“Flying everywhere definitely has its perks.”
“Right? We get a lot more time to rest.”
“I heard they’re even gonna build a new fitness center soon.”
“Money’s nice, alright. Nothing you can do about it.”
“At this rate, I wonder if we’ll even get our own private jet.”
I was cycling for recovery training.
I could hear the seniors talking.
It was a story from the week before last and last week—after the home match against Napoli, we had gone on two away trips.
The week before last to Genoa, last week to Verona.
Honestly, both away destinations were places that only took about two hours by bus.
Meaning, they were places we normally should’ve taken the bus to.
Our team’s policy was to use the three-hour mark to Roma as the standard—if it took longer than that, we flew; if it was shorter, we took the bus.
But for both of those away trips, we had taken the plane.
According to the seniors, the reason was simple.
The club had become richer.
They said it was thanks to Vlahovic.
Thanks to the transfer fee Vlahovic left behind when he transferred, the club’s coffers were full, and that was why we could enjoy such luxuries.
From what I heard here and there, his transfer fee was roughly around 80 million euros.
When I punched it into a calculator, 80 million euros was an astronomical amount—over 100 billion Korean won.
I wasn’t exactly someone who knew the details of contracts, so I didn’t know if all that money went straight into our club’s vault.
Still, the fact that the club had earned a massive amount of money was undeniable.
Thanks to that, we could take planes even for such short distances, allowing us to play in better condition.
Whether it was because of that or not, we had won both of those matches.
But for me, this was a somewhat strange feeling.
I hadn’t felt too good when Vlahovic left the team.
It was just a simple feeling. A senior I had happily kicked the ball with leaving our side overnight... having to meet him as an opponent now—there was no way that felt good.
Especially since he had left for Juventus, the sense of betrayal was all the greater.
But... the fact that we could benefit from the transfer fee he left behind, as we were doing now, was something I hadn’t considered.
If you looked deeper, it wouldn’t be just the transfer fee either.
The annual salary paid to him could now be saved too.
It was obvious even without looking up the records that his salary had been high.
“...”
I had felt a certain sense of betrayal toward him, but the fact that those who remained could play football in a better environment because he left... how should I put it.
It made me realize that the world didn’t turn as simply as I had thought.
Maybe this is what adults mean by “circumstances.”
The fans had expressed tremendous fury over that transfer, but seeing that the other seniors hadn’t said a word about it...
Perhaps leaving the team wasn’t simply an act of betrayal.
Well, anyway.
While I was cycling, lost in these thoughts.
“Everyone, attention for a moment!”
At the coach’s voice, everyone’s gaze turned.
When I looked that way too, I saw an unfamiliar face standing next to the coach.
...Hm?
He was unfamiliar, yet I felt like I had seen him somewhere before.
While I furrowed my brow and racked my memory, the coach spoke.
“Most of you probably already know, but I’ll introduce him formally, so let’s get along thinking of him as family from now on. A friend who’ll be training with us starting today.”
When the coach tapped his shoulder, the unfamiliar face stepped forward and gave a slight bow.
He stood with one leg crossed over the other.
“I’m Rika Romero, starting today. I’m from Argentina, came from Lazio. I’m sixteen.”
So that was why he was unfamiliar—a new signing.
The new signing, having finished his rather simple introduction, looked around at us...
“...Oh!”
“...?”
The moment he met my eyes, he suddenly broke into a bright smile and pointed at me with his index finger.
Then he started running toward me, and the guy standing before me held out his hand.
“I’ve wanted to meet you! Friend!”
“...”
“Since that day, there hasn’t been a single moment I’ve forgotten that match. So I came myself! Surprised, right? Right?”
He greeted me as if he was delighted, but I couldn’t help scratching my head.
“From now on, you and me! Two geniuses joining forces to lead this team! Mwahaha!”
...Who was this guy again?
*
“So? How was it? Option 1, it was incredible. Option 2, it was amazing. Was it 1 or 2?”
“...”
“Ah, it was hard to choose? I understand. Mwahaha!”
The guy, who had been doing shooting training, ran up to me while I was stretching, chattered on his own, then went back laughing.
I watched him with dumbfounded eyes, then shook my head and focused on stretching again.
It took me a moment to remember who that little friend named Rika Romero was.
He was a friend I had met as an opponent in the match against Lazio. Back then, Coach Luca had told us we absolutely had to win.
If not for that, I probably wouldn’t have remembered him at all.
Anyway.
Romero had said he joined our team on loan.
He said he came here because of me, though I didn’t really know what he meant.
According to the seniors, this guy was also part of Vlahovic’s legacy.
Now that we had ample funds, we would be able to buy the players we needed, and Romero was one of them.
They said more signings might come in the future too.
Our team wasn’t one with great squad depth. Because of that, the fatigue of the starting players was visible to the eye.
New signings would be a good way to solve that problem.
The manager had said that the real fight started from now on.
We had done really well up until now, but from now on was when the league truly mattered.
He said that to maintain our current position by the end of the season, even harder battles awaited us ahead.
As it was, the atmosphere among us preparing for the next match was quite solemn.
It was because, as the manager said, the second half was more important, and also because of who our opponent was.
This week’s opponent was AC Milan, currently leading the league.
So, having a new colleague to join forces with was a welcome thing, but...
“Wow! How about this time? Option 1, it was sick! Option 2, it was dope!”
...I had a feeling things would get a bit tiring from now on.
