Why did you come only now?
"Geonwoo! You're here!"
At that time, Myeongseong High School was a coeducational school, and the female students' biggest idol was, embarrassingly, me.
Girls from the first to third grades were so happy to see me that they didn't know what to do.
"Hello! Senior!!"
When I appeared, the male juniors bowed 90 degrees and made way for me as if they had seen a king.
Their greatest hero was me.
"That's right…"
At school I was the most popular star among both boys and girls.
This popularity will reach its peak around the 1998 World Cup in France in June of this year.
Lee Dong-gyun and I were surprisingly selected for the final roster of the national team while still high school students and boarded a plane to France.
From this point on, 300 fan letters were received per day from female students across the country.
"From this point on, my downfall began."
Since last winter, I have been feeling something wrong with my left knee.
I wanted to go to a specialized hospital and get an accurate diagnosis, but Myeongseong High School coach Ji Young-man did not allow me to do so, citing the spring league as an excuse.
I played all of February in tournaments with those knees and took my team to the quarterfinals.
"A man has to be able to endure that much pain. If you're already in and out of the hospital complaining of a little pain, a college or professional team that likes you might withdraw your offer. Everyone hates weak players."
At that time, Jiyoungman's words sounded very persuasive.
In fact, what's really absurd is what happened after the World Cup national team was called up.
I joined the national team hiding my knee problems.
I was worried that if I got injured I would be kicked out of the national team.
"Idiot."
I passed my own medical test without a hitch.
This is evidence of how backward the Korean sports medicine system was at the time.
I endured long flights and bus rides with that body, and I pushed myself harder than usual to look good to my seniors.
Eventually, upon returning to Korea, he collapsed during practice due to a ruptured knee ligament, which became the beginning of a series of injuries including a ruptured knee cartilage, a ruptured Achilles tendon, a severed ankle ligament, and a herniated disc in his lower back.
"We need to fix this from here."
Just sitting in the classroom and planning the schedule for the future made time fly by.
In my class, the soccer team was like an invisible team, so the teachers didn't touch me no matter what I did.
Rather, there were teachers who encouraged students to go to the classroom early and practice instead of wasting time in vain.
But I stayed in the classroom until the fourth period.
"You have to handle subtle things in order to avoid any trouble later."
I know what's going to happen next.
Even so, I still did not have the power to completely control myself and my surroundings.
I was just a young football prospect with no money or connections.
If I wanted to access money and fame, I had to take advantage of adults who were more powerful than me.
"Hello! Director!"
"Oh~! Gunwoo. You look in good condition today?"
"It's not bad. I just work hard."
Myeongseong High School director Ji Young-man.
He smiled good-naturedly.
In the atmosphere of the Korean soccer world in 1998, he was a manager who was like a big brother, which was rare.
In the world of Korean football, where beatings and verbal abuse were the norm, a manager like Ji Young-man was rare.
So both my father and I believed in him.
But his true identity was a Joker-like villain who could kill people with a smiling face.
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The reason he always smiles is to make his prey let their guard down.
"It hasn't been long since the spring competition ended. Let's all just do a light warm-up."
Jiyoung spoke as if she was the only one who bestowed great grace.
As I looked back at him like this, all kinds of emotions boiled over.
The first villain who ruined not only my football career but my life itself.
I wanted to drag him out and beat him up right away.
"That's not true revenge."
If I beat up Jiyoung right now, I might feel good right now, but my soccer career would be over in an instant.
And I didn't regress to become some sullen avenger.
I came back to earn more money than anyone else through soccer and live a luxurious life without worrying about what anyone thinks.
"When revenge boils over, think about money."
Just thinking about money made me feel calm.
I spent my first day quietly observing the overall atmosphere of the soccer club.
Today is the last day of such peace.
Because today is March 2, 1998.
That night.
A phone call to my house changed my football life.
***
I waited for the call while eating dinner at home.
My father, as usual, was eating while watching a baseball game, and then my mother scolded him. My younger sister got scolded by my mother for complaining that she was going on a diet again today, and I didn't even know what to eat because I was thinking about the phone call that would come soon.
"Son. Let's eat this."
My mom took the pork ribs out of their bones and put them on top of my rice.
I like pork ribs that are marinated in spicy seasoning better than beef ribs.
My mother's cooking skills were not even a joke, but she made spicy pork ribs better than any famous restaurant.
