The U17 team I belong to is one where the phrase "wildly varied" fits perfectly.
This was because kids ranging from 14 to 17 years old were all part of this team.
As everyone knows, boys at this age grow noticeably from day to day.
So the youngest players look like elementary schoolers, while the oldest could pass for adults.
This U17 team was a place where peach fuzz and beards coexisted.
Thanks to that, the skill gap was also wildly varied.
It was technically one team, but it was hard to think of it as such.
Therefore, training was largely divided into two groups.
The main squad group and the reserve group.
"Faster, faster! Focus on your breathing!"
I belonged to the reserve group.
Actually, when I first came to this team, I had trained with the main squad group.
But I couldn't keep up with the main squad training, and at some point, I became a permanent member of the reserve group.
Obviously, kids who trained with the reserve group didn't get to play in weekend matches most of the time.
The match squad consisted of twenty players total, including starters and substitutes, and the main squad was sized to match that number.
In other words, if I wanted to play in a match, I had to escape the reserve group first.
And to do that, I needed to start standing out in training from today.
Even if I was lucky enough to get called up to the main squad, that wasn't the end.
There were levels even within the main squad.
Out of twenty, eleven were the real starters.
The other nine were on the bench, and among those, usually only four or five got the chance to be subbed in.
The rest were basically just there to fill out the numbers.
In short, I had a long way to go.
In this hierarchy stacked like layers of mountains, my current position was at the very bottom.
My head spun at the thought that I had to climb these steps in just two weeks.
What would Ji-woo think if she knew the truth?
She came expecting a soccer genius, only to find out I'm a benchwarmer who can't even sit on the bench?
Ugh, I didn't even want to imagine it.
-Sigh.
Well, they say even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
For now, let me focus on the present.
I had no choice but to take it one step at a time, starting with the training right in front of me.
"Next!"
While I was steeling my resolve, my turn came up.
I took a deep breath and stepped forward.
Three of us, including myself, lined up in front of a horizontal line.
A few steps ahead, cones were arranged in a row.
This was a fundamentals drill where you dribbled the ball and zigzagged through the cones.
The goal was to pass through as quickly as possible without touching any cones.
"Ready..."
I crouched down, preparing to burst forward...
"Tweet-!"
Tap-tap-tap-!
I shot out the moment the whistle blew.
When I reached the first cone,
I pushed the ball with the outside of my foot, then pulled it back with the inside of the same foot to get past the cone.
Then I switched feet and repeated the same process.
Going fast was important, but precision was even more crucial.
The more you rushed, the more likely the ball would bounce out too far, causing you to hit a cone or veer off course.
It was actually faster to dribble with the mindset of being accurate rather than quick.
So, as calmly as possible...
Tap, tap-!
I held my breath and made it past the last cone, then used that cone as a turning point and spun around.
From my peripheral vision, I could see the other kids' faces.
This meant I was in the lead so far.
Tap, tap-!
I continued dribbling back toward the starting line.
Accurately, as precisely as possible...
After cleanly passing the last cone,
I sprinted at full speed back to the starting line.
-Whew!
I was the first one back.
It was only out of three people, but... I hadn't touched a single cone and passed through cleanly, so this wasn't bad at all.
"Okay. Next!"
Well, honestly...
It didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.
The important thing was that I had confirmed at least a glimmer of possibility.
The possibility that even someone like me, if I just worked hard, could at least keep up.
When I was in Korea,
the times I got praised for playing well were because I worked harder than others.
Back then, I had no choice but to work hard.
So I really did work hard.
But after coming here, I couldn't find a reason to put in the effort.
But now, even if it was for a reason I didn't want, I at least had a reason.
So who knows what might happen?
If I kept working hard, maybe I could perform beyond my actual abilities.
"Tweet-!"
Fine, let's do this.
Whatever happens, it's better than being utterly humiliated in front of Ji-woo.
After the dribbling drills came passing drills, shooting drills, and physical training.
The reserve group's training program was thoroughly focused on fundamentals like this.
There was no tactical training.
Since these were kids who weren't playing in matches yet anyway.
Thanks to that, reserve group training had the characteristics of being boring, exhausting, and not fun.
Because of this, I always approached training with the mindset of just getting by—staying in the middle of the pack.
My goal was to blend in just enough to not catch the coaches' negative attention.
But today? It was different.
I worked as hard as I could.
I pretended to be motivated even when I wasn't, and during the dreaded shuttle runs, I even showed that I could survive until the end.
How long had it been since I actually gritted my teeth and trained like this?
I hadn't worked this hard since coming to Italy, so it had been almost three years.
"Okay. Good work, everyone."
Maybe that was why.
As training was winding down,
I could feel the coach looking at me intently.
It might have been my imagination, but... his eyes seemed to say he was surprised?
Like, why is that kid acting like that?
Well, it could have just been my imagination.
Either way, getting noticed at least once was something.
The coach who didn't even seem to know I existed.
"Alright, see you tomorrow."
