2 Save. West Ham Reserve Team
Sin Uison was out of his mind.
He pinched his own cheek and even asked Bob to slap him, but.
It wasn't a dream.
【Achievement Unlocked: First Visit】
'What should I call this?'
He frowned, looking at something still flickering before his eyes. It was an unprecedented situation, but the contents themselves were rather familiar.
'Challenge, and points.'
Words that might come straight out of a game.
It wasn't an unfamiliar field to Sin Uison. On his days off, he often stayed in to play games rather than going out, so it was even more so.
He still didn't understand what this unidentified window was, nor his current situation, but.
'First visit' probably referred to that training ground in his dream.
[Surprised?]
"Uwah, shit."
Startled by the sudden voice, Sin Uison looked around. But other than Bob, no one else was visible.
'Did I hear wrong?'
[You didn't hear wrong.]
'......!'
The cynical voice was that of a woman. But Sin Uison simply couldn't accept this situation.
'I must have heard wrong.'
[Is this escapism?]
'I didn't hear anything.'
[That's not so bad either. You'll be forced to accept it there whether you like it or not anyway, so I'll keep my mouth shut until then.]
Sin Uison shook his head violently and slapped his own cheek hard. He wished the demons in his head would disappear quickly.
"I've got no idea what's going on."
"Ah."
He had forgotten about Bob for a moment. The old man was looking this way with a disgusted face. It was understandable, given that his current behavior was anything but normal.
"Th-that's nothing."
"What do you mean it's nothing? I'll talk to the reserve team manager for you, so go in and rest."
"I'm fine. Rather, it'd be better to move my body intensely."
If he went home like this, his head might explode. Setting aside the confusion, that day's training began.
But contrary to his resolve, Sin Uison couldn't focus on training, and the coaches who noticed this whispered among themselves.
"He's working hard, but somehow his mind seems elsewhere."
"Bob said so earlier. That his condition isn't good today."
"It must be a troubling time."
They made expressions showing they understood in their own way.
Sin Uison's contract was expiring in a few months. In that situation, the club wasn't showing any significant movement, so as a player, it was quite a stressful matter.
Of course.
The actual worries he held were completely different.
"Haa, haa!"
If only to avoid hearing such talk, Sin Uison moved his body even more intensely. As if driving himself into the ground.
***
"I'm gonna die......"
Sin Uison muttered upon returning home. He staggered to his bed and collapsed onto it.
Had he overdone it? Lying on the bed, his eyelids were heavy.
As his vision slowly faded into darkness.
[Hmph.]
He heard someone's snort.
Soon after, Sin Uison opened his closed eyes and looked around.
It was the place from yesterday.
"As expected."
He could roughly grasp it through a few experiences.
Could he call it a training ground in his dreams? The condition for coming here was taking sleep, and that he could only come once a day.
'And the condition for returning.'
Sin Uison turned his head. There was an hourglass with sand just beginning to fall.
When one side of the hourglass emptied, he woke from the dream. It was the so-called time limit.
"Should I wait and see?"
He watched the smoothly falling sand, resting his chin on his hand. If so, how long was that time? Judging by his previous experience, it didn't look very long.
[There's no need to wait.]
"Phew."
At the voice he heard once again.
Sin Uison let out a long breath.
He had hoped it was an auditory hallucination if possible.
[It's unfortunate that it's not a hallucination.]
The cold voice dug in, dripping with sarcasm. Sin Uison, who had been covering his face with both hands, eventually raised his head and spoke.
"What are you?"
[You don't need to know.]
"Damn it."
[I don't have the function to tell others things I don't even know myself.]
Sin Uison, who had been frowning, rested his chin on his hand at those words.
It was a strange thing to say.
"So, you don't know who you are either?"
[That's right.]
"Then what is this place?"
[You come at it quite directly. I'm comfortable with that too. Would you check the menu?]
At those words, Sin Uison turned his head. The screen window that had tormented him all day was still there. It was also a medium that connected reality and dreams, directly telling him this wasn't a simple dream.
During training, he had deliberately turned away due to confusion, but here it was different. Sin Uison calmly examined the screen.
Fortunately, there was a change.
【Welcome back! Check the updated menu!】
It wasn't a voice ringing in his head. It was a phrase written in the menu window.
Sin Uison tilted his head at the strangely lively tone.
"What, did you write this?"
[That's right.]
"......Isn't the atmosphere too different?"
【How about something like this? ♡】
"No, absolutely, don't do that."
[Understood.]
Even though it was a dream, Sin Uison felt a headache. Contrary to his first impression, did she like to joke around? Perhaps she enjoyed seeing him flustered.
He held his head with one hand and continued checking the menu.
Overall, it was a menu reminiscent of a game's user interface, or UI. And the menu was divided into three categories.
Training, Settings, Exit.
'Does Exit mean leaving this place?'
Sin Uison first took interest in Settings. He put off the remaining two in case something unexpected happened.
When he pressed Settings, the screen changed. Among them, something caught his attention.
