A high-floor suite in a five-star hotel located in downtown Paris.
Sitting in a room where sleek, modern bedding and an incomprehensible interior—whether French traditional or something else entirely—blended together rather well.
Making such meticulously designed décor feel almost pointless, I sit with all the lights turned off, gazing out the window.
“···”
Before the match, I hadn’t felt much of anything, but only now does the beauty of the cityscape catch my eye.
Well, it is late at night, after all.
Only scattered lights are on; darkness has settled over the whole scene, so there isn’t much to see.
Compared to the night in Seoul, the view is so close to that of a countryside town that it feels hardly worthy of the name Paris.
But perhaps that is why I feel at ease—it seems a calm, quiet city suits me better than a glamorous one.
Of course, I’ve only been shuttling between the hotel and the stadium, so this scenery I’m seeing now probably isn’t all there is to Paris.
There might be plenty of glitz somewhere out there.
But to me, what I see is everything, is it not? So to me, Paris is a calm and silent city.
···Hmm.
It suddenly occurs to me that this might be exactly how misunderstandings and prejudices are born.
Even looking at the same Paris, the Paris seen by someone who has only seen its front and someone who has only seen its back would be entirely different cities.
···Perhaps sitting alone in the darkness at night makes one’s sensibilities explode.
All sorts of strange thoughts come to mind.
Anyway, the conclusion is that this solitary time, after escaping from the stadium packed with people, is precious.
Come to think of it, no matter how busy I feel, no matter how much it feels like there is no time—
A day of twenty-four hours might be longer than one thinks.
After all, even in the midst of what feels like the busiest time of my life, I can still find time to enjoy this kind of leisure.
In the end, doesn’t it all depend on me?
Click-!
While looking out the window lost in such thoughts. At the sound of a beep, I get up and head toward the table.
I had filled the electric kettle with water and set it to boil; hot steam was now billowing up.
I pour that water into the cup I had set beside it.
A deep, savory fragrance rises.
I pick up the cup, sit back down by the bed, and savor the aroma.
Mm.
As expected of a good hotel, even though it is instant coffee, the smell isn’t bad. It might be from a fairly premium brand.
···Truthfully, I don’t know the first thing about coffee and don’t even touch it normally.
They say even a dog at a school recites poetry after three years.
I’ve been in Italy for over three years, so surely I can tell good coffee from bad just by the smell.
This is definitely good coffee.
*Slurp.* Blowing on it, I carefully take a sip.
“······Ugh.”
Ah, it’s bitter.
Like hell it was good coffee. It was the worst.
I can’t taste even a hint of sweetness··· This is almost like poison.
I had acted like I knew what I was talking about, calling it savory, but honestly, the bitter smell should have tipped me off.
I tried it because the room somehow gave off the vibe of a grown man, but I guess I’m still far from appreciating this taste.
My face contorted in every possible way as I set the cup I’d gone to the trouble of brewing back down on the table.
···My mouth is ruined.
I really don’t understand what adults find delicious about this bitter water that they drink several cups of every day.
Come to think of it, I think Coach Luca said something like that once.
The reason people seek stronger coffee as they grow older is that compared to the bitterness of life they have tasted, the bitterness of coffee is nothing.
He said that at that point, even the strongest espresso would taste sweet.
I don’t know how much bitterness one has to experience before that starts tasting sweet.
Anyway, I guess I haven’t tasted the bitterness of life yet.
So do adults only become adults after suffering and struggling far more?
I shouldn’t whine so much from now on.
Especially in front of someone drinking coffee from a cup the size of a soju glass.
“*Slurp,*”
To get rid of the bitter aftertaste, I pop a candy into my mouth and sit back down on the bed.
Candy really suits me better than coffee.
Sucking on the candy like that, I gaze once more at the window as dark as the coffee and sink into silence.
A few minutes pass like that.
“···”
Come to think of it, I really don’t have much patience.
I had just said that this quiet time alone was precious.
But after a little while, I start to feel a bit bored, and somewhat lonely.
When I was at the stadium or with my noisy seniors, I wanted to be alone and quiet.
But now that I’m actually alone and quiet, the liveliness and noise feel nostalgic after only a short while.
Is this why they say not to let familiarity blind you to what is precious?
Because it is so easy to be fooled, there is a saying not to be fooled.
Well··· something precious is valuable, and valuable means it is not common.
But once it is in my hands, no matter how uncommon it is, it becomes common to me.
I think that is why I get fooled.
I was being fooled too.
Having people call for me everywhere, having people look for me—it is clearly an unbelievably thankful thing.
Yet I hadn’t even realized how thankful it was, only thinking about how hard it was.
From now on, let’s wake up again.
There are different kinds of hardship, and the hardship I feel now is a thankful one.
“*Slurp.*”
Before I knew it, the candy that had been sweetening my mouth had completely melted away.
I consider having another in a different flavor, but soon give up.
Stuffing chunks of sugar into my body wouldn’t do any good.
I should get some sleep soon.
I have to catch a flight tomorrow.
A strong urge to just collapse onto the bed arises, but with the thought that Dad is watching, I brush my teeth before lying down.
And trying to fall asleep with my eyes closed quietly, I end up cursing the bitter coffee once more.
Because sleep would not come easily.
I had only taken one sip, but the effect is this good?
“···”
My wide-awake eyes show no intention of closing, so I fiddle with my phone for no reason, but Jiu said he would sleep early, so there is nothing much to do.
Loneliness suddenly washes over me, and I get up again to get dressed.
At this rate, I felt like I would never fall asleep, so I thought I should at least go for a run.
