I rejected the school bully's confession because of soccer. - Chapter 2

I turned five years old.
It was quite strange to walk through my life again.
For the first few days, I thought it would just be a dream.
But as a year or two passed, and I became as old as five, I had to accept it.
That this wasn’t a dream.
Living again wasn’t as boring as I thought.
A day would pass quickly with just a soccer ball.
Dad’s eyes sparkled every day seeing me like that.
He didn’t hide his desire to send me to soccer school as soon as possible.
And as soon as I turned five, dad immediately took me to soccer school.
Dad exchanged a few words with the soccer school teacher and smiled with satisfaction.
I looked around the classroom, immersed in memories.
Kids in uniforms were chattering in groups.
Among them, one child particularly caught my eye.
Hwang Min-chul.
I could recognize him right away.
He was the one who made me feel a wall for the first time.
At this time, I was at the beginning stage of learning.
I was excited and curious just learning how to handle the ball more skillfully.
But the problem was the self-proclaimed and widely acknowledged most promising student in the class, who had started soccer a year earlier than me.
That child reigned arrogantly as if everything in the world belonged to him.
And whenever I played with the ball, he would always approach and say mockingly:
“That’s not how you play soccer.”
It was like a senior student showing off by rapidly reciting multiplication tables in front of a junior who had just learned them.
“Wow, you’re really bad, even for someone who’s bad.”
Even with hard practice, the skill gap didn’t close easily.
“You want to play soccer when you’re worse than those who are already bad? Can you even enjoy it with that level of skill?”
Because of this, I even said I didn’t want to go to soccer school anymore because I started to dislike playing with the ball.
Dad comforted me saying that with time, I would naturally be able to do that much, and he was right.
Thanks to that, I was able to maintain my interest in the ball.
But I couldn’t put down Min-chul’s arrogance.
It was because he was older than me.
What I mean is, by the time I gained skills equal to or perhaps better than his, he had left for elementary school.
‘That audacious look in his eyes is still the same.’
He was the same, but now I didn’t feel any desire for revenge against a kindergartener.
As an older person, I want to understand his immature behavior.
At that moment, my eyes met with Hwang Min-chul’s.
“Don’t tell me he’s here to learn soccer too? Really, every Tom, Dick, and Harry thinks they can play soccer.”
For some reason, those words brought a smile to my lips.

The first class began.
The children were standing with excited or nervous faces.
And I was mixed in among them.
“Today we’re going to learn dribbling and passing. Dribbling and passing are-”
After a simple explanation.
“Now, the older kids will demonstrate first, so pay attention.”
One of the protagonists of the demonstration was, of course, Hwang Min-chul.
He stepped forward with his usual confident expression.
Then, as soon as he received the ball from the teacher, he started skillfully rolling it under his feet.
The course was so simple it was hardly worth mentioning.
It ended with going straight, turning around a cone, making a U-turn, and coming back.
The soccer ball rolled neatly following his feet.
“Wow!”
It must have been impressive enough for the children.
Since they just came to learn.
Hwang Min-chul returned with a confident face.
“Now you’re going to try it yourselves, but don’t worry if you can’t do it. Shall we try comfortably, thinking of it as play?”
As the children’s clumsy dribbling continued, Hwang Min-chul’s lips split into a malicious grin.
His face seemed to say, ‘That’s how it should be.’
Soon it was my turn.
I approached the teacher and received the ball.
I took a light breath and dropped the ball.
Just before the ball touched the ground, I slightly extended my foot.
The soccer ball sliding smoothly over the instep.
I followed the ball as it naturally started to go forward.
I slightly increased my speed.
As the movements flowed lightly and rhythmically, I felt as if the ball was stuck to my foot.
When the cone got close, I tapped the ball with the inside of my foot to change direction.
I drove the ball quickly as if breaking through the straight line again.
When I returned to the starting line, the children were open-mouthed with wide eyes.
Unlike when Hwang Min-chul had stepped forward earlier, I felt quiet, focused gazes.
The children stared blankly at me for a long time even as I returned to my place.
“Insane…”
One child muttered in a small voice.
Only then did exclamations burst out here and there.
“Amazing!”
“How did you do that?”
“You were like a soccer player!”
Hwang Min-chul’s face was tangled with bewilderment.
When our eyes met, he made a ‘tch’ sound and turned his head.
To him, I was a completely unexpected variable.

