Second Half Chapter 26

Of course, Aaron’s decadent face combined with the blood smeared like lipstick looked outrageously good on him, hitting Jerim with a visual stimulation that was hard to handle coming from an ex-boyfriend. But even so, nearly getting hard just by looking at the opponent’s face in the middle of a fight…

At that moment, the message mentioning an “ideal type” popped into his head, and he shook his head desperately. It was nonsense. Absolute nonsense. It was true that he had liked Aaron’s face in the past, but wasn’t that back when they were kids? Since breaking up with that guy, he hadn’t even felt sexual excitement toward men, and the appearance of his other lovers…

“Wait…?”

Realizing that they had all been tall, with good physiques, slightly tan skin, and dark hair, Jerim felt as if the ground were collapsing beneath him. Somehow, the vibes they gave off and the way they smiled seemed similar as well.

‘…From now on, I’m definitely only showering after Aaron is finished and out of there…’

Only after prescribing such an extreme measure for a potential “emergency” did he weakly move his feet.

✲✲✲

During the preseason, all four friendly matches resulted in victories. Supplements for the lacking positions were carried out smoothly, and Sefton’s shallow depth—often cited as a weakness—was also reinforced. The fact that there were many transfers meant there were just as many players leaving.

While almost none of the starters left, a large number of players who had only been warming the bench were either transferred or released. It seemed Manager Verdi had sharpened his blade while recruiting Aaron this time. Even at the club level, they were aggressive with the pruning, thinking it was the right direction to cut out unnecessary players at this opportunity.

Since many of those players were people Jerim was close with, he didn’t feel entirely at ease. Even if his head knew a hundred times over that this was the right method to reach the goal of winning the Champions League, he couldn’t simply celebrate when some of the names on the release list were colleagues he had shared joys and sorrows with for over five years.

However, regardless of Jerim’s complicated feelings, the Sefton fans were in high spirits. It was only natural, as they had kicked out the so-called “weekly-wage thieves” and the preseason results were fantastic.

“Jeri, we have to win today’s match no matter what. If we lose, the atmosphere will freeze over.”

Craig, who happened to be sitting next to him, tapped Jerim on the shoulder and urged him. He must have noticed that Jerim was spaced out even though there wasn’t much time left before the match started. Jerim, who had been sitting in an awkward position—neither fully wearing his tights nor fully having them off—snapped back to his senses thanks to that.

“I know. Especially after they’ve built up the expectations this much…”

Sefton’s first opponent for the upcoming league opener was a team that had just been promoted from the second division this season. In other words, a weak team. Furthermore, it was a Sefton home game.

Essentially, it was a match where losing was unacceptable. If they lost the first league match against such a weak team, the fans would go wild. It was obvious what kind of things people would say if they won everything in the preseason after recruiting a big name like Aaron, only to lose helplessly in the actual match.

Interviewers would swarm like a public hearing, and all sorts of bullshit would come out: fire the manager already, the Aaron recruitment was a failure, Ban Jerim’s form is dead, the aging curve is starting to hit, and so on. Even just to avoid that annoyance, it was a match they absolutely had to win. It was also a match where losing would be the stranger outcome. But there was one thing bothering him.

“Yorktown will park the bus, won’t they?”

“It’s obvious. The manager said so too.”

“Ah, I’m already sick of it.”

Jerim grumbled while pulling his tights up to his knees. “Parking the bus,” commonly known as Ten-Back, literally means standing ten defenders in a line; it’s a tactic mainly used by weak teams when facing strong ones. They focus entirely on defense and look for counterattacks, which, from the perspective of the spectators or the opposing team, is naturally boring as hell.

Since goals don’t come easily, it’s not fun for the viewers, and likewise, since it’s hard to score, it’s not fun for the players either. Furthermore, in this kind of tactic, a momentary passing mistake leads directly to the opponent’s counterattack, so the mental burden was significant.

This is why matches occasionally occur where a team loses absurdly to a weak opponent rather than a fellow strong team. Jerim glanced at Aaron sitting opposite him and recalled the tactics he had heard from Manager Verdi.

