Dad was a Genius - Chapter 1
Only Noblemtl
My Dad Was a Genius Episode 001
“You are the best scout I know. And the best coach I know.”
Jorni, one of the most renowned managers in the English Premier League, approached me and put his arm around my shoulder.
Lifting the league trophy today, he seemed to have everything in the world.
“Today’s tactics were also greatly influenced by you. You were a great help in our team’s ability to win the league.”
“No, boss.”
boss.
That’s what I called him.
Here, the coaches actually call the manager boss.
“How humble. You should definitely become a manager. You have too much talent to just remain a coach.”
Coach Jorni gave me several more nice words as he headed to the locker room.
Soon, the players who had been holding the trophy this time came running towards me.
“David~!”
“We’re the winners! We’re the winners!!”
The players were jumping for joy like children.
Their faces were soaked with sweat and tears.
“Thanks for letting me run here, David.”
“You are truly my benefactor all my life.”
I personally scouted and brought in the key players here.
They hugged me and even washed me down this hallway.
It seemed like the first time I had seen players so happy and excited.
“after-.”
I barely managed to get them to the locker room and then stood alone in the hallway for a while.
League Championship.
That was also the victory of the team I was a part of.
And as coach Jorni said, it is undeniable that I was of great help.
Of course, the fans will all focus on coach Jorni, and the media will not mention my name either.
The job of a coach is to work behind the scenes as an assistant to the director.
“I am satisfied with this.”
I played a key role in this Jorge division, serving as both a scout and a tactical coach.
Like coach Jorni, my goal was to become a coach at a big club, but I know there are so many obstacles to achieving that.
Not only was he not a former player, he also had the disadvantage of being Asian.
So it was a goal that was given up on early on.
Even so, I have built a solid career up to this point.
There is no one here who doesn’t like me and no one looks down on me because I’m Asian.
The coach, the manager, and the players all respect me.
Because I have proven my abilities so far.
“If there’s one thing I regret… … .”
As a scout, I have yet to meet a player who can be called a muse.
‘Muse.’
There are players that scouts call their muse.
It means the best prospect that he has discovered.
I’ve met many talented players so far, scouted them and helped the team win, but I haven’t met my muse yet.
I was looking at promising players from each country without resting every day with a vague expectation that I would definitely meet them someday.
“What are you doing there? Come in quickly!”
“The mood is not lively without you.”
There was a party going on in the locker room.
I was walking through the locker room smiling,
“ah-.”
I checked my cell phone, which I had set to silent mode during the game.
[25 missed calls]
“… … ?”
A call from my mother.
You know I never look at my phone during a game.
And yet, the fact that you called me like this… … .
I checked my mother’s text, which only came once.
“!?”
For a moment, my vision blurred and I collapsed to the ground.
“David?”
“what’s the matter?”
The players and coaches who were waiting in the locker room came rushing towards me.
I sat down and cried.
These weren’t tears shed for winning the league.
[Junseong-ah. Your father passed away.]
It was tears welling up in a heart-wrenching pain.
* * *
“… … .”
I entered the funeral home with heavy steps.
“Oh my. Junseong is here.”
“Yeah. Thank you for your hard work coming by plane.”
“I heard your team won the championship? Congratulations… … .”
The adults who had gathered for my father welcomed me.
“thank you…….”
I answered weakly and stood blankly in front of where my father’s picture was.
I still can’t believe it.
It all just seemed like a lie.
‘To return in vain like this.’
There are still so many things I haven’t been able to do for you.
I haven’t been able to call you often or take you on many trips because I’ve been so busy with work.
Just using the excuse of being busy, as a child I really didn’t do anything for my father.
Unfilial son.
That word was the only thing that filled my head.
“Junseong… … .”
My mother held me with her wrinkled hands.
“brother…….”
Next to him was my younger brother Junho.
“… …Why didn’t you say anything?”
I had no idea that my father was seriously ill.
“Dad… … told me not to say anything.”
“Yeah. You’re already in a lot of trouble, and if you find out your father is sick, you’ll definitely drop everything and come back… … .”
I closed my eyes tightly.
My father was always like this.
What parent wouldn’t be like that?
A person who thinks of his children before himself.
A person who takes care of his children before his own health, his own work, or his own greed.
My father was that kind of person.
“But still… … Still, you should have said something! How could you make me such an unfilial son? You should have made me say my final goodbyes to Dad!”
I burst into tears that I had been holding back and collapsed in front of the memorial portrait.
My mother and younger sister hugged me and cried together.
“I’m sorry, bro. We didn’t know Dad would leave so suddenly.”
Even on the flight back, and even now, I’ve been crying all day.
* * *
After I sent my father off for the funeral, I returned to my parents’ house.
“… … .”
And stood in front of the living room.
For some reason, I felt like if I opened the door and went in, my dad would smile brightly and say, “Welcome, son,” and give me a warm hug.
