With the match against Barcelona behind us, our preseason schedule came to a complete end, and for two days after the match, we enjoyed our final break sightseeing around the city.
What left the deepest impression was an enormous cathedral—the name was either Pagrada Samilia or Sagrada Família.
Anyway, that staggering, jaw-dropping cathedral was what I remembered most. I could hardly believe such a building existed in the world.
Besides that, well, we went around to a lot of places, and they were all worth seeing. Riding around on the bus with the seniors somehow made me feel like I was on a school field trip.
To be honest, when I was in Korea, I couldn't go because I had a match on the day of the field trip, so I don't really know for sure.
I just figured it must've felt something like this.
What was a little surprising was that while I was walking around town like that, there were people who recognized me.
Hm.
And not just a few—quite a lot.
I guess it was because I was walking around in team gear.
People calling out my name—“Ri, Ri”—and asking to take pictures together were everywhere I went.
Well, we'd played at Camp Nou a day or two ago, so I figured that must be why.
Anyway, almost everything about Barcelona was nice.
The weather was good, and the food wasn't bad either.
There were plenty of moments where I felt drained because the people all seemed so extroverted, but Italy wasn't all that different, so I could accept it.
But the funny thing was… even so, I couldn't stop thinking about how I wanted to go home quickly.
Everything was definitely good, yet I just wanted to go home.
Even though the match was over, having to stay three more days felt incredibly long.
How should I put it, just…
No matter how many amazing things I saw or how much delicious food I ate, I felt that if I was alone, it didn't mean all that much to me.
Thanks to that, having finished the overseas tour that had lasted more than two weeks, I felt incredibly good boarding the plane headed for Florence.
Come to think of it, I don't know how I endured the past three years without Jiwoo.
…Ah, right.
I didn't endure it well.
Ahem.
Well, anyway.
Looking at the clouds outside the window and thinking that Florence was drawing closer in real-time, I felt my mood lift after a long time.
Still, there was exactly one regret that lingered.
"…"
It lay in the short conversation I'd had with Gavi after the match against Barcelona.
…What a bad friend.
Asking only what he was curious about and then dashing off.
I had a lot of questions too.
What's more, when I thought about it after returning to the hotel, I wasn't satisfied with my answer to his question about what the standard for a genius was.
Should I say I regretted that I might have answered a bit poorly because the question came so suddenly?
It was like when you get flustered during an argument and fumble your words, then regret it at home afterward, thinking, "I should've said that then!"
…I'd answered like a complete idiot.
And to make it worse, my counterpart was a friend who spoke Spanish.
"…"
Thanks to that, while sitting on the plane to Florence and gazing at the sea of clouds spread outside the window, the one thing Gavi had left before departing kept swirling around in my head.
“—That's a really high standard. Where would you find someone like that?”
A high standard… well. Is it?
I think that if you consider the meaning of the word "genius," it's only natural that the standard should be high.
Anyway, seeing even Gavi say, "Where would you find someone like that," means he doesn't meet that standard himself.
If even a player who debuted for the Barcelona first team at age seventeen isn't one, I can't help but think that my standard for what constitutes a genius might be too high.
Have I been holding on to some kind of fantasy?
I'd vaguely thought that "geniuses" were people who existed on a different dimension from me.
Yet the ones I'd met on this overseas tour who were called geniuses… were just ordinary people like anyone else.
…Could it be that geniuses don't necessarily excel at everything without effort, don't have worries, and can't feel hardship?
Perhaps even geniuses worry, work hard, and sometimes feel exhausted.
"…"
…Who knows.
I don't really know.
For now, I was simply glad that Florence was approaching at tremendous speed.
ㆍㆍㆍ
"Jiwoo, you seem like you're in a particularly good mood today."
"Huh? Do I? In what way? Haha…"
"Everything, starting with your voice."
"Eh, no way. I'm just the same as usual."
Seeing Kim Jiwoo play dumb as if she knew nothing, Lee Wonhun—Lee Jian's father—laughed heartily, as if he found her adorable.
Today was the day Lee Jian returned after finishing the overseas schedule.
Perhaps that was why Kim Jiwoo, who had come over early in the afternoon with her hands full of things, looked brighter than ever.
When he looked to see what she'd brought so much of, it was all food ingredients.
She said something about how Jian must have eaten nothing but terrible food while in England, and that she was going to make a proper meal for the first time in a while.
For the past two weeks while Jian was gone, she'd been so bored she thought she might die.
Seeing her humming even today, Lee Wonhun couldn't help but find her adorable.
"Two weeks certainly felt long, didn't it?"
"Huh? W-well, two weeks is long to begin with. Haha…"
"But it felt like two months. Isn't that right?"
"W-well…"
Kim Jiwoo raised her eyebrows and shrugged at Lee Wonhun's question.