‘Give the ball to Aaron, no matter what.’

The manager had used technical terms to explain it, but that was the summary. During the past preseason, Jerim and Aaron had practiced hard together under Verdi’s guidance. However, it wasn’t easy to perfectly match the chemistry with a guy he had lived apart from for over ten years in a span of just a few weeks.

It wasn’t that he lacked confidence or was nervous, but he thought it might be difficult to achieve a massive victory as the fans expected. Even if he wanted to give him the ball no matter what, the guys running on the field had to be of one mind for anything to happen.

But Aaron was laughing peacefully, as if he didn’t have even a minimum amount of worry. Having thrown away the lie about being shy and perfectly adapting to the team, he had quickly become close with the teammates. In fact, even now, he was chatting excitedly with Jesus. Then, when he made eye contact with Jerim, he tilted his eyes flirtatiously.

“Got something to say?”

“No.”

“Then why are you staring?”

“…Sigh.”

He wanted to snap back, asking if he wasn’t even allowed to move his own eyes as he pleased, but he held it back because it was right before the match. Despite suppressing his temper by reminding himself of his responsibility as captain through blood-sweating effort, other teammates started prying from all over.

“Here they go again, again.”

“Are you two fighting dogs? You fight every time your eyes meet.”

“You guys are actually going to grow fond of each other at this rate, you know?”

“No, what did I even do!”

Jerim felt wronged. He hadn’t sworn, he hadn’t raised a fist; all he had done was let out a single sigh as if it were pathetic, so why was he being treated the same as Aaron, who started the quarrel? They were even throwing out such a terrible curse as “growing fond of each other.”

However, at the moment he was about to point a finger at his teasing teammates, a staff member knocked, signaling them to come out. Aaron and the colleagues swapped their faces for serious expressions as if they had never been giggling and stood up abruptly. Jerim did the same.

The Sefton players stood in a line in the tunnel while holding the hands of the escort kids. In the row right next to them, the players of today’s opponent, Yorktown FC, stood with faces clearly showing their tension. Standing at the very front, Jerim exchanged a brief greeting with the opposing captain and, as he always did, slowly rotated his ankles while sliding the captain’s armband onto his left arm.

He stepped onto the pitch hearing the familiar cheers and fight songs. Perhaps because it was the first match, the heat of the cheering was intense. The teammates followed behind Jerim, each performing their pre-match routine. Among them, Aaron made a small sign of the cross and offered a short prayer with only the movement of his lips.

Jerim waited until Aaron opened his eyes before slowly approaching him. Since it wasn’t just a simple transfer but the first official match playing after moving leagues, he felt he should offer some encouragement. He wasn’t the type to get nervous, but for now, it was his duty as captain. To be honest, he also just hated seeing him act pointlessly handsome.

“How does the first taste of grass at Sefton Stadium feel?”

It was a joke he threw because the friendly matches they had played so far were all away games. To that, Aaron played along appropriately.

“It’s fine. Not bad.”

“Watch out so you don’t slip.”

“Thanks for the worry. I’ll be careful. As you said, since it’s the first time, I am a bit nervous…”

When a word that didn’t suit him at all—like he wouldn’t even know the first letter of ‘nervous’—came out of his mouth, the teammates stirred. Jerim had also just slightly raised an eyebrow. Aaron, who took the lead in gathering the colleagues into a huddle, slowly raised his head and smirked.

“So.”

Wearing that characteristic mischievous, brat-like smile, Aaron muttered as if making a declaration.

“To ease the tension, let’s just lightly put in about five goals.”

In a tone that couldn’t be more self-assured.

✲✲✲

Yorktown, as expected, set up a tight two-line defense from the start. Moreover, every time Jerim or Aaron caught the ball, they swarmed them like a pack of dogs. Since the match was being held at Sefton’s home, boos were constant every time that happened, but the Yorktown players didn’t care. One could glimpse their determination to block the two key players no matter what.