8 save. Moving Forward Little by Little
“The choice is yours.”
Sam Allardyce said. As the player was now out of his hands, he seemed uninterested in whatever choice was made.
Sin Uison looked at the two emblems.
They were both well-known clubs.
Leeds United.
A fallen giant.
A team that had once vied for supremacy with that Ferguson’s Manchester United, but had ended up relegated due to financial difficulties. In the current situation, where restoring their former glory seemed a distant prospect, the words “fallen giant” suited them well.
“For your information, there are rumors that a new owner might be coming to Leeds United.”
“Is that so?”
“Have you ever heard the name Massimo Cellino?”
Sin Uison shook his head.
Sam Allardyce scratched the bridge of his nose briefly and offered a small piece of advice for the player.
“He’s a famous gentleman in Italy.”
“What kind of…?”
“A man who treats managers’ lives like flies.”
A team where the manager changed frequently was bound to be shaken sooner or later.
Moreover, Leeds’s financial troubles were not a thing of the past, but an ongoing story.
Players, too, couldn’t help but be shaken in such a brutal atmosphere.
*As for Wolverhampton.*
Wolverhampton had also plummeted to the third division, so the overall situation wasn’t good, but since smooth promotion was expected this season, the atmosphere was slightly better.
“There is a way to leave on a free transfer, but you wouldn’t want that.”
“Yes.”
Sin Uison nodded once again.
Rather than pointlessly waiting until the end of his contract to exploit the Bosman ruling, it was better from the player’s standpoint to transfer as soon as possible and find his place.
“Off you go.”
And with that, he was shown the door.
Sin Uison left the office and walked with a conflicted expression.
***
“Hmmm.”
The dream training ground.
Having entered that place again today, Sin Uison was groaning with his chin in his hand.
*What should I do?*
*Which team should I go to?*
He had agonized over it all day but couldn’t make a decision, so he was racking his brains even in the dream training ground.
[Just watching you is boring me.]
“Shut up.”
Sin Uison waved his hand at the Voice’s sigh.
Unless he was training, time flowed normally in this place.
*A crossroads.*
It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As such, making a choice wasn’t easy.
There was only one condition Sin Uison wanted.
A starting spot.
He wanted a firm place to call his own.
In the end, his heart leaned toward a place that could guarantee him a starting spot.
“The one that guaranteed a starting spot was Wolverhampton, wasn’t it.”
They hadn’t exactly guaranteed a starting spot.
They wanted a player to compete with the current starting goalkeeper; it might sound arrogant, but he was confident about competing for a starting spot in the third division.
On the other hand, Leeds United had Paddy Kenny as their starting goalkeeper.
This veteran goalkeeper, thirty-five years old, was Leeds’s entrenched starter.
The club likely thought of the signing as preparation for his aging, but it might be closer to an indefinite wait.
[Are you afraid of competing with an old player?]
*It’s not that.*
Snatching a starting chance from an established incumbent wasn’t an easy task.
Of course, there were cases like Adrian, but conversely, there were also cases where a player’s own performance dropped first while waiting for the veteran to decline.
*If that’s the case, I’d rather…*
He intended to fight for a starting spot rather than wait.
[Have you finally decided? You aren’t going to flip-flop again like before, saying “never mind, this isn’t it,” are you?]
The voice was strangely tinged with delight.
The Voice had truly seemed bored.
“I’ve more or less decided.”
Sin Uison brought up the menu window, and his finger stopped on one training while he was selecting.
Penalty Kick Save Training.
A desire had arisen to personally experience the advice he had heard from Jussi Jääskeläinen.
[I don’t think that’s a good choice…]
“You have to review what you’ve learned before you forget it.”
[That sounds like nagging.]
Sin Uison ignored the taunt and reflected on the advice he had heard today.
Read the opponent’s psychology.
Or analyze it.
He had been able to grasp the former without much difficulty.
The penalty kick in the reserve team match against Aston Villa.
Sin Uison had looked into the kicker’s eyes then and won the psychological battle. But against that shadow, it was impossible.
“Hey.”
[What is it?]
“Is it impossible to make that shadow shed its pitch-black outer shell?”
[That’s another refreshingly novel question.]
The Voice seemed flabbergasted.
[It’s possible to equip a different skin, but impossible in its default state.]
“Skin?”
[That is information not yet unlocked.]
Once again, it was information currently unavailable.
When a question outside its authority came in, the Voice’s tone changed in a peculiar way.
Whether it was restricted by something, or simply a macro response.
Sin Uison shook his head and selected the training.
[Penalty Kick Save Training – Lowest Difficulty]
Soon, the shadow appeared. Now, there were only the two of them—it and Sin Uison.
“It’s been a while since it’s been just us like this, hasn’t it?”
It still gave no answer.
He hadn’t asked expecting an answer.
No, instead of answering, it stepped forward.
“Hup!”
Sin Uison took a deep breath and didn’t miss a single one of its movements.
His slightly improved prediction ability and vision helped somewhat.
*Boom!*
A powerful shot.
But.
“…….”
Sin Uison stood still without moving. The shadow, having finished its shot, stood idly looking at the goal—no, perhaps at Sin Uison.
As if asking why he had done that.
[Have you gone mad?]
“No, this is analysis.”
Analysis through recording was impossible here.
Therefore, he had decided to face it directly and analyze it.
And so.
A total of five shots followed.
“‘Make eye contact,’ huh.”
