Florence, after returning from the match against Bologna.
I Jian and Gim Jiu were walking through a supermarket near their home.
The two had stepped out for a moment to buy groceries.
“Hey. You know what.”
Gim Jiu asked.
“That Romero, or whatever. That player.”
“Yeah.”
“How tall is he?”
At the somewhat out-of-the-blue question, I Jian tilted his head and answered.
“One hundred and sixty-five, was it? Probably around there.”
“Ah, really?”
“…Why?”
“Huh? Ah, no. Just curious.”
Leaving behind I Jian, who was looking at her as if the question was a letdown, Gim Jiu walked ahead.
Earlier, a thought had suddenly crossed her mind.
If I Jian and that player named Romero stood side by side, wouldn’t they look good together somehow?
No, it wasn’t like she had some weird taste.
When she thought they looked good together, well, was it because their height difference was a really heart-fluttering kind of height difference?
The sort where, if one embraced the other, they’d fit snugly right into their arms…
‘…’
Having imagined something like that, Gim Jiu’s ears turned slightly red.
Coincidentally, Gim Jiu’s height was similar to Romero’s.
Which meant that when she stood next to I Jian, it would probably feel the same way too… if she was held in his…
‘Ah, what am I thinking!’
Gim Jiu shook her head.
Even so, the corners of her mouth kept creeping up.
Ah, whatever.
Stop thinking weird thoughts and hurry up with the groceries.
“The sauce… ugh, it’s over there.”
While looking for the sauce needed for dinner, Gim Jiu tipped her head back.
The sauce bottle was displayed on a high shelf.
“Hup!”
She reached out her hand, but she couldn’t reach it.
Even going on her tiptoes and hopping up and down was no use.
Damn it.
Why did they put that thing all the way up there?
As Gim Jiu let out a sigh, I Jian approached from behind.
“What is it?”
“No, it’s just… it’s too high.”
“This?”
Standing behind Gim Jiu, I Jian stretched his arm straight out.
Then he pointed at one of the sauce bottles with his finger, looked down at Gim Jiu, and asked if this was it.
For no reason, Gim Jiu’s shoulders hunched up as she quietly nodded.
“What else did you say we needed?”
“…Huh? Oh. Uh… onions.”
“Onions… were they over there?”
Having put the sauce bottle he took into the shopping basket, I Jian headed nonchalantly toward another corner.
Once his figure disappeared beyond the shelves, Gim Jiu quickly grabbed her earlobe with her hand.
“…”
It was hot. Her ears had suddenly become burning hot.
Her heart was also pounding like crazy.
No, it was just that he had suddenly come up from behind, so she was startled.
She was surprised, so her heart was pounding.
Her heart was pounding hard, so her blood was circulating well, and that was why her ears turned red…
Yeah…
“…”
Gim Jiu subtly lifted her head and looked around.
And she began looking to see if there was anything else on the high shelves that she needed to buy.
. . .
Knocking out Bologna and advancing to the Coppa Italia quarterfinals was a good feeling, but we couldn’t enjoy that joy for long.
Because we had lost the following weekend league match.
The opponent was Lazio.
It was an away trip for us, and I had been excluded from that trip.
Thanks to that, I had to watch the match from home on TV.
It was because there had been a slight issue during training.
While training as usual, I had felt a slight pulling sensation in the back of my calf.
It wasn’t so painful that I couldn’t bear it, so I had considered just pushing through, but feeling that I shouldn’t, I had let them know.
When I did, I was told to rest unconditionally.
I had gotten examined right away, and fortunately, there were no noticeable issues.
It appeared to simply be accumulated fatigue, so all I needed was plenty of rest.
Because of that, I ended up being left out of the Lazio trip entirely and had to watch the match from home.
“—Ah, you can definitely feel the void left by Ri. The distribution of the ball isn’t flowing smoothly.”
Watching the match on TV like that, something felt strange.
