Chapter 68 – Korea-Japan War (2)

068

“Eh~?! Isn’t this photo of Hong Min-jun and Yoon Heo-k?
“If you look carefully, the Korean team’s tactics are determined by the movement of the 28th Yun Heuk. When the pressure is strong, they go down and form a three-back, and when attacking, they take charge of the build-up in front of the defense, and then instantly go up to the midfield camp to form a 1-2-3-4 formation. Even on defense, it changes to 4-4-2, 4-1-4-1, or 5-4-1 depending on the player’s movement.”
“Then Yun Hyuk is the center of tactics!”
“You’re right. This player is the core of the Korean team’s tactics.”
“Ee~~ Even Ace was deceived!! It is truly a volcano in Poongrim!!”

The four letters of Poongrim Hwasan are stamped all over the broadcast screen.

“Of course, Hong Min-jun is also the key. Unusually, the Korean team’s defensive line is very low. The pressure line is also low. Teams that usually use aggressive tactics set the defense line very high to the pressure line, which is a very unusual case. Should the line be high so that even if you make a mistake, the ball will not be taken away from the enemy camp? That way, you can press right away and aim for a counterattack or buy time to switch to defense, but the Korean team is unique in that they show extreme aggression when attacking, but also extreme defense when defending.”
“Is that strange?”
“It is strange. What if you take an extreme attack like 1-2-3-4 and lose the ball? They are very vulnerable to counterattacks. On the other hand, when defending, the line is too low, so even though the defense is good, counterattacks do not proceed.”
“It is strange to hear. But why is the Korean team so strong?”
“It is because of No. 28 Yun Heuk and No. 7 Hong Min-jun. The excellent judgment and movement of No. 28 Heuk Yun reduces gaps in offense and defense, and the existence of No. 7 Hong Min-jun helps the Korean team to achieve good results despite extreme offense and defense.”

Hasegawa pulled out another panel from underneath.

“This is what the Korean team showed in the past games. If you look at it, they are extremely focused on offense, and on the contrary, when defending, the line is low and the players are very tight. This is a situation where the defense counterattacks. There is only one person, Hong. Normally, this kind of counterattack should not be powerful… Hong is unstoppable because he is making a ridiculous play that penetrates everything by himself. Even when attacking, he drives the ball to Hong, but he does not lose the ball There are very few cases where we are counterattacked in the middle because we take the finish of the attack by dragging it to the shooting without doing it.”
“Aha~ After all, Hong Sang and Yoon Sang are active! Then, should we stop these two players?”
“It’s not like that. It’s a handshake to force these two players to stop.”
“Ooh! Then what is Hasegawa-san’s solution!”
“That’s right…!”

* * *

On the day of the Olympic Men’s Soccer Semifinals.
An hour before the start of the game, an early broadcast was being broadcast in Japan.

“Now, there is an hour left until the game begins. Mr. Yoshitaro, as a former national team member and current coach, how do you view the Korean national team?”
“Ah, that’s strong. Korea is strong. In particular, Hong Sang’s terrifying scoring power! Awesome. You can truly call it the Kamamoto Kunishige of Korea!!”
“Hey~? Are you talking about Kunishige Kamamoto, the pride of Samurai Blue and the best striker in Asia?”
“That’s right. In fact, Hong Sang’s activities also follow Kunishige Kamamoto. He scored seven goals at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, becoming the first and last Asian top scorer in Summer Olympics history.”
“As expected, he is the best striker in Asia. He is the only Asian top scorer in the Olympics. However, I know that Minjun Hong is still ranked second in the scoring ranking.”
“Ee~ Hong Sang is second with 5 goals in 3 matches. First place is France’s Gabriel Mendy with 6 goals in 4 matches.”

If Japanese broadcasters were keeping an eye on Hong Min-jun, who was expected to be the most threatening, at the same time, Japanese national team coach Kotaro was also talking about Hong Min-jun.

“Believe in the sweat we shed while preparing for today’s game! We will never betray our efforts! Now, I will explain lastly. The core of the Korean team is 28-member Yoon Hyuk and 7th Hong Min-jun!”

Goh Taro, who spent his youth in Europe and also played in the K-League during his active career, was good at pronouncing his Korean name.

“It would have been difficult if it had been a full-powered Korea, but now they are missing two starters. Oh Pyo-sik and Kim Dae-seong. These two are Hong Min-jun and Yoon-hyuk’s helpers, and they have contributed greatly to bringing Korea to this point.”

The players nodded at Kotaro’s words.
According to our analysis while preparing for the Korean War, Oh Pyo-shik’s role is to draw aggro so Hong Min-joon can rampage to his heart’s content. However, he was a troublesome player who was also equipped with the ability to score goals after receiving Hong Min-jun’s pass.

