritize the team and are often pressured by club owners.
But as an agent, I could solely focus on my players. In the tangled web of modern football, it was the only profession that could truly prioritize the players, which made it incredibly appealing.
Of course, there are agents who exploit players purely for their own profit, but I would never be that way. Watching players showcase their wonderful performances is more enjoyable than making money.
Well, it's easy to pretend to be impressive, but right now, I was nothing.
The more I spoke Spanish, the drier my throat became. I guess I was nervous.
Yeah, I'm feeling nervous. I have no experience in the football world, and I've never formally studied law. Moreover, I didn't even graduate from a sports-related department.
The only strengths I could boast of were that I spoke several foreign languages and truly loved football. Thus, I was an avid football fan with a wealth of knowledge about the sport.
I graduated from a foreign language university and had worked as an interpreter in a company for a year, so I could read in five languages, and if it came to speaking, I could manage English, Spanish, and Italian. Not to mention Korean.
I owe my language skills entirely to football.
Like many of my peers, I fell in love with football while watching the 2002 World Cup in my early teens, and I became much more obsessed with football than my contemporaries. Watching matches was a given, and I read articles whenever I could. I started with domestic articles, but it wasn't long before I began delving into international football news.
I began studying English to read articles (my father and sister, who were unaware of the situation, were quite proud), and then to find more information, I started with Spanish and touched on Italian, German, and Portuguese.
I could no longer be satisfied just reading; I began translating articles for football websites to talk about football with others.
Eventually, I became a "true football fanatic" to the point of building friendships with journalists.
While my friends were interested in idols, actors, games, and comics, my only interest was football. My KakaoTalk profile picture was always of football players without exception, and even during my military service, the photo on my locker was of a football player, leading to many misunderstandings.
I naturally wanted to work in the football industry, but due to the impracticality of it and my family circumstances, I decided to leverage my language skills to attend a foreign language university and graduated without any issues while continuing my hobby.
Then, I landed a job as an interpreter at a company that was well-known, where I dealt with buyers from various countries for a year. It wasn't bad, but I felt a void in my heart. My motivation slowly faded.
In the end, I quit.
From colleagues to friends and even my father, everyone tried to stop me. They all said it was absurd to throw away a regular position at a large corporation after just a year.
But the moment I decided to challenge the world of sports agencies, the spark of motivation that I thought had vanished reignited. No one could stop me from that point on. I didn't even tell my worried sister.
While browsing agency websites, I realized it was rare to find someone with language skills like mine even abroad. I felt confident and sent my documents to every agency.
I had thought about starting as a solo agent, but what player would accept an agent who hadn't even dipped their toes into the football world?
It's said that the most crucial thing to become an agent is networking. I didn't know a single player or football official. The only connections I had were with a few journalists in Korea.
So, I needed to find a stepping stone to build my network and experience—a company.
I received positive emails from several places, and after careful consideration, I chose EW Agency as my first option. Even if it wasn't as desired as Jorge Mendes' Gestifute, it was an agency that managed players, and I felt there would be a lot to learn. They had quite a few star players, and in my view, it was a very good company.
The next stop is Leicester Square.In other words, I had to ace the interview.
I stood up and prepared to get off. I pleasantly heard the sound of my suitcase rolling on the floor as I rode the escalator up.
After exiting the station, I scanned the classic buildings of London and turned on my phone.
As I was about to check the map, I received a message.
Sister: [If the youngest goes to college, what will you do? If you become a burden, I'll kill you. If it weren't for the money, I would've come to England to get you. Dad may not say it, but do you know how much he worries about you?]
A moment later, another message arrived.
Sister: [Anyway, now that you're here, do well. If things go south, come back immediately. If you need anything, just say so.]
I couldn't help but feel my mouth curl into a smile. As expected of my sister. Even though she must be incredibly mad about my sudden decision to go to England, she still supports me. I sent her a message filled with gratitude.
Me: [Thank you, sis. I love you♡]
Sister: [Are you crazy, Tae Hyun-seok.]
Me: [I mean it.]
There was no reply. I imagined my sister's flustered face and chuckled as I checked the time.
It was seven in the morning, too early to go to the agency, which started work at nine. I had somewhere to stop by first, so I hurried.
I looked down from the sign to gaze at the street view.
It was an ordinary street filled with shops.
Since it was early in the morning, there weren't any open shops, giving it a desolate feel. People were sparse. However, it was a special place for me.
This was the location where the first football association was established. More precisely, it was a shop that used to be located on this street, but that shop has long since disappeared.
Even though I wasn't at a stadium, I felt a flutter of excitement.
"Here is where the rules of football were created... and that evolved and developed into what we have now... heh."
I walked down the street, imagining what the beginning of the football association was like and what the first meeting must have been like.
"Oh."
I had almost forgotten in my joy. I had something to do here.
I clasped my hands and spoke clearly.
"Please make me a good agent."
This was a wish-making moment.
I thought there could be no better place to gather my resolve before entering the football world. I repeated my goal once more.
"Please make me a good agent."
Even when my colleagues looked at me like I was crazy, my friends called me a "crazy bastard," and my father frowned at me in disapproval, I had outwardly confidently said I would pursue my dream, while inside, I felt an immense anxiety.
Of course, I still feel anxious now.
"Players who can't play football due to poverty despite their talent, players who get tangled up with bad agents... what else? Anyway, I'll do my best to ensure that no one is deprived of the chance to showcase their talents due to their circumstances."
What if I fail? My sister might kill me.
"So please help me a little."
As I gathered my resolve for a long time, I realized something important.
"...Should I pray in English?"
I prayed in English for everything I had just said. Though there might not be a miracle that grants wishes, saying it out loud seemed to ease my mind a bit.
Since I felt it was time to eat breakfast, I made one last remark before stepping onto the street.
"Give me a little help."
The moment Tae Hyun-seok exited Long Acre Street, his phone vibrated. As he headed toward McDonald's, he didn't notice the vibration, and even while eating his McMuffin, he was too focused on preparing for the interview to check his phone.
When it was time to leave for the agency, his alarm rang, but he only checked the time and returned his phone to his pocket.
Tae Hyun-seok stared intently at his phrasebook as he made his way to EW Agency.