#15

It was simply surprising that the loose-lipped Du-min had remained silent until now; Shin Ho-jae didn’t feel slighted like Ji Min-chul did.

Shin Ho-jae glanced toward the balcony, then sat on the edge of the bed and checked his unread messages one by one.

He easily ignored the message from Shin Yeon-jae, who had sent a gift list, and slowly replied to his mother’s message, which included a photo of his father and a note telling him not to get hurt.

The only thing left was the group chat with twenty-one Blue Wolves players, excluding Alexei. It seemed Alexei didn’t have a Korean messenger ID yet.

Choi Yong-su:

Today’s loss was painful, but I believe our team will grow because of what happened today~

You know the saying that failure is the mother of success, right? ^^ Let’s all fighting! Love you guys~

Also, an article about us is out, so please go and give it a like ^^~

It was a message typical of a captain who always encouraged his teammates. Ho-jae clicked the article link attached at the end of the message.

[The perennial second-place ‘Blue Wolves’ now have MJ wings; Full support from Korea Aviation and MJ Transport follows first overseas training camp]

The article, with its somewhat blatant title, went into exhaustive detail about how many conveniences and benefits the Myeong-jeong Group had provided for this training camp in Canada.

As a bonus, the Blue Wolves were portrayed in the article as a team that was perpetually second to the Tigers and a pitiful, poor club that had never received proper support.

“…….”

Even though it was based on facts, he couldn’t help but frown at the article, which seemed to flatter the Myeong-jeong Group excessively.

He knew this would happen.

There was no way Kwon Jung-hyun would provide business class seats or transport trucks for the players without some kind of return. Just as he had said, he was preoccupied with using the Blue Wolves to bleach the corporate image.

Shin Ho-jae flipped his phone face down with a thud.

* * *

The third day of the training camp.

Coach Peter’s claim that they would do ‘special’ training was only half true. He had never dreamed that he would spend the entire day doing basic physical training even after coming all the way to Canada.

The ground training, which began with light shuttle runs, only continued to increase in intensity, and no matter how much time passed, the signal to ‘stop’ never came.

By the time they had completed 160 shuttle runs, the trainers brought out ankle weights. Everyone said they were ‘going to die’ or ‘felt like vomiting,’ but they stood back up the moment they locked eyes with Coach Peter.

Hearing the word ‘terrible’ from a foreign coach had wounded everyone’s pride. Added to that was a sense of self-loathing, wondering if they were so pathetic that they had to do nothing but physical training even in Canada.

On the fourth day, they finally entered On Ice training. However, it wasn’t the strategic and tactical training the players had expected.

It was basic training: offense and defense drills, shooting practice, and one-touch pass connections. Though no one said it aloud, their faces were sour.

Yong-su seemed to be struggling to communicate with the coach through an interpreter in the middle, but the situation didn’t improve.

Eventually, there was even a small commotion. Lee Sang-gon took out his frustration on the club’s youngest employee, who was filming practice videos. Although Yong-su and the coach rushed over and settled it quickly, the atmosphere among the players remained grim.

“Ah… I have to do a live stream, but I absolutely cannot do it today. I’m completely exhausted, exhausted.”

Yuk Du-min, who had just come out of the training center showers, pretended his hands were shaking as he changed his clothes.

“Ho-jae, Ho-jae… I’m so hungry….”

“Want to eat before we go back?”

“Where?”

“Right next to here.”

Ho-jae answered, thinking of the local restaurant attached to the training center. At that, Yuk Du-min shouted as if having a seizure.

“No! I can’t eat any more french fries! I want Korean food! Kimchi stew! Soybean paste stew! White rice!”

Having lived in Canada for five years, Shin Ho-jae wasn’t particularly dissatisfied with the current diet of mostly greens and meat, but it seemed Yuk Du-min felt differently. Understanding that feeling, Ho-jae replied while packing his things.

“Is there a Korean restaurant nearby?”

“There is, there is. I heard the other guys talking about it. They say they sell samgyeopsal and tteokbokki there. They even have mattang and jajangmyeon. Isn’t that amazing? It’s practically a dream restaurant.”

To a Korean, it might be a somewhat strange combination of menu items, but many Korean restaurants abroad curated their menus without much consistency, just like this one. Du-min quickly coaxed Ji Min-chul along and left the training center.

It was a bit far, but the weather was cool, so walking wasn’t difficult.