-Sigh.
As soon as we were dismissed, I trudged toward the clubhouse.
I felt like dying after giving it my all for the first time in ages.
And I had to do this again tomorrow, and the day after.
Could I keep it up?
I didn't know.
Even if I couldn't, I had to.
If I didn't want to be exposed as not being a soccer genius, that is.
ㆍㆍㆍ
"Manager"
"Hm?"
"Good news!"
"What is it?"
After training had ended,
Luca, the coach in charge of the U17 team's reserve group, spoke with great excitement.
"That Ji-an kid, you know?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"He was acting a bit strange today."
"How so?"
"I mean, he was working hard. Not just working hard, but like he was gritting his teeth through it."
"...Lee Ji-an?"
"Yes. Did something happen? Or is he finally showing signs of improvement?"
At Coach Luca's words—that the person of concern from Korea, Lee Ji-an, had trained with fire in his eyes, going beyond mere diligence—U17 team manager Tony Ruzzo stroked his chin and nodded.
"Hmm."
He had wondered what the fuss was about, but it turned out to be something worth fussing over.
Lee Ji-an training diligently? This was indeed big news.
After all, this 16-year-old Asian kid was the person of interest that all the coaches paid the most attention to.
In fact, it was Lee Ji-an who had put the coaches on edge even before he joined the team.
Here was the background.
They had first learned of the player named Lee Ji-an three years ago, through a program run by a Korean YouTuber.
At the time, it was a program where representatives from several Serie A clubs gathered to evaluate young Korean prospects.
Lee Ji-an had stood out head and shoulders above the rest in that program.
To the extent that all the Serie A teams present unanimously picked him as their top choice.
By the end of the program, it was actually the Serie A clubs who were desperate to have him.
In the end, it was Juventus that took Lee Ji-an.
Fiorentina had also put in a bid, but well.
Since the competitor was Juventus, they had no choice but to give up.
But earlier this year, they heard the news that Lee Ji-an had mutually agreed to terminate his contract with Juventus.
According to a reliable source, the reason was this:
Lee Ji-an was having difficulty adapting to life in Italy.
Linguistically and culturally.
He couldn't adapt to living abroad and had become isolated.
There were even rumors that he had gotten into fights with teammates.
Actually, this was somewhat predictable.
Based on the evaluation from three years ago:
While his soccer talent was beyond doubt, Lee Ji-an had shown some worrying signs in terms of personality.
How to put it.
Since humans are inherently complex creatures, it was impossible to define Lee Ji-an's personality in a single phrase.
But what was certain was that he wasn't the type to enjoy fierce competition.
Off the pitch, Lee Ji-an was an extremely shy kid.
He didn't like being the center of attention and was quite introverted. They had also heard that he had an almost pathological dislike of pressure and expectations.
This was something they'd heard from the soccer coach who had instructed Lee Ji-an at the time.
According to him, before a tournament final once, he had called Lee Ji-an over and tried to motivate him by saying things like "You need to step up, we can't win without you playing well, can you do it?"
But upon hearing those words, Lee Ji-an had vomited on the spot.
It was almost like he was having a panic attack.
The exact reason wasn't clear.
But the coach had his own guess.
It was a story about Lee Ji-an's mother.
Lee Ji-an's mother was such a passionate guardian that she came to watch every match.
The problem was that she always called Lee Ji-an over after the match and scolded him.
Even after matches where he played very well, she would scold him, saying that level wasn't good enough, that he needed to do better if he wanted to become the best player.
Even right in front of all the other kids.
When they asked that coach if he had just stood by and watched, what did he say again.
Something about how in Korea, you'd be in big trouble if you crossed a parent, so there was nothing he could do.
Well, that was beside the point.
Anyway... because Lee Ji-an was that kind of kid, there had been doubts about whether he could adapt well to living abroad.
A type whose self-esteem and confidence were remarkably lacking compared to his talent.
It was a case requiring very careful handling, but since Juventus had so many promising players, they had probably been somewhat negligent in that regard.
The story had taken a long detour.
In any case, as soon as Fiorentina received that news, they approached Lee Ji-an and brought him in.
They even held meetings on how to handle Lee Ji-an and established guidelines.
Really, there was nothing special about it.
Just waiting for him.
Rather than giving him too much attention, they would pull back and watch from a distance.
So that he could open his heart first.
"Is he finally opening up?"
"That would be ideal."
"I hope so. Luca."
"Yes."
"Don't do anything different. Just keep doing what you've been doing."
"Of course. I'll just keep watching. Like usual, indifferently."
Manager Tony nodded.
Unfortunately, Lee Ji-an had wasted nearly two years.
He hadn't even gotten to play properly at Juventus.
But at sixteen, he was still very young.
His talent was beyond question... so if he opened his heart again and focused on soccer,
Fiorentina's future could be changed by him.
Tl's Note
After the storm of countless chinese football novel MC who doesn't have any personality i finally found it on a Korean Novel app lmao