Sin Uison, who had watched it all with his arms crossed, muttered as if puzzled.
“I feel like I get something, yet it’s strange.”
[Isn’t that your imagination?]
“Do you have to be such a wet blanket?”
Clicking his tongue, Sin Uison calculated what had just happened and his current situation.
*The opportunities given to me are five in total.*
That number hadn’t changed yet.
[You won’t even get proper experience points, and you’ll end up wasting your attempts.]
“No.”
Sin Uison denied those words.
The usual Sin Uison would have accepted that advice.
But having seen his stats rise through enlightenment, he had felt something.
Growing through simple physical abilities alone would eventually hit a limit.
*They call it football IQ.*
It was the factor used to distinguish first-rate players from third-rate ones.
If a third-rate player only reacted to the situation before his eyes, a first-rate player was reading the game in his head.
“I don’t think this is a waste.”
[Then very well.]
“Hmm?”
Sin Uison tilted his head as the opinion suddenly changed.
The Voice answered in its usual cynical tone.
[I am, after all, an assistant who helps your growth. If your will is firm, it is my role to help that. I must help your current choice become a foundation for growth rather than a waste.]
Sin Uison, who had braced for mockery throughout the training, nodded with a dumbfounded expression.
“Well, thanks.”
[If you wish, I can also design a training schedule for you.]
“Really? That would be great.”
As if in response to those words, recommended items were displayed separately in the training window.
Had they grown a little closer?
If it had a physical form, he would be able to know what kind of face it had, what expression it wore, but that was impossible.
*Hmm.*
Sin Uison, who had been checking the recommended training with a blank face, broke into a cold sweat.
Because the remaining four trainings were all Penalty Kick Save Training.
“Are you angry, by any chance?”
[Who, me?]
*Angry indeed.*
He could tell without seeing the face. Could it be because he hadn’t listened to the advice she had given at first?
And so, a small change occurred in the training schedule.
***
The training schedule designed by Voice was more systematic than he had expected.
The experience points obtainable from each training and their amounts differed, and she balanced them or sometimes helped him focus on one side.
*So she wasn’t just an assistant for nothing.*
Even Sin Uison had to admit as much.
Even though it differed from the training he had initially proposed, she had completed the optimal calculation.
She had done her part.
*Does that mean I just need to do my part properly?*
Sin Uison was staring intently at his smartphone screen with a nervous expression.
How long had it been since he contacted this number?
[Who is it?]
“Mom.”
He intended to have a conversation about the transfer.
Even if he didn’t explicitly mention the transfer, his parents, who acted as his agents, would already know about it.
[Come to think of it, what is your father like?]
His mother was always the one who called.
“…He’s a scary person.”
Sin Uison’s voice was listless.
He might truly be afraid of him.
As his words suggested, his father was a very strict man.
The reason the brothers hadn’t voiced a single complaint about the unfamiliar life in a foreign land since childhood wasn’t simply because they were well-behaved.
“Even now, my older brother probably doesn’t get caught up in weird scandals because of Father.”
[Is he that bad?]
“Father was in charge of player management rather than negotiations.”
Sin Uison closed his eyes and eventually pressed the call button.
His mother was just as difficult to deal with, but if his father answered? He might not be able to open his mouth properly.
The dial tone continued for a moment.
Before long, the call connected.
“Hello?”
“Phew.”
Sin Uison let out a sigh of relief. Because it was his mother.
“Ah, Mom.”
“It’s Uison. Yes, it’s about the transfer, right?”
“Yes.”
Sin Uison tried to convey his intentions while he had the chance.
But before that.
His mother spoke first, and Sin Uison froze on the spot.
“We’re already in negotiations with Leeds United. I’m sorry for telling you so late.”
“Huh?”
Sin Uison asked blankly.
He hadn’t anticipated this.
Sin Uison asked again in a flustered voice.
“Wait. No, what do you mean…”
“This is something your father decided.”
At those words, Sin Uison closed his mouth. Instead, countless thoughts flashed through his mind.
What did he want?
The vanity that the second division was relatively better than the third division?
Or was it because of the signing-on fee?
Whatever the reason, when his mother brought up his father’s name, there was only one meaning.
It was already decided, so he should accept it.
Sin Uison ended the call and struck the wall with a darkened face.
[…You’ll hurt your hand doing that.]
“I’d rather get injured.”
Then he’d fail the medical test.
Sin Uison seriously considered it for a moment, then soon let out a hollow laugh and looked at the sky.
The damned English sky was still overcast.
And it didn’t stop there; rain began to fall.
Sin Uison did not avoid the rain.
He didn’t want to today.
“Truthfully, I wouldn’t have minded if it was Leeds.”
Yet the reason he was angry was that his parents were already pushing the transfer forward before even hearing his opinion.
As if selling off a well-raised head of livestock.
When he was young, he had thought that was only natural.
But now.
He was sick of that behavior.
Sin Uison lowered his head to hide his expression and quietly opened his mouth.
“Today is the last day.”
Being swayed by their will like a puppet.
Being unable to say anything like a fool.
All of it ends today.
[You can do it. Definitely.]
“Really?”
[And since you have to reach the top flight anyway, think of it as your road getting a little faster.]
Sin Uison chuckled at the cynical consolation. Ridiculously, it was a little comforting.
[Football London] West Ham – Leeds United, negotiations complete.
[Official] Leeds United sign Korean goalkeeper Sin Uison!
That day.
A player moved his nest.