5 Saves. Moving Forward Bit by Bit
Sin Uison had firmly imprinted his changed performance at the training ground and in reserve team matches, and this helped him solidify his position within the team.
At the very least, he had become the undisputed goalkeeper in reserve team fixtures.
‘More.’
Of course, Sin Uison had absolutely no intention of being satisfied here.
‘More.’
Whether in his dreams or in reality, he burned everything at the training ground. This too had played its part in the changed evaluations.
And finally.
Sin Uison had succeeded in raising his stats.
[Your stats have gone up?]
He hadn’t noticed it at first. He only realized because Voice mentioned it.
“What?”
Sin Uison asked, as if wondering what that was all about.
Because it didn’t make common sense.
Because.
This place was not a dream.
Sin Uison, who had stayed behind alone for extra training, tilted his head.
[You wouldn’t know since you turned off the menu window in reality, but I’m here to inform you of things like this. Shall we check?]
Soon the stat window appeared. In that regard, it was certainly a convenient and capable assistant.
【Reaction Speed – 69】
It was a stat he had been keeping an eye on, so there was no way he wouldn’t notice.
Truly, he could confirm the changed stat.
“But how?”
[In a way, it’s only natural.]
Stats or whatever they were, in the end, they were Sin Uison’s own abilities.
If one thing was natural, it was that as he grew in reality, his stats would naturally rise as well.
‘So I’ve grown, even if only a little.’
Sin Uison clenched his fist tight.
Although his Reaction Speed, which had been nearly full in experience, had risen by just one, he had achieved growth, however slight, through real-world training.
That sense of accomplishment was beyond words.
‘I wasn’t wrong.’
With that conviction.
Sin Uison continued to move forward.
***
After cleaning up the training ground and finishing his shower, Sin Uison walked the streets.
Today he planned to eat out.
Not that eating out meant anything lavish.
The closer he got to his destination, the more the smell of melting butter tickled his nose. It was a familiar scent too.
“Ah, Shin. Long time no see.”
As he entered the restaurant, a woman spoke to him with a smile.
Sin Uison smiled and replied as well.
“Long time no see, Katy.”
Olivia Katy.
That was her name.
She had long brown hair braided back in a single plait, and her gentle smile was beautiful.
Sin Uison recalled when he first met her. Days when he’d said he was with his parents, yet had spent more time alone.
Still unaccustomed to cooking back then, he had resolved most meals through eating out or instant food.
But.
There had been one serious problem.
Namely, he simply could not adapt to English cuisine.
In the end, he had sought out simple restaurants where one rarely went wrong, and this place was one of them.
“Shall I get you the usual?”
“Yes, please.”
Seated at the bar counter—in other words, in front of Olivia—the ordering proceeded naturally.
This place operated as a café during the day and a pub in the evening.
The food available at the café was limited.
“Here you go.”
Before long, a plate was set down before him. One sandwich and two eggs fried sunny-side up.
She soon worked the coffee machine and asked.
“How have you been lately?”
“Well, it was shocking, I suppose.”
“Oh my, really?”
[Was it?]
‘Because of you.’
Talking to Olivia relaxed him. So much so that he might inadvertently blurt out everything about his dreams. She’d probably become famous if she became a counselor.
“Coffee.”
Sin Uison stuffed his mouth full of sandwich and nodded his thanks as he received the mug. It was warm.
Yes. It had been the same the first time he tasted her food.
It wasn’t simply about the taste; her food conveyed warmth.
Something he hadn’t even felt when eating at home.
‘That’s why I go out of my way to come here.’
[Do you like her?]
‘No, it’s not like that.’
In his life in England that had been nothing but depressing, this place was his only refuge.
“By the way.”
Then.
Olivia opened her mouth as if remembering something she’d forgotten.
“We’re closing up here tomorrow.”
“Huh?”
His hand holding the coffee froze.
She continued with a bright smile.
“I’m thinking of going back to my hometown.”
“Ah, I see.”
“So today I’m prepared to make anything you want as a regular’s service. Is there anything?”
“Then……”
Sin Uison’s eyes lit up.
