"Are you really going to be okay?"
"Yeah."
"You said you're okay, right? No take-backs later."
"I won't."
I nod, zipping up my puffer jacket against the chilly evening air.
After finishing the match, returning to the accommodation, and having dinner, I'm now leaving the hotel with Jiu.
Because she said she wanted to look around the city.
"But we can't stay out too long."
"I know. I have a conscience too. Let's just walk around once and go back."
"Okay."
It wasn't just the two of us who had gone out.
Team staff had come along with us. Just in case. They said that even though we were wearing masks and hats pulled down low, the two of us couldn't go out alone.
…Though they really didn't have to follow from so far behind.
"Wow, it's really pretty. I really wanted to come here…"
Anyway, Jiu was incredibly excited.
She was so excited that it seemed like her feet might leave the ground with every step.
She clearly hadn't come to watch my match, but to sightsee in Milan.
I shake my head and follow behind her, when she whips around, grins, and asks me:
"Hey. What was with that interview earlier?"
"…Interview?"
"'Goddess of victory'? I'm your goddess of victory? Huh?"
"…"
"Do I look like a goddess in your eyes? Is that it? Huh? Huh?"
Jiu smiles brightly, comes right up in front of me, and keeps asking.
Maybe because she just washed up, a pleasant scent hits my nose.
I turn my head away for no reason and answer.
"It's just a figure of speech. I told you. Superstition. You don't know, but athletes care so much about superstitions that…"
I ramble on with an unnecessary explanation.
Among my seniors, there are people who don't change their underwear because of superstitions, people who always step with their left foot first when entering the stadium, and so on.
I try to explain how much athletes blindly believe in superstitions… but Jiu just smiles, not really listening.
"No, that's not the important part. What's important is whether I'm a goddess or not!"
…Sometimes, I'm jealous of Jiu's confidence.
How can she call herself a goddess?
I don't answer and walk ahead.
Then Jiu scurries after me and walks by my side.
"Hey, but do you know people are going crazy over your interview again?"
"…Why?"
"Because! You said you won unsatisfyingly, and that you want to face them properly next time."
"Why is that…"
"They're saying it's cool. They like it. Even the opposing team's fans are saying it. They said they don't know about other players, but they'll acknowledge you."
Hmm. Is that how it works?
"And they're like, come to our team. You know, that uniform with the red and black stripes. They said it would suit you better. So I—"
"…You?"
"Ah, no. Not me, the other fans! They were fighting, saying they absolutely won't send you away. I guess everyone wants you. Isn't it funny?"
…It is funny.
That a fight would break out over me.
In the end, the only one who can have me is…
"Sigh—well, anyway. We won thanks to this goddess of victory, so it's a good thing, right? Hmm? Wasn't it good that I came?"
"…Yeah."
"Tch, look at you, not an ounce of soul in that answer. And you were the one who asked me to come with you."
"…I have soul."
"You had none at all. Anyway, really. Isn't it amazing that we're friends? We're such a bad match, how did we get close?"
Jiu shakes her head as she speaks, so I point out:
"You're the one who asked to be friends first."
"…What are you talking about. I didn't ask."
"You did."
"Ha, unbelievable. Lee Jian. Fine, I asked first, so what? A beautiful goddess like me asked to be your friend, and you don't even know to be grateful."
…I do know. That I'm grateful.
The memory of resolving to be honest suddenly comes to mind, and I move my lips, but Jiu walks ahead.
Having missed the timing, I just let out a sigh.
"The buildings are cool, and everyone looks so cool too… I guess this is why they call it the fashion capital."
As if she's become the protagonist of some movie, Jiu spins around as she speaks.
Well, she does have a point.
Maybe it's because I live somewhat on the outskirts of Florence, but the people here feel a bit more sophisticated.
Everyone dresses well, is tall, and good-looking, you could say.
I find myself looking down at my own clothes for no reason.
Training pants, a long puffer jacket, and a mask and hat.
…I pale in comparison.
My shoulders start to slump, but Jiu speaks up.
"Still, Florence isn't so bad either? Ooh, Lee Jian."
Wondering what she's on about, I snort, and Jiu puts a hand on her hip.
"I complimented you, so it's your turn. How do I look?"
How do you look, what kind of question is that…
I stare at Jiu and say:
"It is pretty."
"…Huh?"
At that, Jiu's eyes go wide.
Holding back a laugh at her reaction, I say:
"The city. I said Milan is pretty."
"…Ah, shit. Annoying."
As expected, you have to throw in a feint before going in to easily get past your opponent.
"Yeah. It is pretty. Good—"
Jiu starts walking again, looking around, and I follow, taking in the city.
The last time I came, Milan hadn't left any impression on me. When Jiu said she really wanted to visit and asked me to take pictures, I hadn't understood.
I had thought it was just an ordinary city, even more unremarkable than Florence.