But when I open the door, what I see is,
“… … .”
Just bleak darkness.
In that silence, I walked inside and sat down listlessly in the middle.
It was to feel a little more of my father’s warmth, which was already fading away.
“Junseong-ah.”
Then my mother came and sat next to me.
There was a heavy silence for a moment, and I burst into laughter as I looked at the soccer posters and soccer-related books on the wall.
“My dad really loved soccer.”
“Thanks to having a great son. And your father used to be a soccer player. Of course, he quit before he could bloom.”
They say that when I was very young, my father was a soccer player.
But I heard that my father also quit his career as a player when the K-League team he was in at the time was disbanded.
“At that time, the team was disbanded, and your father gave up his dream to support his family. I didn’t watch soccer at all after that. I just thought it reminded me of the old days. Then, when you started working in soccer, I started watching it again.”
This was a story I knew nothing about.
“But your dad really did well? Your mom fell in love with him after watching him play soccer.”
I found myself laughing again without realizing it.
“really?”
“Then~. If your father hadn’t given up and pursued his dream back then… … .”
Mom stopped talking with a bitter smile.
“No. What am I saying? It’s all in the past. Come out a little later. I’ll make you some food. My son is here, and I didn’t even make him a nice meal.”
I caught my mom as she was trying to leave the room.
“Mom. Do you have any old videos of Dad?”
“Huh? Videos from when your dad was a player?”
“huh.”
I felt like my mom would have a video like that.
Wasn’t he the one who loved his father more than anyone else?
As expected.
“Your dad told me to just delete it… … Of course there is.”
My mom soon handed me a tablet with a video on it.
“Just look. Mom… … I can’t look at it because I feel like I’ll cry again if I look at it for no reason.”
Mom went out first, tears in her eyes.
I looked at the video on my tablet with a heavy heart.
“Taesan Cheonan… … .”
It’s a team run by Taesan Group.
When I studied K League history in the past, I saw a record that Taesan Group created a team in Cheonan and then disbanded it.
I did a cursory search on the Internet for records about the Taesan Group.
“Why did Dad have to be there at that time?”
I don’t know exactly when my father debuted, but it seems he was involved in the process of the Cheonan team disbanding.
“Would you like to watch the video?”
It wasn’t because I had an occupational disease called scouting that I was watching the video.
I just wanted to see my dad’s face.
That’s the face from when I was young.
however-.
“… … ?”
I couldn’t help but get goosebumps while watching the video.
“Is this really… … Dad?”
As a scout, I have met many players and discovered the raw talent among them, leading to the great achievement of winning the league.
My greatest talent is seeing through other people’s talents.
And now I’m talking about this young man whose sparkling talent is jumping around so splendidly in this video.
‘Your muse is here!’
He said.
“under…….”
There is a saying that “it is dark under the lamp.”
The muse that every scout dreams of.
That being was closest.
As Mom said, if Dad hadn’t quit soccer, if a scout like me had noticed his talent and supported him… … !
“Yeah. It’s all in the past.”
I watched the video with my back against the wall.
It’s such a shame what a talent it is.
How could no one have recognized such talent!
If that were the case, a new legend in South Korea would have been born!
All I could say was a sigh.
“… … .”
I couldn’t take my eyes off my dad’s video.
How wonderful it would have been if I had been born at the same time as my father and had discovered this dazzling and beautiful talent earlier.
But that was a long time ago.
And my dad is no longer in this world.
That was the most heartbreaking thing.
“……dad.”
I tried to stop crying so that my father, who had left first, would not be sad when he saw me, but I couldn’t help but let a drop or two run down my cheek.
* * *
“Master. Master? Oh my. What’s wrong with this? Are you still sleeping? The chairman will be extremely angry.”
I opened my eyes wide at the sound of a sweet voice.
Even after eating dinner last night, I kept watching my dad’s gameplay video until I fell asleep…
“uh?”
It was the first exclamation of bewilderment that came out as soon as I opened my eyes.
This is not my room.
I was lying in a spacious bed, in someone’s room, a room I had never been in before.
Knock knock-.
“Your Majesty, you really have to get up now.”
Where the hell am I?
I quickly got up and looked around.
How can a room be this spacious?
At first glance, you could tell it was a room in some kind of mansion.
Why am I in a place like this?
Then suddenly I saw my face in the mirror in front of me.
“……what?”
There was a face there that was completely different from mine.
“Your Majesty? Are you awake?”
I stared blankly at myself in the mirror and cautiously opened the door.
There, too, stood a middle-aged woman whom I had never seen before.
“Thank goodness you’re awake. Hurry up and wash up and go down. The chairman is here.”
Mr. Chairman?
What does all this mean?
“excuse me…….”
“yes?”
“Where is this?”
At those words, the aunt in front of me looked at me like I was crazy.