That day, he ended up overeating.
[Your refuge is gone.]
“Shut up.”
***
With the restaurant that had been his refuge now closed, he approached training with an even fiercer mindset.
As the days passed where he endlessly repeated training in dreams and reality.
“By the way, do you know about that?”
“What are you referring to?”
Sin Uison, briefly quenching his thirst, tilted his head.
The coach let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded and continued speaking.
“They say an interesting chap has entered Chelsea’s youth team. Apparently one who takes free kicks with his eyes closed. Really, quite funny.”
“Really?”
“What do you think?”
“Probably just a rumor.”
Sin Uison’s reaction to hearing the rumor was indifferent.
Surely it was just an exaggerated rumor.
There were more cases than one might think of promising youth players causing fans to make a fuss. It was the same with attaching labels like ‘the second so-and-so.’
Perhaps the moment he took the free kick, a brief instant with his eyes closed had been captured in a photo.
‘Even if it’s true.’
Moreover, even if there really was a prospect pulling such antics, what mattered was whether they could cut it as a pro.
‘Would I be able to?’
Sin Uison wondered just how much he would need to grow to cut it in the first team.
In the first place, what was the upper limit of these stats?
His head was growing complicated with such questions.
“Sin!”
“Ah, Bob.”
While heading to wash up after finishing training, Bob, whom he ran into in the hallway, called out to him.
“How does your schedule look tomorrow?”
“Me? Well, I’ll be at home, I suppose.”
Nothing special, he probably would have played some games.
Bob nodded as if he had expected as much and pulled something out from a document envelope.
“That’s fortunate. Take this.”
What was handed over were several sheets of paper. Sin Uison checked the contents and soon looked at Bob strangely.
“Isn’t this a first team training schedule?”
“That’s right.”
Bob affirmed very easily.
“The manager said to at least show your face at first team training.”
Sin Uison dropped the papers he was holding.
Sin Uison, who had been blank for a moment, barely opened his mouth.
“……Me?”
It started as a question of confirmation.
He wondered if Bob had mistakenly given him documents meant for someone else.
He looked at Bob with suspicious eyes.
“It’s really me?”
“Surely I wouldn’t confuse people?”
The old man continued with a furrowed brow.
“It seems your recent good performances have reached Big Sam’s ears.”
Big Sam was the nickname of Sam Allardyce, the current manager of West Ham United.
He had taken over from the 2011/12 season when the team was relegated to the second division and immediately led them to promotion, and so far had shown he could survive in the Premier League.
Well, there were quite a few fans who disliked him, saying the matches were boring because of that.
“Don’t get too ahead of yourself.”
Bob added a word of caution out of concern.
As he said.
The current West Ham goalkeeper corps could be said to be overflowing.
Adrian, who had finished adapting and claimed the starting spot, showed good performances, and although Jussi Jääskeläinen was currently on the bench, he was a reliable backup goalkeeper.
There was virtually no room for another player to enter.
“I suppose so.”
Sin Uison was well aware of this.
It wasn’t unusual to use several goalkeepers in first team training, after all.
Anyway, for someone like him, who had never set foot on the first team training ground where even U-18 prospects were called up, it was encouraging news.
***
Sin Uison’s face was a bit stiff as he arrived at the training ground.
The parking lot was lined with expensive sports cars he didn’t normally see.
It wasn’t as if there were no guys driving expensive cars in the reserves either, but it wasn’t to the extent of filling the parking lot like this.
‘Wow.’
Sin Uison’s eyes widened as he saw players greeting each other in the hallway.
They were players whose large photos hung on the walls of West Ham’s home ground, the Boleyn Ground.
If one considered fame alone, his older brother was higher, but this was different.
“Oh, are you that goalkeeper?”
“An Asian goalkeeper? That’s a bit unusual.”
“Al Habsi was Asian too.”
“Right! I’d forgotten that.”
Ali Al Habsi was an Omani goalkeeper who played for Wigan, the first Asian goalkeeper in the Premier League. And he wasn’t a bench member, but a starter.
