17 save. Preparations are perfect
[Sky Sports] Leeds, a quiet unbeaten run.
The season continued.
While there were teams that pulled off dramatic comeback victories, there were also teams that continued to pile up losses and drop in the standings.
In between them.
Leeds was slowly, little by little, climbing upward.
Of course, this didn't mean they were on a winning streak.
Wins were few, and draws were more common, but.
Instead, they didn't lose.
That was Leeds at present.
[Leeds Live] Solid defense, lifting Leeds up!
On the attacking side, the team's main striker Ross McCormack was fighting hard, but that alone wasn't enough.
Even when McCormack scored, the defense played a large role in securing points.
[Yorkshire Evening] Shin Uison, continuing his clean sheets.
In particular, Shin Uison drew attention by continuing his run without conceding.
In the last FA Cup match against Man Utd, he had tasted his first conceded goal and first defeat, but.
Afterward, in the Championship league, he hadn't allowed a single goal and continued with clean sheets.
Now, there were no Leeds fans who doubted Shin Uison. No, there were few who didn't praise him.
To that extent, he was considered the core of the current defense.
If one considered the points he had protected, saying that Shin Uison had saved them wouldn't be an exaggeration, nor would it be entirely wrong.
And there were people whose attitudes had changed due to this performance.
"Yo~ Shin, what are you doing after training today?"
El Hadji Diouf was one such person.
He approached with a swaggering attitude.
Whether he simply wanted to build a rapport.
Or wanted to use the currently most talked-about figure at Leeds to have fun at the club, Shin Uison didn't know, but.
"I have to go home. I still have things left to do."
Shin Uison refused without any particular difficulty.
That he had things left to do wasn't a lie. Because he had to look at the analysis data for the next match.
"You really live a boring life."
Diouf sighed as if he couldn't understand.
Perhaps he didn't particularly intend to insist; shrugging, he turned around.
Shin Uison also shrugged.
'Fun, huh.'
Certainly, what people found fun differed from person to person.
Because he found the current situation too much fun.
Having escaped that time when he even felt powerlessness toward himself, now a smile formed every time he confirmed he was growing each time.
What greater fun could there be than this?
'Though I don't know about after I'm satisfied.'
If he stood at that level, it would be different, but.
Shin Uison was very greedy.
To the extent that he couldn't be satisfied with an ordinary level.
***
And so, the season was rushing toward its end.
The team's run without conceding continued, and now Leeds had risen to a position where they looked at promotion.
However.
For Shin Uison, there was a worry that had recently arisen.
【Reaction Speed 80】
"Hmmm."
He had hit a wall.
To be exact, his stat didn't rise from 80.
It wasn't a misunderstanding. Because experience didn't rise at all through training.
Shin Uison had been very happy when he first raised his Reaction Speed to 80, but now it had become a big concern.
"Why is this happening?"
[It's a limit.]
"A limit?"
[How should I put it, a kind of balance?]
As if he didn't understand that answer, Shin Uison scrunched his face.
"A stat limit is balance? Balance for whom?"
The system had clearly said that this system, including the dream-like training ground, was for Shin Uison himself.
But now to speak of balance, he couldn't quite understand.
[Well. Even I don't know that far.]
"That's a convenient answer."
Shin Uison, who had been muttering sarcastically, soon shook his head with a sigh.
"Sorry."
He had been childish.
[It's okay. And you are a kid, aren't you?]
As those words said, Shin Uison was merely a child without social experience, having just turned twenty, in someone's eyes.
Of course, Shin Uison didn't admit it.
"I'm not a kid."
[Only kids get worked up over words like that.]
"No, haah."
Shin Uison, who had been about to say something more, closed his mouth.
After a brief pause, he quietly asked.
"......Are you okay?"
[In what way?]
"What else. Being bound to me like this."
Merely by conversing as they were now, he could tell she wasn't a simple assistant.
Had she been emotionless, that would have been one thing.
It was one thing for Shin Uison to be observed.
But for her to watch that must have been considerable stress as well.
[I am a being born to help you. I feel no stress in this routine, nor do I have doubts.]
"......Then that's a relief."
[Ah, but I do find it enjoyable to see you struggle.]
"You really are a nasty one."
[Fufu.]
As his sharpened nerves calmed, Shin Uison scratched his head and brought out the essential question.
"How can this stat limit be lifted?"
[If you continue as you are now, you need not worry. But if I may offer one piece of advice, it must be the First Division league?]
"So it comes down to promotion in the end."
There was one more reason he had to get to the First Division league as quickly as possible.
But perhaps the fortunate thing was that there wasn't much left until the end of the season.
Shin Uison was confident he would win the promotion battle.
But at the same time, he was worried.
'De Gea.'
Until now, looking at this growth rate, he had vaguely thought he would be fine.
But after seeing De Gea's stats, who was active in the actual Premier League, his thoughts had changed.
De Gea's stats were tremendously high. It was natural, as he was considered one of Europe's best goalkeepers.
But even such a De Gea conceded goals.
At times, he was cursed as the culprit of defeat.
The difference between the second and first division leagues was that great.
'That time, when I conceded.'
Shin Uison recalled when he had conceded in the match against Man Utd.
He had predicted his teammates' movements, but not what came after.
Just because he had intuition didn't mean it was always the answer.
As it was a trait based on predictive ability, there was room for improvement, but for now, he could only tell very fragmentary things.
That alone was sufficient in the second division league.
But would it be alright in the Premier League, in the Champions League?