My seniors were running their hearts out like that while I was lying on the sofa, which made me feel a bit sorry.
It was also frustrating when the match didn’t go well.
More than anything, I was a little angry.
It was because of the commentator who kept mentioning my name even though I wasn’t there.
“—As the match continues, the emptiness left by Ri is felt more and more greatly. There’s no one to hold the ball up front, and no one to cause cracks in the defense with dribbles. Even Saponara, who played well in previous matches, looks dead without Ri.”
A commentator is someone who commentates on the match.
However, rather than doing his duty, he kept talking about me, who wasn’t on the pitch.
It wasn’t simply uncomfortable because my name was coming up.
It annoyed me that he was phrasing it as if the seniors were struggling because I wasn’t there.
He made it sound like the seniors were people who depended on me, so it was bound to get on my nerves.
Strictly speaking, it was the opposite.
The seniors who had played against Lazio were all in a tired and difficult state.
After training, the treatment room was so packed there was barely room to step.
It was because everyone was in a physical state that needed treatment.
Even so, the seniors had played in the match without being able to rest.
Unlike me, who had ended up unable to play just because things were a bit hard.
Hearing the commentator run his mouth without knowing the situation, it was only natural to get angry.
Anyway, in the end, we’d lost the match too, which doubled that feeling.
“—Coincidentally, as soon as Ri was absent, Fiorentina’s winning streak came to an end. Certainly, today’s match…”
Until the very end, I wanted to sew that commentator’s babbling mouth shut.
. . .
“If you feel even the slightest pain, you won’t be able to play the next match either. Are you really okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“You have to be honest with me. If you rush back and play, you might end up having to sit out the next three matches. More than anything, if you get injured, I’m the one who’ll get all the flak. So, are you really okay?”
“I’m really fine.”
Having been called to the treatment room, I listened to the team doctor’s not-quite-lecture.
I had already answered that I was fine how many times now.
I was fine, and the examination results were fine too—I didn’t know why he was so worried.
He seemed to worry even more than Dad or Jiu.
“He says he’s fine?”
“What does he say? It’s not an injury, right?”
As I was leaving the treatment room, even other seniors asked me one by one.
When I answered that I was fine, that there was no problem at all, only then did everyone put on relieved expressions.
…Should I just hide it next time even if I’m hurt?
With everyone worrying so much about me, I started to wonder if I had overreacted for no reason.
It wasn’t even a real injury—I had just pulled a muscle slightly.
“Maknae, you okay? You can train?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
While I was hurriedly tying my shoelaces, the captain came and spoke to me.
When I said once again that I was fine, the captain let out a sigh.
“I was worried. I saw an article saying Korea had tried to call you up? But then I heard it was rejected due to injury, so I was anxious. I wondered if the injury was more serious than I thought.”
“…Is that so?”
“What? You didn’t know? How can you not know about your own story? Anyway, it’s a relief that it’s not an injury.”
Hmm… this is another story I’m hearing for the first time.
Irritation suddenly surged up.
I had just been tired, and I had rested only because the coach told me to take one match off.
I had no idea what was going on.
As the captain said, it was truly strange that I didn’t know my own story.
I just wanted to play football well, that was all.
It seemed the adult world didn’t work that way.
Maybe it was because I was too quiet.
Because I didn’t speak, weren’t people just speculating and interpreting things as they pleased?
In many ways, there were more and more things to worry about.
“….”
I felt myself growing a bit sensitive.
. . .
“Just in case, no. There will definitely be difficult questions coming up. You don’t have to answer those. Just pretend you don’t understand. I’ll answer them. You understand?”
“Yes. I understand.”
With two days left until the weekend match, having finished training, I was leaving the training ground with the coach.
We were on our way to something like an interview.
Not the post-match interview, but the pre-match interview.
I knew there were occasions like this.
Because on the last training day before the weekend, I had always seen reporters hovering near the training ground.
After training, the coach and the captain would always go to face them, so thanks to that, I could avoid them and return home quietly.