“Sin!”
“Adrian!”
Then there was a man acting happy to see him.
It was Adrian, whom he had become acquainted with during reserve team training early in the season.
Perhaps because he had solidified his starting position in the first team, his face was bright and open.
“How are you these days?”
“I’m fine. By the way, I’ve heard rumors about you. They say you’re flying around everywhere?”
“Seems you’ve only oiled your tongue since I last saw you.”
“Just don’t oil your hands!”
Adrian laughed and patted Sin Uison’s back. Perhaps because they had shared mental anguish during reserve team training, his behavior was quite friendly. To the point where he stepped forward and introduced him to the first team players.
“Jussi, this friend is Sin. Sin Uison.”
“Pleased to meet you.”
Jussi Jääskeläinen offered a handshake.
Though rapid aging had caught up with him and he had lost his starting spot, he was a battle-hardened veteran of the Premier League.
“You remind me of Al Habsi.”
Sin Uison had heard that name earlier too.
“We ate from the same pot during our Bolton Wanderers days.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Though he was released to Wigan because he was pushed out by me.”
“……”
Sin Uison froze in the same posture as he was shaking hands.
Was this mockery or a joke?
As cold sweat ran down while trying to grasp his intention, Jussi, letting go of his hand, ruffled Sin Uison’s hair.
“Don’t be scared. I don’t mean anything bad.”
“Um, thank you?”
“It’s not a compliment, so don’t thank me.”
“……”
[I like this person.]
Sin Uison was beginning to think he could safely regard Jussi as a grumpy old man on Voice’s level.
Adrian, who had watched the situation, let out a hollow laugh and shook his head.
“He takes it seriously, so you shouldn’t tease him more.”
“At this age, this sort of thing becomes enjoyable.”
“Well, I hope to introduce you to Jussi like that later too.”
“Isn’t that just the nature of a player’s life?”
Jussi seemed to have resigned himself to his current situation to some extent.
He might not have when he was young, but intuiting that his playing career didn’t have much left, he had prepared himself mentally.
He had mentioned Ali Al Habsi with good intentions too.
Having claimed his place at Wigan, which everyone had deemed a lost cause, was certainly remarkable.
Sin Uison’s current position reminded him of Al Habsi back then.
“You said this is your first first team training?”
He offered advice looking at Sin Uison before him.
“Learn plenty. It will all serve as foundation.”
“……Yes.”
Sin Uison didn’t let the veteran’s advice go to waste either.
The goalkeepers, having grown a bit more serious, entered the locker room.
‘Who are they?’
As he entered the locker room, Sin Uison’s gaze turned to one side. There were guys who looked young for first teamers.
It wasn’t hard to figure out who they were.
Since they occasionally played in reserve team matches, he couldn’t not know them.
They were prospects from West Ham’s U-18 team.
Homegrown lads with English nationality, who had trained at West Ham United since they were young.
The youths raised like gold and jade by the club often showed themselves at first team training.
“What? Today is first team training though?”
“Guess he got the schedule wrong.”
“Pfft.”
“But I heard he’s doing well in the reserves these days.”
It seemed Sin Uison wasn’t the only one recognized.
Of course, he didn’t hear anything nice.
To those with the pride of being elites, Sin Uison—treated as surplus and waiting to be released—wouldn’t look good.
Sin Uison didn’t pay much attention to such mutterings.
After all, it would be more productive to play along with Norris’s barbs.
“Damn, it’s raining.”
After changing into his training kit and coming outside, Sin Uison frowned at the raindrops falling one by one.
Gloomy England often rained unexpectedly.
‘This damn weather, really.’
[Do you dislike rain?]
‘I tend to.’
Though there had been time lost to injury, how many years had he lived in London now?
He had grown somewhat accustomed to this dreadful weather by now.
At first, it was enough to make him understand why the English had such personalities.
Arriving at the training ground through the rain, most preparations were already finished. The West Ham players arrived one after another.
“Hmm.”
And.
This large-framed man who appeared wearing a hood to avoid the rain.
Big Sam.
It was manager Sam Allardyce.