【Toggle Menu Window On/Off】
【Toggle Helper Voice On/Off】
"That's a relief."
A sigh of relief came out naturally. At least it seemed to have these basic functions.
He could put up with the screen, but if he had to listen to that venomous tongue forever, he'd suffer from neurosis.
"Should I call you Voice?"
[Call me whatever is comfortable.]
Having grasped the general stuff, Sin Uison pressed the back button.
What remained now were Training and Exit.
His hesitation wasn't long.
Sin Uison opened his mouth.
"So, won't you tell me exactly what kind of place this is?"
There was no reason not to ask such a question of an official assistant.
[This is a space solely for you, a place to help your growth.]
"My growth? By whom? For what?"
[It's an area I don't know either. But what's certain is that it will only benefit you, not harm you.]
Even at those words, Sin Uison clicked his tongue with a deeply displeased face.
To be honest, how could he believe that? This place was far too suspicious.
[Haah.]
As if she had caught on.
Voice let out a sigh.
[Then fine. Didn't I tell you? That you would accept this place.]
Despite still being a cynical voice, a strange sense of enjoyment could be felt mixed in.
[Let me give you a little taste.]
At the same time as those words, Sin Uison realized the atmosphere had changed. What had changed? The moment he took his eyes off the menu window and raised his head, his eyes went wide.
What he had seen before waking from the dream.
That bizarre black silhouette.
'The soccer ghost!'
The ominous fellow he had dismissed as a nightmare had appeared again. Well, since this wasn't a simple dream, that guy wasn't an illusion either.
[It's not something like a ghost, but a Shadow. A training partner who will be with you from now on.]
"Well, that's quite a fitting name."
Sin Uison looked at the black silhouette, the Shadow, with a bitter expression.
And so a brief standoff continued.
The Shadow simply stood still.
Sin Uison, who had been thoroughly on guard, also tilted his head and took a step closer.
The fellow showed no reaction.
[The Shadow won't make any movements until you choose training.]
So it was harmless? But Sin Uison felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding. Maintaining his distance, he checked the screen again without relaxing his guard.
【Training Tutorial - Starting Penalty Kick Save Training!】
-> Tutorial TIP! You can only select one event per training session!
-> No rewards can be obtained in the tutorial!
"Training tutorial?"
As Sin Uison muttered so.
A ball was placed in front of the Shadow.
[You'd better get up quickly.]
"Well thanks for the quick heads-up!"
Sin Uison got up and took his stance. Even as he wondered what on earth this was, he wasn't given time to think. Because the fellow rushing at him took a shot.
Boom!
The sound of a powerfully struck shot, and.
"......"
Sin Uison blankly watched the ball shaking the goal net.
He couldn't even react.
[Pfft.]
"So this is what you meant by giving me a taste? Thanks a whole lot for the spicy flavor."
Sin Uison gritted his teeth at the mockery. Even so, a ball was placed in front of the Shadow once more, and the fellow prepared a second shot.
But Sin Uison relaxed his body's tension. He felt no motivation.
[You've pouted like a child. But what I was trying to show you is the real deal from now on.]
At the same time as her words.
Sin Uison experienced something amazing, even mystical in a way.
'What is this?'
It was as if the world had slowed down for a moment.
But that wasn't the important part.
As if painted with watercolors.
In the empty air, the trajectory of the shot was drawn.
'......?!'
At that nonsensical sight, Sin Uison's eyes went wide. But even while surprised, he threw his body instinctively.
To the end of that drawn trajectory.
He reached his hand exactly toward that end.
Thud!
The tingling sensation left on his fingertips, and the ball that went outside the goalpost.
Sin Uison looked back and forth between his hand and the ball with a blank face.
"What was that just now?"
[You experienced, if only for a moment, the very edge of what you can reach.]
"Experienced?"
[Yes. Would it be easy to understand if I called it a trial version?]
Trial version.
In other words.
It meant that someday, he could reach that level.
"Is it possible?"
[Who knows? It depends on your effort.]
"Surely you can't draw the trajectory of a shot like that through effort alone?"
[In reality, that would be true. But this is a dream, isn't it? Then couldn't you use abilities from within this dream in reality as well?]
Sin Uison fell silent for a moment.
He needed more time to think.
"How do I get out of here?"
Instead, he opened his mouth, looking around the training ground.
Even though quite a bit of time seemed to have passed, there was still no significant change in the hourglass. Had his hypothesis been wrong?
[Your hypothesis wasn't far off. You can simply spend time, or reduce it another way.]
"Another way?"
[Check the training menu once more.]
Sin Uison checked the training window as told. Perhaps because the menu activated after the tutorial ended, he could see familiar training exercises.
'There are training difficulties.'
However, for the current Sin Uison, only the lowest difficulty was available, and anything beyond was locked.
"What difficulty was that tutorial just now?"
[You might take it personally if you know, are you okay with that?]
"I don't care."
[It was the lowest difficulty.]
At those words, Sin Uison sighed.
"So I'm Level 1."
He understood his position.