There is a heartwarming(?) anecdote about how my mother was much worse at cooking when she first got married, and my father, who couldn't stand it anymore, enrolled my mother in a cooking school and forced her to learn.
Spicy pork ribs were a secret menu item that I learned to make by paying money to an expert.
'Time is up.'
Now only Jiyoung will call with an excited voice.
Tutu- tutu- tutu-
Then the father answers the phone and asks,
"Director Ji. What are you doing at this hour? Are you asking me out for a drink?"
My father jokes, flicking his index finger near his mouth.
Then Jiyoungman says this.
"Brother. Congratulations. Our Geon-woo was selected for the national team A for the World Cup. I just got a call from the National Football Association."
"What!? Really!? Our Gunwoo!"
My father jumped up.
of course.
Because his son was in the top 23 in South Korea.
In terms of the college entrance exam, it would be like ranking 20th in the country.
"Son!! You're so cool! Let's hug each other!"
"Shouldn't we be handing out rice cakes to the neighborhood?!"
"What's with the rice cakes! Let's hang up a placard and rent a hall to have a celebration party."
"Ah… so tacky."
Jihye reacted with what could be called jealousy or something else, and her parents were completely furious.
That's what it was.
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I also felt like I was on cloud nine at that time.
Since I first started playing soccer in elementary school.
Because I used to imagine my future self wearing a red uniform with the Taegeuk mark.
But I never thought that day would come so quickly.
In the past, I would just sit there blankly, but this time it was different. I received congratulations from my family and expressed my gratitude.
"Father. Mother. Thank you for raising me well."
sincerely.
But I didn't say anything other than thank you. There were too many buttons to be fixed.
And that night.
I lay on my cheap bed in my room and reviewed my plans for the future one by one.
A lot of things will happen starting tomorrow.
It might turn many people into enemies for a while.
Even my parents.
But I have to do it.
To protect everyone from the devil.
***
The next morning.
Instead of going to school, I headed to the nearby subway station.
"There really were few subway lines in the old days."
The place I went to after checking the route map several times was [Seoul Oseong Hospital] located in Yangjae-dong, Gangnam-gu.
Just looking at the hospital building brought tears to my eyes.
Then a memory came to mind.
When an injury that started at the knee ruined the ankle and eventually the back.
I came here limping on crutches.
It's not that I want to play soccer again, I just want to live a normal life like a regular person.
The doctor who diagnosed my body said this.
"Why did you come only now?"
According to the doctor, I had several chances to be cured.
But I just went to a local hospital that Director Ji Young-man introduced and left my fate entirely up to him.
Misdiagnosis, mistreatment, poor rehabilitation and injuries.
As this process repeated itself, I became a wreck.
I went to the orthopedic clinic, checked the doctor's name, and registered for treatment.
[Kim Seung-jin]
As expected, he was much younger than when I visited him, completely battered.
When it was my turn to go in, Dr. Seungjin Kim greeted me.
"Welcome. Judging from your uniform, you seem to be a student, but it's amazing that you came to a place like this alone."
He listened to my condition, checked a few things, and then ordered an MRI and CT scan.
After the detailed examination, we talked while waiting for the results.
Some doctors would get annoyed or arrogant when asked, but Seungjin Kim explained things in detail and in a way that was as easy to understand as possible.
Above all, he had respect for professional athletes.
Kim Seung-jin later joined the medical staff of the Korean national team for the 2002 World Cup.
Through this, he became an authority on Korean sports medicine and in the future, he rose to become the head of [Osung Training Center], the mecca of Korean sports rehabilitation.
I came here to find the person who will become the best in Korea in the future.
"My body is my capital. I have to take good care of it from now on. At the best medical facility."
"He's young but he's ahead of the curve. There are still few Korean soccer players who think like that. Even professional players who earn hundreds of millions of won a year don't know how precious their bodies are. Well… if the manager or coach creates an atmosphere where the players have to work hard to improve their bodies, the players have no choice but to follow suit… Anyway, it's a problem. A problem. When will we ever play advanced soccer?"
From this time on, Seungjin Kim had a clear sense of problem.
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If there are more people like this, the Korean soccer world will change.
I need someone like this.
"Wait a minute… Why does your face look so familiar? Are you a famous student athlete?"
"He's pretty well-known in the high school soccer world."
"Really? I don't know much about that…"
Kim Seung-jin then looked at the front page of the sports newspaper on his desk and was startled.
"You! No! The student… You were that player Kim Geon-woo!?"