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***

After the match between South Korea and Iran ended, talks about my national team comeback started to creep into discussions in Korea.

[South Korea national team loses 1-0 to Iran in Tehran. The never-ending Tehran jinx. Is Son Jinho the solution?]

└ Don’t touch my brother, you reporter jerk.

└ He didn’t even retire due to injury; isn’t it about time for him to make a comeback?

└ You should be grateful that he’s not changing his nationality, you idiots. Do you seriously think he can come back after doing that?

└ If someone retires from the national team at such a young age, shouldn’t their exemption from military service be revoked?

└ My brother lost his parents at a young age and had to work during the war.

Honestly speaking, I had no particular attachment to being a national team member.

I might suffer a bit in my career, but let’s be real—it’s impossible for South Korea to win the World Cup.

And feeling proud about being part of the national team seems a bit much given the tumultuous events I experienced in my past life.

Declaring a sudden pardon for match-fixing offenders as a commemoration for reaching the Round of 16 and blaming the players who fought the day before for poor performance at the Asian Cup, shoving player protection aside, is a move so absurd.

Even doing just one of those things would be a major event that would strip even the minimal integrity left in the Football Association, but in less than a year, the Korea Football Association has managed to mess up both.

The sight of the association, with its typical corrupt bureaucrat mentality, holding the ball for themselves while passing responsibilities onto their underlings, and the association head, who chooses the coach unilaterally and refuses to take responsibility to run for re-election, leaves me questioning why I even tried to become a member of the national team.

Well, looking on the brighter side, thanks to that, even when the association chairman and the Football Association sacrificed me as a scapegoat in this life, I was merely surprised at how quickly they did it rather than feeling betrayed by the association.

Because they’re just those kinds of guys.

Despite Mino Raiola’s persuasion to reconsider retirement, the reason I firmly decided to retire from the national team is that I know the Football Association won’t change.

[‘As the angry public demanded.’ Jung Do-jun, decides to step down from the position of Korea Football Association president. “I feel responsible for not finishing my term…”]

At that time, Jung Do-jun, who was the president of the association, unlike the tenacity of historical threads, seemed somewhat expectant as he stepped down, perhaps due to a snowball effect rolling downhill.

[Was Jung Do-cheol, who declared reform, ultimately doomed to fail due to internal opposition?]

[Jung Do-cheol, president of the Football Association, leaves an angry interview. “If I talk football with those guys, I’m not even a human; I’m a dog.”]

Seeing that key figures, including the chief of the association, whom people referred to as cancer cells of the Football Association, still firmly holding positions within the association, made me shake my head.

‘…Are they immortals? Or are they actual cancer cells surviving by metastasizing to surrounding tissues?’

There’s a reason why netizens call for a resurrection-style execution.

Anyway, with transfer rumors and the recent noise about a potential national team comeback, I conducted an interview with the German media.

[Son Jinho opens up about his national team comeback. “It seems difficult to come back as the association executives from that controversy are still in their positions.”]

***

[Through an interview with the German media, Son Jinho speaks about a national team comeback! ‘National team comeback? Well, those executives from that time are still in charge, so it seems difficult.’]

└ No;; Didn’t all those bastards get knocked out back then?

└ ‘If the entire leadership resigns, all administrative work of the Football Association may be temporarily paralyzed,’ and a few key personnel managed to sneak away.

└ Damn;; They really should have handled it properly back then.

└ For real;; The chairman drew all the aggro and couldn’t even prune them.

└ But can an exec go against the chairman? If the chairman gets deposed, it’s over, right?

└ It seems like the chairman wants to play up the narrative that he tried to reform, but it got smothered by internal resistance.

└ It really feels like it’s due to internal opposition. The embezzlement and misappropriation were so crudely done that those bastards formed a cartel.

└ Once the chairman starts firing executives, the media is going to scream dictatorship and personal whims, claiming the medieval family is trying to privatize the Football Association.

└ The scenario I envisioned when the chairman deposes the board: executive dismissal -> dictatorship and unilateral interviews -> public opinion trashes the chairman -> national apology -> return of “Football Mafia” -> reduction of the chairman’s authority -> World of “Football Mafia”.

└ Isn’t that a bit exaggerated?