Well… she wondered if her excitement today was showing, so she was pretending otherwise.
It wasn't entirely wrong.
The part about two weeks feeling like two months.
Those two weeks had been so excruciatingly boring she'd had a hard time enduring them. Especially when she felt Jian's absence in ordinary, everyday moments, she'd suddenly felt lonely.
She was usually the type to have fun on her own, so she'd almost never felt lonely before.
For example, when grocery shopping, she used to chatter away with Jian while they shopped.
Shopping alone, even the grocery trips she normally enjoyed weren't particularly fun.
Also, she always stayed at the boarding house for a bit after school, then went over to Jian's house in the evening—that had been the most fun part of her day.
With Jian gone, she hadn't even looked forward to that time.
Even her Italian, which she'd thought was good enough to survive without a translator by now, didn't come out well without Jian there to correct her.
For the first time, her study abroad life in Italy, which had been nothing but fun, felt uninteresting.
Looking at things that way, she wondered if she'd been mistaken in thinking Italy suited her so well until now.
In truth, the important thing wasn't the location.
Hmm.
Come to think of it, from when Jian left Korea to study abroad until she herself came to Italy.
She didn't know how she'd lived through that time, she was so bored.
…How did she live?
She just lived uninterestingly.
Maybe it was because she'd stuck to him since they were so young, but when she was with other friends, she felt somewhat uncomfortable and didn't have any friends she was extremely close to.
Just school friends, more or less.
She didn't even have a single male friend, let alone the kind of boyfriend that everyone else seemed to have.
…Tch. It wasn't that she couldn't make one; she just didn't.
She'd rejected every offer her friends had made to set her up.
She just wasn't interested in anyone else.
She didn't think there was anyone whose reactions when teased were as amusing as Jian's.
So she didn't regret it at all.
"…"
Kim Jiwoo, reminiscing about the past, let out a short laugh.
She suddenly recalled when Jian had told her the news that he was going to Italy.
…He was really terrible.
How could he tell her such important news just one week before leaving?
Because of him, she was in a position where she had only one friend. How could he just up and leave his one and only friend behind?
And not even to the next neighborhood, but all the way to faraway Italy.
Anyway, she remembered being so dumbfounded when she heard the news that she'd just said something like "Then have a good trip" and left it at that.
Then, saying she felt a bit under the weather for some reason, she didn't go to the tteokbokki place she'd planned to visit after school and went straight home.
Then she lay face-down on the bed, burying her face in the pillow… and she wouldn't speak of what came after.
Goodness.
Thinking about that time suddenly made her indignant.
What was so good about a guy like that that she'd followed him all the way here and was doing this?
"…"
As if she had horns sprouting, Kim Jiwoo's lips poked out even farther than her pert nose.
But a moment later, the moment she checked her buzzing phone—
A smile returned to Kim Jiwoo's previously pouting lips.
Jianing: I'm at the airport
Jianing: I think I'll be home in about an hour
It was a message from Jian.
Smiling, Kim Jiwoo sent a reply for no particular reason.
Me: Hm?
Me: I didn't notice though~? OuO
Soon, a reply came back.
Jianing: ...ㅜ
At that reply, Kim Jiwoo leaned her head back and laughed out loud.
One might not think it was a message worth laughing so hard at, but to Kim Jiwoo, there was no more amusing reply.
Really, that kind of reaction was exactly why she couldn't stop teasing him.
"Sigh."
Anyway, he'd said he'd arrive in an hour, so she should probably get started.
Kim Jiwoo dusted off her hands and headed toward the kitchen.
And that sight—
"…"
Lee Wonhun watched with a satisfied grin.
*
"Hey, aren't you glad to see me after so long?"
"…I am glad."
"Yeah? But you don't seem glad at all?"
"I said I'm glad…"
I sighed at Jiwoo, who was glaring at me with her arms crossed.
Why was she picking a fight the moment I arrived?
But well, this was such a Jiwoo-like reaction that I couldn't help but laugh inwardly.
If she'd welcomed me with a gentle voice, so unlike Jiwoo, it would've been more uncomfortable.
This was how Jiwoo expressed that she was glad.
"Still, it's been two weeks. It's common courtesy to say something like 'you look prettier since the last time I saw me.'"
"…"
"Whoa, did you just scoff?"
"No… it's not like we're at a point where we need to put on formal airs or anything."
"Hey. The closer you are, the more you take care of those things, you idiot. Come on, repeat after me. 'You look prettier since the last time I saw you.'"
"…Since the last time I saw you… you're the same."
"Ha, seriously."
Seeing Jiwoo huffing at my words, a snort of laughter burst out.
I'd been holding back laughter from the moment I saw Jiwoo after getting home, but in the end, I couldn't hold it in.