Kim Dae-seong is also a player who has helped a lot invisibly.
Other teams knew that Yoon Hyuk was the core of the Korean team. Especially in the build-up, the teams who knew that he would play an irreplaceable performance with his excellent passing ability and judgment have put strong pressure on Yoon-hyeok.

Yun-hyeok, who has poor ability to depressurize, was not able to shake off this pressure with his personal ability, and it was Kim Dae-seong who helped him.

When Yoon-hyeok is under pressure, he moves nearby, increases his pass options, supports de-pressure through a 2:1 pass, and backs up Yoon-hyeok’s empty seat, which moves freely, and has played the role of a truly unspoken hero.

“This is the weakness of the Korean team!! Two players who have played an invisible but indispensable role are missing! No matter how good Hong Min-jun and Yoon-hyeok are, there is a limit as long as they are missing! In this game, we will catch it!! Sakka Nippon Daihyo Fight!!”

“—That’s what the Japanese would think.”

The last tactical meeting before entering the game.
Everyone laughed at the director’s words.

“Hong Min-joon!”
“Yes, manager.”
“This game… No, can I trust this game too?”

Everyone’s eyes were on me.

Pyo-shik Oh, who silently and invisibly helped me to be active, and senior Kim Dae-seong, who was in charge of the dirty work, were left behind.

Although other players competed, they could not fill the vacant positions of the two seniors.
But the solution was simple.

It was a problem that I needed to be able to play an active part without help.

“Of course, sir.”

I grinned at the translucent stat window that appeared in front of me.

* * *

It takes 5 points to raise a hidden stat by 1.
A truly outrageous price.

All of them are abilities that are not to be discarded—to be honest, intelligence has only recently been useful—so I was hoping to raise it someday, but since it consumes so much points, I often hesitate every time to invest in other stats.

While I couldn’t even touch the hidden stats like that, in the last quarterfinals, senior Oh Pyo-sik was injured and senior Kim Dae-sung was banned from playing.

I pondered the news that the two seniors would not be able to play in the next game, the semifinals.

‘My goal is a medal. Even if we lose this time, there will be a bronze medal match, and at that time senior Kim Dae-seong will be able to make a comeback, even if he doesn’t know senior Oh Pyo-shik.’

If so, can I save points?
How did you collect the points? The 49 points she managed to collect through the female athletes who took part in the Olympic Games after the round of 16. Combined with the existing 13 points, we have accumulated 62 points.

I learned this while collecting points, but it seems that quality is more important than quantity when it comes to getting points.
I did it with 22 people and only got 49 points. Half of that came from 3 people, so I thought there might be a condition to give more points.

‘Okay. Let’s just save If you win, it’s good, but if you can’t… All I have to do is win a medal.’

I changed my mind after the next opponent was known.

‘What? Japan? Oh Mr… You can’t even lose to Japan at rock-paper-scissors!’

So I wrote the points right away.
To the technique.

[Cannot upload due to lack of genius]

The problem is that skill and trapping have not risen any more due to lack of genius.
So while I was contemplating whether to upload genius first, a thought came to me.

‘How much do I have to raise my genius? If you spend too much on genius and don’t have enough points to spend on other stats… ?’

Isn’t it a stat that consumes 5 points to raise 1 already?
After thinking about it, I asked Senior Yoon Hyuk.

“Senior. What will it take to win the next match?”
“Suddenly? It’s too much to ask like that.”
“Then what should I do? I’m not good enough.”
“That’s easy. Soccer intelligence.”
“Huh? It’s not like determination or speed, is it?”
“That’s enough already. Decisiveness… It’s a bit unfortunate, but anyway, what you need right now is soccer intelligence.”

Senior Yoon Hyuk, who has the most knowledge of football around me, would be right.
But how do you raise your soccer intelligence?

‘… This intelligence is the same intelligence. Is that right?’

So it was uploaded
Hidden stat, intelligence.

【Skills】      【Spirit】       【Body】
Skill 075 ｜Field 055 ｜Main 067
Dribble 070 ｜Anticipation ｜ 050 ｜Acceleration ｜ 068
Trapping 075 ｜Determination ｜ 065 ｜Balance ｜ 065
Short Pass 055 ｜Concentration ｜ 056 ｜Agility ｜ 065
Long pass 050 ｜Off the ball 060 ｜Reaction speed 079
Shooting 045 ｜Space Mark 045 ｜ Power 054
Free Kicks 042 ｜Peace 052 ｜Jumps 046
Header 038 ｜Leadership 040 ｜Endurance 055
Tackle ｜ 032 ｜Teamwork ｜ 039 ｜Resilience ｜ 065

【Hidden】
Genius 048 ｜ Charm 095 ｜ Intelligence 040 (▲12)

【Height 175cm｜63kg】

【Retained Points】 2P

I spent 60 points to 40.

‘… Oh!?’

* * *

“Your starting list has been announced.”
“Our Korean starting list… Huh? Hong Min-Jun… Is placed in the center?”