But… today, the city looked beautiful to me too. Was it because it was night?
Or perhaps, because I wasn't alone.
…
"Damn it, damn it. To think I missed this. I should have gone to watch it live!"
Lee Jian's father, Lee Wonhun, stares at his phone and pounds his knee with his fist.
On the phone, the highlights of yesterday's match between Fiorentina and AC Milan were playing.
He should have gone to see this in person.
He should have seen his son score two goals against AC Milan!
It was a lifelong regret that he couldn't go because work had been so hectic lately.
Lee Wonhun was a born workaholic, but at times like this, being busy annoyed him.
Jiu, that lucky brat!
"Sigh. Well, it can't be helped. How could I not be busy with all this?"
Watching his son get past AC Milan's defenders, Lee Wonhun mutters.
With him being this incredible, it was only natural to want to see him in person.
The travel agency where Lee Wonhun worked was already swamped with inquiries from Koreans to the point where their computer systems had crashed.
Florence had, of course, always been a popular tourist destination.
But saying that the recent flood of inquiries was thanks to Jian wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Not just because he's his son.
"…Hmm."
He's grateful for it, but…
Lee Wonhun's face, which had been gazing fondly at his phone, suddenly darkens.
Well, it was a good thing.
Thanks to it, work was coming in, and he was truly grateful that people loved his son, but…
What worried him was that the attention was too much.
More than his son could handle.
Though he had kept this from his son, Korea's interest in Jian had been considerable for some time now.
Rising hope of Korean soccer, a once-in-a-century genius, and all sorts of other embellishments had been heaped upon his son.
Without even realizing it, his son had become the player who would lead Korean soccer.
Of course… it's something to be grateful for, being viewed favorably.
But how his son would take it was another matter entirely.
It wasn't a question of whether his son had the ability to bear it.
Even Lee Wonhun, not the one directly involved, could feel that the attention and expectations were scorching hot.
And he had felt it firsthand through the tourists visiting Florence.
Of course, more than ninety percent of the tourists were good people, but occasionally, a few…
…people whose interest crossed the line.
The travel agency's package included watching the match at the stadium and having a meal nearby—that was it. But occasionally, there were customers asking to meet him once after the match, or asking if they could visit the neighborhood or house where Lee Jian lived.
When he naturally explained that was difficult, those people would invariably grumble, asking what the big deal was.
When people asked if he really had no connections while working at a travel agency like this… it was only because he never revealed that he was the boy's father.
But, well… that much was understandable. There are people like that everywhere.
They weren't necessarily bad people; he could understand and overlook it, since it was natural for people to act that way while traveling, feeling good and having had a drink.
So that much was fine, but…
Last month, there had been something truly hard to endure.
It was probably a match in mid-December, right before the winter break.
He remembered it as the day of the match between Fiorentina and the team called Spezia… Jian hadn't started that day. He recalled that Jian came out near the end of the second half and played for about ten minutes.
Lee Wonhun still couldn't forget what a customer had said while watching that match.
"Ugh, what the hell. All this talk about being the new hope of Korean soccer, but the moment I come to watch, he's a bust. With that kind of play, how can he become the second Messi? What can he even do leading those Korean kids?"
It was just the nonsense of someone who knew nothing, but Lee Wonhun was terrified to the point his heart pounded.
Because it felt like a preview of what Jian would hear if he failed to live up to expectations that had already skyrocketed.
"…"
He had seen stories like that before.
It was about a player who had received similar expectations as Jian.
That boy had gone to a club called Barcelona at a very young age.
Like Jian, he had received tremendous attention from a young age, praised as being unprecedented, the future of Barcelona.
But a few years later, people pointed fingers at that young boy.
The reason was that he couldn't make it to Barcelona's first team. People had set their own expectations and treated him as a 'failed player' for not reaching them.
That player had become a failed player before even starting, so one could imagine how much he had suffered.
Of course, it was hard to say it was the same case as Jian's… but it made him realize how terrifying people's expectations could be.
That was why he had been so troubled lately.
"Sigh…"
If it were someone else's problem, he might have spoken lightly.
He might have thought nothing of it, saying how can a person only take the easy road, that they should try challenges.
But because it wasn't someone else's problem, his worries deepened.
Moreover, because his son had already experienced pain once, it was hard to say as a father that he should overcome this much.
No, he couldn't say that.
A father's heart couldn't.
"Hmm…"
He had once spoken with the youth team coach who had been with Jian.
About this issue.
At that time, the coach had cautiously suggested that he consider another method.
He said there was no law that he had to represent only his birth country…
The problem was that this side didn't seem much different. Something about enacting special laws, he didn't know the details exactly, but it had been very noisy.
It was a difficult problem.
"These peninsula people, really…"
Lee Wonhun sighs and leans back against the sofa.
And just as he runs his hands over his face,
Bzzzzt—
The phone rang.
When he checked, it was the first-team coach.