Why was I holding back my laughter?
I don't even know.
"Why are we bickering again the moment we see each other. Hmm?"
Anyway, while we were bickering like that, Dad came over and said a word.
At that, Jiwoo answered with her arms crossed.
"He won't even say he's glad to see me."
"…I did say it."
"Was that really saying it?"
"That was saying it."
Even with Dad here, our bickering didn't stop.
Then Dad clicked his tongue and spoke to me.
"That's not right, Jian. It's been so long. You shouldn't act like that to Jiwoo."
…No, Dad.
You're taking Jiwoo's side here?
When I looked at Dad with eyes full of betrayal, Jiwoo's shoulders shot up in triumph.
Dad continued.
"Of course. It's not right. Do you know how much Jiwoo waited for you? While you were gone, she had no energy whatsoever. Without you—"
"Ah, Mr. Lee? Wait a moment!"
But before Dad could finish, Jiwoo suddenly panicked and started waving her hands in front of his face.
But Dad, unperturbed, steadfastly continued what he was saying.
"She was bored to death without you. She waited for you so much—you should act happy to see her. Isn't that right?"
At those words, I glanced at Jiwoo, and her ears were red as strawberries.
That sight was somehow funny, so I nodded.
And I asked teasingly.
"Did you wait that much?"
Jiwoo put her hands on her hips as if dumbfounded, stammering "Wha, wha—" unable to answer.
So I spoke as if doing her a favor.
"Alright, alright. I'm glad to see you after so long."
"…Goodness. Unbelievable, really."
After saying that, my eyes met Dad's, and we giggled at the same time.
"Stop laughing, both of you. Eat your meal. Before it gets cold. Okay?"
"Yeah. Let's eat. Food."
Jiwoo huffing was amusing, but I knew I'd be in big trouble if I teased her more here.
At the suggestion to eat, I obediently got up and headed to the kitchen.
But at that moment, Dad had to add one more thing.
"Jian. Make sure to say it's as delicious as possible. Jiwoo started preparing tonight's dinner several hours ago just to feed you."
"Ah, really, Mr. Lee!"
"Hahaha!"
…Dad has it good.
He can tease her like that without any risk of getting hit by Jiwoo.
*
"It's so good I could almost cry."
"Right?"
"Well, you started preparing several hours ag—"
"Hey! Ah, it only took an hour!"
"Ah, okay. Okay."
I quickly stopped my teasing at the imposing manner of Jiwoo, who was trying to get up from her seat mid-meal.
At that, only Dad laughed heartily.
Hmm, actually, it wasn't entirely a joke.
I'd said it as if it were a joke since the opportunity was ripe, but the dinner Jiwoo had made really was tear-jerkingly delicious.
"It's better than what I ate at a five-star hotel in England."
"Stop joking around."
"…I'm serious though."
"Hey, even if it's England, a five-star hotel would have proper chefs. There's no way this is better than that."
It was the truth, but she didn't believe me.
It wasn't just tasty—it was far tastier.
"But England was really not great."
"The food?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm. You must've thought of me a lot?"
"It was about that bad. Spain was much better."
"Yeah. I bet it was. Spanish food is famous after all."
The moment food came up, Jiwoo started talking a blue streak. Maybe because it was her area of expertise.
Talk of English and Spanish food spread to Europe as a whole, and then suddenly stretched all the way to world food rankings before finally ending.
Perhaps Dad got tired of listening, because he cut in at an appropriate moment and changed the subject.
"So, what was it like playing against foreign teams? Was it any different?"
"Um… the tactics were a bit different. The tempo of the match and things like that."
"Did you see anything worth learning?"
Anything worth learning.
I glanced at Jiwoo at those words, then shrugged and answered.
"I'm not sure."
"Really? Hmm. Anyway, it was a good experience, right?"
"Yes."
It had been a good experience.
Dad nodded at my answer, then soon asked again.
"So, what about this season? Do you have any goals… or anything like that?"
"Goals?"
"Yeah. If you don't have any, that's fine too."
…Hm.
This question gave me pause for a moment.
Goals, huh.
"Well, this time I'll have to work hard to win the league title. Doing well in the Champions League could be a goal too…"
We'd narrowly failed to win the league title last season, so the league title. And the competition the seniors had wanted so badly to compete in was the Champions League, so doing well there.
Those were the two things I could think of right away.
At that moment, something suddenly came to mind, so I added one more thing.
"…And I want to meet a player who is much, much better than me."
At that, Dad looked at me for a moment.
He looked as if he didn't quite understand.
Well, of course.
It was a strange thing to call a goal.
But this was my true goal and wish.
I shrugged, then glanced at Jiwoo, who was quietly eating, and added.
"It won't be easy, though…"
…This isn't bravado.
I was talking about the earlier thing, the league title…