Chapter 99: That Time We Entered the World Cup in South America (5)

TL: Skye

"Your Excellency. Coach Kim Hang-seo reports that he's finalized his roster of twenty-six and begun training."

Isabella held out the report.

Two thousand candidates, down to twenty-six.

An elite few who had survived a selection rate of roughly one percent.

Yu-jin opened the report and skimmed the list.

Twelve from the military, eight civilians, six from Tortilla Farm. A reasonably balanced composition.

"And SIA tracked down several San Marcos-descended players competing abroad and invited them to join."

At Isabella's words, he turned to the next page and checked the profiles.

"Having players with professional experience on the team will definitely light a fire under the rest. That's a good thing."

"Coach Kim was of the same opinion. He said the goalkeeper position in particular was hard to fill from the domestic pool, so a professional joining would be a huge help."

"But are these people actually willing to come all the way to San Marcos?"

"They're positive about playing for San Marcos. The catch is they're against naturalization, so just this once we'll likely have to make a special exception and allow dual citizenship."

"Hmm..."

Yu-jin wasn't entirely thrilled.

He himself had been suckered by the words "honorary citizenship" into becoming an illegal multiple-nationality holder, and now these people had to be allowed dual citizenship.

But what could he do.

'We're the ones in a hurry here.'

Yu-jin closed the report and nodded.

"No way around it. Let's proceed that way."

"Yes, understood."

He slid the report into the filing tray and looked out the window.

The skies over Libertad were clear.

'Maybe we could scrape together at least one win in the qualifiers?'

Of course, that was just Yu-jin's private opinion. In reality, badgered by his cabinet, he was striving to reach the World Cup finals proper.

***

Two weeks later.

That particular day, business wrapped up early.

"Then let's set the launch of Tortilla Transport for sometime next month. Ah, when did they say the International Steel plant would come online?"

"They estimate about half a year until construction is complete."

"Understood. I'll have to time a gift or something for then. Is that the end of today's schedule?"

"Yes. There's nothing left on the agenda."

Having finished signing off on the paperwork, Yu-jin checked his watch. Three in the afternoon.

Wrapping up at this hour was an extraordinarily rare event.

'What should I do?'

He considered heading back to the residence for a nap, then a thought struck him.

"Director."

"Yes."

"The national team's training is going well, I assume?"

"I've received reports that it's proceeding smoothly."

"Wouldn't it be all right to go see it in person? Since we finished early."

Isabella thought for a moment, then answered.

"That's a fine idea. It would do wonders for the squad's morale as well."

"Then let's pop over for a quick look."

And just like that, on a whim, a visit to the national team's training ground was decided.

Of course, a president's "quick look" was never quite ordinary.

It meant dragging along fifteen bodyguards, the protocol secretary, and Isabella too.

A convoy of vehicles rolled out of the Presidential Palace and headed for the outskirts of Libertad.

***

A makeshift training ground on the edge of Libertad.

Kim Hang-seo had split the twenty-six-man squad in half and set them to a scrimmage.

Thirteen red vests against thirteen blue vests.

The players darted back and forth over lines drawn in powdered lime.

"Rio! Get into space! Space!"

"Rafael! Stop dribbling and pass! Pass!"

"There! Watch the offside line! The line!"

The voices of the coaching staff filled the training ground.

Two weeks of training were beginning to show, little by little.

Their tactical understanding was still rock-bottom, but at the very least the concept of a pass had lodged itself in the players' heads.

Of course, knowing and doing were two different things. Rio still dribbled like a one-man charge, and Rafael, the moment he got the ball, had a tendency to sprint solo all the way to the goal.

'Still, better than when we started.'

Just as Kim Hang-seo was about to blow his whistle,

Three black sedans came rolling into the training ground.

'What's this?'

Kim Hang-seo turned his head.

The players, too, stopped one by one in their tracks and looked toward the vehicles.

The sedans halted and the doors opened.

First out: the bodyguards.

Second out: Isabella.

And third.

Yu-jin stepped out of the car, stretched, and looked around.

"Ah, so this is the place."

In that instant.

The training ground froze.

"Y-Your Excellency...!"

"His Excellency is here!"

The squad reflexively snapped to attention.

'His Excellency has come to the training ground.'

Rio's heart pounded.

He'd seen Yu-jin from a distance before, but never this close.

'That's the man who changed my life.'

The man who had made it possible for him to earn a living and care for his younger siblings.

And now, the man who had even given him the chance to live a new life through football.

Rio's hands trembled.

Kim Hang-seo hurriedly organized the players and approached Yu-jin.

"Mr. President, what brings you here so suddenly...?"

"Ah, work finished early, so I came for a casual look around. My apologies if I'm interrupting."

"N-no, not at all. Welcome."

As Kim Hang-seo bowed at the waist, Yu-jin waved a hand.

"Please, relax. I'm just here to watch."

Yu-jin took in the training ground.

A grass field marked with lime lines, goalposts welded together by Tortilla Engineering, a bench cobbled from a few plastic chairs.

Frankly, it was shabby.

But the eyes of the players sweating out there on it were anything but shabby.

"Coach, how are things looking?"

Kim Hang-seo thought for a moment, then spoke carefully.

