Second Half Chapter 58

Poor Lehmann. He must have been exhausted after playing the practice match during training today, yet he was dragged off by that monster in the afternoon to undergo the same brutal training. No wonder he sent out a message begging to be saved. Jerim, finally decoding the cryptic message, hurriedly stepped in to support Lehmann.

“Crazy. Lehmann, are you okay? Should I give you a piggyback ride?”

“No, no… I’m not that bad…”

Lehmann slunk away and slumped against the wall as his strength gave out. Watching the sorry sight, Jerim tutted loudly enough for everyone to hear.

“What do you mean you’re not that bad? Do you know how startled I was when you sent a text out of the blue begging for your life?”

At the mention of the text, Aaron’s eyes narrowed slightly. Crossing his arms disapprovingly, the guy scanned the trembling Lehmann from head to toe and chuckled lowly.

“You sent a text like that in the middle of it? I guess you still had some energy left. By the way, who is this gentleman?”

“What. Mr. CEO, you’re still here?”

Jerim turned around following Aaron’s gaze and was surprised belatedly. Standing there was Juhan, clutching the handle of the half-open reception room door with an expression as if he had seen a ghost.

“…I have to deliver the message before I go. The filming crew will be coming for a preliminary site visit soon, so make sure to welcome them properly. Changsik will be coming with them then.”

“Oh, is that all. Ah, thanks for letting me know about my mother. It must be dawn in Korea right now… I’ll call her first thing in the morning.”

“Right. Stay in touch more often, you rascal. Well, I’ll be off now…”

Pulling his coat collar up high, Juhan turned his back. Jerim, who was about to let Juhan go without a second thought, realized his mistake when he saw the puzzled looks Aaron and Lehmann were both giving him. Since neither of them understood Korean, they looked even more bewildered.

Still, it was common courtesy to introduce him before he left. Moreover, since both Aaron and Lehmann were highly popular players, it would be beneficial for Juhan, who runs an agency, to be on speaking terms with them. Calculating that much, Jerim quickly grabbed the hem of Juhan’s coat and spun him around halfway.

“Since we bumped into each other, say hello before you go. This is Aaron, and this is Lehmann. I’m sure you know them without an introduction. And this is the CEO of my agency and my coach from my youth days.”

At the brief introduction, Lehmann responded with polite words, and Aaron responded by reaching out for a handshake first.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Lehmann Fritz.”

“Pleasure to meet you. I feel like we’ve met before, am I right? I think I saw you once during my youth days.”

As he spoke, Aaron curled his eyes into a smile. For a second, Jerim wondered if the guy was interested in the coach; it was such a mischievous eye-smile. His eyes were naturally quite slender, and his overall vibe was decadent, so when he smiled like a fox with his eyes curved, it usually gave off that impression…

In any case, it was definitely a more effortful eye-smile than usual. But surely he wasn’t interested in Juhan, who was old enough to be his uncle, in that way. Was he looking for a new agency? If that were the case, Juhan should be the one begging Aaron to sign with them; Aaron wasn’t in a position where he had to reach out first to be in someone’s good graces.

Above all, Juhan, who might have just encountered the opportunity of a lifetime, didn’t particularly look like a person who wanted to seize it. He barely brushed Aaron’s hand during the handshake and hurriedly bowed his head.

“Ah, y-yes, yes… My name is Kang Juhan.”

Juhan was exactly like a frog in front of a snake. Jerim felt puzzled for a moment at the sight, which was the complete opposite of Juhan’s usual confident attitude, but he soon understood. Given Aaron’s physique, face, aura, and those terrifying tattoos, most people would react just like Juhan.

Add to that Aaron’s massive reputation in the soccer world—winning the World Cup, three Ballon d’Ors, multiple Champions League titles, and so on—as someone in the same industry, Juhan probably felt like he was seeing a legendary figure he deeply admired right in front of his eyes. Thinking of it that way, his flustered behavior was understandable.

