"Hey, Ma Gangcheol! You made the news, so why are you moving like that? Did you exhaust yourself fighting a truck?"
Bak Minsu's mocking voice rang sharply across the dusty playground. The kids from Class 4 clutched their stomachs and giggled as they mocked Gangcheol, while his classmates examined his complexion with worried eyes. Gangcheol, who had been kneeling on the dirt ground, slowly stood up. His expression as he dusted the coarse dirt from his knees was shockingly impassive. To the soul of a thirty-five-year-old, the childish provocations of an elementary schooler were nothing more than faint noise, as light as the sound of cicadas brushing past his ears on a summer day.
But inside his head, tangled battle lines of complex sensations were intertwined.
'Definitely... the reactions are slow. It's not simply a matter of lacking strength.'
Gangcheol caught his breath and muttered inwardly.
"Status window."
A bluish, translucent window rose before his eyes. The numerical values of each stat came into view far more clearly than before.
--------------------------------------------------
[ Name: Ma Gangcheol (Age 11) ]
[ Affiliation: Haeseong Elementary School, 5th Grade ]
[ Stats (Based on Republic of Korea U-12 Standards) ]
- Soccer IQ: S+ (Veteran's Memory / Unmeasurable)
- Technique: (Mismatch detected)
Neural Simulation: S+ (Pro Level)
Physical Execution Ability: A
- Physical: A-
- Mental: S+ (Pro Level)
- Synchronization Rate: 15.2%
[ Special Notes ]
The body (A) is physically unable to keep up with the speed demanded by the brain (S+).
Risk of physical balance collapse detected.
--------------------------------------------------
Gangcheol's brow furrowed. At the South Korean elementary school level, having Physical and Physical Execution Ability at A-rank was a level that would earn him the label of 'genius' anywhere in the nation. No matter how much guys like Bak Minsu tried to push him around with their size, Gangcheol's physical abilities—certified by the system—already far surpassed the limits of his peers.
'My body isn't bad. At an elementary school level, this body is already god-tier. So why did it glitch?'
Gangcheol replayed the phantom dribble he had just failed. The mental blueprint had been perfect. Destroy the opponent's center of gravity 0.5 seconds ahead of time, then accelerate through the gap in an instant. It was a move that Gangcheol at his prime could have executed with his eyes closed.
The problem lay with the entity issuing the command. The precision and speed of the commands issued by his thirty-five-year-old pro-level senses were physically impossible for his eleven-year-old body to digest, no matter how outstanding it was among youth players.
'The hardware isn't bad. My senses are just too far ahead. It's like mounting a supercar engine in a compact car and flooring the accelerator—of course the car flips.'
Gangcheol looked down at his toes. The texture of the ground felt through his worn indoor shoes. One by one, he summoned the senses he had honed in his previous life to survive on the rough grass of the K3 League, or on the hard cement of construction sites.
'I'll match the speed of the commands my brain issues to the rhythm of this young body. Instead of forcibly trying to run like an adult, I'll find the optimal tempo that an eleven-year-old body can produce.'
Gangcheol narrowed his eyes and swept his gaze across the entire playground.
[ Skill activated ]
His vision expanded exponentially once again. It was on a completely different dimension from the gazes of children who simply chased the ball. The clumsy positioning of Class 3's defense, the excessive forward pressure of Class 4's midfielders, and the movement path of Cheolsu, who was hopping in place out on the far flank, were drawn like lines of transparent light. The playground was wide, but to Gangcheol, it was as clearly visible as the palm of his hand.
"Cheolsu! Don't stick so close! Drop back five meters and secure space! I can't find an angle for a pass from there!"
At Gangcheol's sharp shout, Cheolsu flinched and shifted his position. The children were puzzled. They had no way of knowing what meaning such positioning held. But in Gangcheol's eyes, those five meters were a 'decisive point' that raised the probability of scoring by over thirty percent.
"Minsu, the ball's coming. Focus."
Gangcheol spat out the words to Bak Minsu, who had been marking him, then strode into the center. They were not the heavy strides of an adult man, but short, light steps thoroughly matched to the rhythm of an eleven-year-old's body.
The ball, kicked long by Class 4's goalkeeper, soared high as it split the autumn sky. The landing point was between Gangcheol and Minsu. Minsu barreled in like a wild boar, readying for a physical contest as he used his huge frame to pressure.