I wanted to run a lap around the neighborhood in the night air, but leaving the hotel would be going out without permission, so I would have to settle for the treadmill in the gym.
Just as I got dressed, grabbed my phone and room key, and was about to leave the room.
Bang bang bang-!
I flinch at the sudden sound of loud knocking on the door.
Who could it be at this hour? No one should be coming.
Could it be another guest who got the wrong room?
I stop what I am doing for no reason and hold my breath, waiting for the presence to go away···
Bang bang bang-!
Along with the knocking once more, familiar voices come from beyond the door.
“Maknae. We know you’re not asleep. Open the door.”
“Your hyungs are here. Let us use the room!”
“We bought snacks, so open up.”
···What the hell, these guys.
Recognizing them as my teammates from just their voices and tone, I open the door—good grief.
It isn’t just one or two people.
“Let’s go in.”
“Move, move!”
“Hey, you could have turned on the lights. What is this? Are you a child of darkness?”
The moment I open the door, they flood in before I can stop them, oh man.
No, don’t just turn on the lights as you please.
Don’t open the fridge!
Why are you diving onto the bed···
“Maknae, I’m gonna use the bathroom. Ah, it’s comin’ out.”
“···”
···I don’t know what they are all doing here when they have their own rooms.
So dumbfounded that I forget what to say, I stare at the—no, not lunatics, but my seniors, and they are all busy cackling.
“···Are you okay?”
“Huh? Me? I’m fine. Got treated well.”
Among them is Terracciano, who had been carried off due to an injury a few hours ago. I ask with a bewildered expression, and he pounds his chest as if to say he is perfectly fine and nods.
Seriously··· back when I first came up to the first team, they all had such an overpowering presence.
They all seemed like such adults, overflowing with dignity.
But now they are just··· what are they but a bunch of neighborhood fools.
Even the tattoos on their arms that used to look scary now look like doodles they scribbled while giggling among themselves.
“No, but··· what are you all doing here?”
Anyway, coming to my senses, I ask the fundamental question.
Then the captain, remote in hand, turns on the TV and answers.
“We came to watch the draw together. They usually hold it right after the group stage ends.”
“Maknae. Pray. Since we’ve come this far, we have to make it to the quarterfinals.”
“But what channel is it on?”
···So they barged in without sleeping just to watch that?
I shake my head and sit down near the table, saying to Saponara, who is still rummaging through the fridge.
“Whatever you eat, you’re paying for it.”
“Huh? Stingy.”
Stingy? What’s stingy about that.
Anyway, the room has become so noisy that I am dizzy and a sigh escapes me, but.
Loneliness seems to have fled far away before I knew it, and a chuckle escapes me.
Come to think of it, being able to spend time with such good friends like this might be one of the reasons I am glad I became a soccer player.
“Ah, don’t make me laugh! My ribs hurt!”
“···? I didn’t do anything, though?”
“Your face! Your face! Don’t look so funny!”
“You wanna die?”
Hm.
Good··· friends··· right?
*
The site of the 2022/23 Champions League Round of 16 draw in Switzerland.
Amidst men in suits who had come out for the draw standing before each pot.
The Champions League Round of 16 is conducted in a format where seeded teams—that is, group stage first-place teams—and unseeded teams, the group stage second-place teams, face off.
The list of first-place teams from each group this season was as follows.
Group A – SSC Napoli
Group B – FC Porto
Group C – FC Bayern Munich
Group D – Tottenham Hotspur
Group E – Chelsea FC
Group F – Real Madrid CF
Group G – Manchester City FC
Group H – Paris Saint-Germain FC
By Champions League regulations, teams from the same league or the same group cannot face each other in the Round of 16.
In other words, for Fiorentina, this meant they would face one of the remaining teams except Napoli and Paris Saint-Germain.
Of course, all the first-place teams were opponents they would rather not face, but among them, there were inevitably those they absolutely did not want to meet.
Bayern Munich of the Bundesliga, Real Madrid of La Liga, and Manchester City of the Premier League were such teams.
Bayern Munich, in Group C, had been grouped with Barcelona and Inter, earning assessments that they were in quite a difficult group.
Yet such assessments were rendered meaningless as they advanced to the Round of 16 with six wins in six matches, showing overwhelming destructive power.
Needless to say, Real Madrid were the defending champions and had become the team that now came to mind when one thought of the Champions League.
Manchester City was also displaying such a high level of complete performance that one could not figure out how to beat them.
Naturally, Fiorentina and the other second-place advancing teams must have been hoping to avoid those three.
Amidst this, the draw began.
A traditional draw where one of the balls in the pot is selected, and the team name written inside is placed on the bracket.
As the draw commenced, the first team to become the “lucky” protagonist was Benfica of the Primeira Liga.
- FC Bayern Munich vs SL Benfica
Benfica embraced the bomb that was Munich, drawing cheers from the other teams.
Soon after, the protagonist of the second bomb was revealed.
- Real Madrid CF vs Liverpool FC
That protagonist was Liverpool.
However, Liverpool was also the unseeded team everyone least wanted to meet, so whether Liverpool would be destroyed or become the bomb disposal squad was anyone’s guess.
It was the moment a final-worthy matchup was set in the Round of 16.
And then, next.
“England Premier League, Manchester City.”
Manchester City was called as the seeded team, and the roulette from hell began to select the protagonist for the spot beside them—the last “lucky” protagonist.
And that protagonist was···
“Italy Serie A, Fiorentina.”
Unfortunately, it was Fiorentina.