“Is that so? Your memory is really sickeningly good…”

Jerim looked away from his mentor’s struggling figure and whispered to Aaron. Regardless of Juhan’s attitude, Aaron’s meticulous memory had always struck Jerim as quite horrifying.

“That’s a compliment, right?”

“Look at my tone.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

He wanted to hit that annoying smiling face, but he barely held back when he saw the swollen lips. Since he hadn’t expected the towel to boast such incredible power, he felt slightly sorry. …The way they were plump made them look a bit like a bird’s beak, and because they were thick in a way that didn’t match that dangerous face, they were actually just a tiny bit cute…

‘Cute… Cute…?’

Crazy bastard. Jerim slapped both of his cheeks hard with his palms. It was an act of punishing himself for harboring such an absurd thought. As he went as far as squeezing his temples because that wasn’t enough, Juhan called out to him.

“Jerim, I’m heading out now. I have to get back to London by evening.”

“Ah, yes. Get back safely!”

By the time he finished pronouncing “safely,” Juhan had already vanished into the distance. At the sight of him tucking tail and running, Aaron cracked a joke.

“Is his house on fire or something?”

“He said his family is in London. Anyway, you’ve half-killed the kid, gosh… Should I help him up?”

Lehmann had looked like a living creature until a moment ago, but after stalling in the hallway, his strength had drained further, and he had turned into something like a giant inflatable tube man. Jerim tutted again. Despite barely being able to stand against the wall, Lehmann rejected Jerim’s offer again.

“I told you it’s really not that bad. The message… I just made a mistake because it was so hard for a second. Forget it. Reyes, if you have time, I’d like to ask you to train with me again next time.”

Then, he made an unexpected request. Aaron raised one eyebrow slightly as if surprised. Jerim just stared at Lehmann in silence, completely unable to understand why he was asking to be killed again when he was already half-dead.

Weren’t they on bad terms to begin with? Did that part improve a bit while training individually? Honestly, the fact that the two of them stayed behind to train without him was unexpected in itself, so he was curious how things ended up that way.

In contrast, Aaron quickly brushed off his surprised look and smiled with interest.

“Anytime. Instead, make sure you work on your stamina on your own from time to time. Even if we’re teammates, I can’t look after you from start to finish, can I? I’m sure your pride wouldn’t want that either.”

“Hey, come on…”

If he was going to accept, he should just accept nicely; he always had to add some annoying remark to hurt the other person’s feelings. It was just as Jerim was nudging Aaron’s side to give him a hint.

“You’re right.”

Lehmann, surprisingly, agreed readily. Judging by his clenched fists, he seemed a bit frustrated, but his tone suggested he would admit what needed to be admitted. Aaron looked up at Jerim triumphantly and reached out both arms to wrap them around Jerim’s and Lehmann’s shoulders respectively.

“Let’s go, muscle pain clears right up with a massage. You too, Jerim. Juan said he’s arrived.”

It was a combination that reminded him of the first day they arrived in Korea for the pre-season. Back then, the three of them had gone to dinner like this under Aaron’s lead. Even the posture of putting arms around shoulders and the positioning—with Aaron in the middle and Jerim and Lehmann at the ends—was the same. But while it looked the same on the outside, the inner circumstances had changed significantly.

‘A lot has changed in just two or three months.’

Things like the relationship between him and Aaron, and the relationship between Aaron and Lehmann… Back then, he only wanted to kill Aaron for his thick-skinned clinging, but now it had improved to the point where he could willingly accept having an arm around his shoulder.

Instead of pulling away from Aaron’s arm, Jerim walked briskly while sending a message to his mother to call him when she woke up. The only visible difference this time was that he could keep up without having to match Aaron’s stride.

✲✲✲

—Oh my, and here I was wondering why on earth you wanted to call so early in the morning! Stop worrying about useless things and just work hard at your own job. Your results have been so good lately. You have a match against your rival team soon, right? Good luck, my son!