'If I clash with force right now, I'll be bounced off. Preempting the landing point and reverse-using his center of gravity is the only answer.'
Gangcheol moved one beat faster than Minsu. The ability to read the ball's trajectory was already ingrained in his body as a veteran's instinct. Just before Minsu rammed his shoulder in, he used the rebound the instant the ball touched the ground to lightly scoop it with his instep. It was an elegant touch almost too graceful to be called a 'trap.' The ball stuck to Gangcheol's foot as if magnetized. Minsu ended up driving his shoulder into empty air and staggered, losing his balance.
"First one."
The moment he controlled the ball, Gangcheol wasted no time distributing it to the flank.
[ Objective 3: Practical Sense Calibration — Record 5 effective touches ]
The ball was delivered precisely into the space Gangcheol had indicated earlier. While the opposing defense panicked and swarmed Cheolsu, Gangcheol charged like a ghost into the empty space.
'If my legs are slow, I just run early. If there's no space, I create it. Soccer isn't played with just the legs. It's played with the head.'
Gangcheol received the ball back from Cheolsu. Before he knew it, three defenders from Class 4 had surrounded him. It was intense pressure difficult to withstand at an elementary school level. But Gangcheol's brain was calmer than the freezing point.
'Right defender, his left ankle angle is open. Center defender, his eyes are locked only on the ball. Now.'
Gangcheol swung his leg wide as if to shoot.
"Block it! He's shooting!"
The defenders crouched to block the ball with their bodies. But Gangcheol's foot didn't strike the ball. Instead, he gently scraped it with his sole and pulled it back. 'Drag back.' The defenders' timing was completely tangled, and they collided with each other.
In that split second, Gangcheol spotted Cheolsu sprinting toward the goal from the opposite flank.
'I'll show you. This is what a real "killer pass" is.'
The ball leaving Gangcheol's toes threaded through the legs of the three defenders like a thread. A straight line as if drawn with a ruler. It was a devastating pass that collapsed Class 4's defensive line in an instant.
"Cheolsu, just tap it in!"
Cheolsu didn't even need to control the ball. It was a perfect chance where he simply had to put his foot out using the momentum of his run.
Thud-!
A dull sound shook the net across the playground. The children of Class 3 shouted and rushed to Cheolsu.
"Woooah! Gim Cheolsu! Awesome! I thought I was watching the World Cup!"
But Cheolsu, who had scored, stopped with a shiver running down his spine. He knew. That goal just now wasn't something he had created. He ran to Gangcheol and jumped on his back, shouting.
"Gangcheol! Did you see? What was that pass just now? The ball stopped right in front of my foot! I just put my foot out and it went in!"
[ Objective 3: Assist recorded! 12 effective touches recorded. ]
"Great job, Cheolsu. It was possible because you made the run at the right time."
Gangcheol patted Cheolsu's head and turned his gaze. In the corner of the playground, Team Leader Choe Hyeonseok, a middle-aged man wearing sunglasses, had stopped his pen. He was engraving Gangcheol's movements into his mind with a look of astonishment, his mouth half open.
'Is it my turn now?'
The score was 1–1. Only five minutes remained until the end of the match.
"Hey, Ma Gangcheol! Don't get cocky just because you got lucky with one pass! This time I'll really break your legs!"
Bak Minsu approached, grinding his teeth. His pride had been hurt as much as it possibly could, and now he began to press aggressively as if trying to take Gangcheol down rather than play soccer. Gangcheol looked at Minsu and smiled coldly.
'Fine. If you're coming at me like that, I'll completely sync the senses inside me with this small body. I finally know the optimal rhythm that an eleven-year-old body can produce.'
Gangcheol received the ball at the center. This time, he didn't pass. He drove the ball directly into Class 4's territory. Minsu rushed in like a bull, a spiteful smile on his face.
"Die!"
Minsu's rough sliding tackle. Dirt flew in all directions. Gangcheol didn't close his eyes. Instead, he opened them wide and captured the split second before the opponent's toes touched the ball.
He no longer tried to forcibly use a child's body like an adult's. Instead, he maximized the 'agility' and 'short turning radius' possible only because it was a child's light body.