∙ ∙ ∙
“...What’s so funny?”
“Eek!”
“...What? Why are you so surprised?”
“Ah, you startled me! How could you peek all of a sudden!”
I looked at Jiu, who hid her phone in shock, with bewildered eyes.
What did she mean, peek? I didn’t even look.
“Are you hiding something?”
“H-hide what? What would I have to hide?”
“Then why are you so surprised?”
“I-I mean, it’s because you suddenly t-talked to me...!”
“...You’re really acting strange.”
“Strange? Whatever. Come on, let’s just eat.”
Seeing Jiu stutter made her seem even stranger.
She wasn’t someone who got flustered over just anything. What had she been looking at to be so surprised?
I tilted my head and went back to eating.
“...”
No, but the more I thought about it, the stranger it was.
It wasn’t just now. I had felt it occasionally before too.
These days, I felt like Jiu was spending more and more time holding her phone.
She used to be someone who didn’t even know where her phone was when we were together, but lately she checked it constantly.
The funny thing was, she would giggle or try to hold back laughter while doing so.
And then she would type away at something.
At first I wondered if she was playing some game, but it didn’t seem to be that.
Hmm.
What is it really.
“...”
For a moment, my jaw stopped chewing.
While wondering what could be so fun that she couldn’t put the phone down, something suddenly flashed across my mind.
Don’t tell me...
“...Hehe.”
Jiu was looking at her phone and chuckling again.
And then typing something again.
Almost as if replying to a message from someone she had been waiting for.
Come to think of it, there was more than one or two strange things.
Especially how her Italian had suddenly improved so much lately.
It wasn’t that Italian was extremely difficult or anything, but even so, Jiu’s Italian skills were improving by leaps and bounds.
When we went grocery shopping together a few days ago, she had haggled with merchants without my help.
And Jiu had been in Italy for less than half a year.
When I first came to Italy, I had heard such a story.
That the fastest way to learn a language was to date someone from that country.
I remembered someone saying that your skills would be forced to improve then.
“...”
I stole a glance at Jiu.
She was still smiling happily.
Who is it.
Who’s making you smile like that?
I was dying of curiosity but couldn’t ask outright, which made me die even more.
For some reason, I was annoyed alone.
It wasn’t even something to be annoyed about, but I didn’t know why.
I’m just annoyed because I’m annoyed, what am I supposed to do about it? What is this feeling, anyway?
...Should I pretend to text someone else too?
“...”
I took out my phone for no reason and looked through my contacts.
It was utterly sparse.
The recent call log was nothing but Dad or Jiu.
In my contacts, it was all the manager, coach, and teammates.
Even then, there was no one I could contact without a specific reason.
I was simply amazed at how narrow my social circle was. If it weren’t for Jiu and Dad, I probably wouldn’t even need a phone.
So I really only have Dad and Jiu.
Having no one to contact, I considered sending a message to Romero as a last resort, then gave up.
Because if I called him by mistake, things would get extremely tiresome.
Phew.
When I was feeling needlessly depressed and picking at my pasta with a fork.
“Hey, by the way.”
“Yeah?”
Jiu finally took her eyes off her phone and spoke to me, and I answered right away.
Jiu asked.
“Is a team called AC Milan that good?”
“...Milan? Why?”
“Just wondering.”
“They play... well, I guess? Since they’re in first place right now.”
“Hmm... really?”
At my answer, Jiu nodded blandly and began concentrating on her phone again.
I looked at Jiu like that... and suddenly put down my fork and spoke.
“Uh, hey.”
“Yeah?”
“Since AC Milan came up.”
“Yeah. What about it?”
“That match is on Saturday. Away game. So what I mean is...”
When I trailed off, Jiu tilted her head and looked at me.
“Uh. It’s, well... you know what a jinx is, right?”
“More or less.”
“Come to think of it, we won all our home games, right? But when we went away to Roma, we drew.”
“So?”
“No, I mean. It’s kind of a jinx. When you’re in the stands, we win; when you’re not, we draw... It’s not a big deal, but it bothers me. Since the match against Milan is really important...”
Even I didn’t know what I was saying, so I rambled on incoherently.
When I couldn’t get it organized at all, I just threw out what I wanted to say.
“...Want to go together?”
It was just something I blurted out without thinking... but part of me wanted to test the waters.
Because if my uneasy premonition happened to be right, I thought Jiu would hesitate when I invited her to go together.
But...
“Go together? Really?”
Jiu smiled brightly without a moment’s hesitation.
“Really? I can really go with you?”
“Uh? Uh. I don’t see why not...?”
“Then of course I’m going! I have to go! Oh yeah!”
Jiu was so happy she even threw her hands up in celebration, making me wonder what I had been worried about.
To the point where I wondered if it was something to be this happy about.
Seeing that, a hollow laugh escaped me.
Anyway, the strange feeling I had felt until just now eased.
At the same time, an inexplicable confidence surged up.
With the Goddess of Victory with me, I wasn’t afraid of AC Milan or anyone else.
I didn’t know why, but finally relieved, I asked casually.
“But hey.”
“Yeah?”
“What have you been doing on your phone this whole time?”
“Ah, this? I was just reading the news?”
To my question, Jiu held out her phone screen with an innocent face.
It really was a news article.
“...Then what were you typing?”
“Type what? Ah, the translator?”
“...Ah.”
...What the hell was I doing?