"Technically, I'll be honest, they're at an amateur level. Their tactical grasp is low as well."

"......"

"However."

Kim Hang-seo's voice shifted.

"When it comes to stamina and mental toughness, they surpass any team I've ever coached."

"Mental toughness?"

"Yes. San Marcos players get back up even after being knocked down. They'll run while vomiting, and even when their legs give out they'll crawl to the finish. Normally it takes months just to instill that kind of grit, but the players here came pre-equipped with it from the start."

"That's fortunate."

"Of course, more time is needed. Technique and tactics can be taught, but we should count on at least a year."

"A whole year?"

"...Sorry?"

Yu-jin had meant it takes that long just to get them to a level fit for World Cup qualifiers. But Kim Hang-seo, whose goal was to actually make it through the qualifiers, took it a different way.

Building a national team from a footballing wasteland and training it to aim for the World Cup finals, and only a year at that.

'This is the kind of job that ten years wouldn't be enough for...'

But Kim Hang-seo didn't dare argue back. No, he couldn't.

Though he hadn't been in San Marcos long, he had already grasped that Yu-jin's regime was no ordinary one.

"Ah, of course, if it's not enough I'll give you more. Ha ha."

Yu-jin added it with a laugh, but Kim Hang-seo answered while shaking like a leaf.

"No, no. A year is more than enough. I'll get it done, no matter what it takes."

"Is that so? Coach Kim, you never disappoint. Truly the best."

Kim Hang-seo's face darkened.

'...And if I don't pull it off within a year, what happens then?'

Meanwhile, as this unfolded, Yu-jin glanced toward one side of the training ground.

The players stood at a distance, watching the exchange between Yu-jin and Kim Hang-seo.

Every last one of them wore a tense expression.

"I'd like to say a quick hello. Could you gather the players for me?"

At that, Kim Hang-seo blew his whistle without delay.

Wheeeeet!

"Everyone, fall in!"

The twenty-six sprinted over in perfect unison and lined up before Yu-jin.

"First, congratulations on being selected for the national team."

"......"

"You will be the first national team to carry the name of San Marcos to the world. The burden will be immense, but I believe in you."

At the words that His Excellency, lofty as the heavens, believed in them, the players' eyes burned hot.

"And."

Yu-jin turned and gave Isabella a look.

Isabella drew out the stack of documents she'd prepared.

"I've prepared a small gift."

Yu-jin raised a single sheet for them to see.

[Republic of San Marcos State Land Lease Rights]

Silence.

"The lease term is thirty years. You may farm the land, put up a building on it, or sublease it, whatever you like."

Twenty-six pairs of eyes went round.

Land lease rights.

These men knew all too well what that meant in San Marcos.

The land near Libertad in particular was soaring in value alongside rapid development.

With a thirty-year lease, subleasing alone would bring in a considerable income every month.

Not rich, exactly, but enough for a family to live on comfortably.

Rio's lips quivered.

'Land lease rights, of all things...'

On a soldier's salary, he couldn't have bought that in a lifetime of saving.

Beside him, Rafael felt his breath catch.

'To receive a gift like this the moment I stepped off the farm.'

His eyes stung with heat.

The other players were no different.

Some wept without a word, others sobbed.

"Your Excellency...!"

"Such grace...!"

Yu-jin waved a hand.

"It's not grace. It's fair compensation for the sweat you'll pour out from here on. Take it with an easy conscience."

Yu-jin sincerely believed that.

The players would have to give up their livelihoods while devoting themselves to training for the World Cup qualifiers, so compensation for that was only natural.

But the players saw it otherwise.

It was grace.

And grace must always be repaid.

Rio was the first to cry out.

"Your Excellency! I swear I'll repay this grace on the pitch!"

"I'll run with my life on the line!"

"I won't bring shame to your name, Your Excellency!"

All twenty-six cried out as one.

Yu-jin waved with a smile.

"Yes, yes. Just don't get hurt and give it your all."

Yu-jin brushed it off lightly.

But in the players' eyes, flames were blazing.

Flames that said, for this man, they truly could stake their lives.

Kim Hang-seo watched the scene from the side and thought.

'He's handing out land?'

It was unthinkable back in Korea.

Where was there a president who gifted land to his national team players?

But the effect was undeniable.

The players who, moments ago, had moved at Kim Hang-seo's command were now poised to lay down their very lives.

Loyalty and gratitude.

And the head of state who manufactured it.

Kim Hang-seo was witnessing a sight he could never have seen in Korea, and probably nowhere else on earth either.

'This team's true weapon... won't be the body, but the spirit.'

And so, after Yu-jin had gone.

Tweet-

Training resumed.

The players' movements were visibly transformed.

They'd run hard before, too, but now it was on another level entirely.

Their eyes had changed.

Because in each of their chests lay not a single sheet of land lease rights, but the grace of His Excellency.

Kim Hang-seo said to his coaching staff.

"...From today, let's raise the training intensity by twenty percent."

"A full twenty percent?"

"Because I think these players can take it."

Park Jong-ho gave him a dubious look, but Kim Hang-seo's judgment was sound.

And that evening, despite the sudden spike in training intensity, not a single player gave up.

*****

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