Kim Sung-hoon, the coach of the soccer school, was dumbfounded.
This was already his 5th year working as a soccer school teacher.
He had played soccer up to university, but the wall of professional play was high, and he had been preparing to gradually leave the field.
Then, on the recommendation of a senior, he came here.
Teaching young children how to kick a ball was different from the sports career he had imagined.
But the hot interest of parents who needed his athletic experience gave him stability.
“Teacher, our child has been crazy about balls since he was young. He’s even like a genius.”
Parents coming to register all boasted about their child’s talent, unable to hide their expectations and excitement.
Kang Tan’s father was no different.
Having seen such scenes countless times, Sung-hoon just nodded along appropriately.
It was just kindergarten level anyway.
It was too early to discuss talent.
To be honest, among the kindergarten children taking the class, there were hardly any that really stood out.
Most children tended to find other dreams than soccer as they grew up.
This place was just a fun playground, not a place for serious training.
But Hwang Min-chul was different.
The word talent seemed to be allowed only for him.
Although his self-absorption at such a young age was a drawback, if he could just fix that point, Min-chul had a high possibility of going quite far.
He was confident that if this child grew, he would definitely secure a place on the national team.
So, as Sung-hoon was conducting classes centered around Min-chul, one day, new children joined.
A child named Kang Tan was one of them.
And on that first day of class, he saw Kang Tan’s skills right before his eyes.
“Now, it’s your turn, Tan.”
As soon as Kang Tan dropped the ball he received, it caught on his foot.
A first touch too natural to be a mistake.
Soon, light and fast dribbling began.
Sung-hoon’s eyes widened as he watched those small feet step in perfect harmony with the ball.
‘No way, is this five-year-old dribbling?’
Children are usually not accustomed to handling the ball in their first class.
But Tan seemed to have the ball naturally stuck to his feet.
The step speed and movement were on a different level not only from other kindergarten children but also from Min-chul.
It was a pace control and rhythm that wouldn’t be out of place even compared to high school students.
Sung-hoon watched the scene in amazement.
In a class where he just encouraged children to enjoy, another player who caught his eye like this had appeared.
Looking at Min-chul’s expression from the corner of his eye, bewilderment flashed across that face always full of pride.
It was the first time Min-chul had been shaken like this.
Sung-hoon could instinctively tell.
Kang Tan, this child was by no means ordinary.
‘To think that two prodigies worthy of recommendation to a youth club would come out of the place I teach…’
Sung-hoon’s heart started to race.

As the classes continued, Hwang Min-chul’s desperation became apparent.
He must have reigned as an ‘insurmountable wall’ in his own kingdom of soccer school.
So he wouldn’t want to lose his crown.
No matter how young, it’s not easy to acknowledge someone who’s better than you.
Especially if that someone is younger than you.
“This time, it’s obstacle dribbling!”
As soon as the teacher explained, Hwang Min-chul’s expression became strangely confident.
The younger the age group, the more advantageous obstacle dribbling is for children with good physique and agility.
His plan to surpass me in dribbling by pushing through with body size and speed was quite obvious.
Hwang Min-chul started dribbling.
He looked skillful as he quickly bounced the ball under his feet like a toy, avoiding the poles.
His determination to overcome the wall that was me by himself was palpable.
‘Yeah, yeah. Work hard.’
When it was my turn, I felt the sense of handling the ball come alive with the more complex dribbling than before.
The dribbling sense from the past that remained in my head melted into my toes like instinct.
Quickly passing one pole, then another, I never slowed down.
I heard murmuring around me, but I didn’t have time to pay attention to it.
“Wow…”
“Woah…”
“He did better this time too!”
At that moment, Hwang Min-chul’s face caught my eye.
‘He seems really displeased.’
I could feel his desire to somehow step on me.
But he must have felt that he was in a position where that wish couldn’t reach.
A moment later, Hwang Min-chul raised his hand.
“I want to try one more time!”
The teacher allowed it with a smile that said he found it admirable.
The dribbling started again.
It wasn’t much different from before.
No, honestly, it was worse.
‘He’s stiff from nervousness.’
After his dribbling ended.
“Well done, Min-chul.”
Despite the teacher’s praise, Hwang Min-chul returned to his seat, panting as if frustrated.
I spoke quietly, just loud enough for him to hear.
“That’s not how you dribble.”
Hwang Min-chul glared at me, his nose twitching.
“Really, it’s not.”
At that moment.
“Waaaaaah!!”
Hwang Min-chul burst into tears, unable to hold back any longer.