└ What the heck. Suddenly jumping in to cover the chairman seems fishy.

[An anonymous football association executive known as the Jung Do-jun faction protests against the dismissal. “The chairman’s unilateral decisions are ruining the system of the Football Association. If Son Jinho is publicly interviewed by Korean media saying he’s not returning because of us, we’ll walk out ourselves.”]

└ It wasn’t an exaggeration, you damn it;;

└ Wow. They really read the script without changing a single word;;

└ Wait, didn’t the German media already say it was because of you guys? lol

└ They said the German media might be exaggerating, and they can’t trust it.

[Football figure requesting anonymity expresses concerns over the privatization of the Football Association.]

└ They’re really losing their minds, haha

└ Look at how they know they’ll get cursed and still ask for anonymity, haha

└ Wait;; why do they keep popping up as if they’re prepared?

└ No conspiracy theories please.

[Son Jinho confirms that the article released by the German media is true in an interview with the domestic media. “What the German media reported is correct.”]

└ LOL they jumped straight into the interview, haha

└ Ah haha, now they really have to get out of this rotten water, right?

└ I! Am! Leaving! I! Am! Leaving! I! Am! Leaving!

[In response to a reporter cautiously asking about the timing of his national team return, Son Jinho speaks up. “The trust with the Football Association has collapsed, and we need to build it up from a negative. That will take a long time and be difficult.”]

[An anonymous football association executive known as the Jung Do-jun faction gives a sordid interview. “I cannot trust Son Jinho’s interview. If he returns to the national team, I will leave.”]

└ Ah. Just leave already, you bastards.

└ I! Am! Leaving! I! Am! Leaving! I! Am! Leaving!

└ Whether my brother returns or not, you guys should just leave, right^^

└ I! Am! Leaving! I! Am! Leaving! I! Am! Leaving!

└ If you made a promise, you should leave.

[Anonymous football association executive: “He absolutely cannot leave until Son Jinho returns to the national team!”]

└ Please just leave ㅠㅠ

└ Ah. Damn. Seeing this crap from the morning has made my chest feel so stuffy. What kind of disease is this?

└ Is this what kids these days mean when they say they’re going to get cancer?

└ Even now, with the association changing hands, it’s this stressful; I would have gone insane if it stayed the same, haha

└ Are you joking? Just imagining it makes me fume inside, damn

***

The international match period ended, and the Dortmund players began to return to the club one by one.

As Dortmund prepared for the Revierderby against Schalke at their home ground, Signal Iduna Park…

– Player Son Jinho, I’m sorry to have to express my gratitude via phone. Thanks for your help. I was able to organize things internally thanks to you. How about we meet sometime to discuss the future of South Korean football?

I received a thank-you from Football Association Chairman Jung Do-cheol.

It wasn’t yet known to the media, but it seems he managed to tidy up most of the forces opposing reform.

– Uhm… By any chance, when do you think your national team comeback will be?

The chairman carefully asked about the timing for my return to the national team.

How should I put it…

His unusually cautious demeanor didn’t seem like he was aiming for a milestone as chairman but felt more like a genuine inquiry from a true football fan.

Well, that being said, I wasn’t thinking about coming back to the national team immediately.

Long flights would have a negative effect on a body still in its growth phase.

And above all…

Even if they had excised the problematic figures, I couldn’t fully trust the Football Association.

– Hmmm. And if it’s not too much trouble, could I get an autograph?

Anyway, it seems the current chairman isn’t as bad as I thought. I could sense his love for football during our phone conversation.

“Please keep this information confidential. It’s somewhat sensitive due to being related to a transfer…”

After pondering, I declared that I would join the national team after keeping my promise to Gyeouri regarding my return.

– Ah! Is that so? Then I’ll meet you soon in Paju. We’ll get the autograph then…

The chairman, who hadn’t seen the dark evolution of the Manchester United, said cheerfully that he hoped to see me on the national team soon.

I felt strangely guilty at the chairman’s cheerful voice.

I mean, while I would do my best to prevent Ferguson’s retirement, it might not guarantee that Manchester United wouldn’t become a joke.

If Ferguson were to retire and Manchester United undergoes a transformation…

Hmm.

I was just a bit sorry for unintentionally tormenting someone with false hope.

 

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