Whether it was at the training center, moving between the lodging, or eating, he felt his nerves, which had been on edge due to the group living, loosen for a moment.

He had felt it during last year’s training camp as well, but for Shin Ho-jae, spending twenty-four hours a day with his teammates was more grueling than the training itself. Even excluding Lee Sang-gon and Moon Seung-yeol, the players each found Shin Ho-jae somewhat difficult, and since Shin Ho-jae didn’t make any particular effort to approach them, it was even worse.

It was only because of Du-min, Min-chul, and Yong-su that he could get along like this; if those three weren’t there, he would have become a complete outsider.

The three of them arrived at their destination while catching up on their chatter. The Korean restaurant was larger than expected. The only small problem was that the inside of the restaurant was already full of Blue Wolves players.

“I thought this was our cafeteria.”

“There are no seats. How long do we have to wait?”

“Wait. A seat will open up eventually. Oh, Hyeong-hun. No, don’t mind us, just eat, eat.”

The rookie players eating kimchi stew spotted the three of them and half-rose from their seats. Du-min quickly gestured for them to sit back down. Even then, he didn’t forget to scan the kimchi stew.

Min-chul, oblivious to Du-min’s burning gaze, muttered absentmindedly.

“There’s a burger place next door.”

“No way, no way. Tonight’s dinner must be samgyeopsal and kimchi stew.”

“…Lee Sang-gon and Moon Seung-yeol are over there too.”

“…Ah, damn. Should we go somewhere else?”

Just as Du-min and Min-chul were becoming quiet, exhausted by hunger, an awkward Korean accent was heard from the entrance.

“No seats?”

It was Coach Peter. He had a phone in one hand, perhaps having come from a call.

“Oh, Peter! Yes, we are waiting. Very tired~ very him-deulm! Because of you! Your directing is very ppak-sem!”

“Gasp. Du-min-ss…”

It happened in an instant.

For Min-chul and Du-min, Peter was their first foreign coach, and since they couldn’t communicate directly, they had never had a proper conversation until now.

Furthermore, having been told a few days ago that ‘their play was terrible,’ there was a psychological distance between them. That was why Min-chul was utterly flustered by the sound of Du-min whining with a rolling tongue.

While they were walking on eggshells, wondering if they would be scolded, Peter surprisingly grinned and suggested they join him.

Since they were hungry, there was no reason to refuse. As they followed behind Peter, the eyes of the players in the restaurant all turned toward Shin Ho-jae’s group at once.

It seemed everyone had been walking on eggshells around the coach in the restaurant.

At the innermost part of the restaurant, at a six-person table separated from the others by a partition, there was one more unexpected face.

『Phew, look who I brought.』

It was Kwon Jung-hyun. ‘Phew’ seemed to be the nickname Peter used for him because he found Jung-hyun’s name difficult to pronounce.

Unlike Shin Ho-jae, whose brow furrowed reflexively, Jung-hyun curled the corners of his mouth into a soft smile.

“Pete, you’ve brought our team’s aces.”

“Oh! Owner, please tell Pete exactly that!”

Perhaps because he heard his name, Peter raised his thick eyebrows and looked at Jung-hyun.

When Kwon Jung-hyun translated it into English, Peter shrugged, saying, ‘Aces? I’m not so sure yet.’ At that, Jung-hyun narrowed his eyes.

『It seems you’ve been bullying my players while I was gone.』

『If you had seen the match the day before yesterday, you wouldn’t be saying that.』

『I would have said it even if I had. You want the players to be perfect from one to ten. It’s obvious you were being picky. And since it’s their first time with a foreign coach, it must be difficult for them, so you should be the one to approach them first. Koreans value something called ‘jeong.’』

『Nag, nag.』

『Even today is like that. I thought I heard wrong when I found out you hadn’t come to a Korean restaurant once in four days. I told you a Korean restaurant is the place the players would like most. I also said you must have a team dinner at least once since you’ve come overseas.』

“What? What? What are they saying?”

“…….”

Du-min seemed curious about the conversation between the two, but Ho-jae didn’t answer and sat down. Just then, a server brought a cart to set up the side dishes and meat, so Du-min became distracted by that and stopped asking.

“This is crazy. Since when was seasoned bean sprouts such a welcome sight?”

Shin Ho-jae forced his attention, which kept drifting toward Kwon Jung-hyun, to fixate on the side dishes in front of him.

16 – Puck Drop