Shin Uison shook his head.
"I'll have to make the most of the remaining time."
Although Reaction Speed was limited, the other stats were different.
Since each training gave different kinds of experience, he needed to do trainings he hadn't done until now.
[Ah, by the way, even if a stat limit is in place, it's not that there's no way to raise it.]
"Then?"
[It's possible to raise it by investing points.]
"......"
Just in case, Shin Uison checked his remaining points.
0.
It was completely empty.
Moreover, since the points consumed increased to 2 from stat 80 onward, it couldn't be called a good method.
'There are also many traits I haven't unlocked yet.'
There was a reason it hadn't been mentioned from the start.
Shin Uison quickly gave up and looked at the training window. Trainings that he hadn't done much or hadn't done even once were visible.
【Corner Kick Taker Training】
【Pass Training】
【Aerial Ball Training】
"A goalkeeper doesn't need to go out as a corner kick taker."
Shin Uison pondered, resting his chin on his hand.
The stat second highest to Reaction Speed was Pass.
Would it be better to raise Pass to 80 first?
【Pass - 77】
【Long Pass - 75】
They were Pass stats that had grown even though he hadn't particularly done Pass training.
Until now, he hadn't had great ambition for passing, but recently at Leeds United, the proportion his passing took up was gradually increasing.
Then, training Pass first didn't look bad either.
【Pass Training – Lowest Difficulty】
His deliberation wasn't long. Shin Uison selected the training and pressed confirm.
A moment later.
A ball was placed a short distance from the penalty area.
"Are they telling me to go over there?"
Perhaps his prediction was correct; as he approached that vicinity, a strange feeling spread.
Shadows appeared as usual.
But there was something slightly different.
"What's that above that guy's head?"
Above the head of the shadow Shin Uison pointed at, something like an arrow floated. It was a mark he hadn't seen until now.
[It's a mark indicating they're on the same team.]
"Same team? Me? With a shadow?"
[Yes. Soccer isn't a game played alone. Don't tell me you didn't know even this...]
"No, it's not that I don't know. Damn it."
Shin Uison scrunched his expression at the teasing tone.
Anyway.
He roughly caught on to what it meant.
"So it means I just have to pass to that guy, right?"
[Right on the mark.]
"Easy."
Shin Uison lightly loosened his neck. The distance was a bit far, but without any defending players, this much was nothing.
The pass he struck without hesitation soon arrived in front of the shadow.
Like that, five times.
He succeeded in every pass.
【Calculating score!】
【Rewards vary depending on training results......】
【Grade A】
【Conditions satisfied!】
【Next difficulty unlocked!】
"Ooh."
At his first Grade A, Shin Uison let out an exclamation unconsciously. At the same time, a question arose.
"Isn't this too easy?"
Considering the hardships he had gone through to clear the lowest difficulty of penalty kicks, he was bewildered at how easy this difficulty was.
[It's the lowest difficulty. And your current Pass-related stats are high.]
"I suppose so."
Shin Uison nodded in agreement and looked at the training window again.
Lower difficulty.
Since he had come this far, he intended to continue.
【Pass Training – Lower Difficulty】
This wasn't his first lower difficulty training.
He had already experienced it several times through penalty kick and shot-stopping training, and had roughly felt how much it differed from the lowest difficulty.
"It's easy to tell what changed."
Shin Uison smirked as he looked at the increased number of shadows.
So they weren't going to let him pass freely anymore.
As he expected.
Those without marks above their heads ran toward Shin Uison.
There were two shadows applying pressure.
They maintained a certain distance between each other as they ran toward Shin Uison.
'Passing between those two carries a high risk.'
Poking a ground pass between those applying spatial pressure was not a good method.
But it wasn't a difficult problem.
Shin Uison lifted the ball high.
One shadow jumped, but couldn't reach it.
"Haha."
That sight was quite amusing, so Shin Uison burst out laughing, holding his stomach. Since he had always been in the position of being humiliated, it was quite enjoyable.
The shadows looked at Shin Uison silently. It looked exactly like they were angry.
'I've gone crazy too.'
Whether he had truly come to share an understanding with them, or if it was just his own delusion.
Neither was normal.
[You don't have time to fall into idle thoughts, do you?]
"Whoops."
As expected, it seemed he couldn't just clear it simply; the pattern changed.
One marked Shin Uison.
Because another was marking the shadow who would receive the ball.
"This is going to be difficult."
The pressure coming onto Shin Uison wasn't the problem. The problem was the defender loitering at the passing target's position.
"Fortunately, he's moving."
Perhaps because it was lower difficulty, the shadow with the mark above its head also tried to shake off the pressure little by little.
The problem was that the defender kept following.
Of course, unlike Leeds teammates, he couldn't sync with him, nor was he proactive.
Shin Uison softly clicked his tongue and moved his body to find a better passing lane.
The problem was.
During that gap, the one marking Shin Uison was rapidly closing the distance.
Thwack!
In the end, a long pass was fired from quite far away.
"Ah, damn it."
The pass went farther than he thought. Since the defenders were faster, the defender cleared it first and sent the ball away.
[Pfft.]
"Are you laughing?"
And so, after a total of five chances.
Shin Uison scratched his head and waited for the report card.
【Calculating score!】
【Rewards vary depending on training results......】
【Grade C】
-> Not bad for a first attempt, though.
"Haah."
As the time limit ended, Shin Uison sighed while watching the world crumble apart.
It was difficult.