But today, the coach had quietly asked me.
If I could say a few brief words.
It was because fans were worried due to me sitting out one match last week, so he wanted me to just say I was fine.
That was why we were going now.
The coach had said I didn’t have to if it was burdensome, but it wasn’t particularly so.
As long as it wasn’t being broadcast live on camera, I knew how to distinguish what to say from what not to say.
Since I had learned that keeping quiet didn’t stop stories about me from coming out anyway… I also wanted to have my say.
“Please step back. That thing in front, it’s a line. Please get behind the line.”
When we arrived at the designated spot, quite a lot of reporters were visible.
Watching the reporters jostling with each other to take good spots, I suddenly thought that theirs must truly be a tiring job too.
“We’ll take questions for only 10 minutes.”
Before long, the time for questions and answers began.
The coach stepped forward, and questions flew at him.
He handled those questions quite leisurely.
“It seems the team has hit its limit in terms of accumulated fatigue recently. Do you have any measures for the second half of the season?”
“We are only taking questions about the weekend match. Next.”
“Since both Inter and Milan have been eliminated from the Champions League group stage, you can no longer gain any advantage in terms of schedule. The next time you meet, it seems like it will be a difficult match, but maintaining your current ranking—”
“Next.”
…Could it be that the coach was a defender during his playing days?
It was an ironclad defense.
The coach mercilessly cut down questions he deemed pointless.
I wondered if he wasn’t being too merciless, but the reporters said nothing and simply moved on to the next questions.
As expected, it seemed there were benefits to looking a little intimidating.
Should I also put on a more intimidating look for the interview?
“We will proceed to the next interview. Five minutes.”
The coach, who had said he would take questions for only 10 minutes, ended the interview in 5 minutes.
And now it was my turn.
When I stepped forward, hands shot up here and there.
It was the coach who decided who would get the chance.
The chosen reporter threw a question at me.
“How is the injury? Are you in a condition to play the next match?”
Hmm.
I considered shouting “Next” like the coach, but let out a sigh and answered.
I had never been injured, and yet I had become an injured player.
“There’s nothing injured. Thank you for your concern, but I’m perfectly fine. I’ll play the next match. If the coach sends me out.”
If only there weren’t cameras with their red lights on, I could speak well too.
The next question followed.
“There are clubs saying they’ll sign you this summer—”
“Next.”
I called for a pass as if I had been waiting for it.
Then I felt the coach standing beside me turn his head and let out a smirk.
Did it feel a little funny?
Anyway, seeing the reporter immediately lose his right to speak at my single word, I felt a strange satisfaction.
The reporters had no right to torment me.
While I was at it, I personally chose the reporter who would ask the next question and granted them the floor.
“Thank you. Last week, with your absence, Fiorentina’s performance was proven to be very poor without Ri—”
…Hmm.
I think I chose poorly.
I should have just left it to the coach.
“This match opponent isn’t easy either. Fiorentina had a poor record against Atalanta. Atalanta has also shown considerable confidence ahead of this match. In particular, they said that even if Ri plays, they can win easily enough.”
I listened silently to the lengthy question.
“They also said that Ri can only stand out because the other players’ skills are lacking. Do you have anything you would like to say about this?”
Because the question was so long, I had to organize my thoughts for a moment.
First, I interpreted the question, thought of an answer to it, and then assembled the words I knew from here and there to convey that answer verbally.
The fact that I still couldn’t speak Italian like a native was fortunate right now.
If this had been an interview conducted in Korean, I wouldn’t have been able to answer after organizing my thoughts like this.
Because the question was fucking idiotic.
“I received a lot of help, and I learned a lot. From the first-team seniors. Thanks to them, I was even called a genius. So right now, I feel greatly insulted. The person I am right now was made by the coach, the seniors, and the fans who support us.”
After briefly catching my breath, I answered again.
“So, don’t run your mouths as you please.”
It was directed at everyone.