Just before Minsu's foot touched the ball, Gangcheol's right foot tapped the ball to the left. And within a gap shorter than 0.1 seconds, his left foot, as if it had been waiting, pushed the ball back to the right.
The phantom dribble he had failed earlier.
But this time it was different. It wasn't an adult's stride, but a 'short version' phantom dribble optimized for the short leg length of an eleven-year-old. For the first time, the commands of his brain and the movements of his legs achieved perfect harmony.
"Huh...?"
The ball disappeared from Minsu's vision. No, he couldn't even chase Gangcheol's afterimage. Minsu got tangled in his own kicking motion that cut through empty air and planted his face in the dirt. With a thud! Minsu tumbled.
Gangcheol didn't stop. Two defenders blocked his path in panic. Gangcheol leaned his upper body heavily to the left in a 'body feint.'
"Left! Stop him!"
The moment the defenders were drawn to the left as if pulled by magnets, Gangcheol tapped the ball to the right and broke through. It was a textbook breakthrough attacking the 'half-space.' Now only the goalkeeper remained.
'With my current ankle strength, a powerful shot is impossible. I'll use the goalkeeper's psychology against him.'
Gangcheol stopped the ball in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper. The goalkeeper advanced in confusion, trying to narrow the angle. In that fleeting moment when his center of gravity shifted forward, Gangcheol's toe sharply stabbed under the ball.
Tuk-.
The ball drew an elegant, slow arc and went over the goalkeeper's height. The so-called 'chip shot.'
The slowly flying ball passed the goalkeeper's futile wave of the hand and got sucked into the corner of the goal.
Thud-.
A heavy silence fell over the playground. It wasn't a sight that could appear during an elementary school PE class. The girls playing dodgeball in the spectator stands, even the teachers passing by in the distance, stopped and watched that surreal scene.
"......"
The PE teacher's whistle sounded belatedly, drawn out very long.
Beeeeep-! Game over.
"Waaaaah!! Ma Gangcheol! Ma Gangcheol!! Are you seriously crazy?!"
The children of Class 3 ran to Gangcheol in a frenzy. Gangcheol, being tossed into the air by the children, checked the notification windows filling his vision.
[ Daily quest complete! ]
[ Objective 1: Physical Adaptation Complete (Optimization of Body and Mind Synchronization) ]
[ Objective 2: High-Protein Diet Complete (Strength Stat +0.1) ]
[ Objective 3: Practical Sense Calibration Complete (1 Goal, 1 Assist, 30+ Effective Touches) ]
[ All rewards collected! ]
- Stat Point: [Stamina] +0.1 applied
- Experience: 100 EXP acquired
- Additional Effect: Muscle fatigue reduced by 30% (Instant activation)
The aching pain in his body disappeared as cleanly as if washed away. Gangcheol sat down on the ground and caught his rough breath. Although the reward was only 0.1, he could feel it. That his soul had combined a little more firmly and intricately with this young flesh.
"Gangcheol, you... what are you, really? Where did you secretly learn to play soccer? That's something only Zidane does!"
Cheolsu asked excitedly, spittle flying, but Gangcheol let out a pleasant laugh instead of answering.
Team Leader Choe Hyeonseok, watching from afar, picked up his phone with trembling hands. In his notebook, the phrase 'Body Control Ability: SSS-rank' was scrawled.
"Chairman... it's me. Choe Hyeonseok. Yes... I'm watching right now. No, it's not merely talent. This child... is already complete. No, there's something beyond that. Did you see that chip shot just now? That isn't technique, it's intelligence. We need to prepare the contract immediately. If we let him slip away, Korean soccer will regret it for a hundred years."
Gangcheol wiped his face with a towel and looked at the sky. The clear autumn sky of 2013.
'See that? This is real soccer, shown by the ghost of a third-rate player.'
Gangcheol clenched his fist. Now it was time to properly overhaul the 'hardware.'
[ System Notification ]
[ Body Synchronization Rate has surpassed 20%. ]
[ Unlocked Trait: ]
- Effect: You do not become nervous during matches, and even when stamina is low, judgment and accuracy do not decrease.
"This is only the beginning."
Gangcheol's eyes flashed like a hunter's. His second soccer life was just now beginning to sprint, roaring with explosive force.